Shadowstartheleader
Friendship Rank 4
~The world may be dark, we may be lost forever, but we stand a chance as long as we're together~
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Aug 15, 2019 2:14:20 GMT -5
Post by Shadowstartheleader on Aug 15, 2019 2:14:20 GMT -5
(It was a great time ^^ I got to keep my Spanish sharp and eat tons of mexican food and i definitely drank too much alcohol but it was a very fun time) It was difficult to appreciate it as a character trait when Hazelrunner was in between two cats with such heavy thoughts on their minds--but it was uncanny how, after over a year away from each other, it seemed the two cats were both prone to similar anxiety and feelings of uselessness in the face of their respective trials. Leafpaw remained morose and didn't directly respond to Hazlerunner as she pulled the best out of what had happened, but didn't turn away from her either. "I guess." Her voice didn't particularly ring with belief, but Leafpaw herself could at least hope to hear something better than 'Riverclan no longer wishes to have anything to do at all with Windclan due to your childish apprentice's actions.' Pulling in a breath, she closed her eyes and took in the scent of the moorlands, trying to allow the scent of home to calm her a bit. "Hopefully we hear from someone soon."
If nothing else, she just wanted to hear how much reason she had given them to hate Windclan. She wasn't naive enough to think that some cats from each of the clans wouldn't take an event like this as enough reason to turn it against their opposite clans. Too many were going to pounce on a mistake like that the moment they could get their paws on it...and that made it all the worse as she thought of how far Jaggedscar would push the problem that he had incited to happen in the first place.
Without laying forth any more of her thoughts, she finally turned away as Hazelrunner suggested they get a move on towards the Horseplace. "Yes, I guess we should catch up with the other warriors." Her mew was quiet as she padded at no rushed pace towards the Horseplace until Hazelrunner and Shadowpaw were padding at her side.Shadowpaw took up pace quickly as the other two cats concluded that it was time to reach the Horseplace. Now his mind was twisting towards another way to make himself anxious about something. "I've never...been to the Horseplace. Or..." Well...he had never been anywhere outside of Shadowclan territory in his time there. And in Windclan, he had been plenty occupied learning the confines of Windclan territory. Only fairly recently had he even been through the Riverclan side of the lake. "A...Are there...horses...? I...I've never seen..."Whispersong could see the hardening glare of Ebonypelt that had come to stare back at Frogstrike; she seemed to want to tear his eyes out in response to all he had said, but the she-cat was in her way now and trying to spit out reasons for Ebonypelt to keep from clawing his hide off of him. Her eyes were still narrow and her claws sinking into the ground under her paws as Frogstrike approached her boldly and dropped the thyme at her paws. Her eye twitched as he offered nothing more than a small consolation for the fate that certainly awaited the she-cat. So that was it, huh? Even the Windclan cat was resigned to watching the death continue around them until whatever...plan she seemed to know about came to be.
There were a million things she wanted to say. How many corpses could they watch be tossed outside the camp before they couldn't watch anymore? What could she know about them being free? Her being captured could in no one have been part of her plan, so was she saying that Windclan had already been planning to strike at the heart of the Shadowclan territory? many more of the things she wanted to say were interrupted as Frogstrike pushed past her and out of the den to go fix the piece of cat marking-sodden fox-dung that had done this in the first place. If she had taken less time glaring between the two of them, she might have seized the opportunity to...stop him from doing so...but now he was outside and her opportunity to make the worst decision of her life was gone...and she regretted it.
Whispersong seemed ready to say something else, but one last fierce glare from Ebonypelt shut her mouth cold, before Ebonypelt turned away from her and left the den with the bundle of thyme. With her ears folded back with angered dejection, she returned to deliver a slightly better death than the one the warrior was almost destined for before. Her paws fell heavy as she felt a dull hate hanging in her heart for Frogstrike and the beginnings of a dislike of the Windclan cat who had defended him after what he had been doing to her.
Once she entered the den she quickly tried to take stock of the she-cat. She was ready to give her the herbs if the cat seemed to have calmed from her panicked state, but if not she didn't see how she was going to be able to force them down the cat's throat. It would push her beyond the horrid state she was already in...yet...it would remind Ebonypelt just how incapable she was of doing anything to stop what was going on around them. The kitten was already trying to grasp with the few strange and large cats she had encountered here, but a fourth approaching her almost seemed to be enough to make her lose what little semblance of composure she had leftover. She retreated a step and seemed ready to start crying as this cat drew even closer to her than the rest of them. She was stopped though as Speckleflower was the first of them to address her specifically.
Gulping, she waited to see if the cat was going to say any more, but she was left with a smile that she didn't know whether to feel comforted or uncertain from. "Umm....h-hi..." Her mew was leaning more on the uncertain side, and as she struggled for something to respond with, she was left to wonder why exactly Frogstrike had said these cats were going to take care of her if they only seemed scary so far.
Lavenderfur's attention was taken abruptly from Tawnyface as a familiar scent filled his nose only a couple moments before his mate stepped past him, flashing a silent look that left him reeling ever so slightly as he tried to figure out what was behind the flash she sent him. He sucked in a sharp breath as she said nothing to him and approached the kit, speaking to her immediately on her arrival. Glancing behind him, something of a glare flared in his eyes towards the injured warrior behind him, which cause the cat's eyes to widen at the unexpected aggression, with a shaky step back on his three good legs.
