pafp Birds of a feather | prompt, plucking birds

[Nightfish]

𓆝 . ° ✦ Nightfish has many idiosyncrasies. It’s just the way he is; shove so much stuff down, some of it ends up spilling over in strange ways. Usually in tears, when it comes to him, but other ways too.

Like the birds. Okay. Nightfish doesn’t care much for bird meat. He’s not a swimmer, but he loves the taste of fish: another one of life’s little jokes, that he won’t get his tail wet for his favorite meal. But the one thing birds have on fish is that they’re so soft. So whenever he manages to catch one, he’ll drag it to camp, and then he’ll pluck it clean — just scrape the whole thing naked, pile up all the feathers, then throw the meat on the freshkill pile and keep the downy fluff for himself. It looks nice in his nest, and it’s warmer than moss by far.

Only ever his own catch, though: birds that he picked off the pile to eat feel limp and cold even when their feathers would do just as well. They’re not the same. He still finds himself ripping feathers off his current meal, out of habit, because it doesn't feel right to leave a bird with all its feathers anymore, but the thought of adding them to his nest is a little weird. He looks down at the down stuck to his paws, the small flight feathers scattered in front of him. He pokes them into a vague sort of pile, tail lashing in agitation. Now what is he going to do with all these? Leave them lying there?

✧　°　.　✶　.　°　✧​

ooc Information

• ooc: @Moonpaw
• 

  NIGHTFISH — HE/HIM ･ 38 MOONS ･ WARRIOR OF RIVERCLAN ･ PENNED BY KANGOO

  a large black and lilac chimera with high white and blue-yellow heterochromia and an expressionless face.

​

 

[Moonbeam]

The birds that were now being caught due to the fish diving deeper into the water or being unable to be caught due to the river freezing over completely some days would be the first ever birds that Moonpaw actually ate. Never having caught one before - and now not knowing how to catch them - the first bird she'd had a few days ago had caused her stomach to flip at first unused to the taste and hyping herself up too much before she found that she... tolerated it. Like many within RiverClan she found fish to be her favorite, but food was food and she couldn't afford to be picky, not when the pile was slowly going down as the land prey too went into hibernation and became more difficult to catch due to the amount of cats that simply didn't know how to hunt over fishing.

She'd noticed more since leafbare began that every so-often there would be a bird plucked fully atop the small pile, almost never picked first for a meal but also never picked last due to the appearance of it over the other birds. It looked unnatural but she supposed once a cat was done eating if they had plucked the feathers first instead of simply eating then spitting them out - or swallowing a few - then the bird would have looked like that as well. She always wondered who did it but never asked, afraid of the answer or simply knowing there was the chance that she'd find out herself, and it seemed as though that would be true for today as she saw Nightfish himself plucking a bird, feathers tucked into a haphazard pile to the side as tail swished in agitation.

"Why do you do that?" She asked, child-like wonder left in her voice as she found herself resting close-by, eyeing the pile for a moment before looking over towards Nightfish once more. "There's a lot more feathers than I thought there would be." Maybe it was the way they were piled up or the fact that plucking them caused them to fluff out more, but the pile seemed bigger than the bird somehow.

I WISH PLANT LIFE ꕥ WOULD GROW ALL AROUND ME

• 

• MOONPAW formerly Ratpaw || NPC x NPC || sister to Rowanpaw || apprentice to Ravensong.
  -- She/Her || 7 moons old, ages every 17th
  -- smaller than average, small rounded ears. SH white masking cinnamon torbie with orange eyes.
  -- soft-spoken, often found humming, tries to comfort others by smiling

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[valesight ➶]

⸙͎｡˚⋆ ⍋ ѧѦ ѧ⍋ ⸙͎｡˚⋆

Tilting his head with a wide-eyed stare, Valepaw had watched in silence as Nightfish had wasted plenty of time tearing the feathers from delicate skin to make a surprising pile nearby. It was gross.. looking at a bird without its feathers... but that was also the best way to eat them without choking, really. If he wasn't going to it eat then.... could Valepaw have it? So he wouldn't have to struggle to pluck another one himself?

Creeping forward with his belly low to the ground- an unintentional show of submission really- the chimera swallowed nervously as his gaze flicked between Moonpaw, the odd tom cat, and the prey sitting at his feet before dragging his attention back to Nightfish. "Are you... not eating?" His tongue slides across his lips anxiously, unable to keep his eyes off the naked avian. "Can I... Have it?" He had no interest in the feathers, which seemed to be the other's prize...

Moonpaw seemed more concerned with that aspect but... didn't the others use feathers to line their nests? The queens certainly did... It made them softer (which was something he had grown to miss).​

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[DAWNSTORM]

die with memories , not dreams .
︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶

Helm cocked, Dawnstorm observed Nightfish depluming his catch with cautious hues. Did everyone do that? He wondered, glancing at the others from where he sat with down-turned lips. Soon enough, he got his answers. Moonpaw’s childish wonder, it seemed wasn’t a common occurrence. Okay. He blinked bi-colored hues, watching the fluffed feathers sit in a messy pile.

