They would find more Leons? He bounced around, ecstatic! Oh, he couldn't wait! But he immediately stopped and skittered closer to Leon to hear the secret. He could feel the waves of warmth coming from Leon's paws, and it clicked together in his head. Both him and Leon and the other Leons could make fire! Did everyone have the ability? he thought, or did one have to be special? Leon seemed to mean that not everyone could, and he rather thought it made it made it better if it was a special power to be warm.

"Make...warm...I make warm?" He wondered, then looked down at his own paws. Well...he supposed...he did it before...? Didn't he? He made himself hot to get away from his shell.

He closed his eyes, brows furrowing, reaching for that same feeling again. The sooner he did, the sooner he could meet the other Leons!

He must've pulled too hard or too fast, because sparks that he didn't intend popped under all of his paws, making him jump and yelp, but no matter how he landed, they were always under his feet! They hurt! "Ow! Ow ow ow ow Leon ow ow it hurrrrts!" He cried, jumping around like a jackrabbit all over the place, till he fell over a pile of rocks into the shallow end of the big pool of water that the waterfall fell into. As soon as he fell flat into the water, he screamed out, "CCOOOLLLD," like a petulant child, half sobbing, thinking he was done with it! He tried scrambling out, and then halted - his paws didn't hurt anymore? He looked down at them.

"Stupid feet!" He spat, huffing and puffing his whole way back out of the water. Once he stood on the gravel, he shook his wet coat out, clearly upset.

While Leon had intended to do right in teaching the young Gembound how to summon his magic and warm his feet, he didn't anticipate the child failing so horribly - it should have served him right for assuming as much. As he watched the child, proud and eager to see him perform his magic again, the bear smiled and leaned back - only to see a shower of sparks suddenly light up from under the babe's paws. Leon's brows arched with surprise and alarm as he watched the child bounce around at the sudden pain on his paws. "Oh! oh, wait- slow down-" The bear fumbled and tried to grab the pup, lift him up and maybe plop him back in the snow for a second - but he'd already beaten Leon to the punch, jumping into a puddle of water and quickly fizzling out.

Then, of course, the child burst into a sob at the sudden cold on his paws, and Leon's panic mounted. What had he done! He should have known the freshly hatched Gembound wouldn't be able to control his magic! Why had he encouraged him to try? Leon flinched and mentally scolded himself. He was two seconds from trying to reassure and distract the child before he stopped, and Leon could see the realization slowly click in his brain that the water had put out his paws. Then he stormed back onto the rock, obviously displeased with his failure - or maybe it was Leon's attempt to get him to use magic, what could have been construed as an act of deceit.

A look of modest apology crossed his face as he looked down at the babe. "Ah... thats okay, next time! For now, I think I have a better idea." He hummed and laughed quietly. The bear shifted slightly and stood beside the coyote, concentrating his willpower on his own large paws below.

Post-Roll Edit:
Sure enough, that gentle warmth began to radiate out from his paw pads, warming the cold rock. A thin layer of lightly smoldering ash remained in the foot steps of the bear as he stepped forward, cocking his head to look over his shoulder at Firenze. "There you go! Now you can step in my footprints, and they'll be warm." He smiled. "Now, are you ready to go meet some other Leons?" The bear added and laughed once more. He turned and set off, taking small and measured steps to allow the child to follow him. Surely it wouldn't be too hard to find anybody else, especially since he knew where to look.

Tags for @Firenze @Makyna @Grimmloch @Xender and anybody else in MW who wants to join 8)

WITH A THOUSAND LIES AND A GOOD DISGUISE

I had managed to cover a lot of ground already, i've met the giant version of me, a Baratheon, whatever he was, and another pretty lady by the name of Velamosine. So far I had only practiced any of my magic with Bara, and even then it wasn't all that great. I focused on other things, though. Like a new trick I could almost feel when i concentrated.. but i had yet to touch what it was.


And here I was now- where was I? I encountered a large.. thing of water that cascaded from the ceiling here. It was cold, cold indeed- and i hated it. Though, I did stop at a small pool of water on adventurous march and spotted small, almost slimy things. And I knew they were slimy after the fact that I was able to reach in and snag one on my tiny claws, but he slipped from my grasp and landed back in the water. After that, I made my way to the rolling hills. The stuff that grew here kept me somewhat warm. I dug up and flattened the grass to make a small bed- I needed to rest, though I didn't want to. I could feel myself slowing down, and what good would that do if I found something exciting along my adventure? And with that, I dozed off. My lids shut and let the exhaustion take over.

