THE WAY MY MOTHER SPEAKS \ pinekit

[FERNGILL]

Ferngill really needed to stop hoarding so much stuff, now he was sharing his nest... it'd be a shame to get rid of some of his pretty stones, but he needed the space for newer, more sentimental items. So some of the less memory-attached memorabilia were now scraped into a little pile, stones and pebbles of various sizes making up the majority. Luckily, he had a little helper at his side... "Now, Pinekit...you've got a good eye, like your mother." A little bit of exaggeration, because Iciclefang didn't care very much for collecting... but she was pretty particular about stuff.

"I trust you to help me pick out only the best stones to keep," he told her, completely earnest. And with a trilling purr, thrumming with love, he added, "And they'll mean even more, because you picked them." Every day he made sure his niece and nephews knew how much he loved them; he had to make up for the grandfather and two aunts that had never gotten to meet them.

\ @Pinekit ⭒ ​

✦ penned by pin ✦​

 

[Pinepaw ⭒]

-ˋˏ ༻ ❆༺ ˎˊ- Pinekit had never been much of a collector in her short life, she was sure that anything she got, her brothers would also want, and she was much too busy to chase them around all day to retrieve her hypothetical stolen items.
So, when Ferngill had lay all of his pebbles and stones out before her with the task of only picking the very best ones out- well, Pinekit was just about floored.
“How do you have so many?” Her tone is blunt as an alabaster forepaw would reach out and touch one with a bright orange hue, its smooth texture warm against her paw-pad.
The sentiment in her uncles voice prompts Pinekit to look up, his words only taking a moment to settle in her mind before they spark a large grin.
“Really?” The kitten chimes. Her mother was the best mother in the whole forest- but Uncle Ferngill always seemed to be the warmth to Iciclefangs frost, it made Pinekit feel confused at times. Why did Ferngill’s love feel so much different than Iciclefangs? Not in the sense that one loved more than the other, only in the way it was spoken, shown.
“Okay! Hmm..” Pinekit doesn’t get too hung up on her thought, instead opting to divvy up her workload by carefully scooping a portion of them towards her with extended forepaws. There isn’t too long of a pause before an inquiry crosses Pinekit’s mind. “Did you ever do stuff like this with mama? Or…” Pinekit trails off then, recalling the cat who parented her parent, though shamefully she struggled to recall the name that had been spoken to her so many times for a heartbeat.
“Or uh, Mudpelt?”

‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎┌── IF YOUR LOVE’S THE TRUTH ⋅ ࿏ ⋅ OR THE SPIRIT OF DECEIT ──┐‎

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  PINEKIT ✩ she/her, kit of riverclan, 2 moons.
  ⭃ plush-furred tortoiseshell she-kit with white dipped forepaws, tail tip, and muzzle and round, honey hued optics.
  ⭃ daughter of Iciclefang && Stormywing ࿏ sister to Cragkit && Crabkit
  ⭃ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted / / underline and tag when attacking
  ⭃ penned by Noor ↛ @toyangel on discord, feel free to dm for plots.
  

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[FERNGILL]

He saw so much of Iciclefang in Pinekit- especially in the blunt way in which she asked him how he could possibly have such a collection. A snort of laughter left him. "I've been alive a long time, Pinekit!" he chirped, tone glowing. Not really that long, compared to some of the cats around him... but if he told her he was about as old as RiverClan itself, he imagined it might make him seem like a very wizened old tom at the grand age of twenty-three moons. But- well, he didn't want to mislead her. "I've had a lot of time for collecting. But it's time for a clean-out."

Really? He gave her an eager, earnest nod. Of course it did- each stone had its own reason for being in the collection, but the ones Pinekit deemed worthy would be pedestalled and fiercely guarded. For a few long moments, he watched the way Pinekit worked- and fiery paws soon copied hers, trusting her method every step of the way.. and trusting that doing it her way might make it a bit more fun for her. Really, this wasn't about the sorting, though- he just wanted some quality time.

At the mention of his late father, Ferngill's single eye grew distant for a short moment- wistful, as he looked at a stone that matched the brown of Mudpelt's fur in his memory. His heart ached at that realisation... that his memory was the only place where Mudpelt existed now, save for far-away Silverpelt. "Oh, not with Iciclefang. She's never had much love for collecting," he purred, a fondness in his voice that would tell Pinekit that he didn't really mind. "But Mudpelt was much more up for it. When I was your age, I wanted everything I saw... imagine how crowded the nest would have gotten! Four kittens, and a pile of pebbles on top of that!?" He let out a joking puff of air. "After I'd go collecting, Mudpelt would tell me I could only bring two pebbles back to the nest, so I always had to pick the best ones- and he always helped me decide."​

✦ penned by pin ✦​

 

[Pinepaw ⭒]

