ORIGIN

His limbs all worked as a single unit, a syndicate of rhythmic steps that followed a sloppy cant: onetwo...th...ree four- onetwo...th...ree four. The cub found himself overtaken by a startling restlessness, something that was quite unexpected compared to his lethargic start into the world. Nero finds himself padding aimlessly through the tunnels, soft paws growing accustomed to trailing the rough paths left behind by hundreds of gembounds before him. Before long, he arrives at an odd cavern, the wind whistling at his ears as dull eyes peer at the patchwork of tunnels surrounding him. He has no sense of purpose and no sense of direction, so he strides ahead to the entryway closest to him, head lowering to angle between his shoulders as stone makes way for lush vegetation.

It feels different under his paws compared to the moist loam found in the swamp of his hatch place. He wriggles his toes against the moss, claws unsheathing to peel it up from the floor. It tickles and the youth's whiskers twitch as he glances over head, noticing more of the green growth towering overhead and clinging to spindly trees. A sudden curiosity overtakes him as he looks among the branches, approaching the base of the thin tree. Clumsily, he rights himself onto his hind legs, tossing his forearms on the bark and furling his claws into the wood and moss, reveling in the feel of it peeling away beneath his paws. Slowly, he drags his arms downward, tail swishing close to his ankles as he stretches, before lifting his arms once more and continuing to shred the moss from the tree along with splinters of wood.

"Speech" @Nero

It was cold here. So unusually, desperately cold. So cold in fact, that it numbed the wounds covering his lower half. An odd feeling, but one that was neither pleasant nor unpleasant. What was good was that the aches and pains had started to leave; what was bad was that every other feeling had, too. he didn't like it very much. To get his limbs away from the cold, the fox slowly dragged himself onto all fours. He slowly, slooowly limped forward, growing further and further away from pisces. He'd been relying on the water to cool his burns for quite some time now, but he'd become sickened of eating fish after a while.

As he limped, Todd heard a commotion from further down the tunnel, and he tried to pick up the pace. He continued. Clink, tap, hop! that was how his motions went. His hind legs could only move sporadically, minimally. and so he often resorted to hopping along, which could be a most amusing sight.

Unfortunately for him, it didn't work so well this time. As his paws landed again on some ice, Todd only noticed that he was falling at the last moment. His hind legs slid out from under him, and he gave a tiny and panicked yowl.

There he stayed, front legs standing and back legs splayed in every direction biologically possible, looking around awkwardly because the little fox couldn't quite figure out how to get back up. But from where he'd fallen, he could see familiar green, and a distant figure, who... looked like they were attacking. Something...

Todd shrank down a little and clamped his muzzle shut.