Stretched Thin [OPEN]

The leaf-fall air was cool and crisp as Beechface stepped out of her den with a tired yawn, dull eye briefly scanning the camp before she padded over to the fresh-kill pile. Snagging a squirrel for herself, the medicine cat picked out a shady spot near the edge of camp and sat. It was nearing sundown, and that meant that patrols would be arriving back in camp soon enough. For now though, the camp was almost quiet.

If only her thoughts were, too. She still half-expected to see Birdsong padding into camp, though the gray tabby was long gone and had been since she and Wrenspring had admitted the truth to her. Her den had been a quiet, somber place recently, with Foxfire still in a coma and Wrenspring... Beechface shook her head, trying to ignore the intrusive worry and frustration threatening to choke her. With Muddythorn now fully-trained, her responsibilities were more evenly shared, but it really didn't feel that way. Wolfstar still wouldn't let her just step down. The clan needed a medicine cat, while true, was utter foxdung. Muddythorn was capable, and even more, he wanted the position and was much better suited for it than Beechface had ever been. Bloodstrike had rambled about letting her step down once he was leader, but Beechface wasn't convinced it hadn't just been delirium born of the pain he'd been in at the time. Further, she simply didn't trust the deputy's word, not after the foxdung she'd had to put up with since his return from Asylum's tender care. Making her job harder than necessary with his bone-headed stubbornness, Briarthorn and their bratty kits... Kits who had stayed in Skyclan despite the crimes of their parents. A mate who was still alive, even though she was a miserable piece of work (and Beechface was in no way, shape or form projecting onto the much-loathed mate of her hardly-counts-as-father, not at all)...

Beechface stared down at her half-eaten meal, suddenly finding that it tasted more akin to crowfood rather than the fresh-kill that had been brought into camp earlier. Lost in her thoughts, she missed the sound of approaching pawsteps.

Dreamykit stumbled out of the nursery, hyped to go explore the camp. Ready, she started to run off before her mother could even realize she left the nursery. She soon poked her nose into almost every den she could find, before finding tallbranch. She stared up at the large, long tree while wondering what that could be used for. Wow! Why is there such a tall tree in the middle of camp? She thought that maybe it was used for something important, but probably not. Something caught her eye soon after, looking at a large ball of fluff in the shade. The word "warmth" immediately popped into her head. She darted towards the thing, but soon realized that was no pile of fur. She yelped, trying her best to slow down, but imminently crashed into the feline. "Oh no oh no! I'm so sorry I bumped into you do you need help I can help?!-" She rambled on, in hopes the cat was okay, even though Dreamykit was just a kit and couldn't do much damage to Beechface.

Dawnfeather paused on the edge of camp, starling dangling from her jaws. The young warrior had returned ahead of most of the patrols, having found what she’d been seeking. Beechaunt… she’d seemed terribly down at the Gathering… she didn’t seem much better now… should she go over with the starling like she’d planned? She didn’t want to be intrusive… besides, Beechaunt already had a squirrel.

While she was hesitating, a kit made up her mind for her. D…Deepkit? Dawnfeather wasn’t that good at names when she didn’t know the cat… as long as Beechaunt didn’t feel crowded…

With the starling dangling from her jaws, she strode over, trying to show her smile from behind the shimmering feathers. Dropping it next to Beechaunt with a flick of her tail, she focused her attention back on the kit. “It’s alright, you didn’t mean to!” She purred, sitting down next to her aunt and draping her tail across her back. Hopefully Beechaunt would like the starling… she’d nearly killed herself, a dry limb cracking under her weight earlier that day… luckily she’d landed on all fours in a pile of leaves. It reminded one of how fragile yet beautiful life was… like a butterfly’s wing…

“You’re doing a good job, Beechaunt!” She purred, looking hopefully at the medicine cat. “I caught you a starling, too! They’re hard to find, I hope you like it!” Even if she didn’t like it, Dawnfeather would gladly eat it… she’d discovered a taste for them, herself, in her ongoing quest to provide everyone’s favorite prey.

A kit barreled into her side, and the medicine cat jumped slightly, having hardly noticed the brownish she-kit heading toward her. The kit- Dreamykit, if she was remembering right- stammered over apologies.

"It's alright, little one." Beechface reassured her gently, "You didn't hurt me or anything," as if she could, at that size. Beechface was a large she-cat, even by Skyclan's standards. The kit was hardly more than a scrap of fluff still. An energetic scrap of fluff, however.

"I'm Beechface, the medicine cat. You're Dreamykit, right?" Medicine cat... The title had never sat well with her, and more and more Beechface had grown to truly despise it over the seasons.

Before she could say much else, Beechface caught sight of a familiar golden she-cat making her way towards them. A tired smile flickered across her face at the sight of Dawnfeather with her catch, and Beechface waved her tail at her niece in greeting.

"Thank you, Dawnfeather." Beechface mewed, giving her niece a tired smile that didn't quite reach her eye. She gently bumped her head against the warrior's shoulder. "It's a beautiful catch." She added.

