2024-06-17 - It's All Too Much All At Once

It is in relation to the others in the clutch that the inhabitant within Canyon first begins to encounter the idea of distance. As The Mother moves around the clutch during her regular, periodic checkups on everyone, there are times that she grows slightly fainter, as if to match the slight faintness some of the others have as a trait. The inhabitant within Canyon initially doesn't understand how or why she does this - is this meant to comfort those others somehow?

But then there is another point where The Mother leaves entirely, her presence growing fainter and fainter until it is gone. Then the understanding clicks into place - The Mother got something else by going somewhere else. The others in the clutch that are fainter because they are further away from Canyon than the ones who are closer. How strange! The inhabitant within Canyon had understood there was a vastness to all they did not understand, but they were under the impression that this was a conceptual, intellectual matter. But no, there was a whole bigness, a grandness out there, even bigger than The Mother - they hesitated on thinking the out there could possibly be grander than The Mother, mainly because they didn't know anything about the bigness out there just yet, they'd only just discovered it.

But wait.

If there is an "out there," then they are "in here." But what is here, and why is it separate from out there? Where are they? And why are they rooted in one place when The Mother can go from place to place?

Well, they thought, they'd never tried going anywhere because they didn't know there was anywhere to go that wasn't where they already were. Maybe now that they knew, they could go through sheer force of will, as The Mother seemed to.

.... No, that wasn't working. Huh.

The inhabitant within Canyon remained stumped as they puzzled over this predicament, until The Mother returned. They sensed her approach, coming closer and closer, her faint-seeming presence growing stronger and stronger, until the inhabitant was pretty sure that was right next to/arching over Canyon. She was much bigger than them, wasn't she? Not just in psychic presence but in sheer size. How interesting! How strange!

They peered at her (psychically, of course, not visually) and found there were two holes in the very front part of her that were sucking something in, then shoving something back out, repeatedly, in a cycle. Also, the front part of her was leaning a bit to one side.

Mother! Are you all right? the inhabitant within Canyon asked. You have holes in the front! What are those front-holes doing?

You seem to be doing fine, The Mother observed.

Yes, I know I'm fine! I'm asking if you're fine! they snapped. Let me check on those front-holes of yours! Those seem concerning! They leaned forward and - oh sweet mother they could LEAN. They shook the entire world! Made it quake!

Oh, look at that wobble! The Mother crooned, sound as if she was proud for some reason.

Oh Mother! This is terrifying! the inhabitant within Canyon screamed.

I guess I have to keep a closer eye on you, make sure you don't start rolling around, The Mother went on.

I CAN MAKE THE ENTIRE WORLD ROLL??? WHY ARE YOU FINE ABOUT THIS??? they wailed.

But The Mother was, quite literally, moving on, to go check on someone else. Mother! No! Wait! I need you to explain this!

The Mother did not wait.

Instead, the inhabitant within Canyon would wait a while before daring to move again. It took some time for them to recover from this initial shock, before they remembered one of the things they had just learned - that there was an "in here" and an "out there." There was a division between the two. They must have only shook the "in here" part, and not the "out there" part. Still, the quaking had been terrifying. They didn't want to repeat that experience. They would have to move more carefully, more slowly.

They opted to try slowly moving their front bit, just the front bit, from side to side. See, that was better, that didn't cause everything "in here" to shake.

They then tried to move the back bit in the same way. Somehow this wasn't nearly as well - controlled? Did they have a bunch parts sticking out all over them? Regardless, that caused here to gently sway back and forth - which was better than the outright quaking of earlier. Or the mortifying idea of rolling. No, they would rather stay steady and grounded here. That was familiar. That was safe.

... Did they have front holes in the very front part of them like The Mother did? They tried sucking in, to see what that was like.

If an outsider was somehow doing an X-Ray or an ultrasound of the Layers of Time in a Canyon Wall egg at this very moment, they would observe the developing dragonet within sneezing. The inhabitant within Canyon, of course, had no conception of what sneezing was. Nor did they have an understanding of "wetness" or "stickiness." Instead, their initial overwhelmed reaction was to scream, UGH! ACK! YUCK! GROSS! MOTHER! MOTHER I AM TRAPPED IN AWFUL GROSS-NESS! HELP ME! I NEED TO GET OUT!

The Mother, once again, did not respond.

MOTHER! HELP! They pushed forward in a desperate attempt to escape and - the rolling! The rolling! The inhabitant within Canyon also had no conception of "sickness," or "nausea," but those were most certainly the sensations they were experiencing. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

The Mother abruptly stopped the rolling. It hasn't even been a quarter of an hour and you're already doing it, she sighed in exasperation. The inhabitant within Canyon just screamed loudly and incoherently, drowning in sensory overload (but fortunately not in albumen).