camp only time we speak is in my dreams / introduction

[ADDERSNAP]

Adderpaw found himself lying in his usual bug searching spot in front of the apprentice den, sitting beside the tree stump with a twitch in his tail as he observed the critters below him. "Beetles. Beetles, beetles, beetles! Mousedung," He would mumble to himself, annoyed with the lack in variety of bugs in this spot of the camp. The entrance of the apprentice den was normally the best spot for bug hunting -- and as much as he would love to avoid it (his fellow apprentices), he couldn't pass up the opportunity of missing a cricket. Yes, they are nighttime bugs (nocturnal, Adderpaw just has his own way of categorizing his forest critters) and he most likely would not cross one, but that was the purpose of this hunt. To find his first daytime cricket.

Letting out a series of overdramatic sighs as the apprentice hoisted himself up, he mumbled a hushed "goodbye" to his beetle friends and looked towards the senior warriors' den. He knew that he definitely shouldn't be sitting beneath it without an invitation, but Adderpaw was on a mission and could not be deterred. He made his way across camp with his recently touched up fur slightly ruffled from the "incident." He would fix it when he got to the den, he decided to himself as he approached the center with his nose to the ground. And that's exactly why he didn't realize where he was going; quite an often occurrence for Adderpaw. It seemed that instead of having his head in the clouds, it was trying to bury itself beneath the ground.

Chocolate fur flashed as he rushed into a crouch low to the ground near the den, paws tucked close and legs ready to pounce. His ears angled forward as he strained to make sure what he had heard was correct. One of his ears flicked as a song reached his ears. "Found you!" Staying low, he slid closer to where he thought it may be coming from.​

 

[RACCOONSTRIPE]

Kits and apprentices are… eccentric, to say the least. Raccoonstripe remembers his youth in flashes of play-wrestling and exploring the mire with his littermates and older siblings. He’d had no interest in collecting shiny objects or talking to bugs. He’d hunted insects, absolutely, worried them into sludge with his kitten teeth as he’d practiced his hunting skills, but Adderpaw seems to be… talking to them. Studying them. The tabby peeks his head out of the warrior’s den, a confused frown creasing his snowy muzzle. “What are you… doing, Adderpaw?” The young apprentice is unnaturally close to the warrior’s den, crouched down and peering into some dark space. Tufted ears flick—he can hear cricket’s song.

Amused, Raccoonstripe tucks his tail around his paws. “Are you communicating with it? What’s it saying?” There’s an obvious teasing note in his voice. Part of him wants to order the apprentice to tend to the queens and make himself useful; another part wants to hear the no-doubt mousebrained explanation the young cat has to offer.

『 out of character. 』 ✧･ﾟ:* 『 about. 』

• ooc: sorry for him; ic opinions ONLY <3 i love adderpaw so far lol
• 
• Raccoon . Raccoonstripe, he/him w/ masculine terms.
  — “speech”, thoughts, attack
  — 37 moons old, ages realistically on the 5th.
  — mentored by n/a ; mentoring none ; previously mentored Wildheart, Moonwhisper
  — thunderclan lead warrior. gray wolf x howlingstar, gen 2.
  — currently mated to Nightbird.
  — penned by Marquette.
  
  
  lh black tabby with white and dark brown eyes. charismatic, charming, calculating, ambitious, shallow, manipulative.
  
  

​

 

[Softsight]

Softpaw had been eyeing Adderpaw with some concern and confusion as she'd watched the other apprentice trounce around and talk to what seemed like nothing, before she had managed to figure out that he was talking to the various bugs that were around the dens. She hadn't known how to - or if she should - approach to interrupt Adderpaw's endeavors, but she wasn't out to tease him in the same way Raccoonstripe did when he emerged from the warriors' den.

What Raccoonstripe's presence did give Softpaw was an in to the conversation, and she stepped over curiously, ears tunneling in on the music of the cricket that was nearby. "Do you suppose it might be happy that Leafbare is finally over?" Softpaw suggested to the warrior with a small smile - as far as she knew, almost everyone was happy with this development. It meant that the hardships that came with the season would be swept away until they returned in their never-ending cycle.​

 

[ADDERSNAP]

Raccoonstripe's voice caused the apprentice's tense state to crumble as Adderpaw jumped to his paws, fur bristling from the surprise (and fear) he had just experienced. Attempting to look like he hadn't just jumped out of his skin, the tomcat stumbled over his own big paws into a sitting position, beginning to lick at his coat. "Uh... I'm looking for... things." He didn't like to make his insect-fascination known to others, so his first thought was to lie to the warrior. "I-it's nothing important, really. I can find it--" His heart sank as the large tabby then began to just get comfortable. Great, now I'm in for it, he groans to himself in his mind, but the sound possibly slipped past his lips as Raccoonstripe teased him.

