camp A SADNESS RUNS THROUGH HIM [ grief + 𓆟 ]



() evening comes too slow for pebblepaw's liking. something inside of him is shattered and the feeling resonates into his surroundings. time moves at a honey drop's pace, the sky a wash of indigo and rose with a marigold sun sinking in a view he knows his momma would adore. he can't stand to think about her, think about the damned circumstances leading to him not being there. he goes everywhere with foxtail! everywhere! no pawstep of his mentor's is not matched by his own during the day. internally he knows the rusty patched tom is not at fault, but there is some bitter, child brained part of the apprentice that fully blames foxtail for hazecloud's kidnapping. staring at the tom from across camp, bile rises in his throat. hazecloud is gone, and there's nothing pebblepaw can do about it except hold a grudge.

he thinks about hazecloud to stop himself from thinking about riverpaw, about the horrific rainstorm his brother had been trapped in. he thinks about hazecloud to stop himself from picturing smokestar's hefty body falling... falling... splashing into churning waters below. whenever he closes his eyes and forgets hazecloud is gone, he can see riverpaw and smokestar swapping places, can see white patched bodies soaked with mud, flaming eyes turning to ice, life fading fast from them. salmonshade had said she didn't know if her apprentice had been taken by twolegs or had been lost, but pebblepaw thinks he knows the answer. he can sense it because why wouldn't riverpaw be dead? smokestar is, anyway.

the honey-slow sun melts from the sky as the young apprentice sits with a broken expression outside of the apprentices' den. he can't bare to see the empty spot in the siblings' nest, can't bare to see the fluttering bird chest of shellpaw and not hear the soft snuffles and snores of his brother. pebblepaw gazes at foxtail from across the clearing and sees hazecloud trapped. he spots salmonshade and can hear the crash of booming waves and rumbling thunder, riverpaw stolen. it's all too much for the dappled blue boy to take, and in a flash of a heartbeat, he stands from his silent vigil, paws pattering swiftly to the nursery.

as ember eyes adjust to the dim light of the comforting den, pebblepaw finds his siblings' nest right away. hazecloud's scent is permeates the whole den but is concentrated on her nest. the boy steps into it gingerly without saying a word to the queens and kits who might be watching him. something in him has shattered the way nothing has before. pebblepaw curls in his momma's nest and slips his tail over his eyes, dampening it with hot tears that spill in the darkness.


  • // bingo fish is bluegill! this takes place the night after riverpaw's disappearance, before eveningkit's. " #848DAE"
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  • PEBBLEPAW ☼ HE / HIM, APPRENTICE OF RIVERCLAN. NEPHEW TO SMOKESTAR. 7 MOONS OLD, PENNED BY LAVS
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    a large blue tabby with low white and vitiligo. pale blue fur covers the length of pebblepaw's stocky body, sliced through with darker tabby stripes and spots. baleful orange eyes peer out of heavy set sockets, and his muzzle, paws, and tail tip are dashed with white.
 
  • Crying
Reactions: FOXTAIL

⋆ 。° ✩  Tragedy floods through RiverClan at a choking pace, and it is all Cricketpaw can do not to drown. He is hardly afforded time to mourn the loss of his guiding light before the disappearances begin piling up - and another family member is gone.

They did not know Riverpaw well. They do not have the time to mourn that. Cricketpaw has kept her distance from her cousins, never quite sure what to make of them. The blood of river-kings flows in their veins, yet tainted. A mongrel of a rogue makes a mother to his kin, and it is far too strange to think of her as sister to one so divine. He does not see Smokestar when he looks upon his younger cousins. There was such certainty in the small family he had, a king's bloodline pure and star-blessed. It churned something in his gut to lose that, and so he avoided the three strays.

Maybe he was mistaken, to turn his eyes from his youngest kin. Was there something he could have done?

Riverpaw is gone. Pebblepaw is still here. Cricketpaw keeps their head up, and does not succumb.

Swift, silent footfalls trail after Pebblepaw, eyes blinking against the fading amber dim. "Pebblepaw? Why are you --" She jerks to a stop at the mouth of the nursery puppetstring muscles pulled taut. Never before has the apprentice been in the den, and it feels wrong to start now. Her eyes adjust slowly, to see the small curled form of the younger apprentice. Soft sobs tear through the quiet of the den.

