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 Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 1:12 pm
Sam sighed and coiled his tail around his two eggs. The females had reprimanded him for constantly leaving the tiny cocoons behind to hunt or explore or breath some fresh air. They insisted the motionless, soundless things needed constant attention and care. They told him his persistence would be rewarded when he finally saw his new orakoi. Sam argued that this should be Levi's job. Levi should be the one guarding and warming the nest while Sam hunted and staved off predators. Levi had that plush coat of feathers to hold heat against his eggs. And Sam was larger, more powerful, and could carry more meat back for them.
It wasn't fair.
With a snort, he laid his head against the ground, blowing a cloud of dust away from his eggs with his nostrils. He wished Levi would at least hurry up. He didn't want to be here by himself... It was boring...
'Scrit, scrit.'
The noise came from right next to his ear, startling him into a deep growl that he angled toward the mouth of his cave. Unsurprisingly, no one was there. No looming shadows, no predators. He was right in the heart of his clan. Of course there weren't any predators. The Gaili sniffed along the shell of the nearest egg, letting the more sensitive skin of his lips brush over the sleek material. Mostly sleek, anyway. Sam's eyes narrowed and he leaned away to inspect it. A crack.
Had he dropped it? Rolled it too hard? Held it too firmly. Sam bolted upright in alarm. Was the egg's inhabitant alright? He pawed and sniffed at it wearily, only to hear the same 'scrit, scrit, scrit.' He reared back in alarm. The sounds, the quivering, the crack. It wasn't injured.
It was hatching.
(296/1500)
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Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 1:36 pm
The inhabitant of the black egg stirred at his sister's tappings. It should be an exciting day for him, and in a sense it was - he was cramped, and would soon be out. But what did out mean? What was out there? He knew there were voices out there, voices that said things, hummed things. The voices had changed at some point, long ago, and become deeper, different. Sometimes, through the porous shell, he thought he smelled things. It was a new sense, smell, and it was very interesting. He didn't know, of course, what anything smelled like. He had no idea what made the smells, what smells meant, or even why he had them. But, if his sister was any indication, he would know soon. So, he should be excited. But the little black egg was calm. Not the calm of 5-more-minutes, but the calm of oh-that-time-already? He was in no hurry to leave his cramped little shell, but he would. He supposed. Eventually. Carefully. Not because he was afraid, but because he didn't want to miss anything. He heard an odd rumbling sound - a very funny sound indeed. A little scary, though. Maybe he should at least try out this hatching thing... Gently, he nudged at his eggshell, testing it, feeling himself rock slightly. The change of position startled him and he stilled, observing. How interesting. He had done it himself. This was new and interesting. Experimentally, he tried again, nudging himself the other way. Very interesting! He nudged again, and suddenly his position changed more than before. Oh dear. He was sideways. The little black eggling shifted in his egg, amused. Well, then, what now.
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Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2014 4:58 pm
He would've been ashamed of the high noise of glee that erupted from his throat if he wasn't alone. Fortunately, no one was around but the rolling eggs. Or unfortunately. They were Levi's children too, shouldn't he be around to witness their birth? The Gaili was half-tempted to dive for the mouth of his cave and shout his mate's name, but that would mean turning his back to his eggs. And in what would probably be the most glorious moment of their existence, he wasn't willing to miss it. Plus, if he was too loud, it might startle them into stopping their journey into the world...
So Samael merely emitted an excited trill and pranced around the crackling cocoons. Should he touch them? Set them upright or perhaps help them escape? He only vaguely cared to remember the females advising him against thrying to crack them open too quickly. But if they were trapped by a particularly thick shell... He hummed in disdain as he continued his pacing. He could hurt them if he tried. They may be old enough for the world now, but they were still young and weak and fragile and probably no match for a full-grown Gaili's claw.
The crack in one of the eggs widened, and a piece of the shell popped free. Sam crouched down to its level instantly, staring at it with intent emerald orbs. From down here, he could hear all the chirps coming from inside, hear the claws raking the shell in desperation. he knew he wasn't supposed to rouch them, but the other egg flopped about so desperately, it seemed. He couldn't help but scoot them up against each other once more. The movement sent the first egg into a frenzy. It emitted another wave of scritches and high chirps as it flopped to the side. The way the shell vibrated, he could almost imagine a little creature battering it from the inside.
So Sam watched and waited. He had no idea how long the process actually took, but for some reason, he'd expectted it to take only a few minutes. There were still noises, still movement, he even saw a little snout peeking free from the eggs, but neither orakoi emerged rapidly, by any means. It took long enough that Sam heard the welcome sound of wingbeats and the click of claws dusting against the ground as his mate returned before the youngsters had made much headway through the shells. Something large and meaty thudded on the ground. "You're looking... intense," Levi greeted teasingly as he approached Sam without a care in the world.
"They're moving... They're making sounds," Sam responded in a whisper.
He was instantly assaulted with the Diabi's fluff shoving against him and pushing him away. "Let me see," Oblivion chirped in delight as he crouched down to the egg's level, only to see a single white tooth and maroon snout poking from one of the eggs. Levi gasped and flapped his wings. "Look, look! Oh, hello, baby," he cooed softly, leaning forward to give the snout a gently poke with his own. Nevermind that the brief contact nearly gave Sam a heart attack. Another round of peeps emitted from the egg, and Levi squealed. "You know your daddy's voice, don't you?" He preened.
