ORIGIN

The mist enshrines the trees as if it were alive, this endlessly spreading web that causes a chill to sink effortlessly through flesh. It is humid here, but not at all warm or inviting, and yet the creature has made his home among the highest points of the trees. They sway sometimes. The tree tops are strong and hold the light-weight body of the creature easily, even supporting the occasional leap from point to point - they sway, they snap, but never to pieces. The creature is a black mark within the mist; too far up to be noticed on any usual day.

This was just as usual a day as any, and yet... It was not the top of the tree that swayed this time. The creature scurried and clawed it's way between branches, grappled with its tail to swing for a new point of contact, leveraged itself or fell to the leisure of gravity in equal measure, and hit the ground with a soft crunch. It was a dark blot among the shadows of Cetus - just a mound of shadow at first that quieted the frog-song, sent a solemnity through the otherwise incessant bugs of the water.

Everything was still.
The creature took a moment to gather its wits, and then hastened for the shadows.

Something moved upon the loam and the creature hesitated. It sensed something was there - saw a frail shifting movement out of the corner of an eye - but that did not hook Teyouma's interest. He was silent, eyes wide and watching, until he sensed a tingling of magicka in the air. It was a weak sensation but it was there, the beast was sure of it, and stronger than his own magicka. With one reaching arm he grabbed at the prone neonate's face in order to get a good look at it (although Teyouma was far from gentle with those long talon-tipped fingers). What did he intend to do with this seemingly dead creature they had found?

The pale creature struggled against the shadow as it grabbed, pulled, and inspected. Teyouma did not notice, for the efforts put forth by Alaska were so weak and indescribable. As she exhaled so too went her spirit - or so it seemed - and the beast was left with this mass of white, this useless body. Probing fingers and roaming eyes soon caught sight of a dull thing upon the deer's chest - a stone! The creature had to reposition the deer's body in order to see it, but when he did, those red eyes lit with a strange cacophony of expressions.

He reached out with those talons and touched a claw to the stone. It was intricate in it's design; a layout that could've been beautiful had anyone else been there to witness it. But Teyouma did not see the beauty in the world. He saw that stone, touched it, and then touched his other hand to his own chest - where beneath the flesh sat his own stone. Ruined. Corrupted by hybridization. He almost looked like a practitioner visiting the grave of someone most esteemed - solemn.

The target then screamed, ruining whatever mood had settled upon the beast. It wasn't an act of retaliation that came next - he was perplexed for a split second by that sound, but not repentant in the slightest - rather, Teyouma was reminded of something. The creature seemed to give pause and think, maybe to reconsider...

Then something gripped him. Something tore his thoughts away from that which lay beneath his breast, and Teyouma lunged for the stone set within Alaska; he climbed atop her prone body and began to claw at that design, chip at the skin with those talons, and excavate it from her still living body.

Something came straight at his face and the creature tried to duck, but his lust for that stone overpowered it's survival instincts; the limb smacked cleanly against his clavicle with a surprising amount of force and Teyouma was briefly airborne, flung back by the insistence of the white creature. The claws which had been set in the creature's skin were torn free, leaving Alaska to sit and bleed while Teyouma recovered.

He landed abruptly on his back and whacked his head against something - a stone maybe, or some debris. With a shriek he was rolling backwards until his feet hit the ground. The beast propped itself up with the ruined scythes of his wings as he caught his breath, rubbing at his sore chest with one bird-hand and his head with the other -- and then he staggered forwards, making a beeline for Alaska.

The creature threw itself towards the white doe with more insistence this time - clearly infuriated. It's red eyes were wide and bright, its face contorted into an expression of shock, rage, and desire. Teyouma set upon assailing the other creature with haste, this time using its extra limbs as tools to stab (as if that would keep the doe in place). It barely worked - and at this point Teyouma tried to grab at a flailing limb in order to pull, eager to rip the limbs from this pest.

The creature almost escaped from him, but Teyouma clutched with his talons and raked the flesh from the piece that he'd held. He pulled, hoping the doe would fall to the momentum or to the stabbing arcs of his extra limbs; those broken wings had become good for something after all. He shrieked and grunted, hooted and hissed, trying to climb atop the doe and scramble for its chest - he was a flailing mess of limbs while his tail snaked a hold around whatever it could. He wanted that gem even if he'd have to dig it out of her.