The reverberating sound of a steady heartbeat slowly encased the warm, seemingly formless body. Accompanying it was the rhythm of a breeze entering and exiting at will. It was sleeping underwater but not drowning. It was peaceful, timeless, effortless.

Then came the pressure, the shivers, the cracking that was so far away yet far too close. With each once-tranquil breath, the fracturing increased. The protective, unseen shell was loosening its caring embrace. In its stead was a cold, unwanted sensation that simply needed to stop. Heavy, blanket-like limbs cowered closer to the fuzzy and wet body as another tremor shook the entire core. The ceiling beyond snapped, collapsing under its own weight and landing on the naked child below. Though heat returned, it was now suffocating. No longer did air flow in and out automatically. It was a conscious struggle, one that couldn't possibly last forever. The juvenile was tired. Yet, eyes unwillingly opened to the dark-orange confinement above.

Fighting for precious oxygen, it took one large, lacking inhale inward before pushing upward with all its unripe strength. Violet orbs instantly narrowed against the intrusively bright light. With untrained muscles, the girl manipulated herself to a sitting position; with cloak-like arms splayed out at her sides. She blinked, blinded, a babe rudely woken from their nap. With everything surrounded by brightness, it was all but impossible for her to see more than fuzzy and unclear shapes and their colors.

Undeniable panic creased normally calm facials. Eyes squeezed shut. The newborn pressed herself to the remains of her chrysalis in a desperate attempt to shelter her vulnerable body. What happened now?

“Woohooo!” Gypsy was ecstatic. After a very, very long time of trying to catch an insect for her meal, she had finally succeeded. A tiny fly wriggled helplessly in her talon and she fluffed up into a blue and black ball of extravagant pride. “I think I’m finally getting the hang of hunting!” She declared loudly for anyone to hear. She was just about to pop the unfortunate, flailing insect in between her beak when she heard a loud crack from nearby. Distracted, the young bird accidentally released the grip she had on the insect and it flew off with an angry buzz. “Nooo!” Upset was an understatement. She was going to starve today at this rate. Another vicious crack brought her back to the distraction that had made her lose her meal. What had it been? She felt grumpy about it. Looking around, she finally spotted the source of the noise. Fragments of crystal shattered nearby and the most curious creature sat amongst the broken pieces. The crimson-masked bird boldly hopped up to them and stared without shame, not realising it might be rude. They were huge with three eyes (oh, was that third one a gem?), and had a weird cloak-like thing. She hadn’t even noticed the creature until now, but then she had been very distracted. Still… it was big. How had they suddenly appeared like that? In her curiosity, she forgot about her earlier irritation. The tiny avian gingerly poked the creature with a wing, feeling uncertain about how they would react. “Hello? Who are you?” "Gypsy speaks" 'Gypsy thinks'

OOC: @Mnemosyne

Amongst the blurry shapes, a red-masked ave hopped up. It was close enough that her untrained eyes could focus on it. ’Hello? Who are you?’ Purple gaze narrowed further. The words were not completely foreign, but their meaning was difficult. The bat herself didn’t know who she was. Did that mean… she could make it up?

Her voice, unused until now, was hoarse. “Mnemosyne.” Nem croaked out. It was the first conglomerate of sounds she could think of. She quite liked the idea of identifying as it.

The ‘cloak’ attached to her shifted. The bat girl discovered it was fleshy and movable. They were wings. She stretched out an arm to inspect it further. It was waxy, not completely see-through but not completely opaque either. There were ‘fingers’ the thin skin was stretched over, creating a kite-like limb. She wiggled the longer, skinless ‘thumb’, discovering it was much more versatile than the skin-locked wing fingers. Fascinating.

