The gryphon's brows rose in approval as Pride confirmed knowledge of the raven's teleportation magic. Certainly for as much trouble as they got into they were a natural at magic! Not only that but they seemed to possess an advanced form of telekinesis that allowed movement without eye contact. He'd always assumed the deer to be attuned to the energy element like him but perhaps their talent was more aligned with the powers of the mind.

"It is a type of magic that is formed by sending raw energy into a concentrated colony of them with specific intention attached.” he expanded, looking to the side as he continued to mull over the topic at hand, "I can only hope they aren't sentient, if they are then we gembound are thoroughly outnumbered and outmatched should they decide to overthrow us."

The reasoning didn't quite sit well with him though; there was absolutely nothing in his assumptions to disprove the possibility of the prokaryotic organisms being sentient. He had touched the edges of Arcane magic and stopped before digging deep enough to unlock any tools that would help him reach an answer.

Magic gathered once more, evident by the glow in the gryphon's forearm that shifted quickly to purple. "My mental magic is not quite so precise as to allow two way communication. I do not regret my usage of time but being a generalist, it seems, is not without its disadvantages."

The mental message crackled and popped in its transmission, but would likely be decipherable nonetheless. "Perhaps I'm the one that could use some pointers on that one." he finished aloud. "For now we'll probably need to keep a close eye on it, keep it from having reason to cause harm, and have a plan in place in case it turns out to be harmful despite our best efforts."

---

Pouch 1: Baubled talc rods x12	Pouch 2: Charcoal dust (50 in3)	Pouch 3: Dried Mothers Tear mushrooms (25 in3)	Pouch 4: Charcoal chunks x7 (medium)
Back bag: Empty

Take hold of the power within
"And shape the fabric of reality around you"
tags: @Pride @Squick
notes: None

Pride listened, still tensely uncomfortable. His ears flicked as the message went straight into his mind; for a moment he wasn't sure who was speaking, and then he shook himself as he realized.

"All wise words, though I don't wish to keep it within indefinitely. I want it out--the idea of harboring a worm is-... gruesome to me. But I do not want to kill it. Yet, I've no idea what I can possibly do to keep it living, externally. It cannot speak. At least the idea of having a potential emergency method is there, though, so the urgency is past--at least, the worst of it." Pride shifted in place, uneasily. The stag was clearly at a rather unpleasant impasse with his passenger and, moreso, his own morality, and there was a faint sense of desperation now to his words.

After a pause he tried to send his mind back to the child within, again, to contact him and question his well-being. He found it difficult, perhaps due to his exhaustion, and his stress; the message, like Amras's, was tenuous at best.

"I will try to speak with it, briefly--find out what it eats, at least," Pride told Amras, with a rather tense wince.

Are you all right, still, in there? If so, I would like to eventually find a way where you can be self-sufficient. But I have never seen another like you. Do you know what it is that you eat..? That thought, alone, was... unpleasant; but he tried to shield that discomfort from Squick. It wasn't the little one's fault that he was a parasite, and all-... icky.

@Squick

The little creature was deaf to much of what was going on between Amras and Pride, which was perhaps a good thing. It waited impatiently as the glow from its magic subsided, blinking brightly, and gradually shrinking down until the glorious moment that Pride answered it, eliciting a surprised squelch of pleasure.

Yes, Mr. Pride! I am here and warm! But it is very empty in here, and I don’t think my magic is working so well! Pride would most likely sense its hunger. It hurt this time...

Moreso, there was a twinge of fear as Pride spoke of self-sufficiency. Are you gonna put me out there again? it asked almost immediately. But then, Pride spoke of eating- and as though completely forgotten, the brief flush of fear turned to eagerness at the thought of breakfast. I will eat anything tasty! There was a lot to eat in here before I went back out in the cold! But now that I’m awake there’s nothing for me to eat. There was a moment of sulking mental silence before curiosity got the better of it again. Is there another Host out there?


@Amras

Amras nodded in agreement as Pride expressed displeasure at the idea of continuing to harbor the sentient parasite. It was a fascinating circumstance but not at all one that the gryphon envied. They needed to protect the life of this tiny greater gembound if they could but if its survival was balanced upon taking the lives of other greater ones they might have no choice in the matter. Could it survive in any meat perhaps? What would happen if he helped Pride hunt down a large creature so the parasite could lay claim to its corpse.

