off to see the wizard -- excursion

[Orangestar]

Only a few sunrises after WindClan had attacked during the night, SkyClan is promised a beautiful day. It's not too hot when the patrol leaves camp, a few scattered clouds breaking up the clear blue of a greenleaf morning, and a pleasant breeze does nothing more than ruffle familiar pelts. The patrol Orangeblossom has amassed for this outing is larger than anything she's ever put together as deputy, but with Blazestar's permission the two had agreed that it would be good for the kits of SkyClan to have a controlled first experience of SkyClan territory. Most of them would be apprentices in the next moon, after all, and while Orangeblossom is still hesitant to see her little ones grow up so quickly she thinks this will be a good way for her to put some of her own worries aside.

"Careful over this dip." It's easy for her, fully grown and experienced with the lay of SkyClan's land, but she takes it slow so the meandering kittens don't wander off or get left behind ... which is a surefire way for them to get bored and wander off. To help keep an eye on the gaggle of kittens she's enlisted @sparrowpaw! , who Orangeblossom knows to be a good influence on the kittens, and a couple of other SkyClanners join them as chaperones for this event as well.

"Settle down, settle down." She calls for quiet, ears twitching as a nearby lark calls out loudly as if in spite of her instruction. After a little while of walking, just when the kits are starting to get loud about where they're going and how long it'll be (they're only about halfway to Tallpine, close enough to send for help if needed), Orangeblossom turns to face the kittens of SkyClan and waits for them all to bunch up around her. She gives the kittens a few moments, chatter dying down between them, and lets them take in their surroundings. "What's around us? What's new to you? Smells, sounds."

— info

•  
• 
  orangeblossom. tags.
  — she/her, skyclan deputy.
  — mentor to eveningpaw.
  — attack in #e08550. uses trees as an integral part of her fighting style.
  — mean enough to note that her thoughts don't reflect my opinions as a writer haha.
  — penned by mercibun; @ me in any official tabbytales discord for plots. :]
  — art by merc!<3
  

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[DOOMPAW]

Unlike most of the other kits, save for Abysskit and Plaguekit, he’s not lived his entire life enclosed in SkyClan’s camp. The itch to leave and explore the expanse of their territory has been worse than any flea crawling through his fur. When Orangeblossom had said she and Blazestar were allowing them to go on an adventure, he’d been uncontrollable—more than usual. The white kit bounces from place to place behind his chaperone, his paws kicking up pine needles and spraying them in the other kits’ faces. Purposefully, one might say, and he likely wouldn’t deny it.

Orangeblossom calls for them to settle down, and Doomkit does the opposite, tackling the nearest denmate so that they both roll over. “Gotcha!” He doesn’t know why, but it’s funner to tackle others when they’re out here. Despite the pending heat, it’s a cool morning, and the wind is exhilarating against his pelt.

But then he sits up, because she asks them a question. He hurries to beat the know it all kits: “Sounds loud out here, but not as loud as camp!” His chin lifts defiantly. “Not as much cats talkin’, but lots of…” He squints, green eyes searching the sky-high trees towering about them. “…Are them birds?” He has seen birds in the fresh-kill pile and flitting above camp, but now that he’s out in the forest, the possibility of hunting one seems rich and inviting.

// feel free to be the unfortunate kit he bowled over :)

✧ INFO.

•  
• 
  — doomguy . doomkit
  — he/him, kit of shadowclan
  — unknown sexuality ; single
  — short-haired blue tortoiseshell with white and green eyes
  — “speech”, thoughts, attack
  — penned by Marquette

​

 

[sparrowsong!]

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.

Although the idea had worried them when Orangeblossom pitched it, Sparrowpaw trusted the queen to take care of her own kits, and they had happily agreed to come. They weren't sure that many other kits got such an opportunity in the Clans. They'd imagine it would be exciting for them!

The brown tabby hangs near the rear of the parade of kittens, an easy smile on their face as they take in the sheer wonder on many of their little faces. It reminded them of their younger siblings. Briefly, they looked up at the sky and drew in a breath.

