okay I need to know more about sprucesnout's double forbidden half clan polycule. do his kits have different mothers (i.e. were some of them mothered by pepperstep and the others by brightclover)? are pepperstep and brightclover also mates? if not, do they know that sprucesnout has two mates? are they alright with it?
THE TEA WYRM. I NEED THE PIPING HOT TEA.
-🦂
IM SO SORRY THIS TOOK LIKE 20 YEARS ;^; IVE BEEN SAD, MY B
SO! THE FORBIDDEN HALF CLAN POLYCULE!
I like to imagine that the three of them are childhood friends, kinda? Like, they were all apprenticed at around the same time. Pep and Bright were already crushing on each other, slow burn tiptoeing their way towards being mates, but Bright and Spruce were good Gathering friends, so they all ended up hanging out a lot?
Pepper had a bi panic about Sprucesnout after she and Bright made it official, which Bright thought was adorable. Spruce was either completely oblivious to this, or trying to self sabotage himself because he was sure that there was no way the girls liked him like that. Fidgetwing was very Tired during this period of their life.
They definitely ended up comforting him after Fidgetwing died in Moon 62, and became mates shortly after??? This is a very rough timeline, considering the fact that the Saplings were born not two moons later, but shhhhhhhhhhh, it works.
This is Pepperstep! She's a FloodClan molly, and she was the mother of the Saplings! Pep's a big sweetheart. She's not a big talker, but her love language is acts of service. She's an amazing swimmer, and makes a habit of bringing Sprucesnout and Brightclover pretty fish scales and stones she finds along the FloodClan shores.
My personal headcanon is that she saw Sprucesnout and Riftstar fall into the river back in Moon 45, and helped rescue them? Yes, I know I didn't draw it. Shhhhhhhh. Don't worry about it, it totally happened.
And then we have their mutual mate, Brightclover, who's a WingClan cat living up on the mountainside. She's quite a bit rowdier than Spruce or Pep, loud and cheerful and always willing to throw hands. She's incredibly open about how much she loves her mates, to the dismay of some of her more traditional clanmates. Didn't carry the Saplings because the idea of kitting made her nervous, but then she got embarrassed that she was nervous. She's determined to have the next litter.
