In the sun baked sands of Hydra lay a chrysalis of rose quartz. The spot of pink was nestled between golden folds that made up the dunes of the unforgiving expanse. This chrysalis was rather small, and could have easily been mistaken as a rather large gemstone perhaps. And then there was movement. A small crack appeared on the surface of the quartz, then another. Small parts were slowly chipped away as the chick inside pecked at the walls trapping it in. Eventually, the gemstone could hold together no more. The opening spiderwebbed out before the chrysalis shattered all at once, exposing the newly hatched gemstone to the harsh air.
Star blinked. When she had awoken, the only thought on her mind had been to get out of the crystal egg that she was inside of. Now that she had broken out, she had no idea what to do. She ruffled her feathers, shaking off the shards that had landed on her.
Taking a step forward, her foot immediately sank into the sand causing her to fall right over and smack her head into the sand. Well that was a great start to life.

@Conleth

Another chrysalis sat nearby- even smaller, a tiny white pebble lost within the sea of sand. Quite literally lost- wind had blown a inch or two over the developing chrysalis, which wouldn't be that big of a deal except for a creature of this side. Each inch of sand may as well have been a foot.

At the moment, however, all he was aware of was the calming dark and coolness. No light shone through even as cracks spiderwebbed across the gemstone's surface. It seemed he would be allowed to stay in this half-sleep state forever.

Then something abruptly smashed against the roof of the chrysalis. Enough to punture a hole through the thinned gemstone- and just about through the panicked creature suddenly awoken from his slumber. Sand poured in, and that panic increased tenfold. They scrambled upward, grabbing onto whatever they could- mostly shards of their own chrysalis and sand- to force themself upwards.

A furry mouse-like face breached the sand the rest of their body soon followed. They coughed and sneeze sand out of their various face holes, not even noticing Star- or anything else- yet.

@Star

Hydra had lain near-dormant for so many cycles, now, that it was almost eerily still in the dunes. Sand scratched and hissed across its tawny sea, wind curling plumes of stiflingly hot dust skyward now and then, but otherwise, nothing moved out here.

Perhaps deeper in, past the yawning mouth of the ravine, life still thrived: no doubt Eyehooks hunted, dipping in and out in search of quillmice, bone hares and the occasional scale deer. But here, out in the withering expanse--beneath the blistering gaze of the oppressive, glaring light--nothing hunted.

Beneath the sands, the Sandworms lay slumbering, the creatures hatching above too small to wake them from their many cycles' dormancy.

For now, the children would be safe.

---

Star and Conleth will remain safe for several hours' time, or until the end of this thread, whichever comes first. Should they remain in Hydra after this time has passed, or actively seek out danger, a GM should be tagged for additional rolls.

@Star

They were lucky that there were no dangers in this area. Considering their size and inexperience, any encounters would have been very hard to avoid. Not to mention Star is a bit... bad at avoiding things.
Star sat up and shook her head, now a throbbing pain in her beak. It seemed she had hit something hard. But sand was not hard. It was soft. So something hard under the sand? That was not sand? Just as the pain was subsiding, something burst out of the sand from the spot she had just faceplanted into. "AH!" the chick fell backwards, trying to scramble away from whatever that thing was. But when she squinted closer, it was... a mouse thing? Not that she knew what a mouse was. But she did know what a mouse was! But how? Gah, don't question it.
"Hi! Hi! Hi!" Star exclaimed, waddling over, "I is Star! You is?" she tilted her head as she asked this question, investigating the fellow creature that had hatched next to her. They had good vibes! She could feel it already!

@Conleth

The first thing that they noticed upon no longer being consumed by sand was the intense heat. The second was the comparative big chick looming just above them. One looked at that piercing beak and prey instincts took over, sending them skittering back clumsily.

"AWUAGH!!"

But then there were words. Words, they knew instinctively, meant someone WASN'T a mindless predator. And they were blissfully naive of the fact that someone could CHOOSE murder for means other than purely survival. They calmed down, ears perking and swiveling forward, nose twitching.

"...Hi?" They squeaked, lacking the enthusiasm of the other- mostly out of exhaustion from the recent fight for their life. "You is... You is Connie?"

@Star

She was surprised that such a small animal could make such a loud noise. It was a bit funny actually. "AHHH!" Star yelled back, for no reason at all. Yelling was very fun. Luckily all this yelling wouldn't attract anything, considering they were so small. Star wasn't sure what had frightened it, or whether that emotion was fright or not. She looked around to see what could've prompted them to act in such a way, completely oblivious to the fact that it was her.
As they calmed down, she stepped a bit closer, wanting to observe them at a closer angle. "You is Connie! Connie is you! Hi you! Hi Connie!"
Star was hopping about now in circles around the jerboa, unable to contain her excitement in meeting this 'Connie'. "Star is Connie-friend! Connie want be Star-friend?" She kicked up sand as she went, and it was rather surprising she wasn't running out of energy. It took some effort to walk on sand, not to mention jumping as she did so.

@Conleth

The other's enthusiasm was a tad bit contagious, and Connie quickly found them mimicking the other. "Hi!! Hit!!" They squealed, hopping along as Star did so. Their legs were, notably, made for jumping on sand, so they got a little bit more 'bounce per ounce' than the Bustard chick.

"Star-friend! Yeah!! Star-friend and Connie-friend!" They shouted happily. "Star-friend and Connie-friend go fun together?!" This was said as both a statement and a question. WHERE did they want to 'go fun together?'

They tilted their head slightly, hilariously large ears straight up like a hare's as they waited for an answer. Their long tail wagged not too dissimilarily to a dog, tossing up small bits of sand.

@Star

"Yes! Fun! Together!" Star had never had this much fun in her life. Though it could be noted that she had been living for less than an hour. Her strength started to flag however, as her legs no longer held the energy to continue bouncing about. She took the question as a good opportunity to pause, plopping down in place on the sand.
This place was so big. The looming dunes of sand provided many opportunities for exploration. And fun! But which way to go? She did not know. But not here. It was just sand. Not that sand wasn't fun! But she wanted to see if there was any other place with more interesting stuff than just sand.
Star pointed a random direction with her beak. "Go fun! There!" The chick stood back up, "Connie ready? Go fun?" She was prepared to leave right now! But if her new friend was not ready she could wait.

@Conleth

Their one eye blinked in concern as Star's energy visibly diminished. "Star-friend okay?!" they squeaked, scampering over to where she had plopped down. "Why no go? Stop Boing?" They asked. When Star stood back up, it was a relief. Friend was okay!

"Yeah! Go Go!" They cheered, standing up and zooming a distance away, in the direction Star had pointed. Their head was tilted slightly, as if the gemstone grin weighed down that side of their head- which it probably did, at this age and size. "Connie ready! Go Go!"

@Star

"Connie-friend no worry. Not good at boing boing like Connie!" Star complimented her friend. Being good at boinging was an incredibly important skill! Perhaps once she built up her stamina she would be better at it. But, since she had just hatched, she was not quite at that level yet. Bustards weren't exactly built to, well, jump around. And especially not on sand.
Having regained her energy, the chick ran after Connie, catching up to the jerboa. "Time go fun together! Go! Go! Go!" She proceeded ahead, glancing back to make sure her friend was following. Though Star had absolutely no idea where she was taking them, she knew for sure at least it would be with Connie. And that was good enough for her.

Exit Star

@Conleth