ORIGIN - First Little steps

She heard the sound of something roaring nearby, a constant and droning sound that went on and on. That was her first glimpse of the world outside. The first sense than there was something more to this world than just bluish tinted darkness. A small shape trembled inside her prison of beautiful, glittering stone as she achieved full consciousness for the first time.

It was tight in here, her body pressed against the edges. She needed to stretch, to get out... She knew she wouldn't die, but she needed a fresh breath to fill her lungs, longed to find out what was that roaring sound. She knew that it'd been there with her since the very start. Always waiting for her, making her chrysalis move with the lightest vibration. It never changed, faded or deafened. It gave the tiny creature company inside her stone prison.

But now, imprisonment was getting to be too much, too choking. The little one stretched out her body. Stretched. Scrabbled at the sides with her tiny claws and patted it with her bill.

Nothing happened.

the little one was confused; shouldn't something be happening? She wanted to get out there, to find out what that sound was. She kept on stretching, wiggling, patting at the sides. After a while, something happened, but it wasn't quite what she'd expected. She felt her tiny world beginning to move all of a sudden, spinning, and taking her with it, head over heels.

To the outsider's view, Destiny's Chrysalis had been secured to one of the horribly slippery ridges next to the waterfall, and as she moved struggling to escape, her Chrysalis had slipped free of its precarious perch. Luckily for her, she wasn't too far from the ground so after a small impact that put a tiny crack in the black opal's surface, the chrysalis continued to roll. It was making an out-of-control beeline for the lagoon, and the disoriented little creature inside had no idea...

White found it almost physically impossible to listen to her mother; but the little bird had droned on and on about... well, definitely something. At the end of it all, White had to mull over and desperately remember what the crow was trying to say.

Whatever it was - it involved a place called Pisces. At least, that's what she hoped. It was an excuse to get out of Polaris for a while at least - to check the place out, meet some new friends. She had wanted to go with Caravaggio, but the cow was nowhere to be found. No doubt up to no good.

She didn't mind heading out to Pisces - it gave her a chance to actually fly somewhere, rather than just fluttering around the Spire for a while. It wasn't very long either - she grabbed a few directions from her father, and off she went.

The first thing that stood out to the pearly-white hybrid as she stepped into Pisces was the waterfall. The second, was how the mist immediately made her feathers damn and cling to her body awkwardly. Shaking herself didn't make it any better - if anything, it made it worse.

Regardless, White didn't need her wings anymore. She stepped in further, sniffing (although she smelled nothing) and then made her way towards the waterfall. The ridges were wet and slick, and the second White had began to turn around for fear of her own safety, scratching followed by a shiny rock breaking free and beginning to roll into the water stopped her.

Now, the hybrid was no genius. Far from it, actually, but she was pretty sure when she new a baby's chrysalis when she saw one - and White knew exactly what she had to do. With claws bared she ran towards the chrysalis, half-slipping on the rocks before she threw herself around the chrysalis, holding it close to her belly.

It was heavy, and the dog-crow slid along the ridge a little more before she came to a full stop, paws scratching around the chrysalis as her huge, almost fully-grown wings beat in a desperate attempt to stop both her and the not-yet-a-baby from falling into the lake.

Panting, she stared at the opal around fall four of her legs - both candid and avian. She breathed out slowly. "I-I got you! Don't worry."

@Destiny

With a sudden jolt to the little one inside, suddenly she was still, her insides still spinning drastically and her little body shaking inside its stone. On the outside, it appeared that there was no motion for a while. One might have assumed that something terrible had happened to the little one inside, it was so quiet as it considered.

And then it tried again. The little one began to wriggle around a little, causing the chrysalis to move softly, barely millimeters. Twitching minutely back and forth. A tiny chip broke off and the little one saw light for the first time!

Momentarily blinded even by that tiny glimpse, she scrabbled some more, pushed and pushed and pushed... But again, nothing happened. She was getting a little agitated now, because she could see her first glimpse of the outside world. She struggled and she fought, eventually resorting to hitting her soft newborn bill against the side of the stone. She hit and hit and hit...

Nothing except a headache.

Silence again for a while as she recovered. For some reason it was worst in the back of her head, rather than the front.

Dizzily she pushed her beak up against the light, trying to see out some more. She gave it a little peck, and finally managed to push the tip of her bill through the hole. She took in her very first breath of fresh air, tiny rasps audible.

