The world, as it is, is yours

Cherubic features lax with the mask of slumber, they were furrowed by a small frown as the delicate child felt the gentle caress of his mother's tongue along the curve of his shoulder. With a squeaky, indignant whine, mismatched eyes blinked blearily to wakefulness. His twin was carefully tucked up against his flank and he nibbled on the small boy's nearest ear. If they were all getting up, there was no way he would be letting his tiny twin sneak in any extra seconds of sleep. Though consciousness was still trickling forth, he began to wriggle his way from the pile of warm bodies and rise shakily to his paws. He yawned, jaws gaping to unleash another soft squeak before snapping shut with a definitive click. Oh! Big yawn! One might have even commented, upon seeing it. Shaking the last dregs of sleep from his downy coat, the youngster toddled over to his mother with a little smile on his face. As he plodded closer, she offered up some enticement to the children still working on getting up and out of the den. As if the new chance to get out of the whelping den weren't enough! They were getting gifts!

The nature of their heritage was not lost on the champagne and slate boy, who stared up at his mother with the eerie intensity of a bird of prey. Klein was what bound them together as family and made them noble, but they were all going to earn their own special words to be called from now on. Oh, how he hoped his would be the best of the bunch. The blue girl was already bigger than him, but he was more special. He and his little twin were perfect copies of each other, didn't that make them the most special? He couldn't sit still while he waited for his siblings to get their butts over here, and scooted gradually closer to his mother. The gentle sound of glowing ooze dripping slowly onto the hard packed earth from a few parts of her face had become a constant, subtle ambiance. Like when water fell in sheets from the sky and dripped from the mouth of the den, slowly trickling inwards to form small puddles near the entrance. He wondered if beneath the crystals, her other eye looked like his. And then they were all assembled, wriggling with glee as she gazed tenderly at each of them in turn and gave them meaning in one way or another. Widow, Ghoul, Macabre. And he was Viscera to his brother's Ichor. The very forces that bound them together and made them strong. Frail crown turned to gaze at the delicate boy beside him with a huge grin, ivory tipped tail beating excitedly against the ground. "Ichor." he said, and then turned his attention to their other siblings. "Macabre.." the alabaster blotched boy. "Widow." he squinted at his sister, with the trailing gold markings around her eyes slowly developing more definition as time passed. "Ghoul." a warm coated, pale boy who always clung to their mother like a second skin. He didn't talk a lot.

Just like that, their mother was rising to her paws and towering over them all. Moving slowly, her pace halting but oh so familiar. Her voice echoed through the close quarters in a gentle croon, beckoning them to follow. She was headed for the outside world, and there was no way Viscera was getting left behind. Scampering excitedly behind his mama, he was more than ready to abandon all of these losers and be the first one to breathe that fresh outside air. As soon as she was out of the tunnel, he was barreling into the foggy world beyond in a flurry of clumsy paws. The familiar nooks and crannies of the whelping den were easy to navigate by now, and he didn't trip over his long claws very often. Now, on unfamiliar terrain and too excited to watch where he put those giant feet of his, he was quick to tumble right onto his belly in the damp, cool earth. There was so much to see, even from this awkward angle. Viscera didn't bother to clamber back to his paws, and instead found himself lolling his head back just to drink it all in. Dancing blue lights all around, all but begging to be chased and tormented by eager pups. All around, the air seemed to hold its own cool toned glow, and he found himself squinting against it. His photosensitive left eye was drowning in all the new stimuli, and that portion of his vision was already beginning to blur into vague shapes. Not that the overexcited youngster noticed in the slightest, all caught up in the magic of finally being outside!

When his attention finally caught the figure of his pale mother lounging near the mouth of the den, he rolled awkwardly onto his oversized paws and toddled lazily towards her. He stopped just shy of her rest spot, tipping his head to one side with his tall ears flopping over as he did. "Mama, do you have a name too?" he asked with a concerned pinch to his brows. It didn't seem right that she didn't get a cool word to call herself besides mother or mama or the many variations that her children seemed to constantly come up with every day.

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