TEMA
The bravest creatures are often the softest at heart

This... this place.

Memories from just two cycles ago came flooding back to her in a rush. It felt so long ago... her birth. Much of it was fuzzy; she was so sleepy after breaking free of her chrysalis that much of what happened was dream-like to her now. But she remembered Sunny. Of course she did.

How lovely it was to wake from nothing and not be alone.

The thought was sudden, intrusive even, but not unpleasant. Tema supposed it was another memory, this one drifting by as quickly as it came to her. It left a warm feeling in her heart though, a different kind of warmth than the air around her. This was... comforting, unlike the heavy and humid air that clung to her skin.

Sunny...

The bear looked up to the lights in the same manner Sunny had before deciding her name, squinting at the light and admiring it all the same. She let her mind wander through the past for a few moments longer before shaking herself into the present. Just because she had a past here didn't meant it could offer nothing for her future.

Adventure! That's why she ended up here, she was trying to learn which cave led where so she knew where she could get what in the future. Simple! So, she looked. The copious amounts of water around her could be hiding anything! She'd start there, sticking her head under and taking a look around. Perhaps she would come up with a protocol for adventuring in the future, a set of rules to keep her from literally shoving her nose where it might not belong, but for now she held no hesitance towards the idea.

OOC Notes: Backdated one cycle, before her thread Omnivorous Sins

TEMA
The bravest creatures are often the softest at heart

TRIGGER WARNING: Drowning

A sudden wave overtook Tema, sweeping her feet out from under her and sending multiple rocks at her face. Being in no position to avoid them, Tema tried to hold her breath as their onslaught stung her face. She closed her eyes to avoid injury, vaguely registering the sound of a particularly large rock hitting her gem and sending a shock throughout her entire body.

Thanks to nothing more than dumb luck, Tema got tossed on one of the smaller island strewn about the room, giving her a chance to gasp for breath and recover. Eventually she rose to her feet, using the puddle she had created on the island as a mirror to check the damage. Her nose was particularly tender and she'd likely be bruised for almost half a cycle, but thank the heavens her gem was not damaged.

She'd be more cautious now.

Coughing to clear any water that had swept into her lungs, Tema gave her head a tentative shake to check her balance. It seemed that she was unhurt save for the throbbing bruises, so she slowly swam for the Moon Island she had birthed on. Surely a Gembound couldn't birth where it was unsafe, yes?

Tema knew the thought was a lie forged only as self-comfort, but that didn't stop her from heading to the Island for some more reluctant searching. It was the water that had ruined her plans, not an entity... so she would give the area one more shot to prove itself as useful before she avoided it for who knew how many cycles.

OOC Notes:

TEMA
The bravest creatures are often the softest at heart

Andddddddd... nothing. She found absolutely nothing. Not a lost stone, not a scrap of fur, not... anything. Not even a pretty coloured rock. What kind of place was this to not have anything for finding?

Of course there was also the chance that Tema was just not great at searching, but the bear would not have even considered the idea. She was a great finder of the tastiest leaves and fruit, so why would she be bad at finding other things?! She wondered if the cave itself was a live in some way, sending that wave to hide its pretty secrets.

Now harumph-ing around the room in a sour mood (which wouldn't last long considering the bear's rather cheery disposition on life in general), Tema clawed at some dirt in frustration. Stretching her paws by clawing at something in such a manner felt nice, a feeling that helped clear some of the storm cloud that was her mood. Clear it enough, even, that Tema was willing to look One. More. Time.

Just one.

This time on one of the scattered islands. And then, regardless of the outcome, she would be avoiding the cave for quite some time. Not many could hold a grudge against a cave, but Tema wasn't likely to hold grudges against Gembounds... so perhaps this would be the compromise.

OOC Notes:

Fornax's waters were generous to the isles. When the tides swept up to hide them from sight, the water brought many trinkets and treasures. They nestled the little things amidst the pebbly shores for the Gembound to happen upon.

The bear's snuffling returned a faintly metallic scent that could be followed to a line of shell fragments. Interspersed in them was a dull, silvery glint. She wouldn't have to do much to uncover it: a thin, broken chain. Sand encrusted it, filling every hole. A hook lay on one end, and there was a broken point at the end of it. It once was a sword-like pendant. Now, it was strongly-affixed to half of the clasp.

Perhaps, what Tema had found was the Furnace's apology for nearly drowning her minutes ago.

@Tema

TEMA
The bravest creatures are often the softest at heart

Oh. Well, the island she had chosen seemed to offer her a trinket rather readily this time in the form of a strange and unfamiliar scent that led her to... this?

Tema picked up the strange object gently in one paw, carefully pulling it from the dirt and setting it on what little solid ground the land mass offered. She slurped up some water in her mouth from the shore before promptly dumping it on the shiny thing to get a better look without all the sand caked on it. Not to mention whatever else might have stuck itself to the trinket for the who knows how long it was laying there.

Though it took another two mouthful of water before Tema felt it was clean enough, eventually she did take a good look at the strange object. The smell of metal wasn't exactly a nice one to her, but thankfully it wasn't too strong and Tema was able to push past it as she slipped the thin rope of metal over her head. It slipped under some of the fur on her neck, mostly hiding itself from view, but Tema didn't put it on to show it off. Not to the public anyway; she would wait until she found someone who could tell her more about the strange item before she decided what to do with it.

Until then... well, she wasn't particularly excited to stick around this cave after nearly drowning in it... however nice it was to have finally found something hidden inside it. Perhaps she wouldn't entire hate the cave; she had been born here after all, but there wasn't much else to draw her back again... at least not yet.

Maybe... one last look?

Tema entertained the thought for less than a second as another wave rolled by infront of her.

I'd better not.

OOC Notes:

/Exit