ORIGIN

Life was good for the four-eyed, multi-winged, dimly-glowing, knife-armed child.

Avi's first month in existence was full of nothing but contentment. Eythan watched over them at all times, Giggle was always friendly, the quiet noodle and that funny neurotic bird stayed around-- but most importantly, they had rocks! ROCKS! It likely came as quite the surprise when it turned out this gemling subsisted on a diet of minerals, but it quickly became just another thing in their wacky family. Some rocks were particularly crunchy, granite was always salty, gemstones were especially good but near-impossible to crack open, and so, so much more. One day, she wanted to eat all the stones.

But right now, she was just basking. The fledgeling alien spread herself out on some warm stones, kicking off the bones to make herself a nice little place. Four leathery wings spread out in the light. She hadn't figured out how to fly yet, so they mainly served as funny flaps she could open and close. Lemonface, that funny bird she'd befriended, was somewhere nearby. One whole friend! She was very good at making friends.

Her head lifted lazily as the chick called her name. "Hm? wassup?" And then-- suddenly, he flew! Well, it was more of jumping off a rock and falling to the ground, but whatever. It was flight! Avi stood up on wobbly joined and scrambled her way to the avian. "Wow! Wow! What'dya do?" Every one of her four eyes were alight with excitement and awe. "I wanna-- I wanna fly too!"

Each of Avi's four eyes were as wide as saucers. Flight! The little vulture chick wasn't as good as Eythan or Aure, but it was still breathtaking for the young alien. She shufled about a bit, trying to get as good of a view on her wobbly schythe legs. "That's so cool!" she giggled.

Ah, but could she herself fly? Lemonface's encouragement stuck in her mind. Dad, and Dam-isk, and Aure, and a lot of the others flew on avian wings, but the gemling rarely considered if she could herself. Hers weren't made of long, thin feathers: they were thick sheets of leather coated in down. They buzzed more than they flapped. But despite it all, she was determined to try it out. Maybe she could do it even better than Lemon!

Aviva scrambled over with a proud flap of her wings. "They might! They might!" she chirruped happily. The octoped scooched past her friend and onto the overhang, bracing her body for launch. Most of the gembounds she knew would start with a running jump, but that would be significantly harder to do with her musculature. Instead, the hybrid squatted down on mismatched legs and sprung up, flapping her wings out and--

She flew! Well, kinda. For a brief moment Avi looked like she was falling, before her leathery wings flared up and roughly glided back to the ground. Her landing was rough and wobbly, but the joyous smile on her beak was there nonetheless. "I did it! I did it! Did you see me? Wow, that was so cool!"

Avi's little alien face was full of joy as she joined back up with her friend. "So cool! So cool!" she echoed, pulling up a fuzzy scythe in return for the "hug". She puffed out her chest and raised her beak high in the air, like a little kid boasting. Well, she was a little kid boasting, so of course she did that.

Avi skittered forward on spindly legs just in time to see Lemonface fail at his backflip. It looked a bit funny-- when would a vulture chick shooting straight into the air not be funny?-- But the hybrid felt like giving him a bit of help. "Hmm... I can help you do a backflip!" she squawked. And with a mighty (or not so mighty) flap of her wings, Aviva sent a slight gust of wind blowing through the cave. "Try an' do the flip again, but on the wind this time!"

Avi's face was all smiles when she saw the chicklet do a backflip. Her little gust of air carried his fluffy body right around in a magnificent trick! "Wow!" Her little scythes clacked against stone as she hurried down to meet Lemonface. I saw! I saw! You were really-super good!"

She took on the second hug readily, buzzing her wings up and down in joy. All four of her eyes were wide all the possibilities. What if she and Lemon did tricks! Flying through flaming hoops! Backflips into the bone fortresses! Maybe even, -- I dunno-- flying into solid rock! Of course, her sweet pop Eythan would likely be mortified by the thought. Avi's giddy smile sobered a little, but her mind still clung to the dream of flying tricks. Maybe one day...

"Hey, what if we showed one of the big Bonebound what we could do! Tricks and flying and stuff! Maybe they'll promote us to the... Airbound? I dunno." Her buzzing voice wavered off. "In the meantime, though... surprise air attack!"

Like the world's least graceful butterfly, Aviva Vita, child of Eythan some vague member of the Bonebound royal family, play-tackled a scrappy chick. All four of her wings buzzed into the air as she weakly lifted herself up, before barreling down on the vulture below with outstretched limbs. "Arrr! I am the... uh... Anti-Bone! The Ex-o-ske-le-ton! And I am here to destroy you!"

Classic, classic Avi.

Alas, her attack failed! Avi landed on the ground in a poof of little feathers. Still, the little child quickly picked herself back up with a grin and turned to face her opponent. He was still in her ken, recovering from a rather poor attempt at running away. She stepped forth, but Lemonface had picked up a funny bone in his leg and was now wielding it like a lance.

Well, two could play at that game!

"Oh no! Whatever shall I do..." Keeping a green eye on the vulture, she quickly searched around for a suitable femur. There! Aviva reached out to try and grab it... and was immediately struck by the fact she didn't have fingers. Hmm. As quick as she could, she snapped out with her beak and shakily held it like a chew toy. Not the best thing ever, but it'll do for a play fight.

"Mha!" Avi shouted, her voice muffled behind her lance. The hybrid charged forward and booped the chick with the blunt end of the fossil. "-'Ih abback yuh awedomely! Cuz' I'b awedome!"