The beat of black wings

[Midnight Butterfly]

I glimpsed a bat with butterfly wings....

They fluttered around her head, their shadow hued wings matching the color of her pelt. The sun did not reflect of them, but to her, they seemed perfectly real. They danced in the wind around her, seemingly fragile insects; yet they held so much wisdom and secrets in their tiny slim bodies. The two amber hued orbs watched them play, landing on flowers, then flying up again.

Oh what marvelous things....

Suddenly, one of the black hued secrets stopped its' play, beat its' paper thin wings and landed on her velevet nose. They stared at each other, even as the rest of the secrets begain to fly away. With one final farewell blink, Midnightbutterfly lifted her nose to the sky. The secret tickled her whiskers with its' wings before soaring after its' friends. The soon to be mother watched them leave, a faint smile on her maw.

Ah.... Ah...

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[Lucky]

Sunray looked happily at Midnightbutterfly. The sight made him laugh. Then he looked sadly down at his paws. His neck itched from his red collar and he longed to find his son Giddykit.

[Midnight Butterfly]

Ooc: Only Midnight can see the black butterflies ;3 Just to let you know, I shall reply to this when I get home from school today ^^

And now I just noticed your on two boards at once with this character D; Rules be rules, Giddy.

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[Lucky]

ooc: I know the rules . I'm was trying to shut down the other board, nm. I'll leave this one.

[rayheart]

ooc>> I'll RP witcha, Midnight. *wink*

It had been another uneventful day. More wandering. More hunting. Even more wandering. He was completely aimless in his travels, simply seeking one of his kin. Autumnsky... He thought placidly, hope swelling in his chest. Oh, how he wished to be with his sister. The white tom skidded around a wide bushel of thick grasses, dark grey eyes focused on the ground beneath his bleached paws. Not a sign of another... Just the way he was used to.

With a sigh, he began to murmur to himself, saying things like 'this'll be through soon' and 'wonder what she's up to right now'. He often spoke with himself; it sort of comforted him. His smooth, chocolate tone was calming and peaceful, quite low and mellow. Suddenly and ear flicked up and a pink nose scented something. Someone.

Ducking low, auds flattened backwards, the tom crept forward. Through the grass, he spotted a dark fem, amber eyes following some unseen thing. Her eyes focused on nothing and followed it around, looking like she was dizzy from the swirling motion she was making. He let his head fall into a curious cocked position, dark steel eyes wondering and full of intrigue.

[Midnight Butterfly]

She still watched the black specks in the distance, not aware of the tom not far from her, she smiled. What beautiful things, the secrets, so fragile looking, but can destory with a single breath. When at last they were out of sight, she turned back, and lowered her head to clean her belly, but her amber gaze still watched her area as she did her best to keep those unborn kits safe. Briefly, she thought of names... But none jumped out at her. Midnight was also smart enough not to name her kits before they were born, she didn't even know how many she held within her. Oh well, the time would come soon enough.

Finshed her cleaning, she stretched acwardly with a swollen belly, before laying down slowly and rolling onto her side, stirring up dust which promply stuck to her fur. The black feline closed her eyes, content, but was still aware of everything around her. The sun warmed her pelt pleasently, making it shimmer and dance, like the butterflies.

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[rayheart]

When the fem stretched out and rolled around, ti became quite apparent she was with kit. Her swollen belly had not been as noticible before, but now Moonear could not keep his eyes off it. He was ever so curious as to the father, what they looked like, how many there were, and what their names would be. For some reason, these kinds of things really interested the abstract tom, making him more quaint that he already was. Steely grey eyes continued to watch the dark queen, honestly curious and considering showing himself.

Reluctant to reveal himself, being the shy one he was, Moonear simply stayed where he was, bleached pelt hidden behind the earthy tones of the grasses. He knew he was not very well camoflauged, and soon she would notice him.

[Midnight Butterfly]

She flicked an ebony ear and opened a amber eye, peering at the white figure. She had known he was there since she lay down, and gave him a change to reveal himself, but he did not, so it was time to show she knew of his presense.

Midnight hardly spoke, only when needed or spoken to, therefore she just smiled at him in a gentle and kinda fashion. She didn't want to get up and greet him, the sun was just too nice and warm, so instead she flicked her tail in a motion to come, and both of her ears pricked forward, ready to listen.

