#songkit

As the last months of spring begin to fade into summer, the days grow longer, and the sun begins to beat down on the exposed Loudclan camp, turning young minds to thoughts of a more serious futrue. Songkit asks to speak to Owlstar.

Songkit has chosen to train as a healer, thus removing him from the line of succession. Though it may not be what he would have chosen otherwise, Songkit feels a weight lifted off of his shoulders.

[Me and this moon have beef, let me tell you. It was not meant to be two parts but I am slowly losing the plot in regards to cat anatomy so I need to buy myself time to do some studies so that drawing doesn't feel like wading thru lava. Anyway, regardless of how not fun this one was to draw, I do like the end result! Look at my baby boy! Does he have well adjusted and healthy feelings about his parentage? NO! Is he trying his best? Yes! And that's all we can ask of him, really.]

First Moon

Context since this question is based on tweets i made:

Rainfur and Windlight's first litter is Tawnyspots, "Songkit", and "Mottlekit". (Though Now that there's a Songkit in ScF I'm debating changing his name). They are born shortly before the great hunger. Songkit and Mottlekit replace Thrushkit/pelt and Dapplekit/tail in canon since them being Tawny's littermates fucks EVERYTHING up about their ages in BP. So, Songkit and Mottlekit starve to death at about 1 moon old, while Rainfur is also nursing Fuzzykit (Fuzzypelt), Whitekit (One-eye), and Specklekit (Speckletail), since Hollypelt and Harepounce both died already.

Rainfur makes a very difficult decision. She takes Songkit and Mottlekit to bury them alone, but eats their bodies instead, so she can produce enough milk to feed the other kits.

Windflight doesn't ask about it. He can smell fresh-kill on her when she comes back. Rainfur doesn't speak of it until years later, when she breaks down sobbing an confesses to Windflight what she did. What she had to do, to ensure the survival of the clans' kits.

It takes Rainfur nearly 3 years to want to have kits again. When she discovers she is pregnant, Windflight has to be at her side almost constantly to ease her panic attacks. When they're born, she realizes they look nearly identical to the two kits she was forced to cannibalize. She is full of dread. Is this StarClan saying "We know what you did."? She wanted to have another litter... but she's also deeply traumatized. I wanted to explore how trauma can overlap with one's desire to be a parent.

As for how the reincarnation works... I think that Songkit and Mottlekit's spirits would be merged with Thrushpelt and Dappletail's bodies when they're alive. It's not like a cinderheart situation where they can possess or control their counterparts. It's more like they're riding along in a passenger seat, getting to experience Dappletail and Thrushpelt's lives along with them. I don't think the two would even be aware there's a presence inside them at all. But they're separated once Thrush and Dapple die, and Rainfur is able to reunite with all her kits in StarClan.

(In WCSR, Cinderpelt sometimes reaches for the driver's wheel because she's there against her will. but that's another story lol)

"Songkit is a black-and-white tom."