camp i'll fake god . feeding the nursery

SHAGGYDOG

HOWLING AT THE MOON
Mar 23, 2023
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As the day began its slow descent into dusk, the WindClan camp bustled with activity, the air filled with the scent of herbs, the sound of chatter, and the murmurs of clanmates going about their duties. The dark-furred tabby emerged from the camp’s entrance, its scruffy fur ruffled by the gentle breeze that swept across the moorland. In its jaws, it was carrying a rather successful haul of two plump rabbits, freshly caught by the warrior itself. Shaggydog made its way towards the nursery with the two catches, intent on delivering them to the place that, to it, made the most sense to be prioritized.

Approaching the entrance to the den, Shaggydog's gaze surveyed the scene before it. The kits, bundles of energy that were too much drama for it to care to spend much time around, were tumbling about, playing and laughing. It turns its eyes away from the kittens, already growing annoyed with their noise. It gave a quiet grunt, a sound to bring attention to itself for just a moment. Setting down the rabbits with a soft thud, it turned to address one of the queens within. "Food," it announced, its voice gruff and lacking warmth, carrying a tone of practicality. "Enough to keep you all and the little ones fed for a bit."

Despite its lack of social graces, there was an undeniable sense of duty in Shaggydog's actions—a dedication to the well-being of the clan that surpassed niceties. These kits were to be the future of WindClan, after all; feeding them and keeping them healthy would give WindClan more strong warriors in the moons to come. ​
 
She is perhaps the quietest, meekest of the bunch... sitting politely with paws tucked neatly to her body, a too-tiny tail curled to cover them as best it can (it does not reach all the way across like the adults she watches). Owl-round eyes drag an intense stare towards the new breeze of an unfamiliar face and Honeysucklekit doesn't bother to offer a greeting. She doesn't know it... and would not dare startle it away by squealing and prancing at its paws like it is a new toy.

Though... the scent of meaty prey is enticing and venom-green eyes hungrily move towards it as saliva pools in her mouth eagerly. Shaggydog assures it is for them... to share, unfortunately, with the way her belly gurgles unhappily at the idea but it is still a scrap worth digging into. There are few doubts in her mind that suggest Brokenkit will not ultimately charge forward as the first, bravest beast to sink teeth into flesh and she hunts for him amongst the others with a knowing stare, a request that he break the ice so she wouldn't have to.

  • 'i have hungry, selfish wants...'
  • HONEYSUCKLEKIT
    - child of wind-swept moors
    - she/her
    - daughter to mintshade and gracklestep

    - a solid pitch she-cat with fern-green eyes
 
PLAY US LIKE PAWNS AND RELENTLESSLY CONFINE
INTO LIVING UP TO GENDER ROLES AND HAVING ABSENT MINDS
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periwinklebreeze 22 moons demi-boy windclan queen
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It is somewhat strange, having returned to his childhood den - permanently, for now, and not just to visit his kit or to babysit for the other queens. Sunstars decision on his promotion - demotion - change of rank had been a welcome gift, despite the oddity and the fact it was, technically, punishment for his actions in bringing back more mouths for the clan to feed. He is the first, but he can only hope to not be the last. To push forwards and tread a path that others can someday follow. The queen takes his duties seriously, and not only for his own brood or his sisters - many though they may be by now It's a welcome relief when he doesn't have to get off his paws and grab prey himself, blue eyes flashing gratefully towards shaggydog as he goes to gently nudge some of the shier or more distracted kits forwards with softspoken words.

" Thank y-you... h-honeysuckle-k-kit, " voice stumbles for a second on the repetitive sound, jaw working silently as he pushes past the stutter - " are you n-not hungry? don't th-those rabbits look tasty? " he hopes to coax - because surely, mintshades brood must be eating prey by now. Its a fuzzy thing, his memory, but he's sure he's seen them do so before. He doesn't stop to think about the fact it might be the unfamiliar face that makes her pause, instead worrying that one of his charges might have gotten into something they shouldn't have and has lost their appetite.

actions & " speech, " & 'thoughts/quotes'
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Don't you think it's funny how they tell us how to live?​
Don't you think it's funny how we're all delinquent kids?​
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AS HE RAISED HIS FIST BEFORE HE SPOKE — In spite of more than a moon spent in the nursery, they still weren't entirely adjusted to having food delivered to them. Every once in a while the queen found themself still emerging from the den in order to grab prey, only to find others ushering them back inside with plenty of gentle lecturing. The tunneler was sure they could manage grabbing their own food, but they supposed it made sense - they were surely only a few days from when the kits would arrive. Just getting out of their nest seemed to be a feat these days, meaning there was a grateful shine in their gaze as they looked towards Shaggydog. "Thank you very much. I'm sure all the little ones appreciate it too, right?" They looked towards several of the kits that were gathered around, one white paw reaching out to hook one of the rabbits closer.

Rattleheart's jaws had already clamped down on a mouthful of rabbit when they noticed the silent presence of Honeysucklekit nearby, her own fern-colored gaze staring forward without any words falling from her muzzle. They were quick to encourage her alongside Periwinklebreeze, waiting until their mouth wasn't full before speaking up. "Do you want some? The two of us can share, if you think one might be two much for you." Their claws hooked lightly into the rabbit at their paws, ripping off a petite chunk of meat before pushing it over to where Honeysucklekit was sitting. They hoped that the offering would be enough to spur her into action, before the other kits swarmed around Shaggydog's generous offering without remorse.


