Nestled in one Polaris' many outcroppings, shrouded by moss and glinting under the light of softly glowing crystals, lay a gemstone chrysalis. In some moments it appeared to be a deep shade of purple-blue, in others, clear, crystal white, all the while pulsating like a beating heart. The beat was steady, sure, and it had been there through the fire and flame, its edges just a touch scorched black. Whatever lay inside was asleep, as it had been for what felt like months by now, curled up and content in the warmth within.

Unfortunately, fate waits for no man. An earthquake rocked through the cave, and a fissure ripped up the side of the egg, and all at once, the comforting heat was gone, sucked out into Polaris in an instant. The child inside opened its mouth to cry out and found nothing came forth, and so it blinked, blindly, into the light creeping through the crack. A moment later, and aftershocks began to dance through the room, making the fissure splinter, shards of cordierite flying into the air.

Four, five, six, seven more aftershocks before they, too, faded, leaving the hatchling Gembound curled up and shaking in the back of his chrysalis, yowling silently. More time, and one eye cracked open, curiosity taking hold. Everything sounded so loud now, no longer muted by layers of thick gemstone, and the kitten - the strange, hairless, wrinkled, silent kitten - hopped from his egg to the ground with a thump, landing with an uncontrolled roll, coming to rest in a vaguely cat-shaped pile of restless fear, stuck between purring in wonder at the wide world and cringing away, crawling back to the escaped warmth.

Everything was cold.

Very, very cold.

@Anku

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The creature that lay in a white chrysalis had been conscious for some time now. She couldn't move much, but she was alright with it now. With half-opened eyes she could only just make out her legs and her paws in the blackness and she would endlessly amuse herself by twitching her paws in the cramped space that she festered in.

She did not know much about her existence other than she was perfectly fine with it so far - but there was still a shock as the earth shook violently; rocking her back and forth and she soon realised, when everything was still again, there was a small crack in her residence - like someone had thrown a rock at a window.

She didn't know what lay beyond the familiar darkness, but that didn't stop her. She placed her forehead against the crack, blotting out the light, and pushed. It took some effort, of course - the walls of her chrysalis weren't as thin as paper, but within only a few minutes the stone broke away, shattering into black and white splinters.

The rust-coated feline came tumbling out, head-first onto the cold floor. Her fur was matted with warm fluids that were in her chrysalis, but she paid it no mind. Green eyes blinked away the grogginess as the kitten looked around briefly, settling her eyes on another cat not too far away - she realised it was different almost immediately, however, with wrinkled skin and no fur.

With a restrained mew the cat got up onto all fours, making her way to the other cat.

@Götterdämmerung

A soft sound met his ears, and the strange kitten blinked, lifting his head to turn and peer at whatever had made it. The whatever in question was a rust-colored fluffy thing, with bright green eyes and a fluid-slicked coat. Shards of another chrysalis lay behind the... thingy, and the kitten opened his mouth to mewl back. His flimsy vocal chords weren't in favor of that, and as before, no sound met the motion, leaving him to sneeze in curious confusion.

Why couldn't he respond? A shiver wracked his hairless frame, and the kitten gave a mental shrug. Didn't matter. The thingy looked warm, and he was cold. Blinking at the approaching sound-maker, the newborn slowly rose to unsteady paws, shivering, stumbling forward enough to smush his face into the other cat's shoulder, purring so quietly it was almost out of hearing range.

Warm. The other kitten was like a tiny furnace, actually, and the hairless bundle of wrinkles was quite content to stay standing and shaking, forehead to the walking oven's fluffy shoulder, purr as steady as his nonexistent heartbeat.

@Anku

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The kitten tilted her head as the hairless thing sneezed and got closer. Her head craned back somewhat back, blinking. She had barely managed to set a foot back when the hairless creature stuck it's face into her fire-coloured shoulder, to which she gave a strangled mewl.

She looked left, and then she looked right, quizzically licking the thing between his ears with a warm tongue. She appeared to be... trapped, with this thing leeching onto her fur. She didn't feel like gaining another four limbs at this stage in her life, and so her next move was backwards, away from the cat.

From her new position she stared blankly at the silent cat before she turned her head away, looking around again. Hungry, she thought quietly as she turned, tail raised and head low, sniffing for food.

@Götterdämmerung

The purr only continued at the lick, however confused it may have been, and the strange kitten simply stuck to its uncomfortable new space heater. When she moved away, he stumbled forward, head jerking up to stare with wide, green eyes, curious. Did his cold hurt? Another shiver raced up his spine, and the kitten huffed, gaze narrowing. The other newborn was looking for something, and if he had something to trade for the warmth...

He mimicked her, unknowing of the meaning of her movements, raising his long rail-thin tail and dipping his head to sniff at the damp stone floor. Nothing in particular caught his attention, but he kept on trying anyway, making sure to stick close but not too close to his chosen blanket.

