tempting fate again ⚘ nest making

[Dandelionwish]

The warriors den felt so empty now. Every morning he woke up, lifted his head and glanced around to the empty nests and he thought of how much he had come to like the cats here. How they felt like clanmates proper, how comfortable he was, how fast he adapted and now many of them were gone and he felt pathetic for being unable to do anything about it. Dandelionwish sighed, he'd been on the dawn patrol and was only now rousing once again from his nap after returning, the emptiness even more noticable when the den was primarily empty. He could smell it, the staleness of the nests, the moss not cleaned out since their owner were taken; it reminded him of the cracks in the barn roof that leaked during storms, the way the shutters of the windows clattered noisily. Abandoned, forsaken. Sometimes he still smelled the hay and though of loss. Dandelionwish stood slowly, pausing to stretch out his long limbs and he was preparing to step out when an idea struck him. He realized he wasn't needed, not right now, he was going to go hunt but perhaps he could put himself to use otherwise instead. His mismatched eyes scan the nests, the darker spots of the bracken and material where bodies had been pressed down hard upon them forming an almost perfect circle to fit a cat. He knew who slept where and he stared hard at the one a few tail lengths from his own that used to smell of sunshine and honey suckle; strong after rain scent and the warmth of a smooth stone to lay upon. The tom stepped over, lowered his head and inhaled the familiarity before gripping the edge of it between his teeth. If their cats were to return, they would need new bedding to rest on and, well, sure! He would start with this one...for no reason.
Yeah, no reason. Teeth tightening around the material, he set to dragging Butterflytuft's old nest out into the middle of camp. He'd do them one at a time so he didn't make a mess, maybe pick some flowers for it..she liked those...feathers. Well, he'd have to decorate the others too right? Obviously he was going to. He wasn't going to just do hers that was silly...

"....right...gonna need..a lotta moss ain't it. Flowers...mm..."
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[eveningsun]

camp had been feeling somewhat akin to a ghost town. although the apprentices had not been plucked as much, it was still hard to ignore the quietness. the fear she felt for clanmates and family alike every time a patrol was sent out. they couldn't do anything about it either, just sit and wait. hope that the twolegs would leave, hope that their lost friends would make their way home. it was a whole lot of sitting, waiting, and praying to starclan. eveningpaw hated that everything was up in the air like this.

dandelionwish seemed to be doing something about it though. dragging abandoned nests out into the clearing, she could only assume it was to spruce them up for the other skyclanner's returns. if they were to return, that is. either way, it was a noble gesture. one she would never expect from a windclanner, but it seemed he wasn't like the evil moorland cats her father spoke of.

"need any help?" eve chimed, approaching on light paws. she was bored, and if dandelionwish wanted to get a bunch of work done he would need more paws.​

 

[JINN]

Slowly but surely he was adapting himself to the camp to understand better how it was suppose to function here anyway. At least he hadn't accidently stept into the wrong den just yet...An amusing thought really since he would only have seen humour in it if he had done such a thing. Trying to find himself something useful to do ended up spoting another tom dragging (nests was it?) out from one of the dens out to the camp. Hmh, interesting. It had made him curious enough to explore further. Jinn would quietly approach but one of the apprentices had arrived first there before him. " Is there something wrong with your nest?." The silver lynx would ask and titled his head a bit to the side as he stood a respectful distance away. Blinking his eyes slowly tried to puzzle this mystery. How many nests did a cat need to sleep comfortable in?. Jinn patiently waited to hear their explanation behind their actions.


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[MALLOWLARK]

There was palpable sadness around the camp- he'd be an idiot to miss it. And how could there not be? Warriors and apprentices alike were being snatched day by day, ripped from the hart of the forest by those- ugly, grasping hands. And they were ugly, those gangling things! Flat-faced with- beady eyes. With eyes that small, how could they see anything? Were cats not insignificant to such tall, towering, gnashing... monsters? Organic and yet... unnatural. Disturbing the natural peace, reaching into a world that was not theirs and turning it inside out.

An effort was being made today to patch up the spurting wound that the missing Skyclanners had left, in the middle of the cast. That effort was Dandelionwish-shaped, hunched over the nest and working away like a little bumblebee. Buzzing away... his words reached Mallowlark, disjointed muttering as they were. Heeding the words, he raced out of camp for a moment to find a nearby patch of wildflowers.

Wrenching them from the earth as if he was attempting to rip a limb off, Mallowlark grasped the flowers in his maw, dirt and roots and all. Like a loyal mutt he fetched them, spitting them to the ground next to Dandelionwish and swishing an inky paw over them in a flourish of presentation. A distinctive giggle punctuated his errand, proud of his effort.​

☺PENNED BY PIN​

 

[GREENEYES]

With half his family missing, Greeneyes has struggled with settling into his new sleeping quarters.

However much he's struggled, Greeneyes has found little things in the warrior den to keep as reminders of his family. The cicada shell from Snowpaw still sits in his nest. Butterflytuft and Daisyflight's nests still have some remnants of their scent - though it's begun to fade, among the rest of the ever-present scents beneath the bramble bush. These things keep him hopeful of their return, a reminder that they're still out there, each time he returns to the den.

Except for today. As he returns to the warrior den, there is a nest missing. Butterflytuft's. His chest tightens, and his eyes go wide as he looks around. Where could it have gone? Where --

He turns around, stepping back out of the warrior den, only to see pointed fur dragging it around. Dandelionwish. Anger begins to rise at the sight.

