Tucked away in the ferns approaching Eridanus, a smooth, egg-shaped ball of wildly banded agate lay. It was warm to the touch, sitting just within eyesight and mostly buried in the nearby dirt. It had been here long enough that the roots of the fast-growing plants nearby had begun to web over it, but now it was stirring.

There was a little bird inside, and he was... restless. For all the time he'd been conscious (about fifteen seconds, now), he'd only known the comfort of this egg... but being confined was a bad thing, in his mind, and so he was trying to escape. If he'd hunkered down and been patient, the egg would have probably spat him out anyway in a few days -- now, though, he'd need to fight.

Little talons flailed at the stone, pressing against it. Agate was tough, though -- scratching wouldn't work. Instead, he tried to stretch out and flail his wings, and felt a small amount of give. Heard a faint crack in the distance. He paused and tried again, but nothing changed. Then, in a sudden stroke of genius, he stretched and scratched at the same time. With a rumbling little crack, the agate chrysalis broke into several large pieces, and a fluffy white scrap of hunger and rage was climbing out.

He shook off his feet and examined his talons, black eyes still fuzzy and unfocused in the brightness of the new light. He heard sound in the distance, something like wheels and voices, and made a split-second evaluation that these probably were not bigger owls here to feed him. The new Gembound flopped onto the ground and played dead, totally unaware that Gembound generally turned to Oil when they died.


@sharp
@aerie

How did this keep happening to her?

Sharp was ready to leave for Eridanus. Aerie, that little dragon, was tucked neatly in the cart. There wasn't enough room for both them and all her crystals, so she reluctantly left some them behind at the old den. Once they were finished moving, she could go back and retrieve them.

The tunnel was, well, typical. The lights were on, the stairs were slick (a nightmare to navigate while driving a cart), and the carvings were carved. She made an attempt to keep her wagon as steady as possible despite it's neverending rattling. One more thing to add to her list: make a better cart.

The giant ferns came into view and Sharp felt a kick of excitement. They were almost there! She looked over the creeping vines, the soil underfoot, the faint droning of insects beyond, and a--

"Oh my gosh!" Sharp immediately abandoned her vehicle and raced towards the edge of the growth, where a small, motionless fledgeling laid. Were they injured? Dead?! Unfortunately, the lizard was unaware of the existence of black goo, so it was very well a possibility.

"Oh no, oh no oh no!" She prodded her with an outstretched talon and panicked. They were round and fluffy and small-- too tiny? Too fluffy? Whatever the case, they were certainly not doing well, so in a burst of flighty magic, a spark connected with his heart in a desperate attempt to wake him up.

It wasn't the greatest show of magic, but she hoped it was enough to bring them back from the brink of "death". Sharp peered over their downy face, worriedly searching for a shred of consciousness. "Are you okay, friend? Are you alive?"

© ©

@Huma
@Aerie

Aerie had fallen asleep as Sharp loaded up the wagon, and ended up with things on top of her in order for them to even fit. Which was fine with her, she needed the warmth anyway.

However, when her mother started yelling, her head shot up and she snorted gently, startled. Poking her head over the side of the wagon, she blinked rather owlishly (heh), staring at the two on the ground. She wiggled out from under everything and flopped to the ground, toddling over to the two, sniffing at the owlet.

Aerie cooed and looked at Sharp for guidance, not old enough to feel empathy or concern, but old enough that she could at least mimic it. She tried her best to use magic like her mother, straining like she was constipated or something. She perked up as a breeze started to blow through, before blowing her forward with a squeal, making her land awkwardly, as she hadn't been at all prepared.

Oops...

@Huma

The compulsion to play dead came instinctually, from a blueprint which said that any creature not aiming to feed him was aiming to eat him. But then Sharp was shrieking (he could deal with that, really -- better to keep his poker face) and then she was casting touching him and his heartbeat was suddenly not his own. Startled and realizing that his little trick hadn't worked, he lashed out at Sharp with his little talons, hissing and trying to beat his little wings.

Despite the fact that his talons made connection quite well, his talons were small and weak compared to the scales of a fully grown reptile. Needless to say, he might have caught a scale at an awkward angle or chipped it, but he certainly didn't do any real damage. He snapped his beak at her still, trying to shuffle back further into the ferns. Little Huma was visibly afraid, his entire little body shaking. Where was he meant to go?


@sharp
@aerie

Thank the caves-- small fluffy child was okay! And yeah, they probably didn't need that spell to begin with, seeing as he immediately jumped up and tried to claw her face off.

There seemed to be a pattern with these children. Absolutely helpless and adorable, but with big claws and predatory inclinations. How fun.

Thankfully though, he was still a chick. His tiny claws simply glanced off her hardened scales, leaving nothing but a scratch across her face. She tried to ignore it. If she had learned anything from the past few days, fluffy babies were often helpless and did things without really thinking about it.

She felt a little pang as the owl chick tried to hide further in the ferns. Was he hiding from her? Gosh, she was only your friendly cave lizard! No scary teeth here! She took a step forward, but suddenly another body barreled into her. "Fuzzy?" she mouthed, trying to stay quiet. Sharp sidestepped towards the dragonet and tried to nudge her back to the cart with her tail. "Fuzzy, just stay in the cart for now! Momma's trying to, uh..." Okay, she didn't have any idea what she was doing right now.

