The surface of the onyx glimmered with a thin residue of water due to the humidity of the cave, giving the vantablack of the stone a more lively gleam; occasionally there came a pulse of some energy (presumably magicka) while the forces worked to build, maintain, and protect the precious cargo within.

It had been quite a while since @Asimona had harnessed her power to awaken the waiting gem; nothing stirred, not a single tremble to the stone's surface betrayed the life waiting within. Nothing, save for the dull glow of magicka that had become a constant. The illumination caught best on the striations of water that streaked the exterior, casting them with a luminous glow without any definitive hue. For the past several hours the glow had intensified, but now it began to grow dull - to fade - which made the darkness of the onyx seem all the more menacing.

Perhaps the creature inside the chrysalis would awaken soon? It had certainly taken its sweet time, letting its siblings hatch before its own arrival.

Asimona had seen the glow setting in some time ago. At first she had thought that it was a trick of the light but now, hours later, she knew that it was coming from within. Fear and anxiety were all she knew that day, pacing around her nest, tail upsetting the snow, and Wyvern watching her with wide eyes, confused by her restlessness. There were a couple times that she had to stretch her wings and fly around a bit, letting out roars of frusteration and caking the walls with her icy breath but she always returns, coming to watch the onyx gemstone, waiting for it to hatch.

It had to be today. It couldn't just...not hatch, could it? Eythan said it was possible for gems to hatch late. It had happened and all she hoped was that, when it did hatch (when, not if), the child would not suffer some defect from being unhatched for too long. It would break her heart if her child were to suffer as she suffered.

Finally, she ended up planting herself down, curled around the onyx, Wyvern letting out small chirps of protest as she tried to climb over her mother and set herself in the warm crook she always liked to lay in, a spot now taken by the gem. But Asimona barely noticed. Today she had only concern for the onyx gembound still inside its egg.

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

tags: @Jotun
notes:

Even as the mother dragon settled her body around the large chrysalis, a change was transpiring. Deep within the many layers of stone, where the beast sat waiting to emerge, tiny fissures had cracked throughout. Nothing too deep, nothing too obvious, but enough had begun to crackle and crease on the inner walls of the egg that it was growing more obvious that the time was coming.

The stone groaned, and seemed to breathe and shift, until finally a mighty crack sounded and a fissure sliced its way through two-thirds of the egg's top half; it petered out at the thicker midway point, and then there was quiet.

Beyond the shell where the creature lay sleeping, the rush of damp air that siphoned in to the chrysalis caused the being inside to shiver and quake. Perhaps it was too cold? Perhaps they were too sensitive to it - but the quaking led to kicking spasms, to claws dully catching on the stone interior. The being woke a moment later with the abrupt opening of their eyes, and in the left eye flashed a strobe of magicka of similar composition to whatever had pulsed through the shell ---

--- and with a lurch, the shell cleaved in to pieces with the emanation point somewhere in the middle, likely the child amidst the rubble.

As soon as the first cracks began to appear, Asimona's head lifted suddenly and she watched with wide eyes as the gem was broken. She stepped back, folding her wings hard against her back to protect them from the explosion of gem and closed her eyes as shards went flying. Her heart skipped a beat and, as soon as it was safe, she turned, picked up Wyvern with the gentlest grip and set her away, before turning and lunging towards the shattered chrysalis.

She scraped away gem pieces until the wide hide was visible and, as the dust settled, she began to cry. Because her third child had finally hatched and a full cycle of worry was over. She cried from sheer happiness and she got close, gently nudging the creature with her nose in case it wasn't awake. "Welcome," she greeted it with a shaky voice. "Are you okay little one?"

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

tags: @Jotun
notes:

When the dust settled there were shards of onyx scattered across the earth, slick with dew from the humidity of the cave. At the center of the eruption of energy sat a disheveled pale shape and when Asimona began to tend to it, the creature roused again. The pressure of the magicka within a confined space did not appear to have damaged the gemling; they were very tired, evidenced by the sluggish lift of their head and the weary glaze of their squinting eyes, but as soon as the sound of their mother's voice crept towards them, the creature seemed to wake properly.

The first thing the pale cub did was yawn -- straining their new jaws, flashing tiny shards of teeth in the light and squishing those eyes shut until the spasm completed itself. Their mouth closed softly, and then they flicked their tongue out, dragged it across their soft snout without really knowing why. It was comforting, except for the taste of the dust and stone that the debris had left behind. The child blinked sleepily at the dragon for a few moments and then sank contentedly against them.

