The blue gemstone had sat undisturbed for near half a cycle, the hot winds of Hydra behind it constantly blowing over the top, catching in the grooves until the entire chrysalis was covered in a thick layer of sand and salt. It could almost be mistaken as part of the scenery, but the blue was out of place enough to make it obviously something different.

It had laid still for long enough, silent and lifeless as time passed indifferently by, the outside world oblivious to the drastic changes taking place beneath its surface...but now the wait was over. The transformation was complete. A shiver ran through the stone as the magic of life began warming beneath its shell and a moment later, the first crack appeared.

Red eyes opened to blurry darkness. The blue and black was overwhelming its sight, the world outside but a dim light peeking through the veil. Sense and feeling returned to its limbs, but everything felt surreal, like she had just awoken from a very vivid dream and was trying to catch the traces. But each time she reached and caught a piece, it dissolved before she could remember. So as she struggled to remember how to be alive, instinct told her to strike out, to push the barrier away. She did so, pressing her head against the inside of the cage almost timidly, the gemstone shattering magically at her touch, dumping her out onto the stone.

She was still for a moment as full consciousness rushed back to her, but emptiness that came with it. A very large hollow pit that she couldn't explain, stretching farther then she could see. Confusion was the first thing she felt as life poured into her limbs and the ability to move finally registered in her brain once again. She slowly picked herself off the ground, thoughts fluttering away from her reach like dying leaves in the rolling winds. It consumed her for a moment, almost painfully loud in her head, trying to think, trying to remember that dream, but it became too much and she stopped herself. Instead, she focused on the now. Not all dreams would be remembered, after all. First step - figure out where she was.

Her eyes began to take in the sights around her, head gently moving, politely observing the tunnel she was in. Reddish-brown, sandy walls, hot and dusty, dry as old bones. A glance behind her revealed the vast, open stretch of a desert that spurred a sense of wonder and curiosity. That was something different, something huge and amazing. She turned to take a step forward...when a sense of dread washed through her entire body, sudden enough to halt her in her tracks. She could not go there. She could never go there. Only pain and suffering awaited her in the desert. Only hurt and death.

It was instinct, right? Instinct that gave her those thoughts. There was no other way to explain it, after all, so her brain tried to rationalized what she was feeling. She did not recognize this cave at all, not a single memory swam to the surface, but all she knew was that she was afraid of that desert and she would never step foot in it...ever again.

She took a step back, confused and a little scared, but her webbed foot caught on something and she went stumbling back with a hoarse croak. She tumbled onto the rock and immediately tried to right herself, turning her head to see what she had tripped over.

Something was there, something beneath the small broken shards of her chrysalis. It was caught in the ground, covered a bit by sand, as if it had been there for some time. With her bill, she quickly cleared away the shattered debris that had fallen over it to reveal another stone, this one still perfectly intact. It was a deep blue color, similar to the chrysalis she had just broken free from, and perfectly round.

She gazed at the stone, confused, but something was welling in her chest. Was that...joy? Sadness? She didn't know, she didn't understand. There was something else there too, something she couldn't name, but it was powerful and as it spread across the whole of her breast, she found it rocking her very core. This stone was important, more important then anything else in the world and as she scooted closer and continued to observe her little treasure, tears began dripping from her eyes, splattering onto the smooth surface of the gemstone and dropping into the sand.

At first, she thought it was silly, crying over a stone she'd never seen before, but the emotions were so sudden and so deeply moving and powerful, she could not help but succumb to them, allowing her this one moment in which she sat herself down and arched her neck of the stone, sobbing into the sand over a life she would never know again.

So this is Hydra?

Oliver crept forward, low to the ground, his ear-tufts flattened against the gust of hot wind that threatened to lift him off his feet and fling him haphazardly against one of the tunnel walls. A stumble, a puff of dust and he was sent skittering off against one side, pressing there as he wandered further down.

I can see why it's so dangerous.

