welcome to home [meesh, open]

[Prinkipissa]

Wakefulness came with a muffled impact on her ridged back, the sensation of falling lasting a mere second before another (slightly harder) impact was made to her side. She was aware that her position had changed, only because she could now feel the pressure of ground beneath her through her encasing shell. The creature lay still, bewildered by this sudden placement into what seemed to be her body. But there lay the problem within her mind; she had so quickly claimed this body as her own, without thought as to how she had ended up within it. Not that she was going to complain about the matter, of course. This body felt strong. Though her body was entirely new, it was also already extremely familiar. She was aware of her long limbs and straight tail, her thin head and long muzzle, her long talons and capable muscles, her oddly short hair and long feathers. This body was capable of a great many things, 'though it is trapped in thi-' - at the same moment that the female made her first half-thought, her limbs extended outwards from her laying position, a small gasp coming from her open jaws as, all at once, her being was infiltrated by both light and air.

Mind unable to experience the lungs first intake of the oxygen-rich, aroma-filled air, the reptile could comprehend only the absolutely blinding light of the sun. She recoiled immediately, attempting desperately to return to her dark.. Her dark something.. She found herself to be breathing heavily then, and wondered if perhaps something were wrong with her. Was she not able to breathe outside of her darkness?! Panic seeped into her briefly, but after a few second the female found herself able to slow that breathing. She taught herself how to calm the gasping, controlling her panic and earning back her ability to focus beyond her breaths. The light was still bright, but it was not nearly as bad as before. The burning had ceased, and the white of blindness was now only a brightness enough to make her believe that she was facing the source face-to-face. A quick assessment of her body's anatomy reminded her that her eyes were located a bit to the sides of her head, and so she lifted her head slightly and turned her nose to brush the ground. Much better, her eyelids peeled back to reveal her attentive green gaze.

'Black,' her mind announced at the view of the tree trunk beside her. It was thin, it's roots breaching the nearby soil and curling seemingly haphazardly from the base of the tree. The female swallowed loudly, 'gulped', and conquered the sunlight for the sole purpose of extending her keen eyes up the dark tree. It was beautiful, undoubtedly, with it's leafless limbs rising like claws into the clear blue sky beyond it. But where the limbs lacked leaves they housed the most beautiful blossoms the female had ever seen. 'They are the most beautiful blossoms that I will ever see,' she added mentally, having already noticed the dark red fruit that grew underneath the blossoms, but more importantly the various buds dangling so high overhead. They were all like her. Or rather, what she had been. Now she was.. alive. The female grinned slightly, happiness elating her small body. Perhaps there was more to this life than burning sunlight and near suffocation.

Lengthy limbs pulled closer to her body, lifting her and placing her upon her long hind feet, She wavered only slightly, supporting her weight easily on strong muscles made for running. She bothered not to look for the darkness which had been her home for so long, but instead took in the beauty of the orchard around her. It was magnificent - filled to the brink with various trees, which themselves all sported flowers, fruit, and pods. Color erupted around her, and then the sounds of the place came as well. Her small smile turned into a small grin, her pointy teeth glinting slightly in the daylight. The warmth of the air surrounded her, tickling across her scale-built skin and seeping into her very core. This place was hot, but beneath the shadowy canopy hovered a welcome breeze. The female lurched forward a single step, the second coming easily thereafter. She moved slowly away from the tree of her birth, her body found its' comfortable gait and stance - though she did not know it, she moved in the standard manner of a reptile. Her strides were long and she covered ground easily, her sleek form and long limbs an asset she would use to survive in this world she did not quite remember yet. A burst of eagerness alighted within her, driving her pace slightly faster as her perceptive gaze soaked in the orchard around her.

[Meesh]

The newly-evolved reptile paced through the trees, still marveling over the new sensation of being able to walk to much farther with one stride, of having so much more power in each motion. A day ago, he would have said he hated the idea of evolution and was glad that his kind never had to deal with it, now he wasn't sure how he could have lived without it. Something about this new form felt so wonderful, so right, it was strange to think that there were other reptiles out there still in their tiny forms, forms that Jim had once thought superior.

Jim's stomach gave a twang again, bringing him out of his reverie, and he grimaced, remembering yet another reason he had been glad to be unevolved before. The Orchard housed plenty of rodents that were filling enough when he was Absonding, but now that he had become Occult, the rodent he could find just weren't satisfying enough to do more than hold back his hunger for a few hours. Oh, how he missed those days when a single mouse or two could feed him for a full day! There was bigger prey of course, but prey like that usually didn't range far from its territories far outside the Orchard and the Orchard...Jim hissed loudly to himself, tail swishing in annoyance. The Orchard he wouldn't be leaving any time soon.

