LOVE IS A SONG \ climbing attempt

[MALLOWLARK]

So often had he seen pelts streaking past the gaps in the leaves, a menagerie of colours... rooted to the ground, Mallowlark was beginning to gather their customs. Tree-scaling; that was their talent, wasn't it? Like WindClan burrowed and sprinted, SkyClan hopped from branch to branch. If Mallowlark was to be one of them- truly integrated, truly pine-cat, like Dandelionwish had apparently managed... he would have to imitate. As he did with his mother's grin, her accommodating eye-contact... he would scale the trees!

Of course, the decision had been made on a whim; he barrelled through the territory with vigour, keeping his balance somehow despite his erratic pattern of moving, despite the angle at which he tilted his head when studying a tree's appropriateness. Finally, finally... one that stretched high and stood sturdy, one that would easily support his weight. He met its facelessness with his bramble-fanged grin, eyes flaring starlike with joy. The tiniest glint of light danced in them, the seldom flicker of his smile touching his eyes.

Mallowlark leapt. Pounced, like he would upon prey- and sprawled spider-like across the trunk. His claws leapt from their inky hilts, locking him momentarily onto the bark- though it was not a hardy hold he had, and soon the domino tom began to slide off of the tree. A claw snagged, and he was toppled backward, spine meeting the dirt with a kick-up of pine needles and dust, an unmistakeable thump of body striking ground.

Oh, what an attempt! Pathetic- and if he'd gotten higher, he'd have ended up a big puddle of claret, tar and ice! Splatted... Blazestar's reluctant acceptance, all for nothing. His body would be painted across the tree-

Giggling, giggling- bubbling up, it soon burst into cleaving cackling. The kind that sounded painful to expel, ripping from his throat! But oh, how could he not laugh at that display? Awful, pale imitation- not like the tenfold mastery of his grin, his mother's expression doubled! A kit could do better, and- he was not that stupid!​

☺PENNED BY PIN​

 

[Dizzymoth]

"O-o-o-o-oh dear!" Came a wibbly-wobbly little chirp - Dizzymoth, feathers all around her paws, her mouth open still in a shocked little 'o'. "Dear-dear-dear, are you alright? Crashing into trees isn't good for your song, my dear!" She had a warble like a bird, and hop not too unlike one either, as she approached the white-and-coal creature. She sniffed him once - then again, as she had wobbled too much on the first sniff.

"You seem fine but, dear-dear-dear, pine isn't a hitting wood, it's a soft wood! Sink your claws in and pull up - sink and pull, sink and pull!" Truth be told, no wood was a hitting wood in her experience - except perhaps wood lice! "You have big, strong muscles! Use-use back legs to go up, not forward! Silly duck-duck-duck!"​

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"speech"​

 

[GREENEYES]

He's seen this before, hasn't he? A WindClanner trying to climb, just to fail? StarClan only knows how many more times Greeneyes will see the same.

Mallowlark's attempt at climbing is abrupt - unexpected - as the white tom zooms past him. Greeneyes can only watch the catastrophic attempt with a confused expression, cringing as the former moor-dweller comes tumbling down, just as Dandelionwish had.

Maybe the WindClanners should stick to what they do best - running. Yes, they were pretty good at that, as evidenced by how many stood in SkyClan's territory, rather than their own. One after another, each one arriving to do the same thing.

And oh, he's laughing. Always, always laughing, this one. Though Greeneyes tries his best to be cheery too, the young warrior doesn't understand what the High Priest's mate thinks is so funny all the time!

Slowly, he approaches the laughing cat, tilting his head as he looks down at him. He supposes it's kind of funny, how Mallowlark had fallen, right?

"You know, that wasn't too bad!" he says, trying to be encouraging to the newer face. Greeneyes will have to get used to him - and that laugh - being around anyway. They all would. "It's kinda hard getting up those trees, and all of you WindClanners do the same thing. But, I bet you'll be climbing in no time!" He thinks back to when Dandelionwish had fallen and Greeneyes had brought up the time he'd hung upside down from the tree. The former medicine cat didn't like that idea, but maybe Mallowlark would?

"Did you know you can hang upside down from the branches?" he offers, looking up at the tree he'd fallen from. "It's kinda tricky, but it's fun!" It sure would be a sight to see, a WindClanner attempting such a trick!
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[✧ Sootspritespark.]

