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Post by obnixious on Apr 6, 2020 21:15:41 GMT -8
009 - F In The Chat For Weasel
The little ginger tom hesitates, his eyes flickering back in the direction of the camp for a moment before settling back on the ginger molly in front of her. Her brilliant golden eyes don’t show any more emotion than they had the second before, and it makes Cottonspore’s skin crawl. He’s not sure if he likes this molly, but he’s not going to completely ignore her. Even if what she’s saying is completely insane.
”And no one will get hurt, right?”
She only laughs and gives him a grin.
It doesn’t make him feel any better, but he returns the smile all the same. She doesn’t seem all that dangerous, and isn’t setting any warning bells off in his head, so he gives a little laugh as well. It is contagious, after all.
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”Auletris! Auletris come back!” Weasel yells as she rushes towards the Acrobat, and she chooses to ignore the way she seems to sigh.
The little tamer is panting by the time she catches up to her. Damn Auletris and her long legs! The siamese has her ears flattened, and Weasel pouts a little bit before forcefully shoving her worry, and spits out the reason she chased the other down.
”I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to spring it on you, and especially not so suddenly! I’m going now!” Almost immediately after Weasel is rushing off, and she’s a little hurt that Auletris doesn’t call out, asking her to come back. She didn’t expect that to be a thing, though, so it doesn’t hurt as bad as she imagines it would’ve if she let herself hope like that.
Soon her paws are skidding across cold metal, and suddenly she’s crashing into a solid, fluffy body.
She takes the fall very gracefully, falling over onto her side and hitting her head off the floor, all while the fuzzy wall didn’t move a single damn inch.
Weasel looks up, defeated, right into the concerned blue eyes of Syrinxecho. They two of them stay like that for a few moments, Weasel looking up at the siamese with a defeated expression, and Syrinxecho looking down at her, his expression growing more concerned with each passing moment.
”Uh, hey, Weasel. What, um, what are you doing?”
”I am simply chilling, my dear Syrinxecho. Doing what the stars told me to, y’know. Yeah, got a cool vision from them last night. ‘You’re going to take a nap in a cold place’, they said. ‘You’re going to run into a fuzzy fucking wall and fall right on your face’, they said. Yup, just a standard little mini prophecy for how this day was gonna play out. Glad to know they’re always right, yeah?”
It’s almost painful, watching the different emotions flashing across Syrinxecho’s face as he tries - very valiantly, Weasel must say - to try and make sense of the word vomit that Weasel just spat up all over his paws.
”Well, they’re wrong about one thing.” Before she can open her mouth to ask what, she’s being rudely yanked up by teeth on the scruff of her neck. She swats at him, but Syrinxecho only chuckles through the mouthful of her neck, before letting her go and moving around to stand right up against her. ”I’m not going to let you sleep out here, you moron. Come on, we can go lay down in the acrobats den. Or even the magicians den, if you’d like more privacy.”
Weasel almost cries at the amount of kindness she hears just oozing from each and every word, but she leads the way towards the magicians den without another word. There are no Magians in KeyClan yet, and so the little room is almost as cold as the weaving halls of this whole building are. However, the key word, of course, is almost.
”I told Auletris.”
She wasn’t planning on telling her best friend what happened so immediately after, but she knows Syrinxecho wasn’t going to ask, so might as well get it out in the open to begin with. She feels him freeze up for a moment, before there’s a rough tongue dragging over her ears and across the top of her head. Weasel huffs out a small laugh, and Syrinxecho playfully bats at her nose as he continues with the grooming. She knows by now that this is his way of processing what she’s said, and so she rests her chin on her paws, and lets him do his thing.
It feels like it’s been forever before he finally deems her clean enough, and just rests his chin on the back of her neck. A few more moments pass, and the the large tom is finally speaking up. ”I’m sorry, I know you weren’t ready for that.” and that’s the final straw.
Weasel chokes on a sob, and then suddenly everything is rushing out. Like the floodgates finally opened.
”I just - she looked disgusted, Syrinx! Like-like she couldn’t even bring herself to l-l-look at me anymore! She ran out like I-I told her I murdered someone o-o-or something, instead of c-con-conf- told her I loved her! Syrinx, I don’t w-want her to ever l-look at me like that again! I don’t know what to do!” She’s wailing by now, and honestly, she’s pretty sure using this room for ‘privacy’ isn’t working very well, because she’s pretty sure every acrobat still in the building as a whole heard at least the latter half of what she was saying.
She feels Syrinxecho go back to grooming her, and it makes her sob even harder. He knows all too well what Auletris is like, being her brother and all, but he had been so sure when he was telling Weasel the other day that Auletris felt the same. She’s sure he’s feeling upset, knowing that he’s part of the reason the confession just popped up today during her talk with Auletris, but she doesn’t blame him at all. Though, she doesn’t know how to make herself stop crying long enough to reassure him, so she just turns her face into his fluffy chest, and cries harder into his fur.
Eventually she’ll be okay enough to get up, to go back to her own den and pretend like everything is fine, like she didn’t just ruin one of the best friendships she’d ever had. For now, though, she just lets herself cry it out.
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Post by obnixious on Apr 10, 2020 22:21:59 GMT -8
010 - This Turned Out Much Softer Than Planned
The old cream point cracks open an eye, and feels the beginnings of a purr start at the back of his throat. At the door of the little room he has been living in for the last few days, stand some young cats.
He recognizes two of the cats - he thinks they were called Jugglers - from the patrol that he stumbled across in the woods. They both look young, but definitely not as young as the little tabbies that’re anxiously bouncing around at their paws.
Huffing softly, Ancientpower pushes himself up to show that he’s actually awake, and almost immediately the little kittens come barreling in to clamber over him, tripping over his paws and chasing his leisurely flicking tail. He looks up to the older cats, and they follow in sheepishly.
”So, who are all of you?” he can only confidently call Cypressstar and Weasel by name so far, but he has a feeling that’s going to be changing very soon with all these rambunctious kittens in the camp.
"I’m Babypaw!” One of the older cats that he doesn’t recognize is the one to answer him, and he smiles fondly as he tries to focus on looking her in the eye while she speaks. ”These are Wishpaw, Scarpaw, and Turtlepaw. The Clowns are Pollen, Pepper, Claw, Fang, Energizer, and Shadow.”
The little one-eyed tabby points to each cat as she speaks, but he’s not quite sure which is which between Claw and Fang, as well as Pollen and Energizer. They’re too close together, so her gestures could’ve been at any of them, but at least he’s got the jist of it. He nods, taking in all the new names before he looks back at the quad in front of him, and offers a small hum.
”As lovely as this visit is, is there a reason?”
Babypaw looks away in embarrassment, and another of the Jugglers - Wishpaw, he’s pretty sure - ends up speaking up for her.
”Well, back in my old Clan, sometimes the Elders would tell stories to the kits. We understand if you don’t want to, and will take the Clowns somewhere else to play, but I thought we’d maybe stop in and see you, first. At least, um, ask. If you had any stories to tell.” Wishpaw gets visibly more flustered with each word she says, and Ancientpower finally feels pity on her when she stutters off, and gives a playful roll of his eyes.
”I supposed I can tell you younglings a story.”
Ancientpower then proceeds to tell one of the more child friendly stories of his youth. He tells them about how his name used to be Cosmos, and about the gray kittypet he valiantly saved from his cruel twolegs. He tells them of how he spent so many moons visiting the tom, and learning of all the horrible things his twolegs did. Out of the corner of his eye he can see Shadow tearing up as he tells them about how the young tom didn’t want to leave his family behind, since his mother was pretty much on her deathbed, and his father didn’t have use of one of his front legs, and had his tail amputated.
He tells them of how scared the younger tom finally left on a day that Ancientpower wasn’t there, and when he came back the tom was nowhere to be found. There’s a chorus of sniffles when he ends the story on an ”I searched for many moons for him after that. I didn’t even leave the area until it was leafbare once more, and the last time I had seen him had been at the tail end of the last one. I’ve always tried to find him since, but at this point, there’s a good chance he’s long gone. I doubt a kittypet, especially one as badly treated as him, could’ve survived for the last 80 moons.”
All of them are crying. Even Pepper and Fang, who kept serious for so much of the story, can’t seem to stop the tears pouring down their faces. He gives a crooked smile, and looks at them all fondly. ”I apologize. I didn’t mean to tell such a sad story, it was just the first one that came to mind.”
Babypaw shakes her head, and smiles up at him, her one eye scrunched closed as tears cascade down her cheek. ”Don’t apologize, Ancientpower! It was a nice story, I’m sad you didn’t get to spend the last 80 moons with him. It’s clear you really loved him.”
His ears flatten in embarrassment, and he looks away with a wet huff. Honestly, now he’s going to cry.
He doesn’t say anything else, but it’s clear none of them need him to. The clowns are falling asleep where they sit, and it seems like the jugglers aren’t much better off. So, he moves back to the corner of the room where he’s made a little bed. After a minute or two he’s being surrounded by the warmth of the younger cats, and he slips into the first restless sleep that he’s had since he got here.
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Mewlin’s lip curls up in distaste, but she jumps down into the Magician’s den regardless. Mist, Lilyfrost, and Toothpaste were all already inside, but so was Shadow. It’s clear that the little clown is sleeping, but that doesn’t make Mewlin at all inclined to accept or enjoy her presence.
”Just get in,” comes a voice from behind, and Mewlin almost falls right into the Magician’s den. She turns her head to snarl at the offending voice, but Auletris simply laughs before gracefully making her way down, and so Mewlin finds she has no chance but to follow.
She settles down the furthest away from Shadow, and ignores the eyeroll that Mist gives at the action. They’ve had their fight about this before, and so nothing’s going to come of it today, and so she chooses to ignore it.
Instead, she turns to Lilyfrost, who’s set to pop any day now. ”So, have you thought of any names yet?” Mewlin wants nothing to do with any kits themselves, but does she ever love naming things.
The round Magician hums, her paws tucked up against her round belly as she mulls over her thoughts. She said the other day she had been thinking of names, and so they’re all here today to help her pick out the best ones.
”Well, I was thinking of Bracketkit, for one of them. It’s a kind of mushroom, and what one of my brothers was named after.”
Mewlin notes how Mist and Toothpaste both seem to deflate, but she knows why this is too. The other Magicians had been trying to get Lilyfrost to not give her kits traditional Clan names, since Mist hadn’t, and Toothpaste wasn’t planning on doing it either. Lilyfrost saying she wants to name a kit Bracketkit instead of just Bracket, however, was driving it home. There’s no way she’s going to be swayed to a non-traditional name now.
Personally, Mewlin also thinks she shouldn't use Clan names, but she knows better than to argue with a Magician about the names of her kits.
”How about, like, another flower name? Or something like Rust, maybe?” Toothpaste looks to actually be interested in this, and Mewlin guesses it’s because she’s excited for her own little Clowns to come. Ugh, Mewlin’s never getting pregnant.
”Rustkit has a nice ring to it,” Mist adds in, and Auletris is nodding, and so Mewlin nods as well. Rustkit does actually sound pretty nice, but she’s nowhere near as into the name Rustpaw. It sounds dumb as hell, and Mewlin really hopes Cypressstar gives that kit a good warrior name, because otherwise she’s pretty sure they’ll get bullied their whole life.
Apparently that’s the end of name talk, and suddenly the Magicians are deep into another conversation. Mewlin mostly zoned them out, because they seem to be talking about Clowns, and while she’s sure many would find this rude, they’ve done this often enough that she knows the other mollies understand that she’s just not that interested. She curls up in her corner, and finds her gaze snagging on Auletris. Mewlin’s eyes flicker over the Siamese’s poster, and she feels herself frown a little. She’s seemed a lot more tense, over the last little bit. Mewlin knows a bit of it, since Auletris came to her right after Weasel’s untimely confession, but she’s been avoiding talking about it further.
