camp burdened heart ღ confrontation

[whitedawn]

It was raining. Much like the times when it snowed, Whitekit had a growing fondness for rainy days. It was gloomy, yes, but the cloudiness of the sky allowed her to venture out and stretch her legs. Sure, she wasn't as hyperactive and causing dust clouds as the other kits, but she was enjoying the time out. Whitekit had been lingering in the middle of the camp, watching her clanmates bustle around as the rain came down, soaking the coats of many, including her own. Due to the constant pattering of the rain, she couldn't tell what paw steps were coming from where until a shadowed silhouette came over her. "Get out of the way, you little pest." A harsh voice hissed, causing the ivory femme to flinch, immediately scrambling away. Glancing over, rosey hues widened at the vaguely familiar spotted pelt of her mother. The last time Whitekit had truly conversed with her mother was when her mother left the nursery after she was weaned. Flicking her ears back, she shrunk in on herself, making her already petite form look smaller. "I'm sorry Mother." She whispered lightly as the fluffy tabby stalked past. The former queen paused, narrowing her yellow eyes on the runty kit. "Don't call me that. Why would anyone want to be a mother to a pathetic little thing like you?" She spat, turning and hissing through her teeth as the albino kit shrunk back further, the lilac-hued eyes glossing over with tears. "Just stay out of the way, it's all you're good for, the useless little rat that you are."
A small whimper came from the kit's throat, her gaze shifting to the floor. She didn't understand what she did wrong. Why didn't her own mo- Greyhawk want her?

//tl;dr It's a rainy day and Whitekit was simply vibing out of the nursery when Greyhawk decided to be rude, feel free to have your babe overhear ​

[I'M BREATHING]​

 

[SUNFLOWERMASK]

.°☀ AND IF IT EVER STARTS TO FEEL BAD, LITTLE FANG

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"Why would anyone want to be a mother to a pathetic little thing like you?" The words have Sunflowerpaw's head shooting up from where they'd been nibbling on a lizard. The sentiment strikes a chord with the child: if they could speak with their own mother, long-gone before they were even aware of her existence, would she say the same? Sun-gold eyes rove the rainy camp with startling intensity, the apprentice dead-still but for their lashing tail. When they finally find the source of the words, it only amplifies their rage. Greyhawk, they remember her from the nursery. Whitekit's mother. And there's Whitekit herself, cowering in fear, eyes downcast. They consider the kit a tentative friend, which is not something they can say of many cats.

Sunflowerpaw is not a cat who is easy to anger.

They snap up, meal abandoned, stalk over to the mother-daughter pair. Their face remains as blank as ever but for the hatred in their eyes, yet their body language shows clearly what their face does not. Ears back, tail lashing, deliberate movements covering concealed rage underneath. Their soaking fur clings to them, revealing the lithe, bony form beneath. Perhaps it could diminish the effectiveness of their threat, perhaps their size would as well. They seem uncaring of this fact.

They hope Whitekit does not misunderstand, as they approach her with such clear anger. It is not meant for her. Their tail settles, finally, draping over her back protectively as they stand side-by-side, fur brushing hers. They arch their back, and now does the anger show on their face, contorting in a wordless hiss directed for Greyhawk. She doesn't deserve to be a mother, if she is saying such things to her own child.

If Whitekit's "family" won't care for her, then Sunflowerpaw will.

---

IT'S EASY TO EXPLAIN 'CAUSE THIS WORLD'S NOT TAME .°☀

⟪ OOC ⟫ ⟪ INFO ⟫ ⟪ REF ⟫

• //​
• SUNFLOWERPAW named by their half-brother vulturemask after his friend and mentor.
  — they/them, 4 moons. semiverbal.
  — windclan apprentice, mentored by wolfsong.
  — reserved yet loyal, distrusts most.
  
  primary character, high activity. penned by saturnid.​
• 

​

 

[Spiderbloom]

It was not often that Spiderbloom had flashbacks to her childhood. Hers was one one of cruelty, having been blamed for her mother's death the moment she was born. She never knew a day of peace in her childhood with the constant beatings and berating.

That was until she slew her family with a clear conscience, of course. And it was these memories that were brought back, causing her fur to bristle.

Two courses of action lay before her. Comfort Whitekit, or confront Greyhawk. Her heart cried for carnage, but her mind knew better. She gave Greyhawk a venomous glare in passing as she strode by, sitting next to Whitekit and Sunflowerpaw.

"Don't listen to her, little one." She spoke gently, something most others would say was uncharacteristic of her.

