private gravediggers often have trouble with coughin’ [bugpaw, littlepaw]

[FALCONHEART]

𓍊𓋼 It isn’t often these days that Falconheart greets his apprentices in the morning with a skip in his step and a gentle smile on his face, but today is clearly a good day, at least in the warrior’s eyes. Usually, he wakes up without much of a plan, without a direction to guide the day in. It’s made him feel a bit like a ghost, floating about camp and trying desperately to stay tethered to the earth. Today, he has an idea, and wakes both Bugpaw and Littlepaw up with a gentle touch and a soft voice before taking them out to do something that isn’t training, for once. Picking flowers may not seem the most important task, but with the weather growing more chilly by the day, this may be their last chance before all the blooms are gone. As they work, the tabby-striped tom allows himself to keep smiling even as he explains why they’re doing something so trivial as collecting flowers. They’ve all lost cats close to them, the three of them, and those graves could benefit from being tended to.

As the first graves come into view, Falconheart adjusts his grip on the flowers enough to speak, slightly garbled but still intelligible. "Thank you for helping me—I’m sure they all appreciate it, too." As he says it, his eyes lift to the trees above, then past them to the slivers of the blue sky that shine through the canopy. Do all their clanmates still see them, now? Do the flowers please them? Dual-toned eyes shift to settle on Bugpaw’s fluffy form, and he asks in a soft voice, "Which ones do you think Morningcloud would like best? Or Dad?" She hadn’t been with her first mentor for long, but surely she could pick something out for the fallen warrior. And of course, Bugpaw hadn’t known Flycatcher, but Falconheart had. And he knows… their father would love any gifts offered to him by his kits, no matter the type. His attention strays from the calico with one last brush of his tail against her flank, and he takes a step toward the place where Howlingstar lies.

He looks to Littlepaw next, but finds that he has nothing to say. He can’t offer her comfort in the same way he can his younger sister. He’s trying to be accommodating, to be the mentor that the girl deserves—the daughter of his own mentor, formerly apprenticed to great Howlingstar herself, Littlepaw deserves only the best training and the best support—but still she feels so… far away from him. Is he doing enough, he wonders constantly. Should he mention Howlingstar first, or one of her other kin who had been killed along the way? Should he keep quiet? Was this just a bad idea, after all? "What kind of flowers did you pick, Littlepaw?" Asking her directly, seeking eye contact—that’s how he can get her to open up, maybe.

heaven knows 𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊 how hard i’ve tried

• ooc: @Bugpaw ! @LITTLEPAW
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• FALCONHEART ❯❯ he/him, thunderclan warrior
  ⭃ shorter than average cream tabby with white spotting. seems gloomy and has few friends, but is a hard worker and never neglects his duties.
  ⭃ son of flamestar and flycatcher ; brother to stormfeather, ravenpaw, bugpaw, sunpaw, squirrelpaw, sparrowpaw
  ⭃ mentoring bugpaw & littlepaw
  ⭃ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted
  ⭃ penned by foxlore

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[LITTLEPAW]

༻ ♥༺ At first, Littlepaw hadn’t been all too sure about Falconheart. He was a fine warrior, the leaders son no less, but when she had touched her nose to the warriors during her reassignment ceremony, all the girl could feel was anger at who the earth-furred tom wasn’t.

Luckily, the irrational grudge seemed to have passed for the most part, though Littlepaw could still feel pangs of frustration now and again when she found herself struggling to connect. Though, connecting with reality had slowly become more and more of a chore in general. At least, the apprentice thinks as she follows on Falconheart’s heels, at least Bugpaw’s here. The presence of a peer was strangely soothing for Littlepaw.

After Falconheart revealed what their plan was for the day, Littlepaw had spent the entirety of their walk working her teeth against the soft flesh of her inner cheek. She hadn’t visited any of the graves since they had first come home, not even Howlingstars. With her stems firmly clasped in her maw, Littlepaw watches Falconheart and Bugpaw talk with a reluctant pang of envy. The apprentice forces her eyes down to her paws, don’t think like that.

When her mentor turns to her, the chimera apprentice can only look up and blink at the other for a moment, suppressing the urge to hug her petals closer. Eye contact has become less of a struggle, she thinks. “White and blue ones.” Solemnly Littlepaw answers, eyes drifting from Falconheart’s to where Howlingstar rests. “I, uhm, I thought Cobwebtail would.. uhm.. like the w-white. ” Littlepaw looks away from her great grandmother's grave, instead drifting towards her late great-uncles, bestowing the small-budded petals on top of the soil with a frown. Littlepaw despised crying in front of the others, and when she turns to fetch the blue petals for Howlingstar, her pawsteps are shuffled and slow.

‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎┌── IVE GOT SO MUCH HONEY ⋅ ✩ ⋅ THE BEES ENVY ME ──┐‎

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• 
  LITTLEPAW ✩ she/her, apprentice of thunderclan, 6 moons.
  ⭃ powerfully built and dense-furred chocolate smoked she-cat with amber eyes and black ribboning stretching across her face, foreleg, and tail.
  ⭃ daughter of Roeflame && Burnstorm ࿏ sister to Beetlepaw && Dovepaw
  ⭃ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted / / underline and tag when attacking
  ⭃ penned by Noor ↛ @toyangel on discord, feel free to dm for plots.
  

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[Bugpaw !]

