Syphyl

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Nothing.

A great nothingness as she opened her eyes for the first time, but a bright green color before her. But, she was unable to make out much, as her eyes were still blurry. And yes, she figured she was a girl, she wasn't sure how she knew this but this knowledge was hers.

Tap. Tap tap tap.

Her paw against the chrysalis, she tapped. Her ears folded over, she heard the strange noise as it echoed around her. The chrysalis was not strong, in fact it was quite weak. As she tapped, it cracked, and a different light shined through. Something different, that was what she wanted. Different!

She tapped harder, feeling the chrysalis give way below her paws. Then, the entire thing shattered around her. It was growing too small, anyway.

The chrysalis which was home to the girl was at the top of an incline, and suddenly she was tumbling. Falling. Side to side, down and down she fell. Her little voice, already loud and mighty, roared out as she cried for someone, anyone, to stop her.

And stop she did, when she finally reached the bottom of the incline. It wasn't that far of a fall, but far enough to leave the girl shivering. Feeling suddenly quite small, she opened her bright purple eyes to look around her. But she saw... almost nothing. Just bright lights coming from overhead, and shadowed forms before her.

Her eyes still new, she struggled to see. A small mewl came from her lips as she tried to speak for the first time. Words she did not yet know, but would quickly learn.

"He... hewwo?"

The sound startled her, but it came from her own mouth. Her eyes, slowly seeing clearer, looked around. She blinked a few times, before looking closer to the shadows.

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

tags: AW
notes: N/A

coding by wulf for template purposes

VIVILENE
i make a mess
and you'll be there
to help me undress

Vivilene had found a new hobby for herself.

Her dad made lots of things, but Vivilene liked finding new things. In particular, she was interested in the plants she could find around the caves. Eridanus was home to many, but the outside caves had so much more. Well, not a lot more, but definitely newer things.

Don't get her wrong-- Vivilene loved the ferns and the trees and the flowers and things, but she wanted to see everything that the other rooms had to offer, too. Her father seemed to understand-- or perhaps he was just glad that she was doing something other than hyper-obsessing about her own little fears --and offered a satchel. He told her not to go far, and left her to it.

So, of course, Vivilene went far.

She didn't mean to, really-- one thing kept leading to another. A pretty white flower was followed by moss, which was followed by glittery, bioluminescent caps, which all went into her satchel. Eventually, she reached the star-room-- Orange? Orian? Oryan? --and the endless flow of new herbs came to a stop.

Unsurprising, of course. Azure had told her stories of a dragon and fire, and how it destroyed everything. Flowers, too, probably. Unless Vivilene could find some fire-resistant flowers she wouldn't find anything here-- though if she could it might be nice to have them around, considering Asteri sort of flung fire around relentlessly.

Mid-thought, she was interrupted by a strange sound she'd never heard before. A roar, and a scramble, and the sliding of fur on stone. Perhaps it was too much to ask that she'd get through this trip without feeling fear again-- the cold chill going up her spine made her forget about the satchel of New Hobby on her shoulder. There was a little click of her hooves on the cave floor as she turned to look at where it was coming from, just about in time to see the little creature land on the base of an incline.

It didn't seem to see her-- thank the caves --but it seemed lost. A brief but closer inspection told Vivilene that it sort of resembled a mix of Hunter and Asteri-- a sort of... wet, nuggety version of Asteri, really. She edged closer, and then decided it was odd, and she should intervene. Besides, what if it needed help?

It spoke, and Vivilene felt a quiet pang of guilt that managed to overwhelm the anxiety. She wondered what anyone else would have said in the situation to help, and even tried to think of what Azure said that helped her when she was lost and scared, but opening her mouth only proved that the cotton and gunk and caves-knows-what-else was still lodged in her throat.

When the cervitaur got close enough she stopped with a final, quiet little click. She blinked once, slowly, cat-like, and then her thin hands went to her satchel. She had no idea that in the seconds of dead silence that she went rifling through the bag, she might be terrifying this newborn cub, but eventually she took out a flower.

