camp This is My Least Favorite Life || Homesick

[Chickbloom]

Dreams had hardly ever been a source of comfort for Eggshellbloom. They were often distractions, filling an already-anxious head with delusional doomsday prophecies of the future. Even after joining Skyclan, the problem hadn’t abated. If it wasn’t waking up to find his housefolk had gone away for good, it was padding into a deserted camp that held no signs of its former inhabitants. Dreams were a thorn in his side, and the warrior counted himself lucky if he couldn’t remember any. When amber eyes flitted that day open to find sunlight, however, Eggshellbloom found himself hoping for just the opposite. Alas, the dream faded like morning dew all the same, slipping through yolk-stained paws as the coward propped himself up in his bed - no, nest.

Yes, it seemed there’d been some impressions stamped on the skittish Scottish Fold. For a few moments the boy believed himself far away, at home and snuggled up in kittypet comfort. Eventually sleep-addled senses wrested themselves from the spineless whelp’s subconscious, realizing that the leaves below weren’t linen, and the draft in the warriors’ den wasn’t the gentle breeze of air-conditioning.

A sad sort of frown was plastered across Eggshellbloom’s face like butter on toast as he groggily padded into daylight, rubbing amber eyes as a half-hearted attempt to wipe the night away. In truth the tomcat was still gripping onto its aftereffects, treating them as sacredly as he treated his own collar. Why hold on to either? The whelp didn’t want to let go, didn’t fee he should, but… his housefolk had treated him terribly, and Eggshell attacked them in turn while escaping. Even if it was an accident, the guilt of that action still weighed heavily on him. Were they okay? Maybe their injuries were infected. Maybe they needed help!

The ball of anxiety was antsy now, practically bouncing on buttery paws as he padded towards the entrance of camp. Yes, this - this was a good idea. Maybe his housefolk were fine. More than fine, maybe even repentant! If they’d learned how much Eggshell had suffered, then maybe the duo would be apologetic, and everything could go back to the way it was before. The whelp could lick their wounds clean, atone for his own sins before curling up in their laps. Even if they were a little mad, that was okay. He just - he just missed them.

“I’m gonna - I’m g-gonna go s-see my Housefolk. I’ll b-be back soon, okay?” The sentence was spoken like it was the most normal thing in the world, going to visit the pair who’d isolated the pet they barely gave notice to. It was like the tiny, rational part of the boy’s brain had forced the absurdity into the air, hoping that someone would talk some sense into the Scottish Fold. “I’ll - I’ll try and be back later - y’know - l-later today. I’ll be quick, I just - I just m-miss them.” ​

 

[Owlheart]

From her understanding how daylight warriors relationships with twolegs were, Eggshellbloom’s seemed out of the ordinary. Their twolegs usually loved them right? That was the whole point of them being daylight warriors, so they could live within the two homes that cared for them. Eggshellbloom was timid, a ball of anxiety that rivalled if not surpassed Owlheart’s own, he had attacked his twolegs, yet she found it difficult to believe it to be a true act of aggression. They must have provoked it somehow, she remembers hearing that they didn’t let him leave.

That would count as provoking right? Would they let him leave if he went back there again? Rationality briefly overtook feelings in this situation for her mainly because she couldn’t relate to the conflict at all, it seemed pretty cut and dry to her. The tabby frowned as he decided that going back there was the best course of action right now. Surely there was some part of the Scottish Fold that understood he shouldn’t go back.

The tabby padded to stand beside him by the camp entrance, staring owlishly at him, appearing to be looking through him as she tried to consider what to say to this. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” She asked softly, trying to navigate this conversation in a non blunt manner was starting to wear her down already and she hadn’t even started.

The warrior shook her head “what if they don’t let you leave again? What will you do then?” She asked, immediately forgoing the plan of not coming across as blunt. The concern was evident in her tone, the idea of not seeing the yolk stained tom around permanently this time was a future that she didn’t want to see come to fruition.

SkyClan had already lost too many clan-mates, allowing potential loss that she perceived to be preventable to occur just didn’t sit right. She gazed at the camp entrance, should she offer to go with him? Try and talk him out along the way? Or should she just keep pointing out how bad of an idea that sounded? “Please don’t go” she settled on saying, it felt a little pathetic to plead with him like this but she was happy to be viewed as pathetic if it meant that Eggshellbloom would remain home.
​

 

[DUSKPOOL]

don't raise your voice . improve your argument .
︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶

Biting back a sigh, Duskpool slid molten optics inspecting Eggshellbloom’s frame. He remembered the small fry, stumblin’ over words on the unclaimed border like a kit learnin’ to talk. How long had it been? His brow slanted upward in debate. It’s been moons. He brushed the thought away. Time was fleeting. He sure ain’t gonna worry about the logistics. “Yer only gonna hurt yerself, kiddo.” He rumbled, brow twitching. “If yer that desperate to hurt yerself, then I’ll join ya—” Molten hues slid to Owlheart, respondin’ to her question without a second to spare, Duskpool returned deadpan hues on the feline in question. “Better to let go, kid. It’ll do ya some good in the long run than chasin’ the past that ain’t comin’ back. It’ll only haunt ya.” Trust me. He spoke from experience. Hypocritical. But ain’t they all? Nothin’ good comes from stayin’ in the past. He was sure of that.

