Ursa was not a forgiving place to have been born. It was cold. Desolate. Full of creatures ready to kill. But that's where Anselm was born. A shard of black tourmaline, easily mistaken for black rock within the mountains cracked. Audibly splitting among the largest of lines. And out it spat a small shape. As dark as the chrysalis, tumbling onto the snow. A dark hole in the fabric of the mountain. Fur, wet and new, was met with winds of blistering cold. The young rabbit shivered. Tried in vain to huddle into itself. And then, a pale grey eye opened. Blinked once, against the fat snow flakes that landed against its eye.

It sat up. Shook its fur, even as the cold stuck. Need shelter, she thought. Need safety. The hare raised on its two back legs. Forelegs tucked against its chest. Ears perked. It wavered, the weight of its stone weighing down its skull. Her ears met the blanketed silence of a wintry landscape. Her head darted around for someplace to go for cover. Occasionally shifting a foot to maintain its footing. And within the endless landscape, she saw something.

A forest. Black, skeletal trees reached towards the ceiling. Safety. She could hide beneath the roots. The rabbit's nose twitched once, taking in the scents all around it. Nothing her brain recognized as danger. The scent of snow and bark. Assured in her safety, she began to lope towards the trees.

kethri !

She made naught a sound as she soared through the cold air, her feathers easily insulating her against the snow and the chill. She was a devil wearing angel's clothes, her wings spreading and holding her still in the air as she saw a spot of pitch against the snow.

Ah. A new one.

Glowing eyes narrowed and she tiled downwards, swooping down and landing facing away, though the gemstones on the back of her head gave the illusion of eyes.

Her head snapped around and she clacked her beak, her body slowly turning to face the small child, watching it lope, watching it struggle in the snow. Pathetic, she thought.

"Child," she spoke, her voice deep like the wailing winds that blew through the mountains above, "What is your name?"

@Anselm

Anselm heard nothing. There was quiet, and then there was the soft sound of an impact before Anselm. Anselm squinted through the flakes. Two blue eyes. Galactic, like entire universes were held within. Peering at Anselm through the white. The head, and it was a head, turned. Blue eyes and a black beak. Anselm squeaked.

Their mind screamed danger. Fear. This was their eternal enemy. The smell was ingrained within the hare's soul. Their heart beat a thousand times within their chest. Eyes flicked to the side, trying to look for a place to run to. Anselm tucked their limbs close. Defensive. But there came no slicing talons. Only words. A deep voice. Unmistakable. Anselm paused. Their chest slowed the rapid patter. They knew this. They were this. The hare's jaws opened. Weight strange, leaning to one side. They struggled to keep their head upright.

"An...An. sel. Mm." Pronouncing the syllables slowly. Then, a simple question. "Why?" Why didn't the Owl kill it? Why did the owl want his name? Why did the owl come to him? He shivered as he awaited the answer. Anselm wanted to tuck within himself. Squat low against the ground to keep what little body heat Anselm could still retain. But Anselm didn't know what the owl wanted. If Anselm were truly in danger.

@Kethri @Arquia

Content Warning
This post contains potentially sensitive material:

[death? lol]
Arquia had run away from Eridanus, the cave that she had once called home. Despite her leafy green scales and cloak being practically made for a place full of plants and greenery, she did not feel like she should be there. Perhaps it was because... she was good. Too good in fact. Her venom was both a blessing and a curse. It seemed unfair that she had been given such a thing, a weapon, and how her scales were just so perfectly adjusted to Eridanus. She did not know why she felt in this way, or if her logic even made sense, but here she was, a little green dragon, nearly buried to the head with snow.

There was a speck of black in the distance, what it was she did not know. But there was no way to sneak up on it, since she was in a cave that she was not exactly suited for. Arquia shivered, the cold cutting through her scales. Perhaps she would succumb to this cold, although that wouldn't be a particularly bad thing. Sometimes she felt like she was someone who shouldn't even exist. Dying would solve a lot of her problems.

Trudging on, Arquia could barely even feel her legs anymore. Perhaps she really should just die. No one really cared about her anyway. Carja... No. She wouldn't think about that. It was too complicated. Her legs gave away, and she collapsed into the snow, too tired and cold to continue towards the black thing that she could see. It was closer now, enough for her to know that it was a gembound. And another animal was there too, that she couldn't see earlier, since it was white. Should she call for help? Or should she just die here? "He-- help." she mustered out, before sinking into the snow. Leave it to destiny to see if they heard her-- or not.

Of course, Arquia had never heard of rechrysalization before, and fully expected to die in the snow. Unlucky for her, or not?

@Kethri

kethri !

Kethri looked down at the rabbit. Prey. Nothing more than a meal, perhaps an experiment. The owl knew of kindness, but she wasn't staring at Anselm with caring intent, though the rabbit wouldn't know. No.

She had a plan.

"Why?", she hummed, "There are many questions beginning with 'why', Anselm. The one you should be asking is... why you? Why should I choose you?"

She laughed softly, her feathers blowing in the wind, "You'll find that out on your own."

She raised her wings and grasped the rabbit in her talons, the creature so small that one sufficed. She swooped through the air, but her sensitive ears caught something else.

"He-help..."

Oh?

Kethri swooped and hovered above the green shape in the snow, her blue eyes staring at it. Two in one day? And a dragon? It was too cold to monologue to, so she simply picked it up too, hugging both creatures to her chest to warm them.

"You two are special," she hummed, "Special indeed. I can feel it.

