^{ooc: takes place before The Ember Emerges.}
It woke, startled that it had even fallen asleep. Not tired. It sat up easily enough, with no groggy pull to its healthy muscles. No, not tired. Bored.

It focused its ears on the constant hum of the generator in the distance, and its skin on the warmth from the Spire at its side. It wondered how it'd managed to fall asleep at all, with so much noise in Polaris all the time.

Enough thinking. Start doing. Practice.

Aim for perfection. Nothing less would be good enough.

It would have to be perfect, if its plans were to unfurl without incident.

And so, it called upon the power of its golden stone...

...and new magic spiraled out of its core, like black smoke rolling off of the thing's fur. For a moment, it wondered passively if it'd lit itself on fire somehow.

No physical pain meant that worry was false, but not unfounded. It regarded the thick smoke- which did nothing to tickle its lungs, surprisingly- with fascination. What a neat new power!

The smoke eventually began to dissipate, much to its mild disappointment- but still avid curiosity. Could it will the smoke to come back on purpose..?

Oh, yes, and even more so. The smoke billowed from its fur like some freakish eruption. It threw its head back in a manic cackle, jaws gaping wide with lips peeled back and fangs showing in their glistening danger. It certainly did seem the picture of an evil mastermind.

Ohhhh, mastermind. Mastery, hmm?

It could master much more than this cheap trick.

Time to focus on other tasks.

This smoke certainly did little to help the state of its fur. It would spare a moment to groom it all away. Enough of fancy parlor tricks for now.

The scuffle, familiar, of prey stuff nearby, distracted it from its task.

Food was a worthy distraction. Certainly worthy, as this food was a fat cave rat.

Perfectly suited for such a hunger.

It dropped into a well practiced slouched and crept closer to the thing. It paid the hybrid no mind at all, distracted by seeds that it had laid out for just such a purpose. Long ago had the hybrid mastermind figured out trapping.

After all, it'd needed so many bodies for autopsy, back when it was still just a young and ignorant thing. Wasting energy on actively hunting these small morsels down just wasn't suited for mind like its own.

And so, this would, of course, be an easy catch.

It sprang into the air much like a fox, yet its muscled tail helping to propel it forward with speed impossible for such a creature...

...and for a second, it felt its jaws brushing coarse, unsavory fur... just before clamping down on air. Immediate fury flared through the hybrid at its miss and without a second motion, it snapped itself to the side in a blind lashing of angry teeth and claws.

But the rat was gone.

A few moments passed before the hybrid once again sat calmly and tore its eyes away from where the rat had disappeared into the walls of the cave. Stupid thing probably would've tasted like dirt anyway. Perhaps it could find better food further from the spire's influence.

It wandered away from its homestead, following the Crystal River downstream.

Fish swam in the river. Fish were vaguely better tasting than rats. It eyed one as it swam particularly close to shore. Maybe...

The hybrid lashed a paw out with expert speed and timing, flinging the river fish out of the water and onto dry stone. The fish flailed and flipped itself in every direction and for a moment, the hybrid had to wiggle and wobble its own stance to try and get a new hold on its prey.

In the end, however, the strange hybrid happily tore into its meal, filling its belly at last with fishy goodness.

With fish still cool and fresh in its belly and on its palette, the hybrid was once more ready to set about training. Well, almost. First, a nice, ambling pace back to the spire. There, the hybrid would have the most energy to work with, and the best chances of success, surely.

As its claws tapped against the familiar crystalline floor surrounding the spire once more, the hybrid dropped to its side and sighed peacefully. Some time to digest, perhaps.

Pale eyes opened out onto the world, observing Polaris in its near entirely from its place of rest. Beyond the small corner it called home, other gembounds could be seen scurrying about, both lesser and greater in nature, going about their lives unconcerned.

Idiots.

A sinister grin crept onto the hybrid's face, revealing those savagely sharp and angled teeth in neat, pearly rows. Soon.

An hour or so passed before the hybrid once again stood, stretched and shook off its moment of rest. Time to get back to work.

That stone on its back hummed to life with brilliant yellow light once more...

...and in the hybrid's guts, something new began to form. Something dangerous, alive and potent.

Its lips peeled back in a cackling grin, eyes still lit by the magic in brilliant gold to match its burning stone.

It finally begins.

Roll Results Explained;

1 - He just vomits from the effort.
2-4 - Nothing happens and he feels icky.
5 - It propagates, but next roll is to avoid self-infection.
6-10 - It propagates but is a weaker strain, easier to fight off.
11-15 - It propagates and is a healthy strain, but roll to avoid self-infection.
16 - 19 - It propagates, is healthy, no risk of self-infection.
20 - It propagates in a dormant state, no risk of self-infection. Activates upon contact with blood, as a healthy virus.

(Whoops, got that rabies on yourself, Error, good job.)

The hybrid was too busy rejoicing in its accomplishment to notice...

...and as it continued to soak and bask in its ego for the rest of the day, the virus in its belly crept beyond its station, into the blood of its host...

...the infectious was too infected.

In the days to come, the hybrid would begin to realize its mistake... but perhaps, too late.

(( Exit Error, End Thread ))