Warm. Wherever he was, it was cozy. The tiny black puff of fur, barely large enough to be called a puppy at all, squirmed in his chrysalis, warm fluid encasing him like a blanket. Wriggling about, the pup finally met with one of the crystalline walls of his egg, and yawned, exhausted already from the strain of moving. Floppy ears twitched, along with a wet black nose, and Louis opened his eyes for the first time, just a touch, wincing in the bright light of the world. Ow! Everything was much too sharp, and the baby screwed his eyes shut tight, moving his head to press into the wall, unconsciously pushing against it. The sapphire groaned around him, and the pup jerked back, accidentally knocking the tiny nubs of shiny gemstone that sprouted from his shoulders into the sides of the prison.

They thunked dully against the crystal, but the egg he floated in didn't do much more than tremble from the unintended jostle. With another yawn, the puppy curled in on himself, tail curling around one of his ankles as he bobbed gently in the strange yolk-like fluid. He didn't seem to notice the tiny crack that had formed in the sapphire walls, and the blue-yellow substance being drained out onto the cold floor of Tunnel O.

She had found a new exit to Polaris to obsess herself with. It was different to Tunnel H - for one, there wasn't a pig bounding down it while screaming. There was also no snow here - in fact, it was a little warm, even though when she breathed out she could see her own breath.

One paw entered the tunnel, followed by another, and then followed by clacking, over-sized talons. She was sure everything would be fine - she just wanted to explore this new place a little. Perhaps she should have brought Caravaggio or Fisher along, but it was too late now.

She wasn't sure how far into the tunnel she was when she heard a crack, ears pricking and scarlet eyes huge as she turned her head towards the blue chrysalis. She was frozen still for a good few moments before the feeling of curiosity took over her limbs and she found herself wandering towards it.

A closer look told her that there was a little crack in the rock. She blinked and she squinted at it, before she lifted herself up onto her talons and set her canine paws on the blue rock, pushing down hard until the crack began to expand and splinter.

She felt herself almost fall and immediately lifted herself back up onto her hind legs, the talons managing to keep her upright. She stared in silence for a moment with her paws on her chest.

@Louis

The pup had almost fallen back to sleep when a shadow fell over his home. Blinking brown eyes open once again, Louis trembled, awkwardly swim-stepping back until his back met one wall of the chrysalis, letting out a soundless yelp at the cold crystal. Cold dark what is that is it mean oh no what if it's nice is it helping?! All of a sudden the shadow grew into two, and they descended until the whole egg thudded dully. Louis winced away from the shapes, eyes widening at the muffled sound of the crystalline eggshell beginning to splinter apart, the yolk draining faster and creating a fair-sized puddle around the duo of dogs.

With an ear-piercing crash, the chrysalis collapsed in on itself, chunks of sapphire scattering across the tunnel floor, sending a tiny flood of embryonic fluid to lap at the helpful crowdog's paws. The babe previously secured inside tumbled to the floor with a soft yip of surprise, eyes clenched shut in fear as he lay sprawled out on his belly, just about the size of the hybrid's head for his part. Shivering, Louis slowly opened one eye, staring up at White in a mix of fear and amazement, tiny snout lifting to sniff at her curiously. Friend? Very white and tall and fluffy and feathery are those wings? Do I have wings? Try as he might, the only thing that moved near his back was his tail, beginning to wag weakly. No wings... gosh it's cold where'd all the warm go?

The puppy sniffled, before letting out a rather impressively loud sneeze and smacking his snoot into the floor, leaving him whining out an overly-dramatic "Ooooow!"

@White

As the little black creature burst out from the chrysalis and fluids seeped out onto the floor, she absent-mindedly thought of Caravaggio, and how he would tell her that whatever had came out of the chrysalis was gross and it'd get her feathers dirty. At risk of offending her friend's cleanliness obsession, she lowered her front paws onto the dry ground and headed towards the little pup.

She was then reminded of her father - a dog with black fur. The only difference here was she could actually see him and he was much fluffier and smaller. Carefully, she sniffed the little black puppy before a faded pink tongue stuck out from her maw, licking the top of his head.

Deciding for the little dog that he was cold, she coiled around him and sprawled out a wing to wrap it around him. She didn't see her wings often - she had only noticed now that the pinfeathers had already grown into full, pearly-white flight feathers, but she didn't know what it meant.

