pafp Give this day our daily dread ⸙ Wall reinforcements

[Brackenpaw]

Given the name of their clan it's no real surprise that it can withstand the normal winds of the moors. The dip in land proving to be quite useful, Brackenpaw had found she never really had to complain about it. She doubts the camp was sought out in mind against snowstorms though. These winds come in large bursts, raging rapidly and carrying a sharp chill with it. Their short fur is blown in different directions exposing flesh to the breeze. She didn't like it, not one bit. It would be easy to complain about it, a little too easy, so instead they decide to actually do something about it.

Noticing the vibrant yellows and lavenders of the gorse and heather wall growing damaged over time. Poking her head out of the tunnel that led into camp she could only tsk in disappointment over the state of it. Scattered petals on the ground amongst the snow that blanketed them, did leaf bare really have to come so early? Why couldn't be more patient? If WindClan with withstand the rampant fires that plagued them then they know the clan will do fine with a measily snowstorm.

Marching to the wall with heather and gorse she set to trying to weave some in where it was noticeably barren on the wall. Keeping the materials trapped under paw so another strong gust wouldn't sweep them away. Beside her is the lingering spectre of Sootspot, she heard he was sick or something but hadn't really seen much of him beyond that. "Could you hold these?" They ask with a glance at the materials trapped then towards the tom. He may as well help in some regard, not that she's ever found his company displeasing.

It continues like this for a bit. Weaving in silence, eventually she decides to seek out his opinions. If he's going to provide company she may as well utilise it. "Do you think Scorchstar will choose a deputy soon?" Sunstar had taken a while to decide on his, she was too young to remember how long it had taken Sootstar in turn. Maybe it's just a right of passage, trying to pick the right one or maybe she just hated all of her options?

‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎‎ ‎ OH, IM JUST A GIRL ꕥ WHATS MY DESTINY ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎

• ooc.
  Please wait for @SOOTSPOT | using a phase 4 prompt!
• 
• 
  Brackenpaw ✩ They/she, tunneler apprentice, 13 moons
  
  
  ⸙ A scowling, tiny calico who still needs to grow into her ears.
  ⸙ Mentored by Scorchstar | Formally mentored by Bluefrost.
  ⸙ Speech, thoughts, attacking.
  ⸙ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted ( underline and tag when attacking ).
  ⸙ All opinions are IC only.
  penned by Juice.
  

​

 

[SOOTSPOT]

His throat burned, his chest warmed as comfortable as molten rock upon bare skin. There were no patrols for the tom for the rest of the week but it came at a price too high, a price he had managed to avoid for so long he was almost convinced he was immune to the thing that'd killed his stepfather. Memories of his final days and incoherence motivated the chimera to behave, keeping warm where possible and obsessively checking in with his sister and her protege, hoping that they would not exploit the sudden power imbalance. So far, they hadn't, but it was hardly a relief. It was why he'd kept away from the den where possible, choosing sanctuary in a nearby sett.

When there was a lull in the winds, he stepped out to watch Brackenpaw work, wincing as the cold's chomp upon his windpipe. It was too difficult not to break the silence with coughs, each forced expulsion sending his ears flinging back. He was glad they still saw him as a smart and strong cat, even as his body fought against the carefully cultivated image, but others were not so considerate of his imperfections. Already he'd heard distance snickering, as if he hadn't earned this sickness for their sakes. Next time, he would let them starve and freeze.

No ambition was greater than petty rebuttal, after all.

And when Brackenpaw asked him to hold something whilst he suffered, it took a particularly forced smile to not tell his friend to go away. Wordlessly he leaned forwards, grabbing the materials beneath him, brows flashing expectantly. Their next gift was far greater than their insult and any signs of offence disappeared as fast as Leaf-fall had done.

