______________ The lights had returned. Many had gazed at them in wonder, or fear, as they had flickered back to life. They guttered now and then, like torches, their glow dimming and sparking back up. At other times their warmth filled the cavern steadily, leaving the cave walls gleaming, each thread of moisture glimmering as it trailed down the stone. Here, at the foot of an ancient stairwell carved out of the rock, the light shone off of pieces of dull metal that protruded here and there through the time-ground sand. All was heaped where it had fallen, or been swept or kicked, down the slope over the years--the crumbs of stair, the bits of blade, dented and tarnished pieces of armor. The wall to one side curved slightly out in a gentle slope, then swept up to reach toward a carving on the ceiling. Here, a strange beast, mouth agape in a snarl or shout, was carved from the tunnel's roof as if pressed against the ceiling, looking downward toward the junction where the stone base of the wall joined crumbled sand and discarded history. A single, small outcropping of rock was nestled in between that corner and the stairs, nearly hidden in the darkness. It was the same color as the rest of the nearby rock--plain, pale, slightly wet with condensation. But within, something stirred. The faint sound of wings beating weakly against the interior of a stone egg. A soft, stifled screech, barely audible through the thick rock. Was anyone close enough to hear? To see? To sense? A new Gembound was hatching. All went silent, and then the faint squeal of talons dragging over crystal shivered out into the air. ______________ (ooc: any and all are welcome to join in! i'm very new, so please do let me know if i make any mistakes.)

This had certainly become a highway for the fox as he passed between Orion and the place he wished to lay claim to and start his own little troupe of valiant creatures. Really, he wasn't interested in climbing to the top in terms of rank, he just wanted a group that he could easily distinguish as being allies as they traveled together and spread their wares and talents. Sounded perfect, but Louie needed to first find the appropriate members and convince them to join him. A task that was proving a lot more difficult now that Azazel and the Bonebound were a thing. Still, the knowledge of Maji Walezi was not known to him.

As he made his way back to the room of stars, where he had first found X and the bear girl, he hoped to coerce more newborns into his group. While they were young and almost defenseless in infancy, he could shape them into warriors just as he wanted them to be. A faint screeching caught his attention and he froze, unable to see anything different along the lines of boulders and rocky outcrops that fringed the tunnel, he glanced around.

Something was here, but he wasn't exactly sure where and instead of saying anything, Louie just remained silent and cast out his white sense to try and get a feel for exactly what was going on in the cellular world.

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Nothing appeared too out of shape, but one particular rock was crawling with the stuff, and he moved closer to it. It didn't appear at all odd. But it had swarms of bacteria and he wasn't exactly sure why, frowning, he waited and just glanced between the various rocks.

Yet again, Bevy had woken up in a strange place, very far from home. This time, young Enna could not handle the responsibility of returning home, for she had done it so often lately and it took so much energy out of the baby bird. So, as usual, Ratchie took the helm. They had never been to this tunnel, and in fact had no idea how they had arrived her, but they had.

Flying through the tunnel, up and down staircases, a noise pricked the Pitohui bird's ears. Bevy's feathers ruffled as a wing dipped towards the sound and the bird twisted towards the hatching gembound in a gentle spiral to just beside the staircase, swooping down into the corner.

Almost a moment too late, Ratchie spotted the fox, and pulled their wings back. With a few startled flaps, they began to hover in place, seeing both Louie and the egg. The chrysalis would soon hatch, surely, that was what the noise was. So who was the vulpine, and what was to happen to the baby gembound? Would it hatch alright on its own?

"Hello," they tweeted a polite greeting. "Ever see a gembound hatch before?" They wondered how old the other gembound was, what they had seen before. Bevy had experienced it many times, although mostly it was Enna's pleasure alone. Ratchie was sure excited to be in charge for this moment-- surely new friends were always a good thing.

The Pitohui bird took their chance to find a place to land beside the gem shell containing the new life, eyes bright and curious.

