Greenery encompasses most of Eridanus, acting as a nice refresher from the dull grey of the stony passages to the eyes for any who wander into this part of the tunnels. A soft carpet of moss greeted any visitor to the area. Sounds of streams and slightly shifting leaves replaced the hard clicks of stone against stone. The change from dull greys to a sea of greens and browns is nearly enough to stun most coming upon it. So it comes as no surprise that a small stone egg has been able to lay safely hidden amongst the underground jungle.

Off to the side, a stone of milky white with vibrant greens snaking through it laod hidden next to a particularly large fern plant. The greens of the hard-shell blend in with the surrounds, masking it from those would wish it any harm. Plants cradled the egg and formed a natural nest as it’s bed. Quietly it rested in it’s little personal Garden of Eden, growing and waiting until the perfect moment.

Almost without warning, the stone one day shuddered. A loud crack was heard as a brown little cloven hoof kicked from the newly formed hole in the egg’s side. A surprised cry followed as the hoof quickly tried to slip back inside. But it was too late. Once broken, the egg could no longer be fixed. The shifting only caused the cracks to grow faster, soon running along all the edges of the agate’s surface.

Within minutes the stone shattered. Pieces of stone shards fell to the ground or dusted on top of the strange creature left in it’s wake. She shook her head, sneezing a bit at the resulting dust which caused large narrow ears to flop about wildly. Dark eyes blinked and widened, taking in the new sights as the springbok calf sat curled up along the stone crumbles. Light, colors, sounds. All were new and bombarded her senses. All she had known was darkness and silence. Suddenly without warning a new world was opened up to her. It was so much to take in all at once.

It was … It was beautiful.

Rift was sitting among the branches of the trees, dozing lazily. Warm light pressed onto his brown coat and sunk into his skin, nourishing his body in the same way a mouse would feed his body. He had learned he could do this a little while ago and found himself loving it more then eating or drinking ever had. He felt closer to the forest, a part of the plants he called his friends. He had done nothing else for the past days but take in light and use the energy to help the forest flourish. He liked to think that Eridanus was more beautiful and healthy then ever before, thanks to his care.

But then a loud crack disturbed his rest. His good ear twitched as his eyes blinked open and he raised his head from the surface of the wood. He looked down, but could not see anything beyond the undergrowth on the forest floor. He was about to rest his head back, deciding that it was nothing, when there were more cracks and a thump as something his the floor. This time, he rose to his paws, needing to go investigate. He turned and carefully made his way down the tree until he was standing in the soft earth, bushes and ferns brushing his pelt. Curious, he raised his nose to sniff the air and caught an unfamiliar scent. A friend? An enemy? No, there was a scent there that he did recognize. Newness. Life. A few times before he had observed the celebration of a hatching. This was a child just come out of their shell.

Now very excited, he followed the scent through the forest until he came across a new calf staring with wonder at the trees around it. His tail held high with happiness, he approached slowly, a purr rumbling deep in his chest. "Hello!"


___________________________________________________________

"And if it ever starts to feel sad little fang"
Remember that your gifts are your gain.

tags: @Enka
notes: here

For a time, the springbok simply rested on her patch of moss and stone while taking in all of the new sights and sounds and smells. A new world had almost instantly opened up and it took her new mind a while to process and sort it all out. One thought remained with her though, a sense of serenity. The feeling of soft moss and fallen leaves, this sound of gently moving water, this world of green and brown hues … this was her nirvana.

After a moment, the instinct to stand came to her brain. Slowly long gangly legs stretched out and found their place beneath her. All at once she was hoisted upwards with a slight wobble. Another cry of surprise resounded followed by a tiny giggle. There was something about the quick movement that felt nice to her. It felt right being up on all fours instead of lying down but there was something else too. Something she couldn’t quite put her finger on that she should do….

A low rumble came to her ears followed by a gentle voice. Neither were malicious, just different. Different than the sounds of the leaves brushing each other or the waters churning nearby. A new scent as well followed it. Ears and then head spun around to face the newcomer. He was brown, similar to her but her coat was because of newness while his deep color had been grown into. There were other similarities between them like the dark eye markings and pale belly. But there were much more differences than similarities between the two.

Again, something new! Sometimes strange and wonderful and exciting and new! In her excitement she found her legs had sprung her up into the air. The skin flap along her rump unfurled in a puffy white. For a moment she seemed to hover in the air before landing shakily from her unexpected pronk in a fit of giggles.

