camp FLY HEADFIRST INTO EVERYTHING [“missing”]

Feb 28, 2024
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𓆱 Branchkit has been trying to find things to do around the camp, since he can’t go out and explore the territory until he’s an apprentice. But he’s already seen every funny stick and looked under every rock… and Snowypaw isn’t here to tell him stories or stuff. His mama is a good storyteller, but her stories always seem to be tinged with sadness, especially the ones about the cat Branchkit is named after. He’s forced to find something else to entertain himself—and entertain himself he does.

Today, as the midday sun bears down upon the marshland, the boy is nowhere to be found. There is no small lilac-striped form lying in the nursery, no muddy blue eyes peering widely up at clanmates begging them to play mossball with him, no sudden fits of laughter when something unexpected happens. Any scent trail left behind is muddled by the scents of other ShadowClanners crossing over it, and the only sign of a physical trail is the occasional tiny muddy pawprint pressed to small rocks and leaves that lie around the camp.

The greatest hint as to where the small kit has gone, though, is the giggling that bursts unbidden from a new hiding spot every so often.

  • ooc: branchkit isn’t actually missing, but it seems he’s playing a game… can anyone find him?
  • 82069047_pv1URDSuSesGemA.png
    BRANCHKIT ❯❯ he/him, kit of shadowclan
    𖠰 fluffy lilac tabby with white spotting and amber eyes. quiet but cheerful, very naïve.
    𖠰 son of ferndance and needledrift ; brother to bonepaw, bloodpaw, shadepaw, snowypaw, gigglekit, morelkit
    𖠰 peaceful and healing powerplay permitted
    𖠰 penned by foxlore
 
Forestshade doesn't pay much attention to the kits of the clan. Sure, if needed she'll bring by a piece of fresh-kill every so often, but that's the apprentices' job anyway. She did her time in that boring den, and she has no plans to spend anymore time there! So, being a cat who really doesn't spend much time around there, she's not in the loop that there may be a kit missing. She is only clued in when the sound of giggling reaches her ears on her way past a clump of ferns to the fresh-kill pile.

The torbie stops, a brow quirking as she listens again for the sound. Hearing nothing, she shrugs and continues to carry her frog to the pile, but then it happens again. She plants her feet, ears flicking as she decides to get to the bottom of this. There is definitely some snickering going on here.

Dropping her fresh-kill, she trains her ears on the sound and draws herself closer on careful paws, a focused look on her face. Surely, it's a funny sight for anyone nearby.
 

It was quieter in camp today, Shrike couldn't quite place it but something was off. While they enjoyed the appearance of the kits around clan they couldn't say that they particularly knew any of them. They didn't hang around the nursery long enough to notice any kit in particular, but they were around camp for long enough to notice when it was quiet, apart from this occasional giggling that they've been hearing. It was a pretty warm and uneventful day all things considered, Shrike sprawled out onto the marsh ground, now warmed from the sun.

The black and white cat look up at Forestshade as she passes by, an ear twitches and flicks as they swivel to find some kind of source of the giggling. "Oh good I'm not hearing things" they comment to the warrior, hoping that the dropping of the fresh-kill and the investigation meant that she could also hear it. Pushing themself off they flick their tail as a wave towards the warrior and decided to try and find the source of all this giggling themself. Crouching down they notice the occasional tiny paw prints pressed in the ground but huff in frustration as they don't seem to lead anywhere.

They decide to look in an opposite direction to the torbie. Padding over to a partition of stone and marsh grass, sniffing at the area to try and determine any particular scent. It was not fruitful labour, after all the majority of ShadowClan had come through here at some point. They frown and scrunch their nose in frustration as they linger by the area. What could be making these giggling sounds? Was ShadowClan haunted?



  • OOC.
  •  
  • Shrike│Bio
    They / Them, Loner , 28 moons {ages on the 1st},
    A long haired black feline with low white spotting and hazel eyes.
    Jagged x NPC
    Speech, #ad744a, thoughts, attacking
    peaceful and healing powerplay permitted / / underline and tag when attacking
    penned by Juice ↛ @/ouijeejuice on discord, feel free to dm for plots.

