▸ DISSENT, open

[hemlock]

Warmth – it came in a cascade, flowing against the pod’s surface and blossoming beneath its seams. To the core, to the heart – it delved, and penetrated. It glossed over the creatures flesh, and like fingers coaxed life as it tread beneath the undercoat, kissing his pale, rosy-lips, and the leather of his nose. The pod soon began to rock. A haphazard sway, a clumsy stagger of back and forth. The pod itself was rigid and generally unyielding to the weight of the imprisoned feline. But, with great effort came reward: give. He felt it and with the resolute exuberance of youth, his weight gathered measure once more and pushed. With a splintering crack, warmth and light, and a breeze slipped through the pod’s gaping wound. He shifted within his prison, his face pressed against the gash, tasting the world for his very first time. And greed soon fled into his heart, and rapaciously, the boy forced his way forward. With another vocal fracture of the pod, the boy rocked free and soon found him splayed to the sun – the body strewn against the foliage, and the electric blue of his eyes pointed heavenwards. They grew wide, his eyes. His brows, animate, drifted upwards in a rather inquisitive expression. His ears, they pushed forward, the velvet swiftly navigating to gather and calculate the noises of the early morning. It was overwhelming, and gathering himself, he managed to find footing and stood.

[Ruby]

In the past few hours, Rose had discovered her longing for adventure. The fact that she had only an inkling of what happened outside her nursery, the Orchard, did not deter her. If only she could get out of this place. The Orchard was beautiful, but she had no intention of staying here forever. It seemed she had been going in circles , but there was no way to tell. Originally, her plan was to recognize where she was by seeing the smashed remnants of her pod lying on the ground, but that hadn't really worked. Rose had been so intent on learning as much as possible about the world when she emerged from her pod that she hadn't looked at it enough to recognize it. Second, smashed pods old and new littered the ground everywhere she looked. As she walked past what seemed to be the same place for the thousandth time, she saw a pod shudder. Startled, Rose jumped back a couple feet, stumbling on her unsteady paws as she landed. She quickly picked herself up off the ground and stared with undisguised fascination at the pod. She watched as the pod twisted and then a giant gash appeared at the bottom. From the gash a black nose poked through. Then, finally, with a loud crack, the pod fell apart and Rose saw a speckled cream-colored feline lay against the grass and flowers and then stand up. As she saw it take in the world for the first time, she stepped forward quietly. "Hello!"