She knows Auletris is torn up and unsure what to do, but Mewlin has no idea how to broach the subject. She can sense the Magicians getting worried about it too, but none of them dare say anything to the other Acrobat about it. Auletris has always had some kind of vibe to her; some kind of feeling she gave off that made you cautious about asking her about anything personal.
Mewlin knows that Auletris will come to them when she’s ready to talk about it, and she knows that none of them will bring it up until then, but it’s still a bit sad, so know that the Acrobat is keeping it all locked away inside. Personally, Mewlin sees no point in dealing with relationships, but it’s obvious that Auletris doesn’t think the same, and Mewlin knows better by now than to force her opinion down the other’s throat.
So, she tucks her nose under a paw, and closes her eyes. She lets the Magician’s words wash over her, and slips into a small nap. At least she also knows they’ll wake up her and give her plenty of time to leave before Mist’s little hellions come back.
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Turtlepaw hums softly as she stares out at the distance. She thinks that her old twolegs lived far off in the direction she’s looking, but. She doesn’t remember.
A twig snaps behind her, and the little apprentice smiles over her shoulder at her mentor. She knew it was Poisonfang, and she knows that the Acrobat probably stepped on that twig on purpose. Poisonfang is usually very silent when they walk, and Turtlepaw knows that any snapping was absolutely intentional.
”What’re you doing, little snapper?” Poisonfang’s voice is soft, and it makes Turtlepaw relax. She’s gotten very close with her mentor over the last two months of living here, and honestly, they’re kind of like an older sibling, more than an authoritative figure.
And that’s what makes Turtlepaw’s tongue loose enough to actually tell them what’s on her mind.
”I was just thinking. I think my twolegs used to live in this direction. They’re very far away, I’m sure, but sometimes I feel like I can somehow sense it. I have no idea of really knowing, since they left me on the Thunderpath and I don’t know where we came from, but. I feel it was that way, you know?”
Poisonfang doesn’t respond, and Turtlepaw doesn’t feel any offense. It was a rhetorical question, after all. She knows the Acrobat used to be a rogue, and doesn’t feel much of a connection to their old colony; but she trusts that they understand it enough to be confident that this silence isn’t one of discomfort.
Poisonfang settles down next to her, and Turtlepaw lets herself list to the side just enough to rest her head against Poisonfang’s shoulder. They two sit there for a while, Turtlepaw staring into the distance trying to imagine her old home somewhere far off in the distance, and Poisonfang a silent but comforting presence beside her all the while.
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Post by obnixious on Apr 29, 2020 11:46:56 GMT -8
011 - Only Cute, I Promise
Auletris inhales deeply, and then finally knocks her paw on the upturned metal snake’s head. She knows that this is the one that Weasel lives in, and she knows for sure that the Tamer is in there.
A minute passes, and Auletris begins to think that maybe she was wrong. Maybe the Tamer escaped from the other side while Auletris was trying to talk herself into knocking. Maybe the Tamer was never in there to begin with, and Auletris has just imagined her going in. Only, no, that last one is wrong, because Mewlin had seen it also, and that’s why Auletris was standing here in the first place.
Suddenly the little abyssinian’s head pokes out from under the skull, and Auletris just barely keeps herself from jumping back from the shock of it.
They stare at one another for a few long, long moments, before Weasel speaks up.
”Did you need something?” she asks, and Auletris’ eyes narrow a little. She’s never heard the Tamer sound so withdrawn, and she almost cracks and begins apologizing immediately.
Instead, Auletris takes a deep breath, before dipping her head and meowing softly, ”Would you come on a walk with me? So we can talk?”
Since Auletris’ head is bowed, she doesn’t notice the way the Tamer’s eyes narrow, or how she aggressively blinks away tears. Auletris keeps her head down, and waits patiently until Weasel says something.
It feels like forever, but eventually Weasel responds. ”Of course, where are we going?” Auletris flinches back at the shaky tone to her voice. It makes her upset, and she suddenly understands why Syrinxecho has been giving her such disappointed looks the last couple moons.
Auletris leads the way out of the camp, keeping a slow pace as to not make it hard on Weasel. Weasel has such small legs, after all, and Auletris doesn’t want to make the little Tamer have to run to keep up with her.
Neither speak for the first few minutes. Auletris had meant to keep away from the Pond of the Stars, but soon enough the pair is standing silently next to it, looking down at the clear surface.
It makes Auletris uncomfortable, knowing that this strange little pond is where Weasel and Cypressstar are able to talk to Cirque de Étoile; but Weasel seems to be relaxing the longer they stand there, so Auletris doesn’t bring up her discomfort.
It’s another long few minutes before Weasel looks truly relaxed, and so Auletris takes this chance to speak.
”I’d like to start off by telling you how sorry I am. Sorry that I just ran off.” She doesn’t clarify what she ran off from, but she knows she doesn’t need to. Weasel’s shoulders clearly go back to being tense, but Auletris charges onward.
”I didn’t know how to deal with it, and I needed time to think. I never meant to hurt you, but I know I did anyway. And so I’m sorry.”
Weasel opens her mouth, clearly about to speak, and so Auletris keeps going. She knows that if Weasel says anything, that if she hears the Tamer’s voice even just a little, that she’ll break down immediately.
”I needed time to think about it, and I ended up pushing you out while I did, and I’m so sorry for that, Weasel. That wasn’t fair to you.” Auletris takes in a shaky breath, and then barrels onward. ”I’ve never dealt with these kinds of emotions before, and so I panicked. I ran off, and then I started avoiding you, all because I was being selfish.”
She turns to look at the water, and seeing how still it is somehow manages to both make her uncomfortable and calm her. Taking a deep breath this time, Auletris turns back to Weasel with a look of determination.
”I know I’m probably too late, but. Weasel, would you do me the honour of becoming my mate?”
Auletris barely finishes speaking before Weasel lunges forward, and Auletris lets out a yelp as she’s tackled to the ground. She weakly bats at Weasel, but the little molly easily dodges her paws to shove her face against Auletris’. Auletris pauses as she feels the Tamer rub their foreheads together, and after a few moments a low purr builds up from the back of her throat. She closes her eyes, and moves her head just enough to bump their noses together.
Yeah it took her awhile to get her shit together, but it looks like it all worked out in the end.
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The first two come out fine. Perfect little kittens, with Weasel keeping a careful eye as they settle in against Lilyfrost’s belly. She’s already so full of love for them that she’s ready to burst, but she holds off on that to instead clench her teeth as the next wave hits her. She thinks Weasel is saying there’s probably only two more, but Lilyfrost is over this whole birth thing.
Kittens are cute, sure, but she’s not at all interested in going through this ordeal again.
When the next kit comes, Lilyfrost knows immediately something is wrong. It felt wrong, and if the way Weasel’s breath hitches, it’s clear that it wasn’t just her imagination. Lilyfrost can feel the panic clawing its way up her throat, but she forces it down, and instead focuses on getting the last kit out. She can feel that if she starts panicking now something bad will happen to the last one. Or the last ones, she’s still not sure how many are left.
It’s not too long after that Weasel says she’s finished, and as soon as Lilyfrost feels the third - the last, her mind unhelpfully supplies - latch on to her chest, and lets a sob rip through her.
Weasel doesn’t bother to sugarcoat anything, and instead gently places the form of the stillborn kitten in front of her. Lilyfrost reaches out, and gently brings the poor thing closer. She doesn’t even think the little kitten even had a chance to take their first breath, and the thought just makes her sob even harder. She’s so glad that the three that survived did, of course, but she knows deep down that she won’t be able to get over this.
She hears someone else enter the Magician’s den, but even that doesn’t make her stop crying. She doesn’t realize who it is until a tough tongue is running along the top of her head, and then it just makes her cry even harder. She knew, deep down, that Mewlin really cared, but having proof like this just completely shatters any composure she had left.
She tucks the stillborn kitten under her chin as she continues to cry. Mewlin is talking from behind her, probably making comments about the kittens that did survive, but Lilyfrost can’t focus on words right now. Just the sound of the other molly’s voice helps calm her a little, but at this point, it’s just making her tired.
Soon enough Lilyfrost’s falling asleep to Mewlin’s voice, and her last thought before she drifts off is ’I didn’t even name them.’
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Puffball prances over to where Babypaw is sunning herself, and hops up to sit next to her. They’re on top of one of the weird metal mice that’s been tipped over, and he grins down at her.
He’s been in this Clan for a few days, and Babypaw took to him immediately with the first ridiculous story he told. He’s been avoiding the other Musician, and so he’s been mostly spending time with the Jugglers and Clowns.
Not that there’s anything wrong with the other Musician! On the contrary; he’s probably the most gorgeous cat Puffball’s ever seen. Or, well, second most, even if he hasn’t seen the first in over 80 moons.
Babypaw beams up at him, her single eye squinted shut, and Puffball feels himself melt a little at the sight of it. ”Good morning, gramps!” He almost breaks and laughs at the name, but manages to keep his reaction to only a small flinch. They’d started on this joke on the second day of knowing each other, and he thinks it’s hilarious.
Puffball had been talking about all the molly’s he’d fathered kits with (all lies, but no one needs to know) and Babypaw had gone along with it (clearly catching on to his lies) and offhandedly said that one of the descriptions sounded like how her mother described her mother, and it’d taken off since then. So now they’re playing up the idea of Puffball being Babypaw’s grandpa, and it’s honestly been his favourite bullshit story of the bunch.
At least, so far.
”Good morning, my darling~” He purrs, and at Babypaw’s laugh his chest puffs out with pride.
Out of the corner of his eye Puffball spots him. The cream point tom comes out of the Musician’s den, head held high and walking around like he isn’t over 100 moons old, and honestly? It takes a lot of effort for Puffball to not make the most ridiculous heart eyes at the guy.
Puffball thought he was done with this whole attraction thing. He hasn’t had any real attraction to anyone since he left home, and at this point he doubts he’ll ever find who he left for, so what the hell, right?
He feels more than hears Babypaw laughing beside him, and turns his head to shoot her another grin, before getting off the metal mouse.
”Hey hey, Ancientpower! Wait up!” Puffball shouts, and lo and behold, wait up he does. Puffball almost freezes up when he sees the older tom stop, and just barely manages to force his limbs to keep moving.
He scurries over, ignoring the slight pain spiking up his left back leg. The other Musician is even more handsome up close, and it makes the roof of his mouth go dry as he loses his words. Puffball feels like Ancientpower’s blue eyes are gazing into his soul, and while he doesn’t look annoyed at all, Puffball can’t help but think he probably is.
”I just wanted to ask if you were tired is all!” He mews, and oh, there it is. The look of confusion clouding over the other tom’s face makes him flush with warmth, and he almost breaks into a grin before he can even finish.
”Tired? From what?”
Oh, this is so sweet! He fell right into it!
”Why, from running through my head all day!” He purrs, and the way that Ancientpower’s face closes off into a stoic look really shouldn’t be as attractive as it is. Puffball almost cracks and starts laughing when he can see the realization in Ancientpower’s eyes as he finally understands what Puffball said to him.
The stoic mask begins to crack, and that’s the last straw. Puffball’s face splits into a grin, and it makes Ancientpower look away with his ears flattened.
”You’re ridiculous,” Ancientpower insists, and it only makes Puffball start laughing. He nudges his shoulder against the older tom’s, and is pleased when he nudges right back.
The two of them start walking, Puffball going on about some random story that he’s making up on the spot. He’s gotten quite good at spinning tall tales over the years, and while he can tell Ancientpower knows they’re all fake, the never once has he asked him to stop, and so he carries on.
