ORIGIN

Deep within Eridanus, life was stiring. Hidden for a long time beneath the ferns, bedded in soft moss, a small stone, shimmering in deep blues and greens, wobbled slightly, then stilled again.
After a long time it wobbled again, teetering to the side untill, with a faint 'plop' it rolled out of its resting place. Again it quieted, as though listening to its surroundings, trying to find something.
Seeing to come to a decision, it started moving resolutely, rocking first one way, then the other, movement hindered by its rounded, but nevertheless cube like shape. Finally gaining enough momentum it vaulted over one of its corners and continued its bumpy progress.

Had anyone seen it and known the destination of it current path, they would most certainly have deterred it or given it a nudge in a different direction. But the occupant, still striving to move its bulky shell, could not know where it was headed, for the stone encasing it was almost opaque, thin strips of lighter stone showing only distorted outlines and vague shapes.

The ultimate end of the stones journey was just ahead. Two deep pools of clear water, serenely calm, lay in the stones path. With a last wobbling hop, the stone fell over the edge of one of the pools and floated quietly for a moment, as though the occupant was trying to understand the new situation.

Then the stone started turning over and over itself in the water in frantic movements, causing deep ripples in the pool and propelling the stone in random directions. Finally it hit the hard granite like edge of the pool with a loud cracking sound. Several cracks appeared and the stone hurriedly turned, so that the cracks faced upward. It bobbed for a moment, drifting back out into the middle of the pool. Then there was a faint scratching sound, a slight soft pounding, and a loose piece of the shell wobbled upwards, then fell away, exposing a small dark snout, sniffing cautiously.

As the snout pushed upwards, out of the small hole, more pieces of its stone shell fell away, untill there was enough space for a dark head and large pointed ears to look out. The snout nudged at the side of the shell, making it rock dangerously in the water. With a small squeak the Gembound curled in on herself as splashes of water hit her fur. She nosed the wet patches cautiously, then gave them a tentative lick. Finding no threat in her fur she carefully peered over the edge of her shelter.

The water had calmed again, only slight ripples maring its pristine surface. The Gembound varefully extended a paw towards the flat expanse of water, thinking of leaving her shell, that was geting uncomfotably damp. Reaching the water was difficult, as the Gembound had to lean out of her shell to do so. Her other paw was resting on the rim of the shell, which suddenly gave way as more weight leaned on it. The outstreached paw hit the water as the Gembound pitched forward and to her great fright, the paw sank right into the water with little resistance. She pulled back immediately with a loud cry, breaking more of her stone casing as she did so, staring with new horror at the no longer smooth surface of the water. Whimpering slightly she huddled down in her shell again. She knew instinctivly she had to get out of her shell, but had no idea how to do it.

The newly born Gembound stared at the figure sitting on the edge of the pool. It didn't look too threatening, but who knew... Still, staying in the wreakage of stone and waiting to drown was no option so she stared even more intently at the figure and tried to mimic the sounds they had just made. All she managed was a mewling cry.

She sat up, thinking. The sounds had sounded farmiliar, as if she had heard them before. She cocked her head slightly, trying to remember. The only things she could clearly recall was an urge to move and everything that had happened since the strange casing around her had broken. But there were other impressions too. Sounds and faint flickering movement. Some of the sounds were similar to what the figure across the water had made.

Slowly, things started drifting together in her mind, single syables forming words and images or associations forming with each word. Finally what the figure had said made sense.

'there you are! You dissappered!' followed by a sound associated with joy. Instinctivly she smiled in response, even if it was a bit late for that and tried again to form words. This time she managed she managed a questioning
"Huh?"

"Todd..." She repeated slowly, then repeated it in a firmer voice. "Todd."

She wagged her tail slightly, liking the feeling, then stopped quickly when her makeshift boat wobbled again. She eyed the water and then the bank, wanting very much to reach it. The other creature chattered away very quickly, confusing her as the information was slowly processed in her head. She shook it experimentally, maybe it would speed everything up. It didn't.

Frouning slightly, she carefully touched the water with her paw again. Why couldn't she get off this thing she was sitting on? Watching the ripples slowly expand around her paw a word drifted to the front of her mind. She knew no meaning to it, but it sounded nice, so she said it out loud, tail twitching slightlly as she did so.

"Mango."

Climbing carefully out onto the rim of the pool, Mango watched her rock boat float away, slowly filling with water, then sink. As the ripples smoothed out she looked back at the surface of the water, seeing her oown reflection clearly for the first time. She blinked, looking from the large form of Todd next to her and back at the reflection.

"You look like me, but darker..." she ventured, laying her own rust red tail alongside his darker one. Her tail was almost as long as his already, even though she was a lot smaller everywhere else.

She sniffed at his paw, which seemed different to her own. "Whats that?"


@Todd

"A gem?"

Mango imidiately started searching every inch of herself she coud see for a shiny sparkly something like Todds paw. Finding nothing her ears drooped and she slumped lightly. She wanted something pretty like that too.

She picked a tiny piece of her shell casing out of her tail fur and nosed it gently, head resting on her paws.