It was then that Dawnstorm noted Valepaw, inquiring if the other was going to eat it. His maw parted before closing, frowning. Why would the other deplume if he wouldn’t eat it? The bi-colored male blinked, tattered ear twitching upon a wooly helm. “Can I have some?” He spoke, gesturing toward the feathers. His nest was lacking, unbothered by its barren state and so unlike the other nests he observed in the warrior’s den. His had no personality, or even a sign that he slept in it, no less claimed it as his own. ​

​

thought speech​

 

[shellpaw]

shellkit watched nightfish, agape. lost on her are the tender delicacies of the mind, little tics and habits ; she merely stares, and stares, because doesnt he know any manners? shellkit's maw was still too soft for most meats, and though the brittle gleam of scale and fin lured her like a siren song to the freshkill pile, sbe remained at her queens belly. it was warm and safe there, and the blue molly curled around her like a protective barrier even firmer nursery walls. perhaps its to do with her early abandonment, an instinctual grab and claw to keep ber away from that frostbitten grave shed nearly slipped in to -- if it was, she surely wouldnt know it.

" what are you doing? " she breathes, emphasizing her words because man, nightfish is going to be in so much trouble and despite the other gathered cats, she doesnt want hazecloud or lichentail to know that she was conspiring with someone who played with their food. she'd bapped at a vole one of he warriors had brought for the former and.. well, she wouldnt do it again, not until she could catch something herself. valepaw eyes the bare avian with a ravenous gaze, but she merely lifts a paw, aiming to poke at its bloody flank with a low simmering curiosity to sugared amber eyes. " you made it all bald.. "

then, dawnstorm approaches, asking for the feathers plumed neatly aside the monochromatic warrior ; her head whips around so fast she sees little black spots in her vision, a familiar headache building along the pathway under her eyes. they water reactively, " and me! so i can, um! showww pebblekit! " a soft gasping breath between each excited pause, delicate paws kneading a tippy - tap at the snow underpaw.

𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐑𝐌𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐎𝐂𝐄𝐀𝐍 𓇼 𝙎𝙊 𝙎𝙒𝙀𝙀𝙏 𝘼𝙉𝘿 𝙎𝙊 𝘾𝙊𝙇𝘿

• i.
  
  
• 
  
  
• 
  
  SHELLKIT 𓆉 SHE / HER, KITTEN OF RIVERCLAN. KINDLING xx UNKNOWN, NIECE TO SMOKESTAR. 3 MOONS OLD, SMELLS LIKE SALT & RIVER BLOOMS. PENNED BY ANTLERS.
  delicate lilac - striped molly with sugarplum eyes she is pallid ; platinum splotched with ribbons of shell - touched cream, wisped ends like memories of a distant shore. feather breath and elderdown fur conceals a body worn fragile by tumultuous youth, too thin in some places and round with baby fat in others. her face is short - muzzled, framed half mast by eyes coined warm, sugared amber.
  
  currently exhibiting symptoms of whitecough. this includes a running nose, wheezing, sluggishness, and labored breathing. please keep contagion in mind.
  
  

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[Nightfish]

𓆝 . ° ✦ Nightfish didn’t expect this whole thing to attract an audience, and their attention and questions have his fur prickling as he scrapes the very last feather off this now very bald bird. Why does he do it? It’s not like he’s going to use these particular feathers. ”Don’t much care for the taste of them,” he settles on with a shrug, nodding at the pile of down and fluff. “You think there’s a lot now, imagine what it’s like biting into the damn things.” Some birds are just mouthfuls of fluff with a kind of meaty aftertaste; definitely the worst part of the experience.

His paw slams down on the plucked bird as the apprentice approaches, asking about him not eating it. He opens his mouth, ready to snap that he is planning on eating it after all this effort, thank you very much, but the no-longer-colony cat’s question distracts him before he can get more than a dead-eyed stare out.

The warrior’s stare is a bit unnerving but also, who is he to talk. And when the kit pipes up with her own eagerness for feathers, well. Why not. Another shrug, his tail swishing slowly -- kind of a relief, to be honest, that he doesn’t have to deal with the results of his instinctive shaving. ”Sure, yeah, help yourself, I have some in my nest already.” That’s a nice thing to do, right? For the clan? He doesn’t know. Probably. It's just feathers.

Not sharing food, though. Definitely a bad move. He turns his eyes on the apprentice again. “You can have half,” he decides with some reluctance, lifting his paw slowly and gesturing for him to dig in. The kid’s lucky he’s not a fan of birds. ”Your mentor doesn’t feed you? You look like a stiff breeze could knock you on your tail.”

✧　°　.　✶　.　°　✧​

ooc Information

• ooc: —
• 

  NIGHTFISH — HE/HIM ･ 38 MOONS ･ WARRIOR OF RIVERCLAN ･ PENNED BY KANGOO

  a large black and lilac chimera with high white and blue-yellow heterochromia and an expressionless face.

​