#tigerbounce

The two ginger toms were perched atop Tigerbounce’s back, and the tiny, spotted blue she-cat wriggled in her jaws as she limped back to camp. A lingering taste of juniper ailed her tongue from the amount of berries she had shoveled into her mouth in an attempt to be able to return to camp in the least amount of pain as possible, and she was still wracking her brain for some sort of explanation for why one of the kits she… “found…” looked like a mini version of the mysterious, ghostly she-cat currently haunting PowerClan.

Night had settled over the camp when Tigerbounce returned, and she crept as quietly as possible into the medicine den where Dimpleface, Fuzzyfur, and their patients were sleeping soundly. Tigerbounce’s kits relentlessly mewled, and desperately she took to one of the nests, covering the three tiny bodies with her massive tail to dampen their noise.

Panic shot through her veins when Dimpleface stirred with a mrrp?. The grey she-cat yawned quietly, her yellow eyes blinking open slowly, and Tigerbounce lied in horrible, anxious wait.

“...Tigerbounce?” Dimpleface finally asked in a raspy voice, quickly waking up. After her eyes looked the ginger she-cat up and down, her brows furrowed, and she spoke again. “What happened to you? You look a mess.”

“I was, um,” Tigerbounce began, her face hot with nervousness, “searching for herbs, and I went at night so I could— it would be quieter, and, um, I found…” Tigerbounce shifted her great tail, revealing the three tiny kits mewing aimlessly at her belly.

“Oh, dear StarClan,” came Dimpleface’s exasperated voice immediately.

“They’re not mine,” Tigerbounce immediately continued, then for a moment, panicked—if she had truly just found these kits abandoned, would she feel the need to convince Dimpleface they weren’t hers? Or would she assume that Dimpleface would understand? “I-I just… found them. By the Thunderpath.”

Dimpleface gave a quick stretch and padded over to the herb stores, sifting through them for basic strength herbs to attempt to give the kits she assumed had been abandoned for StarClan knows how long. Tigerbounce’s kits were perfectly healthy for newborns, but… she figured the herbs would be good for them anyway.

“Did you name them?” Dimpleface asked idly.

“Did I— what?” Yes, Tigerbounce did name them, but it was odd for Dimpleface to care about something like that.

“Well, you found them,” she explained matter-of-factly. “I assume you gave them names if you went out of your way to bring them back to camp. And I also assume you’re taking it upon yourself to take care of them?”

Did she really have a choice? “Ah, I did… name them, yes.”

“Well?” Dimpleface gestured for Tigerbounce to keep talking. “Go on, then.”

Tigerbounce shifted her tail again, revealing the busily nursing kits to Dimpleface. “The lighter ginger one is Starkit, and the darker ginger one is Sparkkit. And the blue one—the only she-cat—her name is Moonkit.”

Tigerbounce was fascinated by the way Dimpleface’s expression had gone so soft. “They look brand new. There’s no chance they’d survive in the cold alone.” Dimpleface paused, her expression morphing into something unreadable. “Perhaps they hadn’t been left for long.”

“...Perhaps,” Tigerbounce agreed, uneased by Dimpleface’s shift in expression, once again covering her kits with her tail. She turned to the bundle of herbs Dimpleface was bringing over, and her face contorted in confusion.. “Dimpleface, the kits can’t… eat those.”

“They’re not for the kits.” She handed Tigerbounce a bundle of what she recognized as borage, chervil, and thyme.

Tigerbounce bristled in horror. Was it that obvious? “D– Dimpleface, I don’t— I’m not—”

“I’m not a mousebrain, Tigerbounce,” she said with a deadpan expression.

Tigerbounce grew silent, dread creeping into her expression. Her maw had parted as she grasped her mind for a frantic explanation. “No, I—”

“Dear StarClan, flatten your fur,” Dimpleface interrupted grumpily, already annoyed she was woken up for something like this. “I won’t gain anything from spilling secrets of your pitiful personal life to our clan. And I don’t care for trivial things like mates and kits anyhow.” She shoved the herbs closer to Tigerbounce. “Now eat your herbs.”

Tigerbounce felt herself deflate as Dimpleface turned back to where Fuzzyfur was sprawled out snoring. Her green eyes turned down to the herbs, and after an aching silence, she relented and took the leaves into her mouth.

“So they are yours.”

Tigerbounce’s head shot up. Dimpleface wasn’t donning a smug grin like she had assumed she would. Instead, it was her usual scrutinizing, judging expression, like every hair on Tigerbounce’s body had personally wronged Dimpleface.

“I-I thought you—” Tigerbounce began to panic again. “You were acting like—”

“Well, I knew,” Dimpleface said matter-of-factly, curling up next to Fuzzyfur. “For StarClan’s sake, Sparkkit is just a smaller version of you! I just wanted confirmation, is all.”

“Is…” Tigerbounce swallowed thickly, her ears flicking back. “Is it that obvious?”

“There are not many cats in this Clan who are as intelligent and detail-oriented as me, Tigerbounce,” Dimpleface said idly as she rested her head down and closed her eyes. “If you don’t tell anybody, they won’t think anything of it.”

“And… you won’t—”