Himmel.

---

Whether or not the thing in the lagoon had been helped, Himmel does eventually move on from that gathering. We're going to be vague about all of that though. Whatever happens, he ends up alone again and is perfectly okay keeping company with his itty bitty self.

He moseys along one ridge or another, heading closer to the walls of the cave, which becomes easier to navigate as he approaches the warrens. There are hills here that aren't so sharp. Everything is layered with various clusters of green, and he investigates a swatch of gorse with a nuzzle of his nose, then a nibble, finding it sour but otherwise edible.

Good enough, he supposes.

---

@Nemo !

Nemo

Nemo had been in yet another wet cave- this time significantly more colorful than last time. He's got some red, purple, and blue all up his legs and to his chest, with some blue groomed into his feathers around his neck and shining peacefully in the light of his bauble.

He's sort of happy with hos he looks, very colorful, but he still feels... naked. And hungry. Naked he's used to, but hungry he needs to fix. Maybe he can find something bigger boned? Or-

Oh hey there's something purple in the water! Maybe it's something I can make dye with?

So, he flaps his wings and perches himself near the water, tilting his head back and forth, taking note of some red-brown movement off to the side before having to double take. "Oh. Hello! I've never seen you before." he calls, happily greeting Himmel from over his shoulder.

The... feeling in his chest gives him an idea for getting those fish, and so he twists his magic and forces it forwards into the water, hoping to spook the fish towards the shallows or even out of the water with... whatever whining or shivering in the water will occur from the low grade humming.

The low grade humming instead just whines in his ears high and sharp like a mosquito, and he quickly disengages the magic before it bites him in the tail feathers, letting out a sharp hiss of disappointment and a stomp of the foot.

@Himmel

Himmel.

---

He dips his head again and feels the satisfying clip of his teeth around bunches of moss. The moss has been inundated with water, likely soaking up whatever moisture is in the air, and as he tries to grind the plant matter between his molars the substance becomes a moist pulp. Water dribbles out of the corner of his mouth and has a yellowish tint to it.

The sound of something landing nearby goes unnoticed. Himmel isn't too attentive of his surroundings and doesn't know how important such a skill is yet; however when a voice permeates across the span towards him, he lifts his head and pricks his ears.

The creature, when he finally catches sight of them, is garishly colored. He cannot tell if it is natural to be that many colors but he does not question it. The bird is distracted with the water for some reason, just like the gathering from before - and yet Himmel doesn't immediately approach or investigate. He isn't as curious of this creature as other newborns might be. He glances to the greenery he had been grazing upon as if he is considering his options - and then attempts a sly approach.

While the sharp-faced creature is preoccupied with the water Himmel tries to prance closer, taking great care with each step. He is thankful for all of the green - it networks across every surface and holds things in place, preventing anything from jarring loose as he prowls.

As he nears the edge of the pool - a few body lengths away from the other creature - he peers in to the water at the resulting ripples of the failed spell. "You failed," he presumes, his voice somewhat robotic.

---

@Nemo !

Nemo

The fawn's sudden nearby appearance and statement rubs him the wrong way, and the feathers all around his neck and head ruffle up, the bright white making him look like a bubbling storm... if anyone in the caves had seen one, of course.

He stops himself from saying something unkind to this one, After all, if seems it's a child. This kid's ego can't be as big as mine was at their age, at least.

With that decision, he nods, and looks back at the water, leaving his feathers to slowly settle. "Yeah. I've got bad luck with magic. This is also something new that I've never done on another creature before, so I don't know how it will work." With that, he tries again, focusing more of that humming through his bones and from his feet towards the water. Towards the purple fish with a bright white spot on it's face.

The water ripples, and the fish flinches and bolts like something had flicked it's tail, and streaks towards the shallowest side of the pool- with Nemo leaping quickly after and into the air when he felts the vibrations connect. He lands in the pool with his talons outstretched, feet closing around the fish but not with any solid grip, and he rests on it, panting and... slightly miffed that some of the dye on his feathers was running. "Well. That could have... gone better?"

@Himmel

Himmel.

---

The surprise in the other creature wasn't ignored exactly, but it wasn't something he was capable of recognizing. He saw the movement in his periphery but did not draw his eyes away from the water. The stranger went through phases of emotion: surprise becoming irritation becoming a tense sort of calm; none of this mattered.

An explanation followed. Himmel finally looked up from the water as the surface calmed and his ears shifted attentively to listen to that voice. It sounded more like excuses, but what did he know he was just a kid, right.

The air began to hum with energy as the creature channelled more magic, then everything happened very quickly; it was hard for Himmel to keep up visually but once the feathered beast was resting again, he could see those curving talons sunken in to the flesh of the lesser fish.

"Well. That could have... gone better?" The beast commented from atop the fish.

Himmel closed the distance between them as if they were good friends, not quite crowding against the stranger and his catch but uncomfortably close all the same - he was intrigued by those talons. Did that hurt? Would the fish survive? What was the point of gathering it in the first place?