-ˋˏ ༻ ❆༺ ˎˊ- She giggles at her uncles first reply, it was true, she supposed- he and mama were super old. How else were they so good at being warriors? How did they know all the answers, if not for their ancient age? The kitten looks down when Ferngill’s gaze becomes distant, keeping herself from reading too much into it by carefully sorting through the pebbles she had scooped up moments before. It’s not much of a surprise to her when she hears that Iciclefang had never been much of a collector, she and Uncle Ferngill were complete opposites. But Mudpelt, Mudpelt- Pinekit’s attention is brought back upwards, a smile tugging at rounded features. In between his sentences, Pinekit would promptly push away a small mound of pebbles, and another one forwards with a small gesture that said Keep.
“That’s smart… he sounds like a real smart guy.” The child concludes, head teetering to and fro for a moment as she chews on her inner cheek, before finally a sigh would fill the air between them. “I wish I coulda met him, he sounds real great.” The frown that accompanies the sentiment is small, quickly washed away when honeyed optics lock onto the rock in her kins paws, and her forepaw points at the chocolate stone that the ginger tom cat keeps close, “s’that one of the ones he let you keep?” The she-kit prompts, tentatively reaching for a small collection of variously bright colored stones, gaze steady and expectant.

‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎┌── IF YOUR LOVE’S THE TRUTH ⋅ ࿏ ⋅ OR DECEIT ──┐‎

• 
  
  
  

• 

• 
  PINEKIT ✩ she/her, kit of riverclan, 2 moons.
  ⭃ plush-furred tortoiseshell she-kit with white dipped forepaws, tail tip, and muzzle and round, honey hued optics.
  ⭃ daughter of Iciclefang && Stormywing ࿏ sister to Cragkit && Crabkit
  ⭃ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted / / underline and tag when attacking
  ⭃ penned by Noor ↛ @toyangel on discord, feel free to dm for plots.
  

​

 

[FERNGILL]

"He was," Ferngill confirmed fondly. That was one of the many reasons his father had been his idol; he was a creative, passionate, strong tom. Everything he had aspired to be in his lifetime- the knowledge that Mudpelt had been proud of him until his dying day would never be forgotten. I wish I coulda met him, murmured Pinekit, and though the sentiment threatened to choke tears out of Ferngill's eye, instead he gazed at her with feather-softness. "He's watching you in StarClan always, Pinekit. And I know he loves you just as much as I do," he purred giving her a soft flick of his fire-brand tail.

Pinekit's attention flickered elsewhere though, landing upon the deep-brown stone sat close to Ferngill's paws. "Yep," he confirmed, a glow of triumph about him. Pinekit's smarts were expected, he supposed, with a child prodigy for a mother. "This is the same colour as him. I used to grab a lot of things that looked like cats I admired, back when I was little," he purred. Oh, that was a simpler time... when he didn't have to worry about being a leader's advisor, about leading patrols, about being worthy of either of those things. Back when he had two working eyes and impossible aspirations.​

✦ penned by pin ✦​

 

[Pinepaw ⭒]

-ˋˏ ༻ ❆༺ ˎˊ- He was. Her uncle confirms, though he doesn’t specify which of the things Pinekit guessed, so that meant her grandfather was real smart and real great- which made sense, mama and uncle Ferngill were both those things, she was both those things. The air grows thicker with sentiment as they venture deeper into the conversation, and golden hues are quick to dart back down to her take, ivory paws sorting between pebbles, even when her uncles purr brings a soft smile to the kittens features, “I hope so,” she murmurs without looking up, she can tell by the ginger tabbies voice that his expression would be heavy with emotion. Afraid to shatter the tender-hearted aura if she looked up and said the wrong thing, Pinekit is content to smile to herself until a fiery tail flutters around her ear and tickles her nose, and her cheek draws inward towards her shoulder blade with a squeal, batting a forepaw at it until the warrior would move on.
His response to her question expels a soft oooh from her maw, eyes widening slightly with wonder. “Rocks can look like cats?” Pinekit gasps, finally feeling confident enough to look back upward. She wonders what her rocky counterpart would look like. “How’d you find so many?” Maybe she could find one that looked like Ferngrill- bright orange, striped?

‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎┌── IF YOUR LOVE’S THE TRUTH ⋅ ࿏ ⋅ OR DECEIT ──┐‎

• 
  
  
  

• 

• 
  PINEKIT ✩ she/her, kit of riverclan, 4 moons.
  ⭃ plush-furred tortoiseshell she-kit with white dipped forepaws, tail tip, and muzzle and round, honey hued optics.
  ⭃ daughter of Iciclefang && Stormywing ࿏ sister to Cragkit && Crabkit
  ⭃ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted / / underline and tag when attacking
  ⭃ penned by Noor ↛ @toyangel on discord, feel free to dm for plots.
  

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