pafp SCENE OF THE CRIME ⛧ whodunnit !

˚₊‧ ⛧ The pit of the mire drones its orchestral hum, a perpetual ribbiting of the hundreds of frogs that spawned seemingly overnight played the score. The stage? Shadowclan camp. The curtains sweep open and thus begins our mystery...

The cats of Shadowclan were finally on the other side of a long leafbare — which was of course preceded by a longer leaf-fall, one bursting at the seems with many a tragic tale to be told. Newleaf brought upon them new life, most notably that of the amphibian nature, and each and every Shadowclanner enjoyed themselves full bellies and a stocked freshkill pile. Twilight settles upon the camp, its inhabitants relaxed and winding down for the evening. This is including one Applepaw, who is positioned in a serene, round, unguarded loaf and appears to be having a bit of a cat-nap. She, and apparently those within the immediate vicinity, are entirely unprepared for the attack that is about to occur.

One toad, lacking in wit but abundant in spirit, hops out into camp from the confines of the briar wall with a heavy, steady PLOP... PLOP... PLOP... It seems to ellude the attention of the full-bellied predators for the most part. There is one that watches with a keen eye, yet he makes no move to catch it. Time moves both at a snails-pace and at lightning speed, but in a blink of an eye...

SMACK!!!

The sound echoes through the hollow, and in that moment, Applepaw has fallen victim to the most violent, unprovoked toad-to-the-face. The watcher, who had seen the toad and tracked its movements since its entry into the scene, speaks.

"That toad just jumped at you all on its own. I didn't throw it at your face, I promise," testifies the witness, monotonously and with a smirk painted on his face. What a tragedy, indeed, for a cat to be betrayed by one of her closest of kin, for her to be so callously assailed by someone she had shared a womb with. Surely a brother would not do such a thing to a sister, right?

HE WAS INNOCENT!!

... Or was he?

  • OOC: OUR VICTIM!! @APPLEPAW
  • 29y3n1.png
  • ashenkit . ashenpaw
    — ftm transmasc. he/him. 12mo apprentice of shadowclan. mentored by smogmaw
    — muted blue torbie w/ pale blue and amber eyes
    — smells of rainsoaked fern and swamp milkweed
    all ic opinions!
    — “speech”, thoughts, attack
    — pfp by meg , fullbody by antiigone, sticker by saturnid
    — penned by eezy
 
What a fool she had been, to let her guard down within the confines of their very own camp. The safety that it truly offered them was exaggerated at best, after all. Even as she had things to look forward to— her warrior name, for one— she had just as much to worry about. Perhaps it is an error on her part to allow her eyes to slip shut on a less-than-dreary day... resting them, she'd say, even if the call to sleep was a tempting one. She could not afford to be so much like her sister, though, lolling he head when there were things to be done. Just for a little while, just this once...

Wet, sticky toes smother her, startling her to alertness with an undignified yowl of surprise. She surges upward, claws unsheathed to defend herself against the oncoming attack: but the attack is just one, sickly green, warty toad. One that slides from her nose with a pathetic plop once it is jostled. To Ashenpaw, its slide would reveal ruffled tortoiseshell fur, a twitching orange eye, and the scowl of a soon-to-be warrior that had already groomed herself once today. To Applepaw, its slide would reveal one of the many banes of her existence.

Mismatched eyes narrow into a dull, scruffy, mirror of herself. " You, " spat with authentic (but somehow childlike) venom. A large paw quickly finds Ashenpaw's weapon of choice and squelches down on it quickly in preparation of a counterattack. That toad just jumped at you all on its own. I didn't throw it at your face, I promise. Hardly believable. If this could somehow be proven, this toad would be dinner. If not, Ashenpaw would soon be smothered by it, as well as a mouthful of mud to follow up.

// OOC: SORRY THIS IS SOO LATE
 
Snowypaw admittedly doesn't pay mind to the inner turmoil of her denmates. She still holds dearly onto her own personal upset, after all, that she's had to move out of the nursery into the crammed and unloved apprentice den. Her disappointed energy, whenever she holds fast to it, fits well into her 'sad, sad' circumstance rather than the troubles between siblings. And so, when she hears Ashenpaw relinquish his part in whatever the toad had done to Applepaw, she grows confused yet curious. Applepaw's response, (a distasteful and vengeful you,) only spurs Snowypaw to become involved - in the crowd watching, at least.

