ALL THE LIGHTS AGLOW ☾✩ nest making

[nightbird]

for a few days now, something had felt off as she slept. nightbird had thought of every possibility, switched sides and positions countless times. she had even tried moving her nest clear to the other side of the warriors den. nothing had helped, not even slightly. it wasn't until this morning, when she rolled where she lay to bring herself to her paws, she caught it. or rather got caught, a single white paw tangled between the twisted ingredients. everything was a mess, it failed to stay flat. no wonder she was having so much trouble. with the state of her nest she was likely to have better luck sleeping on a pile of jagged rocks.

in the early hours of dawn, she could be seen dragging it out of the tunneled entrance of camp. disposing of the monstrosity just outside of the thorny barrier. she sighed, relieved that no longer would she be the victim to the well loved mess. the smoke turned to enter camp again, but the realization had struck her that now she would need to make a new one. her ears shifted back, as she changed direction once more, heading deeper into the forest.

when she returned the sun was well on it's way to the middle of the sky. an assortment of moss, brambles, and any other things she could find were wrapped neatly in leaves. she had also caught an unassuming robin. not only would it feed someone, it's feathers could be used to add to the comfort of her new spot. with everything laid out in front of her, the lead warrior sat in a sunny spot of camp, a yawn parting her jaws as her paws got to work.

nightbird worked, and she worked, but after an embarrassing amount of time she had little to show. she grew frustrated, tired paws doing a better job at making a mess than a job. she didn't understand, she could fix walls just fine, what made this any different? with a tight jaw she would snap her head up, narrowed gaze gliding across camp. her words were far from gentle as she addressed the first cat she focused on. "you! come 'ere," the glint of the sun made it difficult to see exactly who was approaching, but her eyes still bore into them as if she could read every feature on their face. ​

[ ☾✩ ]​

 

[BURNSTORM]

Burnpaw had been doing his chores like a good apprentice. He had raked the debris out of the camp, had picked the ticks off the elders, had even gotten that hard-to-reach spot that Dustflower was always complaining about. Now, he was out fetching moss for his own nest, the only thing he had left to do. Nest-making wasn't something he was particularly good at either but he didn't want to be sleeping on the ground so here he was.

He tries his best to make a beeline for the apprentice's den before anyone can talk to him or rope him into doing any more chores. His ears fly back to press against his head as Nightbird beckons to him. He stops, eyes darting around for anyone else she could possibly be talking to and when seeing no one he lets out a sigh before dropping his moss by the mouth of the den that had been his destination then padding over. "What's up?" he asks, his tone flat, uninterested.
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[RACCOONSTRIPE]

All warriors have strengths and weaknesses; the proud tabby had learned to accept this long ago. Though he is a powerful, brutal force on the battlefield, he's come to learn that bestial strength has come with a price. His paws are built for bloodshed and not for delicate practices like weaving; as a result, he's often ordered his apprentices to fix up his nest rather than blundering through it himself.

He'd noticed the shifting next to him before dawn, but had only opened one dark eye a sliver to see Nightbird dragging her contraption out into camp. When he emerges at daybreak, he's amused to see she's still hard at work -- and frustrated. "Why don't you just get Duskpaw to do it?" He asks mildly. "It's such a tedious task, and we have more important things to do." A fresh rush of pride warms his scarred white chest -- he's still getting used to being treated with the same level of respect Flamewhisker and Sunfreckle are.

Nightbird calls for an apprentice streaking for cover, and Raccoonstripe grins almost evilly as he realizes who it is. Burnpaw slowly and disinterestedly makes his way over. "Is that any way to talk to your new lead warrior? What are you doing that's so important, anyway?" He snorts, but his smile remains. He wants to hear what Nightbird has in store for the dark-pelted apprentice.​

[ PENNED BY MARQUETTE ]​

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[Shinebug]

Unlike most of the cats in Thunderclan, Shinekit didn’t have any chores to attend to. Most of it was due to rank, he was sure, tiny stature accompanied by a diminutive suffix to let others know his usefulness (or lack thereof). If you asked the shaft of sunlight, though, it was a real shame. He loved helping others! Giving them gifts, doing their work for them, all of it was payment for the cat’s clanmates putting up with him.

