Pride hesitated, gaze falling again to the moonstone.

His thoughts ran the same as hers: what if whoever "dad" was just hadn't wanted to say..?

"Do you mind if I touch the gemstone, briefly?" he asked, almost wincing as he did so. He didn't want to impose, but than again she'd wasted no time in picking the leaves from his fur; perhaps she wouldn't mind. "I would not ask, but--he is my son, I have not seen him in several cycles, and I may be able to tell--with my magic, that is--if he is well, through the gemstone. That is his stone, as well as yours," he added, in case she didn't know.

What he didn't say was that he hoped to see her conception, and whether Azizos' stone had been inert or not; or perhaps he'd see Azizos's death, or... something less pleasant.

"Afterward, I would be--happy to tell you about us, and about magic--how to protect, and heal. I have trained a great deal; I would be more than glad to teach others what I know, particularly for a good cause." The words, though quiet and warm, were forced through that lingering fear.

What if, what if, what if ran through Pride's mind, and none of the scenarios his imagination conjured up--nor the answers for them--were good.

It felt, very faintly, like some strange, bright nightmare.

@Vivilene

i need someone to look into my eyes and tell me

It should be noted that Vivilene also thought that asking to touch her gemstone was a bit strange-- but still, and especially with Pride's explanation, she saw very little reason to say no.

She had no idea what looking through the gemstone would actually entail, or if it would hurt or not. The idea of not casting to talk again, even if just for a moment, was also a very enticing prospect for her. Her head was beginning to pound.

The hybrid gave a little nod and shut her eyes in silence, waiting.

"girl you know you gotta watch your health"



@Pride

Pride exhaled, and stepped forward carefully.

"This won't hurt, or anything," he assured Vivilene, and leaned his head down, closing his own worried eyes, to touch the stone with his nose.

Hindsight wasn't a very particular magic, and it didn't generally care what the user wanted to see. It seemed, more often than not, to show some random past images and for Pride, this was now the case. He saw a flash of brown fur, movement, and then more relaxed slow walking by the edge of a lake or a pond. It was clear, but he couldn't tell if it was even Azizos--which baffled him--and then it was gone.

He shook himself and stepped back with a sigh.

"I can't tell, but thank you for letting me try," he said. He was reaching out, even as he spoke, along his link to Mischief and she, for once, was actually worried: she liked the kids, and his concern for Azizos' well-being had her scampering to search for any sign of him. She was somewhere off in the forest, herself, not one for Eridanus (and its hidden predators) but she, like him, had to graze from time to time.

Pride shook his thoughts free, but paid vague attention to her search along his link. His eyes, though, went back to Vivilene. He wondered why she could not talk--his first thought was her gemstone, but that was on her chest. Surely she didn't have two-? He'd never met someone with two, before. "For magic," he said, going back to that first, "there are many kinds. Those that can heal disease, or close wounds with fire. Those that can shield yourself--or another--from harm. There are other magics, too--to pick things up, and move them, without touching them--there's many kinds. Do you know anything about your own, bar the mind-magic? -That is magic, yes? Ah, do you know why you cannot speak?" For it was occuring to him, now, that perhaps she was naturally unable to verbally speak, but came with the ability to speak, without magic, mind-to-mind-?

@Vivilene

i need someone to look into my eyes and tell me

Pride said that it wouldn't hurt and for some reason, Vivilene decided to hold faith in this. She barely felt the touch, at least, and whatever Pride was doing she had no idea-- magic, he'd said, at least. Vivilene didn't know too much about it.

His explanation helped, at least. She nodded along with a faint, curious smile. She knew fire-- Asteri liked fire. She liked the idea of healing and shielding others. It seemed heroic, in a way. She could imagine other people, not unlike her own very brave father, going out of their way to save other people and heal their wounds.

Vivilene wished she were that brave.

An ear flicked at the first question, and she nodded a little in response, taking a little breath to clear her head. "I can make things glow," she "said" after a moment, silver glittering against her gut. "I can make myself glow, sometimes, but the last time I tried it hurt pretty badly." It might have been wise not to mention that she cried on the floor until the Fruit-Eater came along.

"It's magic," she confirmed quietly, mouth twisting but otherwise not moving as she projected the words into Pride's head. The last question had her pausing, however-- not exactly out of shame or embarrassment (maybe?) but the mere hesitance at what happened the last time she tried to explain it.

