fresh start [open!]

[kyoopa]

The tiny black and white feline was curled up in the warm, dark, silent space. There was no loud noise, no predators to eat her, and it was nice and warm inside - that was the best thing of all. Even though usually she would just remain curled up in the small space, today she had one thought in her head, her first thought:

Escape.

That one word rang through the tiny feline's mind as she suddenly began trying to break the tough shell of the small space she rested in by thrashing her small, fluffy tail around and scratching and biting the tough shell surrounding her. The tiny room began swinging back and forth and suddenly the little feline was floating in the air, a fabulous feeling she was too young to comprehend, and then she hit the ground, HARD. A big crack formed from the impact and gave way to a blinding light. The word escape still embedded into her mind, the feline scratched and nipped at the narrow crack, a blinding light of hope, until the shell split in two and showed the tiny feline to the world. The black-and-white kitten blinked her deep blue eyes to the light and mewed. Then another strange, unfamiliar word popped into her head.

Noir

The word echoed in her head before she figured out that the word was what she would be called - her name.
"M-my name is N-noir. Is a-anyone there?"

The feline looked around at the colorful flowers, the shining sun, and the tall trees. She was taking it all in while she rested in the grass - life was just so beautiful!

[Meesh]

The thump of a pod hitting the ground made Fox jerk awake. "Wha-?" he began, confused, before he looked up the see the pod cracking open, tiny black and white feline tumbling out. Fox leaped to his paws, still a little unsteady on them after only a few days of life. For a moment, he couldn't quite remember how to walk- it was his paws he used, right?- before memory came back in a flash and he bounded over, white tipped tail wagging at practically a mile a minute.

"Hi there" he said happily, leaning forward to nuzzle the young creature in greeting. "Welcome to the world! I'm Fox and I'm only a little older than you are! hiya hiya HIYA!"

[Mariel]

Nothing but a soft sensation of floating, drifting more or less is empty and endless darkness that wasn't quite darkness. Was it darkness when there was no light? To the one drifting it just felt like...well, nothing new or different. It was all she knew. She couldn't see anything, hear anything, and she hardly felt something either. It was a peaceful existence, and one in which she didn't really wish or want for anything. It was bliss almost, just being suspended in a place of nothingness that didn't want anything from her, or demanded that she think or be active.

But.

But though it was peaceful, she started to realize that she wasn't exactly floating freely in a nice, open space. She started to realize that her body was cramped, pressing tightly against invisible walls that told her that she wasn't floating, killed her bliss. Distressed a bit, it was a sudden rush when she felt herself suddenly falling, floating for real in the small space before her world shattered around her. Shattered and broke in a violent way that disoriented her. Darkness still hugged and wrapped its arms around her though, until she realized that she was still in one piece. As soon as this thought crossed her mind, she felt something compel her to open her eyes.

Eyes? She wasn't even sure what she was doing when she opened her eyes and finally saw light.

Bright, blue, loving light that shined down upon her as she lay in the shattered remains of her pod. She was lying on her back, her paws tucked against her chest as she stared up at a wide expanse of bright blue that her mind supplied the name of it to her.

The Sky. Such a wide, lovely expanse of space that made her faintly smile and twitch her whiskers. She reached a paw up towards the sky then, and blinked in surprise as she noticed the color of her fur. Light silver with darker stripes that raced across her fur. Fascinated, she stared at her paw and then switched her gaze towards the sky, dazzled by it.

[kyoopa]

Noir stared at the canine that was energetically barking at her. "M-my name is Noir..." Her tail twitched a little before she smiled. "Isn't life a beautiful thing?" She batted at Fox's fluffy tail. She stared at the tall tree she fell from - it had small branches but it made up for that with thick foliage dangling from the scrawny branches. She giggled at how funny the tree looked before she tried to stand up on her tiny legs. She lifted her left back leg and noticed that while her front paws had claws, that paw had half of them missing. "It's nice to meet you... Fox."

