ORIGIN - it all fades to gray soon

Red, gleaming, glittering darkness had become his closest friend. It was warm. It was familiar. It cradled him with strong arms, jagged and unrelenting against his movements. The darkness had been here with him for as long as he could remember, which hadn't been long, but it had held him without question. A constant. Consciousness, however, seemed to be an enemy. It would cause his eyes to flutter open with a sudden burst of energy, urging him to break free of the darkness' tight grip, though they never seemed to stay open long enough to find the promised freedom. Consciousness screamed for the youth to stretch his restless legs. Consciousness nagged for him to feel more than his friend's surrounding embrace. It shouted and yelled until there was no more time to rest and his eyes refused to drag him back to the dark haven that he loved so much.

Splintering, crackling noises surrounded him as consciousness once again reared its nagging head, pleading him this time to escape. Lethargic, the boy curled in upon himself, rustic eyes narrowing as dim light filtered through the crevices and splinters that assaulted the only thing he knew as his home. The Carnelian chrysalis began to shatter around him until it was too weak to support him any longer and the cub unceremoniously dropped from his haven, surrounded by the fragmentation of his previous peace. The freedom that consciousness promised was dark and dank, nowhere near as comforting as his stone womb.

And so, the cub sat, limbs splayed out awkwardly under him, ignoring the tremble in his lip as he hunted with wide eyes for anything that would promise him the same comfort he emerged from.

Since returning from his time spent outside of Cetus, the puffin had found himself more withdrawn. Most of the time that wasn't spent idly staring into the deep pool at the heart of the swamp, was spent with him sitting solemnly in a nearby tree. Age wasn't a concern, he was but a babe from the chrysalis himself, but experiencing so many things in such a short space of time had certainly given him his fill for awhile. Aquarian gave him strength, he spent much of his time thinking about the leviathan that lay coiled within the bottom of the trench.

There was a shatter, the sound of gemstone splintering and peeling away from the body inside. Pietro had never experienced a hatching before, as he was also only young himself. Bravely, the puffin glided down to the area where the tiger lay unceremoniously out on the cool ground. The marsh wasn't a friendly place for something so sweet and young. Even meeting his defender, Dragon, had been an awe inspiring and scary experience. The reptile was now as close as he had to a parent, and the family of the Children of Rot were a strong punch. Without them, he felt he would've drowned, figuratively and literally.

"Hey there little guy," the prey bird made sure to keep a fair distance away. Chest in an ever present puffed position, he eyed the carnivore carefully. While harmless, he wasn't sure what such a creature would be capable of if it so wished to disembowel him or eat him. Dangerous things were scary like that. Unpredictable and by the time you realized it was too late.

table and code © chelsea of ORIGIN

@Nero

There was silence, aside from the trickle of water within the swamp's deep trenches. His toes wriggled beneath him, catching at fragments of rough carnelian and he winced slightly at the prickle of stone on the thin webbing between his pad. Newborn senses muddled and murky, the cub hardly noticed the bird as it came closer, eyes finally snatching onto its black and white form and away from the rocks that carved through this portion of the swamp. Nero's ears pressed flat against his head, short striped fur fluffing along his spine and tail lashing nervously behind him as they spoke to him. This was new. Different from his short few days of disturbingly quiet consciousness before it had coerced him into the outside world -- this strange place of fog and water.

Nero draws into himself, whiskers pulled taut against his stout maw as he attempts to make himself smaller, over sized paws drawing in close to his pale chest. Wide eyes never leave the bird and he shivers, an incoherent twist of a pitched mewl pulling from between teeny needle sharp teeth. He feels an odd slithering across his skin, only increasing his staggering heartbeat as he flattens himself to the floor. The sensation creeps and crawls over his entire being, the russet of his pelt slowly desaturating to fade in seamlessly with the inky blackness of his stripes. The jewel settled on his brow glimmers dully, an erratic, hesitant flickering, only ceasing as the front half of his body darkens to settle in on the dark floor of the crags. His hindquarters, however, remains perfectly russet, the perfect picture of orange and black stripes -- effortlessly visible.

@Pietro

It was an interesting spectacle as the dichromatic colours on the feline's body began to shift and move as the pigmentation was willed to change and shift. It was subconsciously, as the cub appeared to withdraw on himself and flatten into the shadows. This wasn't the usual reaction to his arrival and the puffin wasn't entirely sure how to react. As a submissive archetype, Pietro didn't have the skill nor the want to assume a dominant position and he blinked his eyes a couple of times in confusion over the display.

Should he have been merely passing, he wouldn't have been able to pick Nero from the back drop as his already camouflaged coat proceeded to become duller. Hesitantly, he waddled forwards a bit further and squawked in a friendly manner, "Please don't be scared. I'm a child of Aquarian and I promise I won't hurt you. This is a safe place." As a newborn, he wasn't sure that the child could understand exactly what was being said, so he kept his voice low and his appearance relaxed which was relatively easy.