The hybrid shook herself out for a moment, chin rubbing against the damp cloth hanging off her shoulders. "I don't know," she said, after a time. "Sometimes it feels like I have something in my throat and I can't cough it up or swallow it. I've tried to. It doesn't... hurt but it's uncomfortable, sometimes, to even really make noises? I said something once, a while ago, but I haven't been able to say anything since."

Oh. There was the shame. She wanted to be normal and she felt like she was something broken-- she didn't know how to fix it, or what was wrong with her, or why no one else couldn't talk. She shifted for a moment, looking at Pride with a frown. "Could you always talk?"

"girl you know you gotta watch your health"



@Pride

The stag considered, briefly.

"I could, but I had something of a head-start. The one who found me upon my hatching used the same magic you are using--I think--to speak into my mind, which taught me words more quickly. But my voice alone had no issues." Worry lingered, his awareness of Mischief's race to search for Azizos touching now and then at the back of his mind. But he pressed on. "But I know of those who had gemstones in odd places--one had one in their throat, which made it difficult to eat or drink."

He looked at Vivilene, and decided it was best not to discuss the entire "radiation sickness" and "slow and lingering death" things that had come with Amazon's stone; the tale of Livius' was bad enough. "But yours is not, it seems, in your throat. Perhaps you have two-? Though I've never heard of such a thing," he added, thoughtfully.

Pride paused to try and summon up a shield--nothing came, and that reminded him, blinking, of another point. "Perhaps your--light?--hurt because of a... fluctuation, let's say, in the magic? It's a very volatile thing, magic. It backfires often enough. I've had... oh, headaches, mostly. Blinding ones, when it chooses not to cooperate. Polaris, I've found--do you know it?--is good for practice. The magic is strong, there, and if you can control it there you may have an easier time outside it."

@Vivilene

i need someone to look into my eyes and tell me

Vivilene shook her head a bit. There was nothing lodged in her throat-- it just felt like it, sometimes. Vivilene didn't have any issues eating or drinking, either. Her knuckles grazed against her pale throat for a moment, trying to feel for a gemstone regardless. It felt smooth enough, however.

She listened along with a faint frown either way. She didn't like the idea of magic backfiring, and she knew from experience that if that were to happen it hurt. "I get headaches a lot," she went on quietly. "I have one right now but that happens, sometimes." It was pounding into the back of her skull, even, and she was starting to feel lethargic. She was unsure if she'd talked to someone this much before.

Well. "Talked."

"I don't think I have two gemstones," at least, not that she could see or feel. "I can eat and drink okay-- but when I get scared or nervous or angry sometimes it's hard to try to put food in my mouth. But swallowing it isn't... really the issue?" She didn't actually want to think about this much further than that, actually.

The lingering thought that it might be impossible for her ever to be normal and to talk like a normal kid was a little terrifying to her, but the blossoming fear in her gut wasn't any new feeling to her at this point. She shifted uncomfortably and brought her gaze down to the leaves in her padded hands.

Rooms. She tried to focus on the rooms that she knew of, and not the doubt and bile rising in her throat. "I've never heard of Polaris," she continued. "I know Canis, and Orion, and here, and Cetus. Sometimes I explore but the caves are a little scary. My sisters and brother and my dad are braver than I am."

And they could talk.

No, no, don't think about it. "What's Polaris like?" She asked instead, pale eyes lifting again. "I know Canis is full of bones and Orion has stars.




"girl you know you gotta watch your health"



@Pride

Pride lifted his head, turning it upward toward the canopy in thought.

"You can find it by going to the tunnel that would take you to Orion, but going the other way, instead. It is... dimmer, damp, with a river that runs through it. Be wary of that river," he added, silver eyes shifting back to Vivilene, with a warning in them, "as its banks are steep and it runs deep, cold and swift. There is a dam there, a crumbled wall with stones that animate and wander, and sometimes, they attack. There are crystals through it, though: all lit with light, and glittering."

That little twist of storyteller rose in him, and a little wistfully--expecting it to fail as it so often did--he reached for his magic for a display.

To his surprise it didn't backfire on him, at least; it was fainter than he'd hoped, and he had to struggle to maintain it but there it was; a shimmering, ethereal light show creating a vague image of the Spire, of the walls and crystals studding them. "The Spire is a great crystal within it, one full of power, and energy--and a little bit of mystery. It isn't safe to get too close to, and I think there's something inside it, but beyond that no one knows much about it. We just know that it's very magically-charged," he added, shifting the image a little so Vivilene could get a good look at it.

