duskclan IN MY CRADLE ALONE // new leaf bounty (?)

[starlitkit]

Starlitkit does not prefer the day. The light the sun gives is too bright for their light eyes and dark pelt. If allowed, they have shifted their habits to sleep during the sun's peak in the sky and only wake when it descends. It doesn't always work out for them - having four siblings and something of an overbearing aunt often makes it difficult for them to stay on their self imposed routine. Like... today.

It feels like new leaf, as the others have called it, hits their makeshift camp with a fury. The snow still urges to melt but does so with long, thinning streams of crisp water. Grass, green and sharp, now pokes at their soft paw pads, and the warmth of the sun is actually felt rather than a mythical existence. They do not know if it was a sibling that pulled them from their daytime slumber or another DuskClanner, but they sit with their spine to the largest star, and keep their eyes closed. They listen to chatter and smell the new wet and discomfort... and then something different. Not something new, but something...

"Mouse!" Another DuskClanner puts a name to the new scent. It seems the new leaf air has rustled the most idiotic of rodents out of their nests, sending one careening right through the center of their home. Starlitkit is fortunate to be in the path of the tiny meal, eyes widening slightly. It is purely instinctual, as they coil their frame and pounce towards the prey. They miss, and try again, only on the second attempt catching it by its hind end. They crunch with the tact of an unskilled hunter, and the wayward mouse falls limp, mercifully dead. Starlitkit blinks as warm blood trickles past their teeth.
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[PRIVETFROST]

A hunter's eyes and claws were best honed as soon as possible, which was as soon as one could flutter eyelids open and unsheathe claws out. As soon as kittenish down shed to reveal sleek coat, and as soon as rosy muzzle could unveil sharp fangs, Privetfrost learned how to hunt. He had been wavering in his posture once, but only once. Privetfrost slowly stalked towards Starlitkit and her kill, as though a shadow that bridged between its sanctuary and the light, a slow and serpentine slither. Starlitkit held the mouse in their mouth, blood sinking further and further down their chin. Was there joy or satisfaction in the young child's eyes? He could not see it for himself. "It is not often that one first kills at such a young age." The faintest inkling of pride entered his monotonous voice, as though it were a stray splinter inlaying an otherwise calculated cadence, though even it would be unnoticeable to an untrained ear. "However, your hunter's stance is unrefined and clumsy. Your kill came from sheer luck, not from your expertise. If you wish to hunt like a true warrior, I advise you to begin your training now." Still, any prey was good prey, he supposed. The sooner he could mold an efficient hunter out of the kits, the faster that Duskclan's dead weight could be relieved from its fatigued shoulders.

SIE WIRD HEUT NACHT NICHT UNTERGEH'N 🗡🗡🗡 UND DIE WELT ZÄHLT LAUT BIS ZEHN

• OUT OF CHARACTER.
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• 
  PRIVETFROST & HE/HIM & 15 MOONS
  

  —— Deputy of Duskclan / Snakehiss x Berrysnap / Former mentor of Mizzlepaw
  —— Wine-dark and white-tipped, almost like a magpie. He has black fur except for the tips of his ears, his muzzle and chin, a blaze on his chest, bottom portion of the legs, outer end of the tail, and along the upper ridges of eyes. He has ghost striping that can only be seen in certain sunlight and cold, fern-green eyes.
  —— A cool and calculating despot with little regard for those that do not fall within his plans. Hard to befriend and harder to maintain a steady friendship with, though he will humor one if they have something to offer him. Ambitious and ever-inquisitive of the curiosities of his own mind.
  —— Penned by Tempest. Contact on Discord (naruk4mi) for plots and threads.

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[HOLLOWKIT.]

WHERE DID MY PARENTS GO?​

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hollowkit watches through a blurred lens as starlitkit pounces, missing the first time, but eventually landing the kill. something within it stirs at the sight, though it is not something that feels... good. no. it watches, only finding itself wanting to know how the mouse felt. was it scared? did it feel any pain? these are not questions out of malice or morbid curiosity, but rather questions from a place of empathy. it, too, feels like a mouse caught in the claws of lion. the beast, however, plays with it. playing catch and release, claws slowly digging in further and further with each grip, pressing its teeth into its flesh enough to cause pain, only to let it go and tell it to run. to get better, be faster and stronger– then maybe it would not be caught.

with a twitch of whiskers, their ears turn towards privetfrost. the deputy praises their sibling a moment and instead of focusing on the rest of it, their heartbeat picks up at the thought. suddenly it has a need to kill a mouse, too, even if it makes them feel sick. they have to, right? what other choice do they have? they have to fit in. they have to do this. with a shake of their long fur, they slowly make their way over to privetfrost.

"i'm a good learner. i can learn killing. uh, mice. and other things we eat."

it probably can, in some innate way inherited from its da. but it does not want to. but want has no place in this world. a cat must do what it needs. and this is something it needs, isn't it?
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