What dwells in the shell | Open, Hatching

[Onyxdreams]

~ ☼ Warm, she felt so much warmer now than she had before. She could feel it, seeping in from the walls around her, so nice and comforting, keeping her alive and well, long since having driven off that creeping cold she had been coated in. She didn't know why the cold was gone, just that it was, and that she continued to live, and to grow, here in this confined space that she lived within. In fact, it only seemed to grow more confining each and every day she spent within, bumping into the hard walls around her the few times she had moved, something she was doing more and more every day as her levels of energy grew. It was not yet time though, to leave the darkness she lived within, she didn't know how she knew that, just that she did, it wasn't time, but it soon would be, so, she waited, and time passed. There were vibrations on occasion, from what she couldn't have known, and so, she paid it no mind, and continued on, waiting.

In time, things became more and more crowded, that feeling of confinement only continued to grow, as every day she seemed to find herself pressing against the hard surface of her dark home more and more often, bumping into it as she moved, rocking her home ever so slightly. Now, now was the time, she knew that with certainty, this place was her home no more, but a prison now, one that she would be free from. The surface she pressed against was hard, unyielding, the few bumps she had given it before having not weakened it in the slightest, but back than, she hadn't been truly trying to break through, to escape, now? Now she knew what she had to do. Her head angled itself downwards, pointing the top of her head to the walls of her prison, she pulled back as far as she could...and rammed her head straight into it.

In the depths of the nursery, a soft plink echoed out, from a large, gray egg, sat upon a makeshift nest of blankets, as it wobbled more than it ever had before. Over the past few days, it had been moving more than it ever had, rocking ever so slightly, soft sounds coming from within if one was close enough, or possessed keen enough hearing. Today, the sounds that came from it were practically deafening compared to what it had given before, low thuds coming from within. A spider web of cracks slowly formed over a small area of the egg, splintering further and further as seconds drew out into long minutes, until finally, a piece chipped away, skittering down to the floor. That first piece was followed by another moments later, then another, as the surface of the egg continued to fracture further and further, until, with a crack, a large section of its surface crumbled outward, a furred head shoved through the hole left being.

At first, one would have noticed that her face looked astoundingly feline, far too much for something that had come out of an egg, appearances making her seem closer to three months in age than a newborn, but, there were a few oddities with her appearance. The small, sharp, white nubs coming out of her head, were one such oddity, but a necessary one, for without them, it would have been much harder, maybe even impossible, to break through her egg and free herself. In the center of her forehead, a large, white, sun-like marking lay, alongside two red eye marks on each side of her neck. The strangest of these oddities, though it was somewhat hard to see, would have been the faintly visible line of softly shining pink growing up her throat, where instead of fur, there were scales. Shaking her head slightly, sending a few stray chips of eggshell and some of the fluid she was coated in across anyone unfortunate enough to be nearby, the newborn twisted and turned her head as much as she could, drinking in the sights around her with red, slit eyes, so full of curiosity. Her mouth opened ever so slightly, and a forked tongue flickered out from within, collecting scents from the air even as her eyes scoured every corner of the room and burned it into her mind. Whatever she was, it was all too clear that she wasn't entirely feline, nor was she completely reptilian, but some strange mixture of the two

[RHINESTONE.]

LEADER ❝ RHINE ❞ PALMCLAN

When Rhinestone had initially come upon the egg, he hadn't exactly been sure of what would ultimately end up being inside. It had reminded him of the eggs that turtles occasionally left on their beaches, but it was so much larger. It seemed impossible that any sort of turtle would end up coming out of it, unless turtles had suddenly mutated into far larger creatures without him noticing. It was because of this that he had been slightly wary as the egg had been brought into the nursery, thanks to the efforts of Number Nine and a few other warriors. Initially, he had been unsure what to do with the egg as a whole, wondering if it was even still alive. However, a few queens had come to gather around it, giving their opinions on what should be done. He had figured that it would just be best to listen to them, since they were the ones technically in charge of the nursery anyways. That was how the egg had ultimately ended up in a makeshift nest, surrounded by blankets and occasionally checked up on by all of the creatures inside. Rhine was occasionally given updates, despite the fact he knew very little about it in actuality.

