Since hatching not too long ago, Akshayaa’s life had been filled with boredom. She was a creature who was often too lazy to occupy herself by normal means, so she ended up doing things like eating and sleeping to pass the time. But these two activities could drive a creature insane if that was all they ever did with their time. Eventually, she decided that she might like to explore outside of Eridanus, which is where she had stayed since birth. And now that she had somehow found herself in Orion, after many days of wandering aimlessly, she wasn’t feeling all too well.

Aksha had absolutely no sense of direction. She had gotten hopelessly turned around in all the tunnels, and even trying to follow her own scent back to Eridanus hadn’t worked very well because there were so many other scents that covered hers up. Anytime someone was nearby, she would hide, too afraid of coming face-to-face with… what, she didn’t know. She was just scared of damn near everything. She had spent a lot of time curled up crying in the corner, feeling helpless and not strong enough to help herself out of her situation. Luckily, she wasn’t too terrible at hunting or she might have passed out from hunger by now.

Eventually, she stumbled across the “room of stars,” staring up at the ceiling and feeling nothing but grumpy and hungry and thirsty. She had no appreciation for the beauty in the room. She wanted one of those juicy orange fruits or maybe a mouse. Tasmanian Devils were scavengers more than anything else, so they ate basically anything put in front of them. Her stomach rumbled loudly and she sat down heavily as a hunger headache set in. Why was it she was unlucky enough to be getting headaches constantly? Ugh.

@Bartos

For the most part, Bartos was content with the activities he had devised in order to pass the time. Sure, he was a curious kitten and every now and then the outside world beyond Orion threatened to lure him from his safety net, but so far the boy had abstained from leaving his home in favor of the security of the familiar. He preferred the familiar; he liked knowing that his home was safe and being able to see it almost from everywhere he was on ground, and he liked recognizing the stone towers and crumbling buildings that he traveled through every day. He liked knowing when things changed, like if somebody came through the room and used their magic, he'd always be able to tell. He just preferred the comfort of this home - but he had to admit, there were times during which the cat would find himself growing bored, too.

This was one of those days when Bartos had decided to give in to his natural instincts. The cat wasn't much of a hunter - in fact, he was kind of clumsy when it came to sneaking. With the satchel he usually kept secured around his chest and under his arm, he tended to be a little noisy. A hunter wouldn't be very successful if they kept scaring their prey away, but Bartos hadn't worried much about hunting. He always seemed to find food somewhere in the form of a pre-killed item (some part of him suspected that somebody was leaving mice around for him to eat), or he'd catch a lucky break and chase a rat into a secluded corner. Either way, he didn't spend much time perfecting his skills. He was always busy with his rocks.

Unfortunately, a complicated and long-winded series of events had pulled him from his studies. The sound of a rock clattering on the ground had drawn him from inspecting the one particular chunk of sandstone, taking him down the ledges and onto the ground where he snooped around for the source of the noise. Following that, a bat had fluttered past his head, and Bartos couldn't help but chase after it. The bat had taken him into the heart of the city, where he had accidentally walked over a crinkly, dry cloth that spooked the bat away. Bartos in turn found himself intrigued by the cloth, picking it up and trying to bring it back to his home, only to trip over it half way there and bump his nose on the ground. The fall must have broken a blood vessel or two, because sleek crimson was now pouring in a steady leak from his nostrils. Frustrated, Bartos resolved to go to one of the small streams that wound through the room to wash himself. It only took a few minutes, and everything reeked of metallic crimson, but Bartos was intent on heading back up to his ledge to continue his work.

Which would bring us to here and now. A few paces into his sojourn home, the kitten had spotted a rather interesting creature. She was small, and he hadn't spotted her gem right away - his simple cat mind had instantly assumed she was a prey animal, and what better opportunity to practice than with a target strewn out before him? Bartos instantly scampered off behind some rocks (loudly) and dropped to a crouch, his rump high up in the air and wriggling with excitement. He prowled closer, twitching his tail and eyes wide as saucers, before lunging at the creature with a gleeful roar.

