- Jan 17, 2024
- 90
- 25
- 18
*+:｡.｡ //TW: reluctant parent, subtle references to previous stillborn </3
Duckshimmer blinks as though she's only just awoken.
She's been...dreaming, hasn't she?
Thorns twined along her lips and pulled at her eyes. Swollowed crickets replace speech with incessant chirps. Burrowing worms threaten her pristine fur, malicious not in their assault against her skin, hungry for her warmth, but rather in the way they unravel any effort she's made to return to yesterday. She dreamed of paws scrabbling at her ears and eyes and mouth, eager to steal her voice, her sight, her hearing. She dreamed of baring perfect teeth into a perfect smile with the perfect response every time: No ideas yet, sweetheart! she dreamed she'd said. She dreamed she'd said it many, many, many, many times.
A moon's worth, in fact.
A moon's worth of watching two kits grow steadily larger. Watching them do so in the paws of her other kits more so than her own, pressed up against rain-swept earth, flaming wheat grass and poppies breaking through the mire...They were better off in their paws. Two in three. Even if their dark fur stood out like blood decaying upon churned snow.
"Maybe i'll come up with something tomorrow"
Tomorrow, she'll feel like a mother.
Tomorrow never quite came, even a moon later.
Yet still, time resumes with a blink.
Moonlight creeps silver talons through the nursery entrance, reaching towards her, illuminating the snoring kits at the edge of her nest first.
"Alright then, time to name you" She announces to her audience of two, noting their ears had finally begun to perk. Good - Duckshimmer was not the type to care for being ignored. The two tubers don't respond to her procclimation, instead choosing to sniff and squeak unrelated. Hm. Already mannerless. Perhaps they'd grown spoiled in their first moon of life, judging by their weak wriggling limbs and plump bellies, rolling around like the layabouts they are. "Poor things," she tuts, 'Strongkit' doesn't come to mind for either of you, hm?" she muses, placing one of her digits within the tiny mittens of the chocolate point. "Shimmerkit could've fit you, had you not squandered your beauty with so much shadow" she meows, pinching that little ebony cheek, unamused by the little squeak she inspires out of it. Out of her. She wonders if the tortie will grow to be a she-cat as prim and proper as herself. Duckshimmer waits...but moonlight still steals away any expected warmth.
She watches the two, one louder than the other, one more mindful than the other. Sneezekit had been docile, once upon a time, while Swallowkit and Singekit she'd had to hold back with her tail lest they rip out a chunk of skin in their frenzy for dinner. Thinking about her older three, Duckshimmer feels more greatful than anything that none of them were here now - their presence never quite easing the migraine that pulled at the back of her thoughts, even when they took care of the newborns in the many prolongued "outings" of hers.
"I wonder if any of them gave you names" Duckshimmer muses, pressing her paw on the quieter one's head and lightly pulling back a cowlick. All she finds herself noticing is how fragile the little life feels beneath her paw.
She lifts her hand and uncover's the little one's face, it's nose wrinkling in her direction.
Duckshimmer can only sigh, pity churning in her stomach.
"You poor things won't find much warmth here" she meows, lowering her paw to cup the paler one's cheek. It's fur is soft, softer than her own, untouched by the winds of strife. Hooking her paw around the almost-look-alike, she pulls the two close. One, two...she does not consider counting higher. All that matters is what's before them. All that matters is here and now. All that matters...is that they are alive.
"Songkit feels fitting for you, little loudmouth" she warns, brushing down a curled clump of cheek fur only to grumble in fustration when it bounces right back out of place. For her sibling, she licks a spot of dirt off it's darker tipped nose - it's cold against her kiss, "Shiverkit...Shiverkit suits you just fine."
Without looking up, Duckshimmer sighs, "Would you agree, Ripplestream?" to the shadow creeping close to the nursery entrance. She lifts her chin, regarding his dark form with ice-edged periwinkle eyes, "I suppose you have a say in this." Was it unkind to not invite the sire properly into this blessed little moment? Perhaps, if you considered this mess of a fashionably-late hello anything besides cursed.
She regards him - his dark fur that matches their daughter's soft cheeks more specifically - for a moment, before looking away with the guise of grooming her shoulder. "Go on then, name one if you like" she meows pleasantly. Notably, shedoes not unhook them, these trembling remnants of fog and dreams, from her grip.
Duckshimmer blinks as though she's only just awoken.
She's been...dreaming, hasn't she?
