private MOURNING TOMORROW | ebonylight

[GRAVELPAW]

Mama was gone. Missing. For how long? Hours, Baby knows this because the sun had just been rising when they woke up and Mama wasn't in the nest. Now its sunhigh, though hard to tell with the cover of the canopies above. It wasn't an uncommon occurrence, no, but certainly not one that Baby welcomed... But Mama always came back, not too long after Baby usually wakes up. She always came trotting back with a mouse, or a rabbit, the thought of the rare delicacy making their mouth water. Maybe Mama was just hunting a hare, right? Surely thats all it could be. Their mother disappeared for hours at a time, even when she wasn't hunting. So why does Baby feel nervous?

They swallow as they teeter from the shared nest, finally gaining confidence to make their way outside. It's tucked behind a tree, under the roots so nothing would ever happen to the mother and her lone child; its scary to baby, who had just recently been weaned from their mothers milk, who had never been outside of the den before this. The scents are all new, and the sights are overwhelming. A twig snaps and Baby's fur puffs out, head whipping to look. Theres an obscured figure, just barely visible in the shadows of the trees. "M-Mama...? Is that you?" their little voice warbles like a nervous song-bird, singing their heart out in the face of death. "Mama..." they whisper, eyes wide. "I- I'm hungry." Mama, please come out.

Maybe it wasn't Mama? Baby does not even begin to think otherwise.

𝚆𝙷𝙰𝚃 𝙰 𝚆𝙰𝚂𝚃𝙴, ˚⋆｡°✩₊🦇 𝙰𝚁𝙼𝚈 𝙳𝚁𝙴𝙰𝙼𝙴𝚁𝚂

• @Ebonylight.
• 
  ❥ baby
  ❥ demi-girl ,, she/they ,, 02 months
  ❥ current loner kit
  ❥ black/blue smoke chimera with high white and blue eyes
  ❥ "speech, 9d9adf" ,, thoughts
  ❥ too young to be interested in anything ,, single
  ❥ smells like heather and pine needles
  ❥ art by woodlandpest ,, penned by chuff

​

 

[Ebonylight.]

*+:｡.｡ It was a mother's job to protect her young.

A foolish sentiment, one that Ebonylight has seen cost a cat their life many, many times. What was it about tiny, whiny parasites chewing holes into your gut that makes a cat fall head over heels to give their life to? Nothing seemed more pathetic a waste...until she'd had her own scraps of fluff. Awful little things that tore their way out of her like crows through a carcass, and yet, she'd loved them. They'd been little pieces of her. Her spots, darkly shaded mask, sharp eyes...all hers. And yet, they were kept from her. Trapped behind invisible lines because her mate was too cowardly to bring them, and herself, to her. For now, anyway. Ebonylight would not be kept from her young forever.
But for now, she was.
Her impatient frustration was what led her to wander the land. Carefully, she kept to the shadows, avoiding patrol footpaths and keeping her head down. There was another irritation to be found in having to sneak about like some frightened prey animal, but also a feeling of freedom that wasn't unwelcome. She felt like she was back in her youth, wandering through the streets of two-leg place, but the ground was much softer and the air so much fresher. Although life was far harder now than it had been when she'd been a Windclanner, she didn't mind getting to live in the outskirts of clan life, where no border truly existed anymore and she could do as she pleases.

And take whatever she wanted.

The scent of dam was long gone by the time Ebony's sharp, serpent-like eyes fell upon the ghostly ivory kitten. It mewled like the pathetic virus it was, begging for sustenance as it unknowingly faced death head-on without the presence of another to hold to her every bidding. It...made Ebonylight's stomach churn.
"Oh sweetie..." purrs the living shadow, pulling herself from the dark to stand before the small child. Her smile is soft, but toothy, her eyes compassionate but pupils slitted. A rose with thorns, a warm patch of endless darkness. "Your mama is gone, I'm afraid. Her scent has faded and her paw steps lead far into the unknown. My sweet child...you've been abaonded" Although her tone is honied, spoken through that unbroken smile of hers, she mercilessly lets the words plunk upon the kitten like a rain of rubble before a landslide. "And without mommy, do you know what that means?" she coos, eyes twinkling with sympathy, "you're going to die" The fact is said with remorse, as though the end for this child is inevitable and Ebonylight is but a sweet messenger saving little Baby from the suspense of wondering what's to become of her.

That is, until Ebonylight extends a paw. If Baby doesn't pull away, then Ebony would place it around her shoulders and drag her into her chest, holding her close as she speaks, "but I'm here now. I will keep you safe, if you'd let me" she coos, a savior cloaked with all the colors of the dark side of the moon.

