camp WORKING FOR THE KNIFE \ crying

[TWITCHBOLT]

He'd done it. Daisyflight's tireless training and Quillpaw's advice had helped, it genuinely well-and-truly had. After moons of attempts- two, to be exact- he'd endeavoured and waded through blood and sweat and tears and finally, finally, finally he had done it. A bird was clasped between his jaws, a seldom-seen sheen of pride shimmering from his bicolour pelt, spring in his step. Again, he was beelining- but he knew he'd finally done what they wanted, and it overjoyed him. He couldn't help but grin, showing off almost in how he paraded his catch. Before the warrior's den sat a chocolate-calico molly and a white-and-brown tabby tom, Tidespin and Ravencall, mother and father.

They turned at his approach, in their eyes that ever-same blankness and smiling soft upon their lips. At their feet he dropped his catch, puffed out his scruffy chest and set a wide, expectant pair of eyes upon them. "Your lunch. And I caught it, this time." Maybe it was vanity to boast this much, but he didn't care! He couldn't wait to see how they'd react, how they'd finally hold him close again and they'd eat as a family, and they'd ask him how he was doing-

"Oh! Thank you, Twitchkit." His mother spoke fondly, but she hardly looked at him for more than a second before lowering her head down to take a bite out of it.

Twitchpaw felt as if someone had reached into his stomach and ripped it right out of him, throwing it upon the floor in a spiral-spray of scarlet. "Twitchpaw", he corrected, under his breath but loud enough for Tidespin to hear him.

"Don't talk back to your mother," Ravencall instructed gently, though his voice was as airy and light as ever, and he did not look at Twitchpaw either- it was as if he had barely heard what he was even scolding his son for, and seemed simply inconvenienced that he had made a noise at all.

Twitchpaw was no idiot. He'd always been able to tell where and when he was not wanted, because it was most places and often. But more than ever that dejection stung, the bruise of this straining relationship growing bigger and purpler by the week. Green, sour... everything good grew bitter, immediately or soon, and he felt hot tears begin to sting the corners of his eyes like nettles. Away he turned- and they said nothing more, and neither did he, and he felt like he knew not what to do anymore. Head bowed low, the copper-strewn tom retreated toward the apprentice den before he collapsed on his haunches, tears dripping out of his eyes as if they'd turned into olive rainclouds, and he was helpless to control it.

Over his shoulder he spared one final glance. Foolish of him to expect to meet the eyes of kin, for they only saw each other. ​

penned by pin ✧​

 

[Mountainheart]

Mountainheart watched as Twitchpaw entered camp with his bird, offering the same friendly smile he did to everyone. He was calm, resting with his eyes closed after a meal. He idly listened to the camp around him, as he often did.

His ears flicked as he heard Twitchpaw bring the bird to his parents, and opened his eyes as he heard heard them call him a kit, and then tell him not to talk back when he corrected them. He shook his head in disapproval as he sat up.

But then he saw Twitchpaw walk away crying and.... well. He couldn't have that.

So he rose to his feet and strode over to him. "That was a magnificent bird, you caught, Twitchpaw." He said. "Well done, I'm proud of you."

He spoke loud enough his parents could hear, though he didn't expect them to say anything.

It was what SHOULD have been said.

And it was the truth, too! He was proud. Seeing young cats succeed made him swell with joy. Didn't matter who it was. Did you do a good job? Mountainheart is proud of you.

​

 

[FOXGECKER]

Tongue pulls at a tangled mess of deep russet and white fur, jerking and moving he attempts to fix it but to no avail. His fur seems to never want to cooperate with him. Maybe he can get someone's help. Maybe. Still he feels less inclined to ask as he doesn't want to be a burdern. So instead he takes a break from trying to merely relax that is when he sees Twitchpaw coming into camp. He looks do proud and with good reason too. That is a beautiful catch that he has and he goes to present it to his parents who hardly seem enthusiastic about it. The apprentice is growing and this is a very important milestone for them. His eyes turn saddened as he is chatised for correcting his mother since she did call him by the wrong title. It makes his heart ache at the way Twitchpaw's face turns from enthusiastic and proud to pained and despair. The older tom pushes himself to his paws then and he moves forth towards the parents first. "You should congratulate him on this catch. L'apprenti worked hard on catching it and especially for you. Both of you should show some pride in that hard work, hm?" His eyes glimmer with his own emotional upset before he turns from them.

Taking those steps he hears Mountainheart and he nods in aggreeance because it is true. "Ouais, ouais, ouais, petit garçon, this is a wonderful catch. You are doing so well in your training. I sure wish I had you for an apprentice." A gentle laugh leaves his throat then. Really he has trained all of one apprentice but that feels like moons ago. So long. He waves his tail then as he sits down. "Want to recount how you did it? I'm always up for an epic tale."​

 

[~Deersong~]

( ♬ ) The deputy heard the exchange with mounting irritation. How could any parent be so flippant towards their own kits? If that had been any of her children Deersong would have been beaming with pride and showing the bird off to any warrior who passed. She even remembered how bursting with pride she had been the day Snowpaw had made his first catch. Poor Thistleback had to hear about it for a week afterward.

