ORIGIN

A large boulder of a stone sat for nearly a month in an exact plot of soil, just long enough that the vegetation of Eridanus had started to crawl up it's smoothed sides. It wasn't an easy sight to miss, the pink chrysalis was very out of place given the green of it's surroundings. Gemless birds swooped down occasionally to roost on the diamond, some feeling brave enough to peck at the hollowed stone where they were unanswered by the life form within. Their efforts to disturb the neonate continued everyday, growing deviously into throwing pebbles off the pink diamond. Little rocks began to surround the chrysalis, a bit comically. It now looked like the gem womb was rested on a bed of pebbles; like a bird's egg in a nest.

Gracie was a heavy sleeper, not once did the outside world wake her during her slumber. It was something else entirely that woke the panda cub. A striking jolt inside her chest had the tiny female flailing around inside her chrysalis, the pink diamond began to wobble back and forth becoming uprooted from it's place in the dirt. It tipped over anticlimactically, but it still bought the attention of the birds who had restlessly been disturbing the chrysalis. They twittered and cheeped an encouragement to the girl, she didn't know what all the ruckus was however and her struggles intensified.

Finally the diamond enclosure gave way, not from her weak physical struggles, but magic from the matching gem attached to her chest had a lot to do with it. It was time to live! Gracie poked her head out from the top of her shattering chrysalis and blinked her gorgeous purple eyes at the dark abyss that was her new life... and yawned a mighty yawn. A bird chirped once before falling silent, all eyes were staring at the "newborn" gembound, watching and waiting to see what she would do next. She started to giggle, alarmed by the noise that rose from her throat.

Gracie's eyes were glazed from her slumber and the surroundings were darker than they should have been because of it. Slightly blinded by the darkness her heart began to race with apprehension. The noise of someone approaching only made the frantic beating increase. The panda cub stifled a yelp when a wet nose touched her own, she had not seen him coming at all.

His voice was kind and soothing, however, foreign and she stared at him in confusion. It was short lived. The words rang over and over in her head until, click, they started to make sense. Trying to use her own voice, Gracie inhaled and opened her stubby maw to try and mimic his speech. Only gravelly growls escaped, and she started to giggle at a particularly high pitched one. "Grrrrr graaaaa," she squealed in delight, again more uncontrollable laughter. She was laughing too hard to attempt to say her own name again.

Clumsily, the panda tried to step out of her broken chrysalis but tripped on the edge and careened forward in a summersault right towards her company in a black and white wrecking ball of fur.

She managed to roll a few times before the momentum of her fall faulted and Gracie rested in an awkward position. Her hind paws were on either side of her head, upside down and folded up was her body. Puffing, she tried to straighten her back out by throwing her rump down against the ground but it took a few times before she was parallel with the world again. Rolling over, Gracie was upright but still laying: legs sprawled out and belly against the cool dirt. She was dizzy and didn't even think to try and stand just yet. Her muted laugh returned, the fall had scared her momentarily. "MM! MM!" she hummed, nodding dramatically to let her new friend know she was okay.

Gracie wanted to try her name again, this time her brow furrowed in concentration. "Gra... Gracie!" she cried out, giddy with relief that her voice did in fact work.

One success! Gracie grinned and pulled her legs inward. She wanted to go for the next goal now, walking. Purple eyes gleamed with excitement and her little heart began to race once more. Looking to Vazi, making sure she wouldn't go flying into him once again, the cub tried her luck at rising up to all fours.

It was difficult getting them all to move at the same time, her limbs seemed to have a mind of their own. Four separate minds, not even on the same page. Being balled up in her pink diamond womb for so long, her legs were still awfully cramped up and resisted the panda's every attempt. Forcefully, and with every muscle in her weak body, Gracie commanded all paws beneath her to stand up... and succeeded! For a few seconds until her legs began to wobble and shake. "Ayeee!" her howl was pitiful as she fell forward, head feeling too heavy and big for her body. The klutz fell face first into the dirt with a small cloud of dust rising around her.

The panda cub's name was indeed a singing example of irony. Gracie lifted her head up from the dirt and sputtered a few times, flicking her tongue against her teeth to try and remove some dirt. Her bottom lip quivered and it would seem Gracie would soon start crying. But, surprisingly, the tears didn't come. The second fall wasn't as scary as the first, the dirt in her mouth was the worse part. It tasted terrible! And her stomach grumbled painfully at the tease of matter entering her mouth that wasn't food. The terrified look of horror and humiliation washed away, and a slight grin returned when she saw Vazi didn't leave yet.

The little deer had been so encouraging to her for standing and walking, Gracie was a bit sad she let him down. But there was always second chances right? "I okay," she reaffirmed her wellbeing before trying to stand for round two. This time with less force and maybe a bit more grace... Paws spaced out underneath her a bit awkwardly, again, but more stable this time around. She stood! No wobble at all this time, and she resisted whooping as it might unsteady her. "I DID IT!" she yelled, too loud. The excitement almost knocked herself over, but she caught the teeter carefully and began taking her first steps. Gracie was nearly hyperventilating with excitement. Awesome! Walking was awesome!

Gracie gasped as her friend darted off and for a split second she thought for sure he was going to leave her there all alone in the dark world. Relief was imminent once the deer friend stopped and turned around. Squinting her purple eyes she tried to see him better, but with no prevail. The panda cub wasn't completely blind, she could see better with every passing moment since she fell from her chrysalis. But the lighting was screwy, shadows tilted and moved about as creatures passed in front of the limited light sources. It was eerie, and Gracie then decided she didn't want to be alone at all… perhaps, ever.

"Otay!" she puttered, pink tongue flashing momentarily between sharp canines to lick at her nose. Watching her two front paws like a drunkard leaving a bar, Gracie moved them stiffly forward putting way too much thought into the movements. If someone would push her maybe she'd fall into step more naturally. It looked like she was a broken, malfunctioning toy the way she stumbled forward. Finally reaching Vazi, she panted a yawn. Moving was tiring! And her stomach grumbled so.

"Why grrrrr?" she imitated the noise she imagined her stomach was making, pointing a paw towards her belly. A mistake, teetering the girl nearly fell forward again but corrected herself quickly and fell back onto her rump. A light laugh at her lips.