A kitten-sized orange globe sat rooted to the ground in the Tower in Orion. Inside, a young feline was ready to be born, though there was no outward indication of such. Except… wait… there was a hairline crack making its way across the surface of the stone, slowly, slowly… And then more! More cracks! Bigger cracks! The sound of shattering stone was echoing in the small room at the top of the Tower. And anyone down in the streets of Orion that were close enough could hear the noise. A new Gembound was coming into the world! Orange shrapnel exploded outward, pelting the walls of the Tower. The kitten was free!

The black kitten with the yellow-orange eyes stood on wobbly legs, looking around curiously. He was covered in amniotic fluid, the sticky liquid that had kept him properly suspended inside his chrysalis. His tail waved back and forth in agitation as he kept his eyes open for anyone that might appear and anything that might happen. But so far, all was quiet. He eventually sat down, and out of instinct, began to lick himself, attempting to clean the fluid from his paws. The taste left something to be desired, but he was determined to have clean paws, at least! He kept his ears alert while cleaning, however, just in case anyone should appear.

If there was anything Felina liked more than hunting mice and catching fish, it was learning about this cave she was born in. Despite her eight cycles of life, she was still very much a curious little female bobcat kitten deep down inside. Besides, learning new things was just plain fun!

Her search for knowledge led her to Orion. The sight of colorful, twinkling crystals was the first thing she saw. They were so very pretty and they were everywhere! She walked a few more steps into the sparkling room.

An almost-musical sound was heard by the runty female bobcat's tufted ears. Felina looked for the source of the sound. It was coming from an immensely tall structure. That's when she raised her eyes upward to one of the many holes in the sparkly thing.

There were so many shiny shards falling downward, that Felina took several steps back. She worried about the cause of the crystalline shower. She called upward, her voice full of concern: "Hey! Is someone up there? Are you OK?"

Felina wasn't sure if she'd be answered or not, so she instinctively prepared to climb upward. First, she walked right to the very base of the structure. She then unsheathed her claws, ready to ascend if she'd have to render aid to whoever...or whatever...was way up and inside the hole the brightly-colored shards came from.

@shade

Shade had moved from one paw to the other, and was halfway done cleaning it when he heard a faint sound down below. One ear twitched and he paused mid-lick, tongue sticking out of his mouth. He sat frozen for a moment, but when there were no other sounds, he continued cleaning. Still, some part of him was curious, so after finishing his cleaning, he bent down, stretched out his front legs, put his butt up into the air, and shook, trying to get off as much liquid as possible. It wasn’t like water, so it didn’t go flying off in droplets, but some did come off, which was better than none.

Afterwards, he stood up again properly, and looked around the room, trying to find some way out. There was an archway to his right, so he went through it — and found himself at the top of a stairway. Being a kitten, the stairs were pretty big. He went to the edge of the first step and peered over the side, down to the second step below him. It seemed pretty far… but he was sure he could make it if he was careful. He was confident in himself.

Unfortunately, he didn’t manage to keep his balance even with all his confidence. He hopped down to the step below him with too much forward momentum, landing on his front paws too heavily, and booped his face into the ground, falling forward and rolling head over heels onto his back. He stared up at the starry crystal ceiling, feeling very annoyed.

@Felina

Felina didn't receive a reply to her query. Concern quickly became worry. She decided to start climbing.

Just as she was trying to dig her foreclaws into the wall to ascend upward, she heard a few soft thumping sounds. They were coming from a tall, wide archway just a couple of feet from her. Was someone leaving the structure?

Worst than that...was a possible threat emerging from the glittery building? She really hated fighting, but she would if there was no other way. With tight muscles and nerves, she would attempt to pounce upon...whatever or whoever...she might face.

Felina approached the steps as close as she dared...then came to a sudden stop. Her unsheathed claws were just sharp enough to dig into the ground to halt her forward progress. Was that a kitten...and a still-slightly-damp-looking one at that?

