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[Hatching] Breath - Printable Version

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[Hatching] Breath - Whale - Dec 24 2020

Consciousness prickled at the edges of the calf's mind.

She became aware of something all around her, pressing her in - or maybe she was pressing out. Either way, the outcome was the same. There was a series of resounding cracks as an enormous chunk of lapis lazuli dislodged itself from the wall of Pisces' lagoon and fractured into several still-huge pieces, freeing the humpback whale that had been growing inside. The shattered remnants of the chrysalis sank slowly, their blue-and-gold vibrance still visible for some time through the crystal-clear water.

Her first thought: she needed to breathe.

The whale calf swam upward, reaching for the rippling distortion of the surface. When she felt the cool air on her back, she exhaled forcefully through her twin blowholes. The water vapor in her breath rapidly condensed, creating a visible column of mist. Then, she inhaled, taking her first breath of cave air. She liked this place, the calf decided, liked being alive and outside and aware.

She glanced down at the sinking gemstone shards. Should she follow them? They were rather pretty. But she didn't know what she would do with them, or how she would carry any. Besides, she rather liked the idea of a lost treasure at the bottom of this lagoon. It would be very mysterious and alluring, and she could be the treasure's guardian. Or perhaps the gemstone would become a haven for small creatures, who might build homes on it - maybe even a palace. What a story that would be!

The calf poked her head above the water's surface, trying to get a better glimpse of the world above. There was a whole lot of mist coming from a wall of crashing water nearby, but she could make out the shapes of smooth rocks, slick with water. There appeared to be a second boundary between below and above if you went further upwards, but the calf found that she could not swim toward it when she tried. She could not cross far enough above the first boundary: the water's surface.

Well, she would simply have to try harder, then. With a powerful heave of her tail, the calf threw herself backward, up and out of the water. She stretched out her wing-like flippers, enjoying the feeling of cool air rushing past them. For one glorious moment, she arced above the surface.

Then gravity took over, and she was returned to the water with a tremendous splash.

RE: [Hatching] Breath - Game Master Dark - Jan 09 2021

The recent disturbances of Origin Cave's water systems had taken their toll. Currents had been shifted, a single passageway unblocked, and new creatures had begun to spread through the water-tunnels, exploring and feeding as they went.

Whale's first ascent to the air above the sparkle of the Lagoon's surface was paralleled: a group of strange creatures flanking her, a few meters away to either side, but seemingly watching her with interest--despite their lack of eyes. They were translucent creatures, with jellyfish-like bells and squid-like arms trailing beneath, with a few tendrils of longer tentacles drifting along behind; each was a meter or so in length, and little more. Each seemed to maneuver by way of two rippling, wing-like fins to either side of their bells, or mantles, or whatever it was their heads might be called. And despite the glittering glimmer of light playing across their translucent jelly-like heads, even more beautiful was the play of bioluminescence dancing over their forms: colors flashing and trailing, pulsing and streaking, in rainbow hues over each and every one of them.

They seemed non-hostile, and intelligent enough to be curious, following along three or four per side but keeping their distance, inspecting this new stranger where she'd hatched among them. Her crash back into the lagoon scattered them, a little, but they came drifting back, as if watching (or listening to?) Whale's movements.

Whale has discovered a new creature: the Lightsting. Though not much is known about them as yet, information will surely trickle through the caves in time.

@Whale

RE: [Hatching] Breath - Whale - Jan 10 2021

When the clouds of air bubbles from her landing - landing? water-returning? - had cleared, Whale found herself among a group of strange creatures. Each of them was a little less than half her size, too large to be food. And they glowed with a mesmerizing pattern, shifting rainbows of colors. Their beauty could have stopped Whale's heart.

"Friends?" she tried, though even a tentative question, coming from a whale, was loud - especially compared to the previous silence in the lagoon. Why were they keeping their distance like this? Didn't they want to be friends? "Come closer," she coaxed, herself swimming closer to the jellyfish-squid-creatures and peering at them curiously. "I am Whale. What are you?" Wait. Should it have been who? What was the difference, anyway? She was Whale, and she was a whale. Same thing, really, but she amended herself just in case. "Who are you?"

RE: [Hatching] Breath - Game Master Dark - Jan 10 2021

They kept their distance, flitting away in a vibrant display of translucent tentacles and shimmering lights, as Whale drew closer. But they didn't flee entirely.

