Cortex scuttled out of his chrysalis and had immediately gotten into a fight with a bug. It was mostly one-sided but he'd managed to grab it and eat it and in his books, that was a victory.
He munched on it loudly, holding it in his paws, using his sharp sickle-like claw to peel off the thicker carapace so he could eat the rest and not worry about getting poked in the gums. He peered at the shell and decided to keep it, holding it in one paw as he scuttled along, sniffing at everything and wondering how the fungi and rocks glowed. It was amazing.
He picked a mushroom from a cluster and watched it slowly stop glowing, head tilting. He pulled up a few more and made the conclusion that the glowing came from whatever the mushroom were attached to, and started to dig, wanting to know more.
He found a network of 'roots' stretching into the ground, drinking up water and probably whatever was in the soil, and he realized that the glowing came from the energy provided by the roots. Fascinating.
After a while he set the mushrooms down, moving on to try and inspect the rest of the cave, ears perked forward. He caught a few more bugs and kept their shells, eating the rest, idly walking about.
A strange, bipedal creature, one cloaked in gold instead of grey, stared down at the raccoon from a mossy overhang. She was just a couple days old, just experienced her first night, and just wandered off from the Cold-Tunnel into a place full of crystals and light and energy. It was fascinating. She spent ages in there, most of which could be condensed into "putting things in her mouth and regretting it.' before she finally spotted another soul and decided to take a look.
Now, this creature did not look like the Black Cat. He was plumper, and lighter, with a round tail and a funny dark mask around his eyes. Mark that off as yet another species she discovered. A cyan talon extended from one of his fingers.
@Cortex
Cortex turned to face the voice, about to say the word back, before blinking. Hm, not behind him.
He looked up and blinked, surprised.
He sat on his haunches as the creature climbed down and poked at his gem, and in return, he poked at hers,
He peered at the gems and rocks around before back at their gemstones, making a 'huh' sound. Yeah, they did have rocks embedded in their bodies. Weird!
He blinked, for he didn't have anything to call himself, and looked at her head again. Something came to mind and he mulled it over, mumbling the word first before nodding to himself.
And he said all of this with a frown on his face.
Researcher did not react when the raccoon prodded at her stone (thankfully for Cortex a single touch was not dangerous), too enamoured in investigating theirs. Hard. Cyan-blue-ish. Shiny. Seemingly embedded in the finger bone, replacing the claw. She didn't even respond to his initial question. Man, this was so interesting!
Without even giving the kit a moment to respond, she was going off again, this time prodding a finger at his muzzle.
@Cortex
Cortex picked up some of the lichen and peered at it, curious to find that it remained glowing. How odd.
He looked up at Researcher and shook his head,
He tapped his chin for a moment, setting his beetle shells down,
Ah, Cortex did not name himself after a study. Different from her experience so far, but that was the exciting thing about it. There were so many differences to discover between one subject and the next!
Researcher took her finger away from the kit and leaned back, hearing the soothing cave ambience echo around her. He wanted to ask his own questions?
She flicked her finger to Cortex.
@Cortex
Cortex nodded in understanding.
He sat on his haunches and rubbed his hands together, careful of his scalpel-like claw,
It wouldn't be too bad if they were, it meant less people bothering him when he was looking at things (not that Researcher was at all a bother), but it would be... eerie, to be the only intelligent things around. All alone in a cave, the only people here for centuries.
Researcher sprung up and started pacing around Cortex, restless in the way many toddlers are. She leaned her head towards the raccoon before ticking her head up in understanding.
She turned to look at the kit.
@Cortex aaaa-
He didn't want to be lonely anymore, and they were curious about this 'Assistant'. Clearly by their name they were a helper of sorts, but what kind of help that entailed was still a mystery.
The raccoon stood up and shook out his soft baby fur, peering at Researcher with his mismatched eyes. He was curious, though he appeared to be grumpy. That was just his face, though.
Researcher smiled a bit at the mention of her cat friend.
She bounded away with a kick of her legs, leaping through the glowing crags in clumsy-footed wonder. Her golden head shot up here and there, trying to make out Assistant's signature black coat amongst all the fungi and crystals and stalagmites and-- you get the idea. This was a really huge place.
@Cortex @Assistant