Although a single tunnel wasn't usually considered a very long walk, for a freshly hatched gembound it was quite the trek. By the time they had arrived at Orion, Sakhira was feeling rather exhausted. But as the cave came into focus, her eyes widened. There were shining stones everywhere! In the ceiling, in the walls, even jutting up from the ground. It was prettier than Bug had described, but she didn't think any words could truly capture the beauty of what she saw before her. She just stood there as she took this all in. "Beautiful..." Sakhira breathed out, and this would've been the perfect time to use metaphors but she hadn't learned what those were yet.

Something she did wonder was if there were a bunch of parents in this cave. How else could there be so many stones everywhere? But none of them were attached to a living thing. Like her and Bug. Maybe it was because no magic was put into them. She did not consider it may have been because, well, they were just normal stones. Sakhira looked to Bug, "Many stones. Many parents here?"

She peered into one of the larger quartz crystals that jutted up from the ground, and was amazed to see what looked like an owl in it but not quite. Was it trapped inside of the quartz just like she had been trapped in a crystal earlier too? They had to save it! Sakhira knew nothing of reflections and how that worked so... it was only a logical conclusion. "Bug! Someone stuck. Need help! Magic!" Sakhira still though of Bug as an absolute master at wielding magic despite her earlier comments.

She started pecking at the stone with her beak, and the owl inside pecked back. It was trying to break free! Though she wasn't very strong, small cracks did start to form. "No worry! We help!"

@Bug

Bug, at first emerging happily into the beautiful expanse and likewise gazing around at the glittering quartz, was taken very much by surprise when Sphinx found a chrysalis.

At least, at first she assumed it must be one.

When the owl-beak began to hammer frantically at the surface, Bug scurried over, staring with wide eyes--and then blinked. And burst out laughing.

She reached out, trying to stop Sakhira from potentially hurting herself. "No, no--that's not--that's not a child, Sakhira! Look. See, I'm in there too? It's--a reflection, okay? Shiny things, like some stones, water... you can see reflections. You'll understand once you see a few of 'em," she assured her.

It didn't escape her that the kid looked a little tired, though, and she sat back, thinking. "Want to see if we can find some place to rest? You look sort of tired; we can always look for water, maybe. I could show you your reflection to show you what I mean, and we can look for food? And then once you've rested... we can explore a little? Or--what do you want to do?" It was just a suggestion, but really, Bug didn't mind either way.

@Sakhira

Sakhira was very confused why Bug was laughing when this was a life and death situation! She continued to frantically peck at the quartz, only stopping when the dragon cat separated her from the quartz. She was almost going to run back and continue trying to crack it open too when the words started to sink in. "Reflection?" Sakhira blinked, shaking her head which was buzzing a bit now from all the pecking. As the sphynx peered into the quartz, she saw that there was indeed another Bug in there.
"Shiny...is reflection." As she pieced this information together in her head, she wondered how to tell the difference then between a normal gemstone and one that contained a gembound inside. Perhaps it depended on whether it emitted noise? But no matter. When she grew older she would be as wise as Bug was about such things!
"Want see water. Reflection. Then food!" Sakhira nodded as she said this, wondering if the dragon cat would summon more of those bananas for them to eat. Though it was worded as 'look' for food which implied... not summoning things? "Why look for food? Bug can make food?" This did not make much sense to her.

@Bug

"Uh-huh, reflection, yeah," she confirmed, stepping back now that it was clear Sakhira was done smashing her face against a rock. (Bug glanced at the crystal one more time, though, just to be sure--and yup, just reflections. Phew.)

"We can try to find some water, then, c'mon. I can make food, yeah, but it takes magic and it's not a lot of food. And when you're alone you'll have to find your own, so..." Teach a Gembound to fish, and all that. "But different Gembounds eat different things! Like bugs and fruit or meat or grass." Yuck. "Any of that sound good to you?"

She paused, then. "Stay here just a second. Gonna see if I can't find some water for us." For reflections, yeah, but also to drink.

Bug waited just a moment for Sakhira to hopefully acknowledge this--then took off, black wings flapping her off into the air like some demented Halloween decoration. She swept off into the dark, and after a moment's searching lit beside a puddle--a little dingy, stale-looking. Probably meltwater. But it was (after a dip of pink tongue-tip) drinkable, so she flapped her way back to Sakhira and landed again. "This way!" she offered, turning to lead her on.

@Sakhira

To her, the food that Bug could create was quite a large amount. She was already half full from eating that banana. But she did acknowledge that she would not be able to stay with Bug forever. One day she would be off on her own, and she didn't even know how to make food with magic. Hell, she didn't even know how to do magic in general! "Meat!" she instantly replied, "But also... banana." the word came to her, and she thought it was rather fun to say too. Why any gembound would want to eat grass she could not understand.

Sakhira nodded, waiting patiently as Bug went out to find some water. She laid down on her back, staring up at the "sky" studded with crystal stars. Would she be able to fly up and touch them one day? As she wondered about all this, Bug's voice broke through her thoughts. Rolling back onto her feet, Sakhira followed the cat over to the puddle.

She dipped her beak into the water, noticing that it had a slight chill to it. A shiver. "Water cold." eyes narrowed, "No like water." She would just eat meat for the rest of her life! She didn't need water! Not to mention it wasn't even shiny. "Water... disappointing." Yes she used a big word. That's how sad she was about the puddle.

@Bug

Bug listened with a twinned sense of sympathy and mounting amusement as Sakhira found that the water was not up to her standards. "...Disappointing, huh?" she repeated, stifling a laugh. "You gotta drink, though. We all have to drink." It didn't occur to her that somewhere out there might be a weird Valkhound design or something that was allergic to water. OBVIOUSLY, EVERYONE had to drink, in her mind.

