escape to a new life - patchkit

[Patchpaw [in.]]

THERE'S A WORLD THAT WAS MEANT FOR OUR EYES TO SEE​

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With the chilly leaf-fall air came a new world that Patchkit had never seen before. Her dad, Flare, took her a long distance from her old home, leaving behind a barn that was once full of soft hay and strange animals, now nothing but a scorched hole in the earth. For how young she was, she couldn't remember most of it, only pieces and parts. She remembered looking up to see her mother gazing back down at her with loving green eyes, with her siblings were right next to her in the hay... then the smell of thick, asphyxiating black smoke that circled into the air, the crackling of burning wood, and things shrieking into the night.
She had no idea where they were going, and when she asked, all that she got in response was a better home. What new home she would get, she wasn't sure. Flare would swap out which kit he was carrying, but often times, Patchkit would end up walking. She was the biggest and the oldest, after all.

It barely registered in her mind that it happened two days ago and not yesterday as she previously imagined. In fact, it was yesterday that she arrived at the ThunderClan camp with her family and settled in the nursery, which smelled surprisingly...familiar. Patchkit couldn't quite place it, but she was too exhausted to question anything at the time. She had collapsed into one of the nests and, snuggled up quick with her siblings and later her father, passed out from exhaustion.

It was late in the morning that Patchkit finally awoke. She was the first, though evidently her dad had already left earlier. Carefully as to not awake her siblings, Patchkit stood up, her legs quivering from the effort of holding her up. After a moment, she regained her balance, and she slipped from the strange mossy nest to look around. There were a few nests nearby and the walls were covered up with branches and twigs, leaving only one entrance-and-exit. Unsure of what else to do, she pushed through the entrance and out into bright sunlight.
@DEWKIT ! ​

 

[HOWLINGSTAR]

Howling Wind had been onboard with allowing the family into the clan. She isn't heartless - she'd never want kits wandering about in the wilds without a den to call home! Earlier in the day, she had watched the tom called Flare step out of the nursery, interest piqued. Soon enough, she'd have to usher him away, for the nursery was a place for milk-scented queens and kits. But with the family being so new...she didn't have the heart to warn him off to the warrior's den quite yet. Maybe in a day or two.

When she sees Patchkit come outside, that is when she finally rises to her paws. With a gentle smile across her face, the plump tabby strides over to the nursery and casts soft blinks in the direction of the child. "Did you sleep well?" She mews, missing the days when her own kits were this small. With all of them grown, she has taken to spending as much time as she can around the clan's kits, unable to shake off the maternal instincts so deeply ingrained within her. "Are your siblings still asleep?"​

 

[DEWKIT !]

Quietly, Dewkit would drop into the best hunter’s crouch she could manage, and began pulling herself forward on quiet paws. With Patchkit distracted by Howling Wind, she was hopeful she would be able to successfully sneak attack the other kitten. Within a matter of eternal heartbeats, Dewkit would prepare herself and attempt to land on the other kitten’s back, rolling over to the ground with Patchkit in her grasp.

// another big welcome to thunderclan!!!


​

 

[Patchpaw [in.]]

THERE'S A WORLD THAT WAS MEANT FOR OUR EYES TO SEE​

---

//aah thank you!! :)
Patchkit inspected this new world around her, curiously staring out at the different dens that encircled the fresh-kill pile when she jerked her head up at a shadow looming over her. She let out a tiny gasp and her fur spiked up, and she backed up slightly to view the deputy better. "I- I didn't see you there, I'm sorry! Uh..." She gave her pelt a quick lick to smooth it back down. "I guess I slept alright. Spice and Cherry are both still asleep, so I thought I'd just get a quick looksie..." Patchkit drew her toe around in the dirt with a small giggle, before a thought occurred to her and she quickly perked up with new curiosity. "I was just wondering though if you knew where--"

Before she could ask Howling Wind where her dad had disappeared off to, she felt the sudden smack of a kit bowl into her side. With a startled shriek, she tumbled over, rolling for a moment before coming to a stop below them. The tiny torbie squeaked indignantly, her brown eyes wide and dilated in shock and surprise as she looked up at the strange kit now standing above her. What made it all the more embarrassing was the realization that she had just been tackled by a kit younger than she was with onlookers like Howling Wind watching them nearby, and Patchkit was not about to let that slide. With new fervor, Patchkit started wrestling with the kit in order to try and shake them off.

"I will not be so easily conquered, you fiend!!" Of course, she was only joking, but she wasn't about to give up without a fight!​

 

[DEWKIT !]

Giggling, Dewkit would allow Patchkit to wrestle with her, suddenly oblivious to the presence of the deputy beside them. Surely she wouldn't blame them for playing right? For all they knew, Howling Wind could teach them something useful! Wouldn't she be proud of them for showing how well they'd serve Thunderclan as warriors one day? “ME? I'll beat you, you stinky badger!” WIth sheathed claws Dewkit would aim to swat at the other kit's ear, overjoyed that Patchkit wasn't "too old" to play with her. Not many other kittens nor apprentices (aside from her own siblings of course) would take the time to play with her.


