- Dec 28, 2023
- 70
- 31
- 18
*+:｡.｡ Did he know?
Sharp sunlight breached the dark of his sealed eyelids, turning the peaceful dark into a frightening red. He tried to ignore it by throwing a paw over his face, but the movement was enough to remind him that there was no take-backs when you wake. With a heavy sigh, the young man would rub a paw down his cheek, unraveling the carefully groomed tuft of fur on his head. That's going to be a bitch to tend to he thinks to himself absently. He decides not to bother.
Beneath the light that filtered sparsely through newleaf's freshly grown green canopy, Orchidpaw looks dull. His fur sticks to his sides as he stretches, risking a sprain or two as he leans precariously over the tree branch he's been sleeping in since...ah, it feels almost like a whole moon! His muscles ache to a tune that goes deeper than stiff muscles would imply, but he ignores it as he coils his hind legs to his belly, marks a landing spot on the ground below with his eyes, and then leaps.
As he falls, ground rushing towards him and wind buffeting his ears, he wonders, again, if he'd told Ashenclaw -
Thump, hits the ground on delicate paws and there he stays, crouched, as the silence answers his endless cacophony of the question.
He doesn't recall getting up and walking, but onward he goes, with slow steps back to camp. Each step is intended to be carefully placed and thought out, lest he arrive...home...too early. He wasn't in the mood. He hadn't been in the mood since he stumbled back home to find his entire family wailing over the corpse of their father. Corpse. Last he'd seen Ashenclaw, they had smiled at each other from a distance - perhaps cheekily on 'Chids part - as he snuck away yet again to avoid his duties and sleep atop the boughs of his favorite trees.
He'd snoozed away the day, and his dad had died.
Now, Orchidpaw walked like he was in a dream. Grief did not show itself so obviously on his face - not when his hazel eyes still glittered, he still smiled, still laughed as warriors threatened to tell Orangestar about his behavior as he bounded out and away from every assigned patrol and chore. But it was in how he walked, seemingly lost in thought until he was "woken" by someone speaking to him or bumping into them. He walked as if there was no point in running. This was a dream, wasn't it? And running will keep you stuck in that one spot. Forced to watch. Over, and over, as your dad is laid to rest and your siblings sob over his body and all you can think is-
Did I tell him I loved him?
Orchidpaw bit his tongue when suddenly, he slammed into a cat exiting camp. Before they could shout at him for 'not paying attention', Orchidpaw would purr, "Hey, do you think that when slugs dream, do they run faster, or slower? What does slower even mean for a slug?" He made his body shiver dramatically to emphasize his disgust, "y'know what? Never mind! Slugs are too filthy to keep long in the mindscape!" he pats the cat's head with his tail before proceeding along, hoping his amicable dialogue will help his escape from any consequences as he asked, "Did Twitchbolt assign patrols yet? More importantly, did the hunting patrols return?" he licked his lips despite fully being aware that prey tasted like grass to him as of late, "I could use something to eat"
Sharp sunlight breached the dark of his sealed eyelids, turning the peaceful dark into a frightening red. He tried to ignore it by throwing a paw over his face, but the movement was enough to remind him that there was no take-backs when you wake. With a heavy sigh, the young man would rub a paw down his cheek, unraveling the carefully groomed tuft of fur on his head. That's going to be a bitch to tend to he thinks to himself absently. He decides not to bother.
Beneath the light that filtered sparsely through newleaf's freshly grown green canopy, Orchidpaw looks dull. His fur sticks to his sides as he stretches, risking a sprain or two as he leans precariously over the tree branch he's been sleeping in since...ah, it feels almost like a whole moon! His muscles ache to a tune that goes deeper than stiff muscles would imply, but he ignores it as he coils his hind legs to his belly, marks a landing spot on the ground below with his eyes, and then leaps.
As he falls, ground rushing towards him and wind buffeting his ears, he wonders, again, if he'd told Ashenclaw -
Thump, hits the ground on delicate paws and there he stays, crouched, as the silence answers his endless cacophony of the question.
He doesn't recall getting up and walking, but onward he goes, with slow steps back to camp. Each step is intended to be carefully placed and thought out, lest he arrive...home...too early. He wasn't in the mood. He hadn't been in the mood since he stumbled back home to find his entire family wailing over the corpse of their father. Corpse. Last he'd seen Ashenclaw, they had smiled at each other from a distance - perhaps cheekily on 'Chids part - as he snuck away yet again to avoid his duties and sleep atop the boughs of his favorite trees.
He'd snoozed away the day, and his dad had died.
Now, Orchidpaw walked like he was in a dream. Grief did not show itself so obviously on his face - not when his hazel eyes still glittered, he still smiled, still laughed as warriors threatened to tell Orangestar about his behavior as he bounded out and away from every assigned patrol and chore. But it was in how he walked, seemingly lost in thought until he was "woken" by someone speaking to him or bumping into them. He walked as if there was no point in running. This was a dream, wasn't it? And running will keep you stuck in that one spot. Forced to watch. Over, and over, as your dad is laid to rest and your siblings sob over his body and all you can think is-
Did I tell him I loved him?
Orchidpaw bit his tongue when suddenly, he slammed into a cat exiting camp. Before they could shout at him for 'not paying attention', Orchidpaw would purr, "Hey, do you think that when slugs dream, do they run faster, or slower? What does slower even mean for a slug?" He made his body shiver dramatically to emphasize his disgust, "y'know what? Never mind! Slugs are too filthy to keep long in the mindscape!" he pats the cat's head with his tail before proceeding along, hoping his amicable dialogue will help his escape from any consequences as he asked, "Did Twitchbolt assign patrols yet? More importantly, did the hunting patrols return?" he licked his lips despite fully being aware that prey tasted like grass to him as of late, "I could use something to eat"
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//feel free to be the cat he babbles to <3
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GENERAL:
♔ Orchidpaw
♔ DFAB— He/Him — Unsure
♔ 11 moons — Ages 1 moon every month 28th
♔ Skyclan — Apprentice
♔ Son of Orangeblossom and Ashenclaw
♔ Brother to Cherrypaw, Eggpaw, Glimmerpaw
COMBAT:
♔Physically medium | mentally medium
♔ Attack in bold #bf8924
injuries: None currently
