private she's knocking at my door 〰 lupinesong

[edenberry ?!]

Patience seems a fleeting thing more than ever now... every mewl and demand for attention or play or food makes their fur stand on end anxiously. Their cries bring tears to their own eyes, bubbling with overwhelm the moment they squeak in protest or dismay. It is too much, so much... and nothing like what little silly moments they'd shared with kittens in the nursery had been. They can never have a break, a moment of silence or peace or solitude... It is a uniquely difficult change to swallow and one they stumble through with wild tide emotions. A pawing at their hindleg as they rise to stretch their legs for the first time that day is enough to make them prickle with frustrated misery- "Please," they plead gently, pressing their nose stubbornly against the side of a whining face, "Just a moment, just a moment- I'll be back, please just a moment."

They tear themself away from the makeshift nest of their Twoleg's fashioning, high walled to prevent their unsupervised escape but not soundproofed to prevent their sniffling from carrying across empty rooms.

They think to get something to eat, to drink some water as their mouth becomes painfully parched, but a shadow near the window attracts their attention- it feels too early for Spicepaw to be home and Hazelbeam is nestled comfortably on their owner's bed, content to enjoy her own freedom since these kits were decidedly not her responsibility (not that she never helped, of course). Big-eared head tilts curiously as a wisp of smoke passes by, stealing some of the sunlight that pours into their home. It is a glimmer of familiar, prying eyes that sends their heart soaring with eager relief for a moment, even two... before the daunting, squeaking reminder of why they're hidden here says that they should be afraid instead. Glancing back to be sure no eager paws have learned to abandon their nest, Edenberry wonders briefly if they can make this work...

Just a moment with a friend, sorely missed... Just a moment. Please, just a moment.

Clambering onto the countertops in a desperate effort to feel like more than a body meant to serve others, they approach the shining pane, left cracked barely open for their escapades to SkyClan to be made easily. "Lu-... Lupine?" They stifle a nervous cough, reminded of the tale they've convinced their little sister to share to hide behind. "What.... What are you doing here?"

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𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊 〰 i can still hear you sing

• @LUPINESONG
• -- edenberry / skyclan daylight warrior / any pronouns / 15 moons
  -- mostly white with black pinstripe and green eyes / scarred face and back / thinning where previously plump
  -- color #728c69​

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[LUPINESONG]

❀‿ Lupinesong’s heart hammered as she skulked and slinked through the foreign stone-floored territory of the twolegplace. She has never… broken a rule like this, it felt awful, especially knowing how scary the twolegplace had been lately. She nearly turned back multiple times, the rumble of monsters and their choking stink overwhelming the forest-born warrior enough that she nearly gagged as she moved through the shrubbery. Clan cats so often ran their mouths about the softness of kittypets, but upon witnessing all the harsh lines and commotion of the place they made their dens every night… Skyclan’s daylight-warriors had much more mental fortitude than she did, surely.

Finally, it seemed she arrived at the correct den.. If such a structure could be called that. It was as tall as a tree and ten times as daunting, made of stone as well, it seemed. She hoped her nose had not done her wrong today, she thought Spicepaw’s scent left by her daily commute should have offered her a straightforward enough trail to follow, combined with her… casual interrogations of some daylighters of whereabouts Hazelbeam, Edenberry, and Spicepaw’s nest was.

She was still breathless and wracked with nerves when she poked around the twoleg nest, finding some silly comfort in jumping up on a wooden ledge as she whispered toward no one, ”...Are you in there?” The ledge sat in front of a clear sort of rock wall, a small opening washing cat-and-twoleg scent out from the inside of the den. She peered through it, trying to get a glimpse of her friend, or anyone at all really.

And appear they did. Bedraggled and exhausted at her first glance, seeing Edenberry, even if they were obviously sick, brought a small smile to Lupinesong’s face. Of course, though, they ask what she’s doing there, and she is in turn washed with an awful feeling. She’d made all this effort to get here… why was she there?

”W-well I wanted to come check on you… You’ve been gone for more than a moon and that’s, like, a long time to be sick. I know cause, like, when I had yellowcough it lasted that long and I think Falcongaze was out with it for like two moons and he almost died…” She stammers through the explanation, feeling more guilty than she ought to, she thinks. Or maybe she should feel worse, actually. What if they were really dying and she…

Well, they looked well enough to walk around and talk to her now, didn’t they? ”But you’re not going to die,” she says, factually. She knew what getting sick enough to die looked like. Their coughing was enough to keep her sobered, though, ”It must have been tiring, though, huh…” Almost as tiring as having to sneak around their own clan like a rogue… ”I wish I could stay in my nest as long as I wanted without, like, Dawnglare kicking me out to go back on patrols as soon as possible.” That’d be nice.

”I just like, uhm, I wanted to ask you… Because like, I know you haven’t talked to Cher in a while, but you used to talk a lot, right? ‘Cause you’re padding after each other, and I know when Falcongaze and I were really good we, like, told each other everything.” Lupinesong kept talking, and she almost felt convinced herself of everything that came out of her mouth, ”She’s, like, upset about something. And I thought it was just deputy stuff, because you know that’s so stressful on her lately, but then she told me it was something she had to tell you. So, obviously, I thought that if anyone would have any idea… it’d be you.” If Lupinesong had been watching the couple as closely as she thought she was, she knew that even before Edenberry had gotten sick, they hardly spoke to Cherryblossom. Not like she did.

It didn’t feel good to lie, but her unfortunate parting with Falcongaze was… enlightening. It’d be so sad to see another pitiable, overdue breakup happen in front of the entire clan… If it took a bit of prodding to get the two of them to stop dragging out their silly little padding-aftership, it would be better for everyone involved. It’d save a lot of wasted time, that was for sure.

She twitches an ear at the soft sound of something... catlike coming from behind Edenberry, but doesn't think much about anything outside her current... goal. ”Uhm, anyways… When did you say you’re returning to Skyclan, again?”

LOVE ME MORE, ⊹₊°❀‿ LOVE ENOUGH TO DROWN ME OUT.

• OOC:
• 
• 
  — lupinekit . lupinepaw . lupinesong
  — trans she/her. 16mo warrior of skyclan. formerly mentored by dandelionwish, mentoring stormpaw, single
  — bobbie x duke. littermate to crowsight & drowsynose. older half-sister of hollykit, lionkit, and candorkit
  — a tall, pretty, long-haired black smoke with low white and green eyes
  — smells like sweet lupine flowers and young pine needles
  — "speech", thoughts, attack
  — fullbody by pikaihao and funnyguy by pin
  — penned by eezy

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[edenberry ?!]

It's so sweet.... it's so sweet and mostly, surprising that one of the clan-born would make their way all the way out here just to check on them. Lupinesong's concern feels undeserved... and for half a second, their ears drop at the suffocating guilt that constricts in their belly. They'd genuinely caused their friends to be fearful on their behalf... because they'd made a mess that required lies to clean back up. Hopefully Spicepaw hadn't gone too far, exaggerating it to the point of death being on the menu.

They didn't consider that with yellowcough in the minds of so many, that this extended stay at home might seem far more sinister, especially knowing what great talents Twoleg medicine cats had that should make the process of healing swifter. "O-oh, yeah..." Their gaze flicks towards the grass that shifts behind and below their friend, "It's not bad," they proceed, already floundering in how to maintain the story that has been shared. "It's just really... persistent... I don't want to give it to anyone else."

The smoky she-cat declares that Edenberry is not dying, despite the longevity of their 'sickness' and they nod in earnest, nearly flinching as she explains her jealousy to just sit around and be bored. The bob-tail resists the urge to glance back at the toddling kittens that consume all their time, that make them feel stir-crazy with their unrelenting needs and demands.

Easy...

If only Lupinesong knew the half of it.

Their brows pinch as an insincere, apologetic smile forms on their face, "I wish you could have a break too," they offer before the subject of Cherryblossom comes about with sharpened focus. Their chest seizes with an uncomfortable pain, "When.... you and Falcongaze..... were? That was certainly a detail that Spicepaw had left out... or had Edenberry not noticed it just before they left, discounting it as a lover's spat that the two so often got into? Were they a bad friend?

"A-ah uhm.... She... she needs to talk to me?" Paranoia nips at the tips of their toes and they grow more anxious as an impatient squeal threatens to blow their cover- they clear their throat loudly to try to mask it, bringing a paw to their mouth to feign a restrained cough (badly).

"I... I might know what it's about...." they respond, "It's just bad timing... I promised I'd visit her early in the morning after the thunder storms and I... got too sick to make it back out there." Yeah... that sounded fair right...? Lupinesong probably knew how much her friend hated the roar of those storms at night... It seemed like a reasonable enough truth, even if maybe it wasn't. Does she know...?

The silence stretches between them and they swear they see their friend's ears shift as more pitiful whines come from deeper inside their house.... But if she notices it, she doesn't say so aloud. Instead, she just asks after their expected return date...

"I'm hoping it'll be soon! I've... been feeling better and better. I don't think my Twoleg will be happy with her medicine cat if I'm still sick for another two moons..."

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𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊 〰 i can still hear you sing

• -- edenberry / skyclan daylight warrior / any pronouns / 15 moons
  -- mostly white with black pinstripe and green eyes / scarred face and back
  -- color #728c69​

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