His pupils expanded and narrowed, his head tilted like an owl's. Something stirred, something which he could not say, something which he wished he could. 'She is waiting for an excuse not to pick me.' As he lay campbound, he could imagine the tortoiseshell swooping in and taking the opportunity away, giving it to someone undeserving. A new sickness accompanied him alongside Whitecough. "Waiting is a dangerous game. We saw how quickly Smogstar abandoned his clan, I wonder what would have happened to ShadowClan had he not picked a Deputy, I wonder what would happen to this clan should anything happen to our own leader."

Ears twitched and fell sombrely to the back of his skull, each word accompanied with a rasp he was too fatigued to hide. "There is no perfect candidate, I see all the warriors and they are all... problematic, in their own ways. But they are candidates, creatures who can take the helm while she waits for someone more suitable... if they do not grow into their duties." Sootspot stood up and hobbled a few paces closer.

"Your opinions are valued. Tell me, who should be Deputy, in your eyes?"


​

 

[Sootkit]

.·:*¨༺ ♠ ༻¨*:·. The sudden harsh cold had put mama on edge. With the wind chills the amount of time she and her siblings were allowed from the depths of the nursery grew even shorter.

The kitten tried to make the best of the brief spell she got to stretch her legs, but camp felt as though it was growing smaller by the day. Each new nook and cranny the girl investigated made her confines a little more noticeable.

She hadn't been watching Brackenpaw and Sootspot work for long before deciding to wander over. The latter was her uncle, after all- and they shared a name, something Sootkit had come to realize was a big deal. Surely, he'd be happy to see her!

Creeping up behind the duo, Sootkit listens intently to the conversation at hand. It meant little to her, but like a moss sponge, she absorbed every word.

"Who's Smogstar?" The smokey kitten finally quips loudly after a moment, hoping to earn the attention of both the cats in front of her. "What're creatures, also?" Her eyes widen, "Am I a creature?"

‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎┌── AND ILL ALWAYS FEEL YOU ⋅ ✰ ⋅ IN MY BLOOD ──┐‎

• 

• 
  SOOTKIT ♠ she/her, kit of windclan, 2 moons.
  ⭃ fluffy, blue smoked tortoiseshell she-kit with heterochromatic green & blue eyes.
  ⭃ daughter of Bluefrost xx Thriftfeather
  ⭃ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted / / underline and tag when attacking
  ⭃ penned by Noor ↛ @toyangel on discord, feel free to dm for plots.

​

 

[SOOTSPOT]

He turned his head at a little voice, feeling the full pinch of a stuffed nose and sore throat as the world spinned. Sootspot squinted in pain as he looked down at the little imposter. It was like being met with a clawed swipe at his face; a mother reborn, cursed by her dismissal of him to be so stupid and young and... treacherous. Already he could see the dozens of ways that Sootkit would doom him but he beamed through that agony, offering an apologetic nod to Brackenpaw as his attention was ripped from them. "Smogstar is the former leader of ShadowClan,"

A chartreuse gaze flickered to where the Nursery stood, just as battered by snow as he had been. He tilted his head curiously as if expecting a set of eyes to loom back at him, but when none were present, he felt comfortable sharing his hyperbolic tale. "They say that, when he sunk his claws into Sootstar, the madness in her blood got into his system too. He started making irrational choices, even let his own kittens be kidnapped instead of being a father to them... then... on one full moon, he disappeared, having believed himself too good for the very clan that had given his life any meaning."

Questions, so many questions, too many questions - he did not know what Sootkit would or wouldn't take from his story, what her mother had or hadn't told her, but he half-smiled, half-grimaced in anticipation of giving more exposition.

"Creatures are... things. Breathing, living things, I know no other way to describe them when their means for doing such things are so different. Fear not, you are certainly a creature."
​

 

[PINKSHINE]

Pinkshine wanders over to the pair of tunnelers. One Brackenpaw, and one Sootspot, who looked a little miserable really. Pinkshine angles a sympathetic glance his way. She didn't super like him, but she couldn't super remember why at the moment... Plus, being sick sucked for everyone. Nothing had to change just because it was Sootspot. Her gaze lands on the small bundle of material he's been apparently asked to hold. She can't judge his smile, really, not when her own hasn't been nearly good enough lately. And she feels like she hasn't been very useful, either... Not like she's just been laying around, or anything. She had an apprentice, she went out... But it just felt like less somehow. Her heart's not really in it, she admits to herself...

