It was easier to allow the exhaustion to overtake her, to take any moment she could to sleep in and ignore the chaos that her hellion children would no doubt be causing. But they were growing so quickly, so voraciously and Freja had signed up to at least try to raise them. And that meant showing them things, taking them places, even if it likely would just end in a headache. It wasn't just her own children, there were plenty in the Brook who might appreciate a little excursion outside the borders for once. Freja had let out a summoning call for any of her nieces and nephew to come along for the ride.

It was not meant to be a hugely taxing trek, out into the Grove. As she walked, Freja plucked several stems of Nibima that were just beginning to show themselves since the winter snows. It was an abundant plant in this part and she did it almost without thinking about it, humming beneath her breath as she found a glade that she could settle down in and see just who had managed to come with her - if any of them.

@Kincade @Caius @Cassian @Caydin @Caelus @Estrella @Moontide @Zira @Sarai @Ashland

+5 - Collect herbs

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Going outside of the borders should have been a wonderois treat deserving of appreciation. Yet Freja would get none from Kincade. The dark pelted boy marching behind his mother and growling at everything that moved. Including the splotched lioness. A few times he dared bite into her tail when it hung too low.

Now he had made his way infront of his mother. Still growing limbs stronger than ever before. The boy near double the size a cub of his young age ought. Paws comically too large for his stature began to pound the ground around him. Utterly destroying any plant in his path. Giggling darkly as he did so. Knowing damn good and well that @Freja was attempting to harvest some for herself.

code by scorpixia♡︎ | art by drifter

— C A S S I A N —

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Exhaustion covered him like a wet blanket and yet there was an attempt to drain their energy; a disruption to his days of lazing about, a challenge that he didn't want to rise to but had too. 'Want to sleep,' his thoughts would coil about his head as he slumps up from the den and starts to rapidly sprint after @Freja.

Little legs carried the toddler forward and yet it was the determination that kept him upright as he trailed after. The boy would push his ears back against his head while slinking after her; complaints spewing immaturely from his tongue - only to halt as he perks up upon seeking his brother.

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art by drifty ♡︎ code by scorpixia

It was the furthest they had gone - Caelus rushes to keep up with their birth womb and his brothers. Mostly it is his brothers that urge him to leave the den as the majority of @Freja's words seem to fall on deaf ears. The boy crinkles his nose at the fact that their mother calls for others. He had seen the other cubs playing in the Brook, but they were not his father nor his brothers, and so often Caelus had chosen to ignore them instead for his favorites. He didn't need anyone else - only them. While he allows @Kincade and @Cassian to take charge leading ahead, he dutifully follows as they step over the borders and out into the surrounding grove. It wasn't much different than their home, but the boy stands there indifferent to what is supposed to be a fun family outing.

SPEECH

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Her sons followed, which really was a miracle in itself if the feline were being honest. Often, they were such a unit, working together as only cubs knew how to undermine and outright disobey their mother. Cassius was no help - he actively encouraged the behaviour. Like @Kincade stomping on the herbs she gathered - Freja managed to snatch a few crumpled plants before it was all destroyed. A disapproving frown was all that came from the woman as they moved further into the clearing.

Sharp eyes spies the large orange gourd and immediately the woman stopped. Boys - come away from that. She instructed, vividly remembering the explosion she had experienced with Kamaria very recently. Her thoughts had lingered on the moon-marked child long into the night after their chance meeting in these woods. It'll explode and you'll be covered in pumpkin guts. Which no doubt they would all find very amusing.

@Cassian @Caelus

code by scorpixia ♡︎ || art by editjackson

double, double toil and trouble;
fire burn, and cauldron bubble...

Nafasi watches from the bushes, never once letting herself be seen by those huddled around her perfectly-placed pumpkins. They really were a curious bunch, weren't they? But, unfortunately for them, the sprite was feeling extra mischievous today, and had a trick up her sleeve! And so, with a small grin, the being tilted her maw down towards the earth, eyes glowing, before she gave a pointed flicker of her tail and brought her vision to life in the process.

Uh oh...

The pumpkin beneath you beings to vibrate before decaying and collapsing in on itself. Seconds later, what looks to be thousands of spiders begin to crawl out of every crevice of the oozing pumpkin, skittering across the earth in a leg-filled frenzy. By your next breath, the ground is completely covered in those gross, ghastly bugs - and judging by the way that they're moving towards you, you just might be next!