camp Do the Polka || o. Intro

[Crowpaw.]

Change your mind​

---

Crowkit had been standing in the clearing of camp as she watched everyone went by their days, a bored look in their brown gaze, tail thumping on the ground before they continued to look around, gaze drifting across warriors and apprentices alike before deciding to get up and make their way towards a random warrior, ears perked and the most ridiculous thought in mind as they approached. Perhaps it was mostly because they wanted some form of attention or just because many of the kits had left the nursery and became apprentices and so they didn't have much to do for the meantime and decided to bother the warriors. "Do you think Betonyfrost and Smogmaw look similar to each other?" they piped up, not realizing the tiny storm they would create with such foolish and yet bold words.

Crowkit wasn't the brightest of the bunch and had been considered a troublemaker by most, having the tendency to get underneath other's paws, or track mud into the nursery and annoy the queens with their messes. Brown gaze blinked while the sun danced slightly on the silver rosette's fur, ears perked as they tried to ignore the cold that nipped at their fur. Everyone in Shadowclan look like only bones and skin, small and scraggly, even Crowkit was similar in ways due to the harshness of leaf-bare but the kit tried to ignore the cold nipping at his short fur and tried to keep a high spirit up, besides new-leaf was around the corner so that means less gloom...right? ​

"speak""Thoughts"​

 

[Halfshade]

"No. They do not." Her words lack the usual saccharine tilt, the singsong question of a laugh clinging to the edge of her words. When she answers the kitten it is with irritation and annoyance that such blasphemy could ever be uttered and while the child was clearly some kind of little idiot she had hoped ShadowClanners would have the good sense to not compare trash to treasure. There was no similarity in the two, Betonyfrost was a homeley and dreary gray, barely visible tabby stripes and a wrinkled maw that wouldn't look out of place on an elder. Her shriveled ears and scarred nose, a testament to Halfshade's own disdain, were equally unattractive. Smogmaw may look plain, but he was far from being some washed up tabby; his coat had a nice blue tone to it, it looked especially nice groomed properly which was entirely her doing and he had a sense of humor that charmed more than anything Betony would ever spew out of her mouth. A paw raised, lightly bopped the kit in the forehead to gain his attention, "Don't say something ridiculous like that again." Or the jokes about kittens being an emergency food source may very well come true.
​

 

[FLAMEKIT]

flamekit has no strong opinions on smogmaw or betonyfrost. they're both warriors of shadowclan, so by proxy, he looks up to them both literally and figuratively. but it's less awe-inspired admiration and more... i want to be a warrior, too. however, outside of them being warriors— and that betonyfrost has really funny ears because she got in trouble with pitchstar a little bit before he'd been born, according to a warrior he'd asked one day— flamekit knows nothing about either of them.

and they don't ever really cross his mind, truth be told, aside from the fleeting curiosity about betonyfrost's weird ears.

crowkit points out something about the two he's never even noticed, though, and flamekit does start thinking about the two warriors. betonyfrost and smogmaw... do they look similar? he tries to recall what they look like, his memories fuzzy, with lips pursed and nose wrinkled in concentration. betonyfrost... smogmaw... they're both blue, right? however, betonyfrost has those stubby ears while smogmaw has normal ears. but that was because she got in trouble, he reminds himself. she didn't always look like that, even though it's hard to imagine her with normal ears. they both have shorter fur and stripes, too. he couldn't really remember what color eyes they have, though... but flamekit thinks that maybe crowkit is right. they do look kinda similar.

halfshade doesn't seem to think the same. she shuts down crowkit really quickly, even going as far as to bap him on the head. "but they do," flamekit argues, frowning at the pretty warrior. how could she not see the similarities? (he's too young to realize that similarities run deeper than similar fur and eye colors.) "they're both blue, and they both have stripes," he says it so matter-of-fact, like anyone who doesn't agree is stupid.​

 

[FERNDANCE]

Cats came in all shapes and sizes. Some were rotund and orange, others were tortoiseshell and looked like they had crawled out from the carrionplace, and some even looked like little snow angels. No two cats smelled the same, and it was that which truly separated the tabbies from the calicos in Ferndance's world. She looked up from her biweekly grooming process, the fur around her injured leg sodden with saliva and she tried her hardest to scratch the itch of healing flesh. Blinking slowly, Ferndance listened to the arguments with large ears swiveled forwards, an idle curiosity causing her to slowly lower her paw back towards the mulchy earth. Did Smogmaw and Betonyfrost look alike? She knew the former quite well by now, often seeing him around camp and bothering him with her little witticisms and ideas, but Betonyfrost was someone she had never got a proper look at. Rumour told her that the latter was... difficult, in a way. Ferndance supposed, even if there was enough protest about the two's appearances, that their reputations in her view lined up quite spectacularly. Slipping from her perch by the warrior's den, she moved closer, her tail moving like the crack of a whip as Halfshade gently cuffed the talkative youth.

She listened to Flamekit's arguments with a wide smile on her maw, and sensing the opportunity to spin a false web even further, she added on, "And they both sneeze whenever they have to smile. It is a true story, have you ever seen them smile? Would you want to smile if you got a runny nose when you did it?" She imagined Halfshade had seen Smogmaw smile, a morbidly fascinated part of her wanted to ask what it looked like. Were the tom's teeth cracked and charcoal, the pinnacle of a forest after a fire, or did he have a nice smile? She stared, unblinking, for too long at the torbie as she pondered her question, her mouth partially open as she breathed in the musky marsh air. It took a few moments to shake herself out of her stupor, her wedge-shaped head shooting around to address the little kittens who seemed adamant that the two were alike. "You should tell them that, they love compliments, the both of them." There, amidst her sincere words, was an ounce of shallowness, a clue to anyone perceptive enough that she was merely fueling her own mischievous ideas.

