camp IT WAS JUST A LITTLE MISTAKE &. injury

[ORANGEPAW.]

WE WERE PLAYING IN THE SAND​

---

the walk or rather limp back to camp took a lot more time than the walk there. they hadn't even been that far away, but as soon as houndpaw's mentor caught wind of what happened, they were all being ushered back to camp. he doesn't think he's even been in so much pain before and yet his smile remains. he's not even baring weight on his mangled limb, except a few times. he's covered in a bunch of small scratches and things from the tree, most of which hidden by fur and not necessarily an issue at all. too small to cause pain, and too hidden to even tell they're there unless one was truly looking. still, he's unsteady on his paws. he's already clumsy with all four of paws, but without really using that hind limb, he doesn't stand a chance. not to mention he just doesn't want to stand anymore. it hurts. and as soon as they can into camp he collapses on the ground, wincing slightly before offering a smile to the cats near him.

"i'm okay now! yup! just need to lay here for a bit!"

he doesn't wanna tell them how much he's hurting just in case he worries them. he doesn't wanna freak anyone out.

// tagging @GENTLESTORM but no need to wait for him!! tldr: it takes place after this thread! he fell out of a tree and broke his leg and has a few little scratches from branches
tagging @FALLOWPAW and @Houndpaw too but again no need to wait !!

// edit: houndpaw's mentor, an npc, was there and overseeing the tree climbing. they turned away and orange went too far. he is the one mostly at fault for his injury!

​

 

[freckleflame]

climbing trees was an unsaid rite of passage amongst thunderclan’s youth. it hadn’t been all that long since she’d been in orangepaw’s pads, when she raced the undergrowth alongside stormypaw and kicked up the trunk with big, clumsy paws. she’d never been good at it, a far cry from stormywing’s practiced ease. her father had always said they just didn’t have the stature for it, kittypet heritage thickening and softening already broad forms. freckleflame had always teased that the missing limb didn’t help, but she was just mousedung at it — since apprenticeship, even. she supposes she was grateful, sometimes, for her figure born adversity to scaling trees. it kept her safe.. at least relatively.

bravepaw’s injury still stilts her mind at times ; looking at pink - white stretching of scarring from an angry owl who’d lived amongst the great oak since her own youth. that could have been her. a fall wasn’t even the worst one could get, but from a certain height, it was enough. the molly emerges from the warriors den with eyes blinking bleariness from seaglass depths, bits of moss and missed fur sticking upwards from a smattering of black - red heatfrizz as she wobbles her way towards the freshkill pile after a particularly hard after patrol nap. she spots gentlestorm first — blinks a slow hello that is undoubtably still half - asleep before she notices the apprentices hobbling in at his side. houndpaw, fallowpaw.. and orangepaw, who the two have closely flanked, all looking down at..

oh. his leg.

it’s all bent, jutting beneath short, scruffy orange fur and freckleflame makes a strangled sound of abject horror in the back of her throat before she can stop it — ears flitting backwards, ” eugh — what happened? “ and she didn’t mean to be rude, really, and certainly not to a child.. but that was pretty gross, and the tortoiseshell couldn’t quite wrap her mind around how orangepaw could stand to limp without howling his pain aloud.. starclan knew that would’ve been her in his situation. her eyes widen in a grimace, tail curling around her paws in suddenly regretful apology because — at least he was taking it well ( and remember, don’t scare injured children ).

ᥫ᭡ ╱╱ 𝐈 𝐀𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐄 - ` ☀︎ ´ - 𝘼𝙉𝘿 𝙄 𝘼𝙈 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙁𝙊𝙍𝙀𝙎𝙏

• i.
• 
  
  
• 
  
  
• AND I AM A WITNESS WATCHING IT​
  FRECKLEFLAME 𖦹 . LESBIAN, SINGLE. SMELLS LIKE SUN - WARMED OAK AND RICH, EARTHY MUSK. TWENTY MOONS OLD. FRIEND & SISTER TO MANY! NAMED A WARRIOR OF THUNDERCLAN ON 8 / 3 / 2023. MENTORING BRAVEPAW! PENNED BY ANTLERS -----------------------------------------
  
  she / her, eldest daughter of rabbitnose and the late sunfreckle. big, fluffy cream - ribboned tortoiseshell with seaglass eyes. she is fire - forged, smoldering ; something bright and voracious, radiant as the blazes that once raged through her homeland. shades of vibrant russet, dousing swathes of shadow and interwoven with ribbons pale cream come to drape like licks of flame over her hulking form. a heft of roundness settles comfortably upon her form in adulthood, padding muscle hardened by her life in the forest and yet still partially concealed beneath a tangled thicket of undergrowth - laden pelt. warriorhood had brought her to full height ; kittypet lineage showing itself in glimpses of rotund paws and tufted, long - furred toes set upon thick, tabby - splotched limbs. she is broad shouldered and square - jawed, wild cheek fur like the blazing edges of a red sun — a mirrors image of her late father, sunfreckle, and just as warm.
  