The little cat smelled male. If Felina wasn't so concerned about the kitten's condition, the position of his body would probably be quite humorous. She backed up just enough to give herself and the kitten a bit of space between the two of them.

"What happened to you?", Felina asked the smaller male cat. She glanced at the position of his body. "Do you need help to stand?"

He was literally just a newborn. Could he even talk yet? Regardless, she'd *try* to help him anyway.

That's when she tried to cast "pebblequake" for the very first time. Not yet realizing she just attempted magic, her only intention was to try to give the kitten something to put his four feet on. Something she hoped that even his tiny dewclaws (these are the type of claws that *some*...not *all*... clawed/taloned animals might be born/hatched with, even in the very first seconds of life...they *usually* become regular claws and/or talons) might be able to get a firm grasp on.

Now, all Felina could do was wait, hoping the little male cat might be able to stand up. If not, she'd *try* to help him.

@shade

Shade’s pupils grew large and he quickly moved his head around upside-down until he located the source of the noises he was hearing. He could not understand what she was saying, but he could read the concern in her expression. Still, he didn’t know who she was or what she was doing there, looking at him, so he kept the tension in his body and attempted to scramble to his paws. That was when the world started to shake. It was only a small tremor, but it was right underneath him and he was a tiny kitten, so the quake shook his tiny body side to side an awful lot. He let out a surprised wail and flipped over onto his paws, his belly low to the ground and he looked about in fright.

Finally, the shaking stopped, and he hopped off the step he’d been on, quickly scrambling down the rest of the stairs and away from the source of the earthquake (which he didn’t know was actually the female cat over there). He spun to face the stairs, looking at them warily, tail slashing through the air. What had that been?

@Felina

Felina heard a kittenish wail as she observed the little black male cat get up on his four paws. Despite being sterile, due to prematurely shattering her womb-like crystal, the motherly nurturer inside her approached closer to the black kitten. His slashing tail might indicate...consternation? Was something wrong? Did *she* do something wrong?

"Are you OK?", Felina asked, deeply concerned about how the kitten felt. A thought entered her head: Had a bunch of pebbles appeared out of nowhere? And how they were shaking...and then just...stopped! Fortunately, the shaking was mild and lasted only a moment or two. Still, she wanted to understand what just happened.

Felina would have to figure it out later. Right now, all she was worried about was if the male kitten was safe and healthy. She saw that he seemed to want to leave, but her conscience was still bothering her.

"Hey", she said in a soft and kind voice, "I won't stop you from leaving, if that's what you want to do...but...at least tell me if you're OK first? Please?"

Shade had pretty much forgotten about the other cat, until she started making weird mouth-noises again. He stared at her with large eyes, pupils still dilated with irritation and a little bit of fear. But her mouth-noises seemed friendly and calming, so he decided he didn’t need to be so bothered anymore. He relaxed the tension in his muscles and forgot about the strange earthquake. Instead, he rose to his paws and made his way on clumsy, wobbly baby legs to the female, sniffing at her curiously. She seemed harmless, and he, being a newborn, had no idea that not all creatures were necessarily kind. He had no reason to distrust her.

He kept some amount of distance between them, smelling her, but not touching her with his nose. He let out a shy kitten mew, studying her with his yellow-orange eyes. Was she nice. Was she… were they related? In his mind, that made some sense. He was a cat, and she was a cat. He knew that by instinct. So… So they must be related. He didn’t know what mothers were because he’d come from a chrysalis that had been created through some Magical Force. But he thought they must be related somehow. He cocked his head at her in curiosity, meowing a wordless question. Who are you?

EDITING AN ENDING.

But the female cat had decided not to answer him. He waited around for a while to see if she would, but she seemed disinterested in him now. Feeling a bit miffed and deciding that they couldn't possibly be related now, he walked off with his tail in the air.

[Exit Shade]

@Felina