Nestled against the West Wall of Canis was a little garden. A worn path wound down to this garden from a bone pile nearer the cave's center; the garden itself was not a pretty thing of flowers and greenery. Instead, a stagnant pool of water, metallic and gritty, sat in bare rock. Over this hung some foliage, and along the ledges and in the crevices behind it, myriad fungus types grew on different substrates carefully laid-out. Black fungi and carrion-red mushrooms, softly-glowing blue mushrooms and rank-smelling stinkhorns, grew on half-rotted bones, on rotten wood, in dirt.

Whoever tended this garden was not currently present. However, three chrysalises had been carefully-hidden among the garden's strange flora.

Beneath a rock ledge, in a dark den just large enough to house the hyena that slept here, lay the red garnet like a spill of blood.

Cautiously tucked beneath the overhanging foliage beside the stagnant water was the blue labradorite with its shining colors which so beautifully shifted in the orblight.

And lastly, a third of green aventurine, dully shimmering, had grown just beside the stagnant water itself, right out in the open.

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ROLL THE BONES

((ooc - Skeena's player asked for a group hatching thread, and I did want to be present for hatchings on Giggle, but if you don't want to hatch in a group thread just say your character hatches later/earlier than the rest, it's fine. This is here if you guys want it, though! I WILL join on Giggle once I find out if she's likely to have survived attacking Senka like an idiot x) - Update - I shall post Giggs after the hatching babies have posted! ))

@Skeena @Winter (for Serek) @Kesil (for Vinea)

SKEENA

It was dark.

It didn't like the dark.

'What are you? Some sort of coward? Little baby Gemling, afraid of the dark?'

Who said that?

The voice laughed, and the sound seemed to come from everywhere. It couldn't tell where the sound was coming from. Long, rabbit like ears twitched, attempting to seek out the sound, only to be stopped by something hard. What was that? It felt confined. It tried to move its tail, but all it could do was twitch the fluffy tip of its tail against its stomach.

Its legs were pressed tightly against its stomach. No, it was too confined. It needed out! The little hybrid, began to stretch out its legs, feeling the chrysalis struggle, wanting out desperately. One leg managed to, finally, break through the chrysalis, and the creature shifted, staring out through the hole with a single, almond-shaped eye of varying shades of brown.

"I'm speaking..."
'I'm thinking...'

@Giggle @Winter (for Serek) @Kesil (for Vinea)

The green stone sitting in the open suddenly wobbled. Within, a creature had awoken, it's deep brown eyes blinking with surprise. It had been having such a good dream...so peaceful, so quiet. But now things seemed loud, even if there was no sound.

However, it suddenly felt very cramped in its little cage and struck out with powerful back legs, hooved and hard. A crack appeared in the surface so it did it again as it scrabbled against the gem with his clawed front legs. It did this, tossing and turning, until, finally, a hole broke in the bottom. Slowly and impatiently, it attacked the shell some more, trying to widen the opening until it was just big enough to squeeze out and flop on the ground, its shaggy fur sticking fast to its skin. Bits of green were stuck between the hairs but, after a quick shake of his pelt, they were flung lose.

He looked around, blinking in the light. He wasn't sure if he liked this. Suddenly terrified of being so in the open, he crouched, trying to hide himself in the foliage around the water. However, despite being a newborn, he was still big and it didn't work too well. He barely gave any notice to the small creature that had hatched moments before.

"I'm screaming submission"
I don't know if I am dying or living

tags: @Giggle @Skeena @Vinea
notes: notes here

He was starting all over again; but, he wouldn't know that. All he had known was the shallow, murky darkness encasing him like a strange sort of vivifying cocoon. Each day, he curled tighter and tighter against the confines, unwilling to budge. Today, he would be inebriated as the chrysalis shattered into a new, unfamiliar void of light. Oxymorons were his first discovery, as his eyes adjusted. Widening to take in the surroundings he had been thrust into. Immediately tensed, his whiskers quivered. Enormous eyes caught the vague sight of a leg sticking out from a chrysalis and he immediately dropped into a crouch. Not of his own volition, mind you. Carnal instinct driving his first few moments, he crept forwards. Strange gliders tiptoed at his sides and kept his clumsy, newborn self steady.

Once he felt appropriately close, he lunged at the hole where the leg had vanished, scrabbling furiously and trying to wring a paw inside of the chrysalis and hopefully grab whatever was inside. Finding something, he curled up his paw and absolutely heaved with all his might to remove it and inspect it.