He’s half way through telling the story of how he broke a sheltered kittypet out of their twoleg home when the other finally stops and gives him a funny look. Puffball stops talking almost immediately, and pouts. This is probably the only story of his that has any merit, even if he’s telling the story from the wrong perspective. Ancientpower keeps looking more and more confused, and it’s making him feel a bit offended, honestly.
Puffball’s ears flatten, and he frowns. ”What, what’s wrong? I get it, I tell stupid stories that aren’t real, but this one is. Or, like, most of it. So stop looking at me so weird, because it’s pretty fucking rude.” He hasn’t been so defensive over something since he was trying to defend Cosmos and why he loved him to his parents before he ran away from home to live with him. It ended horribly, and he has no doubts that this is going to end the same way. KeyClan has been so nice, but Ancientpower was here first, and if it comes down to it, Puffball’s been drifting between different places for so long now, that it won’t be that hard to get back on the road again. Even if he is almost 100 moons old.
However, just before he ends up turning away, Ancientpower seems to snap out of it and reaches out a paw, placing it down on Puffball’s a little roughly and making him wince. Ancientpower winces right back, and his ears flatten.
”Wait, no, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you upset. It just, is a lot like a story from my own youth, is all.” Ancientpower looks pretty remorseful, and so Puffball lets out a huff, and turns to gently butt his head into the other Musician’s shoulder.
The two stand there in silence for a few minutes, before Puffball speaks up with a timid voice.
”That story. It uh, it’s not exactly true. I mean, I wasn’t the one breaking anyone out of a twoleg den, I mean. I was the kittypet, and the one breaking me out was this rogue named-”
”Cosmos.” The name’s barely more than a soft exhale from Ancientpower’s mouth, but it makes Puffball’s fur stand on end. They stare at one another for a long moment, neither daring to breathe.
The sting of tears is what finally makes Puffball snap out of it, and the whiplash from being so confused that he didn’t know what emotion to feel into this? It’s like nothing he’s ever felt. He can’t even name all the emotions filling him up, but he knows he can name one of them for sure.
Love.
”It’s really you.” He doesn’t wait for any kind of confirmation, but he knows by the expression on Ancientpower’s face that he doesn’t need one. Instead, he lunges forward, completely ignoring the pain of his back leg and the fact that they’re both 100 moons old, and tackles the older Musician to the ground.
Puffball shoves his face against Ancientpower’s throat, and sobs into the short fur there for a few moments. He’s crouched down, completely engulfing the other tom with his body, and just lets himself bask in the moment. He can feel Ancientpower pawing at his sides, and his ears flick with discomfort when the other tom nips at them, but it isn’t enough to make him get up.
It takes a good minute or two, but eventually Ancientpower seems to settle, letting his head drop to the ground and accepting that Puffball isn’t going to be moving anytime soon. They have a lot to talk about, but for now? This is enough.
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Post by obnixious on May 17, 2020 10:36:45 GMT -8
012 - Don't Forget, Nothing Is As It Seems
Babypaw can barely hold in her excitement. Today’s the day she gets her Acrobat name, and not even the thought of the silent vigil that will follow can dampen her spirits. She sits next to Swiftwind, her head held higher, and she can feel the older tom purr he’s being so loud.
She watches Cypressstar jump up to the ledge of his den, and can’t help but feel awe for how fluid the motion is. Does she look that graceful when she jumps? Half of the time she feels like she won’t even make the landing, since she seems to misjudge her jumps sometimes with only having one eye, but Swiftwind was telling her the other day she was getting much better at it! She hopes she can jump with that much trust in her actions one day.
”-me up here?” Swiftwind nudges Babypaw out of her musings just in time for her to hear the tail end of whatever Cypressstar was talking about. She shoots her mentor a grateful look, before then getting up to her paws and making her way up to stand in front of her leader and receive her new name.
She hears Cypressstar speak, and she can see his mouth moving, but all his words seem to fall on deaf ears. She can't actually hear anything that he’s saying, and while she feels in any other situation she might’ve panicked, she simply stands there in static as she lets the simple sound of Cypressstar’s voice wash over her.
There’s other voices all around her now, chanting her new name, and she touches her nose to Cypressstar’s shoulder in thanks, before turning to the Clan with a grin. She’ll ask Jinglebee later what her name is, since she still can’t manage to focus on hearing words, but for now? For now she lets the joy sweep over her, lets herself drown in it.
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Cottonspore leads his patrol through the woods, right up until they come across a weird dirthill. It looks like the strange snow piles that the twolegs would make in their camps, and he’s completely certain that this pile isn’t something natural. His fur is standing on end, and he hears the rest of the patrol freeze up from behind him.
Calendulaclaw scoffs from behind him, and Cottonspore flushes at the sound. The ginger molly stalks past him, her head held high as she approaches the strange hill. He’s constantly in awe with how confident she is, how unafraid she is of everything that life seems to throw at her. Even now, when everyone else is being overly cautious, she pushes on ahead, refusing to let fear control her. It’s very admirable.
”You’re not doing much good patrolling when you simply freeze up at the sight of something new,” she scoffs, and Cottonspore hurries to walk at her side, earns flat against his skull. He sees how she rolls her eyes at him, and certainly believes he deserves it. He can hear the rest of the patrol hesitantly following them again, and almost lets out an audible sigh of relief. He doesn’t, if only because he doesn’t want to get cuffed over the ears by Calendulaclaw.
There’s a strange shuffling noise, and this time Calendulaclaw is the first one to stop. Cottonspore watches the way her eyes narrow and her nose twitches, and then suddenly she lunges forward.
There’s a shrill squeaking noise, followed by a crunch, and then Calendulaclaw is turning back to them all, blood splattered on her muzzle.
”Rats,” is all she manages before suddenly there’s a swarm of them. They come from within the dirt and sand, seemingly from nowhere, and Calendulaclaw is lost in them almost immediately.
This spurs the rest of them into action. He can hear Scarpaw and Wishpaw hissing and snarling, and a quick glance shows that the two Jugglers are watching each other's backs, and taking out the rats that come back to them.
Auletris darts past Cottonspore, jumping directly into the swarm of rats and presumably crushing a spine or two under her paws. She swipes at the rats, and a few of them go flying from the sheer power in her swing. Her snarls are loud over the terrible screeching of the rats, and Cottonspore is extremely glad that Auletris is an ally.
Deerdash seems to be taking out the rats that get too close to the Jugglers, making sure the young ones don’t get too badly injured. They’re both close to becoming Acrobats themselves, but regardless of that they’re still so young.
Cottonspore himself is trying to get to Calendulaclaw. She’s out of the swarm now, snarling and yowling as she fights off the rats that make the unfortunate decision of coming in range of her claws or teeth. Cottonspore helps by getting the ones that are on her back, and he feels a thrill at the grateful look the older molly shoots at him.
The fight goes on like this for a while, a cacophony of hisses and screeches and yowls as they fight against these rats. Eventually there isn’t more rats coming out anymore, and they finish off the rest of the ones that are out in the open, and then head back to the edge of the forest to check each other for wounds.
Suspicion nags at the back of Cottonspore’s mind as it becomes clear that no one was super injured, but he shrugs it off and lets relief flood over him instead. Rat battles can go very badly, and often did when he lived back by the twolegs, and the fact that it didn’t turn ugly is a blessing. He hears Deerdash quickly thank Étoile, and he can’t help but murmur his thanks as well.
Calendulaclaw is looking at him strangely when he looks towards her next, but when she sees he’s looking, her face seamlessly smoothes out into a grateful expression, and he smiles back at her without hesitation.
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”Aw, come on, Fang! It’ll be fun!” Claw bounces around on her toes, circling her littermate with a grin. Fang shifts to curl up tighter, and buries his nose under his tail. He’s glaring up at her, but he hasn’t actually snapped or told her to go away, so she knows this is just an act.
”Can you just hurry this up? We don’t have all day,” grumbles Pepper, but Claw ignores him. He’s just grumpy, but he can’t do anything to dampen Claw’s enthusiasm! She glances up, and almost laughs at the twin faces of ‘unimpressed’ that Pepper and Shadow are wearing. Energizer is already out of the little nursery den, and Pollen is making her way up.
Turning back to Fang, Claw begins to prod at his sides. ”Come on Fang, we’re going to go explore! I know you want to!” He doesn’t move, predictably, and so Claw presses on his side a bit harder and tries again. ”Come on, Fang, we need you! What if something bad happens? Or a stranger shows up? You’re the strongest of us! We need you!” Claw pitches her voice to whine, and Fang rolls his eyes at her.
She cheers, because after a whole moon of this song and dance she knows that that’s the sign she’s won, and turns immediately to start climbing up to the ledge of the Nursery den to join Pollen. Pepper and Shadow have jumped down to join Energizer already, and when Claw’s front paws are finally on the ledge she can hear Fang starting to climb up behind her.
Claw bumps her forehead against Pollen’s when she gets up to her, and then jumps down to join the others. They’ve been exploring at the edge of the camp since they’ve been big enough to get out of the den on their own, and it’s so exciting! There're so many strange scents that linger at the line of trees, and Shadow almost caught a bird the other day!
Claw relishes in the feeling of the grass under her little paws, and she wiggles her toes for a moment, before laughing and heading off towards the treeline. She hears Energizer shout excitedly behind her, and then he passes her almost immediately. He’s always been the fastest out of them, and getting in a race with him is just asking to get showed up.
Fang is at her side fairly quickly as well, and she shoots him a smug grin. He rolls his eyes at her, and then easily runs past, probably hoping to catch up to Energizer when he slows down to tackle him. It’s always amusing watching the two of them fight; they’re both so thin and have such long limbs, so it’s just a mess. It’s also hilarious.
Claw slows to a trot, and then Shadow is at her side. She turns to smile at her, and Shadow returns the look fondly. Shadow is the youngest, but she’s been growing into herself the most. She’s almost twice the size of Energizer in width alone. Shadow has wide shoulders, while Energizer is thin as a twig, with no muscle build up regardless of how much running he does.
There’s still a moon until they become Jugglers, and then all the training they’ll do then before they become Acrobats, but Claw can’t wait to watch her siblings grow. Can’t wait to see how much bigger Shadow is when she’s full grown and has lost all her baby fat, or how skinny and lanky Energizer ends up. She can’t wait to see how the soft lines of Pollen’s face make her look sweet and a little sad, and how Pepper becomes more confident in running without tripping over his own paws. Most of all she can’t wait to see how Fang grows up, can’t wait to see if he gets muscular like Shadow, or stays little and lithe like Energizer.
Yeah, she can’t wait to see what the future holds for them.
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”No, no, you have to widen your stance. If you keep your paws too close together you can get knocked over.” Poisonfang watches with a critical eye as Turtlepaw corrects her stance, and gives a nod. This is the only thing the Juggler has really been struggling with anymore, and Poisonfang is certain that she will have it down by tomorrow.
They turn around and start heading back to camp without warning, and are pleased to hear Turtlepaw head after them immediately. Poisonfang has never been fond of speaking if it isn’t necessary, and while their juggler certainly struggled with it at first, she’s come quite far from then and is just as good with wordless signals as Poisonfang is. Turtlepaw is a lot louder than they’ve ever been, certainly, but at least she knows how to be quiet.
The little tabby nudges Turtlepaw with their shoulder, and the little gray bicolour nudges right back, and Poisonfang can see her smile from the corner of their eye.
Poisonfang has never been too fond of younglings, but they’re coming around. Not that they’d ever tell anyone.
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Post by obnixious on May 17, 2020 22:19:18 GMT -8
013 - Of Reunions And Antagonizing
Toothpaste hums mindlessly as she runs her tongue along the fur of one of her kittens. They’re a few days old now, and the other Clowns have badgered her too long about giving them names, and so she’s going to do that now.