I tossed and turned, eventually waking back up. The grass collected some warmth for me, but not enough for me to be comfortable. I laid there for a minute, I remembered to focus like Bara told me to do... I just needed to focus. I could warm myself with my own breath, if it'd work. But I needed to concentrate. --

I soon felt a rather large amount of heat slowly gather, I went to open my mouth to perhaps blow the heat around, but heat didn't come from my muzzle, no. It came from everywhere else but my mouth. My paws were given a warm buzz, and my little nub, and even my my sniffer. There wasn;t an awful lot there, but it was enough warm me up. With that, I jumped back up to my feet and rolled through the grass, down the small hills. Behind me I left a very small and faint trail of smoke from the contact. After the hills, I just continued wandering. I was at a steady trot, showing off my broad chest piece. Eventually, I heard a faint sound of a familiar voice.. and another unfamiliar voice. I wasn't going to stray into their paths, no. I would keep my butt safe, and also have fun with it. I made my way into the cover of large rocks, and here I waited. They were getting closer, and I slowly peered my head around the curve of one of the rocks. My brows furrowed for all but a second- I knew this creature! I was Leon! I knew it! But who was the other one following him?. I crept back around the rock, and slowly but surely clawed my way up to the top of one of the rocks- at this height, it would bring me a little closer to Leon's chest. I lowered to my belly and crept forwards, before reaching the edge, I jolted up and gave a short and small coo: Leon, Leon! Up here! . I fell to my behind and lifted my paws to wave as I flashed my pearly whites. I could show him what i've learned so far! I really was almost like him, and a part of me felt rather excited about that- I had something to look forward to in the future. .

HIT EM RIGHT BETWEEN THE EYES

Thoughts and spoken words TAGGED: @Leon @Firenze

template byMargie @ Adoxography v2

He watched in wonder as Leon made warm ash piles that he really liked to dig his paws into, comforted by such a simple gesture and the big bear's deep laughter. As Leon moved onward, he hopped from ash pile to pile, wavering unsteadily as if on stepping stones. This went on for some time, and he could feel the amusement and the occasional glances from the big Leon, but he was absorbed in this game that was made for him. So focused on keeping his balance, he jumped and shouted when a rough sound scared him. "Leon, Leon, up here!"

He looked up to see another Leon up above them both on a big rock! With his mouth hanging open, his eyes darting back and forth, he cooed happily, "So there are more Leons!"

He scrabbled onto some stones to get into better view of the other, slightly smaller, Leon, his enthusiasm making him slip here and there. "Can you make the warm too?" He grinned.

Leon moved in great, slow strides, cocking his head over his shoulder to look back at the coyote pup and making sure he was following. Every so often he would cast a smile down at Firenze, watching the smouldering ashes form beneath his toes into small piles, only for the little canine to jump and mingle in them before moving on. Leon found himself chuckling before he'd move his head away again to watch where he was walking, eyes roving over the expanse of rock before him. In the distance, the waterfall roared, sending up a cloud of mist all around them. Smaller waterfalls also fell from higher slits in the rock wall, but they weren't as impressive as the grand waterfall ahead of them. He had for a moment gotten distracted before the boyish voice of another Gembound attracted his attention, and the bear paused, swinging his head towards the voice.

The bear couldn't help but grin at the sight of the smaller bear. The pup had asked to see more Leons, and Leon had promised he'd deliver - now before them was another bear who had demonstrated an affinity with heat magic before. Those that shared his element were easy to identify by their higher body temperature, at least, that was what Leon had noticed. He could be guessing and be entirely wrong, for all he knew. The glanced back at Firenze now, chuckling at the boy's enthusiasm. "What did I tell ya? Leons-a-plenty!" The bear snickered and looked back at the cub. "Well howdy Grimmloch! What are you up to?" Leon thumped onto his rump, watching Firenze clamber up the rocks to meet the other bear.

@Grimmloch

WITH A THOUSAND LIES AND A GOOD DISGUISE

The other creature was on it's way up to meet me, and I bounded to my paws, first standing on only two. I gave my usual cub coo, and landed on my front paws. I jumped forwards, looking down at the new face. Er.. make warm? I think so! . I figured it wouldn't hurt to try again so soon, and jumped off from the high surface. I landed closer towards the boy. Just a sec! I blurted, and I continued down the rocks. I clambered over to Leon, who had sat down. Hiya Leon! I've just been adventurrring!. I wandered off to the side for a second and concentrated like i did earlier, hoping to get the same outcome. C'mon, c'monn. --

And it seemed like I wore out the magic already. Instead of waiting for the heat, I waited for nothing. Absolutely nothing happened. Frustrated, I sauntered back over to Leon and the other creature. I plopped back onto my rear and shrugged my shoulders. I guess not right now. I glanced to the boy, popping back up to my paws. I wandered over to the rocks he still stood on, a grin tugged my lips upwards. I'm Grimmloch! Call me Grimm!. I mused, interested in the creature that seemed all too interested in me.

