Ru had only gone as far as Canis before. There were three tunnels in Canis -- the one that led to Hydra, one that was empty and grim where not even mold crept, and this one. Of the three, this was by far the most inviting among them. Ru had simply been walking through, careful and admiring the shining stone all around, but had stopped, now.

There were carvings on the walls. Crude ones, mostly, vague and uncertain, but somehow, Ru was able to pick out some of them. There -- a sharp, angular thing, spiked and scary. Master Vargas, Ru guessed. A sloppy, scrawled image -- upright, with a circle above it and what looked like wings out to the sides. Ru tried to remember -- there was a savior, that had been whispered in some of those longer trials. Ru could not recall the name. A Master who was on their side, with wings and fragile skin.

Ru had never placed much stock in fairy tales. Drawn by some poor fool who was hoping, Ru decided. There was no savior. If there were, all those generations of bones wouldn't have been in Canis. Ru saw other things -- vague depictions of various creatures, probably drawn by themselves. Valkhounds and slaves who were allowed to venture outside of Hydra. Those who had survived.

Ru reminisced, for a moment. It was a rare pleasure, one rarely allowed. Being able to stop and stare without fearing for one's life was a luxury few from Ru's time could afford. Being able to make carvings at all... even more so.



note: refer to ru with any pronouns for the time being, i'm intentionally not using any!

After her talk with Sheng, Yew did know she wanted to help create safe spaces just in case things all went wrong. The Edenfolk's fears were... Smart, she thought. At least with the things that were said in the meeting she overheard. Still, getting the word out would be some form of helping right? Yew still needed to figure out what she was going to do, but she would do something.

Hood of her cloak covering her head, Yew wandered through the tunnel - she'd not visited this one before. At least, not from what she could remember. The crystals lining the area were dull and almost sad looking, some of them brought into shapes she did not recognize. They were obviously carved into, but Yew did not know what the shapes belonged to, or who could have carved into the crystals in the first place.

She was able to spot the shape of a stranger standing in front of one carving, another she did not know. Was that one the one carving into the walls? They didn't look like they were doing any carving, at least not yet. Still, the curiosity burned and Yew became curious.

"Di- did you." She nearly forgot about how she spoke like that. "Make- ake thatt?"

@Quartz Five-Two-Four

Ru was aware of her long before she spoke. The first sign of company was the heat, naturally. A body produced warmth, at least some of the time, and now was no different. This tunnel was not hot enough to hide Yew from Ru's awareness. Then, of course, the feeling -- Ru had always been attuned to vibrations in the earth. They were amplified tenfold, or so it felt, across solid stone and crystal rather than the shifting sands of Hydra. In the past, the ability had allowed the creature to avoid Sand Worms by knowing who they were going to target -- now, it let Ru be aware of what was around. The next sense was the most jarring -- the sound of footsteps, reaching the long ears and painting something akin to a picture. Ru was not used to being able to hear that well. The feeling was... almost uncomfortable.

However, Ru did not turn around until Yew spoke. The lizard-like head turned, eyes catching cave lights in the shadows. "No," the creature said. "But I think creations like me did." Creations. Not people."What is your designation?" Curiosity. Now, it was time to categorize. "Do you have a name? Why do you speak like that?" Perhaps the question was rude, but Ru wouldn't have known. The Gembound did not know of any design that had ever spoken in such a manner. Some had been impeded by their stones or been unable to speak at all, but Yew spoke like she was cold.

Ru was not sure if cold was familiar, and decided to test it later.


@yew

Yew was unaware the elder gembound knew she was there, but the hybrid had not intended to hide in the first place. She didn't want to hide, not in that moment anyway. It was normal, hiding. Except she wanted to explore - she wanted to have stories to tell like everyone else! Ones that didn't involve the war, or being attacked by her own mo- by Jayberry. This stranger wasn't there, not that Yew could remember. She had no reason to hide from this stranger.

Creations? Is that not a gembound?

Before she could ask about what the other meant, Yew's thoughts were interrupted by the other being asking her designation. What was a designation? Yew had never... Been asked that before, or, really ever questioned that in her entire life so far.

"What is is a desig- des-." A huff. "What is thatt?"

Yew felt like it was an appropriate question to ask. At least, it didn't seem like it would be wrong. With the other asking questions too.

"My -y name is Yew." A pause, she might have frowned if her beak allowed it. "Didn't- idn't heal right - ight."

At least... She assumed that was the case.

Ru blinked. Ah, right -- the new ones, they did not know their designations. "An identification," Ru replied. "Your stone plus whatever number you are. I am Quartz Five-Two-Four -- there were many Quartzes." A long, batlike ear flicked. "But my name is Ru."

