camp band-aid solution [ open ]

[apricotflower]

It's been a whole season since she'd come to RiverClan, learning to get her paws wet and her claws hooked into fishy scales (when she can catch them, anyway), but it still doesn't quite feel real to Apricotflower. Sure, she lived in the pine colony for a while with her parents and siblings, learning to trust and rely on others, but being part of a Clan still feels ... odd. They have guidance now, from StarClan or whatever. Hadn't Cicadastar literally died and come back to life already? Haunting, that's for sure ... Ha.

The white-and-ginger molly purrs to herself through her mouth full of reeds, teeth firmly clasped around a stubborn leaf as she tries to tug it into place. She slept near the edge of the warriors' den willingly, her thick coat meaning she's largely unbothered by the chilly weather, but that doesn't mean she's immune to drafts!

Snap!

"Uh oh." Apricotflower mumbles around the reed-stem, now very much separated from the original plant. "That's not good."​

 

[Harry Styles]

A S H P A W.

Ashpaw spends a lot more time in the warriors' den than most apprentices, but Willowroot, at least—whose nest she normally invades—never reprimands her for it. She thinks the gentle smoke might even be relieved; trouble has found the girl too often when slipped out of camp alone. Or, well. Dragged out of camp by a sadist.

Regardless, sticking close to her mentor doesn't generally arouse complaint.

Unlike Apricotflower, Ashpaw doesn't really notice drafts at all. Willowroot's coat keeps her snug as a bug. But she likes helping, so when she notices Apricot's work she pads closer, crouching low and close to the den wall out of habit, half-hiding as she walks. Maybe she can help. She wants to help. Willowroot is good at weaving, so Ashpaw has picked it up pretty well. And Apricotflower is really nice.

"Hi, Apri- oh."

Little orange ears prick up at the snap, glass-green eyes darting from Apricot's face down to her paws.

"Oh no," says Ashpaw. "It's broken!"

She blinks up at Apricotflower, unsure what the molly will do next. What do you do when you break a wall?

Well—well, it isn't the whole wall, she rationalizes. Just a little piece. Ashpaw's brow furrows. Do they need to... un-weave now?

"Do... do you need more reeds?" Ashpaw offers hesitantly. "I can get you some."
​

—— " i found gold in the wreckage "

✦ ooc ✦ character information ✦ recent events

• ooc text goes here
• - 6 month old orange tabby with green eyes
  - apprenticed to lead warrior willowroot
  - happy-go-lucky, mischievous, hardworking
  - very friendly, but defensive of riverclan!
  - "speech"
• - disclosed being physically and psychologically abused by Spiderfall, who was exiled & who then killed her best friend
  - spent a couple months depressed
  - returned to ic/ooc activify

​

 

[Snakeblink]

Snakeblink was following Ashpaw around—

Look, there’s nothing weird going on. It’s not even following at all, really, he’s just… loitering in Ashpaw’s vicinity whenever his warrior duties keep him inside the camp. Keeping an eye out for trouble around this trouble-magnet of an apprentice. Yes, he does it covertly, but enough warriors have targeted the young tabby lately; he doesn’t want to give her mentor the wrong idea. His motives are entirely innocent, though. Nothing nefarious at all to see here. He’s just concerned.

(And guilty. They have been so blind — how could they be so blind?)

Point is, Snakeblink was following Ashpaw around —discreetly, pretending to assess the fresh kill pile — which is why he’s close enough to the warriors’ den to hear the snap. His ears flick, tracking the sound. Not loud enough for a stick, not meaty nor yell-y enough for a broken bone, thank the stars for that. The noise (sharp, fresh, a reed snapping in two) reminds him of his childhood, his mother’s deft paws and gentle chiding: come now, Snake, you should be more careful. They had never gone cold thanks to her, despite his and his siblings’ awkward, kittenish paws struggling to weave airtight dens at the coming of leaf-bare. It's a sense of security he'll spend the rest of his life chasing, he's sure, but also one he's eager to share with his clanmates when he can.

Keeping perfectly still save for his swiveling head, Snakeblink follows Ashpaw’s path up to Apricotflower, identifying her as the source of that noise. The apprentice offers to help; it’s kind, and Snakeblink rises to do the same, as he’s duty-bound to.

”Well, we can't blame one such as you for making such a mistake,” he tells Apricotflower softly (unbeknownst to him, it comes out as rather simpering). Den weaving takes patience, and a gentle but firm touch; it’s a skill one may spend a lifetime learning and yet not perfect, and many of the cats in the clan, pine colony-hailing Apricotflower included, did not spend their whole life learning it. That's what they're here for, him and all the other river-born cats.

