camp I'LL CHEW YOU ALL UP [✦] first catch

[SCREECHSTORM]

Split-green eyes dart across camp, his attention pulled away from the day's round of games. Perhaps he seems distracted to his den-mates, unfocused on the rough-housing he usually takes part in, but Screechkit is focused. Just, on something else.

Movement had eclipsed the corner of his eyes, stopping his paws from running after the mossball he and the other kits had been chasing after. Screechkit's head had turned to look for the source of the movement, only to find a small newt skittering past him and toward the edge of camp.

As he watches the newt, he remembers how hard he'd tried to catch Frostbite in his caretaker's game the other day, how long he'd followed after the white warrior, only to lose to Pinekit. Screechkit still doesn't know how Pinekit did it, but he knows that he's supposed to be better than the brown kit. Screechkit is the only one of his siblings to hold the flame-struck markings his mother holds - he must be a good hunter, with his shared appearance. Even if Frostbite's game showed otherwise.

A fluke - it must have been. That, or Pinekit cheated.

Never mind the logistics of his loss. The newt will escape from his sight, if he dwells on how Pinekit might've pulled some tricks to win.

Slowly, he stalks away from the game of mossball, crouching down as he nears the camp's edge. There, the newt sits in the shadows, merely unaware of the kit's presence. A few more steps, and he'll be able to strike. Screechkit makes sure to keep his pawsteps quiet - maybe... maybe this is why he lost the hunting game? He doubts it, but it's worth an attempt, a changing of procedures in hopes of winning this time.

Anticipation builds, as the newt sits within striking distance. His fur brushes against the ground as he sinks further down, two-toned gaze staring down at the critter. One more moment passes, and then --

He leaps. Right at the newt, paws extend outward to capture the small creature before it can move away from his strike. It is a clumsy hunt - an uneven stumble forward, one that almost leaves Screechkit losing again - but embarrassment is evaded as he manages to deliver a killing blow at the last second possible.

Screechkit looks down at the kill with wide eyes. "I... did it...?" he slowly asks, looking down at the unmoving amphibian with a tilt of his head, as if confirming it with the catch itself. His first catch. "I did it..!" Quickly, the tom scoops the small catch between his teeth, bounding back to the game he had wandered away from.

"Look what I got!" he squeaks out around the newt, holding it up proudly to show everyone in the area. "I caught it all by myself!" He doubts any of the other kits can say that.
​

 

[NIGHTSWARM]

➼ Their eyes focus on the kitten as Screechkit scrambles back to the rest of his playmates holding a newt triumphantly in his jaws, they can't help but feel proud for the kittens achievement and knows that with a little more work that Screechkit would become an excellent hunter as a warrior. They rise from where they are briefly resting before they head out for patrol and their ears perk forward and tilt their head to the side to get a better glimpse of the limp amphibian that dangles from the black tomkits milkteeth jaws. Nightswarm dips their head slightly before speaking with a curt nod "That's an impressive catch, Screechkit." A little encouragement never hurt anyone and they briefly think of who'll likely end up mentoring them, it wasn't long until Screechkit and his littermates would be apprenticed soon along with their niece and nephews.

It makes them wonder where the time has gone and they let out a low breath, they suppose that they had a good three moons of their lives and now at the fourth, it was time for them to move on from the nursery (or Starlingheart's den in this case for their kin) and move into the apprentices den. It makes Nightswarm ponder if they'll end up mentoring either of the soon to be apprentices, they push the thought aside deciding to humor the kitten "Tell me how you did it," They already knew but again... They'd simply humor the child this once. ​

[ C'MON, C'MON, AND LOVE ME NORMALLY ]​

 

[pinekit]

tags. ↟↟↟ Pinekit was among the group of kits tossing and batting the mossball to and fro. He had won the game of stalking a couple days ago when he successfully crept up on Frostbite, however the victory didn’t hang in his mind nor did it make him puff out his chest. He was the same guy. He just had lucky days. He hadn’t noticed Screechkit duck away from the game. His gaze was glued to the ball of moss.

He turned his head when he heard Screechkit’s voice, uncharacteristically uncertain. ”I…did it?” The question was soon answered by the asker and Screechkit swung a newt onto the playing field. Pinekit stared at the odd little amphibian held high in the black and auburn kit’s jaws. The brown cat edged closer. He felt impressed. ”You really did. You’re not even an apprentice yet.” And Screechkit had already caught and killed his first prey. Did that make him some sort of prodigy? Better than catching a mossball..

Nightswarm even took notice of the catch. Pinekit tilted his head and backed up the warrior’s question but with more desperation to be felt in his request. Maybe he could learn? ”Yeah, how did you do it? You were just playing mossball.” How could you do something like play kit games and hunt at the same time? Was Screechkit really that good? He couldn’t be, could he?

​

 

[SHARPSHADOW]

† At first, he thinks that Screechkit is hunting invisible prey. ( That’s a thing kits to, right? ) In a little pocket of camp, he can see what is – basically what every kit trying to mimic a hunting crouch but not actually understanding the logistics of it looks like; his nose pressed up somewhere he could not see.

He’s surprised, when Screechkit comes back with a newt in his jaw. Screechkit would never have to worry about disappointing his clan. Not unless a monster ran over his tail. Nightswarm humors him, Pinekit’s awe is genuine. Sharppaw… Stands idly. If she fixes her face, she can look like another one of Screechkit’s awed and adoring fans, but really…

Really, he doesnt know.

