[iliri]

• Springpaw •
long-furred, oriental-shaped, gray-and-orange calico molly with blue eyes, torn right ear

Feat. Lambkit
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A kit… died?

Springpaw’s ears jerked upwards as her head abruptly whipped in the direction of gathering cats. A twist of guilt and curiosity swarmed in the calico’s chest, the seven moon old molly lifting herself atop of her paws and slowly moving herself towards the mourning cats. Oceanic blue eyes darted immediately towards the limp, still body of Echokit, a pang of empathy quickly emerging in her chest. Loss for words, the molly slowly sat down and just… stared at the stilled body. She was so young and small, almost making Springpaw just feel guilty about staring at a deceased body of a kit. Her ears twitched in the direction of Dovefluff, a frown slowly growing apparent on Springpaw’s face. Every muscle in the young molly’s body urging to go over and comfort the grieving mother, to comfort her and tell her it was going to be okay.

Yet, Springpaw just stayed still, eyes locked on Echokit as her keen hearing took in the soft mumbles of comfort for the grieving queen. Out of the corner of her eye, a small dark brown flame-point tom-kit peeked his little head from the nursery, confusion wavering in his icy blue depths. Lambkit, of course, another kit that seemingly was confused and wondering what had been going on with the death of a kit. The young tom had already begun to make his way over towards the body, eyes wide and mouth agape as if he had wanted to ask what had happened. Springpaw’s lips pursed as she softly trailed a paw along the dirt ground, softly mumbling her reply to the young kit. “A… A kit… Echokit passed away, Lambkit,” her words were slow and steady, just as they needed to be, “we are paying our respects for her passing.” That felt like more than enough to say, was it? She didn’t want to ruin a young kits’ innocence just that quickly from the first sighting of death in his very eyes. That would be nothing but daunting to Springpaw.

Luckily for her, the young tom seemed to understand, yet confusion seemed to dawn in his very eyes. Springpaw let out a soft sigh, expectant of the young kit to react that way, of course. She wasn’t going to let herself go into further detail much about it until he was older. He didn’t need to learn about the horrid nature of death yet anyways. No kit did, really. However, her ears quickly perked up to the sound of Cracklepaw’s voice echoing through the crowd, a visible scowl almost appearing on Springpaw’s lips. Did he think this was a joke? That death was something funny? A small, irritated growl escaped Springpaw’s throat, the molly quickly standing up and letting out a sharp hiss of irritation at the sorry excuse of a tom. “Do you think this is a joke!? Well, it’s not! Death is something that’s serious and should not be disrespected! I don’t know what your parents taught you, but you need to respect some other cat’s boundaries and keep your mouth shut!”

Her words were quick and abrupt, eyes narrowed as she glanced in the arrogant tom. Half of her felt guilty for speaking out at practically a funeral, but she couldn’t help herself, this tom seriously needed to learn when to keep his words to himself and Springpaw couldn’t just let herself remain silent about the matter. She needed to speak up for Dovefluff and for practically everyone else.

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@Leafi @jupiter