  A LARGE, ATHLETIC MAINE COON MOGGY. somewhat brutish in the wake of her family's staggering loss, bull - headed and hardy with something to prove, freckleflame will often find herself in border disputes as an unsurprisingly formidable opponent. a slow but hard & heavy hitter.

  
  

​

 

[leafhusk]

⚘ leafhusk was simply minding her business this morning- she was blessed with lackluster patrols, and training hadn’t begun yet. she sat just outside the warrior’s den, gently pulling a small mat that had formed on her fur. the usually busy, late morning to afternoon rush of the camp, was only heighten tenfold when the small group shuffled through the gorse tunnel. her head rises, squinting her gaze to try and see what’s happening, widening when it lands on his morbidly twisted leg.

heights weren’t her favorite thing. it’s why she preferred to stay on the ground, the unpredictability of the skies was too much for her. what if the sky just.. opened up, swallowing you whole; or a really, really large bird flies by and plucks you away. too much could happen while the ground was easy. leafhusk’s paws bring her across camp, towards the apprentices. worry etches her face, and brings a crease between her brows. a quick glance over the two earth toned mollies shows her that their companion took the worst of it. all of it, honestly, when she really stares them both down.

freckleflame’s twisted face earns her a short-lived stare, but, really, leafhusk couldn’t argue. it was gross… eugh, while an inappropriate word, wasn’t wrong.

"did your mentors know about… whatever this was?" she asks, looking between the trio. obviously they couldn’t of, but she’ll give them a chance to explain themselves. before a harsher clanmate does.​

 

[RACCOONSTRIPE]

Orangepaw limps into camp, his leg twisted at an impossible angle behind him. His collapse is ungainly, undignified, and though he protests that he's okay, Raccoonstripe can see the gleam of pain in the ginger cat's eyes. The tabby snorts his disbelief, padding forward to stand in between Freckleflame and Leafhusk. The former expresses distaste, her lip curling and ears flattening against her flame-streaked skull. The latter asks the obvious question, the one Raccoonstripe wants an answer to, as well—where were your mentors at?

"I don't see Stormywing or Butterflyskip behind them," he says, his tail lashing once. "Houndpaw, Fallowpaw, explain to me just exactly what you three were doing without a warrior present." His tone is stern, just short of a bark.

To Orangepaw, he says nothing. The leg was punishment enough, and pity clouds his dark gaze as he splits his attention between the apprentices. Regardless of Gentlestorm's skills, the injury was nasty, and no doubt he'd done it no favors walking all the way back to camp on it.

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

• ooc: —
• 
• Raccoon . Raccoonstripe, he/him w/ masculine terms.
  — "speech”, thoughts, attack
  — 37 moons old, ages realistically on the 5th.
  — mentored by n/a ; mentoring Thistlepaw ; previously mentored Wildheart, Moonwhisper
  — thunderclan lead warrior. gray wolf x howlingstar, gen 2.
  — currently mated to Nightbird.
  — penned by Marquette.
  
  
  lh black tabby with white and dark brown eyes. charismatic, charming, calculating, ambitious, shallow, manipulative.
  
  

​

 

[skyclaw]

Apprentices will be apprentices, Skyclaw surmises as he, too, approaches the trio with a half lidded gaze. He looks over Orangepaw just as the others do, almost amazed at how awkward the young tom's leg bends and yet, he does not cry. He'd call it admirable if not for the idiotic circumstances that had to have occurred for it to happen. The tom wrinkles his nose, and yet his gaze falls to Leafhusk, then to his uncle. The two cats have greater rank than he and if Howlingstar herself does not approach, they'll be the duo to dole out punishments.

Amber eyes flit to Fallowpaw, and narrow imperceptibly as a judgement of the she-cat. Surely her or Houndpaw's story telling skills must be great if either wish to avoid recourse. Or they can own up to their mistakes... perhaps an almost enviable decision, if made by the youths and not their handlers. He glances away again, "I'll find Gentlestorm," if no one had yet, that is.​

 

[Houndshade]

YOU THINK THAT YOU'RE THE MAN​

✦

---

Every crunch of a twig or leaf beneath the trio's paws on the awkward walk back to camp led Houndpaw to hearing a faint echo of how Orangepaw's limb sounded upon impact. He seemed fine enough to walk yet she hovered by his side in case he wanted to take the pressure off of that leg. As much as they would rather not exhaust her efforts they'd rather drop that uncaring persona when in the face of a dilemma such as this. A tail flicks in annoyance at just how nonchalant the injured apprentice was about this, did it actually not hurt or was he just trying be stupid- brave? Was there a difference?