She's about to offer to help, but then Brackenpaw asks one of those questions that makes Sootspot want to say a bunch of stuff she doesn't really understand. It's not a conversation she's in, really... but she finds herself straining her ears to listen, anyways. It always felt really important when Sootspot spoke, for better or for worse...

Pinkshine can't quite smile when he talks, but that's not his fault, at all... " Well, Scorchstar's not going anywhere, " kindly, she reminds him. " She- she told us so. " And Scorchstreak— Scorchstar's never told a lie, has she? As the downy form of Sootkit creeps up on them all, Pinkshine would glance to her and hope she believed her too. Though... she was probably too young to worry so much about who their leader was or if they'd stay or not... A small smile quirks up on her lips at her question. At least she understood Sootspot better than Sootkit seemed to.

She never thinks much about ShadowClan... She never thinks much about any Clan than WindClan, really. Did Sootspot really think about them so much. " Who says that? " she interjects. Who's they? And how do they know what choices he started making if they're WindClan? A calico pelt prickles uneasily. Confusion turns to frustration, all of a sudden. " What do you mean he let his kittens be kidnapped? "

Lark-kit— Halfkit, Halfpaw, Halfsun... That's... her friend. They've been friends since they were kits, but... Pinkshine's never really stopped to think about why that happened or how that happened. Her friend just went to ShadowClan one day, and it was simplest not to think about how or why... It made her happiest just to know she had a friend in ShadowClan, but...

" That's— no... Sootstar did that. " A soft frown creases her face. It's one word that she didn't like, really... Let. And maybe Sootkit was too little to even realize what difference that made... " She shouldn't have done that. " It's a reminder for Sootspot, and one for herself. Even if she was happy to know Halfsun, she probably shouldn't, right? And it's awkward to realize, in front of two cats that shared her name. It's probably silly of her to think, but for a moment, she worries that if Sootkit hears too much from Sootspot, she might get closer to her grandmother than any of them would like her to be...

...She was doing it again, being a bummer. Pinkshine wills herself to stop making whatever ugly face she was making. " Maybe we should talk about something else, " she suggests. Not like discussing deputies was bad, but she suddenly felt like it might be, if Sootspot is around... She tries to flash him a smile as she glances to the materials under his paw. " Can I help? "​

 

[Vulturepaw]

˖⁺‧₊ ☽◯☾ ₊‧⁺˖ Vulturepaw circles the pair of Brackenpaw and Sootspot warily. One is a friend, her harsh tongue softened in his presence. The other's smooth words come smooth as honey in want of caught flies. The two of them together seem so opposite as to be plainly wrong. At least with Brackenpaw, they always know where they stand. Sootspot's weaving words are all too easy to get lost in; for all that they've spoken with the tom, they feel as if they don't know him at all.

It makes them on gaurd. Even more so as his mirror comes chattering innocent kit-questions, and Sootspot laces lies through her head.

Their teeth flash. "You c-c-c-can't just -" She chokes on the words, face scrunching up in frustration. Everything the tom says feels off, tilted towards something fear-inducing. It's hard to place where exactly the venom is, but Pinkshine lends a helping paw. "No one lets someone be k-kuh... k-k-kidnapped. That's not how it works." It wouldn't be kidnapping then, would it?

Periwinklebreeze didn't let DuskClan take him. He fought with bloodied teeth. He would have done anything at all to stop it, Vulturepaw knows.

Smogstar isn't the same. That doesn't matter. He'll bite this stem in the bud before the idea has room to grow. If there's anyone to be blamed for Vulturepaw's kidnapping, it's himself. He can't say that he knows of the ShadowClan kits and their father, but he knows that Pinkshine speaks true.

He shivers at the thought of evil passed through blood, the memory of DuskClan warriors sinking their claws into clanmates' flesh. The frenzied madness felt infectious then, too.