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Aug 15, 2019 10:10:39 GMT -5
Post by wildcharm on Aug 15, 2019 10:10:39 GMT -5
(Haha that does sound like a fun time!)
The she-cat frowned not really, sure how to feel by Leafpaw’s still lackluster response to what Hazelrunner saw as something that seemed positive. She was holding on to the small hope that maybe Silverfang would be reasonable and as a voice of reason would be enough to call Jaggedscar’s narrative into question. Unfortunately, that all remained to be seen...maybe she could understand why Leafpaw was so ready to lay down in despair. There were no certainties in all of this until Otterstar was spoken to directly. Her eyes flickered between the two. At moments like this the resemblance was almost impossible to ignore. “Hopefully.” The young warrior mewed keeping her voice an octave higher with a vain attempt to stay somewhat upbeat.
As Leafpaw turned and began to slowly pad away Hazelrunner had to pulled her shoulders back. She said a silent prayer to Starclan that whatever friction that was present between the two clan wouldn’t get in the way of their true purpose for being out here. She sighed doubting that it would be that simple for Jaggedscar to just keep his big maw shut until this was all over. She took her first step across the moor. Angling an ear back she glanced back at Shadowpaw. It was momentary distraction from her own pessimistic thoughts. Sometimes it was easy to forget just how little of the world Shadowpaw had really experienced.
”Yes, there’s quite a few of them there. The first time I saw one it scared the daylight out of me. Don’t worry too much about them, they’re big, but stay in their own areas. As long as you don’t cross under the fence they’ll leave you be. I think they’re grass eaters.” The young warrior conquered up a mental image of the towering beasts that were the same size as roaring monsters, but seemed to have a similar mentality as the rabbits and prey animals they hunted. Their pace was slow somewhat plodding as they marched towards the Horseplace.
The tom didn’t need to be a mind reader to know how close Ebonypelt was to ripping his hide from his body. It would be a rather easy thing to do considering he was too physically drained to put up much of a fight. He found the massive tom laid out on his side in the few patches of sunlight there were to be found in camp. The sound of his pawsteps got nothing it was only after he dropped the bundle of herbs close to his head that the much larger tom even seemed to realize he was there. Frogstrike didn’t wait for a response of even acknowledgement instead going right to work. His movements were far from gentle. The burning eyes of Tawnyface and Ebonypelt had been enough to put a burr in his side. They found it so easy to cast judgement on him. Scoffing to himself pressed down hard on the tom’s side to secure the cobwebs more securely in place after he had straightened out the tangled mess that Whispersong had slapped on there. He heard the growl and watched the paw whizz past his ear. Giving a loud hiss he turned to give Wolfjaw a withering glare slamming his paw down on the tom’s tender side. “Stop thrashing or you’ll loose your whole leg to infection!” With a yowl of protest Wolfjaw kicked his paws out before finally letting the medicine cat finish his work, with an equally venomous glare. Frogstrike just rolled his eyes and went back to working.
While he needed that perception to be better able to stay under the radar that didn’t mean he was happy about constantly being looked upon like he was some disgusting evil creature because he didn’t do enough to help. He wasn’t risking his own pelt enough for these she-cats’ liking. They could both end up in the Dark Forest for all he cared. Neither one of them were ready to stick their necks out to help their clanmates right now, just demand he do something. I am doing something! I’ve been trying to do something almost from the very beginning! He wanted to yowl in the she-cats’ faces. He was especially spiteful towards Tawnyface who just couldn’t believe a piece of maggot-ridden crowfood like him could do anything even partially selfless unless it might benefitted him. You got me, nearly gotten eaten by a dog and then gutted by you was all part of some master plan. Slathering the last of the poultice on to the more minor of the scratches. Once he was done he snatched up what was left of his herbs. Rolling his eyes he looked towards the nursery. Rolling his eyes he muttered a string of curses and stalked his way over to the nursery.
The she-cat was still laying in the same spot she had been dumped on the floor of the den. The Riverclan she-cat’s eye was wide with the whites of her eye showing as it flickered around the darkened den looking in the shadows as if expecting Shadowclan cats to spring out from the shadows and seize her again. Not strong enough to hold her head up she scrapped her chin across the den floor only far enough to peer towards the entrance. Her flank was rising and falling rapidly, hitching when saw the outline of cat in the den. She dragged her face far enough to see that it was the only cat she didn’t think was here to put her down.
Specklelflower didn’t have anything she could say to her mate right now, lingering feelings left unsaid between them. Her full attention was on the kit now who seemed to taken off guard by the she-cat addressing her for the first time directly. All the other cats were talking over each other concerned with how the kit got here instead addressing the kit herself. “My name is Speckleflower. Do you want to tell me your name?” The queen introduced herself before tilting her head ever so slightly when she looked down at the little one. She was clearly a kittypet from her scent and soft appearance.
She waited for a few seconds to get the kit’s name before turning to look towards the camp entrance before turning back to the kit. “Why don’t you come into camp? If you’re hungry we have plenty of prey. I have two kits of my own who I’m sure would love to meet you too.” She extended the invitation to the kit with a light sweep of her tail towards the entrance.
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Shadowstartheleader
Friendship Rank 4
~The world may be dark, we may be lost forever, but we stand a chance as long as we're together~
Posts: 617
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Aug 16, 2019 12:23:26 GMT -5
Post by Shadowstartheleader on Aug 16, 2019 12:23:26 GMT -5
(back to being a responsible college students in two days >.>)
Shadowpaw seemed gradually more comforted as Hazelrunner explained everything she had heard about the horses. At least they didn't seem to be a predator, because he had heard that they were monstrously large--he didn't even want to think about fighting a Shadowclan cat, let alone something that neared the size of a twoleg monster. Still, leaving her last thought by saying 'she thought' they were grass eaters didn't help him much more. Still, she had told him plenty and he felt less stressed approaching one of the many parts of the territory that he had never encountered before.
Shadowpaw was cogent of their slow pace as they began towards the Horseplace, sensing the lack of energy between the three of them. Though Hazelrunner had taken his mind from worrying about the Horseplace, it was simply replaced with sensing the downtrodden aura that was pressing down upon his friends. His gaze fell to his paws as he could think of nothing to say that would aid either of them.
Jaggedscar, Hawktail and Mousepaw were the first to approach the Horseplace, a relatively annoying fact given the long distance and tension between the two warriors. Hawktail had taken stock of how Mousepaw didn't seem to want to speak to either of them, and though he had been close to saying something about the other warrior, they reached sight of the Horseplace before he decided to.
His muzzle lifted to the air, and he nodded slightly as he, too, caught the old scent of their leader. It was washed away mostly by rain, but the Windclan cats easily could pull it out amongst the scent of...horse. He scanned carefully the area surrounding the Horseplace, trying to catch sight of some cat, any cat really. As he carefully breathed the air, he thought he could discern no more than a couple distinctive scents from the leader's, but it was hard to tell from the mix of horse. "Be on your guard. Rainstar might be in peril." it was far more meant for Mousepaw than the other warrior, made clear by the quiet voice he spoke the words in.
It was a pawful of minutes before the young squad caught up with the rest of the awaiting group. Leafpaw kept her gaze entirely turned away from Jaggedscar, only meeting the eyes of Hawktail, Mousepaw, and Silverfang. Hawktail's gaze burned fire through her's, causing her to unwillingly flinch away from the warrior. "Make certain you are ready for combat." Hawktail's harder, less sympathetic voice rang out towards the Windclan cats. He saw Shadowpaw's gaze widen with shock at the prospect of fighting, and any relief Hazelrunner had brought him was gone. Leafpaw's heart skipped a beat, and she sucked in a breath of air. She wasn't going to be able to fight anything worth anything.
Ebonypelt was quick to coo the she-cat to take the thyme when it was clear she was still agitated but not thrashing about. "This will help. This will take away some of the..." She didn't think it would. The she-cat was utterly ripped and maimed. The pain wasn't going to go away. "Take this." She pressed it close to the she-cat's mouth, then let go of the herbs and spun about as she heard the approach of pawsteps.
Nightstar watched with interest as Frogstrike went about helping the injured warrior, then for some reason turned and approached the nursery. It was a shame the she-cat wouldn't fight for them--she had an intense fire within her that would make her a warrior on par with Tawnyface if she would just let go of her ideals. Those chaotic ideals. But who was he trying to kid--he knew that Wolfjaw was capable of even more than she could ever do. Even his own mate, probably the strongest she-cat who had been alive at the time, had fallen before his claws. Starclan had made the two types of cats that way for a reason--it only seemed the clans had forgotten it.
His new deputy pulled him from his thoughts. "Why is he going to heal her? The she-cat deserves to rot!" It was a sharp bark as Owleye stared down at the medicine cat. "Hey, Frogstrike, ge-" he was silenced by Nightstar's paw on his shoulder, and he turned to look at the leader with irritation for a second, though a dangerous flash of the leader's eyes left him awkwardly clearing his throat and shutting his mouth.
"Come speak with me once you are finished." It was a command to the medicine cat from the leader, an interesting choice given that he was the one who passed the order to place no weight on the wounds of the she-cats. Of course, Nightstar already knew how much Frogstrike was putting into Whispersong. It was simply a give-and-take. nightstar looked the other way, and Frogstrike stayed obedient and at the leader's paws. As long as his warriors weren't dying from the shortage (which he knew had recently been becoming uncomfortably closer to the truth) he wasn't predisposed to do anything to waste the life of their medicine cat.
There was a small delay as the kitten was now focused on Speckleflower, the only cat here who wasn't yowling at another cat or being mean so far. She gulped and nodded slightly. "Its Cupcake." Saying her name provoked a roll of the eyes from Tawnyface, but the kitten didn't catch it, and Lavenderfur was busy glaring the warrior behind him back into the confines of camp.
The kitten couldn't keep her ears and eyes from perking up as the mother mentioend the presence of her kittens. She had hardly met any kittens in her short lifetime and the prospect of meeting some new ones...well, she couldn't hide her curiosity, even amidst the chaos of the little one's day and the tenseness amongst the cats right now.
She didn't know where else she could go, the image of her mother rekindling in her brain for a few moments. Forcing back a few tears with a sniffle, she gave a light nod and then began the path that the warrior's tail highlighted. "W...what's your name? S...speckle...?" Her head cranked awkwardly up towards the warrior as her pawsteps took her under the warrior's gaze.
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Aug 16, 2019 21:06:00 GMT -5
Post by wildcharm on Aug 16, 2019 21:06:00 GMT -5
(Bleh X/ I’ve got four more days before I go back into college mode)
Mousepaw could remember trainings with his mysterious mentor that were far less painful then being stuck with the two toms. He wasn’t particularly interested in trying to speak since he figured no matter what was said it was going to be enough of a spark to light the fire that Jaggedscar wanted this to go in. In fact he was entirely ignoring the Riverclan tom and his occasional harsh looks his direction. If he thought he would be able to get away with it he would have turned on the tom that in his mind had put Leafpaw in this situation in the first place. Getting the hushed warning from Hawktail he slowly nodded his head biting back a sigh. The older tom didn’t need to waste his breath warning him about possible danger, but Mousepaw didn’t bother to mention that. He tensed though when he saw the Riverclan she-cat emerging over the hill alone. As she approached he almost opened his mouth to say something before sighing loudly when he realized he still wasn’t allowed to speak of her and Leafpaw’s little chat. He was also unsuccessfully in reading the she-cat’s face for just how the encounter had gone.
The she-cat’s paws felt heavy, weighed down by her thoughts clouding her usual coordination. She drew in a deep breath through her nose when she came face to face with the three toms. Her gaze first went to her clanmate, then Mousepaw, and finally Hawktail. She said nothing to either of the Windclan toms, besides a pause to assure that Mousepaw wasn’t going to ask how things might have gone. Even if Jaggedscar hadn’t have been there she wouldn’t have had a satisfying answer to give. She went right to her clanmate and stuck to his side like sap. If it weren’t for the look in her eyes one might think it was due to her not wanting to associate with the other clans. In reality she was speaking quietly and sharply to the tom beside her. He let out a low growl at first, seemingly feeling betrayed, before seeming to remember who he was growling at and letting it die in his throat. Shaking her head she angled herself away from him and waited for the final three to arrive. She gave a slight nod to Leafpaw as they appeared over the horizon. From this point forwards her one job was to keep Jaggedscar and Leafpaw from having any sort of interaction, which meant keeping the tom quiet for the rest of the patrol. Starclan give her strength.
When Hazelrunner had first come to the Horseplace she had been younger than either of her two companions and she certainly hadn’t been paying the horses much mind once she was given assurances they were entirely harmless. (As long as she didn’t bother them that was) Plodding forwards she didn’t feel nearly as motivated to get to Rainstar’s last known location now. She glanced sideways at Leafpaw briefly. She didn’t want all of this to implode right in front of the Horseplace with Rainstar so close. Still, with how single-minded Jaggedscar truly was there seemed to be only a very slim chance that he wouldn’t take the opportunity to make the situation that much worse. She hadn’t heard any of Silverfang’s reassurances that she would work to keep her own clanmate in line. Despite her more peaceful night of rest it was doing her no favors now. Now she felt any hope sapped right out of her at the thought of loosing the chance to find Rainstar if they had to hurry to Riverclan to keep them from swearing off Windclan entirely.
It was all quite a lot. At least enough to make the young warrior slow down to try and have some time to gather herself as the cats in the distance got larger and larger. She glanced to each side of her carefully observing the apprentices at her side. Standing up straighter she reminded herself of the fact that no matter what the outcome might be they were still here to find their leader. That thought propelled her forwards faster than her paws had carried her most of the day. Pettiness aside they were here to find Rainstar. Anything else was going to have to wait. Her blue eyes coldly watched Jaggedscar momentarily before turning to Hawktail. Sighing she nodded her head sliding out her claws slightly. “If things do come to combat we need to remember that we can’t afford the lose of precious lives.” She mewed more towards her clanmates than the two Riverclan cats. It was a reminder that they should retreat rather than lose the lives of cats, especially the young ones. ”Let’s go.” Hazelrunner urged not wanting to give any cat too much time to sit. For Rainstar and for the tension that was crackling in the air between all the individual cats.
The Riverclan she-cat looked up briefly at Ebonypelt as she practically shoved the thyme right into her mouth. Few of the words seemed to register. Her explanation of the plant didn’t seem to make her much more willing to take it. Her jaws remained frustratingly shut. Her thoughts were slow and out of order. Angling her face awkwardly towards the green plant she drug her chin through the sand. Her mouth had only opened a crack when she heard loud pawsteps coming through the den. Her breathing turned shallow again as she struggled to look towards the entrance of the den. Her heart dropped out of her chest when she saw a tom standing in the entrance way, hissing despite her condition and near inability to speak. The panic was evident in her eye as she watched Frogstrike like he was a creature that had crawled out of the Dark Forest.
The eyes on him were nothing new. There were on every cat the moment they left the safety of their dens. Owleye’s gaze especially wasn’t very effective on instilling any sort of unease more than what Frogstrike already had. Petalstream he at least might recognize as a threat when she had power, but he saw her power for what it really was. It was power borrowed from Nightstar. Owleye was less than impressive to the medicine cat.
He didn’t even flick back an ear when he clearly would have heard Owleye’s attempts to get his attention. He probably wouldn’t have looked if the new deputy had told him his tail was on fire. The petite tom should probably be grateful for the herbs in his mouth, less he say something to the deputy that would put him a more precarious potion then he already was in. He still paused in the entrance of the den, expecting something to stop him from doing remotely close to what might be considered the right thing, or the wrong thing in Nighstar’s eyes. He nodded dutifully when the order came to his ears from the leader, turning to acknowledge Nightstar before ducking himself into the den. He managed to hide his astonishment well enough. Why Nightstar would allow him to blatantly go to treat a she-cat. That was a question that he was left to worry about when the time came.
He ignored Ebonypelt’s knee-jerk reaction to hearing him padding up towards the den. Boldly padding in despite the anxious glances he was getting he moved right on in like he owned the place, or didn’t recognize the nervous energy swirling around the den. He didn’t have time for flighty she-cats, or the patience for that matter. He frowned when he laid eyes on the victim of Wolfjaw’s wrath. Her injuries were far worse and traumatic then what Lilyheart had gone through. At least his former mentor was self-relent enough to know how to keep herself alive. This she-cat wasn’t. The fur along her back was spiked and although she didn’t seem able to lift her head, the look in her eye told him that she would find the strength to survive if he presented any sort of threat. It didn’t help that most she-cats were programmed now to see any tom as a viable threat now. He muttered under his breath when he saw the thyme laying there uneaten. Now that the she-cat looked ready to try and bolt at any moment he doubted they were going to be able to get her to eat it easily. “I gave you one job.” He hissed over his shoulder at Ebonypelt. “If you want me to heal her you are going to have to help me restrain her. I’m not going to risk getting gutted.” Frogstrike dropped his herbs saying nothing further, the tip of his tail lashing from side to side. This day just got better and better.
While the look between Lavenderfur and the younger warriors had been ignored or missed by the queen the loud yowling that followed was not. It took almost last shred of patience she had left to restrain herself and keep from turning around to snap at both of the toms to take it elsewhere. Her mate should know better as the father of his own kits. She blinked as the kit said her name. She couldn’t help, but feel that the name was utterly bizarre and a poor choice of name for a kit. It sounded too much like a funny twoleg word or something. Her eyes snapped briefly to Tawnyface catching her eyeroll. She wanted to get this poor kit as far away from the gathered cats as possible. Before she started treating all of these warriors like misbehaving kits.
Turning herself around to usher the kit inside. The mention of her own two seemed to provide a momentary distraction that was until a tear slid down her face signaling that Cupcake wasn’t far away from breaking down. “Speckleflower.” She finished the kit’s question with a gentle smile as she turned to star to move back towards the entrance. “Come on Cupcake, I’ll introduce you to Ebonykit and Cinderkit.” The grey speckled tabby ushered her through the entrance before quickly ducking through herself. Once through she motioned towards the medicine cat den before slowly leading the way to it.
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Shadowstartheleader
Friendship Rank 4
~The world may be dark, we may be lost forever, but we stand a chance as long as we're together~
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Aug 17, 2019 1:05:22 GMT -5
Post by Shadowstartheleader on Aug 17, 2019 1:05:22 GMT -5
(I got back on tuesday night and wednesday morning it was time to prepare x.x help me) There was little comfort in the slight nod that Leafpaw got, but it was better than getting nothing at all. If not to put her nerves down, it at least was a form of interaction that was not hostile. Cycling a slow breath through her system again, she turned to look on to the Horseplace as they approached the rest of the patrol. Leafpaw was very aware of the gaze of Hawktail still on her, but she tried to fight from letting it wither her where she stood. She returned a smile nod to the warrior as her ears perked up to listen to the words of her friend. Shadowpaw felt another claw of fear as Hazelrunner reminded them that were they to run into anything it would be far more intelligent to retreat from the fight than risk any loss of life--were they expecting that serious of a situation? Oh, this was the ideal way to shoot his anxiety straight through the Horseplace barn. He took no look at the cats around him as if to check whether they were still watching, pulling closer and to Hazelrunner's side as they began forward at an increased pace, spurred by Hazelrunner. He didn't say anything as his somewhat prickled fur made contact with her own, perhaps a reminder that he knew he wasn't ready for a real fight of any sort.Ebonypelt felt an axious bout of anxiety as the she-cat seemed to unconsciously resist the need to take the herb, and though she bit her lip with frustration and didn't want to watch the she-cat in so much pain anymore, she found herself struggling to be anymore forceful than she already had been practically pressing the herbs to her mouth. Initially she found a brief reprieve as her chin began dragging towards the herbs, and for a brief moment her heart lifted from the shadowy dumps, but the pawsteps behind her altered the slight progress immediately for the worse and her glare immediately was cast behind her; potentially a dangerous and life-threatening decision if it had not been the cat who it was.
Her glare held on Frogstrike for just a couple seconds, before it softened for half a moment and immediately hardened back to something in between. Her gaze watched her for a few moments as he turned away and nodded at some distant words she couldn't hear, then blinked at him as he entered. It was strange he had decided to make his way over here after what he had said.
Her gaze soured as she hissed a scathing criticism at her for failing at the one task that she said. She understood now that if they had managed to get her to eat the thyme, the Riverclan she-cat's....resistances....would have been dulled. That was what thyme did, right? He said it was for shock, but how else would it dull her shocked response? She sucked in a breath and sucked down her pride at Frogstrike's criticism, and then frowned at the idea of holding the she-cat down in order to heal the grievous wounds. That was the absolute worst thing that they could do in this moment, just after she was torn apart and violated so badly. She turned an eye over to the she-cat's hiding in the den near them, her gaze drifting from them to the kittens. The last thing she wanted was for them to watch this unfold, to wonder why they were doing this, but they had seen so much already, and they weren't going to be healing her outside of this den.
"Help us." It was a cold a resigned mew to the she-cat's who weren't injured in the den as she drew closer to the Riverclan she-cat. "You're going to be fine. Just a minute, and you're going to be better." She pulled in a slow breath and looked over at Frogstrike once more. "This better work." She mumbled, though not very loud as her spine was still prickled from the medicine cat's comment on her performance.
(i just meant that as from Cupcake's perspective all the cats were yowling at each other before but Speckleflower wasn't, not that Lavenderfur actually yowled at the young warrior sorry about that--their exchange was silent)
Ebonykit was huddled up against his brother, holding himself to small breaths to keep from the pain of his wound as much as possible. He was still a sniveling mess and the sudden departure of not one but both of their parents had left him feeling as low as the bottom of the lake he sunk to the floor at his brother's paws, laying on his side as he looked out at the exit of the den that led to the camp which didn't feel as warm and safe as it had before.
He seemed completely lost and empty as he laid there, tears finally coming to a complete stop as he seemed to have lost all reserves of liquid from his eyes. His gaze stared emptily at the floor of the den in front of them and he seemed content to stay that way, until the sound of pawsteps drew his attention. They were quieter than he was expecting their parents' to sound and closer than he expected, but his heart jumped for a moment with hope that they had returned. His eyes widened with confusion and disbelief as a small kitten took place in the entrance instead of their parents, scanning about the den before she saw the two kittens herself, tilting her head and staring at them with a mixture of timidity and curiosity as she took a step back to hide half her face from their view. Her eyes met both eyes of Conderkit at first, then the eyes of the kitten by his paws, before Cupcake suddenly noticed the patched and noticeable wounds on his flank, and she quietly gasped and stepped back, bumping into Speckleflower as she saw that they were injured, and she was quickly reminded for the hundreth time of the sight of her mother.
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Aug 17, 2019 9:57:58 GMT -5
Post by wildcharm on Aug 17, 2019 9:57:58 GMT -5
(Would if I could *_*)
Hazelrunner blinked as she felt fur brush against her side. She turned to stare at Shadowpaw who had turned into a ball of anxiety and nerves prickling around the edge of his fur. The young warrior felt a pang of guilt for being the one who’s words pushed him into reality of what might happen. While the scents made it seem unlikely it was very possible that they could be walking into something they couldn’t handle on their own. Especially being the case with the nervous apprentice beside her. While she should be able to say that he could at least defend himself, with how inconsistent their training had been she couldn’t be sure what he remembered and what he didn’t. Drawing in a deep breath she did her best to give him a look that might be somewhat reassuring because she doubted words would do it from this point forwards.
The atmosphere was very tense and heavy moving forwards. The young warrior knew it was only partially due to their search for their leader. The sharp whispers between the two Riverclan cats were the only noises that could be heard, although their exact words were lost to the wind. She shook her head slightly and keep her eyes fixed ahead. She could pick out the whiffs of scent that belonged to their leader. The other scents with it were more muddled, all she could really say was that it probably wasn’t from a clan cat. She kept herself close to Shadowpaw as they made their way to the large doors to enter the Horseplace. Rainstar’s scent was barely detectable over the smell of horses, twolegs, and the dried grass that littered the inside. She filed in along with her clanmates, only to have Jaggedscar be the first one to charge his way in. Silverfang ducked in behind him before the rest of the cats followed. She gave the two apprentices one last look before stepping in herself to see what they might find in regards to their missing leader.
Frogstrike gazed down at the Riverclan she-cat, almost entirely regretting his choice to walk into this nursery. Realistically her chances of surviving were slim, her chances of surviving with her eye in tact were nonexistent. He stood back, not intending on taking any chances until the she-cat was at least partially distracted. As it stood currently it appeared as she would rip out his throat if she had enough strength to do so. Maybe he was wrong and her biggest concern wasn’t shock, but he’d have to get in closer to determine that. He flicked his tail impatiently from side to side. If Ebonypelt had managed to get her to eat the thyme maybe it would have helped speed this process down, alleviate some of the symptoms of what could be her body going into shock. Now this was going to become far more traumatic for her. It was only when Ebonypelt mewed for the other she-cats in the den to help that he stepped forwards to lend a paw of his own.
The she-cat wouldn’t dare take her eye off of the tom that entered the den. To her he was the biggest threat to her safety. She didn’t concentrate on what was being said, instead only looking at his face. She didn’t seem to recognize him as the medicine cat, maybe it was better that way she didn’t remember what he had supposedly been doing to another poor she-cat dragged away from her clan. Her tail was scrapping from side to side on the floor of the den, dilated pupil darting from side to side as she heard cats in the den slowly moving. Claws sliding out she looked at Ebonypelt out of the corner of her eye as she approached. The she-cat’s heart rate was hammering in her chest causing the panic to rise in her. “N..n” The injured she-cat struggled to voice her objections to Ebonypelt.
The she-cats in the den, the few of them who could move, slowly ventured towards her. “N..o..” She croaked her mind struggling to find what she needed to say to get them to leave her alone. The Riverclan She-cat fidgeted trying to move away, but her paws wouldn’t work properly. The she-cats trying to help her had morphed into the toms that had held her down in the clearing. With a strangled hiss her eye locked with Ebonypelt, silently pleading for some cat not to let this happen to her again. If she had enough whits about her to do so she would have stopped it herself, but she was left at the mercy of the cats around her no matter how much she was internally screaming to keep fighting against these cats.
(Whoops didn’t read it well enough ^^’) Cinderkit swallowed as he looked down at his brother who resembled a piece of prey just looking off listlessly towards the entrance waiting for their parents to reappear. He wasn’t even crying anymore. Not even Proudpaw was trying to help cheer him up anymore. If Cinderkit was a better brother he would have known just what would make his brother smile again. He was just drawing up blanks right now. He gave a long forlorn sigh as he settled in to keep watch out for their parents with him. He just wanted things to go back to the way they were, back when everyone was a lot happier, back when Ebonykit didn’t have to worry about dying. He didn’t understand why everything had changed so suddenly. He was left reeling when he spotted a kit walking into the medicine cat den. Tilting his head from one side to the other he then glanced past her to his mother giving her an uncertain look. The kit’s fur fluffed up with indignation when the kit reeled back like they were both contagious with greencough or something.
Any hope that she might have had for when the kits met each other where quickly dashed when Cupcake visibly recoiled at the sight of her two kits laying there clearly wounded. Speckleflower sighed as she ran right into her leg. Cinderkit was clearly more than a little offended by her actions choosing to see it as repulsion to their condition. “Are you alright?” She asked gently to the kit, briefly glancing at Cinderkit to make sure that he wasn’t going to follow up with anything that might upset her.
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Shadowstartheleader
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~The world may be dark, we may be lost forever, but we stand a chance as long as we're together~
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Aug 17, 2019 13:53:49 GMT -5
Post by Shadowstartheleader on Aug 17, 2019 13:53:49 GMT -5
There weren't any words that Hazelrunner could say at this point, and as she stared towards him and their eyes connected for a moment, he knew that that was the case. Regardless of the anxiety built up in his chest now, he couldn't ask her to have all of the magic words to fix what they were padding into, even if that was what he wanted to do. No, there was something silent behind her gaze as she looked at him. You're here. You won't let anything happen to me. He quietly sighed and turned his gaze back to the Horseplace. Even though he knew he had no ability whatsoever in this situation, he did believe in Hazelrunner.
Leafpaw had no problem with the Riverclan cats going first as they quietly whispered with each other--she imagined Jaggedscar had brought her up and Silverfang was having to address it now that they had entered the Horseplace. She felt a prick of guilt bothering her as Silverfang couldn't even get some peace until they found Rainstar, but she had to push through and follow them without voicing her thoughts. She couldn't give a single chance to Hawktail to chew her out right now--on the left paw they needed to focus on their leader and on the right paw she didn't know if she was going to be able to handle it along with her own feelings that she had lost her mind if she could say something as awful as she had.
Hawktail, as he filed along behind Hazelrunner was growing a little more frustrated by the increasing difficulty of holding Rainstar's scent. The scent of horse was becoming overwhelming and he wished he could close his nose to all scents and still be able to breath properly. The giant and imposing doors caught his eye for a moment, and as he hadn't caught sight of any of the horses around the outside, bordered perimeter, he had to assume they were inside. "Hopefully they're closed in." He muttered to himself.
When the first cats through were Riverclan, a set of claws almost cut open the neck of Jaggedscar, though they stopped themselves a scarce number of hair-lengths away. Rainstar took a step back with surprise, and the cat beside her stared suspiciously at the cats entering. Then, a wave of Windclan cats followed in after the Riverclan cats and she found herself giving a loud sigh of relief, which seemed to relax the cat at her side ever so slightly. "Slicky, these are my clanmates." Her gaze swept over the five Windclan cats in the patrol, though her gaze hardened a little as she saw Leafpaw and Shadowpaw, causing the siblings to freeze up a bit. She had to let it go for the moment, though.
Slicky looked over the seven cats who had entered, trying to see if he remembered any of them from the visit to The Pelts' home. A few minor injuries laid on his pelt as well, though they were unpatched like his fellow Pelts. "Thank the ancestors. I thought they found us again." He breathed a sigh of relief and then spun 180 degrees, padding quickly back towards the far corner of the large horse building, where four cats laid with various degrees of injuries, none mortal yet a couple of them unpleasant.
Rainstar could see the question in Hawktail's eyes, and she exhaled as she tried to find the quickest way to explain this. "During the battle, I found some warriors who were fleeing, but not towards the Shadowclan camp. It was just a couple of them, but it put me on edge. I thought perhaps they were moving towards our own camp, but that didn't make sense with just two of them. I found them going past the Horseplace and into the Twolegplace." She glanced back towards the five Pelts behind them. "I knew I shouldn't leave the battle, but Ravenfang seemed to have it well under control...I followed them for quite a number of minutes, and then I realized why the Riverclan camp was so easy to take."
