(AW esp if you're mothered ;) )
It was rare that a creature born in Origin cave was so suited for Hydra. A body tailor-made to endure the heat and sand. With thick scutes, and a tail suited for pushing through hard packed sand. Today was such a day. Except, Galleon seemed to have spawned in the wrong cave. She was a shell of Aragonite, stuffed in the snow of Ursa.
On some level, she knew this. She knew her home had grown cold. Too cold. She wanted to escape it. The shark thrashed against the shell. But what met the shark was not the warmth of a great, dry desert. It was the wet, insidious cold of snow flooding her shell. The cold of Ursa.
The sandshark met the snow, and her gut, instinctual reaction was an immediate, "NO, NO, NO, NO." It wasn't right, it was too cold, Galleon needed to find warmth. The shark pulled itself from its shell, to wherever its internal compass said 'up' was. Her still wet nostrils touched biting air and, instinctively, she inhaled. Airsacs expanded, and, still floundering about the snow, she expelled it.
Galleon was pushed forward, her flippers slapped the snow with absolutely no coordination. Somehow, despite everything working against it, she breached. Her glowing blue eyes, previously used to darkness, met blankets of white as far as the eye could see. With a 'pomf', the goldfish-shaped baby shark hit the snow again, leaving a deep imprint.
(Decided to make it a sort of solo so i can see what self threads are like!)
Catalyst was on one of her many tasks for bettering the Hive. For Mother. She hadn't traveled far from the Hive, she was simply scouting around Ursa. And then, before her eyes, she saw a tan thing fly across her vision. She paused, head flicking up. Another animal? Her nostrils flared, a confused hiss beginning in her throat. As with Littlebird, she checked for others nearby. Catalyst lifted her body up, using her tail to counteract the newfound upright stance.
Once again, it was a child alone. It seemed the luck from the previous child had yet to run out. Finally focusing on the strange animal--was it a fish? She began to tip toe her approach. Head and hands tucked low. She hoped this one would be as easy to approach as Littlebird had been. "Hello." She said softly.
It didn't seem to be injured. Would that make it easier or harder to turn? Catalyst did not know what use Mother would have for a child like this. It stuck out with its tan scales, and its body did not look like the kind to retain heat in the cold. And yet, Mother had still found use for her, despite her flaws and bright green scales. Mother would love this one, too!
"I am safe. I am family." Catalyst nodded to herself. "Here, come with me. Catalyst has furs and fire. Warmth." Would the child understand?
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Galleon's forehead poked out of the snow. Air left her blowhole in a great puff of steam. But it did little to heat her. Galleon was still cold, it leeched the energy from her muscles. The front of her head breached. The piercing blue quadrant of eyes on her shovel-shaped head focusing on the raptor. It was the first thing the child had seen. Her jaws clicked, opening in closing. A voice, hollow and scratchy left the child. The sound of wind blowing across a parched desert.
"Family?" She questioned. But something about the other gembound was off. How was it living here, in this cold? Wasn't it as cold as Galleon was? "Warmth..." A familiar word. A good word. Catalyst promised warmth. Galleon craved it. Galleon lowered, preparing to swim to Catalyst. A gust hit her across the fin. Galleon's head raised again. She turned away from Catalyst, searching for what one might call its cave of origin. There weren't many structures, "Warmth!" Cried the sand shark. Air exited her sacs. It kicked up a powder of snow, settling the chill deeper into her bones. Reminding the newborn just how cold she was.
Galleon inhaled again, ducking beneath the surface of the snow. She folded her fins in close, and began to force her path through the snow. It got harder as she went on, as the snow became less cold, more wet, and harder to push through.
Catalyst swore beneath her breath. The child was headed towards Leo. Could she pursue it there? Would anything happen, were she to leave Ursa? What if they were invaded, while she she was not vigilant, off chasing some child? The best way was to prevent the young creature from leaving in the first place. "No, not that way!"
This child would have been another gift. No, most of all, it would be another family member. Another mouth to feed, and to protect. And she was joyous at the thought of her pack expanding. The child, be it lizard, fish, or something other, was Catalysts own already. She was not allowed to leave. She simply had not realized yet that Catalyst was a friend. Catalyst was here to help her. "Wait a moment, child! Catalyst just wants to help you!"
Catalyst tucked her arms and sprinted after the child. It was surprisingly fast for one so young. But given her age and experience, Catalyst was able to catch up with it. In the span of seconds, as Catalyst ran alongside the dipping and rising red fin, the cunning creature's mind went through game plans. weighed her options. Was there any way to stop it, without harming it?
Should she pounce on it? Bite the bright red fin that stuck above it? Step on its tail? All the options sounded painful, she was not looking forward to harming it in any way. Seeing no less harmful option, Catalyst leapt for where she thought the thing's tail might be. One foot dove landed in grass. Her heart raced. Too late? The other landed on something. The texture of smooth stone, yet warm. The child's tail! Her relief left in a sigh, nostrils expanding. "No running, Catalyst is a friend. Catalyst is family. Here to help. There is warmth with family, more of it!"
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Whatever Catalyst's intentions, all Galleon felt was the weight and sudden pain of having her tail stepped on. Despite all her words of family, all her promises of warmth, the child would feel none of it. In the end, all Catalyst ended up doing was making the child panic. The glee and optimism at warmth was gone in a flash. Now was confusion and the pain of having her tail stepped on. Galleon bared dark, bone sheet teeth. She hissed and thrashed, jaws gnashing at open air.
