camp You can't hide ☾ Scary stories

[Frightpaw]

*+:｡.｡ //TW: scary story HEAVILY based on a story I listened to on youtube, highly recommend,

"My turn, my turn! "
Frightkit would squeak to the gathered group of kittens huddled together beneath to too-dark midnight sky. She couldn't recall who came up with the idea to share scary stories, but before long each kit had told their own. One about a ghost haunting the leader's den, one about bugs that crawl up your nose while you sleep, and one about walking dead fresh-kill prey. They'd been ok, but they weren't enough to scare Fry - but she liked the way her den-mates shivered after each one. Hopefully, her story would do the same!

"Okay, okay, so I heard this story from Rootstep- seriously, I did! If you get past his old-man gibberish, he's got some good stories! " she promised, though the skeptical looks from the other kits didn't quite wane. After all, Rootstep had long since lost his wits to his old age, rarely making any sense. Even the kittens had figured that old guy saw more ghosts than living cats, so he wasn't easy to hang out with. But sure, sure, if Fry said she managed to get the elder lucid enough to tell a story, then maybe she did!
"He told me that this happened once before - the clouds turning black and the sun bein' swallowed up by darkness - when he was a kit, too! He said that he and his siblings, Birdkit and Yellowkit decided to go out all on their own, 'cus they heard from the warriors about "fire" and they wanted to see what it was "

"'It started off simple enough', Rootstep told me, 'just us kits, runnin' into the dark, thinkin' we were bigger and stronger than we really were. But things got bad real quick.

It started when we stopped racin' each other and noticed that the smoke got thicker the deeper we ran in. So we slowed down, walked a little more carefully, but the smoke just kept gettin' worse.
'I wanna go home' Birdkit said. But we knew by then that it was too late. Turning around only meant more smoke. Turnin' around some more, and we couldn't find our tracks. Turnin' even more, and it was all just the same, empty black. We were scared.
'it's okay!' falconkit suddenly announced, more confident than any of us, 'I-I know where to go, um - f-fallow me!' he was always good at puttin' on a brave face, even when he had no idea what he was doing. But any direction was something at least, so we followed him.
I swear, it felt like we walked the whole way to highstones and back, and still, nothin' changed.
'I think we're getting more lost' yellowkit whimpered - and I remembered it clearly, Yellowkit was giving Falconkit a weird look when he said it.
'No! I-i-it's - suhhh - allsssssss right!' Falconkit's voice was weird. He sounded like...like someone had hit him, real hard, on the head, or like he was speakin' through a fever. But he just kept walking, leading us, wanting to, anyway.
That's when Birdkit pressed against me and she whispered - and ill never forget this, she said to me
'Rootkit I...I don't....I don't think Falconkit's our brother'
And it - it was a weird thing to say because - how could a cat not be your brother? When I remember so clearly growing up with him, and playing with him and...and...
but the memories, you see, they were fuzzy. Like...in every memory I had of my siblings - me, Birdkit, Yellowkit, Tinykit and...falconkit - all somehow took place in this weather. All smokey, a fire in the distance. But this was the first time a fire ever struck so who...who was this cat I and my siblings were following?
Who was this cat leading us deeper into the smoke?
'Run' Tinykit whispered, trembling beside Yellowkit. So we did. We ran away from Falconkit, left him behind. I-I know he was never real, because no one in camp remembered him after that day. But I did. Even though the memory was cloudy, I remembered having a brother named Falconkit.
And a sister named Birdkit, a brother named Yellowkit, and...and a sister named Tinykit.
Who ran ahead of us.
Leading us deeper, and deeper into the smoke. 'Run!' she kept yelling, 'hurry!'
And I was so hungry, and the smoke was so thick, and I swear, I swear she was leading us deeper, not away from, the smoke. The smoke that somehow created Falconkit. Somehow, it had messed with our minds. Somehow, this smoke - so thick and dark that it blocked even Starclan's view of us, it was trying to do it again.
So I pounced on her.
I didn't say anything - I was scared that if I talked to her, she might change my mind again, warp my memories! So I held her down, pressed her face hard into the dirt, and I screamed at her to stop it - she's not real - she isn't my sister! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!'
And she said, I swear to you she said to me
'p-p-please - mmdoooon' wuh'nah 'duh-eye' in that weird way Falconkit did - like, like the smoke couldn't quite make a cat real, not for long anyway! Like the body that wasn't real had a fever, or the smoke that created her head got too thick even in there! Because she wasn't REAL!
And I know she was trying to hurt us, cus through the smoke, straight ahead, there was the fire! And even though her influence was strong - gettin' Yellowkit and Birdkit to scream at me to stop, that they remembered Tinykit, I knew the truth.
So I grabbed her by the scruff - It smelled and tasted like smoke - and with all the strength I had left I-

threw her into the fire!

Not long after that, the smoke cleared enough with the breeze, probably 'cus I stopped the smoke-monster, and a patrol found us.
The smoke must've gotten to the warriors though, cus they asked about Tinykit. But me and my siblings, we knew the truth. Birdkit and Yellowkit were so scared by everything - by Falconkit, getting lost, and what Tinykit tried to lead us into, that they agreed with me, sayin' that Tinykit disappeared. Tinykit never existed. Though neither would talk much more after it all, not even to me. But we all knew, even as the clan held a vigil for an empty grave, and my siblings cried from the lies they were stuck livin' with, we knew.
It'd always just been me, Birdkit and Yellowkit.
"


Sitting back, Frightkit smiled at her denmates, eyes glittering. "That's what Rootstep told me, anyway "

Of course, the elder had said nothing of the sort. But stories felt scarier when you think they're real, and at this moment she doubts that any of her denmates had spoken to Rootstep long enough to know whether or not he even had siblings, let alone an experience like that.

