camp The leaves have changed a time or two [HEMLOCKNOSE INTRO] since the last time the train came through

[HEMLOCKNOSE]

you can count on me​

---

It's not like he was an old man. Of course not, he was simply not the youngest guy around anymore. Generally that didn't bother him, but watching some of the kits and apprentices bounce around in any weather or temperature definitely reminded him of the fact. His joints were a bit stiff from the temperature drop overnight, but he was loosening up just fine. The sun warming his fur at the moment certainly wasn't unwelcome.

Hemlocknose turned his gaze toward whoever was near him. "How old is too old, do you think, to be a father for the first time?" He inquired. The question was light, but it held a bit of weight to him. He had just turned 74 moons after all, and he had no mate, no children. Maybe StarClan had just decided that journey wasn't for him. Who knows. He wasn't lonely per-say, he had plenty of friends in the clan. Maybe it was just right for him.

 

[CHILLEDSTAR.]

they didn't know the answer to that question, if they're being honest. they never wanted kits. especially after having to raise their brother as if he was their own. kits attached to them, and they cared for them but having their own? being the leader of the clan was like having kits to look after. idiotic little kits, some better than others, but chilledstar cared for each and every one of them. wanted to protect them all, and every single time some cat died it hurt. their tail lashed back and forth in thought as they laid down not too far from hemlocknose.

"i don't think there is an age. you're not that hold, anyways. I'd say if you were... I don't know... uh 200 moons? that might be a little too old."

they laughed quietly, before flicking their ears with a nod.

"you thinking of having little ones or something?"

———————---***ALL OF MY FEELINGS ARE GONE***———————---​

I LEFT 'EM ALL ON THE FLOOR✧ MAN WHO'S TO BLAME IF YOU DON'T LOVE ME NO MORE

•  
• — black feline with a white marking across their face, a white chin, a white right front paw, and blue eyes. chilledstar is covered in scars, the most prominent ones being the one across their face, and the one across their neck.
  — 44 moons old; ages the 3rd every month
  — they / them pronouns
  — aromantic / homosexual ; currently not looking / looking
  — child of JAGGED and RAVEN
  — shadowclan ; loyal to shadowclan ; other info if applicable
  — mildly difficult to befriend ; trusts barely anyone; trusts no one outside of shadowclan
  — "speech", thoughts, attacking
  — peaceful powerplay allowed

​

​

 

[HEMLOCKNOSE]

you can count on me​

---

His leader took the bait first. "You thinking of having little ones or something?" Hemlocknose chuckled at that. "I can't say I haven't had my daydreams." He shifted to have his paws underneath him. "Never wanted to have 'em without a true love next to me, though," He added with a nonchalant shrug. "What 'bout you?"

 

[Magpiepaw]

—————————————————————⊰♰⊱————————————————————

He didn't like kits. He was once a kit, he knew, and he knew this but he had also been well-behaved and not annoying in the slightest. If you asked him anyways, and frankly his opinion was star-blessed and significantly more valid than any others. They were noisy, always poking their little heads into the medicine cat den and being generally unlikable with their shrill whining and troublemaking - they didn't get much better as apprentices but at least the energy was burned elsewhere and not in camp most the time. Pessimistic, perhaps, but he couldn't change how he felt. The rule that a medicine cat may not have kits was tailor made for him even if it came at the tragedy of his mentor's grief.
"Please do not." The last thing he needed was more annoying little ankle nippers roaming about, the medicine cat apprentice huffed as he flicked his tail, ambling forward to stand next to Chilledstar before twisting his head to stare up at the leader with a snort, "I would hope not, is not an entire clan of grown cats acting like children enough for you? Surely you would rather join Hemlocknose in the elder's den at that point."
The older tom was not THAT old but that hardly changed Magpiepaw's opinion, at a certain point you were just an elder in his eyes - he sometimes mentally viewed Frostbite as one because of how often he moaned and groaned about the youth or-ah Stars, he acted like an elder too didn't he? That was not a realization the black and white tom wanted to deal with right now.

——— ⸸ I'm the kid in the rain. Celebrate the insane ———— ⸸ Yeah, never goes my way

• OOC can go here.
• 
  
  
  Magpiepaw
  —⊰⋅ MCA of ShadowClan
  —⊰⋅ He/They
  "SPEECH", 'THOUGHTS', ATTACK
  —⊰⋅ Black tom w/a white throat and blue-violet eyes.
  —⊰⋅ Has mild cerebellar hypoplasia (Wobbly cat syndrome)
  
  

​

 

[HEMLOCKNOSE]

you can count on me​

---

"Well- hey, excuse you young man, I'm not that old yet," Hemlocknose feigned offense at Magpiepaw's off-pawed comment. He chuckled at the thought of the medicine apprentice dealing with kits. Certainly an amusing thought. "Kits are important to ShadowClan staying strong. As much as you may not be a fan, they do have to come around sometime," He added with a flick of his tail against Magpiepaw's flank.

 

[smogstar]

"Can't knock it before you try it, Magpiepaw," the silver tabby would quip on approach, a dry edge to his remark blotting out a hint of bother. How the medicine cat apprentice often casts parenthood in a pessimistic hue has come to set the deputy's teeth on edge, just a little bit. Love is sacrosanct, and love's ability to blossom new life is one to be revered, not dismissed, not despaired of. Even a cynic as world-weary as Smogmaw concedes this. He'll also concede that Magpiepaw's post ensures he shall never have kits, never sire a litter, and while the young tom may personally relish in the fact, his thoughts on the topic are as welcomed as a toothache.

Phlegm churns aplenty in his gullet, for Smogmaw clears his throat to swallow back further disparagement. Instead, his focus flocks towards Hemlocknose and Chilledstar, both whom receive nods in greeting when his gait stumbles to a halt. "Every new litter brought into our clan bolsters it further," he tacks on, the older warrior's prior comment echoed in concurrence. "You ain't too old, Hemlocknose, if that's what you're worried about. Better to have moons' worth of wisdom on your side going into sum'n like fatherhood."

Ideal, but not often the case. There are some, such as Granitepelt, who should have never been allowed near parenthood whatsoever. His and Starlingheart's brood is both a tragic tale and a vivid illustration of how fast a family will fracture, crumble, and ultimately dissolve in a sea of poor life choices. ​