That was it! That was what she should be doing to celebrate the wonders around her! A spring, a jump, a pronk! She lept again, landing more assuredly this time though her legs still splayed more than that of an adult.

It was at that time she remembered that the other had made a sound. Well, two strange sounds. One was utterly unfamiliar to her, foreign but still nice. The other sounded more possible.

“Hello,” she repeated, giggling slightly at the dip in tone at the “lo” part of the word.

Tags: @Rift
Notes:

Rift was startled when the little thing jumped into the air. For a second, he thought that he had startled it, but then it did it again, giggling happily. He was confused. Why did jumping make it happy? He only jumped when he was scared, but he was curious as to why it made the other so happy.

Deciding to test it out, he gave a small hope himself. It wasn't exactly fun, no was it really natural to him. Sure, he jumped from branch to branch, but that was just to get him places sometimes. He much preferred to walk. He tilted his head at the new hatchling and asked, "What are you doing that for? Do you like jumping?"

He then realized that he was probably being rude. He remembered how awkward he was when he had attended Sebastian's hatch, cycles ago. He still wasn't any better at handling children, but they still made him happy. So he thought he should give himself another chance. He smiled and leaned down, impressed that it was able to walk so soon. "My name is Rift! Do you have a name yet? Or...do you even understand what I'm saying?"


___________________________________________________________

"And if it ever starts to feel sad little fang"
Remember that your gifts are your gain.

tags: @Enka
notes: here

The springbok blinked, looking over the other creature with a slightly amused expression. From what she could tell, the other seemed confused by something and had a funny expression on it’s face. It amused her for some reason that he didn’t seem to understand the simple joy in jumping. Or simply the joy in being.

“I dunno. I guess I like it. I haven’t done it before. But it feels right. It feels fun!” A full bay of laughter followed and she sprang into the air once more, her head bobbing up and down with the moment. She gave three short hops until she had twirled in a circle, giggling until she found herself slightly winded.

While calming down and catching her breath, she caught the second question from the creature known as Rift. A name … a name. This question seemed important for some reason. She scrunched up her face, thinking hard to try to formulate some sort of answer. What was the correct answer? She wasn’t sure. But she wanted to respond with something. She couldn’t keep her new friend waiting, that wasn’t nice. She wasn’t sure why it wasn’t nice, she just knew it wasn’t.

“My name … my name ….” Long ears wiggled in fierce concentration.

Then her head suddenly sprang up, her agate horn shimmering in the light from the sudden movement. A strange thought came to her mind. Like before, it just felt right though she didn’t know why.

“My name is Enka. I think. Yeah, Enka.” She looked up at Rift’s face, hoping that this was indeed the correct answer.

Tags: @Rift
Notes:

Rift watched the little creature curiously as it continued to hop. It felt right to her and it was fun. Well, he could accept that. They were different creatures so they were bound to have differences in what they found natural. For him, stretching in the sun was natural. Grooming his pelt was natural. Growing plants and nurturing them was natural. To this little one, jumping was natural. That was all good.

As she deliberated on what her name was, Rift waited patiently, curling his tail politely around his paws. He wondered what kind of name she'd have. Every creature he'd met had different names and it was so interesting to always be hearing more. When she spoke hers, his ear perked up and he smiled from ear to ear. "That's a lovely name!"

He sprung to his feet and pawed at the ground happily. "Welcome to the world, Enka!" It was always an honor to welcome a new gembound to the world, especially one that was so friendly. In his excitement, he didn't notice that he was sending magic into the ground and a moment later, a bunch of flowers sprung out of the ground all around them, all different colors and shapes.


___________________________________________________________

"And if it ever starts to feel sad little fang"
Remember that your gifts are your gain.

tags: @Enka
notes: here

Enka beamed at Rift’s words, happy she seemed to have met his approval. A soft bellow resounded in glee that she answered correctly and at the greeting she gave. While she didn’t fully understand what was occurring or it’s significance, she knew that today was an important day for her. But that could be every day. Was every day so amazing as this? What an amazing world she had entered now that her cage had been opened.

Speaking of amazing, something else amazing happened. Just above her hooves tickled with sudden movement. She tilted her head sideways and downwards to better see. A slight gasp escaped her jaws as suddenly the area was covered with an array of colors and shapes. The sudden abiogenesis was astonishing. Blues and purples and whites and pinks and greens and yellows. Stars and clovers and ovals and bulbs. It was a tiny garden at her hooves that came to greet her much like Rift had done.

