The wonder of pumpkins [Juniper]

[doom]

The sky was a brilliant shade of light blue, the sun's warmth making this day almost perfect for any kitten that enjoys sunny days. It was cloudless and peaceful, and one little 8 week old would learn exactly what a pumpkin was. Small paws walked onto the over-turned soil, a kitten squealing with delight. She hadn't felt something like this before, only hard, packed dirt and cement. the soft soil comforted her paw pads. The kitten had been traveling for a long time now without her parents.

Her amber eyes were glittering with pleasure when she spotted the large orange 'things'. "Ooh!" shrieked the she-cat galloping towards them. What's this? She opened her mouth and staring gnawing at the round thing. It was hard for her, the kitten starting scratching at it and a hole formed. She put her head through it and a scent of pumpkin insides went through her nostrils. "Ick! That's a horrible smell." she said, cringing. Her paw went inside and felt something gooey, tongue sticking out. Scooping some of the goop, the tortoiseshell looked at it. Seeds!. Her parents taught her about fruits and vegetables that humans grow.

"It's a pumpkin." she said, amused. Jenni taught her about the orange vegetable fill with seeds and orange pumpkin stuff. Oleander looked at the stem and put her mouth around it, dragging the pumpkin to the shade. Pumpkins are so fun!! She continued to claw and bite at it, trying to cut it in half.

[yoyo]

After assuming that the dogs were gone from this area for good, or at least for a while, Juniper had decided to further explore this human place. She had been scared to come here at first after her friend Moon had told her of dogs that lived here, but after exploring for a while, she decided that they didn’t come here often. This place seemed to have lots of food; The rats in the barn, the chickens in their little houses… She had smelled something vaguely familiar coming from this direction, and had followed it here from the barn; something tied with her memories of her first, nice human family. She took her time in walking here, wanting to catch all the sights and smells.

Now that she saw the orange and green things, she remembered why they were so familiar. She had watched her human kit and her parents carve into one of these things with a sharp object and then dig their hands into the fruit-looking-thing. They had pulled out this orange, gooey, mushy stuff that they had put aside. When they were done scooping out that stuff, they had carved out some more of the orange thing and made a sort of human-looking face into it. Then they had taken it out and set it by the front door to their home.

But that wasn’t all. Then they had taken the orange mush and separated the seeds from it. They had dumped the mush out into the garbage can and then taken the seeds and put them in the oven. Juniper watched curiously as they did this. She knew that when her humans put things in the oven, it meant that it would stay there for a while then come out all burnt. She couldn’t understand why they did this. Anyway, then after a while they took out the seeds and ate them.

There was another memory. This one was tied to the smell of the orange masses, not so much sight other than the orange color. The grown human female had spent all day in the kitchen, putting things into the oven and taking them out constantly. Once, she pulled out an orange and brown-thing and left it on the table, about to bring it out to the family waiting in the dining room. While she was busy cleaning up a countertop, Juniper had jumped up onto the island the orange and brown food had been placed on and pushed it off the table. She then jumped down and started to eat it, and it had tasted delicious. Not as good as mashed potatoes, but still good.

She quickened her pace as she neared the orange things--She remembered her human family calling them pumpkins-- When she saw another feline there. She stopped and her ears flicked a few times as she examined her. ’Awww! She’s just a little kitten!’ She thought and smiled at her. She was so cute! It hadn’t been too long ago since she was a kitten, but that didn’t matter right now. She watched her with curious hazel eyes as she got into the pumpkin and dragged it off. Juniper bounded over, smiling, eager to meet the kitten and help her. ”Hiya! I’m Juniper. Stormfeather,” She said, still smiling. ”Need help?” she asked and sat down next to her.

