He's stood watch over the egg for several weeks now, waiting and wondering curiously what it will be when it hatches. He is sure that it must be something quite large because of the sheer size of the egg. He also thinks that the mother must have been something quite large to lay that egg. But even though he's kept to the shadows should the mother come back to reclaim her egg she never did. The young stallion feels a sense of responsibility over the egg, especially after the tirade he endured when someone else had discovered that he had found it. At times he wondered if he chased the mother away and that was why she hadn't come back. If he had left the egg unattended would she have returned? Or would someone else have come along and made off with it?

As he ponders his thoughts the egg begins to shake. It had done so several times already and Vadim has chalked it up to the baby inside rolling to make itself more comfortable within the confines of its home. He knows not that today is the day that the egg will hatch, or that today is the day that he will become bonded for life to an animal so strange and confusing that he will never even know what its gender is.

When he hears a crack he flinches and looks toward the shaking egg. His ears tilt forward and he moves slowly toward it, pausing when he ears cracking and moving when he doesn't. He looks on as portions of the shell falls away, revealing a bill poking at the shell. As the portions of the shell gradually fall away and the animal inside crawls out Vadim is shocked. The animal is one he's never seen before, its face resembling that of a duck and its body some furry creature with long nails and webbed toes and the tail is one that he links to the beavers he has seen in the foothills.

He stares at it and it looks up at him. There is a strange sensation in his chest and he takes several steps back to which the creature follows him, making chirping noises that seem to shake his very soul. He wonders what is going on and why he has such a strange attraction to a creature that seems to be something created by a crazy person instead of the God of the Earth. Vadim stops backing away and the creature stumbles toward him and wraps its small body around his right foreleg and makes a sound that is reminiscent of a cat purring. Vadim blinks and adds cat to the list of things that the creature might be.

@[Nayati]

ooc:// yay platypus!
according to the companion guide on rougarous, a young rougarou will shapeshift to many different animals and decide on its permanent forms after two seasons.

"."

Vadim

Master, Master, you promised only lies.