Tough Beginnings [Open]

[Twilight]

Darkness was all around her, but she wasn't afraid, for what was there to fear in this dark? She didn't know anything else so this was completely natural to her. She could also feel the shells of her egg-fruit wrapped snug around her curled up form, there was simply no room for any creepy spooky thing in the shell. She hardly noticed that it was time to hatch, she was just content to continue sleeping in the rather small egg, not caring that she hardly had the space to move her legs and her body was curled inward with her tail over her head and neck.

There was a weightless feeling before a harsh jolt as the egg struck the ground among the roots of the tree that produced her. The egg fruit tumbled and rolled a short distance before resting against an above ground root. Something was wrong, though it may not be immediately obvious to anyone observing. They were see the soft skin of the pod rise and fall slightly as the baby within moved around.

Or tried to.

She couldn't move! The reptile struggled but her egg was to small for even her reptilian body, the close spaces restricting her movement. And, without contact to the tree, her air supply was running out fast, as by now she should have been able to free herself.

She couldn't move, she couldn't breath!

[Meesh]

The green reptile stalked through the orchard, thoughtfully chewing on the remains of a mouse as he wandered with some distraction through the winding trees. He had been in this world for a year now, ever since his uneventful hatching and had filled out more in the past year, lean legs growing longer and body becoming more muscled. Still, Jim hadn't once left the orchard, preferring to remain where he was until he found reason to go elsewhere, and was now confident he knew every inch of the place. He had paid little attention to the seed pods that contained other intelligent beings- they sprouted, dropped, and eventually the new hatchlings scurried out of this place to lead their own little lives- but every once in a while one caught his eye.

Just like today. A sharp crack caught the reptile's ears and he turned his head, hissing a warning in case of any attackers. The hiss quickly turned into a growl at his mistake as he realized that this 'attacker' he had suspected was no more than another hatching brat. Idiot reptile, he scolded himself. Unable to tell the difference between an enemy and a creature that just didn't matter.

He turned to go, half-listening for the telltale cracking and shattering sounds that always accompanied such a hatching. Annoying things, was he ever that loud when hatching? Jim was halfway across the clearing, however, when he realized that this time, he heard nothing.

He turned suspiciously. The pod was wobbling a little, but otherwise not moving- not cracking either. Was the creature inside dead? Jim wrinkled his nose, he had encountered dead podlings before and found them distasteful- the smell would clog up his home for weeks on end. But no, that couldn't be it, as the pod was still wiggling. Was the creature, then, still alive?

Jim hesitated. If it could not hatch, it was perhaps dying anyway. Perhaps better to leave it to its misery. He hovered where he was a few minutes considerately before finally uttering another hiss at himself for even considering to care. Grumbling lightly, the reptile padded over to the pod and raised a foot, bringing it down hard enough to try and crack the pod without injuring the youngling inside.

[Twilight]

The little reptile twisted and turned as much as she could, hoping maybe she could roll the egg into something to help break it. Anything would do at this point. Of course she had no clue what was outside the shell but something had stopped the nauseating rolling so there had to be something out there that could help her free herself.

It was getting very heard to breathe as the air trapped in her egg turned bad and old, all the oxygen being sucked into her starving lungs.

There was a strange 'thunk' noise and the baby felt something kick her, and then a second time. This time, annoyed, she squirmed to aim her powerful back legs toward the kicking. As the third kick collided with the pod, she kicked out, effectively splitting the stubborn shell, and causing her form to tumble and slide out to bump into the green reptile's other leg.

Right away she jumped to her feet, unsteadily but refusing to be caught off guard by the older male. She trembled ever so slightly from the pod goo that clung to her scales and rapidly cooled in the breeze, but she faced the male with fierce eyes and snarl.

"You kicked me! Of all the inconsiderate things to do to someone in need, you good for nothing--" she paused to look at the egg and seemed to notice that the male hadn't been kicking her as much as trying to get her out. "You could have been more gentle," she chirped stubbornly, turning her nose up and to the side.

