camp IF THAT MOCKINGBIRD DON’T SING ࿏ injured bird

[Pinepaw ⭒]

-ˋˏ ༻ ❆༺ ˎˊ- With each sunrise, Pinekit had been plagued with a growing desire to be. Everywhere. To be everywhere and see everything.
Pinekit may not know a whole lot, but she did know for a fact that staying under her mothers watchful cerulean gaze was important. She doesn’t quite know why yet, but the mottled scrap would intent to find out soon.
Not right in this moment, however, not when she is in the middle of winning a scrap with one of her brothers, right about to wrangle him into a wobbly pin-
Tweet.
Pinekit’s ear flicks suspiciously as a strange noise nestled within her ear drums, so pathetic it could be the breeze.
Twee…
“Shut up… shut up! ” Pinekit suddenly demands, scrambling away from her littermate in order to stretch her neck out. Pupils flicker back and forth impatiently, waiting…
Tw-
“There! ” The child finally hollers, scampering away to seek out the unknown.
In her tunnel-vision, she hardly realized the reeds that surround the edge of camp had just about swallowed her whole.
No, Pinekit was far too focus on the feathered thing that failed uselessly about that she had almost trampled over.
“Oh… ” The kit gasps in childish wonder, noting the metallic tang in the air that seemed to radiate off of the thing.
What do I do know?
“MOOOOMMM! ” Throwing her head back for maximum effectiveness, the tortoiseshell kitten begins to do the only thing she knew how- call on her mother to join her in viewing Pinekit’s new discovery.
While the mottled child waited, she’d take the initiative to scoop the injured animal up, despite the way it begun to squawk rather ungratefully and flap it’s feathery limbs in her face. “Hey! Be nice. ” Pinekit scolds, using the tone she had heard the other queens use many times in the past.

‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎┌── IF YOUR LOVE’S THE TRUTH ⋅ ࿏ ⋅ OR THE SPIRIT OF DECEIT ──┐‎

• 
  Pinekit seems to have found an injured bird in the reeds on the outskirts of camp!
  Family tags (but no need to wait) — @iciclefang @CRAGKIT @CRABKIT
  
  

• 

• 
  PINEKIT ✩ she/her, kit of riverclan, 2 moons.
  ⭃ plush-furred tortoiseshell she-kit with white dipped forepaws, tail tip, and muzzle and round, honey hued optics.
  ⭃ daughter of Iciclefang && Stormywing ࿏ sister to Cragkit && Crabkit
  ⭃ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted / / underline and tag when attacking
  ⭃ penned by Noor ↛ @toyangel on discord, feel free to dm for plots.
  

​

 

[iciclefang]

The kits are playing, and Iciclefang is rewarded a fraction of a moment of peace. Tiny growls and whimpers of pain sing through the air, a child’s battlefield, but the tortoiseshell queen pays it no mind. She lingers just inside the nursery, giving her sleek pelt a swift groom while she has the chance. At any second, the kits could disturb her, or one of them could hurt the other, and she’d have to tend to it. As she’s pressing a snowy paw against her dampened face, she hears Pinekit yowl for her. With a sigh, she lowers it and heaves herself to her paws, blue eyes flashing with irritation (and a modicum of concern). “What? Who hurt who?” Her tone is sharp as a set of enemy warriors’ claws, but then she sees her little daughter prancing around the reeds just on the outskirts of camp.

Iciclefang pushes her head through the greenery, her eyes falling on an injured bird. It’s wing is either broken or otherwise injured; it flaps uselessly in the sand, it’s beady eyes filled with what the queen can only determine to be torment. Her voice softens as she turns toward her little look-a-like child. “It’s hurt, Pinekit,” she murmurs. “The kindest thing to do would be to put it out of its misery and give thanks to StarClan for its life.” She does not act upon this immediately, though—she gives her children a long, searching look, wondering what they will say about the bird’s prognosis.

『 out of character. 』 ✧･ﾟ:* 『 about. 』

• ooc: —
• 
• Iciclekit . Iciclepaw . Iciclefang, she/her w/ feminine terms.
  — “speech”, thoughts, attack
  — 21 moons old, ages realistically on the 17th.
  — mentored by Smokestar ; mentoring Cicadapaw ; previously mentored n/a
  — riverclan lead warrior & queen. mudpelt x icesparkle, gen 2.
  — former mate to Stormywing ; current mate to no one.
  — penned by Marquette.
  
  
  sh tortoiseshell and white she-cat with ice-blue eyes. confident, capable, proud, dry, conceited, condescending, distrustful.
  