Vulturepaw shakes themself. Can I help? He quickly skitters forwards to meet Brackenpaw, ignoring the warrior at her side. "Yeah, uh, good idea. Me too?" He mumbles hopefully, reaching a hesitant paw up towards the camp's wall. He's good at weaving. It gets his mind off of worse things.

I HAD TO LEARN THAT THE HELPING HAND ⛧ CAN BE THE SAME THAT HOLDS THE KNIFE

• 

  
  
  "SPEECH"
  ​

• 
  VULTUREPAW ⛧ he / she / they, apprentice of windclan, ten moons.
  ➳ a spiky-furred dark tabby with amber eyes.
  ➳ skittish and dour, with a superstitious sort of pessimism.
  ➳ micheal x npc, adopted by periwinklebreeze.
  ➳ sibling to dustpaw, bilberrypaw, mourningpaw and weepingpaw.
  ➳ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted / / underline and tag when attacking
  ➳ penned by SATURNID ↛ saturnids on discord, feel free to dm for plots.

​

 

[honeysucklepaw]

What a sour conversation to be circling around and entertaining, especially in front of young kits.... Honeysucklepaw was certainly not a thought in her mother's head when this story Sootspot tells had come to pass but even she thinks some of his words contradict reality. Pinkshine is none too impressed by this retelling and since the black she-cat likes Pinkshine, she assumes the other girl to be correct and offers her kin a frown denoting her disappointment.

If she plans to cast her own verbal judgement, it goes interrupted by Vulturepaw's interjection, ears swivel to face the other apprentice, green eyes quickly following suit to find a face to match the voice. How unfortunate, the tension that dances along his spine... Was he thinking about when they were kittens? How he'd been there one day and gone the next...?

It could've been far more permanent than that...

"It's okay Vulturepaw," she mews softly, tail tip rattling like an agitated snake. She did detest seeing her den-mates upset. That would do little to reunify WindClan, if they still hissed and bit at each other over ancient history (it is not so ancient but why should she care to dwell on it?).

The suggestion to find a new topic and apply more paws to this cause flits through her ears with a small exhale of annoyance. Didn't she have enough to do without also patching up holes and fetching insulating material? She'd already been doing as much as she could to be useful- even Cricketcry had to be growing tired!

"I think I'll be more useful elsewhere... Is there anything you need me to keep an eye out for when I go out next?"

mother tell me 𓇢𓆸 will you stay?

• 'the cycles never cease, a snake nipping at its own tail'
• HONEYSUCKLEPAW
  ward of cricketcry of wind-swept moors
  she/her
  orphan daughter to mintshade and gracklestep
  
  a solid pitch she-cat with fern-green eyes

 

[Comfreykit]

Comfreykit may be a kit of few words, but he's not dumb. He's heard the way mother speaks of Sootspot, the way she eyes her brother like he's something distasteful. Mother isn't wrong in anything, and she's certainly not wrong when it comes to Clanmates, and kin, at that. If mother isn't fond of Sootspot, then why should Comfreykit be? He sidles up beside his sister and eyes Sootspot with a grimace. Someone that mother didn't like shouldn't have the honor of sharing a name with Sootkit, he thinks.

"Careful," Comfreykit whispers to Sootkit, though he doesn't expand on what he means, instead keeping an eye on his uncle as he tells them about this Smogstar character. Pinkshine is quick to come in and refute some of Sootspot's words, and though Comfreykit doesn't know the she-cat well, he decides that he trusts her more than Sootspot. His frown deepens at the explanation of what a creature is. Comfreykit decides, too, that Sootspot is a creature. Something that is living and breathing, but different.

‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎OOC ᓚ₍ ^. .^₎ .ᐟ.ᐟ INFO ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎

• !

• 

• COMFREYKIT ✩ kit of windclan, zero moons
  → walks hunched over.
  → peaceful and healing powerplay permitted.
  → penned by Archivist → .archivist on discord.

​