______________ Talons scraped, again and again, over the glittering green interior of the stone egg. The sound was grating, even to the hatching owl, but he had to get out. Sensations raced through the neonate's mind, unaccompanied by anything so coherent as words. Caught, caught, trapped, what was safe is safe no longer The stone had become brittle with his growth; he had swollen within, grown, pressed on its curved walls until it was ready to crack. One splinter. A line, thin and dark, splitting up the side of the egg. A talon, pressing through, black and hooked and--even in one so young--quite razor-sharp. Dark let out another pitiful screech, voice hoarse and shrill, panting through open beak. For a moment, he rested. When his energy returned he beat again against the egg's interior. The chrysalis finally began to flake away in thin pieces--dusty brown on the outside, but shimmering green within. There was still a lot of stone that would need to be torn away before he could escape, but it was a start. A twist of fresh air over his feathers. Shiver. Sounds. Breathing. His? Tired... Barely-visible to those on the outside, the little figure huddled within, again panting, one taloned leg still sticking limply through the hole he'd managed to rip out. He was ugly, there was no other way to say it; scraggly, covered in pale down and little black feather-shafts sticking up at odd angles. A tongue stuck out from a gaping black beak as the hatching owl panted, regaining his strength. His bulging eyes were still tight shut. ______________

A strange birb appeared. Not like Azazel, quite a bit smaller and with her gemstone evident upon her breast. Landing on the stone just above the one that had bacteria all over it, she greeted him and then questioned if he had ever watched another hatch from their chrysalis. Ahh, so that provided substantial information about what this rock may be and he shook his head at Bevy. All he had seen was the fragments of shell and the finished product of the process. Now, he was curious to see what creature would emerge from the rock.

It was a fairly quick process after the initial screech and the sound of scraping and movement made Louie take a step back. Unable to guess what exactly might emerge from the egg he took precautions and simply waited. There were a few more screeches, talon scrapings and a hole was burst open. What was inside wasn't a pretty sight, a mess of feathers and slight goop. Disgusted at this process, he took a few more steps back. Birth wasn't pretty, he could see that now.

They appeared to both be birbs and he frowned, not exactly powerful but the gift of flight may be useful. Unsure how big the newborn was, he decided it was best to try and grapple both them. The discovery of this spell had been through a rather vivid hallucination of his own. Whether it would work or not on others was to be seen, focusing, Louie shook his fur,

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Upon releasing the spores into the air from his fur, they hardly made their way into the air and instead just circulated around his own body. Almost immediately, he began to choke on his own product and he writhed and gagged before it hit him. Sharp disastrous hallucinations began to consume him. Images of terrifying beasts pulling him apart and eating him limb by limb was the most obvious sight and as he found himself falling through a black abyss as the world was ripped out from under his feet he lost control of his feet and fell to the ground, writhing and frothing at the mouth as his eyes glassed over.

Fuck.

It seemed the vulpine gembound had never seen another gembound hatch before. Wonderful! It was always a breathtaking experience. Bevy was quite excited and proud to see that this gembound was indeed a feathery downy bird! Just like her. Her eyes brightened, her form leaning in close to see the newborn.

Ratchie remembered Azazel hatching, and having to explain so much to him. They would be quite glad to do the same now for this new one! ... Except, something suddenly happened. The orange furred animal who was observing had begun to choke and collapsed to the ground in spasms, catching Bevy's attention before they could greet the newborn owlet. Of course, they were more than ready to come to the aid of the fox, hopping over quickly.

"What's wrong?" Bevy chirped, feathers puffing up, her black crest rising along her neck. "What...?" The fox didn't seem to be in the same world as them, as he twitched and frothed, eyes distant. Now, they didn't have much experience with healing, but there was only one thing they could think to do.

The bird approached and put her wings on Louie's tail, the only thing that seemed easy to pin down since the animal was so much larger than the baby bird. Focusing, they did their best to push some helpful bacteria on to the fox... Though it was unlikely to help much against something going on in their brain, it looked like a sickness to them.