  

​

 

[EVENINGPAW]

-

All things considered, Eveningkit is not too difficult to rouse from sleep. She thinks those hours in the night are wasted, laying still, unaware of the world - so she only really gets to it when she absolutely has to, lest Hazecloud gets cross with her. Pinekit yowls and it's her cue to roll back onto her belly instead of her back and figure out what's happened.

"Whaaa-" Eveningkit's mouth opens into an enormous yawn, and her little paws falter as she tries to regain her footing. Her trek from outside the nursery is too sudden and it's dizzying. She can't remain in the dark though.

The reeds move as Eveningkit emerges from them, sneaking somwhere under one of Iciclefang's legs. Yellow eyes squint against the low morning light, and it takes her a heartbeat to fully comprehend what she sees - and what Iciclefang says.

"What!" Her voice is full of disbelief, and Eveningkit hops beside Pinekit to examine her discovery."But it's so... look at it. Shouldn't we try to help it?" It's almost pathetic, the way the bird flails around and cries desperately, but Eveningkit only feels pity for it.

˗ˏˋ ɪᴛ'ꜱ ᴍʏ ᴡᴏʀʟᴅ & ɪ ᴅᴏ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ɪ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴛᴏ ! ´ˎ˗ ᓚᘏᗢ 03.17.24

• 
• ✦ OOC -

• EVENINGKIT ⸝⸝-- RIVERCLAN -- SHE/HER -- 2 MOONS

  ✦ DAUGHTER TO Lichentail x Hazecloud
  ✦ SISTER TO Horizonkit & Twinklekit & Snowflakekit
  
  ✦ Pale grey point she-cat with yellow eyes.
  ✦ Penned by ˏ 𝙠𝙖𝙧𝙢𝙚𝙣 ´​
•  

​

 

[RIVERPAW]

༝ ˚ ｡⋆ 𓇼 ⋆｡ ˚ ༝   He thinks it is silly, to save something that they would hunt down later. Riverkit eats prey like warriors do now, and he knows where the bits the queens give him come from. Birds like this. Fish too, that's his favorite. But. . . right now, there's a bird. He creeps close to the reeds surrounding camp, wary of going too far lest a big dark paw scoop him up and — like that. Like Pinekit does to the bird, or tries to before it starts smacking her. (He would do that, he thinks. If someone tried to pick him up and take him to the dark.)

Iciclefang is right. He knows that with so much certainty it's like the stones, or the woven reeds. Something so finely done and real that nobody could change it. It would be better for the bird, and better for the clan, and– and that's what matters.

But the bird doesn't know that. It doesn't know that it's supposed to die. It– it moves like it's trying to save itself. It probably wants to go home. Do birds think it's scary down here? Do they know that cats hunt them? He's wanted so bad to be an apprentice that could hunt and fight and now this bird is. Sad. It's sad, and it's scared, and he doesn't know what he wants anymore. What he's supposed to do doesn't quite feel the same. "Iciclefang?" he asks solemnly, "Do you think it has a mama waiting for it?"

𝐈 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐀 𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐃 𓇼 𝐈 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐏𝐔𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐄𝐀

• ooc: —
• "speech"
• 𓆟. ° .• .𓆝 .• ° . 𓆟  𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐊𝐈𝐓. HE ╱ THEY. KITTEN OF RIVERCLAN. KINDLING x ﹖ NEPHEW TO SMOKESTAR. PENNED BY REVELATIONS.  ———
  
  
  ——  a messy blue tabby with low white. though small and slimmed down by the chill, riverkit's thick coat will bounce back with time and love. the fragility beneath his fur will dissipate with time. though currently stocky as most kittens are, he will gain some semblance of delicate stature with age. with a steady diet, riverkit may begin to fit into the clan he's so proudly named for.

​

 

[CRABPAW]

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 The ginger and cream tom-kit spends most of his time (when he isn’t fast asleep in the nursery, purring away without a care in the world) playing with his siblings, bouncing around and pretending to fight off warriors of other clans. He swipes a soft paw out at Pinekit’s ear, but is interrupted when she suddenly tells him to shut up! Indignant for a heartbeat, Crabkit frowns—but then worry overtakes irritation as his sister rushes off in the direction of whatever has caught her attention. He takes off after her, paws pounding clumsily against the ground as he follows her in the direction of the reeds. He stops suddenly just short of the reeds, head tilted in an attempt to hear better as Pinekit inspects whatever she’s found. After poking his head closer to investigate, the source of commotion is made clear. A bird, wings flapping uselessly against the ground and at Pinekit. He gasps, and turns to look at Iciclefang as she approaches. Surely she’ll know what to do, right!