Far to his left, a cracking noise was heard, a familiar shattering of pod that Jim had long since learned meant another newborn. Idly, Jim considered the thought of eating one of the newborns, it certainly wouldn't be hard to take one down in its first few moments. He idly sniffed in the direction of the pod, frowning when the scent of reptile filled his nostrils. Of course, Jim would never consider reptilian flesh for the eating, that would simply be absurd. Ah, why couldn't it have been another canine? Canines would taste delicious, Jim was sure of it.

The newborn was stumbling around now, so Jim settled on his haunches to watch her, silently watching her movements, so far similar to those of every other newhatched that came through this orchard. He did not speak, perhaps she would notice him eventually. For now, he simply observed.

(terrible quality post, I'm sorry :c )

[Prinkipissa]

This orchard was unfamiliar and unknown - but she could also identify everything she heard, smelled and saw. She found within her mind the names to the various other animals she could see scurrying and flying about her, but also matching scents to their small forms. Birdsong lilted in the tree-tops, the shadowy forms of swallows, sparrows, quail and more whipping through the leaves as they searched for better perches and singing partners. Squirrels traversed both the ground and the tree limbs, some spotting her moving amongst the trees and zipping up the trunks to escape the possible predator. This act of fear in her informed the reptile that squirrel could perhaps be decent prey, if only she could catch them. She moved slowly but efficiently through the trees, twining her limber body around their trunks as her senses drank in the area. She knew nothing of its' layout, but was (so far) painting one with her birthing spot as its' center. She wondered vaguely how large this orchard was, and when the trees thinned out into.. something else. What else was there, save for an orchard full of fruit-bearing trees? She could not imagine the land around her as anything but an orchard, failing miserably to displace them into some other form of geography. Perhaps imagination simply was not her strong suit - which would suit her just fine, as she figured wanderlust would fill in whatever blanks remained within her newly-functioning mind.

An odd feeling of emptiness (she instinctively knew this feeling as hunter) wrapped its' cold hands around her stomach, causing her steps to falter slightly as she glanced about in sudden panic for something to devour. She did not like the feeling of this hunger, and thus determined to quench it as soon as possible. Prey seemed to be easy to find within this orchard, though she knew not yet if fruit were particularly appetizing to her gullet. The scents of squirrel and bird and rodent were becoming steadily more appetizing, a deep rumble coming from her torso at the thought of capturing a small body between her long jaws. A flicker of a smile lifted the very corners of her lips, her neck lowering to place her snout a bit closer to the ground. Birds were much too high for her to jump, this much she could ascertain without leaping foolishly into the air. She knew not yet if she could climb, but deigned it a bad idea anyways. Squirrels were swift and chatter-boxes, their thick tails flickering tauntingly at her whenever she passed one stuck to the base of a tree. They seemed much too confident in their abilities to escape the reptile, and thus the female deemed them unreachable at least for now. The most prominent scent that appealed to the reptile was that of rodent, and though she had yet to see one, she could hear their skittering feet in the long grasses around her. They gave her a wide berth, knowing full well that they could not escape her if her long legs carried her fast enough. Which, the female decided, they could.

Stalking slowly through the long grass, the female attempted to make her long hind-feet as silent as possible against the ground. Stomping to food would not put it within the mouth - patience during the hunt was necessary for success. Instinct bade her to take her time on approaching her target, the small animal (whose back was turned to her, unfortunately for it) having not yet noticed her coming closer and closer. She was only a few feet from the mouse now, she could see clearly now what the rodent looked like. Small and round with only a pink tail to distinguish it from a ball of fur, it rested on its' haunches and munched eagerly on a small object grasped between its' fore-paws. Its' face was a mystery to the female, its' gender as well indiscernible at least to the reptile. Not like those things much mattered, if she were honest with herself. This little animal would prove no more useful than to be within her wanting belly, and thus she took no pause when she was within inches of it - the reptile lurched forward suddenly and snapped her powerful jaws around the body of the small creature, immediately crushing it with the sheer force of her jaws. Turning back her head, the female fed on the rodent by tossing it a few times in her jaws, crushing it as much as she could before swallowing it in the pieces she had made. The mouse was relatively whole as it slid down her throat, but this obviously did not matter to her stomach. Already her meal had filled her more than half-way, her relatively small size easily nourished by the smallest of creatures. She moved on once more, her somewhat greedy nature raising its' head to make her continue to search for something to munch on, all the while unaware of the reptile lurking and watching her.

OOC: I'm so sorry this took so long. </3