Immediately after the thread: Softly

As they traveled back to Eridanus, Venari was careful not to take too many sharp twists with her body or move across the ceiling, consciously remembering her passenger.

She moved with crazy speed, zooming out of Monoceros, twisting through the tunnel, racing through Orion until, finally, they entered the tunnel to Eridanus. But even as they entered the lush green of home, she did not slow; she crashed through foliage without thinking, making a bee-line for her cavern.

But, she was careful not to stop abruptly also; as her cavern came into view along the far wall, she slowed gently and peered inside with her third eye—making sure no squatters had taken up a residency during her absence!

"Here we are," she declared, lowering herself completely into the ground so that he could disembark easily. She placed the basket just inside the mouth of her cavern, scuttling over to the painted area of wall.

Her arms and her mandibles stretched outward as she introduced it, "And this is pretty! This depicts my chrysalis!" She moved carefully to the back of her den, where she shuffled and clattered pieces of the diamond. "I would love to have pieces glow, that I can put there—on the uh, wall, the pretty wall."

@Oliver

Oliver clung to Venari with blind terror and exhilaration struggling for dominance in his mind. On the one hand, he'd never moved so fast, and it was awesome; on the other, he felt like he might fly off, smash into a wall and break every damn bone in his body any second. He clung for dear life, pressed low against her carapace, and when they began zipping through whipping vines and leaves, he pressed his face down, too.

Only when they arrived did he slowly pry himself free, panting and wide-eyed, and tremblingly drop to the ground.

"You're... fast," he told her, admiringly and dizzied both. And then, he followed her--creeping his way in through the entrance of her den, and peering about at what he saw. There were shattered shards of glittering gemstone across the floor--brilliant and clear--and a painting covering much of the rear wall.

Fascinated, he crept in farther, and then pushed up to look around. There wasn't enough greenery, for his tastes, but when was there? "It is pretty," he agreed, with feeling. "If you want me to grow flowers and stuff for you, I can?" He glanced to the insectoid creature, and offered a smile, and then made his way to her feet--her many, many feet--and the diamond shards scattered around them.

Slowly, he sat, and then gently picked one piece up: a larger slice, thin at one end; and he held this delicately, turning it over in his palms. He tried to focus on his magic, but--as it sometimes did--it decided to betray him entirely. Instead of bright and pretty, the gemstone shaded to a near-black, and he blinked and frowned.

Apologetically, he looked up to his new friend. "Um--I'm sorry. It does this, sometimes. I can fix it--it'll just take awhile to do these all, but I can stay for however long it takes? If you're okay with that," he added.

His fur and feathers, at least, were finally smoothing down from their wild ride here.

{Table code credit to Madison, altered a bit!}

@Game Master CJ

Oliver mentioned she was fast and she grinned secretly. Yes. Fast and scary.

Venari shifted awkwardly, unsure if she actually liked having a visitor in her den. When he offered flowers, she tilted her head and considered. "Hmm," she hummed, letting her feet tick on the wall. "Maybe not right now. I might not be here often enough to keep them, uh," she turned to him and shrugged several legs. "Rained?" Wet. But maybe the cavern was wet enough?

She sifted through some of the chrysalis pieces as he picked one out, but noticed it did not glow immediately. Venari smiled, playing with her own piece she had picked out. "It's fine. You don't have to do all of them either, maybe just a few," she offered, curling the length of her body underneath herself. Oh, before she forgot, "Thank you."

For now, she only watched. She wanted to ask why he had left Eridanus, but she had a sneaking suspicion; and she wanted her chrysalis pieces to glow. So she'd wait to bring up her contact.

@Oliver

Oliver fired her a smile. He was growing more and more fond of Venari, and quickly, too; the way she shrugged those terrifying legs was such a... relatable gesture, despite her alien appearance. And her fumbling, too, with words.

He didn't correct her, though, instead agreeing:

"Yeah, and keeping it--uh, rained--that's hard," he said. He gave her a bright, happy smile at her thanks--she was one of the politest Gembound he'd ever met (if that's what she even was). "You're very welcome! I'm glad to help."

He looked down, focusing again; this time it was hard, but doable, the black slowly reversing and clarity returning to the diamond shard. It went from transparent, to pale, to a soft and golden glow, and once it held a good shine he held it out to her with a somewhat-apologetic smile.

"I think that's as good as this one will get. I'll do the next one. Hopefully I can make some of them real bright. What are you doing with them, exactly?" he asked, glancing to her curiously. "And do you mind if--I ask how long you've lived here? I lived here for a long time and I don't think I ever even heard of you." He gave her another brief, admiring smile, no longer seeing mandibles and too-many-legs but instead a bright, friendly personality; and then he picked up another diamond shard, and looked it over.

{Table code credit to Madison, altered a bit!}

@Game Master CJ

She had nothing better to do than to watch; she knew she could not enchant items so that they would glow. Maybe she could learn? But the thought did not even cross her mind. It was not important. It did not, in any way, help her succeed with her tasks. As far as she was concerned, anyway.

Her eyes were aglow as he finished with the piece of diamond. Gently, Venari reached forward to grab it as he held it out to her, and she felt her chitinous mouth smile. When Oliver asked what she was doing with them, she turned and gestured to the painting of her chrysalis on the wall. "I want them to hang here, so that this painting can glow," she explained, raising her body so that it stood tall against the wall. She fiddled lightly with one of the vines hanging near the ceiling of her den and then focused on the diamond piece itself, holding it up to her diamond scythe-mandible and slowly working to carve a hole into the piece. It made an awful sound, but Venari did not seem to mind it.

