pup development guide says their eyes open anywhere from the 11th day mark to the 15th! :0 all welcome to anyone whose allowed in the den/parents/siblings. <3
Life had been predictable for Rian over the past eleven days of his birth and slowly he'd grown accustomed to it: to the vibrations of when his parents and visitors would speak, to the errant kicks of his siblings, to eating, sleeping and pooping his life away contently in his bubble of darkness. It was not like the world he'd known before — it was different but no longer was it horrible. Routine was easy, instinctual even, but Rian was restless. He shuffled and crawled and blindly poked his nose against whatever he could find. A small yawn left the little king as he stirred awake and stretched leisurely — more than likely jostling one or more of his siblings in the process — before another yawn left him. Sleepily and absently his mouth gaped open and closed like a fishes as he searched for a teat to sate his hunger. He found one and as he began to suckle contentedly, slowly, his eyes peeked open — a sliver of milky blue visible betwixt the rich brown eyelids. They closed as soon as they had parted, but again they opened — a little further than last time — and closed once again. Undisturbed by the discovering of his newest ability Rian kept suckling, more focused on the sweet milk filling his belly than he was anything else. It was only when he blinked again to fully open his eyes did he take note. A strangled yelp left the deaf child's muzzle in a startled cry. Mother, what is this! His cry attempted to communicate. There was ...light and blurry shapes. Not much that was definitive but enough to alert him that there was a major change. Rian's panic began to subside as he blinked rapidly; an attempt to make sense of his newest sense: as weak as it was.
Kieran was near when he heard his son yelp. He leaped into action and jumped upwards as he had been dozing near them while they all slept. He looked to the young prince and noticed that he was just learnign to open his eyes and a gentle chuckle fell betwixt his lips.
Uimh imní, mo mhac óg. Tá sé díreach do chuid súl. The language of his own father slipping from his tongue as easily as the air he breathed. He also repeated himself in English, wanting his children to be both advanced in his own home language but alos everyone around them. Not that his grasp of the language was by any means great.
Naw worries, me young current bun. 'tis jist yisser eyes.
Szabala had eventually excepted the idea of never going back to the place of her dreams. Somehow, she understood this was where she was now and she had to deal with it. Of course, she learned this after many frustrating wake-ups. The tiny gray princess was suckling on a teat when her eyelids began to slide open. Light spilled into her brain and it hurt for a moment. With a squeal of fright she squeezed them shut again. Her sides heaved as she twisted -- likely pummeling Rian who lay beside her -- to try to figure out what was going on. She had a perfect routine for her day and now it was all ruined again. Why did everything have to change?
She relaxed her face again when everything seemed to go back to normal. Maybe it was just some kind of error. Maybe it was nothing. But as her eyelids relaxed, they began to slide open again, this time wider. She cried out in confusion and shut her eyes. Her heart beat hard in her tiny chest and she whimpered for her mother or that other body that seemed to be here all the time. He seemed to take care of her too. She took a deep, shaky breath and let her eyes slide open to thin slits. Slowly but surely, the brightness began to fade and she could make out a blurry mountain in front of her. She does not know this now, but what she is seeing is her mother's belly. She turned her head and squealed in fright. There was a wiggling, squirming body about her same size next to her. She did know there were others, but it never quite registered to her that there were actually others. Szabala wiggled around so she could crane her neck and look behind her. Another cry of confusion left her maw as a large thing towered about her. Everything was blurry. Was this that other thing that always seemed to take care of her too? She raised her delicate head and bleated a cry for help. This new sensation.. feeling.. whatever it was was scary!
The den abounded with disorder, and quite suddenly. It was enough to rouse the sleeping child; she had been dreaming of the no space, twitching subtly, until her spasms became a great indignant stretch and she was urged to silence whoever was making such an abominable racket. Each sibling seemed to become aware of something new amongst them, and it was Eimear that remained in the dark - literally and figuratively - as her pair of peepers were the last to open. First one then the other cried out, kicked at her as if she were nothing but a bump on a log, and Eimear gave a chorus of squeaks and squeals—her attempt at protesting. Eimear chattered, able to enunciate as effectively as perhaps a rock might, and yammerd on with useless, shrill little cries. It was more like a chorus of humming than a real talking-to, but she didn't know what she was doing—only that being kicked hurt, and being hurt was bad.
Dublin was also confused. Why was there light? It hurt his eyes. As a quiet pup, Dublin didn't say much, only he felt the vibrations of his siblings crying out, and, he too, wanting attention as much as them, yelped once. It was different. Not dark. Light. Dublin decided he liked light. It was nice. He turned his head, looking. So that's what everything looked like. Dublin snuggled up to someone. He wanted to share his happiness at being able to see the light. He wondered if his mother could see the light. He heard a vibration from his father. One sounded different from the other. Dublin wondered if he would learn to understand the vibrations.
He could see fuzzy silhouettes of what the other babes — creatures he would eventually come to know as his siblings; though his fascination with them was quick to transfix upon the big and unclear shilouette of his father. The thing that rumbled. Sounds eluded the deaf babe for now but he could feel the tremble of what time would teach him to be their voices: of his mother and father. His father made the vibrations that Rian felt through the earth and into the marrow of his bones. He did not know what was going on but his attempted to feebly lift his head and let out a chirping wail. He could see Kieran ...sort of...but he sought the warmth he had wiggled away from, leaving behind his siblings as he scooted his way in a slow progressive army crawl towards the biggest shiloutte. Until he felt his father, whether he was real or not was something unknown to the boy who put more stock on what he could feel than he did anything else. Touch, and the feelings inside body (i.e. hunger, etc) supplying the most basic of instincts to the babe, was all that he could truly rely upon.
Kieran's ears went back to his head as a chorus of whines and yelps and other such things began. He froze his nose in the air, trying to decide what to do. He noticed Rian coming towards him, Dublin bless his heart snuggled up to his mama. The girls though they were loud and they were upset and Kieran wasn't sure what to do. He shifted so he could touch the ground better and he tried to speak in soothing tones.
'ush, 'ush laddies. 'tis gran', 'ush. daddy's 'ere. 'ush.
He tried to find Kaskara's face in the dark, hoping she could help him a little bit, he was out of his element.
Szabala could feel the faint rumblings of her siblings sounding all around her. The large figure in front of her bent down until it looked like a towering lump in front of her. Suddenly, deep rumblings came from it's direction and she paused in her whining. Something about the rumbles that made no sense to her was soothing. She lowered her tiny head to the ground, listening silently, contently. Soon, it was gone and she peeped her frustration. She began to wiggle her way towards this large fuzzy lump in front of her. She noticed another, smaller lump was already making it's way there (Rian) and that gave her encouragment. She continued to meep and peep as she crawled towards her father, her tiny legs trembling with the effort. She didn't like how much effort she had to put into things lately. She closed her eyes, relying on her most trusted ally. Touch. She moved forward until she felt the softness of Kieran's fur against her head and she opened her eyes once more. Light spilled in, but she didn't flinch this time. She was slowly getting accustomed to it, but it was still new and strange. New and strange. Everything was always new and strange!
One by one the change came upon them. As each child expressed their own very personal reaction to the opening of their eyes, Eimear remained as she was. She could hear the soothing deep sounds of their father, not knowing it was he who spoke of course, but this did little in satisfying the girl's sense of turmoil. Everyone was loud, and busy, and all she desired was sleep! With a hearty wail fresh to her lips, Eimear cried and demanded, in her own raucous way, for peace and calm.