Deep inside a rich sepia chrysalis, there was a rumble.. and then a crack. Then its banded layers began to crumble, giving way for the too-large creature within.

Panya opened her eyes, blinking fast enough to dull the striking, ochre-gold that gave them life. Her thoughts were coming almost as fast as her breaths, rising and falling from her mind before she had the time to process them. In the first few seconds, she knew nothing. Looking around her, though, the objects began to have names and the names began to have meanings- albeit very simple ones. She looked down, only just tuning into the sensation of her- paws, she came to realize- pressed firmly in wet earth. She lifted one curiously, flexing the other three appendages until mud squelched unpleasantly between her toes. At this, Panya's muzzle wrinkled.

A weak mewl clawed its way out of her throat, her first experience with noise- naturally, the little cub found herself rather startled. She stumbled back on her paws, tripping over herself, and promptly sat on her tail. Letting out a little hiss, she whirled around to sniff at the offender (which was, of course, only the mud.). Panya sat unhappily, blowing a puff of air through her nose and once again trying to take in her surroundings. The confusion hadn't yet cleared, souring her mood even further and bringing small pricks of anger and frustration to her eyes. The discomfort of the lights, sounds, and views around her was, if anything, growing.

warning: angry little brat >,>

At first, Bacchus thought the chrysalis had hatched a leopard. He had overheard the cracks and so he had come to investigate what new life was entering the world. He remembered encountered newly hatched beings as a child, especially the one fearful of the new world it had come into. Bacchus hoped this one was fearful. That would make matters more fun.

But he had not been expecting another feline and especially not one covered in spots. The child was no leopard, the coloration was off by far, but she was clearly going to be a similar enough creature to him, in appearance at least. It was interesting.

She looked as if she was about to cry, and her weak mewl tempted him to play his games being such a pitiful sound. But having a child be afraid of him when she was already stressed would not be a difficult a task. What would be far more interesting would be getting this little feline to trust him instead.

Bacchus rumbled a deep noise that was an attempt at a purr, though it sounded closer to a growl. And the way he prowled closer might have seemed more menacing than friendly, truth be told. "Are you frightened, little cub?" He crooned, but it was a sickly-sweet sound.

@Panya

Panya found herself still entranced by the slime coating her fur, so she was utterly beside herself with shock at the sound of an honestly menacing noise.

"WAh-!" She yelped, a hint of hysteria laced beneath her surprised tone. She was immediately on edge, eyeing the stranger with suspicion she didn't bother to hide. He was large and uniquely patterned- not too different from herself, she realized, with a glance towards her legs. Still, though, Panya wasn't the type to run away. Not that she had the experience to know to, anyways.

Indignantly and in a tone shrill enough to bother any creature's ears, Panya cried: "No! Stupid." Her vocabulary was limited, but strangely enough the insult had come to mind as she struggled to think of a response. She huffed again and grumbled incoherently to herself.

Fear forgotten, she marched right up to the taller beast, staring up at him expectantly. "Who?" She asked simply, tufted tail lashing behind her. She was confident she'd get the answers to her questions, and unashamed of her nerve.

@bacchus

The startled yelp pleased him more than it probably should have, considering that it meant he had failed to reassure this cub. It was a lovely noise, and it was caused purely by him.

…The shrill yell was significantly less pleasant, as were the words. But they were a child’s words, so they did phase him overly much in that respect. ”It is rude to call someone stupid,” Bacchus informed the cub, tail swishing lazily

He idly noted how easy it would be to reach out to the cub that had had wandered right up to him and hurt her. But it was an idle thought, at the moment.

”I am Bacchus, little cub. Do you know who you are?” He answered and questioned in turn. The leopard was genuinely curious to hear her response.

@Panya

Panya scoffed a little at the man's first words, jutting her bottom lip out impishly. She had no clue what rude was, but putting two and two together she figured it was negative. She was a quick learner, even moments after being introduced to the world, and rather proud of herself for now having a grasp on what was happening- a big creature was talking to her, she was excited, and her feet were muddy.

