wandering outside the camp

[Kiri-chan]

(this is a drama continuance thing for Swallowsong & Blossomkit from the Returns & Reunions thread. Please let Swallowsong post here first before joining. And Cloudii, if you want me to bring Twi for a snake fight let me know. lol)


In the few hours that had passed since she left camp, Blossomkit was having the time of her life, steadily wandering further and further past the trees, down a trail, back and forth across the small stream a few times before wandering into the meadow in ShoreClan territory. She hadn't wandered all that far if you drew a straight line from the camp to where she was, but if you followed her scent trail, it looked like the kit had taken an epic trip to who knows where.

As the sun climbed in the sky, Blossomkit had long since given up trying to catch the mouse she'd first spotted and was now happily catching grasshoppers and butterflies in grass that was as tall as she was. Scampering happily through the grass, her attention was diverted to a nearby hole and she sat near it and sniffed. She smelled an odd, reptilian sort of smell, one she'd never smelt before and wondered what it was. As she sat there, a small head appeared at the opening of the hole and watched her. Blossomkit's instincts told her to back up so she did, but she didn't run as she had never seen a snake before and had no idea it wasn't prey, but a predator.

The snake slithered further out of its hole and slowly weaved towards her. It was roughly 4 feet long and had a funny brown and black diamond like pattern. Intrigued, Blossomkit stood and bounced around it, batting her paws out at it playfully while trying to figure out what it was and why it wouldn't run or play...


The snake coiled up and watched her, its tongue flicking in and out rapidly. It knew lunch when it saw it and took advantage of the fact the kitten was ignorant. By feigning it was afraid of the kitten, it would lure it in before striking and enjoying a tasty kitten lunch.


(I'm gonna rp the snake. wheee.)

[</cloudii>]

Swallowsong was looking all over for her milky white kit frantically. Suddenly, one moment she was there, and another moment for was not! Her pelt bristled in fear. A hawk could have gotten her! Or some other predator? What if she accidentally wandered over to another CLan's territory?! The tabby she-cat amber eyes burned with a nervous, frightened fire. Right now, she was too worried to feel angry or annoyed. She found a slightly flattened path in the long grasses and scented Blossomkit's familiar scent on it. Running along it, she glanced from side to side to look for the young kit.
ooc - Sure, bring in Twilly!

[Kiri-chan]

Blossomkit bounced around the snake again, cautious, yet bouyed with kittenish curiosity as well as naivety about how much danger she was really in. All she knew was the thing wasn't running away. Was it hurt? In a daring move, she darted forward and poked it with a paw before darting back as the snake made a strange hissing sound and flicked its tongue out faster.

Sitting still a few feet away, she tilted her head at it disapprovingly. "You're not a lot of fun you know. You're supposed to run or something." She grumped at the snake. The snake didn't move and kept staring at her. Blossomkit began to feel a little uncomfortable and nervous and stood up, warily eyeing the snake. It looked tense... or something.

Upon being poked, the snake had hissed before realizing such sounds would scare his dinner away. Quieting himself, he watched the kitten bounce round and around before finally sitting down and clearly indicating it thought he was boring. Flicking out his tongue, he felt the growing rush and tensed for the strike. However the kitten was seemingly starting to get edgy and the snake knew he had to act fast. Suddenly, with it's ultra sensitive body, it picked up vibrations from another approaching animal. This one was larger and meandering around. It wasn't approaching at a straight line and seemed to be lost. The snake wasn't stupid and knew it had to act fast.

Twilightsong couldn't believe it. Well, actually he could. He'd pulled stunts like this all the time when he was a kit, but until he'd had to help search for a kit, he'd never understood the fear it evoked. ANYTHING was a threat to Blossomkit out here and that was just considering the various other animals out here. Then there was falling in the river, down a hole, tumbling off a cliff, falling out of a tree... the list went on and on.

After having hung out with everyone for about an hour and caught up with most everyone, he'd gone on a hunting patrol and brought back two voles for the freshkill pile. Granted most of the time he'd been getting himself reacquainted with the area, but he did some hunting as well. Upon returning he'd reclined in the Warrior's den and dozed briefly before waking up and starting to groom his fur back into place. It was then someone or other had somehow noticed Blossomkit was gone and Swallowsong had started panicking. Rushing out of the Warrior's den, Twilightsong had lost no time in volunteering to go look for the kit and had darted after a nervous Swallowsong moments later.

Feeling his heart pounding in his paws, he let Swallowsong get ahead of him in her search as he looked around, mentally putting himself in a kit's mindset and asking himself where he'd go. His mind was pounding with the realization Blossomkit had been gone for hours before her disappearance had been noted and during that time there was no telling what she'd gotten into.

