camp SING TO ME - frog in camp

[Starlingheart]

The medicine cats den is awfully boring. Sometimes she watches as Bonejaw sorts herbs but mostly she does a lot of sleeping. Sleeping to heal, to get better. The wound is a constant reminder of all her failures and the dull ache beats it into her. You're not enough and everybody knows it says over and over again. She does her best to ignore it, the intrusive thoughts, but when there was nothing at all to distract her mind it proved to be difficult to think of anything else at all. She reaches out with one paw and toys with the moss she lays on top of. This nest is unfamiliar, strange, and distant from the gray-furred pelt she was slowly getting more and more used to waking up next to every day. Idly she wonders how his training was going, how much better than her he would be when she finally got to join in again. She feels bitter resentment at the thought, just another inadequacy she could never even begin to hope to fix.

A loud sigh escapes her jaws as she pushes herself to her paws, she could at least sit outside of the medicine cat's den right? She didn't quite want to be trapped in here all day and night for weeks on end. The black and white molly emerges and settles down on the marshy ground below her, tucking her feet under her body and watching the goings-on of the clan with jealous eyes.

She is not idling for long when she hears a strange chirping noise. Instantly, her head snaps in its direction, and to her absolute amusement, she sees a frog. It looks back at her with small beady eyes. The creature is too small to eat, otherwise, she would spear it right then and there and add it to the fresh kill pile. Instead, she smiles at it like it's a friend. "H-he-he-hey th-th-there-there" she coos at it gently "C-c-co-co-come t-t-to k-keeep m-me me co-comp-c-c-comp-company?" she asks it.
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[MINKPAW]

starlingpaw has found a friend. unfortunately for her, minkpaw has also found her friend.

"HOLY- HOLY SHHHH-SHIT!" the response is instantaneous, bursting forth from minkpaw's mouth before he could even try to stop it. "it'sss, it'sss a fff-fuh-fuckin' fff-fuh-frog! right, right in cuh-camp!" it's clear that the young tom is... fascinated by this idea. that prey would willingly wander right into the camp filled with the cats who eat them! maybe it's because it's a dumb little baby frog? it looks like a baby; it's not even worth catching, it's so small! "sss-stuh, ssstupid fff-fuh-frog! right, right in th-the... cuh-camp!"

with his excited screeching out of the way, minkpaw blinks down at starlingpaw, face scrunching up in an involuntary scowl before it goes lax again. "why, why are, are you mmm-akin' fff-fuh-friends with, with, fff-fuh-frogs? the-they're, they're just guh-gonna be, be eaten! the-then, then you'll be all, a-lone uh-gain." his head snaps backwards, as if he's been stung, and then he's leaning forwards again. frogs would make horrible friends, minkpaw thinks. all they do is croak and hop around and get eaten. not friend material, at all.​

 

[Halfshade]

What happened to Starlingpaw had given her a bit of a scare! Halfshade found her eyes drifting across the camp in a silent tally of their youth since then, noting those who left alone and those who didn't and encouraging others to stick to pairs. If Granitepaw had not been there she wondered if the little bird would have made it back to camp as she had, the thought was almost stifling in its unease and she brushed it away with a flick of her tail and rise of her paws. The bicolor queen had spotted the frog as well at a distance, curiously wondering if they did not know how to smell, because she certainly wouldn't have wandered into such a place where the corpses of its kin lay in a pile and the killers roamed about with ease. She considered the life of a frog briefly, droll and damp and not much going on in their heads if you asked her, but the sound of the wounded apprentice chirping her stuttery little song for it had he wonder if perhaps they had their uses otherwise. What was the harm in it really?
Minkpaw, she hears, also noticed the frog, and though his words were true (it was prey after all) if it brought comfort no matter how brief then perhaps it was worth the time and effort to go and fetch it for the girl. Her walk is a confident strut to the tiny creature and for a moment when she dips her head above it it seems as if she's preparing to make it a meal, but instead she is padding to the den; squirming creature in her mouth quite unpleasant, and gently setting it down and out of her maw with a push of a tongue and shake of her head where she watches it immediately leap and stick itself onto the ground near Starlingpaw's paws. "I can not even begin to guess how one might keep such a creature!" She gives a laugh, bell-like and high, "But here you are dear, little morsel companion for you." Her mismatched gaze moves to Minkpaw but not unkindly; he is a little harder to understand than the molly apprentice's stammering but she strains her ears and does her best. "Even so, even temporary things are worth enjoying! Don't you think, little mink?"

​

 

[† rookwhisper]

❝  There are some things in life that are bitter reminders. He watches the frog as it hops, as the others watch it with fascination and warmth. They were awed– he was hungry. His stomach rumbles softly, even with the stringy, squishy taste of frog haunting his maw from the distance he stands at. Minkpaw was right, it would seem. What good was a friend when they would get eaten? (What good was a life, when it had to end?) He sighs, nothing more than a ghost of breath. Even a small bite of prey was better than nothing, even a speedy loss was better than a moment of friendship. It would be easier to simply swipe the frog from their grasps and teach them the miseries of cavorting with prey, but instead Rookwhisper sinks slowly to his belly near the gathering of cats and observes the creature for himself. "You do not have to rely on a frog," he rasps. "We are still here."

Slowly, the bisected feline extends his white paw towards the beast. He doesn't touch it, nor does he shoo it off, but he realizes how small it is that way. Fragile. Like Starlingpaw, he thinks. Hm.

†  ooc notes information †

• 
  ooc: —
• rookwhisper. named for his dark pelt and quiet voice.
  ──── uses he - him, will accept they - them or it - its.
  ──── around four years old.  a warrior of shadowclan.
  ──── single; sexuality unknown. presumably pansexual.
  
  a tall black smoke tabby with high white mapping the entire right side of his body. though his fur is thick and dense, it covers a rather lean, nearly gaunt physique that suits him despite its typical discomfort. his right eye is blue, while his left is a warm orange.
• "speech"

​

 

[GRANITEPELT]

╭── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╮​

Granitepaw sees the small gathering of cats around the medicine cat den, and his fur begins to bristle. Why are they all talking to her, as if they care? His ears flatten. He knows better. He knows his Clanmates are all superficial, prattling on at Starlingpaw when they don't care about anyone but themselves.

He leaps to his paws, brow furrowed. Almost as an afterthought, he grabs a frog from the fresh-kill pile and stalks his way toward Starlingpaw.

He glares at Minkpaw in particular. What he finds almost endearing in Starlingpaw he finds incredibly annoying in the tom. He drops the frog at his friend's paws and says, "She'll never be alone. She has me." He gives the other cat a challenging look before shifting his gaze to Halfshade and Rookwhisper. Liars. Liars, both of them, but he tries to hide his disdain by snapping back to Starlingpaw.

"Brought you one you can eat, so you can keep the... the pet." He'd never play with a frog, but if it makes her happy, he supposes he'll allow it.

- ,,​

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[Starlingheart]

She turns her attention to Minkpaw as he speaks to her in a speech not dissimilar to her own, though he uses far more obscenities than she would care to. It makes her wrinkle her nose in distaste but she says nothing, only frowns at his suggestion that the frog is something to be eaten, at that she would be alone again once it died. Starlingpaw was no stranger to the concept, she knew everything came to an end, and that death was an inevitable part of life. It had been a cruel lesson she had learned too early.

Halfshade is more compassionate than Minkpaw, she brings the tiny creature closer to her and Starlingpaw shoots her a smile that only tugs at one side of her mouth. "T-tha-thank-thank y-y-you you Ha-Ha-Half-Halfsh-sha-shade" She says and reaches out to herd the frog closer to her with a white tipped paw before another cat can come closer and suggest she eat it. She had no plans of keeping it either. Perhaps she would release the creature outside of camp when no one else was watching. For now, though, she looks down at it, amused by its sing-song voice.

When Rookwhisper speaks it surprises her, he tells her they are still here for her and she nearly starts tearing up, looking around at the faces that surround her. She chokes them back though, she did not want to look like a baby in front of so many grown-ups. She is about to say something when Granitepaw appears. She knows the gray tom possesses a sharp tongue, but he always seemed to know what to say to her to make her feel better, and she knew deep down, he had her best intentions at heart. Perhaps he was just misunderstood. "I-I-I a-am am p-pretty-pretty h-hu-hu-hungry" she admits, eyeing the frog clutched between her fellow apprentice's jaws "D-d-do y-y-you wa-want want t-t-t-too do -y-you you w-wan want- want to sh-sh-share?" she asks him with a hopeful voice. It would be nice to share a meal with him, perhaps he could even help catch her up on all the training she was missing

// , ]
\[[[[[[[kj <-- moose wanted to help write my post
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[✧ Siltcloud.]

TO FAR AWAY TO HOLD ME​

siltpaw | 06 months | female | she/her | physically easy | mentally easy | attack in bold #ddadaf​

---

Silt doesn't understand why everyone seems so focused on the tiny frog. Sure, its small, but she finds it ugly - just another slimy creature to become prey. But she doesn't say anything, never does - only trailing behind her brother like a good little tag-a-long. She hums absently in agreement, whether it's truthful or not, and watches it with dull green eyes. It looks breakable, squishable. As though one well-aimed claw could pierce it and that'd be the end of it. She wonders if thats what she looks like.