Nestled near a large tree sat a stone made of chocolate opal. Inside, a new life was being formed. But it had become time for said life to emerge. It started with a single crack, and then another. Soon, a ton of cracks had appeared, crisscrossing along the edge. A final push, and...

A crash. The pieces of crystal shattered, revealing the creature that lay inside. They were small. Eyes slowly peeped out and looked around at this new place. It was colorful, with a lot of light. And it smelled really good, too. He slowly walked out of the safety of his cracked gem, already wanting to explore this new place. Slowly, he began to walk around, falling over occasionally, and inspecting everything he came across.

Electric Storm, Electric Storm, Electric Storm, Don't Cry Baby
Soft creamy colored paws walked lightly against the mossy flooring of Eridanus. Selena was use to Cetus and while it had more vegetation than other parts of the cave system, no part of the caves could compare to the underground jungle that Eridanus was. It was plush under her paws in an unusual but not exactly uncomfortable manner. Overall it was just a strange discomfort that came from the anxiety of being in a place so very much unlike her den. Not bad, just … different. The bobcat wasn’t entirely sure what lead her through the tunnels this way. Her course had no real direction. She had no real aim or firm goal. For now, she simply wandered through the various tunnels and caverns in such of …. What exactly was she looking for? With effort, she kept the troublesome thoughts away from her mind. She was a simple creature with simple instincts. And one of those instincts was fear of others. But recently she had arrived at the conclusion that being alone for so long was unhealthy for her. And so, she sent herself forth to find others. Preferably small others. Small, friendly, others that wouldn’t try to eat or hurt her…. With this thought in mind, she found herself traversing through a strangely ornate and thriving part of Origin. She had explored this cavern only lightly before. She was a bobcat and was more suited to forests or mountains than to the lush greenery found here. But for whatever reason, this is where her large paws had led her and who was she to argue against it? While being engulfed in such thoughts, the first minute cracking sound was missed by the feline. The following ones, however, quickly grew her attention. The small bobcat stopped, ears flicking forwards and to the sides to pin point where it was coming from. In an instant she was crouched and slowly slinking her way towards the origin of the strange sound. Soon, before her stood a strange stone of brown that glittered in various hues. It was nearly breath taking in it’s subtle shifts from brown, to green, to red, and back again before striking into a golden shimmer. But what was more surprising was what came forth from the stone after another terrifying shattering sound. A tiny bundle of greys and blacks and whites clumsily stumbled forward. Selena was reminded of her own hatching many many cycles ago. How different this creature seemed from her. 14 cycles ago, she had not felt ready to leave her safe enclosure. But this creature seemed curious about the world about it. How interesting indeed. Still crouched, the yellow and brown feline moved a bit further to watch more closely. Green eyes narrowed on the tiny creature. So small, so helpless against a world so much larger than it. Speech Thoughts Tags: @Petals Notes:

At first, the tiny lemur hadn't noticed the bobcat. He was too busy focusing on some plants he had found. He didn't notice her until he had turned around to look at something else and suddenly found himself face to face with the cat.

He stared at her for a while, a surprised look on his face, before it broke out into a grin. "Hi!" He walked closer, examining the creature. "Who are you?" He hadn't realized there were other living creatures here either! All he could see was plants and - what was that?

There was something in the distance, something that had drawn him to it. He walked closer, the cat completely forgotten, and examined it. It was a bright color, and there were bunches all together. Some were different, yet similar. While staring at them, a single word came to mind: flowers.

@Selena

Electric Storm, Electric Storm, Electric Storm, Don't Cry Baby
Stunned, Selena stood perfectly still while wide eyed facing the lemur who had suddenly turned to her. It was startling to suddenly be face to face with the creature. In truth, she had not realized just how close she had crept forward. It was rather unlike her to be so curious in another like this. Was it because of her devote decision to find others to form as a sort of company? No…. That played a part in things, yes, but that was most definitely not the full story. This creature did not send off alarm bells in her head like most creatures did. He was a tiny thing, maybe half the size she was? And just learning to walk straight. Instead of her normal instincts to fear and run, she found herself slightly interested in the creature. That interest only grew as the lemur moved away before awaiting an answer to his inquiry. Emerald eyes watched as he moved towards a patch of particularly lush flowering plants. She sat up, watching him in bemusement. Absent mindedly she scratched at her neck, making sure not to nick at the prehnite stone that rested at the base of her neck. Her paw stopped mid-scratch with claws still extended. “Oh yes, he asked me a question.” She had already forgotten it in the mental analyzation of both her and this new being’s behavior. “I am Selena. Who are you? What are you?” She couldn’t help the awkward question for her experience in other creatures had been rather limited. She had met a strange creature known only as “the painter” once as a young cub. And an elk when she had first hatched which terrified her despite his pleasant demeanor. But other than the lesser gembounds that acted as prey in the caverns, she knew very little of the other creatures that existed. Speech Thoughts Tags: @Petals Notes:

Petals stayed and observed the flowers. They were so pretty...He picked one up and held it, a finger moving along one of the edges. A...A petal. Along the petal. At that moment, he remembered the other creature here and turned to them just as she spoke.

Selena. That was who she was. And...who is he? What is he? He had no idea. He sat there for a moment, finger absentmindedly running along the petal, before it seemed to dawn on him.

"I am Petals. Petals! That is who I am. Don't know what I am, though. What are you?"

Electric Storm, Electric Storm, Electric Storm, Don't Cry Baby
A brown tuffed ear flicked as the feline cocked her head slightly at the lemur’s enthusiasm. “What you are is crazy, if I had to guess,” she thought to herself. He was interesting, though, and didn’t seem dangerous. Only to one’s patience, particularly since her experience with others had been limited up to this point. But he did seem friendly so surely there’s no harm in continuing to interact with him. Though he mostly seemed interested in the plants. Petals seemed to be a herbivore. Or, rather, seemed to not really be a carnivore. She wondered if that was a non-meat-eater thing to be so fascinated by flora. The feline arose and gingerly walked a few steps closer to him, curious about what was so interesting about the plant that had the lemur so mesmerized by them. “You – ah – you like plants, huh?” Selena wanted to mentally smack herself. That sounded about as awkward as it could. But hopefully the youngster wouldn’t notice that. Speech Thoughts Tags: @Petals Notes:

Electric Storm, Electric Storm, Electric Storm, Don't Cry Baby
For a moment, the feline simply sat and watched the strange monochrome colored creature. In her awkwardness she had completely missed that she was asked what she was in return. The moment to respond to such questions had already passed, though. Not that it seemed to make any difference to the lemur. He was seemingly entranced by the plant life around him as he twirled a flower around in his strangely dexterous front paws. It was a curious sight to see him so enthralled by the flora. It caused Selena to hesitate and think back. Was there ever a time that she too had felt so passionately about something? An ambiguous blank appeared to her mind. In fact, the most emotional time of her life she could recall was when she had first hatched and saw a strange giant creature before her. Now that she was older, she realized he wasn’t an immediate threat. At the time, though, she had been terrified of it. Indeed, fear was really the only emotion that she could recall feeling so strongly. Yet that was clearly not what Petals was feeling right now while being mesmerized by the plant. This was perhaps something to ponder more thoroughly at a later point. As it was, the silence had reached a most uncomfortable length and Selena was growing more uneasy as time passed. She shuffled up onto her paws before turning back to the lemur. “Well, I’m heading off then, I guess. Good-bye, Petals.” She paused for a moment to see if he would respond. Seeing as it was in vain, she flicked the tiny bob of a tail and moved away while her thoughts continued to linger on that strange path it had started. Speech Thoughts Tags: Notes: Selena has exited thread