to say sheng had been worried was an understatement.

he was quickly becoming aware of how cold, uncomfortable and almost uninhabitable his old den was becoming. he hated spending time in there. he had hung his valuables on his horns, tangling the chain and pendant and simply leaving the gold behind. he was moving, but had no idea where.

most natural dens or caves that formed were similar levels of cold and uncomfortable unless you lived in hydra, then you were just dead, so that wasn't an option.

he needed a safe place to rest comfortably, and more importantly, to raise his new child once it hatched, hell, a place for it to hatch at all. but after searching several tunnels and caves, he had to say, he was frustrated.

clutching the shimmering alexandrite in his hands, he was afraid. he couldn't remember the last time he had been afraid.

after a while, he had sighed, putting the gem down, and observing the other rocks around him. he picked one up, fairly large and heavy, but not really much. he groaned, and in his frustration, he threw it at the wall.

as it didnt do anything but scratch the wall slightly, he sighed. surely there had to be something he could do.

Sheng picked the rock back up, thinking. it scratched wall, atleast. so surely, this means he could try to do more. whether his efforts were fruitless or not, he had to atleast try. clutching the rock again, he starting wailing on the wall, hoping to do some damage. it was just like digging a hole, right?

after a minute of relentless rock slamming, he... he saw part of the wall in front of him begin to crack and fall to his feet. he kept going, more pieces, although small, coming off bit by bit. he smiled, he knew for sure this could, work, absolutely! with some work, and many, many hours, he could carve something out of this previously mostly useless wall.

Eridanus had become her home! The green, the leaves, the many many flowers that tasted oh so sweet! The little bugs crawling on the ground she liked to watch and the friends she could make! But oftentimes seemed to act strange when she got close, how strange, how very strange!

Flights in Eridanus were quite pleasant, especially up above the tops of the trees, but it was a little cold up there today and she didn't know if that would do anything for her wings. Discomfort aside, if it discolored her in any way or made it more difficult to look stunning all the time, now that would be a real tragedy, wouldn't it! So her flight took her through the undergrowth, not far above the ground, fluttering slowly, at least for her standards, just watching the world soar by.

Until her many faceted eyes fell upon something quite odd and she sensed an odd noise in the air. Like banging and clacking and this funny little creature seemed to be...banging on the wall? How odd! How strange! Curiosity clouded her head quickly and she changed her course, instead gliding over to the strange creature trying to dig out the wall or something.

She didn't get close yet, not quite desiring to startle it, and called out in her sing-song voice: "You-hooo!! What are you doing over there? Scratching the wall? Why are you doing that?"

@Shengxiao

He paused for a moment, jolting at the sudden voice, but smiling as he looked at the fairyfly, chuckling. "ello there!" he honked. "aye, just... not sure, if i'm completely honest! im making a new den, i suppose!" he barked, moving aside to show her the ever growing hole in the wall. not incredibly deep yet, but progress!

he sighed, his tail moving the little alexandrite closer to him. "it be takin' a while.."

@Fairy

Sorda quite liked Eridanus. The prolific plantlife there meant plenty of food, and plenty of places to perch and rest. She still had a 'den' of sorts in Orion, where she stored most of her stuff, but she made frequent trips to Eridanus, such as this one.

Flying through the trees and thick foliage, she kept her eyes and ears peeled for any buzzing or the bright hues of bumblebugs. She could, of course, eat other things, but she always kept an eye out for her favorite food source.

Today, however, she didn't find any bumblebugs, or anything she had originally came her for in the first place.

Instead, she found a strange creature- or rather, a mosaic of many creatures- hitting a wall with a rock. And the biggest butterfly she had ever seen.

Instantly intrigued, she flew down, landing nearby, just in time to overhear the creature's explanation to the butterfly.

"Making a den?" She'd ask, examining the shallow hole in the wall. "Well, that's certainly interesting." She'd comment.

Realizing she had rather abruptly interrupted these two gembound, she quickly added, "Sorry for interrupting you two, but mind if I help out?" She'd ask, "At the rate you're going now, it looks like it'll take forever to get a den made."

coding by wulf for template purposes

@Shengxiao @Fairy

She decided, while the creature spoke, to land, pulling up her wings (which, by the way, still looked absolutely magnificent on the underside!) and scuttling forward a little bit, antennae waving curiously. Oh, a den! That is what gembounds did, right? The ones that didn't have a protective shell or antennae or beautiful wings! That was interesting and she leaned forward to look at the rock. "That's going to take you a while, won't it! Why don't you just pick out a nice branch and hang from it? That's what I do, it's very comfortable!" Perhaps not as comfortable as hanging from a leaf, but after trying that a couple of times and doing nothing but breaking them, she'd given up in favor of of sturdier resting place.

