camp spark of hope || patrolling camp!

[☆ Brightpaw ☆]

It's very hard to understand the true gravity of loss when Brightkit has never lost anything more than the warmest place beside her mother in the nest. Actually, there was that one time Brook-kit took her favorite pebble which definitely ruined the entire next five minutes of her life before Lightningstone forced her sibling to return the treasure. However, Brightkit knows that it really isn't the same kind of sadness that Boneripple and Iciclefang and Willowroot are feeling. She can sense it the same way some cats can sense an oncoming storm by the faint scent of ozone carried in by the wind. Restless energy has prickled at the youth's pelt like a relentless itch ever since she heard of Ashpaw's disappearance. Maybe all those frowny-face grownups have given up, but not her! She accepted Smokethroat's orders with excitement. Yes, she would patrol camp and keep all those pesky apprentices and her siblings in line! With any luck, their combined efforts will keep everyone in camp safe and she will be the one to spot Ashpaw returning home. How could it work out any other way?

Brightkit is in the middle of stacking a pile of Super Awesome Rocks as a surprise for Ashpaw when she notices a few apprentices getting way too close to the edge of camp. "Hey!" she shouts, the stone she had been carrying in her teeth clattering gracelessly to the ground as she scampers over to bite the older cats' tails. "Smokethroat says we gotta stay in camp. You don't wanna miss it when Ashpaw comes home, right?" She better come home. She needs to come home.

//sibling tag just for funsies @meadowkit @brook-kit​

 

[RAVENSONG]

Ashpaw's disappearance happened during one of his migraine fits. The raven-furred apprentice had groggily come to, finding rather unceremoniously that the fiery red apprentice had been taken by them... by a kit's patrol.

He raised his head, glassy eyes shimmering as he caught the tail end of Brightkit's conversation. Ravenpaw had been trying to get a better rest by sunning himself outside. The medicine den could be stuffy and the dampness of it was bad for his migraines. He pulled his paws up and tucked them as the kitten goes over to snap and bite at other apprentices edging toward the end of camp. It seems so long since he had been tasked to go on a patrol. That's not your job anymore, he reminded himself. Ravenpaw licked his lips.

"Comes home...?" Ravenpaw blinked. "What happened?"

​

 

[silverpaw]

silverkit stalks forward with her head held high, blue-and-silver fur freshly groomed. she wants to know what brightkit is doing. and she finds out!!

she notes brightkit's Pile of Super Awesome Rocks with a frown ... rocks should go in circles, not piles ... but she'll leave it for now. 'cause there are more pressing matters at hand. brightkit is ordering an apprentice around! the medicine cat apprentice, no less!

"what are you doing?" asks silverkit suspiciously. "you aren't in charge!" she tacks on a wordless, indignant squeak. another kit! in charge of camp!!

at ravenpaw's question, she turns to him, frowning. so he doesn't know... "yes, ob — obviously — " it takes her a second to get the big word out but she's proud of herself for managing it — "mashpaw went on a quest to get magic berries from LionClan, and then beesong heard 'bout it in a, a magic starclan dream. um, duh!!"

... silverkit hadn't heard about what happened either, till now. but now that she's said it, she thinks her story sounds about right. what kind of a name is mashpaw, anyway? so weird ...

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.˚◦○˚ TAGS ˚○◦˚.

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  • npc x npc kitten • 1.5 moons old • silver tabby & blue tabby chimera with a dusting of white freckles • meticulous, observant, opinionated • stuck in her own head a lot of the time • peaceful powerplay welcome • wants to make friends! •

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[EMBERFLOWER]

Though Emberflower finds Smokethroat too rough around the edges for her taste, she'd been very pleased to hear him grant Brightkit patrol duties. The little auburn she-kit stomps her way through camp, her tail sticking up, looking every bit as serious as her father when he's at the head of the patrol. She watches Brightkit begin to stack the stones, calling out to any apprentice nearing the edge of camp that they have to stay close.

She pads closer to their former deputy's daughter, her smile warm. "That's right," she says, offering a purr of amusement. "Wow! Your rock tower is so cool! I think your father will like it, too. Do you want help to make it bigger?" A distraction would be good. She loathes to think of the peppy ginger apprentice injured, in the clutches of wretched Twolegs... and she carefully omits any reference to Ashpaw returning.

Their poor medicine cat apprentice, splitting headache seemingly abated, asks what had happened to Ashpaw. Emberflower's smile wanes. "You weren't there," she murmurs with sympathy. She casts a glance at Brightkit, wondering if she should reveal the truth so blatantly. She doesn't want to scare the kits, but...

Silverkit is quick to challenge Brightkit's authority. Emberflower's eyes soften as the pale gray kit gives her own explanation for Ashpaw's disappearance.

She levels her hazel gaze with Ravenpaw's blue. "Iciclefang and Ashpaw met a Twoleg on our territory. Ashpaw stepped in one of their traps, and a Twoleg came and picked her up." She doesn't want to go into any explicit details, but she's sure the look on her face gives Ravenpaw the context clues he needs, that Ashpaw won't be coming back.​

[ PENNED BY MARQUETTE ]​

 

[CICADASTAR]

it’s a coincidence that he overhears it. an ear swivels in their direction, two kittens piping their excitement for ashpaw ( marshpaw, silverkit says — and she is a kitten, but it hurts all the same ) to return. it feels as though he were back in the great battle, standing above a kicking red tom and suddenly his belly is in ribbons, nausea swimming at the base of his sick stomach. smokethroat had put her on camp patrol, and she was doing everything in her kittish abilities to perform her duty. a pile of pebbles lie stacked in the sandy clearing and the leader steps over them on his way close, listend as emberflower chirrups encouraging towards the former deputy’s child, ” very neat, indeed. is this for ashpaw? “ grating. the name feels as though it tracks his tongue backward, hitting each barbed notch on its way, ” why don’t you let emberflower help you build it, little one? maybe if you make it big and tall enough, ashpaw will see it wherever she is. “ she’ll see it — she’ll know where home lies.

the mottled leader bites the tip of his tongue, pale blue eyes lifting towards cindershade’s sister as she finds the words to explain — and explain she does, " that’s right. twolegs and their traps are very dangerous. " finally, his gaze slides towards ravenpaw, hollow. in the youths presence, he would not explain what needed explaining — should the obsidian feline venture to his own den, he would find iciclefang sprawled there amidst the herb - lined nests, ” if you see a twoleg, you are to run away. you can run fast, can’t you? “ the leader phrases it like a fun prompt, bearing a brilliant smile and leaning down a little on long, thin limbs to the two’s height.. but for their sake, he hopes they can. there may come a day when the two kittens face a hairless beasts and their only option would be to turn tail. gloompaw and ashpaw flicker behind his eyelids and he fights the urge to close them, clears his throat instead, willing away the image of blood spilling between metal teeth.

˗ˏˋ 𓆩  OOC ✟ VISUAL 𓆪 ´ˎ˗

• i.
  
• ˖ ⁺ ｡ ˚ ⠀ CICADASTAR⠀⠀−−−c−−−⠀⠀king of the rivers.
  
  
  m. he / him. black smoke & tortoiseshell chimera with intense salt - blue eyes. a handsome, looming tom bearing patchwork black - silver curls that fall over his slim figure in loose, shining rivulets, broken with white and glossy from his fish diet. descending from a heritage of overtyped oriental shorthairs, cicadastar stands unusually tall amongst his peers, and holds himself with a tragic grace, poised and prim and ever - aware of how he is being perceived.
  
  ᨒ gay, mated to smokethroat. smells like wet stone & moss.
  ᨒ speaks with a german accent. 43 moons, ages every 50 posts.
  
  penned by antlers​
  
  
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• "speech"
  

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[☆ Brightpaw ☆]

A soft voice distracts Brightkit in the middle a long-winded explanation of how Ashpaw will be freed from the evil clutches of two-legs if, and only if, everyone followed her directions and helped keep the camp safe while the warriors were out searching. She turns to face Ravenpaw with an emphatic expression, lips parting to give yet another passionate speech, when she is interrupted by the sudden appearance of Silverkit. "I'm in charge of this camp patrol!" she replies, mildly irritated by the other kitten's opposition. "Smokethroat said so!" Brightkit tries to return her attention to Ravenpaw to give that long-awaited answer, but Silverkit beats her to it.

A spark of outrage flashes in the child's icy gaze, cinnamon fur standing on end with the swell of emotion. How can Silverkit make up such a story! Doesn't she know how serious it is to go missing??! (Brightkit doesn't really know either, but she's sure that it's Very Bad and you shouldn't lie about it). Thankfully, Emberflower appears like an angel to compliment Brightkit's tower of Super Awesome Rocks and is immediately successful in putting out the fires of her indignation. A bashful smile spreads across her face in stark contrast to her prickled expression only moments before. "Oh, um, thank you...You really think so?" she asks, flattered that someone as pretty and cool as Emberflower admires her architectural prowess, and also proud that it must be worthy of showing to her father.

She is considering the offer for help when Cicadastar arrives and the kitten pauses, staring up at him in wonder before she recovers and offers him a mega-watt smile. "Yes! I'm making it big, big, big until it touches the sky," she affirms, honored that the leader approves of her idea. "Everyone can help! There's lots of cool rocks, maybe we can make lots of towers?" Brightkit glances at Emberflower before shifting her gaze Silverkit. Despite her earlier frustration with the other child, she still wants to make sure Silverkit is included.

The child's enthusiasm is curbed by the somber reiteration of how Ashpaw truly went missing. No, not missing. Taken. Somehow, that feels worse to Brightkit. How could anybody, even creatures as fish-brained as two-legs, take somebody away from their family? "Yes, sir," she replies solemnly. Then, with a touch of forced bravado, she proclaims, "One day I'll run faster than the river and I'll get those two-legs back for taking Ashpaw!"​

 

[EMBERFLOWER]

Emberflower dips her head as their leader approaches, though a worried frown creases her muzzle as he asks Brightkit if the tower of stones is for Ashpaw. She throws Ravenpaw a dubious look -- does he agree, that the RiverClan patrols will find her in Twolegplace? She keeps her mouth shut, not daring to challenge Cicadastar's assertion. Perhaps it's better to keep their hopes up, she rationalizes. One never knew what could happen, and Ashpaw is a brave, resourceful girl.

With a near-silent sigh, the rosetted she-cat brings her smile back. "That's right. We'll build it so high that StarClan themselves will see it!" With a flourish, she rises to her paws and carefully inspects the rock pile. Brightkit and Silverkit receive grim words from Cicadastar as she does. "If you see a Twoleg, you are to run away. You can run fast, can't you?"

Brightkit is solemn, assuring him that she can run faster than the river one day, that she will get her revenge on the Twolegs. Emberflower flicks the tiny cinnamon kit with her tail tip. "I'm sure you will be," she says, her voice soft. "I'm sure you both will be." Hazel eyes dart to Silverkit, too, realizing with a pang how fragile their little lives are. So easily disrupted, their paths so easily changed. Once, Iciclefang and Ashpaw had shared the nursery they now occupy. It's hard to imagine Brightkit and Silverkit in their positions now.

She shakes her head, clearing dismal thoughts. Out of the corner of her eye, she catches a flat stone, just the right size to perch on the top of Brightkit's pile. She bounds close, lifts it in her jaws, and runs back with a serious look on her face. "What do you two think? Will this fit on top?" She sets it down and runs her tongue around her mouth to clear the grit. "You are the experts."​

[ PENNED BY MARQUETTE ]​