Cracks echoed in a hidden alcove, then a wave of tinkling as a stone chrysalis shattered and a six-foot-long worm spilled out.

It twisted uncertainly, casting its golden eyes about the carved tunnels. Wiggled its infinite limbs experimentally. Clacked its pincers. Every sound tended to echo in here, and the worm whispered wordless sounds to itself, delighted with the way the consonants carried.

An odd feeling gnawed at its insides, urging it to leave the glittering shards of Clearstone behind and search for something. Hungry, it thought, and its pincers clacked together again. Somehow, it had a feeling that snapping those knife-like appendages shut would help it satisfy that hunger, but it wasn't sure how, exactly, so it simply did so a few more times. Though this was better than doing nothing, it was dissatisfied with the way hunger still twisted inside it, and it began to scuttle out of its alcove. Searching for something.

It didn't quite know what.

@Catalyst

A pile of furs, down the tunnel from where the stone had been planted, began to stir. The snip snap of claws alerted her to something in the tunnel. Her head lifted from the warmth reservoir she'd made herself. Groggy yellow eyes blinked awake, and she began to glance about. She didn't feel the distant blip of a worker or a praetor near. And no alarm had been raised. Could it be...? The raptor's eyes became full-blown with excitement.

She stood, shaking the furs from her scaled hide, not slowing even as the chill bit at her glossy scales. She bent her head to the underside of her arm, ripping off a mold chunk with a sound like tearing velcro. She set off down the tunnel, following the fading echo of snaps. How to convince them was an afterthought. After all, this was gift to Mother, her soldier. When at Iast Catalyst bore upon the alcove, and her eyes upon the thing, she breathed a sigh of relief.

It had not scuttled away. She watched as it clicked it's pincers. Altogether an odd thing. Even with the visions Mother had shown her, it was still a strange thing to see in the flesh. Even stranger seeing parts of her on its form.

"You." Catalyst said at last, muffled beneath the clump of mold. She mimicked the sounds the child made, clicking her toes. It was round three of Catalyst vs tiny children, and she would not lose this round. "Hello. We--I am relieved to ssee you. There are more, but that can wait, yes? You like clicking with your...pincers. Your mouth?"

Catalyst gave as best a grin as she could, while making a big show of tossing and biting the clump of mold. "It tastes good. Fun to play with, too. Do you wish to try?" Catalyst leaned down, placing the clump. Quietly she backed away from both, as if afraid sudden movements would scare it. Despite this, judging from her excited eyes, her hopes for the child joining their family was evident.

@Rena

You.

That's me, the worm realized, golden eyes flicking up to a gray-green figure. "Me," it agreed with a soft clack of pincers. Something about the raptor's social skills might have struck it as a little odd, if this wasn't literally its first interaction with anyone, ever. As it was, it simply accepted this as part of the world. Nothing out of the ordinary, probably.

"I think... it makes me feel better." The clacking. Some instinct inside it told it that if it did this, it would get food. Perhaps it needed to do it to something, even. The worm eyed the raptor. For some reason, instinct didn't seem to suggest it should snap its knife-like pincers shut around her. Maybe she was too big. Maybe one shouldn't do that to friendly-seeming creatures. It wasn't sure.

Its eyes lit up when the raptor told it the white mass in her mouth tasted good. That was a good thing, it was sure, and the display she made of biting her awoke an urge: it should do that too. "Yes," it declared decisively, before dashing forward in a sudden burst of speed. Glassy blades sliced through the clump, and it snapped the pieces into its mouth.

It did not taste good, but the worm had swallowed it too quickly to be able to react.

"Liar," it hissed, but the venom was half-hearted. For some reason, it was feeling warm inside. The white mass couldn't be making it warm, could it? It'd been fluffy and nastily bitter and musty and half air.

But it was like... everything would be all right. Rena felt oddly reassured of this all of a sudden.

Weird.

@Catalyst gm tagging here!

Mother's touch was twofold: one set of messages for Catalyst's mind, and another set of sensations, emotions, for the dim and tentative link that Rena's infection suddenly provided.

To Catalyst, there was warm expectation, like a friend watching a mother with her newest child. "They are beautiful," came that slithering murmur of thought, shot through with a flood of approval. "You have done so, so well, my child." Mother's wellspring of loving warmth never faltered, it would seem.

To Rena, there was--as though Mother realized the distaste--the sudden strange sensation that the fungus hadn't tasted that bad, after all. In fact, it was a little savory, a little sweet--wasn't it? It was hard to tell if it was simply a trick of the tastebuds, or an aftertaste, or what, but-... how odd. That trickle of warmth, though, that remained--a sensation that suddenly all was well. That Rena was exactly where they should be, and safe, among family.

@Catalyst