​

 

[Sunfreckle]

From his nest he had observed the new family a few days prior, offered a quiet greeting and paw to assist as needed; Dovekit's passing had left him feeling raw and perhaps a little too eager to distract himself, so he had observed the new presence in the nursery with vested interest. It must be hard raising kits alone, for all of his nonsense and silly behavior, Rabbitnose was a supportive and loving mate who he didn't think he could live without. And he probably couldn't have, given the blue tom had been the sole reason he had survived in the wild before joining ThunderClan; freshly escaped from a two-leg cage and out in the world he had never seen before. They had made a home here that he was comfortable with, he hoped Flare and his kits would eventually grow to enjoy the clan as well.
The red tabby's head lifted drowsily from his nest to the sound of kittens playing, a sleepy smile of greeting offered to Howling Wind at the mouth of the den before focusing on Patchkit being introduced to Dewkit in the only way his own kits knew how to say hello. With a lot of rolling around and yelling. They certainly got their father's energy, he was tired just watching them go around at times let alone actively join them but that was probably a result of grief burrowing deep into his bones like heavy mud. Sunfreckle shook his head to clear his thoughts and wake himself proper, "Remember to keep your claws sheathed, we don't want another tree incident." It had taken several hours to pull Spark-kit loose from the tree he had somehow embedded his claws into.


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[spicekit]

✦ SPICEKIT ✦

Spicekit was slow to wake up that morning. The previous two days had fundamentally exhausted her, but for a kitten as young as she, it was nothing a nap and a good meal couldn't fix. Kittens were funny like that; they weren't so easily affected by the traumas of the outside world, especially if they didn't fully understand the trauma itself. Despite having been awake for the barn fire, little Spice had yet to fully understand the danger that fire brought. To her, it was just another small detail, another piece to the puzzle that only grown-ups were allowed to put together.

Waking up to a nest of moss instead of one of hay, without the presence of her sweet-smelling mother, was something that would need getting used to. For some reason, their mother hadn't gone with them when they left, although Spicekit had never asked why; she would probably just catch up with them later!

The little tortoiseshell gave a long stretch and a large yawn, before at last blinking the sleep from her eyes and wandering out of the nursery.

As soon as she saw Patchkit wrestling with another kit she didn't recognize, the drowsiness vanished from her eyes, and her fur spiked up with excitement. "Yeah, you get 'er! Teach that ratty old Patch a lesson!"

... And apparently, to Spice, nothing spelled sisterly love more than cheering when one's sister got a paw-swipe to the face by a kitten much smaller than her. ​

thunderclan · she/her · penned by cuzn · tags​

 

[Patchpaw [in.]]

THERE'S A WORLD THAT WAS MEANT FOR OUR EYES TO SEE​

---

It was a known fact between Patchkit and her siblings that she rarely, if ever, unsheathed her claws. She was too busy tussling with Dewkit, rolling over in the dust and the sand until their pelts became muddled with clinging dirt. She gave a giddy laugh at the ear swipe and returned a few bats in return at Dewkit's cheek, and though she was light and gentle as she played, she did have a weight advantage over her. At the sound of her sister's voice, though, she pulled away and spat a raspberry at Spicekit. "I'll show you what a REAL badger looks like!"

With a surge of strength, Patchkit pulled away from Dewkit and stood up on her hind legs, fluffing out her fur to make herself look even bigger. With a mighty "roar", she charged, throwing her full weight into Dewkit to bowl her back over and take her by surprise. In reality, the weight difference wasn't much, but for two tiny kits, it certainly had an impact.

While all of this fussing and tussling between kits occured, a fiery-pelted tom slipped through the camp entrance, carrying a squirrrel in his mouth by its tail. He himself seemed squirrely. His tail twitched back and forth restlessly, his eyes darted from place to place, and his ears warily perked up. When he padded forwards to sit by the deputy's side and watch his kits tussle, his back would hunch up.
"Good morning, Howling Wind," Flare greeted him with a small, tired and grateful smile, "I'm grateful to see my kits are having a good time since they've gotten here. I can't thank you and Emberstar enough for your generosity towards my kits and I, especially now that leaf-fall's finally here." The scent of barn hay and wood was thick on him especially, but Flare didn't seem to mind.
One thing he knew he would have to change soon, however, was his own name. The kits didn't seem to mind the name change all that much--especially not Patchkit--but Flare hesitated at the idea of changing his own name, especially if it was to join ThunderClan. In fact, he never saw this coming; their arrival at the clan was either a stroke of luck, or a complete miracle. Even then, he was no fool: Flare could recognize the remains of a fire from anywhere.

Patchkit continued to play-fight in front of them, perfectly oblivious to her father's presence.​

 

[HOWLINGSTAR]

Howling Wind's whiskers twitch in amusement as the kit is soon bowled over by her denmate. As Sunfreckle arrives to watch over their antics, the deputy lifts her gaze to see that Flare has returned with a freshly killed squirrel dangling from his jaws. Approval shines in her gaze - so new here and he's already pulling his own weight. She greets him with a dip of her head, gentle smile resting on her muzzle as she murmurs a greeting to him. He thanks her and Emberstar for allowing the family to stay, and the former queen feels her own heart clench. It's obvious the molly isn't keen on letting strangers into the clan like her leader is, but this case had been different. He had kits. "ThunderClan will never abandon kits who need help," She assures him kindly, eyes then focusing on the fresh-kill at his paws. "Besides, we can always use another skilled hunter." It's easy to see how easily she has taken to the new family in their ranks based on circumstance alone.​