Dragoncrest Cliffs Spring tide

Set 03/26, all welcome to those allowed in the den!

While her siblings took to growing, Lucette remained small and aloof. At times she refused meals and slept instead. She scarcely acknowledged anything save @Lafayette. Even her interest in her twin was a fleeting and fickle thing.

All evidence pointed to a failure to thrive. A weaker-willed creature might have dwindled to nothing in the days to come; Lucette had other plans.

On the tenth day of her life, she opened her eyes. She took this discovery quietly, watching everything and understanding none of it. Eventually her blurry new vision settled on her twin. There it would stay, though she didn't yet know what she saw.

sat outside the den, it was easy for val to miss lucette’s first seconds of vision. when he poked his head in momentarily to check all was well, he saw a spark of baby blue that took his breath away.

a smile bloomed on his face and in his heart. adoringly, val settled down on the ground with his head resting eye-level with tiny lucette, a soft coo sounding from his lips. he wasn’t certain any of them could hear yet, but he couldn’t help coo all the same.

this is probably my only post here, because potato!

twin flames.

they were inexplicably linked—now, if not later. they were born together, breathed together, fed together—

and this moment, saw together.

for his eyes were open, too, and he blinked slowly, taking in the environs, muddled as they were through his infant vision. his gaze was drawn to her, though. who else?

a shadow loomed, blocking the light. lafayette was filled with fear of the unknown but also a relief; the figure shielded his sensitive eyes from the brightness beyond.

The second lesson: that the world reveals itself to you anew again and again, if you can only find the strength to open your eyes. Lucette found this strength not in her own tiny, failing body, but in the warmth of two hearts beating as one.

She rolled to one side with a tiny sigh, resting against Lafayette as if he were the shoreline sheltering her from a stormy sea. And when a great shadow crossed their new vision, she was not afraid. She blinked — an odd new sensation — and yawned, reaching out with tiny paws for the blurry shape of the shadow's nose. What was this?

though they were twins, the two had different reactions. val noted lafayette was the more cautious of the two, retreating as his shadow crossed over them. but lucette was brave -- bold, even -- as she spread her tiny, chubby paws towards his nose in the softest, cutest boop val ever experienced.

val stuck out his tongue abruptly, returning the favor with a generous -- and sloppy -- lick.

Last for me, thank you for the thread!

Gross! Lucette immediately recoiled with a surprised yelp that blended into a growl as she remembered to be indignant. How dare he!

Suddenly she wasn't in the mood to play anymore. Lucette turned away, effectively snubbing him, and went back to napping with Lafayette.