(844/1500)
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Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2014 10:41 pm
The little black egg was startled as he was moved, without his own action, back to rest against something hard. How had that happened? What had caused that? Would it happen again. The little black egg was burning with curiousity. He could feel vibrations against his side, as well as frantic (or angry?) chirping. What were those? Why were those? The little black egg wanted to know. Maybe he should take a look. He rapped, cautiously, at the shell, then a little harder. There were so many sounds now. Cracking, and squeaking, and shouting and squealing and chirping... So many sounds! He tapped again with his egg tooth, a little harder now. -Crack- The little black egg blinked at the light as he looked out with a brilliant green eye at the world. Whoa. What was all this? He shifted, the egg moving again. The movement was not much, but the change in view startled him. He wiggled excitedly, almost wanting to burst out and just experience all the exciting new things that were just there, outside of his shell. He tapped again, the hole growing big enough for him to stick his snout out, just a little bit. He sniffed, and drew back suddenly, tipping the egg back. Smell. It was amazing. He peeped in delighted surprise at the suddenness of sensation, wiggling happily. He was so excited. Suddenly, the eggshell became confining... limiting... not good. His wiggling became struggles, his eggteeth and claws pounding against the eggshell with a staccato rhythm that filled his head and body with sound. He rocked back and forth, the shell cracking here and there but not - coming - off. He cheeped, annoyed, at it. He wanted to go now. Things were happening. He had to see. He'd savored the moment enough! But the eggshell was still there, holding firm despite his struggles. "Peep! Peep!" he squeaked.
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Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2014 9:17 am
After only a lifetime of waiting and hours of hearing muted peeps, rumbles, and crackles from the two eggs, the first little Orakoi shoved her snout through the top of the egg. It toppled to the side, and her maw hit the cave floor with a disgruntled chirp. Once her head was free, her shoulders slipped through the opening, followed by claws, wings, hindquarters, and tail as she staggered and stumbled from her confines, her tiny talons scrabbling against the stone and her wings flopping useless and moist to the ground.
She peeped, and was instantly assaulted with a flurry of dark black feathers as Oblivion gleefully pounced upon her, practically smothering the new life under his silken coat. The world was instantly gone, overcome with blackness. And something had the audacity to shove her. "Look," Levi cooed as he nosed her, unintentionally knocking her from her weak claws. She shot him a glare, though he obviously wasn't swayed. "It's a little girl. A soft, squishy little girl."
"A little girl that you're going to hurt," Samael squealed in alarm, as he perched near his Diabi mate, partially afraid that if he tried to physical tug Oblivion away, he'd only end up harming the little one himself. Instead he took up a defensive post near the other crackling egg and waited rather impatiently for its inhabitant to also fully emerge. He tried not to cast fearful glances at the youngling trying to stagger away from Oblivion.
(1090/1500)
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Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2014 5:08 pm
The black one struggled against the shell, frustrated now. Why wasn't it coming off?! He wanted it off! He rolled, and rolled, and shook, and thrashed. Okay. Jokes over. He wanted out now. Let him out now! He peeped indignantly and rolled again, knocking at it with his egg tooth and his little claws. Finally, after much frustration and anxiety from the little orakoi, the shell gave up the fight and fell away, leaving the baby surprised and on his back. Everything was so open now. There was so much space, an impossible amount of space. He wiggled, batting at the air as he stretched to regard his surroundings more completely. So much space! He saw two big khehora and a smaller one. Sibling he knew. She sounded familiar, the same as the sounds in the egg. He wiggled his paws at her and cheeped loudly, invitingly. Hi there sibling! Hi there world! Hi there big khehora! Cheep!
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Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 12:34 pm
The dark, feathered little girl crowed and huffed, and peeped, and chirped as the much larger, softer Khehora continually rubbed his maw against her, consistently knocking her off her claws and sending her to the floor where she struggled to regain her footing on weak legs once more. Amidst the swirl of movement and the ground that was constantly in her vision, she cast her gaze around desperatly. First she spotted another large Khehora. The first wasn’t doing her any favors, so she had no reason to expect help from the second. But then her red orbs landed upon the deep black, very small Khehora. The one with familiar cries. WIth her orbs trained on him, she called out, lurching toward him and swatting her attacker with her wings in desperation.
Sam plodded toward the second hatchling, careful to keep his claws well away from the little newborn. He leaned down, giving the sleek black fellow a nudge away from the sharp debris of the eggshells. He sniffed the youngling, then passed his rough tongue across its neck, nearly lifting the tiny form from the ground. "They’ll need names," Sam rumbled, as he slowly and delicately moved to sit on the other side of the tiny black Orakoi, the tips of his wings just barely brushing against the young frame in wonder and awe.
Oblivion clucked his tongue and actually sat up straight to acknowledge Samael, giving the little girl a bit more room to breath. She scrambled with all her power to get away from him. "I’ve thought about it," he informed his mate smugly, the feathery tip of his tail twitching. "Girl and boy names." Sam had hardly opened his mouth before Levi launched into his list. "Chivalhe, Ikini, Kylyna, Laelia..." While he continued on, Sam couldn’t help but make unappeased faces at each of the names. Each of the names with funny sounds and too many vowels and just letters that didn’t go together. "Vazarri."
"Wait! That… that one’s not so bad, for a girl," Sam relented. He was not so good at coming up with names himself, so if he was going to leave the task to Levi, he should at least get something normalish out of it.
Levi rolled it around in his head, then dipped to nudge the little girl again. "Yeah, it’s not bad. Onto boy names!" He fanned his wings and leapt from behind the little girl, crashing down right next to his mate and nearly pummeling into the other little Orakoi. He nosed the tiny body, shoving it this way and that and snorting. "He could be a Clythnar, Hyten, Gothikar..." Sam scowled. These were even worse. He grimaced and listened to a few others. "Teslaric, Senthylril, Kekeovonnai..." He was pretty sure he was only hearing parts of names now. ’Tesla, Thyril, Keke...’
"Keke is cute."
"Keke?"
"Keke."
(1567/1500)
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