I wonder if it requires a greater gembound as a host or if it could survive in the body of a lesser." he wondered aloud, his mind jumping to the memory of catching rats when he first met Pride. It hadn't been an easy task by any means but the techniques he'd picked up then might be able to be reutilized for this.

How amusing would that be, actually, if the parasite was transferred to a lesser gembound and made them its familiar. Pressure magic to create a kind of sound or arcane magic to be able to speak directly to the minds of others. Hundreds of cycles from now if current theories held he and Pride and this mystery creature might end up remembering this moment with amusement as the being referred to the deer as its first of dozens of 'houses'.

Hopefully things would work out that well in the long run...

"I'll leave the communication to you for now, just let me know if you need me to gather anything for you."

---

Pouch 1: Baubled talc rods x12	Pouch 2: Charcoal dust (50 in3)	Pouch 3: Dried Mothers Tear mushrooms (25 in3)	Pouch 4: Charcoal chunks x7 (medium)
Back bag: Empty

Take hold of the power within
"And shape the fabric of reality around you"
tags: @Pride @Squick
notes: None

Had Amras shared his thoughts, Pride might have been more than a little surprised. He knew little of familiars--he had met only one, and the way it had become such seemed to have been due more to the creature's own choices and magic than to the Greaters involved. He'd spent so much time with lessers, experimenting with magic, yet found nothing.

He sent a little reassurance Squick's way, as the link slid shut--I don't plan to. I will get you food. and then turned his mind to Amras.

"It says that it will eat anything 'tasty,' and that there was plenty to eat prior. Strange--it seems so spritely, so eager to please. And judging by the links I haven't found any deceit in its thoughts. A lesser, you say? Perhaps..? Though it would have little control over its life, then, and the lesser might well be eaten, and--well. That would, I think, be that."

He exhaled, and nodded a little to Amras, absently stamping a foot in his stress--like any deer might. "I do thank you for your time. If--err--you think of anything, or want to... ahh, learn from this at all, in some way. Do let me know."

There--he'd offered himself (and, by extention, the newborn) to Amras for scientific study. It was with the implicit agreement, given Amras' good nature, that neither of them would come to harm--but still, it was unsavory, somehow. But... for knowledge, it wouldn't be bad to learn.

@Squick @Amras

Squick basked in the brief reassurance that Pride sent its way, and relaxed slightly. Food was coming, and soon, it thought. It was just a matter of waiting for it to come down from the above. Thank you, Mr. Pride! it offered, but alas, the little creature was already on its own again.

It was, however, a little disappointed that Pride hadn't answered its question on the other host out there. The little one could still feel, and hear, the booming voice of Pride reverberating through his body- he was talking to someone. But to who?

The little creature's disappointment didn't last long, though. It was more preoccupied with the thought that food was coming soon, and it moved excitedly around its home before sitting still, looking for the best place to wait. Not long, not long. Soon, food was the only thing on its mind as it waited expectantly, mandibles twitching and eyes bright.

@Amras

"I guess if you are harboring a guest it's nice they have nice manners at least" he mused aloud as eyes wandered to various objects around them. Burrows, trees, shrubs, flowers. It was quite possible that if the visitor was inside Pride then it inhabited the same space that the deer's food had resided. Was a meal all that was needed?

The gryphon held up a talon and pointed it forward without explanation his gem beginning to light up with raw magic of an unknown nature. "If the entity can live inside the body of one then it surely would be able to live inside the body of another. I wouldn't fear for the creature should it choose to reside inside what we would consider to be prey."

The light intensified and a tendril of energy snaked forward, taking on a yellow hue like the lightning element. "There is one experiment I would like to do, just to see what its effects might be on a body that holds two gems."

The now orb of energy grew in intensity, spinning itself violently until it was oblong in shape pointing right at Pride. Had the deer any sense of magic detection they might notice that while very little magic was being used by Amras the spell was gathering enough energy from the environment itself to power multiple supernova spells.

Mass began to form within the violent condensed mana storm, pale white like a liquefied grub.

