________________

The creature inside the deep purple chrysalis wasn't conscious when the caves shook violently and a sickening scream came from Polaris. Sometime while the earthquake persisted a hairline crack appeared in the center of the chrysalis, stretching out almost lazily across it and broke almost completely in half.

And when the caves slowed to a stop, the bird - barely with down feathers sticking to his skin - was lying face-down on the ground. Anyone in that moment perhaps could have thought, 'do the origin caves have stillborns?' But make no mistake - it took a while, but eventually the little bird moved. It croaked weakly, as if it were in pain.

Slowly, the wet creature lifted his head, patches of pink skin still visible among the small down feathers. It croaked, as if for help - and again and again. It blinked blearily as it looked around the room.

He was hunting, quietly intent, when the whole world started shaking. He winced and spread his wings, stumbling to and fro, terrified and confused by why the hell the world was suddenly going crazy. He let out a frightened squeak, and then a shriek.

"BEVY?!"

Then it all stopped, quieting as quickly as it'd begun. The owl was left panting, heart racing, staring blindly into his own personal darkness.

Croak.

The owl whipped his head right, listening, wings still spread; another croak came, then another, quiet. Food? Or--something else? Discarding the idea of hunting, for now--he was terrified, and no longer hungry--he quickly settled his wings and hopped closer.

"Hello?" he hooted softly. "Is--someone there? Someone hurt?"

________________

@Kyrak

________________

What was that? he thought. There was something shouting but it sounded like it could be miles and miles away. For a moment, he felt like he couldn't see. There was a throbbing pain in his head.

He croaked and chirped. He wasn't hungry - he was cold and he was wet and he was hurting all over. He looked around, but he couldn't find the will to manage to stand and walk towards it. He could barely even sit as it was, it seemed.

Finally, he saw it - though barely. Blurry and wavering, a bigger brown figure with a strange, disk-like face was nearby. Was that the thing that shouted? The parrot slowly chirped again, unmoving.

It was--chirping?

So it wasn't food, then. Dark hopped closer, then stepped more carefully, feeling quite delicately with his talons until he bumped up against the hatchling. Then he settled quite close, ruffling down until he was touching it with his belly feathers, fluffed and warm.

"Hello? Can you hear me? ...Who are you?" he asked, clicking his beak quietly.

Maybe it was just a rat, or a mouse? Maybe a baby one, frightened out of its nest? He should find Bevy; she'd be able to see it. She'd know what to do.

Unless...

Maybe I can see it. He was already touching it, after all.

He concentrated, focusing hard on calling up his magic, on getting some sense of the history of the thing before him. A visual, perhaps. Lucky for him, the thing wasn't all that old. The "history" he got from it was practically a current visual, and he was startled to find that it had a dark, hooked beak not unlike his own. Was it an owl?!

With a sudden burst of delighted affection, he leaned down and, chortling soft hoots, he began to preen the baby bird.

________________

@Kyrak

________________

The baby parrot began to shake as Dark came close, wide-eyed. It was talking - asking who he was and for a moment he didn't quite understand, leaving him confused right up until the owl's feathers were touching his face.

He squawked and he shook, whimpering and curling into the ground when-- oh no, was it attacking him?! It squawked and now it was biting at the small feathers that had barely managed to grow in while he was in the chrysalis- were the feathers protecting him?

The little parrot would begin crying, if he could. He couldn't breathe and he was shaking violently now, whimpering and croaking. He wished the pain would just go away.

The owl simply continued doing what he was doing; there wasn't much more to it. The baby seemed upset, frightened, so he kept cooing softly, gently running his beak through its stubby feathers, leaving his own belly fluff half-covering it.

"Are you okay? You can't speak?" he asked quite softly. He began to doubt whether this creature was like him--what if it was like the birds in Eridanus, the ones that were quite loud--or the creepy ones in Cetus? The ones that never answered him, when he spoke?

________________

@Kyrak

________________

"S... s.. sssp-ee-krrkkk," croaked the bird shakily. He didn't know what he said, nor did he particularly want to know, though with time he slowly began to calm down.

He still struggled to breathe properly, but he could feel the air become easier to take into his lungs and his shaking slowly began to ease off. He stared off, wide-eyed, half-nestled into the feathers of Dark.

He fluffed his feathers and settled, contentedly clicking his beak. The baby could speak, and it was cold. He'd keep it warm, for now, and once it showed signs of hunger, he'd try to figure out what it ate. If he heard Bevy around, he'd call her over, and ask for advice.

Meanwhile, he'd babysit--literally--just keeping it warm like sitting on an egg, something he understood instinctively even if he'd never been told of it. He chortled and hooted now and again, but otherwise just, well, sat on Kyrak, for now.

________________

@Kyrak

________________

The little parrot shifted under Dark with a whimper. As the pain and the fear began to fade away a new feeling began to eat away at him; something he would later realise was a thing called hunger.

He looked around and began chirping loudly. He didn't know what he wanted to eat (or hell, what food was) but he decided to look up to the blind owl to handle that business instead. He continued to chirp until the owl decided to shift.

At length, Dark seemed to realize the little one was chirping for food, and he pulled gently away.

"I'll go get you something to eat. Wait right here," he hooted.

Then he hopped off, stopping every now and again to get his bearings. Soon enough, he was out of sight--and he remained that way for some minutes before finally returning, hopping on one foot. His other talons were clenched around a very small, punctured and dead mouse, which hung limply in his foot. He carried this back to Kyrak, dropping it before him.

Quite naturally he assumed that if the thing had claws and a hooked, black beak like him, surely it would enjoy the same foods. He had to listen for awhile to exactly locate the hatchling again, but once he had, he quickly dashed toward him.

"Here," he offered brightly, pushing the tiny carcass toward the baby parrot.

________________

@Kyrak