Matthieu the two-children, the bee and the boy, still slunk around Polaris like a twisted phantom. Nothing much had happened in the previous days-- they slunk around, ate a couple lessers, gnawed on a few stones, and slept under a boulder or two but little of anything else. Calm.

A commotion! Boy's childish head poked up from a ditch at the sound of a crystal breaking. It was a splendid orange gem, cracking open to reveal some twisted creature from it's depths. The child was strange and distorted, eating the carcass of a bird-- they were like themselves. The ones made of sinew and chitin. Matthieu became curious right away, their legs carrying them close as they watched in vague excitement. This was an interesting subject. Very, very interesting.

"Hello," the two voices sounded off from behind Rain, the insectoid head facing them. A black forelimb picked up a feather before it could be swept away by the cold wind. "We heard you. You are like us." There wasn't anyone by Matthieu, and they themselves weren't aware of Arwen nearby, so the plural use might've seemed strange to a listener. "You can call us Six Stripes. Do you want a toy?"

A smile cracked on the humanoid head, which swiveled around to face Rain.

Matthieu smiled, twin grins of teeth and mandibles. This was an interesting creature. Split in two, like they and the Queen were. But less noticeable, and with no second heads. Their lower body was a beige skin reminiscent of Boy's own coverings, while the upper was in a humanoid shape coated in chitin. Interesting.

Boy, the upper head, turned in slight surprise as Arwen made herself known. She was growing fast, no longer a baby-faced grub but a masked child. It was beneficial to have her near. An insectoid leg groomed their fur about a bit before turning back to the newborn. 'Like us. A faerie.' And it was true. She was like them.

Six pairs of legs started up, and walked slowly around the new grub. The Queen described them as walking like rain in a strange tongue (Bee's ears were able to hear, while Boy was left puzzlingly deaf). Mattheiu barely knew what rain was. While the beetaur wistfully thought of the wilds of Eridanus, the only thing that came to their minds was the annoying drip of water off stalactites. She seemed to better suit pebbles, they thought. But then the creature repeated the name and it seemed to have stuck.

And toys-- oh! It just struck them that they didn't actually bring a toy. What a bummer. They swore they killed some bunny a while back. Where did that go? Well, it looked like they had to do some improv. "Good! I do not have a toy for you." the insectoid rumble had an emotion to it impossible to discern. Several hundred eyes flicked over the body one more time-- those scythes looked like they would be useful to try out. "Come with us-- we'll show you how to make your very own toy."

Ah yes. When a child is born, the first thing to do is craftsmanship. The fusion slunk low to the ground, a humanoid hand beckoning for Rain to follow. A small smile to Arwen. Matthieu crept across the crags for a while until they were behind some old stalagmite. Past that were a few Walleye Rabbits, quietly feeding. The perfect introduction.

"This is a cave. It is stony, but it is good. It is not a toy. (But I wish it were.) That--" both a forelimb and arm pointed as they whispered, "-- Is also not a toy. Not yet. It is a bunny. It's job is to eat and bounce. We," they turned back to themselves and Arwen, "Are faeries. Our job is to turn that bunny into a toy. Then you can play with it all you want. Playing is fun, right?"

An unsettling smile spread again. "The Queen of Lies is our friend. She is right next to you. She can make the rabbit into a toy by turning it's head into mush. We, like she said, are Six Stripes. We fix the bunny by making it's eyes hurt, or getting really dark so it can't see us coming. What can you do?"