pafp THOSE SILENT STARDUST WORDS [✦] questions

[CICADAFLIGHT]

✦₊ ⊹—— paws that are small and yet somehow far too large make their way across camp, the white-tipped ends to overlong legs; normally, cicadakit drifts about with little destination until one of his siblings pulls him a way or another, usually against his will. not today—today he seeks out a svelte ginger shape, small and glossy-furred and well-proportioned, the opposite of everything cicadakit is. the opposite of everything he feels like, with his gawky legs with their protruding joints and his perpetually tangled curls. but that's not why he seeks out fernpaw; no, he has questions, questions about the glimmering depths that surround the island his clan calls home. he remembers his first time dipping his paws in it, remembers the way it had moved his awkward legs so effortlessly and instantly put to sleep the foamy-jawed beast that seems to slumber in the darkest crevasses of his mind.

"fernpaw?" he murmurs, low and unhappy-sounding, equally dull two-toned eyes settling on the red-pelted apprentice as cicadakit's twisted tail is wrapped awkwardly around his ankles. pick up your tail, cicadakit, his father's voice chimes in his mind, and he has to focus on the other tom again, standing eerily still as he remains silent for some time before he remembers—he has to ask the question. he looks away from fernpaw before his eyes can meet the apprentice's own, shakes tangled fur into his eyes to hide from the gazes he can feel prickling along his pelt, mutters words that stick in his throat like thorns, "can you tell me about swimming? what it's like, how ... how to be good at it?"

I AM GOD (✦) 𝑨𝑵𝑫 𝑰 𝑵𝑬𝑬𝑫 𝑻𝑶 𝑩𝑬 𝑫𝑬𝑺𝑻𝑹𝑶𝒀𝑬𝑫

• ooc: please wait for @FERNPAW to post! :-)
  
• disclaimer: it's important to note that cicadakit is not always in a stable state of mind. his view of the world may not always be accurate to objective reality, which may include seeing things that are not genuinely there, reading motivations or thoughts from actions that are not actually implied, and making assumptions or jumping to conclusions. this is not an attempt at metagaming, powerplaying, or mischaracterization, and is not legitimately true or correct to reality or what your characters actually think or believe.
  
  it will always be noted in the post if he is seeing something that isn't actually there. all opinions & thoughts are ic only and do not reflect my thoughts and opinions as a writer.
• 
  — cicadakit
  — he/him ; kit of riverclan ; 2 ☾s
  — "speech" ; thoughts ; attacks
  — penned by dejavu
  

​

 

[FERNGILL]

Fernpaw lived his life relatively unapproached, especially when it came to advice. The implications flew over his head as clearly as a heron would, entirely unnoticed- because for all his good will and cheery nature, the ginger tom was decidedly not clever. That much was obvious from his moons-long struggle of apprenticeship, still bearing a student's name despite his age. So when he heard footsteps approaching on his blind side, little footsteps, Fernpaw was assuming to be faced with a question about a game, or about his collection, or about someone he'd talked to...

At first he regarded Cicadakit with quite the shocked expression, though his eyes soon met the child's curious, mismatched pair, and his face softened into a smile. There was a small stretch of silence when they met eyes, tough Fernpaw's grin stayed relatively comfortable. Swimming. "'Course I can," he chirped, immediately invigorated. It had taken every ounce of his self control not to glance over his shoulder to check that Cicadakit had not been talking to someone else. But Fernpaw, he'd said- Fernpaw. Did that mean that the kits knew he was good at swimming? Knew him for what he was good at, not the embarrassment he'd faced on the sparring grounds?

"Swimming's great, once you learn how to do it," he purred. "The most important things are to keep your head above the water and spread your toes out. But your mentor'll help you find your own rhythm. Everyone does it a little differently." His voice was warm and fond. "Eventually, you can even fish while swimming!" Oh- he tried not to shout. He didn't want to be overbearing, to... overwhelm Cicadakit with too much information before he'd had a chance to discover a passion for swimming himself.​

✦ penned by pin ✦​

 

[Steepsnout]

WE'RE TAKING OVER THE WORLD, A LITTLE VICTIMLESS CRIME ➳​

Spine tight after a patrol, it took Steepsnout a moment to lift her eyes and assess camp. When she did, Fernpaw's firey pelt paired with the smaller shape of Cicadakit pulled her paws along a little further. The little-leader was a tangle of limbs, morose muttering just barely audible. Her broad shoulders relaxed, the warmth of the interaction rolling into her stride.

The warrior knocked against her sibling in greeting, care taken to be within eyesight, before puncturing his lecture with a loud addition. "Mm, that's when you can get your teeth involved!" Words cropped with a snap of teeth, one marble fang slit Steepsnout's easy smile. Fishing was great fun when the rivers were full of the scaley morsels. Though one of her earliest fishing attempts was marred by a meaty fin to the jaw, the molly had been sure to return the favour since.

Leisurely, she rearranged her tasselled forepaws. "Listen to this one's advice and you'll be snagging the biggest fish of the patrol." Fernpaw might've taken a few moons to nail the combination he described but he could fish. Maybe all those setbacks meant he knew some unique strategies to secure a catch. As an apprentice, Steepsnout never had to innovate much when she could just bat a large paw through the water, prey- anything really.​

 

[SMOKESTAR]

It is warming in a way he can not quite describe to look out across the camp and see his kits milling about, pestering other cats or otherwise playing happily without a care in the world. To think he had once had the fleeting thought of not wanting them, a rare moment of uncertainty and fear that pushed him into a corner and left him lashing out in blind terror. He did not think he would have carried through with such a thing, but seeing them out and about certainly assured him he had made the right decision in the end to bring them into the world. Already they were integrating with the clan, he can see Cicadakit on his long fawn-leg legs wandering over to Fernpaw and he follows less out of worry and more curiousity to overhear the conversation.
The spotted child wanted to swim better, wanted to improve already and he was pleased at the aspirations already forming despite their young age. Smokethroat lingers at a distance briefly, sees Steepsnout arrive to join her brother in friendly banter as Fernpaw explains the basics in a particularly enthusiastic way he was glad to see of the orange apprentice; quite a few moons behind his siblings in getting his name due to his failings in combat but swimming had never been much of an issue for him thankfully.
Finally the deputy steps forward more, joining more appropriately, "Learning new things are we?" A smile breaks across his maw, he's found he smiles more lately without really thinking about it, "Fernpaw and Steepsnout are well enough teachers for that, I recall....some time back this one in particular-" His orange eye narrows thoughtfully to the she-cat with a wrinkle of his nose in amusement, "-nearly got dragged under by a monster of a fish."
​