Tukluk had been… Asleep for what felt like forever. He’d come out from beneath the roots of his tree when it was time to eat or to stretch his limbs a little. But other than that, he’d been sleeping. And why? Because… everyone had disappeared. The scents of Gembounds all over the Cave had gone stale months ago, and no one seemed to be around… ever. He’d been Asleep for so long, in fact, that he’d aged to adulthood in the Lull and hadn’t noticed. It’s not as if he was really any bigger than he’d been as a juvenile.

The only difference he felt was a dull kind of sadness deep in his bones for the Emptiness in the air. The only living soul he’d seen in two or three cycles was Garmer, the Kyte he had Bonded to what felt like a lifetime ago. And even their relationship had taken a hit during the Second Great Hibernation of Origin Cave. Tuck had not been born when the first Hibernation had struck, so this experience was new to him, and it had jaded him a little. The world was no longer as bright as he remembered it when he finally decided he’d had enough of sleeping. Now the idea of being the best he could be was boring, and the thought of practicing Magic for no real reason seemed pointless.

Still, he was so tired of sleeping. He crawled slowly out from the roots of his tree, where he’d been Hibernating for the past three Cycles and blinked around him with big burnt-orange eyes. Garmer, he called out with his mind.

’Still here,’ came the annoyed reply. ’Have you decided you’re done moping?’

Yeah, for now… I wanna see if anyone has come out yet… Maybe we’ll get lucky this time. Are you up for some flying?

’When am I not up for some flying?’ As he asked the question, the kyte suddenly appeared above Tuck in the canopy, and slowly descended to the ground, flapping his massive wings. He looked at the marmoset with mint-green eyes. ’Would be easier if I could carry you.’

Tuck stared at the giant reptile. Aloud he said, “You’re suggesting I ride you?”

Though Garmer’s expression didn’t change, he said, ’Precisely.’

Tuck continued staring at him. “I’d… need to make some kind of… saddle… so I don’t hurt you holding onto your skin. And so I can actually hold on well.”

’I’m sure such a thing could be created with your Plant Magic.’

Tuck was silent for a long while. Finally, he asked, “Are you sure about this? You were so against it —

’Times have changed, little Gemound. Let’s find the materials for that saddle, yes?’

Tuck couldn’t help but smile at this turn of events. “Yes.”

Words: 458+ — This is an open thread, though I’ll be double-posting probably while I work on building Garmer a saddle. But feel free to join!

Nox had returned. Since the caves had fallen almost silent, the little slug had simply stopped looking for anyone else. Isolation was what she wanted, after all... wasn't it? Since then, the little slug had grown; a distinctly repulsive metamorphoses had taken place. The slug had grown four legs with rubbery bones which tended to bend beneath her weight, and the creature once the size of a kitten was now twelve feet long. Her nexk was long and almost elegantly arching, or at least it would be if it wasn't pouring with pitch-black slime. Bubbles of slime had begun to form on the backs of her forelimbs and along her sides, and the being couldn't help but wonder with a hint of exasperation what surprises her form woyld spring next.

The lizard-like being weaved between trees with the fluidity of a river, her mouth opened wide to see. A trail of slime was left pooling in her wake. Since she'd seen no-one for so long, the little slug had learned closing her eye to be a foolish endeavor, as scared as she was of scaring others. So she scanned the world ahead, a crimson pupil flickering within its diamond casing. Her red-tinted vision unveiled a mass of appealing flowers and ferns, but nothing too extraordinary.

Her claws sinking into the mossy ground, Equinox continued on. The flutter of wings caught her attention, and the first thought that came to mind was, of course, food. Equinox could eat just about anything, and that was a good thing, as it took a lot to fuel a body like this. Still, no matter what she ate, she was always confronted with a moral dilemma.

Is it right to eat something that moves? Is it right to eat something so beautiful?

If it spoke, eating was out of the question. Her nostrils snuffling and gurgling softly, Equinox tried to figure out where the sound of wings had come from. She smelled something else, though; something vaguely familiar. Suddenly her attention wasn't on the hunt. Her gaze darted wildly as she moved through the trees. Lesser gembound birds fled with a chorus of screeches as she no longer cared about being quiet or sneaky.

Then she saw them.

They were... smaller, than she remembered, to say the least. But she remembered them. Open-mouthed, wide-eyed dumbfoundedness greeted them as she wondered what she ought to say in this situation. Was this really the same creature? It was so small...

Equinox was left to just stare and wait for them to say something, whilst she pondered on whether or not she remembered how to speak.

"Speech looks like this."
"Thoughts looks like this."

tags: @Tukluk
notes: here

Tuck was just beginning to glance around himself in search of materials he might need for the saddle when he heard a noise coming from his left, and spun his head nearly all the way around to see what it was. In the meantime, Garmer’s large, neon-spotted wings had spread themselves again in a show of aggression, and he gave a loud growling hiss. Though large compared to some other Gembound species, his three-and-a-half-foot-long body was nothing compared to this slug’s twelve feet. Still, Garmer’s wing-span was a good seven feet which helped make him look more intimidating, even when he felt small and inadequate.