Then he rounded the short curve, and saw the hill downward, the broad exit mouth--and the vast stretch of desert beyond. From this angle he couldn't see it all, but he immediately realized that this was but a tunnel. That Hydra itself--massive, deadly--was actually another cave entirely. That this was just a tunnel.

Oh.

As he studied this, from a distance, his eye caught movement. A shift, a twitch, and as he squinted against the glaring light that poured into Tunnel P, he realized there was something there. A white figure, huddled down over something... crying.

Deep concern welled up in the hybrid at once, and he began moving again, carefully skirting another dust devil as he picked up the pace. Once closer he paused, hesitant, but when he called out, the worry in his face and voice were clear.

"Are you okay?" he asked, and then crouched and slinked closer, his brow knitted over sad blue eyes. What happened to her? he wondered. He didn't know her--it was a white bird, a goose, he thought--and she was huddled, he could see, over a blue gemstone. Had someone died...?

He eyed the stone, and then the goose, sinking down a little with the realization. "I'm sorry-... Do you need help?"

{Table code credit to Madison, altered a bit!}

@Nameless

She cried over the stone because she didn't know what else to do and it felt strangely good to release all of these alien emotions. However little she understood them, however much confusion it brought her to be feeling so much over a single stone, she welcomed it in because it filled that emptiness a little bit. Enough so that she could ignore it and focus on other things.

Like the soft voice that called out to her from down the tunnel. She immediately turned her head over, tears still glistening on her cheeks, and immediately pinpointed the source of the voice. A black...canine, yes that was the word. A winged something. He was approaching her cautiously, worry clouding his eyes. She glanced down at the stone at her feet and realization hit her. He thought she was mourning.

She blinked a few times to clear away the tears still lingering in her eyes before looking back with a soft "oh." She sniffed and stood from her spot. "N-no, I'm okay." And it was true - she was okay, just very very confused. "I don't think so? I just don't...don't know where I am. Or what's going on." The realization suddenly hit her that she really didn't know anything, that she was totally lost and confused and it spurred on a sense of urgency to make things right and better. Get things back to normal, even though what that "normal" meant completely escaped her understanding.

@Oliver

Oliver came to a halt a few paces away, instinctively not drawing too close. He was larger than the goose; he didn't want to frighten her, particularly given how vulnerable she looked. She didn't seem afraid, at least. Or--not of him.

Doesn't know where she is? Oliver's brow furrowed again--if it drew any farther he'd have a knot of muscle over his eyes permanently, it seemed--and nodded off toward Hydra. "Um--you're in a tunnel. It's not all that safe--that's Hydra. Don't go that way, uh--people die there," he added, softly. "Just--watch out for these winds in here, and go back the other way. The other way's Canis," he explained, his voice still gentle, "and there's bones in there, but nice Gembound, too. The Bonebound. There's a little garden in the middle, uh--with water, and plants--if you need a place to rest. I could take you there," he added. And the thought reminded him that he had portable food and moisture, too; he focused for a moment on creating a banana out of nothing.

A fat bunch of three appeared before him with a plop, and he blinked at their size and plumpness. He then quickly peeled them with his clawed, pushing the fruit--laid out on their open peels--toward her. "These are good to eat. My name's Oliver." He eyed the bananas, again--surprised at just how nice they smelled. He picked a piece of one off, quietly savoring it, then looked to the goose, again.

He hesitated, the sparkle of the banana starting to glitter all around him. He saw the gemstone; she said she didn't know where she was, but...

"Did--someone die?" Oliver nodded to the blue gemstone, indicating it, worry once again lining his face.

{Table code credit to Madison, altered a bit!}

@Nameless

She turned around to glance back at the desert cave she'd stopped herself from stepping into and shivered. So she was right...that place was dangerous. And she should never enter that cave. It had to have been instinct, there was no other way she really could have known that. It hadn't seemed all that dangerous at first glance, but something deep in her gut told her that she would die. And now this canine was confirming that knowledge.

