out of time | rta

strawmoon

too young to be singing the blues
Dec 28, 2022
43
6
8
Their stomach twists and turns as they take the first paw-step in camp in what felt like eons, large ears coming down to rest flat against their skull. Its a hustle and bustle as always, but this time Strawpaw doesn't feel like participating, doesn't feel like lounging around with the other apprentices anymore, so busy, so busy. And... Stars, they're gonna be sick thinking about how their own clanmates had turned to protect someone Sootstar deemed a traitor (keep telling yourself that, a voice in their mind says), it sends something akin to ice water through their veins.

And yet, Strawpaw feels a certain guilt as they drag themselves further in to camp. Lately, they'd been throwing everything they had in to Wormtails training, dug until their paws hurt because after all is said and done, they all just return to the dirt anyways. And thats where one of them is, now. Someone had died and Strawpaw doesn't know where they're buried, or if they're even buried at all. Nevermind that, Strawpaw is hungry and they make their way to the pile to pick something out.

But nothing sounds nor looks appetizing, so they just stand there, staring as they once did.
"speech"​
 


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Unaware of the internal struggles Strawpaw faced, the blue smoke too sat idly at the fresh-kill pile. While she had been pregnant, she had felt cravings for toad, but now she felt more up to rabbit and field mice. Alas it was still leaf-bare, so the selection of the pile was limited. She hails from the marshes, a cruel and unforgiving terrian when it comes to food. Never would she conplain about having food, but not the correct kind.

She digs through the fresh-kill pile and comes across a vole, she tosses it gently to Strawpaw. "Should be filling, and I think I could feel that the blood was still warm." Fresh catches were the best. She goes back to poking around the pile for something for herself and kittens.

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( primary character / "speech" / ic opinions )

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╰ ★ ჻ 001 GENERAL INFORMATION ,
· SOOTSTAR, female — she / her
╰ ‣ 37 moons . pisces. ages on the first
╰ ‣ windclan leader . marsh-born . believes in starclan
╰ ‣ former soldier of the marsh group

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╰ ★ ჻ 002 VISUALS & AESTHETICS ,
· DOMESTIC FELINE, smells like heather and wet dirt , status — 100%
╰ ‣ blue smoke . scarred chest, difficult to see through fur . green eyes


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╰ ★ ჻ 003 MENTALITY & MANNERISMS ,
· ESTJ-A ❝ EXECTUTIVE ❞ , Slytherin, Lawful Evil
╰ ‣ Cunning, brash, fierce, confident, self-reliant, envious & selfish
╰ ‣ finds great difficulty in relating to others . can be cruel, usually shows mercy to those she can find sympathy with
╰ ‣ sole key to her heart is loyalty, if you have her trust, she often shows a completely different side of herself. Aggression tends to manifest from her extreme paranoia
╰ ‣ Appreciates titles such as "miss, m'am" etc

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╰ ★ ჻ 004 INTERACTIONS & RELATIONSHIPS ,
· SOOT CLAW x PEBBLE BREEZE, sister to Pebblenose
╰ ‣ heterosexual. mate to Weaselclaw
╰ ‣ mother to Windstrider, Sootchaser, Moorkit, Adderkit, Harrierkit, Bluekit & Cottonkit
╰ ‣ mentor to Smokepaw
╰ ‣ average fighter . skilled hunter .
╰ ‣ will start fights . unlikely to flee .
╰ ‣ attack in underline . penned by user @ava.
 

He felt like he hadn't caught a glimpse of Strawpaw in moons. With no apprentice of his own, he did not often embark upon anything that would involve apprentices; no, often he only ever engaged them when they engaged him. It was decidedly rare that anyone should engage him, let alone apprentices- he figured most respected his privacy, wanted to give him space when he was working on art or games. A good thing, really! Clumsy paws that did not know the plan, as vividly painted in ichor as he knew it, could easily mess up the set-up.

He was occupied with no such game today, and moon-wide eyes flickered to the source of a little commotion- the tiniest smidge of interest. Deadened eyes glowed a little with the flicker of light, his smile growing in size- baring his fangs in friendliness, the grinning ghoul of a tom trotted daintily over, impossibly upright. "What are you staring at- e-heh-hew, did something in there move?" A giggle, dissonant. He craned his neck, conclusion jumped toward. No maggots writhed beneath the kills, as far as he could tell... that was what often shifted the skin.