Oh, she had healed wrong? Well, that must have meant that she'd fought before, and had survived to tell about it! Quite a severe fight, if the little of what Ru could see of Yew's face was anything to go by. The Gembound's head angled to look over more of the cloaked body. There was a beak, and paws, and that was where Ru stopped. Whatever it was, it looked just as random to the creature as any other of this time -- or before it. "Are you a he, a she, or a they? Or something else?" Ru asked suddenly. This was a question occupying much of Ru's thoughts, at least at the moment. "Do you have a family?" came next.

These questions were seemingly random, but they were, ultimately, anything but. Ru was categorizing, as usual, and also trying to get some answers to some questions.


@yew

Yew didn't exactly understand the need for a designation, really. Weren't names enough? Designations made it sound like the living beings were... Items. Lives were not toys, Yew would know that very well herself. Their name was Ru... A short name, like Yew's, it would be easy to say. That was good.

Yew did notice she was being inspected, and her instincts told her to get out of there at that - what if Ru knew about the war? Would Yew have to get down on her knees and beg for forgiveness? Could she even do that? Would any of those gembound from before accept it? She shoved that thought as far away as she could.

"S- she."

At the family question, she almost answered with a no, but Uncle Mercy was family, right?

"I do."

Luckily for Yew, Ru had neither heard of the war nor would have cared. Ru had done "bad" things for the sake of survival. Morality was not something that was frequently pondered by the creature. Long ago a conclusion had been reached on the subject -- morality does not matter when you are a weapon. Although... if Ru was going to become an individual, perhaps the topic would need to be revisited. Make a note of that, Ru thought, and returned attention to Yew.

Then came the pronouns answer, and with it, the question of the hour -- "How do you know?" Ru had experimented with pronouns back in the Tunnel. A few different sets had been tried out, but none of them had felt... right, in a way. As if something was always wrong. Perhaps it was because Ru had just always been an it; perhaps there were other reasons.

Ah, but back to the topic at hand -- Yew had a family. Ru's eyes closed for a moment, mulling that over. Categorizing. Then, they opened again, still bright and curious. "Do you love them?" And then, after getting an answer -- "How do you know?"


@yew

Yew honestly had no idea how to answer the questions of the other gembound - no, being. Correctly. Why were they wanting to know anyway? Did they not understand? Or not feel right? She supposed that it made sense, in a way, to ask others if you didn't understand it yourself. With the gender thing at least. Still, Yew had never thought of herself anything other than a 'she' for as long as she could remember.

"It feels-ls right." which, well, was the case.

Did she love her family? The ones she had left, sure - not. Not the ones from before. At least, she willed her mind to think that way. There was no way she could love someone so harmful, then again, it was her mo- no.

"I do." She replied to the first question of family, the next was far more confusing.

"It's a feeling-ing."

Ru mulled that over, and began to file this one. Hybrid. She. Has family. Survivor of battles. Does not think critically about things. Perhaps that last one was a cruel assessment, but the Gembound did not exactly care. Potentially useful in a fight, Ru decided. The creature glanced at the carvings again, quieted for a moment. And then was immediately back in the fray with the questions, needing to corroborate that theory.

"What are you skilled in? Magic? Fighting? Something else?" Being able to sweet-talk someone into dying for you was every bit a skill as the rest of them, and Ru did not discount it. In fact, the creature had been victim to sweet-talkers in the past, and had a scar -- among many -- to prove it. At any moment, another Trialgoer could and would stab you in the back -- it was simply advantageous to betray them first.

Ru eyed the cloak again. "Where did you get that? The color is nice." Was that a compliment? Ru paused. It was. Perhaps, however, the creature simply liked blue. It would have made sense, what with the abundance of it in Ru's body. And then, another question -- "What do you think I am? In regards to pronouns." Maybe getting the opinions of other Gembound would make it easier?


@yew

Yew would have frowned if her beak allowed it. Why did the other gembo- creation want to know what she was skilled at? Wasn't having a normal conversation enough? Is this what uncle Mercy was warning her about when he told her to turn her back on those that caused harm? Was Ru causing her harm? They'd not attacked her or anything... What could she consider as harm?

"I used to to fight-ight." She mentioned, be honest, right? "Not any- any- anymore."

"F-found it." She found it in the dark and took off running afterward. Startled at the amount of gembound that seemed to be in the area with her.

Yew also quite liked her cloak, it made a nice thing to put on the ground and lay on, it was nice to wear, made her feel sheltered. Along with the music box, it was a way for Yew to ground herself if she got scared for whatever reason. She would have to show uncle Mercy that music box sometime. Maybe.

"You sh- should pick what feelsss right-ight" Yew didn't have a specific one to fit to the stranger. She didn't know if she should either. "I can't-n't pick forr you."