It was a little disturbing, but she pushed it away for now. "Okay, Hydra. Thank you, I'll stay away from there. I know about Canis...I think." It sounded familiar and she could definitely bring up the image of it in her head. Filled with old, charred bones, littered with stagnant pools...she nodded her head. "Thanks but I...I don't think I really need to rest. I feel pretty good."

Good was putting it lightly. The longer she was awake, the more energized and refreshed she felt. The more life that seemed to pour into her limbs. The hollowness was being filled now by nothing but her own vitality. She sighed softly and stood up a little taller, stretching her neck a little bit.

The soft thump as the bananas set on the ground surprised her a bit and she looked down. A smile spread across her expression and, at Oliver's invitation, she gratefully reached forward and began to nibble at the soft, sweet fruit within. It tasted wonderful and she was grateful to have food in her stomach now. The chrysalis had kept her alive, of course, but it wasn't the same. Not that she could even remember what food was like.

"Thank you. It's nice to meet you, Oliver." She didn't think to answer with her own name, since she had none, but this did not strike her as strange at all. His sudden somber tone, however, had her looking up, a bit of banana falling from her bill. "Huh?" She followed his gaze and looked down at the stone she'd been crying over a moment ago and started. "Oh, no. Or, at least, I don't think so. It was just sitting here."

@Oliver

Relief flooded across the dog-bird's face as the stranger explained that she didn't know about the stone. Confusion followed close on its heels; her explanations were providing more questions than answers. Why had she been crying, then? Where had she come from--why didn't she know where she was? And why hadn't she given him her name?

He was silent, for a moment--both thoughtful, and to let her eat. And when he did speak, it was quietly respectful. "I don't mean to pry--but do you have a name? Or did you forget that? I'm just wondering-... did you just wake up, here?" Had the stone only been part of her chrysalis? His eyes quickly searched the sand; there were, sure enough, bits of blue here and there around her. They didn't look quite the same as the first piece he'd seen, but--maybe they were just diffeerent parts of the same stone?

Perhaps she'd just awoken, and was upset by her lack of memory. "It's nice to meet you too, anyway. I'm glad you're feeling good," he added. That, at least, was a good thing.

{Table code credit to Madison, altered a bit!}

@Nameless

When Oliver didn't comment further, she leaned over and began to take small bites again, but she unconsciously shifted close to the round blue gemstone. An emotionally protective instinct was starting to overcome her. After all, this thing was important, somehow. She didn't know how she came to that conclusion, but she would find out. And nobody else was going to take it from her. Not that she distrusted Oliver or thought that he would do anything like that, but she would protect it all the same.

The question gave her pause and she stopped eating again, rotating back to a straight standing position, her bill snapping closed a few more times around the bits of banana as she considered how she would respond. "I don't have a name. I can't remember if I ever did have one. But...I don't know what I would call myself. And yeah, I did just wake up here, but I don't remember how I even got here. Maybe I've always been here." Perhaps she should be frustrated with her lack of knowledge, but she took it all as it was. Because she didn't even know if she should have more knowledge. If there was anything before. Perhaps the hollowness that was slowly beginning to wane was her life from before now. But it was unlikely - how could she forget all of that?

She reached down and took another bite of the banana, noticing for the first time, as she looked down at her chest feathers, that she was beginning to sparkle. She let out a small, amused noise at the sight. "Oh my goodness! What is this?"

@Oliver

Oliver watched, uncertainly.

"You look a little like my sister. She's mostly white, with lots of feathers, too--but dog-bits, also. My dad named her White. He's very literal," he added, somewhat sheepishly--and then, in afterthought--"...except when he's being all weird and poetic. Anyway, um. Maybe you could call yourself something that means white?" Oliver didn't seem to have any suggestions as to what, though, and after a moment he went on, first with a compliment and then with more guesses. "You're very pretty." He said this matter-of-factly, as if simply to inform her.

