flash, bam, alakazam - gunshots 𓆝

[Shimmerkit.]

Don't stray far, her mother had warned. Being a kit it wasn't like Shimmerkit could wander very far anyway, confined to camp until she finally became an apprentice. However, her mother seemed to think with all the twoleg activity as of late, that the twolegs were mere moments from bursting through camp.

In view of her mother, Shimmerkit played idly by herself, practicing her best hunter's crouch against an invisible enemy. Shimmerkit thought she was doing a pretty good job herself, though a more discerning eye would probably say her rump was too high. She was wiggling slightly about to pounce when suddenly too loud bangs echoed around camp. They sounded a bit like crackles of thunder but much, much louder. Shimmerkit nearly jumped out of her skin and judging by the faces of a few nearby clanmates they had been startled too. When the sound faded Shimmerkit merely blinked, apparently unfazed by the sudden sounds. "Huh, that was some weird thunder," She mumbled, before returning to her crouching.

/ for the swordtail slot!​

 

[CRABPAW]

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 The boy sits near the nursery’s entrance, watching Shimmerkit practice her hunter’s crouch. The other kit seems to know what she’s doing, at least, but Crabkit can only wonder how he can do the same thing. Should he also be practicing? He’s going to be an apprentice… soon, isn’t he? In only a few months! He can’t help but feel impatient—he’s ready to be an apprentice already, and be able to explore the territory. With all the twoleg activity lately, the boy just wants to help the clan stay safe, but he can’t do anything when he’s stuck in camp!

Suddenly, a loud noise rings out, and then another. Orange-and-ivory paws stumble in shock, terror momentarily overtaking the boy as he shrinks to the ground. But besides her initial reaction, Shimmerkit doesn’t seem to be worried, so Crabkit’s own fear is lessened when she recovers quickly. "Are you sure that was thunder?" He questions the other kit, his eyes wide with concern. "It’s not even raining, is it?" His eyes turn to the sky, searching for clouds or lightning.

˚𓆛˚｡ the river will take me

• ooc: —
• 
  CRABKIT ❯❯ he/him, kit of riverclan
  𓆟 ginger and cream tabby with rippling white spotting and mossy green eyes. highly emotional and difficult to keep focused on one subject.
  𓆟 son of iciclefang ; brother to cragkit & pinekit
  𓆟 peaceful and healing powerplay permitted
  𓆟 penned by foxlore

​

​

 

[salmonshade]

Salmon sits at the edge of camp, Theres a loud crackle in the air. It's something that sends her heart in to her throat, eyes briefly shutting before kittens begin to question what it was. Shimmerkit comments about the thunder and Crabkit seems more on edge than she was, commenting about the sky. Its clear. Of course its clear. Even the weather is celebrating our demise.

"It's not raining... But maybe we should get you back to your mothers... I'm sure they'll wanna hear about the thunder from you two." her voice comes out monotonous- the molly can only mull over potential causes of that noise as she forces herself to go closer to do a once over on them. At least they're both fine. The thunder... It's much like the sound those fancy lights had emitted last season cycle in greenleaf but... Different, maybe, louder, closer... If she can get the kids back to their mothers then there would be nothing those twolegs could do that would harm them. Even camp itself is beginning to feel like it wasn't safe.

She swallows hard as she remembers Riverpaw. She won't let another failure on her part happen. Riverclan is stronger in groups. She turns to the nearest warrior, "How close do you reckon that was to camp...?" she asks robotically, ears pinning backwards. She does not offer to go check. Someone else can do that.

