For a while it seemed like Wilder would be doing exactly as she'd wanted to do - sleep and never wake up, run from her pain and responsibilities and spend the rest of time curled within a pink chrysalis, to never think or speak or hurt ever again. Time passed around her, far longer then a recovery should ever take. Two weeks turned into two cycles before the time seemed to be up and the chrysalis shivered, ever so slightly.

It was opaque, and there was nothing visible from the outside, but from within the dark prison, her eyes blinked open to darkness. At first, she was confused. She didn't know where she was, but it was warm here, and safe. She thought, for a moment, that it would be nice to just stay here for a while and relax, but when she tried to suck in a breath, air could not reach her lungs.

Panicking, she jerked back her head, meeting solid rock. Fear made her blood almost freeze solid and her lungs burn as she stretched out, trying to free herself and take a breath. The knocks against the chrysalis had the whole thing rocking and moving until cracks began to web their way across the surface. One last kick and the weakened shell shattered sending Wilder and a rush of fluid falling onto the bones below. She gasped in her first breath in two cycles and sat there, wide-eyed and panting, trying to calm her racing heart.

Mevoh walked in Canis as her long legs gracefully moved in long strides. Mevoh looked around noticing her feet making contact with shallow water in some places. Mevoh noticed bones scattered throughout Canis. Why were there so many bones in Canis? It suggested to the secretary bird that great carnage happened here. That was the only sure reason. Canis held some dark secrets, that's for sure. Mevoh paused her movements to groom her feathers with her beak for a second, then noticed a small black cat that had just been released from its chrysalis. Mevoh narrowed her eyes for a moment. Then she walked over to the black feline. Mevoh spoke her voice cold but interested. "What a sight. A seemingly stressed small black cat. Why were you in your chrysalis? I could here you panting from where I was, so the reason must be a grim one." As a bird of prey Mevoh had excellent sight and hearing. She really didn't care, but the situation intrigued her.

@Wilder

The voice was impossibly loud to her, just emerged from cycles of silence. She flinched back, ears twisting away to dampen the noise as she got used to living once again. Her heart was rapidly falling into a normal pace and her breathing was coming under control. Things that had seemed surreal and dream-like a moment before were becoming more solid and real and her sleepy mind was finally blinking awake once again. But she was confused.

She could have sworn she was in Polaris. The memory of the day was hazy at best, but she could have sworn Aure was there. Now she was in Canis and there was this...bird. A bird she'd never seen before. She blinked and tilted her head. "Huh? Stressed? Why would I be...stressed?" Her voice cracked a bit with disuse, but by the last word it had grown smoother. Maybe it was mistaking her heavy breaths for a panic attack. But she was growing calmer now, the warmth of life spreading through limbs that had seemed so cold after the lull of the chrysalis.

She sat back and raised a paw to rub at her head, as if it would try to help stimulate her memory. "I...don't know? I think I burned myself or something I can't remember it too well." She almost felt like she didn't want to remember what had happened there, because she could remember tears and a deep-seated self loathing that she'd grown used to over the previous cycles. "I'm not sure how I got here, though, I thought I was in Polaris."

She sighed and set her paw down, looking up at the bird. "Anyways, I'm Wilder! What's your name?"

@Mevoh

Mevoh listened to the cat's words. Mevoh narrowed her eyes even more. This black cat didn't exactly know how she got in the chrysalis. It's name was Wilder, huh. Mevoh did not care at all. The tall bird did not care for this cat. It was already annoying her, and this feline was beneath her. Mevoh did not want to give this black thing her name. But she decided to give this cat her name, so she would know who she was. Mevoh spoke with a noble tone to her voice. "My name is Mevoh. I am a secretary bird." Mevoh kept it brief and short. Just talking to this cat annoyed her. She decided to stay to see what it would say next. But if it did not interest her, she would leave without another moment's thought. Mevoh's patience was limited.

@Wilder

Wilder smiled. Something small sparked in her chest as she looked at the bird. She didn't care about its slightly snobbish tone or the borderline insults it had thrown at her before. It wasn't actively dangerous or terrible which meant, possibly, she could be nice. Or, at the very least, Wilder could be nice to her.

Either way, she chirped. "Mevoh! That's a great name! I've never met a secretary bird before! I'm a...well, a cat, you probably guessed that." Her tail quivered behind her, almost nervous. "Hey, Mevoh? Do you wanna be friends? I love having friends - we can play games or talk or something and I can come and help you out when you need. I like doing that."

@Mevoh

Mevoh scoffed her patience gone. "Like I would be friends with a small insignificant cat like yourself. Do not mistake my patience, for kindness or compassion. I have none for you. I am a secretary bird. The only kindness, compassion or respect I have is for the masters of this cave, because they are my rulers. Don't ever dare to assume all gembounds will always hand you with happiness and sparkling joy. You are beneath me." Mevoh flew off leaving the incompetent cat by herself. Mevoh already regretted speaking to Wilder. Mevoh was not a bird to coddle gembounds, especially grown ones. She was a noble bird, a Killer Queen, a secrtary bird. She had better things to do with her time.

-Exit Mevoh

@Wilder

Wilder was kind of taken aback by that. She blinked and tilted her head, the smile sliding away. The bird hadn't exactly been nice but Wilder had hoped that she had least had some manners or common decency. Well, really, she'd expected that, but she supposed not. But the thought occurred to her, something that she'd been building to for the cycles of hatred and the time in her chrysalis. She didn't need to be friends with everyone. She could certainly try, be nice, love freely, but if someone wouldn't show her respect, then she had no obligation to respect them back. They didn't have to be friends.

She watched Mevoh leave, a lot calmer, perhaps, then she would have been before. It was actually nice, watching her walk away, knowing that any relationship forged with her would have been a deeply toxic one, and she needed no more of that in her life.

"Okay. Bye!" was all she called after Mevoh. She stood up and shook off her pelt, turning around to give herself a bath. Get off the rest of this fluid and then she needed to go find Aure. She remembered him being there, when she went under - perhaps he knew what was going on.

*exit