Camp RiverClan what makes you hungry? ✦ salmon

[Galepaw Galepaw]

{$title} salmonkit meets galepaw for the first time

—————————————————— Rocked by an endless motion ✦

There was little else he despised as much as getting messy. The pale tom was sat quietly, purposefully alone and still damp from a fishing patrol. The water ran off him easily, dripping from wild fur as he airdried in the morning sun. The water was clean, refreshing even, and entirely unoffensive to him—what threatened him so was the fresh fish within his paws. It had long since been beheaded by him, laid next to him in a pile of discarded bits of flesh he had deemed wholly below himself to eat. In actuality, it likely was just fine to, but the tom was nothing if not picky about his food. With a gentle, precise claw, he sliced off a ribbon of pale flesh and plucked it from the carcass. After a moment of inspection, he deemed it fit for consumption and he scarfed it down quickly.

His solitary position was chosen strategically, as it was nestled not far from the nursery. His poor mentor's kits had been exploring, stepping their little paws out into the world for the first time, and Gale was thoroughly interested in their progress. The fish he was working on was nothing more than one required by social convention, one that shielded him from questions or orders. He could sit here and observe nature at work, observe the world experiencing itself once more, and nothing would bother him. It was a perfect day, really.

—————Whether truth or just a story

It's not up to you—————

• @Salmonkit come bother him
• 
  Galepaw
  ✦—Riverclan Apprentice | 9 Moons
  ✦—He/They/It
  ✦—"SPEECH", 'THOUGHTS', ATTACK
  ✦—A fluffy high white lynx point with curled ears and deep blue eyes
  #87878E #BAB2AC

 

[Salmonkit Salmonkit]

—————————————— All I wanted was to be seen, and to see. ✦

Salmonkit had been more than comfortable to remain curled in the nursery; it was all he needed, cosy and safe with his mother and siblings. But unfortunately, with so many bodies it made the greenleaf heat unbearable. His fur was sticky and irritating, making the little kitten antsy. So, he decided a little time outside would do him well!

He stepped out carefully into the camp, each passing day feeling a little less huge and daunting, but even so, it wasn't like he had traversed every last corner yet; there was only so much he could do in a day. But the scent of something caught his attention, fresh fish. A lot like the haul of prey, Wavesong was always brought throughout the day by the clan.

To admit, the scent was alluring, he and his siblings had begun to be "weaned", whatever the term meant, but they slowly gave them prey of their own, and honestly it was that time of the day when they would eat. So. Salmonkit toddled forward, now determined to choose his own prey!

But the scent wasn't coming from the fresh kill pile, no, it was nearby. He lifted his tiny head, and the scent was right by the entrance. Amber eyes scanned the area until they settled on a fluffy apprentice. The kitten cocked his head curiously, and he recognised the fellow, Galepaw. One of the three apprentices who frequented the nursery often for one reason or another, but it seemed Wavesong was particularly fond of him.

He wandered to the apprentice's side, who seemed rather lost in thought as Salmonkit craned his head up to look at him, then down to the.... Fish.

Salmonkit's face knitted with confusion; it looked wrong. Its head was gone, that was a little more normal, he supposed, but in a neat little pile were its scales, shiny in the midmorning sun. The kitten reached over and grabbed at the scales, inspecting them gently before looking back up. "Yer fish looks strange." Having not learned the art of introductions, Salmonkit got straight to the point as he held out his paw with the shimmering scale. "Didya take all o' its scales off fer a reason?"

He sat back on his haunches, still staring up at Galepaw. However, even with his peculiarly straight-to-the-point tone of speech, Salmonkit was still very much a kitten with scattered trains of thought, only brought back to his mission when his stomach grumbled. His eyes flickered between the big, fluffy tom and the weirdly skinned fish, blinking with curious eyes. "Can I have some?"

————— Is it magical thinking,

or is it magical realism? —————

• 
  Salmonkit
  ✦—Riverclan kitten | 2 moons
  ✦—He/him
  ✦—"SPEECH", 'THOUGHTS', ATTACK
  ✦—A tiny black x chocolate broken mackrel tabby chimaera with bright, too knowing eyes.
  #4B7CE4

 

[Galepaw Galepaw]

—————————————————— Rocked by an endless motion ✦

Ah, perhaps he should have chosen his words better than 'nothing would bother him.' Of course, the shield from social convention only worked on those older, those wiser, and those... not quite as squeaky-voiced as the little thing now beside him. At first, the tom hardly looked at him—instead he regarded him with a half-lidded eye, not moving from his spot and continuing to slice as he did so. The tom—Salmon, was it?—was thoroughly interested in the shiny pile of scales that had accrued next to him, and for a moment Gale almost likened it to Torrent's same curiosity. They really were pretty little things, and Salmon was gentle with them, something that Gale noted. It only turned its head when the kit pointed at his fish, a small scale held out in his paw.

