ORIGIN - An Icy First Breath

In a sense he was aware, aware of the cocoon that surrounded him. Aware of the safety he felt as he slumbered in the dark abyss. Aware of his confinement, but this little fact had yet to bother him. He was warm and hunger pangs was something he had yet to feel,but this was all about to change. A hairline fracture appeared across his stone cocoon as he stretched and then all at once his world shattered. He spilled out fluid gushing around him, pouring over him, he coughed dispelling the fluid from his lungs and took his first breath.

It burned.

It was foreign, wrong, such a change caused him to force his eyes open. Met with mist all around him, he tried to sit up from his splayed legged position on the cave floor only for his uncoordinated limbs to fail him. A whimper built in his throat, but rather than the high pitch sound that was associated with such action, it was more of a drawn out grunt. The young boy had no idea what was happening and panic welled up in him, making his muscle freeze, as he tried to get a bearing on his surrounds. Ears pricked forward, he waited for any signs of life to be made known to him.

Gertrude watched the gem. It had gotten large. This was how they all came into the world, was it not? The crack appeared, and Gertrude stayed perched. The crack grew larger. Gertrude tilted his head. The crysalis busted, and then Prince Charmbirb Gertrude swooped down, landing on the ground beside the wet, furry mess. He watched the being panic, then spoke up, "Come on, then. Stand." He was not altogether mean, he was just telling the creature what to do next. It needed to stand, then they could talk.

Ghanyarah had spied the chrysalis from afar, and when it started to quake and tremble with life, he waited in the bushes and watched. He was wrought with momentary indecision: there were a few approaches he could take to the infant as it fought its way out of its shell. For the moment, it was still struggling and Ghanyarah considered how hungry he was. His stomach did churn, grinding on emptiness and urging him to take to the youth and scoop it up in his jaws the instant it emerged. It would eliminate the risk of an unsavory youth wandering about Cetus, and besides, it wasn't like the infant would be much of a loss to the caves. It would emerge, breathe a couple times, then get eaten - no harm no foul, right? Then again... he could take the Temoria route, he could foster it as it emerged and protect it and claim it as his own.

But Temoria was gone now. She was too independent to hang around in Cetus with him, exploring the caves of her own volition, having her own life. So, look where the whole 'caring' thing had got him. He'd missed out on a meal and he had that weird neglected-caretaker feeling. It would be best to just eat the darn thing, wouldn't it?

The chrysalis cracked open, and he saw the creature revealed in a nest of shattered shards and gestational fluid. Ghanyarah narrowed his eyes, flicking his tongue as he tasted the air. He took a step forward, preparing to pounce - and then there was a flutter of colour, and a voice, urging the child to rise. Agitation took hold of him as his sunset eyes snapped to the bird, then back to the child. Well. There went his chance to eat. If another creature saw him snatch the child up, they'd label him a murderer and put a price on his head. So went the ways of the Gembound. He resisted an exasperated sigh and shuffled through the bushes, revealing himself to the bird and the babe. If he couldn't make a meal out of the child, then he'd have the next best thing. "Beat it, Fancy," The komodo hissed up at the bird. "This thing belongs to the Children of Rot." Maybe they'd get lucky, and the kid would stick around.

table and code © chelsea of ORIGIN

@Keemo

Weird stuff had been happening in Cetus as of late. The mist was alive with the life of his family, and keeping up with all of them was exhausting. He didn't want to be a bother to Dragon or Eve, so he tried not to fumble around them all the time-- and sometimes, while Big Bog meant well, he was a bit too much-- but that meant occasionally that he had to stalk after Yarah and he...

Well, frankly, Tal'at was scared to death of Yarah. He couldn't even convince his spider to come with him, though honestly that was probably for the best considering she had to eat sometime and he hated being too in touch with her while she sucked the juices out of fish corpses.

Keeping up with Yarah was another matter entirely. Sometimes the blasted dragon crawled around, other times he broke into a sprint that left Tal'at running gem-first into a tree. Finally, however, the komodo seemed to stop. His magical sense told him that there were other gems around-- more than just the cooling water of the fiery, fierce all-consuming Yarah.

Timidly, Tal'at decided to land on Yarah's head, near the back just in case the lizard got any ideas and tried to snap at him. Landing, of course, was a tricky thing, but he managed to flutter down without just colliding right into the lizard's skull and giving them both a headache.

"Who is this?" He asked abruptly, "I am Tal'at." There was definitely a tension in the air, but that was okay. He was sure that he could keep Yarah... Um... Somewhat... In control? At the very least, he could threaten to tell Dragon that the komodo had been naughty.

©sanctuare-2k15

He was not yet fully aware of what was around him. His blurred vision only allowed him to see a green thing ,instead of the bird, not that he would have known what to classify Gertrude in the event he could actually see. The order was given to stand and the young one huffed. His stubborn streak showed itself for the first time as he shook his head. He would stand on his own time, not when some green thing told him to. He couldn't even see properly. How was he suppose to stand when he had no visual of what was around him?

Others joined them then. Rapidly blinking his vision cleared somewhat, allowing him to see the vague outline of the entities around him. Voices assaulted his ears, both directed towards him and the green thing. Still laying in a puddle of fluid he spoke. His voice harsh and guttural, the syllables of his speech slurred and drawn out. " Whooo you?"

@Gertrude @Ghanyarah @Talat

TO told me to say Gertrude exited because she won't have time to write a reply. So we're gonna continue without her!

When the dragon had lunged onto the scene, he didn't expect his threat to go over very well with the bird. Threats like that never did, really - Gembounds had this nasty habit of resisting against him regardless of how fierce the komodo tried to be. This time around, Ghanyarah was actually surprised to see the bird scoff about how creatures didn't belong to anyone, and then he flew off, presumably to go do Fancy Bird Things. As the pigeon soared away, Ghanyarah uttered a satisfied snort. It was about that time that Tal'at had arrived, taking the pigeon's place. Kind of. The bat had come fluttering in, quick to land on the reptile's snout with a question of who they were - the pigeon didn't matter, so Ghanyarah ignored him. Instead, his focus landed on the new Gembound.

Ghanyarah narrowed his eyes, looking over the youth. It seemed he had tried to stand, only to fail. Weak, wobbly mammal legs. The reptile flicked his tongue and took a step closer, examining the babe when he turned and asked who they were as well. "Ghanyarah." He answered briskly, then tilted his nose slightly as a gesture to the bat. "Tal'at." The reptile grunted and took another step, slowly lowering his weight into the mud to sit a few feet away from the child. "Who are you? Do you have a name?"

Introduced by his friend, the bat was silent for a moment as his gem shimmered, magic reaching out to get a better since of the newly hatched gembound's magic. It took him a moment, but he came to realize that this creatures gem spoke to him in the same was his own magic did. The child breathed of life, of the living heartbeat in all creatures.

"You can see," the bat murmured, "See like me." He reached out a single wing, stretching out the leathery fingers towards the child. "You must try. Use your gift... You must see... As I do." This was Tal'at's way of encouraging, but all in all it was probably a good way to scare a poor, innocent child. If it was any consolation, the bat didn't mean to be a freaky orb faced, komodo dragon riding horror creature.

@Keemo