camp DID YOU KNOW THAT... |☀| open, chitchat

[LIGHTSTRIKE .]

❝ WE HAVE YET TO CRASH ✧°.☀ —————————————————————————————
In the evening, once all chores and duties and whatever else were done for the day, Lightpaw could finally make a beeline for the fresh-kill pile and take his pick and eat his fill for the night. It was a great motivator to hurry and get things finished, even if it sometimes meant said finished things weren't always of the highest quality.

Today, the golden apprentice had managed a good and successful hunt, bringing back not one but two decently sized pieces of prey. (He had been instructed to give up one to the elders immediately upon his return, but the other had made its way to the pile with the others). In fact, he could still see it there as he began to cross the camp toward the fresh-kill.

It was then that someone ambled there before him, and his ears perked as they plucked up his catch and carried it off to settle and eat. Hurrying forward to snatch up a piece of his own, opting for a blackbird, the tom trailed after them and plopped down in front of them. After plucking out a mouthful of feathers and spitting them out, he grinned their way.

"I caught that one today, y'know," he said with a hint of pride, nodding to the prey at their paws. "Is it good?"

[penned by its_oliverr - ☀]

——————————— ☀.°✧ BUT WE STILL MAY AS WELL ENJOY IT ❞ ​

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[crowflower]

Crowflower is just curling up to enjoy the small rabbit she plucked from the fresh-kill pile when she notices Lightpaw following after her. For a moment, she seems a little startled by the apprentice's sudden appearance, but recovers quickly. The skunk-furred molly usually eats alone or in the nursery with Wrenflutter so the young tomcat's company is a pleasant surprise. Her polite expression turns a little sheepish when the apprentice indicates that he was the one who caught the prey at her paws. She considers asking him if he would rather have the rest of the rabbit for himself, but he's already asking her for her opinion on its taste. "Oh, yes, it's very good," she replies with an appreciative nod. "A rabbit is an unusual treat, thank you." Crowflower offers him a kind smile. "Would you like a bite?" She understands the excitement of a good catch and she remembers her days as an apprentice being forced to give up her hard-won prize. It might be the right thing to do, but it can be disappointing. Besides, she doesn't mind sharing. "I can't finish this myself."​

 

[DUSKBIRD]

Duskpaw was a far more meticulous apprentice. Perhaps it's that he's eager to please, or that he has big shoes to fill– terribly big ones, as a matter of fact. It could just be that he's young, and inexperienced, and all those other half-bad words. Whatever it is, they complete their chores quite slowly. Frustration lines his face as he hauls around the last bundle of moss, which will be cleaned and fluffed and made to nests tomorrow. For now, finally — finally — he's done. Which means he too can go gather himself something to eat and finally groom out the dirt and sticky bits of grass from between his toes. With a nice, plump vole hanging from his mouth by its tail, he trots after his fellow apprentice, perhaps preparing to gossip about Nightbird's training of the day, only to stop in his tracks quite quickly at what he says.

That rabbit was his? It was huge! It may not be healthy to compare himself to an apprentice so much older and– and better at this than he, but Duskpaw doesn't stand a chance against the surging wash of jealousy. Especially when so far he's only managed to catch mice, and one already wounded robin. They know they should be the bigger person and praise Lightpaw's catch regardless of their own feelings on it, but it doesn't feel good. He can't get the words past the lump of pride in his throat. "Where'd you even catch that? Do you think Nightbird will take me there soon?" It's close enough, isn't it?

˗ˏˋ〚  OOC NOTES 05.20.2023 〛´ˎ˗

• ooc: —
• ──── duskpaw. apprentice of thunderclan. he / they.
  ──── blazestar x little wolf, older littermate of skykit.
  ──── does not know of his father / skyclan heritage.
  
  ──── an undefined kitten with long, dark brown fur that fades just slightly near the chest, throat, and ears, while the tip of their tail burns with the bright orange tabby flame. eyes are a deep, rich amber-brown, seeming red.
• "speech"

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[LIGHTSTRIKE .]

❝ WE HAVE YET TO CRASH ✧°.☀ —————————————————————————————
Compliments to the hunter, as one might say, and Lightpaw's grin widened. "Sure are," he said after he spat out another mouthful of feathers. Maybe he ought to put them aside for when he finally changed the old moss in his nest. "Maybe we'd have more if our rabbit-munching neighbors didn't hog them all."

She offered him a bite, then, and he paused as he thought it over. Before he could reply, however, a familiar voice turned his head. "Hey!" he greeted, patting the space beside him with his tail in an obvious indication to sit. Despite the glimmer of jealousy in his eyes, Lightpaw hardly noticed, more than happy to continue discussing his catch.

The golden tom looked back to Crowflower. "You sure? Maybe you could share with Duskpaw," he offered, jerking his head the other's way. "I've already started on this. Might take that offer of a bite, though." Couldn't say no to that.

