freudenfreude ↷ [ ant-watching ]

[smogstar]

There's a column of them, roughly his tail's span in length. Single-file, diligent in their six-legged determination, they had crawled toward him in a strange, perfect line. All at a matching speed, too. Right up to the moment he brought his muzzle in for a closer inspection, that is. Upon the ants seeing Smogmaw — a bedraggled beast, one hundred times their size — the column's composure dissolves for a beat. Ants stop, twirl, step sideways and over other ants. But then, they pass him by and pick back up the right way again, regaining their marching order despite the disruption his presence offered them.

Their enthusiasm for order and systematic structure makes a far greater impression upon Smogmaw than these ants could possibly know. In spite of the limited insectoid faculties and flea-sized brains, their devotion to a shared goal exceeds that of any clan's. Ants are not known for infighting, nor are they prone to whining and/or griping. Their cohesion is effortless, perfectly orchestrated by genetic instincts working in synch. Smogmaw's pupils contract as he gazes upon the streamline progression, thinking back to the imperfections and frailties he's so familiar with.

The deputy is but a rabbit's-leap from camp's mouth, a toe over the line between outside and inside. He's hunched on his haunches, a fern shielding him from the dappling afternoon sun. There is ample time to be wasted upon this observation and yet not enough to stop his mind from drifting. Unblinking, he lifts an enormous paw and plants it atop the column. The bugs scramble and waddle like mad, abandoning their purpose once again. And yet anew, they swiftly recoup what they've lost within mere seconds and trudge on, unaffected by the two comrades they'd lost to Smogmaw's clutches.

"So uncompromising," he mumbles aloud, almost at a level only the ant's antennae could hear. Admirable in their efficiency, Smogmaw cannot deny the envious twinge accompanying his fascination.​

 

[Snowlark.]

[ ༻❄༺ ] Ants were such grotesque creatures, their inky pelted body to their six legs. Not only that, the smell they sometimes produce once squished was unbearable. Yellow eyes stare at the inky creatures as Smogmaw had seem to find interest in them, making the tom's nose scrunch up slightly before he too approached the scene. They wrre all perfect in their alignment, moving as one- which not many could say about them. They thought as one, compared to the clan who all had their own individually that made them... different, unique even and that was a life Snowpaw could not imagine living without.

He shuffled closer to the scene finding a spot not infected by the ants while a twitch of his nicked ear warranted him to look over at the deputy calmly. "How so?" he asked before looking down at the ants once more, flicking a few of them away. Twitching their stubby tail with a frown on his lips, watching them become uniformed once more which led him to shake his head a bit, imagine living sich a life that you could stay in uniform even when there is chaos.

‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎┌── You ve wasted your life , but thanks for applying ──┐‎

• 
  "speak""Thoughts"
  
• 
  Snowpaw ❄ He/Him, apprentice of Shadowclan, 9 moons.
  ⭃ Lithe long hair blue lynx sepia with high white, and yellow eyes. Stubby tail, permanent resting bitch face
  ⭃ Hailfreckle x Mudsplash
  ⭃ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted (ask first) / / underline and tag when attacking
  ↛ see battle info here
  ⭃ penned by Ryn ↛ @/Rynnaro on discord, feel free to dm for plots.
  

​

 

[STONEPAW]

He knows he shouldn't. But... he can see the deputy's tail. And Snowpaw joining him was just all the more enticing. Stonekit sneaked close, ears perked and straining to overhear the conversation. Ants? What were they doing, just watching them? He wanted to study the deputy, not some stupid ants. Though, this was an interesting scene at least. For the moment. He hoped the shadow of camp entrance hid his lilac fur enough.

---

‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎┌── ooc ⋆⋅☾⋅⋆ info ──┐‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎

• 
  
  "speech"
  

• 

• STONEKIT ✩ he/him, kit of shadowclan, three moons
  ⭃ pretty lilac with low white and blue eyes. bossy, charismatic, manipulative.
  ⭃ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted / / tag when attacking
  ⭃ penned by Twitchtail ↛ @iliawonders on discord, feel free to dm for plots.
  

