YIN could feel the water before she could hear it. She felt the rush of the river all around her, and when she opened her eyes, it was like she was immersed in it. There was blue everywhere, and she was floating in some kind of liquid. That had to be water right? She floated in the blue water for what felt like ages, content to stay there forever, suspended, seemingly, in time… But then suddenly she couldn’t breathe. She sucked in a breath and – choked! She tried to breathe again before she realized that the water – no, it was too thick to be water – was not breathable!

YANG flicked his duel-colored eyes about, and swam clumsily forward, until his nose bumped something hard. Wait a minute… This wasn’t free-flowing liquid! There was something blocking him in this un-breathable prison! Something faceted and too blue! He pressed his front paws against it – hard – and suddenly it shattered! He tasted his first breath of air – right before slamming into the bank of a river. He scrambled back to his paws quickly, looking around, breathing hard and fast, as if afraid he would suddenly be unable to breathe again. But whatever had been trapping him was gone now. Eventually, his heart rate slowed…

YIN looked down at the shattered remains of her chrysalis. The light blue color twinkled in the lights of the cave. She shivered in the cold as snowflakes fell from seemingly nowhere…

Words: 243

Polaris had become her favorite spot as of late, hadn't it? Again she found herself trailing along the edges of the crystal river. The hyena woman was beginning to wonder if she should find a place to call her own, like Tennessee seemed to. After seeing his place, she had a strange and small tug to maybe... settle down? But the idea also disgusted her. A couple weeks ago, she would have laughed at the idea of doing anything but wandering. A small sound. Lux froze, her eyes moving further down the river and snapping her out of her own thoughts. Ahead of her, there was a small cub, some kind of cat? What was it with the river, anyway? It seemed like it just spat out kids left and right. "Hey, kid." Lux said, her voice lowering to a quieter tone as she approached. Her eyes scanned the crystal that they'd burst out of for a brief moment before coming to a stop a few feet away, not wanting to startle the poor thing. "It's awfully cold out here. You should find some shelter."

@Taiji

YIN’s head turned sharply to follow the sudden sound of someone coming near her. She sank to her haunches immediately, not understanding a word the hyena was saying. She was but just born, and had no knowledge of language yet – at least not spoken language. Her tail flicked from side to side, and her fur stood on edge, instinctively trying to make herself look bigger to scare off the other Gembound. She was breathing quickly – too quickly. And – what? She could feel a thrumming in her stomach. It was her gem expelling Magic, but she didn’t know that. And though she couldn’t see it, her left eye, blue as sapphire, was glowing as her connection to her element clicked.

Suddenly, she felt like she’d just taken a long drink of water, and her back paw was wet. Distracted, she shook it to get the water off and turned to look behind her. The water in the river had risen and it was lapping at her back paws. And then… it stopped. The water level went back down and continued to flow normally again. She stared at the flowing river in fascination, confused. What had just… happened?

@Lux
Words: 196

Okay, so, it didn't seem like the attempt at coaxing the young cub worked. Lux tried to stretch back to the first days of her emergence, but it was hard to even remember the details. She'd romped around with another gembound who had hatched very close to her, a reptile of some sort. But it had been a simple time, non-verbal. She could tell that instead, the kid seemed startled. Her mind quickly went back to the last river-baby that she'd found, and how she'd been so scared as well. Letting out a huff, Lux moved to lower herself onto the ground, ignoring the slight wetness that clung to her fur as she did so. Why was she even bothering with this again? She wasn't sure. Maybe she was more drawn to young ones than she'd ever imagined. They were so fragile, cold-looking... scared. Lux made a humming sound in her throat, gentle, hoping to maybe coax the baby closer to her. Get them to trust her.

@Taiji

YIN turned her head back to look at the bigger Gembound, but her fear was slowly leaving her. The other hadn’t made a move towards her, and wasn’t showing any signs of anger or bad intentions… She took a few deep breaths and then forced her fur to lie flat and her tail to stop twitching. Then, very slowly, she came forward, left ear twitching as she heard and felt the slosh of water at her paws, and crept towards the brown Gembound. Her neck stretched out, still low to the ground, as she gave the hyena a tentative sniff. She wasn’t quite afraid anymore, but still cautious.

YANG shoved into her mind a little, insisting that her limbs move faster. He lifted up a bit, giving a gruff-sounding Hello by making a sound in the back of his throat. Still, YIN was there, keeping him from going too far too fast. She was, it seemed, slow to warm up to people.

@Lux -- sorry these posts suck I am tired. Also, I don't wanna ruin Taiji's character by forcing long posts when they're not coming on their own.
Words: 162

The coaxing of the young cub seemed to be working. Slowly, but working all the same. A small smile came onto the hyena's mouth as she continued to make the gentle humming noise, lowering her head down too and placing it on her paws that were stretched out before her. If she could just get the little tiger to trust her, she could at least get them away from the river. The waters could be dangerous for young ones that fell in, and plenty of bigger, nastier creatures could come through around the area, too. Maybe she was just being paranoid -- Lux wasn't even sure why she cared, honestly. But she almost felt like finding this young child meant that she had to at least try and help them keep safe. If only for the evening. Find them a place to sleep, rest and grow. Depending on if they could hear to trust her.

@Taiji

YIN was slowly getting it through her mind that this creature could be trusted. YANG impatiently grumbled to himself in the back of her head, but she pushed him down. She knew he only wanted to help, but he wasn’t doing a very good job. Too impatient for that, she supposed. Finally, all four of her paws were on dry, flat ground, and she shook her back ones, as cats do, to get rid of excess water. She crawled towards the bigger Gembound, until she was a foot away, and meowed curiously, blinking up at her. She wondered what would happen next.

@Lux