ORIGIN

HE AWOKE. SHE AWOKE. THEY AWOKE.

Splendid swirls of black-blue against the glistening mirrors of Gemini. It growed, it spiraled, it huddled among the reflective ruins like a dark parasite. But oh, it was no ordinary parasite. It was a twisted mass of flesh, and shell, and appendages and features. It slept in it's dark domain until the moment it's eyes snapped open and it decided to break free.

Bang. Bang. Bang. Muffled sounds came from within the crystal cocoon. It-- their, his, hers-- consciousness had just began to filter through, a cacophony of thoughts assaulting its mind. Or was it minds? It was hard to tell, in this claustrophobic domain, but the strangeness of it all still shown through. One part of him was trying to smash at the lower side, the other pressed against the upper, and neither seemed fully in control of the other. There was a dizzying slush of sensory input coming from all around them. It felt like they had more limbs then they were supposed to. But none of that mattered right now, just that they needed out.

An arm smashed through from the top, pudgy and flailing. And then a strange, chitinous leg from an entirely different side. A third, skinned like the former, slipped from a crack in yet another strange spot. But they were unable to break through completely, their limbs stuck in the spiderweb cracks and too weak to pound further. The creature cried, a frail "Uwaa!" echoing around. But was it two voices that said that? And why was it coming from opposite sides of the chrysalis?

Whoever's the first to approach this distortion of a gembound would likely not find it pleasant.

Sounds. Sounds struck at them from beyond their crystalline prison, distorted and muffled. Their exposed limbs writhed at the sensation, fingers grasping at the air vainly. But they were still stuck, and the limited "air" in the chrysalis wasn't going to get any higher, so they did the only thing they could and tried to burst free once more.

The pounding grew stronger, eight spindly limbs pressing against solid crystal. With a great heave, the top facet shattered away... and caved in onto the form within. There wasn't any cry this time, just the instinctive failings of mismatched limbs as black shards crushed onto it's form. A few glimpses-- a skull here, a striped thorax there-- could be seen as the gembound wallowed in it's own collapsing shelter, but so far it was too disoriented to simply grab the edge of the cocoon and heave itself up. It wasn't even aware of the animals gathering outside it's little spectacle. How unfortunate.

Finally, with a bit of help from outside forces, the beast was freed from its own prison. Well, it didn't look much like a beast yet-- simply a... something, from what the gembounds likely saw. Two bodies haphazardly fused together, squished into an impossible small space now collapsed onto him. Reddish eyes glanced wildly as strange bodies picked off the goopy shards and spoke in strange tones. They did not move. One tiny thing squeezed through a glimmering crack. They did not move. Another reached in a strange hand to pat their head-- 'which head?' Right, they had two of those. With all the sensory input coming in it was really hard to tell what was happening. Regardless, it was likely the upper, the one that looked just like the newcomer's, mouth pulled tight in foggy bewilderment. But they still didn't move, a silent statue as those collapsed crystals were slowly pried off their form.

But finally, they were free from their pin and moved.

One hand, then the other, then another, then more bizarre limbs coming from strange angles. They pried onto the crumbling sides and hoisted a body into the air, wet with amniotic fluid. But, well... shadows tend to hide features. Such as the fact this creature was apparently bisected through the waist with another. A sort of four-legged bee, larger and less colorful than the native bumblebees. Its copper eyes stared at all of them at once. Two pudgy legs jutting from the bottom and dangling helplessly in the air. And a torso, not unlike Arwen or Redwood, which faced backwards at all the wrong proportions.

They were still for a long time. A shivering newborn facing more newborns in a maze of crystals. But inside their mind was swarming.

'Food, hungry-- I can think-- multiple creatures here-- I can see that. How do I-- move. Yes, move. Who are you.'

'Hello.'

'Hello.'

'I'm hungry.'

All communicated through simple emotions and the basic words they were just beginning to grasp.

Their multifaceted gaze fell upon the funny fuzzy thing. The thing that slipped through the cracks. The other head turned, too, nearly 180 degrees, just to stare at it. It was white. And fluffy. They decided they liked it.

As swift as a sparrow two spindly chitinous legs, still wet with primordial ooze, snapped out to grab the bat. The gemlet's weight shifted precariously backwards as they hunched over (or leaned, in the upper's case) to see better. "Hello," two heads spoke in unison, full of the delightful sweetness of a child. Analyzing. They liked this toy.