pafp HEFFALUMPS & WOOZLES [ ୨୧ ] BUG HUNTING


” now when i pick this up, “ the molly sits up with a heavy swing, thick cheek fluff splaying to either side of her squared muzzle. dirt matts where pale blond and orange twine together, scraps of leaves and grass jutting from beneath the thick wisps of fur. when she turns her head towards emberkit it is with a wide, small - toothed grin, beaming high enough to scrunch meadowland eyes at the corners. a large, tufted paw comes down heavy on the stone they had dug free from the ground at the edge of camp, dust and debris , ” they’re gonna run! y’gotta jump fast if you’re gonna catch one, ‘specially a cool one. “ her voice lowers dramatically, as if telling him a secret, just between the two of them.

little to her little brothers knowledge, it was far from it — memories of early life, of blind, brilliant youth, rabbitnose had done just the same for her and sparkpaw.. mousepaw had never quite had the same inclination, but freckleflame for the world could not understand why ( she very much could. ). muddy paws and bright smiles, she remembers plodding home at her fathers heels with her pelt scattered in insect wings, remembers the sigh of dismay sunfreckle had let out upon sight of her. it perks her ears suddenly, head swinging down, ” now if dad asks, we were practicing our hunting skills. “ and they were, in truth — very specific truth, and an easier excuse to swallow. she perks her ears, ” and put your ears down when ya say it, he’s a sucker for that. okay!

freckleflame leans up to full height, nearly vibrating in her skin where she divots a paw beneath the loose stone — it was not the same stone as rabbitnose had flipped for her and her brother, but she feels the pang in her chest all the same. it’s bittersweet, a reminder of mortality ; but emberkit has been a light in their darkness, a light she’d avoided in fear. this kitten was stronger than her, even in his earliest days ; at least he had been present for her fathers troubles, instead of busying time with duties she’s stolen from others to keep herself occupied. he was small, but she had been this small, once. had crouched, just like emberkit would do before.. she promptly flips it, sending the insects burrowed underneath to a full, wide scatter from their dank hiding place, ” attack! “ and that, she hopes, would chase her line of thought away. the feeling, she knows, will not.

  • i. please wait for @EMBERKIT. hehe
  • FRECKLEFLAME ——————— of thunderclan ⠀ 𓍊𓋼 ⠀ . ׁ
    𖦹 . LESBIAN. SINGLE, CRUSHES EASILY. SMELLS LIKE SUN - WARMED OAK. ELEVEN MOONS. 8 / 3 / 2023 NAMED A WARRIOR. MENTORED BY WOLFWIND, PENNED BY ANTLERS.
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    f. she / her, daughter of sunfreckle and rabbitnose. large, cream patched tortoiseshell she - cat with pale green eyes. fire - forged, smoldering ; shades of vibrant russet, dousing swathes of shadow and interwoven with ribbons pale cream come to drape like licks of flame over a well - toned form. in warriorhood she has grown to full, hulking height ; unspecified maine coon heritage born of sunfreckle's kittypet background shows itself in large, round paws and tufted, long - furred toes set upon thick, tabby - splotched limbs. freckleflame is broad shouldered and square - jawed, wild cheek fur like the blazing edges of a red sun — a hulking, thick - furred thunderclan warrior, forever blaze - kissed. a characteristic lack of personal space leads her to a slouching, touchy posture, often inclined to lean or bump against her peers, all while beating a lazy, heavy - eyed grin.

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☼—— he stands, heavy tail so like his older sister's swishing in weighty arcs of sand against the ground as he fixes her ginger-braided face with the adoring gaze of a younger sibling. emberkit returns her grin with a wide one of his own, crouching like the older cats had taught him, hind paws wiggling excited where they splay against the ground. he's young, but signs of his father's lanky largeness are already growing and the arms stretching slow towards the rock end in large, fluffy paws ready to catch as many bugs as he can possibly reach. blue eyes trained on the stone, focused (okay, sorta focused) on it, one lip flicking up as the young tom blows air skyward to keep thick golden bangs out of his face.

"mm-hmm, i gotcha," emberkit confirms, tone low and casual as his sister's, childhood stutter almost completely faded in the moons since his birth. he nods, remembering how much sunfreckle fussed and tittered over him and his siblings (especially sunshinekit) and his horror at the big worm rabbitnose had once towed into the nursery for them all to marvel over. white paws knead at the earth in excitement, baby-blue eyes blown wide and excited over the prospect of bug hunting. the moment freckleflame flips the stone he's launching forward on long legs, rumpled golden tufts of fur trailing behind him like wings, pinning squirming shapes beneath his pink pawpads.