The journey was far slower than any patrol they were used to, and Sparrowpaw found themself enjoying it. The day was warm, and the trees were filled with song. Despite the prior somewhat sleepless nights since the... event, they felt safe here, relaxed. Maybe it was what they needed. Briefly, they wondered if the deputy felt the same.

The she-cat in question calls for quiet, gathering the kits together and questioning them on their surroundings. Just behind them they sat down, only to let out a soft, startled ah! at Doomkit's rather rough play. "Doomkit, that's not very nice!" they urged with a shake of their head. "You should listen to Orangeblossom, okay?"​

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[pearlpaw]

In her days of being amongst Skyclan, Pearlkit finds the other kittens to be funny. And weird. Funny weird! She thinks everyones names are super confusing. Pearl doesn't understand why they need kit added to their names, it made her feel like a baby! Well, she kind of was.... But thats besides the point! Pearl did not having kit added to her name, nuh uh, and she thinks the big cats' names are even WEIRDER! Why does everyone have- OOF! Pearlkit's legs crumple beneath her and sends her tumbling in to the ground, rolling and dramatically she keeps rolling until the other disengages. She hops to her paws to find the culprit, a smile growing on her face.

DOOMKIT! Bringer of... doom! His name was even sillier, cause at least some of the other kittens have simple names. Then- Then there were Doomkit, Plaguekit and Abysskit. And.... Maybe there were others, yeah, but uh, she doesn't remember them. Oopsies! She simply aims to bat at his side, all giggles before Orangeblossom talks. Asks a question about something she has to mull over.

Miss ORANGEBLOSSOM! The fruit! She sniffed one once, when Mama dragged what she called a peel through the den. She said it smelled good, but Pearl thought it smelled TERRIBLE! Perhaps it was also because Mama grabbed it from the stinky two-leg piles they put out. She wouldn't know unless she found another one. Does Mrs. Orangeblossom know about oranges? Pearlkit would think so. "I've been out here before! Nothings new to me, nuh- nope." she gasps suddenly, to no one in particular and everybody at once. Yep! It's not exactly where Mama told her to go play but she finds herself not quite remembering the certain spot anyways. Oh well. Sparrowpaw talks too. "Erm, it's fun though!" she blinks at the apprentice with wide eyes, oblivious to the implications that they gave. She turns her attention back to Orangeblossom. Would she tell them more about Skyclan? Pearl wants to hear about how they can run super fast- and, and uh... Climb trees. Yeah, shes pretty convinced the adults had super powers. And... Slightly jealous.
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"speech"​

 

[CINDERPAW.]

Was this what being an apprentice was like? Was this like a real patrol? Cinderkit's mind was racing with excited thoughts, and all she wanted to do was run around and take in everything and anything and... and... and...!

She took a deep breath, settling down beside the other gathered kits when Orangeblossom asked a question. What did she see and smell and hear? It was both easy and hard at the same time, because there was a lot she saw and smelled and heard but she wasn't quite sure what all of it was. But some things she felt confident about, so...

"I see grass and trees and I smell us! And I hear us talking! And the birds! I hear them! How do they make those noises?" Cinderkit squealed, before trying to mimicking the noises the birds made. Unfortunately, she was no bird, but a kitten so her tweets sounded more like meows. Disappointed she huffed, looking at her paws, waiting for one of the other kits to speak up too.

"Speech"​

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SPREADING JOY WITH MY LOVE​

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[Howlfire]

Howlpaw can't say she's spent much time around the newest gaggle of kittens housed in SkyClan's nursery. She knew some of them but not particularly well. Howlpaw did not mind kits, unlike some of her fellow apprentices, though she only really spent time with them to play games. When Orangeblossom had recruited her as a chaperone Howlpaw had gladly accepted. As she trudged behind the group, she kept a close watch on the kittens ahead of her, making sure they stuck together and didn't wander off. Although she playfully engages in chatter with them, Howlpaw is taking her role quite seriously. No harm will befall her charges.

