- Dec 8, 2023
- 48
- 8
- 8
Bloodpaw had never been one for dressing up, the trinkets stored in her mother's nest were toys moreso than accessories, things to be maimed and murdered in place of the frogs and crows she would soon learn to catch under her mentor's watchful eye. Ferndance hadn't seemed to mind her destruction too much, and even joined in on occasions, but that day, she held a different perspective. Needledrift and Ferndance shared a white feather, adorned with brown stripes. Her brother owned two feathers, brown and grey - it was that which made her decide that she wanted one of her own. Unable to sneak into the Warrior's den thanks to a surly sleeper blocking the entrance, the cinnamon tabby took matters into her paws and ventured elsewhere to find herself a feather. The apprentice den did not yet feel like a home to Bloodpaw, even as she grinned at freedom, her nights were often spent curled up with her siblings instead of in her own nest, but, the apprentice den was full of trinkets, just like the Nursery had once been. Her peers often found things on their patrols to bring home with them, and whilst jealousy gnawed at her belly that they got to do cool things, it was not the motivation for stealing from one of them.
Because Bloodpaw didn't know she was stealing at all.
Strutting out from the apprentice den, Bloodpaw held her head high and flicked her tail about like royalty. At the tip of it was a precariously placed feather, grey and white with a black band to divide the two, and one gust away from flying away from her. Pricking against her skin, it felt uncomfortable, itchy almost, and Bloodpaw had to wonder how in StarClan's name birds were able to tolerate being stuck with billions of them. Still, if this was the price of fitting in, she would give it a go. When no one seemed to pay the large apprentice any mind, she craned her head a little higher as if trying to reach the canopy itself. No one bit still. Bloodpaw made a wasp-swallowing face, then, began to hum, a mixture of a purr and a meow that the cinnamon tabby did her best to make sound like a raven - unfortunately, she had skipped Smogmaw's lesson on birdcalls, and what came out instead was a cry for attention and a prayer that someone noticed the change.