camp MAGGOT BELLY // 'playing' with bugs

[VIPERPAW]

Darkclaw left camp finally as she had given up on trying to track down Beetlepaw who had been hiding away from their mentor so they not needed to leave for a hunt patrol with them. Now it was finally safe for him to crawl out from his hideout which happened to be a pile of snow that still was laying around while most snow had melted away by now. Beetlepaw believed himself to be rather smart for thinking out such a genius of a plan all on his own. That was pretty impressive coming from someone as stupid like him who never could use his brain for anything good in most cases.

Beetlepaw hurried himself back to the apprentice den hoping no one would spot him as he escaped inside to his only safe zone in this place. His nest. If he could stay in his nest all day he would have been doing so much rather then having to go out there into the world where he not belonged to be. He stopt right at his nest and looked over his shoulder nervousely to make sure nobody else was inside and once he could clarify it was all clear he would start to rustle with his nest to take something out underneath the moss and leaves. In one of the leaves he had tugged something inside all wrapped up to protect it like it was the most prectious possession he owned which in a way it was.

Unwrapping it the tiniest of a smile appeared on the sad kit's maw, relief in his eyes as he saw they were all still there. No one had taken them from him. " I'm sorry for leaving you guys so long...i-i hope you are not angry at me?." he whispered as he laid himself down in the nest with his unwrapped leaf in front of him to glance down at his bugs. Yes, bugs, and they were of all kinds. All dead of course. They couldn't run away from him if they where dead. The bug was all he had left now when his brother was dead too. His only friends. Without them he would truly be alone. " Uh, i wish...i wish brother had been a bug...then...then i could have keept him with you guys too." he said with a heartbroken look. Why had they buried his brother for?. Beetlepaw wished he could have keept his brothers body to have it in here beside him to always crawl up against at nights or when he felt sad, or scared.

A sniffle left the kit and he buried his face into his dead bug collection to seek comfort from them. " At l-least i have you guys still...never...never leave me. Promise?." he mumbled softly to them like they could hear him. Sometimes a child had strange ways of coping with loss....

After a while Beetlepaw had cheered up a little bit as he started to have a conversation with the bugs, with his so-called friends. " And then...and then!, i-i tricked the evil Darkclaw and jumped into a pile of snow...she..she didn't find me. I don't...i don't think that's bad?, for being me i mean. Ah, i beat...i beat she is gonna be real angry once she finds me though... but that's-thats okay i-i think. I mean, i...gets to be with you guys. You're the only ones who understands me after all." he rambled, the only time Beetlepaw seemed to talk this much..if at all was when he was spending time alone with his bugs or...when his brother had been alive.

Beside that he never talked, tried not to anyway.



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[DOGFUR]

Left again from the patrols, Dogfur sat alone in camp, ears pricked. No matter, he figured. He would probably go on one of the evening patrols later. He preferred them actually. He found more hunting success in those. He was scratching at an incessant itch on his neck, clawing his skin raw as he battled at it and sniffed his hind foot when he finished. Was Ferndance right? Did he have fleas?

Dogfur yawned loudly, looking around the came and suddenly saw a flash of fur duck suspiciously into the apprentice den. He tucked his paws under his body and laid there for a while, eyes focused at the entrance of the den as his eyes drooped slowly and sleepily. After a while, he grew tired of waiting and got up to his feet.

Sauntering over to the apprentice den, Dogfur sang out a "Hell-o—!" The tortoiseshell pressed his cheek firmly to the frozen ground to peek into the apprentice den, eyes wide and grin stretching from ear to ear, showing off a row of crooked and snaggled teeth.

"I'm looking for a disobedient apprentice who's needed for a patrol." He purred, lashing his tail back and forth. "Can't hide from me—I know your thoughts—I've been list-ening to you and I know exactly where you are!"

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[CHILLEDSTAR.]

DON'T YOU GIVE ME UP, PLEASE DON'T GIVE UP​

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the deputy understood odd coping mechanisms. though they'd never lost their sibling, they'd lost their mother. friends. lots of friends. and every single day was a chance they could lose someone else. the way they coped was... different than others for sure. they made sure, however, no one was around to judge them. this apprentice, however, was somewhat out there. others could see and hear them. but chilledgaze was not going to judge. he wasn't hurting anyone... he was just hurting. they hoped that he would branch out and seek some type of socialization. maybe it would help... chiledgaze could only hope. no one deserved to hurt so badly.