Aksha was sitting there, grumbling to herself about how much her life sucked, and not really trying to think of a way out of her situation, when she heard a loud scampering sound nearby. That set her heart going in her chest (because she’s basically scared of everything), and she crouched down instinctively. Silence reigned for about ten seconds, and then from out of nowhere this ball of fluff came charging at her, with a loud yowling sound. It was bigger than she was, for she was still quite young and her body was still growing, so having this much larger thing chasing her was absolutely terrifying!

She let out a very loud scream, the one only Devils could make. It sounded almost like a higher-pitched dog growl. She backed quickly away from the charging thing, eyes wide, and suddenly felt the ground tremble beneath her paws. Did earthquakes just follow her around? Why did this always happen? Now the ground was shaking and there was a thing trying to attack her? Ugh, this day wasn’t getting any better. ”Leave me alone!” she screamed at the Gembound. “Go away!” Had she the ability, she would have been crying in terror at this point. But animals didn’t shed tears, so she ended just making a pathetic sobbing noise as she stared at the cat.

@Bartos -- Also, here's this so you know what a screaming Devil sounds like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3RjAh8PRTQ

woop woop small post B) @Akshayaa

Bartos had not realized the error of his ways - in his mind, he was just practicing hunting, be it on a lesser gembound or somebody capable of cognizance. So when he landed and the earth began to tremble, the kitten found himself stumbling and falling onto his face, and the devil shrieked and bolted away, yelling at him to keep his distance. For a second he was stunned, and then he realized that the earth was shaking. The kitten picked himself back up again, fumbling around on the quaking surface before it had finally stopped and he realized what the other creature had yelled at him - the cat's ears pressed flat and he stared with alarm at the other gembound. "I'm sorry! I thought you were just a-a rat or something!" The cat exclaimed, arched brows clearly denoting his surprise.

@Bartos -- is okay. :D

The Tasmanian Devil continued to stare at the cat as he tumbled around on his paws from the small earthquake (that she had unknowingly caused). When the floor finally stopped moving and he apologized, calling her a rat, she scowled at him, heart still pounding. She was not one to forgive easily. In fact, she often grew quite bitchy at the slightest of insults or other mean things, whether they were intentional or not. She huffed, feeling very defensive, like she had to prove that she was better than this cat. “What the hell is wrong with you? Do I look like a rat to you?” She did, in fact, look a lot like a big rat, but she had not yet seen her own face, or most of her body before so she didn’t know that. And even if she had, she wasn’t one to admit that she was wrong.

Oh, Bart was really in for it now. The kitten had never really gotten himself in trouble with somebody else before. He couldn't fathom doing anything to anybody to intentionally make them mad; the boy was far too innocent for that, far too unassuming to hurt somebody on purpose. Yet here he stood before the tasmanian devil who was clearly offended not only at his attempt to hunt her, but his excuse! And that was all it was, really; Bartos had no other explanation for why he had crept up on her, other than he thought that she was something he could creep up on. Well, clearly he was wrong.

The adolescent quaked, pressing flat his ears at her question. "Y-Ye- No!" He shouted, wide-eyed as he realized the trap he was about to fall into. "Of course not! I was just practicing is all! I'm sorry!" Bartos fumbled over his words as he tried to... what, make it up to the little critter? He didn't really owe anything to her - sure, an apology, but he'd already given her that. He stared at her for a moment, hoping that she would accept his apology and that he wouldn't have to try even harder to make her stop being mad at him.

@Akshayaa

And for the first time in her young life, Akshayaa knew what guilt felt like. And it was a terrible, awful thing that ate at her soul. She flattened her own body into the ground, just as Bartos had done, and ducked her head. “I… I’m sorry,” she murmured. She couldn’t bring herself to look at the cat. She felt about ready to cry again. “I didn’t mean to… make you feel so bad. You just scared me! I –

She was at a loss for words. Her little body trembled a bit. “I’m lost and I’m hungry and I’m thirsty! I’ve had a really bad few days, okay?” And there began her making of excuses, something she would do more and more of as she grew older. It’s not that she consciously tried to manipulate others. She really had had an awful few days. But… her fault was where she thought that gave her the right to be mean to others, trying to make herself feel better. She was a bully, without even realizing it. And if anyone ever tried to get her to see that, she’d ignore them, or run away, rather than face the issue.