​

 

[MARBLEPAW]

ShadowClan’s deputy sprawls near camp’s exit, his pelt shadowed by the fern that guards him from the newleaf sun. His fiery gaze is trained on the ant hill near his forepaws, following lines of ants. Marblekit pads closer to where he sits, where Snowpaw and Stonekit gather, and lets her green eyes wander over the insects. She does not think as the older cats do—about the ants’ cohesion, about the team they make, the world they build on the backs of togetherness. Instead, her paws itch to attack them. She wonders how Stonekit can resist.

One paw flies out and traps a particularly plump-bodied ant against the earth. She can feel it wriggle and squirm against the soft flesh of her pad, and then— “Ow!” She lifts her paw and inspects the offending spot. Where she’d squished the ant, there’s a touch of redness, and she can feel heat there, feel it throb. “I think it bit me,” she mews, indignant.

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

• ooc: —
• 
• Marblekit, she/they w/ feminine and non-gendered terms.
  — “speech”, thoughts, attack
  — 4 moons old, ages realistically on the 1st.
  — mentored by n/a ; mentoring n/a ; previously mentored n/a
  — shadowclan kit, formerly a rogue. siltcloud x lilacfur, gen 3.
  — currently mated to n/a.
  — penned by Marquette.
  
  
  sh fawn tabby with dull green eyes. courageous, curious, introspective, observant, judgmental, snarky.
  
  

​

 

[smogstar]

So long as the ants are held in his focus, Smogmaw remains unbothered. He is an outside observer to their effortless equilibrium; their movements predictable, each step in practiced alignment with the others. An invisible order governs them, this much he understands. Small as they are, they're bound together in a way far removed from his world. They don't pause in their work to sass each other or argue until their fur catches on fire. They do not dream.

It isn't a life he'd seek out for himself. A constant forward march without pause or regard for anything in its path. There needs to be lenience. There needs to be detours. There needs to be wiggle room for deviations and surprise.

For this reason, Smogmaw does not react stringently to the kit and apprentice who'd waddled from camp's premises to join him. Were he as rigorous as an ant, he'd amonish them all for doing so without an older cat in their company. A hiss'd fall from his lips, a sharp reprimand would demand they turn on their heels, and not another word would he spare.

A deep sigh instead trickles into the air. The fixated wonder in Smogmaw's chest cools to a low ember as the children sit alongside him. "You should know what happens when a ShadowClan cat meets their end, Snowpaw," he begins, in an almost instructive, or possibly theoretical manner of speaking. "We grieve, then bury them, then mourn, and it oftentimes takes seasons to move on." Magpiepaw is a well enough real-world example; Starlingheart still has yet to fill the hole her late apprentice had left, and as such, a moon's worth of training had never come to pass. When ShadowClan sees itself at a loss, it rarely gets back on its paws in the same stride with which it fell.

Brows clench, and then unfurrow, and the deputy gestures towards the ant-line with his tail. A meditative twist touches his mouth, and he continues, "These ants do none of that at all. They are -" a pause, as the tom flicks two ant carcasses from a front paw's digits, "- untroubled when their companions die, because there are bigger things to worry about. I dunno what them bigger things might be, since I don't speak ant, but they sure know how to balance their short lives around the deaths they face. They make no compromises."

The white-furred apprentice is in all likelihood oblivious to his words, but regardless - it brings the deputy no harm to impart them. Death will continue to be a recurrent theme throughout her existence, as it will his, as it will every ant's; it is the only certain thing in their lives. How grim.

Marblekit's making a ruckus in his ears, so Smogmaw breaks from the lesson to swing head-over-shoulder towards her. "You think it- what?" Amber eyes scan the runt up-and-down, this-way-to-that-one, and get no clear indication that an ant had in fact bit her. She lies, like her mother so often did*. "No it didn't. Did you step on one?" Instinctively, his focus flits in the ant column's direction. Given their formation, linear and solid, it's impossible for him to tell if any had in fact been squashed out on her part.

---

* A rather intense and an altogether unnecessary observation. ​

 

[MIRESTAR]

Smogmaw is amongst the more surprising personalities that enriches ShadowClan's ranks; at least in Mirepurr's opinion. They'd imagine the deputy to be stern and stoic — and that he is, but there's more after that, something more freeing than what they would assume of a cat held in such high regard. Chilledstar definitely doesn't allow themself the luxury of focusing on the little things... quite literally, in the case of the very ants that every cat no doubt murders thousands of within a few sunrises. It takes a moment for Mirepurr to pinpoint the long line when they approach Smogmaw, and it seems they're not his only audience.