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Thankfully, a smell did, eventually, waft up from his search, and the clumsy babe's head snapped up to attention, staring blankly in the direction of a startled squeak. Some sort of tiny thing - a rodent, in actuality - scurried out from behind a rock and darted in the warm-noise-maker's direction. He simply watched, perplexed and rather disgusted by the beast, sitting back on too-thin haunches, purr dying off into total and absolute silence.

It was a little creepy.

Okay, make that a lot creepy.

@Anku

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The kitten's ears twitched and her head turned as the rat came, making a bee-line for her. She hissed and it immediately turned to run in the opposite direction. The kitten came running after it, only just managing to keep up with it so that her paws were only half an inch away from stomping on it's tail.

She bolted past the hairless cat as she ran, and soon leaped for the rat, coming down on it with both front paws. It flailed and it squeaked out screams of terror, moving so much that the rust-coloured cat could only just manage to clamp her jaws around the back of it's neck and grip it tightly until a warm, tangy taste filled her mouth and spilled out onto her muzzle.

It still moved for a while as she savoured the taste of the liquid spewing out into her maw, but the second it fell motionless she released her jaw and settled her tail down - which she only just realised had been thrashing violently while she held the rat down. Slowly, she removed her paws from the rat's back and turned her head towards the hairless kitten, licking blood off her muzzle.

Her gaze was only brief as she turned back to begin tearing at the rat's haunches, munching contentedly on the warm flesh as she settled herself down to her belly to enjoy her meal.

@Götterdämmerung

Milky tea-green eyes followed the rat as it moved, blinking as his chosen heat source chased after it - though for what purpose, he had no idea. The rodent was quickly caught and dispatched, its screeching echoing through the decimated caves, as if a phantom of what had come before. The wrinkly kitten's tail moved to curl around his bony, knobby, elongated paws, and he tested out a mimic of what the other cat had done, gnashing his teeth comically, tiny milk fangs clicking together.

When the other turned towards him, red dripping from her muzzle, he raised a paw in greeting, still chomping his jaw mutely, wiggling his toes as if to wave - or, more likely, to mimic her own pouncing on the rat. Her gaze moved back to the... meal? Just as quickly, she turned back to the carcass, and his wide eyes narrowed, crouching to the ground, whip-thin tail swishing from side to side.

A few whisper-soft steps later, and he was laying just a few inches behind her. A long step and he curled up into a loaf of wrinkly kitten beside the other newborn, completely uninterested in the food, face turned to press into her shoulder again, seemingly permanently cold body soaking up her limited heat resources.

@Anku

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The kitten glanced quizzically back at the other, licking blood from her jowls. She was almost accustomed to being used as nothing more than a heater she tore some of the rat away and placed it next to the wrinkle-cat before she returned to her meal. Although she was used to the cold now, she couldn't figure out why the cat wanted to plaster himself to her so much.

She croaked out a mew and looked around with a furrowed brow, tail flicking. Is this what people did, because she had absolutely no clue if it was. Was she supposed to be curling into the hairless thing? He was so cold, she didn't really want to.

She looked down with a frown at the creature lying next to her, quiet.

@Götterdämmerung

A purr had rumbled up into his throat once more, shivering lessening the longer he lay beside his furry blanket, extremities beginning to feel just a bit less frostbitten. Unfortunately, she didn't seem to understand his way of bartering, returning a bit of the rat with a single glance. Snout turning just a bit away from the girl's shoulder, the hairless cat stared at the offering with disgust sitting like a rock in his throat. A grimace, and he reached out a long, agile paw to nudge it back towards his hatch mate.

When she turned her gaze on him, he blinked back in response, wide eyes analyzing her with emotionless, scientific curiosity. Fluffy reddish fur, long whiskers, green eyes, shorter ears than his, one of them dotted by a shiny something. Soft purr kicking up again, he raised his now blood-dotted paw to again mimic a sort of strange, clawing wave, tail flicking to and fro hectically.

Long bat ears flicked back as he rested his hairless chin to the ground, bony sides expanding and contracting rhythmically as he stared, soundless outside of the constant purring rumble. If the other cat were to get close enough, she would notice even the absence of a heartbeat.

@Anku

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She watched the cat for a moment longer, frowning. Wouldn't be have to eat? Wouldn't he starve? She supposed that, maybe he had already eaten before she was born, but he had a certain look of disgust as he pushed the slab of meat away.

The kitten half-shrugged, perhaps shifting the hairless kit's face somewhat as she leaned over to eat the rejected piece of flesh, licking her muzzle. He wouldn't starve to death yet anyway, if he hadn't eaten yet.

She flinched as she glanced at the cat - who had pulled his face away, and simply moved her head down to lick between his eyes, breath heavy with the scent of rat blood. She didn't seem to notice the lack of heartbeat, or perhaps just didn't think about it yet.

@Götterdämmerung