ON THE BRIGHT SIDE — baby birds

[CLAYFUR]

The night before had been marked by thunder and lightning, heavy rainfall pounding at the dirt. It reminded him of the afternoon spent tucked beneath a makeshift shelter at sunningrocks, an afternoon that had become the happiest day of his life. Clay didn’t get much sleep last night, to say the least. He’s sluggish and exhausted for the first border patrol of the day, lagging noticeably behind the rest of his clanmates. Perhaps that’s for the best, though, because from his place at the back of the group he spots something interesting—a brown lump, lying lopsided on the ground.

He strides closer, long legs closing the distance within a few heartbeats. Hazel eyes narrow as he leans closer to better inspect it, then fly wide when he realizes what it is.

A bird’s nest. It must have fallen from a tree after the storm last night—usually, such an event would end with cracked eggs nearby, or even an uncracked one, whole and ready to eat. But there are no eggs in or near this nest, because the nest is instead filled with five small, featherless forms. Their ugly, gangly bodies are a sore sight, gaping mouths hanging open in hopes for food as they chirp quietly. They must be losing strength, waiting for parents that may never return for them.

Now, Clay’s spent a ton of time around birds. From the barn swallows to the pine forest cardinals, he’s seen just about everything. But he’s never actually seen a nest filled with bird babies right after they’ve hatched. He tips his head to the side almost comically, hazel eyes narrowing as he takes in the sight. "Huh. They look a lot weirder than I thought." He’d expected baby birds to look like, well, birds. Not… whatever these things are.
​

[ YOU ARE THE STARS TO ME ]​

​

 

[BEESONG]

he stumbles across clayfur by happenstance, wandering the territory in search of herbs. instead, he finds the chocolate tabby, crouched over something with hazel eyes narrowed almost scrutinizingly. they look a lot weirder than i thought, mumbles the warrior, and that's all it takes to draw beesong closer for a better gander at whatever weird specimen has caught clayfur's attention.

it's a bird's nest, beesong realizes once they're practically hovering at clayfur's side. knocked down from the storm last night, they guess, watching the featherless chicks squirm about in the remnants of their destroyed home. the chicks do look weird, the cinnamon tabby affirms to themselves with a hum. with heads nearly too big for their naked bodies and their mouths a gaping hole begging for food that may never come. "aren't most babies?" beesong remarks with a tilt of their own head, their lips quirking up at their own half-joke. after all, newborn kittens aren't much cuter than these hatchlings. they recall icesparkle and mudpelt's second litter, specifically fernkit, who the scarred feline thinks looked pretty similar to the hatchlings at their paws as a newborn.

the reserved smile falls from his face not a moment later, though, as he continues to watch the chicks scream weakly for food. they wouldn't survive long, like this, would they? normally, beesong would discourage the killing of newborn animals so small they could hardly fill a kit's belly. but he thinks, maybe this should be an exception. a swift snap of their necks would surely be more merciful than a long, drawn-out death at the claws of starvation. his brows furrow. "should we kill them?" the healer asks bluntly, seemingly out of the blue.​

 

[RAVENSONG]

The black cat stalked—followed—Beesong along in the territory. He was unused to not having the expectation to go out into the territory and return with prey or a patrol report. It somehow felt a little freer. The water was calming from the disrupt in his apprenticeship, but he remained eager to learn. He stops abruptly when Beesong hovers next to Clayfur and his interest pricked as he followed in his suit.

The ugly, bald, skinny bodies of newborn baby birds greeted him from their shaken nest. The way their beaks open and their twig-like forearms move is almost unnerving to Ravenpaw. He had never realized they were born this ugly. The tom held a special place in his heart for birds because of his namesake and how revolting they were to RiverClan tastes. He did not like eating them, though. He admired them.

They would hardly amount to more than a quick snack for a kit. Ravenpaw, driven by some compassion he didn't know he had, suddenly spoke out. "What if we put it back in the tree? Then they'll grow and make more prey for the rest of us. I know we do not eat birds, but maybe when leaf-fall comes again and we have to, it might not be a bad idea." He posited.

​

 

[hyacinthbreath]

Baby birds were fragile little things, not even ripe for pickings. If they killed it, they wouldn't get much meat from it. Hyacinthbreath watches from not too far away as they talk about killing the thing or keeping it alive, and Hyacinth finally speaks up soon after. "How about we pull some worms from the ground and feed them?" She asks softly, avoiding Clayfur's gaze in fear of his denial. Despite this, however, Hyacinth kept a stoic expression as she looked over the ugly little chicks. Would they ever be beautiful, full of feathers with long wings? ​

❝ there are wounds inside me, gaping holes of disconnect.
can you drown inside your own body? can you suffocate within this mind? ❞

 

[dovethroat.]

