Arsu paced sedately along, eyes shifting over to watch his brother and their new friend. His brow drew down in focus.

"Creepy-? I'm not sure we can-..." He tried to imagine it. "Tangled roots and vines... lots of mist, maybe, but I don't know why we'd do that," he added, amusement in his gentle tone.

As he began pacing forward, he sent the faintest surge of magicka up through his stone. A slight golden glow framed him--not that they needed the light; it seemed to be habit, perhaps, or maybe "just in case."

"Do you know many others throughout the caves, then? I haven't travelled as much as I could have, myself," Arsu added. He seemed to be half-lost in his own thoughts, his eyes wandering the vines, and plants--and that was true. Always he was observing them, committing each plant and flower to memory, checking on their health, and so forth.

He glanced back to see which path Attikias would be taking, and waited.

To Azizos's joking, he only glanced at the statue, and then at his brother--with a skeptical, amused look. If that looked identical to Attikias, the poor elf would've had some serious health problems.

@Azizos

"A little stroll never hurts," Azizos bleated in mild agreement, though he lowered his head in gentle worry and offered again, "I can carry it?" Watching Attikias hoist the solid stone over a root, though, the kirin amended with another laugh: "ah, nevermind. It seems like you have it."

The lion-stag pawed at the ground, tossing his mane, "my services are not required." He was acting all faux-pompous ass. It seemed like the act was exhausting, though, because Azizos immediately asked again, "really, I can help?" Spiralling moonstone seemed to already glow in preparation as he waited for permission, meandering along all the while.

There was no such thing as too many gifts, but maybe making a haunted house would be crossing some previously undrawn line in the sand - mostly for practical reasons. It would be amusing.

The kirin plodded along, taking up the rear in the procession and waiting for whatever answer the elf had for Arsu, listening attentively.

@Attikias

ATTIKIAS
violence for violence
is the rule of the beasts

Attikias snorted softly. "It wouldn't be too hard. I can make it smokey with some fire, turn the place black 'n' gray with ash, but I don't think I'd really want that." His grin was audible in his words. "It'd be a good prank if it wasn't on me! I don't think I'd wanna do that to your dad, though; he seems nice."

His arms were beginning to get minutely sore, but he kept his eyes on the now glowing Arsu and nodded at the path he was walking. It was slow going comparatively, but not as slow as it could be. "I don't really know a lot of people," he admitted quietly. "There's a huge guy who called himself an Overseer, the guy I told you about, and I saw a meeting here cycles ago but I dunno if they're still here. After that I kinda stayed by myself." He shrugged and stopped for a moment, breathing out a huff and pushing his hands into the muscles of his arms.

He laughed at the joking Azizos gave, at least. "We aren't that far- if you want to, you can. It's just through that grove, kinda." The plants were worn and cut from him making a path through, though plenty of roots and places to tangle the statue definitely existed. "You're not.. Obligated to, I can just take a break if it doesn't work."

Magic was a fickle thing, after all. Letting out a clipped sigh, Attik put his arms over the 'head' of the rock and propped himself on it for the time being.

@Arsu

Arsu peered ahead, critically eyeing over the grove that lay beyond the tangles of undergrowth. While Attikias rested, leaning on his statue, the twin stepped delicately out over a twist of vines and off along the path.

"What colors do you prefer?" he called back, softly, as he picked his way through the foliage.

The den location wasn't hard to find; there were tools strewn about, here and there, stones and signs of flame.

He paused, studying it all, one ear flicking back to listen to Attikias' response, and then he focused on his magic. Here and there flowers began to sprout; silver, and deep blue, and flaming orange, in clusters where they seemed appropriate. Arsu's pale shape could be seen moving here and there amongst the ferns and leaves.

His eyes cast down, over the scattered tools. "What are all of these for?" he asked, his tone kind and curious. His gaze flashed back to his brother, then. "Fascinating, isn't it? I'd never imagined what it might be like to have... well, hands."

