Within the rock-hard bark of a tree's roots that are a little bit above the earth within the foggy Cetus, safely out of range of any of the murky waters, a chrysalis that's the same size and shape of a fruit pip has started to show sign of emergence. The lights of the cave that managed to tear a rift through the cloak of fog appearing as beams shone through the chrysalis, making the webbing colours of purple, turquoise and bronze dance around on its surface as the same colours seemed to be luminous from the inside too, almost looking a tiny leadlight. Being exposed to light and warmth that way seems to give the chrysalis the extra boost it needs for its confines to break apart, as it began to oscillate severely. Little shards of it are starting to chip away as the Gembound initiated in revealing itself, teensy wing thumbs and claws poking out as they frantically began to scratch at the exterior of the chrysalis shell making it thin out even more. The moment finally came as the last of the chrysalis broke apart entirely down the middle, shards flying everywhere.

In an instant afterwards, the emerged Gembound was thrashing around in an agitated manner almost like they were in a noctambulous state despite their eyes being open. It looked as if they were suffering from a horrid nightmare, appearing to be somewhat scared as to what is going on. The young one was still covered in pieces of shards and slime from their chrysalis making their brown fur look a little glossy. Their thrashing about caused them to shake off the remains of their chrysalis revealing their form in full glamour. They were tiny, they only a little over an inch in size: their small body was a fluffy brown all around, in their fur and in the membrane of their wings which they unfurled to move about better. Their chest had a little Gem gouged in it, looking just like the one the chrysalis shaped as; pip. The young bat as if they woke from their nightmare managed to find their balance and carefully clambered down the tree onto the flat ground, which took a little bit of time, even the roots were giant to their tiny form.

The Gemling looked around frantically with their big ears twitching rapidly, taking in every sound and sight around her environment, she appeared to be extremely frightened currently as she has no idea what is happening, especially with all of this fog around her making vision difficult. In this state, it'll be easy for another to encounter the young bat potentially.

Zeno It had been a long day, filled with new sights and sounds as Zeno had meandered his way around the cave's tunnels. Everywhere he went there seemed to be new life; either a young gembound wandering around or an older one making itself known once more. For the most part the small bat had stayed out of the way; as a gemless one he barely had any right to interfere. No, it was his place in life to watch and chronicle the ebb and flow of light and life in these great halls. Soon the lights would grow dimmer and many of the inhabitants would make themselves scarce again. Though he certainly was a long way from sleep Zeno had taken to match his cycle closer to theirs. Light was a wonderful thing, not something to be taken for granted. Even if it was somewhat painful to his large eyes he always tried to be awake for when the light was at its peak intensity, when shadows were at their weakest and new sights could be taken in. This room in particular was one that benefitted most from the presence of the cave's ambient light. Mist touched every surface, chilled every small breath, concealed things that might otherwise have been plain to see. Zeno lazily flew over the thickest of the fog, weaving past trees and listening below for any change from previous trips. His vigil went answered, or possibly anyways, as a faint pop could be heard from the base of a tree. A rabbit or a mouse perhaps? Whatever it was probably wasn’t a threat and vision provided no clues so the brown bat glided downward in a spiraling motion until he was in the thick of the mist. "Hello?" he called out into the tangled roots, his voice small but unwavering. He had perched himself onto the cold damp ground and held himself up partly onto a root with wing claw. At first nothing was visible, but he was certain he had heard something in this general region. Know yourself "Before you try to influence others" Tags: @Pippy

The emerged Gembound was still looking about anxiously, unsure of continuing with the fog around as the tiny bat may tread right into danger. They seem relieved that they appear to be alone, at the same time she doesn't since they haven't the slightest idea what's happening or where she is. Feeling the little cold, the small one wrapped their wings around themselves, trembling slightly from the cold and her growing fear. His ears pricked upwards immediately hearing an unusual hum of sorts from above, fear rising more so much she could hear the sound of her blood hammering in her ears.

"Meep!" The Gemling quietly breathed out the whimper, she doesn't know what that is, but it doesn't help in easing her panic. It's danger, isn't it? She needs to get out of here... But where? The young one is more scared of what could be out there in the fog not knowing at all, but the silhouettes she can see in the distance are giant... this place is too scary she doesn't want to go anywhere near it. The tiny bat cried out a yelp out of her terror when she heard the humming end and then a thud. The ground almost felt like it shook just a little in response to the noise, although that could be her imagination from how she's trembling. The voice finally came, but the youngling didn't respond only gave a few weak sounds of whimpering.

Someone's here! The bat quickly bolted under one of the roots in some attempt to hide from whoever's here even though they're right beneath the tree the more large bat has perched. The little one when she made the break for it landed face down on the ground, shielding her whole face and eyes with her wings like they were some safety blanket that would protect her from whatever is here. They meekly continued to whimper, perhaps even crying a little although it's hard to hear due to how small her voice is but could be possible to be heard nonetheless if another has good hearing...

