She had come to Polaris to find Tourmaline, but hadn't expected to find this many other gembound here. Why were there so many others!? Arquia stayed at the edges of the group, not wanting to interact with anyone. Plus, some of the gembound here looked rather threatening. Well, looked threatening. They were acting... nice? What the hell has gotten into all of them! Like actually!
And she spots a chocolate sitting on a rock. Interesting. She looks around to see if anyone could have planted this here to try and poison an unsuspecting gembound. But it smelled so good... no. Don't do it. Eyes darted around. The other gembound were eating the chocolates though, so perhaps... Arquia gulps it down. Oh god she was starting to regret this already. WHAT WAS SHE FEELING!?
And then her eyes found Tourmaline. Oh! That was who she had come here to find. "Tourmaline!" That was uncivilized of her, one should not shout like that! The dragon made her way over the the Pallas' cat, "How have you been?"

@Tourmaline

Chocolate:
Row 1 #1
Plain Dark Chocolate Rectangular

Similar to the other creatures also present in Polaris, Bacchus had found a chocolate and consumed it. But he did not really remember consuming it. Or even what he had been doing before that. All he knew was that he was happy.

More happy than... Whatever usually made him happy. He could not recall that either. It did not matter, he decided. He was happy, after all.

The leopard was now flopped on his side, letting out the loudest attempt at a purr he could manage. It was not a very good attempt, sounding more like a significantly loud growl, and yet it was very clear he was trying his best.

His tail lazily thumped against the ground periodically.

Surely, there had to be a way for him to share his happiness... And so his gaze fell upon the plants.

Nearby those plants had scattered seeds in the earth, and he coaxed this plants into sprouts. Happy sprouts, he decided.

...Happy sprouts that he had sprouted. Did that make these plants his children? His growl-purrs faltered for a moment, then grew even louder.

Bacchus was so proud, he had such lovely plant children.

Chosen: 10. Red-Iced Dark Chocolate Square

Wulfsige had a very good sense of smell, and that sense was currently picking up... chocolate? Of course, he had no idea what 'chocolate' was, but the sweet smell was curious and enticing nonetheless. And the amount of gembound in the area was... strange. He had joined in after those whom he would identify as intruders- those radiating chaotic or orderly energy- had left the area. Or at the very least, he could not see any such gembound from his current position. There would be no self-righteous violence in this thread.

The particular treat Wulfsige had found was a plain one befitting of a relatively plain individual. A undecorated oval-shaped piece of milk chocolate. He ate it in one swift chomp, the treat barely touching his teeth nor tongue- although he still got a taste of that delicious milky chocolate flavor.

The warmth that spread into his chest was.. familiar and not. Similar to the vague not-memories of before he emerged from his skystone tomb. It was, more jarringly, the first time his sense of duty didn't urge him to his paws, to do more and more and more. It was okay. It was safe, if only for this moment.

He laid down, eyes closed, and basked in the moment of peace in the middle of eternal war.

Wulfsige chose 14. Plain Round Milk Chocolate

With Polaris came the energy, the thrumming of rock. It was like a heartbeat shared - the flesh the only barrier between its essence and the cave's, one and the same. Such a sensation pulled the blood to pump a little faster, a little closer to the skin. Reach out, the magnetism whispered. Unite what has been separated.

She ignored the call.

Instead, she heeded a different one - loosened nostrils flared comically at the strange new smell. Raising her head, she did not have the presence of mind to notice the warmth bubbling withing both her chest and mind; But it presented itself in the passivity of her gaze and the slowing the fluid. After a half-hearted examination of her surroundings, she got to snuffling along the ground, following the scent.

The chocolate located - nothing more than a simple pale cube - was promptly eaten without reflection. after a final testing sniff to see if any more remained, it turned to exit.

[ pickles has chosen the plain white chocolate square ]

Polaris was a magical place, well-lit and brimful of energy. To travel through here was to have weariness bleed from one's shoulders and a dose of renewed purpose injected into veins. For Fahl, embarking at last on a long and arduous journey for the sake of reconnection, taking a stroll through here would provide him an extra boost of stamina that might reduce the pit stops between every couple of caves. What benefit he hadn't expected was a quicker reunion facilitated by unusual edibles.

The chocolate had been perched on stone, innocently, as if it'd always belonged there alongside crystals and soft patches of moss. Despite memories informing him better, he had almost believed it, colorfully specked white squares not the strangest thing a finned iguana with hue-shifting scales could encounter. A stone, he had first guessed, though its shape was rather too perfect to be natural. But then a curious sniff revealed otherwise, awakening taste buds to salivating new possibilities.

Adventurous, he'd nibbled at it to test if his stomach would agree with his nostrils' assessment. When no issue was discovered, further emboldened, he snapped up and chewed what remained until it'd been flattened enough to swallow past his gemstone obstruction. It blazed a sweet trail of delight as it slid down his throat. Satisfaction lingered after, a heady sensation which chased away any concerns which might have been and left warm comfort behind.

Like home despite its frigidness. Or praise for an accomplishment solely his doing.

"Oh, fuck," he exhaled, any sense of a filter swept away by the experience. "That's just... wow."