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[rayheart]

Moonear realized, a little too late, that the black fem had already seen him. He simled sheepishly back at her, slowly rising to his paws. With a twitch of his whiskers, the quiet white tom padded unrushed to the sunbathing queen. He knew better than to get to close, his paranoia telling he she might attack him. He tried to push down that thought, knowing it wasn't true. Still, the tom gave her a wide berth, allowing some personal space for the both of them. He plopped down with silent thump.

He paused, knowing words should be said. Heh, but he'd never really talked to anyone since that dark day, making any kind of conversation akward and forced. His dark eyes searched to ground as if looking for the right thing to say.

"...H-hello... t-to you..." He whispered, lowering his head because he knew he'd said something stupid.

[Midnight Butterfly]

She blinked slowly, drinking in his words like precious water from a near dry stream. It was fine he would not come close, she could still enjoy his company from there, he probably had a reason to not be near anyway, but that were his thoughts, not hers. The amber hued orbs became half closed again, enjoying the sun, and the ebony feline gave her tail a relaxed and welcoming flick, asking him to join her in the warmth. Though she'd rather listen than speak, she wasn't going to force him to talk.

She half felt her kits moving, and purred at the thought she would soon let them taste the delicious air that is life.

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[rayheart]

He paused, head halfway on its journey to bowing in embarassment. He... Hadn't said something wrong? His steely eyes watched her with a dream-like fascination as she flicked her tail in a welcoming fashion. He then noticed that he remained in the shadows, strange that she was in the sun. A white cat in the darkness, a black cat in the light.

A misty smile hovered over his mouth, musing over that idea. His smile was also for her invitation to sunbathe with her. It was strange, this feeling. What was it? He could not place it, for he never really had emotions. True, he felt mad if a mouse got away, or sad if he got rained on, but he didn't really have emotions... He'd never known what a friend was like, nor what an enemy resembled. Relationships that never existed with him. So this feeling? It was impossible to place.

Shaking this antisocial memory away from him with vigor, Moonear nervously rose and took a step closer. His heart raced. What if he invaded her personal space? Or if he didn't come close enough? Would he offend her? Would she hate him? God, I'm messed up. He thought. His panick was not help by her nonchalant demeanor, calm and uninterested there like she was untouchable. Just do something stupid!

Throwing caution to the winds, only wanting to make a good impression, the Rogue tom padded daintily towards the dark fem. His strides were stil rather hesitant, but came faster, trying to appear as detached as his companion. His deep set, dark eyes focused on this queen, trying to imitate her calmness. He stepped beneath the ray of sun, feeling the warmness of it instantly. His muscles relaxed under the heat, like jumping into a patch of catnip. He took advantage of this and forced all of his nervous ideas and just went with it.

He circled around her, trying to find enough space within the patch of sun for him. He curled his back against hers, head at opposite ends so he could see her face. The sun glinted in his face and he had to blink for a moment as it dazzled him. Then he saw clearly and looked to her face again, dreamily looking back at him in the haze of the light.

[Midnight Butterfly]

She watched him circle her black form, before settling with his back to her own. She watched him, eyes like pools of pure amber, then looked past him, the black butterflies were returning. They only held her focus for a short while, and the black feline returned her gaze to the white fur, brushing her large fanned out tail across the ground.

Midnight shifted her weight as she felt a sharp pain, soon... Soon...

Ah, it was needed now, her voice, the caged sound heard so rarely. A sound so beautiful, so free only when brought forth, like a bird flying for the first time. Her eyes narrowed, but yet still held a kind, yet distanced look.

"Can you keep a secret?"

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[rayheart]

Dark eyes widening, Moon reveled in her trust in him. This was amazing, this feeling. It only grew as he knew that she trusted him enought to tell some sort of secret. He let the first natural thing ever happen to him-- a smile-- come across his face. It was a pure, genuine smile, even though it was crooked. He noticed, almost absentmindedly, that she had glanced over his shoulder, looking into the nothingness again, as he had caught her before.

"O-- of course." He nodded solemnly even with the smile on his face. "Secrets are s-safe with me."

The nerves had worn off by now. Why was he still stuttering? It seemed that this little habit was chronic. He must have never noticed when wandering-- he didn't talk that much when doing so.

[Midnight Butterfly]

"The butterflies are coming."

She gazed at him, knowing he wouldn't know what they were, but continued anyway. Those secrets were coming back, so there was a new secret to be joining them... Was he to tell or something, or...

"But so are they."

Ah, the kits were coming indeed. The black flurry of wings were coming to see this event.... Or maybe there was something else to it? She dipped her head sadly, she was putting this poor cat on the spot.

