any of my sibs? whichever ones want to join? :P sorry for tha tag but
@Amneris @Ashkova @Athalia :o dating this for 2 weeks old / eyes first opening :P
the first two weeks of athamas’ life were filled with hunger, which was always swiftly satiated by the only thing he knew in this world, the milk giver. well, he supposed there were other things too. he felt them with his paws; they were often snuggled up right beside him, sometimes trying to take whichever teat he’d chosen. pretty annoying. blind from birth, he had little understanding of anything until mid-september, when he awoke one morning and his eyelids flipped up too, suddenly overwhelming him with a world of new knowledge.
life was brilliant with color, even if he had only seen the tip of the iceberg. the den was mostly an array of grey stone and black pelts, but even the slight variations of shadow and light and hue were new to him. he wondered at the grand figure that laid on the stone resting, and the smaller ones beside it, three of them. and though athamas was capable of very little, he still had so much to learn- so he crawled over to one of his siblings, sniffing dumbly at their tiny tail, and blinking often- a new habit.
To some, Athalia might have been considered an easy baby. Boring, even; the furthest thing from a crier, even when she felt pain, such as when the blunt claws of her siblings stabbed at her skin, or when she had been asleep for so long her stomach surged with hunger. Sleep, drink, sleep, drink; a continuous cycle, one spent primarily by the wayside.
And ever vivid were her dreams. Colors she could not yet identify, muffled sounds that were felt more than heard. And always, always, there were unwolven things. Birds, deer, bears, snakes; things she did not understand, shell-shocked primal eyes that stared back at her, and those eyes she could not escape from. She only knew she was awake when they vanished.
But today was different.
Today, it had been a rabbit that gnawed at her ears and held a chunk of one within its disgusting pearled maw. But when she awoke, her eyes shocked cold as she was met with not the beckoning call of nothing, but the stone floor of her den and the stormclouds that made up her siblings.
She does not blink. Rather obviously, she stares; widely, attempting to force the colors she knew in her head to come into her vision, and yet they did not. A rare vocalization from her comes in the form of a disgruntled hiccup.
And finally, she settles back down and closes her eyes again.
a hiccup came from the lump that he was sniffing around. athamas was thrown off, lurching backwards shortly in surprise at the unfamiliar noise. yes, hearing was new too.
after a moment, the lump settles and stills, so the boy scoots closer. the tail is no longer his interest, but rather the head that had lifted from the object briefly. he tries to move towards the front of his sister, but decides to halt next to her shoulders, unable to tell exactly where the neck and head are when they are lowered to the ground with the rest of the creature.
was that the part of the thing that had moved? and maybe it was a smaller version of the milk-giver, with its own supply of deliciousness? he bumped his dark snout gently against her shoulder, but there was no smell of food here, so perhaps his theory was misguided.
There is a swirl of new hues when her eyes peel open again. Black and orange, black and orange; it touches her.
A squawk of unrest comes from her chest, gurgling, before she tumbles away from whatever it was that reached for her. Don't touch me.
Blink, blink. What was that?
Her muscles long to twitch ears that remain folded to her head. Stumbling, crawling, she watches from a safe distance, this stranger. Did she know him? Yes, decidedly, as her nostrils flare and then clench shut, she did. Brother. A concept almost as foreign to her as father would be, if she only knew what that was.
She does not know the bear and yet he seems to smile at her, black and rancid, through the eyes of brother.
the thing emitted a slightly unpleasant noise that would've caused his ears to flatten to his head, if only they were fulled perked up yet. the dark object shifted away from him, and the boy withdrew too, deeming his mission unsuccessful.
her blinking blue eyes glared at him, studying him. scenting the air. athamas' snout poked forward slightly with a small stretch of his neck, trying to catch her smell again without making contact his time. sister. a word he couldn't put to the concept yet, but on some level he understood that this thing was like him. they were about the same size and color (as far as he could tell from the view of his own paws,) and they shared the same food source and sleeping space. he blinked at her, watching curiously even if she was still. perhaps they ought to get used to eachother.
Brother watches with hawk-like eyes, and the descent of unease does not seem to leave her alone.
Why is he staring? What does he want?
Who was this? Creature, this creature who she cannot seem to escape from; the others along with him who cram their lowly den like sardines. Eyes that slam open and shut, always over her back, always watching, always always always watching—
Stop staring stop staring stop staring at me!
Car alarms blare inside her ears, sirens, sirens, piercing her very core as she begins to tremble, and never do her eyes move from this brother. Head tilted birdlike, Feathersoft hackles bristled in a fine-tipped raise.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
But the longer she sits with it, this discomfort she is much too young to comprehend, this primal spiral over seeing her own face in someone else and knowing his eyes follow; the longer it festers, the more okay she becomes with its presence within her. Her eyes soften to a squint.
Brother.
she stared back equally, but even so, tension bubbled under the surface. she seemed to shudder ever-so-slightly, and the fur along her spine lifted like a frightened cat. her head tilted. her eyes narrowed. an instinctual part of athamas built into his very core attempted to make meaning of these small movements, these tiny reactions, though it caused little change in his own behavior. athamas was an observer, and so he observed. he blinked.
her eyes bore back into his own, but soon she seemed to ease into acceptance. athamas tilted his head back at her, and unintentionally hiccuped.
it was followed by a small yawn, and then his gaze drifted away from hers. as she grew comfortable with his eyes, he lost interest- waiting for a change in the stillness between them to reignite his attention, otherwise he would leave her be, for now.
Brother's cold, enthralled eyes find something else to focus on as his lips part to reveal a little tongue in a yawn. Instinctively this told her submission; acceptance, comfort in the uncomfortable.
Decidedly, so long as he did not stare at her, she was okay with this.
Athalia's gaze does not move, but she crouches low to a stalk as if she were a clumsy panther cub. Weakly and messily, she inches closer before she falls down yet again into a flop. Watching, waiting.
The scene does not change. Stillness surrounds them. Her eyes flutter to a close yet again as she brings her paws close to her chest.
A truce. A silent comfort. Brother!
her eyes remained on him. he began to realize that he could feel her gaze even when he was not looking- peripheral vision, or maybe just a sixth sense- but he knew he was being watched. his eyes flicker back to her as she crouches, stalking forward briefly before she flopped down to the ground. she'd regained his interest, though he lacked reaction.
her paws pulled to her chest as her eyes fluttered shut, and athamas gazed at her for a moment. then he imitated- flopping to the ground himself, tucking his pale paws close to his heart and closing one eye- yes, one must be left open to watch, even so. but perhaps in this stillness, sleep might reach out for him once more.