@Zeno

Zeno Ears twitched as sounds continued to resonate within the tree's roots. Was it an insect? If it was it had to be a fairly large one. Something told Zeno that wasn't quite the case though, those sounds didn't quite fit the sounds most insects would make. His hearing was probably better than most but certainly not fine-tuned enough to gain more information than a general direction. The bat let go of the root he was clinging to and began to silently crawl forward. He knew he should have exercised caution, but curiosity was getting the better of him. Every once in a while he stopped and twisted his head around, listening as the faint sound echoed gently off the inner sides of the tree. "Is anyone there? I'm not here to harm you." he chanced speaking again. The sound was getting closer... he was almost there. Just as Zeno thought he had reached the origin of the mystery other he came upon an intention in the tree, and from it the amplified echo of the sound he had been chasing. A dead end, but where was it originally coming from? Know yourself "Before you try to influence others" Tags: @Pippy

The silence that seemed to indicate that she was alone again made the little bat ease slightly, crying less but she still had an aching dread that whoever it hadn't left, for she didn't hear them go either. So she remains put right in her place, wrapping her wings around herself for dear life and hope to muffle the sounds of her crying out.

The butterfly sized bat heard the landing thud from right behind her, making him slowly peek her face out her wings and slowly turned his neck a little bit until he could see what was behind him. The bat's eyes widened, they looked similar to her kind of, but they were also giant in comparison to her! Luckily they haven't seen her or made eye contact with each other for that matter. Realising he had a chance, quietly she picked herself up as he tried to quietly crawl away as to what could be the equivalent of tip-toeing where she wouldn't be seen by this giant bat, although with her size and slow pace they may as well be moving at the speed of a snail. One turn from behind and that's it! The thought of that makes her stress, even more, make her pick up her pace into moving away faster not precisely being quiet in her movement anymore, her trek making some sound rustling sounds from the ground beneath her.

The tiny bat flinched and tensed up when they heard the other's voice again. Did the giant bat see her? Phew... No, they didn't, they still seem to be trying to find her. She didn't answer back to them, not sure whether to trust them with their claim that they don't wish to bring her any harm. No, she can't risk it.

With how close the voice seemed she turned her head back to see if they have seen her, intending just to book it the moment they possibly finally find her. But with that, she pays no attention to what's in front of her.

Due to that no sooner the Gemling crashed face first into the tree, making a thud from her crash echo from around them. The young one whined, and their eyes watered a tiny bit from the throbbing pain in their head as they tried to rub it with their wings in some way to soothe it.

"Owwww..."

The tiny one, a tad too preoccupied paying attention to the pain that she completely forgot the other bat which she's trying to hide away.

@Zeno

Zeno Another bump, this time from behind him. Zeno gently turned around and moved forward, stopping in his tracks as soon as the source of the sound became visible. His instincts had been correct, as from this angle he could see a beautiful blue chrysalis, and near to it a tiny winged creature. The fruit bat began to move forward but stopped himself almost instantly. The look on its face... was that fear? Pain too as it appeared to be tending to a soreness of some kind on its head. Its size seemed to be impossible, even for one that had just emerged. How could such a bat exist? Knowing himself larger, and having gone through the fear and uncertainty of coming face to face with a hostile giant before, Zeno stayed frozen. Breath started multiple times as he thought to speak, only for the sound to be halted before vocal chords produced even the slightest sounds. What could he say? Now that he was here what could he do? Did the youth need help or would his presence only serve to fuel its anxiety? In the end he decided the best course of action would be to back up a short distance, give the tiny creature room to get away should it choose. Zeno stayed low to the ground, wings cold as they clutched at the dirt. He averted his gaze to a patch of soil between the two of them so his focused eyes would not be cause of distrust. "Welcome to this next world, young one." he spoke in hushed tones. Know yourself "Before you try to influence others" Tags: @Pippy

The young bat's delicate skin on her sore head started to turn a little bit red from the wound but was a bit hard to see with her fur in the way. Still, the small bat could tell her pain felt worse making her clench on her head when rubbing it failed. Tears were beginning to trail down his face.

Hearing the step of something big approaching even closer, he remembered what he was doing previously, letting go of his head with only one wing resting on it as he flung his head back to where the giant bat was his fluffy brown fur swinging around from his rapid movement. To her horror she has been found by the giant bat, making her flinch and take a few steps back as they got closer to her, refusing to look at the other bat in the eyes.