"I am sorry, forgive me."

And with those words, she was silent, except for the gentle sploosh of her water breaking.

|Ooc: Heee... I'm so mean XD Sorry Ray!|

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[rayheart]

ooc>> D8 OMGTHEKITSAREBEINGBORN. o.O Yesh, you are being mean. Poor, poor Moonear. He's already scarred for life! Now this. XP

Sploosh. Good God in Heaven, what was that?

Moonear didn't have time to wonder about what the 'butterflies' meant. This she-cat was going to have kits on him! He leapt up rigidly, the fur on his tail puffing up from being scared. His dark eyes went wide with... well, shock. How would you feel if someone were unexpectedly giving birth in front of you?

"Oh, oh, uhhh..." Moon stuttered more than usually, not even getting actual words out.

He danced on the spot, looking on in panic. A whine came to his throat; not a whine of being scared or panicked, though. He was afraid for his friend. He knew nothing of kit-giving. A lot of queens died during this process. He didn't want that. Not at all.[/color]

[Midnight Butterfly]

|Ooc: XD It's his fault he sat down behind her! x3 Hehe, sorry, it was just too tempting!|

The female lay down her head for a minute, and closed her eyes. No, she wasn't in pain, she could hardly feel it, she was just like that, Midnight was just thinking about how sorry she was for doing that to the poor tom. But now she rised her eyes and grabed the first kit, ripping open the sac and promply eatting it, then chewing off the cord and licking the small rust colored kit to life. When the little male shuttered to life, inhaling the life giving air, the butterflies were swarming... Around Moonear... Trying to land on him, while few were landing on the queen.

Now a second kit, and as Midnight repeated the process on the tiny white she-kit, which she was confused about the pelt color, but quickly turned her thoughts to the secrets. Why were they trying to land on the tom? He couldn't see them, much less knew what they were... Unless..

No time to ponder, a third kit was here. Midnight's pointed fangs devoured the sac, and knawed the cord, but she slowly licked the black and white kit, her amber eyes sad, yet understanding. It's tiny heart would never beat, it would never see the world, but it was to come, nothing could be done. She cuddled it as she two other kits snuggled up to her belly to suckle.

Suddenly, the butterflies begain to flutter around the small kit, asking Midnight to release it. She watched, amber eyes wide with wonder, as the black insects gathered on her little kit, then begain to pull upward, thought the budy remained, they took something out of her very soul. A tiny butterfly, black and white, like her, paper-thin wings wet as if just coming out of the cuccoon, but they quickly dried, those magical things, and beat to the sound of Midnight's heart. The black queen smiled as the secrets released her, and begain their play, but the young kit remained near her mother, then landed on her velvet nose.

"I will keep your secret, my love"

|Ooc: I hope I did ok with the kitting xD|

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[Featherstar]

<sub>Fear.

Fear, laughter, and hatred.

That was all the silver she-cat had ever known. Fear of what her tormentors would do to her next. Their laughter as they abused her. And the hatred that they showed as they laughed.

Saffron was crouched in the bushes, hiding from the cats in the clearing. She feared all cats. But especially toms. And that was what she saw in front of her. A tom. Watching the black she-cat give birth.

Suddenly her mind went back to when she was young. The group of toms. Then, once again, she looked up at the white cat looking over the birthing fae. His pelt was exactly that color of the tom who'd led the group. The tom who'd killed her mother. The tom who enjoyed her abuse the most.

Bloodfire.

In her temporary madness of memories she shot out from her hiding place. She bolted towards the tom who, in her mind, was Bloodfire, waiting to abuse this she-cat and her kits like he'd abused her. She rammed into his side as hard as she possibly could and scratched at his face with her claws.

Then, as soon as it had started, her sudden madness ended. she realized that the cat she was attacking wasn't Bloodfire, just a tom, for all she knew, the she-cat's mate.

What have I done? she cried. She then dashed off back into the shrubs, hoping that they wouldn't come and find her.</sub>


//So, what do ya think of Saffron?

[rayheart]

ooc>> GAH! The horror! Actually, he's quite the character. Neato little flashback-thingy there. ^^

In the momentary calm of the black she-cat giving birth, Moon watched on with distilled interest. It was almost... magical. The idea that life could be given, right in front of him, was entrancing. He watched on with this sort of hypnotized state, feeling happy for each kit that came, and then sorrow for the one which life could not be provided. Suddenly, he saw a smudge of something... It looked like a shadow, but it fluttered around his vision. He stared at it, blinking. Was it really there?

