camp SLOW DANCE INTO A MOSH PIT [✦] escape attempt

[SCREECHSTORM]

The call of night traps him in the nursery once more. The den is silent - the usual squeals of kits replaced with soft, slumber-filled breaths. Everyone within the hollow is fast asleep. Everyone, that is, except for Screechkit.

Yes, he should be sleeping too, just as his siblings curled up beside him. He knows this. He feels the weight of exhaustion at the edges of split-green eyes, but still lays wide awake, his gaze pointed towards the nursery's entrance.

He could be exploring right now. He could be figuring out what lies beyond the pain-gifting brambles that keep him inside the camp. Instead, he lies here, waiting for sleep to beckon him forward. Screechkit doesn't think he can wait much longer, not when the nursery's entrance is calling for him instead.

Slowly, the sun-spotted kit rises to his paws. Careful not to tread on his siblings' tails, Screechkit makes an attempt to match the quiet atmosphere around him as he moves towards the hollow's mouth - though toddling legs nearly stumble over the form of another kit on the way out. He lets out a small squeak, eyes going wide for a moment as he looks around. Had he woken anyone up?

He isn't sure - the nursery doesn't seem to stir, doesn't seem to squeak back. Ears twitch at the sheer nothingness that responds before he's moving toward the nursery's entrance again.
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[APPLEJAW]

Applekit is a light sleeper. She has to be if she's going to be a good warrior. Someone will need to be up when a bear tries to barrel into their camp, or WindClan tries to attack them in the dead of night. When she's older, she'll be up at night lots anyways, but it's still a little annoying when its weird kits waking her up, and not important clan attacks. Her head lifts, and she thinks she can see the glint of something against the moonlight, but they're hard to see in the dark. " Is someone going somewhere? " she mews, squinting in hopes that it'd help her see who it is. Of course keeping her voice low, so she wouldn't wake her mother.

" Kits can't leave camp, " she reminds whoever it is. To be perfectly fair, maybe they only wanted a midnight snack or something, but she reminds them just in case. " You don't wanna get in trouble, " she adds a little more sternly. Though she supposes it's not really her problem if they do.​

 

[Wheattail]

When Wheatpaw had joined Shadowclan, the wanderer was under the impression she’d have ample time to plan a route back to her home before abandoning the group. Unfortunately for her, becoming an apprentice had thrown a wrench in those plans. Daylight was spent with her mentor doing chores (or, more often, doing her best to avoid them), so it seemed night would be she she-cat’s only solace. Wheatpaw was sitting near the nursery, her claw tracing errant lines in the dirt below as the wanderer tried to sort through piles of memories. However, it seemed Shadowclan had yet more annoyances up its sleeve.

Well, ‘annoyances’ may not have been the right word when it came to Wheatpaw. If asked, the wanderer would say it was completely coincidental that she was positioned with a perfect line of sight towards the nursery, amber eyes occasionally glancing towards its entrance as she worked. It would be one of the very few times her lies were easy to spot.

Yes, even though Wheatpaw would never admit it, she’d taken quite a shine to the cavalcade of kits that inhabited her new home. So, when sharp eyes sensed movement, she wasted no time in getting to her paws and padding forwards. If Screechkit were to continue his silent steps, he’d walk right into a pile of autumn-hued fur that had placed itself at the nursery’s entrance. In truth, Wheatpaw had no idea if the escapee was allowed to leave the nursery or not. Nevertheless, betting that Chilledstar would always go with the rule that allowed for the least amount of fun, the beauty turned herself into a barricade.

“Your friend is, unfortunately, correct” Wheatpaw whispered softly, with a slight smile towards Applekit. “But dreams can take you further than the edges of the forest, so I suggest you content yourself with those for now.” ​

 

[CHILLEDSTAR.]

DON'T YOU GIVE ME UP, PLEASE DON'T GIVE UP​

---

in truth, chilledstar would have felt more safe had kits not been allowed to leave the nursery. but with so many of them, even they needed a chance to stretch their legs and get away from each other. they couldn't imagine being so cramped up and full... they were training after their kithood, and it seemed like they barely remembered those nursery days. long before clans had even been thought to started, and they were simply two groups who hated each other more and more with every passing sun... either way... stretching was only allowed within the camp. no matter how cramped, outside was a dangerous world for those who didn't know how to find their way back. for those who couldn't fight, it left them to run, and many predators enjoyed the adrenaline that pumped through their preys' veins, and chilledstar refused to allowed this to happen to the kits within their clan.

they watch, applekit speaking first and wheatpaw next. hm. interesting, indeed. they half expected wheatpaw to offer to take both of them out and explore the world beyond the brambles, yet she didn't. maybe she was learning. or perhaps, she tired of hearing chilledstar snap at her. either way, if it kept her in line, chilledstar was okay with it.

"yes. it can be very dangerous outside. but, just this once, I can allow it. only outside the nursery and only where I can see you. you still will not leave camp until you're an apprentice, and have a mentor at your side. come, now. we can watch the stars."

hopefully it's enough to lull the kit back to sleep. they won't even go more than a few steps away from the nursery. just enough to see the night sky.
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[mottlefox]

"O-ho, we stargazing?" Mottlepaw's voice rings out, probably slightly too loud for the quiet of the evening, but they seem genuinely pleased as they trot past just in time to hear Chilledstar's offer to the kittens. Who's awake? He wonders, peering around them- but nods, content with the information she gleans when that look reveals Screechkit and Applekit. To the two older ShadowClanners, they hum a friendly noise, and settle next to Wheatpaw. "Gorgeous out tonight, don't you think? Nice and warm. Hunting weather."

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[.Wolfpaw]

Wolfkit stirred at the disturbance in the nursery, turning over across his siblings to see the some others exiting the nursery in bundles of fur, eyes wide with excitement at their escapade. Where are they going? He wondered, stumbling paws making their way to the exit to join them.

He wasn’t going for his own benefit— he was too sleepy, too warm in the nursery’s comfortable embrace to consciously want to go outside in the middle of the night— but his curiosity and his lack of awareness at what awaited in the shadows compelled him to make his fumbling paw steps to the outside world. The sight of the strange clan mates was weird to him. Why was he so small compared to them? He dwarfed the other kits his age, was the biggest one in his litter. Why was he the smallest of the clan?

This thought angered him, and his ears flicked back with a flip of his tail. He glared at the older warriors, the leader, and the apprentices, all the while they laid under the stars. He stomped over with his tail still flicking and his ears still flared to the side, rolling over to join them in their weird looking-at-the-sky thing, and gasped when his blurry eyes took in the pelt above him. "Wha’ are tho’e call’d?"
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walk "talk." thought​

penned by helly​

 

[Briarthorn]

BRIARKIT — hello, my old heart.
Being a light sleeper is both a blessing and a curse, a curse when her brothers kicks and sleep-laden mumblings wake her throughout the night, a blessing when Screechkits departure is quick to shake the she-kit awake, hazel eyes almost an electric green against the dim light when they snap open.
She carefully pries herself away from the still-sleeping Sweetkit before she is hot on her other littermates trail.
To her surprise, her brother had already caught the attention of apprentices, other kits, and Chilledstar.
"Screechkit, what are you doing?" The eldest sister grumbles, coming to her siblings side.
Chilledstar says they will allow Screechkits escapade this once, and beckons them to come watch the stars.
Briarkit gives her brother a sharp side-glance before nodding him forward with a light yawn.
Wolfkit stomps over, questioning what glimmered above them.
"They’re called stars, and we’re going to look at them." She answers, not quite sure what they would benefit from it, but the activity sounded better than having to drag Screechkit back to bed in front of everyone.
"speech"

tags​

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[SCREECHSTORM]

His plan falters before it can really come to fruition, a question breaking the silence he tries to keep. Screechkit's paws pause at the noise - as if staying still will make himself disappear into the shadows, will make Applekit go back to sleep so he can continue on his way. Still, she talks, placing unneeded reminders before him.

"I'm not," he says, blowing what little cover he'd had in the silence of the nursery's shadows. He's not leaving camp, because he won't make it that far now - not with other kits waking up. "I won't." Not unless Applekit tells on him to one of the queens. He'll make his way out and come back before the sun even comes up, and he'll be perfectly fine. The tom turns towards the entrance again, only to bump into another form a few steps later.

A frown pulls on Screechkit's face as he looks up at the apprentice blocking his way. "Move," he tries to tell the rust-furred cat, tries to push past her and her whispered words. Something about dreams. Screechkit doesn't want to sleep, doesn't want to dream. He wants to see how the camp looks at night; he wants to see the marshes, where his mother wanders off to herself.

But it's not happening tonight, because Briarkit is at his side now, asking him what he's doing. Annoyance fills him as he turns to look at his shadow-furred sibling.

"Nothing," he says with a flick of his tail, "Go back to sleep." He can only hope his sister will listen to him - will let him stray from her watchful gaze for once - but even that hope dies too soon, as Chilledstar's voice leads his two-toned gaze to look at the leader.

Just this once, they say. Even still, their permission leaves him disappointed. Only near the nursery, only under Chilledstar's watch. He sighs at that, at how long he'll have to wait to leave camp with actual permission. Becoming an apprentice seems so far away. Exhaustion gnaws at him more than it had when he'd risen to execute his plan, enough to keep his protests toward the leader at bay. For now, he'll just have to watch the stars - to dream as the apprentice had told him to.

"Fine," he mutters out, stepping towards the entrance once more - enough to get out this time, to peer up at the stars above. Not alone, like he wants, but with the company of others awake at this time of night. At least he gets to be outside of the nursery. He'll have to be quicker next time, quieter.
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