Empty. Silence.

Did she exist?

Yes, she was certain she did, or, there was a thought in her mind that insisted she was. Where that thought came from, she did not know. Why there was a thought, she did not know.

She could feel the walls, pressing down on her, where they weren't before. Interesting. They were solid, trapping her in the stale air of darkness.

She didn't like it, didn't like it.

She wanted out.

She began pressing against the walls of her prison, coiling around her own body, then expanding once more. Cracks began to form, the cool air of the outside brushing against her scales. Better.

A hole, close to her head. It was there, right there, and freedom will come.

She reached towards the hole, tongue flickering out to taste the fresher air outside, followed by her head, eyes resting up on everything, for a single moment before moving on. A stay piece of her prison fell, onto a larger piece, something another thought told her was the ground.

Step one.

She squirmed out after the piece, the piece of shell, belly touching the surface of the ground for the fist time.

Step two.

What was step three? There was one, yet she had no idea what.

She did, oh she did. It was hidden somewhere, deep below, and she needed to find it.

"Issa....." She tried, giving voice to her thoughts,tasting the word on her tongue. It echoed in the silence, unfamiliar yet so very familiar. "Is... Is me."

That was step three. The thought faded, leaving behind a feeling of success, and a million other thoughts. The beginning ended.

What was next, she did not know.

speech. thoughts. 297 words for @open.

you can stand me up at the gates of hell
but i won't back down

____________

He wasn't one to exhaust himself with wandering, there was far more better things out there to occupy his time, but he just couldn't stay in his former spot for long. It was a bit... dull... He needed something new, to see what all this cave had to offer. So, he set off at a leisurely hop until he arrived at a new location. A grand place of bones of all sizes. Now, it seemed just as dull as the last tunnel he'd found himself in but it made up for it with the assortment of bones. Neat!

The kangaroo hopped up to one of the piles and began to examine it, bright eyes searching for... something. He found it finally in a large tiger femur --though he had no idea what the name of it was-- that seemed to fit easily in one of his paws... or would in time. Right now he had to hold it with both paws and even then it was a tad bit heavy. Deciding that this was what he wanted the kangaroo began to hop away, dragging the femur along with him with a loud scraping sound on the ground when he heard the hissing of a new creature.

He stopped to listen, ears pricking and easily locating the sound off to his left somewhere. Picking up the bone and tucking it into his pouch where it sat a bit awkwardly, he hopped over to the new sound and saw a strange... noddle beast. He tilted his head to the side to examine it before finally saying, "Well, g'day there! Watcha up to?" Obviously she had just hatched but surely she had something to do now that she'd escaped? Or maybe not? What had he done after hatching? The kangaroo couldn't even remember now.

_____________

words| 301
tagged| @Kseth
ooc| ---
muse| 6/10

"Talking looks like this!"
Thinking looks like this...

gonna stand my ground,

won't be turned around

and i won't back down

Everything was dark, everything seemed dark. It was better than inside the crystalis, yet it was still black and white.

Not that she minded. There were more than one way to sense the world, and the image she got from her combined senses was accurate enough to please her for the moment. Smell, touch, warmth.

Voices?

The cave had been relatively quiet, except for her own hisses. Then came clacking, and then a voice. Not hers, someone else's. A question. For her.

"I..." She tried, voice faltering into a hiss, uncertain of what to say. "I do nothing." She raised her head higher, trying to reach the level of the figure she could see, imprinted in black and greys in her vision. it was odd, to be talking, to be talking to another. Someone who could reply, and perhaps answer her questions.

"What... Is you?" She forced out, curiously overriding her practical mind. It wasn't the most important question, but it was one that needed to be asked, soon. "What, is I?" She flattened down now, unable to match the height of the other creature. All she knew of him was that he was big.

She coiled around to the other side, attempting to circle around the creature, to find out what he was, exactly. Her mind whirred, working out details, what was important, and what she would do.