The another came and another. They congregated around the still-born, pulling from it another figure. This one was crystal clear... That of a black and white butterfly...

The Love...

He knew that's what it was called. Then the dark smudges, they also grew clearer. They were butterflies as well. He realized they were all over him, but he did not jump at their touch...

The Secrets...

Again, he just knew that to be their name. But as he watched these newly formed phantoms, Moonear did not notice another cat in their prescence. It was a she-cat as well, blinded by madness and fueled by a hated memory. She came at him and barrelled into him, sending the butterflies up in a shower of shadows. Having never done anything harmful to another, Moon did not retaliate as she sliced away at his face. He did not cry out, for the secrets were with him. They comforted him like the family that was never there for him. And that she-cat. She was here as well. No, he did not cry out.

Then she stopped, like she suddenly saw what she was doing. The queen disappeared as quickly as she appeared. Moon lay there on his side, bleeding profusely from the rips on his face. There were great slashes on his forehead, criscrossing in an ornate pattern. Still more adorned his nose and ears. His fur was scarlet. Through the blood, he opened his dark eyes and looked to Midnightbutterfly.

"I see the secrets and the love they bring." He murmured.

This sounded like nothing to a passing cat, but it was sure to strike a deeper meaning to the fem. He felt weak. The blood was flowing...

[Midnight Butterfly]

The black queen watched as the new she-cat burst out out the bushes in mad rage. She would have done something, maybe, if she hadn't seen the reflection of pain and suffering, memories flooding the poor females' mind. She had a reason to attack, but it was not Midnight's to know. When the other fled, the ebony feline heard the tom's words, and inhaled sharply. With quick thinking, she pondered about this, and guessed it was the display the secrets had done with her dead kit.

Midnight casted a look to her newborn kits, then the butterflies, a wordless message passing between them.

Keep them safe and warm.

Slowly, she got up, and padded over to her broken friend, and crouched by his side. A pink tongue passed over his wounds, cleaning them. Her amber eyes were closed with concentration, and she murmured to him between licks.

"Then let the love heal you. All you have to do is ask."

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[Shapeshifter]

“I was a highwayman. Along the coach roads I did ride
With sword and pistol by my side
Many a young maid lost her baubles to my trade
Many a soldier shed his lifeblood on my blade
The bastards hung me in the spring of twenty-five
But I am still alive.”

What. Was. Th~at? A rather rich baritone rippled sedately through that air – picking through the words that flowed from his maw almost…elegantly.

Not fitting that cat who was singing them – he certainly wasn’t the most ‘graceful’ creature that ran under the looming sky above.

“I was a sailor. I was born upon the tide
And with the sea I did abide.
I sailed a schooner round the Horn to Mexico
I went aloft and furled the mainsail in a blow
And when the yards broke off they said that I got killed
But I am living still."

His spotted pelt flowed easily as the wanderer padded along. His tail waved in the air above him – he was generally a jolly sort of cat, to say the least.

“I was a dam builder across the river deep and wide
Where steel and water did collide
A place called Boulder on the wild Colorado
I slipped and fell into the wet concrete below
They buried me in that great tomb that knows no sound
But I am still around...I'll always be around…and around and around and
around and around…”

Wanderer. Desperado. Vagabond. Rogue. Renegade. Wild Spirit. Drifter. Highwayman…

All were names that had been used to describe Shapeshifter through the years. The feral tom certainly was all those, but still more…he had not been broken by harsh life and hard times.

“I fly a starship across the Universe divide
And when I reach the other side
I'll find a place to rest my spirit if I can
Perhaps I may become a highwayman again
Or I may simply be a single drop of rain
But I will remain
And I'll be back again, and again and again and again and again…”

His voice abruptly faltered, as he was nearly mowed down by a terrified looking she-cat. Deep hues blinked in confusion, looking to where the she-cat had run off to, and then, scenting other cats, and *le gasp* newborn kits, close by, he shrugged, muscles rippling under spotted fur, and then headed towards the stronger of the two scents.

Blood. Hues took in the scene, the wounded white tom, the dark she-cat cleansing his wounds.

“Hey there! Did either of ya’ see that she-cat go racing out of here like the Dogs of Hell were chasing her? Man, she nearly ran me down.”

Laughter. Long tail waved, and Shapeshifter took a step closer, wary of being driven away. After all, the black she-cat had very young kits, and this may be her mate. They could easily change the kind young tom off.