Hidden by ferns deep in Eridanus, a jagged crystal clear as glass hid away from the outside world. So clear was it in fact, that if one had looked upon it, they would have seen the child developing around a crystal inside. Still growing, still dreaming, and still listening. There wasn't much going on in his small world, but he could hear things that fascinated him.

Things that the little one would later come to know as voices.

They broke through to him, vibrating his glassy prison in a low drone, and he listened to them, understood some of them. Gained some concept of the world through a mishmash of dreams and reality. And now it seemed, it was time for him to see what the world was really like.

An onlooker might have seen a twitch inside the clear crystal, and cracks begin to creep over it, bit by bit. The cracks spread, clouding its purity until eventually... Crack!

The little one was free, sitting in a pile of ruined crystal. Before he opened his eyes, he could hear the sounds world around him. Droplets of water. Rustling leaves. His own claws tapping on shards. He slowly cracked open his violet eyes and took in blurred shades of green.

His heart pounded with excitement in his chest; and as the little one raised himself fro the dust, it was plain to see as if behind an aquarium window.

GRASSY

Life wasn't supposed to be easy when you were green. Yet somehow, the tiny noodle had found her home. She reveled in the scenery of Eridanus, getting lost in the grass. It wasn't until she heard a great crack that the tranquility of the wayward blade of grass realized she wasn't alone.

Sneaking closer, the tiny noodle decided to raise her voice a little and speak up, speak to the strange big creature who had hatched. He wasn't made of stone, so he must have been a nice big creature. Grassy couldn't help but smile.

"Meep! Meep! Meep!" She greeted nosily, twitching as she tried to get on top of another blade of grass, if only to get high enough that Romeo might actually see her. He was just so big, really!

Be like the single blade of grass. For she too, has been trampled on, mowed down, and hit with such bitterly cold stretches that she had to shut down to survive. Yet still she stands upright with dignity, knowing that she endures... and still she dances with the wild wind.

@Romeo

The little one shifted his paws and trembled, causing a few little glittering shards to fall like stray water droplets. He hadn't been sat there long, looking around with his bright eyes, but he was startled when suddenly the ground started to move, and it coiled up to him, chirping in an odd little voice strange noises that rang and sang in his rounded ears.

He thought for a while, and for the first time he opened his jaws to reveal the pink insides of his mouth.

"Meep, meep, meeeep?" he echoed curiously. He produced a sound, a strange, soft, melting little sound, to his own ears at least. He looked around, looked back at the little noodle before him, and thought deeply. Beneath the clear stone on his chest his heart pounded. What did he do? What did he... say? the little cub thought deeply, before the simplest solution came to mind.

"...Hullo?"

How easy! How fine! How grand! And it meant hearing that wonderful sound again. He hummed a little with pride.

"Who're you?"


@Grassy

GRASSY

Grassy wriggled enthusastically as the giant, fluffy friend meeped right back at her. Her tail twitched and she reached up as high as she could, opening her mouth in a big, toothless grin.

"Meep!" She exclaimed at his meeping question, but then he began to speak other words. More question-y question words of questioning. The wayward itty bitty piece of grass shut her mouth for a moment, yellow eyes glistening with interest.

"Hullo! Grassy the Grass at your service!" She started up again, beaming with pride. She was one of many, but there was none like her. Her kin were quiet and still, immobile except when the wind caught them-- she loved them like family, but she was the vocalist, move-i-est of them all.

The snake tilted her head and then echoed the question back at him, "Who're you?"

Be like the single blade of grass. For she too, has been trampled on, mowed down, and hit with such bitterly cold stretches that she had to shut down to survive. Yet still she stands upright with dignity, knowing that she endures... and still she dances with the wild wind.

@Romeo

"Speech"

The little green thing, like a little worm or something, spoke in a tiny little high pitched voice, after it had meeped at him again that is. The little one tilted his head far to one side and grinned at the happy sound. It was almost definitely a happy sound, for it lit up happy feelings in his exposed heart as he heard it, although at the moment, any kind of sound seemed to be enough to do that.

"Grassy the Grass, huh?" It had a nice ring to it, and it rolled off his tongue, once he'd figured out to make said noises. And then he laughed, and went "Meep!" again. He liked that word, a lot. Although perhaps he just liked the sound of him saying it.

Who knows?

For now, a different question had been posed. The little fluffy creature (who for now felt enormous) took a while to consider. Who're you? Who'm I? "Hmmmm..." What am I? He looked down at himself, all the fluff, at the odd, rough crystal on his chest, half hidden by fur. That was as far as he could see, though. He put a paw to his mouth as he considered. He'd be something noble. Something that rolled smooth off the tongue. "I'm... R-R-Romeo!" He rolled his tongue on the R, both to give him some time to consider, and to make it feel more grand. Certainly, he felt more grand. Slick, smooth on the ears, and easy on the tongue. It was perfect!