​

 

[betonyfrost]

Her appearance has never been something that Betonyfrost put a lot of thought into, beyond a vague awareness while hunting that some places allowed her to blend in easier than others. Betonyfrost doesn't even know when she's last looked at her own reflection, whether by consequence of looking for something beneath a water's surface or purposefully sought. The only image of her face Betonyfrost can imagine is unscarred.

Had it really been that long?

Betonyfrost has somehow become part of a topic of debate. Whether or not she looks like Smogmaw feels entirely irrelevant, and as Betonyfrost continues to eavesdrop from the mouth of the warrior's den she assumes her clanmates will ease into another topic. As soon as they realize just how idiotic the current one is. Only it would seem they are never going to realize, and Betonyfrost's mood has shifted from amused to well and truly bothered.

"We could be mistaken for one another," She pads to meet the group, chin raised and a sardonic twist to her quiet voice, "If you ignore the fact that I don't have fucking ears. Don't any of you have anything better you could be doing? Maybe — maybe counting grass or pissing in your own nests?"​

shadowclan warrior | blue mackerel tabby | 18 moons | tags​

 

[smogstar]

They say if you stare off into the abyss, the abyss will stare back. This adage used to baffle Smogmaw. Then, one day he glimpsed his own likeness in the murmuring surface of a mud puddle, and it all made sense. In the midst of his dark-striped exterior, broad-fitting shoulders, and - dare he say - chiseled features, there existed a tom who was devoid of tenderness, who wore an unnatural demeanour to make up for his hidden numbness. Or, you know, it's possible that he was simply looking at himself from a funny angle, and just overthinking things as usual.

Unlike his alleged lookalike, Smogmaw has no idea what the topic of discussion is. The only knowledge he holds is his name hangs in the air, put forth from a young one's mouth. Ferndance is correct in asserting that he thrives on attention, as it is enough to draw him over. "Uh, hullo," drones the tom, his gaze combing over those present. When it stops on Halfshade, he cannot help but grin. "What're we talking about?" ​

 

[FLAMEKIT]

ferndance steps up to the investigation, and flamekit's eyes grow as round as twin full moons when she says that smogmaw and betonyfrost both sneeze whenever they smile. "really?" now that she mentions it, flamekit doesn't remember ever seeing either of them smile. if they sneeze every time they smile, though, that would make a lot of sense. without a doubt flickering through their kitten-like mind, flamekit now accepts this as absolute truth, nodding resolutely. "makes sense." poor smogmaw and betonyfrost, though. flamekit couldn't imagine how miserable it must be to never be able to smile without a sneeze ruining it!

maybe that's why his mother and father never smile, too. maybe the scowls and annoyance pinching their features are just 'cause they don't want to sneeze. father always said he looks just like his mother, but flamekit's glad that he didn't get the sneezing thing from either of them.

ferndance furthers the conversation by letting flamekit in on another secret; smogmaw and betonyfrost both like compliments. though, maybe it isn't much of a secret. every cat likes compliments, don't they? flamekit knows he does. the warmth in his chest after being praised, no matter how little he receives it, always makes him feel as light as a feather. like he could do anything he sets his mind to. he much prefers it to the blaze that scorches him whenever he's ignored or flat-out insulted.

of course betonyfrost and smogmaw like compliments. and ferndance suggests that he and crowkit should tell them that they look alike because it would be a compliment. it's as if the two are summoned by the prospect of being complimented, and flamekit grins up at them when they approach. the gesture is almost taunting after being let in on their secret; look, i can smile without sneezing and you can't!

the smile is slapped from his face when betonyfrost speaks up, her venom sinking deep into flamekit's veins. his fur fluffs out, his cheeks puffing and his nose crinkling as he scowls. don't you have anything better to do? the question spins around his head, taunting him. it's the same question his father always snaps at him when he's trying to get the older tom's attention. he hates that question and the insinuation that flamekit wets the nest adds insult to injury.

the familiar blaze that burns his insides sparks back to life, bringing to light those ugly tears again, and flamekit doesn't know how to control it. it bursts out of him, suddenly launching himself at betonyfrost and attempting to nip at whatever he could reach—which is consequentially only her paws and lower legs. "shut up! at least i still have ears, so- so why don'tcha go and piss in your own nest about it!"

he's too busy trying to grab ahold of betonyfrost's ankles that he doesn't even hear smogmaw speak up above the pounding in his ears.​

 

[betonyfrost]

Smogmaw has his own questions that Betonyfrost debates answering for fear that he would sense her own annoyance and side with the kits. Whatever choice she comes to is dropped from her mind like an egg from a broken nest when one of the kits — Firekit? Redkit? — launches himself at Betonyfrost and nips at her like an excitable flea, shouting all the while. Betonyfrost doesn't have time to process what is happening until his teeth are on her.

She yelps and flinches back in one moment, and in the next her face is split into a hiss and she aims to bat the kit away from herself.

"What in StarClan's name is wrong with this one?" Betonyfrost gasps and then, directly to the kit, "If I get an infection or — you better hope I don't because it'll be your head. Do you understand?"​

shadowclan warrior | blue mackerel tabby | 18 moons | tags​