Private all that came before us [ orchidbite ]

[cygnetscratch]

@orchidbite

"Do you remember it?"

Her voice is quiet, nearly raw from how little she speaks. It is ill used, especially after the tragedy that was her brother's death. Yet, with her friend, she feels goaded into speaking. Orchidbite had not dragged her into a conversation, no - but the other's existence alone seems to inspire the white-furred moggy to try. Her paws balance on one of the higher branches of the pine tree they scale together. The ground is so far beneath them already, but she isn't afraid. Not as much as she should be, anyways.

"All that... came before. The journey, the gorge..." Is that what they even called it? Somehow, much to her dismay, she doesn't recall SkyClan's old camp. She much more remembers the front steps to her father's home, the stale floral scents that baked inside. The calloused hands of twolegs patting her back as she eagerly chirped at them. The hollowness of her stomach when she ate kibble for the first time, the warmth as she took a nap on the window sill... but not where they all once deigned from. It causes a new struggle in her heart, one fierce with self-made betrayal and frustration.

"We were so young then..." she continues with the same hoarse, meandering tone.

 

[orchidbite orchidbite]

I'M YOUR NUMBER ONE

Orchidbite is not quiet like Cygnetscratch- it's probably best for both of them that she is the more outspoken between the two of them- but the young warrior still finds a sense of comfort in her interactions with the pale-furred cat. Even when, in instances like this, she speaks up out of nowhere with a question pulled straight out of thin air. "Hm?" She intones, caught slightly off guard and unsure of what Cygnetscratch is referring to. She'd been focused on not making a fool of herself by somehow plummeting to the unforgiving forest floor below, stopping to sway on a branch momentarily.

"Oh, the journey... Barely," she replies upon the other warrior's elaboration. A rare moment of honesty. If it had been perhaps anyone else, she might have lied; created an amalgamation of stories that she had heard from the older SkyClanners to form her own fibbed experience. There is a pregnant pause between them. Orchidbite takes a deep breath, the scent of pine wrapping around both of them and smoothing over her senses. What she does know is that all she has ever known has been SkyClan. For that, she can at least be grateful. Albino eyes wander to Cygnetscratch, taking her in against the bleak background.

"We were, weren't we..." she replies coolly, tipping her head. Despite their differences, Orchidbite and Cygnetscratch aren't all that different in the end. They are the same age, and their paths granted to them from the powers that be had lead them to the same place at the same time. "But, there's no use dwelling on the past," she reminds the other warrior, leveling advisory with her in a way that stops just short of chastisement "We are here now. What's done is done..." Her words hang in the air and she locks eyes with Cygnetscratch for a long moment. There is much that could be derived from her words, but she does not elaborate.

Instead, Orchidbite aims a leap at a branch higher, and lands with perfect balance. "There's a break in the branches up here," she glances back at her, gesturing just ahead with her whip of a tail "Come sit. You can tell me what you remember about your old life, and I'll tell you about mine." The two of them are barely warriors together, but through all of Orchidbite's twisted thickets of lies there is something intriguing about Cygnetscratch that she is willing to bare her heart to.

— ⋆˙⟡

☼ orchidbite is a skyclan warrior who is haughty and arrogant.
☼ 13 moons old, ages on the last day of each month.
☼ currently has no apprentice
☼ in battle, physically moderate and psychologically difficult
☼ her parents are blossomstrike x applemask.
☼ penned by carat, see her tags here.

 

[cygnetscratch]

Cygnetscratch doesn't let it show, but she finds herself disappointed. She almost wants Orchidbite's domineering lies and petulant embellishments. They'd take her out of reality in the very least, a space that she sorely wants to escape in the moment. Instead, the other molly responds with a rare spot of truth. Something that... still, in a way, Cygnetscratch can appreciate. She tilts her countenance away from her friend to obscure the feathering frustration that inches in, simply tilting her ears towards the other to listen.

"We are here now. What's done is done..." That could be said thrice over, and yet Cygnetscratch doesn't think it would properly fix anything. She nods noncommittally, as if to just assure the other that her voice was heard in the least.

Orchidbite launches to the next branch, a delicate show of practiced grace that catches her friend's attention again. Golden eyes grow with interest, before slinking back to a sliver when the sun catches them. Orchidbite invites her further up the tree for a better rest, and Cygnetscratch obeys. Her white paws land with less tact and more force than intended, but she doesn't slip, and she counts that as a win in her book.

"I doubt it, but do you remember my father?" She settles in close to the warm, pale hues of the other, bristling against the winds that breeze through them. She, evidently, takes the opportunity to keep exercising her ill used voice. "He used to take me to his kittypet home some nights. I used to eat kibble, and play with this... feather on a string. I didn't know that he had been training me then to become some sort of house pet." She laughs, but its hollow, fake. "Can you imagine me a house pet, Orchidbite? ... never mind. Don't answer that." Her grimace shows itself this time, knowing too well how Orchidbite would spin that one.