"What do I do?" She added, eyes half-closed as she continued to move, considering the possibilities. The beast's questions was one she had for herself, and one that she couldn't manage to answer, yet wished to. "I speak, I exist. What else?"

She was tempted to just ask about everything she didn't know, all the missing puzzle pieces, but she couldn't. Couldn't just flood the other creature with question. What must she know, and what could she forget? And it was possible that some of her questions had no answers that anyone knew. She would have to find the answers, herself.

For now, she was content with just a few answers.

speech. thoughts. 341 words for @buckthorn.

you can stand me up at the gates of hell
but i won't back down

____________

The joey peered down at the white and black serpent, his bright eyes watching as she seemed to be confused about his question. The young creature was a surprisingly patient one for his age so he simply reclined back on his haunches and waited until she found her words. When they came they still seemed a bit confused, saying that she did nothing as she lifted herself up to peer at him. Buckthorn simply stared at her, mouth curving upwards into a grin while his nose twitched as he sniffed and took in her scent. "While I hate t'disagree with a sheila like yerself I do have t'stay that yer doin' somethin'. Why, your sittin' here talkin' t'me!" Oh, he thought he was being so clever with his jokes! The kangaroo didn't laugh though, no he just let the punchline hang in the air while he deliberated on the questions she asked him.

He was about to answer but she seemed set on loading him down with everything she could think of. His turqoise gaze followed her while he easily stayed reclined back on his haunches, patiently listening and mulling over the questions so that he could give the right answers. He hadn't been long in the caves himself but perhaps he could enlighten her a little bit.

Finally she seemed to fall silent and he took this as his turn to answer. "Well, for starters my name's Buckthorn! 'An I'm a 'roo!" He eyeballed her, trying to think up the right name besides "noodle creature" that pervaded his mind. "Yer a.. a... a snake! That's what ya are!" He thumped his heavy tail on the ground, excited that he'd managed to come up with the name. "An' I'm not sure what it is ya wanna do... I like t'eat an' sleep. Nothin' better'n'takin' a nice nap, ya know? Maybe you like t'sleep too?" He wondered what it was that snakes liked to do. He couldn't think of anything better than sleeping and eating though. He decided to ask his own question as well... "Do ya know what yer name is, mate?"

_____________

words| 352
tagged| @Kseth
ooc| ---
muse| 6/10

"Talking looks like this!"
Thinking looks like this...

gonna stand my ground,

won't be turned around

and i won't back down

The answers came rushing in, quenching her thirst for new knowledge.

She gave a thin chuckle at the other's humor, a wobbling rasp that sounded mildly threatening. Another strange experience, in her first day in existence.

"Nothing... Else." She amended, coming to a halt before the creature. "and, nothing before." Her tongue flickered, eyes unmoving from the face of the larger beast. Some of the words they used were unfamiliar to her, in the sense that her brain didn't immediately supply her with the word's definitions, but she ignored them. The explanation was good enough, in any case.

"You are Buckthorn." She repeated, trying out the unfamiliar word for herself. "Meaning? No matter." She added quickly, before the 'roo' could try to reply, hopefully. While it was interesting, she had more important things to do other than ask questions all day.

Snake. It was the word Buckthorn had used to describe her. Snake. It somehow fit her, a word she wasn't aware of before, and couldn't use, but now that she did, she knew it was meant for her, all parts of her already accepting the word. Slowly, she was beginning to piece out this new world. Was that her name? No. Her mind told her that a name, was something others identified her as. She would have to make it up herself. What...

"Do... I do not know what to do. Not sleep. Not yet." She hissed, the words mingling with each other more and more as she continued. It wasn't a hard sentence, but it was longer than she had been able to manage. "Must search. For knowledge. Find why." After a short pause, she added, "Will think of name, first."

She needed a name, didn't she? What fitted? Something simple, but difficult. Something unique. Hers.

"Kseth." She finally hissed, word blending together with a natural hiss. "Kssseth. Is name."

speech. thoughts. 311 words for @buckthorn.