  • 75034712_8183RsjuzqJmQXv.png
    longhaired black and white tom with pale green eyes
    51 moons old; ages the 1st every month
    afab; uses he/she/they pronouns
    homosexual homoromantic; mated to venomstrike
    sibling to scorchstreak, lizardbounce, and rabbitclaw
    currently mentoring downypaw
    somewhat difficult to befriend; wary but kind
    "speech", thoughts, attacking
    peaceful powerplay allowed
    all opinions are ic
 

An unfamiliar voice booms into the nursery, husky and belonging to a Windclanner she has yet to meet. She's grown accustomed to many former strangers and no longer hissed and spat at every disturbance but she had her moments and this was one of them. Suddenly she goes from curled and content against her fathers fluffy tail to standing tall, her back arched and a measly hiss coming from her towards the stranger in the entranceway. She isn't scared nor angry just caught off guard and protecting her territory as a good warrior does! She stays like that for a moment longer spitting out another hiss and backing up to press herself defensively against her dad. However even if she hadn't heard it's words the scent of prey draws her back to her senses and her fur relaxes but her unseeing gaze looks no less distrustful for a second more.

Her nostrils flare and she lifts her muzzle up higher as if trying to catch more of the aroma. Her easy twitch hearing the light steps of either Honeysucklekit or Brokenkit moving towards the entrance (she still is trying to differentiate the two, it'd be easier when one got more heavier then other). She doesn't follow yet even as her belly growls and protests at her inaction "Who're you?" she asks with a mewl. Her dad is focusing more on the prey alongside Rattleheart the other new addition to the nursery, who's pelt was very warm and soft even if they were kinda big and heavy. They prompt her and stubbornly she doesn't answer until she knows the harbinger of her food

 

The oddly stoic kit had been "guarding" the entrance to the den when Shaggydog came in. It held a bountiful feast for the cat in the den, Witherkit was rather impressed. He was older now, nearly apprenticed aged even, and the young cat was thinking more and more about how proud they were going to be dragging in rabbits for the queens that still resided within the nursery. They had been so consumed with the thoughts actually that they didn't even register that the food was going to be shared amongst the den, the den that he still resided in.

He pulled his usual stunt though, hide as much in the corner as he could until all the others had been given their allotted amount then, he would go and snag his share. He had been doing this since he could eat solid prey, and it had shown during the colder moons. His frame was rather slight, more so than a usual skinny WindClan cat even. But, that was alright, he could see full cats and that was almost as good as him being full.


"speech"
 
Looking between Periwinklebreeze and Rattleheart, she is reassured in part by the softening of their expressions that she is not greedy for want of food. It has not been outright denied to her, not in any sincere means, but the idea of taking without being offered feels wrong and it isn't until they both affirm her claim on the prey that she's willing to slink closer and secure her prize.

"Yessss!! Thank you!"

At the very least, they make it easy by tearing off a more ready-to-eat piece, pressing it with careful paws towards her like she might fly away at the slightest of breezes (and she might, really). Honeysucklekit eyes up the meaty bite, swallowing past the growing pool of saliva in her mouth before swiping her paw quickly forward to secure it at a much closer distance.

Happily, and a bit selfishly, she takes and bite, growing much more aware of the proximity of others and becoming all the more possessive of this tiny piece that is most assuredly hers. She takes the whole thing in her mouth, too much to consume all at once and growls in a show of ownership, creeping backwards slowly towards the safety of her mother, who would most definitely not steal it.

  • 'it's rightfully mine, i will not give it freely'
  • HONEYSUCKLEKIT
    - child of wind-swept moors
    - she/her
    - daughter to mintshade and gracklestep

    - a solid pitch she-cat with fern-green eyes
 
————————————————————⊰♠♠♠⊱———————————————————
It is not safe to approach any and all strangers in the assumption to trust them. This fact was learned well from the expressions of those older than Brokenkit whenever their eyes happened to land on his brooding form. His mother is not fond of him. Too many of his kin share no kindness for him (or his sister, though she naively believed that could change). His denmates are a misfit bunch of strays and traitorbloods like himself.

While this stranger appeared in the form of still-warm prey and moor scent, he did not care to give it any of his attention. He hated the necessity of taking handouts from the likes of peons. Brokenkit had been told of days where he would have already been roaming the hills alongside another. Out of the sandy hollow chasing rabbits and digging moles out of tunnels. He was born too late to be taken seriously at this age, now stuck with kit coddlers and snot-snouted babies for an extra three moons.

EMPATHY - FAILURE

He found Honeysucklekit's gaze searching for his and there is a blank sheen where she sought for understanding. He did not want it, he did not want this warrior in their den. He did not want Rattleheart and Periwinklebreeze to coo over them like injured birds. A frown tugged a wide crescent down his maw as she bit their lure anyway, dutifully returning to Mintshade's side.

"Tch." Brokenkit shared no words with just how foolish she looked, continuing to stubbornly brood in the tall grasses.

  •  

  • Brokenkit
    —⊰⋅ kit of windclan
    —⊰⋅ he/him
    —⊰⋅ mintshade x gracklestep
    "SPEECH", 'THOUGHTS', ATTACK
    —⊰⋅ sh solid black tom with yellow eyes