"Mm...?" But when they paused in their movement the young one looked and gave them a quizzical tilt. Why aren't they chasing her or doing anything to attack? She should take this chance to run, but her aching head is distracting her, maybe make the run for it if they gave they signs of malice. Her wild imagination rushed through lots of thought processes as to what they might do to harm her possibly, and each that passed through was scarier than the last. She's teensy and young in comparison to them after all, so all the things she thinks they could do is possible if they wanted to.

The awkward silence made her want to run off for real this time, but when they also backed away from her instead of approaching even further and then laying on the ground just as they are. Managing to somewhat get themselves on the same eye level as the tiny bat, which does make her ease up a little. The other bat laying like that makes them look less like a towering giant bat to add they weren't too close now. With them also not looking her in the eye, the tiny bat child risks a few glances at their face and eyes nothing seems to show signs of hostility.

When they spoke again to greet her, this time with a slightly gentle voice made her relax a little more, but she doesn't wholly trust them just yet but...

"H-Hello." He strained his little voice to answer back with an audible enough greeting in some ways to placate the other bat. Just as his whole body was small, his voice was naturally small sounding too.

@Zeno

Zeno Along the edges of his vision Zeno could see movement, but not nearly enough to indicate tha the tiny bat was running away. Instead his cautious approach seemed to be working. There was no need to rush, no need to send speak too much, and no reason to put this one through more than it could handle. He too had been overwhelmed in the beginnings of life, a little less than this one he imagined but that was inconsequential. Finally the tiny bat spoke, a small voice befitting its frame. One that in comparison to his was similar to his voice compared to the giant ones who bore gems. Zeno chanced a look upwards for but a split second before lowering his gaze again. Like the larger ones this bat seemed to possess a stone the same color as its shell. Further confirmation that Zeno was an oddity of the cave, born from a fiery stone but possessing no shard of his own. "I hope I am not disturbing you." he continued in the soft tone he had led with, "My name is Zeno, a wanderer in this world of light and form." Poetic perhaps, but if the young gembound's experience had been as his he had just emerged from a world of thought and dreams. Know yourself "Before you try to influence others" Tags: @Pippy

The big one seems to be keeping a right eye on her despite not making eye contact; it probably won't be easy to flee unexpectedly. But she doesn't want to run off right now; it's certainly an option that will remain in the back of her mind until she knows for sure she can, in fact, trust the other. The tiny bat may choose to run but as of right now the other bat's approach to her isn't overwhelming her nor are they exactly pushing their limits to make her want to really.

Besides... She kind of wants to relax a bit to try and soothe her head's pain, it indeed isn't gone she just got distracted from it when she realised she got found. "Ow..." back trying to rub it once again with everything said and done. The silence continued on but in a relaxed manner as the small one gave a few more glances at the other who wasn't making any moves at all even though she's distracted by her sore head.

Now his attention was more on the other bat, this time out of curiosity of the other instead of being excessively guarded, the fact they appear no intention to harm him and just seems to want to get to know him was a little confusing, but he's not going to reject it either. Following their gaze allowed him also to discover their Gem making him delicately trace his wingtip across the shiny surface, it feels like it's part of his being at the same time it doesn't weird... He finally makes eye contact with the other having a somewhat questioning look while pointing at their Gem as if silently trying to ask them if they know what this is and why it's on his chest.

"O-Oh! I don't know what's going on right now anyway." She answered them honestly since she doesn't, and she's a little scared to find out by going out there and finding out, the silhouettes in the distance looked huge in comparison to the other bat too.

"O-Oh. Hi Zeno. I don't think I have a name," do they have one? No idea. When Zeno mentioned what this world is supposed to be her quizzical tilt came again, while her ears were flicking as to make sure she heard what Zeno said to her. She doesn't understand...

@Zeno

Zeno "Don't worry about lack of understanding, I have been around for around ten cycles and I still can't claim to fully understand it all." Truly he must have stumbled upon this gembound early in its life. He had met enough young ones to know the wide range of responses they took to being thrown into a new life. Compared to many this one was exceptionally skilled in language and reasoning, but as a tradeoff seemed quite a bit more timid than most. A complete turnaround from the young owl who could speak but a single word but ran for shelter under his wing. The lack of a name, as he had discovered by now, was more common than not. While he had known his title from his very first memories he was definitely among the minority. An amused thought passed him by that he might temporarily call the child "Pipsqueak" after the shape of its gem and the sound of its voice, but it might actually adopt the name without realizing its teasing nature. With the other appearing to be more relaxed Zeno chanced raising his head enough to actually hold eye contact, careful to keep the rest of his body perfectly still. Quite skittish this one. "A name will come with time and thought. My arrival here was accidental, but you are likely to be safe from notice as you sort out the basics before going out into the rest of the cave. The residents often overlook small creatures such as us." Know yourself "Before you try to influence others" Tags: @Pippy