Into the Light

[SeleneHime]

The first thing she was aware of was darkness. The darkness wrapped around her, from toes to tail. A tail. She swished at it without much luck, finding the confines of her shell too constricting. It was then that it occurred to her she wasn't part of the tree – she was her own being. She was Maura, and she could move. She could move, and the pod wasn't letting her. Maura pushed against the pod with her hind legs, forepaws, forehead. It didn't want to give at first, insistent on keeping her. But she couldn't help the feeling that there was something more. There was something outside of this darkness, and she wanted it.

She kicked at the pod. Once, twice, three times. More. The pod held fast, and held her tight, only to suddenly give. Something cool rushed into greet her when it cracked. Air.

The canine kicked at it again, dragging her claws down the inside all the while. When freedom came, it came with a 'whump' as she hit the ground. Maura blinked when light assaulted her, green eyes squinting shut the moment she looked up. It took several heartbeats for her to look up fully at the tree she had come from, and the light that slipped through it's ivy laden branches. It was a kata-hal tree. The name came to mind as effortlessly as her own, wherever it was from in the first place.

Maura's nose twitched as she looked around, trying to place all of the strange smells. Yet more ivy clung to the base of the great tree, and closer to where she had landed, something moved along the roots. She struggled to wobbling paws, halfway tripping over to investigate, only to have the little creature disappear. The masked dog huffed.

[Meesh]

A small purr interrupted the huff, the rumbling purr one of friendly amusement, and not scorn. A small creature padded over to Maura, smaller than her but much, much older. Tiny, with the body of a small cat and head of a dog, the creature glanced inquisitivly at Maura, nose twitching. Shadow was a mixed canine feline, the first mixed species and first child-of-others in this realm, unique in that he posessed three parents (two animals and a tree) as opposed to a usual one (just a tree). His very presense would radiate odd, but there was something else. A sort of warm kindness. Like his mother, Shadow had developed a fondness for the young ones that he had so outgrown, regarding them with a mixture of fatherlyness and delight.

"Hello, young one." Shadow padded over to the canine, nose twitching as he reached up to touch noses gently, letting out that odd rumbling noise that wasn't quite a purr, but clearly meant to be kind again. "Welcome to the world- I apologize for missing your original hatching." his gaze went past her to eye the pod that the creature had emerged from, the mixed fondly recalling memories of his own hatching, how all three of his parents had been present to his open eyes.

[SeleneHime]

Maura pricked her ears at the rumbling sound. The masked dog stopped mid-motion on her way to the ground, leaving the new hatchling in a slightly awkward crouch. It easily could've become a hunter's crouch if she corrected it, but at the moment, she was more focused on the arrival to realize or care. She twitched her nose at him after a moment, pulling her paws up underneath her before she fell flat on her face. He - it was definitely a he - smelled kind of strange. Not canine, not feline. There were dozens of other little smells on him that she couldn't identify, but she was sure she could find out sooner or later.

His gentle nose-bump earned a slight tilt of her head, before the canine's muzzle twitched in amusement. "You seem friendly. Who are you?" she asked, swishing her mottled tail with the words. The hatchling was enjoying her new found freedom, even if her nose did still smart from hitting the ground earlier. It looked like there was a lot, just in this area around her pod. "What else is there, here? Is it all forest?" The words seemed to supply themselves, even if not all of them made sense. Yet. Maybe she just hadn't been hatched long enough?

The masked dog's ears twitched again when something moved in a bush, green eyes keenly focused on whatever it was. Perhaps it was the little creature she'd seen upon hatching. Maura glanced between said bush and the canine-feline mix, curious. "What are those little furry things? I didn't get a good look at it before it disappeared."