Words were never easy for Fahl unless they were in his mind, verbal expression always restricted by how much his tongue was willing to cooperate. Now they refused to spawn even in thoughts, all intelligence banished by the taste of the almighty sprinkled confection. He stared, awed, into nothingness for at least a minute before sense returned. And then it did so due to back and forth shouted declarations of love startling awareness back into him.

"What? Yeah," blurted Fahl as he tried and failed to shake the fog out of his brain, "That's great. But seriously, does anyone know what this... is?"

He scanned the area for someone with answers and came up empty, everyone else preoccupied by camaraderie or consuming the mysterious chocolates. However another sight drew his attention, a familiar feathered figure off in the distance. It elicited a squint; doubt managed to penetrate past the hazy spell he was under. But hope crashed over him next, the wave washing scales a metallic gold.

"Wait. Huh... hey! Imp, is that you over there! How're the eyes working?"

@Imp

Fahl chose: 12. White Chocolate Square With Sprinkles

Forgraves had, largely, just been out to gather supplies, but passing through polaris made ignoring the large collection of people and noise looking for something hard to ignore.

he didn't know what people were looking for, but he's never been one to give up a game, so he joined in, seemingly without cause.

it didn't take TOO long to find what (he assumed) people were looking for. a small, white square that smelled almost overwhelmingly sweet, with a fun little green thing on the top!

he looked around for guidance on what he was supposed to do. was he supposed to say something? it looked like people were eating what they found, actually. couldn't hurt, right??

he popped the square into his mouth, humming in delight at the taste.

"oh WOW, this is good!" he said, muffled with his chewing. he'd never had anything like it, the closest he'd gotten to such delicious confectionary was bebby's rock candy. maybe he'd have to learn how to make this stuff!

"Speech." Thoughts.

Forgraves chose the white chocolate with pistachio!

Andromeda lumbered into Polaris. The ground here felt strange and hard on the pads of her feet. Not to mention she felt so...exposed without the dense foilage of Lacerta to protect her. Andy made a low gurgling noise from her throat. She didn't like being in this new area but... She felt strangely drawn here. Drawn from the safety of Lacerta. Not to mention Rex wasn't here. But she'd never admit that the presence of the Rex put anxieties at ease.

A nervous tail lash. Surely this would be a short venture, one Andy could quickly skitter home from. But, nervous as this new cave made her, she was far too distracted by who was around her. So many animals, like her, most built wrong. Andromeda squinted at them, her neck swinging round to take them all in. "Why're so many of you so short?" Andromeda snorted.

She leaned her neck in to get a closer look at the closest one, an upright fox, about the size of the pricklebacks she usually saw. She scowled. "Weird...," Andromeda blinked, her harassment of the shorter animals paused. What was that small white square? And that little green bit on it? She snuffled it, suspicious, before sticking her tongue out to first taste, then drag it into her mouth.

Within a single bite it was gone, and a soft, all encompassing warmth spread throughout Andromeda. She binked slowly. Woah. That was weird. Weird, but nice. Why had she been so nervous before? The sauropod sat heavily on her haunches, kicking up a plume of dust. She rested her head on her front feet, a soft smile playing at her lips.

"Y-yknow, this cave ain't so bad. Neither is being short ain't so bad. I like it when things are smaller than me. I think I like, uh, people. Yeah! Sometimes."

(((Andy chooses the white chocolate with pistachio!))

Esther hears the chatter before they see it. There's a large group of gembound gathered together - and they spot it as soon as they go to see what the commotion was about. There's so many of them that they can't quite figure out any specific conversations through the mess, but surely it's nothing that important. Have they missed the start of a quest? They look... Too happy for that to be the case.

As they get closer, there appears to be some kind of nice-smelling food? Something like that. It drew them closer and closer somehow, ignoring the other figures around them. That one, seemed the most delicious to the gembound. When they shove the thing in their mouth and chew, Esther feels good. Warm and good. They don't have the time to think it's any suspicious due to the good feelings.

Chosen: 1. Plain Dark Chocolate Rectangular

Rainstorm follows the sound of the strangers. They can't quite tell who the others are, but their sounds form shapes in their mind. Gembound of all kinds of shapes and sizes get shown to them - why is there so many? Last time there was many in one place, that they recall, so many died. Only, this place does not seem to be harboring any bad thoughts. Everyone is talking nicely, no aggression to be found that Rainstorm can tell.

They proceed, and find themselves drawn to odd shapes. They can't quite tell what brings them to try and eat one of the squares, but Rainstorm finds they smell nice. When they get a good bite out of it, well - explosions of warmth and good feelings. Rainstorm has not felt this good in a long time. It makes them forget about the bad, if only for a moment.

Chosen: 15. Pink Iced Round White Chocolate

Peach Scone likes shiny looking things. But this smells shiny. So very shiny and gooey-tasty...

There's a crowd of Gembound there, all delighted after...eating something? Peach Scone isn't sure what exactly that is, but it surely must be good.

There's smears of sticky sweet stuff all over the cave, and every time Peach Scone follows the scent trail to an already--taken chocolate it snarls in frustration. But when she finally happens upon the Robed Milk Chocolate Rectangle and devours it, it's definitely worth it.