He only had a few at this point - the infection had happened not long ago, but the second that the urge had come over him, he'd followed without question. Why would he not, after all? He had no reason to mistrust the urge, he had no reason to mistrust the petals. He'd only ever had good feelings from it. Sure, there's been weird emotions in his head, but he didn't really mind. It was a new experience. Perhaps this was normal.

This was another new cave as well. Very wet and cold. He wasn't sure that he really liked that chill in the air, but for the sake of the petals that he carried, he didn't really mind. He was to take them here, to a dark corner, where others were gathering. He paused, a little surprise that there were so many here already. So many diving right into the darkness.

It didn't deter him. Clutching the flowers tightly, he stepped right in. "This is place," he stated to no one in particular.

P A L L A S
the man who sleeps with a knife
is a fool every night but one

Pallas wouldn't have agreed to the linking of minds if it was proposed to him before this. But now, it felt right, felt correct in every fiber of his being. The collective feeling of limbs pacing on hard rock soothed him- it wasn't long until he joined in himself.

Of course, he couldn't forget his clusters. He'd fashioned an odd leaf-like sled for them, its design inspired by the thick ferns and plants of Eridanus. The tie lay around his hips- the best he could do with thick orange digits.

He could tell where the others were. Head raised in the air, he quivered with excitement to be with the others physically once more. An inkling of uncertainty ringed in the back of his mind. Then again, why should he worry about his own thoughts?

It didn't take long to track the memories of others conglomerating into the forgotten corner. He hesitated ever so briefly before continuing on, the petals, despite their half-rotten state, safe in their green basket.

Normally it was Artume taming Bold's bad ideas.

Now, though, he was the one trying to bodily block her. He threw his head, stamped his hooves, and weaved his antlers. But she insisted, rearing up and waving her hooves, had even charged him, once.

He felt the beckoning, of course he did, through their link. But it was dampened, not nearly as strong as she felt it. It was a chain, a collar, a taut leash, tugging her to the cave--she wanted, she needed to go, and so she darted around him and bolted into the cave, and reindeer stamping his hooves uneasily, before following her inside, unwilling to allow her to put herself in danger alone.

Desert still hated Pisces. It was nearly built to wear down all of his physical barriers, a direct opposite of his nature of a creature of sand.

Of course, there wasn't much in terms of a mental barrier, anymore.

At first, he thought the memories he'd gained lended themselves to his own patchy mind, lapses of his history filled with ones the flowers gifted him. His psyche had dropped slowly as they returned, though the moment he felt a sense of different bodies, he could feel himself mentally vomit.

The still lucid part of his mind couldn't handle the dysmorphia the visions brought. Not memories- no, he learned that quick when he could see his own brother's legs below himself. Now, there were too many presences about him, in his mind and rooting through him. Part of him fought against the ease that had came over him. It wasn't part of his nature to even let his guard down, and yet... It was just so easy to go with the flow.

The trek from Hydra to Pisces was a long one, arduous and painful as he soared off of nothing but the energy the flowers provided. He only had two with him- the others were too far gone for him to bring, too rotten to be picked up and caressed as he did before.

Mist collected over his sandy scales and in his coarse fur as he set down before the cavern, vivid visions of seeing this before many times washing over him.

Join us.

The presence of his brother nearby set a spring in Desert's step as he approached, head low and ears flicking this way and that. Was there room for him? Who all was there? Too many for his tastes, at least. His teeth clenched softly about the flowers in his jaw, the rotten taste poisoning his taste buds. Swallowing hard, he gingerly let the clusters to the ground before raising his head, blue eyes glinting like the pools if water all around.

"Hello?" His voice came out soft, unused. He cleared his dry throat. Try again.

"Hello? Lab, are you there?" There we go. His long throat aided in heightening the volume of his voice. His tail curled about him and his scales shivered, taking ginger steps forward yet not yet daring to enter. Pulsing thoughts of 'becoming one' rattled through his complacent brain, but he had to know if his brother was okay. If he was okay, Desert was okay. If he was okay, everything was okay, the last mental guard could be dropped and he could truly join them where he belonged.

But not without his brother.

Adelaide's wisp brought with it dim light, a flickering to illuminate the pitch black, low-ceilinged room: perhaps a dozen yards across, with a softly-glittering pool along one side. In this, Lamia had surfaced, perhaps staring back at them. But she was one of them... she was with them, in their minds. She belonged.

Strangely-shaped plants and mushrooms, lichens and moss, covered the ground along the outer edges in hues of red and gray. At the center stood a pile of large stones, reaching high, and from above a few thick roots from an unknown source dangled. Water dripped from these, streaking dark lines down the stones.

As more and more of them gathered, the sweet putrescent scent of the clusters began to fill the room. For a few long and silent moments, nothing happened-... They simply stood in the quiet dark, with the sound of only their own breathing, and with a sense that this was right.

That something momentous was about to occur.

