Today will be better, I swear! [pine]

Birdsong filled the normally quiet air as the sun barely came through the small high window in the bathroom, aiming directly at a sleepy Jackal's face. With a light grumble, she shifted her angle ever so slightly so that it wasn't blinding her. Typically, Jackal's daily routine included staying in her cozy plant-covered nest until she felt bad about wasting so much time. And that, was exactly what she had insisted on doing.

The minutes felt painfully long, and with each passing second the sound of other cats awaking and socializing filled the quiet air more and more. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to step outside for a moment and get some fresh air, being cooped up in the bathroom for too long always made Jackal awfully stuffy. With a solid thirty-second's worth of hesitation, the small bi-color lifted herself off the nest and stretched out her tired limbs. With a gracious leap, she bounded towards the entrance to the bathroom and quietly slipped out. Sure enough, there were some of the early-bird cats lounging around in the living room, grooming each other and discussing their... early bird things.

Shifting a glance towards the other cats, Jackal made her way out to the front porch of the cottage. It was, without a doubt Jackal's favorite place in the whole cottage (aside from her private bathroom, of course). Squinting gently at the harsh sun's rays, she noticed a figure sitting out on the railing for the porch. This was usually a rare sight, most cats didn't appreciate the perfect sitting spot that was the front porch. Getting lost in thought for a solid second, Jackal made a graceful leap up near the tom. She'd seen him around the cottage a few times, and he was a friend of Raccoon and Moss- which of course meant she had to befriend him.

"Hello." she purred softly, getting herself a good grip on the railing just a fox tail length's away from the tom.

Maple  
329 words

The ginger she-cat watched in amusement as Milkweed was very obviously startled by her sudden appearance. Letting a heartbeat's worth of time pass, her gaze shifted from the tom's deep amber eyes to the swirling clouds up above. The air surrounding the two was the perfect temperature for a longhair such as Jackal to be out comfortably without getting too terribly hot or cold. Even though she wasn't typically a morning person, she deeply enjoyed what each and every morning brought. With every new day brought a new set of clouds to look up at and a new set of bird calls to fill the normally silent air.

Getting lost in thought, the young she-cat snapped back into focus just in time to hear the curly pointed tom's soft meow. "Yep, that's me. Of course, I'd assume that your Milkweed." she purred, flicking her long tail ever so gently against the railing.

"Oh the morning is absolutely perfect! I always appreciate them but most days I'm too tired to leave my nest until noon. It's always fun listening to the birdsong, or watching the trees sway gently with the morning breeze.. ah, of course I'm rambling." Jackal chuckled softly, letting the softest of smiles slip through her normally flat expression. After a moment's worth of hesitation to recover from her slight ramble related embarrassment, she'd boldly meowed back to Milkweed. "How's the morning been treating you?"

Maple