"Hey! What are you doing with that?" Greeneyes asks, striding up to the exile. "That's... That's my sister's! Don't touch it!" Don't destroy what I have left of her, he wants to say. His chest feels tight, his lungs tighter. Dandelionwish is taking his sister away.

This isn't like Greeneyes. He's making a scene and he quickly realizes this, feels eyes turning to look at him. He's making a scene, and Dandelionwish, well -- Well, he could just be helping, right? Could just... be making sure that when his sister returns, her nest is nice. That everyone lost gets new nests. They'll come back, and they'll all need new nests - why wait until they're back to do so? They'll probably need their rest and --

Ears flatten, and a shaky breath is taken. The former medicine cat is only trying to help, and there's no use in protesting it. She'll come back. "At least... At least let me help you out...?"
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[Dandelionwish]

"Reckon I won't say no to some help." He replied curtly, wheat stem twirled between his teeth to the apprentice's offer. They were real friendly here, never met an apprentice in WindClan who wanted to clean nests so willingly! Before he could launch into an explaination of his intentions proper, he got a delivery view the soot-footed creature that had followed him from the moors and a lopsided smile fell over his maw as he turned to Mallowlark depositing his prize. Never thought he'd miss seeing that eerie smile, but he was glad for it.
"Right, exactly what ah'm doin! Gonna clean'em out-spruce'em up-"
The curly fur of the newcomer he'd seen earlier approached and the question briefly caught him off guard. Guess clan life was odd to loners.
"Not my nest, no! Figured we ought to get these freshened up fer when we get our cats ba-" Greeneyes' voice splits the air, broken, despaired, he turns to the red tabby shattering into pieces from his own grief and anger and he only offers a sad smile in reply until the heat simmers down, until the newly made warrior had calmed enough to realize himself; he is only briefly alarmed at the intensity of the voice, but that aside Dandelionwish stood there in utter silence until finally the other inhaled. Breathed. Let it out and asked his question. He could not blame the other for his feelings, he'd lost his sister, his mother, his brother, his mentor, so many cats had been taken and the toll it took on the clan reminded him of drowning out of water, the panic he had in WindClan alone with dying cats surroudinging his paws.

The chocolate limbed tom's small smile widened and he pushed a paw onto the nest to slide it forward until it touched the other tabby's white paws, "Ye know'er best, Greeneyes! Ah'll leave this'n to you to make and decorate and me an' Evenin'paw will grab the next one together."
His good intentions, while just that, were never more important than the simple comfort acknowledgement and acceptance was; if it brought the verdant eyed tom peace to fix his sister's nest then far be it from Dandelionwish to stand in his way.
"Ye ready, lil'missy?" Head tilted down to nod at the tortie apprentice next to him with a wink, "Mallowlark can get one too-we'll breeze through it RIGHT QUICK!" The new joiner had not volunteered to help and so he'd not put it on the fellow but he did smile in his direction encouragingly, if he wanted to then he was welcome.

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[eveningsun]

eveningpaw nodded briskly to the acceptance of help, flexing snow dipped paws to ready them. her gaze trained on the ground, suddenly a bundle of wild flowers and unceremoniously dropped. she glances up to see another former windclanner, mallowlark. although the wide grin plastered to his face is nothing short of spine prickling, she fixes him with a warm grin. "how pretty," she gushed, dragging a pink paw pad over their soft petals.

her focus is stolen by greeneyes, fast approaching. her gaze was drawn slightly wide, ears pricked as she watched his display. angry, although it was hard to tell if dandelionwish or the twolegs who stole butterflytuft were the subject. she remained quiet as dandelionwish smoothed things over, enthusiastically nodding as he said they would grab the next one. she edges away from butterflytuft's abandoned nest, allowing greeneyes as much room as he needed to work, before turning back to the odd-eyed tom. "totally! we'll get 'em done in no time!"​

 

[GREENEYES]

His anger is rapidly diminishing, an emotion that instead twists into embarrassment and regret as the materials for Butterflytuft's nest are pushed towards him. He looks down at the moss pressed against his paws, green against white.

You know her best, Dandelionwish concedes, in that odd-sounding tongue of his. The young warrior isn't even sure if that's true, these days. Especially now - when his missing family members return, will they be different? Changed, somehow? Replaced with someone else, yet carrying their same names?

Greeneyes can't be so sure. Who knows, really, when they'll return? Who knows how much could change by then?

A flash of an apologetic look is given to Dandelionwish before he takes his sister's nest off to the side, gathering its materials to form something new. When the moss looks more like a nest again, he looks for the supplies to decorate it with. Things he'd already collected with the means of giving away, small feathers and flowers. The ones Mallowlark had brought over - the petals at least - looked nice, but he'll leave those for everyone else to decide what to do with, after his abrupt outburst.

When he's done, he steps back, tilting his head to look at the nest. Would his sister like it, when she comes back? He isn't so sure, anymore - a feeling like it needs more too it rising. A snow-freckled face turns to look back at the former moor-healer, tail flicking behind him in an attempt to get his attention.

"Dandy-- er... Dandelionwish..?" he asks, gesturing for him to come over, "Does this look okay? Or... Or do you think it needs more?" This was Dandelionwish's plan first, after all - he'd probably have some idea for how decorated it should be. It's the least he can do, anyway, after snapping at him.
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