Iyurri yawned, sprawling comfortably out on her side and drifting in and out of full consciousness. The Selta was fully reveling in the fact that she didn't have to do anything, and hadn't for the past couple of weeks, the guilt not quite caught up to her yet in favor of the warm glow of motherhood. Her kittens were such adorable bundles of fluff, all playful energy and bumbling paws scampering... all... over...
Sitting up with a start, Iyurri stared about at the nesting chamber, trying to spot her kittens, seeing nothing. With a growled curse she scrambled to the door, ears pressed back to her skull and eyes narrowed, intent on giving whoever was guarding the chamber the talking to of a lifetime. If something had happened to her babies...
The poor unfortunate on guard was her mate, Laynaer, but even that didn't stop her from gathering herself to let loose a snarl to cow even an adult Myrsilkain, only to have it die in her throat. Poor Laynaer looked... distressed.
In fact, he looked a bit more than distressed. He looked put upon, angered, and... tied up?
She couldn't help it, the snarl turned into laughter as her mate turned his amber eyes on her in a pleading look. Strings and ribbons and cords - all of which she recognized as toys her kittens had been playing with earlier - were wound around him until it was hard to see his dappled fur. His beautiful silver mane was twined with gaudily dyed feathers, and a hollow ball had been stuck over the tip of each horn. In short, it looked like he'd picked a fight with a craft shop... and lost.
Iyurri! Laynaer huffed, What the hell have you been teaching those hoolians?! They said they wanted to see the world on their own, and so took off after doing this to me!
Wryly grateful that laughing didn't get too much in the way of telepathy, Iyurri went to her mate and began cutting him free, And you let them?
They said they wanted to play, Laynaer groused as he carefully stretched each limb as Iyurri freed it, So I agreed to play with them. See what being nice gets me?
Maybe, Iyurri commented as she paused to nuzzle him, You should try to be a little less gullible, love. Let's go look for the little hoolians, then.
With a grunt, Laynaer rose and flexed his stiff limbs, Lead on. They're your kids, after all.
Yours as well, silly!
He huffed, Oh no, I'm not related to those devils in kitten guise.
To which the only viable answer was another burst of laughter from Iyurri as the two set off, tailing their errant children.
Duo had found himself the center of attention for some... extremely large number of kittens. He wasn't sure how many, as they kept dancing and prancing around and making it impossible to count them.
Having actually been from Akelara, this smacked of kittenish deviousness -- well over half the kittens (well, he thought it was well over half... those he could count at least) still had their baby fluff, eyes ice blue with only the faintest of color creeping in at the edges.
These kittens weren't supposed to be out and about yet.
Of course, he had other things to think about. Like the tenacious kitten chewing on the tip of his tail no matter what he did, and the three prancing over his back, and the numerous sinuous -- well, they were trying to be at least! It wasn't their fault if their little baby legs weren't quite up to the task at the moment! -- bodies winding around his limbs. All of which made it difficult (read: Impossible) to move without tripping.
And just as suddenly, they were gone. Except for the little terror gnawing on his tail with sharp baby teeth.
Damn! Missed them again!
The reason for the mass exodus of kittens became clear, as two adults came loping up.
I appologize, Iyurri muttered, as she went to help Duo remove the tail-gnawer, My last litters were never this difficult...
The tail-gnawer, though, didn't particularly feel like giving up, latching his little needle sharp baby claws into Duo's tail as firmly as possible. Nu-uh!! came his high baby voice, Momma! Not go nest-back! Go with pretty silver pretty! I Misar!
Have you even asked, little one? came Laynaer's voice, a sigh of resignation behind the words.
Duo laughed, Don't worry about it. I'm sure we'll have fun back home, eh little one?
Uh-hu! Go with pretty silver pretty!
Still laughing, Duo brought his tail around in front of his face, Misar dangling upside down from it, then swished it gently from side to side. In response, Misar squealed in glee, perfectly content to be swished through the air.
Well... if he's made his choice... we'll be on our way then, Iyurri spoke, There are still more running loose yet. I'd prefer to catch them before more people are pressed into taking kittens home...
Next in the slowly growing list of poor fools to be pounced by a horde of kittens was the elf Fire Work. He had been simply wandering around, minding his own business and exploring the Clan (and looking for the Loekairii that were rumored to have originated from this area, or at least the half-hathian tricksters that were known to be in the area, but that was a story for another time).
Well, until somewhere in the neighborhood of two or three large cat-sized objects collided with him and proceeded to have a rough-and-tumble play fight on top of him.
Saw him first! came one shrill voice.
Nu-uh! Mine! responded another, backed by a kitten-pitched growl.
Miiiiinneeee! Mineminemineminemine! Whichever kitten owned that voice was currently bouncing around and batting at his hair, clothing, and whatever other strange 'accessory' the poor elf was wearing. Two-legs wore such weird stuff!
The first two kittens finally rolled off of him in the midst of their battle, letting him stand and take a look at the three.
No fair! squeaked the third kitten, her blue-slowly-fading-to-violet eyes looking up at Fire Work in annoyance, Savilvi wanna play more! Play? Pppwweeaasseee?
Before he could consider whether he really wanted to respond or not, Savilvi suddenly grabbed one of his hands gently in her mouth and started trying to drag him off, Come, come! Play! Playing fun!
