At the shore of the lagoon, there was a small chrysalis hidden amongst the pebbles. The tiny neonate inside was curled up all cozy in her little rock, slowly waking up to the soothing sounds of the waterfall, when something interesting happened.

In a moment that she would remember for the rest of her life, the neonate had an epiphany: She was, at this very instant, alive! Her sudden cognization sent a jolt of exhilaration shocked her at the tip of her tail and traveled up to the tip of her nose, and it got her shaking in every spot it shook! And the chrysalis shook with her, bouncing up and down and around the rocks; but no matter how much the neonate rocked, she wasn't heavy enough to break the chrysalis. Not that she was really trying, mind.

After a while, the neonate got tired of wiggling about, and started to settle down. But, she always needs a good stretch before she can relax. So, she uncurled her body and started to stretch. It was nice, but it wasn't enough, so she streeeetched some more. Even that wasn't enough, so she continued to streeeeeeeeetch. The chrysalis tried to streeeeeeeeetch with her, but thing was, the neonate had grown a lot longer than her chrysalis was capable of handling. Something had to give, and the chrysalis did. CRACK!

Breaking out of her chrysalis unexpectedly like that made her freeze up. She did not try to move again until the loud thumping in her chest mellowed down. Cautiously, the newborn gembound picked herself back up and clumsily tried to gather the pieces of her old home with her forelimbs.

Ori had been roosted on the shore for the evening, something that Eeya had insisted he'd need to do. Sitting on the rocks was uncomfortable, but it wasn't impossible- and sleeping seemed to come against his intentions to stay awake. He hadn't wanted to miss another instant of this new, fantastic world. Alas, he'd indeed drifted into dreaming, and the little silvery-blue hybrid had instinctively tucked himself under his wings in a tight curl.

The crackle of splintering glass woke him early.

He stirred, but in his groggy state, the child refused to wake fully, ignoring the sound- probably Leon.

Then, something snapped, and then there was shuffling and the smell of new life. That wet, gross smell he'd been surrounded in once, not too long ago.

The hybrid finally lifted his head to observe the newcomer, but the alien sight that met him turned his stomach with confusion and alarm.

The creature looked like... well, like a worm. But slightly bigger. And... oh, those were sleek, still-damp scales then. He stood with a cocked head and blinked, then with an awkward gait, hobbled over to investigate this strange little worm thing.

"Haaalloo?" His land voice felt strange to use. "Is it friend?" Or is it food? He considered the possibility that he'd just witnessed the birth of a lesser gembound... but this one was gathering its shards. Did lessers know to do that? He glanced to lagoon's depths, in the direction of his own hidden stash- the cup of his chrysalis had served well as a hiding spot for keepsakes, or so he'd learned.

His attention returned to the reptile. Could it speak?

@Baja

Iris hadn't really left Pisces. She already had met quite a few Gembound, like Lei and Hawthorne. They were so nice! She really liked them and hoped she'd be able to see them soon and play again! Lei's flower necklaces were so pretty, and 'Thorne told the best stories! But she was already bored. So much unspent energy buzzed in the hybrid, but she sort of pushed it down.

Right now, the great big hybrid had propped herself up on a rocky spire jutting out near the shore of the lagoon, and she relaxed with the flukes of her tail just barely in the swirling waves of the waters.

A hollow crack sounded, and her head instantly turned towards it. Already curious, the great big creature 'slithered' off of the rock and walked towards the source of the sound, but she noticed that there was already something there. It was roughly the same size as Lei, but it had the familiar shape of some shadows she'd seen whilst she was in the waters. It was a friend, maybe? But they'd never met! They could be friends, though!

Iris lowered her head and stared where Ori was staring, but she... couldn't quite see anything? Wait. There was a little pink thing moving back and forth. She lay down curiously and stared down, squinting a little. "Hello?" she whispered as quietly as she could, which wasn't very quietly considering how loud she was normally. Gently, she extended one of her paws out to the weird pink thing, sort of nestling it almost the pebbles.

"Haaalloo? Is it friend?"

The newborn gembond jumped, and she drops the shard she was carrying as her arms swing up and down with the momentum. She twisted and rolled her body over until she was facing the direction the sudden loud noise came from. When she followed Ori's body upwards and met eyes with his face, she gasped quietly and flapped her arms. He was SO BIG!

She cheered, "Ahhh!" She paused for thought, then followed it up with, "Haaalloo!"

Then, from another direction, she heard a, "Hello?"

This time, she did not wait to see who the new visitor was before she spun around and shouted "HALLO!" But when she did look, oh boy. She couldn't stop her jaw from dropping or her arms from waving. Iris was SO SO BIG! And she's, she's...

Her gaze travels downward, towards her own body, but her train of thought is quickly derailed when she spots the shard pile she was working on. She picks up the shard she dropped earlier. For a while, she lets her claws tap against the sides, lets it spin in her paws, lets her eyes stare off, and lets her mind work.

( @Ori @Iris I didn't want to risk moving the action too far along without giving you guys a chance to respond, which is why I'm stopping the post here. If you need more to play off of, let me know and I'll continue.)