SALT AND VINEGAR ; return

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    cottonkit was in a predicament. granted, she was in no way a stranger to trouble, but this was... new?


    "GAH!" a shrill squeal tore through the air. just a little past the shadowclan border there was cottonkit, in the flesh, with a bag of potato chips stuck over her head.


    while it was probably amusing to any bystander to see a small child floundering around like a headless chicken, the darkness and stuffiness inside of the bag was alarming to cotton, who quite frankly had no idea what was going on. "get off a' me, stinky!" she yipped angrily, springing to and fro in order to shake off her attacker.


    a few seconds prior, cottonkit had approached the twoleg object on the floor, being the ever curious child she was. the smell coming from the bag was pungent and made her head ache, but she was extremely prideful and attacked everything with an unbearable kind of passion, even when her competition was a rock. without even considering the consequences of her actions(with cottonkit the thinking came way later, if they ever came at all) she had stuck her head to observe the contents of the bag. hence, her current situation.


    it was honestly a blessing the nosy child hadn't encountered a bear trap while on her adventure.


    "why you-" in her fury cottonkit suddenly tripped over her paws, smashing her face against the floor with a soft 'oof!' she then resorted to violently bunnykicking the bag with her back legs, still screeching in frustration at the object draped over her head.

    He should do something, right? That was what he supposed to do, yet here he was staring in amusement at Cottonkit. The damn kit that ganged up on him with Cardinalkit and bit him. Call him petty, but he was going to let this continue for a bit longer. It's not like Cottonkit was dying from the twoleg object. Cottonkit had up and disappeared from the clan, which was concerning to say the least. Well, to most of the clan excluding him. He really didn't care that the kit had left camp or died somewhere. The less kits the better in his opinion. An opinion that would be disregarded from others in a heartbeat. Anyhow, he continued watching Cottonkit struggle. It's not like he was obligated to help them out that mess. I'm going to burn this into memory.


    // sorry this man is a jerk


    ivy padded up beside wilson, shaking with laughter as loud guffaws tumbled past his maw though he fought to contain them. he had no idea what was happening here, the sable tom didn’t really even know wilson or whoever was in the bag but this was priceless entertainment and he was enjoying it thoroughly.


    but oh, whatever kid found themselves stuck inside the bag didn’t seem nearly as amused. ivy tried to tame his laughter, chuckling only a little as he approached the flailing kit. “woah, easy there! egad, you’d think the whole of shadowclan was at your tail. hold on- hup” a white paw smacked him in the face and an involuntary and loud sound of complaint came from ivy in response, and he paused to rub his nose with a paw before he hurriedly grasped the bag and pulled it off of cottonkit’s head.


    “aye caramba, those paws pack some real power!” ivy commented. his green gaze swept over coldkit and he realized... he’d never seen this kit in camp before. had they just..somehow managed to not see eachother this whole entire time?? jeez, everytime ivy thought he had settled right into clan life something came and struck him in the face (quite literally in this case).


    “anyway erm, nice to meet you. im ivy. you're a windclanner..right?”


    oh geez. what was that for? silverpaw of course had taken to an unassuming nap. she had said she would be out for a hunt but it was noon, the sun was quite high and she certainly had no mentor to come nag at her if a silght bout of laziness had taken over temporarily. it wasn't like she wouldn't actually go for a hunt later on. she was just taking her time. on an extended rate. yawning from underneath the little amount of shade that existed on the moors, she made her way over to the commotion. it was a windclan kit for sure. and two other toms she didn't know and only saw in passing. well, she was ignored for the most of her time living in the clan anyways. she was a former kittypet who'd been enticed by the freedom of the moors.


           

    🥀

    between the nauseating smell of the bag and her panic, the child hadn’t realized her shrieking had attracted an audience until she was liberated from the darkness. after being freed from the bag, cottonkit went completely still and stared unblinkingly up at the sky, as if it was the first time she had been out in the open air. the abrupt silence was almost unsettling.


    suddenly, cottonkit sprang back up without warning. she gave her pelt a vigorous shake, which was matted with dirt and smelled faintly of all the various clans she had visited while on her adventure, before turning to address her savior with a cheerful grin.“tha’s cuz i’m the strongest fella ‘round!” she boasted proudly, the compliment from the stranger having made her extremely pleased. huh. she liked this guy so far! “don’t worry, i was goin’ easy on ya! if i had put my back innit i woulda blown yer away fo sho!”


