HORNET KING | wasp nest

[SNAILSTRIDE]

Rumours of wasps swarming near the camp had spread quickly to the gossip-conscious ears of the blue tabby. They were an animal Snailpaw remembered with the fondness of a rotten rat, for it'd been a tertiary version of the things that'd stung them on one of their first patrols. Snailpaw swore their paw had swollen to twice the size that day, and they hadn't even meant to step on near the entrance of their nest! Thankfully, these rumoured yellowjackets didn't seem too interested in hiding themselves, a portion of pale envelope sticking out the side of the camp's bramble thicket there for the entire clan to see... if they could get close enough. Unkeen to meet the same fate as before, the marbled tabby had kept their distance over the coming days, wincing at anyone getting divebombed a several lengths away and praising the stars that Vulturemask didn't have any new patients. It was a sympathetic indifference they'd have been comfortable keeping, but, perhaps as one of their last duties as an apprentice, someone had suggested that they help to deal with the problem. 'What a cruel prank!' They thought, until they saw that the cat that offered such a task had not been smiling.

A few moments later and they were outside the camp walls, their exhausted eyes glaring daggers at the nest peaking out from behind the brambles. Some wasps were coming and going from their foraging but activity was scarce... the perfect time to get rid of this budding pain in the rump. Only, the longer he stared at the ugly grey mass, the more confused Snailpaw got. They hovered between smiling and twisting their expression into a frown, their tail lashing more and more. Then, their whole body shuddered. They could imagine the moment they started messing with that thing, they had to wonder if being stung to death was a possibility. It'd never happened before, but being the first would be a whole new level of buffoonery that even Snailpaw had no interest in subscribing to. "Yeah I got nothing." They admitted to the others assigned to this arduous task, shrugging their shoulders dramatically. "Your meant to kill its leader I think, but I dunno how we're gonna get to her without ending up in the medic den." They angled their ears back towards the other cats, hoping for a suggestion that wouldn't result in their untimely demise.

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[WEASELCLAW]

Weaselclaw is not one to order cats to do difficult tasks if he cannot do it himself. Had he singled Snailpaw out for being lazy? ...Maybe. But the tabby knows getting rid of an embedded wasp's nest isn't an easy feat. He had been stung himself once already, and the last thing he wants is for kits or elders to be nuisanced with the horrid insects.

Snailpaw states the assigned are supposed to kill the wasp's leader. Weaselclaw stares at them, eyes wide with disbelief. "And how are we supposed to tell which one of these disgusting things is the leader? It's not like they can tell us." He snorts, pawing the earth thoughtfully. A pale blue gaze drifts back to the nest in question. It's papery-gray surface and the swarm of fat black bodies crawling in and out of its weavery cause him to shudder. "We've got to do something to at least get it away from camp. I don't want some poor wretch getting stung to death." He flicks a tattered ear irritably.​

[ PENNED BY MARQUETTE ]​

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[cottonsprig]

With this being her first greenleaf, Cottonpaw hadn't the pleasure of meeting any sort of sting-happy creature in depth. She's heard of bees and the like before, and especially with the nest growing out the side of their camp she's seen a few - but perhaps she's lucky in never being pricked by one of them. Not yet, anyways. The grey furred apprentice only joined the patrol out of her own curiosity, having not initially been assigned to it. She stands close to her father, too watching the unruly beasts clamor over one another and their paper mache home.

Asking them is not something Cottonpaw is keen to do, and she's glad Weaselclaw shoots down the morsel of an idea. Her tail twitches uneasily as she pitches an idea of her own - "Does anything on the moor eat wasps?" Not hawks, hawks eat Cottonpaws. she swallows the thought away, "Maybe if it's somethin' prey-like, we can chase it over and let it feast for a bit." Prey animals are dumb enough to fall into traps like that, she thinks.​

 

[SNAKEHISS]

❪ TAGS ❫ — As if elder den duty wasn't bad enough for Snakepaw, he always managed to get put on the most ridiculous tasks. Investigating and clearing out a wasp nest was a new one, though from what he's heard of wasps, he is not pleased in the slightest to be here. However, it was a "good experience" or something like that, whatever Badgermoon said.

