Darkness, it was only world she had ever known. Within her world of blackness, it was dry and warm. It was safe. She had everything she needed in there, except room and adventure. Truly, she was quite cramped and bored to tears. Outside the protective walls of her world, she heard noises and sounds, paw steps in the darkness, strange chirping that made her hungry, muffled voices piercing the silence. Her heart ached and yearned to discover the world beyond hers. Before her space became few, she tried to break out of her gilded cage, but alas, her beak could not pierce through, but now she felt strong enough. She could not move her legs or wings within her chrysalis, each day became more stressful as her growing body pressed against its suffocating shell. She had to break free, she must break free!
Out of desperation, she frantically raked her talons across the surface. Without yielding results, she soon found the tactic useless and began to try something different. The avian pushed against the smooth wall with her legs, wings and head with all her might. She thrusted her sharp beak into the shell and pushed against her cramped prison again. With a sudden crack, her gilded cage gave way. Shimmering, white fragments of moonstone flew from the appropriately egg-shaped chrysalis, as the fledgling blue jay stretched her head out into her new world. She squinted at the new light piercing her eyes and blinked, taking in her first sight. This new world was bigger and brighter than she imagined! The blue jay flexed her wings, shattering the rest of the her chrysalis as she spread her feathers into the damp air. For so long, the only world she knew was darkness, but now, it was about to get a whole lot bigger.
There were many noises among the marsh, but it was an eerie echo of a strange bark that jolted her to attention. The fledgling spun her head around as her eyes searched for a source. An uneasy easy feeling curdled her stomach as she realized how vulnerable she was on the boggy ground. Still, the drive for adventure beckoned her explore this new world. She was not going let a freakish cry drive her back into the smothering safety of the chrysalis. The baby blue jay hopped through the mud, feeling the slimy ground squelch between her toes. She push herself further and further from her chrysalis, burying the moonstone shards deeper into the bog as she traveled over them. She had not know this world long, but she was beginning to get a hunch that this place was quite ominous.
The foliage towered over her, obstructing her view from what lied beyond. Her chestnut eyes peered up at the spindly branches reaching towards her like malicious talons. If I could get higher.. she thought, I'll be able to see further! Her eyes fell on a fern who's drooping leaves arched to the ground. If she could climb that, maybe she could flutter to that branch nearby.
The blue jay spread her wings and launched herself towards the fern were her grasped at it tendril like leaves with her claws, however, her talons slipped on the flimsy plant and down she plummeted into the murky mud. She let out a surprised squawk as she fell back first into the sticky, cold marsh. Frantically, she flapped her wings to try get back on her feet, but the more she struggled, the more it invited mud to cling to her feather, weighing her down. Panic began to claw at her chest as she felt herself sink into the mire.
"Help! Help!" She cried out of desperation, not thinking twice that her calls of distress would attract unwanted attention.
@Achilles
OOC: I don't mind at all. The more the merrier!
Unknown to the three chrysali, the one who'd breathed life back into them had stepped away for what she thought would be a quick hunt but it appeared that the cave deer were a bit wily and all but invisible today. So, the caretaker was to be gone for hours to find herself sustenance. In her absence the three creatures finally decided to hatch from their tombs and rise into the world. The first cream colored liolf broke out into the world and soon disappeared into the mist. The second, much smaller and breaking from her tomb of pink diamond, also rose from the "egg" with a loud yawn. Her arms stretched high above her head and she peered around curiously. Seeing the bits of broken gold she grew curious, wondering where on earth this mess could have come from.
Feeling an inherent bond she decided to go investigate. Not at all impressed by the world around her, it seemed dull, like this was the second time she'd laid her eyes on it. The tiny, tiny gembound hopped from the root and began to pad away. Perhaps she'd come back to this spot but first she had to see where the other thing had gone.
The tiny little liogoose's paws barely seemed to make a sound as she scampered across branches and through reeds. She didn't know what she was looking for but she felt like she would know once she saw it.
