Inside of a pure red gemstone hidden behind some stones near the waterfall, there hummed a life. It was small, but its mind was active in its sleep. Endless images passed through the little one's mind as she slept, meanings, words. They morphed into scenarios, faces, sentences, wild dreams that split and branched into impossible outcomes, and if she didn't like one, it replayed to another one. Over time, the dreams became more complicated as her mind matured to understand and appreciate such things, and she became the main character in most of them. She could do anything! Fly, tunnel down to find treasure, swim in an endless sea, and every choice was open to her, most of the time merging to play both, or all three options, just to see which one she liked best, in a completely nonsensical way. It was paradise to her!

But as the dreams reached its high point, its pinnacle, there was something outside the dreams that bothered her. Like a voice telling her to wake up, a soft touch that announced someone's presence, it woke her, and she could feel walls press against her shoulders, too proximal to her for taste. Her eyes fluttered open, and she pushed against the walls with a single minded determination. She pushed for who knows how long, for inside these walls, time meant nothing.

They splintered and cracked at her insistence, and she nudged at the cracks with her forehead till it gave way, shards falling to the ground outside with sharp clings, one after the other. Light poured through, and she kicked at the opening, poking her head through.

At first, none of the images that hit her eyes made any sense. Blue, ground, water, wet - and this loud roaring noise nearby. Everything was new, everything possible was a unique and crazy possibility for her to explore, and she rested there, thinking.

@Baroque

Barry had gone for a drink, as he usually did. It was one of the few times he wandered off and let himself be alone, as usually he liked to tail after one of his sisters or his parents and never leave anyone's side. Despite his dependence on his family, he quite enjoyed a quiet, peaceful drink by himself. He just had to be careful not to fall into the water and drown-- dad had told him all about that and it still made his stomach churn if he looked down too far into the waterfall's lagoon.

A cracking noise caught his ears and startled him from his quick lap at the water's surface. His thin, childish mane stood on end as he shrunk away from the sound, afraid that something bad was going to happen. At first he thought the rock bed under his feet would fall away into the water-- but that didn't happen. Perhaps a monster had come and was about to snatch him up-- but that didn't happen either.

Instead, looking around cautiously, he saw a small creature right by the most dangerous part of the waterfall! Frightened for the tiny creature, he slowly crept his way closer to her and let out a tiny shout, "Careful! Are you okay?" He was trembling a bit, this close to the loud roar of the waterfall. Who was this new gembound? His blue eyes saw the red crystal shards shattered at her feet and realized quietly that she must have been a child like him... But where were her parents?

"Come over here!" He shouted, hoping to get her away from the dangerous, slippy ledge. "Go slow, don't fall, okay?"

@Thistle

There was a sound...a scared sound. She turned to look at it, blinking, and the shape that was making noise took a while to make sense to her. It had...two eyes...a patch of brown fur on their head....and four paws. They seemed almost familiar, like someone in one of her many arching dreams, but as she tried to remember, it slipped away, in the habit of dreams. But as she kept looking at them, the more they made sense - the more their words made sense.

"Ah-" She said, trying to reply - but knowing how to speak in her dreams and actually doing it was another matter, and her baby face crumpled a little bit. How silly! In her dreams she always said the best possible sentences to any given situations, and if it didn't work right, she just chose another! This other world, the waking world, was silly.

"Ah-ahm- ff-faiiine," She tried to say, ashamed at how clumsy her tongue was, and she tried to stand, but her small twig legs were so shaky. This was so silly! She was able to run and jump and fly just five minutes ago, and here she was, too weak to even get out of this broken shell and onto the slick stone. The waterfall was crashing almost right next to her, but it wasn't intimidating. She didn't know it was dangerous.

She took one step, then another, her knees shaking and wobbling terribly, her head ducking low with her almost losing her balance, but she kept trying out of sheer determination - she could walk, she could! She knew how - sort of - and she would do it now!

Then one of her legs gave out, having never been used, and she fell straight onto her face.

Tears built up in her eyes. She hiccuped. It hurt! Nothing had ever hurt before! But she wouldn't cry, she wasn't so silly; she did all sorts of terrifying things all the time and she never cried. A sniff escaped her anyway.

The newborn tried to speak, but her words were garbled and clumsy. Barry remembered when he first tried to speak, long after his sisters had mastered words, and how botched his attempts had been. A patience crept over him as he dug his claws into the stone, wanting to reach her and keep her from falling in. The child rose, so wobbly on her legs that the grizzly lion's heart did loopdeloops, ending up in his mouth as she stepped closer and closer to him. She wouldn't fall, he told himself, fighting back his fears, and then her leg gave out.

The cub yelped as he surged forward. She didn't fall, instead just landing on her face, but the water didn't snatch her into its depths. He stopped, afraid of slipping himself, and latched his claws into the slippery ledge once more as he stared at her, disarmed as she started to hiccup. The little girl began to sniffle, holding back her tears, but the subtle hiccup and blur in her glassy eyes couldn't escape Baroque. He had seen himself cry in his own reflection too many times.

"I-I'm sorry," he stammered, weakly coming to her side. The last thing the cub wanted was for the fawn to cry, but he could never get himself to stop crying once he started. His head ran through ways to comfort her, but he couldn't speak much but a stammering, frightened mess. "A-are y-y-you okay? O-oh no... I... I should... I sh..." He inched closer and closer to her, eventually getting to where he could lift out a paw to touch her shoulder.

