TW: Sensitive Content Open Territory hide and seek ✧ kit in territory

[poppykit's icon poppykit poppykit]

{$title} tw for child neglect and abandonment (through the lens of the child)

POPPYKIT ──

windclan | kitten​

​

Child. He's pretty sure that's his name. It's what Momma always calls him - "Come here, child." "Be quiet, child." "Go to sleep, child." Phrases such as this are often the answers to his burning questions, things like where are we going? and when is suppertime? But it's okay. That's just how Momma says that she loves him.

One day, he's asking his questions as usual. "Momma, let's play," he says. "Please can we play? I want play." He's insistent enough that his momma stops abruptly, inhaling deeply before turning to him with a wide smile.
"Okay. Let's play 'hide and seek'."
Oh wow, a new game! He sits, listening intently as she explains the rules. "You count to ten, and I run and hide. Don't open your eyes until you're done counting, okay?"
He nods, bouncing around with excitement as he squeezes his eyes shut. One… two… ummm. What comes after two?
He makes it to four before huffing and declaring that he's close enough to just skip ahead to ten, excitedly opening his eyes to begin his search. His momma hid well, and he's wandering through the fields getting distracted by the tiniest of things. Still searching… still searching…. still searching…..

As the sun makes its way across the sky, the kitten wanders, growing increasingly tired and hungry as his tiny paws tread across frost-laden ground. He starts calling, wailing for his momma to come back. But he is met with only silence.
Until… oh!! A cat!! Surely, that's his momma? He scampers over to them, disappointed when he realizes that this cat neither looks nor smells like his momma… he sniffles, a small whine escaping him before he promptly bursts into tears.
"Where Momma!?" he demands of the cat before him, his face growing wet from tear-streaks.

always an angel

never a god

• ooc:
• "speaking" | thinking | action

 

[Merrystalk Merrystalk]

The day was growing to a close, the sun teetering on the edge of the sky, Merrystalk was making some last rounds of the territory. Dimmingsun had been vehement that he take it easy, but a tom incapable of resting, he at least wanted to tread the borders to ensure markers were maintained and nothing was amiss.

But there was always something amiss. A tiny voice, calling out, not one he recognised but far, far too small to be alone with the chill of leaf-fall. His stomach twisted with the sensation of fear, which was only alleviated as a small scrap of fur came bounding up to him. But that alone was short-lived, as Merry breathed to speak to the tiny thing, his face scrunched up as tears threatened to spill down his cheeks.

It hadn't been the first time a kitten was found on the moors, but so soon after the flooding? His stomach twisted at the idea that there had been a family separated. He stooped down, hushing the kitten gently. "Hey there lil' buddy, yer okay." Desperately, he looked around, lifting his head for a moment, hoping to catch the scent of a mother or father or siblings at least. But all there was was the unfamiliar scent of the lone little kitten.

The gale guards face knit in worry, looking back to the tiny thing with a gentle tone, even as his own chest was wrung from the bawling of the kitten. "Yer safe with me, we can look for yer mama, it's okay. D'ya think ya' can take a breath 'nd tell me yer name?" He just needed him to take a breath before he made himself sick with worry and panic. Merry hoped his clanmates would be about soon to help; there was only so much he could do alone.

​

MERRYSTALK He/Him, Windclan Gale Guard, 32 moons.
A lithe, tortoiseshell cat with green eyes and pelt speckled with rye grass.
mentored by none // mentoring Talonpaw
sibling to Goldenroar and Sunnyspring
NPC x NPC / parent to no one / mated to Harefoot
"SPEECH" // "THOUGHTS" // ATTACK
penned by Pheo ↛ phoenixwashere on discord, feel free to dm for plots.

 

[poppykit's icon poppykit poppykit]

POPPYKIT ──

windclan | kitten​

​

The kitten stares up at Merrystalk with huge, watery eyes, still sniffling as the older cat's voice evokes a comfort that, at the very least, keeps him from wailing for now.
"You help me?" he asks, scooching closer to him as he tries to blink away the tears that are blurring his vision. Momma hadn't said that he couldn't have help looking for her, so surely this isn't against the rules, right?

Then Merrystalk asks for his name, and the kitten's mind swims with memories of his mother's voice. "Get down from there, child!" "Quit running off, child!" "You'll be the death of me, child…"
"Um… child," he says, though it comes out as more of a question than the answer Merrystalk is expecting. "It's what Momma call me." As far as the poor thing knows, that's a perfectly normal thing to be called; Momma and 'child' is the only world he knows.

