camp Besides all the stardom | frost

Aug 14, 2023
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It was rather cold, wasn't it? The cold that got into the nursery despite all of the helpful apprentices and warriors was enough to curl herself and her tail plume around the bundles of furs in hopes to keep shivering bodies warm. Her teeth clattered slightly, clenching them tightly to prevent the noise waking anyone up.

Lilacbirds sleep was restless, stuck bundling the moss closer to the kittens, and moving circles around her nest. Cerulean eyes filled with worry from sickness of the small worms, and despite her own wariness- content with the idea of ensuring their bodies safe from sickness.

Finally as dawn crept along the horizon, kittens would awake. Pink and yellows and blues spread across the sky, casting radiant light from the yawning sun as she too let out a large stretch of her jaws. To let the others sleep, the molly would carefully guide the waking kittens out of the nursery, their paws always eager to explore.

But it was cold they complained, and blue eyes swept across the camp, biting her cheek. Was leafbare here, already? Her paws tucked into her fur, inviting any small bodies into the curled puff of her tail to huddle closer for warmth. "Its leafbare, early," she explained to the children, her lips tugging a frown against a cream muzzle. "Th-the st-storms, and now this...? Are .. we ready?" She asked outward, unsure. She gave up her warrior duties, but if they needed help she could try.

 
MIND OUT OF ORDER
AND HEART ON MY SLEEVE

newtkit & 06 moons & agender & they/it & riverclan kit

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━━ Whiskers quiver and nose twitches - but in truth Newtkit is bothered less by the suddenly cold air and more about the shiny-sparkly way the ground glitters. Eyes widen slowly, until haunches wriggle themselves into a powerful leap - only to land on seemingly nothing. The ground is jsut that, ground, and the grass and reeds are the saem... and yet- " What's that? It's like- like fish scales, " they ak loudly - uncaring of who answers their shouted inquiry.

actions & " speech, " & 'thoughts/quotes'

j u s t t h a t k i n d o f b e a u t i f u l a n d i m h e l p l e s s

 
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( ) the nursery had been one of the first dens to be repaired after the sudden flood, and now that she is a resident of the den, willowroot thanks the stars for the quick repairs. she flattens one tufted ear against the chill of the night, encircles her adoptive children tightly in their plush nest of moss and feathers. their little bodies catch cold quickly, and like lilacbird, the molly refuses to let her charges feel the chill. she watches the perma-queen out of the corner of her eye as the night drags on, sometimes getting up to aid the other woman in patching up a hole or fluffing muss beneath the sleeping little ones. when dawn finally arrives, alighting the sky in rose and honey gold, the night-queen huddles closer to her children, gently licking their bedheads away.

lilacbird leads her own charges out into the daylight, and willowroot will soon follow, fluffing her silky fur against the sudden chill. apprehension builds in the molly's gut as she scents her surroundings, a crisp smokeyness permeating the air. it is a reminder of leaf-bares past, and a she sets slender paws upon the earthen ground, it crunches briefly beneath her, promising frost should she look down. "come on out, my minnows," the feline will call to her charges, ushering gladefrost's kittens out of the den. "leaf-bare certainly seems to have arrived," willowroot will agree with her fellow queen, nodding.

it is only a frightening notion if she allows it to be, and the woman refuses to let her little ones be worried yet. still, thoughts of an empty prey pile, of bodies worn thin beneath dull coats do manage to find her, and she winces. "riverclan are strong," the feline reminds her fellow. "we will manage." bright eyes find the curious shape of newtkit, the child's apricot body fluttering too and fro across the glittering ground. "that is frost, sweet one," she will explain. "it happens when the air gets cold. all the dew freezes on the ground. it should melt by sunhigh."


  • // kit mention @MOONKIT @stormkit. @Ryekit "#91A26C"
  • 70579232_8S53CwfR3WpaY1R.png
  • WILLOWROOT ☾ SHE / THEY, WARRIOR OF RIVERCLAN. 46 MOONS. MENTORING ECHOPAW. PENNED BY LAVS
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    a long-haired black smoke oriental with sage-green eyes. smoky long fur coats the length of willowroot's lithe body, cut through with dark ghost stripes. friendly sage green eyes that narrow in an almond shape, and her muzzle and limbs are thin and long due to her oriental heritage.
 
For some reason, Splashdance has a fitful sleep. When she finally wakes, she blames it on the displacement and return, her fights with Midnightash, the fire - but none of it makes sense really. None of it attributes to the aching cold in her bones, the painfully white landscape, the long stretch of red that spills across it. A nightmare she tells herself as her eyes open with a solemn slowness, her nose tucked into Midnightash's fur to obscure the taste of lingering ash in the air.

