ORIGIN

So, Polaris.

Astéri doesn't... go here often, despite the cave being his hatchplace. He has two distinct memories associated with it: the fuzzy, childhood memories of his hatching, when he burst out of his chrysalis and immediately fell in love with fire—the old remnants of dragonflame have long since burnt out, but he likes to think he carries a bit of that in him, with his element. His gemstone.

And... and Elroy.

The crackling Spire in the center of the room is given a large berth. Thinking of the little bird gives him a pang in his heart; they've long since drifted apart by now, gone their seperate ways, but he still wishes he could have done something better. Stopped the bird from losing his magic somehow, even if he was still just a kid and still doesn't know quite how he'd have done it.

So, yeah, he doesn't come here often; usually just as an interstice between two other caves, him traveling through the Core because it's the fastest way to get to certain caves and he's always been a wanderer. And today, it just so happens that he'd stumbled across a cave rabbit on the way, and hey, free food is free food.

He has his mouth pretty full, his jaw locked around his meal's spine as he carries it with him, when he hears the sharp, distinctive cracking of a stone.

That's a chrysalis!

He sets into a trot, jogging over towards the sound before he can even think about it; reminded deep down of his own hatching, which threw him directly into the danger of an open flame. He's pretty sure this hatchling will be fine, Polaris isn't that dangerous of a cave, but there's still golems and stuff around and he needs to check.

Fortunately, all he finds is a soggy-looking kind of cat (he's pretty sure it's a cat), sitting in a colorful puddle of her own chrysalis.

"Um," he tries, before remembering his mouth is full.

He bends down, setting the rabbit carcass on the ground, then tries again. "Um... hey, kid...?"

Caves, how did Dad do it?

Honestly, he's not sure if he's the one fucking this all up or if the hatchling's just shy. Was he shy when he was a kid? Not that he can remember. He threw himself nose-first into danger without really processing it as danger at all. He'd be terrified to see his child self now, he's sure.

But that's off-topic. The thing is, there's a hatchling in front of him, and she's so... so small. So small and tiny and the way she looks at him makes him feel like a towering thing, much bigger than he actually feels like he is. Is it the eyes? He's been a little self-conscious about them after his mutation, but surely they aren't that bad...

Hell, he just doesn't know.

He tries his best to be reassuring regardless. "Hey, kid, no need to worry about that! Not every day someone hatches, yeah?"

Man, his own hatch was so long ago. Cycles and cycles. Some days he still can't believe he's an adult. "You hungry?" he asks, nudging the carcass toward the cat with his nose. "You can have some of my catch if you want. 's no problem. I can catch another one."

He can't help but smile, just a little bit, as he watches the cat eat. Asteri can't remember if he was hungry or not when he first hatched, but he assumed he had to be, right? He knows from all his younger siblings that chrysali take a whole cycle to grow before the Gembound inside hatches. That's a whole cycle of not eating! That must be a lot, right?

Which makes him wonder if this cat has any parents. Probably not—they'd be around to watch her hatch if they weren't, right? So… she probably doesn't have any other family.

She's all alone in the world.

Which, shouldn't be that sad. It's the way of things. Lotsa Gembound probably hatch alone, that's how the caves work. Asteri himself would've probably been alone if it weren't for Dad walking by at the right time.

But the thought still tugs at him, a little. He doesn't like the idea of other Gembound being alone, especially not one as young as this one.

He gives a brief nod at her quiet thanks. "No problem. You uh… you got a name?"