Why couldn't he ever just have any peace? He always replied to others when they came up and spoke to him because he didn't want to be rude, but his clanmates still thought him distasteful and mouse-brained nonetheless. Adjusting his position, he debated his response as he perked up his ears to hear the cricket's song again -- he hadn't noticed he had pinned down his ears from the scare. Adderpaw angled his ears and gave a soft eye roll. So much about feeling as though he wasn't rude towards others. "Um, no. I would if they could," the last comment was quickly discarded as his tongue seemed to move faster than his mind and he had to try and catch up to cover his mishap: expressing some emotion. "But I think it could be calling for its clanmates." Of course, crickets didn't have clans, but he didn't know that.

Softpaw's appearance caused his lip to turn up for a moment before collecting himself and reflecting an uninterested gaze. He didn't get along well with the other apprentices; at least in his own eyes. Everyone around him was probably pretty kind to him, but he didn't exactly notice too much or make an effort to notice. "I suppose so." It did make sense -- like Softpaw, he was certain that all animals of the forest must be feeling relief that newleaf was poking its way through the branches.

The brown tom's neck began to strain as he extended it out slowly more and more over time to hear the creature's melody. But as the pain began to ebb, he realized it was from the noise getting closer to their position. Getting back into his crouching state, he gave them both a small "shh!" before yellow eyes noticed a small blurb in front of him. Squinting, he was able to make out the small form of a cricket. Maybe he liked them so much because of how they seemed to be such a perfect reflection of himself: small, brown, and normal but wanting to have a voice. He wouldn't tell all of that to anyone, though, if they asked why they were his favorite. He'd probably just say because they're the same color.

Shaking his shoulders back and forth (in a very exaggerated motion), he slowly raised the hind side of him up, tail lifted in the air as he wasted no moment (he needed to save those moments to see where he would pounce) to pounce in the air. All his limbs were extended and locked into place with his joints, toes splayed and claws unsheathed. However, the results were as expected when he landed. He did land on all four paws, as most cats are known for... but not as graceful. His legs had been locked and caused a ripple to go up from the bottoms of his paw pads to the tip of his ears. Oh, he would wake up sore in the morning. Luckily, he hadn't jumped high enough to have caused any real injuries, but he was definitely struggling to keep his composure as he wobbled for a moment. "Where did it go?" The cricket, of course, had disappeared and soon too would his hope to see his first daytime cricket.

ooc: PLEASE omg i love this interaction so much no worries at all, adderpaw is (supposedly) a big boy and can handle it
also feel free to interact with him however after this, i.e. maybe offering to find another one or just messing with him!! he can't tell when people r messing w him entirely haiufsdjk​

 

[THISTLEPAW]

As a kitten, he had been too sickly for the hunting or catching of bugs. Where the others learned to toddle, Thistlekit struggled to mew. His lungs had heaved by the time he found his paws, and the others, so far from his isolation, began to run. He had never been able to play these games — all of his energy went into survival. Perhaps his clanmates can be empathetic enough to blame that for his reaction to Adderpaw's shenanigans. Or maybe they just think he's prickly. (They're not wrong. He had been named for that very thing, even if his mom meant his pelt.)

Whatever the reason, his nose is curled in the faintest tinge of uncertain disgust when he comes to stand by his mentor. Even when he's not doing chores, Thistlepaw was shaping up to be an obedient shadow. The older tom was the model warrior in his eyes. Thankfully he doesn't set out the model of cruelty for the apprentice to follow. Just confusion and vague disdain. "Why would they have feelings about leafbare?" He looks up at Raccoonstripe for clarification, but returns to Adderpaw with a curled lip. "They're just bugs."

Adderpaw's fall is of little consequences to him, and he's certainly not about to help him find the thing. Unless Raccoonstripe says so, he supposes.

𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓'𝐒 𝐀 𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄 𝗕𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐃 🙴 𝗕𝐎𝐍𝐄  ╱ 𝑾𝑨𝑺 𝑰𝑻 𝑾𝑶𝑹𝑻𝑯 𝑰𝑻? ＜03.03＞ ⸙˚

• OOC. —
• 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐋𝐄𝐏𝐀𝐖. HE - HIM. YOUNG APPRENTICE OF THUNDERCLAN. ————— the son of an ex-kittypet has spent most of his life confined to the medicine den. bad circumstances and worse healing left him in a limbo between life and death which he only just escaped. there's still recovering to do before his clanmates see him as anything more than a weak, sick kittypet.  ╱ PENNED BY REVELATIONS
  
  a prickly-furred chocolate and slate cat with amber eyes. though with a blocky, nearly bulky frame, thistlepaw has been softened, rounded, and stretched thin by his uncertain life. without work or play to thicken the pads of his paws or add strength to his limbs, his skin plays like canvas stretched taut over its frame, his fur a hazy cloak to cover the sickness. he seems soft and unwell in equal measure. certainly not an apprentice to be. . .

• "speech"

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