camp CRYOSTASIS // open

[MUSHROOMPAW]

---

---

Mushroomkit hated being little.

She didn't mind it much before, content to let time go slow and savor moments like her grandpa taught her, but....now all of her friends were apprentices, she felt left out. Being grounded didn't help either but she really didn't have anyone but herself to blame for that. 'I don't even know why I did all that...' She thinks, sighing and putting her head on her paws. All the apprentices were out Doing Things with some of the warriors, so it wasn't like she could bug some of them in camp like she had before, and while there were other kits her age now....The idea of trying to figure out how to talk to them was a little scary.

So she lay in camp, in her own little circle clean of snow, and moped.​

---

---

ALL I CAN DO IS DREAM ─

─ FOR I AM SO, SO TIRED.

 

[MORNINGPAW ☆]

╭── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╮​

She's so tired lately that even the trek from ThunderClan to SkyClan to visit her father has started to seem impossible. At the end of her days now, her paw pads are sore and cracked from the frost on the forest floor. Wolfwind is an eager cat -- she wants Morningpaw to be the best warrior she can be, and she's thankful, honest! But she still longs for the feather-lined nest in the nursery, still wants to sink her nose into her mother's black pelt and breathe, dream, pretend responsibilities are for other cats.

She enters SkyClan's camp, chilled to her bone despite the density of her fluffed-up pelt making her seem a cloud descended and walking on spotted paws. It's quiet -- patrols must be out. The tortoiseshell point blinks against a chilling wind and exhales a plume of smoke. Coming to her father's Clan isn't a vacation, exactly, though she has no specific mentor here. She still has to help contribute; after all, despite her feelings, she's as much SkyClanner as she is ThunderClanner.

She's prepared to head to her father's den to greet him when she spots a morose golden pile of fur in the snow. Sad blue eyes trail after cats exiting the camp. Mushroomkit, who is almost as old as Morningpaw, still without a mentor, without duties of her own.

She pauses and turns around, padding close to her friend instead. "Hey there," she chirps, blinking big blue eyes kindly. "Surely you're cold out here, by yourself in the snow? Are you okay?" She settles close to the young flame point, careful not to touch the other with her pelt, paws, or tail. "Are you... bored?"

- ,,​

​

 

[Fireflyglow]

WE'VE BEEN DOIN' ALL THIS LATE NIGHT TALKIN' ✧​

Rushing through the snow like a mad cat-like bulldozer, one would think that Fireflypaw was running from something or someone. One's guess would be right if it was Crimsonbite himself. After all, he did enjoy teasing the older warrior constantly. Annoying him until he gave him a swat over his head or rolled over onto him until he felt like he'd suffocate. To others, he might have been too rough- but for Firefly, it was just enough banter and roughness for him to understand the ginger tom's boundaries. Crimsonbite didn't hate him; Fireflypaw knew what it looked like when Crimsonbite hated a cat, after all. The look on his face was different; the air shifted.

Rolling to a stop in the snow when he hears his sister speak up, talking to a cat he couldn't quite see until he sat himself up and craned his neck. His best friend, Mushroomkit, was frowning to herself while sitting in the snow. His ear twitches as he eavesdrops, his own lips downturned into a frown as he strides closer to the two femmes. Unlike Morningpaw, Fireflypaw lays down next to the molly, tucking his paws underneath himself. With her attention back on reality thanks to Morningpaw, Fireflypaw gently attempts to wrap his tail around Mushie's own, intending to entwine the ends of their tails together to comfort her.

"How much longer is Morningbird going to withhold you from being an apprentice?" Fireflypaw asks softly, eyes flicking up to his sister; bored was an understatement, he'd assume. She mentioned something about being cold, and Fireflypaw forgets that not everyone was blessed with extremely furry paws like he was. "Cuddle pile?" He suggests, smiling affectionately towards the two mollies. ​

 

[MUSHROOMPAW]

---

---

"Its not too bad. Grandpa's den in leaf-fall was worse somehow." She perks up a little, now that Morning's here, but it doesn't stop that emptiness in her chest. She doesn't even know if being an apprentice is worth it, if being in this clan is worth it, but...did she really want to go back to her den, her mom's den...if she wasn't going to be there? Even if her dad was there, even if he was alive...without mom it wouldn't be the same. Without auntie Lemon it wouldn't be the same. Nothing was going to be like it was when she was well and truly a child.

Its Fireflypaw's tail brushing against hers that keeps her from spiralling further. "Its lonely without you guys always in camp when you're in Skyclan now. I don't know how to talk to Deersong's kits, or any of the new kits at all!" She flops down into her friend's fur with a exasperated sigh, laying her head on one of his paws. Its a completely childish action, but if her grandpa was going to treat her like a child then she had the right to act like one.

"He's keeping me back until I'm six, thats a whole three more moons! I don't get why he isn't pushing for it." That's what she'd do if she was scared, push everyone she loved to learn as much as they can to keep themselves safe. Her grandfather disagreed, arguing that waiting until she was bigger to start any actual training would suffice. "He said I could do chores with you guys when I turned four, like that makes it any better that I'm stuck in camp all the time."​

---

---

ALL I CAN DO IS DREAM ─

─ FOR I AM SO, SO TIRED.

 

[VIOLETNOSE]

violetpaw couldn't fathom the idea of being held back from apprenticeship. having to wait an extra two moons to begin training? that's ridiculous! (unless you have committed atrocious crimes, like sneaking out of the camp without permission. in that case, one would be lucky to simply return without starclan striking them down. poor, stupid centipedepaw had learned that the hard way.) but mushroomkit has done no such heinous act, as far as violetpaw is aware. so, violetpaw chalks it up to her grandfather being a complete milksop who doesn't want his granddaughter to begin her training yet. (she doesn't know morningbird that well to truly know. this is just an assumption she has hastily made.)

violetpaw's ears twitch in the direction of voices, who she recognizes at some of blazestar's spawn, trying to cheer up the dejected mushroomkit. ever the nosy one, violetpaw goes to stick it where it doesn't belong; right in the middle of some sappy, emotional bullshit. "sounds to me like your grandpa is stupid," crows the girl, completely shattering the melancholic aura in this little section of camp. "maybe you should get a new one!" it's meant to be a joke, albeit one said in poor taste.​