It was almost time. The chrysalis was finally starting to wobble in place, and the faint crackling was getting louder. Louder than it'd been for the past hour, anyways. Bit by bit, the hatchling had been chipping away for a little under fifty minutes, barely pressing against the walls of his shell and hardly making any real progress at all. The question was becoming less about when the young gembound would emerge, and more about whether he even would at all. But the chrysalis wouldn't hold for much longer.

After pushing, and pushing back at a painfully slow rate, the first crack finally split up the side of the shell. Within just a few seconds of the initial break, it branched out across the chrysalis until it could no longer keep itself together, and out tumbling came a chunky ball of brown fuzz.

Large gem shards scattered the ground around him. The young hatchling laid sprawled on his back, blinking at the ceiling without a single thought in his head. Both hind legs were still propped up in his shattered cocoon... he couldn't seem to be bothered to move. Save for the lazy paw tossed over his belly, giving it a good scratch.

Silo had half a mind to roll out onto the floor, to take a glance around at his brand new home. The clear rush of running water trickled at his ears as they twitched toward the source. The curious scent of what must've been wet rock was enough to get his nose wiggling at the end of his muzzle. His head thumped back into the dirt with a biiiiiiig stretch, kicking at the back of the shell that remained—he was about ready to finally roll over and pull himself up...

But ohhh, it's just so comfy... This little spot in the ground he'd woken up into made for such an easy bed—much more spacious than his last spot, for sure. The cool air caused his fur to puff, and the waterfall seemed to to echo off the walls like it was singing a lullaby just for him! Why, he couldn't pass up an offer like that. It was just so easy to let his eyes flutter shut, to let his arms weigh heavy as the ground below swallowed him whole... Soon enough, the room had once again faded to black.

Silo let out a sleepy sigh through his nose.

Somewhere on the shore of the nearby lagoon which the waterfall crashed into, another Gembound prepared to hatch.

This chrysalis was smaller, but no less as brilliantly colorful as the other's; spectacularly rainbow against the clear waters and white ice of the surrounding cave, but perhaps concealed slightly from view by the spray of the waterfall.

Or perhaps the newly hatched bear was too busy staring lazily up at the sky and contemplating whether or not he should go back to sleep to notice it.

Anyway—the chrysalis' surroundings mattered little to the Gembound sleeping inside, tucked up neatly against the constrictive confines of their stone. They were oversized for the chrysalis by now, just about ready to hatch... and as they stretched sleepily and turned around inside their little eggshell, their claws scraped against the inside of the ammolite, pressing just a little too far and a little too hard for the chrysalis to handle.

Crrack. A distinct fracture bolted over the outside of the shell.

And that sound—that distinct little noise, the one that any Gembound familiar with a chrysalis would recognize—woke the chrysalis' sleeping child.

A pause. The waterfall crashed down outside.

Scrape scrape scrape scrape scrape. Another distinct sound beneath the water's lullaby; like that of a little panda, perhaps, scratching at the inside of their chrysalis in an attempt to break free.

@Silo

It was just too easy. It didn't matter that the lower half of his body was still rested comfortably (for him, anyways) inside his chrysalis, or that there was a notable chill that wasn't there before when he was safe inside his shell. It swept right over him. Yet there was one sound, faint and familiar, that managed to stand out above the rest; one sound, through the rushing water and the drip, drip, dripping of the quiet creeks running down along the side of the wall, and the way they seemed to whistle back to him...

...Through his heavy sighs and the dry clicking of his tongue against the roof of his mouth......

Scrape, scrape, scrape, scrape...

Silo's ear twitched some more, both turning now toward the source of the scratching. His head rolled back some, not quite shuffling from his spot just yet. Perhaps he could get away with simply ignoring it. Roll over onto his side, turn his back to the noise... just for a few more minutes.

Scrape, scrape, scrape...

...

Silo's eyes fluttered open.

Ah.

Well, it was nice while it lasted.

A few more Gem shards decorated the ground as the hatchling wasted two lazy attempts at rolling onto his stomach. He firmly plopped back onto the dirt on his third try and eventually brought himself to a sit. Silo scanned the area, locking rather quickly on another chrysalis, not too terribly far from his.

Scrape, scrape...

...The young Gembound cocked his head, studying each of the gleaming colours, vibrantly picking up fractions of light trickling down along the edges. He blinked, as if he were debating something deep, deep in that empty head of his.

Scrape...

Ohhh... Alright. He couldn't keep his curiosity any longer; there was no way he could nap under these conditions. Or... well, he could. But he wouldn't like it. Mostly. One by one, each foot pushed up off of the ground and he sluggishly trailed over to his fellow, fresh cave-mate.

Silo planted himself into the dirt right beside the glistening shell. He couldn't quite put his claw on it; what about this rock that lured him to break it open... But something was most certainly inside. Beckoning him. A gift, maybe. For him! A gift, just like that little patch of dirt, with a gentle dip built so perfect for quiet naps. It wasn't too low, but it wasn't too flat, either. The dirt was cool and compact... It felt like forever since he'd left that ditch. Silo started to turn his head back toward his shell...

