It had been a while since she'd been in the swamps of Cetus. The wound the golem had inflicted on her chest had healed now and she lounged comfortably in her nest of smooth stone. Wyvern was curled up beside her, still weak from hatching, but there were tiny buds all over its pale skin that announced the arrival of feathers soon. She had been growing rapidly and Asimona was sure she wouldn't have to protect her from the cold for much longer.

The feeling of curling up against her daughter, a wing over the top of her to protect her from the cold aura she eminated, sharing the warmth in her skin, it was all oddly familiar, but she couldn't remember where she had felt it before. She pushed it away as simply the love of a mother.

Her eyes wandered from her baby to the chrysalis that was still perched where she had left it a couple of weeks ago. She wondered if the hybrid was going to be leaving its shell soon, if its recovery was almost complete. She was worried that it would never hatch, just as her third child had not come out of its shell either. She was too far away to reach it, so she simply held out a claw and pushed a smidge of magicka through the tip. It was a small wave of energy, not big enough to damage anything, but just to nudge at the chrysalis, as if asking if the creature inside was still there.

"Can you hear their voice?"
"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

tags: @Eythan
notes:

As it turned out, all that was needed to stir Eythan was a single nudge. He had been drifting, coasting on the waves of unconsciousness for the whole of the two weeks. Withdrawing had put him in a state he had not known for a long time — the aimless stupor of one's chrysalis. Time smudged together as his thoughts did, and he fell asleep. When magicka was thrown his way, sending his shell onto its side, he was jarred awake.

Bright eyes pierced through the dark of the chrysalis, then candy-like horns. An incandescent glow stole through the shell, then Eythan's body as he hurtled forth. Slick and stifling some choking on amniotic membrane, the gryphon whirled about. He had expected the sticky cool of the swamp, the mud about his paws; instead, there was crisp coolness. Stray clumps of snow clung to his surroundings, but they were still distinctly Pisces's. His hackles bristled slightly, prepared to fight or to flee. This was not where he had fallen. Absently, he noticed that there was no pain and destruction in his flesh. All of his scars were healed and he appeared perfectly new once again. Eythan's gaze found the large silver dragon from before, and he tensed a little further. He did not know them, and did not trust them — even if they had apparently kept his chrysalis safe.

He relaxed somewhat, then more as he found a small, prone form beneath the oddly-fitting dragon, pink and shivering. Ugly like a newborn bird— ah, wait. His ears flickered back, and all of his posture immediately flitted to that of an old friend: relaxed, open, kind. "Thank you," Eythan began, to the dragon, then looked down at the neonate, "is this your kid?" How odd... they had emerged with no feathers or down to speak of. He hadn't seen that before in any of the newly emerged Gembound he had encountered, especially not of the avian sort. Was it sick? Regardless, even if this child wasn't directly from the dragon's stone or magicka, it was nice to know that there was someone around to care for it and keep it warm. 'If only I had—' he thought, furrowing his brow at his paws, dismissing such a disgusting thought.

Suddenly, he remembered the Collector's contract. Oh, when he had a word with that son of a— no, now wasn't the time to be rude. He could fly back to Cetus; if they were all still here and the Caves were calm, the golem must have been defeated, somehow. "My name's Eythan. What's yours?"

@Asimona

The movement, magic, and sound slowly roused Wyvern from her light sleeping. She was still very cold, but being so close to her mother was comforting. And she was getting used to the cold a little by now. Asimona told her that she'd have feathers soon so keep her warm and she trusted her mother.

She lifted her head, blinking her eyes blearily as the world came into focus. For a moment she looked up at the dragon, wondering if it had been her to make that noise. But no, Asimona's voice was much smoother more feminine. She turned her head and laid eyes on Eythan. Yes, she had heard the name, now that she thought about it. "Eythan." Her voice was beautiful, a chiming, melodic voice that was smooth as still water. She wanted to get up and inspect him closer but she was too far away and she didn't want to get out from her warm spot. She cocked her head and watched him with calm, curious eyes.

Asimona was honestly a little surprised when the chrysalis actually broke. For a brief, terrifying second, she feared she had been the one to break it and she had killed the one inside. But then, a moment later, the hybrid was tumbling out, choking on the fluid. She sighed with relief. He was okay. In fact, he looked almost as well as he did before the fight.

