[ set before the thread in draco to avoid responsibility angst]

It was peaceful here. The weather had calmed, moisture no longer clinging to Relics coat. It was cooler too now - she was glad. She was getting kind of sick of feeling boiled. A gentle, temperate breeze caressed her fur from where she stood, atop of a frail brick ledge, as she studied her surroundings in meditation. She took a deep breath in;

And started sneezing profusely.

After her nose was finally clear of the offending dust, she gave a final sniff in distaste. The caves had a way of interrupting any peace she found, at this point she wasn't sure why she bothered searching. A distant something snickered in schadenfreude. She dropped from the ledge to walk to wherever she couldn't hear it.

@Hysteria

And here comes some weird pink thing, to ruin the peace even more. bumbling through the dusty rocks, Hysteria turns when she hears the sneeze. She watches Relic jump down, staring in the exact opposite of subtle.

Subtle kinda was her antithesis, anyway.

"HELLO! she crows, entirely too loud. Her fins flare up and outward, showing off their (hideous) colors. This is probably not whatever was laughing at Relic, but maybe she's even worse.

@Relic

In an uninvested defence, while the massive, heavily armoured, multi-coloured war beast was not the most aesthetically cohesive thing in the caves, Hysteria was by far not the ugliest creature Relic had seen. She wasn't about to name names, but at least she had both an easily discernible head and a reasonable number of limbs. Even her bright markings could be considered pretty, in an over the top bird of paradise way.

In her time alive, she had some understanding of what meant harm and what didn't. Judging by the Sparkle shark's enthusiastic greeting, Relic judged her the latter. She had no bright colours to flash, but she stretched her wings in return [could this be considered a dominance display? Perhaps the gembound was sizing her up. Not much to compare against anyways.] "Hello." She didn't even try to reach her volume.

@Hysteria

Hysteria smiles widely, looking Relic up and down. She is sizing her up, but not for a fight. Instead, she's merely curious, wanting to see more about this other Gembound. Relic's eyes and mouth glow just like hers! She has wing-fin-things! It's like a duller, furry reflection.

"I'm Hysteria! I'm looking for trinkets! To trade and collect! Do you know where I can find some?" she asks, straight to the point.

@Relic

Relic blinked at the younger gembound - more of a flicker of light than the closing of any real eyelids, since the surgery had left her without them. The similarities between the two went unnoticed on the other end, the hyena subconsciously sorting Hysteria under the same, wary envy that she directed to creatures larger than herself. It wasn't externalised, at least not directly, but it was an undercurrent running quietly beneath her thoughts.

"Relic." She returned, contemplating Hysterias quest. She sure didn't look like the collecting type, but y'know what they say about books and covers; Or some other similar metaphor made by someone who didn't know how to read, or even what a book was.

"I'd say Canis, but last I checked it was crawling with uh, fungus. Not the edible kind." She scanned their surroundings for inspiration, but despite the ruins scattered about, Orion seemed pretty bare of trinkets. "Hunting's not incredible here either, unless you have a taste for bugs. I've seen some pretty big ones though - maybe you could use their armor for something?"

@Hysteria

Compared to Relic's more cautious inner monologue, Hysteria would seem... hopelessly naïve. For all the tricks and slight of hand the Collector had taught her, she was still incredibly honest and trusting.

"Relic? Relic! Nice to meet you, Relic!" she grins somehow even wider. Perhaps her enthusiasm would be infectious, if the caves weren't such a dire place. Not that Hysteria seems to mind.

She doesn't know what fungus is, but it seems very uncool from how Relic refers to it. Bugs, though... "I will look for the bugs then! Bugs bugs bugs!" Hysteria declares, ready to strut off in search of them.

@Relic

Relic eased a little, her suspicion fading with every enthusiastic word shouted - or rather, echoed. It seemed they’d settled on an activity.

”Bugs!” Her own attempt at energy was miserable compared to Hysteria’s. Alas, that’s what something-teen cycles does to a poor soul. She prayed [in an amused, uninvested way] that life would hold off on this kid for a little while longer.

Bugs. Let’s look for ‘em.

[OOC: gm tagged ]

@Hysteria

Not far off lay a small patch of foliage--exactly the place one might find bugs. Within squirmed a few small, black worms--caterpillars, or the like. They were only an inch or two long, yet even in Orion's dim light they were not hard to see.

This was because of the brightly glowing orange spots lancing down their velvety bodies.

They were mostly feeding on the few dead leaves scattered around the bases of the plants, though one or two had crawled up stems and were feasting on the juicier portions of the still-green growth.

@Hysteria

Hysteria would prance along behind Relic, the perfect image of a far-to-lively teenager skipping along after a fairly disgruntled parent. What a situation the hyena had found herself in. At least her pink companion doesn't seem to mind her lower energy at all.

The patch of brightly glowing caterpillars is far more captivating any way, and soon Hysteria would scamper on up to them, oogling at the shiny things with all of her eyes. "OOOoooo bug," she observe with such wisdom.

Almost like a cat, she'd press back onto her hind legs and shimmy some. Then, she'd leap on the catepillars, snapping her claws around one and clutching it like an excited kindergartener with a ladybug prize.

"BUG IS MINE!" Hysteria would shout triumphantly.

(( @Relic ))