Thorns twined along her lips and pulled at her eyes. Swollowed crickets replace speech with incessant chirps. Burrowing worms threaten her pristine fur, malicious not in their assault against her skin, hungry for her warmth, but rather in the way they unravel any effort she's made to return to yesterday. She dreamed of paws scrabbling at her ears and eyes and mouth, eager to steal her voice, her sight, her hearing. She dreamed of baring perfect teeth into a perfect smile with the perfect response every time: No ideas yet, sweetheart! she dreamed she'd said. She dreamed she'd said it many, many, many, many times.
A moon's worth, in fact.
A moon's worth of watching two kits grow steadily larger. Watching them do so in the paws of her other kits more so than her own, pressed up against rain-swept earth, flaming wheat grass and poppies breaking through the mire...They were better off in their paws. Two in three. Even if their dark fur stood out like blood decaying upon churned snow.
"Maybe i'll come up with something tomorrow"
Tomorrow, she'll feel like a mother.
Tomorrow never quite came, even a moon later.
Yet still, time resumes with a blink.
Moonlight creeps silver talons through the nursery entrance, reaching towards her, illuminating the snoring kits at the edge of her nest first.
"Alright then, time to name you" She announces to her audience of two, noting their ears had finally begun to perk. Good - Duckshimmer was not the type to care for being ignored. The two tubers don't respond to her procclimation, instead choosing to sniff and squeak unrelated. Hm. Already mannerless. Perhaps they'd grown spoiled in their first moon of life, judging by their weak wriggling limbs and plump bellies, rolling around like the layabouts they are. "Poor things," she tuts, 'Strongkit' doesn't come to mind for either of you, hm?" she muses, placing one of her digits within the tiny mittens of the chocolate point. "Shimmerkit could've fit you, had you not squandered your beauty with so much shadow" she meows, pinching that little ebony cheek, unamused by the little squeak she inspires out of it. Out of her. She wonders if the tortie will grow to be a she-cat as prim and proper as herself. Duckshimmer waits...but moonlight still steals away any expected warmth.
She watches the two, one louder than the other, one more mindful than the other. Sneezekit had been docile, once upon a time, while Swallowkit and Singekit she'd had to hold back with her tail lest they rip out a chunk of skin in their frenzy for dinner. Thinking about her older three, Duckshimmer feels more greatful than anything that none of them were here now - their presence never quite easing the migraine that pulled at the back of her thoughts, even when they took care of the newborns in the many prolongued "outings" of hers.
"I wonder if any of them gave you names" Duckshimmer muses, pressing her paw on the quieter one's head and lightly pulling back a cowlick. All she finds herself noticing is how fragile the little life feels beneath her paw.
She lifts her hand and uncover's the little one's face, it's nose wrinkling in her direction.
Duckshimmer can only sigh, pity churning in her stomach.
"You poor things won't find much warmth here" she meows, lowering her paw to cup the paler one's cheek. It's fur is soft, softer than her own, untouched by the winds of strife. Hooking her paw around the almost-look-alike, she pulls the two close. One, two...she does not consider counting higher. All that matters is what's before them. All that matters is here and now. All that matters...is that they are alive.
"Songkit feels fitting for you, little loudmouth" she warns, brushing down a curled clump of cheek fur only to grumble in fustration when it bounces right back out of place. For her sibling, she licks a spot of dirt off it's darker tipped nose - it's cold against her kiss, "Shiverkit...Shiverkit suits you just fine."
Without looking up, Duckshimmer sighs, "Would you agree, Ripplestream?" to the shadow creeping close to the nursery entrance. She lifts her chin, regarding his dark form with ice-edged periwinkle eyes, "I suppose you have a say in this." Was it unkind to not invite the sire properly into this blessed little moment? Perhaps, if you considered this mess of a fashionably-late hello anything besides cursed.
She regards him - his dark fur that matches their daughter's soft cheeks more specifically - for a moment, before looking away with the guise of grooming her shoulder. "Go on then, name one if you like" she meows pleasantly. Notably, shedoes not unhook them, these trembling remnants of fog and dreams, from her grip.
- @Ripplestream~ ( please feel free to rename a kit <3) and @Mysterykit 1 @???KIT get named losers <333 (im so sorry your mom sucks so much)
-
GENERAL:
⚜ Duckshimmer
⚜ DFAB— She/Her — Bisexual
⚜ 41 moons
⚜ Mother to Singeglare, Swallowflutter and Sneezeduck
⚜ Shadowclan — Queen
COMBAT:
⚜Physically medium | mentally hard
⚜ Attack in bold #ffa98f
injuries: Currently pregnant