He flicks his tail, a silent allow me as he moves to take her place in front of the newly-made hole. ”Go on, I can take it from here.” He’s sure she’ll be happy to move on to nicer tasks: patching a den can be a tedious, mindless task, and tends to make at least Snakeblink’s paws cramp up after a while.

​

ooc. information.

• 
  
  
• — Snakeblink • he / him. 34 ☾, riverclan warrior
  — a sleek, skinny tabby with long ears and a scar over his right eye.
  — gay, not actually evil, penned by @Kangoo
  
  
  

​

 

[apricotflower]

"Uh." She says, elegantly. Her ears twitch backwards, and she offers Ashpaw a surprised look. She's not wrong, it certainly is broken. Not to the point of needing to replace the entire den wall, but that draft would be more of an issue for her tonight if she wasn't able to fix this before the sun went down ... the apprentice's offer of help makes Apricotflower's expression soften slightly, and she nods. "Yeah, that's probably a good idea. Thanks, Ashpaw."

She does, however, blink at Snakeblink. Not an affectionate, slow blink - it's a blink of excuse me? As the simpering warrior sidles in front of her to correct her mistake. Gingery ears flatten with annoyance, and Apricotflower steps back in front of Snakeblink to block his movement. There's not a lot of room, but she forces her way between the older warrior and the broken patch of den. Her pelt snags on one of the jagged reeds, but she ignores it for now in favour of glaring at the brown tabby. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

​

ooc ✧ info ✧

•  
• ✦ apricotflower, warrior of riverclan
  — no apprentice.
  ✦ 24 moons, she/her
  ✦ fluffy white and ginger cat with gold eyes. big scar on her left shoulder, little scars on her paws.
  ✦ bi, single. @ on discord for plots.
  ✦ "speech" — thoughts

​

 

[Snakeblink]

The first sign that Snakeblink has made a mistake comes from the heavy, meaningful pause which serves as his only warning before Apricotflower moves in his way. He stops dead in his tracks, twisting his sinuous body so as to not touch her accidentally in such cramped space. Her face speaks of sharp irritation, the source of which he cannot imagine. What in his words could have elicited such a reaction?

”I only meant that weaving dens out of reeds is delicate work,” he says, placating. He glances Ashpaw's way. The apprentice has learned weaving under Willowroot's tutelage, he thinks: he hopes she might attest to his assessment of the task's difficulty. ”Those like you, who were raised far from here, tend to find it more… demanding. Or perhaps it is only that your paws are less deft than some,” he quickly amends, not wanting to insinuate that her upbringing is to blame for this. The past is behind them: all that matters is her presence in Riverclan, here and now.

He gives Appricotflower an awkward smirk of a smile, unsure of how to communicate the sincerity of his feelings. There’s no judgment there, only an objective observation of a pattern he’s recognized in the clan. She has her strengths: he recalls an anecdote about a mouse that suggests she has a great gift for stealth, and she swims as well as any river-born cat. Good land-hunters tend not to make the best weavers in his experience. Nature has a funny way of balancing itself out like that.

”Really, there’s no shame in letting someone better suited to the task do it. Everyone must contribute, yes? We wouldn't want you to feel a draft tonight.”

Looking down his nose to check the newly-created hole (he dares not move, not even his head, lest he trips into her, but cannot in good conscience leave it alone), he notices that it is not very big, and that some of her long fur is caught on the edge of it. Ah, he thinks fretfully, It wouldn’t do to let her pelt be torn out in this. Not when she’s already irate because of him. His eyes dart up to her face, then back to the hole, narrowing in consideration. Maybe he could reach forward and very carefully tug it free…
​

ooc. information.

• 
  
  
• — Snakeblink • he / him. 35 ☾, riverclan warrior
  — a sleek, skinny tabby with long ears and a scar over his right eye.
  — gay, not actually evil, penned by @Kangoo
  
  
  

​

​

 

[Harry Styles]

A S H P A W.

Apricotflower has barely got the words out before Ashpaw is scampering off to collect reeds, eager to help.

By the time she toddles back, gait set unsteady by the big mouthful of stems (far, far too many stems) in her maw, tensions have clearly risen. Ashpaw drops the reed collection at Apricotflower's paws, but doesn't say anything—her ginger brow furrows as her gaze darts back and forth between the two warriors, listening.

"One such as you." Her brow furrows further. Yeah, what is that supposed to mean...?

Snakeblink elaborates, and to Ashpaw's great distress, she can't tell if he's trying to be nice or mean. Apricotflower isn't riverborn, but neither is Ashpaw technically and she's a great swimmer. And weaver. (Well, she's an okay weaver.)

