It was a wonder that Sprig did not journey to Polaris more often, considering its close proximity to Eridanus. He noted that it was rather similar in a sense to Orion, where some of his family lived. He thought about them less and less, perhaps as a side effect of his hibernation, or maybe because he had no idea if they were even around anymore. Even his sister Adonia who he had been so close with only crossed his thoughts from time to time. Anyway, he was here to look for some interesting plants. Just like Orion contained some peculiar herbs not found in other caves such as the mint, he wondered if Polaris had anything similar.
But what he came upon was not plants, but chocolate. Or rather, a singular chocolate. He looked around, trying to determine if it belonged to anyone. There were numerous other gembound here, but it was unclear if they were the ones who had placed the chocolate because they seemed just as confused. Well if no one else was going to eat it... and it smelled incredibly similar to the hot chocolate that Naskital had too. So of course this one must taste good right? Sprig reached down, and bit into it slowly. The flavor flooded through his mouth, and he suddenly felt incredibly happy. "Wow... if only I could make food like this." That was his goal after all! If only there was some way for him to cook such delicious food and share it with everyone. That would be the day. As he started daydreaming about all this he was sort of in a daze, standing in place and staring at nothing. It was quite weird.


Chocolate:
Row 1 #6
Pistachio White Chocolate Rectangle

Sakhira had wandered over here to Polaris with no specific intent in mind. Exploration perhaps. A search for knowledge perhaps? Curiosity? Something along those lines. The cub looked around with wide eyes, drawing comparisons between Polaris and Orion. They were different kinds of beauty however. Orion held the magic of crystals and shiny gemstones, while Polaris contained glowing crystals and plants giving off a mystical atmosphere. She couldn't decide which cave she loved more.
Though there were several other gembounds here, the first thing that caught her eye was a piece of chocolate. It was strange looking, almost like solidified mud. Having an owl head meant she had absolutely no sense of smell. If she did have a nose she would've noted that it smelled sweet with a hint of bitterness. But she did not. Sakhira inspected it with her eyes, peering with great interest at it. It was not a stone, that was for sure. And with a slight poke, she felt that it was hard yet contained a spongey quality. This was something indeed! She had never seen anything like it, though it could be noted she hadn't really seen much things in general.
A few more moments of poking at it and archiving her observations away in her mind before she gulped it down. She probably would've been able to taste it better if she had chewed it but. Owls don't really eat like that. And oh! What a feeling it was that coursed through her body. A feeling of happiness, not the kind that made her ecstatic, rather, the kind that was warm and comforting. Like... Monoceros.

Chocolate:
Row 1 #5
Robed Milk Chocolate Rectangle

Imp wandered in with a sense of cheer, glancing around with nostrils flaring. There was a sequined beret cocked rakishly to one side on his head (it stayed that way always, as that's how the tailor had slotted in his horns, and Imp thought it was pretty damn cool. WHICH it was, thank you very much).

The first chocolate he happened upon was the Shredded Coconut Milk Chocolate Rectangle: milky chocolate, rectangular, and indeed covered with shredded coconut. He stuffed it into his maw after only a cursory sniff--and, after chewing only for half a second and gulping it down, paused at the sensations.

Sweet. ...Nice? ...Kind? How did food make him feel NICER?! What the hell was this!

"HEY EVERYBODY," he bawled, yelling to the shapes of other Gembound he could see in the vague distance. "I LOVE YOU. ALSO, WHAT DID I JUST EAT?!"

Imp is selecting:

2. Shredded Coconut Milk Chocolate Rectangle

When The Sentinel entered Polaris, it wasn't for chocolate. He had roaming rights, a name, and reproductive rights--freshly-earned--and he was on the hunt for an appropriate subject with which to create a lasting legacy. A powerful legacy. He wasn't sure exactly what he was looking for, but he had general requirements in mind: strength, size, power, and--preferably--a whole lot of spines, spikes, or armor. He'd know, when he saw a potential partner, if they were suitable or not.

He--oh, was that chocolate?

Puzzled, the Sentinel drew closer to the little praline that he'd found. He leaned down. It smelled... sweet, yet appealing, despite his normal existence as a carnivore.

He shifted his halberd to the other hand, and rested his palm on the hilt of his dagger instead, for a moment.