"Your mother is undeserving of the title and should be ashamed of herself for speaking to her daughter that way." She said, loud enough for Greyhawk to hear.

"You don't need such a vile she-cat, though. We cannot choose the family we are born with.... But we can choose the family we find along the way." She said.

She thought of Jasperglare before his mind began to crumble. She hoped he found the peace he so desperately needed in death.

Some would say she was coddling, but in her mind, a flower cannot grow if it is not nurtured. Her own kits will know her love. They will not have her childhood.
​

 

[SNAKEHISS]

❪ TAGS ❫ — Family; something of a complicated subject for Snakepaw, even if his troubles were never apparent or outward. His parents had not been taken by StarClan, both alive and well, which is probably something he ought to be thankful for seeing that death plagued the clans frequently. Snakepaw had been as spoiled as a kit could be, always doted on by his mother and praised for his wit and potential. His father, on the other hand, was not one to dote. As much as Snakepaw trained, as much as he patrolled with the warriors and hunted to the best of his ability, it never seemed to be enough to please Shadowsight. Each little achievement was followed by "what could you have done better?" or "I want to see improvement". His father had always acted as more of a mentor than anything; stoic and hard to please, wringing the black tom for every last drop of effort.

Still, Snakepaw could not bring himself to say that he hated his father. He was just different, and that was okay. He would leave the softness to his mother. Someone had to be hard on him, right?

He doesn't know his extended family all too well, including his father's sister, Greyhawk, and her daughter. Father refused to speak with her, seeing as she had been mated to none other than an outsider, tainting a long colony-born lineage. He had always been told by Shadowsight that Whitekit's "differences" were a curse from StarClan themselves, a means to punish Greyhawk for her choices. If that were indeed true, then Snakepaw had ought to steer clear of Whitekit, right? No good would come from interacting with a walking curse.

Snakepaw sat at the entrance of one of the camp burrows, a means to try and shield himself from the rain. Watching the interaction unfold through emerald hues, he only narrowed his eyes, though did not dare venture near once Greyhawk had stalked off. He was her kin, sharing the same blood, and yet he feels nothing toward the albino kitten.

"Useless rat. Never able to walk in the sun. She'll never be a true warrior." He thinks to himself, and although his thoughts only echo what he has heard from his father, there is a part of him that truly believes it. What if this was all StarClan's will? Greyhawk was to blame. No wonder Shadowsight refused to speak to her anymore; she and her kit were a disgrace to their family, an embarrassment.

Flicking his ears, an uneasy feeling welling in his gut, Snakepaw tore his stare away from Whitekit and the others before turning to crawl into the burrow.

// out​

 

[GRAYHAWK ❞]

❝ Her paws are heavy, muddied with rainwater and regret. Duty is the only thing that dulls her mind, and when she nearly stumbles into the strange-looking white kit, her thoughts are jumbled from the shadows and spilled into uncomfortable light. Grayhawk's immediate response is biting -- to tell Whitekit to get away from her. She's cruel. Her tongue is as sharp as her claws, flexing in and out of their sheathes. The little creature barely looks like a normal kit.

When Grayhawk fixes her dull yellow gaze on Whitekit, she doesn't even feel as though she's looking at her own flesh and blood. No cat who glances upon the two could tell they are kin. Her long, spotted gray coat leaks water from the storm she's patrolled in. Whitekit's reddish-tinted eyes only remind her of blood, the blood she'd borne the rest of her dying kits in.

Other cats near her, and she recoils. Sunflowerpaw, one of the medicine cat's siblings, drapes a protective tail over the quivering red-eyed burden. Grayhawk would find them easy to ignore, but Spiderbloom decides to open her trap, and the freckled warrior bares her teeth at the other she-cat.

"You know nothing," she hisses, turning blatantly angry sundrop eyes on Whitekit again. Nothing like Alderpath. A reminder, a strange-looking, odd reminder of all she's lost. "I've never claimed that title. I'd appreciate it if WindClan would stop trying to force it upon me." She sneers at the seal point. "You're a queen now, aren't you? It's your job to make sure kits aren't underpaw. Do your job, please."

She can see Snakepaw's shadowy form out of the corner of one eye. Her brother's kit. He says nothing, but the look he gives the albino kit reinforces her beliefs, her deep-seated prejudices.

With a whirl, Grayhawk leaves the three remaining WindClanners to console one another. She has other duties to perform today. Unlike Sunflowerpaw and Spiderbloom, she isn't able to sit around camp treating blood-eyed anomalies like pets.

