private My little dove ☠ NeedleFern

[Bonechill.]

*+:｡.｡ This was the first night he'd be sleeping away from his moms.
The fact made him feel suddenly so very cold, as though he were already left on his own to weather out a blizzard without his mom and mamma to protect and keep him company. He already missed Ferndance's jokes and Needledrift's steady calm, the sound of their breathing in unison that lulled him so easily into a peaceful sleep.
Bonekit...Bonepaw didn't have an opinion one way or another about apprenticehood. He was interested in the world outside of camp and all that he'd have to learn from the territory, life experiences, and from his mentor, so you could say he was excited. He wasn't afraid of foxes that killed apprentices, or rogues that stole away people's homes - though they existed in the faraway land of history and bedtime stories, he wasn't foolish to the moral that dangers such as those, if not worse, would be waiting for him at the precipice of his life's journey, he still wasn't afraid. He could take it, and if he can't then he'd learn how to, simple as that. But still, his paws remained stiff with reluctance to take on this new step. He didn't feel like he had enough time to spend in the peace of a protected kittenhood. He wanted more time with his mothers, and more time with his siblings. He wanted them to stay by his side for just a little longer...please.

But his moms didn't raise a whiner, so he kept it to himself...at least he didn't speak it aloud. But Bonepaw was a child whether his calm demeanor made it obvious or not, and he'd look for any method possible to soothe the growing ache in his stomach as time ticked it's merciless hand. Luckily, just in time, he came up with an idea.

"Mom? Mamma?" Bonepaw would approach the women before he set off on his path to the apprentice's den - his first steps in diversion to his mothers'. Once he had their attention, he drank in the sight of them - ticked tabby form just like his own with he sharpest green eyes and soft slate grey hue on fur so soft he'd thought it akin to a cloud. No, this wasn't a goodbye, so perhaps it was silly of him to feel like it was. Tomorrow he'd probably spend as much time as possible by their sides and be reminded that nothing could ever pull their little family apart, so why be so hung up? Well, he wouldn't get to share a nest with them. That in itself felt like the end of the world to the family-orientated boy. Blinking black a glimmer in his placid gaze, the boy felt he ought to cut to the chase before he made some kind of face about this whole thing.

Pushing forward his gifts, he mumbled, "A parting gift" two feathers from birds he didn't know the names of yet, but they were small and white, with little hints of cinnamon brown-like Bonepaw's stripes. "If you want" he added with a nonchalant shrug - they were just feathers, after all, but...part of him hoped they'd accept. Little pieces of himself, he'd childishly thought, that could always stay by his mom and mamma's sides, or at least still share a nest with them.

Shuffling his paws, he shyly showed them his own pair - a long brown feather and an impossibly soft grey and white feather that he'd stuck carefully into the fur at the nape of his neck. He was too embarrassed to admit it then, but he'd carefully hidden the feathers under Needledrift and Ferndance's sides of the nest so that both would smell like his moms. More than that, he was too embarrassed to say aloud that he'd miss them. That he missed them already.
But Bonepaw had always been more of a cat of actions, anyway.

@Needledrift @FERNDANCE

*+:｡.｡ Updated 12/15/23

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  GENERAL:
  ☠ Shadowclan — apprentice
  ☠ DMAB— He/Him — Unsure
  ☠ 4 moons — Ages 1 moon every month real-time
  ☠ Son to Ferndance x Needledrift
  ☠ Brother to Bloodpaw, Shadepaw, Snowypaw
  ☠ Apprenticed to Nightwhisper
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  COMBAT:
  ☠Physically easy | mentally hard
  ☠ Attack in bold #738171
  injuries: None currently

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[FERNDANCE]

It was too early. Her brood's promotion to apprentices had come as a shock to the cinnamon tabby, ShadowClan had sacrificed so much in the name of the code that to break it so suddenly left her mind buzzing with questions of 'why'? Cruelty could've been a motive for a more cynical cat - just as Needledrift found herself Nursery-bound, Ferndance was forced to vacate, and her family split into individual dens. At least her children would not have to face this change alone, they had each other, whether they realised it or not, and that would be their most important bond of all. She would not mourn the days trapped in camp, but she would miss the time she could spend with all of them now that patrols and duties would take up the tabby's time once more. As she held her quiet conversation with Needledrift, talking about the day's events, a little voice tickled her ears. Ferndance turned her head slowly, smiling down at the cinnamon-striped kitten before her. "Ah, my boy," she purred, pressing her nose against his forehead in greeting. "Well done at your ceremony."

Her children had all reacted differently to promotion, but, from her space in the crowd, she had not picked up on fear. Fern blinked wildly as he pushed something toward her, pupils widening at the sight of the feather. "Woah...." It was easy for awe to strike the tabby, in her own little world, things outside of it could be as mystical as the Stars themselves. But, her impression seemed deeper, less of a snap-back to reality and more of a sincere gesture. She leaned in, nose practically touching the feather that Bonepaw had placed before her. A breath threatened to send the thing flying, so she held onto one until her lungs began to burn. "I would say these either belong to a red hawk or a tunnel owl..." Red-tailed hawk or burrowing owl. Perhaps the feather was too small for either of them, perhaps the pattern wasn't in the right place, but Bonepaw had found them, so they would be more important than any passerine it likely was. She looked up at Bone, a smirk upon her muzzle. "Where did you get them?" He was too well-behaved to leave the camp, as she feared Blood or Shade may have done. Deep down, she felt proud at the answer she predicted - 'you really are my son'.

Impishness made way for elation as he revealed the two feathers pinned to his neck. Herself and Needledrift, she recognised, a gesture so sweet that the former Lead Warrior could've been sick from the gesture had it been from anyone else. "Thank you... I will wear this proudly in my tail." Accessories tended to fall from her body like dead fleas, but this one, Ferndance would try to keep safe. Nestling it between the coarse fur on the base of her tail, she gave the appendage a little lash, testing how easily it would fly off. When the feather didn't budge, she looked back to Bonepaw. His words caught up to her, and concern filled the place of a happy smile. "A parting gift? Where are you going?" Or... was she going somewhere?


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