[Meesh]

Jim bared his teeth, surprised by the spunk of the little thing. Another reptile like himself, and female, with cream and gold hide. This one was different from the other youngling that hatched- most stumbled around and cried for a few hours before figuring out they something so simple as how to talk, and this one was already on her feet and yelling at him in a matter of seconds. Perhaps it was simply her reptilian nature, as Jim had found them to be the more resilient of the three different species that came from the seedpods. Anyway, this was a pleasant surprise from the usual reactions of the younglings, whom Jim had often simply scared away by snarling and snapping his teeth at them.

It was perhaps this amusement that sprung of her yelling that kept Jim's annoyance at bay and stopped him from doing so now. Instead, he simply swallowed the rest of his mouse and grinned, a smirk that was more sharklike than anything else as he bared all his teeth at the little female. "Had I been any more gentle, youngling, you would be dead. The world has no time for soft caresses and light taps to open things- get used to it" His voice was a clear contrast to hers, a hissing sound rather than a chirp.

A flicker of movement caught his eye and the male suddenly started forward, jaws lunging open to snap shut over the struggling form of the mouse that had scurried by. A lazy shake of his head was all that was needed to snap the mouse's spine, he then tossed it lazily at the feet of the other reptile. An offering, perhaps, of a truce, or maybe just an example of what he was saying earlier. Either way, the youngling would be hungry after a hatching, they always were. "A perfect example. Gentle taps wouldn't have caught a mouse, nor would consideration for its feelings. Life is a bit more tough than sleeping in a podling all day, child" His voice was tinged with amusement as the reptile yawned lazily.

[Twilight]

The female puffed herself up more when the male smiled at her, showing his teeth while commenting on how she would have died if he had been gentle. "I didn't say completely gentle, but if you want simpler words, you could have been more careful, I think I might get a bruise from your rough treatment."

"I am no child, I am a regal female with a lovely name, and I wish to be addressed by it. Therefore, you may call me Kuno," Kuno gave a proud little nod of her head, making it clear she was not going to tolerate being called anything else. She knew she was, by all means, a child to this yearling.

It was clear that this female had a good vocabulary for her age of a mere few minutes, and when the male threw her a mouse another thing became clear. She didn't appreciate being treated softly like a helpless baby. She leaned down and sniffed the warm body but did not make an attempt to eat it, even as her stomach protested at her stubbornness.

Kuno stepped over the rodent and past the green male, the white feathers on her tail brushing along his side. She kept her nose high in a proud manner. "And, while I appreciate that you helped break the outside of my pod, I do not need you to feed me, or help me in any way," with that the gold reptile kicked one leg back at him, kicking up dust and small flecks of dirt and leaves.

As disrespectful as that was toward her savior, she did get her reward surprisingly quickly. Her unsteady legs couldn't support her singly yet so when she kicked dirt back at the male she fall forward and rolled rather ungracefully into a patch of tall grass. Kuno let out an undignified squeak of surprise when she fell but once she stopped rolling she got to her feet again, looking back at the male like: 'If you laugh I swear I will make you wish you hadn't.'

Even at a young age she managed to famous death stare known to be possessed by all females.

[Meesh]

Well well well. This was getting more amusing by the second. The female hadn't run away crying, nor had she gotten all meek. that was the problem with most creatures in this world, Jim had decided months ago, they were too meek, too kind, too boring. Rarely did conflicts or any sort arise in this world and even more rarely were they not quickly solved with a kind word or a soft hug. Most creatures of this world were just too soft, too unwilling to face conflict head on. And yet, this one... This was more entertainment than he'd had for days.

Jim chuckled lightly, settling down on his haunches as he casually preened a few arm-feathers. "No child? I beg to differ, madam. You've hatched all of a minute ago. And oh no, bruising, what a tragedy." The final line was heavy with sarcasm, though Jim remained grinning throughout. "Well I suppose Kuno is as good a collection of syllables as any. As for my part, you may call me Jim." The male stood to give a long, sweeping bow, looking about as noble and refined as she.

