"It's quite all right. Pride; my name is Pride. It's a bit of a long story, that," he added, glancing with some amusement at the child. And not a very pleasant one, either, he thought to himself.

For the first time, he wondered if he ought to change his name. He'd held onto it as it was him, and still some measure of defiance, but was it needed, anymore-? He thought about it; it'd bear some consideration, at least. In any case, he didn't blame the child for not remembering his introduction. He seemed a little... frazzled.

"Ahh, the wisp-... Be wary, James, if that ever tries to lead you somewhere. They first appeared during a--a dark time, and led us to danger. It was rewarding, but deadly; one of the tests of the Masters, I believe." He turned, slightly, focusing on summoning up a wisp of his own. "A good spell--a useful spell. And once you are skilled with it, you can use it for other things, such as a strike against an enemy, to defend yourself. The more there are, the stronger it will be," he explained. He paused, thoughtfully eyeing James' wisp for a moment. "Magic is... volatile; but it is a force that's all around us. It takes concentration and practice to learn to manipulate consistently and even then, it often fails or backfires with the slightest loss of focus--or sometimes, seemingly without any cause at all. But you can use it, I find, for just about anything you can put your mind to. As for the masters..."

Pride paused, chewing on a few leaves, thinking about James' other question. "The masters... vary, I think, as we do. There is one in Pisces--Tenzin; he is very kind, benevolent even. Gentle. There is another who looks something like myself, a stag, but brown--his gemstone is a ruby, atop his head, between his eyes. He is a host to fungus, and his name is Astraea. I would call him... severe. Ruthless. I do not know his goals or motives. Nemean, she is--tiny, a sprite. Savage and impish, and utterly merciless, from what I've heard of her. She used to lead Gembound, so the stories say, to their deaths. Aquarian lives in Cetus. I know little of him, and have only seen him once: a massive serpent lurking in the lake, there. The Children of Rot feed him, I think perhaps worship him to some extent. I do not know why." -Was that all of them? Pride thought so; the surviving ones, at least.

@James

James listened carefully to what Pride had to say and watched his wisp bob gently in the air, small and relatively harmless, unless he wanted it to be. He stared at it for a moment and snuffed it out of existence suddenly, shaking his head.

"So... If I see the deer and the sprite, I turn tail?", he asked, a bit unnerved. A deer with fungus growing on him... it sounded scary, like rot.

James shook his head and nibbled at some of the grass around, mulling over everything else Pride said. About magic, the Masters...

"... What's Orion like?", he asked suddenly, "Are there others like you? Are they kind- or at least benevolent?"

James kicked out his front legs and crossed them over each other, and rested his head upon them, sighing softly as his thoughts ran rampant yet again. Doubt welling up, a bit of confusion.

This was hard...

@Pride

Another nibble of greenery, a chew, a swallow; the stag turned, peering at James.

"If you see them-? You do whatever you wish. The stag came down on the... 'good' side of the recent battle, I would say. He seemed to have our general best interests at heart; he usually has, in my experience. But he is not kind about it, and I have heard other, terrible stories of his actions in the name of 'defending' the caves."

And you, Pride-? some flicker of doubt struck him; Perhaps, given what you've heard of Hasira, it is a stag thing. Brief memories of enemies, writhing in death, even screaming, struck him, and he shook them away and turned to his wisp, pushing the memories off. No one will control me, but myself. No one will monitor, and restrict me, but me, and I will not go too far. I will regulate my own actions, he assured himself. Now, to the teaching; the child deserved more than his distracted worry.

The stag turned, and nodded to the wisp. "Watch," he instructed gently, and then gave a brief second nod--a sort of nudge, midair--and the wisp hurtled away, smashing with a bright flash and a hiss into a nearby tree trunk. It left a scorchmark, and the scent of burning, a little smoke twisting up from its impact point. Pride looked to James. "It is not too hard to learn," he said, tone encouraging.

"Ahh, but don't let me frighten you, James. There are plenty of kind Gembound throughout the caves, as well. I'd recommend polishing your magical ability to defend yourself, and then you'll have very little to fear." Except for angry dragons- an image of Dread, leering over him, eyes smoldering with rage, his bass voice rumbling through Pride's body--no. Odd thoughts, today. Let's get ahold of that, hmm? he told himself, and with a trained twist of self-control, he pushed this, too, away.

"There are a few of us in Orion, yes--some defenders, some being protected, and we always welcome more, for however long they wish to stay. I am happy to introduce you to others, too. Mercurius--he is a lion friend of mine, and very kind, very gentle. He is a good friend to have. The Bonebound live in Canis, too, if you ever range that way; they're quite welcoming, despite the name."

