camp ON BEING UNREASONABLE \ sleeping in?

[FEATHERSPINE]

Featherspine was a warrior. A great warrior, with a great name- she had lived up to the blood running through her. It was all she had ever wanted.

Her nest had been swiftly moved, her duties soon assumed. With utmost stillness and poise he had carried out his vigil, letting no stuttering words stumble from his maw. The congratulations had settled on marble-tabby fur like morning dew. She had glanced forward in that silence at the life she had laid out before her... of protection, preservation, gnashing teeth, hardened flesh. In time, more scars would litter his pelt, he was certain. He would breathe for WindClan, would not sully her father's legacy, would not waste the gift that she had been given as a leader's child.

All of those promises had been made since Featherspine's kithood. Now he looked them in the eye.

Usually, Featherspine was up early- half out of sleeplessness and half out of duty. This morning, though, he found himself glued to his nest... fastened, as the time for morning patrols loomed nearer and nearer. Not a twitch moved her muscles... one wouldn't be blamed for thinking she was asleep. But a pivot would reveal sun-blister eyes open, staring into nothing. Slitted pupils gazed into that future she had planned since kithood, a future that was now reality.

Within her eyes writhed sickness. Regret, almost. In the void of her pupils, a soul was lost. ​

✦ penned by pin​

 

[PINKSHINE]

She was happy for Featherspine... Obviously. Duh. Being a warrior was a good thing, and it was a thing Featherpaw — spine — had really wanted to be, she thinks. It's just very... different. It's very different that Featherpaw, for forever now, was now not. It's very different that she couldn't lift her head in the middle of the night, and spot spiky brown fur right away. She had gone so fast... And, that makes sense and all. Pinkpaw didn't hate it. She couldn't hate it! They'd still hang out, right?

Pinkpaw doesn't hate mornings or anything, but now, she really really can't since her mentor is Deputy. Pinkpaw is up early, stretching beside her clanmates, keeping her ears pricked for Scorchstreak's familiar call. She's gonna congratulate Featherspine right away as soon as she sees her! She probably did that already, but she can't remember, so she'll do it again just in case! Her eyes scan the clearing. Not Featherpaw, not Featherpaw— oops, not Featherspine... Featherpaw was usually here in the mornings... Was she hiding somewhere? Not like that was a very Featherpaw thing to do. She had given up games pretty much as soon as they became apprentices...

" Featherpaw? " She finds her. It's not hard, when even though she's moved, they mostly all slept outside anyways. She's still in her nest, which is weird. She's awake in her nest too, which is weirder. It doesn't look comfortable... Not like a nice, sunhigh rest. The kind where you didn't have time to doze off, but still wanted to appreciate the sun...

Pinkpaw lies down. She smooshes her face to the ground, so she could better see her friend's eyes. " Something wrong? " she asks. And a little late, corrects, " Featherspine. "​

 

[dimmingsun]

Dimmingsun tends to be consistent in most ways except one; waking up. One cannot pin him as lazy even when he lets the sun climb higher before he shakes himself from the dip that acts as his nest — the way he carries out his duty with grandiose dedication makes up for the pleasures he allows. It's best to be indulgent sometimes. With the moor still in recovery, there is little reason to rush outside the moment the first ray of light touches their land.

He is about to climb out and do his characteristic mighty stretch when Pinkpaw comes near. There is something akin to concern in those wide and expressive eyes of hers, and it's more than enough to catch Dimmingsun's attention too.

That's when he realizes Featherspine. Her presence almost makes him ask why she's here instead of with the apprentices (the ceremonies are still so fresh in his mind), but when clarity hits, it instills worry similar to Pinkpaw. Apprentice or warrior, it doesn't matter- Featherspine has always put his duties before anything else, so it's an odd sight to see that spiky fur still embedded in the fresh nest.

The possibilities for the gloom in her amber gaze is endless... it's best to tread carefully.

"How was the vigil?" he asks, because he might as well try to divert the topic from something too painful for Featherspine. He asks something trivial, because it's better than how is being a warrior when a piece of you is missing?
​

 

[rivewhisper]

"TAKE ME TO YOUR ORCHARD, SO SWEET"​

Rivepaw had died, and Rivewhisper was born. She hadn't enjoyed the vigil, her muscles almost burning from not moving, but she knew better then to move or speak in the duration of the night. She, like her sibling, had moved her nest before her vigil, and mulled over plenty of thoughts that night. Of Bearflight, of her future, of the gift of being now-royal-blooded.

Of a future.

She wasn't like her brother, where she would leap from the nest at the first light, Rivewhisper would sleep in. Stretched out or curled up, she preferred not to rise until the sun warmed her through either their covered dens or in the light of camp. Blue eye cracked open as Pinkpaw spoke, presumably to Rivewhisper's sister. Owl eyes sharpened as her head raised further, Dimmingsun pressing a question to her sibling.

