Hidden at the roots of a fallen tree, blanketed by the thick of the fog, and barely out of the water rested a small, gembound egg, ready to expose a new life. It rocked a little, tapping from the inside starting to grow louder. It titled a little more in one direction, then little lines began to form as the shell started to break away. The first thing to be licked by the air was the end of infant beak. Further shifting occurred and more shell broke away. Slowly and awkwardly, a duckling crawled from it's hardened womb into a world with no mother nor father. His damp down caused a shiver, which sparked the instinct to clean himself. With plenty of stumbling and falling over, his effort sowed results. He was finally a ball of fluff with big feet.

It took several moments of blinking and several shakes of his little body to really feel prepared to strut into the world. Except, it was more of an adorable waddle with lots of tripping. He had no idea how anyone could ever work such awful contraptions (his feet) and often flapped his tiny, undeveloped wings in pitiful effort to not fall over. With some time and frustration, he finally found deep enough water (two inches was enough to make him happy) to rely on his natural buoyancy and float along to explore in the foggy world he had entered. He fearlessly paddled along, pausing to visually inspect strange shapes and look toward new sounds.

With so much to see, he nearly forgot the instinct to eat. Without any thought to it, he dipped his head under water and tapped his parted beak against the swampy bottom, filtering the water for delicious particles of fungi within the murky waters. Upon a full belly, his nub of a tail wiggled excitedly, and onward he swam into the dull-colored room. He began quacking... if you could call it that. More like peeping. He peeped more, excited by his own sounds. He dipped his head under the water and splashed water onto his back, then brushed his little wings on himself to really "rinse" himself. Lots of space to bath, play, and peep, it seemed. Danger seemed to be of no concern to the newly hatched Kawenu.

@Czernobog

The visit from Cayenne had cheered him, but hadn't convinced him to leave his post. Czernobog stayed curled around the nest, although he had given in to the urge to stretch his legs every few hours, walking slow and careful, chest tilted up to keep Tal'at's chrysalis safe. The eggs were still growing, seemingly closer and closer to hatching - he could hear them moving inside, the children - his siblings, he supposed. The thought made him grin with pride, gently nuzzling both chrysali before slowly sitting down, keeping watch over the swamp.

Movement from nearby caught his eye, and he snorted, black beady gaze narrowing. The shadow moved closer, so incredibly tiny that Czernobog began to relax. The duckling came into view slowly, and he chuffed out a laugh, tail wagging gently. Children got a free pass as far as the guardian of Cetus was concerned. The duck hadn't seen him, it seemed, so Czernobog simply let out a bellowing "Baaaaaaaaby!" of greeting, the sound ringing out through the fog.

Well, he'd never won any awards for subtlety.

@Kawenu

Who could of thought that life could be so amazing? Granted, he had only been exposed to the world for mere minutes, but it seemed as if nothing could ever go wrong. Even in such a damp and dark place, to a new duckling it was like living in a rainbow. Ah, to be so blissfully unaware!

As the duckling floated along, allowing the gentle current to pull him along, he kept his beak in the water, playing and splashing with the open and closing of his mouth. A very startling noise caused his head to shoot up and his down to fluff dramatically. He remained frozen with eye opened wide, the current slowly turning him to face the hog with the prettiest tusks (not that Kawenu had any comparison). The young ave peeped loudly and paddled toward the new curiosity that discovered him first. As the water became too shallow to float on, he started to waddle, doing a little better now than he had initially.

Kawenu made soft peeps as he inspected the hog, especially the tusks. They were shiny and quite the sight for the young one. He tilted on eye at it at a time, then viewed it binocularly. He made a lap around his new acquaintance, admiring his size. When he saw Bog's wagging tail, he wiggled his tail and finished his lap, stumbling only a handful of times. Head tilting and inspecting ensued until Kawenu spotted the nest. With his tiny wings opened as wide as possible, he ran for the nest, stopping short of it and looking the chrysalis over excitedly, recognizing the meaning and purpose as he had only emerged from his own moments before.

With no consideration at all, Kawenu made himself at home in the nest, fluffing up and laying down in the warm spot next to the pair who belonged there. While laying, he nibbled upon his mossy wake that sprung up under him. It was something he didn't understand yet, but was very appreciative of the free food.

@Czernobog

Czernobog winced a bit at the duckling's reaction, almost wanting to apologize for how obviously loud the greeting must have been - really, he could hardly ever tell just what volume his voice was - but it didn't seem to phase the newborn for long. The boar's head moved down as his gaze followed the duckling, tilting to one side as he saw it peer up at his tusks, milky green in the mist. They weren't anything special, not to the pig himself, but his chest puffed up a bit in pride at having someone else take an interest, especially when one of them was so obviously broken.

The peeps emitting from the baby-Hat reminded him of Peanuts, and so he made no moves to stop the little thing when it took a lap around both he and the nest. Black-brown eyes widened in surprise when the duck waddled forward to peer at the eggs, making itself at home among them, and he almost moved to stop them, but - well, that was what a nest was for, right? Babies?

Really, his specialty was smashing things, not child-rearing.

Snorting, the massive creature moved to encircle the nest again, laying down with his snout nearly touching his back legs, forming a wall of protective black bristles between the nest and the outside world. His snout moved to snuffle at the hatchling, ruffling its feathers and humming. "Iiii. Am. Chuuuuuuurnobog," the guard rumbled out. "Whooooo. You?"

Syntax mostly escaped him, but at least he wasn't drawling every word anymore.

@Kawenu

The youngster peered up at Bog as he spoke, taking interest in his words, but not really able to understand. He peeped in response to the pig's question, then stood before stretching his whole body out. Once again, Kawenu shook himself and preened under his left wing a little, then gawked at Bog a little longer. He made the sudden executive decision to waddle out of the nest and over Bog's legs to explore further, charging to the water. He stopped with only his feet in.

It seemed as if there should be more to see, but the thick fog made it difficult. Little Kawenu seemed to sigh at this, then waddled off to the right to poke around in some mud. Small, not-so-crunchy bugs were easy to enough to find and were good for protein. He gobbled up more than his fill, then looked back toward the nest. "Peep, peep?" was all he was capable of saying in his early, ignorant stage of life.

@Czernobog

After some time, the young duck awoke to find himself rather alone, no pig to be seen, although the eggs remained. He stood, shook his body, then waddled back to water deep enough to float in and allowed the current to lead him to new places. ---- "He talks with quite the gusto." OOC: EXIT

At this point, Czernobog was wondering whether the little duck was sentient at all - and his mouth began to water at the thought of such an easy free meal, licking at his chops and eyeing the fast food. Unfortunately, it took off towards the water; and, considering the boar never left the nest site, he simply grumbled, malcontent, and watched from his place curled around the eggs. Soon enough, the duckling was asleep, and then, seemingly oblivious to the boar who... well, hadn't moved at all; it continued on its way, cutting through the water.

Czernobog pouted.

Maybe the duck would come back?

After all, he'd never eaten anything with feathers before...

[ exit Czernobog ]