Warm. Comfort. Safe. [OPEN]

[Amber]

Warm.

It was the first sensation he observed. It was comforting, soothing, and he felt safe. All these words were foreign to him, yet somehow he knew them. Something stirred, disturbing his comfort. With a subconscious effort, he rolled over in his pod, wishing it would go away and he could return to sleep.

There was another swirling stirring, this time accompanied by a voice. "Mikhail," it whispered. Or did it? He didn't actually hear it, but felt it. Somewhere within, deep within. In.. his... heart?

Wait. Mikhail. What was Mikhail? He didn't know much, but it didn't feel like anything. 'Am I.. Mikhail?' He was startled by the voice, this time an actual voice, but only in his mind. A.. thought?

His musing was disturbed by a sudden jolt, one that shook the warmth that surrounded him. 'What was that?' It seemed whatever had caused the jolt had affected the pod, too, as Mikhail felt himself moving, sliding out of his shell and into a puddle of his warm.

He became aware, then, that he was more than just a name and a mind, but a body as well. His consciousness spread out around him, trickling into all the little nooks and crannies that made up his being, just like the warm around him was doing now.

Cold.

A new sensation, the polar opposite of what he had woken to, reached his as his warm drifted away from him. His newfound body shivered, and he learned he could move. He attempted to command something, anything, to move. Something at the edge of his being twitched, and he rejoiced. He repeated the command, and it moved again. Tail. The words were coming to him now, from his heart, as he struggled to find the proper commands to operate the different parts of him.

He managed, through little twitches and jumps, to discover his tail, his legs, his paws, his claws, and his head. But he felt there was something missing, something he wasn't reaching.

Dark.

It had been there all along, but Mikhail only now realized it, and only now had a name for it. His heart told him the opposite of dark was light. He attempted to command light, but nothing reacted. He tried again with the same result. Muscles in his face contracted, and his heart told him scowl and frustrated.

His face relaxed with this new knowledge, and he discovered curiosity and learned he had a face. He commanded his face muscles again, and something called a nose wiggled, and a mouth twitched. He sent another command to his face, and an ear swiveled. One last command sent his eyes blinking repeatedly before they opened completely. It was then that he recognized light.

It was bright, blinding, white, and he suddenly missed his warm and his dark and his comfort and his safe. Mikhail closed his eyes again, wishing he could go back to the way things were, but somehow knowing his life had changed forever.

[Popcorn]

For sometime the scaly white and yellow creature had developed within the confines of it's leathery pod. She had been quite unaware, but recently gained conciousness. At first the female only felt warmth. It was warm, and dark. It was secure. Soon she became aware of a cramped feeling. Her perfect home had become far too small for her. It was time for her to make an entrance into the world. Of course, the reptile was not aware of this and as such said entrance came as quite a surprise to her.

It started as a strange sensation in the pit of her stomach. Though she could not have known it, she was falling. Within in seconds of it arriving, the sensation left her. Crashing to the earth below, the pod that had housed her as she grew split apart into a million pieces. With a thump the reptile found herself laying in a haphazard pile on the cold, hard ground. The previous warmth and darkness was replaced by a blinding light, and cool air. It was shocking to say the least, but some how revitalizing. She felt free.

Her previously muddled mind began to clear, making way for thoughts she had previously never had. They mostly took the form of questions. Who was she? Where was she? What had happened? Somehow, answers revealed themselves as whispers deep within the recesses of her being. She didn't know where they had come from, but she whole heartedly believed them. Her name was Ensah. This was her world. She had just been born.

As the shock at her new life began to fade, Ensah took in her surroundings. All around her, various things towered above her. Searching her mind for answers once again, she decided they were trees. Each was unique, each had a certain beauty to it. In that moment Ensah decided she liked the place she had been born into. The serenity and beauty entranced her. With the concept of beauty fresh in her mind, the young creature suddenly had a great desire to see herself. What did she look like? Was she just as gorgeous as the orchard she had been born into? Ensah certainly hoped so. She wasn't quite sure what the opposite of pretty was, but she definitely didn't want to be that. Already her vanity and preoccupation with appearance was rearing it's head.

In hopes of perhaps finding out exactly what she looked like, Ensah decided she must explore the orchard. Somehow she was sure there was some way she could discover whether she was beautiful or not. However, this was easier said than done. Her first attempt at even just standing up was mostly a failure. She ended up right back in the heap of limbs she'd started in. Apparently she was a little wobbly. Eventually, the female managed to at least stand up. Her newborn legs still had difficulty supporting her, but if she was careful she could make it at least a few hops without too much trouble. Stopping often, she got to see plenty more of the orchard. It was during one of these brief breaks that she caught sight of a bundle of black and orange fur on the ground beneath a tree. Curious, Ensah hopped towards the being. "Eeeelllooooo!" She screeched. It wasn't exactly what she had intended to say, but she had trouble communicating what was in her head. Hopefully with time she would develop more skill in the area.