When the chocolate did not attack, he leaned down and lifted it between the claws of one thumb and forefinger, bringing it to glowing eyes to more closely examine it. It was... square, and dark, with two little nuts atop it. Well--what was there to do, with obvious and not-at-all-suspicious food someone had just left here, but eat it?

The Sentinel of the Chaos Forge popped the abandoned chocolate into his jaws and chewed slowly, staring off into the middle distance. The world swirled--as it always did--with visions of war and chaos, with Void intruding on reality, motes of dust drifting by as everything faded in and out from nothing. Yet now the violence that surrounded him... changed. A flash of soldiers that he thought he saw off to his left suddenly paused, and dropped their weapons, and-...

Had anyone looked just then, they'd have seen the Sentinel's head suddenly snap to the left, his back straightening as he stared at thin air.

They were... kissing. Passionately, these figures. And he felt... bad, for them? ...Sympathy? Warmth, even? Was it good that the soldiers were suddenly embracing, instead of murdering one another?

"...What is this trickery?" the Sentinel breathed, black teeth gleaming in deep concern at all this unfamiliar warmth blooming in his chest.

The Sentinel chooses:
7. Dark Chocolate Square with Nuts

The catawampus approaches. It approaches... for sweets. Does it care specifically about sweets in particular? No. Does it care why there are people gathered around the sweets having very surprising, perhaps even alarmingly sweet moments with each other? Also no. The catawampus is not one for purposeless interaction, or intensive thought. But it is one for food. A very big one for food. Its entire existence could be interpreted as an allegory for hunger, although that may not have been the author's intention. The previous statement is largely irrelevant, as is this current one. Food for thought? No, no that involves thinking—wait that's kind of what this food does, wait— ah, but the catawampus has already plucked the nearest chocolate from the ground (I'd say that's gross but 1. magic, 2. sugar doesn't contract as much bacteria when hitting the ground as other food might, and 3. the catawampus has done much grosser). And, as you can imagine from last time this beast displayed its dietary inclinations, the chocolate is gone down the hatch so fast it might as well have not existed in the first place.

And just as suddenly, thought is fed. The thoughts are warm. They are nice. I cannot tell what they are but they result in the catawampus looking around at all the fellow guests it did not care about two seconds prior and feeling... some kind of emotion. Maybe it's interest? It certainly seems to be staring intently. Wait a minute—this could be bad actually. Very not particularly great. Um. Uh.

It approaches one of the puffballs conversing with one of the other puffballs and the tree-looking guy. Like a predator it struts low and alarmingly quiet, aiming to approach from behind, but in its eyes the pupils are dilated pools of... and almost playful nature. Interest? What is happening. I am so sorry for what is happening, whatever that is. If able to get close enough, the catawampus then attempts to scoop up one of the puffballs and just kind of... hold it in its big fluffy paws. Gentle, firm hold. Not a word to be said or a thought to be contributed to the conversation they are having. Simply... hold.

Okay.

The Catawampus has eaten the Pistachio White Chocolate Rectangle (Row 1, Chocolate #6).

@Raoshar (made it a phys combat roll because funny. Raoshar is free to wriggle out or evade capture.)

Tourmaline does try to keep up with the happenings in Polaris. Not very well, but it is where her den is set up. So when she hears the commotion of gathering Gembound, she stalks out to find what's causing it.

That's when she smells the scent of chocolate - somewhat familiar, since Naskital had something like it before in Orion. So when Tourmaline stumbles across a little brown goody on a rock, she shrugs before taking it in her mouth.

Wow, this isn't bad, she thinks, as it melts while she eats it.

4. Dark Chocolate Rectangle with Hearts!

Khavur came after the Sentinel. It had been a while since they had spoken and it was always somewhat curious as to what was happening in the Sentinel's mind. What gave it the right to be so nosy when more important matters were afoot? Well... Khavur was just kind of built like that. Its purpose was to serve the nest—the Sentinel was within its jurisdiction. Explaining now would not be worthwhile. You know what would be worthwhile? Some chocolate. Khavur didn't even know what that was, but lo and behold, there one sat on a flat rock in Polaris.

Curiosity expanded and extended from the Sentinel to the gathering crowd to the little sample of sweetness adorned in little icons of hearts that Khavur did not understand. They would pluck the peculiar little square from the rock with two gentle claws, hold it up to the head with functional eyes, and turn it around to assess it from all sides before curtly tossing it directly into their jaws.

