#mylingkit

[residents-of-the-darkforest]

Dead Dream -- part 1: Enter The Wooden Teeth

Shallowfig came to a halt, flicking his tail to tell his family to do the same. Ahead of them was a dead blackberry bush with leaves as dark as its namesake. It was only that, a bush, yet the gaps in the branches lifted the fur along Shallowfig’s spine. He stared at the dark dapples, and a face stared right back. Whether it was from a trick of the lighting, or his mind playing tricks on him–as it had been ever since Plague tried to kill Hootpetal and Banshee–he couldn’t tell.

“What is this place?” Tendril asked from behind him. Shallowfig just barely avoided jumping.

He  took a breath and a step back, moving his mind to wonder how long they would have to wait, but before he exhaled, Bella-May poked her head out from between the thin branches. “You’re here!” she exclaimed excitedly. “Come in, come in!”

Shallowfig stepped back, motioning for Banshee and the kits to go through the normal rotting bush, and then followed at the tail. He had not visited his older kins’ home before, though they had visited him as a kit, and he was curious to know what so many of his family had made their homes to be, if it reflected something in Shallowfig–some indication of their blood relation, somehow. Did they both enjoy hanging vines?

But before he could look around, he found himself suffocating on fur. Legs squeezed around his neck. He panicked, struggling for a few seconds before Bella-May pulled back, and he realized, almost laughing at himself, that it was only his great-great-grandmother embracing him.

“I heard what happened,” she mewed sorrowfully, licking his ears. “If I had been there, I would have ripped that she-dung’s tail off and stuffed it down her throat.”

Banshee flinched. Shallowfig touched his tail to her side to calm her. 

“I….I have a favour to ask,” Shallowfig began.

“Myrtle  told me,” Bella-May responded as he searched for the right words. “You lot can stay here for as long as you need, darling.”

Shallowfig let his shoulders sag, soothed by her kind voice. He looked over his shoulder, at his kits. Racemekit, Tendrilkit, Poppykit, Mylingkit, and their younger half-siblings, Glasskit and Pagruskit. Cold ice slithered down his spine, gripping his bones and veins and causing his body to shake and heart to fall. He had come so close to losing them. Never again will that happen.

“They need to be trained,” Shallowfig explained. 

“I’m not much of a mentor,” Bella-May replied. Shallowfig understood that, she had been a loner. “But I won’t turn down time with the little kitties.” She blinked warmly at the kits, emitting a soft chuckle when Poppykit squealed when Glasskit bit her tail. 

“They don’t need to train to hunt or the ways of Clan life,” Shallowfig told her. The daily routines of the Clans were foreign to him as well. “They need to know how to protect themselves. They need to know how to….deal with attackers and dangers.” He didn’t want to say it out loud, for the sake of the kits’ and his own ears. He couldn’t say that he wanted his kits to be trained to be killers to keep them from being another victim of Plague, that he was willing to let them grow to be monsters, risking the lives of anyone or everyone they may hurt, so that they couldn’t be.

Thankfully, understanding flashed in Bella-May’s eyes. She smiled widely. Shallowfig tried not to focus on her glinting fangs. “I thought kits didn’t train until six cycles.”

“The four are half a moon from that,” Banshee spoke up, gathering their wrestling kits around her. “The two are two.”

Bella-May tilted her head far to the side. “My question appears to stand.”

“It doesn’t need to be intensive or harsh,” Shallowfig went on. “Preferably, it isn’t, not…at least…not while they’re so young.” He knew that to give them the best chances of survival, training had to push them further than any other cats could bear. Just not yet. They could be kits for a while yet.

“Some pouncing and sneaking lessons should do,” Bella-May thought. “We can make them games.” She swept her tail slowly, enticingly around. Racemekit took the bait and waggled his hips before leaping  for the ginger-tipped tail. Bella-May flicked it out of the way in a flash, grabbing Racemekit with sheathed paws, just before he could land, and pressed him to the ground to make chewing noises against his belly. Racemekit kicked out, squealing and giggling.

