Wilder hadn't been back to her old home in many cycles. Too many memories there, too close to the Spire. It was where she and Aure had first met, where she'd almost tried to hurt him when the influence took over. It was where Bauble and Regalia had hatched...and where Kestrel didn't. Where her own child stormed off in a rage only moments after meeting, where she had spent many sleepless nights staring at the labradorite chrysalis, hoping, begging, praying it would hatch...

It never did.

It lay long abandoned now, the tunnel leading into the small underground cave having seen no paws on its trail for many cycles, most of it storage already raided by someone else (see: white dog on two legs), but the gemstones she had collected remained untouched. And the chrysalis was still there, fully grown, but dormant. Perhaps to never hatch.

She wouldn't ever come back. She would never return. So the home lay forgotten, abandoned, the stones within...ripe for the taking.

Characters can utilize liquid time to enter this thread, grab a stone, and leave. To see the list of stones and which ones remain, see this thread.

Action. Thought. "Speech."

Lyra had never thought herself to go what could be considered graverobbing. well, she didn't know if the creature here previously was dead or not, but it was odd nonetheless. just.. abandoned treasures and a single, unhatched chrysalis. she'd already stooped far lower before, stealing from an abandoned cave was far from her worries at this point. she still felt bad though, so she gave a silent apology to whoever lived here before.

she shifted through the rocks, picking one that seemed pretty, a nice pink in color, and walking off.

The cave was empty, abandoned. Comet could tell from the scent trails that no one had been there, not in a long time. She stepped in, cautiously at first, but when nothing dangerous appeared, she looked around. There was a pile of beautiful gemstones, that seemed to have something in them. Life? Should she take one? It was obvious that the owner of these stones was not coming back. She grabbed a beautiful pink one, leaving the rest for others to find. And left.

"Exit Comet"

he had flown around the caves alot lately, and while usually he wasnt one for treasure hunting, this particular cave caught his eye.

he flew in. he could sense other gembound had been here before, the pile of gems strewn across the floor, dust upturned and making him sneeze. the sight was horrifying. his only experience with gems was them being the result of a gembound dying, their gems the only thing left behind. what sick lunatic would keep so many in here just like that? had they all been killed in here? he didn't know.

what he did know is people were taking them. for whatever reason. possibly mourning their own dead? it hurt to imagine it, though it wasn't hard to imagine they were just taking them for fun.

he quickly grabbed one of the only ones he could carry, a small pearl, and flew off, hoping that, even if he couldn't revive it, it saved it from falling in the hands of someone like the merchant.

exit

For some reason Sniffles had actually started exploring, which meant they were starting to see the caves for what they were, instead of the boggy area where they lived. Exploring meant finding cool things, and find a cool thing they did.

Sniffles spotted a den that had plants growing around it, likely not touched in a very long time.

And then there were gems there - sniffles grabbed the first one they saw before moving to slither back home.

Twisted had found the den through sheer coincidence. The crooked-tailed kitten was walking along, minding her business when suddenly-- her foot fell down into a ditch! How annoying. But when she looked down, it wasn't just some random pitfall, no. It was a small, steep tunnel leading to someplace underground. The lanky cat never liked cramped spaces, but this seemed promising enough, so she ventured down the short entryway into an abandoned den.

Abandoned. Dust motes drifted through the air in the bare burrow. Most of what had likely been there before was swiped away, leaving nothing but empty shelves. Still, there were signs others had been here-- tufts of fur, footprints in the dust. Some sort of dull rock grew out of the far wall, but what really caught Twisted's eye were the gemstones. Pretty, glittering ones strewn across in a loose pile.

Twisted was not above stealing, so she casually sauntered over and inspected them up close. One of them, a raw hunk of pale, rainbow colors, really caught her eye. Without a second thought she snatched it, gripping it in her mouth and slipping out the door like she was never there.

Exit Twisted