His eyes blinked open, but he saw nothing. Only the darkness. The tight crushing squeeze. Too tight. His mouth opened ever so slightly and he tried to scream. It hurt. It all hurt. A muffled sound reached his ears. He pushed against the trappings. Fought. He could feel every muscle in his coiled twisted self straining. Feet farther away seemed stronger, so he pushed with them, tried to kick. Even that didn't want to work. All of a sudden he was aware, and all of a sudden he would be gone.

He was tiring. It crept in on him and all at once he felt those muscles drift off. He hardly knew anything, only the sticky tight darkness, and yet he knew death loomed. He screamed again. This time his mouth opened ever so slightly wider. The sound shook him. His sound. One more chance. With all of his strength, he pushed outwards. It didn't matter what direction, he needed out.

Something cracked

Only just

But it cracked

He pushed harder. All at once the pressure was gone. The walls crumbled, and he, Callahan, escaper of death, tumbled forward onto the cold ground. Too bright lights hit his eyes, and he squeezed them shut with a yelp. He could feel everything. Too cold. He forced himself to squint open his eyes and look back to where he had come from. The shell lay in shattered pieces. Why didn't it grow with him? Could he put it back together then climb back in? Overwhelmed by too many thoughts and sounds, the tiny ferret curled up in a ball, sucked his paw, and cried.

The snake, having started exploring some time ago, slithered about, legs moving too, only to pool the smelly substance around them as they moved. It was normal, for the hybrid at this point - the smell, and the feeling of the goop moving down their body onto the ground, providing more movement. Sniffles flicked out a black tongue, scenting the area - that didn't stop them from smelling themselves, but they held back the gag to instead be drawn to the smell of new life.

The screams, then, they did hear - Sniffles screamed back. They always screamed back.

Eventually, Sniffles came across the broken, blueish, stone that was also littered with green. The tiny little ferret shown himself to multiple pairs of eyes then, and Sniffles wondered if he was hurt. That had to be why he cried, right?

"Small! Why sad? Hurt?"

@Callahan

The other screams that arrived in Callahan's ears were nothing like the smell that assaulted his poor nose. Why did he have a nose if this world offered such horrid things to it? He regretted opening his eyes and looking up at the massive form that showed itself, and sucked harder on his paw. The tears stopped, but sat on his cheeks. He slowly unraveled himself from the tight curled ball to get a better look at the creature. The creature's voice had sounded gentle, welcoming even. Not the sound of something about to make him go back to the nothingness.

Was he hurt? Hurt sounded bad. He was still upset, but not hurt like in his old home. Paw still in his mouth, he slowly shook his head. Little Callahan's eyes were wide as they adjusted to the light and he took in more of the one before him. He wondered if it was meant to ooze like that. A quick look down at his own furred body showed no ooze. Also, he had more legs. Poor creature if it couldn't suck on a paw like he could. Finally, after making his brain hurt through very much thinking, he asked through paw-sucks "Why you longer than me?" He used his other paw to tap his own stomach. Still no ooze, just fur. Was he broken somehow? Did his shell squishing him tight stop him from looking like others? Maybe something went wrong, and he was stuck too small? He felt another wave of tears working their way up, but did his best to stop them from leaking out as then he wouldn't be able to see properly again.


@Sniffles

Multiple sets of eyes blinked down at the small thing. He reminded them of the kitten from before - Sniffles missed her. Sadness washed over the snake momentarily, and they pushed it far, far away to instead focus on the small child that seemed so scared. Of course, Sniffles didn't entirely understand why, still, they knew what it felt like to have someone near when you hatched. (Sniffles missed their parent, too.)

"Not the same." They replied to the question.

Of course they were not the same! Completely looking different, however, Sniffles paid no mind to it. They didn't look exactly like their parent either, though Sniffles was not this child's parent.

"Not bad thing."

@Callahan

Not the same. He was not the same as the other creature. What if he wanted to be? Who picked him to be him? Not a bad thing to be different...but what if he didn't want to be? He was pretty sure he'd end up bigger than the other creature...he couldn't be stuck his size forever, right? With a wave of bravery, the little ferret shuffled forward on his hind legs, front paw still in his mouth, then sat down next to the puddle of ooze that surrounded the other creature. He poked the ooze with his free paw, brought it up to his face, then gagged and spat out his wet paw. "Will I have this?" He asked, waving the oozed paw around. Then with a brief flash of another thought, he quickly switched subjects; "You call yourself something? Callahan is me." He looked up into the multiple eyes and let out a little smile.

A new sensation came upon him with such a ferocity that the smile washed clean off his face. His stomach made a growling sound and he let out a cry pointing to it and looking up, pleading for a way to make it stop. "Hurts!!"