    “m’name’s cottonkit! my ma n’ pa named me cuza my cool tail!” she showed off her stubby stump of a tail with pride. “i like yer name, ivy! wha does it mean?“ she asked curiously, genuinely interested in the stranger(though that was probably only because he had accidentally stroked her curse of an ego). at ivy’s inquiries about her affiliation she blinked, thinking hard about her answer. cottonkit had never really thought about herself like that before. “uhm! yea, i guess! everyone knows i’m the coolest, bestest windclanner ever! what’re ya? yer aren’t from windclan, are ya? i’ve neva seen ya before, but yer kinda smell like my clan mates!”


    the girl was broken away from her barrage of questions once she saw wilson, recognition flashing through her mismatched eyes. she gasped in delight, absolutely thrilled to see the male again. “ah! poopy!” she zipped over to the warrior, hopping around him in circles like a flea on hot coals. she would then attempt to climb up him and stand on his back if he would let her, much like she had done with aspen a few days ago. “i missed ya! even tho yer a big meanie,” she said the last part with less excitement, though the warrior probably wouldn’t even care. she still remembered how rude wilson had been to cardinalkit and how much of a drag he was during her “play date,” but at the same time cottonkit didn’t necessarily hold a grudge towards him. being angry at people all the time was too much work!


    noticing that there was a third individual at the scene, cottonkit squinted curiously silverpaw. the cat was someone cotton had never seen around, but she had been gone for a while so it wouldn’t be a surprise if there were any new faces around. “howdy! who’re ya?”


    "uh- not so sorta new? i'm always ignored, but i've been here since i was about your age... i'm nearly eleven moons y'know! but aside from that, i'm your super cool clanmate, silverpaw." the slender siamese molly purred, her tail curled neatly around her paws. she wasn't expecting to be all close to anyone just yet. she was only accepted as a member a little while ago and not just as a former kitty pet. "i've seen you around i guess. glad to finally meet you!"


    //mobile

           

    🥀

    ✦ ✧ ✦


    The voice and the name sounded all too familiar. If Coldkit hadn't lost her sight; maybe she would have known right away and ran over to offer the kit a big welcome home hug. But because of the new circumstance she was in, the kit couldn't help but cautiously listen from the shadows until she was sure of the crowd she was walking into. When she heard Ivy's voice, she knew it was safe to approach and made her way over to where the crowd was. After many moments of cowering behind the warriors long legs, the alabastr female finally had the realization of exactly who cottonkit was. While the two had never been the bets of friends or chatted it up, they had definitely had a conversation or two and ran into each other more than once. She remembered how Cottonkit had asked to go on a border patrol and Coldkit had as well because it wouldn't have been fair to leave her alone if she got to go. Ah, good times. She didn't think either of them ended up leaving camp that day.


    "Cottonkit! It's me, Coldkit! Where've you been all this time! I thought for sure maybe a fox had eaten you!" She said, half kidding and half telling the truth. The other clan mates had said Cottonkit was taken, so Coldkit could only have assumed as the moons went on and no one found her that she had actually just been eaten. The Blind she-kit would make her way out from under Ivy's paws and look for the blur that was Cottonkit.

    cottonkit's boisterous attitude was infectious, and despite ivy's mild concern for this child that just happened to be wandering around with a bag of chips on her head, his mouth curled back in a lopsided smile again. "the strongest? ill have you know i've yet to be bested in a good bout of fisticuffs! ive got a tidy one hundo percent victory rate" he countered, grinning proudly. it was true! though, he's never actually sparred anyone. it'd probably be more accurate to say he had a 0% loss rate.


    there was little time to dwell on it, cottonkit was already on the move and she had an awful lot to say. it was hardly overwhelming though, ivy found himself smiling in response to her broad gestures and exclamations, a nice change of pace compared to the recent struggles the clan was facing. "aha! a cotton tail, like a cottontail rabbit!! tehehe hey, thats dandy" ivy snickered. "my nana named me. i dunno why she picked ivy though. maybe i'll end up with an ivy tail, whatever that might be" he offered lamely, smiling sheepishly. he really had no idea why his name was picked but that was fine! maybe it'd change in the future or something. at cotton's next question, ivy blinked and stumbled for an answer. "oh pshh, erm. i suppose.. i am! a windclanner." he answered, though at this point it sounded more like a question.


    as cottonkit made rounds and greeted wilson with a pretty questionable hello that made ivy wonder what he did to receive a verdict that deemed him a big meanie, he felt a bit of fur brush against his leg and nearly jumped out of his fur, a yelp of surprise tumbling off his tongue. his gaze caught onto the culprit and ivy realized oh, it was only coldkit. he forced his fur to flatten and chuckled sheepishly, nudging her apologetically. "whoops. hiya, coldkit" the sable tom lifted a paw to let her walk by, before leaning down to her height. "she's right over to your left, the really quiet one"



    The post was edited 1 time, last by ivybind ().

    “i’m talking to ya right now, silly! i ain’t ignoring ya!” cottonkit huffed indignantly. she was the type of kid who enjoyed being in the center of attention whenever it was possible, so she couldn’t understand why silverpaw was okay with being ignored if she had the ability to change that. “wow, yer eleven moons? i’m only four,” she said, a mix of awed and jealous. “i’ll catch upta ya! when i’m eleven i’ll be a super duper cool clanmate!” it didn’t occur to the girl that getting older meant silverpaw would be as well, but the concept of time was alien to cottonkit and a waste of energy spent thinking on. for all she knew both she and silverpaw would be eleven in seven moons!