"...Oh," she breathes, something in her eyes softening. She lingers, still does not cross the threshold. A dark paw raises idly to hover in the space between. "I'm --" the works choke out halfway, and Cricketpaw is empty. A soft hum buzzes through her ears, the silent voice of the stars that claimed her father - and likely her cousin as well. They offer no guidance. "I'm sorry." It is a pitiful offering, too vulnerable for the sculpted prince that is Cricketpaw. They are all too aware of their failures. In lieu of the protection she should have offered before it was too late, Cricketpaw has nothing. They are quiet, and they are distant.


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  • CRICKETPAW he / she / they, apprentice of riverclan, eleven moons.
    a wiry, curly-furred black smoke with clouded blue eyes.
    intelligent, egotistical, and strange, with an eye always turned to the stars.
    smokestar xx cicadastar, littermate to beepaw & cicadapaw
    peaceful and healing powerplay permitted / / underline and tag when attacking
    penned by SATURNID ↛ saturnids on discord, feel free to dm for plots.
 
A disturbance. Sedge-kissed eyes flutter awake. Blurry shadows coalesce into a figure, dampened by evening but edged in setting sun. Gray fur sways in the wake of a cool Newleaf wind, but Horizonkit doesn't shelter himself deeper within the nest. Instead he lifts his head, swaying, hope melting the sleepiness from his body, lighting his chest with a delirious warmth. Mom? It nearly slips off his tongue.

Gray fur, but wrong size. Wrong eyes. Wrong face. The fall shouldn't be as bad—Hazecloud and Riverpaw remain absent, but Pebblepaw is here—but his heart slams back down into his stomach all the same. "Peb," Horizonkit quietly chokes, but the older boy ignores him. Like Shellpaw, his shape slumps against his without any of the easy sincerity, woolly tail rushing up to hide his own face instead of around his siblings. A white-gloved paw raises to poke him, almost does, but decides against it at the last second. Instead he resigns himself to pressing their backs together, quietly sharing his trembles, his muffled sobs.

Over the corner of his remaining brother's ear, he spies another cat. They're willowy, but in the way that willow branches are all gnarled and disjointed, and their lake-deep eyes bleed into the dark. Why are you staring? Horizonkit's face scrunches up. Go away. He would trade this cat for Hazecloud, for Riverpaw, in a heartbeat. With no way to though, he would settle for being left alone.

riverclan kit | "speech." | tags
 
Foxtail's heartbeat races in his ears like a roaring monster. His paws lightly tremble, and he wishes he can hide in his nest, away from prying eyes. It feels out of the ordinary, not being out and about with Pebblepaw. Ever since Smokestar entrusted Foxtail to mentor his nephew, there hasn't been many instances where Pebblepaw hasn't by his side. And now today is another instance, and his stomach turns. They should be out at beech copse right now, practicing battle moves. Hazecloud should be here right now, attending to her kits that grow more and more each day. With time, Hazecloud's scent that clings to her nest and the nursery will grow faint, and his guilt grows and grows.

His gaze, momentarily, lands on Pebblepaw's ember eyes. He's met with a gaze that fumes in grief, anger, and loss— a look Foxtail hasn't seen before in his apprentice— and the warrior tears his gaze away before tears swell up in his eyes. Why did I have to make it back? The warrior questions himself, as his claws dig into the soft earth. Why couldn't I have saved her? He finds himself looking back up, but Pebblepaw's harsh stare no longer reaches him. His apprentice enters the nursery, and lays into the empty nest that must belong to Hazecloud. He watches as Cricketpaw trails after his apprentice, and he wishes he had the courage to do the same, but he doesn't dare to approach the nursery. He.... He can't.... not right now. I need to give Pebblepaw space, The warrior concludes as Cricketpaw softly mews something that doesn't reach his ears. With trembling paws, the young warrior slips into the warriors den. He curls into his nest, his back facing the entrance.... hopefully away from prying eyes.


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    credit to raphaelion (via da) for the artwork <3
  • Foxtail
    warrior
    warmhearted
    timid
    experience: trained
    backstory: [HYPERLINK]
    biography: [HYPERLINK]
    credit to kabliahk via insta for the chibi <3
    cisgender male [he / him]
    eyes: green
    pelt: cinnamon/chocolate
    fur length: long
    parents: dawnflower and redfur (riverclan npcs)
    20 moons


 
  • Crying
Reactions: lavs