"Patches could be a good name,” comes the soft voice of Mist, and Toothpaste smiles at the sound of Lilyfrost snorting at the idea of it. She’s pretty sure it’s because Mist doesn’t use the Clan names, and it makes Toothpaste a little hesitant to tell them what she has in mind.
”Hm, that is a nice name, but I was thinking, maybe, Spearmint?” Lilyfrost makes a loud noise of protest, but Toothpaste easily talks over the other Magician. ”Oh, or Toothbrush! Maybe even Mouthwash!’ With each name Lilyfrost’s noises get louder, and when Mist looks a little pained. It only makes Toothpaste grin wider and decide yes, these are absolutely names she’s going to give to her kittens.
”Hm, there’s still two more. Maybe a Colgate?” This seems to be the final straw for Lilyfrost, and the spotted tabby gets up to her paws, glaring at Toothpaste for a moment before practically launching herself out of the den. Her own kits attempt to follow, but only Rustkit seems able to make the jumps so far. He comes back down when he sees the others can’t follow, and Toothpaste sighs fondly at the sight.
”You’re terrible, you know that?” Mist’s voice sounds a bit strained, but Toothpaste can hear the underlying tone of amusement that she’s come to love from them. So Toothpaste simply bats her eyes at them.
”Why, I have done nothing wrong! I was simply telling my wonderful friends what I wanted to name my beautiful children! What’s so terrible about that?” Toothpaste pitches her voice to be as high and fake as she possibly can, and when Mist laughs, Toothpaste feels like she’s won some kind of game.
”I’m serious about the names, though. I think I might name the last one Toast, just to piss off Lilyfrost more," she tells her friend, and Mist can do nothing but laugh even louder.
”Ah, hello, Toast,” comes the softest voice Toothpaste has ever heard. She turns to where Bunchberrykit is, and laughs softly when she sees she’s directed the name to the kitten with the most white.
”And would you look at that, there’s the first choice made!” Toothpaste practically sings, and Mist has to stop to cough they’re laughing so hard now. She’ll figure out which of the other kits to name what later, but for now? She’s content. After all, it’s less funny to name them when Lilyfrost isn’t around.
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Annie creeps through the low bushes, her soft belly brushing against the ground. It hasn’t grown too large yet, just a tiny enough weight gained to be noticable, but to someone like her it’s all the difference in the world.
She couldn’t keep up with her stealth missions with the knowledge that she was going to be bearing soon, and instead of staying and letting the idiots at home try and force her to stay out of work and be a mother, she’d fled.
Part of her wonders if that’s why Carrie left, but she also knows her sister. She knows she would never allow herself to get out of shape long enough to rear any kind of child.
There’s a snap of a twig to the right, and Annie flattens herself lower to the ground, eyes narrowed and teeth bared as she waits for whatever is there to come out of the bushes.
She doesn’t have to wait long before a group of cats come out of the undergrowth. There’s a little black tabby, who can’t be more than 20 moons at most, leading the patrol. She’s got a spring to her step, and seems to not have noticed Annie’s scent yet. That’s good, because it still gives her the element of surprise.
More cats appear, and Annie makes sure to eye each and every one of them up as they do. There’s a siamese with ridiculously long legs, and directly beside her is a little torbie; likely a training pair of mentor and mentee. The tall one looks like she’d probably put up a good fight, but Annie doubts it’d take much to take out the younger.
Next is a black ticked tabby, and Annie narrows her eyes as she looks her over. She’s very lean, and Annie is willing to bet that this cat is probably a runner. If she were to attack, she’ll want to go for her first, since she’ll be the one that could outrun her and warn the group they’re from.
The next cat makes her freeze, because she’s already looking right at her. Even though Annie is hidden under a bush well enough that she’s certain no one would see her, the golden yellow eyes of this ginger tabby are locked on to hers. A smile slowly creeps onto the other’s face, and Annie snarls as she snakes her way out from under the bush.
All the other cats yelp, but Annie doesn’t care about them. She only has eyes for her idiot sister.
”My my Annie, a little far from home, aren’t you?” Carrie coos, and Annie bares her teeth just to be a bitch. Carrie only laughs, and then she’s approaching, walking in a slow circle around Annie with eyes like a hawk.
If Annie could tell just from the feeling already that she’s pregnant, there's no doubt in her mind that Carrie knew the second she stood up.
”Carrie. I didn’t expect to see you again.” Annie keeps her tone even, and Carrie shoots her another predatory look. It’s clear Carrie knows what she means. She didn’t expect Carrie to still be alive; hell, she didn’t even expect herself to still be alive after Carrie left. Their group doesn’t take kindly to deserters, and they have a reputation of taking it out on any kin that remain.
Which, well, there’s a reason Annie is pregnant, and it’s the same reason she left. But she’s sure Carrie already knows all that, so she doesn’t bother to say any of this.
”Calendulaclaw.” Is all her sister says in response, and Annie tilts her head at her, clearly judging her. She’s heard of Clans before, and of course Carrie would run to one of them and change her name. It makes sense, and after a few seconds of maintaining eye contact, Carrie - no, Calendulaclaw, now - nods and turns to the siamese.
”Auletris, this is my sister, Annie. We’re taking her back, and I’ll ask Cypressstar if she can stay, if only for the duration of her pregnancy.” Annie watches all the other cats do a double take at her, and Annie just barely holds back from scoffing. Even if it isn’t obvious in her appearance yet, there’s been a noticeable change to her scent. Though, after mulling around the thought for a moment, these cats don’t know her regular smell, so she can’t judge them too harshly for being so blind.
On that thought.
”What if I don’t want to come along, hm?” Annie asks, just to be annoying. She relishes in the sneer that Calendulaclaw shoots her.
”Fine, have my nieces and nephews in the woods like a heathen. Get out of our borders though, because I won’t go easy on you.”
”Oh dear, whatever shall I do. I thought threatening a pregnant molly was beneath you, Calendulaclaw.” She draws out her sister's new name, and almost laughs at the little twitch of annoyance that comes from one of her ears. Oh, her sister is so fun to rile up.
The other cats look horrified by their exchange, but Annie finds it easy to block their existence from her mind. She looks deep into Calendulaclaw’s eyes, before then turning to smile kindly at Auletris..
”Pardon my manners, I forgot there were others around. We’re simply joking, and I forgot not everyone is like that with their siblings. I’d love to come meet this Cypressstar, though, if you’d let me.” It isn’t a question, and she can tell the siamese knows this, but she’s sure some of the other cats here will have taken her tone to be curious, and that’s what matters.
For a moment she thinks she sees a spark of pride in Calendulaclaw’s eyes, and she can’t help but be offended. She knows her sister was always the more charismatic of them, but honestly, she’s insulted that Calendulaclaw thinks she couldn’t bullshit her way into a new home.
Auletris simply nods and begins leading the way back to what Annie guesses is their camp, and Calendulaclaw moves to walk alongside the other ginger tabby in the group; the one that Anne didn’t really register before she noticed her sister standing there. Annie finds herself in the middle of the group, probbal to keep her from running, and simply follows. After all, if she wanted to leave, she’d already be gone.
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Bookclub huffs softly to themself, watching the young cats playing in and around the broken roller coaster pierces and the tracks with cautious eyes. They’re not too fond of this Clan yet, but they can’t leave knowing that they call things “metal mice” or “giant metal snake spine”. It’s stupid, because they’re so clearly overturned bumpercars and an old, rotted roller coaster that’s tipped all the way over.
"So, how’re you settlin’ in, Princess?” comes a cheerful voice from behind them, and Bookclub closes their eyes for a moment, forcing the fond smile off their face that the sound brings, and then turning to face her. It’s Slybird, and she’s hanging down from the roof of the old fun house building that the Acrobats and Musicians live in. She’s got her back feet on the rotted old shingles, and her front paws dangling down, and seems to be trying to bat at Bookclub’s ears.
Needless to say,they’re not very impressed.
”Princess Pumpernickel. If you’re going to call me by my old name, you will address me by my whole title or not at all,” they deadpan, and Slybird simply grins like the cat that got the cream. Bookclub has only been here for a few days, but already they’re ridiculously endeared by the idiotic bengal molly that keeps coming around to pester them.
The worst part - or perhaps the best, depending on how you look at it - is Bookclub knows this cat. They’d met Slybird a few times, back when they lived in their owner’s quaint little bookshop. Slybird’s own owners were frequent customers, and occasionally they would bring her with them so she could socialize with Bookclub.
Slybird was called Fyngyrs at the time, and Bookclub had never been so disgusted with the way something was spelt than the day she caught sight of the horrible name on her collar.
However, her owners had stopped coming in one day, after telling Bookclub’s owner that Fyngyrs had disappeared when they were on vacation. They had then made it their mission to find the molly and bring her home, but she seems a lot more content here. There’s no one to yell at Slybird to get off the shelves, or to stop dangling precariously from the horns of the stuffed moose heads on the wall.
Though, sometimes, Bookclub feels like Slybird really needs to be yelled at for that.
”Aw, but it’s such a mouthful, Princess! Besides, your twolegs never called you by your full name either! They called you Pumpkin!” Slybird is still dangling, and in moments like these Bookclub wishes they never left their cosy home.
(No, that’s a lie. Bookclub could never go back, not now. Not after having all this freedom, and knowing that she can spend so much more time with Slybird. No, Bookclub doesn’t think they’ll ever go back to their human.)
”Well, it’s a good thing my name is Bookclub now, isn’t it?” They ask, tone dry, and all it does is make Slybird laugh.
Slybird pulls her paws back up, and then jumps down to the ground without even stopping to judge the distance; to find the best place to land. Bookclub hisses and lunges to the side, and whips around with a glare to find that Slybird landed exactly where they were just sitting.
”You imbecile! Do that again and I’ll rip your ears off!’ Bookclub snarls, but they both know it’s a lie. Slybird used to do this back in the store a lot, and Bookclub has never once made good on that threat.
Slybird laughs again, and trots over to bump their foreheads together, her eyes sparkling as she stares into Bookclub’s.
”Come on, Bookworm, you gotta liven up!” and then Slybird is running off. Good thing too, because Bookclub lashes out at the spot she was just standing. With a snarl that’s much more playful than hostile, Bookclub takes off after Slybrd, the bengal molly laughing all the while.
Yeah, there’s no way Bookclub is going to be giving this up.
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Post by obnixious on May 20, 2020 21:07:56 GMT -8
014 - This Somehow Turned Out Sadder Than I Planned
Jinglebee covers her mouth with a paw, and snickers quietly. Cattwampusfur has just finished telling herself and Turtledove a fun story about how she tried to help her twolegs play a weird game with little wooden logs that they’d pull out, and how she always managed to knock it over on the first try.
She says it seemed to have been the point of the game, and she was proud of herself for winning every time, but it’s still pretty funny trying to imagine a twoleg playing such a weird game.
”They were real sweet an’ all, don’t be gettin’ me wrong, but they were just so strange! I tried to not knock over the pile, so one of ‘em could win sometimes, but I was never quite able to figure out how to go about doin’ it!” Cattywampusfur ends her story, and Jinglebee tips over to fall against Turtledove, her laughter seemingly endless.
Turtledove shoves Jinglebee back upright with a roll of her eyes, but Jinglebee can tell how fond the look is. The younger molly has just become a Juggler a few days ago, and the three of them became fast friends when Cattywampusfur joined, and Jinglebee is glad to have a group of friends now.
She was close with Babypuff when they were Jugglers, but Babypuff spends more time with the Musicians, and they haven’t hung out much since she became an Acrobat.
Jinglebee adores her friend, don’t get her wrong, and she hopes Babypuff makes this trio a quartet one day; but for now she’s content.
”I don’t remember my twolegs having fun games like that, but their kits liked to bring bugs into the house for my siblings and I to hunt!” Turtledove pipes up, and Jinglebee blinks in surprise. She honestly forgot that Turtledove used to be a kittypet, and hearing her talk about it really threw it back into perspective.