His eyes ran over the area and he noticed various things that would attract a kit: dangling cattails by the river, various insects hopping or flying about, birds and other small prey animals rustling around. There was so much... He had to narrow it down. Ok Twi, think girly. If I was a girl, what would I find interesting? His eyes landed on a frog and he shook his head. No. Girls were more interested in... um... A butterfly drifted by then and Twilightsong's eyes landed on it. Butterflies! He remembered passing a meadow on the way here. It was a long shot, but worth it. With Swallowsong steadily following Blossomkit's trail, should he be wrong, at least she'd still be on the right track and he could easily doubleback and track Swallowsong to Blossomkit's location.

Pelting down the path to the meadow, Twilightsong poured on the speed and recklessly darted between trees and undergrowth as all he could think about was what kind of predators liked to hunt in meadows. Okay, lets see, there's hawks. Yeah, hawks hunt anywhere. Uh wolves, foxes, yeah plenty of those around. Badger maybe? Nah. Hmm... what else? Darn it, I'm forgetting one, what is it? He mentally debated with himself as he darted out of the woods into the wide open meadow.

Glancing upward he was relieved to see there were no hawks flying about. A breeze rustled across the field and to his immense relief it carried the fresh scent of Blossomkit. It also carried something else. "SNAKE!" He yelled, hoping Swallowsong heard him, or at least Blossomkit. "Blossomkit, get out of there, there's a snake!!" He yelled again as he raced towards the kitten, plowing his way through the grass and trusting his nose to lead him to where they were.

A moment later he heard Blossomkit give a screech of fear and the hissing of a large snake. Suddenly coming upon them, Twilightsong snarled and leaped in the way, knocking Blossomkit several feet away on purpose as he faced down the large rattlesnake. Hissing and spitting furiously while swiping his claws in a threatening display, Twilightsong bristled up and looked more like a small dog than a cat with all his fur, thanks to his massive size. He wasn't so stupid as to actually charge the snake, but he kept doing fake lunges at it, trying to scare it off.

Blossomkit began to get a bad feeling about this wierd thing that only stared at her. She was debating leaving when she heard what sounding like someone galloping towards her yelling something about a snake and for her to get out of there. Wondering what the heck a snake was, Blossomkit took her eyes off the thing for a moment. Suddenly the thing lunged at her and with a shriek, Blossomkit darted sideways, narrowly missing having two inch long fangs buried in her body.

Staring in horror at the thing, she scrambled to her feet just as a huge cat burst into view. Frozen with fear, she heard the cat snarl and realized the cat was running straight at her. Her brain told her to move, but her feet felt nailed to the grassy floor. A moment later, she found herself tumbling head over heels into the grass away from the snarling cat and the thing.

Dizzily and very much scared, she staggered to her feet and blinked at the scene in front of her. There was this huge cat snarling and hissing at the thing. Her mind finally caught up with what she was seeing and she felt stupid. That thing WAS a snake. And that cat was Twilightsong. Twilightsong had been yelling at her to get away from the snake. Duh and oh wow, was she gonna be in for it when Swallowsong found out.

She glanced around and started thanking her lucky stars Swallowsong wasn't here. Maybe, with luck, she wouldn't know she was missing! And maybe Twilightsong wouldn't say anything... Turning her eyes to where Twilightsong was snarling at the snake she knew better. Of COURSE he'd say something. Adults were boring that way. Oh well, at least she got to watch a cool fight! Mom sure missed all the fun, Blossomkit thought to herself as she sat and watched with huge eyes while wondered what Twilightsong was going to do.

(*snicker* would Swallowsong like to enter and totally burst Blossomkit's bubble? xD )

[</cloudii>]

ooc - OH yeah, of course Swallowsong would barge in and burst her little bubble XD
That is some post! Whoo, so long!

Swallowsong burst through the long grasses and grabbed her daughter by the scruff roughly. She ran towards a tree and dropped Blossomkit down by the roots. Her eyes were filled with unfallen tears and her voice was shaken and high-pitched with worry, "Why did you do that?!" now a few tears had fallen onto the ground and and darkened the earth a little. "Do you know how worried I was for you?!" her paws worked the ground beneath her. "You could have died!" Her pretty amber eyes were shining and her tabby pelt was trembling. "Stay here," her voice trembled too. "Twilightsong!" she called shakily. "Don't fight the snake!" she ran over.

ooc - Sorry, not long and did I powerplay too much?

[Kiri-chan]

(okay if no one wants to join us...)


For the third time in a span of 10 minutes Blossomkit was knocked over, but this time it was by a very upset Swallowsong. Not. Good. "Mmmrrroowwwllllllllll...." Blossomkit half meowed, half grunted as she was dragged unceremonially away several feet before being dumped rather ungraciously into a patch of grass at the paws of her foster mother.

"Why did you do that?! Do you know how worried I was for you?! You could have died!"