The child's body was rotund; further inspection would reveal a dense hide coated in pale scales, some which seemed too soft to be of use. Maybe they would toughen over time? Their body was stout and quite small when compared to the immense shape of their parent, but it was clear there was something draconic about them. The babe sought warmth and comfort and the adult could serve both purposes.

All of her concerns melted away when the little hatchling pushed up against her side. As the dust cleared she finally got a good view of her third child. A bear-like creature, covered with white-blue scales, thick, sharp claws, and little onyx shards glinting at their eye. A strange trio of hatchlings to be sure - bear, bird, and, uh, hybrid. But she loved them. All of them. And she was more then relieved that the last was finally with her.

She gently rubbed the top of its head with her snout as she lifted a wing and covered around it. It was possible that it was cold - this area of Pisces that she had enhanced was, after all, quite cold. Wyvern had been the same, refusing to leave the comfort of her side. The aura of cold she always gave off seemed to lessen as anyone got closer. It would be nothing but warm by the time the bear was curled against her side.

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

tags:
notes:

Wyvern was growing a little tired of being ignored. When Asimona picked her up and set her away, she turned and pouted at her mother, waiting for her to be done with whatever she was doing. Digging something out of rubble that hadn't been there before. She had always been so concerned about that black gemstone before, Wyvern hadn't really understood.

But now she did. What she had thought to simply be a large rock was actually the shell that held a gembound, just like the shell she had come from, although hers was pink. Not black. And she realized just a moment later that this was, in fact, her new sibling. It wasn't just her and Abeni anymore.

Her frusteration drained and she crawled up to Asimona's side, her head turning in a very bird-like fashion to inspect the new hatchling with one of her bright eyes. As Asimona's wing came curling over it, she darted forward and snuck right underneath so that she was curled next to the bear. She was bigger then him at this point, and some of her feathers were starting to come in, so she let him have the warmest spot next to their mother. "Sibling." she chirped lightly. It wasn't really a question but there was the tiniest of indications that it was, perhaps, a question underneath the gentle confirming nature of the statement. She was asking if it was her sibling and also confirming that, yes, they were siblings. She was a little strange.

@Jotun

There was a chilling aura emanating off of the mother dragon, yet as the babe squished themselves against her body the space began to warm. The child squirmed. Their eyes opened to slits, then widened when the light pierced in to them, and they let out a series of irate murmurs. They kept squirming, and didn't seem like they were going to be getting comfortable anytime soon.

Then, there was another body pressing in close. That caused the babe to pause for a moment and look around, movements slow and sleepy, and then they heard the bird-like hybrid speak. The child didn't know what it meant but they tried to parrot it back,

"Sebbin?" blurted the voice softly,

The bird-thing had a strong smell. Not unpleasant, but different from the mother dragon. Enough so that the child grew curious of them, and began shuffling closer and closer, prodding with their blunt pig-like nose. As soon as the soft tissue of the creature's nose touched upon a rough bit of feather, they withdrew and squished closer to mother with a dissatisfied huff.

Wyvern cocked her head again as the other hybrid repeated her words. She had no idea that they, in fact, were doing just that - repeating, and her eyes brightened. "Sibling. New Sibling." She made a humming noise in her chest and leaned in to rub the side of her head against the bear-dragon's scales. They were a little cold so she scooted closer, knowing that her growth of feathers might make it a little warmer for them.

Them suddenly repelling from her confused her a bit. She didn't know what they were moving away from so she tried to think about what was wrong. Did she smell bad? Did she scare them? Was she uglier then she thought she was? Perhaps there was something here that she could not understand but they did. A dark, mysterious force. Voices. She shivered and tried to move closer. "Scared?" She asked gently, still having no idea that her sibling did not at all know how to talk or even understand what she was saying.

@Jotun
(asimona is just chillin for now)

Speaking brought more attention to them, so the cub leered from their curled place next to their mother and decided not to do that again; not that they didn't enjoy the presence of both these bodies, but the sounds were so... Loud. So different from the quiet and calm sleep that had pervaded their existence up to this point.

When the sebbin spoke again it was with a different word, but somehow the newborn understood. They heard the term and their bumpy brow creased, crunched, transforming their face in to something of a grimace, and already they were forced to break that rule they'd just made about not talking.

"Naaah," they declared, but kept opening their mouth until they were yawning reaaally wide, ending with a small hiccup. The cub looked to the mother and nudged them with their rough chin, wondering aloud: "Oo? Yoo sebbin?" They asked this innocently enough, trying to gather more information. Something to differentiate the creatures.