[Meesh]

Fox wagged his tail even farther, practically smothering the little one with nuzzles. "It's a great thing" he barked joyously. "And even greater now that I've met someone new! And newly hatched, at that!" he was about to continue speaking more when another thump nearly scared him out of his fur. He stumbled, falling flat on his face before he saw a silvery grey tabby feline curled up on the ground, staring at the sky. "Two new podlings at once?" he wondered aloud. "Am I the luckiest canine ever or what! C'mon, let's go meet her?" he added to Noir, trotting over to sniff at the feline. "Hello to you too!" he yipped, nuzzling the silver fluffball. "Welcome to the World! Except I already said that to Noir, so can I say it again? Oh well, welcome anyway! I'm Fox and this is Noir!"

[Mariel]

Still staring at the sky, she was startled when a ...canine suddenly sprang into her view and suddenly nudging her. A bit frightened, the she jumped to her paws, her fur fluffed up as she stared with light blue wide eyes at the canine and the other feline. She hadn't a correct clue how to actually stand though, and she toppled over in another moment. But her fright brought her back to her feet, and she backed a step away from the pair, confusion spreading over her face. What was going on exactly? Welcome to the world? Of course, yes, this was -seemed- true. She was new to this world in essence, but it didn't explain to her the sudden welcoming.

Unnerved, but a bit calmer, she sat down, her legs having started to shake and waver a bit. She watched how they talked and mimicked them, screwing up her face a bit at how strange the 'words' sounded in her mouth. "H-hello. Fox. Noir. You seem...bright." She said, not having any other word to describe Fox at the moment. She didn't say her own name though, mainly because she wasn't asked, but also because she wasn't quite sure herself. She frowned, and then glanced up at the large sky again, tilting her head to the side as she pondered the thought.

[kyoopa]

Noir trembled a little bit as she stood up, she hadn't really stood up yet. Whenever she stood up she just fell over. This kept happening for a few minutes until she finally stood up without falling over. She just sat there for a few moments, looking really tired. Then she took wobbly steps over to the silvery kitten under another tree. "h-hello little friend..." She looked nervous and a bit sleepy as she stumbled over to where Fox was standing, happily yipping at the little silver ball of fluff. That's another cat. I am a cat, she thought. She is another cat, but Fox is a dog.

[Meesh]

Fox jumped back as the feline scrambled away, seemingly scared of him. "Oh no, it's alright" he hurried to assure her. "I'm newborn like you, only, a few days older. I won't hurt you, promise. I'm harmless" he punctuated this with the hugest gin he thought he could make.

At the feline's words, Fox blinked. "Weird, that's what some others used to describe me as too. Bright. Not" he added hurriedly "That I'm calling you weird" he turned to see his friend Noir trying to stand a hurried back over, head low in apology. "Sorry sorry sorry" the orange and white canine yipped. "I forgot you're new to all this. Here, let me help you" he pressed his side to his friend's pelt, doing his best to support the smaller feline. "Lean on me if you want, you've got it" he barked encouragingly.

[kyoopa]

Noir was jumping at lunging at a fruit on a very tall tree, some branches were long and low enough for her to try and catch some berries. She caught a small brilliant green fruit in her paws and carelessly gnawed on it, only to spit it out seconds later. "Bleh, those are bad!" She tossed the green fruit with a bite in it away and grabbed a larger black one. She nibbled and a smile took over her black and white face. "But this fruit tastes good!" Noir plopped down in the grass and gnawed on the black fruit. "This is really sweet!"

[Mariel]

She watched this...canine...this dog back away from her quickly and apologize. But, she didn't really see any of this, because she'd still been staring at the sky. She heard Fox pad away though, and then she glanced away from the sky, her striped head still tilted. Though this time it was tilted in wonder, not confusion as she watched the dog go try and help Noir to stand.

Standing? Yes, that wasn't an easy thing to do at the moment. Nor was it that easy to realize that she didn't have anything to call herself by. What could she tell Fox and Noir? Wasn't she herself to have a name?

Yes. She wanted a name.

Frowning a bit, concern flashing into her eyes, she watched Fox and Noir until her name suddenly came to her. Brightly, she smiled and mouthed her name, barely audible when she said it. "Sky." She grinned and looked back up at the sky, nodding to herself. Yes. It was a wonderful name, wasn't it? She twitched her crooked whiskers and looked back at the others.

[kyoopa]

As Noir was chewing on the sweet black fruit she found another word entered her mind, this time through her ears:
Sky.
She turned in the direction of the noise and saw the little silvery feline she saw earlier. Another thought came in via the knowledge she already knew:
Sky is the silvery cat's name.
The thought echoed inside her mind for a moment before she decided to give Sky a present. She picked up several of the large black berries in her paws rather reluctantly and stumbled over to the other feline before dropping the berries - there were about a dozen. "H-here. Y-you can have these."

[Meesh]

Fox tilted his head. "Sky? That's a pretty name" he glanced up into the air, then grinned. "I see where you got it from. It matches your eyes, you know" the canine commented. His own eyes were an emerald green color, which he preferred, but the female- Sky, he mentally corrected himself- had pretty eyes too. He twitched his nose as he saw Noir pad over with a mouthful of blackberries. "Those are good, but there's some mice in the clearing you can practice hunting on- I only just learned a few days ago" the canine said proudly. A thought occurred to him and he paused, struggling to explain. "Oh yeah, mice are like, tiny brown furry things that run around. You catch and eat them and they're yummy" his tail wagged at his explanation. "Berries are yummy too though, though I prefer prey"

[Mariel]

Sky glanced down from the sky sharply when Noir padded over and dropped some fruit at her feet, letting her know that she could have some. Curious, Sky gently bit one and chewed, surprised by the sudden rush of...sour -her mind provided the word- and then a taste of something hard. Confused, she spat out the hard things, staring at the small seeds that were now lying on the ground. Interesting little things. Seeds. What were they for? Sky's attention was drawn away though, when she heard Fox speak of catching mice. Mice? Sky could catch food with her own paws? Was she fast enough? Strong enough? Of course, she didn't know how much effort it took to catch these mice that Fox spoke of, but she didn't question him. Though, she had to admit that the so called mice sounded like it tasted very good. But then again, was she hungry? How could she quite tell? Her stomach felt empty. Was that hunger? If so, where could she find these mice again? The clearing. Was that where they were now? If not, perhaps Fox could point out how to get there to her? Blinking her sky-eyes, Sky looked at Fox, speaking in a soft voice. "Where is the clearing?"

[jasperlizard]

Noises. The feline had never had any reason to think before, floating quietly in the safe darkness. But now she heard noises, sharp and strong, piercing through the silence. She liked the noises, but she couldn't hear them as well as she wanted to. There was something in the way, muffling the sounds. Walls, the feline realized, walls that were pressing in on her. She kicked out against the walls, scratching and thrashing, until suddenly she was falling, and there was thud.

Panic overwhelmed her. She needed out! She scratched at the walls even harder, until she had made a huge crack in them. Light and air streamed in, and the feline stumbled out. She took deep breaths, gulping in air. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she looked around. She could see trees, and grass and pods, some lying on the ground empty, and some still hanging from the branches of the huge tree above her. That must be where here pod had been before she fell. She looked down at her paws. They were a light sandy brown color that got darker near the ends of her paws.

Then she remembered the noises, and looked around again. A little ways away from her, she saw some others. Two had shorter muzzles and big fluffy tails, and one had a long muzzle and bright orange fur. They seemed to be making noises. The feline wondered if she could make noises like that too. She decided to test it out.

"Hello," She said. "Hello!"

[Meesh]

Fox grinned as the feline considered his comment before asking the location of the clearing. He pointed vaguely in the correct direction with his tail. "It's near the center of the Orchard. Straight thataways, you can't miss it" he was about to say more then the thud of another pod crashing to the ground made the canine turn. He was just in time to see a sandy colored feline burst out of her shell. Aw, not a single canine? Aw well~ Fox thought vaguely, as he yipped a greeting at the smaller feline- female, his nose told him. "Hello there. Wow, three hatchings in one day. That's pretty impressive" the canine padded over to the feline, dipping his head to give the newborn a friendly lick between the ears. "Hullo little one"