Strong raptorial forelimbs struck against the side of the amber chrysalis once, twice and finally a third time before all that remains is a pile of glittering amber shards. Quickly driven from the strange room by the sheer around of chaos, It quickly found itself in a room that, to it, felt even more strange.
To it, it felt like everything in this room had shrunk- the rocks, the plants, even the grass and moss. It had already accepted the strange room as 'normal,' even though it had fled that place rather quickly. Already bigger than the average shifting mantis, It slowly wandered, sticking close to crumbled stone structures and shady nooks where It felt more safe.
"Spoken Words."
Thoughts
tags: ---
notes: ---
coding by wulf for template purposes
Pip's chrysalis crumbled around her. She was much too small, and much to weak to break it herself, but a few good searching taps were enough to cause it to crumble. It turned to a lime green dust before her very claws. It seemed to have been resting on a massive blade of grass, one that hung lower than its siblings. All around were massive plants. Much bigger than Pips measly half an inch. They stretched into the sky, further than Pip could ever dream of seeing. Were Pip a vertebrate, she would've blinked, staring with awe. But her pointed compound eyes just gazed around her, no emotion visible.
The occasional flick of her abdomen giving away her living status. But inside the tiny gembound was a tumult of emotions. Everything...was so big? Were things normally this big? Pip wanted to see more, do more, touch more of everything. Pip turned her gaze below, searching for a way down. She wanted to see more. Do more with these giant plants. She seemed to be the only one here. But, pip spotted something. A massive tree trunk below her, overgrown with moss and vines. It swayed in the breeze. Pip squatted, waiting for the tree trunk to sway close enough. She wriggled her butt as a cat might before a pounce. There! She launched herself from her blade of grass, landing on a lengthwise portion of it. A branch maybe?
A long branch. Pip crawled along the tree, until she reached the top. And then Pip paused. She swivled her head to and fro. They weren't in the place with giant plants anymore. The plants here were smaller, and there were a bunch of strange, dark stones here. There may have been some pattern, some architectural motif, but Pip was too small to recognize it. Pip spared the ground below her a passing glance. The...the tree. Its branches werent swaying. They were moving. The tree was alive. Pip, too small to be afraid, or even comprehend that something so giant could be a threat, hopped onto one of their eyes.
"Hi tree! I'm Pip! Whats your name? How do you walk? Can trees talk?" Pip gasped, which turned into a squeal of excitement. "Can you teach me tree language, tree? I'm Pip, hi tree!" Pip said, quickly forgetting she'd introduced herself. "Where are we, tree?"
@Morpho
Morpho hadn't felt the little hitchhiker land on him, and only noticed someone was climbing on them when it climbed right onto one of their eyes. He examined them the best he could. Purple and shiny with a greyish underside. Like a flower, but made of gemstone.
The little gem-flower spoke very fast. It was almost hard to keep up with it.
"I am Morpho." It stated, It's voice flat and steady and low, something you'd expect from a tree.
"I... am not a tree?" It added.
"I am a mantis."
"Spoken Words."
Thoughts
tags: @Pip
notes: Love this tree boy
coding by wulf for template purposes
"Oh," Pip said, abdomen drooping."Well, if you're not a tree and you're a mantis--hey!" She exclaimed, abdomen shooting straight up again. "Thats what I am! You're a very tall mantis how do you hide? But I suppose you hide very well since you are a tree. Hello mantis--Morpho mantis! I am Pip, mantis! Big mantis named Morpho! Where are we going Morpho?"
She swiveled her head around. "How come the plants here are short? Pip said."Wait where are we?"
She touched a forelimb to her face, tapping it as one might their chin. Forgetting why it was there, Pip began to groom it. "Wait! If we are in a new place that means we must explore! I think the old room was bigger. Or smaller." Pip didn't remember. But she did remember this room was different than the old room. "But we should explore! I want to see what else is out here!" Pip pattered to the center of Morpho's forehead. She ripped her forelimb out from her grooming pedipalps, stretching the little foot at the end in a random direction. "That way!" She said.
@Morpho
Morpho listened to Pip as it continued to walk, though he was sure to be careful, as to not disturb its talkative passenger too much. Not wanting to interrupt, It stayed mostly silent, quietly listening. It looked around the cave the best it could, but that was hard, with the tiny mantis on it's head.
"The old room was bigger." It replied, trying to be helpful.
"Or this room is smaller." Thats the way it preferred to think about things, anyways. When Pip mentioned exploring, It's head swiveled to examine the surroundings. It tried It's best to follow where Pip pointed, but it was hard to tell when they were sitting on it's head.
"Lets go, then." It began to walk in the direction Pip pointed, in the typical swaying mantis gait. It did deviate from the path a bit, though, to stick to some more shady spots.
"Spoken Words."
Thoughts
tags: @Pip
notes: Love this tree boy
coding by wulf for template purposes
"Ooh, Then we are in the small room!" Pip said. Pip had forgotten what exactly the small room had been, but Pip figured it wasn't important. Pip was traveling with friend!