@James

James watched the wisp hurtle away and flinched when it hit a tree. He stood up and looked at Pride, eyes rather wide, before biting his lip and trying to summon his wisp again.

He perked up as the ball of light came into existence, and looked up at Pride as he spoke, from student to mentor, "... Can I come with you to Orion?"

He stood up and spread his legs, butt wiggling as he focused on the tree. He inhaled and commanded the wisp to shoot forward... only for it to lazily drift towards the trees. He stamped a foot and tried again, only this time, it just started to glow brighter. One last time... and it fizzled away and snuffed out with a pop!

James frowned and huffed, ears down, "... I can't do it."

He kicked a front foot at a clump of grass and sighed, before looking up at Pride, "... Will you teach me? At Orion?"

James looked towards the woods, ears perked up. What about Titanite? Would they be okay?

"... I have to tell someone I'm leaving,", he said anxiously, "Can we go do that? Please? I don't want them to worry or wonder where I am. Can I visit them?"

@Pride

"Yes, you can come back with me, if you wish," Pride replied amiably. James' second question, though--asking permission to visit a friend--gave him pause.

Ahh. I'm being put in charge of his well-being, aren't I? Did I just sign up to raise another child? Double the reason to introduce him to Mercurius, then. Pride did not consider himself a balanced enough parent, on his own; Mercurius was the gentle counterpart to his own sometimes-ruthlessness. Perhaps it's time to start asking myself, more often, what Mercy would do in a given situation, he mused.

"Of course. You needn't ask; I am not your superior. Did you wish for me to wait here, or would you like me to come with you?" He glanced around, briefly. "As for the magic, it comes with time, and practice. But if you preferred to stay in Eridanus, you know, I could always come here to teach you--not that you aren't welcome among the Seven, of course?"

@James

"Wait here,", he said, "I'll be back!"

He nodded at the rest of what Pride said, opting to think it over as he darted off into the brush, taking off at a gallop as he went to the last place he saw his friend.

Twenty minutes later, James was back, a bit more tired from all the running, but alright.

"... Okay,", he said, "I want to come with you to Orion. I said bye... But I can visit, so it's not all that bad."

He shook his head out to get some leaves out of his mane, and took a step forward, before trotting over to Pride and standing next to him, trying to crane his neck a bit so he didn't look so small.

"So... when do we leave?", he asked, tail wagging in excitement, "What kind of things are we going to do?"

He stood tall and proud, excited to go on this little adventure. His run-in with Ari had certainly spooked him a bit, that was for sure.

@Pride

Pride ate his fill while waiting, though he was careful not to stray too far from the clearing. It was with a belly contentedly full of leaves and grass that he wove through the nearby foliage, and James' return found him waiting close by.

The foal's enthusiasm was admirable, he thought, but might take much to live up to. "Well, if you like I can give you a tour of Orion? We can pick and clear out, and decorate, if you wish, one of the old ruins there? So that you have a home of your own?" Pride glanced back as he turned, leading the way to Orion in a path threaded through the trees. "I can call the others, to introduce you, and of course, we can train. It's up to you what you'd like to do first," he added, kindly.

He didn't add that Orion was scorched by dragonfire. His wariness about using the central ruins could be mentioned later, if it became necessary--James didn't strike him as the sort he should warn preemptively. He was... a little jumpy, that one.

@James

Sorry for lack of table. I'm phone posting. Let me know when you'd like to move to a new thread in Orion, maybe?

James blinked and hummed softly, contemplating, "... Can we pick out one of the ruins? I've never decorated anything, so... I want to do that."

It sounded a lot less stressful than training on the first day, at least. Maybe he'd see if he could get some moss to have a soft bed to lay on during the nights. That sounded nice.

He sprang after Pride as he noticed him leaving, and trotted after him, staying close to his side in order to get through the thick foliage.

"How are we going to get there? Another tunnel?", he asked curiously, excited enough that his steps were more like a slow jog.

@Pride

I'm assuming they're leaving now, so we can have them both exit on our next posts and start a new one in Orion.

"Of course we can," Pride answered warmly, with a brief dip of his head. Just... one of the ones along the outside. He'd have to be sure to nudge James that way, and explain the... security risks inherent in taking a ruined home in the center of them all. He wasn't sure how to do that without explaining what had happened with Raheerah, but he would think of something.

"A tunnel, yes," he agreed, and led the way toward Orion.

exit Pride

@James

James stumbled along after Pride, sticking to his side like glue, for the most part. He occasionally lagged to look back at Eridanus, before being nudged and trotting up to return to Pride's side. He snorted softly and jumped as his hooves no longer met soft ground, but hard rock.

No turning back now...

He swallowed and advanced after Pride, taking off at a lope to catch up to the stag's longer strides.

Exit James.