The chat, and gathering, had been one of contentment. Arsu turned back to the grove, glad he had met this stranger today--a stranger who had become, it seemed, a friend.

Editing into an exit due to inactivity

@Azizos

"Fire?" he chimed in, face lighting up with a notable amount of curiosity - and not a pyromaniac's sort. "You would - willingly make fire? It'd spread through the whole of Eridanus," Azizos continued, brows furrowing in worry. Just about every Gembound on this block knew that the moss-ridden room had suffered enough damage; scars from the last few blazes and a war still littered the jungle floor. It'd be a shame if suddenly he had to dispatch this elf before he became too feral and set the cave on fire as a silly prank.

But, the moment seemed to pass - fortunately, and Azizos moved on to fixing his gaze on the huge voodoo statue. Magicka thrummed against his skull, the spirals of his horn seeming to shift their reflections as he made to dredge it from the ground, pull it against gravity's flow. He moved it gently at first, giving Attikias a fair chance to move his arm before it went fully airborne. It spun slowly in the air, some foot in front of Azizos's immediate eyeline. The kirin lowered his head, eyes level with the horizon and taking note of the path. He followed along it, prying quietly, cautiously, "and did you ever become... lonely?" Even now, was the man lonely?

Azizos mulled over it for a moment, the slight realization that he really only interacted with his family on the regular. He mouthed uh oh to himself, ears moving backwards minutely. Perhaps, it wasn't such a bad thing for him as only talking to one Greater ever, but the lion-stag knew he had few relationships that he actually maintained and kept up with. He hadn't seen a single Gembound twice.

The marvel of the den was enough to distract him from those feverish thoughts, tools lying all about beneath the roof. It was less of an enclosed space and more of a lean-to, built up from the floor and sheltered rather well. Some ashy pit lay in front of it, carrying a faint scent of smoke. Azizos felt his magical hold slip just enough that he focused on orienting the statuette upwards and set it in a bare spot by the back wall. The shadows cast seemed to make it just a little less awful.

A soft smile tugged at his face as he sniffed at a stone and twist of metal, murmuring back to his brother, "to not have to use magic to carry things... what a thing - and speaking of, Attikias, what are these for?"

Mistake number two, elf boy: showing curious cat-deer to your home full of many more tools and strange objects. Azizos continued to nose around, growing more and more at ease with each of the foreign things presented to him. Attikias could, of course, expect further visits.

also editing into an exit because F
@Attikias

ATTIKIAS
violence for violence
is the rule of the beasts

With nothing to work with his arms, he folded them behind his back, fiddling with the bag as he watched them dance around with their magic and flair. Well- figuratively dance, but he still couldn't wrap his mind around the flourish they could perform. Was that the exchange of having hands?

When he returned to his facsimile of a den, he blinked at the question. Hm. "Silver," he responded quickly, running a nail under the other. "Or- hm. Blue? Deep-ish- and-" he almost said fire but would that worry them?- "orange." His hands turned out in front of him, pointing with his words as he mulled over answers.

Curiosity could never kill these cats as they mulled about his camp. He followed Arsu, first, kneeling down to look at what he was. "Lot'sa things, really," he rumbled out as he picked up a tiny sort of ice-pick. "Um... Some of them have no purpose. I guess I just like them." He returned it to the pile as Azizos drifted the statue to its resting place. "I make the fire there." Attikias gestured to the ashy patch, nodding. "Sometimes, I guess it gets lonely. It'd be nice to cook for more than just myself, I think."

"Speaking of cooking," he picked up a sort of thinner, fork-like object, "this helps break up the food sometimes. Things're hot and the little curls here help you hook it so you don't burn yourself." He... Guessed, really. He'd go on to show the boys around a bit more, answering questions and giving his little explanations to everything.

He'd like to be a less lonely, perhaps.

;exit? i've unintentionally let this thread die