Thomas found his way back to Orion; the place where he had emerged from his chrysalis and been welcomed into the caves by a dog named Gabriel. It had been three cycles since then, and the elk was now fully grown. He was almost five times larger than he had been as a calf and had a much larger muscle mass. He also had a great pair of antlers encased in stone atop his head that he was still learning as a defense. Soon, he knew, he would master them.

Thomas was wandering towards Tunnel N where he heard rumours of a magical painting. He knew nothing of it other than its mysterious properties and beautiful nature. He wanted to see if for himself and figure out what all the fuss was about. See, Thomas had just awoken from a nearly two cycle hibernation where he had done almost all of his growing. Hearing such great news as soon as he rose from his slumber excited him. Something to keep me from falling into a sleep again.

The elk decided to take a quick break from his travels. He had walked for quite some time, that's for sure. He found himself a nice spot not far from the entrance to the tunnel and stopped. Lowering his head and weapons to the ground, he began to chew steadily on what plants he could kick up from the rocks. There wasn't much, but it was something.

"talk" // think
tagged;
notes;
ooc;

Drifting through the rooms in search of more Gembounds to interact with before returning home, the creature again returned to Orion. It really did like this room! Its own home-room was bright, but this room was so peaceful and dark compared to its home, with a glimmering ceiling. Just as it was entering Orion, however, a large body caught its attention and the creature paused for a moment to take in the object. A Gembound! This one was larger than the others it had met so far.

The language was not strange to it anymore either, so it could approach with a more direct tactic instead of trying to imitate the species with a familiar and hope the Gembound would respond well enough to its own kind, even if ethereal. It shuffled a bit closer, its deep, black eyes shimmering with a distance iridescent blue as its curiosity grew.

"Hello, friend," it called gently, the voice it projected centered around itself. Unlike when it spoke in Tunnel N, where the space was small and the voice seemed to come from everywhere, here it was easy to tell that the projection indeed was manifested from the figure's body.

It found the antlers of the elk fascinating! Its own self had goat-like horns! Though they were nothing so impressive as the other's antlers. Its long ears were held upright and its hands were bundled tightly in a ball at its chest as it hunched in the tunnel's entrance, keeping a small distance. It had learned, so far, that some of the Gembounds had innate fear of strange and new things. Perhaps that was for the best.

@Thomas