"Yes, well, I'm sure I'd look strange without a head too." The tom replied, though his tone was absent of humor in the stale way he always spoke. With a pause, he reached out a gentle white paw and took the scale from the young cat, turning it over in interest as he inquired about it. "...A reason, yes." He finally answered, depositing the scale back into the pile and returning to the half-eaten fish. He hadn't caught it all that long ago, but it had long since stopped twitching. He rather hated when his prey flopped about in that way, as though it continued to try and fight even though it was dead. '...Not unlike some cats I've known.' Galepaw mused to himself, slicing the flesh into another long ribbon. "But a good reason...?" The tom said after a moment, tilting his head as he glanced back to the kit. "Well, Salmon, you can decide that for yourself. Now why would you descale a fish?"

He wasn't at all surprised by the tom requesting a bite of fish, the hungry little thing had been eyeing it since he had sidled up to him. Honestly, it was surprised it didn't try to take it from him already—though Wavesong was always good with manners, he supposed. "Of course." Galepaw took the ribbon he had sliced from the fish, and for a moment it seemed as though he'd give it to the kitten... until he reached over and set the skinned fish in front of the tom, twirling the ribbon of fish between his claws as he watched with interest. Perhaps the kitten would try to copy his way of consumption, cutting it into orderly strips. Or perhaps he'd simply tear into it, ruining the perfect order that Gale had made. It did its best to seem preoccupied with fooling with the strip of flesh he now held, but his blue eyes remained fixed on Salmonkit. He could never look away from something interesting, that's for sure.

—————Whether truth or just a story

It's not up to you—————

• 
  Galepaw
  ✦—Riverclan Apprentice | 9 Moons
  ✦—He/They/It
  ✦—"SPEECH", 'THOUGHTS', ATTACK
  ✦—A fluffy high white lynx point with curled ears and deep blue eyes
  #87878E #BAB2AC

 

[Salmonkit Salmonkit]

—————————————— All I wanted was to be seen, and to see. ✦

"Well... I s'pose so." His little voice a hum, curiously staring down at the limp thing. The kitten was nearly inclined to pluck another scale from the pile, bring it back to his Mama as a little token. But instead, he continued to peer up at the apprentice, growing more and more curious as he spoke.

But that grew to confusion as his little face wrinkled up. It didn't seem like he was omitting anything, but it didn't satiate his curiosity. "So there... There is a reason? But it's not a good reason?" Salmonkit's head tilted, ears flopping a littlle to the side as he blinked slowly. He knew he didn't have all the answers in the world yet, but it didn't help the strange, round-about way the apprentice spoke. But it didn't deter Salmon, far from it. "Texture? I don't really like the feeling of the scales when I eat, but Mama said they'll make us grow strong..."

His little nose crinkled up. Not satisfied with his own answer. "Fer fun?" Salmonkit supposed with a shrug. "It's not like yer playing with yer food, but the scales 're mighty pretty." The kitten clicked his tongue, still not so sure. There were about a million and one reasons why Galepaw did it.

But his mind drifted immediately as Gale agreed to let him have some fish, eyes glittering. Though as he expected to be fed, the apprentice did not move to, instead watching as he placed the skinned fish in front of him. For a moment, Salmonkit moved to bite into the thing, hungry for fresh flesh. And yet.

The kitten paused, looking up to the pale apprentice with a glint in his eyes. He stopped in his motion to bite, drawing away as he inspected Galepaw's expression, before looking back down at the fish. Instead, he unsheathed a tiny claw, looking to Gale almost for confirmation. But as his expression did not move, the kitten, instead as delicately as he could, sliced a sliver from the fish. It wasn't clean or consistent like Gale's slice, but it was an attempt, for certain.

Without a chance in expression, except the slightest smile tugging at the corner of his lips, he showed the sliver of meat to Gale, only to quickly scarf it down, a satisfaction evident upon his face. "Thank you." He purred softly. He was always told to be grateful for all food provided to him, be it brought by another cat or whenever he caught something for himself.

————— Is it magical thinking,

or is it magical realism? —————

• 
  Salmonkit
  ✦—Riverclan kitten | 2 moons
  ✦—He/him
  ✦—"SPEECH", 'THOUGHTS', ATTACK
  ✦—A tiny black x chocolate broken mackrel tabby chimaera with bright, too knowing eyes.
  #4B7CE4