It was a normal day in the caves. As normal as any day could be, given that nobody knew when the days happened, or for how long, or even if this was the same day as it was twenty minutes ago. The golems were restless as golems often were, lifting and separating chunks of rocks from the cracked and weathered dam, picking through the rubble for whatever it was golems sought after. They were mindless, some were shapeless, being only a set of legs or some sort of oblong egg with arms, but nothing fully realized. They kicked and rolled at chunks of the dam or, using tiny flashes of magic, seemed intent on exploding their way through. Whether they were trying to rebuild or simply sift through the rubble, the golems that were awake enough to move seemed intensely focused.

One of these tiny pops of light and energy disjointed a chunk of stone from the dam. It lurched about a foot, then collapsed in a puff of debris. Sand and grit littered the surroundings, but since the golems had no eyes to be bothered by such things, they continued to work, unhindered. Something else had been dislodged by this tiny blast though - a round thing, only slightly bigger than one of the pebbles that the golems seemed less than interested in. It teetered on the edge of the new hole in the dam, and inevitably fell from it, in to the crystal river. The golems continued to do their thing with the wall - dismantling it, tidying it, maybe eating it - while that very smooth chunk of spotted gemstone drifted off with the low pulse of the river.

When the gem came to a halt it was very far from the golems and their digging. It was thrust against the bank by a particularly aggressive shift in the river, and there it remained rooted, twitching subtly where it was embedded in the mud. The creature inside must have been tiny! Tiny and so new! It did not know what was happening; only that they were happy one moment, drifting another, and now stuck.

The stuck-ness felt less and less good the longer they were rooted there, but no amount of subtle twitching or kicking from inside the egg-thing would make a difference. The creature, whatever they were, whoever they were intended to be, kept on kicking and twisting inside of the confines of the gem-egg, until finally with one vigorous head-bonk, a chunk of the gem casing was cracked and worked away. A beak peeked out from inside, and from that beak came a high-pitched trill of noise.

Hunger: 7 - Good || Thirst: 8 - Good || Energy: 3 - Bad - Tired || Hygiene: 4 - Meh || Social: 7 - Good || Fun: 4 - Meh || Mood: 33/60 - Ehh. Average.
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Fira was bored that day, as she often was now that she was stuck to just Polaris. Being a soon-to-be mom was great and all, but she was starting to get “cabin fever,” so to speak. She was a creature who loved exploring and learning new things, trying out new skills. This thing she did now where she sat around the entrance of the den all the time was starting to really grate on her nerves, and she often found herself slipping away, farther and farther each time she went out. She hoped she didn’t worry Destiny, since the platypus couldn’t see and was rather helpless — no! That wasn’t true and Fira knew it! Destiny was totally capable of taking care of herself; she’d proved that multiple times. Fira needed to stop treating her like a child.

With a sigh, she bent down and took a drink from the river, ever aware of the presence of the Golems that were farther down the river. She didn’t notice the pebble-sized chrysalis until a noise came out of it. Afterwards, she spent some time looking around for the source of the little peep, and used her Magic to help her. Sensing the tiny heartbeat, she shifted her head until she found the pebble washed up on shore, and quickly realized that it was a chrysalis. With a small grin, she went over to it and looked down at it. “Come on, now,” she said to the little peeping beak she saw poking out of it. “Push! You gotta do more than cry for help or you’ll never get anywhere!”

God, she sounded like a mom already. With another small grin, she just shrugged at the thought. No better time to practice than the present, right? Besides, then she could tell Destiny all about it later, and wouldn’t the platypus just get a kick out of it?

EDITING AN EXIT BC THE CHARACTER ABOVE WENT INACTIVE:

Soon enough, the little Gembound hatched, but it didn't seem to want anything to do with Fira, so with a shrug, the leopard left it there at the bank of the river... Oh well.

[Exit Fira]

Words: 317 @Pippit