As the female attempted to - perhaps antagonize him? Jim wasn't sure of the meaning of the kicked dust and leaves, as it supposed to be threatening? - the reptile gave an amused snort. The child's falling was just as comical as could be expected, but to his credit, Jim didn't laugh, though he did give the female a look that clearly indicated he wasn't surprised.

"You don't need help being fed, eh Princess? Well I don't know how to break it to you,but you'll need to eat to live, unless you've no plans of doing that. And you'll probably need to eat soon, not that you expended all that much effort breaking out of your pod, considering I did that for you" The words weren't intended to antagonize, but nor was the reptile attempting to be calm. This was merely another amusement, something to pass the time, and more than that, it was a way to test the scope of this youngling. It was important to keep an eye on the ones that looked like they might survive, for that meant that they might return an prove a threat or bother int he future.

Jim darted his jaw out once again, snatching back the mouse from where this Kuno reptile had abandoned it and held it casually in one claw. "But you need no caring, as you said" he said casually, lazily taking a bite of the mouse and chewing slowly. "So go ahead, prove it" he waved his spare arm in a sweeping circle around the orchard. "Rodents are plentiful here, and they should be an easy kill for you skill and....balance." His teeth flashed in yet another smirk.

[Twilight]

Kuno's eyes narrowed before she turned her nose up again, shaking her form to rid herself of dust and blades of grass that balanced across her back and long tail. She didn't much appreciate him still using little pet names, but she supposed they sounded feminine enough. "Bruising is a tragedy. It means your hurt and if your hurt badly enough you are dead or condemned to a slow death. One of starving and dehydration, those can't be good ways to die if it is like how my stomach aches now," the young female said with a definite tone, so very pleased with her own vocabulary though for the life of her she could not remember when or if these words were introduced to her. Maybe they were said in passing by other beings passing her birth tree?

He introduced himself an Jim and it was all Kuno could do not to purr in amusement. Oh, he thought her name was nice, then gave her nicknames, and his own name was hardly a sound. Any partially intelligent animal could make it at random. He must have been a hatchling of little brains when he hatched, to name himself that. Maybe she was being a bit to harsh? He didn't seem to bad under the sarcasm...

Sarcasm is good enough to be punished. Then she could forgive and forget.

"I know I need to eat, I said I don't need to be fed," Kuno corrected Jim, her temper boiling with embarrassment over her fall still. She didn't even honor his comment on her getting stuck in the pod with a response. Well, except one, "I'm sure such a big strong male like you had plenty of strength as a child, oh yes, so brave too. Couldn't even leave the Orchard." Now that last bit was a wild guess, as this reptile clearly didn't like young ones and yet he stayed in the one place you were guaranteed to have a steady supply of them. Her words were still full of mocking sarcasm and amusement as she spoke, "Did mommy-tree tell you to play safe in the young one's playground?"

This was Kuno giving in to her childish side though it was soon called to a halt as a rustle of movement caught her attention. She turned away from him, giving a dismissive flick of a tail while she crouched low and stalked toward the noises. She gave her hindquarters a little wiggle before dashing into the undergrowth.

Crunch, crack. Snap!
"Ow!"
Crunch, crunch, snap!

Kuno hissed, backing out of the bracken and rubbing her nose. She had dove right into a thorn. The golden female gave a loud but adorable sneeze before trying again. She would not accept help from Green.

Still, she could recall his methods, it wasn't helping from him if she was using her memory to help herself, after all.

Within the next few minutes she had lost five mice, had two just vanish, four not be there when she caught up to the noises. But she did catch one by the end of it's tail and tossed it around like a feline with a toy. Yet another childish moment, but that was fine. She was, in fact, a child.

[Meesh]

"Being hurt is a tragedy, and a pathetic one at that" Jim corrected. "But bruising is not being hurt. A Bruise is no more than a scratch, and is expected in....some beings" he stared down his snout at her. "But in the end it can be ignored utterly, and so it does not matter, it is as insignificant as this conversation is" He continued preening his feathering, a motion that he had noticed had become a habit of his.