Cattywampusfur laughs about it, and Jinglebee and Turtledove join her not a moment later. Jinglebee is glad that Turtledove can talk about her old twolegs now fondly. She remembers the terrified little kitten who couldn’t stop asking why her twolegs would abandon her like that. Why they’d let her out of the Monster for what she assumed was a chance to relieve herself, only to close the doors and leave her there alone.
Jinglebee may not have the same kittypet background as these two mollies, but she certainly knows what it’s like to be abandoned. Her mother left her as soon as she seemed able to hunt for herself, but before that Jinglebee had never had a good life. Her mother has been harsh and cruel, and never once in Jinglebee’s memory was there ever a smile aimed in her direction.
His mother told her she was a single kit, but Jinglebee remembers differently. She remembers huddling against two other tny bodies when she was still young and could only live on her mother's milk. She remembers seeing the dead bodies of two other little kittens before her mother began wandering with Jingle Bell at her side.
Jinglebee remembers thinking they were products of her nightmares, because everytime she tried to bring them up to her mother she got another bruise, or another scratch.
She’s dragged out of her thoughts by the sound of Turtledove and Cattywampusfur laughing again, and with a flick of her tail, Jinglebee lets the thoughts drift out of her mind and join them.
Yeah she’s had a rough past, and yeah many of the other cats here have as well. But they’re happier here, they belong here, and that’s what matters. She’ll have to confront her ast at some pont, put it to rest, but for now? It’s easy to ignore.
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The leaves crackle under his paws, and Rustkit looks up at his siblings with narrowed eyes. Bracketkit has been bugging him for the last two days to come out and explore with him, and today Bunchberrykit finally caved, and Rustkit knew he wasn’t going to be able to deny both of them.
He frowns at the way Bracketkit is rolling around on the freshly fallen leaves, but doesn’t bother to comment. Slipping his eyes closed, Rustkit simply listens to the sounds around him.
Bunchberrykit is to his right, and he can hear her jumping around as she attempts to catch the leaves from the air. Every one she’s caught so far she’s added to the pile that Bracketkit is rolling in, and the sounds of their laughter have been the only real upside to coming out here so far.
There’s the feeling of claws in his tail, and Rustkit leaps to his paws with a snarl, and whirls around to face whoever did it. He thought it was going to be Bracketkit, but the eyes he stares into don’t belong to a cat.
Snarling loudly, Rustkit begins to back away, ears flattened as he eyes up the strange gray and white creature. It’s got big teeth and ears, and it’s muzzle is long and strange looking. It’s strange black eyes flicker to the side, and before Rustkit can react it’s darting off.
The next sound that comes to Rustkit’s ears is Bunchberrykit’s terrified cry, and he throws himself into action without a second thought.
He launches himself at the creature, landing on its back, sinking his tiny fangs into one of its large ears. The strange monster gives a screech, and Rustkit watches Bunchberrykit rush back to the main section of camp. He’s glad that she’s running off, and in his moment of relief, the monster shakes him off.
Rustkit hits the ground face first, and yelps as he rolls with the force of it and lands on his back. He can hear Bracketkit fighting with it now, and forces himself to get back up to help his brother. Bracketkit isn’t very strong, after all, and regardless Rustkit would never leave either of his siblings to fight something like this alone.
Rustkit gets the monster’s tail between his jaws and bites down, and it rears back with another scream, throwing Bracketkit off its back. It swipes at Rustkit, it’s sharp claws catching under his left eye and opening up his cheek, and then it flees with one last snarl.
He can hear Bunchberrykit yelling for him, and distantly wonders why she’s back, before he passes out.
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Rustkit wakes up an indeterminate amount of time later, blinking his eyes open slowly. There’s something wet on his cheek, and he moves to brush it off.
”Ah, please don’t do that, Rustkit! You need to keep it on your wound to make sure it doesn’t get infected!” Comes Pollen’s voice, and Rustkit huffs and looks up at her. She and her siblings had just been named Jugglers a week ago, and she’s studying medicine under Weasel.
Now that he’s paying attention, Rustkit recognizes the smells of different herbs around him, and lets his paw drop back down.
”How’re Bracketkit and Bunchberrykit?” He questions, his voice small and cracking somewhere in the middle. Before Pollen can answer, however, they squeeze under the metal vertebrae with excited shouting.
Bunchberrykit’s eyes are pooling up with tears, and Bracketkit has a grin on his face, but there's concern clear in his bright orange eyes.
”You really showed that rat who was boss, huh?” Bracketkit prods, and Rustkit simply hums. So the monster was a rat, huh? He remembers hearing Deerdash talking about how they fought off a big group of rats, and wonders briefly if this one was from that group, hoping to take some kind of revenge.
It almost makes him feel bad, but then he remembers the sound of Bunchberrykit screaming and decides he doesn’t really care that much.
They’re all safe now, and the rat is gone, and honestly? That’s enough for him.
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Swiftwind hums softly as he makes his way through the camp, picking his steps carefully across the coloured leaves on the ground. He’s heading towards the edge of camp, and he smiles fondly at seeing his company is already standing there.
Wishflower turns at the sound of him stepping on a particularly crunchy leaf, and his heart beats faster at the excited look on her face. She’s still so young, but she’s so lovely,
Swiftwind licks her forehead once he’s close enough, and she purrs and bumps her nose under his chin in return. They then head out of camp, and Swftwind’s heart soars as he continues to watch her. His daughter has come so far since they’ve joined this Clan, and he’s so glad that she’s fit in so well to her new home.
She was so hesitant to leave originally, but AspenClan was no longer their home and they simply had to live with that fact. It took her awhile to get used to KeyClan, but once she did she practically took flight with how easily she fit in.
There isn’t a destination in mind; Swiftwind just wanted to take a walk with his daughter.
”I’m proud of you, you know that?” He asks suddenly, and by the look Wishflower gives him, it was a pretty stupid question. Swiftwind cuckles fondly at her expression, and she gives him that look for a few more seconds before joining in.
She may only have been promoted to a Juggler a month ago, but he’s so proud that she’s come this far. The rest of their walk is taken in silence, but it’s nice. It’s nice to be able to simply walk with the most important person in your life, no need for words. Simply existing together and knowing that no matter what, you’ll always be able to have these kinds of moments.
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Post by obnixious on May 21, 2020 21:07:26 GMT -8
015 - Ignoring The Fox This Is A Really Cute Chapter
Steelwing has grown so used to patrols going smoothly over the moons that he’s lived here, that when the strangely acidic scent gets close enough to be noticeable, he almost completely ignores it.
Another step and he pauses, eyes narrowing and one of his ears flicking absently as he raises his head to get a better grip on the scent. He opens his mouth, ready to ask what it is, but then another voice is breaking through the strange silence the patrol has fallen into.
”A fox.”
Babypuff’s voice is soft and breathless, and Steelwing bristles a little at the name.
(The irony, of course, is not lost on him. The cat whose birth name was fox being the one to tell what the scent is? It would almost make him laugh if he wasn’t so scared.)
”It doesn’t smell very close, but be on guard.” Steelwing orders, and even Cypressstar nods along with his words. The patrol splits off, everyone heading in different directions to try and see where the scent is strongest.
”Hey, this way!” Comes Energypaw’s voice, and Steelwing takes off towards him before he’s even done with the first syllable. The scent gets stronger the closer he gets to where Energypaw is, and it makes Steelwing want to heave. It’s such a gross smell, and it makes him want to turn tail and run.
”That’s an awful smell,” Jinglebee grumbles, and there’s murmurs of agreement from everyone else there.
After patrolling around the area for a few more minutes, Steelwing decides that the fox isn’t here right now.
”I think we should head back to camp, maybe send another patrol to check on this that’s prepared for it?” Steelwing suggests, and just barely stops himself from sighing with relief when Cypressstar agrees.
Leading the way back, Steelwing lets himself drift off mentally. Is the patrol that comes back to find the fox going to get hurt? He’s scared of it, yeah, but that doesn’t mean he wants anyone else in this Clan to get injured because of his cowardice.
With a soft sigh, he pushes away the thought. He’ll just have to hope that the fox was just passing by and that nothing happens to them.
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Pollen approaches the strange plant, her eyes narrowing as she studies the strange purple-blue coloured berries. Their leaves are spiky looking, and she frantically searches her mind to try and figure out what these are. She knows that Weasel has taught her about this kind of berry, and after a few minutes of thought she perks up and turns to her mentor with a grin,
”These are juniper berries, right?” She questions, and when Weasel grins back she gives an excited whoop.
She’s already properly identified the elder leaves and the sorrel they’ve found so far today, and Pollen is practically vibrating in her excitement. At first she didn’t understand why Weasel wanted her to be her Juggler, but after spending the last moon learning the herbs that Weasel has stored, and now going out and finding things, she understands.
This is way more fun than she could ever imagine being an Acrobat could be.
”Yeah! You’re doin’ great!” Weasel cheers, and then she comes up to stand next to Pollen, and carefully reaches out with a paw to carefully get some of the berries off their weirdly spiky branches.
Pollen watches carefully, making mental notes about how Weasel treats the plant to not break any of the berries and also not hurt her paws, and makes herself a promise that she’ll remember that as best as she cann, so next time she can try and get the berries herself.
Weasel then takes the berries over to where the leaves are, and gently bundles them all together before picking them up. They then head back to camp, and Pollen hopes to be even a fraction as cool as Weasel one day.
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Claw pouts as she makes herself comfortable in the little metal mouse. She shares it with all of her siblings, since it’s so big and they’re still so small, but it’s empty right now she thinks that’s the best.
Tucking her nose under a paw, Clow begins to pout in earnest. She failed her hunting training today, and while she knows Syrinxecho isn’t disappointed in her or anything, she still can’t help but think she’s let her mentor down.
He was so earnest and excited to start training with her, and it only made her more excited to try, and she ended up messing it all up because of it.
There’s a crunching noise from just outside the mouse, and Claw shuts her eyes tight and hopes that whoever it is takes the hint and leaves her alone.
She hears two paws gently land against the side of the mouse, and then there’s just silence.
When she thinks they’re finally going to leave, a voice speaks up with a hint of amusement to his tone.
”Jeez, Claw what’s got your tail in a knot?” Fang asks, and despite the teasing tone she can tell that her brother is concerned. He’s always been the best at noticing everyone’s moods, and while Claw usually enjoys it, it just serves to make her even more upset right now.
”Go away, Fang, I don’t want to talk about it,” she mumbles, but he only jumps into the metal mouse. Claw opens an eye to glare at him, but Fang isn’t even looking at her right now.
”Pepperpaw and Energypaw almost failed their training today.” Fang begins, and when Claw doesn’t say anything he seems to take that as his chance to keep going. ”Energypaw was getting too excited, and Jinglebee wasn’t really helping to calm him down. Honestly, I think the Acrobats only said he passed because they didn’t want to deal with him again.”
Claw snorts at this, and she sees Fang’s ear flick, but otherwise he ignores her as he carries on. ”Pepperpaw was doing really good, but Energypaw scared away the mouse he was tracking, and he almost attacked him over it. Mewlin seemed just as offended; I really think Cypressstar paired us up with cats he thought we’d have he same personalities as.”
That makes Claw snort again, and she takes her paw off her muzzle with a roll of her eyes. She opens her mouth to say something against it, but then she stops and actually thinks about it.
Pollen is very sweet, and she’s always had a driving thirst for knowledge about things, and while her sister may deny it, she’d always been more interested in Weasel and her work than any of the Acrobats. And while Claw doesn’t think they really have the same personality, there's no denying that Pollen has become a lot more talkative since she’s started training with the Tamer.