There was a pause. "Hawwo?" The tiny little beak said. "Is dere... Anyone out dere?"

@White

White
May 23 2016, 12:40 PM

Panting, the hybrid kept a stern hold of the chrysalis. Between her talons and paws a small beak broke through. With a flinch, she leaned forward and sniffed it carefully as she could, despite the fact that White had a horrible sense of smell.

It wasn't like the beak her mother had; it was round and squishy-looking. Carefully, she nudged it. "Hello," she said. "I'm White. My dad's Black. Uhh-- I got you."

The hybrid shifted and squirmed around on the rocks, nudging at the rock with her nose before she began scraping it with her talons. They scratched and they screeched as they raked the chrysalis - creating a sound not unlike nails on chalkboard. The sound shot through White's ears and caused her to whine.

The hybrid flopped back with the rock on her slender belly. "I don't think I got you, but I do in a physical sense," she grumbled.

@Destiny

Destiny
May 23 2016, 12:58 PM

The little creature, stuck in this cold stony prison, and pulled back her small bill from the opening she'd made. She decided that enough was enough! She stretched and pushed and heaved and... Suddenly, the walls around her shattered, revealing bright light and her first glimpse of this strange, wide world. Crystal shards fell out from under her and scattered in all directions, and a small creature fell onto a warm, furry lump.

Looking around, the little creature blinked and quivered, struggling to come to terms with the sudden brightness. She wiggled around, figuring out slowly where she was and what was going on. As her hazy vision came into focus, she looked up and caught her first glimpse of White- that must have been the voice she'd heard. "N-n... Nice t-t-ta meet ya... White!" the little one burbled, wide-eyed as she struggled to figure out what politeness meant. "Ya're very big, and ya feel nice and s-s-soft..."

The little one snuggled in. This was especially nice compared to the stony prison that had been her home mere moments ago. "I, ah, I... I d-d-dunno who I am. What d' I look like?" she looked around and wondered where she was, how she got here, and most importantly, what lay ahead.

If this thing and this place was so nice, there must be even more amazing things out there. The future seemed very bright!

@White

White
May 23 2016, 02:58 PM

The thing that had tumbled out of the chrysalis and now lying on White's feathery stomach must have been something like she was - a hybrid. Perhaps also between some sort of dog and bird; but this creature bear no feathers on her skin.

White's ears pricked as she watched Destiny. She lay on her bag, huge pearly-white wings sprawled out either side of her as not to get crushed under her own weight. "Thank you!" she said cheerfully, regardless.

"Well," the hybrid continued thoughtfully, canine paws on her chest. "Your mom might be a dog, and your dad might be a bird-- I think that's how it works. But you don't have wings, like I do. That's weird. Do you have a brother?"

Perhaps a more important question to ask was, where's your parents? White, of course, knew both of hers but she only really knew one of them well - that being Black. She leaned her entire dog-face in closer to Destiny. "You don't have bird-feet either, so maybe something else other than a bird."

White relaxed and leaned back. "Do you have a name?" she asked, then added as a reminder: "I'm White."

@Destiny

Destiny
May 24 2016, 05:13 AM

Still snuggled up on White's belly, the little creature opened her bill and gave a wide, toothless grin in response to their cheerful reply. Listening intently to their answer to her question, the little one was responded with so many new and confusing words that the smile left her face and was replaced instead by a look suggesting she was trying to work everything out individually.

"I dunno what a mom or a d-dad or a b-b-brother is," she admitted eventually, curling up on their chest and wiggling about, as though to snuggle in. Seemingly oblivious to the discomfort it might be causing White, the little one adored this place, seeming as though she could just fall asleep right where she was at that moment. She looked down at her webbed flippers as they were noted, and examined them curiously.

She let out a little giggle. "They look funny. D-d-do I look funny t-too?" She seemed to be starting to grasp this whole talking thing, and had decided that she liked it. Well, there wasn't anything in the world to dislike at the moment. The world was good!

A name? The little creature thought deeply. She knew what White was asking for, but... the little one hadn't thought about it before. There was a world of possibility out there, so many names she could pick! The little one wanted something that proved the world was good. She wanted something that she could live up to. Or maybe it would be something to do with her life's terminus, a goal that she could strive for. Maybe she'd have a thousand stories to tell by then.

The little one's heart lit up as it struck her.

"I'm D-d-destiny! 'Cause I'm gonna go out there and do b-big things one day!"

@White