Traveling from Eridanus, Fallah broke into the center of the tunnel. Stepping just off the green mosses that extended out of the tunnel, the lynx paused to stretch. Its nose twitched as it was tipped towards the roof of the tunnel, many different smells coming from many different directions. There was a salty tang in the air from Pisces, mixed with the musty, muddy smell of Cetus, which meshed with the earthy scent of Eridanus. Thinking about it, Fallah hadn't been in Polaris since shortly after the chase with the other scaly animal. That happened right after birth. Also thinking, Fallah had mostly been in Cetus or Eridanus, but never really looked around the tunnel connecting them. It was a strange place where four different worlds (as far as Fallah knew) collided. It wasn't a small tunnel at all. The tunnel had a high, wet roof and was often filled with gusts of wind. Ice could be found in the tunnel, though Fallah had never really taken notice. The lynx's fluffy paws were fine at tackling the ice, and its fur blocked a lot of the wind. The cat, now curious about the tunnel, spent time exploring it, poking at ice, touching its sides, and sniffing around the exits and entrances. It certainly wouldn't be a nice place to live, but it was worth checking out nonetheless. "speak"

In one secluded, small corner of the tunnel, there lie a gleaming piece of silver. One of the gauntlets seems to have found their way here and are now trapped under two feet of hard, white ice. One knuckle of the gauntlet is visible from atop the ice; somehow, it will have to be freed from its icy prison before it can be taken. The other gauntlet may be found if one looks close enough - it is jammed deep into a small crack in the tunnel floor, between two boulders, many dozens of feet from its frozen counterpart down the tunnel. The gauntlet appears to have been crushed slightly, but could be rescued if one were to fish it out delicately enough.

Sadie, munching on a fern frond, raised her head just in time to see her feline friend's tail disappearing into one of the tunnels that led out of Eridanus. While she waited for a few minutes, Fallah didn't soon return. After a moment of contemplation, the ginger calf quickly swallowed the rest of the frond with gulp, and ventured into the tunnel after the lynx. Walking was easier for her now. There was still a slight wobble in her steps and she stumbled occasionally, but she had definitely improved.

At first the tunnel didn't seem too different from the cave she had just left. There was plenty of greenery around for the first couple of yards. But then the greenery began to disappear as she walked further in. While it was wet, especially on the ceiling, the tunnel seemed to be barren of any plant life. The occasional gust of wind, something Sadie had never experienced before, whistled through the tunnel, but her thick, curly coat kept most of the cold out. It was the ice that was the problem. After all, Sadie didn't know exactly what ice was yet, nor did she know that she should know how slippery it was. So, naturally the first time one of her hooves came down onto a patch of white ice, she immediately slipped and went sprawling across the hard ground with a surprised moo. "Owww..."

Fortunately, she recovered quickly and was back on her feet within a couple of minutes, uninjured. The calf slowly continued down the cave, now keeping an eye out more ice patches. She also stepped closer to the right wall, in hopes that she could lean against it to catch herself if she slipped again. While her progress was slower now, Sadie eventually caught up to the other Gembound. "Fallah? Watcha doing?" she called out the question, once she caught sight of the feline's form up ahead.


OOC: Well, I meant to make an attempt as well, but clearly I forgot...She'll help look in the next post.

It was time to leave Eridanus. Fisher had places to be, things to do, wiggling and climbing to have! Most importantly, the brown mustelid had finally fetched his beautiful, lucky rock. It was plain and grey, looking like not much more than an overgrown pebble that fit almost completely in his mouth. His teeth had scratched the surface of the stone many a time, but that had only increased the rock's value in the young fisher cat's mind.

A curious smell distracted Fisher, however, as he started to head towards Polaris. This tunnel was the first place he had adventures after hatching in Cetus, and even as a clumsy baby his rough, padded paws handled the ice with easy. Considering how the tunnels had been getting warmer and this mustelid was a northern, fluffy animal who preferred the cold, being in the icy room was a nice relief after the heat of the green, lush Eridanus. Apparently someone else had just been this way as well, as a familiar, feline-ish smell, along with a musky, strange smell.