"hey, dogfur. beetlepaw, i saw you go in there. dogfur is right. it's patrol time."

the deputy wasn't giving him a choice. if they had to, they'd drag him out of there. he needed to be more friendly with his clanmates. they could be antisocial with everyone else, like they chose to be.
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[VIPERPAW]

Oh no, he had been discovered!. Beetlepaw's eyes grow wide as he cast a horrified look over at the entrance his body pressing itself against the wall. It was Dogfur, the creepy warrior. He was sure this tom was planning to kill them all one day and...and that he was the first victim on his list. Always him, always Beetlepaw because everyone hated him. Useless, dumb and annoying as he was.

Beetlepaw was too scared to answer...words getting stuck inside of his throat and then...and then Chilledgaze showed up too. Another cat he was terrified of with how cold and emotionless they always seemed to be. Them for sure wished for the day Beetlepaw no longer would be here. He was sure of it!. But that was not the worst part of them being here but the demands they where making of him to go outside out on a patrol. No. Beetlepaw did not wish too. He wanted to stay in here there he was safe and did not need to deal with his social anxiety, to walk in a world that only wanted to hurt him.

He shook his head and in panic tried to think out something, anything to get himself out of this horrible situation. Beetlepaw come up with something that he actually thought could work!. Yes, it would absolutely work he was sure of it. Beetlepaw hurried to wrap back in his bug friends in the leaf before hiding it under his nest again and then he put his plan into motion. The kit placed his head down on the ground and put both of his paws over his eyes so he couldn't see, because!, if he couldn't see them they for sure couldn't see him!. Perfect way of turning himself invinsible!.

" N-No one's here...B-Beetlepaw is not here..." he mumbled out thinking he had them all convinced now when he also had made sure to let them know that Beetlepaw was in fact not in here. Now...soon enough both of them would walk away realizing they had all wrong and they would start to search for Beetlepaw somewhere else. Sometimes...sometimes he could be smart too!...but...only sometimes...



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[DOGFUR]

Dogfur twitched and shivered happily when Chilledgaze agreed with them. With his track-record, most warriors were prone to admonish him instead of support his initiatives. He held his tail a little higher and his crooked, slobbery grin widened as he shoved his cheek further into the muddy dirt before the apprentice den. He squinted into the darkness, perceiving that he could see, no, smell—the fear of a little apprentice.

"If not obeying me, obey your de-pu-ty, Beetlepaw!" Dogfur sang, stretching one paw forward to bat inside of the apprentice den. It was clear he was not convinced by his attempt to hide his presence. Did they think he was stupid? "Come on, we all pull our weight around here. Even me! Yes! Even me!"

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[FERNDANCE]

It was not difficult to hear the growing commotion outside of the apprentice den, and the moment a sing-songy voice pierced through the glum silence of the camp, Ferndance was over in a flash. She got caught up quickly, assessing Dogfur and Chilledgaze's words and interpreting that someone, an apprentice no less, was trying to shirk their duty. A lie-in or two the ticked tabby could forgive, so long as the cat was clever about it. If they'd been caught, then Beetlepaw still had a lot to learn about hustling their way through the clan. She craned her neck, peaking over Chilledgaze and Dogfur's heads and just catching the tail-end of Beetlepaw's clean-up efforts. Hmm, why was he hiding the insects? Ferndance was certain the rest of ShadowClan would love to meet some new friends, some may have treated them with less kindness than they deserved, but that was ok - cats mattered more than insects in the end. "If you need some bugs to speak to whilst you are on patrol... I have plenty." The ticked tabby suggested, raising an alabaster paw to reveal black specks jumping all over it. Emerald eyes narrowed even further against the gloom of the apprentice den.

"I have been meaning to name a few of them if you are interested. This one is called Boots, after my father... oh he'd love that name. No, wait... this one is Boots. Or this one?" Her wide pupils angled themselves downwards towards the scarcely visible fleas that infested the sole patch of white on her body. Five of them were visible at the moment, and none of them had features that simple feline eyes could recognise other than their bounciness. She swore she saw more try to escape to Dogfur - oh well, she knew he'd treat them right. "The other three... four... um... the others need names." Ferndance gave up counting as she focused her attention back onto Beetlepaw who, despite his best efforts, was still as visible as slugs on a rainy day. "I only grant apprentices who go on the patrol such a privilege though. So... respectfully... get your ass out here."



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