HEY HEY YOU YOU 𓇼 PEBBLEPAW

[shellpaw]

the past is a phantom looming shadowlike at her doorstep ; dark tendrils of seeking black fingers wrought forward to grip her by the ribs, twining nervous fear into the spokes of frostbleached bones. there had been no rest, no respite in days prior. her body aches, her chest full of suspicion, fur buzzing with each pawstep she places further into camp. strangers mill about with strange, unsettling names ( what was a nutmeg? did it hurt? ), with strange, unsettling ways they went about their day. they seemed as inexperienced as her, broken free from the silver hatchings of their twoleg crates and into the wild unknown with barely a scuff on nest - soft pawpads. still, they could be okay, one day. maybe — she thinks of skyclan, of daisypaw and his mentor figfeather, the sleek muscled golden tabby. they looked strong. they looked like warriors.

these kittypets could be okay, she guesses tentatively.. if their twolegs didn’t come looking for them.

the upwalkers seemed dumb ; fat, fleshy creatures with gummy face with loud, unintelligible shouts. they didn’t know where riverclan placed their borders, didn’t know where the flock of them had run off too after the bears had pulled their attention away. they seemed not to care too much. twolegs didn’t care in the way a clan did — the way connection did, family. twolegs would not raid them in the dark of night. a similarly shaded pelt weaves through moving limbs only foxlengths away and slowly, a frown begins to chip at the steely line of her maw. did she not have a mother, too? was there no ink furred shadowclan molly gnashing her teeth at the missing space between her kits? kindling’s face blears into her mind again, seething image of thorn - cushioned want — shellpaw had already been captured when she’d raided camp. only stories twine in her mind, words whispered into her ear of how she’d infiltrated the nursery, gone to grab the boys of her litter with boldness the lilac girl couldn’t imagine ever being instilled in herself.

pebblepaw looks like her. she does not say this, not while they’re curled up against the workings of camp’s great willow, stains of berry painted pawprints high above their heads. he is rasping a tongue over her ear, fighting with the tangle of curls where the lilac girl could not reach while she stares listlessly out over the swarming of camp when that pelt weaves through — dark as the marr she was leaving on riverclan’s name. a lilac paw comes out to push away the remnants of a shared meal, leaving only scraps of white meat and bone as they’ve grown, ” i don’t like that you.. talk to that girl. so much. “ she is no splashpaw, shellpaw doesn’t know who she was other than witnessing her enter the gathering amongst a throng of shadowclanners. never has she been tentative with her wording, despite the hoarse dove whisper of her voice when she warbles a firm, ” i.. just dont want you to be, um.. hurt when chilledstar comes to get her. what if she drowns.. before they realize where she is? “ she does not ask if she would drown — she would, in shellpaw’s leering, hazy mind. an inevitability, clear as the water would be when dark fur finally slips beneath. the river was for riverclanners, after all. shellpaw lilts, goes quiet for a brief moment — sniffs, wet nose sheening in the darkening gloam, before tucking her tail close to the alabaster of thin - rung ribs, ” i really think.. it’d be best to put her nest outside the den, so.. so they can find her quick. when they come. “ quick, painless. i don’t want to sleep next to her, i don’t want you sleeping next to her.. how long would it be until they woke up to more shadowclanners in camp? she couldn’t lose him to another unnecessary raid.. not with riverpaw still missing, too.

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐏𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐒𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 ° 𓇼 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐃𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐄𝐘𝐄𝐒

• i. @PEBBLEPAW (shell vc) you’ve been WHERE? with WHO??
  
  
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  SHELLPAW 𓆉 SHE / HER. SEVEN MOONS OLD, APPRENTICE OF RIVERCLAN, MENTORED BY LICHENTAIL ; SMELLS LIKE SALT & RIVER BLOOMS. HAZECLOUD xx LICHENTAIL, NIECE TO SMOKESTAR. PENNED BY ANTLERS ----------------- ° ❀ ⋆
  frail alabaster molly with lilac striping and watery amber eyes.
  
  she is pallid ; platinum splotched with ribbons of dovey lilac curls, wisped ends like memories of a distant shore and plush enough to conceal the juts of malnutrition beneath. tufted elderdown fur conceals a body worn fragile by tumultuous youth, too thin in some places and round with baby fat in others. her face is short - muzzled, framed half mast by eyes coined rheumy, rosen amber. the anemic cold pink - purple at tender paws and nose tell a lifetime of sickness, further made obvious by the feathering weakness in half - whispered tones.
  