He'd not take anything for himself just yet- polite thing to do was let Sootstar choose something, once Strawpaw had perhaps confirmed they had not seen anything that shouldn't have been there.
PENNED BY PIN
 

ALL NIGHT GAMER

Silverpaw exhaled softly as he made his approach towards the pile, though he naturally stopped when he spotted that Sootstar was currently rifling through the contents for something. He decided to hang back as he deemed it unwise to get too close whilst the leader was picking something out. Though he doesn't miss the act of kindness being offered to that of an unfamiliar apprentice in the form of a good looking vole. Silverpaw almost wished that it was him being blessed with such food, but he reckons that he'd be made to take the remaining scraps instead.

It almost misses his attention that he'd been drooling with hunger during the time that he had been sat there. Using a paw, he cleared away the fluids from his maw before it could make too much of a mess. Though he eventually decided to strike up a conversation with Strawpaw. "Smells good. Really good." He begins before getting distracted by Mallowlark. "If anything does move I'm sure a good smack will stop it."
 
Bluekit toddles on tiny limbs, her fluffy white-tipped tail ribboning behind her. Strawpaw is oddly quiet, staring at the fresh-kill pile with a dazed expression. The she-kit frowns contemplatively. Is she having a hard time choosing? She supposes she can understand that. She hasn't gotten to try all the different kinds of prey yet, so she doesn't know which she likes best. Rabbit is tasty, though.

Her mother graciously tosses Strawpaw a vole. Bluekit looks at it with envious green eyes. She hasn't tasted vole yet, has she? She doesn't think so. Sootstar and Swiftshrike tell her what the prey is before they give it to the kits. She would know, she's sure.

She walks closer to Sootstar so she can avoid looking at the discarded vole. She brushes her body against her mother's foreleg, but it's an absent gesture of affection for a kit so small. Bluekit's attention is turned, anyway, when Mallowlark and Silverpaw start talking about moving prey.

Bluekit tilts her face towards the WindClan leader's. "Can you still eat it if it's moving?" She asks innocently. "Does it still taste good?"

[ PENNED BY MARQUETTE ]
 
As they stare, they slip in to their mind, so when Sootstar approaches it has them nearly jumping out of their skin. The moor queen herself, the very one who made Windclan something, tosses them a vole. The sick feeling in their stomach almost increases tenfold as the vole flops in front of their paws. Blood was still warm, Sootstar says. "Thank you..." they breathe, not letting their unease dribble to their tone. They had always been a slow talker, dragging their sentences on or often trailing off, and now all of the sudden they feel self conscious with how they speak.

And then Mallow comes trotting over and Strawpaw blinks in greeting. "Hello." its weird sounding to Strawpaw and they shuffle their paws before they crack a smile. "No... No worms... I've been keeping them in line, in the tunnels..." just how many cats knew of Wormclan and their transgressions? The storyline had been majorly altered since they had last talked about it...

Then Silverpaw approached. Strawpaw doesn't think they've ever seen him... "Oh, yea.. It does. But the bugs don't like to be smacked. Are you new?" Strawpaw blurts out before they stop it, head tilting before little Bluekit speaks. Word travels fast, even through the tunnels, of new kittens. Uhm... Was she talking to them, or to the group, or to Sootstar...? "No. No, no. If your food moves... Move it. Away from you. Bad... Very bad." never in their life would Strawpaw even think of putting bugs in their mouth, or worms. No, no one but them knew of the transgressions that the worms have committed against them. Yes... Worms were very, very bad. Perhaps... No, they wouldn't think of that. Strawpaw dips their head and takes a big bite out of the food Sootstar had tossed them, waving their tail gratefully.
"speech"​
 


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Mallowlark and Silverpaw cause her fur to bristle, she’s always been unnerved with the presence of the white Tom, and Silverpaw? Her eyes still looked upon him and saw nothing but a kittypet who’d infiltrated her ranks. Mallowlark was at least no kittypet, at least still capable of hunting and providing… Would Silverpaw? She looks past both of them as if they were air, shunning them.

Her daughter’s presence is welcomed even if she doesn’t outwardly react to it. She lets the blue kitten brush against her legs as Strawpaw gives a thank you to Soot for her prey offering. Nodding her head, she leans forward and finally picks out a thrush. Scrawny thing, but it’d be enough, her appetite was small.