 

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ- Hollowmask was not good with children. When it came to their games and giggles, she found herself distancing herself from them the moment she hears them. However, it seems like everyone else in the clan was fine with playing along with a kit's game, wasting their time instead of working. She walks out of the underbrush just as the giggling begins, eyes visibly rolling in their sockets as she walks past Forestshade. However, the sight of a certain black and white cat makes her pause. Are they.. Enabling that little bug's behavior?

"Surely you aren't indulging the little bug in their games." She comments monotonously, her lips drawn into an unimpressed line as she stares at the other cat. They are sniffing areas in the opposite direction of the kit's location; do their ears not work at all? Is that it? Curiously, Hollowmask takes a step towards Shrike before her tail gestures in the direction of the childish giggling which changes direction every few moments.

"It'd be such a shame if we couldn't find a missing kit.. Guess we'll leave them to the frogs, then." Hollowmask says loud enough for the hidden child to possibly hear, shrugging her shoulders at Shrike. There is no fun in this game, no eagerness in her eyes as she gazes upon the mud splatters of pawprints on rocks. So annoying..

  • HOLLOWMASK she/her, warrior of shadowclan, thirty moons.
    big, bulky body that stands at 10in, with long, wild and spiky fur. gives off eerie vibes despite oftentimes seen smiling.
    no close friends // dislikes nobody // no mate, no children.
    will kill / will not show mercy / will rarely flee
    [DANGER!!] this character is cunning, manipulative, sadistic, and controlling yet hiding under a friendly guise. please proceed with caution when interacting with her. ic opinions/actions are ic only.
    attempts at healing is permitted, peaceful powerplay is permitted / / underline and tag when attacking
    penned by @icaria ↛ @icariarests on discord, feel free to dm for plots.

 

Owlkit knew someone was missing.

Who? She couldn't quite remember who, spacey mind searching through the many friends she knew. A frown touched her face as she stared out from where she sat near the nursery, and as others from camp noticed, they were crouching and looking around, Owlkit's ears perked as she looked on, staring at Forestshade's interesting behavior? Shrike mentions something, and searches in an opposite direction.

It is between Shrike's engagement and Hollowmask's dull words that Owlkit hears what they do- soft giggles, hidden somewhere within camp. Branchkit! She finally realizes, pushing to her paws- but the warrior's sharp words cause her to stop, a frown finding her face and ears rotating backwards. "H-hey... that's not very nice." She says quietly, as if afraid to be talking back to a warrior, but she slips further away from the nursery to stare up at Hollowmask.

Wide, unnerving eyes stared at the annoyed warrior. "It wouldn't be very nice if cats decided just to leave you to the frogs, right?" Owlkit asked. And while her statement sounded threatening, it was one hundred percent meant in a kind way. "You'd want your fellow warriors to help find you." Owlkit nodded quietly, her soft-natured vision shifting towards the rest of camp. "Braaanchkiiiit. Where are you?" The small kit called, wandering towards the edge of camp.
  • "speech"
  • OWLKIT she/her, kit of shadowclan, 3 moons.
    SH blue tabby with low white. unusually small in stature, but moves with unintentional grace. eyes are split blue on top, orange on bottom. soft spoken and kind natured.
    mentored by no one / / mentoring no one
    no current love interest / / sibling to shadowkit, pitchkit, lynxkit, waspkit
    peaceful and healing powerplay permitted / / underline and tag when attacking
    penned by dallas ↛ dallasofnines on discord, feel free to dm for plots.

 
*+:。.。 Bonepaw's tufted ears would snap up immediately when he heard his brother's name in the breeze. It wasn't too terrible of a shock, considering Branchkit often garnered the attention of his clanmates with their antics. But after seeing his immense distress over losing Snowypaw, a sense of paranoia suddenly struck him. Walking faster than the rest of his returning patrol, Bonepaw shoved his way back into camp with a fast-beating heart. He scans the camp, and although the lack of panic dissuades his own enough to keep the risk of hyperventilating at bay, fear still grips his chest. Where is his little brother? Padding trepidatiously, he follows Owlpaw's antics for a moment, the game of hide-and-seek becoming clearer to the quiet boy.