“You're not fine Orangepaw look at your leg” try as they might she can't shake off the bark in her tone. Irritation and concern create a strangely bitter mixture of expression. Of course a swarm of warriors would follow this up, their disappointment would further if not. This expectation was met as Freckleflame was the first to approach them, their maw twitches up in a smile at the reaction. It would almost be funny if the crunch of bone wasn't a vivid memory right now.

“Cloudpounce was with us, we're not that foolish. She heard something nearby and looked away for a moment. We thought we'd be fine to climb without being watched for two seconds.” She reports back to Leafhusk and Raccoonstripe with a drawl. They were certain that Raccoonstripe wasn't her biggest fan right now but surely they wouldn't get in that much trouble for this? She hoped so anyways, how embarrassing to get reprimanded over an accident. Unless Orangepaw purposefully decided to throw himself off that tree? Now that's a thought.

Their gaze flicks to Fallowpaw for a half beat, trying to gauge whatever reaction it must be having right now. Was this also the first time she had seen someone fall out of a tree? Based by her scars it wouldn't be her first time seeing an injury but maybe the first of this kind. “I think Cloudpounce left to find Gentlestorm but she was pretty frazzled- it uh, might be good if you went too Skyclaw” he seemed to be pretty level headed right now anyways so it would only be beneficial. The chocolate smoke's tail curled around themself and they sigh in defeat, anticipating only the worst reprimand for this mishap. She wasn't going to throw either apprentice beside her to the wayside to be let off easy so whatever Raccoonstripe and Leafhusk decided would be bitterly taken as much in stride as she could manage.
​

---

✦
I THINK, THEREFORE, I AM​

 

[FALLOWBITE]

ˏˋ*⁀➷　Somehow, she'd expected Orangepaw to be a crybaby. He's got that childishness to him, that cheery sort of naivete. He wears his heart on his sleeve in a way that Fallowpaw can hardly stomach, loud and unabashed and bright as the sun in her eyes.

This is worse, she thinks. His leg is twisted in a way that no cat's should, and he is still smiling. He won't stop smiling. It's uncanny. "What y'need is to lay in the medicine den for a long while," she mutters. A paw shoots out before she hesitates - an aborted attempt at cuffing his ear. Best not to make things worse. "Don't act like you're fine, mousebrain." It's far from gentle, chiding and snarled. Still, there's genuine concern beneath the panic. He has to be in horrible pain right now. She knows what pain like that feels like, she wears the memory of it trailed across her pelt. How is he still smiling?

She is quiet, letting Houndpaw do the talking with the gathering crowd. She just hovers near Orangepaw's collapsed form, eyes narrowed as though trying to figure him out. She'll let her lean on him again if he needs to; she can offer little more comfort that that.

‎‎┌── HERE IN THE FOREST, DARK AND DEEP ⁀➷ I OFFER YOU ETERNAL SLEEP ──┐‎

• 
  
• 
  
  

  "SPEECH"

• 
  FALLOWPAW ⁀➷ she / it, apprentice of thunderclan, ten moons.
  ➳ a scarred, pointed brown and white molly with shaggy fur and golden eyes.
  ➳ standoffish and solitary, always seems to have a dark cloud hanging over its head.
  ➳ baying hound xx npc, littermate to antlerpaw & doepaw.
  ➳ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted / / underline and tag when attacking
  ➳ penned by SATURNID ↛ saturnids on discord, feel free to dm for plots.
  

​

 

[ORANGEPAW.]

WE WERE PLAYING IN THE SAND​

---

for a moment he just closes his eyes. he's trying to really steady himself and act as if he's not in as much pain as he is. but he's not sure how long he can keep that up. the pain is seeping into his very essence, making it hard to think. the talk. to smile. but he had to smile! that's his thing, right? and he doesn't want anyone worrying more than they already seemed to. besides, thus was his own fault. he made a mistake and now he was being punished for it. it was okay. he would heal, eventually. everything had a bright side and the bright side of this was at least he didn't break all his limbs, or die.

"h-hi freckleflame"

orangepaw winces ever so slightly as he shifts to raise his paw and wave at her. she was one of the first cats to find him when his mama had to leave him behind for a bit. he likes her, even if she doesn't seem too privy on his company. he doesn't mind. he knows that deep down they're real good friends, the two of them! he cannot be convinced of anything else. leafhusk is next, and she asks about mentor and so does raccoonstripe. he only smiles at them and he almost answers before he slightly jolts when houndpaw speaks instead. he blinks a few good times before nodding his head along with them talking. oh, and then fallowpaw speaks, too! though she is talking to him and not anyone else.

"b-but i am! or i... will be! and that means i pretty much am okay!"

he can't help the way he smiles. he just feels better when he does. it beats frowning, that's for sure.

​