Shallowfig allowed himself a few heartbeats to watch and enjoy the moment. Then Pagruskit’s yawn brought him back. They had to rest. “Are you sure it’s not trouble?” he checked. “We could stay somewhere else–”

“Absolutely not,” Bella-May responded firmly. “You ought to stay here where great-ma can keep an eye on you.”

“Is it not too much–”

“Hush,” Bella-May cut him off, blocking his mouth with a paw while Racemekit growled and bit on the other. “Before your droning puts the little ones to sleep.”

“How many know we were coming?” Banshee asked nervously. She had a tendency to anxiety when she was around those she didn’t know. Shallowfig would have stayed with her family, but that was exactly who they were hiding from.

“Everyone,” Bella-May answered cheerfully. “And they’re so excited to meet y’all! Now come along, come along, let us show the nests we made for ya.”

Banshee took the lead once again, the kits following in a ragged line behind her. Shallowfig looked behind him, through the gaps in the bush. He no longer saw the eyes, yet the fear in him remained the same. He was seeing, too far to really see, his old den where his kits were born, where Banshee became his mate, where his mother nearly died. He was seeing himself as a fun-loving kit without a care in the world, and he knew, knew as well as he knew that the fur on his pelt was pale golden, that he was likely taking away that for his own kits. 

He turned his head back and padded after his family. Ahead, Tendrilkit sneezed a high-pitched sound, and Glasskit opened her little jaws in a massive, pink yawn. Shallowfig’s eyes pricked. They were so precious now, so perfect and innocent. Whatever happened in the future, whether or not by Plague’s doing–Dark Stars hope not, sending the kits to train the way that they would be was going to change them forever. Shallowfig could only hope that he was making the right choice, and that it was worth it.

====================

@ambitiousauthor

@elementaldeityoffood 

[residents-of-the-darkforest]

Funnelquail, visiting: Mylingkit? I thought she was Bansheekit.

Shallowfig: oh ha yeah well we obviously had to change it.

Hemlockpine: why did you name her Banshee anyway? I get it's after your lover-girl here, but why specificially Myling?

--Meanwhile--

Tendrilkit: *smacks Mylingkit on the head*

Mylingkit:

*UNGODLY SCREECHING*

[residents-of-the-darkforest]

THE BABIES!!

@elementaldeityoffood

Colours they don't obviously get from Shallow, they got from their bio mom

--

Base by Supurrnovae!

[residents-of-the-darkforest]

If the kits had to be described in one word each

Tendril: argumentative

Myling: LOUD

Racme: dignified

Poppy: high-strung

--------

(And to describe Poppy more, she's 'girly' in a deranged way. Ex. Poppy: gets clawed horribly. Poppy: omg guys look the blood matches my spots so well!! I should bleed more!!!)

@elementaldeityoffood

[residents-of-the-darkforest]

Sisters (short story)

Banshee felt warmer than she had in moons. She blinked blearily, her sleepy state making her forget where she was, and she wondered why she felt small bodies pressed against her. Then it came rushing back, and she felt warmer than ever, gazing lovingly at the two kits curled against her, and at the two curled against her mate laying beside her.

Stars…her mate! The word gave her a rush, and she purred, shifting to be closer.

“Still no thorns? It’s like he’s begging to be invaded.”

She stiffened before she got there. There were voices outside! 

Quickly, she stood up and unsheathed her claws, standing over the kits. Shadows fell over the entrance. They were getting closer! 

A grey-and-black cat emerged. Banshee wasted no time, yowling, she leaped, shoving the unsuspecting cat to the ground. She bared her fangs, drool slipping down her chin.

The cat did something Banshee wasn’t expecting–she laughed. “Brother, you have the best guests!”

“Br….?”

“What’s going on?” Shallowfig gasped.The yowl had woken him up, and after pressing the kits against a hidden small alcove, he hurried to join Banshee’s side and fight with her. But as soon as he saw the apparent invader, he only raised a brow. “Funnelquail? What’s going on?”