"Help! Help!" The call of distress caught her attention. Quickly she ran over to the calls and saw a small bird flailing about in the muck. Oh no! Thinking fast the liogoose grabbed a few strands of grass and began to try and fashion something to rescue the little birb... but it was just no use! Her paws were too new and the danger too high.
Frustrated she threw the reeds aside and yelled out,
"Don't worry! I'm comin'!" Carefully the liogoose began to edge out into the muck and mud, praying that she didn't get stuck herself, then she extended her long tufted tail out towards the bird.
"Grab on! I'll pull you out!" She called, hoping that this plan would work.
@Riffi @Achilles
No! No! No! This wasn't happening! This couldn't happen! With each flail of her wings, Riffi began to realise that she was beginning to sink further. Her heart pounded in her chest as she scanned for something, anything, that she could grab to pull her out. There were reeds all around, but they were just out of a talon's reach. She tried to for the fern that got her into this mess. Its arched leaves seemed close enough to grab. She stretched out her beak to grab it, but it too, was painfully out of reach. There was nothing she could do, besides be still and wait for someone, or something, to stumble across her. This was nightmare!
As the cold mud soaked into her down, chilling her to bone, she began to miss her warm, dry, chrysalis. She should have never left it. No, Riffi could find herself truly missing it. Yes, it was warm, dry, and safe, but never regreted her time out of it. She had a good run. Suddenly, she heard someone bound through the reeds. It was another Gembound. She seemed intelligent, unlike the unhelpful insects that swarmed this marsh. At last, she was saved!
"Hurry!" Riffi squawked frantically. She watched the liogoose attempted to craft something from reeds, but then toss it aside as if whatever she was crafting failed her.
Useless! Make a rope with a grabby thing on the end! She wanted to say but kept her beak clamped shut. To her relief, the other Gembound stuck out her tail, which was just long enough for her to reach. Riffi pulled her feet from the mud and gripped the liogoose's tail tightly.
"I got it!" She called out to her rescuer.
@Serendipity @Achilles
The tiny little mongoose heard as the little bird called out that she had her tail. Not wasting any time she began to pull. However, with her teeny size and the stickiness of the muck she wasn't going anywhere! Oh no! Were they both doomed to be stuck here forever?
Not so.
In a few moments she heard the voice of... who was that? Her... brother? Yes, that was right. Her brother! He was coming to rescue them!
"We're over here, brother!" She called back, raising one sticky paw to try and hail him over (although the size of her tiny paw waving probably was hardly visible). Soon the shape of the bright liolf came into view and he came to rescue them, tucking his nose underneath them and giving them leverage to crawl onto his head which the liogoose did gratefully. Her little paws grabbed onto his head fur as she migrated up to sit on the top of his head, shivering at the mud clinging to her pelt.
"Yeah, I'm okay. Are you okay?" She asked to the bird that she'd tried and failed to save on her own. Her tiny little paw came down and began to pat her bright brother on the head.
"Thank-you, thank-you."
@Riffi @Achilles
Still clinging to the liogoose's tail for dear life, Riffi felt herself slide out of the cold muck an onto warm fur, which surprised her. The ground did not feel like this before. Her tiny claws released the other Gembound's tail and she corrected herself to sit upright on her new perch, flapping her small wings for balance. Woah! She didn't see this other Gembound before. Where did he come from? By the looks of him, he was probably related to her rescuer.
She looked up at the liogoose when she had asked if she was alright. The baby blue jay soaked from head to talon in a sad, shivering, goopy ball of icky, brown mud. She hardly looked like a bird at all, yet her big, chestnut eyes were shining with gratefulness at her saviors.
"Y-y-yeah." She stuttered, her down wasn't doing much to keep her warm being soaked in the chilly mud. "B-but, I'm r-r-r-really c-c-cold!" She turned her beak toward her chest and attempted to groom the muck clinging to her feathers, but there was so much. With her tiny beak, it would take cycles to clean all this mud out! Riffi began to wonder if there was a more, efficient way.
@Serendipity @Achilles