Deep in the overgrown cavern, through winding vines and mossy mats of flourishing green, there was a great, silver mushroom. It towered above all others, looked out over the cave like a mother over child. And beneath that mushroom, there was a child.

A chrysalis, to be precise, and the child lay within. A python of the purest white, no more than a vine in the jungle she would be, but at this very moment she was trapped within some crystal growth, the seed pod from which she would sprout. If she could sprout. So she tried.

Slowly, but surely, the tiny snake pushed against her container and it cracked. Her soft body seemed incapable of such a thing, but there she was, sheer force, she presumed, splitting the wretched encasement that had held her for so long. The going was slow, but little pieces of the chrysalis began to fall away, fluid dripping onto the mossy floor as the crystal gave way. It seemed like forever, but in time the little one was able to circumvent the rest of the shell and slither out the top. It was much higher than she imagined, and being unable to grasp the side of the chrysalis, her slimy body fell to the ground. Shocked and disoriented she remained, world spinning.

Khloros picked his way through the jungle, where he often game to graze. Velvet black lips brushed over the grasses; hooves pressed into the moss. He made his way carefully, quietly, a shadow in the dark, unhurried and unconcerned. His mind was elsewhere, at the moment.

Ahead he heard a soft crack, and his ears pricked up. He lifted his long head on its thin neck and listened, silent for a time; there was a quiet thud as if something had fallen. Distantly curious, he picked his way closer, lamplight eyes faintly lighting his way.

After a time he reached the fragmented remains of the chrysalis; here he again paused, lowering his head and slowly scanning the moss. He knew this--knew what hatching was, remembered his own pus-laden yellow-green stone that had kept him, like a pustule, gripped to the tunnel walls. Now he scanned slowly, looking for any sign of what had lain within.

Before long he spotted the pure white python, and slowly blinked in some surprise.

A snake, he thought; but this he did not say. Instead, he whuffled a quiet greeting, his long and matted black tail swishing behind him as he took another step forward.

"Welcome to the world, little one," he said--tone soft, even if his voice were raspy and thick.

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BRING OUT YOUR DEAD

@Desire

Something shuffled the grass, and a shadow crossed over the world. A huff of air blew against her scales, and a voice rasped above her, suddenly so loud and clear in the quiet world. Desperately the little snake attempted to right herself, flicking out her tongue to taste the air. The scent of the shadow-caster was overwhelmingly wretched. Desire twisted around to get a look at the originator of the horrid stench.

A great black shadow loomed over the tiny snake. Awed, she raised her little head to reach as high as she could, hardly reaching half the height of the being's leg. Desire's large, ruby eyes gazed up at the shadow with interest. Her tongue flicked back again, but curiosity kept her from recoiling. "H-hh...hss.." Some word tried to crawl from her mouth, ending only in a sad hiss. She tried again. "He...hes...hsss." A third attempt yielded the same result, and the exasperated python coiled up, head barely raised to look at the shadow. She tried, she really did! What was she to do?

@Khloros

Khloros watched the creature approach--fearless, then; that was--well, good, perhaps, but he knew it might also be dangerous to be so bold. Still, he lowered his head so he could nearly reach the snake--in case it wished, for some reason, to greet him.

He cast his magic out cautiously, trying to sense if it were healthy; and then he spoke again, as kindly as he could manage.

"I think you can speak," he said quietly, "Iif you continue to try. You seem like one of those who can speak."

Then, impulsively, he folded his long legs and slowly lowered himself to lay down, lowering his head to nearly the snake's level, watching it.

"You are very new. It is an honor to meet you," he added--and he meant it. It was rare for him to come across one so freshly-birthed, and still slicked with the embrace of the stone womb. And it was pretty, too, he saw in the faint ghostlight cast from his eyes.

Pale, smooth, perfect; the eyes reflected his green from twinned dark rubies, and the stone on its face, even--though rough--seemed somehow pristine.

I wonder, thought Khloros in an offhanded, absent sort of way, if it is destined for great things.

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BRING OUT YOUR DEAD

Carefully she listened to his words; her mind was new but could comprehend enough. His encouragement was without passion but it lifted her spirit. Desire raised herself up to meet his dark head as he lowered himself, close enough that she could feel his breath on her slick body. She leaned towards him, thin body trembling as she stretched her infant muscles.

