Hushed Willows someone (holy) insisted

Mindless to his mother's distress over his brother's fate and the looming figure nearby, Tambourine drifted. He dreamed in vivid colors, several of them which he would never see or remember once his eyes opened and limited him to earth's light spectrum. His stubby legs twitched slightly as he slept, whip-like tail stirring to thump a few times, stilling, then wriggling again. He hiccuped around the paw in his mouth, his whole body twitching, then sighed in evident satisfaction.

The instant a warm tongue touched his face, his dreams tumbled into the ether and he surfaced from sleep. There wasn't much difference for him, of course. His damp foot fell away as Tambourine's toothless jaws parted in a wide yawn. He could not only smell but taste his ilk's blood. He smacked his little lips, thoroughly enjoying the flavor, then pushed his wrinkled face against his mother's soft withers again. He rubbed it back and forth for a moment before drawing back, electric socket hair sticking up in damp little tufts.

Sated and content for it, little Tambourine loosed a single, quiet peep and curled his tiny spine against his mother's warmth. He jammed his paw back into his blunt mouth and unwittingly drifted in and out of sleep as Tavi's tongue tried to tame his shock-spiky locks somewhat. But the new mother would quickly learn that the little boy's charmingly disheveled look was here to stay.