ORIGIN

Fornax was very, very hot.

But the little creature forming inside of the Chrysalis was used to it. That's all it had known. And so despite the sweltering, which was only magnified by its Chrysalis, the creature inside was fine.

At least, until it began to grow too large for its Chrysalis, broad shoulders pressing against stone-like walls. The creature inside began, not yet sentient, to fight, flapping stubby wings and battering soft talons against the Chrysalis.

With a loud crack, its beak began to pierce the Chrysalis. It continued to peck, until finally, the Chrysalis gave way, dropping the small Gemling on the ground. The ugly little thing, with damp off-white fuzz, looked around, blinking in a confused fashion.

The hybrid had been exploring Fornax's furthest corners. It was a sweltering, humid room, and he disliked it purely for the heat; that was probably why he had put off coming here for so long. But here he was, now. The warm water sloshed up against his velveteen sides, deep cobalt eyes hovering just above the surface of the water as he swam lazily between the rocky mounds of islands. A loud cracking captured his attention. It seemed the cave was always cracking - but this was loud, sudden. Characteristic of a gembound's emergence.

Saosin directed himself toward the sound just in time to see the red-and-green chrysalis shatter apart, depositing a tiny, fuzzy birb on the ground next to it. Rumbling with mild amusement, the hybrid swam right up to the shoreline, beaching himself much like a whale would thrust itself out of the water. Only he had the arms to pull himself up. He just didn't. Because he was lazy.

Letting his chin rest on the ground, he appraised the baby with a slight curl in his lips. A sneer, or something like that. "Hey kid," he grunted.

What a nice thing to emerge to.

He always liked gemlings, though. They were cute. Sometimes.

The little bird blinked owlishly, trying to get used to the sudden onslaught of light. It was so bright, and she wasn't used to the light! It had been nice and dark before, why was that? Why did she see light now? Was it because her shell-thing was no longer around her?

There was a sudden, odd sound, a kind of sploosh, and then a thud and scrape. She jolted up, her head tilting from side to side as she looked around, seeing a... thing, peeking out of the water near her. It had a funny looking head, with shiny skin, and was looking right at her. She wobbled up to it on weak little legs, beginning to ramble.

"Hello! I am Gea, and I am a Peregrine Falcon. Who, and what, are you? Where is this? Why is your skin so shiny? Mine is not shiny, it is dull, and fuzzy."

@Saosin

Saosin laid on the rocks, patiently observing the small animal. He hadn't intended to startle it, but it wasn't like he felt bad about it. It was honestly kind of cute, the way it seemed to jump at his arrival. For now, he just settled his chin upon the stone and watched, his lips curled in a roguish smile.

Until she started to ask her questions.

She had a million of them. But younglings always did. Saosin's expression slowly altered into thoughtfulness as he regarded each one, his long ears flicking atop his head. She was pretty eloquent for having just emerged; he wouldn't put it past her to grow up with an erudite view of the world, with curiosity and independence. She was observant, too.

"Okay, slow down, kid," he said as she reached the tail end of her final question. "If you keep talking that much your beak's gonna fall off."

He laughed.

"My name's Saosin, and I'm a... yeah. You're in a cave called Fornax, which is in a bigger cave called Origin Cave. And uh... my skin's shiny because... it's good for swimming. And yeah, yours is dull because you're a baby. But I think when you grow up you'll get feathers. You look like something that would grow feathers," he answered and huffed. "Wow, did I talk that much when I was a baby?"

His father would probably know. His brother, too. Too bad he didn't know where either of them were.