Pepperpaw has always had an air about him that makes you think he thinks he’s better than you, and there's really no denying that Mewlin is the exact same. She was honestly concerned when Cypressstar named Mewlin his mentor because they seemed too alike.
Fang is rather mean seeming to anyone who isn’t close to him, or doesn’t know him very well. Caledulaclaw has always given Claw the creeps, but it kind of makes sense to say Fang is kind of the same. Though, she’s pretty sure that Fang doesn’t want anything to do with her.
Energypaw has never seemed tired once in his life, and Jinglebee is very much the same. They seem like a very chaotic pair, but Claw also doesn’t think he’d be able to be taught by anyone any less enthusiastic.
Shadowpaw is quiet and kind of seems sad, and Flareblitz is absolutely the Acrobat that embraces that kind of feeling. He always looks so sad, but he’s always been nice to them and the other Clowns.
Then there’s Claw. She’s always had a nose for adventure, and while Syrinxecho seems most at ease with following orders, from the last moon she’s spent with him, she knows he’s a lot the same. Honestly, she’s pretty sure the reason she failed her hunting test today is because they both managed to get distracted and completely abandoned Flareblitz and Shadowpaw part way through.
Claw frowns at Fang, and he grins back at her, knowing he’s won.
She sits up, and reaches over to smack her brother on the nose playfully. ”Don’t look so smug, dummy. I would’ve noticed myself soon.” Fnang scoffs, and so she gives him another little smack for good measure.
She’s feeling better now, and so she jumps out of the mouse, Fang close at her heels. She’s going to go explore, and she knows her brother will follow her, and so she simply takes off without explaining.
Claw loves all of her siblings, honestly, but there’s a very special place in her heart for Fang. And she doesn’t think anything will ever change that.
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Snickersnee hums gently to himself as he makes his way through the camp, his long bushy tail brushing against the ground as he prances around.
His large ears swivel around, and his eyes catch on a gorgeous little black tabby. He grins to himself, and skips over to her.
”This Clan is full of pretty faces, but yours is by far the nicest,” he purrs, and he takes great pleasure in the way she freezes mid step before turning to look at him.
She has brilliant yellow eyes, and Snickersnee can’t deny that he loves cats with gorgeous eyes.
”Oh, um, hello. You’re Snickersneeze, right?”
Snickersnee takes the misname in stride, and gets closer to her, circling around and gently trailing his tail under her chin.
”It’s Snickersnee, but that’s close enough. And what’s our name, gorgeous?” He purrs loudly, and honestly, watching the embarrassment clearly play out on her face is just divine.
”Oh, my apologies. I’m Jnglebee.” An apology and a name? Snickersnee hasn’t done this good the entire time he’s been here so far.
Before he can begin to flirt more, however, a blue ticked tabby appears on Jinglebee’s otherside, and she narrows her eyes at Snickersnee, and he feels like he doesn’t belong here suddenly. He’s used to flirting with taken cats, but he could’ve sworn that this one wasn’t taken for.
Jinglebee seems to relax at the other molly’s presence, and Snickersnee pouts a little bit. He didn’t even notice that she was uncomfortable, and he feels bad for it. Before the other molly can say anything, Snickersnee speaks up again with an apologetic tone.
”I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable or anything, Jinglebee. You can always feel free to tell me to back off; I’m not going to take any offense to it.” She shoots him a startled look, and Snickersnee flattens his ears.
Jinglebee then gives a little laugh, and the blue molly even looks sorry for glaring at him.
”You’re fine, Snickersnee! I was actually on my way to hang out with Cattywampusfur, but you’re welcome to join us!”
He looks over at the other molly - Cattywampusfur, apparently - and she nods at him with a cautious smile. Snickersnee perks up, and beams at the two of them. He may have been shot down in his flirting attempt, but making friends? That’s so much more important, and he’s glad they didn’t chase him off.
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Post by obnixious on May 28, 2020 20:14:08 GMT -8
016 - There's A Lot Going On And I Apologize Warning! There is mention of puking in the Skullbash x Ironhead section! It's at the very end of it, after Ironhead speaks for the last time, and you can skip over it!
”You’re going to be giving them Clan names, right?”
Killfang narrowed her eyes, looking up at Calendulaclaw as she began making her way into the nursery. Everyone else cleared out earlier to give Killfang and her new Clowns some rest, but of course she shouldn't’ve expected that to keep her sister away.
”Of course I am, I’m not stupid,” she hisses in response, hackles raising as Calendulaclaw lands on the ground. She then looks back down at the little kittens. They both have the more swirled stripes that Killfang and Calendulaclaw’s father had, but neither of them got.
One is a dusty ginger colour, and the other is a light cream. Neither look particularly like Calendulaclaw or herself, but it’s better to be safe than sorry and give them Clan names.
”You should name one Lionkit. Or Lionesskit.” Calendulaclaw suggests, reaching out and gently nudging one of the tiny sleeping bundles. Killfang doesn’t bother snapping at her, but Calendulaclaw still pulls back after a moment anyways.
”You know they’re not going to have it very easy, regardless of if you succeed or not.” Killfang has never been very fond of creeping around uncomfortable topics, and so she cuts through the inane babble that Calendulaclaw is trying to trick her into. They lock eyes, and Killfang represses a shiver at the look in her sister's eyes.
”Of course I know that; it’s already taken care of.” She snaps back, and Killfang rolls her eyes at Calendulaclaw’s tone. Of course she’s already got a backup plan. When Calendulaclaw speaks up again, Killfang’s ears flatten in annoyance. ”Hm, Lionesskit sounds dumb, just do Lionkit. Maybe stick with the same first letter? Like a Littlekit, or Larkkit.”
”Her name is Lilykit, now drop the name conversation and stop pretending to be helping me. When.”
Calendulaclaw’s face scrunches up like she ate something particularly sour, and then she gives a heavy sigh, and dramatically looks back to the entrance of the den. ”Soon. Maybe 5 moons? Hopefully not until these two are out of the Nursery, but there’s a lot of moving parts that could trigger it sooner. You have to come back.” Calendulaclaw looks back down when she finishes speaking, and Killfang snarls.
”You know well why I won’t come back. You can tell them to stop trying to make me, because you all know what will happen if they do.” Her snappy tone seems to make Calendulaclaw flinch, but she knows it’s just for show. Calendulaclaw doesn’t care either way, but they both know that the others will. They have plans, and Killfang knows that those plans require both of them alive and well.
Calendulaclaw gets up and gets her front paws up on one of the steps, before turning back for one last comment, probably hoping that she’ll get the last word in.
”You’ll have to come back one day, and when you do, they’re not going to take it easy on you. So you’d best hope you do it before it’s too late.”
With that, she launches herself up and out of the den, and Killfang is left snarling in her wake. Lionkit is a nice name, she will give her that. Slowly she lowers her head back down, resting her chin on her paws. She looks at her kits, and smiles softly. Yes, Lionkit and Lilykit are perfect names.
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Snickersnee presses close to Diamondstorm, her ears flattened. She didn’t want to come on this patrol. Or, no, that’s a lie. She was all for it yesterday, but that was a much more masculine day. Today she feels unsure of herself, and is scared of letting everyone down.
Honestly, she’s fairly certain that Diamondstorm is ever worse off in this situation. Snickersnee has spent moons training to be able to hold his own, but she knows that Diamondstorm was a kittypet before joining KeyClan, and after spending the last week getting to know him, she knows that even after all this time he’s never gotten very good at fighting.
There’s a crunch somewhere to the right, and Snickersnee and Diamondstorm both freeze up immediately.
Cypressstar doesn’t seem to be too thrown off, and with a low growl, the large, flurry tom is rushing through the bushes, Deerdash and Babypuff are close on his heels. Wishflower shares a look with Snickersnee, and then with a roll of her eyes the three of them follow, Diamondstorm lagging behind a little bit, but not enough that Snickersnee thinks it’s on purpose; he’s just a slower runner.
Getting around the last bush, it’s to a scene of Cypressstar and Deerdash hissing and swiping at a rather thin looking fox, and Babypuff trying to catch it in the back legs as it backs away. Wishflower plants herself between Cypressstar and Deerdash, and the fox looks almost panicked.
Snickersnee follows suit, snarling loudly at the fox, and it turns to flee. It ends up face to face with Babypuff, and lashes out quickly before darting off to the trees in the direction of the border line, hopefully to not return.
Babypuff’s cry splits the silence, and Snickersnee dashes forward, her ears flattened as she circles the younger molly with wide, scared eyes. There’s blood on the ground, and Snickersnee is completely certain that the fox wasn’t bleeding.
”Out of the way!” Wishflower shouts, and Snickersnee is quick to scamper out of the way. The torbie manages to get Babypuff to raise her head, and Snickersnee feels a chill run through her from nose to tail tip, and she heads back to Diamondstorm, eyes wide.
”She’s fine; we’ll have to get Weasel to look it over though.” Wishflower meows, and honestly Snickersnee is so wound up that her words don’t do anything to relieve her tension.
Wishflower starts heading back to camp, Babypuff presses up against her side, and after a moment of hesitation Snickersnee pulls forward to stand on Babypuff’s other side. She gives Diamondstorm an apologetic smile, and he waves her off with a fond smile.
”We should head after it, make sure it actually left our territory,” comes Deerdash’s soft voice, and after a few seconds, Diamondstorm and Cypressstar head off after it, and Deerdash heads off with them.
Wishflower sighs softly, and then their little trio is heading back to camp, Babypuff keeping them at a slower pace, probably still in shock. Snickersnee’s pretty sure she’s fine, and the scratch was on the side of her face that was already missing an eye, and so she’s sure that everything’s going to turn out for the best.
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Skullbash grins to himself as he prances over to the gorgeous bengal. He just got away from Slybird after asking her for some good flirting advice, and he’s sure he’ll charm the fur right off this guy’s back.
”Hey hey, Ironhead! Wait up!” he shouts, and the cinnamon tom does stop. Skullbash mentally cheers, and tries his damndest to not let it show on his face.
”Yes, Skullbash, what is it?” Ironhead replies, and Skulbash is already swooning. He has a strangely high voice, but it has an almost melodic undertone to it, and Skullbash could honestly listen to him talk all day and never tire of it.
Which is, of course, why he just had Slybird coach him through flirting for the last day and a half.
”I was wondering, do you have an extra heart?”
Ironhead’s whole face seems to scrunch in on itself while Skullbash speaks. ”What? Why would I-”
”Because mine was stolen!” Skullbash cuts him off before he can finish speaking, and is met with a concerned look.
”Are you alright? I didn’t know you could live without a heart; I’ll keep an eye out for it, but I’m not too sure what a heart looks like?” Ironhead sounds so concerned, and Skullbash’s mouth opens and closes uselessly as he tries to figure out where the hell he went wrong here.
”Ah, no, it’s, um. It’s alright, I’m sure I’ll find it somewhere. Though, I must ask, are you tired?”
Ironhead looks even more concerned, and gets a bit closer to place a paw on Skulbash’s chest, face scrunched up in concentration. ”I’m not tired, are you? It must be hard living with only one heart. Are you okay to go on patrols? Because we should tell Weasel, or maybe Cypresss-”
”Oh no, I’m not tired! I just thought you might be, since you’ve been running through my mind all day!”
Ironhead slowly puts down his paw, and assesses Skullbash with narrowed eyes. After a good solid minute of just staring, he suddenly walks away, and Skullbash races after him in a panic.
”I’m so sorry if I offended you at all! I get it, I’m probably coming on too strong--”
”I have no idea what you’re talking about, with coming on too strong, or offending me. But we really should get you to see Weasel. I think something might be seriously wrong if you think I’m small enough to be able to get inside your mind and run around. And with your missing heart, I really don’t understand why Weasel hasn’t prohibited you from going on strenuous patrols yet. You should be resting, Skullbash, this is- I’m being serious! Why are you laughing!” Ironhead’s voice is more of a whine now, and Skullbash can’t keep himself upright from how hard he’s laughing. He collapses on the ground, rolling onto his back, and this just seems to make Ironhead even more concerned. ”No, no, come on, get up! It can’t be a good sign that you can just collapse like that, you need help!”