[doom]

The kitten had managed to dig through the pumpkin and was poking her nose through it, trying to figure out where the goop and seeds come from. Oleander shrugged and looked around, spotting another cat. Her amber eyes brightened, and when she was in a happy mood, Oleander would love to meet new cats. She watched her come over and a smile formed on the 8 week old.
"Hi, Juniper!" squeaked the she-cat, paws and maw sticky from being inside the pumpkin, "I'm Oleander Moonspot," she said eagerly, "It's nice to meet you." she was in such a happy mood. "Oh it's okay, I'm fine." mewed Oleander.

The kitten licked some of the pumpkin, "Hey, Juniper, where do the seeds and goop come from the pumpkin?" she asked, tilting her head to the side. Her fur had gotten a little paint job of orange goop and it was sticking to her skin. She ignored this, happy to meet a new friend. Amber eyes looked around, "Nice day isn't it?" she asked, hyper. Her tail wagged like a dogs and her mother found that cute for a kitten, her diamond studded collar glittering in the sunlight.
"Have you ever tasted a pumpkin?" Her ears raised and she smiled brightly. Oleander remembered what her mother told her that one day a year, Hallow-something, humans dress up as creatures and get something called candy. Oleander hadn't tasted it before but there was a stash hidden in her previous owner's house. Jenni had opened it and shared it with her kitten, the poor tortoiseshell didn't like it and the owners got very mad.

"Oh, Juniper, have you ever heard of hallow...er...hallow, oh I can't remember what mommy said it was!" muttered the kitten.

[yoyo]

Just so c o n f u s e d about it.

Juniper watched the kitten as she spoke, wondering if she would ever want to have kittens. They were fun to be around and all, they were energetic and always brought a smile to your face. And overall, they were cute! But… the silver tabby couldn’t really imagine herself taking care of anyone but herself and a friend. How could she feed four five or six little mouths in the middle of cute, lively faces? And feed herself on top of that? Well, she would probably have a mate to help(she didn’t really know if she would ever have a mate; This was actually one of the first times she had thought of that) but still. It was a lot of responsibility and she wasn’t sure if she could handle all of that.

But it would be fun. Fun to name the kittens, watch them grow up. But then what if they left? Well, not exactly a what if, but a when. She would get all emotionally attached and stuff and… Well she had heard this from her human family. The two grown humans had been talking about their kit’s future when the mother started crying and going on about what she was going to do when their daughter, who was really just past the baby stage of a human life cycle, didn’t need her anymore.

And why did people decide to have kittens, anyway? Or did it just… Happen. Well, she knew how it happened, but why did cats want to actually have kittens like, on purpose? Juniper couldn’t wrap her brain around it. Sure they were cute and all, but… Why? Why, why, why?! It wasn’t like she could just ask somebody, they’d think she was weird or creepy or messed up or rude or all of those things! Plus Juniper would feel stupid; She felt like everyone already knew the answer to the question. So why didn’t she, also, know the answer? Was there something wrong with her?

She blinked her hazel eyes as she remembered that she was supposed to be talking. She was caught off guard by all the questions, not sure which to answer first. ’I guess all kittens are like this, always asking questions’ She thought. Thought she was barely old enough to be called an adult herself, she couldn’t really remember a time when she asked questions constantly. It actually wasn’t annoying; It was kind of cute. And funny.

Deciding that she should answer the questions in the order they came, she took a deep breath and answered them all without stopping to think. ”Well, I don’t know. I guess they just kind of… Appear there or something. Or they grow inside of the orange shell thing over time or something like that. It’s a perfect day for exploring, I think! That’s what brought me here, just wandering. I tasted a human thing with pumpkin and other stuff mixed together, but never just a pumpkin… But I think that’ll probably change today. Hallow… Rings a bell. Some human thing, right? Umm… I remember my family did something that started with hallow… I can’t remember what or what it was called… Hallowsomething.”

Lyrics: What Goes Around Comes Around by Justin Timberlake

Mod's Edit on 10/12/08: This thread is being locked and archived due to inactivity. We'll assume that the following happened:
-Juniper and Oleander talked while fishing out seeds from the pumpkins.
-After talking for a bit, they went their seperate ways.