Oh this was going to be fun.

@Anselm

Anselm quivered. They were still cold. The hares ear's stayed pinned to Kethri, even as they lost feeling. Anselm couldn't help but feel lost. Kethri's answer raised only more questions. What did the owl mean by that? But before Anselm could think on it more, the owl's wings spread. Anselm's hair pricked into black spikes. Were they not already glossy white, the whites of the hare's eyes would show. Fight or flight kicked in. Anselm gasped, turning to flee. Anselm hadn't gotten a foot from the bird, before it felt the owl's talons close around it.

This was it. Their consciousness, a stray spark about to burn out. The ground lurched from beneath it in great, silent wing beats. Anselm fought, kicking, screaming. But they were a newborn in the claws of a predator. The combination of chill, exertion, and a growing sense of nausea wore Anselm out quickly. Before long, the hare fell limp in Kethri's talons. Chest rising and expanding rapidly. Then their ears picked up a voice from below. Anselm's ears pricked. They found it odd to look below. But there, below. A speck of green and gold.

The owl saw it too. The owl dove. The ground grew closer, faster than any land animal should or would experience in their lifetime. And then, the green dragon was snatched up as well. Were they both to die? But no. The owl above hugged them both close to its chest. The body heat was a welcome reprieve from the cold of Ursa. They turned their gaze to the other creature. Small. Green. Unmistakable. What did Kethri want with them? See with them? Anselm's nose twitched. Once. Twice. The other's smell was snake-like. Fear welled up, but there was nowhere to run. To hide. So instead, once the nausea passed again, Anselm spoke. "Who? Doe thorns grasp you, too?"

@Arquia

Arquia was starting to lose consciousness when she felt herself get picked up, and her body was enveloped in warmth. The chill started to fade... a part of her told her that she was dead, but another told her that she was just beginning to live. Opening her eyes, she saw that the thing that was warming her up was a white bird. An angel-like white owl. They were even flying!

Oh wait... flying? Arquia looked at the ground below, so far down. Panic started to set in, she did not like this flying one bit. Even though she was a dragon, with wings that did didn't work. But flailing around meant being dropped, and she didn't want that. Instead, she tried to calm herself down by thinking of other things.

Namely, who was that black rabbit? It must've been the black thing she had seen, and upon closer inspection, it seemed to be experiencing some sort of bad feeling. Was it fear? Arquia wondered if that feeling was because of her, or the owl. Or both. Nervousness caused a small drop of venom leaked out of her fang and dribbled down her chin. Which certainly didn't help her probably already frightening appearance.

Then the rabbit said something, what, she did not know. It did not seem to make sense at all. She couldn't even understand normal speaking, and what this rabbit was saying seemed to be even more complicated than that, she could tell. Arquia allowed a confused look to appear on her face, and a rumble in a throat communicated that she did not understand what they were saying. Then the words spoken by the owl echoed through her mind. Special... special... They were special, but how?

@Kethri
@Anselm

kethri !

Kethri flew through the air, her claws getting tired. The feathers were starting to grow back but all that time resting had diminished their strength. She'd have to work on that.

"I'm going to set you down when we reach the tunnel to Cepheus. Once there, we'll rest for a short while, alright?", she said, "You two can huddle into my feathers for warmth- I'm not too fond of touch otherwise, but I also don't want you two to freeze."

She turned and headed across the mountain, wings carrying her and the children through the chill air. For once she was a bit grateful for her bare legs, for they allowed the two better contact with her warm skin.

"I'm not going to kill you," she said after a while, "If that's what you fear then I suggest you drop it. The only thing you have to fear is the cold, but I can protect you from it."

@Anselm

Anselm's mind was left to wander. "Ceph," The hare said. Too tired to do anything but hang limp as a doll, and absorbing the heat from Kethri. It was boggling her mind, the fact she wasn't dead yet. The fact Kethri didn't want them to freeze. What was Kethri's end goal? Kethri spoke again, and Anslem flinched.

"I'm not going to kill you."Kethri said.


The hare relaxed. A quiet squeak-sigh left it. It briefly looked downwards. It reminded it too much of falling. It reminded it how easy it would be for Kethri to drop it. How quick the ground would come tumbling towards them. They looked forward again. Then, when that did not assuage their anxiety, towards Arquia and Kethri.

"A duo? The Doe's reasons evade." Anselm was quiet for another minute or two, after spitting out that jargon. Mostly observing Arqiua. Trying to figure out if she should fear them, as well, or not. Then, she spoke again. "This Zenith is named Anselm." Her head jerked to Arquia. Then, upwards to Kethri. Or, at least, the cloud of barred white feathers. "Request the herald and whelp's."

@Arquia

Arquia was wondering why the owl wanted them anyway, but she didn't ask. Who knew if she would change her mind, and drop her back into the snow. That sounded bad. She didn't want to get that cold again, it was horrible. The little dragon huddled into Kethri's feathers although even that didn't keep out the chill completely.

They flew for a bit before the owl spoke again. It eased her fears, although made her wonder all the more why the owl wanted them. Then some more tangled words with hidden meanings came from the rabbit. Arquia side eyed Anselm, watching her observe her. "Anselm" she nodded, not knowing what in the world a Zenith was, but using context to figure out that it was the rabbit's name. "Arquia." she introduced herself, still not completely sure how she felt about her. Anselm was certainly very weird, although she did not fear her as much as she did Kethri.

@Kethri