camp through the mud and the storms [RTA]

[CLAYFUR]

Last night’s heavy rains have turned parts of the territory into a swamp, full of water-filled holes and disastrously-placed mud puddles. It’s easy to mistake solid ground for a surprise puddle disguised within the reeds—and Clay finds this out the hard way. Pale paws track carelessly across the ground, an easy trot the only pace that the warrior seems to know. He isn’t giving his full attention to his surroundings, losing himself in though as he is so prone to doing, and he’ll deny to his last breath the strangled noise that leaves his mouth when solid ground is no longer beneath him, and he goes crashing down into the cold puddle.

The tom returns to camp covered in mud up to his chest, droplets of brown water being flung into the air with each rhythmic flicker of his tail. There isn’t a patch of white left on him, it seems, and his normally messy pelt is even more so than usual, slicked back and spiked in places with slowly drying mud. A dip in the river’s water hasn’t done much to help his situation—he’s now covered in mud and dripping wet. He hopes to make it to his nest without issue, but as he strides into camp he’s immediately met with the familiar faces of a few clanmates. A tired, sheepish smile crosses his mud-flecked muzzle. "Don’t laugh. There may have been an… incident while I was out hunting."
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[ YOU ARE THE STARS TO ME ]​

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[DIPPERFROST]

Stars forbid one of the younger apprentices get out on cleaning duty, the ones with more to prove or the one's who could use a good hard day of work. The excuse was that they needed to focus on training more than she did but she doesn't want to hear it. She cannot wait to be a warrior, to not have to do this kind of stuff unless she really wanted to. Maybe one day she would even have her own apprentice to order about, to make rake moss out of dens and pick ticks off of elders. Cleaning the camp had been laborious but she was at the tail end of the work. She had dragged all of the old moss out and now needed to put new moss in, which she had spent a good chunk of time gathering.

She is about to bring the new moss into the nursery when suddenly there is splattering of mud. not again she thinks as she stares at the pile dismally, when she looks at her pelt that she had spent a good chunk of time grooming this morning, that she would now have to spend another good chunk of time grooming all over again. When she looks up to find the culprit she is expecting a kit again but instead what she is greeted with is a very wet and very muddy warrior. Clayfur. "I would only laugh if it were funny but unfortunately it is not." she says simply and for the first time in what felt like forever there is an emotion behind her words, behind her eyes. It shows in the way her tail flicks back and forth and in the way she sets her jaw. Annoyance.

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[lichenstar]

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It was certainly a gift to have been there at the founding of RiverClan, in many ways it spared her a lot of tedious chores though she supposed she earned that right with her blood spilled, scars evident on her pelt for it. Dipperpaw was not being punished despite the way her shadowed eyes and agitated tail wanted everyone to believe... it was just work. Work that all apprentices did their entire journey to warriorhood. It was a small way she could contribute since her thoughts were too compelling to focus on the task of catching fish instead.

Clayfur has never more aptly suited his name than he does now, covered almost entirely in the sopping muck that lines the rain-dusted territory. She thinks to laugh at him but is quickly advised against it (the curve at the ends of his lips show he knows it is a hard request to honor). Unfortunately, her dour shadow does not seem nearly as amused by life's more... silly mistakes and glowers at him most severely for his unspoken crime of making her work harder. "At least you're handling the nursery today, rather than the warrior's den," she offers, slinking from behind the sour girl with a small, apologetic look. "I'll be sure some of your more.. unruly den-mates clean up after Clayfur today." A loud-mouthed chimera boy stands out in her mind most presently but there are more options than just him that had earned her ire lately.

"You're not hurt so we'll have to call it a minor incident at best," the deputy mews, glancing at the ruddy tom with an amused glint to her eye.

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WELL IF YOU WANT MY BLOOD I'LL MAKE SO MUCH BLOOD

THAT YOU'RE GONNA FUCKING DROWN​

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[CLAYFUR]

Unfortunately for Clayfur, the cat who he’s stumbled across first isn’t as forgiving as some of his other clanmates. His eyes go wide as Dipperpaw lashes her tail, annoyance easy to read in every line of her tense expression, her lashing tail. He tries to look apologetic, but it doesn’t seem to go very far with the apprentice. She even goes so far as to tell him that it isn’t funny, which—look at him! Even if it’s annoying, it’s gotta be at least a little bit funny to everyone except him, right? Even Clay can see the humor in his misfortune!