𝙼𝙰𝚈𝙱𝙴 𝙸𝚃𝚂 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝚂𝙸𝙻𝙴𝙽𝙲𝙴 ଳ⋆｡˚ 𝙼𝙰𝚈𝙱𝙴 𝙸𝚃𝚂 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝚆𝙰𝚁

• 
  ❥ salmon ,, salmonshade
  ❥ cis female ,, she/her ,, 39 months
  ❥ warrior of riverclan
  ❥ fluffy & dainty chocolate tortie smoke with white, blue eyes
  ❥ "speech, fd9367" ,, thoughts
  ❥ lesbian ,, single
  ❥ smells like warm flowers & freshly cut grass
  ❥ chibi by pin ,, penned by chuff

​

 

[HORIZONPAW [transferred]]

He misses his mother. He misses Riverpaw, though he hadn't seen him much since he was apprenticed. He misses the monotonous peace of camp, which he only faintly remembers anyway, which seems to have vanished entirely with Smokestar. Wherever he went. It's a bitter thought, Smokestar. He knows he's the one who brought his big brothers and sister to them, and vaguely he recognizes their familial connection. Wherever he went, he shouldn't have gone. Then his mother wouldn't have to be away for so long, and maybe all those cats wouldn't have disappeared...

He's finding company with his snail, on the sidelines of Shimmerkit's practice, when the clear sky shatters. BOOM! The scale-striped tom leaps backwards, fur jumping into a staticy cloud around him, and he lands in an awkward puff of sand. His bones rattle around when he twitches, he can hear it. The russet-and-white warrior nearby tries to shoo them all back inside the nursery, but something about the flatness of her tone jilts him.

She asks how close it was, and Horizonkit just shrieks. Hazecloud would know. Big, fat, embarrassing tears roll down his cheeks and plop into the sand. Hazecloud would put her tail around him and tell him it was just thunder, like Shimmerkit and Crabkit were saying, but she would say it better. She would make it make sense.

riverclan kit | "speech." | tags​

​

 

[Cricketchirp]

⋆ ｡° ✩ 　The rattling sound of a crash leaves Cricketpaw's ears ringing, reverberating through all that they are. Their eyes turn skyward - do the stars speak their displeasure so loudly? No clouds cover the moon, and yet how strange that thunder should ring nonetheless. It sets them on edge.

Salmonshade's words are met by interjection by the apprentice, even if he was not the one she addressed. "Far closer than I am comfortable with," she hisses, ears lying flat as if to block out the remaining dregs of the sound. It does little to abate the shrill echo that rings in their skull. She continues to blink up at the sky, befuddlement bleeding into their focused expression. "I didn't see any lightning, either, but it sounded near - did it not?" And their narrow muzzle moves, points in the direction it had come from.

A glance to the kits, and a lowered voice. He does have some measure of tact, after all. "Could it be... a felled tree? Or something of the sort? " He cannot think of much else that would make such a sound. "I'm not certain... Hmm, it might be dangerous to go investigate - what with the twolegs hanging around and all - but..." He trails off, eyes flickering over to the nearby warriors as if awaiting their permission to do so regardless. It is so tiring having to get approval on such things. His tone makes it clear just how little he cares for the danger, the mention more formality than anything.

‎‎┌── LOOKING UP TO THE SKY ⋆｡°✩ FOR SOMETHING I MAY NEVER FIND ──┐‎

• 
  
• 
  
  

  "SPEECH"

• 
  CRICKETPAW ✩ he / she / they, apprentice of riverclan, eleven moons.
  ⭃ a wiry, curly-furred black smoke with clouded blue eyes.
  ⭃ intelligent, egotistical, and strange, with an eye always turned to the stars.
  ⭃ smokestar xx cicadastar, littermate to beepaw & cicadapaw
  ⭃ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted / / underline and tag when attacking
  ⭃ penned by SATURNID ↛ saturnids on discord, feel free to dm for plots.
  

​

 

[EVENINGPAW]

Much like Shimmerkit, Eveningkit keeps her mama's teachings in mind... even in her absence. It's like a thorn in her side that keeps digging further and further in.

Much like Horizonkit, Eveningkit is trying her best to still those emotions, to keep herself occupied.

Her method is becoming Shimmerkit's personal hunter, except her own prey is not imaginary. Yellow eyes get misty in the corners due to a lack of blinking; she refuses to let Shimmerkit out of her sight, taking this as seriously as a leaf-bare mission to keep the fresh-kill pile stocked against all odds, and just when she ought to pounce-

BANG.