I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I WANT AND WHO I WANNA BE
sootsprite | 34 months | demi-girl | she/they | physically medium | mentally hard | attack in bold #ffff99

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Watching the scene laidout before her has got to be the best sight since she's joined the group. Tinkling laughter quickly turns into much louder wheezes, her yellow gaze nearly tearing up. Even for a first attempt, that was utterly terrible. As an outsider, Sootsprite has very little she wants to say about the influx of cats from other clans - has no grudge against windclan just yet. And so she has no issues trailing over to those gathered, her lips twitching upwards into a sunshine smile as she grins. "That looked like it hurt! I've seen kits do better honestly, but at least you tried I suppose,"

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[CLOUDBERRYTHORN]

The trees are calm today, he observes. There’s no voices filtering into his ears, speaking through the brushing of leaves against one another. The young tom bounds from branch to branch, pale paws landing confidently on each foothold and working to push him faster with each leap from tree to tree. The feeling of the breeze brushing through his pelt is a comfort—he truly is grateful for the freedom granted to him by his involvement with SkyClan.

A thudding sound meets dark blue ears, and for a moment Cloudberrythorn assumes the worst. He’s not sure what has fallen, from so far away, but he’s quick to change course as the voices of a few clanmates are also heard. Dizzymoth, he can pick her voice out of the clan, the queen’s words marked by repetition. The two other voices aren’t loud enough to assign them to a clanmate. His paws are less sure as he dashes across trees in the direction of the noise, scrambling and stumbling with the panic that rushes through him.

When he comes upon the scene of a sharp-grinning Mallowlark, surrounded by encouraging clanmates, the worry disappears entirely. If the black and white tom wants to fall from a tree to his untimely death, then maybe that’s for the best. But the tree that he’d clearly attempted to scale… "The tree wants you to try again," he says simply. He’s not trying to be encouraging, not toward a WindClanner who has yet to prove himself loyal, but he isn’t also trying to scare Mallowlark away from climbing. The treetops are meant for every cat, and to see one so rooted to the ground makes him a bit sad. He couldn’t imagine being stuck down that low to the ground.
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[ just a side character ]​

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[MALLOWLARK]

Of course, a crowd had come flocking... like birds, their little chirps! Not the birds whose skulls he would pick of their flesh, though... no, these were the helpful sort that picked parasites from a skin, symbiotic. He had not moved from the ground, craning his neck at seemingly-uncomfortable angled to look at them as they approached, grin burning his muscles. His laughing fit continued, though choked behind the barrier of his teeth- chittering, like woodpecker-beat.

"Sink and pull, sink and pull," he hummed the mantra, but still did not pull himself up. Left and right his skull bobbled, a dance to remember the words, and inky front paws batted at air above him. White-splashed, another face gazed down at him- a green gaze, so it must have been Greeneyes. Gleeful grey met that verdancy, and he chimed, "It was pretty bad, though- HKGH, hah- don't ha-hah-ve to lie, I can take it!"

They did not have to spare his feelings! He was no built- not trained for this. Best way to learn was to fail, right? And oh, had he! Pointing at Sootsprite- at her words, he nodded. Kits could do better, really! Humour fell from him like river rapids, though halted- slowed, a little, as Greeneyes brought up an extra activity. Hanging upside down from the branches? His expression brightened even further- though such a thing had seemed impossible just moments before. Round silver eyes flared even wider, pupils dwarfed in the argent expanse.

"That does sound fun!" Eagerly chimed, even from where he lay he nodded vigorously, jostling his entire body. "You should- tea-hee-ch me...!" Wouldn't want to do it wrong, of course... if he flipped over too fast, what would happen? Held suspended, like that... surely something would fall out. A tooth, and eyeball, something... cats weren't bats, weren't built for that!

Another face- amber eyes this time, and this one... Cloudberrythorn, wasn't it- spoke bluntly, motioning to the trees. Speaking to them, apparently... did all Skyclanners have the power to listen to the forest? Mallowlark had been learning, of course... but he could not hear the tree's desires like Cloudberrythorn could. "Tell it- s-sorry I ripped some if its skin off!" Of course, he'd apologise himself when he learned how to speak to them.​

☺PENNED BY PIN​

 

[~Deersong~]

( ♬ ) The cream and mocha molly was watching the entire display while lounging on a branch within the very same tree Mallowlark had attempted to climb. A smile of ease and amusement decorated her content expression and she would blink a greeting to Cloudberrythorn as they joined her on the branches.

Her ear would flicker with interest as Greeneyes mentioned hanging upside down, and Mallowlark would request for the young warrior to teach him this trick just as Cloudberry stated that the tree wanted the new skyclanner to try again. A coo would flow from her lips as she tilted her head in whimsy, well that would be a fun thing to watch, wouldn't it? A cat hanging upside from a tree branch, especially one that smiled as Mallowlark did, perhaps they could use that to scare off whatever danger came into their forest next.

So Deersong would remain on her perch, watching eagerly to see what would happen next. ​

( LET YOU BREAK; MY HEART AGAIN )