Sensing that this wasn’t an attack, Banshee got off of the grey she-cat. Funnel…did she hear that before?

“You should probably announce yourself before you enter a sleeping cat’s home,” a second voice spoke up. A moment later another, light-and-dark brown she-cat came into view. She nodded at Banshee. “Who’s your bodyguard?”

Shallowfig rolled his eyes. “Hello, Funnelquail and Hemlockpine, please come into my den.”

It hit like a sharp stone. These were Shallowfig’s sisters!

Banshee’s fur bristled self-consciously. “I’m his–Uh…I’m his…m-mate.” 

The she-cats’ ears perked up. Banshee flinched back, preparing for an argument to break out. Shallowfig’s family being against their relationship was why Shallowfig and Banshee had ended their friendship as kits in the first place. She didn’t expect them to take kindly to them becoming mates.

“Can we come out now?” Tendrilkit called. Looking over, Banshee saw her peer from the stone wall she was hidden behind. Immediately, her eyes lit up, and she bounced across the den in a few, large bounces, her smile wide and open. “Aunties! Aunties! Aunties!”

“Kits! Kits! Kits!” Hemlockpine responded humorously. 

The other kits came scrambling after in a mini stampede, almost making Banshee trip on her paws. Hemlockpine rolled onto her back and allowed Tendrilkit and Pollenkit to lay atop her. 

Funnelquail was now laying, too, resting on her side and lifting her tail as Mylingkit hopped to reach it, while Racemekit had climbed into the space between her forepaws. She gazed at Banshee. “So, you finally found a she-cat to share these kits with, huh?” Her eyes became sharp. “You are staying with him, aren’t you?”

Banshee was taken aback. “O-Of course!” She stammered.

Funnelquail dipped her head, but didn’t seem satisfied. “Good. Because, well,” she chuckled, “you’ll know what will happen if you don’t.” Next to her, Hemlockpine drew a claw across her throat.

Banshee swallowed.

Shallowfig stepped forward, blocking their way. “That’s enough! Don’t joke about that. Banshee’s not Rosebee, she’s not gonna–” he stiffened. With him, Banshee realized what he had said. It was possible the sisters hadn’t realized who Banshee was, after all, they had been kits when Shallowfig and her played together, and she only glimpsed the sisters before. Now, there was no denying it. 

Clearly, by the narrowing of their eyes, Hemlockpine and Funnelquail noticed it too. 

“Ain’t that the she-cat you’re forbidden from seeing?” Hemlockpine asked.

Shallowfig shifted from one paw to the other. Then he straightened. “Forbidden from playing with when I was a kit.”

Funnelquail shrugged. “True.”

True? Was that it?

She smiled at Banshee, and it was starting to look more genuine. “So are you the new kitmama then?”

Banshee’s skin turned a bright red, and she was grateful for her grey coat that covered it up. She took a breath and faced them. “I’m Shallowfig’s mate now, and that means that these kits are as much mine to take care of as his. If you don’t like that then…then…stick it up your tails!”

The sisters looked at her, then at each other, then at their brother, then at last they burst out laughing. “I like this one!” Hemlockpine giggled at the same time as Funnelquail snortled “such sass!”

After a little, they stood up. “I’m not sure what the family will say,” Hemlockpine warned them, “and frankly I don’t really care. But until you’re ready to tell them, your secret is safe with us.”

======================

--Writing bad because it’s meant to be more funny than serious and also I’m about to fall asleep.

But anyway the sisters! The three siblings are very close, so of course they had to make an appearance in a ShallowBanshee story.

--Redbee is the kits’ bio mother who gave full custody to Shallowfig. Due to her leaving, the sisters are protective of their brother and wary of Banshee.

