HE AWOKE. SHE AWOKE. THEY AWOKE.

Splendid swirls of black-blue against the glistening mirrors of Gemini. It growed, it spiraled, it huddled among the reflective ruins like a dark parasite. But oh, it was no ordinary parasite. It was a twisted mass of flesh, and shell, and appendages and features. It slept in it's dark domain until the moment it's eyes snapped open and it decided to break free.

Bang. Bang. Bang. Muffled sounds came from within the crystal cocoon. It-- their, his, hers-- consciousness had just began to filter through, a cacophony of thoughts assaulting its mind. Or was it minds? It was hard to tell, in this claustrophobic domain, but the strangeness of it all still shown through. One part of him was trying to smash at the lower side, the other pressed against the upper, and neither seemed fully in control of the other. There was a dizzying slush of sensory input coming from all around them. It felt like they had more limbs then they were supposed to. But none of that mattered right now, just that they needed out.

An arm smashed through from the top, pudgy and flailing. And then a strange, chitinous leg from an entirely different side. A third, skinned like the former, slipped from a crack in yet another strange spot. But they were unable to break through completely, their limbs stuck in the spiderweb cracks and too weak to pound further. The creature cried, a frail "Uwaa!" echoing around. But was it two voices that said that? And why was it coming from opposite sides of the chrysalis?

Whoever's the first to approach this distortion of a gembound would likely not find it pleasant.

Arwen was looking at the crystal walls of Gemini, waving her torso back and forth as she admired her reflection, much like a mantis trying to focus on prey. She bobbed her head up and down, chittering under her mask.

A crack echoed through the cave and she flinched, falling onto her side before rolling back over and quickly wiggling towards it. This cave was disorienting, but she knew she could handle it.

"Hello?", she called out, inching around a tall crystal, wondering where the heck the crack came from.

Damn this cave- she could barely tell where she ended and the cave began. But still, she could do it. She'd faced every other challenge thus far!

Turning a corner, she found a chrysalis, alone and with no one nearby, with arms and a leg ('An insect one!', she thought excitedly.), wiggling closer to try and get near.

Marshmallow was in her favorite spot, sitting on Arwen's very squishy and comfortable shoulder. She had been asleep the whole time that they had been traveling here, but now she had woken up, to see that this cave had huge crystals. She fluffed herself up in excitement. It was so nice here!

They rounded a corner, and Marshmallow some something strange. There was a chrysalis, with arms and a leg. She could feel the excitement in Arwen's body, so she decided that this was a very exciting thing. She flapped her wings to add on to the excitement in the air.

they,as usual, stuck pretty close by Arwen and marshmallow. they had to, really. they were similarly watching their distorted figure in the crystal walls, but immediately went alert as soon as arwen moved. they had to stay close, so they didnt lose her, and was similarly perplexed by the sight of the chrysalis.

they moved forward, behind the two to watch. they had their wings open and arms ready, in case of ready needed escape, but cooed in curiosity at the chrysalis.

@Matthieu

Sounds. Sounds struck at them from beyond their crystalline prison, distorted and muffled. Their exposed limbs writhed at the sensation, fingers grasping at the air vainly. But they were still stuck, and the limited "air" in the chrysalis wasn't going to get any higher, so they did the only thing they could and tried to burst free once more.

The pounding grew stronger, eight spindly limbs pressing against solid crystal. With a great heave, the top facet shattered away... and caved in onto the form within. There wasn't any cry this time, just the instinctive failings of mismatched limbs as black shards crushed onto it's form. A few glimpses-- a skull here, a striped thorax there-- could be seen as the gembound wallowed in it's own collapsing shelter, but so far it was too disoriented to simply grab the edge of the cocoon and heave itself up. It wasn't even aware of the animals gathering outside it's little spectacle. How unfortunate.

@Marshmallow @Arwen @Redwood

Arwen shot forward to help, peering into the chrysalis and reaching down to pull off pieces, turning to Redwood.