"Oooh," she trills, leaning into whoever decided sitting next to her would be okay. "D'ya think they're gonna fight? Oooh, d'ya think they'll throw the- the- frog back and forth? Like a- like a food fight??" There's a law against food-fights, she's almost sure, but is it illegal if the prey is still alive? Then again, Applepaw's forepaw seems to have squished the toad pretty bad, so she almost doesn't believe the thing to be breathing anymore... or edible, even.​
 

[ ༻❄༺ ] Snowpaw had nothing akin to a sibling, the only one close to such thing would be Basilpaw but that was it, so seeing Ashenpaw claim to not of thrown the toad and Applepaw prepping to counterattack her own sibling made the young apprentice hum before finding a spot next to Snowypaw while yellow gaze land onto the littermates.

"I guess we'll see soon enough" she stated calmly before settling herself down while keeping a close eye on the siblings. Did cats with kin fight like this all the time, and did Ashenpaw truly thew the nasty toad at the face of the very serious Applepaw? Those question lingered in the mind of Snowpaw while they watch the potential fight break out. Perhaps they should...get something to eat, might as well if they're just gonna watch.

  • "speak""Thoughts"
  • Snowpaw He/Him, apprentice of Shadowclan, 8 moons.
    Lithe long hair blue lynx sepia with high white, and yellow eyes. Stubby tail, permanent resting bitch face
    Hailfreckle x Mudsplash
    peaceful and healing powerplay permitted (ask first) / / underline and tag when attacking
    see battle info here
    penned by Ryn@/Rynnaro on discord, feel free to dm for plots.

 
˚₊‧ ⛧ Ashenpaw can't help but snicker at the slow (yet over much too soon) sliding descent of the toad from Applepaw's face, and perhaps this indicates a slip of his paw in the alleged involvement of himself in her ambush to a paranoid porcupine of a cat such as his sister.

"You." she says with a scathing venom reserved only for the highest of kin-betrayals, and Ashenpaw puts on an affronted face at the sight of her snarl. "Do you not trust me, Applepaw...?" he gasps at the brawny, scathing mirror before himself. They were quite nearly twins, a fact that he knew would be more of a crushing blow to her ego than it would be to his.

"But my... weak little paws couldn't possibly lift such a fat frog! Look..." He reaches over to frailly bat at a nearby twig with a labored "...m..eh!" in a theatrical display of his lack of strength. If that wasn't convincing to her, he didn't know what would be.

He turns to blink slowly at the small audience they'd garnered to pose a question at the young minds of Shadowclan, "Did you guys see anything...?"

  • OOC:
  • 29y3n1.png
  • ashenkit . ashenpaw . ashenfall
    — ftm transmasc. he/him. 12mo warrior of shadowclan. formerly mentored by smogmaw
    — muted blue torbie w/ pale blue and amber eyes
    — smells of rainsoaked fern and swamp milkweed
    all ic opinions!
    — “speech”, thoughts, attack
    — pfp by meg, fullbody by antiigone, sticker by saturnid
    — penned by eezy
 
  • Angry
Reactions: APPLEJAW

⋆⁺₊ ☾ ⁺₊⋆  Swanpaw cannot help the languid smile that curls across her face at her siblings' antics. She watches with half-lidded eyes, tongue rasping across paw, which brushes carefully across her ears. She makes no move to get up and join her sister, nor her brother in his mischievous torments. Merely watches with amusement, offers a soft "Mm, they seem to be doing that a lot lately..." at Ashenpaw's justification.

There is a soft plop of the toad falling from Applepaw's face, and Swanpaw breathes a quiet laugh. She bristles so easily, puffed up like as though her brother had committed a terrible ill against her. Sure, Swanpaw certainly wouldn't enjoy suffering the same fate - but they doubt their reaction would be nearly as overblown, either. It's easy to deter teasing by simply reacting with blank stares and confused smiles.

Now, safe where she lies grooming herself, Swanpaw finally decides to weigh in. "Applepaw, I thought better of you..." They say, voice light as their sluggish gaze drifts from one sibling to the other. "To accuse our poor, delicate little brother? For shame..." A shake of their head punctuates it. They cannot help but to support poor, innocent Ashenpaw - if only to see if Applepaw's fur is capable of getting even more ruffled.


  • 81294824_mjXd5ejx6RrZPyn.png
  • SWANSONG ⋆⁺₊ ⁺₊⋆ she / they, warrior of shadowclan, thirteen moons.
    a pale, silky-furred cream tabby with droopy blue eyes.
    dreamy and detached, known for her perpetual sleepiness.
    halfshade x smogmaw, littermate to applejaw, garlicheart, & ashenfall.
    peaceful and healing powerplay permitted / / underline and tag when attacking
    penned by SATURNID ↛ saturnids on discord, feel free to dm for plots.