The new thing that swooped in had her scuttling away to inspect it, antennae waving curiously. "Oh, hello! No no, you were not interrupting!" She glanced from the bird to the beast before coming to the realization of what was going to happen. Companionship! Cooperation! Oh, wonderful things! She wished she had those things too! She let out a small happy squeal and fluttered her wings, scattering iridescent dust behind her. "Oh, you're going to work together! That's wonderful, just wonderful! I wish I could help, oh tell me how I can help! I don't know how strong I'd be," and here she waved her front two legs, "I've never tried digging before! Oh, we should all be friends, wouldn't that be so much fun?" She was so wrapped up in her excitement that she didn't realize that her fluttering had lifted her a bit into the air, fluttering happily above the heads of Sorda and Sheng.


@Shengxiao

He perked an ear at the sound of a second pair of wings, watching the bird fly towards them.

he smiled again. "'ello, matey!" he greeted sorda. "i reckon it is kinda odd, isn't every day another gembound decides to make one on their lonesome, ain't it?" he chuckled.

he looked at his progress, and while it was definitely still progress, if he kept up this on his own, it'd be days- no, weeks probably, before it was actually done. really, he probably needed a better rock, but he chuckled, nodding at the two. "oh o' course ya can help! i can't fault ye on that logic, i really do seem like it'll take a while otherwise." he chuckle-hissed.

he nodded at the fairyflys remark, "we could 'o course be friends too, if ya two gems want to! hadn't had any of those for a while, really!"

@Sorda @Fairy

the   thorn produces delicate roses
sharp

Sharp didn't know many things, but one thing for sure was that this was not Monoceros.

She wasn't even sure how she got that mixed up. The lizard had simply decided one day that she was going back to that weird glowy room, just to check it out a bit. And, well, she got lost. Somewhere past Eridanus she took a wrong turn in the tunnel and now she was here. Wherever this place was.

At first Sharp was mindblown. Massive plants, far larger than the growing child, towered into the sky, intertwined with stalactites and gem outcroppings. Funny greenish deer and colorful bugs flitted about, and up in the air rainbow bats and birds soared. This. Was. So. Cool! She scrambled through the undergrowth as fast as her little legs could go, sniffed every plant, and sniffed every stone. She tried to eat a pretty butterfly fluttering by, but the moment she got close all the colors around her went weird for a few moments.

So, really pretty cave. Just don't get near the butterflies.

After working off the effects of the hallucinogen Sharp was back to exploration. The harsh clunking of stone against stone rung out into the air and, naturally, the sungazer followed it. Was rock-banging things another part of the natural landscape? After pressing through some massive ferns, she found herself near the cave wall, where a weird fluffy-scaly-friend was chipping away. A friend! A friend in the cool cave! And a bird-friend, too! Gosh, there were so many new friends here!

And, oh, were they making something? Well, this looked like a job for her!

"Hi hi hi!" Sharp skipped-- er, more like tumbled-- out of the ferns. From a distance, she looked just like a pebble, minus the talking part. She picked herself back up again and continued: "I'm Sharp! I'm Sharp-and-Spiky! I'm very good at-- EEE!" Just as she approached, her angle shifted just enough to reveal the megalithic butterfly hovering by. The same kind of butterfly that made everything look weird! "Scary! Scary! Scary not-friend!" Sharp dove back into the bushes, nothing but a yellow eye and pricked, lashing tail showing through. "Meanie bug! Big meanie funny-color bug!" she shrieked. Safe to say, she wasn't exactly the best at first introductions.

♠ ♥ ♣ ♦

@Shengxiao
@Fairy

She was overjoyed! She'd just made two new friends! She hadn't made any new friends for a while, really not since Legba and a few strangers she'd met around that she hadn't ever seen again. It felt wonderful to know that she had more friends, now. She'd treat them right! She'd play games with them, help them get food, decorate their dens for them, help them out whenever she could, and just make them feel and look as wonderful as her!

She was still fluttering over their heads, the glittering dust scattering, thankfully, a little away from them, but when something else began to speak, she squeaked with excitement and changed her course, landing in front of the little lizard and preparing her own greeting.

But before she could get a single word out, the lizard was freaking out and calling her names. She was so shocked and taken aback by this, so offended by her name-calling and terrified shrieking that she immediately burst into tears, wailing in a high-pitched voice. She was so angry!! She was not a meanie and she was not funny-colored! She was beautiful and friendly and she just wanted to have friends and be happy! "N-no I'm not! I'm a nice fairyfly! I promise! Don't call me m-mean!"

She sniffled before wailing again and turning to her new friends, pointing at the lizard with one of her spindly legs. "She called me a meanie!"
@Shengxiao

Shengxiao was about to greet the small lizard, before sharp began to panic. "i-its-"

oh and now fairy's crying. oh dear.

"e-everyone settle down, its okay! s-sharp-and-spiky, this is fairy! she's a nice fairyfly! she may be big but shes very friendly! right, fairy?" he asked, looking back. "nobody is a meanie!"

@Fairy @Sharp