A small chrysalis, nothing special. Maybe a little under a foot tall, wide enough to give some wiggle room to whatever was inside. Speckled green, with a rough, rocky textured outer. The inside was visible through the thin shell, a dark mass could be seen. Inside, a small creature struggled. It did not know what it was, or where it was, it simply was being driven by instinct. Instincts that said

"get out".

Weak, young muscles strained against the stone that is the chrysalis, claws digging small ridges into the smooth inwards surface. Weak, but powerful legs thrust at the jadeite cocoon, and… Its body tumbled out, on the curve of the tunnel, down the short slope and onto its back. Its fur was slick and its chest heaved as it stared, wide-eyed, at the ceiling.

It stumbled into a sitting position, its tail stretching out behind it uncomfortably. The fawn gray creature panted, its small form trembling. It felt its heartbeat in its head, and a small, uncomfortable whine escaped its throat.

"Hello?"

It did not know where it was. It did not know what it was. It sat there, on the floor, staring out at the dry, dark, nothingness in front of it. Not nothingness, really, there were sounds and things all around, but it was nothing. Nothing to comfort it. It felt, not that it knew it, alone. Lonely. It called out, hopeful, once more.

"Hello?"

"Speaking"

"Thoughts"

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Reishi moves languidly through the passage, taking pause to stare up at the pillars towering over them. These caves were so... Strange. The little cat had no other word to use for it. Every section so different from the next, it would be too much for the little thing if it weren't so adaptable. Of course, they're learning that one has to be to stay alive here.

As they keep staring up, there's a sound that takes their attention. It sounds like talking, giving them pause for a different reason. Their ears turn in the direction of the sound when it happens a second time. Either someone is playing tricks on them, or there's someone nearby. Taking time to turn around, the mushroom-cat makes their way to the general area the sound came from.

It takes some time to spot the little thing, freshly hatched, but Reishi does. The cat might be a singular cycle old, but this one is brand new! They've never seen a fresh hatchling in person before - aside from themselves.

"Hello!" They say, tail raised to the sky.

@Arbor

Arbor’s head turned slowly, their slight agape mouth letting out a small squeak. It sounded happy— Maybe a little surprised. It was another… Another something, that was saying the same word that it had said. Hello, a simple word. It rose slowly into a more alert-seeming sit, its ears perked forwards.

“Hi! Hi you!”

It chirped, smiling softly to the four legged thing. It looked down. It did not look like the other thing. Its arms were short and stubby, and orange-yellow. It had big feet and big thighs. It was not like the other thing at all. Why not?

“You…”

It paused. It rose slowly onto its hind legs, crouching down to press its paws against the floor and hopping yet crawling awkwardly towards the other animal.

“Hi.”

"Speaking"

"Thoughts"

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Reishi watched as the other creature noticed her, smiling when it returned the friendly greeting. Nice! It's always good to meet another friendly face. As the thing figures out how to move about, Reishi waits. There's nothing they can really do to help aside from letting the strange little creature figure it out on its own.

"Me! My name is Reishi, what's yours?" Perhaps the little thing hadn't chose a name yet?

Reishi'd never seen a wallaby before! Well, she'd never seen a lot of animals before. (She remembers an opossum and a wolf. That's about it.)

@Arbor

“Ehm?”

The wallaby grunted, sitting back on its hind legs once more. A name? What was that? It felt it knew, as if the meaning was itching at the back of its head, but it stared at the four-legged thing with a confused expression.

“Reishi!”

It said instead, brushing away the question. It repeated the weird word the other had. What was a ‘Reishi’. Why was the other creature a ‘Reishi’? It repeated the word in its head as it stared at the mushroom cat.

“Name?”

"Speaking"

"Thoughts"

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Reishi's tail flicks side to side calmly as they wait for the new-life to test out its words. Their grin widens as the little one gets their name correct. Yes, Reishi! It feels good that their name is easily pronounced for this one. Though they're sure they could think of something else if it wasn't.

"A name, like what you want to be called? Mine is Reishi, but you know that now." She pauses for a moment, considering. There isn't many other gembound they can use as an example.

"Just think about it! I'm sure the right name will come to you soon."

@Arbor

Arbor clicked its tongue against the roof of its mouth in acknowledgement, tilting its head. It decided to do the best thing it could think of, stringing together words and sounds that it could make with its mouth.

“Err…Arr. Ooo.. Braaa…. Arbaa….”

It wasn’t necessarily getting anywhere, but making shapes with its mouth was fun. It made eye contact with the cat, standing upright once more, its legs were much more steady now.

“Help?”

Help was another word it knew. It did not know why it was born knowing such things, but it was a word that it knew, just as it knew ‘hello’.

"Speaking"

"Thoughts"

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Reishi waits as the child tries to pronounce something, a word Reishi themselves does not know. Maybe his name? in that case, when Arbor asks for help, Reishi does not know how.

"Just keep trying! You'll get it eventually."

There is nothing Reishi can do if this little one already knows his name. Unfortunately, Reishi can't read minds.

@Arbor

Arbor sucked in a sharp breath, staring at the cat. It struggled mentally, putting words together to see where they fit. It let out a long exhale before squeaking out what it had decided was its name.

“Arbor.”

It was pleasant sounding enough- And it felt right. It was short and sweet, and included many ‘rrrrr’ sounds, which the wallaby liked the sound of. The way it vibrated in its mouth as it spoke.

“Reishi…”

It added to its sentence, crouching down and flexing its paws on the stone, feeling the smoothness of the cave while doing its best to maintain eye contact. It was all over the place- Life was confusing. Arbor would have liked to simply crawl back into its chrysalis.

“Where?”

"Speaking"

"Thoughts"

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"There you go! Arbor is a good name!"

The poor little thing looks confused, and Reishi can definitely understand that! They were quite confused at first - hatching on top of one of the tallest trees in Lacerta. It took hours to get down, Reishi didn't have the full grasp of climbing at first. They quickly found out their frill can let them float down, thankfully.

"This is um." Reishi has to think about it. They don't know all of the names quite yet. Tunnel I. We're close to the forest!"

They remember now! Eridanus is close by. It has a lot of trees! Not as tall as Lacerta, though. Not as dangerous either.

@Arbor