The kitten lets his curiosity get the better of him despite his situation, and upon looking around, he sees that Merrystalk doesn't have anyone with him, either. His brilliant kitten logic deducts that he must be alone for the same reason - he is playing hide and seek, too!
"Your momma is hiding too?"

always an angel

never a god

• ooc:
• "speaking" | thinking | action

 

[GOLDENROAR]

Your momma is hiding too?

A bitter question, one that Goldenroar didn't want to be faced with as he crested the gentle knoll after his brother. Goldenroar's face twisted in a grimace as he approaches, ears laying backwards with aqua eyes facing the pair. His brother, clearly on the verge of being nervous, and a kit that was blinking away tears. Alone. With no scent of his mother chased on the wind. Goldenroar frowned as he approached. "Our momma doesn't need to watch us anymore." He meows softly, trying to warm his voice for the kit. "But yours does."

"It's getting dark, though. We should bring you to camp- get you fed and safe while we try to find your mother, yeah?" Goldenroar says, pressing his shoulder to his brother in support briefly. "My name is Goldenroar. I'm like the second in command, where we're going." He looks towards his brother, though. Doubt etches his face. Child is no name for a kit, he reflects.

_______________________ I KEEP RUNNIN' BUT ☼ I'M STANDING STILL _______________________

• "speech"
  

• 

• GOLDENROAR he/him, windclan deputy, fourty one moons.
  ☆ a lh golden red marbled tabby with low white and glimmering aqua eyes. often seen with a smirk, confidence oozing from him in heaps, but always the ever-helpful guy.
  ☆ mentored by who / mentoring dandelionpaw
  ☆ older brother to merry
  ☆ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted / / underline and tag when attacking
  ☆ penned by dallas ↛ dallasofnines on discord, feel free to dm for plots.
  
  ☆ mini by tasmagoric, ref image by dallas (yours truly!)

 

[Merrystalk Merrystalk]

He hadn't expected the words from a whimpering kitten to make him genuinely speechless. 'Your momma is hiding too?' He knew this kitten was just trying to use his own experiences to understand the world around him, but the bitter irony of finding an abandoned kitten just as Merry and Sunny once had been too still left his words caught in his throat.

It was only as his brother crested the hill, speaking up, that Merrystalk found his words again. "We can look for her in the mornin', fer now we can get ya' some food 'nd somewhere warm to sleep." He purred gently, giving the kitten a small smile. Goldy pressed against his side, reassuringly, to which he muttered a quiet thanks. They might both be warriors on the clan's council, but the support of his brother would always be a comfort to him.

There was a sort of disturbance in Goldy's expression, a kitten left in the moors, no sight of his mother, not even a name. All too familiar. But that just meant they could help the kit too. "Are ya' able to walk? Or would you rather be carried, camp ain't too far away, but ya' ain't gotta trek all that way." He offered to the tiny thing, night would come soon, and he would have little choice but to come with them, lest predators come looking for an easy meal.

​

MERRYSTALK He/Him, Windclan Gale Guard, 32 moons.
A lithe, tortoiseshell cat with green eyes and pelt speckled with rye grass.
mentored by none // mentoring Talonpaw
sibling to Goldenroar and Sunnyspring
NPC x NPC / parent to no one / mated to Harefoot
"SPEECH" // "THOUGHTS" // ATTACK
penned by Pheo ↛ phoenixwashere on discord, feel free to dm for plots.

 

[poppykit's icon poppykit poppykit]

POPPYKIT ──

windclan | kitten​

​

"Our momma doesn't need to watch us anymore, but yours does."
"Really?" The kitten tilts his head, trying to imagine it. They do look very grown up, so he guesses it makes sense, though he's not sure he'd know what to do with himself without his momma watching over him all the time. Even now, after only a short time away from her, he's already burst into tears and gotten completely lost. At least these friendly cats showed up to calm him down - he can't wait to tell his momma about these new friends he's made!!
The cats offer him a place to eat and sleep, and it's only then that he realizes just how sleepy he is. Maybe a little nap wouldn't hurt... it'll be quick, and then he'll go right back to looking for Momma. Hopefully she won't get mad at him for taking so long to find her... "Where we going?" he asks Goldenroar. If he's second in command, maybe the first in command knows where Momma is? They might know all the best hiding spots she could be using!

