camp YOU’RE ON YOUR OWN, KID — nightmare

[CRAPPIEPATCH]

The dead of night brings with it darkness. There is no moon in the sky, only the vaguest outline that sheds no light upon the earth. All is silent, and RiverClan is soundly asleep.

In the medicine den, Crappiepaw bolts upright, green eyes wide and panicked, chest heaving from their nightmare. "Mama? Mama!" They scramble to their paws, bleary-eyed and half-awake, and promptly trip over something on the floor of the den before they manage to stumble outside.

Wide eyes trail from one side of the camp to the other, searching for that calico coat of fur. They know they won’t see her, but the dream still feels too real. “I love you, and I will come back,” the dream-cat had said. But when Mama disappeared—she didn’t even say goodbye. She hadn’t said anything, in fact. She was just gone, as though she’d never even existed in the first place.

With a pitiful sniffle, the child plops down to sit beside the river. The medicine den is a comforting place at most times, but right now it feels too suffocating. And besides, if they’re inside a den, how will they notice if their Mama comes around? They can’t risk missing her. Because even though it’s been moons and moons since they’d last seen her, surely she’ll return someday, right?
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[ FORTUNE LOVES THE BOLD ]​

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[Peachpaw.]

Peackit crept out of her nest, peeking behind her to assure she hadn’t woken Dogteeth in the process. Peeking out of the nursery entrance, she spotted Crappiepaw sitting alone near the river’s edge, shoulders slumped.

Concerned, the dilute tortie padded over to sit next to him–noting in the process that she wasn’t much smaller than him. There wasn’t much reason for Dogteeth to ask Cicadastar to delay her apprenticeship anymore.

Putting the thought from her head, she nudged Crappiepaw gently, offering a small smile once he’d turned to look at her. “Are you okay?”

 

[LIGHTNINGSTONE]

Having been the warrior to stand watch over camp overnight, Lightningstone is wide awake. He sits like a sentinel at one end of the camp, heavy-lidded eyes scanning the island as well as its surroundings. He wants to sleep, he's exhausted but he's nothing if not diligent in his duty. Crashing pawsteps snatch his attention suddenly, however, and he whips his head around to see Crappiepaw stumbling out of the medicine cat's den, appearing disoriented. The warrior hesitates, next gazing at Peachkit who wanders out of the nursery and moves towards the apprentice's side. Finally, the tom gets to his paws and strides towards them, expression remaining neutral as always. "You should both be in your nests," He comments, although his tone isn't too scolding.​

 

[koispots]

Shes so tired, today she had overworked herself, but with that came no sleep. Nothing at all, twisting and turning in her nest near all night until one of the smallest sniffles catch her ear. She rises to aching paws and she damn near trips over another apprentice as she shuffles to the outside, letting a multicolored gaze adjust to the lack of moonlight. Crappie's shivering, Peach's comforting words are quiet and Lightningstone is being... Lightning. She flicks a large ear, slinks over to the gathering and blinks slowly down at Crappie.

She does not heed Lightning's comment, a breath of fresh air is better than being in a stuffy room where you feel like the walls are caving in on you, so instead she settles down softly besides him. She studies the other apprentice, a small hum leaving her mouth before she raises a paw, attempting to settle it on to theirs. "You- You don't have to talk about it." though if she knew what was bothering them, would she even be able to help? She, herself, had lost her mother, and the pain never, ever gets easier. "A breath of fresh- fresh air. It helps." though she points the comment to Lightning, its underlying message was to let Crappie know to breathe. In and out, let go.​

"speech"​

 

[CRAPPIEPATCH]

The padding of footsteps draws his attention, and Crappiepaw lifts his head to stare down whoever is approaching him. To his surprise, it’s Peachkit, who should be in the nursery right now. It’s a bit odd that she’s out this late, but it’s also odd that Crappie is out this late. But there’s no rules against it as long as they’re in camp—which they are—so the tortoiseshell tom turns to face the kit when she nudges him. "I’m okay now. What are you doing awake?" He’s a bit concerned about Peachkit, really; she’s nearly his size and still hasn’t been apprenticed. Is she sick, or injured?

His hopes of having a nice conversation are dashed with the arrival of Lightningstone—a total stick in the mud with too much authority. Crappiepaw sometimes wishes Buckgait weren’t the deputy, just so the blue tom would have to follow her around for even longer. "Nobody told me I had to be in my nest, just in camp. So I don’t think that’s a rule," he protests, but it’s halfhearted, not even accompanied by the child’s usual glare. He’s tired, still trembling a bit from his harsh awakening.

A white paw rests upon their own, and Crappiepaw’s head snaps up to meet the mismatched eyes of another mostly-white apprentice. They force a smile at Koipaw’s reassurance, but they’ve already decided to talk about it. They brush their tail against Koipaw’s shoulder, breathing slowly and attempting to stop their shaking. "It’s okay. I just had a dream about, uh. My parents. I needed some air, yeah."
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[ FORTUNE LOVES THE BOLD ]​

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