When she was happy with the score gouged into the chrysalis piece, she lifted it to thread the vine through; it hung like a star glittering alone in the night, and she lowered herself back down to marvel at it. She couldn't wait to have more of them sparkling near the painting.

Venari turned back to him finally and shrugged. "Not very long. I've only just been designed."

@Oliver

Oliver peered up, watching the shining stone, and blinking. He smiled. It was pretty, in a sparklingly simple way: only rock, perhaps, but the glinting of light over color in the dark space was fascinating to watch. The screech of mandible on diamond had his ear-tufts flatten back, a wince darting across his face and quickly replacing the smile.

He hunched over, picking out another piece as he spoke.

"Well, it looks really nice. It's a nice home! What--um. What do you mean by, 'designed?'" he then asked, glancing up and blinking.

Back to his 'work,' then; a brief moment of focus in an attempt to cast the next shattered fragment into glowing light. It flared up, a soft golden-white like the last, and Oliver--beaming another smile, happy to be able to help his new friend--pushed up to half-stagger forward on awkward hind legs, holding this one up in his bird-claw forefoot. "It's gonna look really nice, I think. Did you do this?" he added, nodding to the painting with curiosity in his tone.

{Table code credit to Madison, altered a bit!}

@Game Master CJ

The question caught her off guard. "Huh?" she blurted without thinking, pausing in her movements to think back on what she heard. She heard him right... right?

Did Oliver... not know how he was made? It was an ingrained knowledge she had, that she knew what the chrysalis was and why it was there—why her mandible was diamond, and its purpose, too. Her head tilted as she inspected him. Was he fuckin' with her?

"I was designed to be like this," she said, gesturing to herself and her chrysalis, and then pointed to him. "Weren't you?" Well, wasn't he? How else would he be here? She bent down to reach for the next piece he held out, still not sure if he was totally pulling one over on her. That would be a pretty good joke, though.

She shook her head when he asked if she had done the painting. Venari worked a hole quickly into this diamond piece and strung it like the last before turning back to him. "Nah, some other creature, but I don't know their name." Names. Names felt weird, but Venari had one; and a job, too: the Hunter.

Since she didn't know their name, she added quietly, "the Creative Mind."

It was not a part of Venari to be artistically creative, but she was easily adaptable, such as these string lights that Oliver was helping her make. She didn't know why she thought they'd look nice, but she did; and indeed, they were starting to look nice.

@Oliver

...Designed? Oliver thought about this as he shuffled back to the diamond chunks, cupping another in birdlike claws.

Had he been designed..?

At Venari's elaboration, though, he flashed her a bright, encouraging smile."Well, it's nice that Gembound're making you gifts like this? It's always nice to have friends," he added, and then glanced down at the diamond piece he held.

A moment's focus, then...

Another diamond shard flared up with a glittering light, reflecting brief and bright like a disco ball. Oliver stood, padding back over to Venari again, offeringup this piece as he spoke.

"Anyway, I don't think I was designed? Dad's a black dog, he said he's, um. Void. He's weird? But nice. And Mom's a crow, she likes shiny things like this, too. They decided to make us, one day. I've got Dad's stone. White--that's my sister? She's got Mom's stone."

{Table code credit to Madison, altered a bit!}

@Game Master CJ

Friends?

Her brain scrambled to define it in the way that he had meant. Like allies, right? But she was distracted from the thought when he held up the next glittering piece. She took it as he spoke, trying to work quietly with it while she listened to him explain where he had come from. Her hard brows had furrowed in thought as she turned and strung up the next piece.

"Hmm," was all she managed as she turned back to look at him again. She supposed he did seem kind of... random. At least, Venari could see where his design could be improved.

But if his dad were Void, then perhaps Oliver just didn't really know the details well enough. She shrugged it off as a misunderstanding, choosing rather to assume he was not too different than her. It didn't sound too different, anyway; two dudes get together and design a new creature, yeah? That's basically what happened.

"I guess," she said after a while, shifting through the chrysalis pieces thoughtfully. Was Astraea her dad? No, that wasn't really a thing. Again, it was a word and concept she could understand, but not one that she knew. She wanted desperately to clear the subject, though.

"What do you do with friends?" she asked, curbing the previous discussion. "Is that not an ally? A comrade?" Why did it need a fancy new name and meaning?

@Oliver

Luckily, Oliver didn't seem too fixed on any one topic, flowing smoothly into answering Venari's question without dwelling on what had come prior.

"Oh, um. No, I don't--think so?" A squint, thoughtful, and then he turned and shuffled back to the shards, squatting again. He peered up at Venari for a moment, thinking. "I think... those things--those words--are for, like... um. Ally's when you share a goal? So you're cooperating, you don't have to like each other, you know? And uhh. Comrade... I guess is someone you fight alongside? But they probably get along better than allies, at least. I think friend is more... when you like someone, you know? You don't have to share goals, or even... ideals. You can--uhh."

A pause. Black claws, gently cradling the diamond shard; deep focus. And gradually, Oliver fell back into his answer.

"Like... You can appreciate the person. You enjoy their company? You like who they are." He smiled up at her, again. "You might not always agree with what they do but... you maybe bring them gifts, and like being around them, talking to them. You'd wanna protect them from being hurt." He didn't want to ask Venari 'are we friends?' since... well, the concept alone had been foreign to her up until a moment ago. And he didn't want to push her, either. Instead he looked back down to the shard, giving her time to concentrate--and with a quiet thud, a sort of implosion of light, this piece went pitch black, again. It seemed to consume light, instead of offer it, and Oliver sighed, a little sadly. "I think sometimes I accidentally use Dad's magic, instead of Mom's," he lamented wryly, glancing up with an apologetic look to his maybe, possibly, friend.

{Table code credit to Madison, altered a bit!}

@Game Master CJ