"got one! got two!" he crows triumphantly as the bugs scatter in a wide swathe, shiny iridescent beetles poking between white toes as he applies a gentle pressure. not quite gentle enough, though—with a soft crack they perish beneath his paws, emberkit hardly noticing as he lifts his feet to marvel at their glimmering shells. one is a purple-green, the other more of a golden-blue, both of them beautiful with their small pincers and dully gleaming outsides as he wiggles a wide-striped tail in victory and looks up at his elder sister, grinning widely and proclaiming, "i caught two pretty ones! am i a good bug hunter, freck?" the cheery words are clipped off by an affectionate nickname he's assigned her on the spur of the moment.

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  • ooc: ——
  • nothing here, have a nice day :-)
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    — emberkit
    — he/him ; kit of thunderclan ; 3 ☾s
    "speech" ; thoughts ; attacks
    — penned by dejavu

 

He despised bugs. Sunfreckle didn't like them, didn't like how the skittered about, didn't like the way their many legs moved, those twitchy antennae and habit of crawling into nests - they grossed him out and he couldn't stand having them near him. It was why he cleaned his nest to often, it was why he went into a mild panic anytime he walked through a spiderweb accidentally, the mere thought of one of those creepy creatures crawling over his pelt made him want to roll around in a frenzy to dislodge them. Why Rabbitnose had such a fascination with them he never understood, even in their earliest days together the blue tom would often flip rocks to show him the worming and squirming things under it and he would cry to have them covered back up. Fortunately, he didn't react that poorly anymore given maturity and being slightly desensitized to them, but he still didn't like it. UNfortunately this admiration for insects was being passed down in his genetics. Frecklepaw had caused him no end of grief and when she was made a warrior he assumed incorrectly it would go away - he was wrong.
The older litter often took their siblings to play, giving him a break every so often and he appreciated it and enjoyed them bonding but he could not help but notice the way Freckleflame and Emberkit were hunched over at the edge of camp. Green eyes narrowed in scrutiny before he finally rose to stand to approach them and it was at the same time their hushed mutterings died down and a rock was unceremoniously flipped over - oh no.
Sunfreckle gave a shrill yelp and a hop backwards as some kind of beetle went racing toward his paw the moment he got close and with a stumble he rolled backwards due to being knocked off balance with all three limbs in the air flailing in a panic.
 
Words cannot express how proud and sentimental he is upon seeing Freckleflame and Emberkit hunched over a rock and catching the little bugs underneath. It feels like just the other day he was doing the same thing with her, catching beetles and worms trying to scatter from the light. He looked back on those days fondly, even if they were sometimes bittersweet. Even Dovekit got to do this a few times. He misses her every day, but at least he can think of her and not burst into tears.

It's strange, seeing your kits all grown up. They'll always be his little bunnies. Seeing them passing on the tradition to their little siblings fills him with so much joy.

Sunfreckle does not share the sentiment, he knows. He's never liked bugs, despite years of exposure therapy. He can see it coming as soon as he sees his mate walk over, quickly rising to follow him. He is too late, a beetle has skittered towards Sunfreckle and startled him. He bounces over quickly to his flailing mate.

"My love, it's just a beetle!" He says, chuckling. "It's harmless!" He reaches down to deter the beetle from its course with his paw, sending it skittering away from Sunfreckle.

He looks to his wonderful children with a smile. "Catch any cool ones?" He asks. What creatures have they caught. What little dudes lie captured under their paws.​
 
Rainbowkit lays nearby, close enough to see Freckleflame's smile and the woosh of her fur as she speaks, but not close enough to hear the secrets she's whispering to their brother. Rainbowkit thinks about scooting forward, but they know that not all secrets are for them... That's why they're secret, only a few cats can hear them, and Emberkit gets to be that cat for today. Rainbowkit can just ask them before bed.

They miss the moment when Freckleflame lifts the rock – the motion partially hidden by Emberkit's stripes ( Other cats said that they were getting big, and Rainbowkit has just now realized). They do see the sudden stream of bugs, though; beetles and little black things running every which way. Instinctively, Rainbowkit would cover one with his paws. He doesn't even know what it is, but if it moves, he should probably catch it. " What is it? " they ask.

They hear Sunfreckle shriek before they see them. That must mean they're bugs then, but Rainbowkit's never seen bugs so pretty. Slowly, he lifts his paw. The beetle underneath stays still for a moment – maybe it's scared? – before it skitters away. " That one looked like me, " they comment, and looking toward their brother, they see him all silly and smiley; and rabbitnose is here too. " It's colors are like me, but it looks like... Rabbitnose! " he was basically a very big bug.
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  • rainbowkit & [ raine ] [ bow ] : sunfreckle xx rabbitnose 2nd litter. littermate to sunshinekit & emberkit. younger brother to mousepaw, sparkpaw & frecklepaw.
    —— amab. they / he ; fine with gendered terms ( tom / boy / brother / etc . . . )
    —— currently 3 moons old.

    a typical size for their age. warm - faced and bright - eyed, rainbowkit sports boyish features and an easygoing smile. early signs of a thick ruff to come can be seen in plush cheeks and a thickening tail. sports long curling whickers and a dip of sun - red down the length of their neck.
  • this is for cute purposes begone.