By the time Iyurri and Laynaer finally showed up, Fire Work had been "dragged" off, and the two remaining kittens, still fighting, only barely managed to bolt before their parents could grab them.
It was already a long day, and it was steadily getting longer...
Zefefei found himself bowled head over tail by a shrieking kitten trying to play with his feathers.
Feather-ball! Feather-fluff-ball! giggled the kitten as she whacked at anything - his feathers, his ear tufts, his tail tuft... ooohhh, his tail tuft!
With a yip, Zefefei flicked his tail out of reach of those needle sharp claws, regretting the motion moments later when the kitten, squealing with joy that she'd found a playmate, promptly pounced on it and bit the fur... or at least tried to. She got the tip of his tail in her mouthful as well, giggling loudly as Zefefei yipped again.
Feather-fluff make cute sounds! Make more! Moremore!
Hah! Zefefei chirped as he turned the tables on the pale kitten, pouncing her and bowling both of them over yet again, Chew on my tail, I chew on yours!
Nonononono! Badbad! Badbad feather-fluff-ball! shrieked the kitten as she grappled with Zefefei, her kitten-clumsiness getting in the way as paws and tail didn't go quite where she wanted them to go. But even having her tail in Zefefei's mouth didn't deter the kitten.
What's your name? I'm Zefefei. Zefefei asked as they continued to tumble about the floor, playing a game that only children, or those who are like children, play.
She skidded to a halt, watching as Zefefei ran past her, then pounced on top of him when he stopped and turned to go after her again, Eni! EniEniEni! Feather-fluff-ball has odd name! Zefffff.. zefffeff... Zeffy! Let's go! No want nest-room! Want funfun! Zeffy bring funfun?
The Terigon laughed, Funfun? Sounds good! Lead on, oh fearless leader!
Giggling, Eni bolted off in a random direction, Zefefei following closely behind her.
KTFE had been watching the chaos for some time, amusement writ large on her face. The bouncing, bumbling, overly playful kittens were a joy to watch, and the show was made even better by the - large by now - contigent of adults trying to corral the babies.
It seemed as if the kittens were intent on doing things their way, never mind what their parents said, and if that meant going out on their own to find sponsors or bonds then so be it. Besides, the lure of the unknown was like a toy just beyond their reach, ever tempting them onwards.
Before she could make up her mind which steadily dividing batch of kittens to prance after, KTFE found herself the focus of two of the little hellions.
Her only warning was a quiet giggle behind her, the soft padding of paws, and a prickling sensation on the back of her neck two seconds before she was pounced from behind by both of them at once.
Gotcha! exclaimed a masculine mindvoice.
Brightfur! squeaked the second, a more feminine voice, as a paw patted at KTFE's hair. Brightfur prettyfur!
Laughing, she squirmed around and batted at a tail that was showing hints of red, "Got me indeed! Let me uuuuppp?"
The reddish kitten stuck his nose right in KTFE's face and promptly swiped a sandpaper tongue over the immortal's nose and right up between her eyes, Nu-uh! We won!
Won! confirmed the female kitten.
"And what have you won, hmmm?" KTFE questioned as she poked at the male's chest, a grin spreading at the sudden realization that he was ticklish of all things!
Gogo with brightfur! Leave so momma and dadda can't say 'nest! get!' Nest boring! Brightfur fun! chirruped the female.
KTFE grinned even wider, if that was possible, at the thought of bringing not one, but two of the little hellions home. What chaos and fun she'd be able to have! "What are your names? I'm KTFE."
The male swiped his tongue over KTFE's skin again, an attempt at payback for starting to tickle him, Kaaayy.. Kaayy-teeee..effff.. Kayteee! Kayteee mean! No like funny finger wriggle! Badbad muchmuch!
The female giggled, Isaina! Isaina me!
Teviad! the male finally responded. We gogo soon! Momma and dadda come!
Yes! Gogo! Want to see where brightfur live!
KTFE smirked as she shoved the two off of her and finally rose to her feet, "Alright then, off to see the wizard?"
Wizzzzaarrdd.. whatis? was the only response she recieved before the two pranced around her and darted off, obviously looking for her to follow.
Shaking her head in amusement, she did just that.
Azielth grumbled darkly as she stalked after Kuraren. Why the egotistical male had decided to travel here, she wasn't sure, but it seemed as if something... interesting... was going on.
Or at least that was the only conclusion she could come to, as another mob of adults scampered past in pursuit of what looked to be a ball of fuzz with wings.
That's the third group we've seen already. Azielth muttered, eyeing the retreating backs of the strange group, What happened, a bunch of kids decided to play hide from the parents? She blinked, suddenly noticing her bond's new growth of.... fur? Kuraren, what the...
Shhh! came a tiny voice, Cigil's hidin from momma!
Why... the hell... are small fuzzy things attracted to me?! Kuraren whined as Liqua chirruped a question at the kitten curled up between her owner's wings. Kuraren had been trying to ignore the ball of fuzz that had scampered up his leg and between his shoulders -- especially after Cigil had whispered to him the entire story - in kittenspeak - of what was going on.
Maybe because you're so cute and cuddly yourself? Azielth snapped back.
You know what? For that, we're keeping it.
Cigil go new home? Cigil like! the bay kitten squeeked as he uncurled and bounced on top of Kuraren's back, Cigil like muchmuch!