And that would be when, for the first time in a long time, Khavur's chest would bloom with an emotion both faintly familiar and entirely foreign. It would serve as a reminder of something—someone, but it would not make them suffer for the memory. "What is this trickery?" it would hear from the Sentinel, and so it would attempt to approach him, moving the bulk of its weight slightly behind him and curling its tail loosely around him. The smell of cherries might prove to be intense for the Sentinel in this position, but perhaps not suffocating. Khavur would watch with both its heads, looking for every angle, every change in expression. And, to its own surprise, Khavur would softly chortle at the Sentinel's reaction. "Magic, I would assume," would be Khavur's response to the Sentinel's question. "Does it please you?"

Here, Khavur's magic would unfurl like threads, probing antennae seeking to answer his own question for him. Whether or not it worked, he would still want to hear how the Sentinel described the feeling in his own chest—if the Sentinel felt so inclined.

Khavur has eaten the Milk Chocolate Square with Hearts (Row 2, Chocolate #11).

@The Sentinel

A feeling of warmth bloomed in Parthenium's chest, encouraging her to venture further into Polaris even without a friend for company. The voices of other Gembound, chatting and calling out to one another, inspired a surprising fierce fondness in the white dog. Was it not lovely, how they all gathered like this to enjoy a sweet treat in this most magical of rooms?

She sniffed at the smooth candies laying on various rock outcroppings, and eventually selected one that reminded her of herself. Pale, smooth, and studded with pastel-green nuts that crunched in her mouth and had a lovely, slightly-sweet flavor. The chocolate itself was very rich, but Parthenium did not mind the near-overwhelming sweetness.

She liked it, actually.

"I LOVE YOU TOO," she howled back at Imp, though her voice was not made for rough screeches as his was. It was softer, and smoother, and had a musical quality to it, but she did her best to match his energy. "I DON'T KNOW BUT IT IS VERY TASTY. WE SHOULD BE FRIENDS!"

@Imp
Parthenium has selected 6. Pistachio White Chocolate Rectangle.

In the distance, he heard a voice proclaiming love for everyone, and the fuzzy grub's purring grew infinitely louder, somehow. He was loved! Who exactly loved him, he was unsure, but he was loved and that was very good, even if he did not understand many words yet, he understood that.

Then a creature approached, slinking along.

Angled as he is, the inch long caterpillar could have warned the larger fuzzball of the approaching fellow vaguely-feline (though much larger) creature. But, right now he could have no more assumed ill-intentions of another creature than he could have stopped purring.

He tries to meow while still purring to greet the other, and the sound comes out... odd.

Not that he notices. He is even happier about life than is usual for him. He is high on joy.

@Catawampus

They had become wary of strangers, not just the monstrous-looking ones but the normal-seeming ones too, since the beginning of their righteous war and the greyscale wolfdog's attack on them and Ananke. Today, though, they didn't feel the instinctive urge to skitter away from the other Gembound milling around Polaris as they did usually--though they would keep far out of sight from the obviously Chaotic ones. They were in the friendly kind of mood, seeing the world in a warm golden light as they had before all the disasters had struck.

Because weren't these strangers still declaring their friendship and love for one another? That one with multiple eyes, he was a bit confused but he got the spirit. The white dog and her howled response. The Catawampus attempting to hold a soft little child in its hands. They were just... normal people. Being friendly, and happy, and good.

As they picked up a heart-shaped chocolate and nibbled on it, its distinctive flavor melting on their tongue, they thought back to their sweetest, warmest memories. Of sleeping against Sebastian's light-warmed black pelt, of their brothers' rumbling purrs, of their life with Mother and their hidden family in Ursa. In this moment, when they thought of that shining ruby and bright chrysoberyl next to one another, safe and hidden in their home in the tunnels, they were not angry. They simply missed their brothers, with the aching bitter-sweetness in their heart and on their taste buds. They remembered how happy they'd been, and it sparked a yearning in their heart instead of rage.

We will keep you safe now, they thought, as if those two shining gems could hear their thoughts in their alcove in the tunnels. And we will make these entire caves safe again.

It was not a fierce thought, but one of soft devotion and utter faith in Mother and their family's purpose. Quiet confidence that this was righteous and good, and soon they would all be safe and happy.

Yellow has selected 13. Round Dark Chocolate With Heart.