OOC: For Leon

Blue was somewhere new today. She didn’t often stay in one place for too long. She loved exploring and learning new things, though the site of other Gembound always gave her butterflies in her stomach. She wasn’t quite used to this whole conversing thing yet, and that bothered her. It wasn’t like she didn’t want friends. It was just that… when she was around others, she never knew what say. It drove her crazy. And then at other times when she didn’t want to talk, and just wanted to study something, it was like she would find the most crowded part of the caves and have to go find somewhere else to study that new interesting plant or the weird rock on the ground. Why were other people Gembound so complicated?

But never mind all that because Blue had just stumbled upon the biggest mushroom she had ever seen! It was three or more times her height and was a beautiful silver color. The cap swept low, and she went forward and reached up one of her long arms and brushed her fingers against it. It was… amazing. She could stay here forever and study it! Out of curiosity, she attempted to access her Magic, though she still wasn’t quite sure how to do so, to see if maybe she could move the massive mushroom. She was always looking for new ways to use her single spell…

It worked! Though barely. And the mushroom didn't actually move at all. But! She felt her Magic press up against the massive stalk. She could feel the wall of energy gathering against the fungi, and that was good enough for her, even if she couldn't actually move it. She sat down with a long sigh, tired from the effort.

Today was another day for exploration. In the back of his mind, he wondered where his friends were; Rohan, Makyna, Teyouma, mostly. There were others, but those were the three he considered his closest friends. Today would have been a great day to explore with any of them, but he couldn't really find them after having woken up from his nap. Whatever, he'd just have to explore by himself. There were still rooms he hadn't ever entered, which proved just how big this cave was. Leon didn't really have any semblance of time but if he had to guess using a completely arbitrary unit of time measurement, he'd say that he'd been around for at least two weeks. Yeah, that sounded about right. And still, after two weeks, he was discovering new places!

Today, the bear found himself entering a rather humid and leafy room. Vegetation blossomed from wall to wall, filling it with green. It was a very nice place, and Leon almost immediately felt at home. Had his true feeling of belonging not been with Polaris still, maybe this would have made a nice home. The cinnamon coloured bear wandered among the tall rock pillars, jutting up from the earth like jagged teeth. He noted that each rock surface was almost completely covered in moss or lichens, taking note to lean in close and take in a big sniff every time he passed one by. He liked the scent - it was earthy and fresh.

But what really took the cake was the giant mushroom in the center of the room. It gleamed under the dull glow of the crystals, silver cap shining like metal. Leon's eyes widened and he slowly approached it, curious as to what this would smell like. Was it anything like the spire, coursing with magic? Or was it just another living thing? He was intent on investigating it until he realized that he wasn't alone. Another creature was here, sitting on the ground near the mushroom. "Oh hi!" He greeted, galloping over towards the Gembound. As he neared, he realized she looked very similar to one of his friends. "Hey! You look kinda like Teyouma! Except bigger." Leon pointed out, and wondered idly if she knew the smaller monkey. "Do you know Teyouma?" Well it didn't hurt to ask.

Blue was so absorbed in studying the giant fungi that she didn’t notice the other Gembound come near her until he was speaking. And it scared the daylights out of her! She let out a shriek, the likes of which only gorillas could make, and stood up. She didn’t even remember having sat down, or how long she had been looking at the silver-capped mushroom. She swung around snorting a little in fear. She hadn’t heard a single word the bear had spoken, having been too busy freaking out the second she’d heard him behind her. Now she studied him and his copper fur and orange eyes. A nice mix, if Blue cared about such things. And she didn’t.

“Who are you?” she demanded, fear turning to embarrassment, which made her want to act tough to save face. “What are you doing here?” In her head, she cringed, thinking sarcastically, Oh, good way to meet others, Blue. But it was too late to take back her rough greeting now. The – whatever he was – would just have to deal with it. What was he, anyways? And now she was right back to being a scholar, studying him more closely and sort of forgetting that he was even aware of her.