HIT EM RIGHT BETWEEN THE EYES

Thoughts and spoken words TAGGED: @Leon

template byMargie @ Adoxography v2

Firenze had completely forgotten by now that he was wet, so caught up in what was going on. This new Leon was called Grimmloch? He tilted his head and looked between the two as they said their own hellos. Its true, they did look kind of different. His first Leon was much bigger and had some cuts across his face that he didn't notice before because he didn't have something to compare him to. The newer one, Grimmloch, was much younger and smaller, with a much darker coat. Huh! Leons were very different from one another, even if all three of them could make the warm. He felt sort of bittersweet about being both able to share this special ability with others, and not having it be very special at all. Surely everyone must be able to do it.

He waited while Grimm tried to make some heat, but like him, it failed to make what they both wanted. He didn't feel so poorly about his botched attempt, now, especially since Grimm didn't seem too heartbroken about it. he jumped up and started to investigate Grimm, who, though smaller than Leon, was much bigger than him. He sniffed and went under Grimm's big paws, came out on the other side, and suddenly spied the very large, oddly shaped gem in his chest and gasped in surprise. "Oh! Oh! You have mine!" He very quickly sat on his rump and puffed out his chest to show the pretty stone there that he had spied in the water. He didn't take much notice of it at the time, thinking it very normal, as Leon had a big black stone peering over his shoulder blades, but he was very excited that Grimm had one just like his.

While the two scampered along the rocks, Leon leaned back onto his rump, making himself comfortable. There was a fleeting moment during which the large bear found himself at peace, enjoying watching over the two young cubs as though they were truly his own to watch - the small sensation of fatherhood that Leon found himself craving. It was the tenderness with which he regarded Zetos and in turn was regarded with by him. He was content to simply sit and watch, laughing as Grimm explained that he'd been exploring. For a young gembound, there certainly was a lot to see.

He remained quiet as Grimm attempted his magic, only to be disappointed that nothing had happened. Firenze was quick to investigate the bear, making the connection that all three of them were fiery spirits. Only when he noticed the similar stones (and location of them) between he and Grimm did Leon lean forward, intrigued. "Wouldja look at that! You guys do have the same stone!" He exclaimed, gesturing to them. "You know, some say that Gembounds with the same stones are kin. Brothers." The bear said with a nod, then leaned back again, looking between the two cubs. Would they believe such a thing?

@Grimmloch

I stood with my chest puffed out, making sure to show off my mighty fine stone. I chuckled as he came over to investigate, lifting one of my paws as he moved under me. I listened to Leon as he spoke while the smaller creature studied me from all sorts of views. ..Brothers. Was what was at the very end of what he was talking about, and quite honestly all that I could catch because I wasn't entirely focused on him. "Brothers?" I lept forwards and made my way over to Firenze. I lowered my head to his chest, and my eyes about popped out of my head when I noticed that we did in fact have the same stone, and location! "They are the same!" I cooed, jumping on my front and hind legs to mimic a bouncing motion in place. I then carefully moved my claw over to Firenze's stone, just before touching it I jumped back up and trotted over to Leon. What's a brother, Leon? Is he a fire element too? I can't tell right now.. Circling Leon, I made my way back over to the smaller creature. What's your namee, hmm? I questioned, taking my turn to study him now. He was smaller than me, but had the same stone as me. Perhaps he was a fire element, too. But even if he was, I couldn't tell. Atl east not right yet.


@Firenze

Brothers! Brothers! He really liked that word! The way the big Leon made it sound was really interesting and awesome, and he laughed with the second smaller Leon, the young Grimm, inspected his own gem on his chest, and he shared Grimm's enthusiasm, running and jumping alongside the big creature.

"I have, I have the warm!" He said happily, wanting to show his warm-ness to Grimm. Maybe this time it wouldn't backfire and be so hot!

He was incredibly careful this time, careful not pour too much magic into it where it would hurt him again, letting his bottom lip pucker out in concentration. He wanted to be careful and showy at the same time!

So he focused and when he wagged his tail and grinned childishly at both Grimm and Leon, little embers and waves of heat warped the air that moved from his happy tail."Name is Fi-Firenze! We brothers now?"

@Leon