He would never admit it properly, but the crystalline vault Orion held an ethereal beauty unbeknownst to any of the other caves in Origin. Nothing came close save for the blacksmith's forge in Monoceros. The unfortunate part of that furnace was the sweltering heat, which made it impossible to truly appreciate the fire and brimstone of it. Eythan supposed the dragon's den in the same cave was rather beautiful as well, but he wasn't in the business of visiting it again. Reaching up to itch at his left foreleg from where he perched (atop a miscellaneous boulder at the edge of the southwestern cliffs, near the entrance to Tunnel N), he sighed.

Yes, this was nice. Solitude, peace, tranquility. Gembound milled about below, fortunately none being familiar to him. Planting his talons on the stone, he shimmied his back half backwards until he was rather sprawled across the rock. Usually, he would rarely (if ever) leave Canis, especially not since Aure was born. For all intents and purposes, the little wyvern was still asleep at the bonecaster's side. It was break time. From what, he did not know.

For all of his lax posture, the gryphon was still alert, prepared to spring up at a moment's notice. One could never be too careful in these Caves.

@Aries

The ram placed his hooves on the edge of the cliff, and gazed out at the vast, glimmering serenity before him. The other caverns could not hold a candle to Orion's beauty, for there was no place throughout the entire cave where one could sleep under the "stars". But Aries had been trapped here for cycles since his brush with the Carrier of Death, staring at the same old crystals, with the same old twinkle. The world around him had gone dull, his heart smoldered like a dying fire. Everyday he wondered why Khloros, or Valeria, hadn't put him out of his misery when they had the chance, but, his tangle with the Dreamstalker had opened his eyes to how much he missed his old life, and how far he was willing to go to get it back.

Even if it killed him.

Aries inhaled deeply and peered down at the the jagged rocks below. The last time jumped off a ledge like this, he almost died. This could finish what Khloros started. A voice inside him warned. And would that be such a bad thing? From his point of view, anything was better than living a hollow, meaningless life. He took another deep breath and shook the stress from his coat. The ledge he stood on was dizzyingly high, and the face was steep, but Aries did not fear the heights, he did not even fear the path, he feared the pain.

Don't think, jump!.

Aries filled his lungs with other deep breath, probably the last breath he would ever take, and hurled himself down the cliff face.

Much to his relief, his hooves caught the grooves in the stone and the ram bounded through the cliffs, like he once did so many cycles ago. The feeling of blood rushing through his veins and the wind in his pelt, it was the best feeling in the world and Aries could not help but to let out a bleat of rapturous glee. Traversing the cliffs was his birthright, and he had finally come home.

But it was only for a moment.

Suddenly, the dull pain in his leg split and the limb gave out from under him. Aries' stomach dropped as he felt himself lose balance and fall. Terror surged through him. No! Not like this! His fateful battle with Khloros flashed through his head, and the horrible memory of plummeting down jagged ice. The ram tumbled down the rocks, seemingly out of control and headed straight for disaster.

Instincts kicked in and his body twisted towards the face, with a bit of luck, his hooves dug into its crevices. Aries stood, strained vertically against the cliff, a little scraped and bruised, with legs legs trembling from adrenaline. He panted heavily, trying to catch his breath before he assessed his situation. Once he was sure he wouldn't fall, Aries lifted sore leg up and looked down. He was still very far up, and to his utter disappoint, he also wasn't very far from where he descended. He also noticed another problem. With his leg this sprung, how was he going to climb up? Aries squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his head against the wall, hissing a curse under his breath.

"Listen to me."
Thoughts...

TAG: @Eythan // OOC:

Well, he did say he was alert.

The sound of footsteps (hooves, from the cantering sound of it) echoed a little further up the cliffs, and then the crumple of stone and a body. Eythan couldn't help his rather morbid curiosity, ears flickering toward the source of the sound. Suddenly, he had risen to his feet and began to trot up the cliffsides, wings relaxed yet tense, prepared to carry him into the air at a moment's notice. But, where the sound had seemingly come, there was nothing. Only a few specks of dirt had been disturbed, and obviously the hybrid wasn't paying close enough attention to that shit. Dark-rimmed ears shifted forward and back, scanning for the sound of breathing or something. A curse hissed under one's breath and the sound of horns against rock drew him to lean over the cliff's edge.

