ORIGIN - Here, Kitty, Kitty

OOC: All Welcome!

Eyes flicked open for the first time, and Fira’s, as of yet, ~~tiny~~ young mind, wondered where she was. Being so young and still curled up inside her chrysalis, she didn’t have much concept of anything. But she felt a sense of Purpose. To do what, she didn’t know. For now, the possibilities were endless. Were there others like her, she wondered. And without much effort, her Magic began exploring the room. Suddenly, she could feel and hear a multitude of heartbeats around her. Some were slow and some were fast, and one was very loud and obvious. That one was her own. She pushed it down and out of the way. Why were some so fast? Those were the heartbeats of mice and birds, but she didn’t know that yet.

She couldn’t detect exactly who or what was there, but she at least knew about her Magic now. That, she assumed, would come in handy later.

Her egg sensors were going off.

Havoc hadn't seen her brother for a few days, but she was still oblivous to his strange disappearance. Big snakes needed lots of sleep, didn't they? Anyways. Yes. Egg was nearby. It was some odd instinct leftover in her from when she was created from the stone of her own mother. Perhaps it was that she was part hen, and felt the dire need to mother and care for children.

So the hybrid followed the gut instinct she had, and sure enough. There it was, a glimmering shell of mawsitsit. The obsidian base was mottled thickly with dark green. Judging from the waves of magicka pulling off the chrysalis, the hybrid knew it was definitely an egg. And there was something inside. "RA'MA'S COMING!" was the only thing she said before attempting to literally football tackle the chrysalis open.

It was a success. It was up to the shell if she went crashing inside or not, or if she just landed in a dazed heap having opened a small hole in the shell.

@Fira

Her Magic still going, Fira suddenly felt/heard the presence of a much louder heartbeat. This time it wasn’t her own. She didn’t have much time to ponder what it might be, however, because suddenly there was a loud sound, and then there was a thing falling on top of/into/around her, and then she was tumbling to the ground in a heap of legs and tail with a loud yowl.

She remained dazed for a few moments, staring upside down at the canopy of Eridanus, before realizing that the ground was the other way and flipping back onto her feet. Apparently not all cats land on their feet. But, I mean, she’s a kitten, so give her some slack. When she had righted herself, she kept her body low to the ground, staring at the thing that had disrupted her life so abruptly. She wasn’t sure yet whether this creature was friend or foe, so she remained crouched, waiting to see what would happen…

@Havoc

The brutish hybrid did not hesitate to begin squawking as she crashed right into the chrysalis, essentially evicting the neonate within. Havoc squeaked and turned herself upright, green tail lashing back and forth. She was now in full adult plumage, but still only about four inches tall. Tiny raptor was tiny.

Staring past her imperial topaz beak, fiery eyes settled upon the creature that had just emerged, likely not of its own volition. It scrambled to its feet, already much larger than her. No matter. It was just like with her Yinehi! Something was suspicious though. The way its face was shaped and it had a big and puffy tail. Cat. Normally, a cat would pounce right on a chicken/snake hybrid, but not today! Havoc would not allow it. Cawing once or twice, she hopped over to the cub and began to preen the soft fur clean of mawsitsit shards. "Ra'Ma's here," she cooed as she stood atop the cub's shoulders and tugged the stones out gently so that her new baby was clean and pristine. The best kind of baby.

@Fira

He hadn't disappeared. Not really. He'd been following Havoc around from a distance, ever the watchful creature, silent, slow, but every watchful. So, when she'd move from Polaris to Eridanus, he'd followed her, and he'd taken immense delight in the foliage that now covered them here. She had gone about her adventures and he'd been a watchful shadow but now, she was adopting another stray. He sat back amongst the trees, considerate. If she keeps this up, we'll have an army. He thought, almost boredly. If she can feed them all. If she can train them all. If she can do it on her own. They were alone together, after all.

Oh, but, was it better to be alone together, or together alone? He'd contemplated these things between meals, while napping, while watching. Ever watchful.

He finally leaned out over the branches of the tree he'd curled up in and with tiny hooked claws gripping it, he lowered his upper body down overtop of the pair, looming a few feet above. A hiss was his greeting.

"Ra'Si, move too quickly. Ra'Riot keep up, barely." He scolded, speech still not his strong point. "Why take the new chick? where are the others?" Why adopt another? Where had her other adopted children gone? He had watched her, not them. Never them. Only Ra'Si. Only Havoc. Had she abandoned them, as their Ra'Ma and Ra'Da had?

"Ra'Si becomes Ra'Ma and Ra'Ma and Ra'Ma, but what of Ra'Riot? Ra'Riot wants chicks, wants food. Eats. Chicks feed Ra'Ma Ra'Si and Ra'Da Ra'Riot." He finally turns that steady gaze upon the newborn leopard. "Chick hunt for Ra'Ma and Ra'Da. Get big, get good big foods. Feed. Serve. Loyal. Not leave. Never leave. Ra'Si, Ra'Si and Ra'Riot trains it. Become good. Become Ra'Spots. Gives food. Gives claws. Gives teeth. We keep?"

@Havoc @Fira

Havoc had brought up a good point, unbeknownst to Fira. Yes, she was a cat, and most cats would immediately attack a chicken-snake. However, even a young Fira had the sense that animals who could talk were off-limits. Animals who were intelligent like her were not food. She didn’t know why she knew this — some instinct, most assuredly. When her new mother jumped onto her shoulders and started preening her, Fira sort of just sat there and blinked for a while.

Eventually, she got out the words, “Uhhh… what?” As in, What are you doing? It was said in a voice that was both confused, and accepting. The chicken-snake wasn’t harming her, and feeling Ra’Ma’s beak running through her fur was kind of nice, she supposed. So she just remained in her crouched position and tried to hold still while her new mother cleaned her fur.

And then she caught a flash of movement above her, and her green eyes flicked upwards, just in time remembering not to move her whole body, or she’d throw her mom off her back. This one looked… sort of? like Ra’Ma, but not enough for Fira to make an immediate connection. Then it began talking to Mom, and she had no idea what it was saying because she was a baby, and it was talking weird. Then it started talking to her and all she really got was, “Ra’Spots, we keep?”

“Uhhh…” she said, trying to piece together what was happening. I mean she’d been born like five minutes ago. She could barely understand talking yet, and now there was this snake-thing throwing a bunch of mouth-sounds in her direction. Ra’Spots… That was… her? And he wanted to keep her? She didn’t know how she felt about that, or what it really entailed, but… “Sure?” she said, a questioning tone in her voice, as she was very confused. “Name’s Fira,” she added. “But Ra’Spots is good.”

EDITING IN AN ENDING BECAUSE THIS IS OLD NOW AND BANSHEE IS ON SCARCITY. ((Making some assumptions here. Please PM me if you want me to change the ending.))

Fira sat and talked to her new parents for a time, and at some point, she guessed they decided to keep her. She couldn't really tell what was going on because she was a newborn, but she was fairly certain that Ra'Ma told her to follow them. So that's what she did. She followed them back to wherever they had come from. Little did she know she wouldn't be seeing much of them after her adoption. She'd be too busy exploring the Caves to come home much. Oh well.

[Exit Fira]

@Havoc @Riot