So when sky-blue eyes spotted Nightbird sulking in camp, the shaft of sunlight shot over. It seemed she’d already found someone to help, but two sets of paws were better than one, right? “Ooh! “Ooh! I want to help with the big important warrior stuff!” Shinekit looked with curiosity at the half-woven pile of materials sitting before the growing group before eyes shone with ignorant understanding. “This is something to defend camp, isn’t it? It looks super uncomfortable and spiky, so if any enemies run into it they’ll definitely get hurt!”​

 

[WOLFWIND]

She'd been privy to all the tossing and turning. To all the headache as Nightbird had shifted to about every damn spot in the warriors den in search of her little problem. All that, and Wolfwind comes back to find she tossed out the whole thing completely? Well, she can't help but roll her eyes a bit, but at least she was finally able to sleep in peace.

Now, here they are, the sun having risen higher in the sky. Nightbird is still at it, and Wolfwind is awake enough to raise a brow at whatever she was doing. Her weaving was about as good as Wolfwind's own– that being, fucking terrible. And it's funny as all hell when it wasn't her!

Burnpaw seems to have good days and bad days, and Raccoonstripe handles it like a champ. Gotta say she wasn't aware of how big a fan of apprentice-labor Raccoonstripe was. ...And her apprentice better watch out, because Raccoonstripe also just reminded her that's a thing she can do. Hell yes. She's about to open her yap about something totally made-up that Burnpaw was doing, and then some kit comes toddling over–

Big important warrior stuff. Yeah, she's sure Raccoonstripe would've told him some bullshit like that if it made his paws move faster. And Wolfwind can't stop herself from barking a laugh at the next thing this kid says. Who gives a damn where his mother's at, this guy's funny as hell. "HA! Oh– oh, yeah. Nightbird's about to pain-test this bad boy herself! We'll be sure to model all our walls off "F her genius design. Thanks for your service, Ma'am."​

 

[nightbird]

her ear flicked dismissively at raccoonstripe's suggestion. duskpaw did not become her apprentice to learn the art of weaving brambles and moss. it was true, there were more important things to do with her time, but until this issue could be handled how was she supposed to focus on the important stuff. "keeps me humble," she grumbled, turning to look at the approaching apprentice.

burnpaw appeared, tone about as sweet as a squirrel that had sat in the sun for too long. nightbird couldn't blame him, she hadn't been particularly nice in her beckoning. the lead warrior pipes up again, but she paid no mind to his challenging banter. "can you hold this in place while i wrap it? been fightin' this nest all damn day," she motioned to the specific area that was giving her trouble. a kit bounces into view, asking to help. nightbird paid the bright furred creature no mind, sighing as she waited for an answer from burnpaw.

she was ready to pay shinekit no mind and finish this task, but he wasn't deterred by her lack of recognition. a look of indignant shock flashed on her face at the kid's words, her jaw parted slightly ready to correct and send him on his way. a loud cackle halts her and a sharp silver gaze was now burning into wolfwind. the molly was ready as ever to validate shinekit's ideas, at her expense of course. "it's not gonna hurt anyone, it's a nest, she glanced to shinekit before returning to the blue antagonizer. "no, thank you for yours, ma'am. once i line it with your pelt i'll have no trouble with the comfort, just the stench."
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[ ☾✩ ]​

 

[BASILWHISKER]

An unfortunate result to be so used to resting on cardboard and scattered debris that even prickly old moss felt better. Basilpaw was no better at nest-crafting than a badger with arthritis, solely due to his long outstanding exposure to the Twolegplace than his time in the forest. The introduction of these nests had been something Basilpaw hardly spent time to grasp on anyhow, it felt tedious and unnecessary in the grand scheme of things. He could go back to sleeping on concrete again and he wouldn't feel any different.

His jaws part, and out speaks a dull tone lacking of any inflection. "Is this a typical struggle in the life of a warrior?" His gaze matched directly toward Nightbird, wide eyes set on her as he watched her try to gain some sort of crowd control by redirecting focus. He wondered what kind of gain there was to play, messing with a Lead Warrior. Attention, to distract from boredom? He couldn't imagine getting any of them on their bad side would provide any beneficial result.