#smalljump

[residences-of-the-darkforest]

Now that I have a firm choice of who the mother is, here's a redesign!

I thought it would be cute if he looked almost exactly like his surrogate mom!

He also has ear tufts like his grandpapa Smalljump and his tongue colour matches Sparktail, his surrogate grandma. His nose colour matches his father, Tawnyshriek.

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Base: 190 - F2U by SugarPhlox on DeviantArt

[residences-of-the-darkforest]

Smalljump, after Leafcurl tells him that she's going to carry kits for a couple: MY BABY'S HAVING BABIES

Leafcurl: no, dad, they technically won't be mine

Leafcurl: Sparktail, can you tell him--

Sparktail: THE BABY'S HAVING BABIES

@elementaldeityoffood

[residences-of-the-darkforest]

We got an official reason for why Curlear never went to the Dark Forest to be with her baby boy!

She believes that Smalljump didn't survive in the Dark Forest, and doesn't want to have her worst fears confirmed. She would rather never see him again and have that hope that he's still okay than finding out her worst nightmare is true--but she doesn't know that he's actually doing great

[residences-of-the-darkforest]

Something that I haven't really talked about before but I SHOULD HAVE is that Smalljump has extremely bad anxiety, like, crippling anxiety.

It was even stated in his story that he would hide away or pretend to be sick to avoid training because he would rather earn his full name late than be around his bullies.

And because I love connecting things to animals, you know what other cat gets anxiety? Cheetahs! So anyway Sparktail is his emotional support dog best friend and he chirps for her and/or Basiltooth when he gets the bad chest feeling.

It's also likely that takes soothing herbs regularly.

EDIT: I was reminded of this while listening to Overwhelmed by Royal & The Serpent, which as far as I can tell is about overstimulation (which Small does experience) and anxiety

@elementaldeityoffood

[residences-of-the-darkforest]

Smalljump family tree

(Really hope the link works!)

I'll do more when I can, though I'm not sure if I should add the surrogates' families or just have that on a separate thing.

I also want to make a masterpost of all the family trees on family echo so that they don't get lost!

(btw red=in the Dark Forest)

[residences-of-the-darkforest]

SMALLJUMP GRANDBABIES!

Charlynx is the bio kit to Tarantulastar and adoptive kit to Hummingbirdstar.

Batkit was a living kit that died and was adopted by the family (this is how he looks as an adult, if it wasn't obvious).

They were both three moons old when they came together, though Char is older by two weeks.

How exactly Bat joined the family I'm still figuring out. I imagine he found comfort in the Gossamer Trees, where Tarantula's family lives, because the many web-covered trees would provide shelter for whatever hawk would try to get him (there isn't any, but he's a scared kit). But that's as far as I've decided.

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Base: F2U Oriental Longhair Cat Base by Grassdew44 on DeviantArt

[residences-of-the-darkforest]

Family line-up!

I wanted to see them through the generations :]

Smalljump, then his youngest kit, Tarantulastar, then Tarantula's kit, Charlynx (no name because it's flipped)

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Bases:

Small and Tarantula

Char

[residences-of-the-darkforest]

Smalljump grandbaby!!

Bio parents: Crowsage and Tarantulastar

Adoptive parents: Hummingbirdstar and Tarantulastar

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Because Humming is so small and Tarantula is so huge, they didn't want to have bio kits together because of the health risks to her or the kits. (The fact that someone else, Ferndoe, had a difficult birth and had a kit with health defects because her mate was larger only solidified their idea [and their size difference is much greater]).

So instead they went the surrogate route.

It just so happened that Crowsage, a she-cat, had her own mate who she wanted kits with, but both being gals they couldn't do it on their own. They came to an arrangement that they would help each other have kits, and Crowsage would feed them until they could be weaned. If the litter was even, they would split them in half (Tarantula takes two, Crowsage takes two), if it was odd, Crowsage would take the majority.

It wasn't like splitting a family up. Sure, they lived in different areas, but it wasn't like living in different Clans. They wouldn't grow to be enemies or would have to fight against each other, and they could visit each other as much as they wanted, no big deal.

The families also made sure that the kits kept in touch whenever they could, but also kept apart long enough so that the kit Tarantula and Humming got saw only them as his parents, and that Crowsage's kits only saw her and her mate as their parents (if they're together too much it gets confusing, especially with Crowsage having nursed).

ALSO! There will be a Clan-born kit that will arrive and be adopted by the family when they're very close to Char's age.

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Char's pelt comes from Crowsage's main colour, which looks like a burnt version of either Smalljump or Tarantula, hence the 'Char'. It also leads back to the family friend and @elementaldeityoffood 's character, Sparktail.

@starfalcon555 finally got the design done after a while of struggling with it! (Trick is, change the base).

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Base: F2U Oriental Longhair Cat Base by Grassdew44 on DeviantArt