Sitting there holding this strange hand not once did the thought of 'hey this is a bad idea' go through the young mandrill's mind. Though when the hard attempted to tug back and out of his grasp did he panic. Holding onto his new friend as long as he could without causing any harm. Though that didn't last long, there the arm went back into the fancy gem. His curious gaze trailed around the shell until the individual inside made the hole even larger! How sweet! They must want to say hello too! And now he could get a good look at his friend at the same time! Who it turned out was already a bit larger than him, come to think of it...they looked pretty different. Oh well! A friend is a friend no matter what! Now he just had to play it cool! Reaching deep down he put together a few words, attempting to communicate with his new best bud calmly.

"HELLO WHO ARE YOU!?"

...calmly...

"Speech"
'Thought'

@Titan

For a few moments, the ape sat in silence, staring at the young mandrill with a curious tilt of his head. Watching as the monkey slowly opened their mouth, and just barely leaned forward in curiosity, expecting a quiet sound, however...

"HELLO WHO ARE YOU!?"

The mandrill had decided to scream his question, startling the barely-hatched ape. Whose eyes widened enough to show the ring of white around his iris as he leaned back, hands smacking over his ears to block out the sudden volume with a silent scream in response.

Ow.

'Thinking'
"Signing"
"Aartappel Speech"

For a moment they had both sat in silence, though with a voice louder than what they originally perceived to be the young mandrill had screamed out in excitement. Except now they watched worriedly as their young ape friend covered their ears from such uproarious volume. Though other than that they didn't do much to communicate disdain. Brown eyes traced over the gorilla, mind racing as they closed the distance. Smiling widely as some sort of peaceful greeting.

"Sorry! Who are you friend?"

He tried again this time, to speak well strung words that were somewhat of a miracle in itself. Though he didn't dwell on this new found ability for long, he had just hatched from a gem ya know so anything seemed possible.

"Speech"
'Thought'

@Titan

Seconds passed before the ringing left his ears, hands slowly drawing away as his attention flickered back to the monkey that crept closer. Seeing the teeth bared in a 'smile' prompted a hesitant curling of his upper lip in an attempt to mimic the action, taking it as something friendly.

"Sorry! Who are you friend?" they'd asked, the question bringing confusion to the surface as the newly hatched ape cocked his head to the side.

'Who am I? I know who I am! Who are they?' The ape opened his mouth, intending to voice his thoughts with a small tap of his palm on the smooth shell of his chrysalis. Only, instead of words, like the gembound in front of him, only air escaped his throat. Confused, he moved a hand to his neck, poking curiously before exaggerating the movements of his lips to see if the sound came from those instead.

And like before, sound refused to come out, even the groan of impatience passed his throat with silence. Annoyed the small gembound started smacking his hands against his chrysalis, anything to convey the frustration at not being able to voice his thoughts!

'Thinking'
"Signing"
"Aartappel Speech"

He waited, as patiently as a young mandrill could until that smile began to fade awkwardly. Could they not speak? They seemed to be mouthing the words just like he had done, yet no sound emerged. Obviously they seem very frustrated, smacking their hands against the walls of their chrysalis. This event led the young monkey to reach out and grab the newly hatched ape's hands. Though they already seemed stronger than him physically. Ignoring this fact he brought a finger to his own lips and with a few passing seconds a sloppy SSSHHH sound escaped.

"Maybe...you hatched early?"

Oh no, did he help hatch the gorilla too early!? Is this why he could talk!? Or was speech a learned trait...either way it was puzzling to the young mandrill who simply sat there holding hands.

"Speech"
'Thought'

@Titan

His irritated thumping was quickly put to rest as smaller hands grabbed his own, the desire to not cause harm forcing his body to freeze. Instead of attempting to free his hands and continue to smack at the shell of his chrysalis, the ape instead settled for puffing his cheeks up. Eyes squinting at the mandrill as they spoke.

"Maybe...you hatched early?"

