Shiro picked his way through Polaris, yawning sleepily as he walked. Why was he walking when he could just be laying down somewhere? It took him a moment to remember that he was, in fact, just walking from one sleeping place to the other. He had a few scattered around Polaris and, once he'd found some food, he just went to whichever was closest. The nearest was through a hole in the wall of the edge of Polaris, right by a tiny, bubbling spring. It was big enough to provide Shiro was a water source, but not big enough that it made him nervous.

It took him a while to get there, what with his slow pace, but he eventually eached Polaris's edge and began making his way along the perimeter. A few minutes later, the spring was in sight and he sped up his pace ever so slightly until he was standing next to it. He reached down, taking a few laps of the water (carefully, so as not to get his fur wet) before stepping into his little cave. It was tiny, barely enough room to move, but it was sheltered, warm, and cozy. And most importantly, it was dry.

With a relaxed sigh, he curled up, his head sticking out a bit, resting on the edge of the tunnel, and closed his eyes, drifting quickly into a light, dreamy sleep.

@Kalama

Kalama rarely left her home cave of Canis. But lately, she'd been on a mission. One that led her to wandering the caves. She hated most of them still. They were all particularly distasteful--all much too wet and nowhere dry enough. It left an acerbic taste in the chicken's mouth. She strutted through Polaris with misplaced determination. Wandering in winding, thoughtless paths that left her more agitated the more she traveled. She knew who she was looking for, but just had no way to find them. And she hated it. She was distracted by her thoughts as her ears picked up the sound of running water.

She was relieved, she could at least sate her thirst for the moment, and then she could continue on wandering Polaris. She followed the sound of burbling water to its source--a small spring of water. She paused at the waters edge, dunking her face in with the poise and grace of a falling boulder. She shook out the water, the feathers on her face still weighed down and dripping. And then she paused when she saw something white and fluffy on the other end. She tilted her head, orange pupils staring at it curiously.

It seemed to be sleeping. Were Kalama smarter, she might've remembered the last time she had woken a sleeping creature it hadn't gone to well. In fact, nearly every time she bothered a creature minding its own business it hadn't gone to well. But Kalama wasn't the pinnacle of intellect. She skirted around the edge of the spring, cautiously inching closer to the small white thing. She tilted her head, staring at the sleeping figure curiously, and clacked her beak. It was small. She raised her head, looking around. No nearby gembound. And alone, it seemed. And Kalama didn't like that. It made her angry.

She scratched at the ground with a foot. Then she kicked at small white thing's head. Not hard enough to cause any lasting damage, probably, just enough to wake it up. She thinks. "Don't sleep with your head sticking out, dummy." She made a 'chrr' noise in her throat. "Someone could come and bite it whenever. Didn't anyone teach you that?"
Speech. Thought

@Shiro

In his state of light sleeping, it wasn't exactly difficult to pull him back to the waking world, but it was a much harder feat to actually make the little fox wake up. So it, perhaps, was a testament to how sudden and unexpected the chicken's foot was and the loud, brash voice that it caused Shiro to immediately snap open his eyes and flinch away, proceeding to hit his head against the side of the tunnel in the process. Now his head hurt in two places and there was someone very loud standing outside.

He cringed and lifted a paw, rubbing it against the place that he'd hit. "Owowowowow," he muttered as he turned his gaze to see who was there. It was...

a chicken?

He paused and gazed at the bird for a moment, his brain taking a minute to register the creature in front of him, before he resumed rubbing at the sore spot on his head. What had she said to him? He'd heard her voice over the bang of his head against rock, but it was taking a minute to process. Once it did, he groaned loudly. "Sorry, there's not much room in here. No one taught me anything like that. Is that something that needs teaching?"

He put his paw down and a yawn flooded up his chest, making his jaws open wide. "I was doing fine," he murmured sleepily once the yawn had passed. "Nobody was gonna bite my head. Well, not until you. Who are you, anyways?"

@Kalama

Kalama flinched back as the small fluffy thing hit its head against the cave walls. She hadn't meant for that to happen. But, atleast, it was up now. Kalama felt a small measure of guilt seeing that, suprising given her lack of tact. However the hen quickly became distracted. It's eyes were interesting, she noted, now that it was awake. She hadn't seen another creature in the caves with eyes like that. Nor a creature without a proper cave, like hers. Then again, she didn't know many gembound. Was it common? It shouldn't be. Kalama herself would singlehandedly change that. The caves were practically alveolated with proper dens, she was sure.

"Wha-Yes! Of course that needs teaching! Who knows what gembound lurk out here, looking for small lone gembound to attack!" Her feathers puffed up. Her tail feathers stood straight in her indignation. Where was its mentor! Hers had given her a proper den! This den of its was not to Kalama's standards. "Find a better cave, cottonball!"

Kalama balked when the fox brought up the idea of her biting the small gembound's face, beak agape in shock.

"I'd never bite your face! That's something that a lesser gembound'd do. I stop myself at kicking faces and biting limbs and tails. Much more befitting of a greater gembound, more civilized." She clucked once in confirmation. Kalama quickly changed gears as the pup asked who she was. Her mood was quickly uplifted, and her ego quickly took hold.

"Me?" She made a show of fluffing her feathers out once more, and stretching her wings, striking a pose she thought would impress the small fox. She didn't often get to brag about herself. It was even rarer that gembound asked about her. "I am Kalama, defender of the Bonebound and apprentice to a master fighter! I myself have been in my fair share of battles." She 'chrr'd', proud of herself and her title. Kalama intentionally didn't mention how many, exactly, of those fights she'd won. Nor was she officially a protector of the Bonebound, but that'd change. It'd change as soon as she conquered Hydra on her own.

She tilted her head, observing the fox with one eye. She fluffed her feathers and snorted. "You are injured and small. Not fit to take care of yourself, clearly. I will teach you, cottonball. I will be your mentor." It wasn't exactly an apology for causing the fox to hit their head, but it was close as Kalama would manage, atleast for the moment.

Speech. Thought

@Shiro

Shiro watched Kalama go off on him with faint amusement. He shrugged, his fluffy tail thumping once behind him. The headache was quickly going away, barely a dull throbbing in the back of his skull. "Oh, well, then I'm grateful to have someone that's willing. I think this cave is nice...it's warm and cozy and there's a little spring right outside. I barely even have to leave to get a drink of water." He didn't mention that he'd never had a problem with Gembounds biting his head or even so much as caring about him almost falling out of the little hole until this chicken had come around. She seemed a little upset at his assumption that she'd bite him.

His brow arched a bit. "Well, I mean...kicking, biting, whatever, it's all just violence, right? I don't really see the difference." His last words were cut off by another yawn that arched through his jaws. It was shorter then the last one and he followed it up with a small shake of his head.

She certainly liked herself, didn't she? That wasn't a bad thing, though. Self-confidence was very important. Wish I could like myself that much. And he decided, in that moment, that he would look up to this brash, loud, and very annoying chicken because she was confident and proud and proactive and he could certainly do with some of that. A smile split across his face. "That's a cool name. I like the titles too. I'm Shirohi and I'm, uh...yeah, just Shirohi. But you can call me Shiro." He said this like it was a privilege, as if using his nickname made Kalama extra special and a small delighted look passed across his face.

It only brightened when Kalama continued. "Oh, really? I...I'm honored! Just one question - what's a mentor?"

@Kalama