Alright, alright, calm the gemling. She could herd Aerie back to the wagon later. Putting on her best "I-am-not-trying-to-eat-you" face, Sharp crept towards the avian as gently as she could. "Hey there," she cooed. "I'm so sorry for giving you a fright. Are you okay?" Unfortunately, the words fell a bit flat, not distressing but not exactly comforting either. She just had to hope the owlet understood her good intentions.

© ©

@Huma @Aerie

Aerie snuggled up against Sharp's side, hiding behind her and shyly peeking out. Cooing softly, she waved, her little talons not unlike Huma's, long and sharp and curved. She placed her feet down, head cocked gently.

"Hhh...", she wheezed, trying to form a word, "Heeee... heeeellooooo."

She wobbled forward, belly low to the ground, trying to seem as non-threatening as possible. She let out a squawk, mimicking Huma's own, her head cocking, eyes blinking owlishly. Her chromatic scales glinted in the light of the caves, slightly covered by the soft, down-like fur in between.

Already firmly attached to who she considered to be her nest-mate, she crept forward, huddling up against him, delighted to find him warm. She chirped and huddled up against him, curling up her tail. If he attacked, he'd find that her scales, though small, provided good protection from his tiny talons. And her own bit more fiercly.

@Huma

Huma hissed in terror as Sharp continued to advance on him. Her words didn't freak him out any worse than they already had, but she was clearly not reading his body language properly! He was winding up to try and attack her again, not really caring that he hadn't done much in the beginning, when the much larger fuzzy creature waved talons at him and made a cooing sound that formed into words, but sounded quite like an owl.

The larger creature had a distinctly wrong shape, but was acting like an owl, and then jammed right up against his side. Huma snapped his beak, but didn't try to flee as Aerie wrapped herself around him. Instead, he made the executive decision to try and appear as threatening as he possibly could. He became very warm, nearly hot, to the touch (which was the opposite of what Aerie wanted, but he didn't know that) and his eyes started to glow brightly. He let out a shrieky cry and eyed Sharp, but honestly...

Huma understood language, to some extent. He'd heard the lizard call herself Momma to the other beast and saw that she was not threatened by the little spiky thing. Maybe Sharp wasn't so bad... but that remained to be seen.

@sharp
@aerie

Okay, okay. Sharp wasn't sure what she was doing wrong, but the little chick wasn't getting the message about her being nice and not-carnivorous. She stepped back a little as he hissed, quickly letting out an "Oh sorry!" as they scrambled back.

And then, right when they were freaking out, Aerie entered the scene. The mildly-stressed mother tried to hold her back with her tail, worried what the dragonet would do. They ate a mole mouse earlier... would they try to eat a child?

Thankfully, the untimely hatchling just curled up around them and purred. The owlet, though he resisted at first, didn't seem adamantly against this. Rather, he seemed to be getting calmer, albeit slightly. Oh, and his eyes began glowing like fire. Her muzzle clicked in confusion. He didn't seem to be injured, just... magick-ing. Ah, the wonders of magic. Such a shame she never mastered hers

Still, Sharp didn't know how willing the chick was to all of this, and now that she'd confirmed he was still alive, well, she was just afraid of spooking him again. The small lizard waddled up to Aerie, trying not to appear imposing to Huma, and tapped her lightly on her scales. "Aw, come on Fuzzy, I think we should go. I don't know if friend wants us here."

With a short wave towards the hatchling, Sharp waddled back to her cart. She shuffled around some of her gems and scraps to create a comfortable surface for Aerie. The lizard picked up a small, tinkling stone in her mouth and threw it onto the ground, hoping the noise would lure the dragonet back. "Say bye-bye to feather-friend, alright? You can always play with him later today. We're going to Eridanus, with all the pretty flowers, remember?"

© ©

@Huma @Aerie Sharp isn't leaving yet! She's just heading back to the cart because she's unsure about what to do with baby birb. Huma can tag along, or Aerie can drag him with her, or anything else you want!

Aerie let out a squawk and snuggled closer to Huma, enjoying the wondrous warmth the owl was giving off. It was so nice... so warm...

Purring softly, she tugged on his wing ever so gently, nodding her head towards Sharp encouragingly. She shook her head and wrapped her tail around Huma, slowly slinking towards Sharp, hopefully with the owl in tow.

I'm so sorry it's short, I had to get this out.
@Huma

Well, Aerie certainly wasn't leaving, but she started to... purr? That was a new sound. Huma mimicked the noise to the best of his ability, which was actually pretty convincingly despite his youth. Owls could make awfully similar sounds! He decided that the large monster hadn't decided to eat him yet, and seemed rather nice, so maybe she wasn't awful. And by extension...

Huma eyed Sharp suspiciously, watched her tap Aerie on the shoulder and try to coax her towards the cart. Big eyes looked between the lizard and the... much bigger lizard(?), and he was more than prepared to settle down and stay where he was until the purring-thing started to pull him towards the lizard. He pulled his wing back, wary of being injured, but didn't fight Aerie as she pulled him along. Not that he really cooperated either, but she was certainly making ground.

He paused and then hopped up, digging little talons into the grooves of her tail to hang on as he hunkered down on top of it. Highly unlikely to be anything painful, but it did make him easier to move.

@sharp @aerie