Without thinking about it, Tuck quickly scampered closer to his kyte’s side for protection, and called out in a hoarse voice that sounded strangely deep and grown-up, “Who’re you?” He hadn’t noticed the roughness in his voice when he’d been speaking to Garmer, but now, in possible danger, for some reason it was all he could focus on. He didn’t sound like himself. He didn’t sound like a little boy anymore. And it was very strange. Halfway because he wanted to hear himself talk again, he asked, “Can you talk?” The message beneath this question should have been clear: Are you a Greater Gembound, or a mindless beast?

Words: 221 @Equinox

The beast slowed to a halt before the two beings, tiny compared to she was. A long, serpentine tail thrashed, rustling the ferns behind her. Their reaction confused her; did they not recognize her? It had been him that had ensured her safe passage into these caves in the first place! They'd pulled her out of the marsh that otherwise would have swallowed her whole. Her head recoiled slightly at their reaction, a deep gurgle reverberating in her throat.

She remembered, though, that she'd changed since then. Even Nox had been surprised to find tiny claws extending into forelimbs, and then hind limbs. Now, she moved like a serpentine cat. Her entire body rippled, not with muscle, but with her own gelatinous mass.

Slowly, she bent her long neck, her head seeming to stretch from her shoulders and extend from her shoulders towards them. Yet, she was so afraid of scaring them that she hardly dared to look. "Y... You were there," she murmured, in a soft, underused warble. A feminine voice, yet so heavily accented that it was almost indistinguishable. There was a flash of red in the back of her throat.

"You're... friend."

Opposite the tiny marmoset, Equinox opened her mouth, fixing upon Tukluk her jewel-encased crimson eye. She needed confirmation that this was the same creature she'd seen so many cycles ago. Their voice was different, and she was so afraid she'd gotten it wrong.

"S... sorry."

"Speech looks like this."
"Thoughts looks like this."

tags: @Tukluk
notes: here

At the reaction of the creepy-looking Gembound, Tuck actually felt a little bad for it… and seemed to recognize it a little bit. Wait? Hadn’t he… met this creature before? It had been some time, but… Yeah. Before the Second Great Hibernation he’d been in Cetus and Garmer had helped him rescue some kind of tiny weird slug thing from the swamp… right? But this thing was… waaaaay bigger. How had it grown so much? I mean, Tuck had seen some big Gembounds before but this one was almost unrecognizable from its previous form. Assuming he was right and that it was, in fact, the same creature.

And then it — she? — spoke, saying he had been there. Where? The swamp? So was he right in thinking that this giant slug thing used to be the tiny slug thing? But ew, was she nasty if that was the case. No wonder Garmer hadn’t wanted to touch her. Still, Tuck was surprised enough by her being in Eridanus that he didn’t really care about how disgusting she was. She came closer to him, her maw opening, and he flinched for a second, assuming he was about to be eaten. But then he saw the flash of the eye encased in some kind of red gem. “Is that how you see?” he asked her, now curious more than anything.

Words: 227 @Equinox

Their voice, that odd voice again, came to her. And again, Nox felt a twinge of familiarity. They didn't seem afraid of her, so they must know her. The being was so absorbed in pinpointing her nostalgia that it took her a while to reply. To her, there was nothing odd about the way she saw. She knew no different. Encouraged and less wary thanks to their question, the large creature gave a tentative nod. "Yesss... but... not when I sspeak." After speaking, she opened her mouth again, looking closely at the tiny creature this time. It was apparrent that she was less afraid now of driving him away.

"It'sss... been quiet. For a while." she murmured. She didn't want to say lonely. She didn't want to admit That it'd been lonely. But she had been. As much as Nox told herself that isolation was best, she longed for the company of others. She hesitated, and then a small gurgle rose in her throat. "D-do... do you remember me?" she pushed. She desperately wanted to know. Was this the friend who'd saved her after all? Suddenly the slimy creature felt vulnerable and alone. She realized that she needed others. She couldn't last forever in isolation.

Maybe she'd be able to be better now she was older. Now she knew.

"Speech looks like this."
"Thoughts looks like this."

tags: @Tukluk
notes: here

Tuck didn’t really know how to respond to this creature’s talk of how the Caves had gone quiet. He knew as well as she did that it had happened, he just… didn’t feel like talking about it anymore. He was tired of dwelling on the Hibernation which had seen him grow to his adult form without him even noticing. He hated that he had lost two or three cycles of time. He’d been on a roll in his first two cycles, and then everything had slowed to a crawl and now he felt a little dead inside when he thought about it… Eugh.

This eye of the slug-creature interested Tuck, but only vaguely. He nodded his head politely as she explained herself, and then he said, “Yes, I remember you now. You were much smaller then, less frightening.” The fact that Tuck had just admitted to being scared was a sign of his maturity. Young Tuck would never have done such a thing. He awkwardly shrugged off the thought that he was changing far too quickly for his liking. Garmer felt his creeped-out feeling and his consciousness brushed against the marmoset’s in curiosity. Tuck pushed the kyte out of his inner thoughts and focused back on the creepy slug thing.