A nightmare... but the cold hasn't stopped.

It's dampened a little, certainly not as harsh as her mind says it once was. But there isn't a doubt in her mind that the air has grown sharper than the day prior, and the ground before the den crisper as she steps atop it. Brows quirk and furrow in one smooth, confused motion as she looks about the others that've noticed the change, too. Leafbare is early... they hadn't a single change to prepare for this. Not with the floods at least. StarClan, you couldn't afford us a warning? The stars work in ways she will never understand.

"We should..." she starts, and then trails off. Hunt, she supposes, or gather reeds before the final ones die off to the freeze. Do all they can before all they can do is wait out the inevitable snow. But suggesting so much feels almost obvious to the dark furred fem. Her tail curls around her side as she tries to conserve her heat. "I'm feelin' an early morning hunt. Anyone else down?" she tries again with a more chipper delivery.
 
"You don't even have to ask twice!" Turtledove chirped, trotting to join the crowd and offering a warm smile to Midnightash. The grass crunched under her feet and wind cut through her short fur. She was not like her some of her clanmates, graced with thick fur that helped them stay afloat and warm like otters. Her fur was slick and short and water beaded right off of it. It was great for the warm months, when RiverClanners could not stay out of the water. Now, the frost that thawed on her large paws gave her clue that may no longer be the case.

The warrior smiled down at Willowroot's kits and crouched down to their level. "Soon you may wake up and the ground will be covered with snow! Just wait until you see that!" She mewed. As much as Turtledove did not want it to be true, the seasons move along and there is no way to stop them. She could send as many prayers as she wanted to StarClan, but even they couldn't stop the seasons. "Why don't I bring back some fluff from whatever we catch for your nests?" She suggested to the queens.


  • ooc:
  •  
  • large stocky silver charcoal tabby she-cat with short tail and green eyes
    13 moons old; ages the 1st every month
    bisexual(?) ; currently not looking
    child of Pondstep and Shadoweye
    riverclan ; loyal to lichenstar
    easy to befriend ; trusts easily with a kind word
    "speech", thoughts, attacking
    peaceful powerplay allowed and encouraged!
 
Come on out, my minnows,

Willowroot's warm voice beckons her and her siblings from the nursery. "'m coming ma-" Her voice whispers out in a volume barely above a whisper as her creamy white paws touch the ground outside. Crch... Paws crunch on the frosted ground as her face grimaces at the icy touch, her fur bristling. The chilling touch of leafbare's oncoming frost was quickly disliked by Ryekit. It reminded her all too much of the floods that devoured camp (and her, momentarily) along with taking the lives of other Riverclanners. The waters were icy to the touch, and now the ground was also cold, but thankfully, the frost didn't seem harmful.

Ryekit clicks her tongue against her teeth until a sudden movement from Turtledove startles her, and the new warrior is crouched before her. Snow? Her heterochromatic gaze drifts back to the ground that is quickly noted as 'frost' by her adopted mother. Frost and snow? "I-It... uhm... won't hurt anyone, right?" The lilac tabby inquires openly as she shuffles her paws anxiously. As long as it didn't hurt anyone, then she was okay with this snow and frost. She just didn't like the water anymore. Besides, this frost looked kind of pretty and if you looked /just/ close enough, it had weird shapes to it.

Would snow be pretty too?
 
"It's just a fluke, surely." Iciclefang slips from the warrior's den behind her younger counterparts, tasting the tang of frost that cloys the air. The ground is solid, frigid, under her paws, and there's a thin layer of rime clinging to the reeds that circle their camp. The air has a bite to it that she has not felt in seasons, and she does her best to puff her slick tortoiseshell fur up against the cold. "Leaf-fall never ends this early. We've another cycle of the moon, at least."

She can see concern in the eyes of the warriors and the queens, but Iciclefang refuses to give into panic. After all, the seasons could be fickle. There is no reason to believe the sun will not rise tomorrow, strong as ever, and sear the frost from their forest.

Little Ryekit — one of the late Gladefrost's children — huddles close to Willowroot, asking if the frost would hurt anyone. Iciclefang eyes the child for a moment and says, "No. But if you get too cold while you're playing, go back to the nursery and warm up. It is definitely colder than is was yesterday, and kits like you can get sick if you don't keep warm." She had raised three of her own — albeit that had been in newleaf and greenleaf. Willowroot, though, is an experienced queen; the lead warrior trusts the smoke-pelted feline to keep a close eye on the younglings.