“Mnemosyne.” The hoarse voice croaked out a strange mixture of sounds. The blue avian stifled back a laugh. It sounded as if the creature had just strung together random syllables. “How is that a name? That sounds a bit silly,” she chirped out rudely. “Like, my name is Gypsy. See? Now that’s a proper name.” Gypsy watched as the creature shifted. The leathery cloak around her moved as they stretched out their bizarre-looking arm and attached fingers. Were they wings? She spread out her own feathery wing and compared them, tiny head moving this way and that. This creature just kept getting weirder and weirder. She couldn’t figure them out. “What in the world are you, and where did you come from?” Gypsy finally asked in exasperation. She hated not knowing. “Do you live here too?” "Gypsy speaks" 'Gypsy thinks'

OOC: @[url=/member.php?action=profile&uid=1042]Mnemosyne[/url] Poor Mnemosyne XD Gypsy’s not being so kind to the newcomer… She doesn’t get that Mnemosyne has just hatched and is a baby like her. If you'd like to take this in a certain direction - just pm me, or leave me an ooc message! :)

Audits immediately pulled to her crown. The name she had chosen was ridiculed. Who did this damn bird think she is? Foxlike nostrils flared as internal rage did likewise within. She wanted to fire back equally as rude, something like,
'Well, I think your name is improper!' or, 'You talk too much!' Both just as immature as each other. What else would a juvenile do but call names and make awkward insults?

But it was not the babe's first instinct to use words. Mnemosyne's body instead wanted to lurch clumsily forward. She attempted to claw out at the bird's stupid face in retaliation for her relentless questions and rude comments. No one asked for her opinions. And Nem certainly didn't ask for this chatterbox in general.

OOC: Hope this is okay, I've never done combat here or a fight or anything... So wasn't sure of the protocol. Technically Nem is just like attempting to make some sort of physical contact, not necesarily start a fight. Sorry if I did this wrong!

As Mnemosyne’s claw suddenly lurched out towards her face, Gypsy almost toppled over in surprise. Luckily, the clumsy shot missed. “Hey, what was that for?!” The young avian screeched out. “You wouldn’t like it if I pecked you, right?!” Feeling all fired up and annoyed, she marched right up to the larger creature and nipped the edge of Mnemosyne’s leather wing once with her beak. "Gypsy speaks" 'Gypsy thinks'

OOC: @Mnemosyne Yeah, that’s perfectly fine! ^_^ I haven’t done combat yet either (since Gypsy’s not much of a fighter), but I’ve observed how other people do it and that’s pretty much it. Most people like to edit their post though, to act out how the dice roll went, but I don’t think it’s really required. We can have some fun and have them have a baby fight for a little while maybe? Perhaps we can later ask an older character to interrupt their figh, make peace, and give your character a better introduction to the caves (since Gypsy sucks at this; she’s still a baby herself).

Pain seared upon skin-laden wing, pinching the thin fabric and drawing blood. She instinctively ripped herself away from the source of this strange and unwanted new sensation. The blood from the nip became subject of examination. What was this rich, firey substance coming out of her? Why was it so red? Why and how did that bird possess the ability to draw it out of her?

Purple gaze tore itself away from the wound to burn daggers into Gypsy's face. How dare she? Mnemosyne had just entered this world, this unknown landscape, and had already been made victim by its cruel residents. With a screech, Nem would bear her tiny teeth and attempt to bite the insolent ave's left shoulder.

OCC: @Gypsy ; that sounds like a great idea to me :D Poor babies

There was a weird feeling of grim satisfaction when Mnemosyne wheeled away in pain. Gypsy watched in curiosity as blood dripped out from where she had bitten her. It looked strange, but it was rather… pretty, contrasting starkly with the purple eyes and electric-blue gem. She had no time to really muse upon it however, as a screech filled the air and a black blur advanced on her. Teeth sunk into Gypsy’s left shoulder, and the tiny avian yelped. That hurt! She looked at the spot. Red blossomed from the teeth marks and she felt her heart thud. How dare this brute do this to her?! She felt angry. With energetic beats of her wings, she tackled the other Gembound, and scratched her little talons across the bat’s belly with a triumphant chirp. "Gypsy speaks" 'Gypsy thinks'

OOC: @Mnemosyne Sweet! Apparently it’s also good to keep a battle summary for each post, according to the Guidebook. Just practising that here (if we really want to get it judged later, we could), although this is more of a fun baby fight in my head hehe.

Round: 2/5
Attempt: Physical attack - Gypsy attacks Mnemosyne’s belly with her talons, to scratch them
Defense: None
Injuries: small wound on left shoulder, bleeding