Pip watched her surroundings as Morpho walked, enraptured. Her head swiveled in quick, bird like movements as they walked. She pointed out strange rocks, and pretty glowing spots. There was a lot for Pip to look at. And Pip was thoroughly entertained. The lurching movement became regular to Pip, and she gradually began to liken it to that of a tree, or her home grass. Wait she had a home grass? She then realized she was supposed to be talking to someone. Right? Pip had been talking to someone? Pip shifted upon Morphos head.
"Hello? Can you see this?" Pip said. His name came back to her. "Morpho?" She didn't want to explore without Morpho. She was having trouble understanding how she'd lost Morpho. Morpho was big! She thought Morpho was big, anyways. Pip didn't want to be in this big, dark cave by herself. She shrunk in on herself, forming a still cluster of amethyst upon a tree. She'd wait until Morpho came back. Eyes unmoving, but watching.
Then she spotted something, further up from them. A green, wriggling form, crawling on a outcropping of stone. "Oh! Morpho!" Pip began, forgetting her fear. "I see something! It's moving!" She said, unaware of the fact it was much too small for Morpho. And much to big for herself. "Its a big green crunchy thing! Big dry tasty protien snack!"
Morpho walked slowly, taking in all of his surroundings. He preferred to stay alert at all times, especially in a strange room like this, that was simultaneously bigger and smaller than his home room. His head would dart around whenever any movement caught his eye, though it was mostly shadows, and rubble, and plants moving in the wind.
He paused as Pip called his name,
"..Yes?" He replied. He felt her shift on his head, compacting herself, and he became worried.
"Something wrong?" He immediately scanned the area for danger, but didn't spot any.
When Pip pointed out the green insect, his gaze darted towards it. It was a bit small for him, but food was food. He hoped not all creatures in this new cave were this small. It'd make it hard to find anything substantial to eat. But if that was the case, he could always return home, right?
He turned his body towards the millipede, his gaze still locked upon it. His claws lashed out, but hit the rock an inch next to the green bug, which crawled into the rubble and out of reach.
"..Missed." He sighed, disappointed in himself,
"Sorry..."
"Spoken Words."
Thoughts
tags: @Pip
notes: Love this tree boy
coding by wulf for template purposes
Pip was surprised when the tree lurched forward. Aiming for the same wallcrawler she'd spotted. The tree glanced the stone the wallcrawler was on, but missed. How'd the tree know? Pip looked down, and managed to recognize Morpho's comparatively massive eyes. "Morpho! I thought you'd left! You look a lot like a tree when you don't move Morpho. I thought you'd gone somewhere!" She thought for a moment.
"You look like a tree when you do move, too! Don't worry, I'm sure there must be more food out there, right? There can't be one food!" Pip lifted up to her tip toes. It took her longer than before to spot. In the corner of her weird bug orbs. A small, grey thing with glowing spots and...stalk eyes? Pip didn't enjoy that very much. "Morpho theres a weird thing over there! It looks kinda dumb! Do you think it talks?" Pip wasn't sure if she wanted to talk to it. She wasn't sure she wanted to eat it either. "Maybe it knows what this place is!"
@Morpho
((me desperately trying to find something for the bug kids to do))
Morpho hummed thoughtfully,
I guess I do look like a tree. He thought, looking himself over.
"If you see this, you know it's me." He tapped the amber gemstone on his head with one of his claws. He was pretty sure trees didn't come with gemstones, anyways.
He looked around the cave, but evidentially Pip had better vision than he did. He examined the strange grey tall-eyed thing curiously.
"Lets go find out." He said, before slowly making his way over to the strange creature. The creature's eyes moved on it's strange stalks to track them as they approached. It's posture tensed, but it didn't flee, just watch them.
"Hello." He said, waving a forelimb in greeting.
"Spoken Words."
Thoughts
tags: @Pip
notes: The rabbit is just like fear.png
coding by wulf for template purposes
Pip backed up when Morpho tapped their gemstone. "Big orange thingy! Got it!' She placed her bug paws on it. "I think I have one, too! But it's much smaller. I'm much smaller!"
Pip watched the wall eye rabbit with rapt attention. "Hi mossy thing! I'm Pip, and this is Morpho! Do you know where we are? We came from another room that was big! And this room is small. Or was the other room small? And this one is big?" Pip thought. "But do you know where this room is? And why are your eyes like that? You have weird eyes. Can you put your eyes back in? I think I would want to put my eyes back in, that looks like it hurts. Was that rude? Your eyes are very nice mossy thing!"
The rabbit didn't reply. It didn't exactly look happy about Pip and Morpho's appearance. But whether out of terror or confusion, it stayed put. "Oh, maybe you need us to show you! If Morpho picks you up we can show you the caves and then you can tell us where we are!" Pip turned her gaze back to Morpho. "Morpho! Lets take the mossy with us! Maybe it just needs to see better and then it can tell us where we are."
Pip vibrated excitedly, and gave a few short hops. She meant to make a happy tinkling noise, but no sound came out, save the shaking of her abdomen. It made her sad, momentarily, but her thoughts were quickly back to the strange mossy thing.
@Morpho