  • ooc:
  • DEuJTnr.jpg
  • Iciclekit . Iciclepaw . Iciclefang, she/her w/ feminine terms.
    — "speech", thoughts, attack
    — 29 moons old, ages realistically on the 17th.
    — mentored by Smokestar ; mentoring Pinepaw ; previously mentored Cicadaflight
    — riverclan lead warrior. mudpelt x icesparkle, gen 2.
    — former mate to Stormywing ; current mate to no one.
    — penned by Marquette.

    sh tortoiseshell and white she-cat with ice-blue eyes. confident, capable, proud, dry, conceited, condescending, distrustful.

 
Its colder than it normally is today... And it draws Dropletkit from their peaceful slumber, tucked in to a comfy nest. The lack of warmth surrounding her is alarming, and thus she reaches out to paw at @claythorn's side, almost afraid that in her sleepy stupor, she had moved away from Mama and her siblings. When her paw strikes warm fuzz, she shivers. No, she had not sleep-walked away... They blink, blearily wiping the rest of the sleep from their mind as they rise, shaking their pelt out as they watch other queens bring their kittens to the entrance of the nursery and out. She has half a mind to sit back down and go back to sleep...

But I wanna play, too! She was feeling decent today, even with the frost that seeps in to her bones. Maybe its the overcast nature of the clouds, and the lack of harsh sunlight... She teeters after Willowroot and the kittens she was looking after.

"W- Willowroot, its coooold," they complain out loud to the older queen, greeting them with a purring mrrp as they stop by Ryekit, who seems to have a much more afraid reaction to the fish-scale (as Newtkit said) patterns dotting the camp flooring. "Don't you- you think it's pretty, Ryekit?" they shiver slightly, ears pinning backwards as they paw at the ground below. Frost is what Willowroot calls it.

Iciclefang calls it a fluke, whatever that means, stating something about leaf-fall... Thats right! Leaf-fall is still happening... Dropletkit sniffs the air, sniffing around before Turtledove mentions bringing back some fluff to line nests with. Pink eyes sparkle at this new epiphany, as if this would be the one and only thing to drive the cold from the nursery. "Can I have some?" their teeth chatter just slightly, with such a thin pelt it didn't help much to conceal from the biting breeze. "Pretty please?" they almost forgot! Manners are very important, she reminds herself over and over.

  • dropletkit
    afab demi-girl .☘︎ ݁˖ she/they .☘︎ ݁˖ 4 months
    riverclan kit .☘︎ ݁˖ adopted by claythorn & otterbite
    small albino she-kit with dusty rose colored eyes .☘︎ ݁˖ very soft & fuzzy
    "speech, F3C4C5" .☘︎ ݁˖ thoughts
    single .☘︎ ݁˖ too young to consider love
    smells like flowers & milk .☘︎ ݁˖ distant nostalgia
    penned by chuff
 
"Why is it crunchy? Is snow more crunchy-er?" Stormkit queries as she leaves the nursery, immediately registering the change in texture beneath her paws. The ground of camp is hard, brittle, chilled, where it had once been soft and easy to walk on. She needs to have her claws out to stop from slipping, which is new. Stormkit stays close by Willowroot for now, something becoming less and less common as the days pass and Stormkit grows older, but she glances up towards the sky with her features twisted up into a scowl. Her pelt is fluffed up against the startling cold, the presence of her adoptive mother doing little to shield her from it. Ryekit seems similarly apprehensive, though softer, more caring in her query.

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  • vyvyyqL.png

    STORMKIT ✧ she/they, kit of riverclan

    — "a black-and-blue she-cat with blue eyes."
    gladefrost x slateheart ; sister to moonkit & ryekit
    — speech is in #76BADB
    tags | penned by mercibun, contact on discord for plots.

 
' OH WHAT A SHAME, '
NOW IT DON'T LOOK THE SAME

duckweedsplash & 22 moons & male & he/him & riverclan warrior

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'leafbare is here early'

It's far from a pleasant thought, and Duckweedsplash can't quite hide the wince that crosses his dark features before his smile returns with twice the force. Already, he feels the chill in his bones - his short coat offering nothing in the way of protection from the elements. " Of course we will - we always have. A little frost isn't going to stop us, " he agrees cheerily, lancing between his fellow warriors as the nurseries denizens acquaint themselves with frost for the first time. Ah, to be a kit again. " Good idea Splashdance - nothing like hunting to warm us up! " as long as they didn't stay in the water too long, anyways.

actions & " speech, " & 'thoughts/quotes'

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