Muscles involuntarily twitch and coil, all a bodily reaction to such a sudden and unknown noise. Eveningkit stands frozen even after the fact- her ears are ringing and she has to take a moment to realize that the camp itself is safe. She is safe. Her heart threatens to jump out of its place nevertheless.

Eveningkit ignores the pang that comes with Salmonshade's comment. She ignores the jealousy that comes with knowledge of Crabkit's and Shimmerkit's mothers still being here... she ignores it all in favor of Horizonkit. He wails and wails and it doesn't take a genius to figure out it's not solely due to the sound depicted as thunder and felled tree simultaneously.

"It's okay," she says, cooing as she regards Horizonkit, even when it's decidedly not okay. Hazecloud would comfort them, pull them close, hush something soothing into their ears. "I'm here!"
​

 

[Shimmerkit.]

Compared to her nonchalant reaction, a few of the kits seem a bit more sceptical at the sound. Crabkit asks if she was sure it was thunder and Shimmerkit gave a shrug. "Well, it sounded like thunder," She answered honestly. Close by Horizonkit starts wailing but is soon comforted by Eveningkit. Shimmerkit doesn't presume to think that he would be crying over anything but the loud bang. She looks around awkwardly for a moment before shooting Horizonkit a sympathetic glance. She supposed it was a little bit loud for their sensitive young ears.

When Salmonshade suggests they go back into the nursery, Shimmerkit is initially resistant. "But, why?" She whines. "I don't want to go back to Lavendersong. I was playing!"​

 

[DIZZYPAW]

"FATE IS A SUNDRESS" ˚୭ .ೃ⁀➷ tags ── DIZZYPAW FEELS AS though the most placid of moments occur before something terrible. She feels as though she only ever holds her breath and awaits always some other sort of terrible Twoleg news. She knows that this isn't how things are meant to be, and that it is likely that she overreacts; she is a ruminator by nature. It is a habit she cannot shake.

Her thoughts echo Shimmerkit's mother's, though she doesn't voice them. Tucking into a solitary lunch provides her the internal echo chamber she needs to properly panic over them. She can feel her brow knitting itself into a worried sort of look the further she -

It rushes across camp, a sound like lightning into the lake, a startled bird taking flight. It is the biggest crack that Dizzypaw has ever heard; maybe it wasn't a crack and was instead a bang - what was that? Omen? Danger? Rainless thunder? Thoughts meld together as Dizzypaw bounds from her spot in fear response. She's scared, though Shimmerkit across the way finds no issue here.

White-whipped paws make frantic and unsure steps for someone, anyone that Dizzypaw may rely on and - Iciclefang. The lead warrior's familiar coat is one that Dizzypaw hides behind, cowered and low to the ground. Silver ears press to her head and her heart hammers in her ribcage. "What was that?" she finally whispers, having found her courage. She looks from Iciclefang to Shimmerkit to Horizonkit yelling and crying and Salmonshade and — back, over and over - what was that? It surely can't be good.

There are others that congregate and discuss, but the fur along Dizzypaw's neck is reluctant to flatten even as they speak in theoretic tones. There are no definites - she shouldn't be so frightened. But, like Salmonshade, there is unease that rests in her stomach. She pulls herself up from behind Iciclefang and tries to look a lot less frazzled, though it's certainly not working. "Sorry," Dizzypaw stammers to the lead warrior. That was so very unbecoming of her. So very embarrassing.

"I don't think it was thunder," Dizzypaw murmurs to the others as she regains herself. "But what else could make that noise?"

// tagging @iciclefang, permission to do so/assume icy present was given!
​

​

 

[iciclefang]

The enormous boom cracks through the clear, storm-free sky like brittle claws of lightning. Iciclefang is sprawled just outside the nursery, watching a gaggle of kits practice their hunting crouches, when the sound erupts. She’s quick to heave herself to her paws, her fur beginning to bristle like static along her spine. Crabkit is out here, and though he startles, he does not run to hide behind her—and she’s torn. Part of her wants to usher him close to her, sequester him into the safety of the nursery, but another part is proud. He is learning. He is growing stronger, fiercer. A warrior would want to investigate that noise head on. Pride for her son seeps into her blue gaze—and then another presence, achingly familiar, joins her side, hovers behind her tortoiseshell form.

