Under the blanket of night, where Kite could see a bit better, the pair meandered to the site of the bonfire. Clenched lightly in his teeth was a bundle of fur scraps wrapped in straw, with one long tendril acting as a little handle for the boy. Their father's feline companion was trailing along behind them, keeping an eye on the duo. Already, he could see the halo of light from the massive bonfire ahead.

" 'm gonna make a kitty, m'be." he said quietly around the straw in his mouth. Glancing over to his sister, already showing that she was going to be a lot bigger than he was, even if she was gonna be lacking in the boy's particular variety of heftiness. "What're you gonna make?" he asked next, feinting to the side to lightly bump her shoulder affectionately.

"Stratum Fatalis"

The nocturnal wolf made her way closer to the bonfire. She glanced in its direction, and let out a hiss before sliding down her blindfold. She leaned against Stratum, and let him lead her towards the flames. Once there, she trusted him to face her away from the fire, and pushed away the heavy black fabric. She could see Stratum, highlighted by the flames behind her. But the night air stretched away from them, and she let out a satisfied humph. It would do.

“A kitty, like Lioness?” she asked, glancing to the side - careful not to turn around at all - as she looked for her companion. She didn’t immediately see Lioness, and assumed the cat was having fun stalking the night. “I dunno…” she hesitantly, and then grinned “I’m gonna make a crystal to cast in the fire” She decided. that was something she’d happily let go of.

"Speech"

The familiar, comforting brush of his sisters pelt against his flank greeted him as she settled beside him. They kept their backs to the bonfire so Kite could see better while they worked. He slowly unwound the straw that held the fur scraps in place, and let them fall into the space between his paws. The blond boy flicked an ear back towards her as she spoke up, bobbing his head in agreement as she referred to her own feline companion. She told him, rather emphatically, that she was gonna make herself a crystal to toss into the bonfire.

He wasn’t sure how Kite would go about that, but he was gonna focus on his own stuff. He rolled up one scrap of fur, wrapped it with a bit of straw to hold it in place, and decided that looked like a leg. A kitty leg! ”Apparently we gotta put all of our bad feelings into the little things, so we can burn the bad things and start the new year without the bad things.” he said quietly, trying to make conversation while also being completely unsure of how to go about it.

Kite nodded her head, frowning in thought. She grabbed her straw and started pulling it into a spikey sort of shape. Like crystals she had seen. She couldn’t put it into the smooth shape of her eye, so she had to improvise. She grabbed another bit of straw, and began to scrunch it into a circle-like shape. Thinking of her eyes as she did. It looked orbish… with a little imagination.

“All my bad feelings, eh?” She clarified as her brother spoke. She thought of all the bad things her older brother had said to her. How she was useless, a waste of space. That she should fall down a hole somewhere and get lost. She wouldn’t be so useless without her disability. If her eyes didn’t hinder her every single day. She scrunched the orb a little tighter than necessary, and then stabbed her spiky ‘crystal’ straw pieces through it. “Okay, I made the thing, and though all my bad thoughts. Should we cast them into the fire together?” she would need Stratum’s help with that. Once she faced the fire, she wouldn’t be able to see. Her disability at work again.


"Speech"

Quietly working away on his little kitty, he listened to the crunch of straw in his sisters grasp. Yeah, he knew there were plenty of bad feelings somewhere in the back of her mind. Their older brothers were so cruel to her and Vanta for being blind, and they weren’t all that nice to Crux either. It made him feel bad in a very different way, but he kept his mouth shut. Why make it worse by complaining for them?

”Yeah… bad feelings.” he sighed. He missed his mama. She was never gonna come home and he missed her so much every day. He wished they could go home, go back to before they ever came to this dumb castle and mom got sick. They were gonna go home with just dad, and have to think the whole way about how she wasn’t gonna be able to tuck them all into bed every night.

Before he knew it, there was a poorly constructed poppet resting between his little paws. The little kitty was lopsided, but all the legs were attached. The head lolled over at an odd angle, with two tufts of fur poking up to resemble ears. It looked sad. Like he felt, deep down inside. Kite spoke up, ready to toss her creation into the sacred flames. He glanced up, blinking away tears he didn’t realize were welling up in his little silver eyes. ”Yeah, let’s go. You can, uh, lean against me and.. I’ll tell you when to throw it?” he said quietly, lowering his head to pick up the little straw and fur poppet in his teeth.

He moved slowly, taking deliberate steps and doing his best to avoid wobbling precariously. He didn’t wanna knock Kite over as she was depending on him to lead the way and keep her from tumbling into a fire. Once he could feel the heat of it singing his whiskers, he stopped in his tracks. A gentle nudge of his cheek against Kite’s, and he sucked in a deep breath. ”On the count of three,” he said. And when he hit three, he tossed his little poppet into the flames. He could see it catch, being literally made of tinder and kindling, and by the time it landed in those smouldering coals it was nearly gone.

He wasn’t sure all of those bad feelings were gone with it.

Kite heard his sigh, and glanced over at him. She suspected he was thinking about their mother, but Kite wasn’t prepared to face those thoughts yet. Mum would be there, when they went home to the mountain. She had to be, that was their home. That was where she had always been. Dad saying she was gone was stupid. She couldn’t be gone… not really. So it was her disability she concentrated on. That was real. And a constant pain in her life.

Kite gave her brother a nudge, seeing how sad he looked. “Everything will be okay, you’ll see” she said supportively, before lowering her eye coverings again with a sigh. She scrambled about for her eye and crystal creation. Grabbing it in her teeth and leaning on her brother. She could feel the heat of the fire, and Stratum told her to count to three. She did so, and tossed her little creation. She couldn’t see it, but she could hear the fire popping and crackling, and she knew Stratum would have said something if she’d missed.



"Speech"