I've been waiting two months for this. And you don't know it yet, but so have you.

And so has this thing! These things? It's not really clear, as they have yet to form a collective conscience. They haven't even broken out of their big fat (small, easily missable, jet black against dark soil) dino egg. There's only one right now, with a wad of hyphae growing in a tangled mess attached to its foot. Man, if chrysalises could feel pregnant, this one would probably believe itself to be in the movie Alien (1979). But, well, isn't that fitting? We're literally on a moon—not even The Moon!

A claw scrapes at the encasing darkness. One bold talon against the darkness of the world, unrelenting. Unyielding to the idea that this darkness is all that exists for endless miles. There is great resistance from the pitch, but still, the determined fingernail keeps scratching and clawing, and then—kicking! Until at last a hole is punctured through the stormy clouds of this jet black egg, letting a singular stream of light pour in.

A singular body with a web of dark wire beneath its food forces its way through, spilling out from the crack. Lubricated entirely by amniotic goop. The first thing that the mass of dinosaur and black webbing understand is that it—they are hungry.

It was here. Of course it was, they covered all of Eridanus now with their mycelia and all parts of the cave were under their careful watch. But they were particularly observent of the three chrysalis that had grown - some quite large. But this small one, by far the smallest of the three, was the first to hatch.

And...well, they weren't quite sure what to make of it. They'd had little sense of what was growing within the crystal, only aware of its growth from the fungal cords wrapped loosely around it. But now it was emerging from the soil, emerging from stone, and the Consul rushed to show the proud parent what their kid looked like. They could see...well, nothing of them. No, no that was not true. The rat's eyes focused on the foot, where they could see strands like their own wrapped tightly around.

What that meant was not clear to them now.

"Hello," the rat echoed their thoughts. "You are awake. We are The Chorus, and you come from Us. How are you feeling?" They wanted to probe, to discover how this thing would function. What they would do with it once they figured out its capabilities.

@Einherjar

Hunger makes some people act very irrational. A hungry kitten is downright stupid, tunnel-visioned on its singular goal of consuming all the chicken and kibble in your house. This creature (or creatures) was no kitten, and hunger couldn't make it any dumber than it already was.

Like any good fungus, the Einherjar were built to survive.

Strange, funny noises appeared in some kind of pattern that the dino end of the creature could catch and follow. This first caused it to freeze in a flicker of fear, before the hunger overwhelmed it. Eyes turned toward the speaker, with all the attention a cat gives a catnip-filled mouse toy.

"AAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The dinosaur's jaws parted at a comically wide angle as its little feets began to churn soil to get to the Consul as quickly as possible. There wasn't much perceptible thought to it. The skrungus only had the one (rapidly malnourishing) body so far, and that body was only about an inch tall and 3 seconds old. Literally a single neuron firing by itself, comparatively.

The ferocious display would not impress (in the traditional sense). The little creature would easily trip and fall over its own wiring several times in its unwavering determination to reach the Consul's open flesh. With no arms to pick itself up, it would spend several moments trying to right itself before charging again, and then falling again. Screaming all the while. If it ever did make it to the Consul's body, the teeth would waste no time attempting to find purchase. This, too, was likely to fail, as even if the Consul graciously remained in one place, the teensy dinosaur jaws would not find the conviction to break skin.

Welcome to parenthood, Chorus.

@The Chorus