Her assumption about his not leaving the Orchard struck perhaps a bit closer to home than Jim would have liked, for he paused in his preening for just a moment. Without missing a beat in his talking, the reptile replied smoothly. "Know one's enemy. From the Orchard I can observe each and every intelligent being during their weakest moments, before they learn to hide their weaknesses. And more than that, at their weakest moments I can kill them if I so choose." The reptile paused, to see what sort of affect his words would have on the young one. "Meaning I decide who leaves the orchard and grows to adulthood. In other words, I control life and death here." Not that Jim had actively killed anyone as of yet, but he had scared more than one youngling into running, sobbing, out of the orchard with their tails between their legs. It was a good way to ensure that they would never return.

He paused in his preening to watch the younger reptile chase after mouse upon mouse. Her first feat with a thorn was no more than Jim had expected, and her next few attempts were equally impressive. Jim vaguely recalled memories of his own first time hunting. He had caught a mouse on the first try (well that was more by dumb luck than anything else, not that Jim would dare admit it) but had spent hours attempting to repeat the feat, so it's not like the youngling's attempts was surprising. She would spend a few hours searching for a meal, then finally catch it and, when she felt comfortable, leave the Orchard as all the rest did. Same show, again and again.

"Well, as impressive as it was seeing you lose eleven of the twelve mice you found, have you perhaps considered actually catching and eating your prey? I hear that it's all the rage in, oh, perhaps the rest of the world" Jim's teeth flashed in yet another smirk as he regarded the reptile. Well, at least she had caught one in the first few hours of living. She was a quick learner, this one- if one could consider eleven lost mice 'quick'.

[Aries]

Azazel daydreamed in his pod, tentatively listening to the outside world. It seemed like an eternity since he'd been stuck in his pod, he'd certainly been stuck inside it for far longer than normal. Every so often he'd try to wiggle himself free from the cramped confinement but it was never any use, though the walls of his pods had certainly been thinning over the last few weeks. Perhaps he'd get out of the pod eventually after all.

He felt a moment of weightlessness before hitting the ground painfully hard with a harsh boof, interrupting his train of thought. Very rude of the pod to just up and fall while he was in the middle of thinking, it could have afforded to wait a moment. For a moment he lay motionless, his pod had already torn apart at the force of his mass hitting the ground.

Something familiar tickled his senses, a sound that he'd listened to for so long but never in such clarity. The massive absconding dragged himself into a half sitting half laying position and flung the pod scraps off of himself. As he'd originally thought, it was the sound of other natives conversing by the tree directly across from his. Two much smaller scaly creatures were in his line of sight. He wasn't quite sure if they were actual intelligent beings or not but he concluded that it would be best to observe them more before trying to make a meal out of them. He shifted his position to sitting much straighter and stared at them intently.

[Twilight]

Kuno had wanted to hit some nerve in the male, any nerve, and it appears she did at one point, though he had a subtle way of showing it. His explanation amused her, she actually gave him a grin, turned into a snarl by her long top teeth. After she had finally caught herself a mouse, she took a moment to give in to her childish playful needs, wanting to see it run and still get caught over and over. It was so much fun to see the little creature struggle.

She wasn't an idiot though, these games had purpose. The more she played with this mouse, the stronger her legs got, able to support her weight and balance her better. She also learned to move her tail to help keep herself from falling when a sharp turn was needed. At his little joke of how she should eat her food instead of play with it, Kuno promptly bit hard into the mouse, breaking its neck quickly. Then she settled down to eat, turning her back to Jim like he wasn't even worth the consideration of looking his way.

It took a moment for her to finish and properly clean her face and feathers. The blood from the mouse clung to her feathers and she didn't want them to stain, as it would clearly stick out against the off white. That would be hideous. Once completely clean again, she turned back to Jim with a smile.