Rivewhisper hadn't moved her nest far from him, but still, it was a concerning thing to stretch her vision towards that of her sibling and see an emotion not often studied in the visage of Featherspine. Rivewhisper couldn't pretend to know what was wrong, so she stood, stretching her body comfortably.

Rivewhisper did not pick another question at her siblings brain, instead- "Think I'll go for a run to the sunlit pool. Catch something on the way back." She murmured. The way she offered it- it was an open-ended invite, but one that gave Featherspine something to do
​

"yuh"​

 

[FEATHERSPINE]

A flick of the ear, as if he was swatting away a fly, met Pinkpaw's voice... but Featherspine's eyes found her, aswim with something complex haloing that slitted pupil, without narrowing. Would there be something odd between them, now? It wasn't very warrior-like to hang around apprentices, unless they were your own. But when Pinkpaw called him Featherpaw, he did not snap to correct her. In fact, he hardly minded... almost to the soothing point where it was welcome...

She chose to feel satisfaction rather than disappointment when Pinkpaw murmured a correction. Because Featherspine was his name... noble and befitting, given to him not only by his father but by his leader, twofold now. It was a name steeped in honour, inextricably tangled to warrior's blood and a hardy heart. "No. Nothing's wrong," she lied, pulling her head from the moss and trying to bling away the mist of groggy unwillingness that had settled into her for a moment. What was the point of being a great warrior within if she couldn't be productive.

How was the vigil? "It was an honour," Featherspine said... though out of her mouth, it sounded somewhat miserable and personality-less. "B-but otherwise, quite dull." Collapsing into harshness, peppered with a tiny bit of humour... a tiny, tiny bit. It felt more right to say it as it was. Meaningful in concept, but excruciating in practice.

There was merit in the uneventful, though. At least no one had been in danger... at least fate had not dictated she sacrificed her life for WindClan as soon as she gained her name.

Rivewhisper attempted a rescue. In the recesses of Featherspine's soul she appreciated her sister's act, but blinked drowsily in response. It took what felt like a day's worth of strength to finally haul himself to his feet... and he shook himself, as if shaking away the weight. It would get easier... it had to get easier. This was everything, it meant everything... his life was finally beginning.

So why did it feel as if it had already ended? "I should hear the p-p-patrols..." he murmured. "B-but then I'll accompany you." Sun-sharp eyes shied away... found Pinkpaw. They would not patrol together anymore. Bluepool was no longer her mentor... Bluepool would get a new apprentice, and Pinkpaw would spend more time with them, and find them much more entertaining, probably. Bitterness spit right back up again. "I don't imagine Scorchstreak ever puh… p-puts moor runners and tunnellers together..." a thought that shouldn't have been spoken out loud. Featherspine quickly attempted to rectify it, with a somewhat-convincing deftness. "So I should be free for a run."​

✦ penned by pin​

 

[PINKSHINE]

The vigil, says Dimmingsun. She sorta forgot about that thing. Was Featherspine just tired, then? Maybe, because then he says, No. Nothing's wrong. When Featherpaw— Featherspine sits up, so does Pinkpaw, tilting her head just so at her friend's suspicious behavior. Pinkpaw blinks slowly, just short of the unconvinced ooookayy.... she was close to uttering, but doesn't because it would probably annoy Featherspine.

The vigil then. How was it? she tries to ask with her face, eye contact and an attentive smile, as always. Duh. Boring apparently, and that's too bad... Is Pinkpaw gonna have to do that? Hopefully that's what Moor runners do, and tunnelers get something cool like a feast instead!

Her tail waves a brief good morning! To Rivepaw— whisper, but she seems to have another mission already. Hunting, and Pinkpaw's not too sure why she announces it, not until Featherspine speaks again. Oh! An invitation! Something like that would surely wake him up. Pinkpaw's tail lifts. Featherspine is already looking at her, so obviously she wants her to come! She's just about to invite herself, jaw parting, but then.

I don't imagine Scorchstreak ever puts moor runners and tunnellers together...

Pinkpaw blinks. As Scorchstreak's fan, clanmate, and apprentice, she feels the need to say somethinhg. " Um, well... " Was that true? She can't remember right now. For some reason she can't remember, but Featherpaw was always right, wasn't she? Featherspine. Her smile scrunches itself nearly flat, teetering dangerously close to a frown — but she wouldn't let th at happen. If that's true, then... It's true. Nothing she could do about that. Plus, Featherspine and Rivewhisper are warriors. Ones without apprentices... so, why would they go out with one?

So... would that be it then? For the next few moons? It can't be, right? They were friends!

" ...Okay. " She hadn't had to say something, but she feels like it's too late for her not to, now. Um... " ...Have fun, then! " she adds, and usually, she wouldn't leave conversations as quickly as she leaves this one.​