a thousand hugs from ten thousand lightning bugs — joining

[locust.]

If you asked, locust wouldn't be able to recall how he'd wound up here. Chasing that butterfly out of his twoleg's garden had resulted in the tom becoming lost. Spinning around, the tom would wonder how he'd make it home. They'd worry if he wasn't home in time for dinner! He'd be worried if he wasn't in time for dinner. He couldn't miss that! That was his favorite meal! Next to breakfast and lunch that was.

A rustling in the trees nearby would cause the tom to freeze, anxiety beginning to creep up his spine. Carefully, he'd extend his head to the sky as he attempted to source where the sound was coming from, or rather from whom. Was that a cat he was picking up on? "Hello?" A moment of hesitation would bring the tom to an internal battle. A paw frozen in the air as he tried to decide whether to make his way towards the sound, or turn tail and run to his housefolk. "I-is someone there?" Trembling in place, Locust would seemingly have waited too long as a figure began to emerge from the pines, making their way towards him.

// ignore the fact that i completely forgot how to write during this thread lmao, i seemingly lost all knowledge on how to do this
​

 

[BLAZESTAR]

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ Through clumsy movements, Blaise is stalking a squirrel. With no underbrush to hide in and no tree-climbing prowess, the flame point has been baffled at how anyone in the pine forest manages to catch prey. He keeps meaning to ask someone to teach him, or let him watch, but... other things are on his mind now. Things he can't shake, like fleas in his fur.

The squirrel sits upright, right at the base of a tree. It brings it paws to its face, twitching. It knows he's there, Blaise thinks with some dismay. He has to lunge now or--

A noise alerts the creature, and in a flash of auburn, it scuttles up the tree it had been nearest, its fluffy tail disappearing amidst the pine needles.

Blaise rises out of his crouch and sighs. Bad luck again. He's lucky he's gotten so many chances to practice, with it being greenleaf.

Curious, he turns and tastes the air. Another cat, but he can't tell where from. Blundering their way through the pine needles and making noise, as Blaise had done himself not long ago. He smiles, though it's small and passive, and finds the young cat in question.

"Is someone there?" Terrified blue eyes scan the trees. Blaise clears his throat--a noise meant to alert the young tom to his presence, not to scare him. "Hello," he greets with a dip of his head. "You've got housefolk, don't you?" He's well-fed, Blaise notes, and moves throughout the forest without any sense of propriety. He recognizes it clearly, as he'd been the same. In some ways, still was.

His sits and curls his tail around his red paws. "I'm Blaise. You don't have to be afraid here," he says, voice passive. "What's your name?"​

✦ PENNED BY MARQUETTE.​

 

[Serene~]

A GLIMPSE OF US​

---

"Blaise?" A soft voice would come from above the pair, soft green eyes blinking slowly with a twinkle of curiosity. The lilac silver tabby would gingerly make her way down the tree, before jumping to stand beside the older flame point. She stuck close to her group mate as if she worried he would disappear if he left her sight, and tilted her head as she looked over the stranger. He did look quite tense and in an attempt to comfort him she would offer a tiny smile as she meowed, "We won't hurt you. My name is Spring, it's nice to meet you."

She hoped it was ok for her to speak, looking quickly to Blaise as if checking with him that it was alright before looking back at the new face. Would this perhaps be a new member?
​

 

[BEESONG]

Honeybee is not known for his tree-climbing prowess like most of his groupmates; rather, he's known for quite the opposite. Any climbing endeavors usually end with him falling out of the branches — hell, he's lucky that he hasn't broken his neck yet. But whenever his groupmates ascend into the trees, Honeybee couldn't help but to follow them like an insistent gnat buzzing around their ears. Always having to be within a fox-length of someone... It's his security blanket.

That's why he's scaling the pines today in pursuit of Spring. He feels like a lumbering badger in the trees, and he imagines he looks like one, too. Unsteady paws tread across the branch, his tongue poking out from between his lips in concentration. By some miracle, he manages not to fall.

That is, until Spring calls out to Blaise. The cinnamon feline glances towards the ground below, their concentration broken mid-step. Then, the inevitable happens. Their paw slips off of the edge, and with a yelp, Honeybee plummets. "AHH!"

They land on their back with an oof. The breath is knocked from their lungs, and their mouth falls open in a gasp. I'm gonna feel that one tomorrow, they manage to think to themselves above the pounding in their ears.

After a few heartbeats, Honeybee manages to scramble back onto his paws and scamper over to Blaise's side, acting as if he hadn't just fallen from a tree. His fur nearly brushing against the flame point's, Honeybee's gaze sweeps over the newcomer that Blaise is speaking to. They look scared shitless. Blaise and Spring each offer their own reassurances, affirming that they wouldn't hurt the stranger. The cinnamon tom fancies a different approach, however. He leans forward, smiling. "Yeah, it's a good thing you didn't run into those nutters in the swamp; I'm pretty sure they eat kittypets." It's a dark joke, yet it's spoken with the innocence one would expect from a naive kitten. ​

 

[locust.]

A wave of relief would wash over him as the strange felines greeted him with kindness, telling him he didn't have to be afraid of them. "Oh! Hello!" Glancing between the duo, he grew uncertain of who to respond to first, and thought that perhaps responding to them in the order they spoke would be the best option. "Nice to meet you all! My name's Locust!" Pausing, he felt himself become hyperaware of the simple collar that lay around his neck. "Yes, I do have housefolk..." A crash of feline hitting the earth would startle the youngster, jumping backwards as he glanced over the tom with worry. "Are you alright?" Tilting his head, he'd look between the strangers wondering what the new tom meant by "eating kittypets." Was that a joke of some sort? Code for something? Laughing awkwardly as one does in these situations, he'd wait to see how they responded.

​

 

[BLAZESTAR]

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ Blaise gives a startled jump as Honeybee crashes into a heap of scarred tabby beside them. The feline is barely embarrassed--or at least, they do their best not to show they are--and instead tells the young newcomer that he's lucky he hadn't gone to the swamps instead.

The flame point sighs. "Honeybee, are you alright?" He asks pointedly. A fluffy tail tip twitches before he turns back to the youngster.

Locust, and he affirms he does have housefolk. Blaise nods. "I could tell. By the collar," he adds. A golden paw brushes his own, and he reminds himself for the thousandth time that he needs to remove it.

"I'm Blaise, and that's Honeybee. We live in the pine forest here with other cats." He blinks, wondering if he should add anything further... but then decides there's nothing to add. If the young tom has housefolk, he doesn't need to know about the quarrels of the wildcat colonies, Blaise decides. He wishes he himself had avoided them as well. "What brings you so far out here, Locust?"​

✦ PENNED BY MARQUETTE.​

 

[locust.]

It would take Locust several moments to answer, suddenly unsure of what to say in his defense. While Blaize didn't appear to be angry, Locust was suddenly unsure if this is where he should be anymore. "I'm not sure. I just wanted to explore a little further than I normally do, and I guess I went too far. I'm sorry. Am I not supposed to be here?" Hopefully these cats weren't terribly upset by his presence. He didn't like making others upset. It wasn't kind of him to do so, and he already thought of these cats as his friends. The last thing he wanted to do was ruin that already. "Hey, speaking of, why aren't you guys with your housefolk? Isn't this kind of far out for you too?"

​