Though Dovepaw makes his way onto the scene, he pointedly remains remarkably distant from Ravenpaw. So much so that it borders on almost actively distracting. Peering over at what Clayfur discovered, Dovepaw's bleeding heart immediately aches. "Oh," he has to force himself not to wince, and even more not to get angry over Beesong and their typical crassness. Perhaps, much like the most reviled man in the room, Dovepaw held a fondness for birds because of the fact that he was named after one.

"W-We sh-should help," he whispered quietly, trying to fight back seeming too weak, or too emotional. It was difficult for him. He did not want to request that others help him in doing this, but he could not leave these defenseless things to fend for themselves. In a sense, their unsightly and naked forms only made Dovepaw feel more of an urge to care for them.

He looked worried. "K-Killing them w-wouldn't give... us a-anything."

[⋆]​

​

 

[lichenstar]

The sudden pause of a lolly-gagging clan-mate drew their ire near immediately. Why were they stopping? There were things to do... places to be... This, Lichentail decided in that moment, was the reason RiverClan had lost Sunningrocks. The lack of discipline was astounding- "What are you mumbling about?" Whatever it was it had pulled the attention of more than just her... Beesong had shown up practically out of nowhere to cross paths with Ravenpaw in tow, sulking.

With a frustrated sigh to herself, the blue point dragged her paws towards the quickly amassing crowd. Peering around her clan-mates for a better view at the bundle of.... ugly.... she sneered in disgust. "If I looked like that I'd want to be put out of my misery too." Her words came out hurriedly, as if subconsciously guilty of the judgement before even finishing saying it. The youngers didn't seem so impressed by the sentiment that most of the warrior shared and the idea prompted by their medicine cat. Killing them did seem a little excessive for a toppled over nest.

"We might as well try to put them back..." Words droned off as pale eyes wandered in search of angry parents... surely the mother bird was flitting about someone horrified by the horde of enemies that now surrounded her fledglings?​

 

[CLAYFUR]

At his side, Beesong asks aren’t most babies ugly, and Clay understands exactly what they’re thinking about. "Fern was not an ugly baby," he insists, though his voice is more amused than annoyed. Fernpaw looked a bit strange as a kit, but he’s never been ugly! Still, the smile slips from Clay’s face when Bee asks whether they should kill the hatchlings.

Each of his clanmates chime in with their opinion of what should be done with the nest full of chicks, and Clay tips his head in contemplation. On one paw, the baby birds aren’t likely to survive for much longer without their parents to feed them, and killing them may be more merciful than leaving them to slowly starve. On the other paw, if the birds manage to grow up, they’ll be great food—at least for Clay, even if most of his clan turn their noses up at feathered food. That’s fine, though; birds are his favorite, and he’d gladly eat any that his clanmates refuse.

But the most important factor in his decision is whether he’s willing to actually kill the poor birds when his clanmates are so against it. Bee’s sentiment is correct, of course it is, but the healer’s question still rubs him the wrong way. Dovepaw is right, they stand to gain nothing from killing the birds. And Hyacinthbreath—he fights back a glare at the sound of her voice, so grating against the shattered thing that lies in his chest—suggests that they could try feeding the things. He glances between Raven and Lichen, who both also seem to be in favor of not killing the chicks.

He shakes his head, planting a pale paw beside the nest. We won’t kill them. "Killing them might be more merciful than leaving them to starve. But maybe we could manage to get the nest back up there." He flicks his tail toward the tree he assumes the nest has fallen from. It’s not too tall, and settling the nest into one of the lower branches shouldn’t be needlessly difficult. "Any ideas on how?"
​

[ YOU ARE THE STARS TO ME ]​

​

 

[reedbite.]

"I wouldn't touch em." The chocolate classic tabby would sneer, her lip curled in disgust at the creatures before them. Tiny featherless birds, mouths gaping open as if hungry. Useless critters.

Abandoned most likely, never grow to be actual food one day. Rather going to starve here, or in the tree when they move them.

"If their parents abandoned them they're going to starve and die and they'll be nothing but corpses by tomorrow. So moving them in hopes it's placed back where the parents left them seems futile."

"If we want them to be beneficial, and not waste our time wed have to feed them every day if their parents don't come back. Which is another task that would take up our time. And then we eat them when they're old enough."

Her point was they were wasting their time either way. Raising prey to just eat them when theyre older? Seemed morbid.

"And let's say they survive. They're useless and can't fly therefore can't survive. A fox will get em. Unless, Miraculously, some cat knows how to teach a bird to fly."