A commotion sounded at one corner of camp, and Driftkit found himself plodding out of the nursery towards it. As much as he enjoyed lounging around the nursery watching the clouds pass by, he had a feeling his mama would want him to go stretch his legs. Dreamykit, who he shared the nursery with, was there. He liked her well enough, although sometimes her rambling went over his head a bit. Another cat was there too, a golden warrior, and a scarred gray cat he recognized as the medicine cat. "Hi," he mewed as he got closer. "Came t'see what all the noise was over here. Hi, Dreamykit. Hi, medicine cat. Hi...uh, you, the other one. I'm Driftkit."

Soon after Dreamykit had stumbled both apon and into Beechface, another cat had trotted near. Beechaunt? Starling? Dawnfeather? Beechface? Medi-what now? Dreamykit was quite confused hearing all these new words. She looked between the two felines, until she thought to speak. Uh, hello, D-Dawnfeather? She had slight trouble speaking a new name, especially something like Dawnfeather. Uh, I'm Dreamykit! I'm sorry I ran into your Beechaunt? She said trying to sound confident, but had clearly failed.

The small kit seemed confused, but satisfied with the two cats that had come to talk to her. As she stared at the two felines, a new voice had appeared. Driftkit? Wait, kit! Friend! She thought that maybe this kit would want to play with her, so she immediately introduced herself. Hi there! Hey, I've seen you in the nursery before! I just never cared to talk to you. She spoke in an excited tone.

"What's goin' on over here? Also, Beechaunt? Is that another name for Beechface?... Anyway, are we having ah meeting? I hope not cause I'm kinda late..." meowed Ankit as she lazily sauntered over to the group and looked at them with faint curiosity. She offered them a somewhat sorry shrug and proceeded to shake away the tired from her eyes and then began to groom herself haphazardly so she could look the barest presentable. She had suddenly just awoken from a nap by the sound of voices and was going to give the disruptors a piece of her mind but immeadiately stopped herself when she realized the main medicine cat was among the chatter. Curious to hear what they were saying, she moseyed right on over and managed to catch the tail end of one of Dreamykit's sentences. Now that she was right next to them, she can get a clear look at the chatter participants.

Beechface, Dreamykit, and Driftkit she was familiar with... kind of. At least she knew their names and what they looked like. The second older cat however... that molly's name slipped her mind. It started with feather right? Or did it end with feather? Anyway, that doesn't matter. What matters was that she was finally able to actually meet Beechface. She kinda looked up to the high ranks in the clan... almost idolized them but nobody needed to know that. That's why the only names she had strived to learn were of the leader, deputy, medicine cats... and those that resided with her in the nursery came a bit after. Everyone else's she didn't bother learning... yet. She'll probably have to at some point if she wanted to be SkyClan's top warrior one day.

"Sooo... what're we supposed to be talking about?" the tiny kit questioned with a raised brow.

Kits thronged around her… Dawnfeather smiled and leaned into Beechaunt a bit, purring. Kits were… kits. They always brought a smile to her face. The innocent questions, the cuteness (yes, kits were adorable), the little looks and curiousity… “I’m Dawnfeather. Like the golden waves washing over the forest as the sun rises, the light flight of a feather ever so slowly, hesitantly, wafting down to land softly on the forest floor. It’s okay, Dreamykit! When I was your age I ran into everything- one time I ended up running into Smokema and waking her up? I think? I can’t remember- oh, hi Inse- Antkit. My apologies. We aren’t having a meeting, I think? I’m Dawnfeather, Beechaunt is my aunt, and we can talk about whatever! Like… what you you guys want to talk about?” Maybe talking with kits would cheer up Beechaunt, too.

It wasn't long before another kit made their way over, introducing themselves as Driftkit. Beechface felt her whiskers twitch in amusement at the awkwardness between the kits. She'd often felt the same at that age. Being referred to as Beechaunt made her smirk a bit, glancing toward Dawnfeather with a hint of amusement in her eye.

"Mom- Smokefeather would always catch me trying to sneak out of camp as a kit." She was pretty sure Dawnfeather had scared the tar out of Smokefeather when she'd first ran into her as a kit, but wasn't about to mention it. Smokefeather had been trying, and seemed to be doing better recently. It was a relief to see her treating Dawnfeather just like any other clanmate, despite her resemblance to her namesake.

"No meeting here, though I suppose you must've thought so with all the commotion over here." She added gently.

"Camp's kinda boring," Driftkit piped up, batting at a stray leaf as he spoke. "Medicine cat Beech...face, I hope we aren't disturbin' ya or anything. I just wanted to get outta the nursery for a bit, y'know?" Pale green eyes raised to peer around at the other two kits, and Dawnfeather. "Maybe...we could play a game, or somethin'?" The leaf he was playing with crunched suddenly under his paw and he raised it, staring down at the crumbled pieces with a small pout. He'd have to find a new leaf now.