A frown was plastered onto his features, irritable and cross. He stood back the furthest, sitting on his haunches and watching as the other cats assessed the situation. "Why must we take care of this?" Snakepaw complained, twitching his tail. Maybe they ought to make one of the new WindClan additions clear out the wasp nest for them, a means of proving their loyalty or something like that. Ha!

Speaking of kittypets, an idea dawns upon the apprentice, "I say we find a kittypet near the horseplace and force them into doing it for us. Better one of them than us." Snakepaw didn't figure that to be such a bad plan if he said so himself. No reason for them to potentially waste precious herbs on themselves when they could threaten a kittypet into sacrificing themselves at no cost! They led useless and pathetic lives already, so if they were killed in the process, then who would give a damn?​

 

[Addervenom]

Life doesn't discriminate

These vindictive little insects were a menace to society, He'd seen several in camp already threatened by their presence as they dove with the intention to sting. But to his knowledge it must have been only a warning shot meant to keep them at bay. Thankfully no one has been stung just yet and hopefully no one would be. The tip of his tail flicks back and forth, amber eyes glaring up at the paper like construction. Cottonpaw suggests bringing a prey animal over to feast upon the bothersome pests. The only wrench in her plan being the right kind of prey animal. Rabbits certainly did not eat bugs. Perhaps a bird, but they could easily fly away.

Snakepaw proposes his solution, leaving Adderpaw to shoot him look filled with judgment. "That's a horrible idea." He mutters almost as quickly as the black apprentice offers his solution. "Suppose they do it wrong? Then everyone nearby be stung." With the wasp's nest directly merged to the camp wall a blunder like that would be chaotic. "On top of that, you're proposing to show a stranger the location of our camp, all because you're too lazy to deal with the problem." Adderpaw shakes his head, features mirroring his father's incredulous expression. Ridiculous.

His gaze lingers a moment longer before floating back to the nest. "What if we bury them?" He mutters finally, marking a spot on the ground just below the nest itself."If we dug a deep enough hole, knock them in, and pack the earth tight again they can't come out." They just needed one real good swipe and to be quick on their paws to cover the nest with dirt. ​

Between the sinners and the saints​

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[◇ Venomthroat.]

I REALLY COULDN'T CARE LESS

venomthroat | 26 months | non-binary | they/them | physically medium | mentally hard | attack in bold black

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Joining the group of onlookers, the black furred feline wonders once again how, exactly, they got dragged into this mess. Wasps are no laughing matter - unlike bee's, they sting and sting and sting you, never stopping at just one. They do not want to end up a puffy, bloated mess from the nasty little buggers- - but orders are orders, and they do have a rather cushy life here in windclan. It'd be a shame to lose all that to some insects of all things.

They do their best to rack their brain - searching for any of their limited knowledge on the striped creatures. "hm... don't they go quiet at night? So they must sleep, just like us," they say slowly, head tipping to the side. They don't have much else to go off of - normally, this is a danger best left be and avoided, but when it's in such a place, that's an impossibility. "Tch," a rather loud click of their tongue has them shaking their paw, flinging away one of the wasps before it has the chance to get to interested in them.
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[SNAKEHISS]

❪ TAGS ❫ — Snakepaw is probably a little too eager to verbally battle with none other than the son of Sootstar — from the day the little spawns had been born, he had deemed them competition. They were the only ones that stood in his way of winning the leader's favor. Now that they were old enough to walk and talk and train, Snakepaw truly felt the pressure to outdo them in everything and prove his worth. His family's reputation depended on it, his future depended on it. "You say that as if a kittypet poses any threat to our camp. In fact, several kittypets wouldn't even be a threat to us. They're too fat and lazy to put up a fight." The midnight-black apprentice harumphed with a swish of his tail. "If you're so worried about it, then we could kill them afterward. Dump their body onto the Thunderpath. Who would miss them?" Their twolegs? Even so, they weren't smart enough to trace back to WindClan's camp anyway.

