'No, no, no, no...'

Panic. Fear. Terror. Uncertainty.

Wide, bulging eyes stared in bewildered anxiety and uneasiness as the tiny egg at his massive, dinner-plate sized hooves rolled, jumped, shifted, twist-and-turned, and cracked.

"N-n-not here... Not h-h-heeeere..." The muttered, distressed whimpers came out in gasping, elongated breaths, as though standing there and staring down at the egg with glowing, molten gold oculars was causing the towering beast physical agony.

Vincent had been slowly making his way down the path from the Heavenly Fields as evening quickly approached, his immense, lumbering frame taking careful steps as not to jostle the egg that he carried... But much to his horror and eternal self-damnation, he had stumbled, and the tiny, innocent, defenseless egg had lurched itself free from the crude, makeshift satchel he had made out of twigs and willow tree branches and had rolled down the rugged terrain path, down, down, down...

The ebonite goliath had promptly stumbled after it, dragging his cumbersome bulk and girth after the runaway egg, hooves scrabbling at rocks and dirt in a clumsy, foal-like pace. Vincent had not been graced with Archibald's sure-footedness, nor his grace and poise and abilities. Archibald was the good son... Vincent was not.

Failure. Lost cause. The disappointment. Good-for-nothing.

'I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry...!'

The white and blue-speckled egg had rolled to a stop into a small, soft collection of grasses and shrubbery that had not yet been withered by the intense summer sun, and Vincent's hulking, wheezing frame had shuffled to a stop before it...

And that was where he found himself now; staring down at the egg with eyes wide and glowing with intense emotion, sides heaving, terror radiating from every pore because the egg had cracked... It had cracked and it was hatching, and Vincent had no clue where he was.

He was not safe. He and his miniature egg were not safe. Archibald was nowhere to be seen to protect him. Myrinne and her sweet, soothing kindness were far, far away. Not even the Leviathan, Abraham, was nearby... He was alone.

Alone.

And his egg was hatching.

The shell was weakened from the fall and the roll down the rugged path, and Vincent could only watch as whatever was inside lurched and slowly began to break free from its tiny home. One paw broke free from the confines of the eggshell, a soft, wet grey-brown color with wire coated hair... And another paw broke out, followed quickly by two more, and a tiny tail slithered out by the back left leg... And soon, all that was left was a small section of shell that covered the little creature's head.

Hesitantly the cowardly brute lowered his head towards the itty-bitty, wriggling body, and he lipped at the shell of the egg and knocked it aside... To reveal a whimpering head of a wire-coated puppy. A puppy? A puppy was what had been inside the egg? Vincent sniffed at it, lipping at the pup's coat, the glowing of his eyes softening to their normal warm hue of gold as his concern for the tiny animal overrode his fear of being near such a strange, foreign area.

ooc: So... Vincent found himself at the border of the Hidden Falls with an egg that's hatching. He MAY or may not join the Falls, not sure yet. BUT he poses no threat, obviously, and I have permission to post his lovely-face at the herd border! Egg hatching thread!

I clutched my life
And wished it kept.
My dearest love I'm not done yet