You could be a flashlight

It was disappointing that Osprey didn't know what caused this to happen. At the same time, it seemed dangerous and nearly impossible to figure it out without being told. It would require digging under it to see what made it worked. While it would've been impossible to dig under the Hot Spring without being burnt by the scalding water, it would've been even worse to try such a thing with the risk of destroying. Some things were just meant for Somnia to not figure out.

"How long until it happens again?" Now that Somnia knew that it was a pattern and she was out of its range, she was eager to watch the spectacular event again.

Osprey saw that Somnia wasn't entirely satisfied with her answer and lack of explanation, but there was nothing she could do about it. Making up a story here and now about this phenomennon was possible, but not fitting the situation. It seemed that Somnia was the kind of person, who wanted not only a tale, but also a solid proof that it was true. This, of course, the storyteller couldn't give her.

"Well... it's hard to say. Sometimes it goes up quite regularly, sometimes you have to wait for a long time," she shrugged. "But there are others like this to be found here too. They are smaller, not that imposing, but more eager to "show off"."

"Oh, ok." Somnia replied at first to Osprey's answer. Then, realizing how bland her answer must've sounded, she added, "Sort of like they think they're better than everything else and need to show off. The big ones though, they know they're better, but they aren't arrogant; they don't show off as much, for they know how rude it is."

Somnia knew that her personification of the geysers wasn't actually the case. But, a nonfictional reason for why the geysers did this wasn't available, so making her own fictional reason helped satiate her curiosity.

Somnia's personification of the geysers was so adorable that Osprey couldn't help but smile. All the more because she hadn't come up with it herself. "It's always about the sibling rivalvry," she remarked, casting a glance at a small, but very active geyser, who kept splurting up water and puffs of hot mist all the time. It was funny to imagine it being a young cub, attempting to prove that he was just as cool as the big guys. Poor soul...

"I wish there was a way to tell them that they are all amazing no matter the size, shape and... grandness," Osprey mused and looked at Somnia briefly. "Do you have siblings, Somnia?"

Good luck on your exam session! :)

Somnia agreed with Osprey; water shooting out of the ground was amazing regardless of the amount. Sibling rivalry was a good way to phrase the smaller ones showing off. Maybe if they were a bit more patient, they could collect more water to send up? Or did they have some sort of maximum capacity that made them shoot water when they reached it? These questions would remain unanswered, but there was a different question that could be answered. "I have three older brothers, and there's a good chance I have some half-siblings by now too."

There was a sense of longing that gripped her momentarily. Somnia, along with her parents and brothers, had all separated from each other to do their own thing. It would be nice if she could check in on them and see what they were up to now. However, the Caldera was her family now. They required her more than her actual family, so there she would remain.

ooc: thanks! Luck will be very much needed. Since I have a mini-plot for Osprey ahead - would you like to wrap this up in the next posts?

Whenever people told that they had two or three or only four siblings, Osprey always felt a little surprised at first, because she had grown up in a very big family, where you lost count of your relatives by the second generation. Naturally it made her wonder now and then, what it was like to have less relatives around, but this did not mean that, if she was given a choice, she would change her family to any other's.

"I had three littermates - Peregrine was one of them and there were two brothers too - Crete and Atticus, but then there were a lot of older siblings and later younger ones too. Therefore I won't be able to tell you the exact number of them," she shared. "I miss them sometimes, but not that much as it was, when I first left my home behind," it had not been an easy choice, but a very right one.

[/i]

Sure, I don't have a problem with that.

Somnia would never know what it would be like to be surrounded by a countless number of siblings, but that was all right. Her brothers had been - although not in her eyes - bad enough as it was. Their harmless pranks hadn't caused any real harm, but the idea of even more siblings doing that to her was irritating. One thing was still similar between their families though; you couldn't not miss them after leaving. Somnia voiced this. "Yeah. Would it be possible for anyone to not miss their family?" It was a rhetorical question.

Her focus shifted from Osprey as she realized that they had been here longer than she thought. Although not too lengthy, the trip from the Hot Springs to the Caldera wasn't exactly short. "Hey Osprey, I think it might be best if I set off towards home now. It was nice meeting you. I'll tell Peregrine you say hi!" With some happy tail wagging as a result of the encounter, she started walking in the direction of home.

"Thanks! I might even drop by there myself - the distance between here and Caldera is not that great," Osprey said smiling. It seemed that a healthy dose of "peregerine" was just the thing her soul had been lacking these days. She only hoped that he will have forgotten the unlucky last encounter and that it wouldn't be brought up, when they met again.

"Have a safe trip!" was the last thing she said, before leaving for the Blacktail deer plateau.