camp indigo eyes, lyrical smile [🕊️] kit intro

[Needledrift]

Delicate paws perched at the edge of the nursery, wishing, willing for something to happen. Lilacfur's impromptu interrogation would have been riveting if Needledrift had not been so caught up in the distressing sounds coming from the newcomers and all how-ever-many pebbles they weighed. Even from her distant vantage point, the gray queen could tell that the pair were sickly, frail, small for what their apparent age had to be. Even her own tiny kittens seemed stronger than they did.

She could feel her children at her feet now, squirming and worming in that way that kittens did when they wanted something. Her eldest children did it now, sometimes, mimicking their little siblings in pleas for attention. Needledrift smiled as one of her youngest climbed atop one of her front paws, demanding to be seen.

"Hello, sweet one." the little she-cat cooed, "You're certainly act-" She paused. There, on her feet, its mouth wide and hungry, was a kitten - her kitten - with its eyes open wide. Slate-blue and round and open, staring right back up into her own green eyes. Needledrift's gaze traveled swiftly from kit to kit, noticing with a mixture of shock and glee that all of their eyes were open, blinking, staring expectantly up at her for attention.

"F-fernie?" Needledrift called out into the clearing, not daring to look away from the hungry gazes leveled at her. "Fernie, come here! They're looking at me! They're looking!"

// @BRANCHKIT @MORELKIT @Gigglekit your eyes are now open ! be free my children !
// @FERNDANCE @WISTERIAPAW @Bonepaw. @BLOODPAW @SHADEPAW @snowypaw come say hello to the babies <3 speech is in #B9D0F5​

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[Gigglepaw]

Gigglekit had slowly but surely been getting more used to crawling and tumbling around the small space that her mother allowed her to roll in, finding her paws to be awkward beneath her but useful enough to pull off shenanigans such as climbing up on her mother's paws to garner some of that ever-wanted attention. Blinking rapidly, a small yawn passed through Gigglekit's system, requiring her whole mouth to open and letting a small squeak escape alongside it. She tapped her tiny paws against her mother's larger one, before small ears perked up and Gigglekit slid off the paw when her mother spoke.

Content with where she was now next to Needledrift's paw instead of on it, Gigglekit watched with wide, shuttering blue eyes, her lids opening and closing a mile a minute as she peered up at her mother and around the den that they were in. There were so many colors! Her mother was the prettiest gray and white, and Gigglekit was captured by her green eyes - she briefly wondered if hers looked like that, but it was one thought amongst many that were swept away in her little mind. She let out a small mrrp as she looked out towards the brightness that Needledrift had called into.

‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎OOC ᓚ₍ ^. .^₎ .ᐟ.ᐟ INFO ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎

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• GIGGLEKIT ✩ kit of shadowclan, zero moons
  → blinks incessantly.
  → peaceful and healing powerplay permitted.
  → penned by Archivist → .archivist on discord.
  

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[MORELPAW]

Everything he knows so far has been shrouded in darkness. The warmth of his mother’s fur and his littermates beside him hold no color, the milk he drinks has no face to know it by. The kit is content in all that he knows, in the comfort he resides in. The simple life of eat and sleep is all he knows — and all he expects to know.

Until everything changes, and slumber is interrupted by the jostling of littermates. And just as sleep is torn away from him, so is the constant comfort of darkness, as he awakens to a world anew. Blurs of bright surround him instead — shocks of colors different than dark, than life. Newly opened eyelids give way for kitten-blue eyes, for his to expand before them.

With a confused, nearly-frightened mew, the kit wriggles forward toward blurs of grey, to warmer hues aside white — something unrecognizable, but familiar still. His mother? A sibling? He isn’t sure by color, but by warmth he knows. They’re here too, in blurring light. In gray and white and all sorts of new shades he has yet to learn, all new things he has yet to see.

