ORIGIN

Binh wasn't exactly doing much. Well, he never really did. It was three cycles since his hatching-- and since nearly snapping his neck-- but he still found that, even after his body healed and grew, it still took him ages to crawl his heavy body anywhere. Haven and Electrum helped, but on the days they weren't around he simply laid around Eridanus, casually draped over fallen branches or by pools. This time he made sure he was far away from any mud puddles, but other than that, life was simple.

Today the growing cobra was simply curled around himself near the cave wall. He found he liked it here: not many gembound around, plus few hills to accidentally roll down. Binh almost dozed off when he heard it-- a slight cracking noise coming from someplace nearby. What was that? He couldn't move his head to check, so he felt his tail around and sniffed the air curiously.

Sure enough, there was the faint scent of amniotic fluid, quickly followed by shuffling footsteps. A new gembound. Well, he seemed to be the only one around, so it was only proper to give a greeting. "Heelloo theerre," Binh rasped, tapping his tail against the floor loudly, as to signal where he was. "Weeere you jusst born? Weellcomme." It suddenly struck him that he had no idea how to greet a newborn. He briefly worried if this new fellow was like him, with a gem so heavy they couldn't move, but he brushed it aside. They seemed to be moving just fine so far. "Yoou arre in... Erridanuss. I caann't ssee yoou verry well... caann yoou come to my vooice?"

Luckily enough, this gembound didn't seem to be like that weird pile of meat who wanted to eat everything. In fact, they seemed rather... okay. Binh could hear the shifting about in the underbrush, smell the faint scent of amniotic fluid on his tongue, and there wasn't anything out of the ordinary about them. As the footsteps neared closer, the cobra reared his heavy head to take a look--

Oh. This child... didn't look like the others. Binh stared blankly ahead as he tried to figure out his thoughts. He knew that some gembounds didn't have parents, himself included. But when that happened, they all seemed to fit into a "Category", of sorts. Fluffy-Magic and Fluffy-No-Magic from Fornax both had muscular bodies, fur, short mouths and long tails. Haven and Electrum had scaly bodies and wings. But this new friend seemed to defy categorization. Legs like the fluffy-friends, but ending in scaled claws. A long, noodly body and tail. Strange spines went down a tall neck and lead to a small, fanged and horned face. And to top it all off, a thick shell covered it's back.

Was this just another "category" Binh hadn't seen before? Certainly not. He may have spent most of his young life a hermit, but he'd seen plenty of creatures wandering through, and none of them looked like them. Were they one of those hybrids...?

His question was blunt. After several moments of awkward silence, Binh hissed a friendly "... Well, niiicee to seee yoouuu,", quickly followed by "Wheerre aare yoour paarenntss?"