He wasn't sure how he knew the scent of the cat, but sure enough, he recognized the lynx when he turned down into one of the main branches of the tunnel. Fallah! A strange feline, but certainly a kind one. She thought much differently then Fisher, but for some reason that only made him curious. He hadn't had a chance to really--...

What the heck was that. Fisher had never seen such a big cow in his life. He had seen deer, sure, but this was an entirely different hoofbeast! And he thought he was afraid of those tall, thin animals. This one was built like a truck, and even with wobbly legs and a bright, friendly expression, he felt a shiver run up his spine. Fisher and hooves did not get along.

Of course. He wasn't afraid or anything. He strut right over, finding a good, un-iced nook to rest his lucky rock in, and wagged his tail at his feline friend. "Long time no see," he "barked" lightly, grinning at her. "Who's the big guy?" And just what were they up to...? Hm. He supposed he would find out in a moment, wouldn't he!

It looked like she was looking for something... So he gave a brief, cursory glance around for anything interesting. He had been in this tunnel plenty of times and he never saw anything weird-- maybe Fallah had lost something. He put a paw on his lucky rock... He knew just what that was like, he did.

;; how do you crit fail looking for something... oh i know

Fisher's eyes wandered and caught on a shiny gem that seemed to be on the ceiling not far away. Maybe that was what she was looking for! He flashed a wide grin at the pair of them and then darted over to the nearby wall, reaching his forepaws up on to the slick surface, peering up at it. They could be looking for pretty gems, right? It would be a cool gift, anyway--

Drip.

More stalagmite than crystal, the growing ice structure dripped sediment filled water straight on to the poor fisher cat's face. Right in his eyes. With a yelp, the brown noodle fell back on to his back, slipping, paws flailing, and slid along the icy floor on his back, desperately trying to scrub the stinging liquid out of his eyes. Just what was in that awful crystal?!

"Fallaaah!" He whined-- not his finest moment, but what else was he supposed to do! Everything in this cave except for some of the gembounds wanted to murder him!

As the cat looked about, it heard it's moo friend behind it. With a loud clammer, the beast came down. Fallah turned quickly to look, chasing down a half step in case the cow needed help. Icy eyes surveyed the moo friend as it rose. that was odd? Why was it slipping about? Well, Fallah supposed ice was trickier than grass and that Sadie had only started walking, but Fallah couldn't recall falling on it. Maybe sliding a bit, but not ever falling completely. This was a different gembound, though. As it steadied itself again, Fallah went back to searching. The moo friend approached and asked what the Lynx was up to. In return, the cat looked back to it's friend, "Explore... ing. Now." That was how it was said right? Whatever, Fallah added to "now" to make sure Sadie knew, "You too. Careful." Just as the words left Fallah's maw, Fisher friend appeared! Long brown friend greeted Fallah and asked who Sadie was. Sadie was Sadie of course! Oh, but Fisher didn't know that yet, did he? Fallah felt a loose smile form as the introductions came out, "Moo Friend Sadie..." Fallah began, then nodding to Fisher, continued, "Long Brown Friend Fisher." It was pretty simple really, and Fallah didn't know which name for them was preferable. Shrugging it off, Fallah turned to look again at the cave. After a moment, the cat found it. What it was, Fallah wasn't sure, but it was silver and shiny and buried under the ice. With its claws, Fallah attempted to dig down into the ice at the silvery silver. It was going well, Fallah thought, wen Fisher cried out to the lynx. Startled, the cat turned from it's scratching, watching the long brown friend scurry to get the liquid out of its eyes. Then, without taking note of the progress- if any- it had made, the cat ran over to its friend. Where was clean water? Was that a thing? Fallah could make water out of its skin, but that wouldn't help Fisher any! The cat danced slightly, "Magic, do the magic?" Did Fisher have any magic to help? "speak"

The feline didn't take long to answer the calf's inquiry, stating that she was exploring. Of course! Sadie should have guessed that. She nodded eagerly when Fallah told her to start exploring as well. "Okay!" The lynx also told her to be careful, indicating that she had seen Sadie slip and fall on the ice. That made her feel somewhat sheepish, but it was easily pushed to back of her mind as she looked around the tunnel, choosing at random an area farther away to further investigate.

