Acheron paused at the 'dragons' question, eyes widening a little as she peered upward. Her quietly clicking hoofbeats stopped. "Um," was her initial answer, which wasn't very telling by any means. But she hadn't been told whether the dragons were still here, and Poltergeist's question had her immediately and deeply worried. "I don't... think they're here, still?" Her dad'd have told her... right? "But maybe we should... stay in the shadows? Just in case."

She pressed on again, one ear flicking back to listen to Poltergeist speak of ghosts, of souls. She'd never heard of that, and almost at once she peered back, a new idea forming. A hopeful idea, and a nervous one. "The dead... hang around?" she asked. Nobody had told her this, and... her mind had gone immediately to her now-dead stonegiver. The one her lifegiver had called "a hero." "My... other dad, he died. Could I--find him? Can they talk?" she went on. Even a touch--the brush of nose to nose, an acknowledgment that he lingered... Acheron'd never thought about it before, but she latched onto the concept with a budding sense of hope.

Maybe he wasn't totally gone, then? Maybe not gone from this world after all, but still here, just... in a way she couldn't see?

These somewhat grim (and entirely inaccurate) thoughts were swept away for the time being, though, at the sound of skittering close by. At once, Acheron turned, a shimmering dome raising before the pair in practiced fashion. If something lunged for them, it'd hit the barrier... but for now, she leaned closer to Poltergeist, and whispered. "What is that? -Do you smell anything?" she asked.

@Poltergeist

“Yes, the shadows, that’s a good idea,” Poltergeist whispered quietly. He practically lived in the shadows anyway so it wasn’t much of a difference.

Poltergeist quickly realized he may have gotten on a touchy subject and had messed up big time. He tried to backtrack, ”It's usually unhappy souls that become ghosts, that’s why they mess with people.” He hoped that would fix his obvious blunder, or at least obvious to anyone but Acheron. Guilt continued to eat at him though so he finally decided to be honest. ”I don’t actually know, this is just the stuff I remembered when I came out the rock,” he spoke rather solemnly, admitting his errors was not something the fox liked to do.

Both were distracted by the scratching and Poltergeist secretly hoped they wouldn’t pick the previous conversation up. ”Woah.” Geis let softly slip as the shimmering shield appeared in front of them. Magic was awesome. The small noise stopped at his uttering. Making an act of sniffing the air, he spoke up again, this time much softer, “I think some sort of rodent.” It didn’t sound like it had run yet, perhaps they had found a nest. He watched Acheron for her reaction, curious how she felt about hunting it or letting it go.

@Acheron

She pondered, eyes on the stone, then let her magic drop. "Probably harmless, then," she said, willing it to be true. If it were just a little mouse, it'd be fine but those rats--some of them were as big as she was, twice as mean and hunted in packs.

Pale eyes cut to Poltergeist, considering. "Do you eat them?" she asked, already backing up. She didn't--mostly by choice; she'd found she could eat just about anything and had stuck to plants, for now. But if the cub was hungry, she didn't mind helping him catch some food. She just... wouldn't look at it, that was all.

The other part of her slid back to their prior conversation. She wondered if her stonegiver'd been... unhappy. She imagined so; she hadn't been told the details of it, though. Maybe he hadn't.

She set the idea aside; she could ask her family later on, and see if they knew more. For now, she waited to see if Geis wanted to press on with exploration--or go hunting for a meal.

@Poltergeist

The skinny fox looked at Acheron closely, trying to tell how uncomfortable they were. He was desperately hungry, he nearly always was. It was to the point that he was able to ignore the pangs of hunger, most of them time at least. Now, with prey right in front of him, the hunger came over him with a vengeance. Before he could make his decision, his stomach growled loud enough that both he and Acheron could hear it. His body slumped. Embarrassment warmed his cheeks beneath his fur.

“I am a fox after all.” He mumbled before traipsing into the dark. Coming around to the other side of the stone. He tried to wash himself over with shadows. Very slowly he approached. He had been right, it was a nest. He sprung and made a meal for himself.

He carefully licked his lips and paws, not wanting to upset the half deer with the sight of blood. The smell lingered on him though. He could do little to stop that. Emerging from behind the wall, he looked for Acheron. Instead of embarrassment, he painted his face with a look of satisfaction. “Just what was needed. Shall we continue?” He said, trying to sound refreshed.

@Acheron

"Be careful," she urged, alarm sudden in her voice. A faint sense of adventure stole over her--this might be a challenge! It might become something new and exciting!

A shield flickered up, faint and shimmering, and Acheron crept forward alongside Geis. Just in case, she thought. But he was quick, agile; one pounce and crunch and he had his meal. Just little ones, she confirmed to herself, half-disappointed and half-relieved. And--the odor of blood hitting her nose--just a little sad for the critter.

That thought was taken, though, at the mention of Poltergeist being a 'fox.' Acheron hadn't heard the word before, but that innate, faint knowledge of words lingered. She peered at him, even as she turned to push further into the ruins as he suggested. "What's a 'fox?'" she asked, then laughed briefly. "I mean--it's you, but is that... your shape? Or does it mean someone who eats mice?" she went on, curious. She assumed that he would know, just as she'd hatched sort-of-knowing what deer and dogs were. And she looked him up and down, too. "Does that mean you're only one--thing? I'm... half deer and half dog. Does that mean there might be others that look just like you?" It was curiosity and nothing more, but Acheron now wondered at the image of a dozen others identical to Geis wandering the caves--Gembound she simply hadn't met yet.