When Orangeblossom calls for quiet, Howlpaw hangs back a little as the kittens gather around her. She smiles as the deputy asks them what new sights and smells they can detect, their responses already proving to be quite humorous.​

 

[Cherryblossom]

"Careful over this dip," her mother says, amidst the leaves crackling overhead and the sky roaring blue and the chatter of Greenleaf-fueled cats around her. Cherrykit spares the dip no more than a passing thought beneath overfilled senses. Pines crisscross her field of view, from when she cranes her neck upwards to when she tries to squint off into the distance. Their dead needles are happily crushed underfoot, and their sturdy little forms make her un-calloused paws feel weird after a while of walking. She almost kneads the ground as she trots along with the rest of the kitten-pack, so happy is she to finally see something other than brambles and dirt-jammed walls. Doomkit is being a snot-face, as per usual, but it's directed towards Pearl and not her, and her march of joy continues uninterrupted.

That is, until the ground suddenly disappears beneath her. "Huh—oof!" A thin whine trickles out of her nose as she slowly extracts her face from the ground. Her nose throbs, and for a second she fears she may have smashed in her whole face before she brings a paw up to check. No, nothing; her facial features feel as normal and un-flat as when she last brushed a damp paw over them. Lemon-acrid eyes glare at the dip, which her mother had warned them all about, but only Cherrykit had face-planted into. Doomkit better not have seen this. She wipes as much dirt as she can from her cheeks and chest before scrambling to catch up with the rest of the kittens. Her face feels so hot it seems like she leaves a glowing trail of embers behind her, rapidly cooling in the summer breeze. Mousebrain, she thinks, though who it's towards is unclear.

After a few more minutes of walking, and after Cherrykit's initial embarrassment has mostly dissipated, Orangeblossom stops abruptly and turns to face them. Mismatched ears perk, eager to receive whatever outdoor wisdom her mother may dispense. They lower alittle when it turns out to be a mere question, and the kittens explode into chatter as each fights for the right to answer. Doomkit points out the obvious, Pearl brags about having seen everything before (though Cherrykit thinks it's a lie), and Cinderkit asks her mother some more questions in return. "They make noises with their mouths, birdbrain," Cherrykit sniffs to the younger girl, carefully swiping a paw over her left eye, which crinkles as the other kit continues to yammer on like a bird. Maybe she's actually trying to be a bird, or maybe she just likes making those noises with her mouth—Cherrykit couldn't fathom being two moons old and know absolutely nothing; she's far more mature than that.

"What's new to you?" The girl fumbles through her mind and the scenery, trying to think of something someone else hadn't already said. "There aren't as many brambles here," she meows, puffing out her chest. Thorn-laden tendrils still twist about the base of some trees, but they aren't as all-encompassing as the spiked defenses surrounding camp. Had someone put all of those around camp, or was SkyClan lucky that camp was their home too?

The more she looks, the more she feels like there's not that much of a different, actually. The pines here are taller than the ones in camp, but they still smell like their sap and drop needles and cones when brushed up against. The sky and the stars behind it remains a steady blue no matter how far they trek. But the prey...the prey-scent is stronger here, the cat-scent weaker, and Cherrykit feels an odd feeling creep up her spine. Flanked on all sides right now, what would it be like to trek through the forest alone? Or with only a couple of Clanmates at her side? The thought sends a small thrill up her stomach where other kits might twist in fear. Freedom. Her apprenticeship is so close she can taste it, and it tastes like today.​

 

[Orangestar]

The answers the kits supply her with are mostly standard: new grass, new trees, less brambles. Lots of new birds, the calls of which the kittens wouldn't have heard; but, if they caught a glimpse of feathers in the trees, they might recognise some of them from the fresh-kill pile. Even Pearlkit, who claims nothing is new to her, admits that it's fun out here, and that's a good start as well.

"Those are birds, yes. That loud one just now was a lark, and like all birds, they sing with their beaks." Orangeblossom nods to Doomkit, though her stare turns exasperated as he knocks into Cherrykit and is promptly chastised by Sparrowpaw. Again, she thanks her foresight for bringing the gentle apprentice on this expedition. Turning her attention briefly to the other chaperones, she pitches, "Anything else to add?"

Orangeblossom is only one cat, after all, and the two apprentices would likely have different information to offer the kits than she. They'd been out here more recently. She falls silent, nodding along with any observations the older SkyClanners had, and once quiet falls on the group once more the deputy rounds on the kittens.

