Upon Three Paws

Chapter 2 ✅

Leading Up To The New

It hasn't been that long since I first woke up here. The warm fuzzy things around me turned out to be my siblings. They all have the same type of body structure as me, although our sizes differentiate. My eyes are able to open now, and the muscles in my legs have grown stronger from the milk the cold creatures give us daily. My siblings have also noticed this and are joining me in exploring our strange nest.

The cold creatures always tend to give me the creeps since they don't seem to have any fur, snout, and they smell weird. Every time they reach for me I can feel the familiar string of nerves in my stomach known as fear twist into a ball. Sometimes it's so bad that I lose my craving of milk for awhile. Whatever they are seem to have picked up on it and tend to leave me mostly alone, only coming into contact with me when necessary. I have to say though, being able to hide among my siblings from their strange paws can be fun. Keyword can.

A sneeze surprises me out of my doze. Eh, I'm not that tired anyway. Sitting up, my sharp eyesight lands on a strange surface called a mirror across from me. One of my siblings, Rain's her name, discovered while exploring that when you pass by a certain point another one of us appears. The small voice at the back of my head called it a reflection. After that discovery, we all agreed that the voice is officially apart of our instinct.

"Almond?" Streaks drowsy voice calls out in my head.

I turn my head to face my younger brother in the dimly lit corner curled up on a blanket staring at me. "Yes?"

"What are you thinking about?"

Oh, so he wants to talk.

Streak tends to get fidgety whenever there's to much quiet or not enough movement going on. The same goes for Twig. I've always been there to help them alleviate the feeling, although I don't quite understand how they feel that way. In my head I'm content with the silence and stillness of everything. They must just be more active than the rest of us.

With a quick push, my soft paws make contact with the stone cold tabletop. My retractable claws making soft clicks sound in the room. That's not the only improvement since first waking up. All of our bodies, mine included, have grown nearly twice their original size. The new height and strength allows me to jump down three times my height and land perfectly on the cold ground.

No wonder Streak brought a blanket down here. Even the air is cooler compared to up there.

Making my way over to where he lays, I cross paths with the mirror and stop for a moment to examine myself.

A soft red shade with streaks of brown smothers my fur, growing lighter on my chest. Large brown eyes nearly black in this lighting stare back at me as I look to my paws, the same effect covering them, excluding my front right one of course. It seems that my large pointed ears dominate over my other bodily facial features. I can come to agreement that the general build is meant for that of a predators, as well as for speed.

The cool air comes to the forefront of my thoughts again, reminding me that Streak is patiently waiting for me to come join his cuddle fest in the blanket. Not wanting to freeze any more, I make a mad dash for where he lays.

"Someone's cold," he jokes in a teasing tone as I cuddle into his warmer side. Despite him being younger than I am, Streak is larger than me by a fair bit. Not too noticeable since we're just starting to grow, but still bigger when you pay attention too it.