Bremen It had been a fun cycle, filled to the brim with excitement and exploration. From the very beginning Bremen and his noodlekin had traveled together on adventures to every edge of the cave they could find. They'd played around in the hot water room until an awkward moment with two giant water monsters. They'd slid around in a waterfall room, which had worked out a lot better, and gotten to play hide and seek in a room full of mist. They hunted bugs in a room full of plants and ran laps around a big glowy pointy stone in another room when no one was looking. After exploring a big huge tower in that room of ruins and walking all around a windy room they decided to split up and tell each other about all the cool things they'd found after meeting up where they'd both woken up from. In that time apart Bremen had met a few young gembound like he was and had spent a good bit of time finding the fastest and sneakiest way possible to get through the different tunnels. He was a master of stealth now no doubt! No one could see him coming, and even his sneaking song was getting more and more on-key! Bremen had slept at least forty times since they'd snuck into this world and recently the lights above had decided that they were ready for sleep time too. He'd stayed up for a decent number of his own sleep cycles but it was a bit harder to find all the cool stuff in the dark. Perhaps that meant it was time to go back and rest and go on to the next world? Not sure if Kesil would be there yet or not Bremen snuck into the misty tunnel singing his sneaky stealth song so he’d stay secluded from sight. As soon as he was through he zoomed around the edge of the room, pretty sure he remembered where he was going. No sign of Kesil yet, but no sign of monsters or big adults that might try to stop his sprint for home. Finally through either innate knowledge or sheer dumb luck the little hybrid made it back to the place of broken shells. His long run had been tiring, it was definitely nap time now. Kesil wasn't here yet as far as he could see, they'd probably come soon. Surely noodlekin wouldn't mind if he took just a little sleep in his shell before they met up again, right? The little fodolhecavul let a big wide mewling yawn escape from his long beak and lowered his head to climb back into the shell. Clank. His head was barely halfway in when his horn clanked against the back of the crystal bed. A perplexed look crossed over the hybrid's face as he tried again, twisting his body to try to fit back in so he could get a nap. No luck. No matter which way he twisted the little hybrid couldn't fit back inside. "What happened?" he loudly questioned the darkness, "Why is it so small? It wasn't this small before." Thinking... thinking... thinking... "This is my voice, isn't it neat?" Tags: @Carni @Kesil

So much had happened and Carni felt guilty for letting it all carry him away for so long. Home again and with a few bones baubled to light the cave enough for feline eyes to see, the boy had turned back towards his charges finally. Except, he found the shells empty, his children gone. Panic had seized him and he'd left immediately in search of the pair, not knowing what to look for or what names to call. His sons had disappeared before he'd even gotten to welcome them.

He was a terrible father. First Morigarra, now the twins! If Eythan had just kept Mori home, none of this would have happened! Blame set, Carni had given up his search for the day and returned home once more. However, someone else had returned before him this time and the scent was familiar and new all at once.

Sure enough, as Carni returned half-bedraggled to his ledge, he found an interesting hybrid trying to worm its way into one of his son's shells. Yet, all at once, Carni recognized the strange boy and knew this to be one of his sons.

Alive and home. Already grown a cycle. He felt grief touch his chest for a moment but again, that blame landed on Eythan, the unlucky sod. Eythan had torn the family apart yet again. Carni would put it back together, again.

"It's not smaller, you're just bigger." He answered the boy's rhetorics with a glimmer of amusement. "Welcome home. Did you have fun out in the caves?" He sat regally behind the boy, smiling, knowing, wings half-folded behind him and white fur illuminated in earthy tones by the lights he'd placed around the cave.

Bremen As Bremen twisted and turned and eventually ended up upside-down with his neck supporting his body and his wings barely inside the shell another voice rang out. A twinge of apprehension hit the youth's heart as he looked up and saw the inverted image of an adult. Now, he didn't have anything against grown-ups, not at all, but he and Kesil had decided early on that the adults would probably try to take fun away so it was best to hide from them. But that didn't matter now though, did it? They'd had their fun and run around the cave and now it was nap time. Adults couldn't take away fun if they had decided to take a break from it first. The little hybrid gave a flap of his wings, pushing them out of the shell and causing him to slide down the rest of the way, his back legs and tail now flopping into the hollow opening. Yeah, that idea had been good while they were out exploring but it would stink to avoid adults forever and ever. What if they had cool stories to tell or neat ideas to try out? Bremen's eyes widened as the unknown possibilities flooded his mind, attempting to push his fatigue aside. First new idea! The adult had said that he was bigger, and that made a lot of sense. The ruins had been absolutely massive when they passed by them the first time but when he ran by them earlier they hadn't seemed quite as big as he remembered. If he was bigger, then that meant that for his point of view EVERYTHING would seem smaller, including his shell. How big would he get? Bremen tucked a wing in and rolled over to lay on his belly, now diagonally facing the strange adult. Would he get as big as them or would he grow so huge he'd be able to jump up to the top of the tower without even having to use his wings? How big would his noodlekin get? Would they be able to pretend to be giant vines back at that tree-filled room? What fun! "I bet you're right, big kitty!" He replied to the adult, shaking his head to try to fend off more of the sleepiness that was trying to let itself be known. "I always have fun out in the caves! You must be really smart to figure out that I'm bigger than I was before and that this is where I was going to sleep tonight." because after all, home was where you lie down to rest. He knew that from his mastery of language. Kesil wasn't quite as good at that, but that was okay. They had their own neat way of talking to each other with elaborate gestures. Thinking... thinking... thinking... "This is my voice, isn't it neat?" Tags: @Carni @Kesil

Lost in the static of excitement, Kesil hadn't once considered the notion of returning to their birthplace until the moment came that the twins would divide and conquer. At that point, the noodleling had lost any concept of time and became rather lost when they arrived at their designated meeting place at the starry vault's exit leading to the burial chambers. In true not-explorer fashion, they were terrible with directions and time. Since then, they had grown quite a bit. Unfortunately, however, their growth hadn't translated well to their wings. What were once over-sized sails to glide upon were now swift rudders like the fan of their tail. Perhaps they were meant to compensate for the weight of their stone at the end.

The world had shrunken beneath their feet, features that once seemed enormous only slightly less so. At least nothing was quite as staggering as they were before. Well, aside from the throne. That was still quite large. Great distances had suddenly become a swift sprint, particularly the journey through Tunnel K. Ominous and haunting mists were easy encouragement to be swift-fooded, but that could only go so far with awkward baby feet. Kesil was better now, though, stronger. A better explorer without regard for fear. They wouldn't be caught dead by their kin cowering away from adventure.

A little late to the party, they strode into Canis with all intentions to sit, pout, and wait for Bremen's arrival upon not finding them at the starry tower's peak. But the encounter to ensue was far greater than to be expected, especially as they set their sights on a familiar blue-and-white smudge. Chirruping wildly, they completely disregarded the stranger for a moment in order to take their slightly smaller brother up into their arms in a tight embrace. One squeeze later, they finally acknowledged the pale stranger. Quickly, Kesil's bird-hands began to work, gesturing. A finger pointed at Carni and then furrowed brows as they asked in sign, HE WHO?

@Carni