camp out from behind the gossip * nursery chatter

[BITEFLOWER]

bio ₊˚✧ ﾟ. based on the persuasion of his mother he's confined himself to the soft, familiar dwellings of the nursery, at least for now. he's let the conversations in the den wash over him, drifting in and out of wakefulness. hazy green eyes blink into consciousness, and bitekit realizes with a dazed, half awake start that the light filtering in from the entrance is a warm orange. the cold nip in the air prompts him to nestle deeper into his nest, similarly soft to the rest of the nests within the well sheltered nursery.

it doesn't take long until he's firmly embroiled in petty arguing with another kitten, intensely arguing his opposition to the other clans in the den, lowering his body in warning, when a low, dangerous: don't is uttered from bitekit's exhausted and sick mother.

the well groomed kitten disentangles himself out of the tense situation with a disgruntled mutter of a variety of insults under his breath. only when when the hot, heavy, anger begins to dissipate he starts up again to someone else in the den: "don't you want to be an apprentice already?" it's complained out, unable to recognize any other way of living that isn't in anticipation. "camp is- it's better than shadowclan -" he's purposely not thinking about his infuriated, spitting reception to their hosts, the unsettled panic that became familiar when he lost track of his father, "but i can't wait to leave." the lingering sleepiness loosens his jaw, the warm, cozy familiarity of the den lulling the young kit.
​

 

[carawaysong]

it felt silly to be visiting the nursery, despite only being an apprentice for a pawful of days carawaypaw felt too big in here. maybe it was the remaining kits, their small sizes surely were enough to make her feel really big. had she grown much at all even? she felt taller, a little at least. more muscular, definitely. or maybe not, she didn't know, all she knew prey had to be delivered here first. something that made her grin a moon ago, not so much anymore.

carawaypaw gently placed the fish between her jaws at the paws of bitekit's mother, the queen looked flat out exhausted. "hello," she offered softly, ears twitching to listen to bitekit's chatter with a small grin. "hey, bitekit." her voice lacked the general overtly cheerful, squeaky voice most older cats chose to address the youth. it would feel... condescending she guessed. afterall, they did share a den up until a short while ago. "just a moon until then, right? you'll be yanking ticks with the rest of us!"

just about ready to turn and head out, she paused, contemplating. she felt so darn tall in here! perhaps it would drive her crazy to not ask her question. "do you think i got taller?" her genuine struggle over the topic is evident on strewn features as she looks at the ebony kitten.

---

‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎┌── ooc 《✧》 info ──┐‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎

• 
  
  
  

• 

• CARAWAYPAW ✧ she/her, apprentice of riverclan, four moons
  ➺ carawaypaw is a pretty longhaired silver tabby with green eyes and a long, lithe frame. born into riverclan, she loves her home and has a deep fascination with becoming a warrior to provide for it. for now, she is heavily focused on her duties as an apprentice and trying to balance them with her enjoyment of less serious activities. she is currently apprenticed to nightfish.
  ➺ willowroot x poppysplash ↛ sister to bumblepaw, tidepaw, mosspaw, hazepaw, antlerpaw, and buckpaw
  ➺ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted / / underline and tag when attacking ↛ see battle info here
  ➺ penned by vayle ↛ @vayl3 on discord, feel free to dm for plots.
  

​

 

[bubbleburst]

"GOT A LITTLE CASH NOW SO THAT SKIRT IS DIOR"​

Bubblepaw crowds into the nursery after Carawaypaw, curious about the state of things inside. She can remember Petalpaw saying something about parts of the nursery still needing to be patched up. Unlike the other silver tabby, she doesn't feel oversized or out of place in here. She says her hellos to several of the queens and their energetic broods before her attention falls on Carawaypaw and Bitekit's conversation.

Bubblepaw sticks her tongue out as she thinks about the scent and taste of bile. "There are a lot more fun things about being an apprentice, too!" she piggybacks off Carawaypaw's quip with an encouraging smile "There's a whole lot to explore out there. You wouldn't want to rush it!" She admittedly doesn't quite understand Bitekit's eagerness to get out of the nursery. She had quite enjoyed her time being raised by Petalrook and playing with Swanpaw and the other kits.

She fixes Carawaypaw with a confused look. She is older than the other apprentice; it isn't by much, but she is unremarkably taller than Carawaypaw. Bubblepaw herself had shot up in height seemingly overnight once she'd begun her apprenticeship. "Of course you're tall," she reassures Carawaypaw, then turning to the kit she prompts "Right, Bitekit?" She'd sought confirmation from the kit initially, and to be fair it would be him who had seen her for longer on a consistent basis than Bubblepaw had.​

✦ ★ ✦​

 

[valesight ➶]

⸙͎｡˚⋆ ⍋ ѧѦ ѧ⍋ ⸙͎｡˚⋆

Spring-heather eyes flick quickly towards a source of speech, recognizing this to be someone else who belongs in this confined space. Rookfang, the corvid feather knight, had been quickly ushered along by a raven-furred boy and though Valekit assumed his hero to be one worth trusting, this new place was strange... new... and did not smell of the night and the moonlight he missed. It was full of piscine odors, the heady smell of milk but most of all he could not get that stench of copper from his snout....

Something was being said about... leaving. Leaving the warm grasp of kind mollies with gentle faces to explore the world he had already explored too much of. He shuddered... thinking of the saliva-dipped teeth of a monster at his back. He would not suffer to be a hapless princeling forever but it still felt too soon... too soon to try again and risk failure when his protector remained injured.

"Mmm.... mm-mm," is his wordless reply, shaking his head slightly to indicate his lack of agreement. Being bigger and going out there with the bigger cats meant more of that acrid smell... more impossibly big evils to fight... Not yet. But someday when he felt more confident... someday when Rookfang was better and could watch over him again.

Bubblepaw and Carawaypaw are near unto insanity to propose it as a hopeful thing to look forward to. They cite reasons of freedom and growth but Valekit doesn't yearn for those things like they seem to. Why does it matter if Carawaypaw is taller when those big old creatures out there will always manage to be bigger? Stay here, stay quiet. A voice like honey that tore through his memory like barbed wire... how was she to be eclipsed entirely and disappear when he needed her? Surely... surely these cats too would just vanish one day.

How terrifying... how awful...​

​

 

[BITEFLOWER]

bio ₊˚✧ ﾟ. bitekit's surprised about the appearance of the apprentices, directing his fickle attention towards the silver tabby, before switching to the other tabby "hi." he breathes, oddly subdued. he's glad for the care of the prey offering, knows his mother hasn't been well as long as he's known her. the presence of the apprentices, although once peers makes him want to do something that keeps them occupied, keeps the eyes on him.

he flicks an ear, carawaypaw's statement about joining them sparking something that's never not slumbering, he's about to shoot of an: i'll do more exciting stuff, when bubblepaw speaks, as such he instead follows up her question with: "no. you're even taller. i'm going to be taller!" he rises to his paws as if it's proving anything being kitten sized. the aforementioned unspoken statement comes back around differently. "you enjoy your tick finding, i don't want to do that." he states, also as if he has a say in the matter. "i'm going to fight betterer than you too. that's something apprentices do." he shares with them. something smug coats his tone, both expecting and wanting a reaction.

valekit's disagreement to him has bitekit scrunching his face up, opening his mouth to spout insults. he's again reminded of his mother's presence, thinks better of it and instead offers an obnoxious: "some of us want to move on." it earns him a sigh. the muttered, "sorry," is very quiet. he concludes his asserting himself as better tirade. "i'm going to be a better apprentice than all the others." the way in which he's biting his tongue after the conclusion is impressive for him.
​