She really did feel bad about hurting the kitten’s feelings, but… he’d almost attacked her! She had a right to be angry didn’t she? But at the same time, she could have handled it all a lot better. Oh, how her mind was running in circles!

@Bartos

A special brand of Bartos' own guilt was weighing the cat down as he stared at her, completely caught off guard. Unlike the little devil, the cat wasn't really close to tears - he was just alarmed and scared and worried, because it was a totally new experience to him and frankly other peoples' emotions frightened him. Thankfully, the critter had eased, relaxing away from her anger in favor of reluctantly apologizing for getting angry and forgiving him. Hearing her words, Bartos blinked and his own body relaxed for a moment, long fluffy tail flopping from side to side. When she began to tremble, he felt the guilt swelling up again. He didn't mean to make her feel so bad either! Is this what happened when other people got mad at you? Especially when he tried to apologize? Boy, he didn't like it at all!

Once she had admitted the source of her ultimate dismay, Bartos lightened up. He even popped up on his paws, jumping up a little as if the weight was lifted from his shoulders. "Thirsty! I can help with that! Maybe I can even help with your hungry too! I live here, this is my home, and I know where water and food is, let me make it up to you!" He rambled excitedly, hopping towards her. He could take her back to his home and tell her all apart it, and there she could drink the water from his puddle - no, that water was stagnant and muddy, he'd have to find her different water. There were small streams that ran through the cave. Where was he going to get food? Maybe in the river. Oh, who cared - he'd worry about it when they got there!

@Akshayaa

Akshayaa finally looked back up at the cat when he jumped to his paws excitedly. She didn’t have to wonder for long what had suddenly gotten him into such a happy mood. He instantly told her he could help with her thirst and hunger, and she was all for it! She stood on her rat-like paws, smiling a little, though she didn’t act as crazy as he did about it. That’s when she noticed all the… stuff all over him. She didn’t yet have any concept of bags or… whatever those things were on his face. She wondered about a split-second if that was his gem, but the deep blue stone sticking out of his chest put that thought from her mind.

“What… What are you… I mean… What is all that?” Realizing immediately that that question had been really dumbly phrased, she shook her head and restarted. “Uh, I mean, that thing on your face, covering your eyes. And that thing hanging at your side? Are those… part of your body, or…?” Man, this cat was either severely disfigured, or there was some weird shit goin’ down here. Again, she had no concept of other physical objects being worn by Gembounds, so to her it looked as if the glasses and bag were attached to him – like, from the skin. Somehow. It was actually pretty horrifying to look at since she had no idea what was actually happening.

@Bartos

The cat was basically vibrating, waiting for an answer from his new companion. He hopped upon his paws, waggling his tail behind him while his mind traveled to where he would take her to get a drink of water, until she had severed his train of thought by completely changing the subject. Now, Bartos couldn't deny the small twinge of irritation he felt at this - after all, she had just said that she was hungry and thirsty. Now he would have to wait for an answer as to whether or not they could travel. Bartos fell still, his tail thumping to the ground as he actually mulled over her question, thoughtfully plunking down to his haunches. "Um, these?" He blinked, wriggling his nose, which made the glasses dance upon his face and then gesturing to his bag before looking back at her for confirmation. Yes, those things, dummy.

Bartos snickered and prodded at the glasses with his paws. "These are my eye... seeing... see-ers?" The cat frowned and looked thoughtfully away. What did he call them again? "They are made of... glass? Glasses. That's what they are. I think." He added with a touch of uncertainty. He couldn't remember if he'd ever called them that before, but it felt right. Bartos raised a paw and continued to fiddle with his glasses before jumping back onto his feet, kicking out his hip, which made the leather bag at his side bump against his side. "And this is my rock-carrier-bag. I like to find rocks and bring them back to my home, see, but some rocks are hard to carry, so I put them in this here bag, it helps me take them places!" He explained and trotted around the tasmanian devil so that she could snag a better look at his lovely bag.

His prancing didn't last long, though - Bartos stopped when he was behind the creature, wriggling his butt again before jumping away. "Come on, aren't you thirsty? I know where some water is!" The cat added, swaying his tail while he looked back at her expectantly.

@Akshayaa