ORIGIN

Leave it to a young, barely capable hatchling to slip and slide all the way down the sheer cliffs of Tunnel M, tumbling over rock and ice yet miraculously remain unscathed. Not a single bump or scrape was to be seen on the little one. Not one. It was just amazing how children could either ignore pain they've never experienced before or bounce back so quickly in the pursuit of knowledge. Glaive wasn't sure what sort of information she was chasing down, but she was going to chase it on those stumpy, pudgy baby legs of hers.

Along the line, chasing knowledge had become chasing fish. Hundreds of silverlings twisted and turned in one of the largest pools in this cave, fairly well-camouflaged if not for the flash of their scales. Those twinkling lights in the lagoon's surface was, of course, what caught Glaive's eye first - not any other part of Pisces, or the water cascading down.

No, it was her stomach's eager little rumbling that drove her straight to the water's edge, peering into it and craning her neck as far as she could to see. If there was even an ounce of dog in her, her tail would've been wagging a mile an hour. Alas, the spinosaurus took a few careful, measured steps into the water, and continued to stare - clearly thinking about how she was going to tackle at least one of these fish.

As she went up to her wrists in the water, dipped the tip of her long snout in it, Glaive figured a few things out. One, this cave's water was cold and she wasn't particularly excited to get down into it to catch a fish; two, clear as this lagoon was, she still couldn't make out a singular silhouette.

Schooling was an incredibly effective strategy to use against young, inexperienced spinosaurs. Her eyes were too distracted by the greater whole of the fish to actually pick a singular target. They kept darting from part to part, brain simultaneously parsing the group of silverlings as one being and as a cohesive unit. Glaive narrowed them, near closing them and shaking her head a little. The group moved further into the lagoon, and she gave a cluck of disappointment. There goes the hope of having an easy catch!

Even so, something rattled loose in her stone as she shook her head, amplifying that natural sense of low-light conditions and effectively turning off any manner of shaders this cavern might've had - including the fish. To heck with her worries of getting cold! She could see!

Glaive cut into the water with all the ease of a crocodilian, took one deep gulp of air, and slipped beneath the surface.

Nictitating membranes slid over her eyeballs as she ducked into the lagoon, only slightly hindering her focus as she stared into the suddenly crystal-clear depths. Those few flashing scales paled in comparison to how many fish were actually here - Glaive nearly cracked her jaw open and breathed out all her air in awe of the sight. She snorted a little water, and that was just about it for her instinctive gasping. The spinosaur was all business, now.

Fishing business, that is.

Hunting down a fish in Fornax had been fairly easy: swim at it fast enough, and you'll catch it. Her paddle-tail made for some very nice and efficient bursts of speed, but she was relatively weak and unpracticed - too much so to make long ambushes and chases in the water and have enough breath to make it to the surface. Thank the caves for buoyancy, because the overly ambitious hatchling would've drowned by now.

Glaive thought Pisces fishing would be as simple as that, but she couldn't be more wrong. It seemed these silverlings had an eye on top of their heads, and one jerky movement towards the entire school sent them scattering far away. Her subsequent chase was futile, and she bobbed to the surface with a petulant whine to catch her breath.

Glaive dragged herself out of the water, more than a little bereft at her failed hunt. She was exhausted - and a tired child was a moody one. Another petulant noise escaped her, unheard by anyone nearby.

Hauling up onto slick rock with equally slick feet, the child settled for knuckle-walking to a particularly bright patch of orb-light and plonking down; first on her stomach, then fully onto her side. Baby blue eyes turned away from the water for a moment, and now at the ceiling high above.

She'd never reach up there, no matter how big she grew, but - it was beautiful. The refraction of the water shimmered, even as far away as it was and obscured by a fair bit of cool mist. It was admirable... and just nice to look at.

Magicka ebbed out of her stone; twenty, fifty - perhaps even hundreds of lights started to gleam and glimmer up above, resonating in time with pulses of magic. Chrysalises and gemstones embedded into the ceiling - and perhaps even further than that, all beautiful and reassuring to stare at out of one tired eye. Pisces's waters lapping at the shore near her was a gentle song, and it quickly lulled the babe to sleep.