______________ The little owl twitched in his shattered egg, extended foot flexing talons in the air. All the lights glowed gently on the tunnel walls, but he saw none of it. Their illumination was wasted on him, as was the irony: he was one of those hatching just after they had been reborn, yet he would never see their shimmering cast. He could hear, though. He could hear scuffling, thrashing, clacking-teeth and the snorting of something struggling. Something soft. The owl was torn between two disparate instincts: to hide and to flee, cowering in his egg, half-hatched--or to investigate. Fear shivered through both choices. Food? Perhaps it was prey. It sounded large, but instinct told him that it could be small enough to kill. Maybe. But he was young, and he feared. And there had been another creature--another voice. Enemies? Fighting? "What's wrong?" He froze, listening intently. It was a chirping voice, light and airy. Small. "What?" The little-voice is killing the big-voice. It was the only explanation--foreign words, bright, insistent. The thrashing and coughing of the fox. And again, two different instincts gripped him. Hold still. Escape. Freeze. Flee. The blind owl struggled more quietly in his gem shell, turning to pry off bits of stone and kick them weakly away. His heart raced. Getting in the way of two fighting beasts would be a bad thing, after all--but maybe they would ignore him. Or maybe the little-bird-voice would come for him next. (Post-roll edit-) A few pieces of eggshell fell away silently--then a few more, a bit more loudly. But he paused to listen, and the thrashing continued; there was no sign they'd heard. Being blind, it never occurred to him that the strangers could simply see him. ______________

If a bird was the size of a rat, did that mean it was edible? Was it alright to eat them even if they were? He couldn't imagine that there would be much difference between a rat and a bird... and the possibility that there could be some 'morality' (what was 'morality'?) issues in eating a fellow being had yet to be embedded in his character, assuming it ever would be.

Crouched low to the ground and laying nearly on his belly, the wolf-fox looked at what transpired from around the bend. Examining the occurrence mutely he was fascinated by the turn of events. Whatever debate he had been having on whether or not the tiny bird was a suitable meal gave way to questions about the... stubby one - the one that looked like him but was very, very lacking. He was without a doubt the shortest canine Saudade had met. Would he ever grow to be anything but small and quaint? His wonders ceased as the fox began to thrash.

Saudade's silence was then stolen from him when he laughed. Seeing the fox suddenly throw himself about like a fool, he couldn't help his deep, boyish chuckles. For some reason it amused him. It seemed so stupid!

But more than the comedy that unfurled before him, his big, keen ears heard something else. The cracking of a rock shell was quiet and soft but his ears were ears suited to hunting in grand spaces for tiny, tiny creatures. Every little sound was magnified in ears as big and bat-like as his, and he heard the sound of a hatching creature.

Giving a passing glance to the Meal and the Stubby one (they seemed preoccupied with one another) Saudade slunk closer to the hatching creature.

This writhing and spasming continued, entirely unaware of the movements of the others around him as all he could really do was see the horrible pictures his stupid spores had decided to come up with. That had been intended for use on them not him. What a moron he was for thinking it'd work.

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They continued and in his catatonic state he couldn't even tell how long it had been. Pretty much useless in the interactions of the other three, he just continued his convulsing like the lump he was. Bevy's magic eased the hallucinations slightly, making sense of the bacteria in his brain that had just gone absolutely crackers. While it eased slightly, the fact it had been such a complex spell meant it was difficult to just shrug it off.

Thankfully, the frothing had stopped and his eyes began to slightly focus (in the sense he could see hazy blobs transparently against the darkness and gaping jaws of his nightmares).

Despite being incredibly distracted by a thrashing fox, the young bird noticed something unusual in her field of vision. There was a long legged canine watching them from afar, and now that her patient had begun to settle, the gembound in the shadows seemed keen on creeping forward.

Although born as a flighty natured bird, this Pitohui usually considered everyone friends at first glance, but there was something about this slinking dog that caught her attention. He was headed for the hatchling! A primal instinct took hold in young Bevy, and although only a chick herself she took flight and landed between Saudude and the owlet, spreading her wings wide as if to shield the baby.

Her voice came light and calm from her beak, "Hello there, do you think you could help me?" Her mostly red-rainbow eyes blinked a few times as she gestured with her flight feathers at the foaming fox. "He's sick and I don't know what to do. My name's Bevy... Oh!" With that she spun around to face the owl who... Didn't look quite right either. Had she been so puffy? Her eyes definitely weren't so green... Were they made of gem? How was that... Nevermind!

"Hello little one. Welcome to the world. You're a bird just like me! Do you know your name?" She asked the puffball of a hatchling, tilting her head to one side.