bottlecaplogs | April Catch-all

Entry tags:

April Catch-all

Who: Firepaw and all his various friends (including an open prompt!)
What: Quests, training, feelings jams, etc etc etc
Where: All over the place!
When: April
Warnings: References to cat injury/death in the Exhaustion prompt

(This is a fake cut, there's prompts below!)

Threaded | Flat

Even if his last adventure was pretty rotten, Firepaw is excited to be out in the woods again. The city is nice, but the soft dirt under his paws is something that just can't be beat. It has him in high spirits, even if he's struggling to adjust to the new masks they bought. He managed to find ones that would fit nicely on him and Ren, even leaving their whiskers mostly free, but he's not used to clothing and can't stop feeling keenly aware of the way it presses on his fur just a bit.

But it's important, and he can't afford another slip like he had in the southern forest.

"Alright - are we all ready?" He glances between his friends, speaking with as much authority as he can muster, "If we had more time to train, I'd say it was safest to move through the trees... but for now I think it's best if Ren and Junpei stay on the ground. If I climb up and move between the branches, Akechi will be able to fly, but he won't be alone if something happens to him. And if you're both on the ground, then you'll be together if something happens below."

It would have been reasonable for Firepaw to hesitate about spending more time around Anasui, after their first meeting. But Firepaw isn't always reasonable - before any other trait, he's friendly. It was actually his idea to bring them both along, so he could learn more about them. If Emporio liked this man, Firepaw is determined to also like him.

Firepaw greets them at the edge of the forest, rubbing his side against Emporio as a greeting and then politely dipping his head to Anasui. "I found a mushroom patch a few fox-lengths into the woods here - we should be able to get plenty without losing sight of the forest's edge."

Firepaw doesn't know Firoza super well, but he does like her. She's been a very comforting presence since they first arrived, and especially helped to soothe the homesickness he felt early on. So he's very excited that she accepted his offer to go mushroom-hunting with him, mostly as an excuse to talk to her more. They've already set off into the woods and wandered around for a while before he speaks up.

"Ribombee mentioned roots, too, but I'm not sure how well I could dig them up..." He means it more in terms of his tiny cat paws, but he also probably doesn't have the energy for it. He's been visibly running on empty for a few weeks now.

As always, Firepaw will take every opportunity he can to hang out with anyone vaguely cat-shaped. He invited Siffrin along to mushroom-hunt, but it's mostly just an excuse to chatter, and maybe share some of his knowledge of how to cat. They're about halfway to the mushroom patch he picked out, when a thought occurs to him.

"Hey - did you ever end up remembering your name?"

That seems important - he's been referring to them as Shinx but never actually followed up on the name thing.

[ooc: i'm handwaving that they've probably explored the city a little in march too.]

Firepaw has mostly gotten a feel for the city - and better yet, he's getting used to the lights and noise of being around this many animals all the time. But it's still a lot, and he's still a cat with just as much sensitivity to it all.

On some night in mid-April, he invites Shoka out to go exploring again - although in this case it's not really exploring, because he had a spot in mind already. There's a building up on a hill that he manages to climb up the wall of, and help Shoka if she needs it. From there they can see the lanterns in the marketplace, and the few Pokemon that are still hanging around before bed.

"It's quiet up here - I've been coming up here whenever I start feeling too crowded in the canopy. Back home we weren't allowed to sleep anywhere except for the apprentice den so... it's nice, to have the option."

Firepaw has tried to teach a few Pokemon here how to walk, and occasionally how to fight, although he's quickly learned that not everyone can learn to move exactly like a cat. If nothing else, it's made him a little better at adjusting his lessons to suit the Pokemon in front of him.

But he really isn't sure how to work with a dog. Especially one as wiggly as Laios (although they all seem to be like that).

"Alright, before we actually try stalking anything, we should practice your form - we want to avoid an actual fight if we can. If the Pokemon catch you sneaking up on them they'll attack you, and some of their Moves can be really painful."

Or they'll ask what you're doing, which Firepaw considers markedly worse.

After another day of running errands for the Clinic, plus practicing his swimming (with a spotter this time), plus training with a few different sparring partners, plus gathering mushrooms yet again, Firepaw comes home and flops dramatically into his little nest of blankets. Instead of curling up, he just lays on his side, like a fluffy rug.

He's exhausted, his vision is swimming, and yet he can't sleep. And worst of all, the relative quiet of the canopy is giving his mind plenty of space to run. Space to think about home, how much he misses his old cat friends, how different he feels from all of his new friends, and... the sheer horror of his experience in the southern forest. He can still vividly remember walking through the ThunderClan camp, with the ground coated in blood and the sounds of cats in pain ringing in his ears. He can still see the hollow look in the eyes of Tigerclaw, who stood alone and blood-soaked on top of the Highrock, the tall boulder where only their leader was allowed to sit. It wasn't real, he had no reason to believe Tigerclaw would do anything like that... but it still clings to his mind.

He might stay in the canopy, looking despondent and troubled, or he might get up to take a walk. Either way, he could really use someone checking in on him. And this will likely happen a few times during the month, as he struggles to shake the gloom that's come over him.

Threaded | Flat

Exploration: Northern Forest (Akechi, Ren and Junpei)

Mush to be Done (Emporio and Anasui)

Mush to be Done (Firoza)

Mush to be Done (Siffrin)

FINALLY EXPLORING THE CITY (Shoka)

Teaching a Dog to Hunt (Laios)

Exhaustion is Catching Up (open!)