"Now what way is the wind coming from?" The warm southerly ruffles Orangeblossom's fur gently towards the right, tugging the pelts of the kittens to their left sides. As long as they remembered this, she'd be doing their mentors a favour by teaching the kits how upwind and downwind directions work today. "What can you smell on the breeze?"

— info

•  
• 
  orangeblossom. tags.
  — she/her, skyclan deputy.
  — mentor to eveningpaw.
  — attack in #e08550. uses trees as an integral part of her fighting style.
  — mean enough to note that her thoughts don't reflect my opinions as a writer haha.
  — penned by mercibun; @ me in any official tabbytales discord for plots. :]
  — art by merc!<3
  

​

 

[Plaguepaw]

I've been trying not to

After Doomkit took it upon himself to tackle Pearkit he couldn't help but to lift a blackened paw to stifle the loud cackle that dared to come bursting forth. After regaining his composure he aims to nudge Doomkit's shoulder with his paw playfully, crooked grin remaining. "Nice one, amigo." His attention is soon brought back to the other kittens as they give their responses about what they noticed outside but he remains quiet until Orangeblossom asks another question. "Now what way is the wind coming from?" Plaguekit's forked tail twitches back and forth in thought, brows scrunching up in the process. He's never seen the wind to know whenever it's coming or going. However, he's been pushed around by it plenty of times. Especially during the really strong winds blowing through camp about a month ago.

Plaguekits head tips slightly to the right, then to the left as he watches a gale ripple through the deputy's fur, blowing it one way, whilst simultaneously pushing against his own gaunt frame. He parts his jaws as if to answer the first question she asked but immediately forgoes it the moment he catches the scent of his favorite prey. "Ooooh squirrel," The patchy kitten murmurs wistfully, looking in the direction the wind is blowing. "Great...now I'm hungry." The boy mumbles, feeling his stomach gurgle, pinning for a snack. Flopping back on his haunches with a sigh Plaguekit's split tail thuds beside his hip. "Orangeblossom, are we going to each lunch out here?" He mewls, ears drooping a bit. ​

Go off the deep end​

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[sparrowsong!]

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One by one, the kits began to chip in with their answers to the question. Sparrowpaw's heart twisted, their smile returning. The entirety of them were painfully cute. Grass, trees, birds, the breeze... Simple, straightforward answers.

Cinderkit goes as far to try and mimic the birds, and the small tabby lowers themself to their belly, paws tucked beneath their chest. "You sound like a bird!" they giggled. "I think birds make very lovely sounds. Sometimes it's fun to sing with them." It was relaxing, almost nostalgic, reminiscent of when Canary used to sing songs to them at night.

Orangeblossom turns to them and Howlpaw, then, and gray eyes turn up to meet her eyes. A dark ear twitches. "I think everyone made very good observations!" they chirped. "It's really good to remember what's around you so that you don't get lost," they continued, looking toward the kittens. "If I didn't have Auburnflame with me while I learned how to navigate the territory, I definitely would have!"

Then, their gaze flickered to the kits that had come from Twolegplace. "It's very different here than in Twolegplace. Many things can look similar if you aren't watching closely." At least, that had been their experience at the time. Even so, everything had been a little overwhelming back then... they had struggled to get motivated for much.

"Cinderkit mentioned smelling us," they continued after a moment. "It might seem obvious, but that's also a good thing! If you can follow your own scent, you can find your way back home. Everyone's scents will get stronger the closer we are to camp, because that's where we all are the most often."

They fell quiet then, and let Orangeblossom take over. The next question was about the wind. The breeze was strong enough that it would be obvious to even the inexperienced, but they said nothing as they waited for the kits to think it out for themselves. Plaguekit's answer makes them giggle, but they refrain from answering in the queen's stead.​

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[Cherryblossom]

Sparrowpaw chimes in at Orangeblossom's invitation, and Cherrykit dutifully twists towards the mousy tabby. Auburnflame's their mentor? She's almost jealous of Sparrowpaw now―her cousin is so fun, he has to be a fun mentor too. Fun like Twitchbolt or Figfeather! Thoughts pace aimlessly in the back of her head as the apprentice prattles on, something about the the Twolegplace and another thing about being smelly. No pang of guilt comes for her inattention. They'd understand, the warriors and apprentices, the princess outside her castle for the first time, marveling at all the pretty little birds and the big blue sky and the distant sounds of jousting. Cherrykit puffs out her chest for no apparent reason and feels the wind run its fingers through her fur.