Again he spoke, and the young python waved back and forth happily. She swayed forward uncontrollably, practically slamming into his nose. "Hhhhappy t-to meet you," she swung backward, then forward again. "Happy to meet you," she rasped, mimicking his voice as she grasped the full meaning of the words. As the little snake swung back, she lost her balance, landing with a little thump on the moss. "Aah!" came a muffled yell, a little choked, as she writhed and wriggled until she righted herself. Backwards. She slithered around to face the horse again. "Ah," she squeaked.

@Khloros

Khloros watched with the faintest twinge of good-natured amusement as the little snake tried to balance herself. He waited patiently for her to form her words, and then--oh, she'd fallen.

He pricked up his ears, snuffling softly, peering at her.

"You are all right," he declared, rather than asking if she were; and then he looked her over, pondering. "And you are quite small. There are many things here that are larger, and may try to eat you-... Do you know what eating is?" he rasped.

He did not know what snakes ate, but it was probably not grass, at least. However, there were many things that would eat the snake, so it might be well to explain this to the tiny thing.

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BRING OUT YOUR DEAD

@Desire

The stallion's words brought reassurance; Desire was falling all over the place, and the disorientation was not a kind welcome to the world, though, she had yet to realize what a kind welcome this really was.

The little snake tilted her head to one side as he spoke, words reverberating off her bones and slowly registering in her mind. "Y-you are much larger," she rasped. His question was met with a pause, Desire looking down at the ground in a search for answers. "No. W-hhhat is "eating?"" Her ruby eyes returned to him, the great shadow. Would he "eat" her? What creatures "eating"? Desire stared at him a moment. "Are you a c-creature that eating? What creature eat me...?"

@Khloros

"It is when you put things into your mouth, and swallow them down." Khloros was thinking over this, trying to simplify it as much as possible for the new hatchling. "Some eat grass, or insects, or other living beings, though you are not meant to eat those who can speak. But some might," he warned. "I do not know what snakes eat. Perhaps beetles, worms, fish, or nuts."

This was his best guess, and he peered at the snake closely. "Most of us, too, hold power within to defend ourselves against being eaten... or to find things to eat."

All that we are revolves around life and death.

"Perhaps you have a power, too."

How she could find it, though--and how quickly--of that he was unsure.

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BRING OUT YOUR DEAD

@Desire

The little snake listened close. Grass, insects, other living things. A snake? A snake. Beetles, worms, fish, nuts. She catalogued each word, saving it, hoping to grasp the meaning soon.

A power?
I don't want to be eaten, she thought, imagining the inside of herself or Khloros to be like the chrysalis - somehing she would have to escape from. Again. She wanted to eat - something, whatever she was supposed to eat. Beetles, worms...what was the rest of it? Around her was all green, soft and bright. Her great red eyes scanned the cave, or what little she could see of it. She imagined a "beetle" or "worm" appearing before her, to be eaten, though she left a blank spot in her mind for whatever it should look like. She thought perhaps a beetle must be like a grass or an insect. She looked back to Khloros. "What is a beetle like? Are you a beetle?" No, no. That couldn't be right. "No," she decided, "you are a shadow. Too big to eat. Where is a grass or beetle?"

@Dark

Khloros slowly looked around. He extended his long, thin neck to touch his pus-streaked muzzle off a blade of grass.

"This, is grass," he explained. And then, in a lurch of motion, he was standing, lifting, and turning, his long legs carrying him a bit into the ferns. He nosed around, for a few moments, looking for an insect of some kind. He quickly realized that his eyes alone would not be enough, and he cast out his power, feeling for little bundles of tiny life in motion.

He found one easily enough, leaning down and closing soft horse-lips over a small bug, a red beetle, which he picked up.

It might be toxic, but Khloros didn't know that.

He deposited it, instead, before the little snake--after squeezing it enough to damage the thing's body. He considered that he might have left a touch of his illness on it, and resolved to keep watch, and quickly cleanse the snake, drawing his myriad invisible "friends" back to himself, should she eat it.

"And this is a beetle. I don't know if you will are meant to eat this, or not."

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BRING OUT YOUR DEAD

@Desire