As the winds ripped and whirled throughout Monoceros, whistling their blood-curdling songs, few would have known of the tiny newcomer who stirred hidden away from the perilous whirlwinds and cutting storm. The ground plunged away from all the wind into the Gorge and hidden in an alcove of rock there was a mass of deep, midnight blue stone. Rivulets of gold reflected what little light there was in this world, turning the already midnight stone into a nebulous starry sky.

But the peaceful stone hidden away from all the tearing wind wasn't to last.

A tiny creak was rendered inaudible by the howling winds and a single crack appeared. Slowly it spread out into a spiderweb over the dark blue stone. And then, without a pause, it shattered. The stone crumbled into a thousand shards and in the middle of it all, a tiny white form. Fur still fuzzy and belly still fat, the creature's tiny head poked out over the ruins of its chrysalis, only to cringe visibly as its first sensation was the sound of a thousand howling winds.

A thin stripe of blue running from its pink nose to its forehead gleamed, the only remnant it kept of its former home.

@Kimen

Elsewhere, but not far, an identical alcove hosted a different sort of rock. This gem seemed almost metallic, beaming with a range of colours at all angles. The quartz had a rough exterior with spikes that looked to be able to impale creatures with even the toughest of skins.

A single flaw in the almost perfect rock was that a fault ran straight through its centre, giving it the appearance of a shell. As time passed, the fault seemed to become deeper and deeper until eventually the 'shell' cracked.

Out of the empty quartz climbed a small fluffy cub, which had walked not even five steps before falling flat on its chest. The panda was not lazy, nor was it tired, it seemed to be struggling. The feeble creature looked to its right to find a gem embedded into its shoulder bone, the exact same shape, colours and make as the gem that it had just climbed out of. It seemed that the gem had crippled him and he could not move on all four paws, at least, not with ease.

It was cold here. Dry. Somehow, the air felt very wrong to the little creature as it raised itself higher so that it could see through eyes that gleamed pale red, a direct contrast to the blue stone in between them. The alcove her wrecked chrysalis lay in largely restricted her sight and she wasn't quite sure what lay beyond those walls.

She wasn't wise enough to be afraid of it though, and there was a sound like falling pebbles as a landslide of lapis shards tumbled off her hidden body. Revelation; small, short and dumpy, she moved out of the alcove with a shaky wiggling waddle, losing her balance occasionally as she took an overzealous step. Out there, the wind was even louder, a sound that she could only assume were monsters somewhere in the unknown. Nervous little twitch, and she spun around.

Suddenly she could see that she wasn't alone anymore. Something had just fallen. Not far away. Funny thing. Funny. She forgot about the wind and let out a tiny giggle as she watched them, and resumed a waddling run that involved throwing her entire body forward and almost falling over her incredibly short legs, her muscular tail flicking along behind her.

They weren't far away, but she was young and unsteady. It seemed like an age before she plopped down onto her belly in front of the stranger, limbs splayed in every direction.

@Kimen

Some strange thing had just lain down straight in front of him, he knew not what to think. It didn't seem threatening, no, it was too playful for that. It held a large smile which slightly annoyed him, given his more than difficult situation. The smile seemed mocking. Accidentally, he let out a sigh with a puff from his nose and revealed his silent aggravation and distaste for his situation.

This thing certainly confused him. It's body was of completely differing shape, size and everything compared to him. They clearly weren't from the same litter. He kept wondering Why is it so happy? No matter how much he thought he couldn't find a reason. Perhaps it was that it could move, whilst he would spend his entire existence frozen here, unable to even lift his right paw. Or maybes it was just happy to be alive and excited for the journey ahead. He shuddered at the thought of his own future, or little of it that there could be, given that he couldn't move.

A little puff of warm air blew on her face, and the white otter closed her red eyes and wiggled all the soft whiskers on her muzzle. Opening her eyes again though, she was met by a confusing face. She was unsure of why they looked like that, but she wasn't happy about that. It didn't look right, or pleasant, or something. Her face momentarily relaxed from its grin before falling into a similar dismayed look. Slowly, she inched her feet under her until she was able to stand, trembling a little under her own weight.