Reedbite was just being realistic and honest. It was up to them to decide what they wanted to do still.

 

[Petalnose]

I FIND COMFORT IN THE SOUND AND THE SHAPE OF THE HEART ⋆⁺₊⋆

“They’re… slow.” Petalnose spoke with a disgusted look as she took a peak at the tiny frames. “Aren't they already dying.. Wouldn’t they make much more sound..? I’ll do the chore of taking them out of their misery if need be. But I’m certainly not helping take care of prey.” She voiced, backing away as she caught a glimpse. It was almost as if she wanted to wash her eyeballs from the mere sight of the creatures. She rapidly blinked to herself and shook her head. She had never seen baby birds but it sure made her want to gag having the picture in her mind. She nodded at the reedbites comment, flicking her tail towards her in agreement, “I don’t think we should care for something that won’t give back to the clan.” She meowed with a roll of her eyes. Her only sympathy for the chicks were that they were dying slowly. It sent a shiver up her spine of thinking of that being her own fate. She’d want to be put out of her misery. Slow death was the worst death. She’d take them out now if she was alone, it wasn’t much of a hard thing to do in her eyes. She didn’t understand taking them under their wing. What would they give? In the heat of battle they’d just fly off or be made into a snack if they so tried to help them. Maybe if they took in abandoned pups that would help them, raising a known enemy to be an ally was better than raising prey into an ally. She wondered if that would work.

She shrugged at the question on how to get the nest back up, “I can’t climb but maybe you can find someone to help you? Though, if they haven’t came back at this state they may not come back at all, would they?” She asked, blinking in curiosity at the sky, looking for any sign of the birds parents.

[⋆]​

​

 

[CLAYFUR]

The brown tabby who steps closer, who sounds disgusted, brings a deeper frown to Clay’s muzzle. Reedbite has a lot to say, and none of it is helpful. He can’t help but grow defensive. Useless. "Do you feel the same about your clanmates who can’t swim? Are they as useless as birds who can’t fly?" His words aren’t harsh, but his tone is needlessly accusatory. Labeling any creature as useless is a dangerous line of thinking; who decides when a life is deserved simply because it’s useful?

He wonders what Darkpaw would say, hearing them all discuss whether to kill the birds, and is glad that he doesn’t spot his nephew as he glances around the crowd that’s gathered. "We aren’t killing them." He can’t pull rank here, doesn’t have any true power to stop them if any of his clanmates make a move, but he hopes that his words will be enough. More than that, he hopes someone who means something to the clan won’t throw their weight around and tell him to do it anyway.

He heaves a deep sigh, flicking an ear when Petalnose questions whether the chicks’ parents will ever return. "They might not come back," he says, gaze settling on the other brown and white warrior. "But if we… If we kill them, they’ll die for sure. If we don’t kill them, they might still die, but we gave them a chance." He’s so tired of death. He can’t watch any more new, innocent, potentially beautiful things being ended too soon.
​

[ YOU ARE THE STARS TO ME ]​

​

 

[lichenstar]

Well they hadn't particularly meant to agree to the blind murder of a bunch of infant birds... it was mostly a joke after all! Being ugly wasn't a criminal offense..... yet.... right? Looking around as this thought came to mind, Lichentail's ear twitched as if to dismiss the suggestion. No, no, after all, her twin was still kicking (Nice joke Lichen. Thanks Lichen.). As Clayfur grew more serious about the matter, they felt the nagging sense of guilt in their belly.

Whatever. It's not like I said we should throw HIM in the water to drown or something. Rolling their shoulders to relieve the tension that was hanging heavy in the air, they raised a paw to cut in. "It would be a simple enough project to not be a huge waste of resources besides... Might even be helpful for the future to know how to do this- prey conservation efforts and whatnot." Smiling to themself at the compromise they felt they'd come up with (it wasn't really a compromise...), they turned to look at the tree a bit better.

"Not to brag but I'm not half bad at climbing, maybe I can get up there and any cat willing to help could pass it up? Hopefully the feather-brains don't try to abandon ship at the sight of my teeth near the nest. Best offer I've got."​

 

[reedbite.]

Reedbite nodded along, supposing she can offer her services if no one else offered.

But Clays comment made her bicoloured eyes snap to him, fur bristling. "There is a  difference between cats who are protected by the clan, and wild creatures who are abandoned in the forest. If I had such an issue with my clanmates I wouldn't be here, now would I Clayfur? Don't dare twist my words. The circle of life is cold and harsh, but we don't abandon our kin because of a storm."

Her tail flicked, before giving her attention to lichen. "Prey conservation would be useful. We figure it out, we can teach the children and warriors, It's just how."
​