“Oh wow….” she breathed. Then she turned her dark eyes back to the feline, still filled with awe as though she had seen a small miracle. “Do they do that often here?

Such a magical world this place was. Head bent down once more and almost delicately she plucked one of the flowers. For a moment the yellow plant was held in her mouth, before swallowed. It tasted delightful! Soft hints of texture and taste engulfed her sense of taste. “Yummy!”

Again she plucked at the new plants, though this time with more enthusiasm than before. She was certain they would taste just as wonderfully as the first one did. But then she remembered her knew friend. He was a bit different than him, but he was similar enough. They were both brown, they both talked, they were both friends. She turned her head towards him, holding a couple of blue plants this time. "Want some?"

Tag: @Rift
Notes:

Rift looked down and was both surprised and happy to see a garden of flowers spring from the ground. With a happy purr, he lowered himself into the plants and began to roll around playfully, rubbing his back against the soft earth and his pelt along the flowers as they waved joyously. The scents and feelings of the flowers around him entered his senses and he grinned, his purr loud and rumbling.

After a few moments, he heard Enka ask him a question. He rolled over so that he was on his stomach and looked at his young friend. He looked over the flowers and plants, wondering if he should eat. It was a concept that would have once disgusted him, eating those that he called friend, but now he knew better. The plants were friends, sure, but not in the same way that Sebastian was a friend, or Enka was a friend. They were part of a circle that he could not escape. Consuming plants was part of that circle.

But he wasn't particularly hungry. He had just spent his time relaxing and taking in light energy instead. He shook his head, although he craved sweet fruits that they might find later. "No thanks, I'm not hungry. Besides," his eyes sparkled as he jumped back to his feet, "there's so many other delicious things in the forest. Sweet berries, juicy tomatoes, wild mustard and dandelions. Eridanus is filled to the brim with yummy foods!" He gave a little hop with happiness. "Do you wanna see and try some of them?"


___________________________________________________________

"Speech looks like this."
Thoughts look like this.

tags: @Enka
notes:

As the springbok chewed at the flower, she watched as the feline laid down on the bed of flowers. A low sound vibrated from nearby. Long narrow ears swung around until she realized that the sound was coming from Rift. It was strange, but not intimidating in the least. In fact, it was kind of calming in a strange sense, though far different than the sounds she could make. At least, she didn’t think she could make that sound. Maybe she would have to try sometime to see?

Unlike most, Rift’s response about not being hungry at being offered a plant to eat didn’t seem unusual. Enka was only recently hatched, after all. She knew she ate plants, so it was a natural assumption to think that the feline would be able to as well. She simply nodded her head, eating at the flowers contently.

The chewing motion slowed, though, as the cougar began to list off the various items that grew nearby. Each one sounded tastier than the next. She couldn’t even begin to imagine what a tomato of a mustard looked like, let alone what they would taste like. But the slight watering in her mouth made her very curious. Apparently hatching made for a rather hungry calf.

Enka nodded her head very excitedly. Her ears once more danced about, trying in vain to keep up with the bobbing of her head. It was nearly a miracle they didn’t brush up and get hurt against the agate horn that rested in the center of her forehead with it’s point at the top.

“Yes yes Rift! I wanna try them all!” Even her tail flickered at this, the black tip visible past the white of her rump.

Tag: @rift
Note:

Rift purred with happiness and swiveled himself. He raised his nose and sniffed the air, immediately catching a nearby sweet scent. Wild berries would be a good introduction to forest fruits, surely! Sweet and small, a nice little tasty snack or a meal if one at a lot.

He looked back at Enka, smiling widely. "I can smell some this way, follow me!" He jumped forward, trying to go slow so that the newborn would be able to keep up. He knew the forest well at this point and sometimes found himself running through it a bit fast.

It didn't take them long to arrive at a large area of berry bushes scattered around. He motioned with his tail for Enka to come close. "Some berries you don't want to eat. In general, I've found that berries that are very round and red will be bad. However," he stepped forward and nosed a collection of blackberry and raspberry bushes, "These are delicious!" He nipped off a few and quickly opened up magic to flood his body. His stomach squirmed for a moment before it fell still. Now he would be able to eat safely for a little while. The sweet juices of the blackberry coated his tongue as he swallowed and he quickly dived in for more, making sure to leave good room for Enka.

___________________________________________________________

"Speech looks like this."
Thoughts look like this.

tags: @Enka
notes: