The Threshold of New Life [Open]

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[atrb=background,http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/DarkeeMizti/Middle1_zps5b59f7cd.png] Silence. She liked silence. The wonderful feeling of her surroundings being completely and utterly noiseless. It had been like this for all her life. It wasn't that she was deaf, oh no, she was far from that. Even in this enclosed space, her ears could still pick up the faint sounds of creatures outside. They seemed unreal when she had first heard them, but she had grown to understand that there was something waiting beyond this little round case after being in there for so long. The idea piqued her curiosity. What was beyond? Was she going to be trapped here forever? She took a sharp gasp, suddenly feeling the air around her grow thick and strained. What was happening? She could feel panic and fear overcome her previously calm state as her once comfortable cocoon suddenly began to tighten around her. The walls forced her into a painful fetal position, slowly crushing her. She was running out of oxygen. It was time to escape. Her hind legs kicked at the walls of the pod as she desperately stirred around, hoping to somehow be released. The pod rocked back and forth, almost too rapidly. The branch it held onto shook along, disturbing the Kata-Hal tree. Before long, a snap! was heard, causing the cocoon to plummet to the ground below. It landed on the ground with more force than necessary, instantly cracking the surface. The new opening welcomed the air around it, finally feeding the hatchling's starving lungs. The newborn finally calmed, taking her time as she took in the refreshing air. Her racing heart slowly returned back to its normal speed. Her ears twitched, detecting sounds from the crack. They were so much louder now. So much more different than she had expected. So much more... irritating. The kit remained unmoving for a few minutes, mentally debating whether or not she should leave. A single ray of light peeked through the gap. The youngling's eyes widened in fascination as she stared at the faint light. She began to stir again, no longer able to resist the urge to investigate the outside. Tired, wobbly paws pushed at the small crack, forcing it to widen. Once it could accommodate her stature, the kit crawled her way out of the pod. She felt terrible. Covering her dark gray pelt were the disgusting liquids of the cocoon, sticking the clumps of fur onto her skin in an uncomfortable fashion. She shook her head, trying to remove enough of the goop to open her eyes. Once the sticky material was off her face, she finally took a look at her surroundings. Bright blue pupils excitedly scanned the area; the newly-hatched feline had never seen so many new things! Green, blue, purple, leafy items were spread about, filling the air with a welcoming aroma. The sky above seemed dark, with only a round object accompanied with other smaller round objects lighting it. What were those things? What did they do? What could she do with them? The newborn could barely contain herself, immediately making a mad dash to begin exploring. Sadly, her sprint had barely even started before she ended up tripping on her own paws. She landed on the ground with an oof, being reminded of how she still had to learn how to balance and move on her weak legs.

[Cobalt]

and i'll just keep on learning.
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Zumarra had been dozing in the comfort of a Tart Cerasus tree's roots when she heard the crack. Her ears pricked up somewhat lazily as she opened her eyes against the bright moonlight. She knew that sound. That was the sound of a new life coming into the world. And young podlings often needed direction or instruction or help getting to their paws. The feline shook her tail and got up, listening for more movement so that she might locate the newborn.

She found it as it was just pushing its way out of the pod, accompanied by a large amount of goop. Zumarra wrinkled her nose. She certainly didn't remember her own emergence being so...wet. Must be because this little feline had dropped from a Kata-Hal tree. The tawny-colored feline stepped forward tentatively. She didn't want to frighten the newborn, especially as she didn't know how it might react. It wasn't much smaller than herself.

"Hullo?" she whispered as the newborn opened its eyes. Zumarra paused. It hadn't heard her, or was just too busy looking around. Maybe if she waited just a few moments a better opportunity would present itself. She watched intently as the blue-eyed feline got accustomed to her new senses, and dashed off to explore - or tried to. Zumarra suppressed a giggle, recalling her own similar experience, then padded towards the podling. "Hey there, are you alright?" Zumarra spoke softly and sat down a little ways away, her tail lashing and skimming the ground.

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word count: 247
status: So very, very museful. 
notes: Cheshire is such a cutie. >u<

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[atrb=background,http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/DarkeeMizti/Middle1_zps5b59f7cd.png] The kit got back on her feet- just barely. Her small legs shook as she tried to balance her stocky body. This was definitely not easy- did other creatures move like this too? Maybe she was doing it wrong... Her ears twitched, picking up the sound of soft steps which were then followed by an equally soft voice. She hastily turned to face the source, nearly tripping on her feet again. She gaped as she saw the older feline sitting mere feet away. Her gaze shifted from her paws to the stranger, trying to put the pieces together. The stranger seemed to be of a similar species as her but was considerably taller and much less chunky. It also seemed to have a different colored fur and, although it was dark, the newborn could make out a much lighter, almost peach-colored fur with dark markings. But what stood out the most was the older feline's bright ruby eyes. Such red eyes stood out from the mild fur they were placed on, and the youngling couldn't help but watch in awe. After a few minutes of silence, the kit finally seemed to register that the feline was trying to communicate with her. She tilted her head slightly, trying to make out what the stranger had just said. Although she couldn't fully understand words yet, she was able to track the concern and caution in the older's voice. Assessing the situation further, she decided that she was probably being questioned on her current condition. She was covered in weird goop and had just crawled out of a weird... pod thing, after all. She nodded slowly, not even blinking as she watched the stranger like an owl. ///OOC\\\ Eeeeee thank you ; v ;.

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[bluekat]

He was bored, nothing much to do in the enclosed space he seemed to be forever trapped in. He knew nothing, saw darkness, and smelled absolutely awful. He had learned that the key to finding entertainment in this dark place was to focus on the strange things on his head that he could move around. He also found that he could manage some odd limbs that stuck out from his body, he wondered what those things were for. The things on his head though seemed to be able to do something, he didn't know the word for it but with them he could hear things that seemed like they were far away. He heard strange chirping, purring, barking and an odd assortment of other strange noises. He sometimes heard strange words that appeared to have meaning, for example, "Birth" and "Tree" were the more frequent words. What did they mean, he wondered.

He hated the dark encasement he was forced to live in. There was something outside of this place wasn't there? Something more, something bigger. He wanted to see it, he determined. He decided to make use of the seemingly useless limbs he had, maybe they had more of a use in the outside than the inside, he wondered. He began to thrash about inside the bulb, Out... he thought. That was the word for it wasn't it? "Out", he had heard the word from the outside before, the canine wasn't sure when but he had definitely heard of it before. He assumed that "Out" was what he wanted, "Out" was what was outside of this shell of nothingness.

He continued to thrash about, on the outside the pod rock furiously, shaking the branch along with other pods nearby. He heard a snap and something say, "Sebastian..." in a soft and motherly voice followed by a long and strange sensation of being weightless. His pod was falling out of the tree near the duo of felines that were only a few feet away of his falling. A sickening "CRACK" could be heard, but it was not the canine that was harmed, but the shell of the pod. An aperture had been created and sunlight flooded into the pup's face. he yelped in terror of the light, which harmed the newborn's eyes, and fled to a more shaded part of the pod. He waited for a few moments until he discovered that the ray of light didn't cause that painful feeling anymore. Curiosity took over, and he peeked outside.

The colorful world lay before him, a tall Kata-Hal tree stood before his pod with two strange animals not far off from it. They were strangely colored, but looked a bit similar to each other. Was he like them, he thought. The pup had no clue about his dark fur with near visible markings, his bright red eyes, and sharp joints. He wanted to go towards them, but how? He remembered the "useless" limbs that he had flailed around moments ago. He could control them a bit better now that he could see that he had paws with dark claws. He bunched his weight into his hind legs and tried to push himself off the ground in a jump. He felt himself fly up for a second and fall back down, the pod coming with him. From the outside, the pod looked humorously similar to a Jumping Bean.

He tried again, failing again. He was tired and had lost track of how many times he had jumped, losing track the first time since he knew nothing of numbers. In frustration, he gave a loud howl and a furious swipe at the aperture for teasing him of "Out's" wonders. His swipe had caused a piece of the pod to fall in and make the opening larger. He sniffed it curiously and repeated his previous action, another part of the pod had fallen in with him! He regained hope as he continued to batter what was once his cage into pieces, until he could finally climb out. He was overwhelmed with a feeling of joy when he pulled himself out with his front paws, which was replaced with frustration as his weight caused the pod to roll over and cover him once more. He gave a frustrated growl and kicked the shell with his hind leg, once again satisfied when the shell was rolled back to its original spot from the force of his kick and he was free from the cursed prison!

The canine was amazed to see the world before him, colors of green, brown, blue, yellow, and even white! What he was more interested in though, was the creatures not far from him. The limbs he had called useless, he found, were able to support his weight and carry him from place to place once he had a certain pattern in his step. He was a bit wobbly at first, unable to obtain balance, but got the hang of it for a bit and began to run towards the other creatures. He messed up though, and ended up tripping on his own paws and rolled towards the felines with a startled whimper. He laid towards the side of the felines now, "Out? Sebastian? Out?" he repeated the words he had heard of before. He wanted to know what was going on, he was certain that he was free of the pod though. Now to find out why he was in the pod in the beginning.

//ooc//that's more than 100 words right? XD My fingers are dying..

[Cobalt]

and i'll just keep on learning.
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Zumarra held the younger feline's gaze as she paused, then nodded. Perhaps she didn't have the hang of words yet? The red-eyed aboriginal hadn't had much trouble, but she was aware there was a lot of variation in podling development. She pulled her ears up straight and smiled. "Don't worry. You'll get the hang of it all soon. Everyone does." Then Zumarra bent forward and gently nudged at the grey feline's chest and front legs with her nose until she stopped wobbling. "There you are. Sitting up properly is an awful lot more...good." She gave an odd sort of grin. 

It was then that she noticed the canine stumbling in their direction. He was rather close by that time, as his dark fur made him awfully hard to see. Zumarra lifted a paw and leaned away nervously as the canine tumbled towards her - although she was older, all but the smallest of canines were larger than her. She flinched a little as he collapsed mere inches away, but quickly leaned over to sniff at him. Newly born, just as she had thought.

When the canine spoke, Zumarra couldn't help but laugh. "That your name? Sebastian?" she asked, blinking furiously to try and calm herself down.  "Well, here, you ought to sit up too. You won't get anywhere rolling on the ground like that."She gently nudged him with her paws, not up to using her nose for a creature larger than her. "I'm Zumarra and this is...?" That's right, the grey one hadn't spoken a word yet, and certainly hadn't said her name. The red-eyed feline turned her head to the blue-eyed, hoping to get some sort of response.

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word count: 277
status: I'm rolling in inspiration. Rolling in it.
notes: Oh I'm also rolling in cuteness. I love newborn threads.

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[atrb=background,http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/DarkeeMizti/Middle1_zps5b59f7cd.png] Cheshire took a step back when the older feline suddenly came up and poked her chest and legs, but soon found herself at a more stable position. She flashed a small smile of appreciation, glad that she no longer had to wobble. She tore her attention away from the tawny female, picking up the sound of something approaching. Her ears shot up, along with her fur as she noticed something large and dark begin rolling towards them. When the odd figure stopped, she was met with the sight of another pair of ruby eyes. It spoke, sounding less fluent than the older feline. The silver kit raised a brow, curious at the newcomer. It looked similar to her acquaintance, but at the same time very different. Longer snout, longer limbs, and an extremely dark coat. But strangely enough, the scent he emitted seemed similar to her own. Was it because he came from that weird tree too? From this distance, she couldn't be sure. No longer resisting, the newborn feline approached the canine. Ears pointed forwards, eyes fixed, head low, shoulders, back, and tail high, she walked cautiously towards the odd, new specimen. She stopped a small distance away, staring intently. Once close enough, she took a few quick whiffs, trying to take in enough that she could validate the stranger came from the tree as well. It seemed her assumptions were correct. She sat down near it, wanting to watch its movements up close. It didn't seem harmful anyways, and it came from the same tree as her. Surely it wouldn't be any short of friendly. She looked over, watching as the older feline laughed and followed. Sebastian? Zumarra? Was that what they were called? This thing was a 'Sebastian' while her acquaintance was a 'Zumarra'. Did that mean she was a 'Zumarra', too? She stared at the older feline's red eyes, trying to think of answer to her question. Well, she guessed she was a Zumarra. She opened her mouth to answer, her voice soft and just barely audible. She could feel an odd... tickling sensation in her nose. "Um... I'm a- CHEEEE! ...shirrr..."

[bluekat]

The puppy had rolled over and clumsily sat himself up. "CHEEEEshirrr?" Seba tilted his head, his floppy ears perked as high as they would go at the feline's speech. "Cheeeshirrr? Chesshir? Cheshire! CheshireCheshireCheshire!" The dark puppy yipped as he began to run around the two again before tripping and rolling around again. He propped himself back up on his front paws as his hind legs rested in a sitting position. His tongue hung out of his mouth in a pant as he watched the two. Sebastian saw that the kitten seemed to be okay with him, but he was unaware of the other feline being uneasy around him. He had no idea what these creatures were saying, but understood that 'Zumarra' seemed to be what the bigger whiskered thing was and the smaller one seemed to be 'Cheeeshirrr' which he had condensed to Cheshire. Sebastian didn't know what he was though, "Sebastian, Zumarra, Cheshire?" he asked, trying to question them about his own title.

The pup knew he probably should have been terrified, everything was new and different. He knew nothing of anything and the night was difficult to see much in. He wasn't though. He had two friendly creatures to befriend, the new things intrigued him, the different things sparked a feeling others knew as 'Curiosity'. He didn't know the name of the word, but he wanted to know. he wanted to know everything there is to know. He would have been asking question after question if he had known how to speak fluently like the felines.
(Sorry, I rushed a bit |D)

[Cobalt]

and i'll just keep on learning.
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At the sneeze Zumarra couldn't help but laugh a little, and as the puppy began to repeat it she began to laugh so hard that tears came to her eyes. Pulling herself together with a shake of her head, she grinned at the gray kitten. "Cheshire suits you. That'll make a fine name." It really did, somehow. Those who didn't know their names from birth always did seem to come upon just the right ones. 

"Sebastian, Zumarra, Cheshire?"

"Sounds about right," the red-eyed feline replied with a nod. Alright, the newborns knew their names and they were finding their paws...what now? Zumarra was struck with an urge to run off, out of the Orchard, and let them take care of themselves, but...no. That would be horrible. But what to do now? Maybe tell them about the Orchard? That seemed useful.

"I came from a pod just like you two. Just from a different sort of tree. Everybody does. There are felines, like me and you, Cheshire, canines, like you, Seb, and reptiles." Zumarra crinkled her nose. "Though I haven't ever seen a reptile." She shuffled her paws awkwardly. "I guess what you do now is up to you. Should we rest or explore?"

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word count: 200
status: So happy to write again.
notes: This was really hard to write for some reason. :/

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[atrb=background,http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/DarkeeMizti/Middle1_zps5b59f7cd.png] Cheshire? Cheh-shyr. Cheeehh-shyyyyrr. The kit mimicked the pronunciation a few times, putting the new word to memory. So, she was a 'Cheshire', apparently. But wasn't she a Zumarra? She stared down at her paws for a few minutes, trying to think. Maybe she was supposed to be named something else. Sebastian was a Sebastian, and Zumarra was a Zumarra. And she was a Cheshire. It seemed to make sense. A 'pattern'. Wait, what was a pattern? All these new questions were beginning to boggle the youngling's mind, and as much as she wanted to learn, it was starting to hurt. The newly named Cheshire shook her head, freeing her mind from the neverending barrage of questions. She watched as the canine ran around them, feeling just a tad dizzy. She giggled silently, amused by his antics. Her attention focused for a while longer, listening to the older feline. However, it didn't take long before she could no longer resist the rest of the area. She first took a quick glance away, taking in the flash image of the dark trees in the distance. She turned back to the older feline and listened. And then she focused on the scenery again. And then finally, she brought her attention back to the feline, no longer having the urge to focus on the area as a new topic had been reached. "Fiii-lyn. Kay-nyn. Rep... tel?" She tried to say, noting the new words as quick as she could. So, she was supposed to be a 'Feline'. What a weird word. She listened closer, wanting to learn a bit more from this experienced cat. She wanted answers. On everything, actually. What was this place? What was explore and what was rest?

[bluekat]

"I came from a pod just like you two. Just from a different sort of tree. Everybody does. There are felines, like me and you, Cheshire, canines, like you, Seb, and reptiles."
The black fluff-ball had no clue what the feline was saying. He stared at the Zumarra with confusion, what did she speak of? Pod? Was that the cursed thing that he had been stuck inside for what was his entire life so far? The pup tilted his head, his ears half-perked since they were incapable of standing straight up like the creatures before him. Sebastian gave a whine, he still didn't know who he was. Something had told him, "Sebastian" before the fall, what did that mean? What was he? Sebastian shook his black coat after standing up and spoke once more, "Zumayra? Cheseer? Sebastiion?" he pronounced the words differently this time. He wished he knew what all of the words this feline spoke of meant. What was different? Was he this "Different" she spoke of? Was it bad? Good?

The night-coated pup looked to the kitten then to the cat, desperate for an answer. He would have to study this "Speech" thing more, it was difficult to understand the Zumarra without it. He was beginning to understand some things such as "I" He assumed that "I" meant one was referring to oneself. Then again, he was assuming. He had no way of affirming that was actually what it meant since he knew no way of asking. He wished someone would understand his struggles and teach him more about speech, there was also no way he knew of voicing that as well.