As for his partner's question, he looked over once the tom settled. "Sometimes they'll stray over the WindClan border if you're lucky. That's where I found it. The little bugger nearly made it back across too." Rabbits weren't slow, that was for sure. "Gotta be careful over there, though. Everyone says there's an owl living in the Great Sycamore. If we don't get whatever crosses the border, that thing will." It was probably why they were that much rarer.

Finally with a decent area to start eating, Lightpaw tucked into the bird. "Anyways," he said with a mouth half-full, "WindClan rabbits are just bigger. I'm pretty sure they can be found living in the forest too, but they mostly prefer the moors."

[penned by its_oliverr - ☀]

——————————— ☀.°✧ BUT WE STILL MAY AS WELL ENJOY IT ❞ ​

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[KILLDEERCRY ;]

WE'RE GETTING LOST! — Hunting simply was not Killdeercry's best skill, so often she didn't bother gaining real competition against her Clanmates. Unless of course it was one of her littermates vying for a leg up on her, then the battle of skill was on. Killdeercry much preferred to focus herself on what she loved to do more, which was training her little Barleypaw and monitoring the louder sides of their borders. Particularly RiverClan's these days due to their loss of Sunningrocks.

When Killdeercry entered camp, her pelt was layered with sand and dust, even stray bits of leaf litter and frail twigs had found their way into the ruddy she-cats fur but she didn't seem to notice. What she did notice was her lovely sister! Joined with a pair of apprentices, and a mighty looking meal.

"Crowflower!" She greeted with a loud purr, sitting next to the black-and-white she-cat, sending a cloud of dust to burst of her pelt. "You two aren't haggling my sister, are ya?" She teased with a playful wink. "Are we talking rabbits? They might as well be furry frogs with how slippery they are. I stopped wasting my time with those, I'll take my chances with a vole or squirrel instead."— tags​

 

[crowflower]

A contented purr rumbles deep in Crowflower's chest upon the arrival of her sister. With an ear flicked toward Lightpaw to indicate her continued attention, she turns to rasp an affectionate lick on Killdeercry's dust-covered ear. Though the sister's difference in coloration is stark in contrast, Crow finds it amusing that they both seem to carry tokens of their forest adventures snarled within their tangled pelts. "That's because you're not sneaky enough to catch a rabbit off-guard," she teases. A wave of affection surges within her as her gaze shifts from her littermate to the apprentices discussing the difficulty of rabbit-hunting, eyes half-shut as she enjoys the warmth of the sun seeping through her thick black fur.

"I'm sure," she says to Lightpaw. "It would be selfish to keep it all to myself. Everyone's welcome to taste." She takes a few more bites until her belly is full and gestures with a muddied white paw for her sister and the two apprentices to partake in what remained.

At the mention of the Great Sycamore's elusive owl, Crowflower nods sagely. "Owls can be dangerous, but they are best suited for hunting small prey they can carry off in their talons." That is why kits were most at risk when birds of prey circled overhead. They were light enough to be carried away. "Foxes are better at hunting rabbits than even Windclan," she warns. "And they can make meals of apprentices too." Foxes usually don't want to start conflict with a group of cats, but a lone hunter is no match against a fox defending its prey or its kits.​

 

[✧ Sleekserpent.]

I DON'T KNOW EUPHORIA
sleekpaw | 04 months | genderfluid | he/she/they | physically easy | mentally hard | attack in bold mistyrose

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As anti-social as ever, sleekpaw only joins the group for one reason - he'd overheard the offer of trying a bite, and well, how can he resist. he's never seen a rabbit before today, much less tried it, and so the pink-tinged apprentice gives crowflower a measuring look before dipping their head and taking a quick bite, darting away to chew it a bit aways from the rest. "Mouse is still better," they say softly, though it's not as though it was a bad taste per say. Just... not for him. With that in mind, they dart off as quickly as they'd arrived, this time swooping in to grab a mouse from the pile all for themselves. Much more filling that way after all.

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[BURNSTORM]

Burnpaw is still uncertain how to feel about his younger siblings. Does he loathe them or does he find them endearing? Part of him feels a burning pang of jealousy when he sees the way his mother looks at them, her eyes burning, protective, and he knows it is because of what happened to Morningpaw that she feels that way. His fluffy tail flicks behind him as he makes his way over to the small group, his own meal dangling between his jaws. "I'm not afraid of any foxes" he declares proudly after putting the squirrel down between his shadowed paws. He had fought dogs, after all. Was there anything scarier than that? He wants to be among the bravest cats in the clan, and to accomplish that first he needed to believe it.

"I can show you a few pointers, Duskpaw, if you want." he say, his voice a little quieter as he addresses his brother. That's what big brothers did right? Helped their younger siblings? He wonders if Killdeercry and Crowflower were close, or if they had been when they were his age. Would it be weird to ask? "I'm partial to squirrel myself - its the perfect amount of food and it tastes the best!" at least, in his opinion it did. ​