// out​

 

[SOOTSTAR]

Sootstar watches the scene in a broody manner, hunched over at the entrance of Tallrock. Her posture was unfit for a leader, especially one like her, …but who cared anymore? She lets out a sigh of defeat watching the scene, Grayhawk has abandoned motherhood before and she isn’t shocked that when confronted by Spiderbloom she does it again. All this bickering did was harm Whitekit, she was better off with no queen just like Grayhawk was better off not being forced into a role she didn’t desire.

Sootstar wouldn’t have much higher of an opinion or Whitekit, similarly to Snakepaw and Grayhawk, if she wasn’t the petite size she was. It was blatant to her Whitekit would make a decent tunneler, she’d still be able to provide for her clan in the tunnels. This was Whitekit’s saving grace in the moorland group, this is what made her valuable and not pathetic to the leader.

She grumbles a bit as she gets onto her paws, joining the scene right after Grayhawk’s departutre, ”Kittens when weaned don’t need mothers.” It was a statement that was pretty one-dimensional, but to Sootstar this is true. She didn’t have a mother eve before she was weaned and she grew up just fine. ”Whitekit will be fine. We leave Grayhawk alone, she’s abstained the role of mother many-a-times, there’s no changing her mind.” This was an order, she wouldn’t have infighting over this ideal. Not when a threat once again rose on the other side of the river.​

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Spoiler: TAGS ★ 03/13

( primary character / "speech" / ic opinions )​

╰ ★ ჻ 001 GENERAL INFORMATION ,
· SOOTSTAR, female — she / her
╰ ‣ 39 moons . pisces. ages on the first
╰ ‣ windclan leader . marsh-born . believes in starclan
╰ ‣ former soldier of the marsh group

╰ ★ ჻ 002 VISUALS & AESTHETICS ,
· DOMESTIC FELINE, smells like heather and wet dirt , status — 100%
╰ ‣ blue smoke . scarred chest, difficult to see through fur . green eyes

╰ ★ ჻ 003 MENTALITY & MANNERISMS ,
· ESTJ-A ❝ EXECTUTIVE ❞ , Slytherin, Lawful Evil
╰ ‣ Cunning, brash, fierce, confident, self-reliant, envious & selfish
╰ ‣ finds great difficulty in relating to others . can be cruel, usually shows mercy to those she can find sympathy with
╰ ‣ sole key to her heart is loyalty, if you have her trust, she often shows a completely different side of herself. Aggression tends to manifest from her extreme paranoia
╰ ‣ Appreciates titles such as "miss, m'am" etc

╰ ★ ჻ 004 INTERACTIONS & RELATIONSHIPS ,
· SOOT CLAW x PEBBLE BREEZE, sister to Pebblenose
╰ ‣ heterosexual. mate to Weaselclaw
╰ ‣ mother to Windstrider, Sootchaser, Moorkit, Adderkit, Harrierkit, Bluekit & Cottonkit
╰ ‣ mentor to N/A
╰ ‣ average fighter . skilled hunter .
╰ ‣ will start fights . unlikely to flee .
╰ ‣ attack in underline . penned by user @ava.​

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[Petalpaw ★]

Petalkit thinks about his own mother, peeking out from around the tall grass to the scene and watching it unfold in his perpetual silence. She was kind, she loved him and his brother, she was there even after they were weaned but not for very long until the sickness took her away and then immediately stole away their father too. The lilac kitten wanders forward, several cats console the abandoned kitten and his sky blue gaze dances between them. Sunflowerpaw, he liked, was kind and helpful and he wished to be like them perhaps when he was an apprentice. Spiderbloom, recently lost her mate, had her own litter coming and was surely upset seeing a mother so nonchalantly discard her own. In the distance a dark form vanishes as Snakepaw slips away and Petalkit pretend not to notice the other had been there staring in silence for so long.
Their leader's ashen form has him flattening his ears, she has always scared him from the beginning with her voice like cracked glass and commanding presence and she is not sympathetic to the plight of kits not her own.

A tiny dark paw stomps the ground for attention in front of Sunflowerpaw and Whitekit, before he raises it up and waves it dismissively, his nose tilted up into the air. You don't need her. That same paw reaches out, a smile forming on his maw as he offers it to Whitekit. She is as replaceable as to you, as you are to her. Sometimes he wished he could offer up his thoughts verbally, explain his gestures in a way that was both exact to his feelings and what he thought best but he could only hope the other kitten at least understood she was not alone.
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