@elementaldeityoffood

[residents-of-the-darkforest]

Falleniris, Hemlockpine, Snailnose, Poppystone, Rosepelt, Frostwatcher (great-great granddaughters), 

Drizzlestare, Magpieshine, Funnelquail, Buzzardblaze, Starlingstrike, Aspenlight (adoptive great-great granddaughters), 

Pipitfeather, Ashfoot, Dulluhan (great-great grandsons), 

Shallowfig, Treespall, Perchclaw, Stonefern, Shrikepaw, Dusksong, Waspbeak (adoptive great-great grandsons), 

Flamesoot, Redswoop, Frondfrost, Scabdrip, Blightrain (great-great-great granddaughters), 

Willowcloud, Redwillow, Poppykit, Mylingkit, Tendrilkit, Hollymist, Thistleeye, Whitebriar (adoptive great-great-great granddaughters) 

Wolfpool, Nightbloom, Swiftstrike, Thistlebriar, Heatherfrond, Thornpool, Archwing Harrierflame, Falconember, Condorburn,  (adoptive great-great-great grandsons)

Glassriver, Pagrusrose, Redmask (adoptive great-great-great grandkits)

---------

@ambitiousauthor would you say this is right for Houndtooth?

There’s so many names I’m not sure

[residents-of-the-darkforest]

Another family timeline!

AlderGrouseMyrtleHoot+ kits:

--Magpiepaw/shine (adoptive)

--Stonepaw/fern (adoptive)

--Perchpaw/claw (adoptive)

--Treekit/spall and Drizzlekit/stare (Alder and Hoot bio)

Perch then adopts his own kit with Vireosong.

--Redpaw

The poly then craves more kits. With Brownmouse as the donor, Grousemane has

--Starlingkit/strike, Buzzardkit/blaze, Duskkit/song, and Aspenkit/light

The kits snuck out of their home before they were old enough, and was brought back by Shrikepaw, who was later adopted

--Shrikepaw

Treespall then had his own kits with his poly, Ratthorn and Stonefrost

--Hollymist (adoptive) and Heatherfrond (bio)

Drizzlestare had kits with her own poly as well, with Kestralstorm and Blazestrike

--Spottedtooth (adoptive), Willowcloud, and Wolfpool (bio)

Alderstar and Myrtlewing have kits with Tanglestar as their donor, they have

--Fallenkit/iris and Waspkit/beak

Falleniris grew up and became mates with Blackfinch. With her, she had two daughters

--Scabdrip and Blightrain

Six moons later, Dusksong had kits with a non-romantic partner that gave him custody

--Thornpool, Whitebriar, Archwing, and Thistleeye. 

Three moons after the four were born, Dusksong’s littermate, Buzzardblaze, had kits with Pheasentdust 

--Condorburn, Harrierflame, and Falconember

Though still not romantically or otherwise interested in each other, Hootpetal had three kits, one of each being the kit of Alderstar, Myrtlewing and Grousemane

--Shallowfig (AlderHoot), Funnelquail (GrouseHoot), and Hemlockpine (MyrtleHoot)

When he was twenty-two moons old, Shallowfig had kits with a she-cat that he was only in a casual relationship with. They planned on breaking up as soon as the kits were weaned, and he was given full custody. Later, Banshee would help Shallowfig raise them

--Poppykit, Tendrilkit, Mylingkit, Racemekit

=========================

=========================

Timeline of the Kits:

1) Magpieshine died at six moons, and was adopted by the poly a few moons after (formally, technically adopting her shortly following her death).

2) Stonefern died at eight moons, two moons after Magpie. He was adopted shortly after. They are very close to the same age.

3) Perchclaw died at eleven moons, three years after the deaths of Stonefern and Magpieshine. He was adopted shortly after. He is just over two years younger, though became a warrior at the same time.

4) Treespall and Drizzlestare were conceived two moons after the apprentices earned their warrior names, while Between then and before they were born, Perchclaw became mates with Vireosong.

5) Redpaw died at five moons, and was adopted by Perchclaw and Vireosong.

6) Buzzardblaze, Starlingstrike, Aspenlight, and Dusksong were born six moons after Treespall and Drizzlestare were grown and moved out, making them eighteen moons younger. 

