- Jun 7, 2022
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╭── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╮
His paws are sore, claws filthy and black from soil upturned. Morningbird had stayed with him as Churrodream and Quillpaw had returned to camp, the little blind, bitten-eared kit in tow, and the two toms had worked in silence to dig a grave for the kit's deceased mother.
How long, he had thought, nose-blind to the stench of rotten flesh, had he been cuddled up to this corpse? How long had she been dead? It had not happened within the last day or so, that was certain. The flies were horrific, clouds that still fought to claim their prize even as pawfuls of earth were flung onto her pelt.
How had the kit survived, being eaten alive as though he were crowfood himself? Though he hardly looks alive, with those raw ears, crusted, unseeing green eyes, missing fur. Blazestar thinks the kit must have escaped death by scavenging those insects he'd been attempting to feed his mother at Churrodream's arrival.
Scavenging. Cats don't scavenge, traditionally, unless they're rogues on the brink of starvation. Certainly not kits -- kits turn belly-up, bereft of milk and meat, and die within days where a grown cat could survive a moon or more.
It's admirable, but it's also terribly sad. Blazestar thanks the stars Churrodream had found the little scrap. Who knows how long he'd had left -- especially with the creeping cold, the snows that would come soon.
He arrives again at camp, exhausted and with a grim expression. He ignores the fresh-kill pile, the curious eyes of his Clanmates, and pads straight to Dawnglare's den. He hopes there's no strange plague they cannot see -- why else would the flies feed off of him, as though he were roadkill himself?
"Is he okay?" He murmurs to the medicine cat, to Churrodream. "He seems stronger than he should, doesn't he?"
His eyes flash, briefly, before returning to their dull and sad slate-blue. A name, a Clan name, for the little kit who has defied all odds. He says, "From this day forward, little one, we will call you Vulturekit, for your black pelt and your resourcefulness. May your arrival in SkyClan be a rebirth."
He reaches to touch his nose to Churrodream's flank, gratefulness in the creaky gesture. "Don't forget your warrior duties, but you may check in on him as he recovers. It seems he trusts you already." He turns back to Vulturekit and mews, voice feather-soft, "Welcome to SkyClan, Vulturekit."
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@DAWNGLARE @churrodream @INSERT NAME