”If your food moves it either just died or needs to be killed.” Rabbits plenty of times have lashed out at her from the dead, she typically just stood clear for a few moments and groomed herself till the random spasms stopped. ”You don’t eat moving food. Ensure it’s dead, then eat it.” Seems a cat even as morally skewed as Sootstar did not approve of torturing prey any longer than needed. Strawpaw’s talk of bugs sound silly but she doesn’t think much of it past silly apprentice talk.

57376414_z9vtUtAYThkuXA6.png

( primary character / "speech" / ic opinions )

57376371_qgIErNkkmbCZArJ_6.png
╰ ★ ჻ 001 GENERAL INFORMATION ,
· SOOTSTAR, female — she / her
╰ ‣ 37 moons . pisces. ages on the first
╰ ‣ windclan leader . marsh-born . believes in starclan
╰ ‣ former soldier of the marsh group

57376371_qgIErNkkmbCZArJ_3.png
╰ ★ ჻ 002 VISUALS & AESTHETICS ,
· DOMESTIC FELINE, smells like heather and wet dirt , status — 100%
╰ ‣ blue smoke . scarred chest, difficult to see through fur . green eyes


57376371_qgIErNkkmbCZArJ_4.png
╰ ★ ჻ 003 MENTALITY & MANNERISMS ,
· ESTJ-A ❝ EXECTUTIVE ❞ , Slytherin, Lawful Evil
╰ ‣ Cunning, brash, fierce, confident, self-reliant, envious & selfish
╰ ‣ finds great difficulty in relating to others . can be cruel, usually shows mercy to those she can find sympathy with
╰ ‣ sole key to her heart is loyalty, if you have her trust, she often shows a completely different side of herself. Aggression tends to manifest from her extreme paranoia
╰ ‣ Appreciates titles such as "miss, m'am" etc

57376371_qgIErNkkmbCZArJ_5.png
╰ ★ ჻ 004 INTERACTIONS & RELATIONSHIPS ,
· SOOT CLAW x PEBBLE BREEZE, sister to Pebblenose
╰ ‣ heterosexual. mate to Weaselclaw
╰ ‣ mother to Windstrider, Sootchaser, Moorkit, Adderkit, Harrierkit, Bluekit & Cottonkit
╰ ‣ mentor to Smokepaw
╰ ‣ average fighter . skilled hunter .
╰ ‣ will start fights . unlikely to flee .
╰ ‣ attack in underline . penned by user @ava.
 
It was nice to see Strawpaw again! It felt as if it had been a while, though time in leaf-bare always felt a little ... slippery, perhaps. The weak winter sun, the frozen mud, the dead grass, the sharp-toothed gusts: they melded together in an endless rotation of tiny seasonal miseries and, sometimes, joys. Nevertheless, he was pretty confident it had been a moon or so since he had spotted the slightly strange apprentice around, and he felt a smile unfurl on his face upon spotting their splotched coat. With a small mrow of greeting to the group at large, Badgermoon padded over and attempted to brush his tail against Wormtail's apprentice's foreleg in friendly greeting before reclining on his haunches. They were talking about ... moving prey? "Would be an awful lot easier if they didn't move in the first place...though I suppose I'd be out of a job in that case." he gave a little chuckle, trying to ignore the enticing scents of meat and blood - it was not time for him to eat yet, and he knew it, despite the increasingly noisy voice of hunger in his gut.
 

A bunch of other faces wandered over- Badgermoon, Silverpaw, Bluekit. He sang their names in his head, sweetened song, glad to greet friends- and children of friends. For a moment his gaze bore like silver flame down upon Sootstar's daughter, her question eliciting a sharp laugh from between his fangs. Kittens- curious and oh-so-idiotic and so very entertaining, asking if they could eat moving food! It was a good thing cats were not like some insects, dying right after they gave birth... their species would have gone extinct years past! "Might have maggots in it, too- if it moves. And they'll live in your stomach! You don't want that," he hummed joyfully, as if such a disgusting happenstance would be some wonderful oddity. He meant his warning, at least.

In a lightning-quick movement his attention snapped back up to Strawpaw, pupils dashing between the fresh kill pile and the apprentice sat in front of it. Badgermoon's small quip caught him completely off guard, and he doubled over all of a sudden as if the deputy had struck him, crouching where he sat from the rippled of laughter moving through his lungs. "HAH- oh, imagine! We'd hah-have fresh kill coming out our ears!" Hysterics overtook him then- bullet-fire cackling, borne from even the smallest of jokes.
PENNED BY PIN