If Gojiberry had anything going for them, they were, at the very least, an intelligent creature. So as they listened to their mother speak, they tried to work through everything they knew now to get a measure on her. Get a measure on the family and the one question that was ringing in Gojiberry's head: why had she made them?
They crossed their front arms over their chest, their eyes boring into Jayberry with a large frown on their lips. They weren't sure if they believed her - the horror in her eyes when she had seen them and the way she hesitated between answers made them feel like she was lying about something. A rumble started up in their chest - as good a growl as they could get - as they contemplated.
They turned as the final creature came tumbling out of their crystal and their lips curled with disgust. They didn't know much about the caves, but there was no way, no way at all, that that could be correct. It couldn't even stand and its neck sagged to the ground. Those weren't paws. How was it supposed to walk?
It suddenly became too much for them to handle, looking from the new arrival, to Nettleberry, curled pitifully against her mother's side, and the mother herself, raising to try and nudge this new creature to their feet. This was just embarrassing and it made them feel lesser, like they were a mistake, for some reason, like something was wrong, so so very wrong. But they couldn't be...they couldn't be the only one like this! Perhaps this was normal and Jayberry was just particularly strong! Maybe everyone had some kind of deformity that held them down. But with their mother withholding information and the other two dumb and barely speaking, they weren't going to get any answers here.
*exit
The creature barely reacted when one of the black creatures walked over to them, nosing underneath their body. Instinctively, they began to struggle to get their paws under them, but whenever they put their weight on the malformed fins, they couldn't hold its weight and it collapsed back on its belly. Its eyes moved up to look at its mother, trying to, at the very least, prop itself up a bit. It managed to do so, but it was hunched and awkward and it could barely keep its head above the ground.
It did its best to lean forward, sniffing tentatively at the black creature's paws, but after a moment, the weight of its oversized head was too much for it bear and it slumped forward again. It didn't really seem to care, blinking its eyes slowly and looking around curiously.
Its muzzle cracked open, letting loose a garbled, warped serious of jibberish until it looked back up at its mother. The random speech transformed into what could kind of be understood as
It struggled again, trying to lift itself, pulling its head as far up as it could until it was looking up at its mother, swaying a bit with the effort it took to hold.
The rabbit's head drooped down, her neck struggling to support it as her bones ached.
And then the other Chrysalis shattered, a funny looking thing crumpling out of it. Mama went shooting from her side, the bunnywolf toppling over as she lost the wolf she'd been leaning against, unable to say anything as she watched Gojiberry leave, and Mother fuss over the new Gemling.
The she-wolf twitched her ears back, trying to figure out how to word this.
Her head whirled up as Gojiberry began to stagger away, gasping,
The mutated she-wolf whimpered as Shimmer struggled to get to their feet, collapsing back to the ground. It sniffed at her, and she lowered her head to lick the top of its. It began to mimic her, repeating what she said in a very awkward fashion,
It struggled to raise its head, slowly managing to do so for a long moment, repeating her again, and she forced a smile and a wag of her long tail,
@Agony
It's head moved slowly as Jayberry placed a paw on both of its fins. How was it doing that? Standing with its paw-things? It tried again, pushing up against its fins, bracing them against the ground as Jayberry was doing, but they crumpled again and the monster fell back, his head hitting the ground again.
It did not try this again.
However, it seemed to be shifting weirdly, moving its fins under its stomach, almost like a cat would curl in its paws. Another heave and the poor creature found that it was able to prop itself up on its elbows, although the rock underneath dug into the new, soft flesh on its arms. A shadow of discomfort passed across its face, but then something that seemed to resemble pride. It had accomplished its first task - stand. Or the next best alternative.
The bunnywolf watched as Mother and the hybrid interracted, thumping her hind leg agitatedly. She didn't know much, yet, but she knew that this thing was family, and that seeing it weak and in pain was hurting her.
Jayberry watched anxiously as her pup struggled, crumpling to the ground, pressing her nose to their head and whining low,
And then they were up, but not really, propped up but not standing.
She stood still so they could inspect her, even as she continued to talk,
@Shimmer
Shimmerberry looked from Jayberry to Nettleberry as she got close. It blinked long and slow before reaching forward to sniff Nettleberry's fur curiously.
Shimmerberry looked up at Jayberry, its eyes widening. The word "mother" seemed to spark some kind of recognition and a cracked, twisted smile appeared on their ruined muzzle.