"Hey," the hybrid said, licking the pup's head again. "You're Blue."

@Louis

Louis sniffled, moving to paw at his aching snout absently, watching with wide eyes as the big-fluffy-white friend moved closer. The soft puff of breath that rolled over his head made him yip, squirming, but he stilled at the touch of tongue, relaxing under the gentle grooming. He hadn't really noticed just how cold he was until the warm was back, surrounding him like the egg had, and the pitch-black puppy snuggled into the comfort, the crowdog's pelt acting as a living heated blanket. The wing that covered over him acted as a mimic of the walls of his chrysalis, and the baby yawned, huffing out a whine and letting his eyes drift closed, flopping onto his side with all four paws stretching out. He looked a bit like a melty pile of dog.

The lick to his noggin made him open one eye sleepily, and Louis glanced up to meet White's gaze. "B... Bluuh... Blue!" The puppy grinned, blinking both eyes open, wiggling onto his stomach, tail wagging enough to make his whole backside twitch. "Blue!" Which made her... who? The schipperke's head twitched to one side, pointed ears flopping about with the motion. "You?" Not an egg, but warm like one... even fluffier up close, gosh, will I ever have fur that clean? Her wings are so soft and big... I wonder if I'll ever grow them. Yeah, that has to be it! When I grow up I'll get them too, the babe concluded, grinning at the thought, showing off tiny needle-sharp teeth.

@White

The puppy was weird, but she nodded. "Blue! I'm White," she said. "Do you have a dad? A mom?" she asked.

It seemed unlikely to her that this little pupper's parents would just up and leave him, or maybe even forgot about him. It was rather unheard of, to her, that some gembounds might not have parents or siblings by blood.

Regardless, she continued to lick the top of Blue's head while she waited for an answer.

@Louis

"Whiiite," the puppy tried, wrinkling his snout as the syllable stretched. "White!" Another grin, and the schipperke's ears perked forward, head tilting to the other side in confusion, one ear flopping enough to smack him in the eye. "Whatsa dad? Anda mum?" It seemed Louis had been out of his chrysalis long enough to start saying all of the myriad of things that flew through his mind per second. "Are they like us, huh? Fluffy and soft and warm and Blue and White?" He bounced up at the thought, only to jump back further into his chosen snuggling spot at the feel of White's wing stopping his ascent. "Are they nice like you? Do they have feathers? Am I gonna have feathers?"

The only thing that managed to stop the flood of words was another lick to the top of his head, and the entitled "Blue" snuffled, energy high winding down enough for another yawn to kick in as he slumped to one side and snuggled into White's fur. "Can I meet 'em if they're nice?" Louis turned enough to blink oversized brown eyes up at White, black nose twitching. "Please?"

@White

"You can meet my dad if you want," the hybrid said.

"A dad is a thing that protects. They watch and they keep you safe because that's what dads do," she nodded a little. "Moms do the same thing, but they're smaller and louder." To White, this had been true from what she had seen from her own parents - her mother was a tiny thing that shouted a lot and Black was a thing that was watching her - in fact, he was probably watching her right now.

It didn't bother her. She didn't realise how weird it was yet.

"My mom has feathers," the crow-dog continued. "They're really black. They might be fluffy- my dad has fur like you do. It's not soft-- it's short and kind of rough, but it's okay. Maybe when you get bigger you'll grow feathers?"

@Louis

"Sweet!" The pup grinned, tongue lolling out of his mouth, black fur bristling in excitement at the mere thought of meeting more people. He listened, fascinated as White explained the concept of parents. "Does a dad watch and keep you safe forever? Are all moms small? How small are they? Are they as small as me? Are they smaller?" Blue's mouth widened into an o at the thought, awe-struck at even the possibility of something smaller than him.

"I wanna grow feathers like a mom or you! I'm gonna grow up and be big and have feathers!" If anyone could have stars in their eyes, it was the schipperke at that moment, imagining himself with wide, broad black wings, tipped with feathers so black they seemed to glow blue. "I wonder if I have a mom and a dad! But... if I do, why wouldn't they be here to protect and watch and be small and loud?" He seemed put-out by the thought, pouting and absently snuggling into White's coat even more.

@White