A colorful stone stood among lichen and moss. Inside, there lay a creature. A creature who decided it was time to come out. Legs pushed out, struggling to escape. It took a while, and a lot of strength, but finally she managed. The chrysalis cracked and fell apart, causing the one who was inside to tumble out. She quickly shook herself and stood, looking around. The room was green, very green. She could hear a bubbling stream somewhere nearby. She leaped away from the shards of her former home and began to look around, eyes shining. The cave was very warm, almost uncomfortably so, but she ignored it. She was free! She could explore the world! She could live!

She started by prancing around, long legs that appeared to be too long carried her as she pranced, a small giggle bubbling up to her lips. She had not a single care in the world. Everything seemed right. After she had tired herself out from prancing, she began to look around to see if anyone was nearby.

Tuck was sitting up on a tree branch in his home tree, watching the world around and below him. Gembounds seemed to be slowly returning to the Caves, and for that, he was happy and content. Actually, he’d been sort of thinking of throwing some kind of party or something — to celebrate the end of the Second Great Hibernation.

While lost in thought about this, he heard a Crack! somewhere in the nearby rainforest. It was a familiar noise to him now, though he hadn’t heard it in some time. Oh, this was so exciting! A new Gembound! After this huge Sleep, too! Oh man, he had to go check it out! As he stood and began leaping his way from tree to tree, he sent a message out to Garmer, the kyte he had Bonded with: Garmer, don’t come this time, okay? Babies would be terrified of you!

The kyte’s slow, deadpan, drawling voice echoed in the marmoset’s mind: ’I seem to recall rescuing a Gemling from a certain swamp before the Hibernation. And she did not seem afraid of me one bit.’

That was different! Nox is weird, you know that. Anyways, just… you can come, but stay hidden, okay?

Garmer let out a grunt of understanding and sent an image to Tuck of him camouflaging himself against a mossy boulder near the Gemling, who was now happily prancing about.

And soon, Tuck arrived on the scene, taking in the baby deer and her bright red bracelet of a gemstone. He scrambled down the tree trunk he had been clinging too, and called out a cheerful, “Hello!”

Words: 269 @Vianne

Vianne soon saw a tiny, tiny creature approach. She blinked at them. Why where they so tiny? "Hi. Why are you so tiny? Have you always been like that? Will you always be that way? Are there others who are tiny?" The words never seemed to stop coming. Eventually, she stopped to give the other a chance to speak. Looking around, she wondered if anyone else was nearby. "Is there anyone else nearby?" An ear twitched and she sat down with a plop, kicking at the dirt below her with a black hoof.

@Tukluk

Man… Babies were adorable. Tuck remembered a time when he had thought other young Gembounds were annoying, but he just couldn’t seem to think that anymore. Maybe it was because now he wasn’t a baby anymore. Even her constant talking was cute. Even when she was calling him tiny, since he literally didn’t care about that at all anymore. He had proven to himself long ago that his size didn’t matter. It was what was inside — his skill with Magic, as a healer and otherwise, and his relationships with others — that mattered most.

“Yeah, I’ve always been tiny. I’ve barely grown since becoming an adult! But I don’t care about being small anymore! Besides, it has its advantages! Like being able to hide really well!” He paused. “I don’t know if there are any others that are as small as me… I mean, I’m pretty tiny! But who knows!” Tuck’s head tilted to the side when she asked if there was anyone else nearby. “Well…” he began, wondering if even mentioning Garmer was a good idea… “One of my friends is nearby, but… he might scare you. He looks kind of scary, but he’s nice! He wasn’t always nice but he’s nice now! But he won’t come out unless I say it’s okay.”

Garmer’s voice could be heard in the marmoset’s head. ’You’re being ridiculous. No one we’ve met so far seems the least bit afraid of me.’

Yeah, but that doesn’t mean it won’t ever happen!

The kyte sent an annoyed mental snort, but stayed hidden against the mossy boulder, not moving an inch.

EDITING AN ENDING:

And maybe the deer had, in fact, seen or heard him, because she suddenly clammed up and refused to speak or respond to Tuck in any way. After a minute or two of the marmoset trying to get her to do anything at all, he eventually gave up with a confused shrug, and hopped away. This seemed to happen fairly often -- this thing where creatures would just go into a weird coma-like state in the middle of an interaction. It terrified Tuck because he was afraid such a thing would happen to him, but there didn't seem to be anything he could do about it... So he'd just decided to ignore it when it happened... He hurried his pace along, afraid to catch whatever disease the deer must have. The Brain Dead Disease.

Garmer followed his Bonded from above, a constant massive shadow over the tiny marmoset's back, like a hawk hunting a rabbit, except much less sinister.

[Exit Tuck]

Words: 265 @Vianne