Swiftcurrent Creek The sight of pups, the taste of pelts

@Relonikiv @Trajan @Durnehviir @Paarthurnax Any of the other pups (besides Relonikiv) can also use this as an eye-opening thread, so that there's not four threads dedicated to each pup opening his/her eyes.

This morning, not that Julius had any sense of time, was different. When he dreamed, it was a black void. When he was awake, it was a black void filled with the added senses of smell, touch, and taste. Sometime they penetrated his dreams, but only for little amounts of times. If he was awake, he knew he was awake. If he was asleep, he usually didn't know, as most of the dreams left his memory the moment he woke up. This morning, he was awake. He knew that much. But, there was also a new sense this time: sight.

It took Julius by surprise. Instead of the familiar, black void, there was a blurry canvas of color. He reacted by letting out a surprised squeak, squirming backwards as if he could escape it, and closing his eyes in shock. All of it happened in a single moment. Once he realized that the black void was back, Julius relaxed and opened his eyes, which brought the blurry colors and shapes back. Eyes closed once again in shock, and a bit more moving backwards. This continued on for a while, until all the eye closing and opening taught him how to vaguely work the muscles that made his eyes open and close. It was a bit difficult at first, but he eventually gained a little bit of control over his eyelids. Being able to make the color vanish and appear intrigued the largest pup.

Now that Julius knew he could make the scary colors go away anytime he wanted, he was a bit more eager to explore them. Although he didn't know the names of the colors yet, he still recognized that they were different. His mother was a different color than his silver brother, Trajan. Another fascinating part about colors were that they lined up with his senses. If he stuck his face in Durnehviir's fur, the mixed blob of colors would get closer until it was all that he could see.

There were also a few things besides his siblings that interested him. The floor of the den held a myriad of colors with all the soft pelts of prey littering it. How could they be so different, yet feel the same? They smelled like the whole den did, which smelled like the combined scent of all of them, as well as Bazi and the occasional visitor. Curious about the pelts, he decided to taste one. He sucked on one of them, a piece of the pelt reaching the back of his mouth.

When her mother nosed at Durnehviir's sable back, the young Frostfur stirred. She rumbled a muffled grown of protest into the downy golden pelt of her brother Relonikiv, who she'd curled close to in the night for warmth. It was breakfast time, she knew, but hunger had not yet stirred in her belly. It was sleep she desired that morning and, eager to doze again, Durnehviir snuggled closer to the littlest of her siblings.

Thankfully, the provider of food and security did not move to rouse the child again, having likely turned her attention to another of the pups. Durnehviir stole those few precious minutes of sleep before the body on her opposite side shifted away, taking his warmth and leaving an uncomfortable void.

Without even thinking about it, the youngster opened her stormy eyes completely. She blinked once, twice, three times and lifted her head to stare at the blurry spot by her flank. Movement, the shuffling of Julius as he dragged himself from his litter-mates, caused the mottled youth to turn her face towards her brother and follow his movements with big, beautiful blinking doe eyes. She simply observed, uncertain whether to follow or not.

Chewing and sucking on the pelt soon got boring. There were much more interesting things to explore, such as the spot where the colors were different than inside the den. The closer Julius got to the spot, the colder it got. Deciding the entrance of the den would be too cold to go towards, he turned around and started crawling towards the warmth of his family.

Still not used to the significance the colors held, Julius squirmed right into Durnehviir. With a surprised yelp, he backpedaled. Then curiosity took over, and he bumped into Durnehviir again. But this time, he started poking her with his nose, observing how he could touch her color.

She watched as her brother gummed and sucked at the dark furs on which they lay, and blinked her stormy eyes as she tried to better focus on him. The coloured canvas before her was strange and rather frightening, and as she looked toward the entrance of the den that Julius seemed to move toward, Durnehviir squinted against the lift. It was harsh to a cold who'd known only darkness her while life and, with a soft whimper, turned her face towards her mother.

This was a wolf she'd never seen before, and yet she felt that she knew her so vividly. Paarthurnax' face was beautiful: fine, delicate, and reminding the girl of warmth and safety. At once her fear of this new sense dissipated, and a babyish smile pulled at the corners of her mouth.

Something - or someone - very rudely bumped right into her and, with a mewl of surprise, Durnehviir canted her mottled head to look upon her attacker. The palest of her siblings was right by her side, poking at her with his cold nose. At first she was outraged, but when she locked her gaze to his pallid form, intrigue took over. With curious noises she turned enough to gaze directly into Julius' face, which was nothing like her dam's. "Ooo?" Durnehviir emitted softly, moving in closer to better examine her sibling by placing on his brow the sloppiest of kisses.

Durnehviir turned around to face him, giving Julius a better look at her face. She also made a few noises before placing a sloppy kiss on his face. Somehow, the young white pup understood this to be an affectionate sign. It probably had something to do with all the sloppy kisses, as well as tongue baths, that he had already received from Paarthurnax. Julius made a happy "Errr!" sound at the gesture, before giving Durnehviir her own sloppy kiss on her cheek.

Next, he stared at Durnehviir's face. There was the white on both sides and underside of her snout. There was a warm, light orange-brown coloring most of the top of her face. Then, there was a darker, brownish color on her snout and on her closed ears. Not to mention the tiny blue circles that gazed at him, as well as the black little nose. Most of the colors blurred together, but some of them were distinguishable upon close inspection.

Julius decided that he wanted to try touching the colors again. More specifically, he wanted to touch the black dot that seemed out of place on his sister's face. He raised an alabaster paw, and gently touched Durnehviir's nose.