The yellow gem had been buried in the rock for so long that it was impossible to tell exactly when it had gotten there. At some point, rock had broken off and a chrysalis had formed in the space, a perfectly round egg-shape that was slightly faceted.

Within, the chick twitched, then squirmed, then it tried to break free. The shell cracked and broke, pieces falling to the ground. As it was, it couldn't break in half, so the chick ended up forcing itself through the small hole it had made, tumbling to the ground and landing rather limply. It lay still, vulnerable and naked, no feathers to be seen and its eyes still closed. It shivered and quaked, before letting out a determined little cheep, mouth opening wide as it wiggled on the ground, attempting to eat anything anyone gave it.

When nothing came, it closed it's mouth and called out for a few more minutes, unable to feel fear or disappointment, yet. It was hungry, and that's all it really knew.

@Kaimana @Eythan

With the excitement of a crazed warmonger riding into battle, Kaimana had entered into this new room. Gosh she wish she'd come here sooner. It was AMAZING! Did you SEE all the bones everywhere?! SUPERB!!! She didn't even know what most of them belonged to! So many structures, cycles, stories, lives... It was beautiful. She'd be staying here a while, if she could.

Kaimana was just strolling through, marvelling, stopping once, twice, a billion times to "stop and smell the roses", if you could call it that, when a sound was heard. She went to investigate, naturally, feline curiosity drawing her paws ever closer. Something had hatched. Ah! A new creature. Perhaps, if she was kind and respectful, a new friend as well! Was it hungry, like she had been, or Gizmo? Did they even have fish here?

She approached the little thing, crying out. "Hello little one! I'm Kaimana, rhymes with hm... sauna. Whatever that is. Who are you? Are you feeling okay?" Calling out often meant something. That's what separated it from words. Words could be empty, but calling was deliberate. Kaimana wanted to know what this calling was about. Probably it wanted fish. Everything should want fish.

She'd have to find some fish.

@Eythan @Lemonface

Once the initial rush of childbirth'd passed, Eythan found himself slipping into his old routines with the addition of checking in with Avi and teaching her as much as she needed to know about living in the Caves. One of the more important lessons he immediately gave to the little one was to give "the hot tunnel" a wide berth. The Gembound - or monsters? - in there were fiercely defending the entrance, and only directed folks out. Nothing'd been able to go in for a cycle or more. The gryphon had no idea what that was about.

On the bright side, Avi seemed more interested in bones and rocks than going to any other cave. With that, he had the confidence to go about his own business while she was spending time with Giggle or any of the other Bonebound. Aure'd taken to her pretty quickly. Damask...

... he needed to talk to her.

He shook himself off, wings flaring out at his sides as he shuffled through the bones on a scavenging trip. No need to hunt a rat if there was a perfectly good bone with marrow in it. All it took was a solid smack and he had a meal. Eythan was already holding a decent-sized Lesser femur in his mouth, and was just making a pass around some rocks when voices murmured from around a pile of bones.

Given one was a wordless cheep and another a young-sounding greeting to a little one, he felt like he was in the right to prowl closer. Sure enough, there was some - holy shit? - naked little newborn lying on the ground. Completely helpless, and there was a cub just talking to them. Mouth drawing into a thin line, Eythan trotted up to the bearded cub (hey, wasn't she at the wrestling thing?) and dropped his bone, "hey, uh, how long's this one been out? I'll go break this bone for them to eat or something, but... um... you should probably keep them warm?"

Then, he was off again.

@Lemonface
(pls don't tag me unless it's my turn :'])

The small, naked little thing perked up again when it heard something approaching, naked wings flapping to keep it upright as it squawked and chittered insistently, mouth open as it wobbled and fell forward, expecting food to be dropped into its mouth at any moment.

When nothing came, it snapped its beak shut and laid back down, soft down starting to cover its body as it dried. It sniffled and hunkered in on itself, shaking its head gently as it heard something speaking to it. Its mouth opened again and it cried out weakly, hobbling its way towards the leopard, making it halfway before it inevitably had to stop, too weak to carry on all the way.

It was cold, and started to shiver, peeping quietly as a way to say, 'Hey! I'm over here and I'm cold and hungry! Hellooooo?!'

@Kaimana

The tiny thing seemed to be really-- well, it's condition was confusing. Very fortunately, someone else came along to help! Someone familiar. And they had a BONE!! Just as good as fish! But Kaimana didn't really have anything to trade for it.. Wait, it was FREE?! Free for the little one! Good!! Good good. And Kaimana would take care of the heat problem. She nodded her head and smiled, "I don't know, but you're very kind! And that's a good idea. Thank you."