Hatched early? No, there was no way for that! He was certain! His brain told him it was time for him to leave his safety! If he hatched early, then it would've been wrong! Spurred on by this thought, the ape started shaking his head, letting the air out from his cheeks with a small smacking sound of lips on teeth.

Settling down a few moments later, the gorilla slowly freed his hands from the other's grip, instead gently tapping their shoulder with a questioning gaze.

'Who are you? Thats what I want to know.'

'Thinking'
"Signing"
"Aartappel Speech"

While they weren't hitting the shell of the gem anymore they instead started to puff out their cheeks. The young mandrill slowly allowed the little gorilla to have his own hands back. But puffing up his own cheeks he mimicked them excitedly. Boy, this was fun! Though with a small tap on his shoulder he continued to watch them. Cheeks still puffed out in a friendly mocking motion she attempted to figure out what their questioning gaze meant.

Expelling the held air he released a rather awkward raspberry, tongue partially sticking out past his teeth when it finished.

"Well...since you can't talk I'll go first! My name is uh...ARR.TAH.PEL. yeah that sounds perfect! ARRTAPPEL"

"Speech"
'Thought'

@Titan

The mandrill seemed to be focused on trying to mimic his annoyed reaction. Though they quickly dropped their puffy-cheek gesture with their tongue poking out from their lips.

"Well...since you can't talk I'll go first! My name is uh...ARR.TAH.PEL. yeah that sounds perfect! ARRTAPPEL" the mandrill- Aartappel said, after a moment, seeming to understand the questioning taps to their shoulder.

Pleased, the gorilla began grabbing at the shards of the gem closest to his body. Pulling upwards, mostly to free his legs for movement of course. A few more quiet cracks, and his legs were free, allowing the small ape to pull himself into an odd standing position, looking around for any way to safely get down. After a moment, he turned his attention back to his 'new friend', tapping the inside of the chrysalis in question. Though after a second of thought, he moved his free hand to point to the ground, head cocking to the side once more.

Maybe he found a way to communicate without the use of words?

'Thinking'
"Signing"
"Aartappel Speech"

Aartappel stood there watching his new and still unnamed friend break free. Though when he saw his feet he smiled wider, they were pretty similar after all! No matter the mounting evidence of contrasting attributes they compiled. Though as his best bud pulled themselves into an awkward standing position he realized the not to subtle height difference, ignoring the fact he wasn't entirely on the ground. Ok so maybe he didn't hatch early...maybe he was in the egg too long...who knows!

Wide brown eyes soon flickered to neighboring crystals for a moment, distracted by the wonder that still was this unknown home. At least until they began tapping on their chrysalis again. It was a bit difficult to communicate with someone who couldn't just tell him what was going on. But hey charades was a fun game too he supposed. Maybe they needed help getting down? Their legs did seem a bit shorter than his own...perhaps they were as capable in the agility department. Glancing around he hopped up on the gem alongside their friend, smiling wide as he tapped the chrysalis and then a lower neighboring gem. They were practically natural stairs! I mean...not technically but that was their use today!

"Speech"
'Thought'

@Titan

The mandrill's attention had turned to the surrounding crystals, the ones he himself had been seeing through his dreams for so long, they weren't very new to him. His tapping seemed to have caught their attention again as they hopped onto the gem beside him, the height difference glaringly obvious, even to him.

Their smile returned as they mimicked his previous action, tapping on the chrysalis, and towards the lower gem not too far from where he sat. Curious, his gaze followed, seeing the 'stairway' down from his chrysalis. Uncertain, the Gorilla moved slowly to get what purchase he could on the smooth surface of the gem, the pads of his fingers slipping slightly against the crystal before finding a faint groove to catch on.

Trusting the strength that had failed him at first, the ape pulled himself the rest of the way from his chrysalis, practically clinging to the crystal. While slowly letting himself slide further, the gorilla turned his gaze back up to Aartappel.

'What now?'

'Thinking'
"Signing"
"Aartappel Speech"