Risks and Rewards (Of a Life so Simple)

Cracks (or lack thereof)

The Snatcher curled around his clutch, rumbling deep in his chest. It was strange to him, perhaps, what he was doing. No Salmonid needed warm their eggs. A fertilized egg simply...existed for a while, then hatched. They were small, incredibly fragile. Heating them would likely kill them. Doing what he was doing now went against every instinct his species had.

But, he knew, somewhere deep in his chest, that his egg was special, different. No infant Salmonid rested within, no, absolutely not. It would've hatched by now if that had been the case.

But that left the contents...a mystery to him. His golden, precious thing, mystery charge, reason for his exile. It might've not even been a fish at all. It could've been anything in the world resting in the metallic, smooth shell.

He wouldn't call himself a scientist; he'd hesitate before even daring to call himself smart. But he had eyes, and fins, and a nose, and a heart. He could observe. So observe he did.

The surface was shimmering gold. Perfectly round, like all good eggs were meant to be. That meant it wasn't a bird. Bird eggs were not perfectly round. Though...he'd seen bird eggs in many colors, too. More variety in that department than fish eggs. But never this shade of gold in any before, even a Salmonid Golden Egg. Golden Eggs paled in comparison to his.

When he drug his fins across the surface, it was uniformly smooth, perfectly so. The heat from the heat pad didn't quite stay in the way Deco had been expecting. The surface was warm, yes...but most of the heat seemed to disappear inside it. He'd wrapped his whole body around it to check, but he couldn't feel most of it from the outside. He wondered if that was normal.

The surface was tough, and firm, in addition to being smooth. When he tapped his fin against it, it gave no resistance. A Salmonid egg had extreme resistance, lacking a tough outer shell. They were very squish-able. Deco's egg was not. Bird eggs had shells, but they too were brittle with enough force. But Deco's egg had fallen from heights before with no damage, not even a scratch. Whatever child would hatch would be strong. Or, perhaps incredibly fragile; any creature in need of so much protection couldn't be particularly mighty. At least, not as a baby.

The egg had no smell. Or, rather, by now the only smell it had was Deco's own. The few times he'd felt the need to smell Power Eggs, or bird eggs before eating them, they'd had unique scents. Like salt and sweat, or if they'd been sitting too long, faint rot. Salmonid eggs didn't actually rot, of course, but smelling like they did was a clever evolutionary trick to fool potential thieves. And bird eggs just smelled like birds.

Deco loved his egg. That much he needed no understanding of it to know, wholly and truly. No matter what anyone would ever say, that fact would never change. Because, after all, many other Salmonid had told him over and over it was worthless, and that the same was true of him. But Benny had shown him that his worth had nothing to do with what others said, and that meant the same was true of his egg. It mattered, just like he mattered.

He had listened, though, long and hard, to try and hear for movement within the shell, but all he heard was the ringing of his own ears. That meant the shell was thick. Too thick for sound to escape.

He didn't know too many creatures with thick shells. Not to the degree that it could be mistaken for real gold. That, combined with all the other things he'd observed, left him wondering harder. Wracking his brain for an answer to the question of 'what in the world is in this thing?'

He'd love his egg no matter what it hatched into, of course. He wasn't gonna be a bad dad if he could help it. And he could help it, thank you very much. He'd cared for it far too long to give up at an unfamiliar young beast, or an unexpected one. It was a baby. It was his baby.

He remembered being young. His parents had lavished him with affection when he'd been too young to talk. But as his voice developed, his golden scales had faded, only coming back when metabolically triggered by the fog. And as they faded, so had that love. Practically cast into the garbage when he'd turned out less useful than they'd thought.

He would not let such a fate befall his young. No guppy of his would feel like he had. No. No.

He curled around the egg tighter. It calmed his heart, and the warmth from the heat pad was soothing. He wanted to be soothing. An angry parent wouldn't be good. He needed to be good, and kind. A guppy deserved it.

He began softly speaking. He doubted the creature inside would hear him, as he couldn't hear it, but he wanted to anyway.

"Egg...egg good, important. Deco love you. Deco can't wait meet guppy. Egg Deco treasure, you Deco treasure. Greatest treasure." He nuzzled his nose against the egg. No reaction, no movement, no response.

He continued anyway, undeterred. "When hatch, Deco good dad. Take care egg, love egg. Tell story, make feel important. Make guppy happy? Make guppy loved."

Still nothing.

"Deco love you. Old neighbor say dumb Deco for care for, but know wrong bout. Not wrong care bout. Good egg. Real egg. Deco know, Deco know in heart."

Silence.

Unbidden, Deco felt himself start to cry. "B-but...egg not move. Egg never move. Egg never be like any egg Deco see. Deco...scared. Scared of be wrong bout. Not want, not want!" He cuddled closer. "Nest of shinies not make hatch...hot not make hatch...what make hatch?!"

He covered his mouth. "D...Deco sorry, not mean shout at." A few tears ran down his cheek. "What...what doing wrong? Deco try best, but...so long time have egg...but...."

His head felt full, and heavy, and so did his heart. "Why nothing work? What if egg...egg empty?"

The idea drove a stake through his heart the moment he vocalized it. "No...no! Not real! Not true! Deco know! Deco know real!" He whispered, aggressively upset now. He wished Benny was with him, Benny always knew how to get bad ideas out of his head.

His tail lashed in distress, and in a brief, accidental moment, it slapped against the egg.

He jolted in increased distress. "Agh! Deco sorry, Deco not-"

He paused, deathly still. He'd...it'd been so faint, so faint it could've easily been his imagination. So easily, he'd already started to convince himself he had imagined it.

But deep in his heart of hearts, he swore he felt something within the egg tap back.