When the egg had begun to rock, the leader had been informed of that, told by a pair of excited queens that they had seen it moving back and forth during the night. Unsure how to respond to that, Rhinestone had just mirrored their smiles, nodding and saying that was great. It was difficult for him to be too enthused, especially given recent events. His mind was still on Medusa, along with their prey shortage and Dovah's sudden blindness. He found it near impossible for him to keep the egg in his mind as well, although he did occasionally stop by the nursery just to stick his head inside and look at it. He would watch it shift and shake, occasionally tensing up whenever it came close to toppling over. He wasn't sure when exactly that it would end up hatching, but it was pretty clear that it would be sometime soon. It was because of this that he had assigned one of the queens to properly watching it, figuring that her children would be apprentices fairly soon anyways. She'd have a bit of extra time on her paws before she returned to the warriors' den, and that would be perfect for watching the egg.

Of course, this meant that when the egg finally did hatch, Rhine was immediately aware of it. A startled and excited call had echoed out through camp as soon as the kit stumbled forth, and Rhinestone had dragged himself from his den, shaking off the sleep that he had been enjoying. He initially hesitated, not wanting to risk getting the new child sick, but eventually he headed over to the nursery anyways, figuring that he could simply keep his distance. It wasn't long before he was standing in the doorway of the little den, his gaze scanning around before it landed on the strange feline that had emerged from the egg. His eyes briefly widened, simply staring forward at the strange hybrid of creatures that had come forth. Horns, scales, fur like a cat... she was almost like Medusa, but somehow even more complex. The queens were excitedly bustling around him, wondering what to call the child, while Rhine was just more surprised that they weren't shocked by her appearance. Had recent policies finally gotten them used to those different from them?

Pushing that aside for now, Rhinestone took another tentative step into the nursery, clearing his throat to hopefully get the girl's attention. He questioned, wondering if she would know what he was saying, "Hello there, little one... welcome to Palmclan, I suppose." He doubted she understood, considering she was technically a newborn, but it sure didn't seem that way. She looked as though she was practically already half way to apprenticehood. It caused him to wonder exactly how long that the egg had actually been sitting out in the sand, and how her strange species matured. Those would be questions for a later time, however.

NEVER OPENED MYSELF THIS WAY
LIFE IS OURS, WE LIVE IT OUR WAY

— Reggan

[Onyxdreams]

~ ☼ So much open, emptiness, strange surfaces made up the wall, made of a color that was dark, but not like the darkness she had just freed herself from. So many scents, she could taste so many different things that had been here, that were here now, these soft things her former white home sat on, those walls, everything, it was all so different. Pushing herself forward, in an attempt to get closer to it all, to investigate all of these new things so many new things, she found that...she couldn't. Her home still confined her, only her head had managed to get free, and the hole was too small for the rest of her to fit through, leaving the egg to simply tilt sideways in her nest, with its occupant still stuck in it.

Fidgeting in discomfort, the newborn attempted to pull her head back through the hole she had left, only to be met with failure, she may have squeezed through somehow, but getting her head unstuck was going to take some effort. A sudden sound catching her attention, her head swiveled, slit eyes locking onto the thing that had made the noise. It was similar to herself, in some ways, and dissimilar in others, it was a different not-black than she was, a less dark not-black, it...no, he, her instincts told her, was stood not far away from her now, and the newborn curiously flicked out her tongue in his direction. She didn't know what the noises were for, but something told her that there wasn't anything bad about those noises, not a threat display, however they did feel...good? There was something good about them, at any rate.

Giving another attempt to squeeze her head back into her old home, she was once more met with futility, her head refusing to slip back into the breach she had made. Her head turned, this way and that, in an attempt to yank it back into her home, a loud mewl echoing from her mouth, partly hissed out, tinged with distress. Then, when she was finally about to give in for the moment, with a loud crack, a section of shell that had been catching on her horns gave way, giving her just enough room to yank her head back inside, and, moments later, resume using her horns to break away the last little bits of her old home that stood between herself, and all these things on the outside.

It took her another short minute, to chip away at the hole further, her head occasionally poking out as she checked her progress, testing how much of herself she could fit through, until, finally, with much wiggling and squirming, she managed to pull herself the rest of the way out, sliding down to the much colder stone floors below, immediately giving out a sound of discomfort the moment she made contact with it. Fully outside her shell, it was clear that the scales didn't just cover her neck, extending down along her belly, coating her hips and all of her hind-legs, which looked more like reptilian claws than cat paws, before extending out and down the long, sinuous tails stretched out behind her. The wings on her back, far larger than wings had any right to be, ruffled, the fur covering their outside just as damp as the rest of her, which only served to worsen the cold, paws unsteadily pushing her up off the ground after two failed attempts, her attention immediately snapping back up to the not-black not-her thing that had been watching her this whole time. Her gaze locked onto it, for a moment, then two, then a few more, before finally, her mouth opened again, and a soft cry left her, her legs, haltingly slow in their movement, carrying her straight towards him, bit by bit.