Death. That’s the verdict his mother produces for the poor animal. The bird is clearly hurt, but does that really mean it has to die? If… if he gets hurt… or if Pinekit or Cragkit gets hurt… would their mother say the same? "No!" He protests, tears already welling up in mossy green eyes. Much like Eveningkit, he wonders whether they could help the poor, flailing creature. "Don’t kill it…" If he was any larger, he would take the bird from his sister and demand that they find a way to save it—but concern wins out against impulse, and the little tom feels rooted to the ground where he stands. Riverkit’s question only makes him sniffle harder, watery eyes turning up to the sky. Is the bird’s mama watching right now?​

​

 

[hazecloud]

How fragile is a time of delightful peace and quiet in the nursery. Hazecloud had thought it impossible after her and Lichentail's kittens were born. The six taking every ounce of her attention and affections (not that it bothered her, really). She had grown used to the chaos quickly of course, but, it was still a jarring change from the warriors den. One she quickly informed her new denmates of once they had moved in.

Now six had become nine and there was no telling just what Lilybloom would bring next. It must be nice, getting to raise kittens alongside one's littermate. She never thought Rosewater capable of it, though, and not for any lack of maternal drive. Her sister hardly favored for romance at all. Too occupied by Dappleleaf's ailments to consider anything for herself.

Her gaze drifted to Pinekit as she shouted for Iciclefang's attention and gave an understanding nod to the molly, who's groom was cut short. Not long after, Eveningkit waded out of the nursery too. No doubt from the commotion from outside- it wouldn't be long before the rest of her kits would finish up their nap then.

More of them gather around Iciclefang and so as not to let her bat them off alone she joined them, falling a curious stare onto the pathetic display. Poor bird, something caused it's wing to break. Hazecloud nodded in quiet agreement- it shouldn't continue to suffer. But Eveningkit's protest and Riverkit's question is unexpected, something she hadn't pondered herself as a child. Prey was simply prey, a necessity to thrive. They weren't meant to protect and flock with other animals like this.

"Birds don't live as cats do." She answered, not knowing if she was saving Iciclefang or Riverkit from either's response. "They don't have medicine like us, or Clans. Birds are far more independent at much younger than a cat, too. So no mama's or siblings stay with them." Riverkit was the oldest of them all present, and she tried to encourage him to understand. These lives could not overlap- it would only make a hungry belly.

"Lichentail's better at taking down birds but... it's injured. We shouldn't let it suffer any longer." Hazecloud pushed through the reeds and turned her head as wings continued to thrash around in Pinekit's grasp. She held her paw out to the young molly, offering her the moment to make the choice herself. To follow natures course. "I'll make sure it's quick and painless, I promise."​

 

[Pinepaw ⭒]

-ˋˏ ༻ ❆༺ ˎˊ- What? Who hurt who?
Her mothers arrival is swift, and normally her mothers sudden and sharp tone would have startled Pinekit out of her pelt, but in this moment the scrap of tortoiseshell had only just managed to wrangle the bird, keeping stick-thin talons away from her face.
Sunflower eyes are wide in anticipation when they finally turn to Iciclefang, awaiting the older mollys verdict.
The sentence to death prompts dappled brow bones to raise in shock, looking back down on her trapped bird.
The scene draws over her peers, her own brother whines his protests alongside Eveningkit, while Riverkit asked if its mama might be waiting for it.
Pinekit lets her face crease in thought. She doesn’t understand.
The only thing she knew was what her mother had said, it was hurt, and it needed to die. Honey hues stare into its singular beady eye that faces her, the way it’s wings tremble in her small paws.
However it was feeling, Iciclefang must be right- it was miserable.
It’s Hazeclouds arrival that tears Pinekit from her train of thought, drinking in every tidbit of an explanation she could from the other queen.
Hazecloud reaches a paw out, and Pinekit is overwhelmed with the sudden urge to swat it away.
This was her bird.
“No! ” The child insists, the suddenness of her protest sparking another episode of desperately flapping wings.
“I found it. I- I wanna do it, I’m gonna do it.” Pinekit surprises herself with the words that fly from her maw, round eyes swiveling to her mother for approval.
The animal being squished under-paw wasn’t like her, it was… what was the word?
Prey. it was her prey.

‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎┌── IF YOUR LOVE’S THE TRUTH ⋅ ࿏ ⋅ OR THE SPIRIT OF DECEIT ──┐‎

• 
  
  
  

• 

• 
  PINEKIT ✩ she/her, kit of riverclan, 2 moons.
  ⭃ plush-furred tortoiseshell she-kit with white dipped forepaws, tail tip, and muzzle and round, honey hued optics.
  ⭃ daughter of Iciclefang && Stormywing ࿏ sister to Cragkit && Crabkit
  ⭃ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted / / underline and tag when attacking
  ⭃ penned by Noor ↛ @toyangel on discord, feel free to dm for plots.
  

​

 

[iciclefang]

Iciclefang somehow hadn’t expected the kits’ response to Pinekit’s discovery. It’s obvious to her that the bird deserves to be put out of its misery, but round golden eyes blink up at her, full of questions. Eveningkit, one of Hazecloud’s litter, asks her if they shouldn’t try to help it. The queen shakes her head, her voice firm. “No, Eveningkit. Moonpaw doesn’t know how to heal birds, and we can’t waste herbs trying.” She shifts her blue gaze to Riverkit, who asks her an impossible question. Doesn’t every creature on this earth have a mother, a parent who birthed them? She shifts her paws uncomfortably, unsure of what to say for once. “I imagine it does,” she finally decides to say. “But—”

She’s interrupted. Her youngest son peeks his head closer to investigate, dismay welling up in tiny green eyes. No! He protests, and Iciclefang feels strange, like claws are digging into the tender flesh of her heart. “Oh, Crabkit, it’s already dying. We should give it the gift of mercy and not let it suffer,” she tries to soothe her sobbing son. Perhaps her verdict had been too harsh, but what else could she have said?

Mercifully, Hazecloud follows her out of the nursery, adding her voice of reason to the kits’ queries. Iciclefang gives the gray-pelted queen a look full of respect and gratitude. “You don’t have to watch,” she murmurs, lifting a paw and reaching for Pinekit and Crabkit to shield their eyes.

But then—then her daughter surprises her. Brilliant yellow eyes flash with determination, so like the mother she’d never know that it causes Iciclefang’s heart to ache. Pinekit declares the bird to be her responsibility, that she would be the one to put it out of its misery. The tortoiseshell queen ponders this for a moment, then she dips her head toward her daughter. She respects the decision. “Very well. Do you know how to make it quick, so it doesn’t suffer? You bite it’s neck very hard so that the bones break.”

Gently, she lowers her muzzle toward Crabkit’s head, pride for her daughter and sorrow for her son battling fiercely inside of her. “Don’t look,” she warns him gravely.

『 out of character. 』 ✧･ﾟ:* 『 about. 』

• ooc: —
• 
• Iciclekit . Iciclepaw . Iciclefang, she/her w/ feminine terms.
  — “speech”, thoughts, attack
  — 22 moons old, ages realistically on the 17th.
  — mentored by Smokestar ; mentoring Cicadapaw ; previously mentored n/a
  — riverclan lead warrior & queen. mudpelt x icesparkle, gen 2.
  — former mate to Stormywing ; current mate to no one.
  — penned by Marquette.
  
  
  sh tortoiseshell and white she-cat with ice-blue eyes. confident, capable, proud, dry, conceited, condescending, distrustful.
  
  

​

 

[CRABPAW]

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 The bird looks so small, so pitiful as it flutters helplessly against Pinekit’s snow-white paws. Birds live different than cats, Hazecloud explains, but that doesn’t make it any better! They have to die to feed the clan, but those ones are able to run away, right? This one can’t. But Iciclefang explains that the bird is already dying, which… he doesn’t understand. It’s still alive, right there, flapping uselessly to try and get away. It isn’t suffering! But Hazecloud adds that birds don’t have any family, so maybe there’s nothing that will miss this one. That still doesn’t make it better, though, he thinks. The warrior then moves to reach for the bird, but his sister protests, saying that she wants to be the one to do it.