"Usually if someone just breaks out of a rock it's because they got hurt and went to sleep for awhile. Or sometimes they just go to sleep, in the rock. I don't think you're new? Like--a baby. You don't look like one. But maybe you've been asleep so long you forgot stuff," he added. That sounded sad, to him, and he sank down a little. He couldn't imagine forgetting all the things he'd learned, maybe his magic, his loved ones. That sounded like tragedy, to him.

The white goose's comment on the magic, however, had him forget his concerns of only seconds ago; he beamed brightly, instead. "Oh! That's from the fruit-magic. It doesn't last too long, though," he added, just in case the idea of permanent sparkles was worrying to her.

{Table code credit to Madison, altered a bit!}

@Nameless

She stared at Oliver for a few minutes before suddenly looking down at herself, inspecting her body for the first time. She really was all completely white, soft feathers, a long, luscious tail, wings pressed close to her side...and all of it sparkling thanks to the healthy bananas Oliver had supplied to her. Delight lit up on her face at the sight of herself. "Oh, I am all white." Was that supposed to be surprising? "I don't think I'd want to use that for a name. If your sister likes that name, though, then that's great for her! I just don't think it would suit me." She didn't voice it but she wanted her name to mean something. Or it needed to be something special to her. "White" or something like that was too literal. It was too...impersonal.

She felt the skin of her face heat up a bit at the compliment. It might have been a very factual statement, but it still made her blush and feel warm inside. "Th-thank you." Her eyes squinted a bit in a smile and she covered up her momentary embarrassment by leaning down to take another bite of the banana. She didn't know why she was getting so wrapped up in a comment. It was just that - a comment, but it made her feel light and happy and, more importantly, loved, even though she'd just met Oliver.

She slowed her eating as the existential crisis that had defined the first few moments of this life suddenly returned in full force. She had assumed that all creatures woke up like this. That they simply broke from their gems and walked along. That was how she rationalized it because she certainly didn't feel young. But if this was true, then there really was stuff she was missing. She had forgotten it all. But how did that even happen? "Yeah, maybe that's it. I've probably just been here a while." But the answer didn't satisfy her completely. She really wanted to know now, but now wasn't the time to start digging around so much. At least, that's what she told herself.

She giggled again, putting a webbed foot forward to observe how it glittered under the magic's influence. "It's certainly something! You have very special magic with you!"

@Oliver

Oliver dipped his head, pleased with the compliment he'd received in turn.

"Thanks," he answered simply, unused to such things. And then--in the interests of, as always, being helpful: "Everyone has magic, I think. You probably have some too, but I guess you don't know what it is, yet. But lots of Gembounds can make bananas. Maybe you can, if you try." He gave a little shrug, his feathers rustling softly. He wasn't sure. But it certainly did seem to be one of the more ubiquitous spells out there.

"Also, if you like--um, water? There's caves with lots of water in them." An abrupt topic change, to be sure, but still in the vein of "trying to be helpful," at least. She reminded him vaguely of water-creatures he had known, what with the smooth bill and the webbed feet, so he went on with his explanation. "Everywhere else is a little cold, right now--or, mostly, anyway. There's one cave with loads of warm water--up through a really long, icy tunnel--but the water can be dangerous if you can't swim really well," he warned. "If you like cold water, there's water in uhh--Polaris, Pisces. Eridanus. That's, those--those are the caves with... the big glowy crystal called the Spire? And then there's one with all waterfalls and pools and things. Eridanus has some pools, too. Oh! And Cetus, there's a big swamp there. You can swim in that but it'll make your feathers dirty," he warned, remembering all-too-clearly the home where he'd been brought up.

He thought, for a moment, trying to think of how else he could be helpful. Oh-"You just gotta be a little careful, because not everyone is nice. Some are mean." He nodded wisely, and sat back on his haunches--dog-like--trying not to revisit his own old memories of the past.

{Table code credit to Madison, altered a bit!}

@Nameless