Snowpaw's arrival is met with a twitch of a smile, but Stonekit and Marblekit just make them want to herd the two kittens back into safety. With at least three older cats around, it's unlikely anything would happen to the tiny things, but paranoia has a way of making Mirepurr restless when mixed with inaction. Smogmaw himself doesn't usher them away.

The musings between Clan cat and ant makes Mirepurr's tail curl in either curiosity or something akin to apprehension; they're not quite sure themself. It feels unfair to compare the two when the differences are so blatant... but when Smogmaw puts it this way, they can't argue. "Glad I'm no ant, then." It already feels like they get squashed under larger paws on bad days. Then, before they get too into it, blue eyes find Marblekit's offered paw. "Maybe it was just a thorn?"
​

 

[Snowlark.]

[ ༻❄༺ ] Snowpaw's gaze continue to be trained on the ants before them, watching them march on, unbothered by the cats appearances when two kits approached as well, a nervous twitch of his ears made him look up towards the two, making a wary glance to be sure to usher them away if they got too close to the camp enterance when Mirepurr came into view and he dipped his head in greetings to his mentor before looking to Marblekit who seemed frustrated over an ant biting her, yet before Snowpaw could ask to look Smogmaw spoke up. Explaining his reasoning for why he had called the ants uncompromising which made the tom blink and yellow gaze flicking back to the creatures before them.

"Perhaps ants do not feel the same emotions as we do then... you're right it is uncompromising. And perhaps that can be true as well" he stated softly before a frown came onto his lips expressing that the ants do no such things as if to say Marblekit was lying and the stubby tail of his twitched a bit before looking at the kit, Mirepurr suggesting a thorn while Snowpaw hummed and look down at the kit with a soft look in his yellow gaze. He did not know Siltcloud, but he did know Lilacfur and she was an earnest cat so perhaps Marblekit had been earnest in the same way Lilacfur was.

"Only way to know is if she shows us her paw. Perhaps the ants grew tired of being stepped on that they decided to fend themselves. Afterall, even if many of their companions are killed... that means a lot of lost to whatever they were working on, and I'm sure after a while it grows tiresome, just as we grow tired of losing our own" he spoke gently towards Smogmaw and the others before gesturing to Marblekit to come over so he could at least try and get a look at her paw, as well as Smogmaw so the truth could be reveal to them. Best not call a kit a liar or else they'll grow up to be one.

‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎┌── You ve wasted your life , but thanks for applying ──┐‎

• 
  "speak""Thoughts"
  
• 
  Snowpaw ❄ He/Him, apprentice of Shadowclan, 9 moons.
  ⭃ Lithe long hair blue lynx sepia with high white, and yellow eyes. Stubby tail, permanent resting bitch face
  ⭃ Hailfreckle x Mudsplash
  ⭃ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted (ask first) / / underline and tag when attacking
  ↛ see battle info here
  ⭃ penned by Ryn ↛ @/Rynnaro on discord, feel free to dm for plots.
  

​

 

[MARBLEPAW]

Smogmaw's eyes sear her through her pelt, to her flesh. "No, it didn't," is the deputy's immediate response to her, and the little she-kit reddens beneath her fur. "Did too," she protests, appalled. Did Smogmaw think her a fibber? She would never tell a bold-faced lie like this one—would she? The fawn-colored kitten suspends her paw midway in the air, suddenly wondering if she is telling the truth. Had an ant lifted its little stinger and embedded it into the fleshy part of her paw, or... or was it merely a thorn, as Mirepurr suggests?

Snowpaw offers to take a look, and she tilts the forepaw to its side, inspecting it. The flesh is not red. She still feels the faint remnants of the insect's sting—or, she thinks she does—but there is no evidence, and that makes her feel like more of a liar than she already does. "I swear it bit me," she mumbles to no one, to nothing.

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

• ooc: —
• 
• Marblekit, she/they w/ feminine and non-gendered terms.
  — “speech”, thoughts, attack
  — 5 moons old, ages realistically on the 1st.
  — mentored by n/a ; mentoring n/a ; previously mentored n/a
  — shadowclan kit, formerly a rogue. siltcloud x lilacfur, gen 3.
  — currently mated to n/a.
  — penned by Marquette.
  
  
  sh fawn tabby with dull green eyes. courageous, curious, introspective, observant, judgmental, snarky.
  
  

​