When- Bacchus, she learned- asked her who she was, she paused. Panya's eyes widened a little with the foreign concept of identity, and she adopted a bit of a mousy expression. "Erm.." She murmured, ears pinned with concentration. It took her several painstaking seconds to reanimate with the realization of her name. "Panya! I am Panya. Yes. Bacchus." The cub exclaimed, a gleeful grin replacing her anxieties. Her words were still simple, but her gratification was palpable.

The little lioness tossed her head, briefly losing interest in the conversation in favor of staring at the shards of where she had come from. She gave them a curious sniff, shooting Bacchus a look as if to say, 'Explain,'.

@bacchus

The confusion and deliberation at his question was amusing, exactly the way he had expected it to go. The pulled back ears, the attempt at deep thought… All of it amused Bacchus.

When Bacchus was a cub, it had taken longer than this for him to gather what his name was. But it had taken far less for him to begin grasping the concept of identity. ”And who is Panya?” He inquired, expecting a very basic answer or confusion.

This was a cub with no experience of the world, after all. Even for Bacchus, it had taken at least one experience early on for him to begin to grasp his identity beyond what a name was. And it had taken hibernation for complete comprehension. But he was willing to keep an open mind, and see what exactly the cub had to say, or else there would be no point to such a question.

Panya’s deliberate glance towards the chrysalis she had hatched from, then back to Bacchus. The leopard chuckled. ”You are a demanding little cub, it seems,” His voice was coated in amusement, though, as he spoke.

“That is a chrysalis, Panya. Us greater gembounds hatch from such formations into this cave. Lessers are the beings that wander these caves that cannot speak. For us carnivorous gembounds, they are prey. We hunt and eat them,” He explained, indulgent of the bossy little cub for now.

Of course, Bacchus’s own hunts did not always lead to eating prey but instead toying with them before releasing them, but he was not inclined to share that detail with those that did not already know.

@Panya

Panya, surprisingly, listend to what Bacchus had to say. She tilted her head a bit at his complex wording- at least, complex for her- but mostly understood.

The girl hummed in thought, still mulling over his first questions on who Panya was. She didn't really grasp his intended meaning, but took it rather literally. She wasn't sure what she was, but she knew she looked similar to Bacchus, and she really was listening when he explained her chrysalis to her.

"I am a Gem...bound..?" She said, although it sounded more like a question than an answer. She was also pretty baffled on the concept of 'carnivore', but she'd get to that later.

..And the cub's stomach growled loudly. Okay, maybe she'd get to it right now. She grumbled at the discomfort in her gut, frowning a little. "What is carnivore? Why do we eat it?" She asked, ever-curious and increasingly hungry.

@bacchus

Bacchus chuckled, amused at her phrasing. Technically, he supposed, it was perfectly possible for a carnivore to eat another carnivore, but it was clearly not the question she was trying to ask.

"Carnivores are beings that need to consume other beings to sustain themselves," He explained. "I assume you are a carnivore, since you seem similar in visual features to myself." He was tempted to leave it at that and let the cub's audible hunger grow further.

He had never starved a being before, after all, let alone a greater gembound. His mind had provided him on the information of what starvation was, though, and it seemed a fascinating concept though time-consuming.

The leopard glanced around, but he did not see any mice. "Bigger prey is more satisfying but also more likely to fight back," He further told Panya, not mentioning that the fighting back part appealed greatly to himself.

@Panya

The cub nodded along to his words, ears swiveling- the glint of her gem accompanying them. Only another thing she had yet to notice.

"You are big!" She crooned, prancing forward again and looping around Bacchus, completely unaware of the fact that he was still, indeed, a 'stranger'. As scatterbrained as she still was, Panya's focus was slowly improving. She recalled her hunger, and promptly dropped to the dirt. She gave it a long sniff, likely trying to locate the same scent that Bacchus gave off, unsuccessfully.

She'd try to mimic his sweep over the area, not quite sure what she was looking for but searching for movement nonetheless.

"And you are small," Bacchus commented in return, amused by the obvious statement. "However, I am not prey."

"Prey that does not talk is easier to catch and eat," He commented idly. Bacchus swept his gaze around once again, seeking potential prey to point out. But there was none he could see.

"Do you see any smaller creatures than you scurrying around? Those are the kind of beings that would be the most simple to eat whilst you are this size," The leopard advised, in lieu of pointing one out himself.

@Panya