ORIGIN - ... So Is The Present a Gift for the Future

Nemo

It's time.

Well, okay, a little past time, by a few shades of days an nights, but time none the less.

He's been huddled by the chrysili near his nest, not perched above, but simply... waiting, staring at the shining white quartz and gleaming black pearl.

The lammergeier hadn't even gone hunting the last few days, not that he needed it, but he's starting to wonder if he should so that he can greet his children with something other than a smile...

But he does remember some other kinds of magic he seemed to pick up on recently, and so he thinks very hard of something like what he's seen around before, an odd shining food that looked like if someone had taken the lights in the cave and made it a flavor.

@Snapdragon
@Niveus

It's time.

The neonate inside this chrysalis—the black pearl which shines like ice—isn't aware of this, but then again, she isn't aware of anything. It's not time for her; she isn't aware of time, yet. Simply: it's time for nature to run its course. She's now too big for her little chrysalis; sleeping upside-down, her legs pressed up against its top. Each breath shifts her form by just a little; each breath tests the integrity of her gemstone egg.

And now the cracks which were once invisible within the stone begin to spiderweb outwards, as pearl finally gives way once and for all. It starts as a rumbling, a creaking, crackling noise—and then it grows into something visible, cracks dancing over the gemstone's surface, invisible fracture lines deep within the stone finally becoming very, very visible.

And then—with a sound as sharp as a thunderclap, a sudden crack!, the smooth stone gives way completely, and a tiny little harpy only about a foot in height topples to the stone floor, sharp eyes snapping wide.

"Aa!" She gives a startled squawk that isn't words at all, not really, not this young, wing-arms flailing and flapping against the floor as the little chick is unceremoniously shoved out of her hatch-place upside-down, beak to the floor.

@Niveus @Nemo (visibility)

Its time.

The quartz shone pure white like snow, if only because of the fluid protecting and obscuring the hatchling growing within. One could see a shadow of it, a faint hint of what it might be, but nothing more.

However, this went both ways. The growing neonates could see shadows travel across aer vision. The vague shape of aer father seen through dirty glasses. And ae became curious. What was out there? What did all those shadows and all that light come from?

Tap tap tap.

Aer beak met stone. Stone? What was this? A barrier, the gatekeeper between here and whatever may lay beyond?

Tap tap tap.

Their talons joined in, all trying to earn freedom. Soon, cracks began to grow across the stone's surface. Nearly invisible, until they grew and grew and grew even more.

Tap tap t-

"Eep!"

Bellyflop'd onto the ground was a rather pitiful hatchling. Pitiful, and strange, with aer biggest eyes and multitude of limbs. Ae looked up at Nemo unblinkingly.

"Eep?"

@Nemo @Snapdragon (vis)

Nemo

Now-!

Something almost electric makes him pop up, a crackling he barely heard but not pulls his attention in like a windstorm pulling him around, and he stands quickly to make his way over to the pearl, first. This one he'd had for the longest time, had randomly caught his attention between a few stones and he thought with a half-hysterical giggle that whoever this gem is, they're done with waiting, with being in between a rock and a hard place to to speak.

Any large flakes are gently pulled away with his beak and the use of his larger aulas, the newer pad like areas on them allowing him to grab things in a very... sloppy way. which results in a bit more clattering of sliding nacre than he would like, but... all he can muster from his chest is a soft, and awe filled - "Hello, darling... my little bloom, look at you...!"

He's cooing, both in a tonal and vocal sense, a noise he hasn't made since he met a soaking wet and blue feathered being a foot's count of cycles ago.

The flustered father makes sure to right his first hatchling, making sure that ears go up, feet go down, and any boo=boos are searches for with a gentle beak and keen eye.

Tap-tap-tap-tappy-

Oh-!

His head twists around and almost upside down so he can peek under his wing to peer at the quartz. He had a few ideas as to why this quartz is hatching now, too, maybe aer saw more movement? Maybe it's cause he gave them his magic at the same time and he's just being way too dramatic? ... Who am I kidding this is Nemo we're talking about, he's always dramatic.

So, the tapping leading to a wet hatchling and a sharp -eep of surprise pulls a similar noise from him, and he opens a broad wing with the intent of pulling both of his children close to his warm, dry chest feathers and clear of their hatching fluid puddles.

"Hello to you too, my little snowdrop..."

Aw man if he could, he'd be barfing glitter and crying rainbows. He didn't know his heart could feel like this in a good way!

Nemo lifts a foot to pull the smile-light fruit (banana, Nemo) closer, and frowns at the texture of the rind under his talons. It feels like a open-me-food, so he puts some pressure on his talons to split the skin and bear the soft insides for his children.

His children.

@Snapdragon
@Niveus

Movement. Her eyes lock onto the bird approaching her, pulling away her chrysalis; childish babbling stops for a moment as one set of light-on-dark eyes look up at her father, apparently enraptured by his movement. She moves her beak a little alongside his words, as to mimic his movements, but no sound comes just yet.

Another sound. Tip, tip, tapping—both father and daughter look to the second chrysalis, one with far more understanding of the situation than the other. All she knows is her father is here and saying things and they make her happy and she's almost happy to stay there, lying on her belly face-first, staring up at the bird—

—at least, until he starts to move away, and she flails awkwardly at him, not wanting him to leave her side. "Da!"

Is it a first word, or just awkward babbling made to sound like one? Either way, it's a vocalization of exactly how displeased she is with the situation—come back!

But then he's opening a wing, and sweeping both her and the newborn hatched from the other chrysalis close, and everything is right with the world again. A gentle breeze lulls her close, lulls her eyelids to fluttering; but childish curiosity gets the best of her again, and her eyes lock this time not on her father but on the figure of her sibling, both sets narrowing at aer curiously.

She reaches a paw out to bap aer on the head gently. "A?"

@Niveus @Nemo

The world is big and small at the same time. It was now so much bigger than that tiny, cramped, murky chrysalis. But right now, all their world consisted of was aer father, aer sister, and that feeling of happy, fuzzy warmth.

Ae don't spend too long on that cold stone before ae are swept up into the warmth and safety of aer father's feathery wings and chest. A delighted little chirp would escape the chick, their head pressed into colorfully dyed feathers, head tilted to look up at Nemo's face the best ae could. The two sets of alien arms would hug aer chest, half-hidden within damp feathers. Were they trying to mimic aer father, or was it just the most comfortable? Ae didn't know aerself, but seeing how ae didn't know many things at this point, that was hardly surprising.

The weird fruit would go ignored at the moment, both because ae were unaware of it's existence and simply preoccupied at the moment. In aer eyes, aer father and sister were far more interesting than some sparkly, mushy fruit. At least until ae got hungry, that is.

At the gentle head-bapping, ae let out a soft squeak of surprise. Ae stare at aer sibling for a moment, before reaching out a spindly arm that had been tucked close to aer chest prior. Slowly, ae would reach out, before returning the gesture. "A!" Yes. What a meaningful conversation.

@Nemo @Snapdragon