will you still love me, tomorrow / bees

[DUCKPAW]

tags! ₊˚✧ ﾟ. new leaf has arrived. a breath of hot air washes over the land, thawing out the ice and resurrecting once brittle and brown foliage. it was starting to look green again; a stark constrast to the desolate landscape she had become so familiar with. this is what warriors had meant when they relegated tales of new-leaf, with prey so bountiful it practically jumped into your mouth. she could see ripples of the river as salmon fought their way upstream in droves, no doubt it was flourishing with a variety of species. her mouth was practically watering, but she had her sights on higher ambitions; it was something even more exquisite. a colony of bees had made their home on the lower branch of a tree she now stood at the base of, there was a small opening in the side. it was paw-sized, her paw-sized. if i could just shuffled up the trunk and scoop the delectable nectar inside... but her escape would have to be quick, lest she felt the furious sting of their retaliation. duckpaw is sizing up the tree now. was the distance short enough that she could simply jump off and land unharmed? or would she have to shuffle back down, slowing her break out? maybe it was all worth it? somebody had told her about honey once and the taste; pure sugar and sweet. even the name was tantalizing and rolled off the tongue smoothly. duckpaw breathes in; she decides that it is worth it. she could even bring some back to the clan and let them all have a taste of her bounty. duckpaw peels a square of moss of the roots of the tree. it was the perfect vessel for transporting such a viscous liquid.

duckpaw makes a leap on to the tree, claws unsheathed into the bark to make a stubborn purchase. the low humming of the bees vibrated in her ears. perhaps they had sensed a disturbance in the air? a few stray workers travel near her ears, but she flicks them away. adrenaline is wedging itself into tightly constricted muscles now. she feels fear, but deteremination is an overwhelming force. quickly and quietly, she scrabbles up the tree, powerful hindlegs make her ascension to the lower branch in only three strong movements. blood is rushing through her ears now and she is breathing hard through the moss she was carrying. duckpaw shifts the moss from her mouth to her paw, and in one deft movement, she sticks it into the hive until she is met with liquidy resistance. the angry humming of bees got louder and louder as they realized she was here to reap the benefits of months of their hard labour. she feels the first sting in her paw and yelps, but does not withdraw until she was ensured the moss was properly soaked. tears well up in her eyes as they swarm around her now. she decides the moss has been inside long enough, and pops it back into her mouth, nearly dropping it in the transition. get out!! she cried urgently in her mind. the honey fills up her mouth, overwhelming her senses in a sweet haze, but she was being stung at the same time. it was hard to properly savour the moment. duckpaw hastily decides to jump from the tree, and makes a hard landing onto the earth below. the humming is following her now as she sprints. keep running! she prompts urgently, legs burning with exhaustion and paws stinging with the tendrils of furious workers. at some point, everything goes quiet and she slows down to a trot.

"i did it-mmph!" duckpaw mumbles through the moss. her paws is really burning now, the site of many initial stings, but the taste of honey had made it all worth it. she trudges into the camp, dirtied and messy with a swollen paw in tow, but she has the biggest shit-eating grin on her face. "anybody want some honey?" new-leaf was now her favourite season.
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[Snakeblink]

MAYBE I'D BE A SAINT IF I WEREN'T ————————————​

He doesn’t see Duckpaw arrive initially, only hears her muffled words as she strides in camp, but they suffice to elicit a wistful sigh from Snakeblink. He’s been feeling weirdly out of sorts lately, feeling like something is lodged in his throat at odd points during patrols with Rookfang, and of all the concoctions that come out of the medicine den honey is the one he is glad to be prescribed. If only it weren’t such a hassle to gather. ”Oh, some honey would be nice—”

As soon as he turns around the words die in his throat, replaced with a hasty cough to cover laughter at the look of her. Duckpaw is a mess of mud and bee stings, and he thinks he spies one of the tiny defenders caught in her fur still, a bright yellow point on her dark pelt. ”Ah, Duckpaw… had a good hunt then, I gather?”​

——————————————————————————————————— so god damn lonely ​

ooc. information.

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• 
  
  
  — Snakeblink • he / him. 50 ☾, riverclan warrior
  — a sleek, skinny tabby with long ears and a scar over his right eye.
  — gay, not actually evil, penned by @Kangoo
  
  
  

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[SANDPELT]

ꕀꕀ Duckpaw’s offer to share her hard-earned honey is met with sandy ears swiveled in her direction, yellow eyes stretching wide. Snakeblink asks whether she’d had a good hunt, but Sandpaw is more concerned with the fact that the other apprentice had clearly not made it out with just the honey, but also a few extra souvenirs in the form of bee stings. "You got honey?" His question is one of curiosity rather than judgment; the younger apprentice is bold, to have faced down bees in order to grab their honey. Perhaps it’s a bit of bravery and a bit of stupidity mixed together. But still, he must respect that she did it.