Luckily, Lichentail appears before Dipperpaw can, like, blow him up with her mind; the deputy reassures her that she won’t be the one cleaning it up, and the tom’s ears shift to angle back against his head. "Uh, yeah… sorry about that. If you want, I can clean it off you?" He’s trying to be better about cleaning up his own messes, lately. There’s no reason to make some poor apprentice clean up mud all day when he’s the one who caused the mess in the first place. "It’s okay, Lichentail, I can clean it all up. Did I get any on you, too?"
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[ YOU ARE THE STARS TO ME ]​

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[otterbite]

"You're not gonna try to like, dunk yourself under the water a bit longer? At least if you turn into ice it's less to clean up." Otterpaw grumbled as he dumped a chunk of old moss at his paws, looking Clayfur up and down like the warrior had personally slapped him. Dipperpaw may have been put up to cleaning the nursery, but it was his sorry tail tidying up and repairing the warriors den.

"If you can't convince one of the queens to lick you clean why don't you put that mud to use for the warriors den? Sure help save me a few trips to the edge of the island." Narrowed green eyes shifted to Dipperpaw with a frown. Lucky. Like there was anything actually in the nursery to clean up right now with Bitekit, Valekit and Goldenkit old enough not to leave everything in disarray.​

RIVERCLAN APPRENTICE ✦ BLUE-BLACK CHIMERA ✦ 8 MOONS ✦ TAGS​

 

[Moonbeam]

Normally Moonpaw enjoyed cleaning dens. Cleaning the nursery gave her a chance to talk with the kittens that were in there and give the queens a small break to go get water, food, whatever they wanted while their children were distracted with talking to an apprentice. The warriors den she didn't often talk - most of the time there was no one in there while cleaning was happening - but she was able to find things stuck in the old moss at times and she found it a little fun at least, digging through old moss to find treasure and return it to the warrior it belonged to. Sometimes they didn't actually care to keep it, having thought it lost forever and already moving on, and that was when the small moon-kissed moggie would have something new for her collection if it was something that interested her.

She couldn't say that she enjoyed mud, however. She didn't like cleaning it, didn't like having it on her fur. One of the curses of having fur so white and only white was that if she had anything on or in it it was immediately noticed. She was helping around camp however she could, currently bringing food to the elders when she stepped out and noticed a usually brown and white tom mostly brown now and ears flicked back for just a second as she paused before she moved forward and over slightly to be out of anyone's way. "Your nest is going to be filled with more mud than moss if you go to bed now." She'd muse for a moment, amusement flickering in her eyes for just a second at the thought. It'd be horrible to clean later on, but if Clayfur was going to destroy his nest with mud anyway maybe Otterpaw could simply leave that nest alone for the day and whoever cleaned up the nest next time would have one giant clump of dried mud and moss to pick up and move instead of pieces.

I WISH PLANT LIFE ꕥ WOULD GROW ALL AROUND ME

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• MOONPAW formerly Ratpaw || NPC x NPC || brother to Rowanpaw || apprentice to Salmonshade.
  -- She/Her || 7 moons old, ages every 17th
  -- smaller than average, small rounded ears. SH white masking cinnamon torbie with orange eyes.
  -- soft-spoken, often found humming, tries to comfort others by smiling

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[lichenstar]

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The molly is in good spirits, despite the inconvenience to her youngers, and shakes her head with a small chuckle. "I assure you, my pelt is clean." Her ears flick at the sound of the boy she had in mind and it is with some amount of restraint that she doesn't only laugh at him for his disgruntled reaction. Maybe if he could stop having such a snappish tongue... could follow any order she ever gave him, he wouldn't constantly be stuck with chores. Coyotecreek was sure to dislike her unforgiving nature with his particular brat but it isn't unfounded... he's just a pushover, like the boy's father.

"If only so your nest-neighbors don't also complain, cleaning up might be a better idea," she suggests softly, smiling to Moonpaw after her own gentle teasing added to the chorus. Outnumbered by apprentices, and only one of them in a good enough mood not to skin Clayfur with their gazes...

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WELL IF YOU WANT MY BLOOD I'LL MAKE SO MUCH BLOOD

THAT YOU'RE GONNA FUCKING DROWN​

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