All the adorable kitties are raising so many "Spellbound" questions: does mama!cat!katniss cuddle her babies in human form or cat form or both? Do the toastkitties have to learn how to transform, or is it something they do uncontrolled as kids/kittens and then learn to control? Does Peeta feel left out? Do they ever get a dog? Inquiring minds want to know! xo, ccb
Ooooooh such good questions!
So I imagine that the discovery of their ability to shape shift is almost like puberty. Random odd things happen either in sleep or when they’re not expecting them, around the age of five or so. It’s not forgone that a witch will be able to shapeshift at all. Katniss can, Prim can’t for example. But Prim does have a Familiar (Buttercup). Anyhow, I imagine it as a child wakes up with whiskers, or their ears in the wrong place for a human, or sometimes their vocal chords go all wonky and produce strange sounds, or wow my leg hair grew really fast wait it’s so soft?????
For toastbabygirl the first, it was the whiskers and the random bits of fur. Toastbabygirl the second had to take a break from choir for “laryngitis” aka as randomly mewling like a cat. Also the girls are twins but you didn’t get that spoiler from me. Toastbaby boy developed an insatiable appetite for cold cream on literally everything he ate and also would not stop scratching up the furniture.
From there, they have to hone the skill and learn how to shift completely as well as how to control it.Once they learn to control it, the random incidents taper off then stop.
Mama Katniss absolutely cuddles her babies in both human form and cat form. She shifts with them to teach them how not only to shift but also how to act like a cat successfully so they can blend in and not be suspected.
Peeta has a stupid number of pictures of his family in both forms. Sometimes he forgets and shows off the pictures of his cat family to his brothers or friends and they’re all.... okay that’s great you have so many cats but what about the kids or you know... your wife???
Peeta does not feel left out because SPOILER ALERT! something Katniss is going to learn in Spellbound is that Peeta sometimes sleeps better or deals with his PTSD better with a cat curled up in bed with him. Now, obviously having Katniss beside him in human form works just as well, but the bed sharing starts with cat!Katniss. Then, when they have the kids and the kids are learning to shift, they discover the joys of cuddling with dad in that way, too. Cat pile on Dad!!!!!
The girls like to perch on his shoulders. Toastboy drags stuffed animals to the foot of the bed then noses his way under the covers. Or he’ll show up in human form and “Pssst. Can I sleep with you and Mom?” And suddenly Peeta has at least one cat, maybe more sitting on his face or chest. With the content cat tail flick happening.
Katniss (will not admit it but) often shifts into a cat when she’s the one feeling out of sorts. It makes it easier for her to hide, but also easier for Peeta to pick her up and carry her to bed for snuggles. The only time he’s truly annoyed with her shifting is when she uses it to end a disagreement. But even when that happens, it’s mainly for a reprieve. She’ll go up on the roof and be generally aloof and cagey but then she’ll eventually come back down, cuddle up to Peeta, and then shift back so they can talk it out.
He’s briefly jealous of Katniss’ ability or at the least wishes he could shift with her, until that one time shortly after they’re married when Katniss spends half a day in the woods as a cat, thinking naughty thoughts about her human hubby. Her idea of foreplay that day? Sitting on his lap then shifting back to human form. Completely nude. Ahem. After a rather wild night of (strictly human form) sex, they wake up to a herd of male tomcats yowling underneath their bedroom window.
Katniss is incensed. Peeta is highly amused. Especially after Katniss insists that nothing like that has ever happened to her before. He asks if she’s not even the slightest bit curious about it, and she smacks him with a pillow and threatens to ask Prim to brew a potion to turn him into a cat.
She’s blushing when she says that. Peeta let’s it go because he doesn’t want to embarrass her too much. But Katniss learns not to fantasize about Peeta while she’s in cat form.
By the time kids come along, though, Peeta doesn’t feel left out at all because Katniss trusts him so much with her secrets. She openly performs magic in front of him and has emotionally let down her guard enough that when they do meet the occasional other witch, she doesn’t bat at eye at Peeta being in that part of her life. She knows he wouldn’t hurt her or any of the others.
He’s also even involved in their learning their crafts as much as possible. Now imagine this: Kittens climbing up Peeta’s pants leg like he’s a tree while Mama cat!Katniss watches with pride. Reward for good climbing skills -- a nose boop and a snuggle from Dad. You’re welcome.
Do they ever get a dog? Yes. Toastbaby boy befriends a massive stray dog while he’s out and about as a kitty and keeps insisting that the dog is his Familiar. Buttercup is disgusted and insists that is an insult. Prim does not share that with anyone because she loves her nephew too much to break his heart. Instead she and toastbaby boy weave flower crowns for the dog. The pooch is welcomed into the family and the toastbabies can often be found in a cat pile on top of him. The dog also takes an excessive liking to Katniss. It’s her shoes that he chews up and once, he even noses through their dirty laundry and steals something of Katniss’. She is unamused and highly annoyed. But she also takes “The great slobbery beast” into the shop with her where he is shockingly well behaved.
Eventually, there are other dogs as well, but they have to go through a rigorous screening since there’s so many ways a normal dog could cause problems for a witch family.
