In the very depths of Eridanus, among the leafy undergrowth, there sat a tiny, unassuming pebble of a vibrant pink. So wonderfully bright and lovely, one might have been tempted to take it, put the little pebble in a necklace or stow it away in the den. But strangely, it had rooted itself to the earth and stubbornly held its ground. But now, the little pebble was about to fulfil its purpose... and bring a new life, a tiny, tiny life, into the caves.

A small creak, a crack that was so quiet that it could hardly be heard, and the pebble split into two. Clear goop spilled out of the crack, and a moment later the two halves were pushed apart by a tiny force from within. a tiny creature spilled out onto the earth among the moss and roots, clods of dirt clinging to its sticky hide. Enormous pink eyes glanced around, perpetually open, taking in a hazy blur of greens and lights. Ferns towered overhead.

The little one could easily be mistaken for a caterpillar- its green, wrinkled body was barely half an inch in length, four tiny limbs scrambling uselessly at the earth.

But behind, the tiny thing lugged a burden- its tiny tail pulled taut by the weight of a glistening gem.

---

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

tags: here
notes: here

Nearby the little caterpup was another, considerably larger, chrysalis. This one was a perfectly rounded shard of apatite, resembling an egg. Curled up inside of it and pressed up against the walls was a snake, gigantic in comparison to the tiny fluttermouse. Slowly, slowly, it stirred from its cycle-long sleep inside, instinctively pressing up against the walls of its chrysalis. It paused in its awakening, still groggy enough to not know what this strange crystal substance they were feeling was.

Confused about what this strange substance was, but knowing it was blocking their way, it bit at it, attempting to bash their way out of the gemstone egg. The apatite was still strong enough to hold the snake in, and its attempts to free itself merely resulted in pain radiating up their fangs. The mamba hissed loudly, curling up as best it could in the limited space. She hated this prison more than ever now, hated the way it pressed in against its scales, hated everything about it. She wanted out.

Fueled by fury, the snake struck out against the chrysalis again, biting at it as hard as she could. Another failure- the apatite refused to give. She hissed, curling back up inside her prison and preparing for another strike.

Despite hazy vision, the little one managed to latch onto something- an object that glittered and shone in glistening clarity. Perhaps out of intrigue and perhaps instinct, the long little catermouse hauled his way forward, glittering blue stone becoming clearer, and larger in its vision. The other chrysalis towered over the little catermouse. Small, rounded ears pricked to a dull throbbing sound as something moved within the confines of its prison.

The gooey, sticky, dirt-covered little one finally halted, hardly able to do anything else but stare- like a moth to a flame the little one's attention was captured, and it didn't leave despite hunger that was beginning to gnaw at its wrinkled little belly.

---

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

tags: @Wrath
notes: here

The flicker of movement outside her chrysalis didn't deter her from attempting to break through- mostly because she couldn't see it. All that the young snake could register was the oppressive feel and scent of the apatite. She went for a full body slam this time, trying desperately to get out. The apatite crumbled outwards, and the little (by her species) snake went tumbling out onto the grass. The grass felt odd on her belly, tickling and pointy, but it was miles better than what she had been in earlier.

Her tongue flicked in and out instinctively as she sniffed the outside world for the first time. There was much to take in- much greenscent, like the grass under her, and there was a faint wetscent, and there was... preyscent. Where? On her former prison. But she wasn't hungry yet, and the preyscent was not very plentiful, despite being close. Still, she moved towards it, being the most interesting smell nearby.

@Flit

The world was coming into focus- the Catermouse's stubbly muzzle twitched, green nose wrinkling. They gazed upon the gigantic treasure with wonder. And then- a crack. The object crumbled, and something long writhed free- shards hitting the ground all around him. There was movement- something coming closer- something slithering into focus.

Suddenly, a serpentine face loomed into their focus, filling their view.

An instinctive squeal emerged from the little creature, as any creature would when faced with their natural predator. The catermouse turned tail and tried to bolt, but their tail was pulled taut and dragged them to a halt, its dead weight holding him where he was. He strained and pulled, scrambling away at a pitifully slow pace, uttering tiny, fearful squeaks.

---

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

tags:
notes: here

@Wrath

Tiny squeals filled the air as the small preyscent tried to get away. She suspected it wasn't doing much or getting away very fast. The snake strained to discern the exact location of the puerile preyscent, having to rely on their inaccurate sense of smell to find where it was on her old prison. Some instinct compelled her to reach outwards, not physically, but mentally. Something surged forward from some space on her head, but quickly slipped away with no effect. She gave it no mind, only continuing to search for the little catermouse.

"He-hello?" she said, her first words. She was surprised at these much more than the strange sensation that she had felt earlier. There was something within her that suggested that these words were for talking to other things- other preyscents? Why talk to preyscent when you can hunt preyscent? Maybe if preyscent was small like this one and she wasn't hungry, but..

No matter. She curled up, waiting for any reply from the preyscent.

@Flit

The youngster continued to pull and pull, and slowly but surely, he made slow progress away from the big, scary thing. Unbeknownst to him, the tiny bleats he produced gradually took shape, and became legible sounds; single-syllable words whose meaning was all too clear. "No!" he peeped. "No! No!"

Completely unaware that the 'monster' wasn't following, he made his slow, scrabbling way back to the ruins of his chrysalis, the only safe haven that he'd ever known, and hunched down amongst the ruins. But it did not rebuild, and frightened eyes could only peer in terror back towards the dark, slender shadow of the snake.

---

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

tags: @Wrath
notes: here

The snake smelled the preyscent moving, leaving a trail of scent in its wake. She listened in amusement as the small being piped up, a steady stream of "no" leaving their mouth. It was, ironically, by this noise that she was able to track it to where it wanted to go. She leaned downwards, head touching the grass as she sniffed. There was the preyscent, yes, but it was among another, sterile scent, like her prison but not. "Not hunt." she said, her knowledge of language still primitive. "Too small."

@Flit

The snake moved closer, and the little catermouse shied back, small paws clasping at the gem on the end of its tail. His small ears twitched, though, as the serpent's hisses became recognizable words, which, like the young one's own cries, bloomed a small flower of understanding in their brain. Still they cowered, although they pressed themselves less against the wall of the chrysalis a little less.

"T-too small?" he echoed, small face lifting, nose twitching. the act of understanding alone appeared to have been enough to alleviate a lot of the new-born's fear. He looked over the snake- indeed, they were much bigger, and still scary. But a little less so. "Too small... O-okay."

---

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

tags: @Wrath
notes: here