She was about to get up and introduce herself when she saw his posture. The stiffness, the mistrust in his gaze, the raising fur. One of her wings curled protectively over her baby, as if instinctively. If he was going to turn out to be a threat, she would protect her with her life.

But, it seemed, the danger was soon passed. She let out a breath she was holding and gave a small smile. "Yes. This is Wyvern." She leaned over and gave her child a small bump with the end of her muzzle as she awoke from her own sleep. "I have three. Abeni is off somewhere, hunting perhaps, and the other...the other hasn't arrived yet." She glanced towards the Onyx crystal that had been growing in the corner of her nest. A flicker of conern passed through her eyes but it was gone an instant later. This was not the time for such things.

"I'm Asimona. Thank you for helping me back there...and I'm sorry I couldn't help you more. I didn't want your chrysalis sitting in the middle of the swamp if there were more golems around."

"Can you hear their voice?"
"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

tags: @Eythan
notes:

Okay, if Eythan didn't think that the little baby bird was adorable, he sure did now, as they repeated his name in a chiming voice. His expression softened immediately and smiled, "hello, Wyvern!" Somehow, the gryphon had grown to have quite the soft spot for neonates, and this little one reminded him quite a bit of the tiny fluff Aure had been upon hatching. Ah, fuck. Aure, Eythan's mind interjected. How long had he been out? His bright gaze flickered over to the onyx in the corner of the den, and before he could think, he was chattering: "my father's first three children had a late-bloomer too, I think. Tahlia ended up being her name, if I remember right? She was a few cycles late but came out eventually."

His beak clicked shut, and he looked away somewhat shyly. "Ah, f---," right, there's a baby here, "that's not that encouraging, is it?"

Aaaanyways... "No, dude, thank you. I didn't expect to, uh, get punched and nearly die." Y'know, because what else do you have to deal with on a Tuesday night? Eythan thought for a moment, carefully rocking back onto his haunches. He had to ask with a slight note of urgency, "is the golem dead, at least? I need to get a piece of it for--- someone."

@Asimona

When Eythan said her name a small smile broke across her face and she let out a strange, but lovely little sound, similar to the coo of a dove. She wiggled herself forward so she could see better and put her head down on Asimona's front leg. Now she was warm and still curled up next to her but she could see Eythan and she was closer. She felt her mother give her a soft nuzzle and she pressed back against her in return for a moment before settling down again, her tiny featherless head watching Eythan.

He was very strange but then again she was very strange. Asimona had told her that she was half her and half something else. Perhaps Eythan was two different halves as well. As she watched him she tried to divine what they were. Bird, of course, she had the same big wings although his had lots of feathers and hers didn't. Asimona had told her that her feathers would grow in. Also a beak. Bird. But the rest she wasn't sure. Not a dragon, dragon's didn't have that pattern. Maybe a big fire thing. Fire was that color, at least that's what Asimona said.

She imagined a great many things that Eythan could be, very few of them getting anywhere close to what he actually was. She imagined something similar to Abeni but with the same gold and black fur and a beard. She imagined giant stone monsters shining like the lights. Huge birds that soared high in the sky. A fantastic illusion and one that kept her quiet for now.

Asimona gave a small smile. It actually was a little comforting to know that late hatches could still survive. She didn't want to ask about Tahlia, though. She didn't want to ask if they were okay in the end. Better to hope in ignorance. "No, it's fine. If others can do it then I'm sure mine will be fine." Still, she couldn't help glancing at the onyx stone again.

She waved a claw somewhat dismissively. "No, it's okay. The golem attacked me first. I couldn't let you die because I couldn't beat it." Again, guilt. Because, despite being a very large dragon with ice breath and other spells, she couldn't get the golem to stay down without help. She felt a prickle on her neck and focused on the weight of Wyvern on her leg. This was not the time for one of them to make a surprise appearance.

She threw her thoughts back to the fight. "Yeah, there was someone else there, some kind of monkey. He figured out how to destroy it. We left it there, it's just a pile of rocks now." She wasn't sure what in the caves Eythan needed from it but she didn't want him going back alone. It was that mother's instinct that made her frown. "If you're going to go back, I'll go with you. There could be other golems around."

