@emotional-support-gummgumm

The heirs had been off romping about with their games when Venga spotted something shimmery! Wiggling her tiny tail in anticipation, she pounced the feather with a squeak and jumped as her fluffy black mane became fluffy black feathers!

In the blink of an eye, the youngest heir was a pom-pom of fluffy black downy with two bright blue eyes peering from the fluff. "YA!" she squeaked, garnering the attention of her siblings.

"Venga?" Velda called, "Whachu yellin' for?"

"I'll check on her," Sturgeous volunteered and trundled over. He stopped and cocked his head at his little sister. "Venga?"

Two bright blue eyes peered at him from the black downy fluff. "Juss!" she squeaked and scuttled off the feather, pointing at it. "Bah!"

Sturgeous furrowed his brow. "What's that?" he asked and cautiously crept forward, papping it with a paw. He squeaked, startled by what felt like a static shock as his mane too became feathers! Though not as fluffy and a little more fledged, he still had a mane of black feathers speckled with white dots.

"Bah!!!" Venga squeaked and pointed at his head.

"Huh?" Sturgeous grunted and felt his head. His mane. It wasn't stringing and wiry like normal! It was... fluffy! Fluffy and weird feeling!

"Bronté!" Sturgeous called. "Bronté the greys are back!"

"The greys are back!?" chorused the other three siblings who charged over to the two.

Sturgeous scooped up the feather, holding a paw out to keep his siblings from touching it. "Don't touch the feather! It's got grey magic!"

Bronté squinted as he and Velda sniffed the air around Sturgeous and Venga, while Braxas tried to stand taller to get a better look over the hunched bulk of his siblings.

"What is it?" he asked curiously.

"I think it's a feather," Sturgeous answered, looking at the feather in his paw.

"I think we better tell Papi and Father," Bronté said firmly. "Sturgeous, put the grey-feather in your pouch and carry Venga. We don't know if the grey magic will go to us if we touch you to."

"Got it," Sturgeous said, stashing the feather and hoisting Venga onto his back. "Let's go tell father."

With that, the whelp quintet hurried down the way, Braxas, Bronté, and Velda forming a protective V formation around their younger siblings.

‘You may look at the Swift, but it is not for filling bellies. Don’t take any bites out of it; if you do I will never forgive you.’

Bebe nap time

The heirs skidded to a halt and looked at each other. If the sea-shell witch wanted their papi as a pet-towed... then that meant she was the one who turned him into one!

“Don’t worry, we’ll get her!” Velda announced, waving the little seashell. “Nobody turns our papi into a towed and gets away with it!”

“But what if she turns us into toweds???” Sturgeous panted, looking up at his sister.

“She won’t!” Velda said with the assured confidence of a stubborn toddler.

“And if she does, we’ll get her back for it,” Braxas whispered and pat his stumpy brother on the shoulder.

The heirs gather round the seashell, each of them sniffing it excitedly.

“Towed’s been gone since Papi came home,” Bronté said, pawing at the seashell.

“Whatcha mean?” Braxas asked, trying to get a look at the ridged back of the seashell. “Papi was the towed!”

Velda stuffed her nose into the smooth, curved inside of the shell, taking a big whiff before pulling back with a wide, toothy grin. “But now we’s got a new hunt! 'N’ this shell gonna lead us ta them!”

The three cheered as Velda held up the shell and bounded away, Bronté and Braxas following her.

//Sturgeous is a soft-heart. He’s the type who would be chewed up and spat out for his kindness, who’d curl up and wait for the pain to ebb, but then be back on his business of kindness, though in quieter, less open but still meaningful ways.

//He’s definitely an example of the Bonachard heart. A heart that he definitely came by honestly from his grandmother Josephine/Jāda on Bonely’s side.

Sturgeous is scampering up the path, his helper thrall right behind him.

“We almost have it!” The little heir bellowed gleefully. “Father just needs this to catch it and we’ll have it!”