" Your mentor’s gonna struggle to keep up, " he says, because everyone else was saying stuff along those lines, and it’d be weird of him not to. The thought amuses him for a moment, because he’d love to be that to Smogmaw. She wonders if that, of all things, would piss him off. Of course, that’d never really happen. In her dreams, maybe.

OOC † IN THE MIRROR 08.30.2023

• 
  
•  

• SHARPPAW: brother to Rookpaw. Mentored by Smogmaw
  —— he / she , no pref , icked by they prns ; fine with gendered terms ( tom, molly, etc... )
  —— currently 14 moons old. warrior ceremony delayed due to lackluster progress.
  
  anxious, antisocial, paranoid. Sharppaw is a creature living in constant fear. Most thoughts are irrational, but consistent in that they are borne from pessimism and generalized anxieties.
  — In an era of assessing what has set him back and figuring out what he wants.

​

 

[SCREECHSTORM]

His accomplishment gains an audience of all ranks and a boost to his confidence from the newfound attention. He is asked to tell the tale by both Pinekit and Nightswarm - a feat that the former calls impressive, one that must be, if a warrior asks him about his catch.

Carefully, he sets the newt down at his paws, a momentary question of its fate after he shows it off at the forefront of his mind. Should he put it in the fresh-kill pile, with the warriors’ catches? Or… or maybe he could save it for Forestshade or Briarkit and Sweetkit. Would his mother be proud, if she’d heard how well he’d caught the newt?

The slight pang in his chest tells him to worry over all of that later - he’s got a story to tell!

“I saw it over there —” Screechkit starts, lifting a flame-marked paw in the direction of where the newt had caught his eye in the bounds of the playing field. Slowly, he twists, moving his paw in the direction of where the amphibian’s fate had come to its end. “And then I followed it over there, like how warriors do! And then I… I jumped and caught it! Right between my paws and killed it right there!” He finishes his short story with an affirmative nod of his head, before turning to look at Pinekit.

“Maybe I can find another one and show you,” he tells the younger kit - maybe to show off with a second catch, maybe to show Pinekit how to catch his own. Another voice joins the crowd, causing him to look over at swirling shades of midnight fur.

His mentor will struggle to keep up, Sharppaw tells him. “Really?” he asks her, a flick of a sun-freckled ear as he looks up at the silver-toned apprentice. "You think so?"

Was he really that good? If Sharppaw thinks so, then maybe - he is, like, warrior age, isn’t he? He must have some experience in knowing who’s good around here and who’s not. Screechkit’s own mother, for one.

Screechkit wonders if she struggles to keep up with her own mentor to still hold an apprentice name - if he’d made his first catch before the older cat even could. If that’s the case, perhaps he’ll become a warrior sooner than Sharppaw will. Sooner than his littermates and peers, even. He kind of likes the idea of that.
​

 

[Wheattail]

“My, my, and just what is all the commotion?”

Try as she might, the distance Wheatpaw endeavored to put between herself and Shadowclan always seemed to melt away whenever kits were involved. The unwilling apprentice had been sitting at the edge of camp, ostensibly grooming herself (but more so avoiding her mentor) when Screechkit’s triumphant squeaks reached autumn ears.

Amber eyes were usually sharp with some mix of wit and cynicism, but seeing the kit proudly displaying their first catch made wheatpaw want to do nothing but frame the moment. “You did that yourself?” She asks, crouching down and listening with rapt attention to the story. Hunting at such a young age…it made her nostalgic. “I have been fending for myself for quite some time, but I never managed to catch something as agile as a newt until I was older than you are now. Well done.” It was also because the little creatures didn’t make for the most filling (or tasty) meals, but such mocking thoughts were far from her mind at the moment.

Still, the Somali lookalike couldn’t resist a slight joke. “Perhaps you would be popular in Windclan. They train their kits at a young age, do they not?” She lets the words hang in the air, knowledgeable enough to know that Sootstar and her ilk weren’t especially well liked. “Then again, you appear sane, so I doubt you would fit in.” ​

 

[Garlicheart]

Garlicpaw's first catch as a kit was a bug, technically. She never killed it because she didnt see bugs as edible, but Screechkit certainly caught something worthwhile. To catch a newt and not even be apprenticed yet! Amazing! She trotted up to him to give him her praise.

"Wow!! That's really cool, Screechkit! You're gonna be an amazing hunter!" She chirps happily.

She bets he gets it from his mother, who's one of the clans best hunters, or so she hears. She always comes back with prey, so it must be true. She thought Forestshade was pretty incredible too, she can't even navigate properly with her eyes closed, yet Forestshade moves about the swamp and catches prey like its nothing. That's pretty cool! It's only fitting that her kits inherit her skills.

She listens to how he caught the newt with bright eyes and a smile. She's so excited for him, reaching a milestone so early. She almost wonders if she's inadequate, should she have also caught something as a kit? Was it normal to do so?? She didn't dwell on it long.

"I'd love to see you catch another one!" She says. She is going to hype this little man up so much.

Wheatpaw makes a comment about Windlcan. She doesn't like those weirdos.... They tried to kill her dad! "Yeah, you're better than Windclan. You're not a loser, like them." She says, agreeing with Wheatpaw.​