as if by some force, calliope's entire being began to beat and pulse with life- something she had never felt before. the stone encasing her green, shifting to purple with each beat until the pressure was too great and it finally cracked. the chrysalis shattered, leaving fragments of purple and green surrounding a brand new child.


she tried to stand, although she failed quite a few times before successfully propping herself up on her weak limbs- which were far too long and far too thin to support her efficiently. she shook out her slightly damp hair, opening her eyes to this world, which was alien to her.


she was immediately bombarded by light, color, and noise, she was overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the world around her, she wished she could be back inside of her chrysalis. at least then she had comfort and silence. she uttered a confused squeak, unsure of what she should or could do.

Increasingly concerned by the storm overhead and the lingering darkness in the caves, Kera found herself- for whatever reason -returning to Polaris once more. She felt better here-- more awake and refreshed, and she could always go for eating a fish or two.

As Kera started heading to the crystal river, she stopped as she heard a deep crack. Alarmed, she looked off elsewhere for a moment, staring, then catching sight of the newborn fawn nearby.

A new gembound? What could it do, she wondered? The puppy began edging forward towards the deer, squinting. "Hey," she began, voice soft. "Did you just come out of the rock?"

A pause, and then a realisation as Kera began to quietly concentrate, focusing as she placed her head on the ground. She had expected her magic to take effect immediately, sprouting mushrooms, but nothing happened. Her concentration must have been off as she realised one very crucial thing.

This was a stag. She thinks. She wasn't sure.

Approaching carefully, she wondered if this was the creature the bird-brothers wanted. "Do you know any birds?" she asked, unaware of how much she may confuse the fawn. "Ones that are looking for a stone, a stone that's red, yellow and white? Something of those colours?"

@Calliope

Alan was exploring Polaris. It hadn't been too long since he had hatched and he knew that only to most important of things would get him to leave this place. He loved the storm, he loved the walls and the colors, though he could see little of those. Whenever the flash of the storm illuminated the room, he tried to take in everything. The crystals, the rocks, and, of course, the Spire. Everything was amazing.

And while he was travelling, he heard a crack of a crystal shatter. Frightened, he fluttered and squeaked, but then found the source of the noise. A young deer newly hatched from their chrysalis standing near a wolf. Curious and intrigued by these new creatures, he walked forward to join them.

"Life," he whispered as he looked over the deer. "Apparently, this is the day of life. I hatched and you hatched and here we are to greet you." A warm feeling spread in his chest. The deer was pretty. He liked the deer. And the wolf...well, she didn't smell great, but her white fur was beautiful. He liked her too and she seemed kind. He wondered if the deer would be kind as well.

@Kera @Calliope

calliope's vision was unreliable at best, colors fused together and her entire scope of sight was tinted with a strange white light- certainly a side-effect of never having opened her eyes before. she crouched down a bit in apprehension as she noticed a white shape moving towards her. the voice of this shape was kind and almost maternal, but that didn't comfort calliope. had she come out of the rock? she thought for a moment before nodding, yes, but she wasn't sure what sound to make in response.


her vision cleared and she recognized that this was a wolf of some sort. the wolf appeared to be concentrating hard on something, but nothing came of it that calliope could see. maybe this was something that all animals did? she gave it a shot, closing her eyes and focusing incredibly hard although she wasn't quite sure what she was doing. nothing happened, but then again, she didn't know what should've happened.


another animal approached, a smaller one- with feathers. before it reached them, calliope answered; "a... bird? no, i don't... think?" she'd never met a bird, let alone one that was looking for some oddly colored stone. "is that bird you're looking for?" she asked, pointing with her nose toward the one ambling over.


the bird was pretty, with colors that complemented each other perfectly. he said something interesting, but calliope didn't really know how to respond, so she just nodded. "it's nice to meet both." she said, not knowing that every sentence she spoke was in broken language- though, not unintelligible.


@alan @kera

Briefly confused by the fawn's mimicing of her action-- trying to make light-mushrooms --Kera bowed her head down again, focusing quietly, curious to see if the deer could do the same thing should she be shown how.

This time-- undistracted and uninterrupted, a ring of mushrooms began to sprout around Kera. Glowing an eerie blue-green in the dim light of Polaris, they supplied some vague light in the darkness, but not a whole lot to speak of. She was content with her efforts regardless, sitting in the ring.

Her gaze flicked up to the deer again, then turned towards the approaching peacock. She bristled, briefly, watching for a moment. Most birds reminded her of Two Certain Birds, two certain birds that had caused her grief in the past.

She had to remember Dragon's words of a loyal crow and the gentle kindness of two-out-of-three of the Kings of Orion before the hair on her spine would flatten again. "It's not a bird I'm looking for," she said softly. "It's a stone."