*+:｡.｡ Although grief remained prevalent in Bugpaw's apprenticeship with Morningcloud's passing, the girl had learned to shoulder it comfortably. Morningcloud would always hold a spot in Bugpaw's heart, but she allowed herself the room to find joy in her new day to day under Falconheart's wing - especially since she had a new fellow apprentice to look after! For that reason, Bugpaw woke without delay - blinking sleep rapidly from her eyes as the adrenaline for a fun new day pushed her to her feet. "g'mor'in!" she purrs, her tongue not quite catching the memo.
Right away, she notices Falconheart's improved mood, making her smile shine all the brighter in turn. With a skip blatant in each step, she's practically prancing while following behind her brother-mentor. When they arrive at the field of flowers, Bugpaw immediately lets out a yip of joy, bouncing now among the blooms while commenting on how beautiful they all are, resilient still against the changing weather! She'd been told that once leaf-bare hits, the number of blossoms will become scarce, if not vanish altogether, so she's happy to get the chance to find them still in their glory now! She'd already begun shoving flowers into her fur when Falconheart revealed the plan. "Dandy!" she announces, both in praise of the plan, as well as to emphasize the fluffy weed she'd pulled from the ground. Giggling, she plucks more flowers with even more enthusiasm, babbling puns all the while.

Visiting the graves was nothing new to the blue tortoiseshell. It had become quite a comfort for the girl. As she picked her blossoms, she'd glance over at Littlepaw, and hoped with a smile that her new fellow apprentice would find the same solace today as well. Like Meadowpaw, Littlepaw seemed so sad as of late. Much of the clan had been, but it hurt her heart to see such grief in her youthful peers. Littlepaw especially tugged at Bugpaw's heart, having both lost family and her first mentor. More than anyone, the girl longed to cheer the other up but...it hadn't been easy for Bugpaw to learn to shoulder her grief, she wasn't sure puns and flowers would cure Littlepaw of her permanent wounds either.

"Thanks for letting us do this, BigBird" she purrs, nuzzling her brother's shoulder, "I'm sure dad and everyone are so grateful to you, too! You really rose to the occasion with this idea!" Amidst her giggles, she looks up at her brother-mentor with wide, admiring eyes. How lucky is she to have been assigned not only to her own brother but to a man so thoughtful and kind? She hoped her friends' mentors took the time to think about their wards' feelings the way Falconheart always did.
"Oh oh! I got star flowers for both of them cus, obviously! And daisies for Morningcloud and a few dandelions which I'm being real careful keeping still with and these droopy white ones, aren't they pretty? I think dad would like these ones!"

Her babbling soon comes to a halt as they arrive.
The gravesite is a quiet place, flattened by the continual tread of paws. After so many days of rain and sun, all the freshly dug soil for their recently fallen have since fallen flat like the rest of their slumbering clanmates. Sparrowpaw is closest, so Bugpaw leaves a few blossoms for her brother. "Hi sparrowpaw! I hope you're having fun in the skies! I hope you don't mind that I kept some of your nest, it still smells like you, even now" she lais a white flower carefully down, and pats it gently, imagining it's her adoptive brother's shoulder, "probably cus you didn't groom enough, stinky" she teases, before touching her nose to the petal, "I miss you, be safe up there, okay?"

Next, Morningcloud. "I got you the prettiest flowers I could find! I hope you like them!" she places the petals, sitting for a moment to tell Morningcloud all about her training regiment under Falconheart. "-he's doing such a good job, don't you think? I know you would've been great too, but I'm glad you get to rest! Im going to go visit dad now, so ill see you later, okay?" she touches her nose to the blossom, and whispers one last time, "thanks for being my mentor while you could"

Then, finally, to Flycatcher. On and on, she talks his gravesite's ear off about the family events, about Flamestar looking so cool and strong on the high rock, about a cut she got on her paw that she only whines a little about, how her siblings are doing, how nervous but excited she is for the changing weather. In a quieter voice, she asks Flycatcher for advice on her heartache with Meadowpaw - if he and Flamewhisker had ever had troubles...if they'd ever felt like their relationship was 'pretend'...if he thinks things will get better between she and 'Dow..."-well, in any case, it was nice seeing you, pappa! Ill talk to you again tonight probably, but you rest easy now, okay? Tell everyone I said hi!" patting his grave affectionately, Bugpaw would trot towards her living family.

~~~

Plopping beside Littlepaw, Bugpaw lets out a sigh, "Oh man, that was a lot of talking" she giggles, rubbing a paw down her cheek. She studies her friend for a moment, then gently bumps her shoulder against Littlepaw's, "I'm glad you're here" she tells her friend, and she means it. It's nice having someone to train beside. It's...nice having someone who understands what it's like to lose a mentor too soon.

Then, to the three of them, Bugpaw announces, "I have an idea before we leave!" Retrieving the dandelion puffs she'd collected earlier, she places one by Falconheart's then Littlepaw's feet, before setting hers down by her paws. "What if, before we go, we send one last well wishes into the dandelion, and then blow the seeds so they reach Starclan? I know I've already babbled my head off at them but, this way, we can send them our feelings, too?" Yellow eyes, bright and glowing, look between each cat. It'd be a fun way to tie all of them together, wouldn't it? A little ritual for the living - for this new little family the three of them now are?

"What do you say? On the count of three?"

*+:｡.｡ Updated 3/22/24

• // honestly I just looked up forest flowers, if any of these aren't native ill just switch em out/delete so take any of these flowers with a grain of salt baha
  
  
  also hoooooooooooly shit I'm sorry this is so long everything below [~~~] is all that's really relevant, by the way!
  
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  GENERAL:
  ♫ Bugpaw
  ♫ DFAB— She/Her
  ♫ 6 moons — Ages
  ♫ Daughter to Flamewhisker and Flycatcher
  ♫ Sibling to Falconheart, Stormfeather, Lilykit, Butterflykit, Scorchedpaw, Squirrelpaw, Sunpaw
  ♫ Thunderclan — apprentice
  ♫ Apprenticed to Falconheart
  
  
  
  
  COMBAT:
  ♫Physically easy | mentally easy
  ♫ Attack in bold pink
  injuries: None currently

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