Small, concave and purple with yellow-tipped petals. It smelled sweetly, pleasant, but mostly like the other half-smushed junk that resided in her bag. Regardless, she put it down... on top of the cub, and then stepped back, staring expectantly.

@Syphyl

Syphyl

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Things were moving, all at once and nothing at all. She couldn't tell what it was, but something - somewhere - was approaching. Her little ears turning, she tried to focus on whatever it was that was approaching her.

But her ears seemed to be the strongest of her senses, and they could hear the clippity cloppity of the stranger as it came closer and closer. Fear struck her as she realized the particular position she was in. Danger! Danger! her mind screeched inside her head.

A word she'd never learned, but knew the meaning of somehow.

A little mewl came from her as the creature stopped nearby, and she blinked her eyes to look upon her as she looked at Syphyl. Together, they studied the other. Syphyl did not recognize such a creature, but she was quite... what was this color? Purple? Yes, purple.

She was Purple.

And Sy, she was not. Her eyes turned to look at her own body as she studied her own color, and appearance. She wasn't so different from this stranger, right? They both had legs, and a tail, and a head. And so Sy assumed she must look like this creature from the neck up.

Danger! Danger! repeated in her mind, and her anxiety was growing with each moment.

She looked back at her and offered another mewl, as the girl dug into her bag. Her eyes flickered to it, and she blinked a few times as she studied the bag that was next to her. What was that? Sy's thirst for knowledge was summoned, and she found herself shakily standing to her paws and stumbling toward the creature.

Then, she saw the purple and yellow flower come out, and she wondered what she was doing with it. When she placed it upon her, she wondered what it meant. What was this strange plant? What did it mean? How did she know it was a flower? Where was she?

She turned her eyes away from the flower back to Vivilene.

"Flow-uh?"

She wanted to know more. She wanted to know what this stranger wanted. She wanted to know. Her short tail held out behind her, she stumbled closer to Vivilene, her little legs shaking under her weight. The flower remained exactly where Vivilene had left it - upon her head. She wanted to see what else she had in her bag. She thirst for knowledge.

"Flow-uh?" She asked again, as her little nose poked in the direction of the satchel. She wanted to know, to see, what else might be inside. A curious little cat, she was.

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

tags: @Vivilene
notes: N/A

coding by wulf for template purposes

VIVILENE
i make a mess
and you'll be there
to help me undress

Vivilene nodded, at first more to herself, as she studied her... work. Purple matched the small-Asteri's eyes and it seemed to fit quite well on her head, like something her father would make and wear, too. Vivilene didn't know that flowers wilt yet. Vivilene didn't have to know.


She was content, until the little creature started moving towards her. There was a jolt of fear and she took a small step backwards-- wide-eyed. She tried to catch herself, to remember that Asteri and Hunter were nice, so clearly this thing must be nice, too.

The cervitaur took a shaky breath, and then shifted on the spot. Click, click. She settled herself down, legs bent underneath her, to sit. It might have looked largely more elegant if she had a body more akin to her stone-giver, but alas, Vivilene had a second torso on top of the other.

Flower. It was a flower. She pushed down the sadness and frustration upon the realisation that someone fresh out the chrysalis was talking better than she could to feel quite proud instead, for this thing-she-did-not-know. It was easier that way.

Vivilene nodded her silent confirmation, and reached into her satchel. She had more flowers but that wouldn't do much-- they already knew what a flower was. Instead, she took out one of the glittery mushroom caps she found. It was blue, glowing into her calloused palm to bleach the purple a dull cyan, offering it out.

A few beats passed before she made a biting gesture-- eat it. Vivilene, for one, quite liked the earthy taste of mushrooms. Maybe this new-friend would, too-- or maybe it preferred things like bugs, or the rats that her dad could catch her. She wasn't sure if she could catch rats, too, if this creature would, too-- but they could sort something out, maybe.

... maybe.

She could worry about it later, on top of the other things she had to be anxious about.

