THE BOY WHO CRIED WOLF ☾ NIGHTMARE

[Swansong]

————— ☾ —————
NOW I KNOW WHAT'S REAL, WHAT'S FAKE

A cream-furred kit lies alongside his three dual-toned sisters, all curled by the softly sleeping form of their dual-toned mother. The pale furred child, the only son, should be sleeping soundly. That is what anyone would expect from the drowsiest of the litter, a child with more penchant for redt than play.

And yet, something has changed in Swankit since his reunion with the Clan.

He is still as tired as ever — moreso, even, if it is possible, always yawning and nodding off. He still naps around the camp during the day. He still bears the same pleasant smile. But when the child sleeps, he begins to twitch, to toss and turn like he never did before. His frequent naps have lost their restfulness, replaced by a furrowed brow and a body compelled to move. He mumbles, too, in his sleep, half-comprehensible snippets of words slipping from his mouth.

He twitches now, more violently than he has before. His face contorts, mumbled words in the still of the night."Go away..." he keeps repeating, again and again. "Go away..." Louder each time, more audible, as the twitching becomes spasming and the spasming becomes thrashing, twisting frantic movements wracking the small child's form, and then —

He bursts to wakefulness suddenly, choked gasp ripping its way from his throat, scrabbling to shaky paws with his normally sleepy eyes blown wide and terrified. His maw parts, and Swankit's soft voice now grows shrill and warbling, a fearful wailing befit the restless dead. It would not be strange at all to think him a ghost, his pelt as pale and wispy as ever -- but his eyes turned vacant and unseeing, fixed on some faraway point as though the nightmare has followed him into waking.

"It's here," he wails, tears choking his voice. "The monster, the bear — it's, it followed us, it's coming to eat me I saw it, I saw it —" he rambles, breaths heaving, body trembling. "It's here for me, it's here for me, it's —" and he chokes on a sob, paws coming to cover his eyes as he makes himself small. It won't protect him from the monster, he knows. Nothing will.

There's no bear here, of course. Swankit is safe in the clan's temporary shelter, nothing has changed in the time between him going to sleep and waking up. But he does not know this, still not quite having returned to the waking world, still stuck in the nightmare that woke him.

Swankit's wailing does not quiet, hiding in vain from the monster he has convinced himself is coming.

RATHER SLEEP THAN STAY AWAKE
————— ☾ —————

☾⋆⁺₊⋆ info ; visual

• //
  ​
• SWANKIT named for his pale fur, after his maternal grandmother.
  — he/him. 2 moons.
  — shadowclan kit.
  — quiet and dreamy.
  
  penned by saturnid.​
• "SPEECH"
  ​
• 

​

 

[primrosethorn]

sleeping all packed together in this godawful tunnel, tightly cramped, swankit has no privacy — no den walls to muffle his wails, so that a mother might be first to comfort. instead it is primrosethorn, settled near the litter by chance, who wakes first. gone is the organization of their proper camp, and so gone are most of its norms.

well, he'll have to do.

ears pinned flat with fear and then annoyance as the wail stirs him from sleep, prim's acid-yellow gaze flicks from one end of their shelter to another. there's no bear. no threat at all, just a throng of cats sleeping uncomfortably, some beginning to stir.

he rises, picking his way over a clanmate or two. "hey, hey — " he speaks in a low rumble, as gently as he can manage. "hey, little guy, shh, breathe. there's no bear. you're safe... look, open those little eyes. lookit everybody. all your clanmates are here, see? sleepin' around ya, protectin' ya. and there's no bear."

should swankit allow, primrosethorn will lean down to lick the top of his head, gesture of comfort made a bit awkward by his uncertainty. "see?" he asks, after a moment's pause. "you're safe..."

he huffs, unsure what else to do. he's never been fantastic with littluns. "want to go on a little walk, clear that head of yours? just a small one. we can go see the stars at the edge of th' tunnel. how's that sound?" ​

 

[Halfshade]

Halfshade sleeps like most queens, with heavy exhaustion and barely flinching save for the smallest of noises. She could sleep through a rolling thunderstorm without so much as an ear flick, but it is a quiet murmur that rouses her at last and not Swankit's piercing cry.
In the dead of night she wakens, paranoia still flooding her system from the encounter with the bear from when this entire affair started and on instinct she counts her kits. Garlickit, Applekit, Valeriankit...half asleep the queen blinks drowsily as she goes over them once more in silent confusion before the realization hits her. Swankit is...slightly away from the nest and a strange shadow is hunched over him, possibly licking his head and asking him to go on a walk at night and she is standing then with fur puffing up and teeth barred because her immediate and instant instinct is someone is trying to steal her kit.
A paw swings out in a warning with claws unsheathed though whether she even lands a strike on the cat she doesn't care, if she draws blood its deserved. What fool goes near a sleeping queens litter and tries to touch them without warning. Her tail is folding back around her son to pull him close; finally realizing his disposition and taking in the others words. It only enrages her further when she finally realizes the shadow is a clanmate.
"Are you OUT of your mind?! Get away from my kits and away from my nest! Taking them on a walk at night? By the thunderpath? With bears?!" The torbie huffs, turns to push her nose down into Swankit's cream fur and nudge him gentle back to her side, "You're fine darling, we're safe here."
​

 

[APPLEJAW]

It's easy for Applekit to go to bed. When Halfshade tells them its time to sleep, she does so easily, curling up with her nose tucked below her tail or into the soft spot that is Halfshade. It's a little harder to fall asleep lately, but it's easy enough. She doesn't dream too much. She doesn't have to worry about nonreal monsters chasing her, or her hunting a mouse that isn't really there.