"Maybe if I give you a reflection?" she offered, pacing up alongside the hybrid and glancing down, and then around. "Orion is pretty dim."

She squinted for a moment, and tried to summon up a wisp--something that'd shine onto the water, not too bright (the wisps never were)--but enough to maybe spark a strong reflection.

Anything to keep the kid entertained. And less disappointed.

It flared up, sputtering and flickering a little but--it was light. It shimmered teal blue, providing some light for a reflection, and Bug glanced at Sakhira again, grinning. "How 'bout now?" she asked.

Oh, and... "Were we gonna get food after this? I forgot already. Was that the plan?" Easily distracted, this one, apparently.

@Sakhira

"NO!" It was for evident that for some reason, Sakhira was adamantly opposed to drinking water. Even though she was starting to feel thirsty, she refused to drink anything below her standards. "No drink. Water bad." Plus, she didn't really know the side affects of not drinking. It wasn't like she was gonna die, right? Right?! But she did not blame Bug for any of this.

"Oooooh!" Sakhira stared at the wisp, amazed at Bug's talent. It wasn't as bright as wisps usually shone, but she didn't know that. She instinctively wanted to touch it. Balancing on her hind legs, she jumped up and smacked the wisp, clipping the edge of the glowing flame. It didn't hurt, but a weird feeling ran through her paw. A confused noise escaped her mouth. "Paw... went through." she said this in a contemplative way, trying to figure out how that worked.

The light from the wisp revealed their reflections in the water, and Sakhira tapped the surface with the tip of a claw, trying not to get her paw dirty. Ripples spread across surface, stirring up her reflection. She smiled, how funny she looked within that puddle! Her face was distorted, and it made her laugh a bit. "Water bad, but reflection good! Funny!"

"Plan is food, meat food. Or banana food!" but she said this in a fashion that indicated she didn't care much either way, and would let Bug lead the way to where ever this food was.

@Bug

"Your paw did go through!" she agreed amiably. "It's like... light, not real fire," she added contemplatively. "Don't do that to other ones, though. Some burn. Some lights."

To the rest, she thought about it, tail flicking, then brightened. "YEAH! Meat food! That was it. Thanks, kid, we can--oh. You sure you don't want to drink something before we go..?" she added, squinting and glancing at the water.

Maybe this... species... didn't drink water. One mental shrug later, Bug was looking around for somewhere to stash her gemstone gift--and she was out of sight for a moment among some rocks, carefully tipping it from her back and settling it somewhere hidden. No use trying to stalk and prowl with a big gemstone balancing on her back!

"Okay. Let's try--over there," she suggested, padding off toward some shadowed ruins. "There's little Lesser Gembounds that wander around in there. Rats and mice and things. We can kill those, and eat them," she went on cheerfully. Maybe another, more mature and parental Gembound might have sadly explained how 'killing' worked, but it didn't occur to Bug, who viewed the whole thing as "sort of sad" but quite necessary, and nothing to really dwell on.

"SO!"

And now it was time for Bug to explain how to hunt.

"You have to be really quiet, and stealthy! That means don't be seen. And you gotta--oh! Also don't be heard! ...and you have to see or hear them. Or smell them, first. And then bite them a lot until they die. Then you can eat them." She hoped that was simple enough, but--oh.

She turned, sending her wisp back to wait behind them. "...Wisp'd be bad to bring," she explained, and then began to prowl forward, hushed.

She glanced to Sakhira--to see if the child would follow suit.

@Sahkira

"Oh." She withdrew her paw from the flame, and shook it as if it did get burned. How could you tell the difference between which ones burned and which ones didn't? Perhaps it was just best to not mess with wisps in general then. But its glow was mesmerizing, and it was likely she would forget this the next time she encountered one.

At the cat's question, Sakhira decided to give the water another shot, but just looking at it for a few more seconds made her shudder at the thought of drinking it. "No water!" But she perked up again at the thought of hunting for some meat, eagerly following Bug towards the ruins.

The shadowed area was a bit creepy to her, but she shook off this feeling. Her eyes were trained intently on Bug as she explained how hunting worked. She nodded along, but it slowly dawned on her that these things called rats and mice were alive. "Have to kill gembounds... like us?" Suddenly the whole concept of hunting was starting to seem really wrong. But her stomach rumbled, and plants were nowhere near as appetizing as meat despite her never having tried either.

She bent down into an awkward crouch to follow Bug, occasionally tripping over her own paws a bit. Sakhira was curious to see how hunting worked, and if the cat thought it was alright, surely that meant it was ethical? Her eyes scanned the area to see if she could spot any of these rats or mice as she followed.

@Bug

"Oh, jeez, no, not like us," she answered back, her voice a quiet hush. And she went on to explain, though all the while her black form twisted sinuously in and out of the ruins with feline grace, her paw-steps whisper-soft and her wings folded against her back. "Just ones that don't speak. You'll learn to recognize them but they're all mice, and rats and deer, and bats and things. And birds. And fish. -Just eat the ones that don't talk," she settled on.

Her nose switched, now and then, between raising into the air to sniff, or checking along the ground. Her eyes, wide, scoured the shadows for any signs of prey. And her ears swivelled, this way and that, listening for any sign of sound. It was probably a good example for Sakhira to follow, though Bug didn't find anything to actually hunt just yet.

"Keep your eyes out. I mean, watch, for anything moving. And listen and smell." Advice added to example, she prowled on further, creeping into the shadow of the city ruins just ahead. "If you smell or hear anything, say so, and we'll hunt it!"

@Sakhira