Then an unknown voice drew Sadie's attention to a new Gembound that she hadn't noticed before. The calf's head tilted curiously, as she studied Fisher with her green eyes. The creature was short and small, but oddly long. Since Sadie was quite tall when compared to him, she could easily see the red-orange gem sitting on his back, close to his head. While the gem was similar to her own gem hoof and Fallah's lower teeth, that was pretty much where all their similarities ended. It seemed safe to say that the fisher was neither a cow nor a cat but something completely different. Nevertheless, Sadie was excited to possibly make a new friend, and when Fallah introduced them, she offered him a wide, friendly smile. "Hi, Fisher!" The two syllable name was easy for her to pronounce, now that she'd mostly figured out the basics of speech.

The calf's green eyes followed the long, brown Gembound as he suddenly darted over to a tunnel's wall, looking up at the ceiling. Following his gaze, Sadie saw the faint glimmer of something that looked like a bit like a gem. She started to walk over for a closer look, returning her gaze to back the floor, just in case a rogue patch of ice decided to ambush her.

There was no ice, but there was a crack in the floor. She likely wouldn't have paid much attention to it had the faint gleam of silver not caught her eye as she stepped over it. She paused, looking down into the darkness intently. Was something down there? Yes, there it was again! A glint of a silver something lied down there in the crack, although she couldn't see the details of it. Sadly, Sadie didn't see a way to reach it herself, but perhaps Fallah or Fisher could with their much more nimble paws? "Something here!" the calf called out to both of them.

However, before anyone could react chaos ensued. It seemed that Fisher had gotten liquid of some sort in his eyes, and it obviously caused him severe discomfort. Fallah ran over to help, and Sadie followed quickly behind. Fallah was saying something about magic, something Sadie didn't yet know anything about, so she was limited to more mundane ideas to help, and she couldn't think of anything to help. She came to the same conclusion as Fallah had, that it should probably be washed out, but there was no water nearby that she knew of. Perhaps it could be licked out, but was someone else's saliva really that much better of an alternative? Sadie doubted it. With no helpful ideas coming to her mind, all Sadie could really do was watch the two anxiously and hope that Fisher would be okay.

It burned like the sand. He had gotten sand in his eyes before, and this hurt just as badly. His paws scrabbled at his eyelids, whining, as his friend came running to the rescue. Fallah could make it better, right? The lynx had made the water stop before, with the ice. Maybe she could make water come! But she told him to try magic, and frustration festered inside him like a rotting wound.

Fisher was practically a master spellcaster, but his element was useless for anything but zapping things around! He wanted to yowl, but instead he kept it to a sad whimper. "Bzzt, zap magic," he grumbled through clentched teeth. "Electric. Hurting magic. Not good for fixing things." His paws ran down his muzzle as he tried to blink out the awful, burning stuff. It still hurt, and his vision was all blurry from (hopefully just) the tears, but maybe it would be okay. He rolled on to his belly and whiiiined again.

"Dumb, mean cave..."

He would try the magic anyways. One of his spells made him feel better when he was scared, even if it would only effect his chest, not his eyes. The gem on his neck sparked just slightly as the energy jolted inside, darting at his heart.

Small PP with Fisher. If that's not okay, I'll edit.