The kitten's eyes light up significantly when Merrystalk offers to carry him the rest of the way, and he bounces up and down excitedly. "Carry!! Carry!!" he chants, running up close to Merrystalk and looking up at him with a smile as if he hadn't just been crying. His momma usually makes him walk even when he's sleepy, so this feels like a special treat to him!

always an angel

never a god

• ooc:
• "speaking" | thinking | action

 

[Cricketpaw Cricketpaw]

'Cause I'd get a thousand hugs from ten thousand lightning bugs
As they tried to teach me how to dance
A foxtrot above my head, a sock hop beneath my bed
A disco ball is just hanging by a thread

.

Cricketpaw padded after Goldenroar, a curious glint bright in her single eye. She peered past the deputy toward Merrystalk and then at the tiny kit standing beside im. A kit! So young, so small. What in StarClan's name was he doing all alone, without his mother anywhere nearby? Her ears twitched as she listened to Goldenroar, to Merrystalk, to the kit's own trembling question about whether Merrystalk's mother was hiding too.

Ah, foxdung... what a painful little thing to say.

Cricketpaw's gaze lingered on Merrystalk for a moment before she nodded firmly, a spark of energy returning to her step. " Yeah! Merrystalk's the best carrier! " she meowed fiercely, puffing up her chest in solidarity and flashing the kit a reassuring smile. She wanted to believe they'd find the kit's mother when they returned to camp, she prayed they would... But deep down, something in her knew better. No kit should have to grow up without a mother to curl around them at night... At least, not a good one. Not like Meadowpaw's mother had been so nasty to her own daughter, or how Sweetnose had lost his mother so very young that he didn't even remember her...

Still, she stepped forward, voice soft but determined. " We'll try to find your mama. " she promised, a quiet strength in her tone. " Won't we? " she ended, looking from Merrystalk to Goldenroar.

Speech, thoughts/emphasis

9 MOONS

𖧧

WINDCLANNER

𖧧

SONG

𖧧

bio

 

[Merrystalk Merrystalk]

It was impossible to fully muffle the sorrow caught behind the eyes of the Gale Guard, especially as the kitten immediately lit up at the idea of being carried. Any kit so small really needed to be carried anywhere, but Merry didn't want to pluck them from the ground without a say-so, but the bounding excitement put something unsettled in his chest. He smiled warmly at the tiny thing. "We're takin' you to our home, Windclan. We live on the moors with our clanmate, there's kits 'bout your age 'nd caretakers to keep 'n eye on ya' while we... Look fer yer mama."

Something felt as if it had lodged itself in his throat, every word feeling like he would trip over his own speech; part of him had some awful feeling there was no mistake to the youngster being left alone out here. Far too trusting of strangers, not a scent of his mother anywhere near, not even knowing his own name at about three or four moons? Merry had some awful intuition that he had been given no name at all. He would talk with Goldy once the kitten was safe in camp.

Though another voice caught his attention, dear little Cricketpaw came bounding along too, curious about the kitten. He was all too aware how her gaze stayed on him too long; she wasn't a foolish young molly, knowing a little too keenly about the kitten's words. But, even so, she tried to keep the conversation light. Merry had to laugh at her addition; there indeed had been far too many times he had to pluck her by the scruff to stop her getting into mischief, particularly when she got into the habit of stealing things from cats' nests. He hadn't seen her up to it in a while, so he rather hoped she had grown out of it. The Gale Guard gave her a tired smile, nodding weakly. "Aye, once we got ya' home, we'll come back out here to look fer her." The tortie hummed, gently.

He padded close, muttering again. "But, first, we gotta getcha safe 'n warm 'n fed. Come along now." The tom stooped down and grabbed the kitten, unsettled by how light he was for his age. Only a few moons from Owl's fledglings, he immediately grew more anxious at his state. It'd be best to get Dimmingsun to check him over; he seemed uninjured, but it was better to be safe. Merrystalk flicked his tail as he motioned to the others. He wanted Goldy to be there to back him on the discovery of the little thing. It felt like it may be fruitless to come back out to the moors, but for the sake of the lone kitten, he would still search. Maybe he had some hope to still have his mother, maybe...

​

MERRYSTALK He/Him, Windclan Gale Guard, 33 moons.
A lithe, tortoiseshell cat with green eyes and pelt speckled with rye grass.
mentored by none // mentoring Talonpaw
sibling to Goldenroar and Sunnyspring
NPC x NPC / parent to no one / mated to Harefoot
"SPEECH" // "THOUGHTS" // ATTEMPTED ACTION
penned by Pheo ↛ phoenixwashere on discord, feel free to dm for plots.