Orion was a beautiful place.

Of course, the Cave's newest Gembound would never know that.

Their Chrysalis was easy to miss. It sat on a small ledge, dark enough in color to almost blend in. The movement it made was slightly harder to miss, jumping from side to side as the creature inside fought to get free.

And then it did. The Chrysalis cracked, and dumped its occupant onto the ground. It was a small thing, fairly ugly, too.

Not having stood before, it stumbled, stubby wings flailing this way and that as it tried to regain its balance. It tottered dangerous close to the edge of its ledge, giving an alarmed, barking cry.

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

Paige shifted within her chrysalis, awakened by an alarmed cry. Was there someone outside who needed help? If so, then she needed to get out as soon as possible. Lifting up her front paws, she struck at the walls of the chrysalis until it shattered. Tilting her head this way and that, she tried to find the source of the sound. But she couldn't see as well as she used to - a blurry blue thing encased one of her eyes. And she was looking at her eye level; the ledge was a few inches higher. Swishing her tail, she called out: "Hello! Where are you? Do you need help?"

A voice called out, and the little owl gave another barking cry. Where was it? It didn't know, not at all. "H-hello?" he finally cried out, struggling to maintain his balance. Spreading his stubby wings wide, driven by some instinct, he tilted his head this way and that.

"I don't know where I am," he responded. And how was he to know? Everything looked the same, after all. "Please, can you help me? I'm afraid I'll fall."

@Paige

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

Swiveling her ears, Paige set out in the direction the voice came from. "Hang on!" she called. "Don't worry, you'll be fine. I'm gonna find you, and you'll be perfectly safe." She could recognize that the sound came from above, so she tilted her head up, trying to see wherever the other Gembound was. But she overestimated the ledge's height, and was left gazing at Orion's sparkly ceiling, with no other creature in sight. Frustrated, she did her best to keep her voice even for the other's sake. "Just keep talking, okay? I can use the sound of your voice to help me find you."

@Galactic

The young owl was comforted by the thought that another was nearby, able to help him down if he was to fall. Not that he'd ever fallen before, but his instincts told him it would be a Very Bad Thing.

But they wanted him to speak, what did they want him to say? "Um, my name is Galactic? You can call me Gal if you want, though. What's your name?"

@Paige

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

Another spoken sentence, and she found him. Not wasting a moment, Paige bounded beneath Galactic's ledge, ready to catch him if he fell. "Okay Galactic, I'm Paige. And I'm here to save you if you fall, okay? So don't be scared." She tilted her head at the ledge. It was too narrow for her to jump up, get the owl, and then jump down. She could always ask him to jump, and then catch him, but that was way too risky. Upset that she didn't know how to save this owl, her frustration built at an exponential rate. Taking several deep breaths in order to calm herself down, she did her best to think of another idea, but nothing came up. "I have an idea on how to get you down," she called, "But I think it's too risky. If you have any ideas, go ahead and let me know, okay?"

He could hear movement nearby, and tilted his head nearly upside down attempting to follow the sound. His head tilted from side to side, attempting locate the voice as she called out to him. She was down, below him, and without thinking he leaned out to follow the sound.

"What's your-!" And then he lost his balance. The owl gave a loud screech of alarm as he began to tumble down the incline.

@Paige

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

Paige shrieked an instant after the owl did, leaping up to try and catch him. As soon as she was close enough, she lunged, trying to grab him gently in her jaws. She didn't want to hurt him by biting too hard, but she also didn't know how badly Galactic would be hurt if she allowed him to keep tumbling, so she angled her body so that if she had to let go, the owl would hopefully land on her instead of the rock-hard ground. It was awkward and uncomfortable and somewhat painful, but she had to save him!

@Galactic

As though in response to his own screech, there was an answering shriek. The tumble was painful, but not too much so, more like little impacts than anything that could truly hurt him. Which was quite lucky, with his hollow bones and young age.

Then something grabbed his wing. The owl gave a short bark of alarm, finding himself arrested to a sudden halt. A low gasp spilled from his beak, and then he slammed into something soft. The soft thing was breathing, and moving, so he assumed it to be what had been speaking to him. "Thank you," he sighed.

@Paige

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

Galactic hit her side, an impact of feathers on fur. He was surprising light, so it didn't hurt much. Gingerly, Paige nudged him off of her, doing her best to be gentle. "You're welcome," she replied, getting up. "Are you hurt anywhere?" she inquired, sniffing the air to check for blood. He'd barked/shrieked/whatever earlier, so Paige wanted to make sure he was alright. If the effort was superfluous, that would be a relief. It was always better to be safe.

Tilting her head, she took a closer look at the owl. Now that she could see him up close, it was easy to notice his unique eyes. They looked like Orion's ceiling, dark but full of tiny glittering sparkles. To make sure this wasn't just her eye, she closed the eye encased in her gem and took another look. Nope, they were just as sparkly. "Your eyes..." Paige began, unsure of how to phrase her question. "Can you see okay? Your eyes look really different from the eyes I've seen before."

@Galactic