Mama begins speaking again, and Cherrykit has just enough presence of mind to turn away from Sparrowpaw and back towards her. She, too, speaks of the wind, but she gives it a direction, a purpose. Like the wind has legs that stretch into the sky and sprints headlong over the forest like each bristling pine is only a blade of grass. She suppresses at giggle, tilting her head at the sun-coated deputy. The wind doesn't come from anywhere! It doesn't come out of the nursery, stretching its ephemeral limbs, and run towards an abandoned moss ball. Someone answers in her stead, and Cherrykit stares at them like they have pine needles for brains. "What can you smell on the breeze?" A better question. Cherrykit inhales deeply, loudly, and pointedly. "I smell..." she sighs.

At this moment, Plaguekit interrupts to inform everyone he's hungry. Cherrykit shoots him a glare. But the idea of hunger is already infecting her brain, and it worms into her stomach to coax it to growl along with the patchy boy's. "...I'm hungry too," she adds, hunching over grumpily. Then, as if jerked upright by an invisible string, she pops up with an idea. "Can we hunt?" the calico asks brightly, tail lifting with the prospect. Some of them are almost apprentices too―it's the perfect suggestion! I'm so smart, she thinks, staring eagerly at her mother.​

 

[Howlfire]

Orangeblossom confirms the kits questions about the birds before asking Howlpaw and Sparrowpaw if they have anything to add on the matter. Howlpaw's amber eyes glance towards Sparrowpaw to see how they might respond before giving a shake of the head. "Think you've got most of it covered, Orangeblossom!" Howlpaw responds cheerfully. Well, she might have had something further to say but Sparrowpaw covered most of the ideas she had in mind.

She waits quietly when Orangeblossom asks them to tell her what they can smell on the wind. Plaguekit is quick to answer, identifying the scent of squirrel before declaring he was hungry. She chuckles upon seeing the glare Cherrykit gives him before promptly deciding that she is also hungry. "Did you want me or Sparrowpaw to try and catch something?" Howlpaw asked, glancing up at the deputy when the kits start bringing up hunting. She could only imagine how much of a nightmare it would be to try and get untrained kits to try and hunt.​

 

[DOOMPAW]

Doomkit gives Sparrowpaw a sharp, angry glare. Why reprimand him when Pearlkit does nothing but giggle at the attack? “Why should I be in trouble! She don’t care if I tackle her or not,” he says, sullen for the moment. But he gives the blue-gray she-kit a conspiratorial look, a grin from lips lifted around pointed teeth. “I’ve been out here before, too,” he boasts, giving Cherrykit a look that could curdle milk. “Not all of us were born in a moss bed without being able to leave! I’m from somewhere real far away.”

Disdainfully, he listens to the other kits make guesses. Cinderkit mentions the birdsong, but she says she doesn’t know how the birds make the sounds. Cherrykit calls her a birdbrain, and he puts a paw to his ribs, mrrowing with raucous laughter. “Like you’re one to talk!” He sneers, dropping into a crouch and waggling his rump as though he’s going to pounce her.

He does not, though. Plaguekit pipes up, saying he wants food, and Cherrykit says they should hunt. Howlpaw asks if they all want the adults to hunt for them and Doomkit protests immediately. “No way! Let us catch our own food!” He gives his denmates a too-wide smile. “We’re basically grown!” Orangeblossom wouldn’t take them out here if they weren’t allowed to hunt, surely.

✧ INFO.

•  
• 
  — doomguy . doomkit
  — afab, he/him, kit of skyclan
  — unknown sexuality ; single
  — short-haired blue tortoiseshell with white and green eyes
  — “speech”, thoughts, attack
  — penned by Marquette

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