There were quite a few voices in Eridanus, today, and it was not the spinners or the songbirds that frequented its canopy. Since the Kingdom had jumped ship, Azizos hadn't seen or heard many Gembound about except for his own brother and Attikias. Sure, there'd been a brief stint with fermented fruits, but that was besides the point.

The kirin poked his head into the crevasse first, satellite-dish ears circling once as he scanned the room. Once he measured that there was only a small hairless thing and another creature adopting a bipedal stance, Azizos marched right past them and towards the chrysalis. He was quieter than the other two as he approached, marveling at its multifaceted surface and the sheer mass of being within.

Quietly, he stared, extending his magical reach and feeling for any response.

But, alas - nothing. Not a single bit of his own magicka used.

Inhaling deeply and exhaling almost twice so, Azizos took a few more moments to level a stare at the chrysalis and the sharp silhouette of whatever lied within. Refocusing and harnessing once again, the kirin sought and meandered, pale eyes flickering up and down the stone.

Indeed, there was magic, life; it was not strong yet, but it was growing. There was the wispy aftertaste of something vengeful, but as soon as Azizos might have felt it, it was gone.

Deli

Deli continued sketching out the shape of the gemstone while the aardvark thing came forward, eyes bright and wide, smile never faltering. ”Ah!! That’s too bad!” They didn’t really look too put out though - why should they? They hadn’t needed special paints for art before, they didn’t need them now.

When the kid asked about seeing their art, though, Deli paused and puffed up. It wasn’t looking like much, yet, just the basic form of the chrysalis before them and the cave it sat in, but they’d be filling that all in soon. ”Yeah! Go ahead! Look” They paused. ”But don’t touch!” they barked, suddenly, the thread of a threat in their tone and in the loss of the sparkle in their eye. A moment later, however, it passed and they resumed their work. ”People call me Delirious but I like Deli! I like friends! Don’t have many, but if you’re nice to me I’ll be nice to you!” They snickered and for a second, that statement’s honestly could easily be thrown into question. ”But be mean to me and I won’t like it!”

Somebody else was here, too. Some other white thing that was inspecting the chrysalis before them. Deli paused again and looked up at the kirin and flashed a wide grin. ”Heya! Yo! What are you doin? Checking it out? What’s up with it?”

---

@Erzu

When the frugal Barasingha arrived in the place that was driving a lot of attention, it sounded like something out here was interesting and he wanted to know what it was. Having been exploring for some time, Aran had never seen anything like the creature that was drawing a lot of attention. Of course, it wasn't hatched. The thing was inside of a crystal, much like what everyone looked like before they arrived in this world.

There was a small collection of creatures messing with it, and the now adult Barasingha couldn't help but become curious and approach. One of the creatures looked slightly familiar, but he didn't understand why. Aran couldn't remember meeting any odd canines on two legs before. But the look of it, did seem like they'd met before. Strutting in on his long legs, Aran peered at the being inside the crystal.

"Do you guys know what it is?" He questioned.

A deer hopped into the fray, wondering what it was. Erzu answered quickly. "No,we don't know what it is. But what we do know that a child is going to hatch from it soon. I don't know what kind of creature the child is, but it looks spiky, with red eyes. It can't hear anything, and it seems it can't see well." She paused for a moment, then spoke again. "I'm going to make a burrow next to it. I want to be here when it hatches. It looks cool." Erzu got to work and began to dig underneath the dirt. Erzu could dig burrows in an amazingly short time. Well, she was an arrdvark. Aardvarks were notorious for digging burrows and tunnels underground. That was their home that sheltered them from the dangers of the surface. As she dug, she kept an eye on the diamond chrysalis. It was ominous, but cool at the same time. She turned to the white deer-lion hybrid. She spoke with interest. "Using magic on it is useless. It just came here, so you won't find much about it."

@Deli, @Azizos, @Aran

Azizos watched the chrysalis rather intently, attention drawn away only by a grating, loud voice - asking what he'd seen in it. "I'm not - entirely sure," he began, chewing his cud, "it's too new, too recent to glean anything of value, from it. I can only sense life and a sense of - anger. Revenge-seeking?"

Pale eyes blinked tiredly at the other Gembound crowding this little alcove, and he tilted his head down to the aardvark: "I suppose one wouldn't be able to hear or see through solid rock." Who knew it that was meant to be a blunt, dry statement or not. "It's worth an attempt, I think," the lion-stag hummed, already turning to leave.

"Be careful with your burrowing," Azizos hummed, "what little I felt wasn't good. I'll - keep an eye on this, but all we can do is wait." With that (and possibly no further interruptions,) the kirin stepped out.

;exit unless stopped!

Deli

When everyone just sort of ignored them, Deli shrugged and returned to their art, sketching rough lines and beginning to splash on bits of color here and there. They tuned out what everyone else was doing - they didn't know how much time they had to finish the painting, when the crystal was going to hatch. So they better hurry it up!

*exit

---