"Oki-doki, who's next? "

*+:｡.｡ Updated 1/11/23

• You know what? This is the perfect time to live up to your name! With the smoke obscuring StarClan, nights are even darker. And with everyone so wired, sleep is hard. Would you tell a scary story to keep them up even longer? Or is some mischievous elder giving you a fright?

• 
  " Speech "
  
  
  GENERAL:
  ☾ Frightkit
  ☾ DFAB— She/Her — Unsure
  ☾ 2 moons — Ages 1 moon every month real-time
  ☾ Windclan Kit
  ☾ Sister to Deathkit, Witherkit, Grasskit, Whitekit and Midnightkit
  
  
  
  COMBAT:
  ☾Physically very easy | mentally very easy
  ☾ Attack in bold #1b1e21
  injuries: None

​

 

[Brackenpaw]

In Brackenkits not so humble opinion, the stories that the other kits were telling were quite boring. Sure they could always leave, but that would be even more boring. It was kinda fun to huddle with the other kits and watch them scare each other, who was even scared of bugs? If anyone noticed Brackenkit squirm during the story of the walking dead fresh-kill prey then she would say that it was because it was gross. Not because they thought a little too much about it and felt a small tinge of fear nestle itself within. Frightkit held promise, that was until she had started to talk about Rootstep, the calico did not suppress the eye roll that came at the mention of his name.

She didn’t doubt that Frightkit had managed to wrangle a story out of him, though it was probably more likely that the elder was rambling to empty air and that she had taken that opportunity to gain an entertaining story. With a small sigh she huddled a little closer to hear Frightkit better. She may as well get comfortable, they knew how long the elders' tangents seemed to be. The story seemed pretty standard, her nose scrunched at the mention of this ‘Falconkit’. At first she thought that Frightkit, or even that whacky old man that she got the story from, got Birdkit’s name wrong. He wasn’t mentioned at the start so clearly one of those two had gotten it wrong.

They bite their tongue to avoid critiquing her, while they held their opinions high she knew better than to interrupt a story. She was even starting to enjoy it, it was a lot more interesting than bugs that crawl into your nose when you sleep! Seriously, who even thought that was scary!? The reveal that Falconkit wasn’t actually their brother had elicited a small gasp from them, though they glared at anyone who made any kind of reaction to her reaction. It turns out that Brackenkit could be quite reactive when a story had caught their attention. That wasn’t the only time they gasped at reveals or visibly reacted instead of vocally. Such as wincing when Rootstep-then Rootkit- had thrown Tinykit into the fire.

The calico’s mind was swimming in a flood of thoughts by the time Frightkit had finished her story. Another kit had started theirs, she wasn’t really interested in what other stories were being told right now. Instead she leaned over to the younger kit “shouldn’t you warn someone about these fake smoke kits?” Usually a question like this would come across as sarcastic. However, this was the rare time that she was completely serious, there was even a small shake of fear in their tone. Despite the fear that she was curious to hear more about these weird monsters that could be coming towards camp with the smoke. It didn’t cross Brackenkit’s mind at all that she could be lying, why would she lie about a story that someone else told her?

---

‎‎ ‎┌── Im just a dog ⸙ with no bite ──┐‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎

• 
  ooc.
  

• 

• BRACKENKIT
  ✩ they/she, kit of WindClan, five moons (ages on the 22nd)
  ⭃ Speech, thoughts, attacking
  ⭃ a lithe and fragile looking calico that looks like they still need to grow into her ears
  ⭃ easy to befriend other kits, gradually harder to befriend every rank after that
  ⭃ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted / / underline and tag when attacking
  ⭃ penned by Juice ↛ @/ouijeejuice on discord, feel free to dm for plots.
  ⭃ All opinions are IC!! Bracken is a little hater
  

​

 

[BILBERRYPAW]

Listening to the story Frightkit spins leaves Bilberrykit feeling somber rather than fearful. He has two siblings in Dustkit and Vulturekit—he imagines he would know immediately if he found himself with extras. But that wasn't what the story was about: that isn't what happened to old Rootstep when he was young and small like Bilberrykit is now. He tries to imagine something in his head, changing his thoughts. The ashy gray skies, the smokescent carried on the breeze. Bilberrykit blinks and blinks and blinks as if clearing his vision, and doesn't stop frowning.

"What if he was wrong?" Bilberrykit's voice is small—the first edges of fear creep in. "What if... what if there aren't any smoke cats, or what if... what if the smoke cats were nice, or..."

He doesn't know Falconkit or Tinykit, but they must have been his size, or near enough to. Otherwise they would be named paw, and they would be more grown and adult that Bilberrykit could imagine being. He doesn't know Falconkit or Tinykit—he never will. A fire ate them from their paws upwards, just as a fire eats everything else, or else the wind blew too hard and they swirled in it until they were clouds. He cannot stop himself from imagining being them—born siblings or smoke cats, seeing kittens that exist in their own hazy memories as siblings.

"I would feel sad," Bilberrykit says as if coming to a grim decision, "I would be sad if Dustkit put me in the fire because I'm a smoke cat."​

windclan kit | black and white harlequin | two moons | tags​