sun-bleached and pretty [open - bone collecting]

[Brighteyes]

"I'LL BE RIGHT BESIDE YOU"​

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"Hmm.. Seems to be a partial jawbone...too big to be a cat- the teeth are flat anyways, suggesting some kind of plant eater." It was a fairly common sight to catch Brighteyes mumbling to himself about one thing or another, especially when he had something to think about. "A deer, maybe?"

Today, the focus of the dark tabbys attention was a dusty old jawbone. He'd never seen one quite like it before, knowing right away it didn't belong to any squirrel or bird or dog. He'd carefully spent some time brushing the dirt off it and extracting it from the ground beneath the trees where he'd first noticed it, and now the green-eyed warrior stood admiring the thing, analyzing it for any useful information he could. It was too bad the rest of the skeleton wasn't there as well- but then again, where would he put it? It wasn't like he had room in his hiding spot for something that big.

A bit of a macabre hobby, perhaps, but to Brighteyes it was all about the learning potential. To know how strong a prey or predator's bones were, what parts of the body were anatomically weakest, or even how something had been killed was all beneficial information to him. After all, if Bright was going to become one of the strongest warriors in the clan, he had to know his stuff, right?

---

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[HOWLINGSTAR]

"What are you doing, Brighteyes?" The confused mew comes from the tabby as she crests the slope with her apprentice. They had been out for the day training, working on Antlerpaw's hunting crouch some more, when she heard her clanmate's faint voice. Howlingstar pads closer, her tail swinging at her heels as she eyes the tom curiously. He seems to be playing with...a bone? Stars, is that part of a skull? The old woman's face perhaps betrays her shock, gaze flashing with something disturbed. Why would anybody want to touch something like that? Dead, and rotting, and decaying...it should be in the ground, where the earth can swallow it.

"Were you...talking to it?" She'd heard him speaking earlier, and can only assume it was to himself or - StarClan forbid - to the bones. In silence, she waits for his response, clearly hoping he can say something to explain the situation she's found him in.

// @antlerpaw! ​

 

[Brighteyes]

"I'LL BE RIGHT BESIDE YOU"​

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"Oh! H-Howlingstar! Antlerpaw! I didn't hear you guys coming." Brighteyes chuckled sheepishly as he turned to the pair, caught off guard enough by their arrival to had flinched a bit at the leaders initial question. He'd been too caught up in his own thoughts again..

He opened his mouth to answer her, only to stop short t her follow-up. "Were you talking to it?"

Green eyes widened upon realizing that he probably did look like a crazy person standing out there over a chunk of deer skull muttering to himself, and his ears flushed red in embarrassment as he quickly began to try and explain himself. "N-no! Of course not! That would be crazy, right? I'm definitely not doing that!" came his panicking ramble as he vigorous shook his head. The last thing he needed was for Howlingstar of all cats to think he was out there talking to dead things.

"I was just trying to study this jawbone a bit. It-It's a lot bigger than the usual prey bones I find, so I wanted to check it out. I must have been saying my thoughts out loud again- sorry about that!"

---

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[leafhusk]

leafhusk wasn’t fond of dead things of any kind- hunting is a skill she shines in, but she hates the execution. back in her twoleg den, it was simpler, easier, the mice she batted around weren’t alive. she wouldn’t tear open their fabric insides to throw the stuffing around, whenever she was bored with playtime she’d bat it away then take a rewarding nap. after the deer, her disdain has only gotten worse.

when she stumbles across the trio, she thinks the deer is the same one as before. but, it’s not, and her fur slowly settles. "oh, my stars." she blurts out involuntarily, "don’t get so close! you could get diseases from that, it’s so icky." her nose wrinkles up in disgust.

— a hyacinth scepter ⚘ ˖*°࿐

• 
  ◆ thunderclan warrior / / former kittypet・38 ☾
  ◆ mentoring adderpaw
  ◆ cis woman・she/her & bisexual
  ◆ peaceful & healing powerplay permitted・all opinions ic
  ◆ won't start fights・will try to end fights・won't kill
  ◆ excels in stealth and tracking & average at fighting
  ◆ written by maxine ♡ dogfriends. on discord

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[COPPERFANG.]

Admittedly, his thoughts go to the same place at Leafhusk's. The unsavory memory leaves a subtly bitter taste in his mouth, but he pushes the thought out of his mind, instead focusing on the present. This skull seems to have sat for quite a while, at least - it was not new, and it thankfully did not seem to belong to a cat, which is primarily what mattered. It wasn't really his business how other cats spent their time, but.. it was certainly a curious hobby, to put it lightly. "What is it that made you want to learn about skulls?" It's posed as a genuine inquiry, not a demand or anything of the sort, merely a curiosity, despite the slight feeling of unease looking at the skull brought about.

‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎IT'LL HELP YOU : ̗̀➛ SOME SUNNY DAY ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎

• speech, thoughts, actions

• 

• 
  
  ☼ SH chocolate ticked tabby tom w/amber eyes
  ☼ 47 moons; ages every 3rd, npc x npc
  ☼ cis male he/him; bisexual, not purposely looking
  ☼ currently mentoring roaringpaw
  ☼ peaceful & healing powerplay permitted
  ☼ easy to befriend; will not start fights, will end fights
  

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[Ravenstrike]

The commotion had brought over the scarred feline of Howlingstar, Brighteyes, Leafhusk, and Antlerpaw. An eerily cold gaze shifts between those gathered around and she's not surprised that it's a kittypet doing something strange and then an outburst from Leafhusk which causes an scoff to leave from her. "Of course you would consider it icky." She would coldly retort as she glances at the bones, curved claws flexing as she looks at Brighteyes. Why were the kittypets in her clan so... irking? A gaze shifts at her apprentice as she rubs a paw on her temple, clearly annoyed.

The clan had enough work to be done and he was observing bones. Bones. "Isn't there anything better for you to do?" Ravenstrike would inquire as she stares at the dark former kittypet, clear annoyance and disgust reflecting on her face. It was /so/ great to have these useless rats in her clan and only a few of them actually carried their weight, then you had some like Brighteyes. A waste of time, a failure of a warrior and it was laughable. Her gaze would cold enough to chill someone to death as she glances at Howlingstar for a moment, wondering what she would say as she stood off to the side.

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OOC @Smokepaw
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[antlerbreeze]

Antlerpaw's bone wrinkled as she following after Howlingstar. She blinked at the jawbone, staring as Howlingstar started to speak to the offending warrior- it was a strange thing to be doing in a place like this. Examining bones like they were something new. Ravenstrike's words were sharp, more offending the others. Antlerpaw's gaze had shifted from the gathering of warriors to the thing upon the ground, and her ears perked.

A cough left her. "You should return it to where it came from." Antlerpaw asked, her ears perking forward. Her soft tone came in a way of explanation. "You wouldn't want someone disturbing your bones, right?" It was an awfully grim way of looking at it, but her statement rang true- to her, at least. Nervous eyes flicked towards Howlingstar, and her head lowered gently. She had just put most of the attention on her. Crap.

✧　°　.　♦　.　°　✧​

ooc Information

• ooc: —
  "yuh"
• 

  ANTLERPAW — SHE/HER ･ 7 MOONS ･ APP. & THUNDERCLAN ･ PENNED BY DALLAS

  a small, lh cinnamon lynx sepia still small, with a brown patterned pelt and bright orange-gold eyes. looks naive.

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[Brighteyes]

"I'LL BE RIGHT BESIDE YOU"​

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Green eyes blinked owlishly at Leafhusks comment, flickering between the disgusted cat and the bone at his paws. "Oh,n-no, it's okay! See? The bugs and scavengers have already stripped it clean, so it's not rotten or anything.." he replied with a nervous smile, trying to put the shecat at ease. He hadn't scented any disease or anything on it either, just bone and dirt.

Copperfangs question made him shift a little, growing a bit more uncomfortable. How was he supposed to explain himself without sounding totally weird?"It's um, it's not really skulls s-specifically- usually it's skeletons of prey I study.. Understanding where the weak points are -what bones are thinnest, what angles joints are on- I'll be able to apply it to hunting and fighting techniques later to make me more efficient." Which was important when you were as clumsy and weak as Bright was. He lacked size and weight, and was hoping that an increase in knowledge would give him more of an edge.

Any shred of confidence he'd had left was effectively destroyed by Nightbird though. Brighteyes felt himself shrink slightly under the shecats glare, his gaze falling away from her as she turned her attention onto him. "Um, s-sorry." he replied, ears flicking back in embarrassment. "I didn't think anyone would mind if I stopped to check it out."

Perhaps more disheartening though, was Antlerpaws suggestion of burying it. He did his best to hide his disappointment at the thought. To be truthful, he'd wanted to keep to add to his collection. But with all these eyes on him and the less than supportive opinions, maybe it would just be best to do as they said. "Yeah, your right, I'll just- I'll put it back over here." he said, nudging the jawbone back toward the roots of the tree where he'd first found it before turning back to the group with a bright smile. "Should we maybe go do a bit of hunting?" he suggested as he turned back to the group, hoping everyone would be willing to just overlook the entire thing.

---

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[joypaw]

Joypaw mirrors the shock left on his clanmates' face, but it is only a brief shiver of emotion compared to the verbal outcries. Internally, it's just as intense. Bones were not something he had ever thought to have a strong opinion on. They were only dealt with in prey, and part of his duties meant disposing of them, but that was all they were -- trash. Though he doesn't care to chat on it with Brighteyes, the tabby can't help but feel his curiosity piqued at the explanation. Bugs cleaning bones... They could do as they pleased, long as it was far away from him.

He stands to the side, trying not to move too much and make his discomfort seen. Subtly shifting his weight from paw to paw, he gets a better look at the bone. It wasn't just the fact the bone was large. It was that it might've been killed by something larger, or at least skilled enough to take down a foe of that size.

"Yes," he mutters hastily, inching back as Brighteyes moved past him to lodge the bone between the knotted roots of the tree. "Let's hunt."
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