Then, slowly, one by one, the clusters began to sprout. The Gembounds' minds would grow blank as this occurred, compelled to put them down or even carry them to the large boulders at the room's center.

Each cluster split open, cracking quietly and audibly. Their rotten filaments were spilling forth, white and wormy and moving, reaching for one another. They spread, extended, tangled into one another, moving themselves to the stones at the center and expanding: carpeting the boulders in a thick, rancid grey-white mossy fuzz. The sweet odor grew stronger, the rotten slowly fading. They rose, filaments reaching like slender stems, translucent in the wisp-light. There had to be a hundred pounds of it, disgusting, a writhing mass, unnatural and rotten, and...

"...Perfect."

Slowly, the filaments stilled. There was no sign of where the clusters once had been. Instead there was the large, white knot of something, perched in the center of the room between them, like a draping cloak of pale moss.

"You have... done well." The voice, like quiet taps of water in the dark, like the warm embrace of a mother they had never known, like insect legs skittering over rock, murmured through their minds. It was stronger now: an imperative, a strength, a presence that was here, with them and before them. "My children..." The being's mind--they could feel it; they could all feel it--turned toward Labradorite. He had asked a question. "I want... you--my children... to care for one another." Love flooded them. They were beloved--to one another, and to their mother-in-the-white. They were safe, here. Nothing could harm them... They had, at last, come home. "Care... for one another. Nurture... one another. Keep me... alive, so that I may... keep us bound: a family... linked. Beloved..." There was a brief silence, but the overpowering sense of being loved and safe, embraced, only strengthened. "Your mother... will need food... whatever you may bring. You must tend this: it is the center... of your world, now. It is what... binds us. In truth-... beyond the chaos in which you have been spawned... I will protect you... but you must protect me... and you must-... protect one another. Guard this place... tell no one of it. No one... outside our family... must ever find it. Spread the White-... Spread the family... Take pieces... and grant others... the gift of Family. Help them... to come Home."

The white began to shift, just a little, like grass rustling in a wind. New clusters began to form, atop the slender stems. And those present would understand, instinctively: they could gather these, and bring them to others, to join them with the Mind.

To join them with Mother.

The Gembound currently present will find that they are now fully-linked with all of those around them. Thoughts, ideas, images, and feelings will all pass freely between them, though this is stronger with proximity, and weakens greatly when they are more than two caves away. It is impossible to hide thoughts from one another. The sense of calm and well-being is extremely powerful, now, and the urge to nourish Mother and protect one another, and to keep Home safe, is strong. It is their new goal... their new purpose.

Characters should not yet exit this thread. New members may still join at any time.

@Desert Rose Thirty-Five (Pallas) @Labradorite Five-Four-Six @Yew (Artume) @Huckleberry (Lamia, Azrael) @Adelaide @Zelk @Opal Three-Seven-Six @Archimedes (Sergei, Legion)

The area was small, tiny compared to what was outside of it, there was no way that many gembound could fit their way into it yet that didn't stop others from joining. Slowly trickling into the unknown, feeling as safe as ever. Being early the wolf pup had found a comfortable enough spot, watching her wisp illuminate as much as it could and without a second thought, as soon as she was settled enough, she called upon her magic to create more blue lights, as many as she possibly could so that they could linger above and on the sides, trying to give as much light for the others as she could. The new wisps were smaller than her original one though, yet, they would suffice for little pinpricks of light. She would do anything for these creatures that joined her in this small area. She would perhaps give her life for them. This was not her, not really, she didn't know these creatures, wouldn't give them a second glance if they could do nothing for her, would definitely not give her life up for them if she knew them before. Things were different now. Things were better now.

She was anxious in the eery blue light, or perhaps not anxious but eager. She wanted to know what was going to happen, oh she wanted to know so badly. There wasn't long to wait. She was too large to comfortably carry her clusters to the centre so, without a thought, she merely lowered her head silently and placed it on the ground. Then, with held breath, she watched as the filaments she knew were inside began to come together, as if they were alive. She smiled. A true, wide, joyous smile. The pup was proud, she felt whole. Finally involved in something as if her entire, very short, life had been leading up to this one moment. "Mother...?" It was a whisper, that word brought back bad memories, or was it a vision of what was to come? She wasn't sure she liked it, but she loved her new family nonetheless. That love filled her, it was warm, it was painful, but it was beautiful. She would never be able to hold back from that feeling, it was her now, just as everyone here was also her, was also mother.

She looked around at the others, there were all so different, she recognised a few, although their names were an entirely different matter. "What will happen when we spread our family? Will you grow?" Will they she grow more powerful? She didn't ask the question aloud, although, other than her duty to her...this family, it was really all that was going through her head.

She wouldn't gather one of the clusters just yet, she would take one last when others had left, she also wanted to look around their home before leaving, and she couldn't do that until she was alone, or at least alone with mother.

Huckleberry followed the others into the cave, Shiny clinging hard to his shoulders. She had most of the clusters the two had collected and a shiver went down her back as they moved. Huckle-friend, something is happening...

