Formed from nothing but the earth, spontaneously generated, alive but not, animated rocks, abiogenesis-- that's what the golems were, in addition to fucking frightening. Twice, now, she had been out of Pisces, this wet wonderland where she'd hatched, and twice the earth had frightened her with its stony presence. A small rockslide had trapped her, and would've left her there if not for a surprising bit of help from a kind herbivore; and a golem pair, who chased and harried her in the presence of a dragon many times their size. What kind of thing did that? What king of monster did not fear something so much longer than themselves? What kind of thing knew no fear?

And thus Lei was being uncharacteristically withdrawn. She was a precocious child and liked exploring-- even this newly developed fear of the stone-world would not leave her locked in Pisces forever. Wanderlust and an urge to meet people would always win-- and that, at least, was going well. So much vibrant life in these caves! She could never stay in Pisces forever.

Just-- she would right now. Because she didn't know if the Golems lingered only in Polaris, or where else might find hidden rockslides, or anything. This world was so new, so wonderfully new, and she was so fresh to it-- a form of abiogenesis all her own, a thing made of magic, ironically also formed of a stone. She was different from the golems, though, she thought with a shudder. She was a creature of flesh. She had feelings. She knew fear.

Fear looked like stone.

@Leon
((Joining thread, others welcome!))

Image by Banshee/xx-Starry@DA; Table by me; Pattern from Dinpattern.com

(Im assuming Leon knows Lei or at least knows of her, since she's so close to Makyna, i hope thats okay!)

It was business as usual in Pisces, though the great bear was preparing to start the trials for the bounty of initiates in Maji Walezi. He was planning on speaking with Eeya about leading the scouts, and Makyna likely already knew of her responsibilities with the coordinators. Bartos was another coordinator but the bear didn't want to give such a heavy responsibility to the crippled cat, especially with his own young to take care of. Besides, older Gembounds he knew would be more than ready for the trials; Quintus was already fully grown, they should have had his trial long ago, same with Lillith. But he supposed the older Gembounds would be able to assist the younger. It would work out well.

The bear was just making his way to the lagoon, to seek out Eeya and maybe the dolphin's offspring, when he spotted the darker coloured lion cub. Leon furrowed his brow, watching her from afar for a moment. She looked like a young Quintus and he laughed quietly - he supposed it was only fitting he and Makyna should keep taking in Gembounds that shared their species. Leon moved towards her with a warm smile, looking her over. "Lei?" He asked, twisting back his short round ears. He'd never met the young lioness, so he only hoped that he got the name right.

@Lei

((Peachy keen by me, that makes sense and makes the thread easier; I will make the same assumption!))

Lost in her thoughts about stone and fear, Lei was paying little attention to the outside world; ostensibly, she was sitting and watching the far-off fish with their glittering silver scales surface and dance beneath the water and disappear to delve into the deeper world she had only heard about, and had never seen. These pictures mer her eyes, but she didn't see them-- really, they were more a meditative focus, a beautiful and repetitive form of ordered chaos that one could easily loose their own thoughts in. It was also familiar, soothing, something nice to look at that she knew in some way, when confronting thoughts about frightening things that she didn't know.

Regardless, she was so lost in thoughts that she didn't notice Leon approach until he spoke to her. Her first reaction was to jump, momentarily scared-- but golems didn't talk, and as soon as her eyes landed on the big brown shape that was Leon, a smile came to her face, chasing most of the fear away. "Oh! Leon!" she said, recognizing him by description as he had to her. "Hi." Lei heard the questioning inflection of his voice, but she didn't know what to what it referred-- it didn't occur to her that she would be uncertain about her name. He was an adult, after all. Adults knew everything, so of course he'd know her name. She looked sheepish; had she been in the way of something, had he already asked her to move once and she'd been too busy thinking and looking at fish. "I wasn't paying attention."

@leon

Image by Banshee/xx-Starry@DA; Table by me; Pattern from Dinpattern.com

The bear took a few more strides up after the lioness, but he kept a safe distance - he didn't want to crowd her, and he still didn't know much about her. Makyna had told him she was a kind child, but Leon wasn't going to butt into her personal space. At least not until he knew her well enough. To be quite honest, Leon took the role of father pretty seriously, and pretty to heart - after the shock of what happened when he was elected, he did seem to settle pretty comfortably into the leader position. It was really just his protective parental instinct. It must have been. What other explanation was there? Leon wasn't a natural born leader, but he loved all of his groupmates and would do anything to protect them - that had to count for something. He wasn't going to dwell on it though, now wasn't the time.

He offered a smile and edged another step closer. "It's alright, I was only coming to say hi. I don't think we've formally met." He added, looking her over. He knew for a fact that they hadn't. "But Makyna's told me a lot about you. Would you mind some company?" The bear figured it wouldn't hurt to ask. If given the opportunity, he'd like to learn more about her. If Makyna had made the decision to take her under her wing, then Leon would have to know her just as well. No Gembound in this family was a stranger.

@Lei

Lei was paying attention now, getting her wayward attention under control; this was Leon, the great bear leader of this place, and she couldn't ignore him! Her nose colored in a little blush, that she had done so thusfar. She nodded up at him, "Yes, we haven't met. But I've been told about you. You are Leon, and you're the leader of- of." she screwed up her face-- she could never remember the actual name of the group that lived here, even though it had been told her before. "Of Mayi Waj-- Maji Waye- Maji Wali?" She gave up with the name of the collective there, frowning at herself. "The people that live here." she finished lamely.

Then she shook her head at his other question. "I don't mind company." she said, parroting his question as childlike politeness told her to, and then, with more hesitancy. "Would be nice, actually. I was remembering Golems."

She shuddered at the thought, but was comforted because of the presence of a nice big something-- Not quite the nice big something that had rescued her, which was Baratheon, but nevertheless another nice big something.

@leon

Image by Banshee/xx-Starry@DA; Table by me; Pattern from Dinpattern.com

The bear found himself chuckling quietly as she struggled to pronounce the name of the group. He had to admit it was a bit of a tongue twister - in his youth, he had found difficulty in pronouncing it as well, but it was practically second nature at this point. "Maji Walezi." He offered gently, grinning down at her. "Yes, I am. Only recently." Leon added and scratched at his cheek. But... that was a story for another time, he supposed. He didn't want to dampen the mood already by telling her what had happened. Thankfully, distraction came as she welcomed his company and mentioned the golems. "Golems?" The bear echoed, curious. He settled onto his haunches, hind paws lazily splayed out on either side of his front paws which sat comfortably on the dusty ground in front of him. "Have you encountered the golems?" There was concern in his voice as he glanced down at the lion cub, brow furrowed. Golems were definitely not something young ones should be dealing with.

@Lei