Fogmask beckoned the scolding apprentice to his side opposite Starrypaw. "I didn't do anything," he explained in a calm whisper, hoping that Starrypaw wouldn't hear him. "I saw her crying as she left the apprentices' den and came over to comfort her." Then he lowered his voice yet again and continued. "I think she's thinking about Emberkit." After a few moments, he turned back toward Starrypaw and sat, once again, silently.
Seabreeze
He/him | Riverclan Warrior| ~25 moons |
“No one is coming to save you.
Get up.”
TW: This character’s posts often exhibits triggers such as depression, suicidal tendencies/idealation, anxiety, and self loathing
Seabreeze watched as Ospreykit came up, and then Houndkit ( one of Larkwing's if he was remembering correctly ), and then lastly Snowykit, who didn't seem like he actually wanted to be here. Regardless the tom didn't wait any longer to get the lesson started, knowing that kit attention was a fickle thing at best. "Alright, here," The warrior started by settling himself into a hunter's crouch. His tail low to the ground, but not brushing, his limbs all bent into a crouch, his weight settled as evenly as possible across all four paws. Details that wouldn't be visably clear. "This is your basic hunter's crouch. It'll cover most land prey though with practice you'll learn some details to help you out depending on what you're hunting." Like birds. Seabreeze hates birds, the crouch makes it hard to move swiftly while keeping formation, and birds are one-moment-here-and-then-gone-the-next creatures. "How about you try mimicking me, and we'll work out the details." He offered, not wanting to just lecture the kittens into boredom.
Snowykit looked up from where he was half hiding behind his own snow-dune of a tail and half watching as the warrior began the lesson for the other two, older kittens. Maybe he was too little to be here, but it seemed interesting enough. He slowly got to all four shaky paws, and tried to crouch down like he saw Seabreeze doing. Oh, this couldn't be right, and his large tail was still dragging behind him. The kitten looked up towards the warrior again, tilting his head as though the stance would make more sense at a different angle. It didn't.
Houndkit
(No Header at the moment) / Female / 2 Moons / RiverClan / Orientation Unknown
Sleek and short-haired dilute calico she-kit with cream and pale grey streaks and patches running through her pelt. She is a small cat, with larger ears and a long, feathery tail, and tufts that puff up around her ears and face. Her eyes are narrow and pale green.
“TBD”
~ Houndkit, 8/100
✽❀✽
Houndkit eyed the blue-gray and sandy tom-cat as he began to demonstrate a hunting stance. Her green gaze remained narrow and still, but quietly, the little dilute calico could feel curiosity and excitement swirling all around through her chest as she watched. The tip of her tail curled slowly and her whiskers bounced, a slight glitter of interest sparkling briefly in her eyes. I bet he’ll know exactly what he’s doing- good to have a nice instructor, I suppose. Gosh, I’ll freak if he decides to start asking us questions, though- that’d be awfully awkward. I think we’d do just fine just trying it by ourselves- anyway, pay attention, pay attention! She fought the urge to cringe, and then with a slight shudder, she continued to watch the warrior. Seabreeze settled himself into a hunter’s crouch, lowering his tail to the ground. Houndkit squinted her eyes tight and took note of the fact that the warrior’s tail wasn’t exactly brushing the earth beneath it, but it certainly seemed to near it. She then tried and partially failed to properly observe the warrior’s balance, watching quietly and shyly as the gray and sandy feline evened out fairly across all four of his limbs, evenly on his paws. She had some trouble seeing where exactly the balance was set, but before she could put too much more thought into it, in a blink of an eye, Seabreze gave them an instruction. Houndkit felt the hair on the back of her neck rise just slightly when the warrior suggested that they try mimicking him, telling them that they would work out the details afterwards. Stiffly, Houndkit offered a small nod, and she took a single step back.
First, she glanced in Turtlekit’s direction, eyebrows raised. ( @SugarHeartzSage ) Houndkit’s denmate attempted to recreate Seabreeze’s demonstration as best as she could, and as she did, Houndkit watched. The small calico titled her head a little to observe with as little judgement as she possibly could as Turtlekit held herself up shakily. Oh dear. Is it difficult? Or is Turtlekit simply a little bit extra heavy? Weak? No assumptions made, I’ll just have to find out myself. Crap. With a jump, Houndkit snapped her attention back to Seabreeze, and she nodded again. With a deep breath and a quick, mildly painful grunt, she shrunk down towards the earth beneath her, eyes wide and aware. She could recall Seabreeze landing low to the ground with his tail hovering just above it, so hesitantly, she moved towards the floor. After a second or two of some minor fumbles of the paws, she found a fairly comfortable position where she could feel her tail lining parallel to the ground, her eyes locked on the space ahead of her. But then she tilted. Her heart sunk. Gah- right, balance. Stupid, no good balance- eh- She could feel some extra weight on her front paws, causing her to lean forward a bit too much and wobble. Clearing her throat again and glaring down at the ground, as if blaming the frozen soil itself for he struggles, Houndkit decided to go down the trial and error route and waddle around a bit until she felt nicely weighted. Finally, she managed to get the weight even on all four paws, and stiffly, she turned to Seabreeze expectantly. She almost toppled over in the process, but she caught herself just in time to mouth the words, ‘…Balanced…? Am I balanced…?
Wildfoxglove was not looking when she walked. In fact, her eyes were tightly shut since the sun was too bright. She walking toward Ivykit at a fast pace and tripped over them. Wildfoxglove staggered for a second before opening her eyes and exclaiming, "Oh, I'm sorry! I wasn't looking because the sun's too bright."
Fogmask beckoned the scolding apprentice to his side opposite Starrypaw. "I didn't do anything," he explained in a calm whisper, hoping that Starrypaw wouldn't hear him. "I saw her crying as she left the apprentices' den and came over to comfort her." Then he lowered his voice yet again and continued. "I think she's thinking about Emberkit." After a few moments, he turned back toward Starrypaw and sat, once again, silently.
It's another day. Someone else is crying in camp. Salamanderpaw is going to respond, even though she's hardly anyone's idea of a comforting presence.
Exhibit A: "Fogmask, did you do something to her?" Sharp, accusatory. The shaggy harlequin lumbers over. All she sees at the moment is Starrypw weeping into the snow, and also Fogmask is there. Eyes skate from the warrior to the apprentice. "Starrypaw, what's the matter with you?" She doesn't...mean it like that, honest. But that doesn't stop it from sounding harsh, and even Salamanderpaw recognizes that, because she's adding: "Are you hurt? Did something happen?"
Of course, given what an event it'd been at the time, she recalls Elderkit's death. She's just not connecting the dots that that's what Starrypw is crying over right this moment; you'd need a smarter cat than Salamanderpaw to put those pieces together.
Starrypaw
Riverclan | 8 moons Mind Reader, Lucky Duck
Starrypaw desperately wanted to let it all out, but she didn't know how. Her mouth couldn't pronounce the words... the name. "I-I'm sorry.." She tried to tell while she sobbed, not even able to recognize the other cat beyond the tears that covered her blue eyes.
So she did the only thing she was capable of in that moment, and collapsed on the snow. She wept stronger and louder, knowing she was probably waking up the entire clan right now, but she couldn't do anything about it. The icy snow was a comforting sensation that kept her on earth, so she wouldn't get lost forever.
She raised her head to the sky, aware that Elderkit must probably see her right now. But... was she disappointed?