With that, Kaimana would attempt to wrap her entire fuzzy body around the naked and helpless thing on the ground, and breathe deeply, slowly, steadily. She'd once had help doing something similar for a creature that seemed a bit more grown. Maybe everybody just needed some nice warm cuddles sometimes. That made sense. Kaimana sometimes wanted such forms of contact as well.

"It's alright little one. You won't owe me anything for this," she'd whisper softly if her wrap-around had been allowed. The small black fuzzy friend from after the Olympics had felt bad. Gizmo had been grumpy after hatching. Kaimana wanted to do her best to keep this little nugget to feel the same as either of those two. She was gonna get better at being a good friend, with each time she tried.

@Eythan

The chick let out a weak squawk as warmth enveloped him, calming down somewhat. He shook his head and huddled against Kaimana's soft fur, cheeping gently. He'd only heard the voice of the second person present for what had to be the birth of the ugliest creature in the caves.

A head to big for it's body, with eyes that bugged out (though they were covered in skin at the moment), and completely naked, looking like a slab of meat than any actual creature. It was like a baby dinosaur- no, it probably killed the dinosaurs!

The chick shook his head out and sneezed weakly, making a face like it had swallowed something sour, like a lemon. He flapped his little chicken wings and spread them out, stretching now that it had the space to do so. Ten thousand years gives you such a crick in the neck!

Well, not that long, but still.

@Kaimana

The little hatchling did some squirming. Good grief it was so tiny. Kaimana wondered when the other creature would return, she was worried about taking care of this little... nugget. It didn't remind her of the Nugget in any way at all, actually, but she just had no better word for it. Something helpless, hungry. She was afraid to even try to clean it. Her tongue was good for cleaning stuff though, and the fluid was probably not fun to be doused in.

"I'll be gentle," she promised, more to herself than to the tiny nugget that she curled around. She would attempt to help it get cleaned off, if it would allow, as gently as she could possibly manage.

@Lemonface

The chick flopped his head on Kaimana's pelt as she started to groom him, the rough tongue a bit uncomfortable on his skin, but his down was already starting to cover his body, so he had that. He peeped in protest and wiggled, though he stopped after realizing that the other was getting all the gross fluids off his body. He was drying off, and was able to snuggle into the leopard's fur without getting stuck, so that was a plus.

Waving his wings, he cheeped loudly, reminded of the other important thing. Food. He was hungry! Really hungry- someone feed him, please!!

With another scrunched up expression, he flopped against Kaimana's face, so clumsy and wobbly that he was only getting more and more frustrated trying to walk around.

@Eythan

Avi... probably shouldn't have been here. But she was!

The little alien chick had been alive for a little time and was now reaching peak kitten cuteness. Fur-feathers fluffed out, four green eyes wide and innocent, little wings and scythes comically large for her body. She'd been getting fawned over by all her family, Eythan especially, but had been getting restless to explore beyond the bounds of the little nursery den.

So when she saw Eythan bounding off, she just had to sneak after him.

It was miracle she could even keep him in her sight. He was a large, stronge, not-knife-limbed adult, and she was a teetering baby with little cognitive thought and a penchant for getting distracted. Still, the little fledgeling followed, wings flaring in a poor imitation of him. The gryphon snapped a bone ('yummy!'), kept on going some distance, and suddenly turned away, leaving Avi facing... two chicks like her.

'Yay, new friends!'

Completely ignoring Eythan now, the little runaway baby rolled over like the world's fluffiest ball. Aviva looked over Lemonface and Kaimana with four big, wide eyes, and then: "Hiiii!" A velvety arm-spike went up in a wave before suddenly shooting out and lightly tapping the chick on the beak. "Boop!" She giggled.

@Lemonface Baby time

Eythan returned... a little later than intended, and looking like he'd had a rough hunt. Numerous scratches and scrapes marched up his legs, but they didn't look... terrible. Nothing life-threatening. A rat — public enemy number one, he'd probably call it if asked about it — swung limply by the neck in his beak. Bright eyes fixed on the altricial Gembound trying to hobble around, then his own kid.

The gryphon set the rat down with a quick chirp towards Avi, "followed me out, didn't you? Y'little nugget." His voice was teasing, good-natured, and he glanced towards the spotted stranger, "sorry 'bout any hecklin', if she gave y'any."

He stooped down, though, and gave the rat a single shove, pointedly keeping the dead Lesser's face out of view for now (because, y'know, can't have kids too spooked to eat.) Eythan hooked his beak in the hide, peeling it back some — then, he tugged off a tiny strip of rat-meat and held it over the hatchling's head, chirping imploringly.

If he even took it, the gryphon'd set to getting another and offered to the other two, "help y'self."

He realized he had yet to introduce himself, but that could wait until he didn't have his claws full feeding this newborn.

@Lemonface