Fallah felt helpless. There was the long brown friend whining, saying his magic wouldn’t help because it was bzzt zap magic. Fallah frowned, glancing at Sadie. She wouldn’t know how to use magic yet, would she? It seemed the only real choice was for Fallah to try to do… something. The lynx had frozen water before, and when it was freezing the water, it moved into shapes like a wall, spikes, or a ball. Maybe that could happen again, but without the freezing part. Somehow using just water to clear out Fisher’s eyes seemed like a big task. The cat wasn’t sure if it could do it, and was afraid to hurt the long brown friend. As Fisher plopped down and mentioned that the cave was dumb. Fallah hadn’t thought about it that way. Could the cave be dumb? Well, even if it was, Fallah was not. For Fallah's spells to work, they would need water. The water here seemed bad, which meant it would have to come from inside. The lynx took a breath, motioning for Sadie to move back. If this was going to help, they had to act fast and Fallah had to focus, "Fisher friend... still" Taking another deep breath the cat leaned towards its long brown friend, pushing their foreheads together, trying to summon water from within to come out and help. The water came. OH BOY did the water come. From the mouth, the nose, the eyes, water pooled out of the young lynx. It couldn’t breathe. It was suffocating. Choking, the cat pulled back, coughing as the water continued to pour out of its face. Slowly, it stopped and Fallah felt very dizzy. The lynx’s head and heart pounded as its body tried to understand the sudden lack of water. The world swirled around and the ground slipped from under Fallah’s feet. Hopefully Fisher was okay now, because now it was Fallah that needed help. "speak"

'Twas an awful feeling, seeing someone in distress and not being able to help. Sadie felt useless and she immediately hated the feeling. Fisher was whining, Fallah seemed worried, and there wasn't a single thing Sadie could think of that would help. For a moment, she wondered if she was that great of a friend if she couldn't provide help when it was needed. Somehow, Sadie already considered the long, brown creature a friend, even if she didn't know much about him besides the fact that he was a friend of Fallah. Still, it wouldn't help Fisher much if she went all woe is me on them, so she didn't worry about it long.

Fortunately, it seemed that Fallah had an idea. The calf moved a couple steps back when Fallah made an unfamiliar motion that Sadie somehow understood. Her head tilted slightly to the side as she watched the lynx press her forehead to Fisher's. She had no idea what the feline was planning to do, but surely whatever is was would help Fisher, right?

Fallah turning into the world's first feline fountain was unexpected, to say the least. Sadie startled and jumped several steps back in her surprise. How on earth...? Well, it was clean water and hopefully it would help Fisher, so perhaps she shouldn't question how the lynx how managed to do it. Sadie couldn't help but think that it looked somewhat painful though, or at least uncomfortable, but perhaps Fallah could control how it felt as well?

That idea was soon proven false when the water stopped, and Fallah looked so disoriented that it seemed possible that she would faint at any moment. Surprised, Sadie stood, gaping at her feline friend in surprise, but as Fallah began to fall, Sadie finally reacted, rushing to the cat's side and lowering her nose to Fallah's shoulder in an attempt to keep her on her feet or at least guide her more carefully to the ground. Sadie couldn't yet tell wether or not Fallah had succeeded in clearing out Fisher's eyes, but she desperately hoped that she had. Sadie was at a complete loss as to what to do again, but maybe Fisher would know what was wrong with the lynx, and how to help her. "What do we do?" the calf asked him desperately, the tone of her voice and the look in her green eyes clearly revealing that she was on the verge of panicking.

Well thank goodness his eyes were DRETCHED WITH WATER. Fisher whined and rubbed at his paws, thankfully the nasty stuff had been flushed out but she had really blasted him with that water... Jeez! She didn't have to be so rough! But where had all that water come from? The noodle wriggled upright and blinked his eyes open, just in time to see Sadie come to the rescue and help out Fallah so she didn't fall and hit her head or anything.

She seemed barely conscious though now.. Had all that water come from her? Fisher had overexerted himself before and he knew how awful it was. "Fallah... Are you alright?" He looked up at the big gembound, Sadie, and figured the best thing they could do was get her to water. She had used all of hers, hadn't she?

"She needs water..." He inferred, considering the options. Eridanus had plenty of water-- but it was a while away. He strained his ears and listened for what the cave had to offer them... But he heard nothing but the slow drip of probably dangerous water. Which left him the only option he knew.

"We should go to Eridanus. There's lotsa water there! I know the way, follow me," he instructed, flicking his tail. The place was full of snakes and nasties but also tasty plants and lots of water-- it was a paradise. Except for the noodlier-than-noodle-noodle-eating-snakes. But he would brave it for Fallah, certainly.