She's a light sleeper, though. Or at least lighter than Swankit and Valeriankit were. She thinks that's a good thing to be if she's gonna be a warrior. No WindClan cats could sneak up on her, then. She's woken up by Swankit beside her, squealing and pushing much later than he should be. " Swankit! " Applekit groans, fixing a sleepy glare on him. He was hardly this energetic during the day. He wasn't even awake though. His eyes are closed. Applekit's anger fades into weariness. " Swan...? "

Swankit suddenly bursts into wakefulness, and Applekit startles, scrabbling to prop herself up. She is wide awake now, ears flattened back. His talk of bears has Applekit standing too, fur on end as her head whips back and forth. None of her other clanmates were panicking, though. And there were no roars. The closest thing there was is a night-shrouded figure creeping toward Swankit, and Applekit's fully jostled to her feet as their mother bristles, lashing out with a paw.

Applekit cowers, and their dark fur looks too much like a bear's right now. " Go away! " Swankit is pulled close again, and Applekit would try to huddle back in with him again. She's mad and scared and worried all at the same time. " Th-there aren't any bears, " she reiterates, relying on Halfshade's words a bit to calm down too. " Um. Did you have a dream? Dreams aren't real... "​

 

[HONEYJAW]

Insomnia has always been something that Honeyjaw had to deal with. In his youth it was more a matter of restlessness, but as time has gone by it had taken on another form. Caring for someone so little and fragile, even if she quickly grew out of her tender moons and into a period of agility and motion, left him...unwilling, or at times unable, to sleep. The night watch was ever so important without a clan to watch his back. Even now that they had one, the warrior still finds himself caught up in those routines. He's sitting towards the tunnel's opening, his gaze on the stars and his back to a rise of the dirt to better protect that vulnerable part of him. As if it would do any good against a bear, or whatever else was out there. Though a little bleary-eyed, the warrior is still watchful. Eyes and ears open against the dangerous world out there.

So when he hears sounds coming from the Halfshade's nest of all places– well, of course he bolts up. "Hey!" Her kits were about as old as Dragonfly had been when he first found her. Precocious little things. Of course he's going to be worried. Isn't that the state of clan life? Clearheart would like that, he thinks. Obnoxious. Sometimes he hates that cat. "Halfshade, what's going on?" He lifts one paw to rub at fluttering eyes, not realizing that he'd just come from where Primrosethorn was intent on going. "Everyone all right? Why are we taking Swankit anywhere?"

﹥ˏˋ  OOC NOTES ╱ REFERENCE ╱ 07.02.2023  𝘙𝘌𝘔𝘐𝘕𝘋𝘐𝘕𝘎 𝘔𝘌 𝘏𝘖𝘞 𝘓𝘐𝘛𝘛𝘓𝘌 𝘐 𝘏𝘈𝘝𝘌 ˊˎ＜

• ooc: —

• 

• honeyjaw ╱╱ 36 moons old ╱╱ he - him - his ╱╱ warrior of shadowclan.
  ──── a former loner who joined the clan approximately six months ago (give or take).
  ──── named for the deep honey-brown of his pelt as well as his too natural charisma.
  ──── has an apprentice-aged kid he joined with, def scared of watching 'em grow up.
  ──── bisexual- kinda flirtatious yet never seems to really pursue a relationship. single.
  
  a short-furred dark chocolate point tom with the smallest splashes of white on his forehead, front paws, and tail tip. well-built, but overall average in size and unremarkable aside from his lightly curled ears and the magnetism of his smile. seems to show signs of aging earlier than expected, with a salt-and-pepper dusting around his jaw and muzzle.

• "speech"

​

 

[Swansong]

————— ☾ —————
NOW I KNOW WHAT'S REAL, WHAT'S FAKE

Swankit's voice continues its crying wordless and mournful of a death sure to come. It is not his mother that he wakes first with his warbling wails, but a warrior. He does not see the cat, eyes hidden by his paws as they are, and perhaps this is a good thing. The dark fur (nightpelted too-big swamp monster) of Primrosethorn would only scare him further.

Instead, he hears a soft voice, just barely peeking through over the sound of his own. "Shh, breathe." But how could he, how could he, when — "Open those little eyes." The voice keeps speaking so gently, and it is easy to grow swept up in the softness as it coaxes him to open his eyes, to look around, assures him there is no bear. A gentle scraping lick across the top of his head is what finally quiets him, peeking out from behind his paws to see golden eyes glowing in the dark. An invitation for a walk, to see the stars (he likes the stars), and —

His mother explodes into motion, pulling him away, snapping at the golden-eyed mystery cat. He flinches a little at her mention of bears, eyes darting around as his fur begins to bristle. "You're fine darling, we're safe here," No, she doesn't get it, she doesn't understand...

He huddles closer to Applekit, turns his face away so he can't see the tunnel again. Like the golden-eyed cat, she tries to assure him. No bears. No thundering ground, no rumbling roar. But no, that's not right.

"Did you have a dream? Dreams aren't real... "

Swankit blinks at his sister, looks around the tunnel again. Nothing but his clanmates, like Primrosethorn said. He's broken out of the nightmare's spell just a little, but now a worried confusion seeps into his gaze. "But... No, I... I saw it, I did. The bear's here, It's coming, it's... It was real..." Was it? He licks his lips, looking around at the gathered cats. "I swear, I... I'm not... Not lying..."

He curls in on himself a bit. "...It felt real. Not like a dream, like it was here again..." Glassy blue eyes turn downwards now, doubt (and shame) settling cold in his chest.

RATHER SLEEP THAN STAY AWAKE
————— ☾ —————

☾⋆⁺₊⋆ info ; visual

• //
  ​
• SWANKIT named for his pale fur, after his maternal grandmother.
  — he/him. 3 moons.
  — shadowclan kit.
  — quiet and dreamy.
  
  penned by saturnid.​
• "SPEECH"
  ​
• 

​