"Come help!", she said, her antennae wiggling as she peered back down.

She managed to get the smaller pieces out, grabbing them by the handfuls and tossing them out. She struggled to lift a bigger chunk, too short to reach the top, the angle awkward and her limbs not strong enough yet.

"Blue-!", she cried, "Come on- come help!"

She looked down at the creature within, with hands and a face, and started to try and break apart the chrysalis instead. They were too big to try and drag from the top.

"Don't worry," she said, reaching in to pat him, "We'll help!"

@Redwood
Roll noted as a 9 - barely successful!

Redwood themselves didn't completely know how to react. but, they flinched hard at the chrysalis and the unfortunate spectacle the creature was making of himself.

they moved forward upon arwen's request, nodding. "im here." they chirped.

while the others were busy working on trying to help with the smaller pieces and getting them out, with a bit of struggle, blue similarly began trying to lift the larger pieces from ontop of the creature, hopefully atleast making it easier for the others to get the creature out.

Marshmallow watched as the events unfolded, with the chrysalis collapsing in on whoever was inside of it. She was too small and weak to help, so while Arwen was busy tossing out the smaller chunks, she decided to help in a different way. Being an incredibly small bat, she jumped off the grub's shoulder and onto the top of the chrysalis. From there, she wiggled in through a gap and inside the chrysalis itself. "Okay! Okay!" she comforted the grub, and fluffed herself up.

@Matthieu

Finally, with a bit of help from outside forces, the beast was freed from its own prison. Well, it didn't look much like a beast yet-- simply a... something, from what the gembounds likely saw. Two bodies haphazardly fused together, squished into an impossible small space now collapsed onto him. Reddish eyes glanced wildly as strange bodies picked off the goopy shards and spoke in strange tones. They did not move. One tiny thing squeezed through a glimmering crack. They did not move. Another reached in a strange hand to pat their head-- 'which head?' Right, they had two of those. With all the sensory input coming in it was really hard to tell what was happening. Regardless, it was likely the upper, the one that looked just like the newcomer's, mouth pulled tight in foggy bewilderment. But they still didn't move, a silent statue as those collapsed crystals were slowly pried off their form.

But finally, they were free from their pin and moved.

One hand, then the other, then another, then more bizarre limbs coming from strange angles. They pried onto the crumbling sides and hoisted a body into the air, wet with amniotic fluid. But, well... shadows tend to hide features. Such as the fact this creature was apparently bisected through the waist with another. A sort of four-legged bee, larger and less colorful than the native bumblebees. Its copper eyes stared at all of them at once. Two pudgy legs jutting from the bottom and dangling helplessly in the air. And a torso, not unlike Arwen or Redwood, which faced backwards at all the wrong proportions.

They were still for a long time. A shivering newborn facing more newborns in a maze of crystals. But inside their mind was swarming.

'Food, hungry-- I can think-- multiple creatures here-- I can see that. How do I-- move. Yes, move. Who are you.'

'Hello.'

'Hello.'

'I'm hungry.'

All communicated through simple emotions and the basic words they were just beginning to grasp.

Their multifaceted gaze fell upon the funny fuzzy thing. The thing that slipped through the cracks. The other head turned, too, nearly 180 degrees, just to stare at it. It was white. And fluffy. They decided they liked it.

As swift as a sparrow two spindly chitinous legs, still wet with primordial ooze, snapped out to grab the bat. The gemlet's weight shifted precariously backwards as they hunched over (or leaned, in the upper's case) to see better. "Hello," two heads spoke in unison, full of the delightful sweetness of a child. Analyzing. They liked this toy.

@Marshmallow @Arwen @Redwood

Marshmallow had been there to try and comfort the creature stuck in the chrysalis, but now, she had been snatched up in their legs. That was unexpected, and uncomfortable. She didn't like being picked up by anyone other than Arwen or Blue. "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" screeched the little bat.