She would rise to her paws, making her way over to the crying Twitchpaw and taking a seat beside Foxgecker as she meowed in her usual coo, "Mountainheart is right Twitch. That bird was out of sight, especially for leaf-bare." Her aqua gaze would flicker back over to his parents and she made a mental note to say something to the pair later. "Oh! I'd love to hear too, show some of those radical skills with the rest of us."

Her half-tail would lightly brush the ground as she got comfortable, the expression on the deputy's face one of excited curiosity. Genuinely wanting to hear how the tom had caught his prey. ​

( LET YOU BREAK; MY HEART AGAIN )

 

[VIOLETNOSE]

violetpaw overhears the exchange, playing with a moss ball nearby. her ears twitch and swivel towards twitchpaw, who offers his catch to another. his mother, violetpaw realizes once the queen speaks. she remembers that airy voice from her moons spent in the nursery. it's always pissed her off, for reasons that she couldn't explain. but not as much as it pisses her off to hear twitchpaw's mother refer to him as twitchkit... seriously? it's been moons since he was apprenticed. he's the same age as butterflypaw, for starclan's sake.

twitchpaw corrects them, rightfully so, only to be scolded by his father. violetpaw scoffs, claws that she hadn't realized had become unsheathed shredding the moss ball she'd been batting at moments prior. what are they scolding him for? being right?

twitchpaw should find himself better parents.

it falls silent. violetpaw's ears strain, following the patter of pawsteps as twitchpaw retreats in the direction of the apprentices' den. and she pursues quickly after, shredded moss ball abandoned, trailing after the scent of her denmate. as she draws close, she realizes there's a new sound in the air; quiet, barely there, but her sharp ears pick up on it once she's near. sniffling. violetpaw doesn't think it's due to the cold, dry air. her heart twists.

others make their way over, too. each offering support, complimenting twitchpaw on his catch, which violetpaw discovers was a bird. foxgecker, between his odd words that she didn't understand, tells twitchpaw that he should enlighten them all with the tale. which is all fine and cool, but they're completely skirting around the issue; that twitchpaw's parents are assholes. "you should've taken your prey back," violetpaw advises. "birds are super tricky to catch; you shouldn't waste it on cats like them." she grins in twitchpaw's direction.​

 

[MORNINGBIRD]

---

---

Morningbird sits, and he watches. This is how an elder bides their time. He sits, he watches, he tells stories to the youth and relieves the queens of their kits so they can stretch their legs in peace. Objectively, this is very little, but compared to Twitchpaw's lazy, good for nothing, whelps of parents-

His blood boils as he sees their son hand them everything every single day, as he trips over himself to please cats who will never give him the time of day, who barely acknowledge that he exists outside their memory. They work for nothing, and that's coming from someone who is in retirement.

Its so bad that when he sees Twitchpaw start crying from their neglect that he cannot just go and comfort the poor child. He has to calm himself down so he does not strike one of the warriors then and there, rage paletable all across the camp in its consumption of his emotions. Has to douse the raging inferno of a father burning in his heart to the warm kindle its meant to be. Only then does the old tom pad over, smile across his wrinkled features, crows feet deepening from the way it reaches his eyes. "Yes! Come now Twitchpaw, why don't you tell us the grand tale of your hunt today?" He would come around to the apprentice's side, hoping to curl a feather fletched tail around him in support. ​

---

---

header by lleafeons on DA, fancy via chérie​

 

[TWITCHBOLT]

Stupid, stupid- how stupid could he be, falling to his haunches in the middle of camp, crying. Because now everyone would see, close in, a crowd pincering him and squeezing the life out of him- they'd all tell him how pathetic he was being, how he should just go to bed, suck it up, stop stop stop crying-

But they didn't. No, Mountainheart said- said he was proud, which was silly because he didn't get anything out of it. Why would he say that, for no good reason? But Foxgecker too- lodged between words Twitchpaw did not understand, or almost did- he asked to hear the grand tale, something surely boring for them, and yet- yet Deersong seconded it, and Morningbird too, and before he knew it the words came tumbling from his maw. "Muh-m-my friend Quillpaw, 'n Daisyflight, they gave me tips... said I needed to aim up, b'cuz the bird would fly-" Another sniffle and his vision began to clear, the thickness of tears in his voice fading. "So I saw it- I smelled it, first, and it was bright red- and I did it just like they told me to."

It was hardly an epic tale as they might have hoped, but he knew he'd done the catching part right and that was all he cared about. Recounting the story had calmed him down a little- brought wide eyes of fire-flecked olive to settle upon Violetpaw. She spoke curtly but truthfully, a grin dressing her dark features. Though his voice still wobbled with the after-tears waver, he gave his answer alongside a reluctant nod. "Maybe... but maybe I just need a better bird. I just- I thought that would impress them, but I think..."

He trailed off, shuffling his feet. Was it even worth it? ​

penned by pin ✧​