"If you killed hatchlings for being weak or enemies, you would have left me in my pod. Spare me your petty little attempts to sound more impressive then you are, Green." Kuno said with a little laugh, walking up to the green male and thrusting her nose right into his face, to the point their noses were almost touching, her bright eyes burning into him, "You are a terrible judge to see who will live an who will die."

That was about the time that there was a snap and rather loud sound of something hitting the ground. Her irritation forgotten in favor of curiosity, Kuno turned and look over at a neighboring tree, where a podhad just fallen and revealed... a rather big furry thing. It was easy twice, if not three times taller then her and Jim and several times longer. Did all other podlings hatch that big? This thing was huge!

"What are you?" was all Kuno could think to ask as she padded closer. This thing was big and therefore dangerous, but if worse came to worse it may be helpful to have something this big as an acquaintance.

[Aries]

Azazel stared with mild amusement at the little reptile as she approached. So the scaley creatures were intelligent after all. The thought to make a meal out of them still crossed his mind, his stomach was throwing a fit and the only other creatures he could spot were small mice which clearly wouldn't fill the void in his belly. However, he decided to give them a chance; perhaps they would be useful, if not he could eat them later.

The feline narrowed his eyes at her question. He was well aware that he certainly wasn't a raptor-like creature as she was, but he never took the time to give himself a look over to confirm whatever he happened to be. Quickly, Azazel stared at his paws and then turned to look back at his flanks, which were covered in different colored patches of shaggy fur.

"Well I'm clearly not whatever you are. I think a better question would be what are you?"

[Meesh]

Jim snorted. "I saved your life because it amused me, child, make no mistake. If you don't toughen up, and fast, the elements will do away with you quickly, and I will simply have found myself an easy meal" He glanced at her sidelong, waiting to see if his words had any affect on her. Most creatures in this world would be horrified of the thought of eating another sentient being, let alone consider doing it themselves, but then again, Jim wasn't most creatures. Anyway, newly-dead reptile meat wasn't as tasteful of that of a canine or feline, but that didn't mean it wouldn't do in a pinch. Jim had found with some annoyance that rodents were becoming less and less satisfying as of late. The good part about not evolving so far, however, was that it meant that no matter how unsatisfying they were, it would only take a few to fill one of the size of an unevolved reptile.

He gave a start as another pod cracked open, eyes widening as the feline that hatched stood. This one was huge, far huger than a newly hatched feline should be. A fully evolved one, then. Jim had seen fully evolved canines and felines make their way in and out of the orchard, but he hadn't thought it possible to be hatched one. "A fully evolved feline." the reptile murmured, a hint of interest tinging his voice. "Your kind normally starts out much smaller" It was odd, the only creature Jim had never seen evolve was a reptile like himself, and after a year he was beginning to think it impossible. Listening to the gossip of the Orchard-goers had quickly led Jim to believe that he was one of the first, if not the first, reptile in these lands, and if he hadn't evolved yet....ah well, that was neither here nor there. Jim's body suited him just fine.

The reptile blinked to clear himself of his musings. Inattentiveness was for those who wished to get themselves killed, he scolded himself, still regarding the new feline. He finally smirked. "We are reptiles, child. You are a feline" The question made it obvious. No matter the size, here was yet another baby.

[Aries]

"Fully evolved? I take it my size is highly abnormal, at least from the shock in your expression." Azazel stared at the clearly older reptile. The much larger feline decided to test out his paws and stood carefully to his full height, which was three times that of the reptiles. His feet were unsteady, but not so much so that he couldn't stand on his own, his large paws kept him anchored to the grass rather well. He certainly wasn't balanced enough to go walking off without getting his face planted to the ground, so he did little more than slide forward with his feet still grounded.

"Mm, feline. That has a nice ring to it. Is there other species?" he questioned, now standing significantly closer to the two reptiles than he was before. There was still quite a bit of temptation to kill them, but they were proving useful. At least the green one was, the gold one not so much.