Finally after a few seconds an oozing layer of cellulose wrapped around the mass and the spell ended with a pop, dropping a small yellow fruit on the ground in front of the deer

"There! Eat that and it should make you glitter. If there is a creature inside you and it eats the banana as well I should wonder if we would be able to tell its glittering from here as well. Perhaps as a either a disruption or regional intensity shift of your own."

---

Pouch 1: Baubled talc rods x12	Pouch 2: Charcoal dust (50 in3)	Pouch 3: Dried Mothers Tear mushrooms (25 in3)	Pouch 4: Charcoal chunks x7 (medium)
Back bag: Empty

Take hold of the power within
"And shape the fabric of reality around you"
tags: @Pride @Squick
notes: None

Pride backed up, very quickly and very worriedly. He could not, like almost all the Gembound of the caves, sense magic or the amount of it being cast--but he did not like Amras' use of the word "experiment" or the sudden glowing of light. Just as he was about to open his mouth to protest, however, a banana appeared, and he immediately relaxed.

"I can eat that, though I don't kow how it will tell us anything; I will be glowing as well," he pointed out. Well, sparkling, but still.

He knelt and nibbled some of it down, after splitting the thick peel, and then looked to Amras. "I don't recall the shimmer showing through walls, and such, so I don't see why it would show through my flesh, but it's an easy meal at least." His voice was amused, and kind.

He tried to reach out along that mental link, but nothing came, and so he just... waited.

@Squick

Squick waited patiently for a time, squelching quietly to itself. After a while, though, its patience was rewarded; a sweet-smelling banana-mush descending like a gift from the heavens. The maggot like creature was finally able to satisfy its urges, feeding excitedly on the sweet-testing mush. Squick didn't know exactly what it was per se; but it was certainly much better than anything it had eaten before.

It ate until its body was once again plump and round, its wrinkles just a tiny bit less obvious, and then relaxed, sinking into itself and flattening into a small, fleshy puddle with a small and contented sound like a deflating balloon.

It was only then that it noticed its own sparkling illuminating the walls of its home. Wow! The little one propped itself up on its hindmost set of limbs and examined each tiny paw in turn; twisting it this way and that, blinking in amazement. What was this?

It had to tell Pride!

The little parasite perked up, dropping onto ten legs again on the floor of Pride's stomach. It set its legs apart and cast its magic, veins of light spreading once again throughout the walls of Pride's stomach as he passed it on to him.

@Pride @Amras

Amras nodded in response to Pride's observation. Indeed that was the most likely outcome- that the deer would begin glittering and should the creature inside glitter as well the view would be blocked. That wasn't the only possible outcome, however- what if the magic was additive in nature? There had never in the gryphon's knowledge been a case where one gembound resided within another. Could it be that the magic would overlap if activated within itself?

Silver eyes gazed intently at his friend as the magic began to take hold. Chaotic patterns of sparkles lit the deer's flesh- harmless emanations of what was no doubt excess energy stored in the conjured fruit. Were there other conjuration spells that acted like this, he briefly wondered. Would one similarly sprkle if they ate and were able to digest a summoned gem?

Gaze continued to scan over the glittery cervine until finally, almost imperceptibly, an area of the skin appeared to be glittering in a different pattern. Amras stepped closer, having gotten permission for the experiment, and brought a talon up to the section of changed intensity. It was no brighter, nor was it dimmer as he'd hoped to observe. It was more like the sparkles were a river flowing across a flat plane and this spot was a large stone under the surface shifting the current ever so slightly.

"It's less of a result than I would have expected, and surely I would have missed it if not for your story." he spoke aloud as he briefly poked the spot before backing off. "If that is where your stomach exists though this seems to confirm that the voice in your mind reflects reality rather than being an echo of your previous encounter. You really do have a knack for stumbling upon fascinating circumstances don't you, Pride."

---

Pouch 1: Baubled talc rods x12	Pouch 2: Charcoal dust (50 in3)	Pouch 3: Dried Mothers Tear mushrooms (25 in3)	Pouch 4: Charcoal chunks x7 (medium)
Back bag: Empty

Take hold of the power within
"And shape the fabric of reality around you"
tags: @Pride @Squick
notes: None