"Can you hear their voice?"
"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

tags: @Eythan
notes:

Okay, fuck, he was absolutely smitten with Wyvern --- curse his soft spot for babies. Where had it even come from?! (Aure, probably.) It wasn't too logical to be against actually liking children, though, he supposed. Some Gembound would likely be repulsed by a hair- and featherless lump, but Eythan thought she was just adorable. And the little sounds she made. Ugh, too cute. The little one seemed dead set on analyzing every bit of his body, staring with wide eyes. Fair, given the child had likely never seen a gryphon before. Hell, the only others he had seen were either related to him or Amras.

So, instead he looked back up at Asimona. "They'll come, eventually," Eythan spared a glance to the onyx in question. Was Tahlia about, still? Or was she lying down somewhere, halfway comatose and sleepy? The wyvern always had an uncanny ability to just sleep anywhere, as little as he knew her. She was probably fine. Aside from some, the Vita lineage tended to live through everything thrown at them. At one point, Aza'zel had survived half of Canis collapsing, if Eythan remembered the story correctly. Fun. And, now he had survived having half of his flesh broken off and being punched by a super-charged golem. Way to add to the legacy.

"It's not your fault the golem was a massive cu---" wait, child alert, "chunk of dirt." Good save. "And I was being dumb when I decided to turn myself into stone and expect to not get hit while I did it." Eythan's ears pricked forth at the mention of another being present. A monkey of sorts? The creature must not have been around before he went under. How had he known how to defeat the golem? Without outside information from the Collector, the hybrid wasn't sure he could have figured out the solution. "That's weird. Did he have a name or something? Did he take anything?"

Asimona voiced her worries about going alone, and the gryphon shook his head. "I appreciate it, homie, but you've got a cute little lump to take care of and keep warm. I promise I won't do anything dumb and fly out as soon as things start to go south." Things went south quickly, as they often did in these damn caves. With the super-charged golem down for the count, though, it really should be alright. Eythan was nimble and agile enough to avoid any normal golems, even if he was carrying a large rock.

"I lived in Polaris for a lot of my life, and --- not to brag, but," he laughed awkwardly, "I'm something of an expert on avoiding big, dumb rocks. That golem was just one really smart rock. It knew what to do and how to use actual magic. There couldn't possibly be more of them in that swamp." Well, not that he knew of. "The whole lot would have come swarming as soon as one of us cast any magic."

@Asimona

Asimona thought back to when the monkey had been jumping around the pile of rocks. She hadn't really been paying attention, to be honest, more concerned with protecting Eythan's chrysalis and keeping herself alive. But she remembered him fitting something into its chest cavity. She remembered the golem crumbling, and the monkey picking over the pile. "No...I don't think he took anything. He left pretty quickly, I didn't catch his name either, he left before I could ask." It had been kind of strange, though and she hadn't expected him to know how to destroy the golem.

She shifted uncomfortably as Eythan mentioned the golem's in Polaris. To be honest, she didn't really want to go back with him. She unconsciously flexed her shoulder, the one that the golem had broken cycles ago, the injury that had chased her out of Polaris for a long time. That whole thing hadn't been a fun experience. She pushed Wyvern closer to her with one of her wings, as if to protect her from a golem that wasn't there. "Yeah, alright. If you think it's fine. Although I'd be curious to know why it was there in the first place. If you find out...would you come back and let me know?"

"Can you hear their voice?"
"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

tags: @Eythan
notes:

Eythan clicked his beak, thinking. He had never seen a monkey of any sort, let alone one in the swamp. The golem must have knocked him out before the mysterious figure showed up, then. Furrowing his brow, the gryphon turned away for a moment; fuck, how could he have been so idiotic. What would Aure have thought if he had died? Oh, he hoped the wyvern hadn't come looking for him. The young one had been absent just before he left, and very likely came back home swiftly. Eythan's ears flickered back, the barest hints of guilt flickering across his body language --- the drop of the shoulders, the head, the tail. He forced himself to perk up, for the sake of Asimona and the little one beneath her wing.

A wing which seemed to be injured. Ah, fuck, he hadn't done that, right? Or worse... caused it? He stared for a moment, rather blank-faced, at the shoulder. Blinking, Eythan looked back at the dragon's actual face. "Of course, of course. I'm not gonna just hide fu-- any information that could help us in the future. Who knows if there are other golems like that, y'know?" He stretched his wings out, feathers ruffling against one another --- immaculate and unscathed. Testing them out with a few rolling motions, Eythan turned to leave.

"Thank you, again. Keep that little one safe," he smiled, genuinely, and made to leave.

;exit Eythan unless stopped
@Asimona