He feels the hairs upon his neck begin to bristle as a seething cocktail of irritation and envy pumps through his veins. Snakepaw lets a venomous retort roll off his tongue, "It's not being lazy. It's being smart. Why risk our behinds—risk wasting our herbs—when we could threaten a soft-pawed kittypet into doing it for us? You clearly don't know everything, so I'd suggest you stop acting like it." Another cat matching Snakepaw's arrogant energy was only a recipe for disaster. With Snakepaw naturally being one to assert dominance over his fellow apprentices, having to butt heads with the son of Sootstar only ground his nerves to dust. He had to play somewhat nice in order to stay on Sootstar's good side, to win her favor, but telling Adderpaw to watch his tone surely wasn't a punishable offense? All apprentices were told off at some point in their youths and Adderpaw was no exception.

As for a solution to their little problem, Snakepaw had nothing else to input. He had already made his suggestion, which was by far the best one in his eyes. If anyone else wanted to try their luck, then they could be his guest. He was going to stand far, far away in that case.​

 

[WEASELCLAW]

The lead warrior listens to each suggestion offered by those helping with the task. He looks at Cottonpaw first, who suggests getting something that eats wasps to come and nibble on the creatures. "Surely, but probably nothing we want in camp," he tells her, headbutting her shoulder in a gruff but affectionate gesture.

Next he turns to Snakepaw, whose suggestion causes Weaselclaw to snort in amusement. "Can you imagine? A kittypet wouldn't know what to do with it. They'd break the hive and we'd all be done for." A fun concept, but not one he can seriously entertain, unfortunately.

Adderpaw agrees with his father, but his words are harsh and stinging like the hornets they are disposing of. Weaselclaw looks at his son. "It's true, we don't want strangers near our camp, even a kittypet," he says dismissively. "We could bury it, but not without getting stung."

Venomthroat suggests they wait until night to dispatch the insects. Weaselclaw's eyes narrow thoughtfully. "Do they sleep at night?" He'd never considered that insects have to rest at night, just like cats. He twitches a tattered ear, pondering, when Snakepaw begins to spit back at Adderpaw for his bluntness.

The tabby looks between the two young apprentices with exasperation. "Enough, both of you!" He doesn't care that Snakepaw had gotten onto Adderpaw for his snippy attitude, but he's starting to get a headache from the scrapping. "Here's what we'll do. When the sun starts going down, we'll gently knock it down, and we'll roll it into a hole." He flicks his tail, satisfied by his solution.

"Snakepaw, Adderpaw, dig the hole for the nest. I want it done before the sun is down. And if I hear anymore fighting, you'll both be sorry." He stretches, glad the dilemma is at least somewhat solved.​

[ PENNED BY MARQUETTE ]​

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[cottonsprig]

Weaselclaw's rebuttal is unwelcome, however his fatherly bump dissuades Cottonpaw from becoming too upset. It had been her only idea - trying to lure some dumb prey into camp for a wasp-feast - and having it shot down so easily is disheartening. She doesn't dwell on it, however, as again Weaselclaw lets her down lightly and moves on just as fast. Kitty-pets are brought into question and she wrinkles her nose at the idea, Adderpaw nearly mimicking her thoughts (though his tone is far harsher than hers could ever be, she thinks.)

Her gaze flutters to Venomthroat, ear twitching as she tries to hear them out - but then Snakepaw bites back, and surely Adderpaw is hot on his tail. She furrows her brow, unsure of if she should be upset with Adderpaw for having such a rotten disposition, or Snakepaw for the same. Her father attempts to end their quarrel before it continues and she turns up her nose from the two of them, figuring that she has something better to do. Now more than ever, even, since two apprentices will be too busy digging a hole. She nearly snickers.

"I wanna be here when we bury it," she states cleanly, obviously excluding herself from the activity of digging. As a tunneler apprentice she does so day in and day out - truthfully, she just wants to know how the moor runner apprentices would fair.​