46. daisydarling had her name. daisy had been a well... not so worthy warrior of pyroclan warrior for 46 moons. she couldn't bring herself to get up most days, and always looked for short cuts to get out of working. If daisy would be completely honest, she didn't think she was worthy of her name, but there wasn't anything she could do about it now. except reflect. [ newleaf, 2 moons ] daisykit had spent the whole day chasing her mama's tail while her siblings did..well whatever her siblings did. her mammy, prey in her maw, simply chuckled at her kit's failed attempts as daisy's paws continuously slammed down each time in a failed catch. "..look at her, such a silly girl. " daisy's mammy laughed, crouching down, laying the prey next to her mama. " surely. daisykit been relentless. " daisy's mama purred, her tail flicking, as daisykit lunged at her mama's tail again, rolling onto her back. " she'll be practically built to be a warrior if she keeps this attitude as an apprentice! " her mammy snickered at daisykit, placing a paw on her belly and rolling her around, " yeah? you're gonna make pyroclan proud? " her mammy cooed, leaning in as daisykit giggled at the silliness her mammy was presenting, while her mama voiced her concerns about what mammy was doing. however those words stuck with her, and daisykit couldn't get her mind off of them. that's how daisykit knew what she was bound to be. a warrior, that would make pyroclan the proudest it's ever been. right? [ leafbare, 9 moons ] 3 moons since daisypaw had been apprenticed. despite her previous energy as a kit, it seemed almost..diminished now. daisypaw could hardly bring herself to get up, because what was daisy supposed to do? the nest was so soft, and her sleep was the most satisfying. but this had been going on too many days, her mentor was getting upset. " daisypaw, *please*, get up! " they'd call from the front of the apprentice's den, but daisy would always turn away from her mentor, mumbling; "...just let me sleep...I'm having a really good dream...hmhmhm... " "what a waste." daisy sometimes thought "you were supposed to be the best." "what would owlfeather and ambertwist think? knowing their daughter failed at doing one simple thing for her clan." yet daisy never thought about it too hard. surely she'd recover? of course she would, daisy would bounce back, and become the best she had not only promised to herself, but her clan. [ newleaf, 13 moons ] there daisypaw sat, at the end with her two, much more deserving siblings. despite being 13 moons, and very well meant to be there, daisypaw felt so out of place. daisypaw didn't deserve the name starclan would bestow to her, and she knew it. " bramblepaw, from now on, you will be known as bramblecrash. morningpaw, from now on, you will be known as morningblush. - " daisypaw frowned. she was for sure gonna get something bad she had told herself these upcoming moons. daisysleep? daisylazy? daisydoes-nothing-at-all? not like daisypaw cared that much...did she? " daisypaw, from this day on you will be known as daisydarling. " oh. that wasn't so bad. daisydarling looked up with a soft smile as the clan cheered her siblings and her on. yet it lingered in the back of her mind. daisydarling wasn't worthy. she would just fall back into the same loop of sleeping, eating, and then going back to sleep. daisy was sure of it, after all, bad habits die hard, and her mind was simply too eager to just cozy up in the warriors den. what was daisy supposed to do to break this endless sleepy cycle? it seemed more likely she'd die trying to break it, than actually doing so. maybe she shouldn't try. [ leafbare, 22 moons ] daisy had just escaped from her distracted patrol, intending to go back to pyroclan, and sleep off the rest of the day. in the landscape of reds, browns, grays, and oranges, she didn't think much had changed. just until something, out of the corner of her eye, caught her attention. blue? that couldn't be right. curiosity got the better of her, and she went to investigate. it was a thief. someone daisy didn't expect to take her heart and run. well... they didn't really run. it hid. trembling like a leaf and blue eyes blinking up at her innocently. "where's your mama, or papa?" daisydarling asked the kit, before she laughed. not at the kit. more so at the situation she had caught herself in. "matters not however, they left you here alone, with so many scary things around." . “how about i bring you home with me?“ and daisydarling had sealed her fate right then. the start of something she wasn't even aware of. it all started with her first little thief, kindlekit. [cont below]