As much as he’d like to immediately accept her offer of sharing the sweet, sticky honey, the tortoiseshell tom’s concern lies more in Duckpaw’s injuries. There’s no way she was only stung once, right? He knows if he attempted to steal honey, he’d be one massive welt by the end of the day. "How many times did you get stung? Do I need to fetch Moonpaw?" Surely the pale-furred apprentice, though still young, would know how to treat this kind of wound?​

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[PIKESPLASH]

Just when he thought this was going to be another peaceful day where nothing goes wrong, he is shown that you can never assume how a day will go. For one, he was going to pad up to Snakeblink and catch up. He did manage to pad to the other warrior, but his gaze followed Snakeblink's own to Duckpaw. A proud Duckpaw who was covered in mud and beestings. He maw is agape from shock. Heck, it takes him a moment to snap his jaw shut while grasping the situation. The situation being Duckpaw came back with honey and offered to share. Of course, with some battle wounds. Bees are fierce... He's grateful that Snakeblink speaks in his silence as well as Sandpaw because he isn't even sure where to start! The worrywart part of himself wants to drag Duckpaw to Moonpaw and get all this sorted out, while the other gluttonous side of him wants a taste of honey. Speaking of Moonpaw!

Unconsciously, he leans against Snakeblink slightly. "I think we should, uh, get Moonpaw anyway just in case?" The silver tom is unaware his fur brushes against Snakeblink's own as he leans forward and motions to Duckpaw's swollen paw. "N-not! S-saying your hunting wasn't uhm amazing, but that's... Uhhh gonna hurt later. Beestings d-don't go away for awhile." How does he know this? Funny enough when he was still fresh to clan life he had a run in with bees. It was not a pretty moment in his life and he remembered it took awhile for him to feel okay enough to proceed with his tasks. He wasn't afraid of bees, but he wouldn't say he'd try his paw at honey as readily as Duckpaw.

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 my huckleberry friend

• — pikesplash / riverclan warrior / masculine pronouns / 52 moons
  — bisexual / polygamist / open to flirting and crushes
  — short haired silver mackerel tabby with green eyes
  — may powerplay minor harm / can powerplay healing
  — biography / @ on discord for plots
  — penned by velou

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[DUCKPAW]

tags! ₊˚✧ ﾟ. duckpaw swivels her ears to catch the laughter, hastily disguised as a cough. snakeblink. though she had been apprenticed for around two moons now, she still hadn't interacted much with him. they both seemed quite solitary and awkward, a bad mix, but she had seen him out on the battlefield. a terrifying spectacle really. she closes her eyes now and pictures him in the heat of battle. blood adorns a pale maw as teeth sink beneath the many layers of flesh guarding a rogues throat, but it doesn't do much to slow the killing bite he had delivered with blood-lust and vigor. she swears up and down that green eyes had glowed like a fire when the rogue sank lifeless at his feet. a vicious warrior, a little scary. he doesn't seem so scary now as he scrutinizes her, green eyes traveling up and down, tracking the smattering of mud and the dying bees wrangled by long fur, but she still hesitates, then takes a deep breath. "yes it was ... fruitful." that was a good, mature word. duckpaw trots over to him as he had initially requested and dangles the moss by his head. "please enjoy, i went through a lot to get it," she implores, gesturing subtly to the mud smears as he had already detected. she did not want to be on his bad side.

her foot is a little swollen now, but she drags it around without comment, only betrayed by a grunt of pain here and there when she forgets to keep the pressure off it. she adjusts her stance once more, redistributing weight to working paws. sandpaw approaches her, and duckpaw nods to her fellow denmate, excitement fizzling in her olive-green gaze. she is met with a pair of yellow eyes, worried eyes. she sucks in a breath. she knows what sandpaw is about to suggest, but ravensongs dissappearance is weighing heavy on her mind. "oh, i lost count at ... 5 ... ehem," she mumbles the response, the last part is barely a whisper, covered by a subsequent clearing of the throat. there was no need to burden moonpaw with such a trivial injury. there was no immediate threat to her life, right? it could wait. the nursery was bustling with new residents, and she was sure that moonpaw had her paws full managing five nearly full-term queens. she still appreciated her denmates concern, and dipped her head, gesturing to the honey as if to ask if he would like some.

pikesplashs reaction is a little more sobering, and unnerving. jaws open to express shock. she peers into his open mouth, olive green eyes stretched open to reflect his alarm. why is he so shocked? does it look that bad? then his mouth snaps shut as he gathers his senses, but she can still see the worry trickling out in his ember green gaze. though she had rejected moonpaws help, pikesplash reinforces the suggestion with a gentle tone and a gesture at a red and angry paw. duckpaw considers what he says. "how long do they last?" she fights to keep a trill of alarm from entering a usually monotone voice, but it is hard. is she stuck like this forever? "maybe you should fetch her.." a modicum of shame washes through her. was this another silly story that would define her apprenticeship? please no. at least she was now getting help, instead of proudly rejecting it. duckpaw looks at pikesplash with worry, waiting for his reply.
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