[Twilight]

Kuno looked at the huge cat as he stood, having to really look up to see his face. She didn't enjoy that very much but she certainly didn't want to be addressing his feet when she talked to him. Her lips curved back over her teeth as she snarled in frustration, who answers a question with another question? How disrespectful and useless! Kuno didn't care how big he was, he still owed her a due amount of respect, which included giving her straight answers. Kuno glanced at Jim as he stepped up and spoke, explaining the other was a fully evolved feline.

"Fully evolved?" she asked curiously, wondering what this had to do with the feline's size. "What does that have to do with how big he is? And he clearly can't survive on mice," she added that last bit as she wondered how much a big cat would eat. "But by all means, feel free to kill and eat him, since he is clearly a threat to your life and death control," Kuno said with a bored sarcasm, gesturing toward the feline.

"Save me a leg when you try to eat him," Kuno said, not really specific to which male she was talking to and instead turned and walked into the orchard. The males were boring her, she would just have to find a different form of entertainment.

[Meesh]

Well, at least this feline seemed polite, unlike some ungreatful reptiles Jim could think of. He bared his teeth in another grin that looked like another snarl, nodding to a far pod he had seen a pair of canines curl up under a few days past. "Canines exist as well, though such clobbering oafs as them needn't exist. All brawn and no brains, not to mention smelly. Be glad you've not had the misfortune to see one as of yet" An infant canine had once had the daring to actually snarl at Jim after his attempts at scaring it off, Jim had quickly sent it packing for its troubles. but that was a long time ago.

It was true that this one wouldn't live long on mice though. It would have to venture out of the orchard even in its first few hours if it even hoped to live. Yet another reason Jim was quite glad of his smaller size. A few rabbits and other large creatures had hopped in occasionally, but they were not near common enough for one of this one's size to manage. "He's no threat" Jim added as a lazy afterthought to Kuno. "Perhaps to you he might be- you were almost defeated by your own pod, after all, but size isn't everything. He can barely stand as is" the statement was given matter-of-factly. It was not an insult, merely a statement of truth. "Besides, if I wanted to kill anyone, I would have already done so. It is not up to newhatched babies to tell me who to kill and who not to. You would probably get lost on your way out of the orchard, if a very sharp stick didn't kill you first" Okay, perhaps that last statement contained a int of a challenge, but the entire exchange was delivered in a light, pleasant sort of voice (well, aside from the fact that Jim's voice naturally hissed. Anyone who didn't hear his actual words could easily have mistaken the tone fore a pleasant conversation.)

Jim shrugged as the female walked off, not concerned by her leaving in the slightest. She had provided a few good minutes of entertainment. It would be fun making a fool out of her when she eventually returned to the Orchard again, and for now he could perhaps judge the scope of this feline. Before he could open his mouth to speak again, however, a strange insect caught his eye, unnoticed by anyone else in the clearing. It was a beetle, but one patterned very differently from those that naturally frequented the Orchard. Jim hissed in displeasure, it was not often that something appeared in the Orchard that he didn't know of. It scurried by surprisingly quickly, but the reptile quickly shot his jaw out, clamping the thing in his jaws and snapping them shut on the thing, ending its life and quickly swallowing it. There, that put an end to its-

Jim suddenly gave a loud snarl as pain shot through his limbs, bringing him down (how undignified) to all four limbs as he shivered and quaked. His legs suddenly began growing longer, and more feathering sprouted on his back in a massive burst of change as chemicals and enzymes in his body worked in overtime.

The process lasted for perhaps a minute, though to Jim it felt like an eternity. By the end of it, he had grown a fair amount, his hide hardening into scales and his claws and teeth lengthening. He was by no means the size of the feline, but he could now easily look down at Kuno. The process left him shakey, but he easily hid this, straightening on two legs until he was (bipedal) looking above the heads of both feline and reptile. Well. This was a change.

~~~~~

Evolution!


-> (Image will be updated with green coloration when Aries has the art done- for now you can just imagine it <3)