Truly, she had amazing social skills. Her mind was so wrapped up in discovering things that half the time she forgot to eat some of the plants she stared at! Blue needed a parental figure, no doubt, or she would discover her way to death by forgetfulness.

Leon hadn't meant to startle the other animal. He'd only wanted to talk to her, maybe ask her a couple questions like if she knew Teyouma, but it seemed fate would not allow such a transaction of words. Instead, the gorilla nearly leaped out of her skin, whirling around and shrieking before questioning Leon in the manner of a police man hounding a juvenile delinquent. Leon's brows arched and he glanced around, double checking to make sure he wasn't intruding on anything before responding. "Uhh... I'm Leon." He answered and leaned back on his hind legs, standing upright with his front paws hanging against his stomach. "Who are you?" He added with another tilt of his head.

What was he doing here? That was a good question. He glanced away thoughtfully, scratching the side of his head and quite comically sticking his tongue out as he considered a response. "I don't really... Oh! I'm exploring. I've never been here before. It's really nice and smells nice too. A lot better than most of the other rooms. Do you live here?" He questioned and focused back on the gorilla, hoping that he wasn't going to scare her any further. They were about the same size, although Leon was quickly growing - he'd probably be fully grown in another couple weeks. Then it would be really hard to meet new people without scaring them. So he just hoped that everybody would come to realize that Leon didn't mean any harm.

After a while, Leon leaned back onto his four paws, then plopped down onto his rear with his front paws all cozy between his legs. He continued to stare up at the other Gembound, wide eyes bright with curiosity.

Blue blinked rapidly as she listened to the bear, still quite nervous and unsure of the situation. Being so shy was a pain, but, she reasoned, it helped keep her alive. What if this Leon had wanted to hurt her? At least she was on guard. Still… it made making friends quite difficult. She forced herself to relax, even though she went back to being terrified when he stood up on his back legs. Now he was taller than her. She looked at his massive paws and wondered what it would feel like to be swiped across the face with one of them. Then she shook her head. Those thoughts weren’t helping her nerves.

He spoke, asking her who she was. “B-Blue,” she managed to get out, trying to keep her voice from trembling. Talking to strangers was hard! She watched as he looked away from her and scratched his head, sticking his tongue out. It made her giggle a little, though she instantly tried to quell the sound, feeling embarrassed. He spoke again, this time in a quick staccato of words that left her head spinning. She took a breath and sorted through his words slowly, until she understood all of them. He wanted to know if she lived there…

“No, I… I don’t live… anywhere.” Her speaking had slowly gotten better as she had aged in the last few days. Hearing others helped too. Now she could speak small but complete sentences, and she was determined to learn to speak fluently like Leon apparently could. But learning to speak properly would mean staying around other Gembound more. She needed someone to converse with, after all. And that was the part she dreaded…

He didn't understand why the gorilla seemed to be so nervous. Maybe it was because of his size or his sharp teeth - Leon did look kind of scary he supposed, but Leon also lacked a fundamental understanding of the difference between predator and prey species. He knew some animals like to eat plants, while others - including him - liked to eat meat, but that didn't mean Leon was going to just go eat the first Gembound he saw. He didn't eat others. He only ate the cave fish in Pisces, and little lizards, and mice and rats. Anything that didn't talk was fair game, really.

As she spoke her name, Leon produced a smile, hoping that it would encourage her. "Blue! What a nice name! That's a very nice colour." He answered, beaming. "So you just wander the caves?" The bear added and tilted his head. That was what he did too, mostly. Except he actually also was supposed to go back to Pisces. Maybe. Assuming Makyna decided she wanted to live there. But he was pretty sure she'd say she would. "Do you wanna have somewhere to live? I know a real nice place." The bear asked, scooting closer to her. It wouldn't hurt to just see if maybe the gorilla wanted to join their little group, would it? Maybe it would put Leon in Cancer's good books if he brought back a new member for his little gang.

