---

Being the easiest route to the Spire, he found himself often trudging out the same path. Recent days had seen him wandering more than usual. Afraid of committing to anything. In truth, Booker had scared him with his talk of commitments. Whatever that system was that called itself Booke. Deep breaths, he'd managed to gain a comprehensive understanding of the new magic he had acquired in his encounter with the arcane. It was deep, rich and the seams seemed to ripple deep within his gemstone and being. Much unlike the element he had been bestowed since birth, which couldn't run too deeply without endangering his own life and the life of those around him. It didn't make much sense why he had acquired the magic he had. But it was so extremely useful and it hadn't taken long for him to come up with a usage for it.

Still, he'd need to discuss it with the divines Magdalena and potentially Diamondfang, though he couldn't see her in the picture much longer. As he walked, he no longer bothered with skulking, left side pressed up against the wall. It hindered his ability to move quickly so he was better off being in the open and at risk of being spotted. Magical training had helped him surpass normal levels anyway, and he considered himself well off in terms of a fight should anyone bring it. Too many gemlings, not really enough adults to let him truly flex his magical muscles. A snort, and he kept walking back steadily towards the Spire, his eyes... Well he couldn't keep them off the fork that led to Eridanus and he had to keep reminding himself to look straight ahead. They had parted ways now. Not for good, but until time saw fit for them to come together for yet another row.

A shape caught his eye, but he didn't stare at it long enough to really make out what it was that was there.

His aimless wandering had led him away from the remnants of his chrysalis and through the dense vegetation of Eridanus. The cub walked without true purpose, snacking on bromeliads and fallen fruit as he found it, and eyeballing the different sorts of plants as he passed them. "They all must have names," he mused to himself, "But there may not be anyone that knows them. Would they, then, be considered to even truly have names? That could be a defined state of being in itself: to exist is to be named. Even if no one knows their names, I could simply give them one, and that would be that. But it wouldn't change the way they exist. So everything must be inherently named, or it wouldn't be." In his mumbling tangent he had walked clear through the entrance into an adjacent tunnel, appearing out the other side of a wall of leaves and into a place with a wholly different atmosphere. He didn't realize it at first, the lack of greenery and the harsher, whiter light around him. Strangely, it wasn't until the click of claws against the stone floor met his hears that he was pulled from his own mind. Glancing up, he caught sight of a passing fox, and his introspection turned towards this outside force. "Excuse me, sir," he called politely. "Or ma'm, I suppose. Do you have a name?" It was then that he noticed his surroundings: solid, worn stone beneath his paws, rock surrounding him only decorated by strange pictographs carved with a heavy hand. The sheer lack of greenery was itself a curiosity and he blinked around at the tunnel, obviously confused but clearly not overwhelmed. "You see," he started again after a moment, walking once more towards Louie. "I have this theory that if something exists in this world -- naturally assuming that we all actually exist at all," he punctuated his sentence with a gentle laugh, as if to convey he weren't so silly as to simply assume existence. "If something exists it must have a name, even if no one knows it."

@Louie

---

No thoughts were really spared for the blob in his vision, there was so much more to worry about and focus on in his life that the wonders of where they lived had passed long ago. They were animals trapped in a cave. The gemstones each of them had meant that they possessed abilities and magic that could harm and heal those around them. Good guys and bad guys were established, but the line was so blurred nowadays that Louie found himself often wondering if there was even such a thing as purity. Whether it was just something that others said to make themselves feel good about themselves as they let the blood be spilled by the demons.

That innocent and childish voice cut through his thoughts and he found himself coming to an abrupt halt. Mostly out of surprise that there was someone watching him and he hadn't realized. Eyes drifting back to the green area that marked Eridanus, he squinted. Lighting wasn't so good in the tunnels compared to the caves they connected to. Before responding, the fox let him approach taking in the picture of the oddly shaped bear. This was the first bear he had seen since Leon, but he was smaller and black in colouration. A minor difference, the kind of difference that he had only really observed closely in the avian members of the caves.

It was a seemingly innocent question, but it turned dark around the mention of whether they really existed or not and he scowled. Eve and him had gotten high over questions like this. All they were, were gems that could talk. Bound to this mortal earth through their vessel bodies. "My name is Louie. It was mechanical, almost wary to give away something that he considered precious. But it was only an alias and he knew that deep down. "Pondering such questions at your age is certainly... Different." What use did a gemling have to consider their existence? They were dumb as rocks and just wanted to play and explore. This bear was breaking all sorts of supposed social norms.

Finally within a comfortable distance -- one in which he could at least clearly see the other gembound -- Sabotage slowed and plopped his hind end comfortably on the ground. He frowned a bit at the fox's remark. Different wasn't necessarily a word that he was comfortable having equated with himself, especially not in such a tone. After all, he'd only been pondering their very existence, it wasn't as if his questions were truly philosophical. "It's very nice to meet you, Mister Louie," he said anyway, though his train of thought was interrupted by this sudden feeling of being judged. "I'm Sabotage." He hesitated then, his little clawed fingers tracing over each other uncomfortably. "What, ah, what exactly did you mean by 'different?'" It was as if he simply couldn't help himself. "I mean I'll certainly concede that I'm not average, but then really what is average? And, honestly, how could I know if I'm truly different or not? Truth be told you're only the second other being I've met. Corporeal being, at least. So between you, me, and a swan, I'd say we're all quite different." The frown persisted, all thoughts of names and destinies forgotten for the moment as he nursed his bruised pride.

@Louie