@Syphyl

Syphyl

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She stared with wondering eyes as the creature sat, and she wondered for a moment how to turn her own legs that way. Her eyes looking down at herself, she tried but failed. Maybe she wasn't like this girl after all, maybe they weren't so similar.

A frown to her face as she thought about that. If they weren't the same, why was she here? Was she dangerous? Her mind screamed again, Danger! Danger! But she didn't feel like she was in real danger.

The girl seemed nice.

She put a flower on her head, and it was nice. It was a cute little thing, the flower. She knew flowers weren't dangerous, at least not this one. So if she wasn't in danger, why was she so afraid? Her eyes were large and curious as she looked at Vivilene again, a soft mewl coming from her.

The girl was offering her a mushroom. Only, Sy didn't know what it was. She had no clue it was a mushroom, if it was safe or not. But the girl motioned to her mouth, and Sy tilted her head. She wasn't sure what she was meaning. But Sy followed her motions, opening and closing her mouth right along with her.

It took her several moments to connect that she wanted her to do the open and close mouth thing on the mushroom, but when she figured it out she did just that. She opened her mouth wide, biting into the soft fungi with her sharp teeth. Then, she sat there, with the bulk of the mushroom sitting in her mouth.

She stared at Vivilene, uncertain of what to do now.

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

tags: @Vivilene
notes: N/A

coding by wulf for template purposes

VIVILENE
i make a mess
and you'll be there
to help me undress

Mrrp. Maybe this one wasn't as clever as she initially thought-- considering the small-Asteri was sitting there with fungus lodged into its mouth. It even took a little while to get to this point. Vivilene had to make exaggerated chomping gestures at the mushroom before it clicked.

Maybe it... wasn't hungry? Vivilene couldn't remember much of her hatching (except for the panic) but she did remember wanting to eat something as soon as she came out of the chrysalis. Maybe it just... didn't like mushrooms?

She studied the little-Asteri for a moment as she started making exaggerated eating-gestures again, omnivore teeth clicking a little as she bit down on air. She spent an extended moment thinking, considering-- what did Asteri eat, aside from the rats that dad caught? Surely her brother didn't survive on just rats.

... fish? Maybe? Were fish easier to catch? Vivilene wasn't very sure if she had ever even eaten a fish before, never mind catch one.

Vivilene's exaggerated chomping slowed down a little as her pale eyes glazed over with the thought. There was definitely no way she was going to catch anything that Asteri liked to eat. She would have to come up with some sort of compromise if the mushroom didn't work out, and she didn't feel like feeding her pretty flowers to this creature.

Her head tilted downwards, watching in silence, as mutes often do.

@Syphyl

Syphyl

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She realized as the girl began to make the second motions that she was supposed to chew down on the mushroom. Chew it? She did, chewing the mushroom as ordered. But, it tasted like... well, dirt. Dirty dirt. Nothing she wanted to eat.

Her sharp little teeth chewing, she tried to swallow, but her throat wouldn't let her. Instead, she spat out the mushroom and looked back at Vivilene with wide eyes. No, mushroom wouldn't do for the girl. She was a carnivore, after all.

The flower on her head still, she shakily stood on her paws and mewed. This was the best way she knew to communicate, with meows and purrs. Her little body moved toward Vivilene again, her mind wanted to learn. She was hungry for knowledge, not food yet. Simple, knowledge.

She mewed again as she got closer to her, her purple eyes wide with curiosity. She was looking at her hooves, then her own paws. They were different, very different. Sy wanted to know why. She stared up at Vivilene, her tail flickering about behind her.

"Yew?" She muttered out. This was her way of asking, 'what are you.' Of course, she couldn't quite get that out in such a way. "Mwe?" She asked, and as before, it was her way of asking 'and me?'

If only she could communicate what her mind was thinking a bit clearer.

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

tags: @Vivilene
notes: N/A

coding by wulf for template purposes

@Vivilene

VIVILENE
i make a mess
and you'll be there
to help me undress

Vivilene's mouth finally fell still as Syphyl started to eat the mushroom. Maybe this was good. It was still in her mouth and she was chewing and eventually, she'd probably swallow it. Then they could go look for mushrooms together and they could eat them and oh no she just spat it out.