Blue studied the bear some more as he continued to speak to her quite quickly. He asked if she wandered the caves, and she opened her mouth to respond, but he instantly started talking again. He was sort of annoying her now, more than scaring her. She was extremely picky about the people she decided to be friends with, and he was really starting to get on her nerves. Maybe they just wouldn’t work out. Still, she couldn’t just leave while in the middle of a conversation, so she huffed and decided to do the polite thing and wait for a lull before making her escape.

But then he said something that caught her attention. ”Do you wanna have somewhere to live? I know a real nice place.” She perked up at these words, eyes shining brighter than usual. A permanent place to live? That sounded… actually, pretty wonderful. She couldn’t help but smile, forgetting her earlier annoyance. “Blue – I would… live with you?” she asked, stumbling over the language for a moment. “Where? With who? Is it nice? Are there lots of green food-things – leaves? She was so excited she was talking more than she had ever talked before, and it made her all kinds of happy. Maybe she’d finally fit in somewhere!

He noticed that by extending his offer, the gorilla seemed to brighten up a little bit. That alone had made his grin broaden, his own face illuminated by the sudden delight she held. Leon gave a generous nod as she spoke about living with him, then suddenly asked a bunch of questions. The bear furrowed his brow slightly, bringing one of his claws up to his mouth as he gazed away thoughtfully. Those were good questions... He hadn't really paid much attention to the surroundings of the cave, especially since it was dark and he couldn't really see much. "Umm... There's some, there's little plants on the ground, but mostly to eat there's bugs and fish."

Upon answering that question, he took a closer look at Blue, trying to determine if she was a meat eater or a plant eater. He had met a few Gembounds that, unlike him, ate plants. While Leon was happy to subsist off of fish, maybe the gorilla needed something else to eat? He would let her mull over that response while formulating answers for her other questions. "It's in a big cave with a big waterfall in it. There's lots of water, its pretty nice, if you like water. We live in a group and we're called Maji Walezi. We all work together to protect each other and the waterfall." He nodded. Cancer would owe him big time for this - then again, wasn't it his job to go around and gather new members? "There's only four of us living there right now. But they're all really nice. You'd be safe there." He added in an attempt to convince her further. It seemed like the assurance of safety would be a big plus, but he'd wait and see what she said.

Blue listened intently as Leon began to describe the place she would soon be living. He mentioned the fact that there weren’t many plants, but there were bugs and fish. “I eat bugs, too,” she chimed in. “Not fish, though. Yuck.” She was silent again as she listened some more. She wasn’t sure how she felt about living near so much water. Something instinctive was telling her to be careful about that, but she wasn’t sure what it was… Maybe she couldn’t swim? She shrugged internally, deciding to stow that feeling away for later to study at another time. She’d at least see the place first.

"There's only four of us living there right now. But they're all really nice. You'd be safe there." Safe… Yes, that was a nice thing to know. To be safe was a very important thing. It meant that Blue would be able to study things all the time and not have to worry about where she’d sleep when she was tired or what she’d eat when she was hungry. She deliberated for a bit, looking down at the sodalite embedded into the back of her hand. Then she looked up at Leon and smiled. “I will go with you. Living together seems… nice.”

Leon laughed quietly as she expressed her distaste for fish. He wondered if she had ever tried it before - they did look kind of gross at first. All slimy and shiny and constantly in the water. Maybe fish living in dirty water wouldn't taste all that great, but the fish in Pisces were perfect. After a moment, she had agreed to go with him - Leon's smile brightened and he clapped his paws together, excited. If Cancer thought he could lump the job of exploring off on Leon just to get him out of the cave, then he was in for a surprise - Leon was intent on doing his job to the extreme, especially if it meant bringing back more Gembounds to crowd the leopard even more.

The bear clambered to his paws and loped over to his new friend. "You're gonna love it! Everybody's friends, and if you need help there's always someone around to talk to, but since there aren't many of us there you still get privacy and stuff, its great, you won't regret it! I'm so excited to show you! Come on!" Leon giggled and bounced away, stopping only to glance over his shoulder at the gorilla. He would wait for her to join him before heading off again, eager to take her back to Pisces.

exit Leon/end thread?