Rainstorm still liked Eridanus despite not being able to see any of the greens that littered it. Really, not being able to see how pretty the place was, was sad in its own right. Losing their sight the way they did was worse, but at least they were alive. They couldn't say the same for many of the gembounds that had been in Hydra when the darkness took over. Rainstorm couldn't even see what they themselves looked like anymore, or why the canine sounded so scared when they used that one spell they did. At least it worked to scare Comet - whatever it was.

They wanted to try it again.

And try again they did - Rainstorm could feel the dark smoke wavering off of their body around them. They were dark, couldn't be seen through, except for their glowing wisp eyes that glowed even brighter with the spell being casted. Even if they weren't trying to be scary at anyone, it made them feel powerful.

@Comet

Comet trotted peacefully through the very tunnel where she had met the weird bird, Rainstorm. It had been some time since then, but she wanted to return and check up on them. Just to see how they were doing, and also with a cool gift.

She carried the stone delicately in her mouth, the one that looked like a chunk of ice, like her own stone. Having found it on one of her adventures, she decided that it would be good to give Rainstorm this stone to help them recover from Hydra whatever that was. From the previous meeting the bird had been pretty traumatized by that experience, so perhaps taking care of a kid would help them.

Her nose picked up a familiar scent. "Rainstorm?" The pup followed the trail through the trees, and she pushed aside a branch to see... "WHOA." The bird's scent trail ended at a huge ball of dark smoke with glowing eyes. Comet felt the immediate urge to tackle that monster to the ground, and was about to when she realized that it was the same spell cast by the bird when she had first met them. "Oh hello Rainstorm. You're doing the creepy eye thing again."

@Rainstorm

Rainstorm was too busy reveling in the fact that they probably looked scary to notice the wolf approaching. Their sensitive ears did pick it up, but the bird simply ignored it. Usually there were smaller lessers scuttling around anyway. Rats, things like that. (Though most rats were huge). The steps getting abnormally close for it to be a lesser is what made rainstorm turn their head.

The heavy black clouds from the spell slowly went away, only small traces of it being left over from the strong release of the time of darkness. Their eyes still emitted that wispy glow (though,,, their eyes literally were the wispy glow). That never went away, it just dimmed down a bit, the light from the spell dissipating from them.

The familiar voice of Comet took their notice rather than the wispy waves of their eyes among their feathers (that they actually didn't know were like that).

"I was seeing if it still worked or not." The pigeon huffed. Which was true - they liked the feeling it gave. That they could hear most things fleeing from the sight. Power was something Rainstorm wanted, but could never have now that they had no way of seeing where things were. At least, it seemed that way.

"Why have you come looking for me?" The pigeon bathed in black questioned.

@Comet

"Well um, I was here to check up on you to see how you were doing. The Hydra Trial thing seemed to have been hard on you. So I was thinking... if you would be interested in raising a kid?" Comet waited for their response, but soon her mind was thinking again. Just one kid would not be very good, they would be lonely. The solution for that would be to give them a sibling... "I'll be right back!" and the pup ran off to find a stone.

The last time she found stones, they were all in Polaris, so she wondered if the ones here in Eridanus would be any different.

Darn! This was not working. She didn't want to leave the bird waiting for too long in the clearing, so she would need to hurry and find another one. But that was okay, it gave Rainstorm more time to think about the whole situation. It wasn't exactly easy to raise a kid, but it helped take your mind off greater worries.

Comet cast out her spell again, and hoped it would work this time.

Comet would sense magic just ahead, and with searching, could pick out a piece of vibrant green among the equally-green foliage. No wonder it had gone unnoticed; it was perfectly camouflaged, here.

Cleaning a little dirt away would reveal a Fledgling-magic level Emerald.

@Rainstorm @Comet

Comet followed her magic senses to... here. But there was no stone here? Had she cast the spell wrong? But upon closer inspection of the area, she noticed the emerald hidden among the leaves. Picking it up in her mouth, she returned to Rainstorm to hear their answer... and to tell them she had another stone for them.

@Rainstorm

Rainstorm frowned when Comet started speaking at them. They said they could handle themselves! Rainstorm didn't need to hunt to live, didn't need to look after anyone but themselves. Even with the fact that they were blind Rainstorm could take care of themselves. Eating bugs wasn't hard to do, especially in a place this populated with plants. Comet mentioned raising a child. Rainstorm instantly thought that it was a bad idea. Entirely a bad idea. It wasn't the thought of raising children that was bad, but the fact that they were most certainly blind, and if they were honest, they didn't take care of themselves well enough. Even if they could take care of themselves for the most part. Rainstorm sure as hell couldn't take care of a kid if they couldn't even fend for themselves as good as they should.

Really, they were just lucky.

There was so much hate in the world (caves) that Rainstorm wasn't even sure bringing in another child would be a good idea. What if they died to all of the dangerous things happening? What if they succumbed to the lands like so many other had in Hydra? What if Rainstorm was accidentally the cause of their death? Nothing in their head made the idea of a child okay. And then Comet rushed off before coming back, not long after.

"I doubt I could properly take care of a child." They finally responded. "You coming to check on me should make that obvious enough." they added.

Rainstorm was entirely confused about the prospect of having to take care of a kid - no, raising one wasn't what bothered them. It was how they were supposed to raise one.

"Also I don't know why you're being so nice to me after I called you pathetic before."

@Comet

"Oh, of course you can! I came back to check on you was not because you are weak. I thought you would be lonely, so I came to be some company." Comet lowered the emerald to the ground before continuing speaking so it would not hinder her. "Well, I like helping others. And animals say not so nice things to me all the time, so-- I'm used to it." she sat down. "And I'm sure you'll be able to raise some good kids. You survived the Hydra Trials! You're really strong! You just need some company." she decided not the bring up the other stone she had found for now since having one kid was hard enough for the bird to think of.

@Rainstorm

Rainstorm didn't entirely know if they were 'lonely', it was more that they were alone. it wasn't bad, even if they did wish for companionship sometimes. The only other bird they had met was when they were a child, so long ago now it felt like. Even if they did find more birds to linger with, they didn't fly. Rainstorm liked staying on the ground. They didn't have to fly to get places, anyway. Walking was just as good.

Rainstorm did agree that they were strong. Maybe emotionally - physically, not so much. But that didn't mean they would raise any kids right, ever. At least they could protect those kids from going to Hydra, maybe... But then again there were so many other dangers out there.

"Surviving doesn't mean i'm strong enough to protect them." they said. Even then, though. Maybe if they did raise a kid they could teach it to not be like themselves. To stay away from dangerous places like before. Maybe they wouldn't need to protect the kid in the first place.

"But... I suppose you could be right." It would be so much easier if they lived in a group, but there was no way in hell Rainstorm was going to join the ones that lived in this place. One was too quiet and the other was too noisy. "I think... I think I will go along with it." They decided, after a long pause.

@Comet