"This is another form of magic," Pride explained, in case it weren't somehow obvious; "it's related to... ahh, glowing, in fact. It's light, but more--advanced."

He looked at the fawn-child, again, wondering what might be wrong with her voice--how he might help, even--but he was at a bit of a loss as to how to pinpoint what the problem might be. He could hardly see into her throat--well, perhaps if he had Squick, but he had no idea where the parasite had run off to, these days.

Still, he wracked his brain, trying and failing to come up with something useful.

@Vivilene

i need someone to look into my eyes and tell me

Vivilene turned her head towards one of the exits of Eridanus, quietly mapping out the route in her head. It must have been the purple-red-light place she'd seen when coming out of there. Something about it was a bit intimidating to her, in a way-- but most things were.

The river sounded terrifying, too. The hybrid shuddered a little, glancing over the brook, and then turned her head back towards Pride. It... didn't sound like a place anyone would ever want to visit, really. Maybe it was only a place for brave people.

She flinched, at first, when the light began to form. And then she was fascinated. She rose to her hooves and started carefully stepping around the image to get a good look at it. She studied the crystals crawling up the walls and the spire with flicking ears and enormous, round eyes.

Well, it made sense why people would want to go there, at least.

Pride continued speaking and although Vivilene didn't answer, she listened and she smiled and she reached out to gently touch the light with her fingertips, quietly curious. It didn't feel like... anything. She'd half-expected to feel rock and crystal beneath her padded fingers, but really her hand was just threatening to go through it if she weren't careful.

Eventually-- albeit in silence --she turned her head back to Pride, still smiling. She wanted to hear more and that much was evident on her face and the way her tail flicked excitedly, hand still hovering over the image.

"girl you know you gotta watch your health"



@Pride

The stag eyed Vivilene, and warmth struck him unexpectedly. He was about to lapse into realization that this was his blood--truly his blood--when Mischief's triumph rang along his shared link.

He blinked.

...Ahh.

"Well, your other father is alive," Pride offered; "Resting in his stone, I think. I can see it, through my companion. A Lesser," he added--"Do you know about them? It seems that if you manage--and it is not easy; I failed for a long time before I succeeded--if you manage to impart some of your magic into one, it links to you. Mind to mind. It may be worth looking into, if your vocal issues continue-?" he added, not unkindly. "There are some rats--the, ah, gray ones--that can mimic sounds perfectly, and some birds that can somewhat manage. It may be worth having a voice outside yourself for when your magic grows weary," he explained.

He wondered, vaguely, what had forced Azizos into his chrysalis (and, in response to fiery prodding by Mischief's mind, acknowledged her with amused gratitude). Had he simply gone to sleep, there in his other father's grove? Or had he dragged himself there, wounded and near death, to the last place that-... No; that didn't bear thinking about.

He's safe now, at least. I'll make sure he stays that way, and meanwhile I need to focus here.

Vivilene was obviously rapt, and Pride cleared his throat gently. "I could tell you a story, if you like-? Either a fantastical one, with no roots whatsoever in reality--as it should be!--or I can tell, and show, more of what I know of the caves?"

@Vivilene

i need someone to look into my eyes and tell me

Your other father is alive.

Vivilene blinked, a little taken aback by this information. She didn't have much of a concept of death-- she'd never considered it, despite her endless worrying, but she decided that this was good news, at least. Pride was moving on fairly quickly too, about lessers (to which she nodded, she did know about lessers, she ate them) but what she didn't know about was linking to them.

This also sounded a little strange to Vivilene-- what if someone ate it? That'd be sad? She didn't much like rats, either. One of them had bit her hand, the last time she had an encounter with them, and since then she had made a point of avoiding them.

She shook herself out, and then turned her head upwards. The blue-and-white birds above were pretty, and they sang. She considered for a moment having one around, bonding with it, eating fruit with it underneath trees in dappled light. It seemed nice. She'd consider it.

It would definitely be nice to have something else talk for her when she was too tired to cast magic.

Ears flicked when Pride spoke again-- aww yeah story time --but she didn't answer. A fantastical story she'd never heard before; but she wanted to hear more about the caves. The hybrid stepped up next to Pride and settled down again quietly, watching with curious eyes.

She'd leave it up to him to choose.



"girl you know you gotta watch your health"



@Pride