"What's it for?" The boy went on to implore.

---

@Nemo !

Nemo

A few more deep breaths, and he finally answers the deerling - who was up in his personal space, but he doesn't care to be honest, he was more worried about Himmel turning a hoof in the pool - "Well, I'm a bit hungry, and I was wondering if the scales could be ground into some sort of powder or dye, since I make dye sometimes. So win win here, I-" a small grunt, and he steps out of the pool, hooking his beak into the gills of the Purple Starscale to tug the fish onto land as well. "Guess. Might get gross though, I don't eat the squishy stuff most of the time."

With that statement, he begins to pull off the scales as well as he can, doing just the one side for now, pinning the now still fish with his weight, and squinting angrily at the holes he'd made with his talons. "I don't know why I even dug in, it's not like I can actually grab things well..."

He... apparently can't even get a beak around any of the scales, and he puffs out a sharp whistle of irritation before simply splitting the fish's flesh down the side and starting to tug at the skin, and pull it away from the meat of the body.

@Himmel

Himmel.

---

The explanation made the boy wonder again, why? However he chose not to inundate his present company with further questions. Rather than harass him that way Himmel paid attention. He listened to what was being said and watched as the feathered creature tried to accomplish what he'd set out to do. His attention was drawn towards the fish that was pinned beneath those talons, leaning in to sniff at it and inspect the wound. It smelled sharp but also clean like the water, but not off-putting.

"I don't know why I even dug in, it's not like I can actually grab things well..." The bird assessed, his complaint going in one of the boy's dished ears and out the other. Himmel thought he could be helpful so he reached forth and tried to grasp a bit of the fish skin in his teeth, plucking at scales as if it were grass, with the intent to peel it away.

While the hooked beak of the bird was definitely more suited for plucking, it became clear very quickly that Himmel's wedge-shaped snout was decidedly not. He eventually stopped trying. A smudge of something off of the fish's body stuck to his nose and he withdrew hastily after that, trying to clean it off by rubbing his face on his forelimb. After snorting the smell away Himmel looked at the fish and then at the creature nesting atop it, murmuring: "It is harder than it looks."

---

@Nemo! - sorry I totally missed the tag somehow!! :<

Nemo

"Yeah, no kidding..." he mutters, straightening up and shaking out his feathers in anger before side eyeing down at the fish again, taking a few shifting steps in frustration and pinning the fish, going after the spine with his sharp beak cutting into the meat and hooking into the bones with relative ease.

The issue is if he hits a stone while doing that, but either way he de-bones the fish as well as he can and swallows the bones cleanly, looking away from the child when he realizes this is... uh. Kind of gross and messy. Definitely not for hooved-kids.

"So," he clicks his beak a bit, hoping there isn't any blood or anything gross on his face as he looks at he hoofling, and then looks them up and down, "What really brought you out here?"

@Himmel

Himmel.

---

The bird took the fish and hastily removed some pieces, then went on to swallow it whole. Himmel didn't expect any of that. He glanced at the discarded bones for a moment and leaned in to sniff at them, utterly overwhelmed by his childish curiosity; but then the other creature's head went back and down the fish went! His eyes widened and he stared; he watched as the tail bobbed between segments of beak before vanishing too.

That was... quite possibly the coolest thing he'd ever seen. It was followed up by a nonchalant question and for a minute Himmel didn't say anything in response. He was looking at the bird, drawing mental lines from their mouth to their belly and back. If this were a cartoon you'd see him trying to math his way between a dotted outline of the fish sitting before Nemo and then a flurry of question marks.

"Wh... What you do to the fish?" Himmel gasps softly, awed by this feat of magic (dumbass, it isn't magic, its just eating!). But then he clues-in to the fact the bird had asked him something only a minute ago, and he seems to snap out of it. "Out...? I live here. I haven't gone in or out of anywhere, except the rock."

He sounded stupid but hey, he was a newborn.

---

@Nemo

Nemo

The staring had him holding the pose after he swallowed the bones, letting the youngling attempt to connect the odd habits of this bird and his guts, and the longer the stunned silence goes the harder he has to try not to giggle, before he has to relax and let his head hang while he lets out an amused wheeze and a clawful of chuckles.

"Oh, the fish?" he finally manages to calm down, and he asks this like he's explaining something simple, but his amusement is glowing in his eyes and voice. "I ate the bones! I eat bones, of all kinds of sizes. Unless they're too big... I still need to figure out a trick to make those bite sized." Still, Nemo, you really shouldn't be explaining this to a kid. He doesn't care, though, the kid's interested and he'll answer 'till he's blue in the beak.

"Huh. Live here, really? Seems nice. Lots of water, fish to watch. But uh- out of the rock? Rock..." Oh Himmel, don't worry, this featherbrain is actually a few braincells short himself, due to his penchant for crashing into things much bigger than himself.

"OH!" There we go.

"You just hatched, huh? I seem to be finding a bunch of you young ones these days."

@Himmel