  CHRONICALLY ILL ; prone to wheezing, nose at a constant drip from longterm illness - induced nasal polyps. not contagious.

  
  

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[PEBBLEPAW]

(☼ there was a time where pebblepaw was jealous of his sister. not for her sickness, nor the mentorship she gets to have with lichenstar. no, not for any of shellpaw's faults or graces, good or bad. he's been jealous of the fact that she got to meet their real mother. like, actually meet her, get to know her and walk by her side, get to hear her voice. pebblepaw is a very logical cat. he prides himself on his level head and cool thinking. so logically, he knows this jealousy is based around a lie. shellpaw- shellkit then - had been kidnapped, stolen from her newfound home. his sister had returned from her adventure trembling and fearful, nothing like her usual bright self. when kindling had snuck into camp to steal the last two of her litter, pebblepaw - pebblekit - had been horrified. he looks back on it, and wonders what would've happened had he gone with her.

they look alike- he knows they do because he saw how smokestar looked at him when smokestar was still alive. he saw the flaming gaze light up with recognition and hostility. stony blue fur, dappled white ever growing along his frame, pebblepaw is the spitting image of his mother, sans the calculating eyes. no, his eyes he got from his uncle. so yeah, he knows he looks like kindling. he also knows that shellpaw thinks about it.

river soft tabby fur blends with lilac as the two siblings curl beneath the wide branches of the great willow. pebblepaw's tongue tussles with the tangled curls of his sister's head, often a white dappled paw coming in to comb the knots out. he isn't paying a great deal of attention to the rest of camp, and although he's noted shellpaw's sullen expression, he doesn't comment on it. his sister will make her issue known in time, even if he can guess what her issue is. coppery eyes follow the dull strawberry ones towards a figure in the distance, a night sky with bright stars sprinkled throughout. pebblepaw almost lifts his tail to greet his newfound friend when shellpaw speaks, and he decides he'd better not.

"i don't like that you talk to that girl so much," she says, and his ears flatten slightly, muzzle busying itself in attacking a particularly gnarly tangle of fur. he knows his sister doesn't like outsiders- she's made that much clear with her aversion to the new kittypet joiners and to splashpaw herself. it's got something to do with kindling, with the rogues that took a life from their uncle and nearly killed their clan. pebblepaw almost understands. he gets the part of not liking rogues. deacon and sasha had ultimately killed smokestar twice through association. they were evil, there is no arguing it. but lichenstar has allowed these newcomers in, and lichenstar has allowed splashpaw. splashpaw's a clan cat, no matter if she were raised in shadowclan or riverclan. if lichenstar says she's okay, then she is!

white brows furrow slightly as shellpaw continues speaking, her soft voice low with contempt. she speaks words that he hasn't ever expected his sister to know to say. about splashpaw drowning, shadowclan invading. it sends a chill down the blue spotted boy's spine. giving up on the tangle, he rests his head on his sister's flank, listening to her still-ragged breath as it rises and falls. "mom allowed her to stay," he murmurs, although he knows his sister has heard this argument before. "you heard her at the meeting. spla- that girl, is a riverclanner now. i dunno if mom would let chilledstar just take her back." thoughts in his mind swirl of his friend being dragged towards marshy pines by hooked claws, sinister shadowy figures stealing the girl away from her new home. just like kindling.

"you don't need to worry about me, shelly," pebblepaw says, and knows she will continue to do so anyway. it's how they live together, each looking out for the other. riverpaw's still not home, their eldest, protector and quiet defender. shellpaw and pebblepaw are on their own in a way... their family is crumbling. "she's... well she's nice. i think you'd like her, if you got to know her. i know you're worried about shadowclan, i get that, but all i know is she's new and doesn't know our clan well. she's just trying to learn."

I DO NOT HAVE WINGS, LOVE ☼ I NEVER WILL

• // " #848DAE"
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  PEBBLEPAW ☼ HE / HIM, APPRENTICE OF RIVERCLAN. NEPHEW TO SMOKESTAR. 7 MOONS OLD, PENNED BY LAVS
  
  
  a large blue tabby with low white and vitiligo. pale blue fur covers the length of pebblepaw's stocky body, sliced through with darker tabby stripes and spots. baleful orange eyes peer out of heavy set sockets, and his muzzle, paws, and tail tip are dashed with white.

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