“But if yer lookin’ for closer, then I ain’t gonna stop ya, not unless yer takin’ someone with ya.” They couldn’t afford to lose any more clanmates. With him ( or another ), they’d at least have a fightin’ chance if things went south — they always did. A wooly tail flickered, breathing a sigh, Duskpool shifted, letting muscle ripple beneath obsidian fur. “Don’t let ‘em hurt ya any more than they already have, kiddo.” He rumbled, brow raised, waitin’ to see what the other did. He doubted Owlheart would let the kid walk back the entrance, and it sure wasn’t Duskpool’s job to watch over the kid, but foxdung, if it ain’t annoyin’ when they go out lookin’ for trouble — unintentionally — because SkyClan sure seemed to have its case of bad luck. ​

​

thought speech​

 

[SILVERSMOKE]

Eggshellbloom was a friend... sort of. Out of all the company the introverted tom kept, Eggshellbloom was the most infuriating, the indecisiveness and apologetic nature enough to make his fur bristle when forced to confront it in his assessment. Yet, the other's eager-to-please attitude had turned him into a decent warrior, his desire to improve making Silversmoke respect the scrambled Scottish Fold and consider him dedicated enough to mentor. Today, with sleep still rattling his head and form not yet adjusted to the rising temperatures, Eggshellbloom had chosen to be infuriating once more. His eyes narrowed towards Eggshellbloom, the tom snapping quicker than his brain could regulate. "You're willing to have the entire clan fretting over you because you miss your Twolegs? After everything they did?" He would never understand it, not the need to return somewhere, rather, the need to see someone that had hurt you. Silversmoke didn't think he'd have ever willingly searched for Slate had the ex-rogue not turned up in SkyClan, the need for closure was never as great as the need to protect his home. Eggshellbloom clearly thought differently, he had half the mind to suspect that the anxious tom had been up all night fretting over the decision.

'You mousebrain...' He wouldn't be surprised if Eggshell's twolegs had already picked out a new cat for them to ignore, but even with anger loosening his tongue, he could not say the most hurtful part out loud to the other. Silversmoke couldn't put it past the no-furs to do such a thing though, not when his own had taken his mother and moved to StarClan knows where. "Don't be so conceited. Watch them from afar if you need to, but you know and we know that going back into that den is self-sabotage." Moving to stand near the entrance, the scowling Lead Warrior cast his glance towards Owlheart and Duskpool, both advising the fold against it, both speaking softly to the other (at least, by the standards of someone whose ears were flat and tail lashing like a snake's rattle). Their efforts weren't unappreciated, even still, he couldn't help but feel as if coddling someone adamant about making bad decisions wasn't the best approach.

​

 

[Chickbloom]

Just as butter-stained paws turned to carry the coward out of camp, a trio of cats came forward to speak sense to the skittish Scottish Fold. Each approached from their own angle, but all were welcomed by the small, sensible part of the boy’s brain (even if the rest of him wanted to push back.)

Owlheart chose to attack the issue, surprisingly, with some degree of gentleness - at least at the start. “Y-Yeah. Yeah, I’m sure” Eggshell answered, sounding decidedly unsure as he took a half-step forwards just as the warrior decided to cut to the heart of things. “If they? - They w-won’t. They w-won’t do that. They love me. I’m sure - I’m sure they’ve realized that they m-made a m-mistake. Yeah, it was - it was just a m-mistake. I made a mistake t-too, attacking them l-like that, so - s-so we’re even, I g-guess. I s-still want to apologize, but…y-yeah, it’s all s-settled.” Such a rambling response, certain of what was going through his housefolks’ heads, was clearly meant more for Eggshell that Owlheart. The boy wanted, needed to be right on this.

Duskpool’s offer to join the whelp was, ironically, the first sentence that cracked the coward’s self-delusion. There was a small part of Eggshell that knew this was a bad idea, but a sort of selfish impatience to see his twolegs had sent the Scottish Fold on a self-destructive path. The idea of someone else coming along caused the living doormat to reassess the risks for a moment, and he was unsurprisingly more concerned about the other’s safety than his own.

Eggshell sat, amber eyes locked on the ground as he pondered Duskpool’s words. He was silent for a long moment before muttering, “But I…I w-want that past back. Shouldn’t - Shouldn’t I t-try? Does that make me a bad pet if I don’t?” Pet. It was a word that some in skyclan would treat with derision, but Eggshell saw nothing wrong with it. Twolegs had raised him, fed him, housed him. He was theirs. If that life was well and truly gone, then what did he have? A yolk-stained paw tugged errantly at his collar as the coward grew more subdued. “They hurt me, b-but I still - I still love them, y’know?”

If Eggshell still had any plans to leave camp, they were swiftly snuffed out by Silversmoke. The whelp’s relationship with the warrior was strange. He’d been a mentor to Eggshell, but the other’s dislike of daylight warriors was well-documented. At times the coward considered them friends, but then he’d be hit with a barrage of encouragement and insults and was left not knowing what to think.

The venom in Silversmoke’s voice may have not been directed at him, but Eggshellbloom winced all the same. “I’m - I -“ I’m not that important were the words that nearly left the whelp, but he knew it would just make the stern warrior even angrier. The whole clan worrying about him? If Orangsestar went missing, sure, but Eggshell? The accusation of conceit grated against the coward, and he could feel frustration building as Silversmoke seemed to mock the relationship he had. At least, that was what it felt like.

“D-Don’t talk like that, you don’t k-know them!” The kittypet hissed suddenly, standing up. “I d-do miss them, because I love them! B-But - But you wouldn’t know what love is, w-would you? You’re - You’re heartless.” The Scottish Fold regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth, but he stood his ground. After moons of Silversmoke’s comments, it was only fair for the boy to get in a few of his own. “I - Maybe going back is a b-bad idea, but I should be allowed to miss them! They’re like - they’re like f-family to me, so…” slowly Eggshell felt his vitriol fade and sat back down after a moment, tears rimming amber eyes. “I want them back. If I can’t h-have their love again, then…then w-what do I have?”​