CAUSE YOU CAN'T GET INTO HEAVEN The arrival of the sun, and its associated illumination of the world around him, came with some unexpected side effects. At first, the sunlight streaming into the den had been entertainment. Their sleeps schedules had all been in shambles with the loss of the sun to establish a regular rhythm, which meant that the youngsters were able to roam about with little concern for what time it actually was. Now that sunrise and sunset were becoming regular occurrences again, things had changed. From the first moment he stepped out into the light, the boy's retinas began to sting. After spending his first weeks in darkness and fog, clear skies and sunshine felt like daggers to his sensitive eyes. Wincing against the brightness, a snarl pulled at his pale lips and revealed his tiny fangs.   As he blinked a few times, trying to adjust to the change of light, something felt off. The world felt.. Smaller. Or was it bigger? He couldn't quite pinpoint why everything looked just a little bit wrong, until he began to turn his head and take it in. Though he kept wandering away from the den, it was becoming increasingly obvious that he might have been smarter to stay close by. Everything on his left side was gone when he looked away. Why couldn't he see the same stuff as he had before? Only on that side. The lanky youth swung his head all the way to the left, and his right eye had no issues perceiving the trees as he wandered through the grove. The dappled shade as he passed beneath the blooming redbuds allowed his cherry red eye to take in broader shapes, stones that had a sharp contrast of shadows against the bright green grass, or the dark shadows beneath some of the underbrush. What was happening to him? Preoccupied by the alarming changes to his vision, the child failed to notice the way his shoulders and head were already uncomfortably hot. Not to mention, the bright hues of the blossoms overhead were enthralling- vastly different from the silvery shade they turned in the moonlight. He couldn't help but stop in the midst of the grove and simply stare upwards in awe. Already his little nose was beginning to go from a soft peachy shade to a raspberry red. "" IF YOU HAVEN'T GOT A SOUL

Recluse had done her best to try and keep a consistent sleep schedule with her youngest brood but with the darkness as constant as it was it had been hard to be accurate with it. She was paying for it now as her children seemed to resist going to sleep with the sun's rising, it was often hard enough to wrangle them into the den let alone keep them there when a light none of them weren't used to kept them awake. Today Viscera had slipped her grasp as she'd been trying to herd together her other children to finally get them down for the "night."

The rest of her brood had been left with Lilith, who was doing her very best to finally get the pups settled. Recluse for her part moved down the mountain from her den, the sound of Galho's wings above her the only sign of her other companion, though he was nocturnal himself he was a better guide than leaving Recluse to find her son all by herself. Still, his scent was easy enough to find and track, taking her down the mountainside and into the nook. "Viscera?" She called out softly, pretty sure the fuzzy shape she could just make out was her son.

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Art by MrRendy

CAUSE YOU CAN'T GET INTO HEAVEN A very familiar voice called out to him from somewhere just behind him, and his stomach sank. Busted. Ears and tail drooping, the youngster swung his head around to fix his onyx eye on his mother's pale form slinking through the dappled shade of the little grove. It was so strange to see her in the day, where her skin was just as pink as his, and her markings in far starker contrast. "Yes mama?" he replied, his young voice nearly singsong in its pitch. Oversized paws carried him in a lackadaisical, wobbling gait as he closed the distance between them. Maybe he could get away with sneaking out if he could distract her. "All the colours are so pretty, mama. The trees are almost the same as our noses!" he remarked with a grin, slate wreathed tail wagging gleefully. "Why does everything look weird, though? All of the stuff on the left is so fuzzy, I almost can't see it." he asked, seeking to press his small frame up against her foreleg and nuzzle into the soft fur of her chest. It was so rare that he got alone time with her, and he wanted to revel in every second of it.. while he was still on her goo side. "" IF YOU HAVEN'T GOT A SOUL

Her boy's sweet tones confirmed it was indeed the child she was looking for. Recluse gently hovered her paw over where she could tell he was, gently nudging him in towards her leg and gently laying her paw on him. He spoke and Recluse felt her fear slowly dissapate and she took a few deep breathes. She tipped her head back to glance up at the pink canopy above them. The shapes were blurred and impossible to make out but the colors were vibrant and bright, and yes even pretty.

He asked her a question and Recluse sighed, gently nudging the boy in towards the trunk of the nearest blossoming tree, out of the sun and into the shade, before she settled onto her haunches and scooped her son in towards her chest.

"Viscera, you know how you and your brother have one darker eye and one eye that matches my own?" She began softly, gently placing some kisses on his form, grooming the small boy as if to calm her own nerves.

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Art by MrRendy

CAUSE YOU CAN'T GET INTO HEAVEN His mama welcomed him into a gentle embrace with one of her pale forelimbs, pressing him closer to her larger body with a soft nudge of her paw. The weight of her paw across his shoulders was comforting and warm, he could hardly contain the warmth that bloomed in his little chest to be close to his mama. He let her prod and guide him into the shade of one of the blossoming trees, where the subtle change in temperature was a balm on his delicate flesh. As she settled onto her rump, she scooped him in close and pressed him to her chest. A soft trill of glee was all he uttered, and rested his slate marked cheek against the silken tresses of her champagne chest. She mentioned the mismatched eyes that he and his twin shared, likening the rich cherry red of her eyes to their own. He nearly ignored the question when she began to gingerly groom him, delicate caresses of her tongue over his downy fur lulling him into a trance-like state. "Yeah, why?" he asked quietly, letting those mismatched eyes flutter shut as he reveled in his mama's attention. Usually he had to share his mama, and while he didn't usually mind he did crave some special moments that were just the two of them. She was always so busy, doing her duties as the leader of the pack, and then when she came home in the early hours of the morning, she often didn't have the energy to play for hours like they wanted. It was a wondrous little treat to have this little moment with her, even if she was probably going to scold him sooner or later for sneaking off in the middle of the day. "" IF YOU HAVEN'T GOT A SOUL

Recluse would always feel a little crippled by her lack of time, she wanted to spend all of her time with her children, giving them all the individual love and attention they deserved, and yet her pack needed her too. So she savored these sweet little moments. Her son pressed into her and his sweet voice prodding further information from her. The woman lowered herself onto her stomach which made it significantly easier to hold her son and speak to him at an even level. She thought for a moment before she spoke. "Our eyes, our skin..." She started though she wasn't totally sure how to navigate what she was trying to explain to him, "It is more delicate than that of others, for reasons I am not totally sure of we were born with skin more light than others. Wolves with darker flesh than us, with darker eye colors, they are able to live under the sun more comfortably than us. Our skin does not handle light well, it's harder to see, and when under the heat of the sun for a long enough time our skin begins to blister and scab over." She gently nosed at Viscera, feeling the heat of his own flesh against her nose.

"My father was often covered in scabs because he refused to realize the gift in disguise our seeming flaw really was. Unlike others, we are more suited for darkness, a time of day fewer wolves choose to move in, and it makes us unique." Though she knew the weakness her light blindness gave her she wasn't about to worry her young son too much over it as of yet.

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Art by MrRendy