With a nose finally bumping into gray fur, into his mother’s fur, his fright is quelled. His world is no longer as simple as it once was, curiosity and wonder lit aflame.
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[BRANCHPAW]

𖠰𖠰 The little scrap of lilac-striped fur may be more mobile now, but that doesn’t mean he wants to be away from the warmth and comfort of his milk-mother. Branchkit never moves far from where he curls at Needledrift’s paws, little mews and the occasional purr leaving him as he attempts to capture and hold her attention. Pale blue eyes have only just opened, and still his nose wrinkles as he takes in the world around him. It’s all new and bright and bold, and the kit squeezes his eyes shut against it all. One glimpse of the world is enough, his tiny mind decides. But eventually, the urge to look with newly-opened eyes overrides the sense of strangeness, and Branchkit’s wide, clear gaze sweeps around the nursery.

Gray and white sparks through his sight, the fur of his mother and siblings—before known only as warmth, as softness—now has an appearance as well. The den around him, associated only with milk-scent and soft, shuffling noises, now shields him just as Needledrift’s form does. The kit blinks once and then yawns, little mouth stretching wide. There is much to take in, everything novel in the world around him. And yet Branchkit does not wish to explore it. No, the kit presses soft paws against one of Needledrift’s own, mewing quietly at his mother. His newfound vision of the world pales in comparison to his demand for attention.​

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[FERNDANCE]

"Looking? What does that—" From her space in the clearing, Ferndance's long neck craned upwards, her cheek cushioned by the fluff upon her neck as she tilted her head. The introvert had taken some time to rest after her patrol, confident she'd see her mate after she'd slept in the dim sun for a time. But, fate had other plans, and the frantic excitement from Needledrift caused the she-cat to rise to her hind paws like a meerkat. Dots connected one at a time until she realised what the Queen was talking about. Eyes grew wide and her jaw grew slack as a trill escaped the cinnamon tabby without hesitation. "Oh... oh, their eyes! Coming Bug!" She couldn't miss it! Forepaws returned to the earth for a millisecond before the lanky warrior galloped towards the nursery, her head catching on the top of the bush before she remembered that she needed to lean down. The quiff of fur that spiked as a result of her misstep was an afterthought as emerald eyes adjusted to the dark. When her pupils had widened, and the dimness of the den became visible to her, she was met with three little kittens, their eyes opened for the first time.

Warmth filled her tired heart, sending her limbs abuzz with a joy that made them unable to stop bopping up and down as she rallied to her mate's side. Though they were their second litter, seeing them open their eyes for the first time was no less magical than it had been before. "Do you think they'll have your eyes one moon?" She asked softly, resisting the urge to make a joke about Morelkit stealing them right out of her mate's skull. She couldn't tease, not to the level that the whimsical she-cat was used to - this moment mattered too much for someone that mattered to her. Ferndance bumped her head against Needledrift's with a purr as loud as a monster's before she carefully leaned down to address the kittens. "Hello... I'm your mama. Do you want to meet all your siblings?" On her belly, she crawled towards the Nursery's exit, poking her head out momentarily. "Bloodpaw, Bonepaw, Snowypaw, Shadepaw, get your butts over here!" They'd likely already heard Needledrift if they were around, she just wanted to make sure that they knew they were welcome to introduce themselves to their brothers and sister once more.
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[mockingbirdcry]

The presence of Needledrift and her gaggle of kittens is a welcome one, livening up the nursery with young new lives—Mockingbird's own children are long gone and graduated to apprenticeship, breaking their own way in the world. Lately she's been entertaining the idea of another litter, though she'd much prefer to wait until leaf - bare is truly, soundly gone. Perhaps in greenleaf. Irregardless, it's pleasant to have the squirming little scraps hanging around and brightening the mood—something especially needed since Lilacfur had hauled that sickly pair home. Poor things.

Naturally, then, when she hears Needledrift yowl for Ferndance and exclaim that her kittens are looking at her, Mockingbirdcry's curled ears perk up and her own wide brown gaze fixes on Needledrift, alight with subdued happiness. A queen's kits opening their eyes was a momentous occasion if you asked her—she could remember her own children's opening like the back of her paw. The permaqueen trills in amusement as Ferndannce yowls for their grown kits, getting to her own paws and padding to a respectful distance—she didn't want to impose on the new parents, after all.

" Oh, congratulations, you two, " Mockingbirdcry murmurs in a quavering near - whisper, timidity belying her happiness for the pair. No matter how many times she witnessed this exact moment with queen after queen, it never got old. " Aren't they beautiful! " she exclaims softly.