It isn't until he hears Branchkit's giggles that he finally lets out a relieved breath. This is a game, it seems. Hopefully, anyway. If this is another form of Branchkit acting out his grief over losing Snowypaw, then Bonepaw is at least glad it isn't destructive. The young tom watches his clanmates sniff around for Branchkit for a while longer, before stepping forward to assist.
Sniffing the air, his first goal is to try and follow his baby brother's scent...




  • GENERAL:
    Shadowclan — apprentice
    DMAB— He/Him — Unsure
    6 moons — Ages 1 moon every month real-time
    Son to Ferndance x Needledrift
    Littermates with Bloodpaw, Shadepaw, Snowypaw
    Half-brother to Gigglekit, Morelkit, Branchkit
    Apprenticed to Nightwhisper



    COMBAT:
    Physically easy | mentally hard
    Attack in bold #738171
    injuries: None currently
 
𓆱 Gradually, clanmates begin to search for him, and the boy’s laughter erupts once again. He nearly topples over with the force of it, but manages to catch himself on a snowy white paw. Shrike definitely isn’t hearing things, but they’ll never find him anyway! His hiding spot is a good one this time—they’ll never find him—but when Forestshade deposits a piece of prey onto the fresh-kill pile, his nose twitches with interest. It smells really good, and he’s starting to get hungry since he’s been hiding for so long. But it’s a frog, and frogs aren’t as fun anymore after the month he’d spent eating nothing except frogs. Murky blue eyes narrow when Hollowmask threatens that they might have to leave him to the frogs, and that’s even more reason not to touch the frog that’s on the fresh-kill pile. At least Owlkit speaks up in his defense—Owlkit is nice! But she walks in the opposite direction of him, because he’s so sneaky that she didn’t even notice him! His giggling starts up again, and he slaps a paw over his mouth to contain it.

Bonepaw’s worry is evident even to little Branchkit, and the lilac tabby’s laughing cuts off immediately. He’d thought he was having a fun time, but it doesn’t seem like his big brother is having any fun at all. Is he… making Bonepaw sad? He has to fix that, right now! Without a second thought, he bursts from his hiding spot, aiming to pounce upon @HOLLOWMASK ’s tail. If successful, he’ll swat at the appendage a few times, gentle and without using his claws. "Ha! Gotcha!" A white-patched muzzle turns up in a bright grin, his own tail flicking back and forth in his excitement. "Didn’t see me!"

  • ooc:
  • 82069047_pv1URDSuSesGemA.png
    BRANCHKIT ❯❯ he/him, kit of shadowclan
    𖠰 fluffy lilac tabby with white spotting and amber eyes. quiet but cheerful, very naïve.
    𖠰 son of ferndance and needledrift ; brother to bonepaw, bloodpaw, shadepaw, snowypaw, gigglekit, morelkit
    𖠰 peaceful and healing powerplay permitted
    𖠰 penned by foxlore
 
”You definitely aren’t,” Forestshade confirms Shriketalon’s words, and it becomes obvious rather quickly that it’s Branchkit they’re looking for. Ah, so it’s a game. Of course! With new intrigue, the lead warrior continues to nose around, dismissing Hollowmask’s cranky words with a twitch of her whiskers. She chuckles at the warrior’s sarcasm and angles her muzzle towards Owlkit, trilling, “Gonna have to work faster than that if we wanna find him before the frogs do!”

She joins Bonepaw in the search, her senses attuned to any hint of the kit’s whereabouts amid the camp’s bustling activities. She thinks she’s drawing close when the excited yowl of the kitten causes her to jump suddenly in surprise. A laugh quickly relaxes the look of shock on her face, the kit’s mischief too much to handle to not laugh. “Well, well, well, looks like we’ve got a trickster on our paws!” She loudly observes, padding towards the sound of the ‘attack.’ She is sure Hollowmask will not be pleased, which only makes the situation funnier. She casts a half-grin towards Branchkit as she comes to a stop, gruffly offering, “Not bad, kid. I could hardly hear your paws. Keep those reflexes sharp and you’ll be a hunter half as good as me.” She can’t help it, she’s arrogant. But she’s not lying - the child does have potential!