[nyme]

AND IT NEVER MADE ANY SENSE, ANYTHING

── ⋅ ⋅ ── ❀ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──

MAGGOTPAW . 6 MOONS . IT/THEY . WINDCLAN

Maggotpaw shuffles, wiggling a cozy little divot into the sand. Quietpaw's harrowing look earns another long stare rife with starved-dog-eagerness. The cold shoulder bothers it none, and a withering glare spells showtime! to Maggotpaw. At least she's looking at all. It hopes she continues to. Maggotpaw clears its throat and finds its storyvoice soon enough:

"Okay, so there was a leader, once, of a clan. Doesn't matter which clan, because the leader only wanted for it what every leader wants for every clan: for every cat to be the very best. The big cats were all trained to be the biggest and the quick cats were all trained to be the quickest. Nobody's claws were ever dull and nobody's whiskers were ever crinkly. Now, this leader was especially excited—you know why? They were gonna have kits! And even before meeting them, the leader knew that they would be perfect. Their claws would be always-sharp and their whiskers would be always-straight and they would be quick and strong and the best.

Well, so, the kits come, and the leader is in the nursery looking them over. There's a little tabby, with pretty unbroken stripes. 'What wonderful stripes!', the leader sighs. And there's a spotty-cat, whose spots don't touch or smear. 'What neat spots!', the leader coos. But then the third kit..."

Maggotpaw shakes its head with a solemn tsk-tsk-tsk. Something quite grave must befall Kitten Three.

"The third kit, she just doesn't cut it. She's not a pretty tabby or a neat spotty-cat. She's just got these wobbly black splotches all over. Her claws are kitten-soft and her whiskers bend like grass stalks. So the leader picks up the splotchy kit by the ears and, well, there's no place in their clan for a kit that's not the best, so the leader swings her around and tosses her right up into the air, and then...uh...then she..."

Maggotpaw falters, expression crumpling. It looks down, muttering aimlessly for a moment. "...uhhh, I think I messed that one up, actually," they confess, apologetic. "But it's okay, I have more. Let me try again." It looks to Quietpaw as if truly asking her permission to try again. It's just part of the game, of course; Maggotpaw's going to keep talking regardless of her response (or lack thereof).

@Morrigan ; QUIETPAW