@Giggle

Giggle heard the first soft crack from some distance away. Her head snapped up from her paws, dark eyes wide, rounded ears listening--and another crack sent her scrabbling to her feet and racing down to the stagnant water.

She found a shattering stone--and another; they were hatching, and right on time, moments apart.

Aaaand one was already attacking the other.

"Stop that!" she cried, voice hoarsely masculine. "Child--children--you are children--brothers, sisters, siblings." For she did not yet know if they were brothers, or sisters, or both.

"Shhh, shhh, I am mother, I am Giggle, I will care for you and watch you and--do not eat one another! Family is all we have, all we have. The Bone--" but she fell silent. Now was not the time to speak of a long-gone Bone King and how he was her family. Now was the time to ensure they were safe, and so she did.

She sniffed over the stones, and the hatchlings, peering at the gangly thing trying to hide beneath the ferns. They were all spotted, or dark, and somehow this pleased her. One seemed very small, and one very large--and a medium thing was trying to drag the tiny one out and "Stop that!" she repeated.

Overhead, the Hallowed Caller circled, then landed, its curious emotions translated by Giggle's own thoughts into words.

What is this, mother-sister?! The rocks have become children?

Giggle felt triumph in response. Yes. Yes! It worked. Now we must protect them. Find their names and guard them. Teach them.

These thoughts were well beyond the intellect of a simple bird, and so it circled, leaving the motherly sniffing, licking and fretting to the hyena.

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ROLL THE BONES

@Vinea @Serek @Skeena

SKEENA

From the protection of her shell, the hybrid's eye darted this way and that. Where was she? What was this? She was so confused! Through the shell, she could hear a cracking sound much like the one she'd heard only moments ago.

She retreated from her hole, feeling rather vulnerable.

'Hah, vulnerable? Such a coward, such a fool! If you weren't such a baby you'd already be out there, eating that thing! But noooo! You're just sitting in here, looking around like some splat-brained hatchling!'
There was another crackling sound, and her oversized ears twitched. What was happening? She felt surrounded, and in the open, despite being safe inside her Chrysalis.

And then she wasn't safe.

Something was scrabbling at her Chrysalis, their paw inside. She made an awful screeching noise, attempting to get away, only to find she was confined.

There was an odd, almost repetitive voice outside, and she found that she felt the urge to listen. But she couldn't! There was this thing trying to get to her, to hurt her!

'Bite it! Tear it! Pull it from its body! Don't be a coward! Show it you're not prey, you are to be FEARED!' the voice spat with venom, and she gave in, snapping her teeth at the thing.

Hearing the thing's (Mother something inside her said) voice again, she went limp, before lashing out at the bottom of her Chrysalis. She went tumbling out of the newest opening, and stumbling inebriatedly on uneasy legs, scrambled to hide behind the Mother.

'Coward, brat, fearful, weak!
"Stay away from me..."
'I'm a monster inside...'

@Giggle
@Serek
@Vinea

He watched with horror as another hatchling appeared and immediately attacked the leg that was sticking out of the chrysalis not far away. He shrunk farther into the undergrowth, shivering with fear. He did not want to meet that one, he did not want to be near it. He would rather it go away so that he couldn't be scared of it.

And when the hyena walked in, he shivered. Who was that? Another one to try and eat them? Were they just snacks for this beast? But then she spoke kindly and called herself Mother.

Oh? Was this the one that gave them life? Did she start their journeys before the hatching? A burst of warmth went through his chest and he hesitantly stepped from the grasses towards the hyena. "Mother?" His voice was barely a squeak, a young, new voice. He looked into her eyes before humming with happiness.

He hobbled underneath her body and pressed himself against her leg. "Hello mother, hello Giggle. W-will you protect me?" Yes, of course she would. An instinct in him, the instincts of a child, pushed him closer to the ragged hyena, ignoring the smells and the dirty pelt. If she was mother then she would keep him safe from the scary monster clawing at the smaller one.

He saw the smaller creature hiding behind the mother and he staggered to her side. With the Mother next to him, he felt a surge of confidence and protectiveness. "Don't worry," he proclaimed with pride, "Mother will protect us. And I'll protect you, okay?"

"I'm screaming submission"
I don't know if I am dying or living

tags: @Giggle @Vinea @Skeena
notes: notes here

Giggle turned, peering as one tiny newborn darted behind her to hide. The other praised her, and offered protection to the first, and she chittered softly, content with this.