[ newleaf, 25 moons ] after finding kindlekit, daisydarling didn't expect to find more kits so soon, but she did. 4 little kittens, looking out into the sea that trapped pyroclan into its borders. if daisydarling knew one thing already, it was that these kittens wouldn't survive out alone, and that fact, shattered the she-cat's heart. daisydarling almost couldn't control her words. "how did you guys get here?" then daisy smiled, that same, stupid, smile she smiled when she found her little thief. "c'mere, i know somewhere safer than here." from orphans, to her kits they became, faster than daisy would have liked to admit. she had just found them after all, and now they were hers? what a ridiculous thought. but something wasn't right. daisy was sure she had paid the utmost attention to these kits, but still. daisydarling had missed one important detail. fins. when daisydarling finally noticed, her heart sank. she didn't think she had picked up a SEACAT! what was she gonna do now? either way, he was her baby, and she was gonna do the best she could for him. [ leaf-fall, 32 moons (night) ] again ever so soon. under the blood moon, daisydarling found 4 more kits. huddled together, as if they would lose their life if they didn't, and in this region? daisydarling wouldn't doubt it. with the dangers of potential predators, and maybe even the cold. by now, daisy knew the drill. these kits would make her fall in love again. she takes them, and raises them, so that's exactly what daisydarling did. was this a gift from the witches? or was this something from starclan? she didn't know, and well? she didn't care. what were they gonna do about it? take them? as if she would let that happen without a fight. [ leaf-fall, 32 moons (day) ] daisydarling had just brought her 4 kits home. she wasn't thinking much of it, if she was thinking of anything that was. until she ran into someone familiar. shooting-starsnapdragon, who was...much bigger than she had originally recalled. from the once mouse sized cat she held on her paw, to a cat that towered over her pathetic average height. she remembered that shaky, nervous voice as sho asked her the question. daisy's eyes slowly drifted down to see a very overly excited kit with red fur, and an almost disturbing smile on their tail. maybe it was the way she asked, or maybe it was her instincts telling her to take them in. Either way, her never would have changed. It was always bound to be yes. [ newleaf, 39 moons ] since her apprenticeship, this had been the worse daisydarling had ever felt. Her babies. 3 of them. gone. and smilepaw? left to a snake. that didn't only devastate just her, but shooting-starsnapdragon, leaving rose in tears. was this a curse? or something worse... if she knew one thing for sure, at least they were with her ancestors. protected, with all the food they could satisfy themselves with. daisy looked up to the sky, steam rolling off of her eyes. in her silent tears, daisy spotted something, or she could have sworn she did. 3 stars, shining brighter than the rest. it had to be a sign. a sign that they were safe, a sign that they were watching over her. her grief hadn't lessened. not by a bit. but knowing her kits were in a better place than she was, made her feel ever so slightly better. daisy stood up with a new sense of hope. making her way to the warrior den, pushing her nest out of the way, revealing the collection of baby teeth, picking up 3. she only had a sense of who's fangs were who's, based on scent, except for her thief's pink teeth, which were obvious to her. daisy slunk off with the teeth into the territory, disappearing. [ leafbare, 41 moons (specifcally oorp for everything beyond this) ] a thought. it had been there for a few moons, maybe more, but none the less it nagged at her. she had been a mom for so long, but all the kits she had were adopted. that didn't stop her from loving them, oh no, she loved them with everything her heart could give, that didn't stop her. but she had a curiosity, that couldn't be sated just by well... adopting. what would it be like to have her own kits? what would they look like? would they look like her? or... well, she didn't have a mate. so who would they look like? daisy didn't remember how the conversation went. but from what she knew then, she had found someone unexpectedly gracious enough. she felt something deep in her chest. joy? anxiousness? a mix of both? it didn't matter to her. it would be a beautiful discovery to her either way. [ newleaf, 44 moons ] her paws would weave flowers together, carefully, and so much thought. staying upright with such a big belly was certainly an issue, but with a patch of moss helped more than she had thought initially. well... on the topic of thoughts. daisy would question herself. why did she say yes? the first time she was capable, and well... wasn't waddling like a duck. [cont in comments]