Ah, there it was. It being a goat in a rather unfortunate predicament. Judging from the stranger's posture, they were more disappointed and upset than seeming like a threat, so Eythan bounded from the cliff's edge. With a twist and snap of his wings, he righted himself. Floating gently down into a hovering position about eye-level with the goat, he quirked a brow in amused concern. "You look like you're having a grand-ass fuckin' time." No, that wasn't polite. That was mean, even. Shaking his head and flicking his ears back, he tried again with an apology first: "sorry, just--- how are you doin'?"

@Aries

Aries' ears flicked toward the sound of wings fluttering from above. Then, soft beats of wind rolled over his fur and a voice spoke from behind him, greeting him rather crudely. Oh look, we have a funny man. Aries chuckled at this stranger's words and turned his head to the side to get a good look his tormenter. The voice had come from another gembound, one who no doubt came down to gawk at him on his...big wings. From his monovision, it was difficult to make out details, but he looked like a hybrid, half-feline and half-bird, and a well built one by the looks of it.

Surprisingly, the hybrid apologized shortly after, but he was still rather crude. Aries kind of liked that. He smiled and cleared his throat, lifting his chin proudly. "Haha.. oh this? He glanced down at his trembling hooves. They were just barely clinging to the steep cliffside. A glint of uncertainty in his golden eyes betrayed him."I uh.. I meant to do this!" Aries looked back up and gave the stranger a charming, self-assured grin, almost like nothing was wrong.

No one was supposed to see him like this! Aries the Bold, Aries the Brave, Aries the Canis-Damned Legendary Hero, stuck on a cliff because he's lame and stupid. No one, especially this random stranger! I gotta salvage this! Aries looked down and started to gradually descend down the cliff face, rump first. He took it one step at a time, though the various positions in which he had to contort his limbs made him look like an awkward, newborn deer. He even forced himself to use his gimp leg, though every time he did, Aries cringed and seethed at the sharp, cruel pain. Even with all that effort, the struggling ram was climbing down the cliffs at a snails pace. It was pretty pathetic.



"Listen to me."
Thoughts...

TAG: // OOC:

@Eythan

Eythan was a little delighted by the seemingly good-natured chuckle coming from the unfortunate ram or goat or whatever they were. They scanned him for a moment, before glancing down to their hooves and laughing. Oh, we've got a proud guy, the gryphon thought. Well, someone trying to hold onto his pride and dignity. That was a very big mood, honestly, and Eythan felt it hit rather close to home. Bold of him, though, to assume he had any dignity left to preserve after all he'd done. Regardless, he chuckled breathily at the stranger's plight yet again. "I'm sure you fuckin' did, dude."

As soon as the self-assured ram began to shuffle backwards down the cliff face, Eythan hovered for a moment. His head dipped low and he stared in wonder at the damn flexibility of this stranger's feet. How had they not snapped off yet? Seeing the creature wince, his ears flickered back with his own wince. "Hey, uh, you need any help?" Eythan paused for a moment, glancing up to the cliff's edge higher up. Looking back down at the ram, he continued, "why don't you just... go up the cliff? It'd be a whole lot fuckin' faster." Sparing a glance to the leg that seemed to cause the ram so much pain, he added, "and less painful."

@Aries

Too proud and stubborn, Aries declined the stranger's offer for help. "Nah, I got it." He puffed. "I do this all the time."

Actually some help would be nice right-about now. But he wasn't about to say that out loud.

He continued to scoot down the cliff face, slow and steady, making sure his hooves had a good grip. He wondered what this stranger thought of his rock climbing. Did he think it was pretty neat? This wasn't his best rock climbing, but still, many hoofed creatures couldn't hold a flame to his skills.

Then the stranger announced he was going the wrong way. Aries paused and let out an exasperated sigh. "Shit." So much for impressing this guy.

Aries looked up at the ledge he jumped down from. It annoyed him that he had gotten a little farther away from it. Now he had to make up lost ground and his leg was growing more irritated by the minute. Nice going idiot. Aries grunted as he strained to pull himself up all the while trying to nurse his wounded pride. This wasn't normally how he went about climbing. He should probably tell the stranger that. This was his leg's fault.