Skullbash can barely breathe at this point he’s laughing so hard. He twists around, and knocks Ironhead’s legs out from under him. Ironhead collapses over Skullbash, and he just barely hides a wince at the sudden weight dropped on his chest.
”Oh no, I’m so sorry! Skullbash, are you alright? Oh no, I’m crushing you I’m sorry!” As Ironhead speaks he scrambles around, attempting to get his paws back on solid ground without possibly stepping on Skullbash at all. It makes Skullbash stop laughing, instead simply looking up at the stupid bengal with what is probably the fondest expression he’s ever made in his life.
”Ironhead, stop,” he whispers, and Ironhead freezes instantly. Slowly the younger tom turns to meet Skullbash’s eyes, and there are tears welling up in his gorgeous amber eyes. Skullbash leans forward as much as he can, and licks from Ironhead’s nose all the way up to between his ears. He does this a few times, in fact, and eventually Ironhead gently lets himself just lay on Skullbash, a low purr rumbling from deep in his chest.
”There’s nothing wrong with me, I was trying to flirt with you.” Skullbash huffs, and Ironhead freezes up again. There’s a few moments where neither of them do anything, and then Ironhead lifts his head again to narrow his eyes at Skullbash, looking at him cautiously.
”I don’t know what a flirt is, but it does mean you’re not missing your heart, right?” Ironhead questions, and Skullbash laughs so hard he ends up puking.
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”You said no one would get hurt..” Cottonspore growls, and Calendulaclaw flattens her ears. He feels bad for being so mean, but he shoves down that feeling. She promised, and he’s not going to show her anything other than anger until she explains herself.
”I’m really sorry, Cottonspore. Mary doesn’t always tell me everything, and I really thought everything would be okay. She didn’t warn me of the rats, or the fox. I swear.”
Cottonspore eyes her warily, but there’s nothing but sincerity written on her face.He thought he was onto something, thinking that maybe the rats and that fox were sent by The Freakshow. Though, if Calendulaclaw says she doesn’t know, then maybe they didn’t? He really thought he was onto something here, that maybe Calendulaclaw and The Freakshow were in cahoots, and that the rats were found on a patrol with her to make him trust her more, to make him think that she was something untouchable. To think that she was some kind of savior since no one got any serious injuries.
He feels bad for doubting her like this, but at the same time, he knows that Mary is part of The Freakshow. So maybe he isn’t that far off?
”How can you trust her, though? She’s part of The Freakshow; hell, I’m pretty sure she runs the place! How can you trust anything she says? Trust that she isn’t lying to you? How do I trust you, knowing that you trust someone like that?”
Calendulaclaw’s frown gets even more pronounced, and she sits down carefully, her tail curling around her paws in a way he’s come to know means she’s uncomfortable.
”He’s not actually bad, you know. The Freakshow gets a bad rep, but they’re not bad cats. They’re misunderstood; they have hopes and dreams too. The cats that Cypressstar talks to, they drove out the cats that now make out The Freakshow. If a cat doesn’t fit their idea of a ‘nice’ cat, then they chase them into the dark. So what if a cat has an ambition to be great? So what if a cat doesn’t agree with a corrupt system, and works to change it?” There are tears forming in her eyes, and Cottonspore just keeps feeling worse and worse for snapping at her about this.
”We can’t let Cirque de Étoile stay in charge of this Clan’s beliefs, knowing how awful they are to those who are ambitious. They’ll try to break me, try to break us for even thinking about changing the system. You can’t let them beat us down like this, Cottonspore. It isn’t right!” Calendulaclaw’s voice cracks on the last word, and Cottonspore is thoroughly ashamed of himself for thinking like, like, like them.
”I’m so sorry, Calendulaclaw. I, I wasn’t thinking. I’m so sorry. Of course, yes, of course I’ll help you! But how?” Cottonspore slowly creeps up to her, and gently licks away some of her tears. She continues to cry for a few minutes, and he stays as close to her as he can. He rests his chin on her head, and gently rubs it over her head. They’ll have to talk about her plans, and maybe he can try to get some others to help them out. After all, they can’t overthrow Cypressstar with just the two of them.
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It’s dark.
That’s the first thing that Cypressstar notices when he opens his eyes, and it makes his breath catch in his throat. He closes his eyes, and begins mumbling an incoherent mantra of wanting to leave; of wanting to go home.
There’s laughter, and he can tell that some of the voices are trying to speak to him, but he focuses on his chant and how much he really does not want to be here.
”It’s no good, little Ringmaster. The show’s almost begun! And you’re the opening act!” The voice of that damned Scottish Fold echoes over and over, and Cypressstar squeezes his eyes shut so hard he starts crying.
And suddenly, as soon as it’s begun, it’s over. The laughter all cuts off, and after a moment of confused silence, he feels himself get sucked out of the darkness, back into his own body.
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Post by obnixious on May 29, 2020 19:06:10 GMT -8
017 - Just A Bunch Of Little Mini Scenes! Enjoy!
Energypaw whines loudly, tears springing up in his eyes. His face hurts, and he feels so stupid for falling like that. He raises a paw to wipe his face, and whines louder when his white paw comes back stained red.
”Hey hey, that was a wicked tumble!” comes his mentor's voice, and he does his best to stop his tears before she gets close enough to see.
Jinglebee gets her muzzle in his face, looking it over, and then she’s laughing. He pouts up at her, and she cuffs him over the ear with a grin, ”That’s a cool scratch you’ve got there! But don’t worry, if anyone asks, I’ll tell them the other guy got it worse!’ Jinglebee’s voice is working miracles calming him, and slowly his breathing evens out enough for him to give her a shaky grin in return, his tail lashing in excitement.
”Y-yeah! I really showed that guy who’s boss!” Energypaw proclaims, and Jinglebee laughs loud enough he’s certain everyone back in camp can hear her. He’s completely forgotten about the blood dripping down his cheek by now, and he races her back to camp.
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”I can’t believe I’m related to someone so stupid.” Pepperpaw states, his lip curling in distaste at how Energypaw is still bouncing around, the blood from the scratch above his eye still oozing. He doesn't seem phased by it, but Pepperpaw is absolutely disgusted.
”And the way that Jinglebee encourages him? Absolutely disgusting.” Mewlin pipes up from beside him, and he nods. Energypaw and his mentor are a chaotic duo, and Pepperpaw is scared of the day they realize they’re so alike. Pepperpaw overheard Energypaw telling Claw that he didn’t see the similarities between himself and his mentor, and Pepperpaw is both offended and glad. Offended that his brother is so stupid, and glad that he hasn’t realized that, by being so similar, Jinglebee is able to manipulate him into ignoring things.
There’s another excited yell, and Pepperpaw winces. Case in point; he’s pretty sure Jinglebee told the idiot something that made him completely forget he was injured.
”The rest of them aren’t any better, but at least the rest of your siblings are kept on a leash.” Pepperpaw huffs a laugh, and rolls his eyes at his mentor’s words. With a sigh, Mewlin gets up, and Pepperpaw shadows the movement perfectly. They head out of camp to go train, and Pepperpaw can’t wait to perfect his climbing so he can rub it in Energypaw’s face.
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”Look out!” shouts Colgate, and he jumps away with a laugh as his sister snarls and lashes out at him. He dances just out of her range, his twisted paw tucked up to his chest, and he watches her with wide, excited eyes as he waits for her to figure out where he is.
”I am going to rip your eyes from your skull, Colgate. Wonder how much you’ll enjoy your fucking jokes when they’re also at your expense!” Mouthwash snarls again, and then lashes out - excuse the pun - blindly.
Colgate dances out of her way again, laughing loud enough that she ends up smacking him square on the nose with her next hit.
”Aha! There you are, you sneaky bitch!” She crows triumphantly, and Colgate whines softly as he moves to lay down, rubbing at his nose with a pout.
”You hit really hard! You don’t have to hit with all your strength!”
Mouthwash laughs at that, and Colgate gives a smile of his own. After all, she can’t see him, so she can’t get mad at him for it.
”Well you’re an asshole, so you deserved it! I wouldn’t hold back against an enemy, and I most certainly won’t hold back against you!” She holds her head high with an air of confidence, and Colgate gives a laugh of his own. She attempts to scowl, but after a few seconds her smile breaks out again.
”I’m not an enemy, I’m your brother!” Colgate insists, and Mouthwash makes her way over to flop out on his back, feeling with her paws for a moment before she stretches her neck out and bites on his ear.
He yelps, and then they both freeze at the sudden sigh.
”You two are ridiculous, can’t you stop fighting for one day? I can’t wait until we’re Jugglers, and I can avoid the both of you for the rest of my life.” Spearmint’s voice is clearly teasing, and Mouthwash snarls at him. Colgate flinches, since her mouth is still attached to his ear, but otherwise doesn’t react.
”Ha, as if! You’ll get kicked out before you get in our first training session. You’re too much of a coward to become an Acrobat. Too bad Pollen already took the position of Weasel’s Juggler, huh?” Mouthwash mocks, and Colgate laughs at the offended look on Spearmint’s face.
Mouthwash gets off of him and makes her way toward Spearmint, still going off on him, and Colgate just continues to lay down, yawning as he does. He’s excited to be a Juggler, yeah, but he’s going to miss this. He’s going to miss being able to spend all his time with his siblings, to spend his time doing nothing but playing and sleeping.
Speaking of, Colgate slowly drifts off to the sound of Mouthwash yelling at Spearmint with a smile on his face.
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”Come on, come on! It’s time to go train!” Claw cheers, prancing around in circles around her still sleepy mentor.
Syrinxecho huffs softly, rolling over to look up at her with bleary eyes. It makes her giggle, and he smiles faintly even as he starts complaining. ”Come on, Claw! Can’t I rest a bit more?”
Claw laughs over his playful whines, and crouches. After wiggling her haunches, she launches forward, batting her paw on Syrinxecho’s shoulder. She then jumps back, and continues to circle him and keep darting in for quick jabs. Syrinxecho groans in playful annoyance as she does, attempting to bat back at her whenever she darts in.
She can hear the other Clan members all around, and she catches a few fond glances from some of the cats as they continue to play. She’s been doing this the last few days, and despite how much he complains, Syrinxecho hasn’t made a move to change their morning routine yet, and so she knows he can’t really be that annoyed about it.
Eventually he gets up, and they head out of the camp with Claw running circles around the Acrobat, and everything feels perfect.
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”You need to be lighter on your paws; you lean too heavily on your front legs when you creep.” Calendulaclaw notes, and Fang bites back a snarl. He nods along to what she says instead, his tail lashing.
He takes a deep breath, and works a little bit harder on balancing himself out, trying to evenly distribute his weight to all four of his paws while also trying not to put too much. Calendulaclaw makes a noise of what he assumes to be encouragement, and he takes this as his sign that he can try creeping around to practice his stealth again.
Calendulaclaw dismisses him soon after, and he heads back to camp with a twinge of unease nagging at the back of his mind.
Out of the corner of his eyes he sees some brown and white flash, and Fang turns with his ears perked up as he focuses on Shadowpaw heading towards the metal mice. He trots after her, and is glad to note that none of their other siblings seem to be around at the moment.
”Hey, Shadow! Wait up!” Fang calls out, and she turns to him, a smile gracing her kind face.
”Fang. To what do I owe this visit?” Shadowpaw playfully teases, and he butts their foreheads together with a soft purr in greeting.