No answer came to Whale's question, but when her voice sang through the water, they responded in another way. Though it had no discernable meaning, their colors shifted, as did the tempo, their patterns dancing and rippling with her words. They seemed interested in her, harmlessly so; and in no hurry to rush away. But they didn't seem intelligent, really; there was no information that they could provide.

@Whale

RE: [Hatching] Breath - Wolf - Jan 11 2021

Whale's hatching was about to get a lot worse. The Lightstings, if they could think, would probably feel the same disappointment.

But Wolf Splishy Splashy Fishbeard didn't care, because she was obviously the star of the show here.

The frogfish bobbed through the water like a deflated balloon super anime star, swimming unusually closer to the water's surface than you'd normally find one of her kind. Just out of spite. She found Pisces through some underwater tunnels and, as soon as she spotted the beautiful waterfalls and lagoons, immediately declared it her new "Super Anime Star Kawaii Cottage" (or SASKC for short). You see, every good protagonist needs an angsty small town homeland to come from, but her actual birthplace of Canis was too ugly, y'know? Regardless, she was now here, and nothing was gonna make her budge.

Well, maybe a barrelling whale would.

You see, the amazing and splendid Wolf Splishy-Splashy Fishbeard was floating listlessly beneath the surface, feeling the air bubbles bonk against her skin, when a deep rumbling started from somewhere beneath her. Her snotty eyes glanced around. Eh? Leaving not a moment to swim away, a newborn whale slammed into her, flinging her aside oh-so-inconsiderately as it breached the water's surface. The poor fish tumbled through the water with a "HEEEEEEEEEE--", so tiny the calf didn't even notice.

It took her ages to recover. And then she got mad. Furious. How dare this creature interrupt her?! In the middle of her daily edgy reflection moment?! Wolf immediately swam back as fast as she could... forgetting the fact her fins were not adapted for open water, and simply paddled away at a snail's pace. Oh, if only she had mighty canine paws! This is why you don't do things out of spite, kids. By the time she was back the whale was arching through the air, and she gaped up at it, bellowing: "HEY-"

And immediately got crushed by one ton of whale.

When the bubbles cleared, her sapience returned and Wolf took the several minutes she needed to return to the surface, she found the much larger cetacean preoccupied with some dumb, floaty tentacles. Oh, this would not do. "HEY!!" She barreled through the Lightstings and-- should they not electrocute her or strangle her or whatever-- delivered a miniature fin-slap that would surely, absolutely prove pernicious.

Or, well, she intended to, but her author accidentally chose the wrong roll option and instead she inhaled a lot of water. Fitting.

"HEY." the frogfish croaked, now wetter than the water around her (how is that even possible...?). "HOW DARE YOU INTERRUPT WOLF SPLISHY SPLASHY FISHBEARD'S INTRO SEQUENCE?!" her word's got faster as she spoke, seemingly indigniated, and she puffed up intimidatingly to no effect. "DON'T YOU KNOW THAT'S COMPLETELY AGAINST THE SCRIPT, YOU BAKA?! HUMPH!"

Good luck decoding all that.

@Whale

RE: [Hatching] Breath - Game Master Dark - Jan 11 2021

The Lightstings did not even notice the strange little fish, their full attention on Whale above. This was likely for the best; the fish was very likely within their range of "prey animal" size.

If Wolf had any sort of self-preservation instinct, it would warn her that these creatures were her predators, and potentially deadly to draw near.


RE: [Hatching] Breath - Whale - Jan 12 2021

Whale did not even notice the little fish approach, so focused was she on the Lightstings. After all, Pisces' lagoon probably had plenty of unremarkable fish in it, but these jellyfish-squid things… they were interesting. They glowed. But they weren't talking back to her, which was kind of sad.

Then Wolf Splishy Splashy Fishbeard came right up to the whale's face, attempted a fin-slap, and instead created a miniature whirlpool of water centered around the fish. Whale had to notice it then.

You don't glow was her first thought, tinged with disappointment. But that was quickly wiped away, because Wolf Splishy Splashy Fishbeard was exciting! Wolf Splishy Splashy Fishbeard could talk! There was a story to be had here, even if Whale couldn't understand half the words it was being told in. Like, for example, intro sequence. Or baka. Whatever the second word was, Whale knew it wasn't good, and for a moment she was tempted to do her own little fin slap.