Suddenly, Aries lost balance and slipped, falling backwards towards the jagged cliff rocks below. A single, nonchalant, thought entered mind as he fell mid air. Well, this just isn't my day.

He found it strange that he didn't care.

"Listen to me."
Thoughts...

TAG: @Eythan // OOC:

Aw, fucking hell, Eythan thought as his offer was turned down. He could already see the outcome of this shit: random stranger shows off, slips up, falls down cliffside, and dies because the bastard couldn't swallow his pride for a second. Nonetheless, the gryphon hung close, just in case. The ram swore as he realized that, indeed, it would be faster to just go up the cliff rather than down. In the next second, Eythan's disaster scenario came true. The stranger slipped backward and began to crash through the air.

The second after that, Eythan dove, talons outstretched to grip at anything he could. He met something and gripped as tightly as he could without tearing skin. His wings snapped out and flapped frantically, trying to slow their descent despite the stranger clearly being heavier than him.

@Aries

Instinct took over and like a jolt of lightning striking his muscles, Aries twisted his body in the air. He was going to land, front hooves first, but jutting rocks were coming up fast, and for a split second, Aries cringed at the thought of breaking both his legs.

Suddenly, sharp talons gripped his back and Aries bleated in surpise. The stranger had caught him, mercifully slowing his descent. He still landed on the rocks hard, and pain split through his leg, but he was grateful for not hearing any jarring snaps. Aries leapt to a lower rock, spilling out his excess momentmem, and thankfully, regaining balance.

The ram turned around to look up at the stranger, his golden eyes shining bright for the first time in cycles. "Wooo!" He exclaimed, rearing in excitement. "That was a close one!" Aries slammed his front hooves down with a loud clack, forgetting how sore his leg was. The ram's eyes bulged out in pain. "AAoOOW!!" He cried, immediately lifting the tender hoof off the ground. He let it gently hover over the rock as his attention returned to the stranger, who most definitely saved his quality of life.

"Listen to me."
Thoughts...

TAG: @Eythan // OOC:

Well... at least he had helped a little bit.

The stranger (seemingly) didn't break any bones or anything; Eythan hadn't heard any snaps! so that was a positive, right? Once the ram's weight seemed to reach a rock, the gryphon was forced to relinquish his grip and sighed in relief. He skipped wing days, okay?! Anyways, forward momentum took the daredevil forward and he seemed to catch himself just fine without much pain. Now, the hybrid realized that he was sore as shit and was tired from hovering for so long. There wasn't really anywhere to perch that provided actual traction, so he sort of wound himself around one of the jagged rocks he had just saved this stranger from.

This stranger, who was currently celebrating and mourning his victory against death itself. Eythan's ears flickered back as he winced, hunching down a little. "Ah, fuck, dude. Are you alright? Did I fuck up your leg?" Questions out of the way, the hybrid figured he could find the time to introduce himself for once: "m'name's Eythan. What's yours?" A smirk slipped onto his beak and he chortled, "or am I gonna have to call you fuckin' Daredevil?"

Ah, yes, humor. The only coping strategy Eythan had.

@Aries

"Ha! I guess you could." He snorted, and smirked back. "But friends call me Aries." Now that he got a good look at Eythan, he saw that he was an avian-feline hybrid, and rather good-looking one at that. He hoped Eythan would come to call him Aries, and he wasn't sure what a Dare"devil" was but it sounded pretty cool, so he wouldn't mind being called that either.

Aries cut his eyes down to his gimp leg. "And no,." He sighed. "You didn't screw it up, it was already screwed up." Aries frowned, remembering that fateful confrontation with the Plaguebringer, and how he may never run across his sheep trails ever again. "Happen a long time ago..." He paused, then shook his head, and flicked his eyes to the horizon.

"So, Eythan..." Aries started, his tone changing lighter. He turned his head towards him and smiled pleasantly, "You come around here often," The ram tilted his head. "Or is catching falling sheep here not your usual pastime?"

"Listen to me."
Thoughts...

TAG: @Eythan // OOC: