camp sunshine and roses — lessons in beauty

[spiderpaw ✧]

The dark form of Spiderpaw makes her way, somewhat awkwardly, over to where some of the many kits the Clan seems to have suddenly sprouted are gathered in a childish group. The nursery had been caved in by a falling tree that still rested on it—it had crushed and killed some cat she didn't really know at all, one of the shelter abductees from their Clan; it was sad but she didn't really have a personal connection. Still, she could imagine being removed from the nursery entirely and possibly witnessing that whole event (she'd been away at the time, thank StarClan) probably didn't make the kits feel great. Besides, it was her conversation with Cherrykit of late that had inspired this visit.

A solid bundle of flowers, leaves, and other little trinkets are tucked carefully into her pale jaws as she pads towards the kits, her face a bit softened; seeing kits ignited some kind of soft spot in her, maybe it just reminded her of being a kit herself, but she'd happily visit them any day. With a trace of hesitation Spiderpaw takes a seat by the little group, setting down her bundle of items as she glances around at the little faces, drawling, "Hey, y'all. Wouldya like to learn how to put little things in your fur, like I do?" One white-splashed paw indicates the various options she's gathered for the kits to admire, try on, or play with if they'd prefer to just do that; she flips her large tail around to show the flowers and moths dotting it. She recalled she'd enjoyed such things when she was younger; hopefully some of these kits would, too.
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// open to anyone not just kits!!

 

[TALLULAHWING]

Tallulahwing knows Spiderpaw isn’t popular with her Clanmates, but despite the she-cat’s barbed tongue, she’s developed a certain respect for the dark-furred apprentice. Spiderpaw had assisted with the shelter rescue, and she’s not going to forget anyone who went on that StarClan-damned mission in a hurry. She watches her approach the recently-displaced kits, jaws full of flowers, and offer to help them learn the art of fur decoration.

She smiles, absentmindedly tugging at the end of her lavender ribbon with a paw. She supposes flowers and plant debris are the best the forest-born cats can do. Lovely and au natural, but she secretly thinks they don’t hold a candle to her kittypet accessory. “That’s so sweet! I could help too. I’m a bit of an expert if I do say so myself.” She offers Spiderpaw a wink and paws through the accessories the younger she-cat has brought to the kits.
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[ PENNED BY MARQUETTE ]​

 

[CROWSIGHT]

An intruder. His ears flick at the soft thud and he sees a cat he's never met before. Not much of an achievement considering he was born not too long ago, there's literally many cats he doesn't know within the clan yet. He was given access to camp recently and he loathed it at times. What made it especially difficult was the fact that he saw so many cats come and go. Big ones, small ones, skinny ones, and beefy ones. He gave up quickly trying to know the names of those cats. Too much work. As long as he had his mama, Drowsykit, and Lupinekit everything would be fine. The new cat whom he doesn't know is not interesting to him. What is interesting is the things she brought. The tom is intrigued by all of them, considering he didn't really have a chance to smell flowers. Or at least, not the different kinds Spiderpaw has brought.

Crowkit takes a step forward to gently paw and sniff the flowers. He tilts his head in confusion when there are two flowers that look similar enough, yet do not share the same scent. It's puzzling, eventually he finds himself going back and fourth between the two sniffing them as if somehow magically the scent would change to be the same. With a huff, he moves towards the leaves in frustration. He simply sits there. Not really seeing how leaves would look nice by themselves. His ears twitch at the sound of a new voice. Another cat he's never seen before.

This new cat is talking to Spiderpaw, so his attention is taken by the trinkets Spiderpaw has displayed. He wishes he knew the name to whatever he's looking at. If sticking it in his fur meant he got to keep some of these things, then he was going to try this out. It's not like he was going to be stuck with these things forever if he didn't like them. With his mind made up he approaches Tallulahwing and Spiderpaw. The ebony kit waits for them to stop talking before he paws Spiderpaw and then Tallulahwing. "I want to do it." The correct thing would say he would like to learn to do it, but he's got the spirit for sure!​

 

[MALLOWLARK]

Nearby, the large ghost-pale tom lay on his back, long fur bending in the breeze. Like a felled cockroach his legs lay loosened, up in the air- and an upside-down view of ensuing nearby events invited a smile to stretch across his maw. Wide, sharp-toothed; he looked and looked, lightless silver eyes burning a hole through the back of Spiderpaw's head. Flattened against the ground, his ears made a shuffling sound as they moved to the noise of the conversation. Flowers into a pelt... little things, she said. Oh, and there were many little things in this world! Like kits, those little things, but they'd suffocate if they were woven into fur. It was right to assume she was not speaking of them.

A small giggle, ever-preceding his speech, stuttered through a smiling maw. "Oh, do you think I'd look friendlier-" A snort of laughter interrupted his speech, senseless and sourceless. Just there, as always. "With... little things in my pelt?" He'd always been rather concerned with friendliness- that much was telling, what with his statuesquely optimistic impression, a tenfold mimicry of his mother's charming smile. Well liked was she, and so... he would be too! A small boost never hurt, though... at least until the moth-wings and petals withered into dust.​

☺PENNED BY PIN​

 

[spiderpaw ✧]

One of the other cats from the shelter rescue pads forward—a daylight warrior, one of those carrying an interesting but not offensive name and wearing a ribbon in a rather pretty shade of purple. The apprentice shoves away the instinct to snap at her to go away—on the advice of her mentor, she'd found a good rule of thumb was going over what she was about to say in her mind and asking herself, Do I actually think that? Spiderpaw nods in an attempt to be friendly and glances down as a small dark form pads up and does a thorough, if confused, childish inspection of the items she'd brought. One little paw, more grayish than her own fur but bearing a similar(ish) pattern, pushes against her dark-furred leg as the kitten tells her a touch bluntly that he "wants to do it". If Spiderpaw's remembering correctly, he was part of one of the newer litters.

A cat more easily found offensive pads over; Mallowlark, creepy but not as malevolent as some other members of their clan (Chrysalispaw, for instance). He's a weird presence but she's not going to turn him away, she supposes, even if he wasn't exactly the target of her initial call. "Sure. I've always said good accessories cover up bad personalities." The half-joke is quite intentionally self-aware—she's quite conscious of her own poor reputation and penchant for decoration, and her tone is amused.

Spiderpaw swings her own huge tail about her paws, mewing instructively, "This might be harder if yall's fur is shorter than mine. Not so much to work with, y'know. Anyways, you just take whatever you're usin' to decorate, and you sorta push it into your fur real good. And then you'll be wanting to sorta wrap the fur around it, like so." The apprentice demonstrates, picking up a blueish blossom and settling it artfully into the thick dark locks of fur, weaving it carefully in. She pauses, aware of how curious kits can be, and adds, "That way it'll stay in ya fur good. Won't get lost."
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[BRIGHTFLAME]

☆ -- IS THERE CHEESE IN THE GREAT BEYOND? -- ☆​

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Always eager to learn, as Spiderpaw called out to ask about if others wanted to learn how to put things in their fur, Brightpaw came over, ears pricked as she listened to the conversation that was had while looking around to see who else was there. Last time she had seen Crowkit she thinks she had scared him, or at least he didn't like her for whatever reason, so instead of sitting directly next to him, she chose a spot a little bit away, closer to the warriors, to listen to the explanation Spiderpaw was giving. She put flowers in her fur sometimes, but they never stayed in for long, and she would have loved to be able to put them in different spots in her fur.

Eyes watching the weaving work, Brightpaw would nod her head to herself, trying to remember how Spiderpaw did it. "Will it work for other things too? Like smaller flowers?" The apprentice would ask, head tilted to the side slightly as she did so.

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