And she wondered, too, if that meant there were nobody else like her. She wasn't sure if the thought was one to be proud of, or one to make her just a little lonely.

@Poltergeist

Poltergeist was not expecting Acheron’s question. His eyes widened and his jaw slackened. Did this pup not wake up with the knowledge Poltergeist did? Maybe he was just lucky. Of course, the dog had a father to inform him of all this stuff. Maybe that was why Poltergeist seemed to know more. Maybe the gods of wherever this was wanted to equalize things for the pups and gave Geis just a bit more information than Acheron. Maybe, maybe, maybe… Who really knows? Geis thought to himself.

“Uh- I’m pretty sure foxes all look kind of like me, but maybe not exactly. I don’t know, I haven’t met any foxes. It would be kind of creepy if they looked just like me though.” Poltergeist mused. “If it was anyone who ate a mouse then you could be a fox too.” Geis chuckled at the thought, imagining a pointy-eared, fluffy-tailed Acheron.

”You and that mouse are the first living creatures I’ve met, so I have no idea if I’m right in anything I know about foxes or mice or dogs or deer.” Poltergeist shrugged. He wasn’t upset about his lack of knowledge, but it was a little annoying. He kicked a rock as he walked, his paw swiping at the small pebble and sending it clattering across the ground.

@Acheron

She was the first he'd ever met? Acheron blinked, peering sidelong at Geis. "I didn't know that! You speak very well," she praised. When she'd first hatched, her words had been stumbling, confused and without context; it'd taken her a few days and a patient parent to get her to Geis's level. Maybe he was right, and different Gembound had been granted different levels of knowledge.

She eyed him up and down, though, thinking about the concept of foxes. "You look cool," she said, at last, in a sort of neutral praise. The shades of his fur and the fluffiness of it was just fun to look at; by comparison, Acheron thought herself rather scrawny and gangly. Not that it mattered much to her, but still!

Acheron turned, threading farther into the ruins, nose lifting to pick apart the scents within. "It smells... musty," she observed.

At length she crouched a little. "Let me see if I can see anything interesting." A flicker of magicka, and she sprang--a normal little jump--but hit the ground and bounced. It still wasn't super graceful--she flailed a little, twisting midair like a cat--but her ears pricked up as she sailed high into the air and peered downward.

A moment later she'd scrambled safely back onto the ground, and turned back, squinting. "I see something shiny, a little ways in! A couple buildings past here," she said, excited now, eyes bright as she peered to Geis.

@Poltergeist

Poltergeist was a little taken aback by the compliments. Even though he had just hatched, he felt as if he was usually looked down on instead of praised. Perhaps the best sign of that was his name. He felt like it was more of a curse on him rather than a blessing. The ones that had given him the name probably felt that he was as terrible as a poltergeist.

“Thank you Acheron, you’re pretty cute yourself,” he said and grinned mischievously. “I’m just messing with ya, you look pretty cool too. I wish I had horns.” He said, laughing to himself. They were both just pups and Poltergeist had no plans for a budding childhood romance.

“Ooo,” Geis said in interest as Acheron jumped into the air and brought down new information. Geis loved shiny things! He began to scamper off towards it before remembering Acheron. Turning to look back at her, he smiled and whispered loudly, “Come on!” Before running off into the darkness excitedly.

@Acheron

She peered at him sidelong at the "cute" remark. She didn't really understand any subtext behind the word, even if she understood there to be some--joke or no, it just made her vaguely uncertain, maybe borderline uncomfortable. But it was washed away on Poltergeist's laughter, and she shrugged it off, moving to equally buoyant humor instead. "Damn right I am," she retorted, and gave one last bounce before the magic faded--shorter, a display of prowess rather than a search for shiny stuff.

As for her horns-? "I think they're antlers," she answered easily, pushing past a pile of old ash and cinders that'd wound up pressed into the alleyway by air currents. They stained her tan legs black, matching her coat a little more, but she didn't notice. And as Geis raced off ahead, shes raced her voice a little so he'd still hear her, even as she sped to an ash-muffled clicking trot to keep up. "That means they... fall off, sometimes," she went on, struggling to remember what her lifegiver had told her about them. "And they might get really big with a lot of spines. Spikes?" What was the correct word? "Tines" didn't occur to her. But she'd seen how big a stag's antlers could get. "I sort of don't want them that big. They look like they'd get caught in stuff," Acheron admitted, nose scrunching up.

Her head came up, and she peered around as Geis led them past the buildings, into another area of the ruins she'd never seen before. The place was dim, crumbled, and the yawning black doorways and windows ominous. "...See anything yet?" she asked, nervous and hopeful both.

@Poltergeist

The ash was also coloring him, but it wasn’t very obvious as his coat already darkened at his paws. He just had to be careful to keep his tail from dragging on the ground. Poltergeist slowed as Acheron continued to talk to him, bending his head over his shoulder to better hear her. “Hmm, does that mean sometimes you’ll have antlers and sometimes you won’t?” Poltergeist asked.

Coming up on the open doors and windows, Poltergeist felt his heart beat a little faster. They looked like several monsters just waiting to swallow them up. He tried to calm himself as he waited for Acheron to catch up. It looked like they would have to pass through these dark doors to get to where Acheron had seen the shiny object. He tried to angle his head to see past the doors and something gleamed on the other side, reflecting Orion’s precious light.

“I see it!” Poltergeist said excitedly to Acheron. “It’s on the other side.” He couldn’t tell what it was, but it was either gold or copper in color. It was hard to tell in the darkness. A smile broke over his face and he crept slowly towards the door that had revealed the object.

@Acheron