ORIGIN

Claustrophobia. That was the first true feeling the creature had in its developing brain, its synapses not yet beginning to fire on all cylinders. It still had some growing to do, and yet it felt so big and small at the same time. In a burst of energy, the figure jostled in its cocoon, resettling in a different position. The split second was exhausting, and the critter drifted back to sleep.

It barely recognized when it had become conscious again. It was fleeting in and out, not entirely focusing on anything. Even if it focused its developing senses, nothing was detectable through the thick shell of tourmaline. Something was wrong. The creature tried to jostle again, but it didn't move. It didn't understand. Why couldn't it move?

It recognized a pressure around its body. Confused, upset, and tired, it fell back, its eyes staring into the blinding darkness.

Light soon shone into the thin casing, the creature's head pressed painfully (at least, painfully to a child) against its confines. It was fast asleep until some jolt of ...something, woke it up. Upset, the creature's body tensed and flexed as it tried to move once more. It was, as predicted, unable to move, but this time it was intent on exploring itself. Despite the slime, it could feel some strange material where its body touched itself, the feeling of wet taking over its brain. No... Not it. It had a brain. He had a brain. Yes, that worked. He had a body, a brain, and wet stuff around him. That was his.

Comfortable in recognizing what was his, the creature instead turned his mind back to his body. What were those long things coming off of him? He could recognize that he was built correctly, from what he had to go off of, but he had no clue what to call everything. There was something on his head, a strange flap that ached when he moved it.

When he moved the strange thing for the first time, though, something even stranger happened. He could feel inside of himself. Or, rather, he recognized he could move the main mass of his body- his chest. With a flex of newly discovered muscles, liquid poured into a hole in his face, causing him to involuntarily shake with some movement he didn't recognize.

As he shook, the cell around him began to shatter. Dark membrane struggled to hold it together as its now inflating (and almost choking) lungs pressed against the surface. All at once, angry lines raced across its surface and minuscule pieces began to fall off of it.

Inside, the creature was struggling. He didn't know why he was so energetic, why he needed to move, but he needed to be out of his home. It was tight- too tight! With a jerk of his head, slick fur felt cool air of the outside world. The thing inside paused, gasping in its fluids as it struggled to understand what had happened. Two things on its head - ears? - had been able to escape. Now he just needed to get the rest of himself out.

After a few minutes of waiting, regaining his energy, the critter pressed again, ignoring the pain of breaking through the gem. Luckily, its head was near the top, and when it broke through he was able to see the world around him- at least, as much as he could with whatever stuff he was covered in in his eyes. He quickly learned to blink, clearing up the blurry vision and glancing around him.

However, his vision wasn't the only newly discovered sense. He could.. sense... hear! Something. A loud clanging- no, chittering, that's what it was. He glanced around, trying to figure out where the loud noise was coming from until realizing it was coming from himself. It was pitiful. He tried to move his appendages up to stop himself, trembling with fear as he squeaked anxiously. He just wanted to know what was going on! Why couldn't his weird head connector be quiet!

And it listened. Gathering the willpower, he shut his jaw, feeling the teeth tense against each other. Teeth- it felt weird in his mouth. He flicked his tongue across them before hearing a small click- he could feel something hard on the back of his tongue press deeper into the muscle. What was that?

The creature shook his head. More and more shards were beginning to break off of the chrysalis, before it couldn't hold itself up any more. In one second, the creature tumbled out, rolling with his long body onto the floor below. He gasped, long lungs noticeably breathing along his chest as his tangle of limbs and tail tried to uncurl itself from the wetness around themselves. Tired from the movement, he closed his eyes again, ears swiveling left and right for any new noises to be heard.

The creature wasn't able to sit still for long. He tried resting, but his body kept jittering, lively with movement despite how tired he was. Upset, he raised his head to the ceiling before wiggling into a partially standing position. He tried to lift himself up and gasped. It was a new motion for him, and when he tried to take a step his face almost hit the ground again before he caught himself.

He paused in his position. With ears swiveling from side to side, he squeaked out a curious and anxious noise, his fur spiking. The world around him was so big.

He shook out his body, bits of membrane flying everywhere as he tried taking a few more steps. It was slow going, but he was going! After finding himself in a brand new location (even if it was just a few inches in front of him), a jolt of anxiety passed through the creature's brain. His head periscoped up as he frantically looked side to side. Seeing nothing, he relaxed. A few more steps, another glance around. This time, however, there was a pause. Did he see something?

Yes- yes, there was definitely something there. The gembound's breath hitched in his throat as he stared at the mysterious shape, his body trembling, tail flicking as he tried his best to stand perfectly still. Maybe if he didn't move, it wouldn't try to chase him, whatever it was.

The little linsang choked as he could feel a deafening thrumming in his ears. Was it coming towards him? It was- What could he do? His long neck whipped from side to side before he arched his spine, the now mostly dry fur spiking up as he tried to make himself bigger. He could feel some part of the end of his legs move- they ached as they pressed into the ground, digging little divets into it. Sharp, sharp claws had revealed themselves.

The creature- no, no he was.. He was a creature- he... Pausing in his fright, his wide eyes glanced to the ground, lost in thought. What was he? He wasn't a creature, creature's don't know they're themselves. He was a thing, a thing that knew who he was- so who was he? His sharp, pearly teeth revealed themselves as he clicked them together.

The word Pallas had been brought to the forefront of his mind.

Glancing up, Pallas kept his jaw jittering as he stared down whatever was coming for him. An anxious chittering filled the air as it made noises at him, Pallas scooting away from it in fright. Did this creature think like him? Was he a Pallas, too?

Pallas's eyes caught on the top of the things front left appendage. Some part of him recognized what was there, but he couldn't place what he was looking at. His fur relaxed ever so slightly as he thought once more, before glancing back at the things eyes again, absolutely ready to dart. Whatever this thing was, it definitely looked like it could hurt him.

Pallas flinched as the creature looked around. Were there more? The little gembound mimicked the movement before being alerted to another noise from the... Thing.

However, something had clicked in his brain. Was this how it was trying to communicate? Something trying to communicate wouldn't attack outright, right? Pallas's arched back began to relax as he grew more comfortable with the situation. His head tilted to the right. As much as he recognized that there was an attempt at communication, Pallas didn't understand what to make of it. Perhaps if he tried to mimic it...

"N-Nyam..?" He squeaked, his head retreating back to his body. Upon trying to speak, he wrinkled his nose and ran his tongue against the top of his mouth. Something just wasn't right- it was like something solid was stuck to the top of his tongue. It was almost uncomfortable as he tried saying 'nyam' over and over to figure out why it felt weird to make the mouth movements.

Pallas paused slightly, still making quite subtle mouth movements as the other creature spoke. Why was it built differently?

He soon got his answer, with a word that stood out further in his mind. 'Zevruu'. Was this thing a Zevruu? But this thing wasn't like him- why did it care so much about him? Were Zevruus important for Pallases?

The little linsang inched ever so slightly forward, his ears pricked forward on top of his head. "Is Zev-a-roo?" He mimicked, before adding a "Is Pallas?" He seemed to be slowly beginning to understand, concepts being brought forth in his mind that seemed to be there all along. "Name... Pallas?" Though, he didn't sound quite certain of the last one, more trying to understand what a a name was- or even what 'other people are to call you' meant.