But that would be picking on someone smaller than her, which Whale was firmly against, and it might also actually hurt the fish since it was so small, which Whale was also firmly against. And the temptation of a good story was far too good to pass up.

What else was there to do but accept her role?

"Most honored Fishbeard!" Whale cried in what she hoped was a deeply apologetic voice, arching her back as if she were about to dive. It was the closest to a bow she could get. "My sincerest regrets." They were not very sincere. At all. But she was playing a role here, so she hoped they at least sounded sincere. "I was unaware of the script. Will you enlighten me now, so that I may be aware of my mistakes and continue to rectify them in the future?"

Whale then glanced again toward the bioluminescent creatures, an idea coming into her head. "And are these your companions, Wolf Splishy Splashy Fishbeard? They are truly magnificent!" That line, at least, she meant.

@Wolf

RE: [Hatching] Breath - Wolf - Jan 16 2021

Wolf puffed out her neck(beard), staring directly into the whale's eyes like a fish on a mission. Finally, someone who understood their place as a side character! Still a bit too large, though.

"I am honoured!" the fish blurbled, finally calming down. This whale was really formal, which wasn't really the theme she was going with this anime installation but eh, she didn't mind. As long as she didn't intrude on her perfect protagonist-ing. "The SCRIPT is... hm." Confession: Wolf Splishy Splashy Fishbeard did not actually have a script. She bit at her fishy lips. "Yes! I'm Wolf Splishy Splashy Fishbeard, and I'm the pro-tag-on-ist and this is the INTRO SEQUENCE, like I said. And I stare off darkly into the distance like hmmmmm..." she picked a random direction and glared at it intently. "And then the plot flashes on-screen where the evil akuma--" the word was horribly pronounced-- "villain takes over the lake and is like 'nye heh heh heh!'- you play that role- and then the dramatic theme song starts like bum bum BUUMMMM do DOOO and then I come on with my gorgeous emo hair and turn into a wolf and save the day!!"


Boom. Directed by Fishbeard. Visuals by Fishbeard. Acoustics from the depths of hell, a.k.a. Fishbeard's fishy mouth. She attempted a flip of her neck stubble before turning back to the Whale. "And that's the intro! Baka." God, someone get her to stop saying that word already.

At her unfortunate companion's prompting, the young frogfish stared off at the floating... fishy... glowy... things. She'd never seen one of those before. "Hmmmmm....." she paddled a little closer to look at them with her manga-y purple eyes. "NO. TOO FLASHY. I'M the only one allowed to look pretty." (Un)fortunately, she didn't have any instinct to warn her not to get close, but thankfully she already was out of pure spite.

Her eyes flicked back to Whale-- or she would've, if she had the ability to move them. Instead Wolf attempted a dramatic head jerk to little effect. "Why you ask, HM? Or should we get on with the story already, kyu?"

@Whale

RE: [Hatching] Breath - Whale - Jan 18 2021

Wolf Splishy Splashy Fishbeard certainly had a very long name, and Whale wondered if she should pick a long, dramatic alias too. It would seem to fit with the theme of this whole script, anyway. She was going to be the villain of this story, so obviously her title had to be the opposite of the pro-tag-on-ist's! "I am... Whale Moan Groan Wartface, Evil Akuma Villain, Monster of the Haunted Depths!" she decided. Then she swung around, attempting to gaze into the distance as dramatically as Wolf had. Unfortunately, she was quite a bit bigger, so the movement was quite a bit slower and made massive waves beneath the water's surface with all its momentum.

Now she'd... get on with the story and take over the lake, she supposed. "Nyeh heh heh!" she cried, turning toward the Lightstings. "What pretty rainbow creatures are these, ruining the spookiness of my domain?" Whale attempted to... gently assault the creatures, nudging their heads with her fins and nose to push them away. "Sorry," she muttered under her breath. Hopefully they were having fun too.

@Wolf (tagging GM to see what the Lightsting response is)

RE: [Hatching] Breath - Game Master Dark - Jan 18 2021

The Lightstings bobbed downward at the touch, pushed against their will. It was unclear how exactly they felt about this, but the flashing lights running up and down their bodies began to do so far faster: blips and zipping ripples of light, instead of the gentle pulsing of before.

@Wolf