*+:｡.｡ Updated 4/13/24

• 
  
• 
  
  
  
  GENERAL:
  ‡ Ebonylight
  ‡ DFAB— He/They/She — Pansexual
  ‡ 18 moons — Ages 1 moon every month real-time
  ‡ Duskclan (Rogue)
  ‡ Mates with Nightingalecry, father to Frightkit, Deathkit and Witherkit
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  COMBAT:
  ‡ Physically hard | mentally hard
  ‡ Attack in bold black
  
  injuries: None currently
  

​

 

[GRAVELPAW]

The figure steps out with a purr like sickly sweet sugar, causing Baby to take a hesitant step back. That wasn't Mama's voice... The stranger that steps out is dark, unlike the spotted-white figure of their mother and their suspicions are confirmed. Baby tries to stand there, tries to be strong, but despite the narrow of their eyes they look nothing more than their namesake: a baby. The stranger smiles and it eerily reminds them of how their mother looked at them. Baby stays quiet, at first, hesitant. Your mama is gone, i'm afraid.

... Impossible! Mama had to come home for dinner, it wasn't fair.

Their next words strike them to their core. My sweet child... Eyes widen. You've been abandoned. Baby can feel her world begin to crumble around her. Just like that? Mama left, is gone forever, just like that? What will they do? Theres no more dinner, now. Where are they going to go? Can they even hunt a rabbit like Mama did? That thing had been nearly the same size they had been... Is the stranger going to hurt them? Was it a threat? "I don't want to die," they whisper, eyes pricked with tears staring at the dirt below. Mama really left them to fend for themself, to learn everything all at once. "Why... Why- Why would Mama leave me? I don't want to die." just barely a whisper on the wind.

The statement was not a threat, because before them stands an angel, before them does she extend a paw, an olive branch. Baby has no choice, it was dying out here or this stranger, and they don't want to die. Not now. The ivory and charcoal-splashed kit steps forwards and Ebony snatches them up, pressing them in to their chest. The warmth is enough to elicit a soft sob out of them, nothing more because its okay now, the stranger promises to keep them safe. Promises to be there...

"Do..." the words get caught in their throat. This would be their savior now. Baby thinks this'll take a lot to get used to. "You have a home?"

It's the most important question. Baby can't stay here, in a place where their mother willingly left them behind to... die.

𝚆𝙷𝙰𝚃 𝙰 𝚆𝙰𝚂𝚃𝙴, ˚⋆｡°✩₊🦇 𝙰𝚁𝙼𝚈 𝙳𝚁𝙴𝙰𝙼𝙴𝚁𝚂

• 
  ❥ baby
  ❥ demi-girl ,, she/they ,, 02 months
  ❥ current loner kit
  ❥ black/blue smoke chimera with high white and blue eyes
  ❥ "speech, 9d9adf" ,, thoughts
  ❥ too young to be interested in anything ,, single
  ❥ smells like heather and pine needles
  ❥ art by woodlandpest ,, penned by chuff

​

 

[Ebonylight.]

*+:｡.｡ I don't want to die it's pitiful wails widen the corners of Ebonylight's smile. There is an odd prickling in their chest, perhaps maternal instinct sinking it's filthy jaws into them. Whatever you want to call it, it has Ebby fascinated by this stranger's child. Normally, Ebonylight would've tossed the whiny thing to the curb - let the wolves deal with it's pitiful wails, as nature intended. Instead, the feline coated in darkness would hold the kitten tighter, embracing it.
why would mamma leave?

Ebonylight lifts a paw and lightly brushes away a tear. "Oh my dear..why, it's because you're a burden" she explains with a gentle sigh. The truth hurts, so she lets it sink into the kit's mind, the lesson needs to take root lest she make the same mistake twice. Ebonylight can't help a sudden thrum of excitement that races through them, the opportunity that nestles against them the miracle they'd been waiting for. After being denied the chance to raise their own kits, this was their chance to finally get to shape a mind! Their chance to have a little shadow to train in the art of survival, in the art of servitude. A chance to be a father.

"But you won't be for long, my sweet" Ebonylight promises, voice a coo as she swipes Baby's ears with loving licks, " I'll show you how to be strong. How to fend for yourself, provide for yourself, and become the perfect ally any mother would dream of. So cry, let it all out my dear, because after tonight, you will never, ever cry again. Not for anyone."
Ebonylight would finally pick her up by the scruff, relishing the feeling of being bigger than someone, literally holding a life in their jaws, a life that would be all theirs to shape. Purring, Ebby would explain, "Ill be taking you to my clan, Duskclan, which will be your new home" they explain through her scruff.

*+:｡.｡ Updated 4/13/24

• 
  
• 
  
  
  
  GENERAL:
  ‡ Ebonylight
  ‡ DFAB— He/They/She — Pansexual
  ‡ 18 moons — Ages 1 moon every month real-time
  ‡ Duskclan (Rogue)
  ‡ Mates with Nightingalecry, father to Frightkit, Deathkit and Witherkit
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  COMBAT:
  ‡ Physically hard | mentally hard
  ‡ Attack in bold black
  
  injuries: None currently
  

​