She flinched at the worry and tears in Swallowsong's eyes and refused to look at her as she started to cry and frantically ask her why she'd done that. Blossomkit was silent as Swallowsong went on to say how worried she'd been and, in Blossomkit's mind, dramatically intoned how she could have been killed. She nearly rolled her eyes, but remembering the snake she kept still and small.

Blossomkit was about to open her mouth and protest when Swallowsong cut her off and told her to stay put before running over to Twilightsong and begging him not to take on the snake. Sighing, Blossomkit flopped on the ground and took out her frustration on a blade of grass, flattening it and crushing it into the dirt with her paw. Being a kit sucked. You couldn't do anything fun. Though, well, the snake was pretty scary. At least Twilightsong showed up, but I could have gotten away on my own! She growled mentally to herself, half believing it before turning to watch what her mom and Twilightsong were doing.

Bowing up, Twilightsong kept dancing threateningly around the snake and dodging a few lunges as Swallowsong ran up and grabbed Blossomkit and carried her away to a safe distance. He heard her talking to Blossomkit, but barely paid heed as the snake was getting frustrated and puffing up, trying to bluff him. As Swallowsong ran up, the snake lunged at her, but was short a good foot. Twilightsong darted in and delivered a good clawing to the middle of it's back and was nearly bit in return.

The snake, feeling outnumbered, finally slithered off and back into his hole. Only when it was completely gone into it's hole with no sign of re-emerging did Twilightsong back off. Trembling all over, though not uncontrollably, he found he was still too worked up to completely relax. As a result, he resembled a half fluffed up porcupine and was somewhat jumpy.

"Is she alright?" He asked, kneading the ground with his sharp claws to burn off the tense energy coiled in his body. As the moments passed, he was slowly relaxing and his fur was settling down. He hoped he hadn't hurt her when he'd shoved her so roughly away from the snake, but he hadn't wanted to risk the snake going at her again and this time succeeding in biting her.

[</cloudii>]

Swallowsong nodded, her eyes were darting around warily. "I'm pretty sure she is," she murmured. She couldn't bring herself to scold the kit, after what trouble Blossomkit had stirred up, but eyes were stern and at least she stopped shaking so she meowed to her kit, "Don't EVER wander away like that again - do you hear me?" her eyes gave away her worry. "There's a reason kits stay in the nursery, or at least in camp, until they're apprentices."

The tabby she-cat looked at Twilightsong, "Are you alright?" she asked, her voice laced with concern. The deputy had fought the snake and she wondered whether it had given him any serious wounds. "Perhaps Ripplestream may want to check?" she suggested lightly.

[Kiri-chan]

"I'm pretty sure she is."

Twilightsong nodded and watched as she scolded the sulking Blossomkit who, by now, was looking like she was game for disappearing again to escape the lecture. He made a mental note to keep an eye on her and was relieved when she fell in behind Swallowsong without protest.

"Are you alright? Perhaps Ripplestream may want to check?"

Twilightsong looked down at the concerned warrior walking with him and shrugged it off with a smile. "I'm alright Swallowsong. It didn't touch me. I'm too tough to chew." He said, feigning a growl and shaking his fur so it laid flat again. "I do think Blossomkit should be looked over. I'm worried I might have hurt her when I bowled her over like that." He said in a lower tone as he looked back at the kit with concern before glancing back at Swallowsong. "I mean, that's if you don't mind." He added quickly as he'd learned awhile back that one didn't get between fighting couples or a mother upset at her kits.

Blossomkit watched only long enough to see the snake slither into the hole. After that, she got up and eyed the path back to camp, half tempted to slink away and hide in the nursery away from the Stick in the Mud known as mom for a few days. However, Swallowsong made sure to be an even BIGGER Stick in the Mud and promptly came back over to her and lectured her again.

"Don't EVER wander away like that again - do you hear me? There's a reason kits stay in the nursery, or at least in camp, until they're apprentices."

Blossomkit saw the worry in her eyes and felt guilty for what she'd done. As the two adults started back, she fell in line behind Swallowsong without a word and dully stared at the adults hind paws as they walked home. Terrific. Swallowsong was no doubt going to ground her now. Camp was so boring! There wasn't even anyone her age to play with! Sighing she resigned herself to a boring existence until she was 6 moons old. After that she'd get to have some fun.

[</cloudii>]

Swallowsong nodded silently and kept walking, glancing at Blossomkit every once in a while or so. She plodded on, looking at the ground without speaking and thought, Why does she do everything the opposite of what I tell her? Am I just not teaching her the right things? What can I do to make her listen and not feel to bored when not one's there to play games with her? Her mind was reeling with questions, but one thing was certain - she was very disappointed in her kit, no matter how much she loved her. SHe had put Twilightsong in danger, and herself in danger too.