...The curious scraping called his attention back. Right. Yes. This.

Silo raised two paws up, falling forward onto the chrysalis...

His jaw opened wide...

And he chomped down hard on the outside of the shell.

They were an industrious little thing, full of energy and fervor and an instinct to see the world and go, go, go! Already, in the time it took for the bear to finally overcome the urge to cozy himself up in the shards of his chrysalis and actually lumber over, they had managed to make several dozen new cracks in the gemstone.

Still, they were very little. And as sharp as those claws were, sharpness did nothing against solid rock. So the sound went—scrape scrape scrape, scrape scrape scrape.

They had no idea of the solid few pounds of bear cub that was currently wandering over, drawn by the sound. Slow. Methodical.

Apparently inclined to solve his problems by biting them.

The chrysalis’ structural integrity was already quite low, the many cracks spiderwebbing over it, weaving through the stone and slowly breaking it apart piece by piece. But where the red panda’s efforts failed, the grizzly’s efforts provided—and as he chomped down onto the stone, it went crunch.

The chrysalis didn’t split apart so much as it shattered; one piece too many finally falling out of place, and the whole thing all but crumbled around the hatchling it once held. The litte panda themselves, having pushed themselves quite heavily against one wall in their efforts to break it, went tumbling out; rolling on the slick, icy stone like a little orange which had fallen from a tree.

They tumbled end over end once—on the second go, managed to grabby their claws into the ice, ending their momentum and leaving them fairly face down on the stone.

But there is more than just icy rock and the waterfall behind them in their area; and let us never deny the power of a child’s curiosity.

They rolled over again, onto a stomach. Something vaguely instinctive about them told them there was a creature nearby—that something, someone had broken them out of their chrysalis.

And that creature was. Very round. And fluffy. And brown.

That, indeed, was a fellow creature.

They pulled themselves just a little bit upright, slowly but surely, ending up iin a sitting position with their front paws set between their back legs.

They looked at him. Big, wide, iridescent eyes took him in, second by second.

They raised their paw, just a little bit.

They gave him a little wave.

@Silo

Pfft, bleh!

Silo spat up the shattered shell, letting the smaller pieces fall from his mouth. A rather long tongue dangled from his muzzle, flicking as he wiped away the last of the little bits that refused to fall. The young grizzly sighed heavily though his nostrils.

A little ball of black and orange came tumbling out, passing one eye and then the other about as quick as Silo's attention had left him. As soon as the figure had fallen out of sight, he'd already refocused onto something new, and clearly, much more interesting. A puff of hot breath fogged the air. His tongue flicked out, slapping against his front teeth as his once again hung low from his mouth.

He took a deep breath in,

and out again, hot air forming a wide cloud before his eyes. Silo snorted. Cool. He sat straight up and sucked in another sharp breath of the frosty cave air.

...He paused. Nothing. He didn't let go. His chest puffed out, amplified by the thick fur standing up along his back and around his neck. His ears twitched. This time, not just at the sound of the falls splashing into the pools below, or the drip-drop-drip of the stray creaks rippling farther from the main body, though it was certainly luring him in, the longer he listened.

No, this time it was something entirely new. Yet familiar. In a way.

Underneath the harsh echoes; between the water and the chipping of the chrysalis beside him, and the shuffling of his fur with every move he made, Silo picked up a breath that was not his own. Faint, certainly. And shorter. Smaller. But a breath.

Slowly, he turned his entire body, scooting one limb after the other until he was facing the strange new creature ahead. He blinked.

His tongue was still draped over his front teeth, hanging from his muzzle with his jaw wide open.

Finally, he sighed. A hot cloud formed.

They learn more about the other creature with every moment that passes.

For example, he is still big. And round. And brown. That, moment by moment, does not seem to change. He is big, and round, and bigger than them, and that is an interesting thought by virture of it being new and interesting and novel.

The novelty of the other's existence, however, wears off quick. And there the newborn's mind turns to other things; notably, his breath. It is loud, louder than theirs. It makes his chest rise and it makes his chest fall and they can see it. He breathes out... something. Cloudy. Neat. Neat little cloud.

The novelty of this gets them to move, at least. One step at a time on the cold ice beneath, deliberate, slow, careful not to slip. One step, then another, then another, and suddenly they're right in front of him and they notice something else.

He is... he is... warm. They notice the warmth of him even from here, and they might have orange-tinted soft fluffy fur but it's nothing compared to the sheer heat that the other Gembound contains.

In this moment, they make an executive decision: cold, uncomfortable. Warm, good. The other Gembound is warm. Thus...

They roll off their feet, slow, deliberate, until they're nestled into the warmth of the other's soft fur. Wide, guileless eyes look up at him from their half-toppled position against his chest; slowly, they blink.

Huff. An attempt to breathe the same hot air cloud that he's doing, and perhaps, something else...?

@Silo