"Good. You are good children. Protect. If you forget all that I teach you, remember this: you have no one but yourselves, and one another, in these caves." Her words, though her voice was hoarsely masculine, were kind and, for once, clear.

"Do you know your names? There is much for you to learn. Eating. Survival. Your reason for being. I will protect you as best I can, always," she added, with a tone of sincere promise. These were her family now. Her children.

She would die to protect them. But hopefully, that would never be necesssary.

The hyena turned, offering each new hatchling a gentle nuzzle. She smelled rank, yes, but her movements were kind, and her thoughts likewise protective. How intelligent were they, at hatching? She couldn't remember how smart she had been--or not. She didn't remember being able to speak straightaway, but she was proud if these ones could. How quickly could she teach them? Should she go straight into teaching them to hunt? Telling their fortunes in the bones?

She hesitated, for once feeling wholly and completely out of her depth. She'd helped to raise Bones, yes, and Kerberos--but they'd been easy. This-... This was hard.

________________

ROLL THE BONES

Vinea can rejoin whenevs, posting as it's been about 2 weeks and hatching threads should keep movin'!
@Skeena @Serek

sorry for my absence! was in a weird kinda depressive rut for a bit but i'm back now and hoping to keep Vinea going aksdjfalsdkjf

Almost catlike in his mannerisms, the neonate's eyes widened and he immediately relinquished his hold on the the smaller creature in favor of hopping some feet away from the enormous new arrival. Extraordinarily light on his feet, he easily made it five feet away in two hops. As soon as he landed, he pressed himself against the floor, feeling cold stone against his stomach as he withdrew all manner of antennae and fins. It was an extraordinary sort of camouflage, were it not for the piercing orange eyes staring out from the lump on the floor. Already, one of his siblings was speaking. Coherently. Unfortunately, they were not words that he was familiar with. The large creature --- Mother --- was also speaking. Unwittingly, his mind captured the words, holding them tight and deciphering their meanings.

"Mother. Protect," he whined. Clamping his mouth shut, he marveled at the sensation of words. Experimentally, he stuck out his own tongue, feeling it flop around outside before retracting. Debristling slightly, he stood a little, slinking closer. Still yet wary in his newness, he stayed a good two or three feet away from any of the creatures present. Name? His mind murmured as the hyena crossed the threshold. Despite his best efforts to hop away, she pressed her muzzle against his own. Without much of a concept of what smelled good or bad, he eagerly sniffled against her neck. Taking in the familiarity. A stark contrast against the surrounding dustiness. She wouldn't be lost. With the concept of loss came a little spark in his mind, of a long-dead name coming to light. "Vinea," he offered, gesturing to himself. "Your name Vinea." Possessives hadn't quite come to him yet, it seemed.

SKEENA

The little Jerboa hybrid Gemling shivered as she hid behind the Mother, long rabbit like ears flattening back against her rough coat. The mother was a nice, strong barrier before her, keeping her away from the other Gemling. As it came to mind, she ducked, peering between Giggle's legs to see what the scary one was doing. It was... hopping? Flattening against the ground.

The largest of the Gemlings suddenly appeared much too close to her face, and she flinched back as he spoke, pressing against the Hyena. However, he seemed to notice her, appearing beside her.

Although she didn't fully understand what he was saying, she understood enough, giving him a fearful smile and pressing against his side. "Promise?" she squeaked quietly, looking to the larger Gemling for protection.

And then the mother was speaking again. She seemed to be praising them, at least she assumed she was. She knew the word 'good', or at least what it meant, and that made her happy. But... she only had herself, the Mother, the large Gemling, and the scary one? Could she really rely on the one who had tried to eat her?

A name. A name? A name was... what one was called, right? She frowned, tilting her head as she tried to think. Something... something was on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn't spit it out.

The hyena suddenly turned, pressing her muzzle against the smaller Gemling's. The jerboa hybrid instinctively returned it, nuzzling against the Mother, and breathing deeply to memorize her scent. The Mother. She'd always be able to find the Mother so long as she had a sense of smell.

The attacker seemed to come up with a name, and something clicked in her head. She opened her mouth, and not knowing any different, responded, "Your name Skeena." after all, she'd not heard the proper possessive yet.

"Stay away from me..."
'I'm a monster inside...'

@Giggles
@Serek