Hm.

Watching the goop-shroom, she lifted her fingers to her chin for a moment, thinking. There had to be something she could do, half of her siblings were carnivores, after all. Maybe it was time she learned how to hunt anyway, even if just for the sake of the people she loved a lot?

The mewl caught Vivilene out of her thoughts however. Moonlit eyes flicked downwards to the cub. Her way of speaking was stilted, but, let's be honest-- it was a better attempt than Vivilene could ever really muster. A part of that frustrated her to no end, but she tried not to let it through. She had to focus on helping, not being jealous.

She could cry about it later.

It still took a few beats for her to realise what she was asking. Vivilene was hesitant-- she had to rely on magic to communicate and it didn't always work. Still, it.. was worth a try.

Drawing in a very long breath, Vivilene's eyes fell half-lidded. It was, at least, getting easier every day to reach out to her magic in order to actually talk to people. A good thing for her, but perhaps unfortunate to those who expected her to outright use her mouth to talk. Injecting words directly into someone's head was, after all, invasive in a way Vivilene was yet to actually comprehend.

Perhaps her voice had something to do with it, however. It came to Sylphyl gently, like tree branches creaking underneath wind. She was horribly soft-spoken, whispering-without-whispering. "I'm Vivilene," she said-- the words only audible to the cub. "I'm.. from the jungle. Eridanus."

Vivilene, thinking about it, wasn't actually entirely sure what she was. Something like Attikias and something like a cave deer. If there was a word for it, she was unsure. As for this one-- "I don't know who you are," she continued gently. "But you're something like my brother, Asteri. He's a cat. You're a cat."

If she was looking for a name, she likely wouldn't find it in Vivilene.

@Sylphyl

Sy wasn't too startled by the voice in her head. Okay, that was an absolute lie. She was terrified. Her eyes widened as she heard the sounds of a voice speaking to her, and she looked around to see if anyone else had heard. Of course, no one else was around but Vivilene.

It took her a moment to focus on the actual words coming into her mind, but when she did she heard what was being explained to her. She was a cat. A cat. An interesting word, that she repeated out loud.

"Cah.. t." she tested the word on her lips, head tilting some as she looked up for approval. Yes, cat. She was a cat. She was a cat from...?

Where was she?

"Whe... arrrr?" she questioned, 'where,' she wanted to know where they were. She wanted to say she was.. a cat, from here. Like Vivilene had said she is Vivilene, from the Jungle.

Sy didn't know what a name was. Or even her own name. She would have to figure that out, too. For now, she was happy being a Cat, from here.

"Caht, frm.. hewr!" she tested the words as they came out, her tail swishing behind her. She was happy with her progress, words were hard and they were being learned quickly by the smart little creature. Her eyes wide, she looked at Vivilene for approval.

"speaking!"

Tags: @Vivilene

VIVILENE
i make a mess
and you'll be there
to help me undress

Vivilene nodded a little. Cat. Just don't ask the hybrid what kind of cat, because her little idiot brain would implode.

For the next few moments, however, Vivilene chewed her lip trying to internally translate what Syphyl was saying. She liked to think she had a good grasp on the language that everyone else spoke but she wasn't the best at taking implications and filling in the gaps for herself.

Her tail flicked along the cave floor when she saw the not-Asteri start swishing her own tail, too. It took a few seconds longer before it clicked. Vivilene shook herself out for a moment, sighing, tucking her father's satchel towards her back.

At least it was still easy to access her magic, for now. "This is the star-room," she continued, voice barely-felt pin-pricks against Sylphyl's mind. "They called it Orion, I think. It's nice here."

"There are a lot of different rooms." Her head lifted, and then she pointed towards one of the distant tunnels, barely-illuminated by crystals. She hadn't been in that one, but it was closest, easiest to see. "Over there would be a new room. I don't know what one. One of the other tunnels goes to a dry and hot place called Canis, and one of them goes to Eridanus."

It was unusual that Vivilene was the one information dumping, for once.

@Sylphyl