ORIGIN - ˈerər/

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Twist, Stretch, become alive. What sounded so simple was such a tedious task, especially to one such as them, a monster.
Stretch, press against pale glass, seek purchase with needle claws. Twist, stretch, hard to breath now. Ribs are pressed in too much. Think. First conscious thought.

Trapped.

Become free. Push harder against glossy, smooth prison. Feel, not for the first time, the slosh of primordial liquid against skin, fur and scales. Press harder...

...and then bask in the rush of freedom, a crumpled and dampened mess upon the stone floor. Stupid, but alive. Blinking against the new, harsh lit air, breathing first fragile breaths, finally alive.

Wrong. So wrong. Moving is wrong. Existence brings terror. The wind is loud, and cold, and new. There carries a million scents upon its gusting fury. Wrong. Wrong. The world rejects them. Shaking, they rise, to four feet- two limbs too many, perhaps. Rear legs felt too long and in the way. Tail, too heavy. An awkward child. Distressed, they begin to scream.

He was exploring--just exploring. He wasn't even sure where he was, anymore; sometimes he'd cling to the narrow ledges along the upper reaches of the tunnels, and just look down, watching others pass, or watching the still silence.

This place was different than the rest of the cave: warm, dry, windy. Even the colors were warmer, and brighter, and Oliver had decided to explore it more thoroughly. Maybe he could meet someone, here, someone to speak to, someone not as frightening as all the massive, or fanged, or slitted-eyed creatures that seemed to only want to hunt, and kill.

Screaming.

The black dog-crow blinked, lifting his head and tufted ears to peer toward the sound. Instinct propelled him forward--whether to attack or to rescue, he wasn't sure. He didn't consider it, he only knew he had to go to it.

What he found was a fascinating, tiny creature: damp, looking terrified, a long tail half-curled along behind overly large hind legs.

Oliver leaned down, snuffling with concern, sniffing it over. Smelling the odor of the egg--familiar. It was newly-hatched, he realized, remembering his own birth (though only vaguely).

"Hey, shh, it's all right. It's okay, you're just--new."

Could the newborn even understand him?

In an attempt to offer nonverbal reassurance as well, the hybrid gently nudged at the young one, long and narrow black muzzle bumping toward its damp form.

@Error

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Still screaming, but suddenly, there's something. Something else moves. Screams die as it makes noise, to listen. New sounds. Words. Recognise them vaguely, instinctively- it's heard these before. Muffled. Distant. Like a foggy, indistint memory. New?

The big black comes closer and the newborn vibrates, gleaming wet scales shimmering with the movement. Could almost be shivering. Long nose prods its skin and that's not okay. React instantly, instinctively. Lash out against New.

Bite into soft black fur along the other's cheek, but find no purchase. The child's vibrations finally end with the startling outcome. It sputters, trying to dislodge sticky fur from comb-like teeth and tacky mouth. Tongue does nothing to help. The child twitches away, making distressed noises in its throat like a cricket's chirp, but more constant, louder. Increasing in volume as the hair stays in place.

Panic, because how will it live with fur in it's mouth!? Feels awful!

@Oliver

Oliver yelped--a sound not unlike the little one's screaming, if only brief, and mostly out of surprise--when the hatchling sank teeth into his fur. He leapt back, blue eyes wide and startled.

Now it was--chirping? Afraid, he thought, or-... unhappy, sputtering.

Oliver hesitated, then tried to reach forward, to brush some of the fur away with his claw.

"No, don't-... I'm not edible," he said softly. "Are you hungry? Don't eat me. Eat-... I don't know. What do you eat? What's your name? Do you have a name?"

The hatchling's distress, and its aggression, and its fear and previous screaming, all had the hybrid worried and on edge. It had to calm down! Rather upset, Oliver glanced around, then looked down. He placed his foreclaw on a random stone, somewhat jagged and grey, focusing on it. If he could light it up, maybe it could be a distraction? A toy?

The stone flared up and then dimmed, settling into a warm, pale golden-white glow. He pushed it gently toward the little one.

"Don't--eat that, either, but you can keep it if you want?" he offered gently.

@Error

Monoceros had been too quiet lately, and it uneased the maned wolf. Wandering the room and nearby tunnels were not on his agenda today, in fact nothing was. The stilted fox actually planned on speeping through most of it, however there was a sound that woke him that sounded oddly familiar. His eyes opened and he yawned, even continued on with a stretch. His long legs stood him up and he looked around until he could find where the sound came from. His vision was still blurry from his nap, but he knew where he was going now.