Sniffles had no idea of the things going on inside the mind of the other gembound - if they did know, they would have no idea how to explain how different everyone was. No two gembound were exactly the same. Everyone was different. What Sniffles did know, however, was that the small thing was not liking being different. Which, admittedly, was kind of strange since Sniffles didn't think anyone wanted to smell like something dead.

"No." Sniffles decided. Well not unless he dies.

Names, well Sniffles did have one. Just one, though, compared to nicknames they heard whispered through the caves at gembound who knew one another well. Sniffles missed the small one. The Kitten.

"Sniffles!"

A hungry growl of a stomach had the new small one reeling, in hunger. Sniffles knew that sound. Of course they did. Blinking with multiple sets of red eyes, Sniffles lifted their head, tongue flicking to taste the air. Sniffing out a red rat wasn't hard for the slithery being, and finding it was much easier too. The red creature lay munching on something - not seeing the two gembound there.

"Stay." The snake quietly voiced to the ferret.

@Callahan

"Oh," Callahan replied. No ooze. That could be okay. "Will I be big like you?" He asked after another moment. His eyes sparkled with awe at how large the other creature was -- or maybe it was just the leftover tears.

Callahan grinned when he heard the name. Sniffles. "I like!" he squeaked. Sniffles sounded like a good name. Not that he had many others to compare against, but a good name nonetheless. If nothing else really in common, at least they both had names!

Holding his sore stomach, the little ferret watched Sniffles closely. He stuck his tongue out like they did, copying, though not seeing the point of it as it didn't really do anything. Still, he kept trying, and nodded obediently at the word to stay put. He could stay put and practice his tongue no problem. He couldn't seem to get it to flick like Sniffles' tongue did, but maybe it just needed more practice, so he kept going.

@Sniffles

The size question had Sniffles wondering, too. Then again Callahan was not built like they were. Completely different species, even if he wanted to be like them, it simply wouldn't happen. (Not without a mutation, maybe, but Sniffles didn't know that.)

"Maybe." Sniffles replied - still, they weren't even that large. Just long. A long snake.

Sniffles trailed along slowly, to where the distracted rat was. It shouldn't be too hard to strike it down. The snake reared up, at that point the red rat had noticed and begun to scurry. Before it could, Sniffles moved to strike, taking the rat into their mouth before swiftly bringing it to its end. They then moved to the child - would he eat this? Or did he eat other things? Sniffles had no idea what small things like Callahan ate.

@Callahan

Maybe! Maybe he'd be that big! That was much better than a no, and definitely something the little ferret could work toward if there was such a way. A horrible thought struck him that perhaps if he kept growing, he'd get too big for his body and he would always feel squashed like he did in the shell...but it quickly abated as he realised Sniffles didn't seem too bothered by their size, so it shouldn't be too bad.

Callahan stayed in place, but wiggled his body trying to practice how Sniffles moved along. Feet seemed much easier, but maybe there were good things about sliding along instead? He dragged one foot along the ground and decided it might hurt a little if he slid everywhere. He then pulled a paw through the ooze left behind and figured that would make things a whole lot easier. If only he had ooze too! Though he couldn't imagine having that smell always with him.

The little ferret's eyes went wide as he watched Sniffles strike the rat. The rat was far bigger than he, and all of a sudden he felt very lucky that Sniffles hadn't done the same thing to him. Shock, and slight distaste at seeing the rat with ooze on it filled him, but was quickly wiped away by cold hard instinct. He was hungry! "Yippee!" He squealed to Sniffles, jumping up and down. Meat. That would stop the pain in his stomach. "You're the best! One day I wish I could catch food like you." He giggled, once again looking up at the snake-like creature with awe in his eyes. "Did it take long for you to learn?" He surely hoped not...if something took long for Sniffles, who was so amazing, it would surely take a whole lot longer for him.

@Sniffles

Sniffles truly did not understand that ferrets were relatively small, or that even mutated gembound couldn't grow to be larger sizes. Still, they did nothing to stop the small thing from wanting to be something different. Sniffles didn't like their goop at first, so they could (somewhat) understand. Sniffles grew, and they learned how to be a snake while growing, so Callahan's issues wouldn't have even been a thing in their mind.

Sniffles watched Callahan try to slither, and nearly laughed. It would be hard with limbs that actually worked! Sniffles had one pair of limbs themselves, and those legs moved while their body moved, but they couldn't be used for lifting themselves up, or, really much of anything. Gripping small things, sure, but walking? Not really. The goop helped them move faster, and with the legs they could make themselves go somewhat quicker, but not by much. If enough built up, Sniffles could make a slide out of it, though! Maybe they should try it with Callahan?

The rat was dropped at Callahan's body, and they didn't even think about munching on the small thing. That would hurt! Bad! Sniffles did not want to be bad! Sniffles blinked at Callahan wanting to hunt like them. It could take... Work, but the little thing might be able to do it. Maybe if they started with really small stuff. Like. Super super small stuff.

Can teach! Was the first answer. "No." Was the second.

@Callahan