Quietly tucked in between the many rock outcrops of Polaris, lies a small chrysalis. In white light it would fade from pink to green, but in the blue cast of the cave, it appears to fade into the darkness of the alcove.

As some unknown clock decides to pass off to another, the tiny form inside twists around. Pushing on the walls of the chrysalis with its paws, it tries to follow something inside screaming out, out!. When the forelegs prove inadequate, it hits its head on the stony prison, with an audible thud echoing out and around the room. Twice more, thud, thud.

The chrysalis starts to crack from the strain, but clearly it is not fast enough to appease the little creature locked inside. It turns again, bringing up its hind legs and pushing as hard as it can. Slowly, the should of splitting crystal rings out, as the cracks grow larger and a large piece of the chrysalis begins to separate. Fluid begins to leak out of the cracks.

That's when the shard breaks off entirely, causing the contents of the chrysalis to spew out. The cat inside flips out, before sliding a few feet in the chrysalis fluid. A little dazed and exhausted from the ordeal, she sits there in a green and pink puddle for a minute, recovering.

So, Polaris.

Astéri doesn't... go here often, despite the cave being his hatchplace. He has two distinct memories associated with it: the fuzzy, childhood memories of his hatching, when he burst out of his chrysalis and immediately fell in love with fire—the old remnants of dragonflame have long since burnt out, but he likes to think he carries a bit of that in him, with his element. His gemstone.

And... and Elroy.

The crackling Spire in the center of the room is given a large berth. Thinking of the little bird gives him a pang in his heart; they've long since drifted apart by now, gone their seperate ways, but he still wishes he could have done something better. Stopped the bird from losing his magic somehow, even if he was still just a kid and still doesn't know quite how he'd have done it.

So, yeah, he doesn't come here often; usually just as an interstice between two other caves, him traveling through the Core because it's the fastest way to get to certain caves and he's always been a wanderer. And today, it just so happens that he'd stumbled across a cave rabbit on the way, and hey, free food is free food.

He has his mouth pretty full, his jaw locked around his meal's spine as he carries it with him, when he hears the sharp, distinctive cracking of a stone.

That's a chrysalis!

He sets into a trot, jogging over towards the sound before he can even think about it; reminded deep down of his own hatching, which threw him directly into the danger of an open flame. He's pretty sure this hatchling will be fine, Polaris isn't that dangerous of a cave, but there's still golems and stuff around and he needs to check.

Fortunately, all he finds is a soggy-looking kind of cat (he's pretty sure it's a cat), sitting in a colorful puddle of her own chrysalis.

"Um," he tries, before remembering his mouth is full.

He bends down, setting the rabbit carcass on the ground, then tries again. "Um... hey, kid...?"

Caves, how did Dad do it?

@Tourmaline

Looking up at the sound of Asteri's murmur, Tourmaline watches him set the carcass down, before he attempts to speak again. She tilts her head, before rolling over and carefully rising to her feet. Words? Those are words, aren't they. As everything clicks together, she opens her mouth, trying, "...hello?"

Her eyes take in his face. Brilliant, fiery eyes captivate her, and his fur is yellow marred grey by dust and ashes. She can smell the cinders on him.

He's been around a while, hasn't he? She is so small and he is so big.

Tourmaline takes a few unsteady steps towards him, but stops in front of the carcass. Inspecting it, she gives a sniff. Food. Seems she had distracted him during his meal. "...Sorry, I... you can go back to eating."

@Astéri

Honestly, he's not sure if he's the one fucking this all up or if the hatchling's just shy. Was he shy when he was a kid? Not that he can remember. He threw himself nose-first into danger without really processing it as danger at all. He'd be terrified to see his child self now, he's sure.

But that's off-topic. The thing is, there's a hatchling in front of him, and she's so... so small. So small and tiny and the way she looks at him makes him feel like a towering thing, much bigger than he actually feels like he is. Is it the eyes? He's been a little self-conscious about them after his mutation, but surely they aren't that bad...

Hell, he just doesn't know.

He tries his best to be reassuring regardless. "Hey, kid, no need to worry about that! Not every day someone hatches, yeah?"

Man, his own hatch was so long ago. Cycles and cycles. Some days he still can't believe he's an adult. "You hungry?" he asks, nudging the carcass toward the cat with his nose. "You can have some of my catch if you want. 's no problem. I can catch another one."

@Tourmaline

She's not so much afraid as captivated. She's only just tumbled out into this wide new world, and Asteri just happens to be the first thing that moved in front of her. She wonders what led him here. Pasts she has no way of knowing exist out there.

Tourmaline opens her mouth, "I guess so. You have to come from somewhere."

She watches him bend down and offer the carcass. She's hesitant, but offers a small, "Thank you," before biting into it. Blood gets on her snout as she pulls loose a strip of meat and eats it.

@Astéri

He can't help but smile, just a little bit, as he watches the cat eat. Asteri can't remember if he was hungry or not when he first hatched, but he assumed he had to be, right? He knows from all his younger siblings that chrysali take a whole cycle to grow before the Gembound inside hatches. That's a whole cycle of not eating! That must be a lot, right?

Which makes him wonder if this cat has any parents. Probably not—they'd be around to watch her hatch if they weren't, right? So… she probably doesn't have any other family.

She's all alone in the world.

Which, shouldn't be that sad. It's the way of things. Lotsa Gembound probably hatch alone, that's how the caves work. Asteri himself would've probably been alone if it weren't for Dad walking by at the right time.

But the thought still tugs at him, a little. He doesn't like the idea of other Gembound being alone, especially not one as young as this one.

He gives a brief nod at her quiet thanks. "No problem. You uh… you got a name?"

@Tourmaline

Food is good, Tourmaline decides, as she tears into the corpse with her fangs. Blood gets all over her snout, but she doesn't exactly seem to notice yet. She looks up Asteri as he speaks, a strip of meat hanging out of her mouth.

"A... name," she repeats, dropping the piece. She looks down at herself, and finds her gaze land on the crystal planted in her neck. A small primal whisper tells her what it is, and she figures that's as good as anything. "Tourmaline. I'll be Tourmaline," she declares.

((sorry for taking so long, we don't have to continue this if you don't feel it anymore @Astéri ))