"Yes. That's it! Romeo!"

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@Grassy

GRASSY

"Romeo, Romeo, Romeo!" The blade of grass repeated this name multiple times, just for effect, as she wiggled about just bellow him. She paused after this and let out a soft, thoughtful pair of, "meep-meeps," before sliding off of her perch.

The tiny noodle inched closer, determined to get a better look at Romeo... Up close and personal. She tried to climb up his limbs, curious mainly about the gem on his chest. She didn't say anything as she focused on this task, perhaps bursting the personal boundary bubble on the newborn.

Most kids didn't like worms or snakes crawling all over them, anyway. Poor little Grassy had no idea, of course, she just wanted to see Romeo clearly and up close. Unfortunately for her, the tiny blade of grass didn't get too far up his leg before slipping off and falling back down on the ground with a disparaging,

"Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep..."

Be like the single blade of grass. For she too, has been trampled on, mowed down, and hit with such bitterly cold stretches that she had to shut down to survive. Yet still she stands upright with dignity, knowing that she endures... and still she dances with the wild wind.

@Romeo

"Speech"

The little green wiggly thing repeated the name he'd told her, and the raccoon dog nodded eagerly, liking it even more as someone else said it. It made him feel more important when others said his name, and that was a nice feeling in his exposed heart.

Before he quite knew what was going on, perhaps lost in thought, suddenly the noodly creature was making its determined way up his leg. Romeo froze, rather shocked by the gesture and looked down at his new little friend, but the only complaint came as his heart beat faster, plain to see through the window of his gem. On the other hand, Romeo was soon responded with a resounding noise, and he looked down to see that the little one had slipped off. Although his heartbeat began to slow back to a normal rate he lowered his body and dropped his nose down to look at the little snake.

His wet black nose twitched close to her tiny face.

"What happened?"

table coded by banshee | for free use!

@Grassy

GRASSY

Aaaah he was so big! Grassy stared up the giant's snout, a smile breaking out on to her wide mouth. It seemed like the fall hadn't hurt her at all, or if it had, she was full of too much joy to care.

"Wanna see! Giant Romeo so big, so much too see! Big heart, big nose, big eyes!" Her curiosities less than satisfied, the tiny noodle tried to lunge right up on to Romeo's snout. She definitely had more success with that, landing her belly on his cold, damp nose. It was enough to make her "Meep!" but she grinned toothlessly all the while, curling up between his eyes, looking at them each one at a time.

"So pretty! So... Handsome! Handsome giant Romeo!"

Be like the single blade of grass. For she too, has been trampled on, mowed down, and hit with such bitterly cold stretches that she had to shut down to survive. Yet still she stands upright with dignity, knowing that she endures... and still she dances with the wild wind.

@Romeo

"Speech"

Romeo seemingly relaxed a little as it kept on smiling. He'd not seen much of the world yet, but he wanted to hold off on seeing things go wrong for the time being. The way it'd squeaked so depressingly had made him fear, realization had hit that things could go... wrong. It didn't upset him too much though. in fact, he didn't seem all that moved.

Well, at least not until it'd thrown itself on his face.

He wasn't expecting that at all, though perhaps he should have been. He shot upright, and was frozen in place with confusion and slight fear running up and down his spine. Well, that is, until she called him handsome. That brought an odd feeling. Pleasant. His pounding heart slowed. "O-oh! Uh... Oh!" he stammered, not quite sure what to say. "Well... thank you!"

Come to think about it, Romeo hadn't even seen himself yet. But in this position, he could hardly see anything at all, one eye locked on the little snake on his twitching wet nose.

He felt it tickle...

He tried to hold it back, but to no avail. He shivered, sucked in some air, and then...

"Ah... Ah-choo!"

How... undignified.

table coded by banshee | for free use!

@Grassy

GRASSY

Grassy seemed to beam with pride as the giant seemed downright flattered by her words. Her tail tip twitched on the end of his nose, expression bright as she wiggled back and forth, looking at each eye as much as she could. Her curiosities were paid back with a sudden sneeze, however, that sent her flying.

"MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!"

The noodle cried as she flew through the air. She landed in the grass which tangled up against her skin, and blinking she wriggled, trying to pull herself free-- but the grass had already embedded in her scales. Tiny bits of grass poked out of her here and there, odd and out of place.

"I'm okay!" She meeped loudly, making sure the giant could hear her tiny voice.

Be like the single blade of grass. For she too, has been trampled on, mowed down, and hit with such bitterly cold stretches that she had to shut down to survive. Yet still she stands upright with dignity, knowing that she endures... and still she dances with the wild wind.

@Romeo