JOUETS ET OBJETS POUR ETRENNES \ butterflytuft

[TWITCHBOLT]

There'd been no time, lately, to say congratulations. Or to visit her at all, really. He and Butterflytuft since kithood had gravitated toward each other a little- shared nervousness, something like that. Her mother being his mentor. Despite both being quite adverse to socialising, it had seemed inevitable that they'd end up on good terms.

Prey was beginning to return- not in abundance, but... enough that his stomach didn't feel as if it'd eat itself, anymore. Panic no longer clouded his thoughts, hunger no longer hindered his judgement, and he found that a bit of time could be spared- at last, he could visit his friend. Could actually say something to her instead of running back and forth between rogues and hunting patrols, somehow authority in all this...

"Butterflytuft?" he called- his voice was soft, an effort made not to startle her. They were quite kindred spirits in jumpiness. A quavering smile found its place on his face- with the return of Figfeather and Slate, the doling out of the lungwort, everything was beginning to feel as if it might turn out okay. "I'm sorry I didn't- I didn't visit sooner. You... you must be excited." Placing the mouse at her paws, he lingered. He wished Daisyflight could have seen this.

\ @butterflytuft ​

penned by pin ✧​

 

[butterflytuft]

Butterflytuft lifts her head from her paws, a welcome voice calling her name. Twitchbolt stands there with that shaky smile as he so often shows her and she returns her own. He has always been a dear friend of hers, ever since their kithood. "Thank you," She murmurs in response to the prey being placed before her. "I was feeling a little hungry." Despite her lack of appetite, she is ever-polite, knowing it's rude to turn down food brought to you.

He apologizes for not visiting sooner and she shakes her head with widening eyes. "Oh my, please don't apologize, Twitchbolt! We have all been through so much the last couple of moons...you've been busy. You're a lead warrior, for StarClan's sake!" She ends with a small joke, smiling at him even bigger. "But I am excited," She mews as she begins to paw at the mouse. "I can't wait to meet them...see what they'll be like, what they'll look like..."​

 

[TWITCHBOLT]

There was no pressure on her to eat the prey, not all of it, but- he was glad she took it, anyway. Queens often had odd eating habits, he'd observed. Sometimes ravenous, sometimes finding it repulsive to even scent food.

Seeing her grin like that, though- it was a pleasant sight, and he returned it with his own as he settled to a seat beside her. Even though she was ready to pop, nearly- which Twitchbolt imagined was quite uncomfortable- Butterflytuft seemed more at ease than he'd ever really seen her. Gratefully, he flicked at her acquittal of his apology- it had been hectic. Horribly hectic. He'd thought he was inevitably going to die, but- but that was not much of a novelty. At least something good had come out of the panic this time.

The fondness she already spoke of them with made him smile with a softness and a sadness all at once. "I'm... I'm excited to meet them too," he told her, and could not deny a small spark of hope within him that he might get to mentor one of them someday. "They'll... they'll be lucky to have a mother like you." Genuine gladness flooded through his expression. "One who... who already loves them this much before she's even met them."

Or maybe that was just the bare minimum, and he was so unfamiliar with how mothers were supposed to operate that Butterflytuft being this kind seemed like a luxury.​

penned by pin ✧​

 

[butterflytuft]

His endearing words bring a rather emotional smile to her face. She cocks her head and purrs gratefully with a blush to her cheeks. “That’s really kind of you to say, Twitchbolt. Thank you.” She looks at him genuinely, suddenly feeling very thankful she has a friend like him. If she hadn’t grown up with him, she doesn’t know what she’d do. They’d been each others’ nervous wrecks, and he’d made her feel more comfortable with herself just by being himself. Seeing him as a lead warrior now makes her so proud - he’s earned it time and time again.

“I won’t be alone, either,” She mews with a blink. “They’ll have cats all around them who care for them. Like their uncle and aunts, and you.” She can already see it, her loved ones outside the nursery playing mossball with her kits, or teaching them hunting crouches. Like Twitchbolt, she wonders about their future mentors and hopes someone dear to her trains each of them.​

 

[TWITCHBOLT]

A genuine moment shared between them made Twitchbolt, oddly, feel quite accomplished. Like he'd finally managed to get this having-friends thing right. Moons and moons he'd spent rolling around in complete uncertainty about where his relationships were which cats were his friends and which cats held him with disdain. But... with Butterflytuft, now they were both grown adults, it was difficult to claim that same uncertainty anymore. He'd managed it. He had a friend, a steadfast one. Maybe he even had several.

Their uncle and aunts, him- he beamed for a second, a wavering grin but no less genuine than a sturdy one. His mind cast to the one who couldn't be with them. "They have Daisyflight, too." It was a quiet reassurance. Bringing up Daisyflight, at least for him, was easier nowadays. She may not have revered the stars in life, but Snowpath, on his deathbed, had confirmed she was there. "She wouldn't miss them growing up for the world. Bet she's- she's watching like a hawk, right now."​

penned by pin ✧​

 

[butterflytuft]

The mention of her adoptive mother draws a shaken breath from her, one that is joyful. Her lips form a sincere smile as she looks at Twitchbolt, head cocking. "Yeah..." She murmurs in agreement, a soft nod bobbing her head. Her chin falls so she can look at her round stomach, mind whirring with so many thoughts. This must have been what Daisyflight felt like in this very nursery as she expected her own litter, what would become her beloved brothers and sisters.

"It sounds silly, but I feel closer than ever to her right now." The admittance takes her by surprise, but she smiles big back at her friend. "I'm going through exactly what she did. Where she did, in this den. I just know she's here with me, with all of us." Emotional as always, her eyes gloss with unshed tears. I hope I can be half as good a mother as you were to me, Daisyflight. ​

 

[TWITCHBOLT]

A nervousness overcame him in the brief silence, that he's misspoken- that he'd immediately ruined everything by bringing up something sad in what should have been such a happy time. But- there was a smile on Butterflytuft's face, and it soothed him as quickly as the flame of worry within him had ignited. In fact, she was grinning,, and- Twitchbolt had never been much good at people, but with Butterflytuft it was quite easy to tell when she was genuine. Which was... always, really. "It doesn't sound silly," he told her, his own trembling voice sincere, too. "You spent so... so much time here, together. I don't think she's taken her- her eyes off you for a second."

"It's..." he fumbled for the right words. The right thing to say. Was there a right thing, really? "It's amazing, really. That we just... know she's here." To have meaning in this nursery, to hold it close with dear memories- but, oh, now wasn't the time for stupid envies. Any complication brewing in his eyes was soon shooed away. "Even if... it all makes me feel weird, like... we're old, now..." It was a joke, accompanied with a hoarse laugh, a frayed, discordant sound indicating rare use.

He cleared his throat. "But... it, it makes sense. It fits, y'know?"​

penned by pin ✧​