A calmness hit him once he had reached her side. The tears in the corners of his own eyes washed away and he found a small speck of courage. "... It--... It's okay now... C-come on, look. You almost made it... And I'm right here, so... So... Just stand up, and... And we can go together, now. You'll be okay, really, m-my parents can help you."

@Thistle

She looked up at the big, nice, sad creature, and she rather thought they were more upset than she was! She was the one that got hurt, after all, why was he feeling so sad? Why was he apologizing? He mentioned his parents, and she looked at him in confusion. What was that? Would they be safe when they reached the 'parents'?

Was this one of those scenarios where she had to save him from something? Some crumbling cliff-face, or rocks falling down from the ceiling? Ah! She had to get up as quickly as she possibly could!

But her legs were so weak that she couldn't even stand properly. They kept shaking and wobbling, and she didn't know how to make her do what she wanted, and she looked at Baroque in distress. They had to leave, quick, before something bad happened!

"Heee-heewp?" She said brokenly, feeling panicky and upset. The waking world really was so silly; why was everything so hard?

... She seemed to be unable to stand now. A panic swelled through the poor boy, so frantic in his urgency to help her. That flicker of courage still clung on, though, as he wiggled down and tried to press his body to hers, trying to give her some support. "Y-yeah, come on. I... I g-got you, see?" He offered, for once in his life focused on something other than his own patheticness. There was something to be said for helping another... It made him feel... Useful.

The hybrid smiled weakly, digging his heels into the stone. He was small, but she was just as tiny, and he easily weighed more than her. If he could be a weight to ground her, to stabilize her... Maybe, just maybe, they could do this together? Not once did Barry even think along his usual train of thought-- that he would mess up, that he would only make things worse. His mind, for once, was empty of those usual panics, and instead he felt focused.

"T-try ag-gain, okay? This t-time.. With me... R-ready... One... Two... Three!"

He was helping her up now, and she could feel panic inch into her shoulderblades, telling her to get up and go before something happened. Really, anything could happen here! Monsters could suddenly surround them and they would have to fight their way out, the ground could start shaking, the waterfall nearby could start to flood them and carry them off in a wave! She knew they would be okay in the end, it always ended up that way, but this place was different; things hurt here, and she really didn't want that to happen! She at least wanted to be able to walk before something exciting happened.

She envisioned herself leaning on his shoulder to take a step, and she thought it entirely possible she would either slip or take a second one. But she would try!

With his help, she stood up just fine, even if she was a bit shaky, and she took a step, leaning on him even more; then she took another one, and then another! "Haha!" She exclaimed, then she jumped just a few inches off the ground, just this silly little hop of happiness. "Ahaha! Luh! Loo-look!" She giggled and looked at him so happily, grinning ear to ear. Together they could do anything!

Baroque was breathless as they reached relative safety. A small, hint of a smile still lingered on his muzzle but it shone in his eyes, his tail raised almost as high as his head.

"Y-yeah, we did it! Good job," Barry stammered, a bubbling, gentle laugh cracking through his features. "Hehehe, yeah! Yeah, look at you!" He had never really, truly felt successful or even remotely helpful before. He was always messing up and crying and making everyone stop to help him. For once he had helped and it felt so good. He had managed not to be a gutless coward.

But a worrisome thought traveled through his mind and his tail slumped back down and his ears twitched softly to press against his skull. "How do you feel? Y-you're not hurt, are you?" At least, despite his concerns, he didn't feel like crying. Even if she was hurt, it wasn't the end of the world. That's what his parents were for, right?

@Thistle

She saw her sad friend look really happy, and she felt really happy that he was happy! They'd done it, they were doing it, they were escaping the area near the waterfall before something bad happened! She was taking really slow steps with his help, and she was up and walking!

Of course, now all manners of strange and amazing things could happen now that they were away! Anything was possible, and all the endless ways this adventure could go made her head spin. Anything could happen, but for now, she would follow her friend where he wanted to lead her. Somewhere where the 'parents' were, right?

But then he was looking sad again! Why? "Nuh- no!" She said adamantly. Was that what he was worried about? It was nothing, just a wound to her very large pride. "Fuh-fine,"

She smiled for him, hoping he would be happy again. "Wuh-whe-where...'rents?"

O-oh, so she was okay? Barry glanced over her just one more time, cautiously, just to make sure she wasn't just trying to act tough. His sisters always acted tough. They got all the bravery and courage that before today he thought he had none of. A smile twitching on to his face he raised a paw to gesture towards his parent's den. "Over there!" Surely one of them would be in there-- and if not, well, maybe one of his sisters would be?

Baroque didn't care too much either way. He was sure Thistle would meet all of his family soon enough. She could be like his new sister-- though something about how different she was from him was oddly comforting. It was hard being around others who looked kinda like him but he felt were better in every aspect. Thistle was just someone he couldn't compare himself to. They were too different.

The grizzly lion plodded off towards the den, leading the way with a gentle, reinspired confidence. He had never felt so many wonderful, good things before. He felt so alive? It was as though Thistle completed something in him that held him together like a wonderful, kind glue on his shattered self image.

"Daaaad? Moooom?" He called out in a stage whisper once they got to the entrance of the den, his long tail twitching and thunking against the floor.


@Makyna @Leon @Sonata @Cadence : you're all welcome to hop in on this thread! Or not. It's up to you guys <3

@Thistle