Once the duo came into view, a black birddog and the snakefox thing, Othello paused and tilted his head. It looked like a fox. Was it... Louie? A frown creased the stilted fox's features as he quickly summoned a shroom under a paw before him - a gift. If it really was Louie reincarnated, he'd take the mushroom. If not, well then Othello would at least have someone new to fawn over.

He didn't care much about the black birddog when he approached. Instead of outright cutting him off like he would normally do, he sent a glare at the hybrid and jerked his nose away to hopefully send this hybrid on their way. Besides, he wasn't a member od the Merry Men anyway! With this realization, Othello glared and growled at the birddog.

Hoping the hybrid got the memo, he turned his attention to the baby-louie-snake and his whippy tail wagged. He offered the baby the mushroom, putting it at his feet before looking back down at the hybrid with a grin. Odyssey and Iliad were gone, so maybe this little gembound could be his new friend?

@error @oliver

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It doesn't notice the paw, but the fur is mostly spat out now. It settles into a bristling, quiet fury. Wide eyes stare up at the black beast. It watches, wary, angry. The beast takes a stone beneath its claw. The stone lights up with a subtle glow.

It is intrigued.

The beast offers the glowing stone.

It snatches the trinket with greedy, clumsy paws and shimmies back, away from the beast. Gaze flits between the black beast and the glowing stone. It examines its new treasure and finds it good. Yes. This it will keep. Its first treasure.

There came a growl. A new voice. The newborn trembled and stiffened, eyes wide. Forked tongue snakes out in quick, instinctive flicks. A scent is learned. Two scents. The Black Beast with its strange voice and powers that glow, that one becomes familiar. This new one, strange and less subtle.

It looks like the Black Beast, but with stilts for legs and a rusty coat. It did not growl at the newborn. Its aggression was matched, aimed at the Black Beast. For a moment, the little mistake regarded the pair curiously.

Then, the Stilted Beast approached. The newborn retracted into a hissy bundle. It offered a gift.

This gift smelled good. Like food. Hunger twists in the newborn's gut. It accepts the offering as greedily as before, but this time, with teeth instead of claws. The mushroom is devoured whole. Its lower jaw splits to swallow it. The scene is almost alien.

It doesn't seem to notice, nor care, about its poor table manners.

The thing with its shining stone hobbles over to the Stilted Beast with a greedy sound bubbling it its throat. More. It wanted more.

@Othello @Oliver

The hybrid hadn't been exploring long; this was truly the only place they had explored, besides the place where they had hatched. They were unsure what they were to do, and still wanted to wait, but it had been too long. They were done waiting, and they would find whatever they were looking for themselves. If the said thing was even still around.

Moriko was clumsy, uncoordinated still, although not to the extent that they had been. Their height was the reason of their stumbling walk. At the sound of the screaming, their interest was caught, and they turned, walking towards the source of the sound, wanting to see what the noise was.

As they wandered into the room, their red eyes caught the other three creatures. Their interest was drawn to the taller ones first, the more canine looking creatures. The black creature with large wings, doing nothing to help their interest. The other creature was not as interesting, with cream and other colors that Moriko was sure were normal. After all, they had not seen much since their emergence.

Their gaze finally landed on the last creature. It was....Moriko stepped closer to it, curiosity in their gaze as they stared at the creature, their long trunk attempting to wrap around the odd looking hybrid and pick it up.

The pretty stone the hybrid offered the younger hybrid was great and all, but nothing compared to his magic, in his opinion. He created food! This silly birddog only made stones glow. It took effort to not kick dirt in the hybrids face, so he focused on the baby and smiled.

It ate his mushroom and begged for more, bringing an even happier smile to the stilted monochrome fox as he looked down at the smaller child. Reaching down, he sniffed at the baby, pressing his nose into various places along his head and neck should the baby not shy away or attack for the contact. It didn't smell like Louie, but he wasn't convinced yet.

Wagging his little tail some more, he attempted to spawn another mushroom for the baby. Beneath his black paw, another mushroom of the same type grew. Lifting his black paw, he offered this second mushroom to it. He'd do his best to spawn as many as the child wanted, he just hoped his magick was infinite.

It was then another creature approached, a larger beast resembling a certain elephant that once walked this room. He narrowed his eyes at the young giant and let out a menacing growl and snapped at the trunk reaching for his new friend as a threat, trying to scare the gembound, not actually bite the apendage.

@error @moriko