Her gaze snapped back to the bird, briefly, as she slid down to lay in the ring of mushrooms. "You're new?" She asked warily, trying to push the memories of fighting and betrayal out of her mind.

Perhaps, if this one were new, they wouldn't be as terrible.

@Alan

Alan didn't miss the wolf's initial hostility. He wondered why she would be so scared of him. Or was it angry with him. He had only just hatched and it made him sad that she didn't like him. Or trust him. Or whatever. He wanted the dog to like him because he liked the dog.

He saw the glowing mushrooms and remembered the little trick he had done with Fira around. He shook himself a little bit as he let magic flow through his feathers. However, the light didn't come. Embarrassed, he tried to pass it off as nothing and turned to the dog.

"Yes I am new. And so is the deer. And you are too, aren't you? Maybe not as new as us, since your lights are so pretty.

He then realized that he knew no one's name. He looked at the deer and the wolf. "I am Alan. What do I call you?"

the wolf concentrated once more, this time producing bioluminescent fungi all around. calliope knelt down to examine them, not sure how they came to be in such a short amount of time. it seemed many things could come into existence in an instant- deer, mushrooms, you name it.


maybe if she tried again, calliope would be able to create something like that, too. suddenly, colonies of morels began to take shape around her hooves, their nooks and crannies shone with a glow almost too dim to notice. she looked up proudly, admiring her work.


the wolf seemed less than pleased with the bird- alan's presence. maybe she just didn't like birds, but calliope could sense nothing wrong with him- he seemed nice enough. and he was "new" as well. "i haven't seen any stones like that, either."


she thought for a moment before introducing herself. "calliope. you can call me calliope." she nodded, sure of herself and her very first introduction. for the first time she felt sure of something- her own name. "this might sound dumb, but where exactly are we?" the two others seemed to know where they were going, despite their label of "new."

@alan @kera

Kera flicked an ear, looking between the deer and the peacock for a moment. "I'm Kera," she said. "I make lights." She decided to save the titles just this once-- she did not feel like explaining the other lights and the darkness and the eyes.

She perked up a little, however, as she saw more fungus growing. "You make mushrooms!" Wide-eyed, watching the barely-glowing fungi by the fawn's hooves, she leaned over to sniff them curiously. "You should meet giggle," she added. "Giggle can make lots of mushrooms and she can make light with them, too."

Wary, but a little calmer with the sprouting mushrooms around her, Kera lowered her head back onto her front legs absently. "We're in the glow-room," she said helpfully. Kera had no idea what Polaris' name actually was, or if anyone else even knew. "There's a crystal-room, and a swamp-room, and a waterfall-room. And a bone-room."

@Alan

Alan smiled at Calliope and Kera. He liked names and he liked their names. He stood quietly for a moment, contemplating the importance of names. Now that he knew theirs, it was as if they were now tangible, living creatures, with personalities of their own. Calliope was the new one, the deer, who made mushrooms and who was confused. Kera was the older one, the wolf, who made lights and who was not trusting of him, for some reason. He wished he knew why.

When Calliope made glowing mushrooms too, Alan decided he would try again. Trying to be a little less obvious, he let the magic flow through and his feathers stood on end. He got excited as a weak glow started to appear at the tips of his feathers. It wasn't as strong as the light he had made when Fira was around, but it was good enough for him.

Alan didn't know where they were either. He looked around, trying to visualize the wolf's description of the room, but he did not see anything glowing. Why did she call this the glow room? If it were up to him, he would call it the storm room. But, of course, he did not yet know the name for the storm so he did not speak it. Instead, he thought he would try to communicate it in a different way.

"I don't know about glow-room, but I would say we are in the Room of Flashing Lights. Or maybe the loud-room. I don't see much glowing except the flashing."

@Calliope

kera. alan. she would make an effort to commit those names to memory, it'd be easy since she had an image to pair each new word with. it seemed each of the three had their own power. for kera this was creating luminescent mushrooms, while alan could literally glow. the glow was not impressive in its brightness, but calliope was in awe of how the light seemed to come from within his very being.


kera called the room they were in the "glow-room," which made sense- as she looked up she saw billions upon billions of tiny, little, star-like glimmers. alan disagreed- but he wasn't wrong either. calliope nodded, "it sure is loud in here..." she said, squinting as if the noise itself was impairing her vision.


"kera, didn't you say you were looking for... stones?" she asked, tilting her head slightly. "maybe i could help look for some..." she ducked her head, eyeing the ground carefully, she saw stones of a rather bland appearance, but those couldn't possibly be what kera was searching for- they were too nondescript.

@kera