And lots of RiverClanners—even, like, Cicadastar!—haven't been here forever and ever but they're still good at... at river-ing. RiverClanning. Doing river things.

But he does have kind of a point. Ashpaw's getting taught by Willowroot, after all, who's lived here for almost forever and ever, and when Ashpaw messes up then Willowroot always steps in to provide guidance or mend the error entirely. But... that's because Ashpaw is Willowroot's apprentice. So Willowroot is supposed to do that. Apricotflower isn't an apprentice, she's a grown-up.

To Ashpaw's greater distress, Snakeblink then turns to her as if looking for backup!!

Ashpaw's gaze darts between the two, hesitant to speak at all for fear she's misreading Snakeblink or making things worse.

"Well... um, um. Weaving is hard and everyone makes mistakes. Even—even the best weavers make mistakes," she supplies at last, citing Willowroot's own advice. Confidence bolstered by the memory, she continues, "Even riverborn cats who've been here forever and ever make mistakes. Even Buckgait makes mistakes."

That last sentence comes out hushed, a reverent whisper—gaze darting about for eavesdroppers. It sounds like blasphemy to her own ears, to say that of Buckgait—the super-cool awesome warrior deputy, who'd saved Cicadastar's life and taught Willowroot so much.

But it's true.
​

—— " i found gold in the wreckage "

✦ ooc ✦ character information ✦ recent events

• technically peaceful powerplay of willowroot, so i might edit the internal monologue after checking with lavs
• - 6 month old orange tabby with green eyes
  - apprenticed to lead warrior willowroot
  - happy-go-lucky, mischievous, hardworking
  - very friendly, but defensive of riverclan!
  - "speech"
• - disclosed being physically and psychologically abused by Spiderfall, who was exiled & who then killed her best friend
  - spent a couple months depressed
  - returned to ic/ooc activify

​

 

[apricotflower]

Irritation still lines her heavy gaze as Snakeblink explains himself, but she doesn't miss the glance he sends towards Ashpaw when she returns with a jawful of reeds. The mention of their deputy earns a small breath of amusement from the ginger molly. It's made her chuckle for a while now that Ashpaw is so reverent towards Buckgait in place of regular old respect, but that's not something to dwell on for now. She's still standing nearly paw to paw with Snakeblink even though some of her white-hot anger has settled into a slow simmer. She swallows her pride, and an annoyed swish of her tail brings a few stray prickles with it.

"Then teach me." She meows through gritted teeth, still completely unaware of her pelt snagged on the side of the den. "Those of us who weren't born here need to learn somehow."​

ooc ✧ info ✧

•  
• ✦ apricotflower, warrior of riverclan
  — no apprentice.
  ✦ 24 moons, she/her
  ✦ fluffy white and ginger cat with gold eyes. big scar on her left shoulder, little scars on her paws.
  ✦ bi, single. @ on discord for plots.
  ✦ "speech" — thoughts

​

 

[Snakeblink]

Ashpaw’s return with reeds in her mouth is… serendipitous. Snakeblink is not especially proud of needing the help of an apprentice to get his point across, but with some social interactions it’s better to quit while you’re ahead. Or while your head is still attached to your shoulders, as it is: Apricotflower is a gentle soul, but he’s been known to make any kind of cat snap before. The scar on his eyes is but one mark for many such occurrences. Things being as they are, he’d rather keep it as his only scar — or at least the only one inflicted by a clanmate. Thankfully Ashpaw plays right into his paws, supporting his argument with whole-hearted sincerity. He gestures down at her emphatically, nodding and raising his eyebrows at Buckgait’s name as if to say, See? Even Buckgait.

And, blessedly, it works: Aprictoflower huffs and her pelt smoothes some, though her tail is still slashing in barely-restrained anger, and — miracle of all miracles! — asks Snakeblink to teach her. Stars be thanked for kits: they truly are the future. Especially his.

”It will be my pleasure,” he purrs with a contented smirk. It’s nice to be needed, even so begrudgingly. ”Let’s start by not adding too much of yourself to the insulation of the den, yes? You’ll need all that fur in the coming moons.” He extends his paw towards the snag and stops just shy of touching it, unsure if her goodwill towards him will extend this far. Still, if she’ll let him, he will try to untangle the long hair from the reeds quickly before stepping back.

”Don’t be hard on yourself if you don’t pick it up immediately: I assure you the teacher here will be as much at fault as the student. Ashpaw, will you assist us? I could use your… special touch.”

​

ooc. information.

• 
  
  
• — Snakeblink • he / him. 35 ☾, riverclan warrior
  — a sleek, skinny tabby with long ears and a scar over his right eye.
  — gay, not actually evil, penned by @Kangoo
  
  
  

​