camp grief is love with nowhere to go | rabbit catch

[Snowpath]

He didn't come back to camp much unless he could swiftly move in and drop his hunting quarry without being seen-most of the time he left them by the edge and someone else moved them to the pile; he once spotted Pumpkinpatch scolding another apprentice for lazily leaving a sparrow on the ground rather than just walking it in. If he wasn't so anxious he'd have corrected it, but he was too afraid to be seen anymore. Snowpaw's catch this time was a white rabbit, a lucky encounter that had nearly sent him headfirst into a tree and any other time in his life he would have strut into the camp with his head high in pride for it but now he was just waiting for the chance that cats cleared out enough he could dart in and drop it, grab himself a smaller mouse meant for one and scurry back to his burrow on the edge of the territory. No one expected anything of him, no one came after him to tend his apprentice duties, he was all but forgotten and he was fine with it, he understood, but it still hurt so he still kept doing what he thought he should.

Despite his absence he still lingered on the edges, poked his head in occasionally to see what was happening and it was by chance he heard Blazestar's announcement regarding the gathering among many warrior's recieving names; but it was the new law that imprinted into his mind and stuck fast. The world seemed to slow, warp around him. He was scared.
He once wanted to be remembered by his clan for many moons to come as a warrior, strong and dependable and defending them from their enemies but now…now he’d just be remembered as a reckless apprentice who spilled undeserving blood, who caused a rift so great no cat could hope to reach the other side; he had split the clans apart as easily as he’d slit Morningpaw’s throat.
The eagerness to one day be a warrior is gone, he doesn't think he can stomach being named by the man who's daughter he sent to StarClan well before her time. What would Blazestar call him after all of this? Would he make him wear the blood stains longer, call him Snowpool for the red he'd bathed in. Snowclaw for the blade he'd cut with. Snowheart for how cold and chilled he must believe his to be for what he'd done.

Blinking back into focus and finally seeing the camp briefly empty he moved forward with his head low to drop his rabbit, grabbing a mouse and turning to leave as quickly as he could.

​

 

[Orangestar]

"Oop. Watch it, Snowpaw, nearly knocked you over then." The meow is gruff, but there's a small measure of concern to the narrow of Orangeblossom's eyes as she steps further into Snowpaw's path. Ochre gaze drifts past him, to the new addition to the fresh-kill pile, before returning to the absentee apprentice. Always good to see he was still alive, even if shame made the silver tom slink in shadows and corners to avoid the eyes of his Clanmates. Yet with the sight comes a small measure of relief - if he's still hunting to provide for SkyClan, there was still hope for him yet.

"Did you catch that rabbit?" She asks, as if she hadn't just watched him place it there. She gives a resolute nod, and jerks her head towards the ever-dwindling pile of prey. "You should be proud of yourself, not a lot of us warriors could make off with something like that in this cold season. Come tell me about it while you eat that mouse."​

✦ ooc ✦ info

•  
• 
  ✦ orangeblossom, warrior of skyclan
  — no apprentice.
  ✦ 25 moons, she/her
  ✦ fluffy white and ginger cat with brown eyes. torn left ear, scar on right foreleg.
  ✦ bi, single. @ on discord for plots.
  ✦ "speech" — thoughts

​

 

[Mountainheart]

Mountainheart watched Snowpaw place his rabbit. He remembered his first rabbit, it crashed into him at full speed and he was lucky to react quick enough to catch it.

He would close the distance between them, greeting Orangeblossom with a polite dip of his head.

"An impressive catch, indeed." He said to Snowpaw.

He didn't want to smother him, if he wanted to leave camp with his mouse, he would let him.

"You're taking care of yourself, aren't you?" He asked. He worried that under the weight of such grief and pain, that he would start neglecting himself. Or worse, though he dared not think about it.
​

 

[Snowpath]

He hadn't been paying enough attention and his retreat is caught in white and pale sunset-colored fur, the stumbling stagger he gives as he bounces back nearly lands him sitting on the snow but he catches himself at the last moment and shakes himself back upright.
Snowpaw stiffened under Orangeblossom's sharp gaze, though her words were far from patronizing or even harsh; he still stood there with wide eyes and limbs rigidly holding him in place. A compliment, an offer. No demands are being made of him and he stares critically at the she-cat for a moment to gauge her intent. She seemed sincere, he didn't think she'd swing at him but he also hadn't thought Howlpaw would as well; barreling him over with such a rage. He still thinks about it sometimes. It takes Mountainheart's fatherly voice to snap him out of his confused state, twin golden pools blink slowly as he turns to the great furred tom and frowns. A compliment. Concern. It almost makes him want to cry again, but he was all out of tears; nothing left he had to give.
With a slow nod he turns to walk over and sit himself with the two warriors, keeping a careful distance not out of fear of them but more his uneasiness of being locked in place where he could not bolt if he had to. His mouse is dropped at his paws but he suddenly has no appetite, still, he feels he should answer the questions or cause their ire with his rude silence.
"...it was blended into the ground. I nearly stepped on it and I guess...it was too surprised to run away fast enough."

​

 

[Orangestar]

Orangeblossom folds her paws underneath her, settling comfortably nearby Snowpaw. She affords him a respectful distance, closer to Mountainheart than the skittish apprentice, but she does note that while he's taken the mouse with him he doesn't start eating it right away. Long whiskers twitch with amusement at the admission, a memory surfacing in the back of her mind; before she can stifle it, the ginger-and-white deputy speaks.

"My sister did the same thing with a mouse about this time last leaf-bare. She was so startled that she almost let it get away, so you're doing better than a whole grown warrior did." It's a little secret she's kept since she was young, just above the age where a SkyClanner would become a warrior nowadays. And it isn't at her expense that she tells it - Apricotflower isn't here to defend herself, anyway. Snowpaw, at his age, may not even know who she is. "Nevertheless, it's still fresh-kill, Snowpaw. Whereabouts did you catch it?" Maybe, if she was lucky, he'd reveal a rough approximation of where he'd been hiding.​

✦ ooc ✦ info

•  
• 
  ✦ orangeblossom, deputy of skyclan
  — no apprentice.
  ✦ 25 moons, she/her
  ✦ fluffy white and ginger cat with brown eyes. torn left ear, scar on right foreleg.
  ✦ bi, single. @ on discord for plots.
  ✦ "speech" — thoughts

​