" speech "

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[SHADEPAW]

On the other side of camp, Shadepaw was busy stalking his prey, a hapless clump of moss. He slunk low to the ground, concentration pinching his features. Perhaps he didn't hear Needledrift's initial call for Ferndance because he had pressed his ears so close to his skull. Maybe it was just his focus throwing a shroud of blurry darkness over the rest of the world. However, Shadepaw couldn't miss Ferndance's yowl that addressed him by name. His head snapped up. The call came from the nursery. That was enough to send Shadepaw flying over, all long limbs and dirt-brushed paws, nearly knocking into the brambles that sheltered the den. She poked her head in, whispering a cheery, "What's goin' on?" before dipping into the warm, ever-familiar nursery. She needed no explanation; her gaze shifted from Mockingbirdcry, congratulating, to Ferndance and Needledrift, doting, to the kits tucked by the latter, who were... staring.

"Oh, wow! Hi! Hiii!" Shadepaw waved a paw at the trio of kittens. "Their eyes look like Snowypaw's!" So deep-blue, still squinted and strange, but no longer shut as if they were in a permanent sleep. They were still so tiny, all small mews and wiggles. Shadepaw dug through their mind, trying to find if they could remember a time from before sight, but came up empty. In only a few months, the kits could try to do the same, and probably come up with nothing, either- but everyone else in the nursery would remember seeing their little eyes blink and focus for the time. Needledrift and Ferndance, maybe even Mockingbirdcry, had seen Shadepaw do that at one point. Weird.

"Did I take this long to grow eyes?" She asked, voice riding the line between sincerity and humor. It was a tone learned from Ferndance, something that would make it hard for most to tell whether Shadepaw genuinely believed kittens grew eyes after being born.​

 

[Bonepaw.]

*+:｡.｡ Seriously, Bonepaw really hated hearing his moms scream! Though he quickly inferred the lack of urgency in their tone, the sound of Needledrift's cries and Ferndance's calls very nearly sent Bonepaw leaping through the ceiling of the elder's den! Though he managed to hold himself down, it did come at the cost of digging his claws into the fur of one of Shadowclan's oldest, and the cat was quick to show their displeasure as Bonepaw earned himself a harsh cuff around the ears. Ok, that was fair. Oni was barely through mumbling his apologies when the older cat quickly interrupted, shooing him off. Luckily there wasn't any animosity, so Oni took it as a sign that they'd (literally) struck even. Either way - he didn't need to be told twice to get going!

Leaping out of the elder's den, the boy practically tripped over himself running so fast - and then actually tripped on Shadepaw as he practically threw himself on top of her to look at the kits.

Blue, blue, and blue! Bonepaw was practically more liquid than cat as he slid off his sibling to take up his own little corner, his entire body trembling with the force of his purrs. "They're looking at us" he breathed in wonderment, a rare smile gracing his typically placid expression. Although Bonepaw had done his best to visit as often as he could, it always felt like the first time when he saw his siblings. He swore Morelkit has gotten bigger since the last time he visited! And gigglekit is already growing into her name, being the most exuberant of the bunch - Starclan, he can't wait to hear what her actual laugh sounds like! And - oh stars above look at Branchkit! his little paws completely dwarfed ontop of their shared mother's!

Bonepaw flops helplessly onto his tummy, weak-kneed at the cuteness of his little brothers and sister. They're so small and cute and small and soon they'll be cute and BIG and he'll get to know all about them and maybe show them some of Nightwhisper's stretching routines or they'll teach him games even his littermates haven't discovered - ah..he just simply cannot wait.

*+:｡.｡ Updated 12/15/23

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  GENERAL:
  ☠ Shadowclan — apprentice
  ☠ DMAB— He/Him — Unsure
  ☠ 4 moons — Ages 1 moon every month real-time
  ☠ Son to Ferndance x Needledrift
  ☠ Brother to Bloodpaw, Shadepaw, Snowypaw
  ☠ Apprenticed to Nightwhisper
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  COMBAT:
  ☠Physically easy | mentally hard
  ☠ Attack in bold #738171
  injuries: None currently

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