"Friends of a Feather" Lofty Lux

"Friends of a Feather."

The best thing about the beginning of Autumn was that the Dog Days of Summer were over. The heat and humidity finally giving way to lower temperatures and blustery breezes. Promises of longer nights, cooler days and all the coming activities that would have the streets of Silverlight bustling with busy Kitsu.

Autumn meant Harvest Festival, meant Hallowed Haunt, meant Sweetie's Tooth would be reopening soon, with the possibility of new kit costumes this year! Better yet, Autumn meant Winter was on its way, with even better sweet treats and gift giving (and gift getting)!

But Lofty Lux was getting ahead of themself. They were more often than not, getting ahead themself, getting into (and out of) trouble, getting underfoot, getting into their parent's hair and on their siblings' nerves. It wasn't that they were a bad kid, they just had a lot of energy and even more curiosity. 

This afternoon they'd been banished from the house and sent outside with their snack. Lofty had recently learned something fun to do involving little bite sized fruits and nuts. Toss a bit up into the air, tilt your head back, close your eyes (the most important part) and catch it in your open mouth. 

Doing it with your eyes open was way too easy, they'd mastered doing that in just a day. Doing it with your eyes closed? That was awesome! However the learning curve was a little bit steeper. Dropping nuts or popped corn wasn't a big deal, they hardly left any mess at all and could be blown off for a second or third try. Grapes or cherries however, (their current favorite fruit) well, when you missed one of those, they more often than not went /splat/ which was messier and made them way less tasty if you caught it on the second try. Luxy didn't recommend a third try, the splat was bigger and the juice went everywhere and it left tell-tale little stains.

Now that they were outside, and the practice was paying off, Lofty got a chance to practice the other awesome trick they'd recently learned. After successfully catching a cherry, they gently chewed and sucked all of the flesh off the pit, making sure to get off as much as possible. They were currently sitting on the porch railing (best place to sit for this trick and to watch out for the occasional kitsu going by) and they leaned back, taking a big breath of air while holding the cherry pit in their teeth. Once they'd gotten the biggest breath in that they could muster, they quickly launched the pit with as much air force as they could put behind it and watched as it soared through the air, over oblivious kitsu's heads and /just/ miss the puddle down the street that they'd been aiming for. The pit skittered across the cobblestones and came to a rest somewhere out of sight. And that had been their last cherry too. Oh well. It was closer than they'd gotten to that particular puddle than any other time they'd aimed for it, so they were getting better.

Lofty hummed, eating a few more bites without even tossing them, when an idea struck. 

What if, instead of just tossing and catching with their eyes closed, they tossed the bit higher up into the air, like way high! Plucking a blueberry (their favorite fruit last month) from the near empty bowl, they hopped down from the railing and moved into a clear space. They tossed, tilted their head back, aaaand. Nothing. Not even a splat. Well, Lofty thought, they weren't going to manage it on the first try, even if their tossing skill was /so good/, but as they looked around for the blueberry, it wasn't anywhere to be seen.

They looked left, looked right, even looked among the flowerpots tucked around the porch. Okay, so. Maybe not so high this time. A grape was plucked from the bowl, the only things left now were a couple of peanuts.

Lofty tossed, high, but not as high, tilted their head back, eyes closed, aaand. Nothing. Again. Their tails flicked in frustration.

What in the vanishing snacks was happening?

Emptying their snack bowl of the few remaining peanuts into their palm, Lofty returned to the clear spot. They'd try it with their eyes open, just once, just to see. 

Toss, tilt, aand. 

A little bird swooped just as the peanut reached its apex, caught it neatly in their beak and landed on the porch railing, making short work of its prize.

"Cheeky little bird." 

Lofty laughed, tossing the last nut birdward. It was as easily caught as the other snack bits.