But he couldn't respond and her voice quickly went silent. It was okay. This was right. This is what was meant to happen. Huckleberry stepped up to the boulder and Shiny leaned over, depositing them on the ground before he stepped back to watch.

This was good. This was right. This was perfect.

The writing mass before him didn't look ugly or rotting. It simply looked like it was supposed to look. A sense of calm oneness fell over him and, for a moment, all was right in the world.

Until the words started flooding over him. The words "children", "family", "Mother"...that wasn't right. For a moment, Huckleberry wavered. Because this wasn't his family. He already had a family. And he didn't want another one. He didn't want another mother or siblings, he didn't want that all to happen again. The bad feeling grew in his chest and he stepped back, trying to resist, now, that sense of oneness. Because this was not right, this was not perfect.

He wouldn't get roped up in anything like that again.

The faint echo of alarm, as did everything they thought now, rippled through the links. Like a spider touching its web, it vibrated through their hive mind.

Mother was not perturbed. She was not angry.

She was... disappointed. "All I offer you, and you do not wish it..? Very well. Come to me, and it will all be forgotten... We cannot let others wander, not knowing where Home is. If you do not wish to be family... come closer." It was a promise, sweet, roses on the wind.

And to the others, as well, she spoke.

"He cannot leave... not yet. Not for our safety's sake."

P A L L A S
the man who sleeps with a knife
is a fool every night but one

Pallas's form trembled with excitement, the emotions surrounding him palpable around the gem in his tongue. Of course, he was one to volunteer gathering up clusters and dragging them closer, ever closer to their home, to his Home.

His previously built up den was all but forgotten as he basked in her beauty, his mind blank and empty as he watched on in awe. He couldn't even dare to think of disgust over the ritual taking place before him. How sweet they were, how he had found his family. Seating himself, Pallas lifted his head and closed his eyes, inhaling the sickly sweet scent that enveloped them all.

His thoughts returned in the form of another's invading them. Ever so slowly, he returned his head to the mass of white before each of them, his features losing their signature hardiness and bitterness. He could get drunk on this feeling that wrapped about them.

Care. Pallas... Could care. He must care for, must protect his mother, his family. Yes. He could build a den for them for each of them, a place to store Mother's food- anything, he would do anything to keep them safe, to keep them whole.

This was his purpose.

Almost immediately, he wriggled off the makeshift sled from his hindquarters and weaved between legs, dragging the leaf behind him to make a dry place against the wet stone of Pisces. The image of storage, the idea of bedding enveloped the others as his mind projected his own thoughts, a sense of need coming over him. Moss- bedding, the others would all need comfortable places to stay, and Mother needed something to consume. He was thankful for the wisps, even managing to project that towards the wolf who generated them.

In reality, he had no idea what Mother needed. Pausing in his movement to pad out the sled leaf, Pallas languidly turned to the new being. Mother, he began. He didn't have to use words. Instead, he projected a question of uncertainty and of the future. What would she need? What did she need to consume?

Of course, that was soon interrupted by the pang of disappointment rippling through his being. A being of Family was rejecting them, was rejecting Mother. His fur tingled and stood on end across his back as he turned his attention to the offending being- one much taller than him, yet exuding a sense of fear, of unease. How could one be so unnerved about their Mother? Pallas could do nothing but pity them, his forelegs shrinking back closer to his body as he curled about himself. How could someone leave? No- no, he couldn't. The presence about them, his own soul wouldn't stand such a loss. His limbs trembled at the thought as he forced himself to sit, to wait to see what his Family member would do.

He watched from the shadows as the...thing emerged from all the strange petals. He'd never seen anything quite like that before, but it didn't really surprise him. Still, he was more then a little shocked, one of his hands opening, the eye in the palm glaring at the writhing hill.

A sense of peace, then, washed over him, as he looked at it a little closer. As she spoke to them. At first, he was scared of his own emotions suddenly welling from deep within the pit of his chest, afraid that there was something wrong with his heart or his stone. He looked down, but the glowing opal was as it always was, the cracks glowing no brighter or dimmer then they always did. Why did he feel like this?

Love. That was the word that popped into his head, to describe those around. It was love that was bonding them together. He closed his eyes and, for a moment, let himself sink into that feeling of love and protectiveness. He'd always been alone, stalking, hunting, eating, ruthlessly surviving, but now it was like he didn't have to do that anymore. All he needed to do was protect mother. Protect the family. And they would protect him.

Any other time, perhaps his strong sense of pride would have interfered with it, told him that he needs to stand on his own, to not rely on anyone else. But not now. All he cared about now was the family.

So when mother told them that their safety was at stake, to keep the winged one from leaving, Azrael didn't hesitate. With a deafening roar he surged forward, all four arm raise as he lunged at Huckleberry. The bottom pair went to tangle with his wings, the top pair to hold down his head, while the rest of his body attempted to body slam the creature to the ground. He may not have been much bigger then Huckleberry, but he was definitely heavier.