“So, what are you, anyways?”

Words: 200+ @Equinox

Equinox stared intently at the other, still hardly believing that this was happening. Her heart was all a-flutter in her chest. The part of her that didn't want to hurt anyone, scare them, wanted to run away and curl up. It wouldn't matter to anyone, after all. Would it? Nox noticed with a glance downwards that involved the turning of her entire head, that slime was pooling beneath her. With a quick motion, she took a step away from Tukluk. She couldn't let him touch that slime. All that fear, and those nerves, rushed back into her body again. A quiver rippled over her body like slapping a plate of jelly.

When she heard him speak, she opened her jaws again to meet his gaze, before swallowing nervously and letting out a gurgle that could be assumed to be a nervous chuckle.

"Aha... That... wasssn't the plan," she said, raising her head off the ground slightly away from him. She felt guilt lying heavy on her heart. That was never her aim. As grotesque as she looked, she was born into this world as any other being. She wanted only to live, and she didn't want to live life knowing that she'd always be the one gemlings had nightmares about. She'd rather be alone forever than be hated and feared. That was why she'd wanted to be alone. Not for her.

"I got bigger? I thought you'd shrunk. You were big before."

The being shyly peeped out at Tukluk through a barely-open beak, and for a moment she tried to crack a smile. They'd said they were scared but... they weren't running. Why weren't they running. Nox felt oddly calmed by this.

"I... Don't know. I... I'm jusst... Me. I haven't met anyone elssse like thisss. Have you?" She didn't feel like she should know something like that off the top of her head. She was just... her. As a matter of fact, she didn't know what she was. She didn't even know what she was becoming. She had no idea that she would one day grow legs and that her slime would explode. She was figuring things out as she went. So, she decided to voice this. "...I mean... I barely know what I'm becoming. One moment, I'm wiggling around on my belly. Then I have two legsss. Then I have four. I don't even know what I'm turning into."

"Speech looks like this."
"Thoughts looks like this."

tags: @Tukluk
notes: here

While the slug-thing had been talking, and Tuck listening, Garmer had also been listening, only able to understand the slug-thing through Tuck’s thoughts. Sensing that whatever danger may have been there had passed, the kyte lay down and curled up beside Tuck, bored from the calm change of events and halfway wishing something more dramatic had occurred. Garmer was a Hunter, after all. He lived for blood and battle — mostly with other Lesser Gembounds. But now that Tuck’s Magic had given him more understanding about the world and a higher intelligence, his bloodlust only grew, and it grew into something more refined… He wanted to have a real battle. Where Gembounds were defeated and had to submit to the rein of others… But his marmoset, the one to whom he owed his newfound smarts, was a plant-eater, and tiny to boot, and had no interest in War. With a snort and a sigh, Garmer fell asleep, snoring softly.

…

Meanwhile, Tuck continued listening to the slimy black creature before him, finding himself interested in her words, but sad at the same time. He found it amusing that she had thought he’d shrunk, as opposed to realizing that she’d gotten bigger. At this point, Tuck was entirely used to being the smallest Greater Gembound around, especially now that some of the other smaller Gembounds seemed to have disappeared in the Second Great Hibernation. “It’s okay that you don’t know who you are yet. I still don’t know who I am, either. And I don’t care one bit…” He looked away and sighed. “I used to care, but ever since the Hibernation, I haven’t much cared about anything…” He was silent then, unsure of what else to say. Equinox and himself seemed to be fueling each other’s weird sad feelings, and it was making him uncomfortable.

…

Garmer continued to snore, drifting away into Slumberland…

Words: 314 @Equinox

Nox watched curiously as the marmoset's companion creature seemed to relax, and promptly went to sleep. Was she really that boring? Well, it was better than being a threat. The sight of it brought happiness creeping into her. The reptilian-looking creature slowly allowed herhind legs to sink down, followed by her front limbs, until she too was lying coiled before Tukluk, slowly oozing a pool of black around herself. She rested her chin on her paws; her beaked maw now closed. "Well... at leassst you're ssstill recognizable. I'm happy about that," Eqionox told the marmoset honestly. She almost hadn't recognized Tukluk anyway, but she really was glad to see a familiar face who wasn't trying to fight her or drive her away. Meeting Tukluk had awakened a part of her that she'd tried to hide throughout the hibernation. Because of the caves going silent, she hadn't had the chance to prove herself wrong. "It f-feels good to see you again."

Equinox thought deeply back to the first time they'd met. She'd been so young then. So small. She remembered how long it had taken her to find her voice. To work out all the odd intricacies of speech. "I call myssself Nox, now. I wouldn't have, back then," she told Tukluk. Obviously, she was introducing herself for the second time. "Come closer if you want. Just... don't touch me, or my slime." It seemed like Equinox was being blunt, but she knew that such a thing was dangerous. At least, she could assume so. She wasn't quite sure by this point. It had happened so long ago now...

Still, though. The being was wary, and Tukluk was her first real friend.

"Er... Pleasse."


"Speech looks like this."
"Thoughts looks like this."

tags: @Tukluk
notes: here