    “howdy, coldkit!” the girl cheered, stumbling over to give the other a friendly boop on her nose. truthfully, cottonkit’s memory of coldkit was very limited. she only recognized her due to her white coat, which reminded cotton of her mother, who she treasured dearly. coldkit’s changed appearance and behavior did little to help either. the last time cotton checked, she was the only stubby tailed cat around! “no way i woulda let a fox get near me! why, i’d kick that bugger all the way to leafbare if i could!” she kicked out her hind legs to demonstrate her bold claim. “uhm. but i was out lookin’ for my ma,” she said this part rather stiffly, her expression suddenly shifting as if she had been caught red handed doing something she wasn’t supposed to be(which was unusual considering cotton had the tendency to be rather unapologetic whenever she did something wrong). she tore restlessly at the grass underneath her, glancing nervously at everyone around her, before changing the subject. “but hey! what happened to yer tail?” cottonkit pointed a claw towards coldkit’s tail, blissfully unaware that the other probably wouldn’t be able to see the action clearly anyways. “it looks jus’ like mine!”


    ivy’s words triggered the competitiveness in her and caused her eyes to flare up. “no way!” she gasped, both envious and impressed by the tom’s achievements. quite frankly cotton had no fucking clue what anything he just said meant, but from the way he was talking it was probably something really cool! she suddenly felt the need to compete with him, not wanting to be left behind. “yer know, once i tamed a funny lookin’ chicken and rode it around! i also fought a big, scary water snake and won!” she boasted. it was easy to tell that her claims were heavily exaggerated, as she was a child with a big imagination after all. “also! also, i met these city folk n’ gave ‘em a piece of my mind n’ chased ‘em all away!” she’d actually just been found underneath a box by a couple of disgruntled bloodclanners who didn’t really care about her, but those were the small details!


    “ivytail?” she circled around ivy to give his tail an experimental poke. “that’s a cool name! not as cool as mine, but still cool! what was yer nana like?” she asked, still conducting her analysis of ivy’s tail and nipping lightly at it. “she musta loved yer a lot if she named you! my parents loved me lots too.”


    at ivy’s answer cottonkit gave the male a suspicious squint of her eyes, finding his reply to be rather fishy. “are ya sure? yer don’t sound like it!” she suddenly shouted, straightening up like a washboard. “i know! i bet yer a spy!”

    ✦ ✧ ✦


    Cottonkit was so full of life. Coldkit was too, very full of life but not as bubbly and proud as Cottonkit was. Coldkit thought herself to be a little more childish and Cottonkit was more expressive, she knew what she was talking about and didn't hold back when she did. Coldkit hadn't expected the boop on the nose, but when she felt the warmness of her friend she couldn't help but offer her a smile and let some warmness fill her cheeks. She wasn't use to touching others! she was always taught to keep your paws to yourself. "Well- uh, you see-" she began, "I was out picking gifts for Ivy, and and a big ol' dog came out of nowhere and ripped it off! He got onto my head too... that's why I got all these scars and I can't even see anymore either! It kind of sucks, but Birdbones has been taking good care of me!" Coldkit said, a purr coming to her throat as she thought of her dear friend. "Did a dog rip your tail off too, or are you just half rabbit?" the she-kit joked, remembering the lack of a tail Cottonkit had. "So- what was it like out there!"

    while coldkit spoke, cottonkit's eyes were glittering with awe and admiration. she listened closely as the other recounted her story with a surprising kind of optimism, her paws subconsciously moving to protectively grip her own tail and head. "wow, yer survived all a' that? yer amazing, coldkit! i wish i hada been there so i coulda given tha' stinky mutt a taste of his own medicine!" she seethed, hopping up and down angrily to show her distaste toward the villain of the story. she settled down a few seconds later to observe coldkit curiously, peeking up at her eyes with a puzzled tilt of her head. she moved herself back and forth as if to test if coldkit's claims about her failing vision were true. she didn't understand how it was possible for someone to be unable to see, not out of spite, but just due to a genuine lack of understanding. "yer really can't see anymore? how do yer get around then?"


    cottonkit suddenly recoiled, startled by coldkit's joke. "what! no way! i ain't no rabbit!" she cried out, though in her sulking she eventually paused to seriously contemplate the concept. "...am i a rabbit?" the girl was lost in thought for a moment, reconsidering her entire existence. upon coldkit's quesiton, her confusion was forgotten and she quickly became reanimated once she remembered her adventure. "oh! it was super weird! there was a place that was really wet n' everything, n' a place with a buncha trees! also, a super smelly place wit a buncha twoleg dens!" she wrinkled her nose at the memory. "windclan's still my favorite. say, coldkit, do y'wanna come wit me the next time i go exploring? it'll be fun!"