- I want some kittens!
Artist: Archaeopteryx
Username + ID: crexmii + 1056107
Last accepted form: feb 2 2024
Cat 1: ALIFERA (again this month :sob)
Permission: mine >:)
Last bred: feb 2 2024
Cat 1: sirius
Permission: mine !!
Last bred: never bred
Appearance or genetics based?: genetics
Would you like apprentice references for your litter?: artist choice
Items using: my bof!
Allow for random NR edits?: yessiree
Roll for chance at random myth edit?: YEEHAW
If this litter has more than one user involved, will you be splitting the litter?: nope
the tom’s footsteps were loud as the padded through the deep snow. a tiny pair of azure eyes stared around in alarm and curiosity. the blue tabby had picked the young kit up by the scruff and had been carrying him since then. he didn’t know how long it had been.
just a few hours ago, he was so cold. the kit was lonely and desperate for food. and now, he was moving. to where, he didn’t know. but he was certainly being carried somewhere.
the winterscape in front of them was cruel, and snow stretched out for perhaps infinite miles. pelted by snow, the two seemed to struggle in the snow. yet the cat carrying him never seemed to stop. in fact, he looked like the cold didn’t even affect him.
his stomach grumbled. he yearned for food, his gut ached with hunger and emptiness. how much longer in this snow? how much longer until he could eat?
would this strange cat feed him?
the large tom jerked suddenly, making the kit wobble slightly. he must have heard his stomach rumble. the kit suddenly felt embarrassed for some reason, his tiny cheeks flooding with heat in the cold landscape.
they padded into a cave, and he was dropped suddenly onto the cool stone floor. he squeaked in surprise, then whipped around to curiously stare at his saviour. magenta eyes stared back with an unreadable expression. he was a blue tabby with white on his muzzle, paws and belly. for some reason, he seemed serious, cold, distant….almost intimidating.
the kit also noticed that his legs were rather short. they might even be slightly shorter than his, he couldn’t tell.
hmm….what were they doing here, in this little cave?
oh dear. another possibility flashed through the kit’s mind. what if he was mistaken? what if this cat wasn’t bringing him here to save him, but to…do something else with him? …..hurt him, perhaps?
“who…who are you?” the kit managed to muster the courage to squeak out, eyeing the grown cat in front of him with newfound fear.
the blue tom flicked his right ear very slightly and gruffly meowed, “i’m alifera. I don’t think you’ve heard of me, but if you have, I think i’ll have no choice but to abandon you.” he said in an odd tone of voice.
the kit squeaked. he was even more scared now. “eep! i don’t know who you are, i swear! please don’t leave me to die!” he begged. “i just want to eat..”
alifera studied him closely. “huh, food? sure.” he meowed calmly, and flicked his tail.
barely a second later, suddenly and so abruptly, a freezing cold gust of wind blew into the cave. the kitten yowled in surprise, jumping. and then, right at his feet was a little brown mouse, still stunned, confused, and very much alive.
alifera killed it immediately, and gently shoved it to the kit. “eat up. what’s your name, little one?”
munching down in the mouse, the kit stared in confusion at …alifera, if that was the right way to pronounce it.
“…name?”
“yeah. what your parents called you..? do you not have parents?”
“….i don’t think i have a… ‘name’, no. also, what are parents?”
something changed in alifera’s expression. a flash of… was that pity in his eyes? “..oh. well, then. i’ll give you a name.”
the kitten was feeling much more enthusiastic now. “okay, then!” he bounced on his heels excitedly. maybe a name will make me special or something. ooh!
“hmm. how do you like the name…zephyr?”
“zephyr…it sounds cool! sure, okay! i’m zephyr now, right?”
alifera let out a chuckle. “yes, you are.”
zephyr didn’t know what it meant, but he liked it. he felt…special.
by now, zephyr was busy finishing his mouse, and he thought he could hear alifera muttering something under his breath. he couldn’t understand or hear him properly.
and then he felt a weird tingling sensation in his paws. he couldn’t ignore it. oh no, was he getting frostbitten?
…no, his paws certainly weren’t turning black.
then what—
oh gods. it hurt so much in the moment, all zephyr could do was let out a pained and agonised yowl. alifera stared back at the kit in worry and horror, then immediately rushed to his side.
zephyr could barely hear or see anymore. his vision was fading, blackness spreading from his peripheral corners and enveloping it, obscuring it.
everything turned black and his ears felt like they couldn’t function anymore.
-
“squawk…?” ouch. everywhere hurt…
zephyr got up slowly. a paw reached up to help him. oh…alifera. i forgot about him.
“AAAAH!” zephyr jumped, staring around the cave. he stared down at his paws— wait. what? those weren’t paws. those were….talons..?!
his paws were no longer furry and feline. they were now….bird talons. and they seemed to be glowing a faint green.
he stared at alifera in horror. the tabby stared back in shock.
“oh…oh dear. I…hadn’t expected that to actually work.
hm. so now you’re a griffon. zephyr…maybe try thinking of being a cat again?” he managed to stutter out. alifera looked utterly stunned.
“hmm….okay…”
concentrating as hard as he could, the griffon thought and thought of being a cat. he wished to have his paws and claws to hunt and to be feline once again.
zephyr felt something ripple in his body, and when he opened his eyes, he was a cat again.
“PHEW! please tell me that was a dream….”
alifera seemed to be nervous.
“actually…..i just gave you my blessing. i didn’t expect you to turn into….that. I guess it’s an effect of your new powers.”
zephyr’s eyes lit up so brightly that he might have started shooting lasers out of them. “POWERS?! SO I CAN TURN INTO….THAT?!”
a sigh. “yes, yes. it seems you can turn into a griffon and change back into a cat.” zephyr was now ecstatic. if he could get even more hyperactive, he was sure pure energy could be seen radiating around him. he certainly didn’t seem like the starving, cold kit that he had just been a few hours ago.
“YAY! THANK YOU, ALIFERA!” he squealed, then bounced right into the older cat’s lap. at this, alifera’s weary expression seemed to soften. “listen…little one…you’ve never had parents, right? …maybe I could be your father.”
…my father?
zephyr would get to stay with alifera..?
“yes, please.” he whispered softly. the energy was starting to wear off, and zephyr was starting to feel tired. his eyelids were drooping already.
“I’m sleepy.”
alifera carefully wrapped around the kit and kept him warm.
zephyr had never felt this…this feeling before.
now, he felt like the safest kit in the world. here, in his…father’s?
paws.
and he knew it would be alright now.
[ # 1, 129 words ]