Their mother asks Pinekit if she knows how to kill the bird, and Crabkit’s ears flatten tightly against his head, tuning out everything around him. He thinks faintly about ThunderClan and Sunningrocks—cats had killed each other during that battle. He’d said that he would fight ThunderClan for the land, too. But this isn’t a cat, it’s a bird… He begins listening again when Iciclefang warns him not to look, glad that he hadn’t heard whatever she told the other kit to do. "Okay," he sniffles, tucking his face into the dappled fur of his mother’s leg. He won’t look, because she told him not to—and he didn’t want to look anyway, because he doesn’t want to see what happens when something dies. "Tell me when it’s over?" He asks, the wobbling of his tiny voice apparent even as it’s muffled in his mother’s fur.​

​

 

[Pinepaw ⭒]

-ˋˏ ༻ ❆༺ ˎˊ- Her mothers gaze shifts back to Pinekit, the moment of quiet causing dappled forepaws to fidget in anticipation.
Very well her old reflection finally replies, asking the child if she knows how to make it quick, painless.
Pinekit is spared from having to give a direct answer, internalizing Iciclefangs directions with a firm nod.
Crabkit weeps, but she can’t bring herself to look at her brother, Hazecloud’s gentle words echoing in the back of her mind.
It isn’t like us.
When Iciclefang turns away, Pinekit takes her cue, teeth sinking into her inner cheek.
Okay. I can do this- bite its neck.
The kitten doesn’t give herself much time to think, to become too scared and back away from the task she had volunteered for. The bird has begun to tremble, its talons kicking at the empty air.
using her hind legs to hold one of it’s wings to the ground, Pinekit dips her head down, maw parted. It doesn’t take long to find its neck, for her tongue to be bathed in feathers.
Tiny fangs begin to piece thin flesh, crimson spills sloppily from the sides of her maw but the tortoiseshell persists, nerves now replaced with adrenaline as the bird wiggles it’s wing free from her pin.
Pinekit barely has a moment to readjust her jaws grip, clamping back down with more force.
Snap! The bird falls still, nearly tipping Pinekit over with the sudden dead weight.
She lets go, tongue wiping away the excess blood from her lips.
She had done it- she had done it!
Any triumph is quick to squander when Pinekit glances back towards her kin, the sorry state of her littermate.
“It’s over now, Crabkit. I’m sorry.. ” As the kitten speaks, her gaze shifts from her brother to her mother, looking for reassurance in her words.

‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎┌── IF YOUR LOVE’S THE TRUTH ⋅ ࿏ ⋅ OR THE SPIRIT OF DECEIT ──┐‎

• 
  
  
  

• 

• 
  PINEKIT ✩ she/her, kit of riverclan, 2 moons.
  ⭃ plush-furred tortoiseshell she-kit with white dipped forepaws, tail tip, and muzzle and round, honey hued optics.
  ⭃ daughter of Iciclefang && Stormywing ࿏ sister to Cragkit && Crabkit
  ⭃ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted / / underline and tag when attacking
  ⭃ penned by Noor ↛ @toyangel on discord, feel free to dm for plots.
  

​

 

[iciclefang]

Oh, her precious little Crabkit—her turns a tear-stained ginger face into her leg, a muffled question breaking through his trembling lips. “Tell me when it’s over?” She tucks her tail around him, bending her muzzle forward to kiss his ears with a dry, efficient tongue. “Someday, you will need to know, but today is not that day,” she soothes. Stars, would Crabkit ever be a hunter, a fighter, if he shook and cried in the face of death? Iciclefang’s frown is contemplative, but she does not speak her worries aloud. Perhaps two moons is too early to worry about such things. She meets Hazecloud’s eyes, wondering if her concerns are palpable in blue depths.

She has no such fears for little Pinekit. Her daughter strides forward on uncertain dark paws. Tiny teeth sink into the bird’s neck, just as instructed, and she bites down with ferocity. SNAP! The creature, at last, goes limp, and Pinekit looks expectantly back toward Iciclefang. The tortoiseshell gives her a small but genuine smile, pride glowing in her eyes. “You did well, Pinekit. Perhaps you’d like to put it on the fresh-kill pile? After all, it’s your kill.”

『 out of character. 』 ✧･ﾟ:* 『 about. 』

• ooc: —
• 
• Iciclekit . Iciclepaw . Iciclefang, she/her w/ feminine terms.
  — “speech”, thoughts, attack
  — 22 moons old, ages realistically on the 17th.
  — mentored by Smokestar ; mentoring Cicadapaw ; previously mentored n/a
  — riverclan lead warrior & queen. mudpelt x icesparkle, gen 2.
  — former mate to Stormywing ; current mate to no one.
  — penned by Marquette.
  
  
  sh tortoiseshell and white she-cat with ice-blue eyes. confident, capable, proud, dry, conceited, condescending, distrustful.
  
  

​