Dizzypaw. The young apprentice is barely out of the nursery herself. “What was that?” Her murmur is steady as she finds her footing, her courage. Iciclefang lightly brushes the tip of her tail against the she-cat’s flank in an exceedingly rare gesture of comfort. “Twolegs,” she answers stiffly. “I don’t know what makes that noise, but it’s some Twoleg contraption, I’m sure of it.”

She eyes both Salmonshade and Cricketpaw, her jaw tightening. “I’ve heard this sound before, when the Twolegs first came to our riverlands, when I was an apprentice. It could be too dangerous to leave camp.” She frowns, her tail sweeping the dust behind her.

『 out of character. 』 ✧･ﾟ:* 『 about. 』

• ooc: —
• 
• Iciclekit . Iciclepaw . Iciclefang, she/her w/ feminine terms.
  — “speech”, thoughts, attack
  — 24 moons old, ages realistically on the 17th.
  — mentored by Smokestar ; mentoring Cicadapaw ; previously mentored n/a
  — riverclan lead warrior & queen. mudpelt x icesparkle, gen 2.
  — former mate to Stormywing ; current mate to no one.
  — penned by Marquette.
  
  
  sh tortoiseshell and white she-cat with ice-blue eyes. confident, capable, proud, dry, conceited, condescending, distrustful.
  
  

​

 

[FERNGILL]

Despite Ferngill's general cheerfulness, his tireless optimism, he could not deny that Twolegs were terrifying things. Lanky and gangling, and unforgivable in their meddling... when they took Ashpaw, the effect it had branded upon his sister had been unmissable. It was funny how much closer he and Iciclefang had become since his feeble attempt to comfort her after that. What wasn't funny was the gunshot that clattered through the air, and the panic that shuddered up within him, rattling his nerved and pulling him over.

With a wobbling voice, he murmured to the present kittens, "Yes, yes, listen to Iciclefang," as if they hadn't been doing so already. She'd been talking to the older cats present, but it was important that the kittens knew not to stray- knew the danger. If Twolegs had no quarrel with stealing almost-adult cats, he imagined they would pull no punches with kittens... weaker, unable to defend themselves as well. "All of you, stay close. They won't come here, probably... but we don't want to be seen."​

✦ penned by pin ✦​

 

[GILLSIGHT]

✧ . It’s a sound he hasn’t heard in a long time. The off-crash of thunder, not quite right in its lack of rain and lightning, in its reverberation, the fright it causes. He was hardly old enough to be an apprentice in current day’s eye when it’s clatter first reached his ears, but its sound is one he’ll never forget.

Where Clearsight and Smokestar once had been quick in their efforts to distract a young Gillpaw from dangers unknown by the twoleg-born noise, they no longer stand. Gillsight faces this on his own now, away from training check-ins and questions of his skill. His fur bristles at its abrupt nature and he rises to his paws with a jolt, sunlit gaze scanning the camp for signs of infiltration.

It’s a horror those younger than him fail to know in that moment, with questioning looks and complaints about the possibility of returning to their dens. Gillsight looks to his peers, to those higher in rank at their word, and the black and white tom nods in agreement to wobbling directions.

“ Y-yes, “ he agrees, “ B-best to stay… To stay c-close. “ ​

✦ ABOUT

• 
  GILLSIGHT ✦ AMAB. He / Him. Warrior of RiverClan.
  ✧ . A scarred, black and white tom with yellow eyes.
  ✧ . NPC x Urchin
  ✧ . Mentored by Clearsight
  ✧ . Peaceful and healing powerplay permitted!
  ✧ . Penned by Abri ‣ @_abri_ on discord, feel free to dm for plots!
  ✧ . " Speech " ; Attack
  

​