”I actually wanted to know if I could talk to you? Just the two of us; what I tell you can’t go to any of the others. I don’t want them to worry.” Shadowpaw slowly begins to frown as he speaks, but she nods nonetheless. Fang lets out a sigh of relief, and the two of them shuffle around so they’re laying side-by-side, Fang’s shoulder pressed right up against Shadowpaw’s.
He loves all of his siblings, but Shadowpaw’s always been the best to go to for a secret. Pollen feels too guilty holding secrets, and Energypaw can’t be trusted to keep his mouth shut even if his life depended on it. Claw is usually really good with secrets, but she’ll try to do something, and Fand doesn’t want that. And then Pepperpaw’s a wild card; he’ll either keep your secret, or he won’t. There’s really no way to tell what kind of mood he’ll be in.
”You know I’m always here for you. What’s on your mind?” Shadowpaw is so delicate with her question, and Fang is so very grateful that he has such a wonderful sister.
”It’s about Calendulaclaw. She makes me uncomfortable.” He crosses and uncrosses his paws, and ignores the curious look that Shadowpaw is pointing at the side of his face. ”Not, like, a creepy adult kind of uncomfortable, or the way our parents told us that creepy strangers that mean us harm might make us feel. Or,” he pauses, nose scrunching up as he thinks over his words carefully.
”Or, well, kind of. Like, not exactly how mum describes Him. But, like, I think she’s going to hurt someone. Not me, exactly, but I know she’s going to hurt someone.”
The more he speaks the more his voice hardens with conviction, and Shadowpaw looks more and more concerned with every word.
”Like who? If not you, then who do you think she’s going to hurt?’ Shadowpaw’s question is quiet, and when he glances over to her, her ears are flattened back against her skull. Frowning, Fang leans over to nuzzle her cheek in a silent apology.
He thinks over his answer carefully. Frowning as he realizes he doesn’t really know. ”I’m not sure, but. I know she’s going to hurt someone, and I don’t know what to do about it. I don’t even want to go train with her, because she’s just so weird to be around, you know?”
Shadowpaw nods, but they both know that she doesn’t really get it. They stay in silence after that, Fang hoping that nothing bad comes to any of their siblings. He’s got a bad feeling about Calendulaclaw, but he’s too scared to bring it up to any Acrobats, or even Cypressstar. He’s been working as hard as he can to not fail any training sessions, so that he can become an Acrobat as soon as possible so maybe he can do something about it.
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Post by obnixious on Jun 4, 2020 12:43:55 GMT -8
018 - KeyClan Is A Cute Group
Her steps are silent, but she’s used to it. She’s never heard a pawstep make noise, so she doesn’t even pay attention to the lack of noise. She’s trying to peer past the older cats, her eyes narrowing as she tries to focus on literally looking through them.
It’s not really that hard, normally, but it gets harder when there’s more of them.
”Oh, Silentkit. There you are.” comes the soft voice of one of the cats up front, and she flattens her ears in embarrassment for being caught. She easily slips past the other cats present, and settles down beside the Javanese molly, looking up at her with wide, pale green eyes that twinkle with hidden starlight.
”Sorry I’m late; I got lost.” It’s an empty lie and they both know it, but the older cat simply smiles and looks back down at the strange puddle. It’s black, and almost oily in it’s texture, but after a few moments it begins to clear, and once she places a paw on the edge of the water, it suddenly bursts into colour.
It swirls, colours of every kind mixing everywhere, until a familiar scene settles in front of her. Well, maybe not an intimate familiarity, she never got to be there before she ended up here. However, she’s sat in at enough of these viewings over the last few moons to be familiar with what it is.
KeyClan’s main camp comes into focus, and the little tabby leans forward with wide eyes, taking in the sight of the three cats that she’d recognize anywhere. She can’t hear anything through the puddle, and she knows they can’t hear her either, but that doesn’t stop her from purring loudly as she watches them.
It’s her siblings, Bracketkit, Rustkit, and Bunchberrykit. Or, well, it looks like they’re becoming Bracketpaw, Rustpaw, and Bunchberrypaw now. Silentkit has no idea who the Acrobats that come forward are going to be mentoring them, but she closes her eyes and imagines that she could be the one telling them to take good care of her siblings.
The ceremony is over soon enough, and Silentkit lets a few silent tears slip down her cheeks as she watches the three of them rush over to Lilyfrost. She’s never met her mother either, but she’s grateful to see that she looks better. She looks more alive, and Silentkit hopes that she has many more moons to spend with Bracketpaw, Rustpaw, and Bunchberrypaw before any of them join her up here.
She watches as the puddle fades back into the inky blackness, and gently leans against the Javanese molly, her eyes shut and a small smile on her face. Cirque de Étoile is nice, and she wants to see her family, but she hopes they live out good lives before they come here, because she wants to hear about everything the living world had to offer.
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It’s such a strange new world, and Malarkeypaw is having a blast. She loved her twolegs, but when Nincompooppaw decided she wanted to go out into the wild, she didn’t think twice before jumping out the open window to the tree, and then jumping down to the soft grass and running like her life depended on it.
It did, technically. Nincompooppaw is her entire life, and she’s completely certain that she wouldn’t be able to survive out here all on her own!
Speaking of Nincompooppaw, Malarkeypaw turns her head to grin up at her, mischief sparkling in her light green eyes. ”I hear there’s some old cats here. Wanna go find them?”
Nincompooppaw returns her grin tenfold, and then they’re both scrambling to their feet and taking off to find one of the strange Magicians that Energypaw had told them about.
A few minutes into their search and Nincompooppaw stops, her eyes wide and ears perked up. She nudges Malarkeypaw and hisses a quick ”look!” and Malarkeypaw does just that.
The two stand there for a few moments, watching the tom with the strangely squished face.
”He doesn’t seem very big, do you reckon there’s something the matter with him?” Malarkeypaw whispers, and NIncompooppaw simply shrugs in response. They continue staring for a few moments, and then the spotted tabby finally notices them. Malarkeypaw is pretty sure he’s glaring at them, but it’s kind of hard to tell with how squished his face is.
”An’ just what do you think you're lookin’ at, hm?” The strange tom snaps, and both the Jugglers freeze up. He doesn’t sound nearly as old as the older cats back in the twoleg Clan, but he looks really old!
Suddenly, Nincompooppaw blurts ”You’re just really old lookin’! How old are you?”
Malarkeypaw can practically feel how angry this makes the strange tom, and Malarkeypaw takes a cautious step back. Nincompooppaw, on the other hand, is completely oblivious, and stands her ground.
”What the f- You can’t just ask some’ne how old they are! I oughta cuff you ‘round the back of your noggin’ for that!” He snarls, and Malarkeypaw is pretty sure she’s visibly shaking by now. Though, she’ll be damned if she isn’t just as curious as her sister.
”Sorry for bothering you, but we’ll leave you alone if you tell us how old you are!” Nincompooppaw opens her mouth, no doubt about to complain, and Malarkeypaw steps on her tail with a tight smile. ”We promise. Right, Nincompooppaw?”
Malarkeypaw barely gets it out between clenched teeth, and Nincompooppaw grumbles something that sounds sort of like an agreement, and so she counts it as a win.
The tom looks even grumpier at this, but he lets out an annoyed sigh, and then -
”I’m 17 moons.”
- completely shatters both of their lives.
Malarkeypaw blinks a couple of times, and then tries squinting at him. Before she can speak up, Nincompooppaw does.
”No fucking way.” she whispers, voice breaking half way through. This makes him snarl again, and Malarkeypaw yelps and takes off in the opposite direction. Nincompooppaw is hot on her heels, and yeah. Maybe they’ll get one of the other Jugglers to take them to find the fabled Magicians later.
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”Come on, it’ll be fun!” Slybird whines, and Bookclub rolls their eyes softly before butting their forehead to Slybird’s. She beams, and bounds off to where Skullbash is waiting.
Skullbash grins back at her, and nudges Ironhead with a laugh, ”Hell yeah it’s gonna be fun! Let’s go!” Skullbash cheers, and Ironhead’s ears perk up at his voice. Slybird thinks it’s sickeningly sweet, but she’s happy for them!
With a clear bounce to her steps, Slybird begins climbing up one half of the ‘roller coaster tracks’, as Bookclub calls them. It’s nearing midnight, and the stars are glaringly bright. She can hear Ironhead asking what they’re doing in the background, and she huffs a laugh.
Over the last moon he’s gotten better and not taking everything so literally, but he also gets confused a lot when Skullbash tries to take him on dates. Skulbash and her have been planning this stargazing date for a few days now, and she knows full well how much Skullbash has told Ironhead about it.
Slybird blames the fact that he took a nap. Ironhead’s always seemed a bit dumber right after waking up.
Soon enough she’s at the top, and the bengal carefully sits herself down at the edge. It’s just wide enough for all four of them to sit at the edge, but Bookclub settles just behind her anyways, and rests their chin on her back. They look up, studying the glowing lights in the sky, and Slybird feels deep in her bones that everything is going to be okay.
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”Come on, you can do better than that!” Syrinxecho’s teasing voice washes over Claw like a warm wave of water, and she nimbly shifts her weight, and throws herself sideways. She tucks in her paws as she rolls, and when she’s under the Acrobat she lets them spring back out, effectively winding him as she kicks him in the stomach.
She keeps rolling, and all she can hear from him is pained wheezing. Claw grins, and turns to face him with her ears perked up and tail lashing with excitement.
”How’s that?” She teases back, and Syrinxecho gives a pained laugh in response. Claw purrs happily, and bounds over to him to bump her forehead against his shoulder.
”Jeez, where’d you, learn that one?” He questions, panting slightly as he struggles to get the words out. Claw freezes for a moment, thinking of the strange place she’s been training in her dreams, before simply laughing and nudging him gently again.
”I don’t know! Must be that instinct you’ve been trying to get me in touch with,” Claw teases gently, and Syrinxecho laughs again, and he sounds less pained this time. Claw beams with pride, and begins to prance in little circles around him.
It wasn’t instinct, and she’s pretty sure that he didn’t buy the excuse. It’s the best she’s got, though, since she doesn’t really think there’s a good way to explain where she learned it. It’s better left a secret, she thinks.
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Featherdance hums awkwardly under their breath, waiting for the strange molly in front of them to say something.
Dustbunny continues to sit in silence, her bright amber eyes seemingly staring into Featherdance’s very soul. They shuffle their feet, a little self conscious, and finally the longhaired molly seems to snap out of her trance.
"Sorry, you what?”
”I think this place is haunted!” Featherdance insists, barely giving Dustbunny time to stop speaking before they trampled over her words. They then look around, eyes narrowed and ears perked as if expecting some kind of surprise attack.
Dustbunny hums softly, and Featherdance’s attention is immediately back on her.
”Okay, but why?” Dustbunny asks, and Featherdance makes a noise offense. How doesn’t the molly see it? Featherdance really can’t put it into words, and their tail lashes in frustration as they try to put their thoughts into words.
”I, well, the, the dreams!” They insist, and Dustbunny sighs heavily. It makes Featherdance flatten their ears, but they otherwise don’t flinch away from the sound.
”What dreams?” Dustbunny patiently asks, and Featherdance gives a whine of frustration. Has no one else had these weird dreams?
”The creepy dreams! The weird dark building with all the scary cats! It’s dark, and there’s cats from here that are also in there! I don’t know who, but I know there’s KeyClan cats there, and it scares me! Maybe they’re haunted? Maybe everyone here is actually dead and I’m a GHOST?”
Featherdance stops to gulp for air, and Dustbunny stares at them impassively.
”You’re ridiculous. Go to bed.” Dustbunny then turns on her heel and heads back to the Arcobat’s den. Featherdance whines high in their throat, but they trail after her with defeat regardless. Maybe they should talk to Sunsetkiss next time instead.
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