Galleon did not need to speak any words. The meaning was clear. Galleon wanted Catalyst off, and away from her, and she wanted it now. Her thrashing did something. As she flailed, teeth biting at nothing and fins slapping empty snow, her tail was loosed from Catalyst's tenous grip. It hit something hard, and then the child was off again.
Catalyst shook out her muzzle. Despite the child's size, that tail hit hard. How long had it been around? She wanted to paw at her wound with a clawed hand, but Galleon was on the move again. And Catalyst couldn't have that. Catalyst grit her teeth. The whole thing'd gone belly-up. Not only had she frightened the child, but she'd barely stopped their progress toward Leo either.
She glared at the child's fin, firey determination building. "No." She wasn't letting them get away. If they just talked to Her, they would understand. "Stop! Let me show you first, at least!" Catalyst growled in frustration. She ducked her head beneath her arm, pulling at a chunk of mold nestled there.
She should've asked Mother for help. But it was too late now. No, Catalyst could salvage this. She'd save this. She'd save this newcomer. She'd salvage her relationship with this child. With a silent apology, she crouched and leapt at Galleon, planning on pinning the shark beneath herself.
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Galleon had little to say to Catalyst's words. The shark's mind was made up, no matter what Catalyst had to show to her. She did not turn around, did not consider speaking with her. Galleon's head breached, she inhaled a gust of air, and she ducked below the snow again. She exhaled, and was boosted forward again. All was going well. She was going to escape.
And then, All wasnt going well. The impact of a seven foot dinosaur hit her square in the back. Galleon rasped a small breath of pain. Stunned from the impact, Galleon lay there. Her sides heaved, and the faint blue glow from her pits flickered. She was recovering slowly, trying to regain her stamina. Her nostrils flared open and closed in time with the rapid patter of her heart..
"Wait and listen! I am part of a family. A great one. One that's ever expanding. We know only joy, none of the fear you feel right now. I experience joy everyday. Together with my siblings--our siblings. You, too could be a sibling. Part of our family." Catalyst transferred the mold to her clawed hands, keeping an eye on the child beneath her talons at the same time.
She couldn't see the shark's face, but she could feel its flanks heaving. Catalyst felt an odd mixture of pity staring at the child beneath her. She adjusted her talons, taking care to be gentle. She found it remarkably easy to maintain her balance on the bulbous child's body. Probably because it was a one foot fish, and Catalyst was a six foot tall, twenty-five foot long raptor. Catalyst's lips quirked downwards. Was it in pain?
"I'm sorry." She said, after a moment of quiet. "But...It doesn't have to be like this! I don't want to hurt you. I..I just needed to stop you. You see the fuzz in my claws? Do not fear it. It is safe, the warmth you've been missing. If you try this, you'll understand. Eat it, and I'll let you go. I'll let you go to Leo. All you need to do is speak with Her. My Mother." She couldn't help but wonder, how much of this was she taking in? Although the shark could not see her, Catalyst beamed at Galleon. "Our Mother," said comrade Catalyst.
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Galleon, given she was born like a minute ago, did not understand all of Catalysts words. And even if she did, there was a good chance half the stuff Catalyst said wouldn't have landed. But she could latch on to words. And she knew warmth. Galleon's head rose from the snow, growing lethargic. Her cyan eyes pierced Catalyst, glaring at both her and the chunk of mold in her talons.
Galleon knew no warmth came from that cloud of white. She felt no drive to eat it. Its color offered no comfort. It was the same color as the rest of this frigid place. Cold and empty. No matter what the dinosaur said, there was no warmth at all to be found here. No Mother could give her that. There was the gust of air again. From 'Leo'. True warmth. Away from here. Away from the raptor that cornered her time and time again, and took away her choice. The concept itself was flawed. A child, she had no way to share the depth of this concept with Catalyst. She could barely process it herself. But Galleon, in zero words or less, would say as much.
Galleon turned her head, gentle. It seemed as if she were sniffing at the mold. Catalyst breathed a sigh. She carefully scooted closer to the sandshark's mouth. Lowered her talons so that the sand-shark could try the mold. And Galleon leapt at the opportunity. Her teeth sank into Catalyst's arm. The raptor screeched in pain. She reflexively pulled away from Galleon, and in the process lost her grip on Galleon's back. The shark sped off towards Leo, leaving Catalyst behind.
;exit
Catalyst sighed. Due to Galleon's plot armor, she was reluctant to follow her into Leo. If Catalyst were seen coming to Leo out of Ursa, chasing a fleeing child, how would that look? If they saw she was Mothered, that was a liability to her family. It'd draw attention to Mother.
With the knowledge they were after newly hatched gembound, there was a good chance the enemy would come for her. Would come for the family, try to destroy them like they had before. No, this time, Catalyst had to let the child go. She stared at the child, even as the snow thinned, and the sandshark was forced to crawl into tunnel D.
She winced, turning her attention to the bite on her forearm. It stung. Such strong teeth, even for a juvenile. She'd been overconfident, and paid the price. Not to mention one of her clumps of mold was gone. She'd have to regrow the missing parts of her colony.
Catalyst began to shake herself out, stopping immediately. That was painful. She began painstakingly burying the droplets of blood, cleaning up evidence of her scuffle and failure. She licked her wound until the blood stopped, and the wound was raw.
And then, bothered by the newfound lack of sameness, created a new wound on the opposite arm, taking care to make sure it was the same, down to the details. This, too, she licked until it became raw. Symmetry restored. She breathed out. Catalyst began to trot back to the Hive, in pain and full of worry. Was the child a liability? Would she tell of Catalyst, of how she'd attack her? A mournful message was sent to Mother. A simple: I failed. And then, almost cautiously, When I am healed, should we chase her?
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;exit after a surprisingly dark ending