pafp above the outer atmosphere — moping

[GRAVELSNAP]

No one told Gravelpaw just how bad the aftermath of a battle could be. Well, Houndthistle tried to warn them, they suppose—but Gravelpaw had ignored him, and gone to get vengeance for Juniperfrost’s death anyway. Was their mentor wrong? Houndthistle had lost everything, after all. Perhaps Gravelpaw, and WindClan as a whole, just got lucky. They slump onto their haunches, head hanging low. Their torn ear flicks with irritation, and their tail lashes against the dirt.

They’re moping—no, not moping, that makes them sound like a child. They’re… considering. Their injuries ache, sting with every movement. They can’t walk right, because the deep bite in their paw makes it painful to put weight on it. They should have gone to see Vulturemask, but thoughts of the healer’s den sends a chill down their spine. They don’t trust the shifty healer as far as they could throw him.

// @cottonkit
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[ DEATH OF A DREAM ]​

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[cottonsprig]

Cottonkit's view of the battle is skewed by virtue. Even if her apprenticeship was pushed up a few days, she would not have been allowed within either raid party - her untrained claws at best could ward off mosquitoes, after all. At the end of the day, all she saw was plenty of injured WindClan cats, but none more dead. And genuinely to her, that was enough to call it a win.

That may not be the case for Vulturemask, now that the tom has all this work to do in patching up miscellaneous wounds and injuries. Cottonkit is no Vulturemask and wouldn't ask to be - though her curiosity supersedes plenty of her more natural instincts, this is not a game she's quite ready to play. That said, seeing Gravelpaw sitting alone in camp, their own wounds still oozing and appearing as fresh as the day they got them, she decided to be the deft kitten to remind them of them.

"Gravelpaw!" she calls as she strides over, only vaguely remembering how the bicolored feline nearly tussled with her brother. They played with battle-strategy-stones not long after, and weren't a part of the apprentices that got punished for the prank, so to Cottonkit, they were okay for now. She doesn't mind to keep her distance, instead jutting a white paw in the direction of one of their scabbing wounds. "Y'should get that looked at," she states the obvious, "It looks like somethin' rabid got ahold of you. Who knows what those RiverClanners got in their spit!" Surely she's heard enough nursery tales to know that they're nothing good whatsoever, anyways.​

 

[Periwinklebreeze.]

STEADY THE RIGHTS AND THE WRONGS
periwinklepaw | 08 months | demi-boy | he/they | physically easy (pacifist) | mentally easy | attack in bold #ccccff

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Its the sound of cottonkit's voice that draws the boys attention, but it is gravelpaw and the state he's in that keeps it. Plodding over at a pace that can almost be mistaken for a dash, the apprentice is quick to join them - pale eyes worried. It does not matter to him that they've had their fair share of disagreements lately, the worry that bubbles within their chest and belly is feverish. "wh-why didn't you g-g-g-go see vult!" he doesn't even try to say his friend name right now, he's had enough stress today that it's a miracle he can even speak at all at the moment. He eyes the offending appendage with wariness - as though there is a very real possibility that the child beside him is correct. Starclan only knows what nastiness riverclan could catch from their strange diet of slimy fish.

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[GRAVELSNAP]

The voice that shouts their name is, unfortunately, a familiar one. Cottonkit. One of Sootstar’s spawn, her irritating pack of ferrets that she calls children. Though, at least, the blue-furred kit is the least annoying—that ranking does come into question now, though, when she points a paw at them. She says they should get it looked at, and the apprentice raises their not-bleeding brow. No shit, they think at first, but roll their eyes instead of saying it aloud. "He wanted to touch me, to put stuff on me. I didn’t want him to."

The kit follows up by saying that they look as though they’ve been attacked by something rabid, and the monochrome apprentice’s eyes widen. Startled, they pin their ears back. "Do… do they carry rabies?" Now that they think of it, that may not have been blood that the RiverClan apprentice kept spitting at them. Maybe it was foam, the drool that falls from the mouth of a frothing, rabid creature. Gravelpaw has only seen a rabid animal once—a raccoon, near the barn. They’d found it dead the next day, and they’d learned an important lesson about rabies.

They hadn’t ever seen a cat with rabies, though. They don’t want to be the first. They stare at Cottonkit, trying to deduce whether they should be concerned—she’s offputting, that kit. Not intolerable like her brothers, but an affliction nonetheless.

The sight of another clanmate approaching draws Gravelpaw’s attention, and they tear their gaze from Cottonkit—perhaps they will be rescued from the kit’s obsession with their injuries. But there is no savior greeting them. Instead, looking inexplicably concerned for them, Periwinklepaw asks why they haven’t gone to see the healer. Their chest goes tight for a moment, lungs squeezed and left without air until they force a breath. "I don’t want to. I’ll be fine without his help," they defend, though their tone is notably gentler than it was the last time they’d spoken to Periwinklepaw. "Do you think he can fix rabies?"
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[ DEATH OF A DREAM ]​

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[DAZZLEPAW]

Ho-ho-ho-ho!!, what was this hmmmmh?. Dazzlepaw had minded his own business when he spoted Gravelpaw,Periwinklepaw and Cottonkit hanging around. He eyes were especially fixed on Peri and Gravelpaw though. A devilish smirk find its way to the apprentice lips as he decided to make himself over and without making his presence known he he attempted to brush himself up against Periwinklepaw as he stopt beside them in hope to catch their attention. " Hello there cutie ~~" he said with a charming smile. The two had spent alot of time recently thanks to their shared punishment, and with the looks he kept on getting from Gravelpaw oh boy was it fun to get close to Periwinklepaw just to mess with them.

His attention then shifted over to Gravelpaw and he giggled at how worried they actually sounded!. Rabies coming from riverclan, really?. This one did not have the smartest brain in the clan that was for sure. " Does that matter if he can or not?. You dont wanna go and see him anyway soooo, i guess ya gonna have to hope for the best. " In other words whatever happend Gravelpaw only had himself to blame for being so dumb. Dazzlepaw always wonderd over why windclan even had a medicine cat It didn't seem like anyone of them saw a use to have one in the first place rather licking their own wounds or treated them like they where suddenly gonna go mad. Funny. He was fascinated with his clanmates and how their brain worked.

Aaaaanyway.

Dazzlepaw was bored with this conversation already. He turned his attention back to Periwinklepaw instead. " I actually come to tell you Thornclaw wants us in the elders den. He says he want us to pick ticks out of his fur but i hoooonestly think he just want to tell us another one of his stories." he said, trying to get Periwinklepaw to leave with him but only because he wanted to feel Gravelpaws death glares burning at his back!. That was fun to him. Thornclaw hadn't even asked after Peri or him for that matter. He had lied about that. Heh.
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