He hadn't gotten up yet, or even attempted to it seemed. Then she noticed something, bright colours attracted her attention. Waddle waddle. She was at his side, investigating. So bright, so strange. So many colours. She leaned forwards to investigate the gem embedded in the stranger's shoulder. The little one raised a paw to bat at it. Sharp. She didn't like that; a tiny squeak formed in her throat and she moved away from it. Weird. She looked at the grouchy thing again. Closed her eyes. Thought real hard...

"Hullo," she huffed, her little voice dusty and a little scratchy. "You're mean."

He gave a long thought to the creatures words, trying to derive their meaning. It took him longer than it should have and caused a long and awkward pause though this was understandable considering that he had just hatched. "Mean? How mean?" he said, his voice breaking in between words. He was confused, what had he said or done that was mean.

This creature was very strange indeed, it had a stone of blue going straight down its face. It didn't seem to understand his situation, though he was glad that its mocking smile had gone.

Such a long pause. Maybe they didn't know how to talk. In honesty, she wasn't sure either where the knowledge had come from. It was just there, however fragmented and somewhat confusing. In this respect, there was still a lot she had yet to learn. "You di'nt look very nice at me. Made me feel weird inside," the little one looked saddened for a moment, then sat back on her haunches. "...didn't like that. Nuh-uh." She shook her head, matter-of-factly.

As she spoke more, she seemed to grasp the flow of it, and picked up the pace a little. Her speech went from juttery and dusty to a questioning, bell-like tone that was as pushy as it was curious.

But even as she talked, her attention was drawn back to the sound of a sudden howling wind that almost drowned them out. She had no idea what it was making the noise, but it made the fuzz all across her body stand on end. Subconsciously her webbed feet inched a little closer to one another. As the wind died down, she was distracted and looked back at the fluffy mess in front of her, and once more was distracted by his glittering stone. "I like that. It's nice. Pretty."

@Kimen

The being replied with a rather mean response. Perhaps it was ignorant of his own feelings. The creature was judging him, and on the way he looked too. He did not enjoy its company.

He thought about it and swiftly decided he wanted no more.
But what would it take to get this thing away from me? He thought of a solution and started to move his paws. His front right paw moved much much slower than the others as even the slightest twitch pained him.

His goal was to intimidated the tiny thing. He moved, his chest perhaps a couple of centimetres from the floor, until his right shoulder locked making his slam straight back where he started. "Ouch." He left out a whelp of pain before a sigh of aggravation. He was sick of being immobile.

They were silent for a long time. The snowy little cub watched with wide eyes, steadily growing more confused. she didn't understand. Her mind reviled a little at this confusion and the accusing looks he was giving her. Despite the fact she'd only said a few words. How rude. The pink insides of her ears flushed a little but she didn't say anything this time and kept watching.

They moved. Slowly slowly. Tremble tremble. There was clearly something not right, and the little creature pushed herself into four paws with a dramatic hop with just her hind limbs. They rose a little, and Eira realized that the stranger was trying to get up. Strange, she thought, as she hadn't had much trouble... Her gaze following the struggle felt by only one limb, it seemed, she was drawn to look at the tangled mass of spikes on one shoulder. Pretty spikes, painful to touch. Oh. Her little mind put two and two together.

She watched him a little longer, even though she didn't know what to do. As she watched, he fell and she cringed at the noise he produced. Not knowing what else to do, the snowy cub waddled around to his softer side and pressed against him, obviously trying to push him to his feet.

The creature watched his obvious failure and he was clearly embarrassed by the entire ordeal. He expected the white furred thing to laugh at his dismay but it seemed that it did not. Instead, its mocking demeanour changed to something somewhat sympathetic. He was somewhat glad that it finally understood but even still, it would probably leave once his situation lost its joke.

But no? The creature moved and he felt a nudging to his side. It seemed the creature was helping him. But why? He didn't want to waste time with pondering and once again he attempted to rise to his feet with determination this time, rather than aggravation.