GROWTH - From a Speck to a Titan

You decided to accept the offer to join her group. The knowledge, food, and protection offered were too much to pass up. You knew you were a very small fish in a very large pond. Cooperation would make you far safer in the short term and more robust in the long term. With a broadcast of language, you sealed the deal.

[GOOD] - [MEETING] - [FOLLOW]

She hissed in satisfaction, beckoning you with her tail to go introduce you to the rest. The tail seemed dangerous, well, more dangerous than the rest of her body. It pulsated with bulging black veins, the claws near there on her innumerable limbs were long and sharp but also looked fragile as if they would come off easily. As she slithered, her scale claws caught on the plant flesh, digging grooves into it as she coiled her long body up. Looking at the surrounding area, the signature grooves of the spires nearby must've been her work. To accomplish that, she would have had to spend much time here, patrolling.

You simply climbed up the spire on her trail, your pentagonal radial body was well suited to such endeavors. Because of it, you had no real concept of forwards or backward, all such directions were the same to you perhaps with the exceptions of ones that didn't quite fit your five-faced body. She spoke again unexpectedly as you got halfway to the top of the spire. The distance to the ground below was dizzying to behold spanning many times your body height.

[DESIGNATION - BULLET] - {DESIGNATION?}

What was your name? You wondered. You had never seen a need for such a thing. This was your first social interaction, beforehand, it was all yourself. Several ideas filtered through your mind, Ambush, Burrow, Hide, Five, Feast..yet you couldn't make it up just yet. You broadcasted a denial in the primal language you two were speaking in. Not that even you quite understood what you were saying. It was encoded into your blood but you felt if you thought about it too hard, it would stop working.

[DELIBERATE-THINK] - [EAT - PACK_LANGUAGE]

She first ordered you to think about your name but the second command was more interesting. It seemed she tired of speaking in Primal as you termed it. She offered a little bit of flesh from a pouch in her cavernous mouth, gripped by a prehensile tongue. One of many. The flesh was shining, both literally and figuratively You grabbed it, according to her, once you ate it, you would gain knowledge of the language of the pack. A more versatile way of speaking. As you looked at it suspiciously, she turned an eyestalk at you, staring. You ate it quickly, swallowing the little thing whole.

It was electrifying, warm tendrils which were also cold at the same time writhed their way through your body, especially around large neural complexes. Though, you had many complexes, spread around your body and networked by an even larger web of neurons. You shuddered as the knowledge burned into your mind, integrating itself into you as instinct rendering speaking no more difficult than walking.

"Understand me?" she asked. You did, very easily in fact and you said as much. However, there was a question you wanted to ask.

"Leader, where did the language flesh come from?" You asked in your high voice. You thought it was too advanced for her, not that you could say that out loud.

"Call me Bullet," she hissed. "There's a history behind that flesh, a limited supply too," Bullet hummed in thought for a while. "I'll tell you, though such a Story requires a good spot." She led you to a large branch wrapping around it and facing you.

"Now, where to begin? It was a couple of years ago, I was just a month old, smaller than you even with a little pack of siblings. A roiling rainstorm rolled in, not too uncommon here as I'm sure you're aware. We simply sheltered in our parents' burrow, not thinking much of it," she said that last part bitterly with regret.

"It was the end of us. The first sign was the storm, fools that we were to ignore it. The second was fire, now you likely haven't experienced it but wildfires are common. It too, we didn't pay much mind. Our burrow was high up, neither smoke nor fire would reach us," now she was properly lost in her memories. She seemed ancient at that moment, a history spanned years of events. You wondered if you would ever reach her age.

"Remember it now, Newborn, arrogance is the foremost killer of Beings. Not weakness, not cowardness, not even stupidity. Arrogance. I will never tolerate such foolishness in my forces. To do so is shame no matter leader" she said gesturing to herself with a tongue, "or follower," turning the tongue back on you. She warned and threatened at the same time. You had made a good choice indeed.

"Anyways, back to the Story, As the storm and fire clashed, I poked an eyestalk out and saw one of the most terrifying experiences of my life," she shivered then grinned at your confused expression. "What? Surprised a leader would admit weakness? No, when seeing those things, fear is the only proper response." She then reached a tongue, covered in scent tendrils to you before retracting it after she received whatever answer she wanted.

"You should be familiar, after all, you've likely seen one of them. Mother Storm, your mother if I'm correct and my senses are adequate for the task," she spoke, bringing back memories of your birth. You replied in the affirmative.

"Against Mother Storm was Father Fire, the true source of those wildfires. They raged against each other. She rained down water and lighting, so much so, she would've obscured all sight had he not spat pillars of blue fire in turn from a thousand mouths. They never touched each other for your mother was of the sky and he was of the ground yet their subjects did battle on their behalf," she paused here, letting you imagine such a fight. It was incomprehensible, the sheer scale...

"From your mother, flew her Lightning Court. Shimmering with her wrath, they carried a sliver of your mother wherever they went, letting her network strikes through them. I saw them do it once, a immense cage of lighting crashed down upon Father Fire. The sounds from the battle had long since shuttered my hearing but that made my ears bleed." Her tongues massaged little countless ears, remembering the pain.

"Not that Father Fire was weak, no, he was the opposite. From him, emerged his Guard. They tore out of him, letting him use their bodies as vessels to throw his blue fire. They simply targeted their enemies and he fired. Unfortunately, that's where my memories end, with a barrage of fire bluer than the large sun." She sighed as the Story reached its conclusion.
"
I think I was knocked out. I woke up injured and starving. My family was gone, my home, a wasteland of hot ash and sparking water that hurt to touch. There were only these pieces of flesh scattered like stars across the landscape. I ate them, or really, accepted them into myself. Father Fire's flesh would never accept being eaten by Beings like us."

She let you simply digest the Story for a while, waiting in silence lost in her own thoughts. Once you snapped out of your reverie, she snapped her tail beckoning you and you continued your journey to the pack's nest in calm quiet. A while later, you glimpsed the nest for the first time.
It rested high up in the canopy of the jungle. Small caches made of black leaves and branches were linked by thick vines, likely grown by them to serve as bridges. Spire burrows were also abundant, the caches often leading into him.

There weren't many Beings at the nest, maybe a dozen in total but then most were likely out hunting anyways. All manner of beings existed here, symmetrical, radial, neither, chitin, scale, fur, etc. The variety of bodies was only matched by the number of Beings. The one commonality was that they all looked stronger and older than you. Bullet let out a deep hiss, calling all attention to her. She introduced you very shortly.

"This is our new member. They haven't decided their name quite yet," she announced before leading you to what you assumed were her personal chambers in a grand burrow decorated with bones. She turned to you, she looked more severe.

"I will cover your obligations as well as general rules. You are part of this pack now, you hunt with us, you eat with us, you feed with us. You are expected to put your life on the line for the pack. In exchange, you are entitled to all information, including how to best grow, strategies for hunting, and optimal symbiotes for you. Beyond that, you will be cared for if you are injured and given support against enemies," she lectured in a rote voice, As if she had said this many times, she likely had.

"Any questions?"

What do you ask if you have any questions and what do you do next? Also, what is your name and pronouns?

[] QUESTION(S) (Related to Rules) - WRITE IN

[] NAME - WRITE IN

[] PRONOUNS - WRITE IN
*Note - For Beings, gender is fairly nebulous. This has no real effect.

[] ACTION
-[] SOCIALIZE
-[] PARTICIPATE IN HUNT
-{} ASK - WRITE IN (Hunting, growth, etc.)
-[] BUILD YOUR OWN NEST - WRITE IN (Material, type, etc)
-[] WRITE IN