7) Shrikepaw was adopted 

8) three moons after 6 were born, Heatherfrond and Hollymist were born

9) one moon after 8 were born, Wolfpool, Spottedtooth, and Willowcloud were born

10) Waspbeak and Falleniris were born when 9 were fourteen moons old, making them fourteen moons younger.

11) Scabdrip and Blightrain were born when Falleniris was twenty-six moons old, making them that much younger and younger than their cousins, 9, by 40 moons.

12) Thornpool, Thistleeye, Archwing, and Whitebriar were born six moons after 11 were born, making them that much younger and likely born when Scabdrip and Blightrain became apprentices.

13) Condorburn, Harrierflame, and Falconember were born three moons after their cousins, 12, making them that much younger.

14) Shallowfig, Funnelquail, and Hemlockpine were born when 11 were 32, making them 32 moons younger than them and 58 moons younger than their closest-in-age siblings.

15) Racemekit, Poppykit, Tendrilkit, and Mylingkit were born when he was young, twenty-three moons, making them twenty-three moons younger than him.

===========================

===========================

--Stone, Magpie, and Perch became warriors around the same time in spite of the age difference because at that point, it was not common to earn names after death.

@ambitiousauthor

[residents-of-the-darkforest]

All Grand Dark Kits (descendants of Dark Kits)

.

Almondkit, Archwing, Ashytoes, 

Bloodrain, Bubblekit, Buttercupbloom,

Cardinalember, Celadinekit, Condorburn, Coyotekit,

Falconember,

Glassriver, Glasswortkit,

Harrierflame, Heatherfrond, Hollymist,

Ibexit, Indigokit,

Lightkit, Lilaclight, Littlekit, Loquatkit,

Mylingkit,

Orchidsnap, Ospreykit,

Pagrusrose, Poplarkit, Poppykit,

Racemekit, Rhubarbkit, Rosekit,

Sassafraskit, Scabdrip, Scorpionkit, Spottedtooth, Sweetkit,

Tendrilkit, Thistleeye, , Thornpool, Trillflea, Toothwortleaf,

Whitebriar, Willowcloud, Wolfpool, Woolcardersteps,

Vulturekit

.

The Parents:

Blightrain, Scabdrip (Falleniris X Blackfinch)

Redmask (Waspbeak X Sapdew)

Archwing, Thistleeye, Thornpool, Whitebriar (Dusksong X unknown)

Heatherfrond, Hollymist (Treespall X Stonefrost X Ratthorn)

Spottedtooth, Willowcloud, Wolfpool (Drizzlestare X Kestralstorm X Blazestrike)

Condorburn, Falconember Harrierflame (Buzzardblaze X Pheasentdust)

Mylingkit, Poppykit, Racemekit, Tendrilkit (Shallowfig X Rosebee)

Glassriver, Pagrusrose (Shallowfig X Banshee)

Almondkit, Rhubarbkit (Spiderspots X Honeyflower, Hawkflight surrogate)

Poplarkit, Vulturekit (Spiderspots X Honeyflower, Smokyflame + Adderclaw surrogate)

Celadinekit, Glasswortkit, Indigokit, Loquatkit, Sassafraskit (Rosewoodspring X Hawthornfrost)

Coyotekit, Ibexkit, Ospreykit, Scorpionkit (Doefire X Lilyclaw)

Woolcardersteps, Ashytoes  (Proteafang X Tawnytrot, Webfang surrogate [Tawny mother])

Cardinalember, Trillflea (Tawnytrot X Proteafang, Webfang surrogate [Protea mother])

Buttercupbloom, Lilaclight, Orchidsnap, Toothwortleaf (Mellowtooth X Foxglovetrot)

Bubblekit, Lightkit, Littlekit, Rosekit, Sweetkit (Mellowtooth X Willowruffle)

......

I probably forgot some, so if I did let me know!

Taglist: @ambitiousauthor @wills-woodland-warriors @liberhoe @umbranoxs @starfalcon555 @elementaldeityoffood