Her voice had taken a more hushed tone, as she didn't want to upset Slicky anymore. "Slicky explained to me that there have been a number of cats leaving The Pelts. And from no where, he said, it seemed some group was trying to push them out of their large home to take it for themselves. I realized when he explained this to me that Shadowclan had been trying to start a takeover of The Pelts before he pushed on more of the clans. I don't know if they've been successful, but Slicky was tasked with getting these injured cats out. He...wouldn't have made it if I hadn't followed the two warriors."
Ebonypelt had to squeezed her eyes shut as the she-cat pleaded for them not to do this. She knew that it was a deluded idea of what was actually happening, but that didn't make it any easier to press her paws down on the uninjured part of the warrior's chest to restrain her and begin the fit that she knew was coming. This Riverclanner was going to relive all of what had happened to her only minutes ago and she was helping do it, only to make her almost-certain passing a slightly less painful and bloody experience. She wasn't even sure it was going to be that effective at this point in her damaged state.
What seemed like disgust at their condition to the other kits, was only disbelief at how injured kittens her age were in this strange place. "H-h-how are...They're so hurt...!" She squeaked as she peered back around the corner to get a full look at their wounds once more. "A-am I...s-safe here...? Mister Frogstrike said I'd..." She turned around to look up at Speckleflower, not even answering her questions as her mind was abuzz about whether she had to risk getting injured like these two kittens had. "Are they going to get better?" She turned back to look at them as she thought about how badly her mother had looked. In terms of how small he was, Ebonykit was pretty littered with wounds on a lot of his body. It didn't look pretty.
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Aug 18, 2019 1:04:36 GMT -5
Post by wildcharm on Aug 18, 2019 1:04:36 GMT -5
Being first through the door was a dangerous thing to do, but it suited Jaggedscar just fine with the itch he’d had to rip out some cat’s throat. If he was being forced to play nice with the Windclan cats then he would have to settle for taking out his frustrations on whoever might stand as a threat on the other side of the large towering doors. Silverfang was at his flank, her hostile response to him even mentioning the name of the half-rotten piece of crowfood that had jumped right to attacking the moral fiber of their whole clan. She had nearly bit his head clean off.
Boldly striding forwards into the stinking Horseplace, only to feel the air catch under his chin and soft whoosh followed. Silverfang hissed out in surprise behind him sliding out her claws out. She arched her back ready to retaliate if they attacked her clanmate. Jaggedscar stood tensely with his fur spiked up on end only to glare at the cats now standing frozen across from him standing rather tensely at the cats as the rest of the Windclan cat’s filled into the inside of the den. He didn’t turn his attention away from the cats in front of them darting suspiciously to the cats in front of him, landing on Rainstar with narrowed eyes suspicion written all over the tom’s face. “Do we look or smell anything like those maggot-rotten pieces of Fox-dung?” He questioned incredulously towards the loner cat who unintentionally implied to him that they were in anyway similar to the Shadowclan cats that might be after them. His own anger dialed up due to his near death experience.
Hazelrunner froze in the doorway at Silverfang’s sudden jolt in reaction to Jaggedscar nearly walking into his certain doom. The young warrior didn’t know what she encounter on the other side of the door. She expected to at least find some resistance on the other side. Jumping into action she raced through the doorway only to come face to face with a number of clearly equally spooked cats. Her eyes widened as she laid eyes on the leader that had seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth. She couldn’t hide the shock and confusion that came over her face seeing the Windclan leader here. The flinching apprentices close to her, instinctively she stepped in the way of Rainstar’s hard gaze. She kept her eyes pinned on the leader as her shock morphed into something more serious. The young she-cat almost was certain exactly why Rainstar turned her vitriol on the two young cats. Breathing in a deep breath she put that aside to listen to her leader’s explanation for what had happened.
The cats of the patrol were all stand around expectantly as Rainstar divulged exactly what set of circumstances that had led her here to begin with. There was several moments of silence as she leaned in closer to the leader as she lowered her voice to not carry it to all the members of the Pelts that were littered all around the barn. Her face crumpled at the news that Shadowclan was pushing far outside of just the clans. “They are pushing outside of the clans?” She mewed in with hushed disbelief as she looked to the leader. Questions began to swirl around in her mind.
Silverfang flicked her ears towards the Pelt’s tom, Slicky. Her focused zeroed in on the tom as he turned away to address the injured cats huddled in to the far side of the barn. A new purpose came over her. She dipped her head to Rainstar as she was speaking to her Windclan cats. She contemplatively looked towards Jaggedscar. The tom still remained entirely on edge seeming not to notice her absence. She slowly moved towards the loner tom. “Slicky, I am from Riverclan. I believe my clanmates stayed with you, Redsky and Applepaw.” She clarified with a light dip of her head.
Her pleading seemingly fell on unsympathetic ears as the she-cats inched forwards like shadows creeping towards her. They were monsters creeping out of the darkest recesses of her mind. Her hisses moved more towards cries of desperation. While the she-cats weren’t nearly as strong or forceful as the cats that the cats had been before. The she-cat was eventually overpowered by the she-cats and one tom she didn’t make it an easy feat to do. Frogstrike was practically hissing and spitting curses as he scrambled to work as the she-cat fruitlessly tried to get free, eye full of terror. The tom had to plaster cobwebs and pastes on the open wound. It was a long painful process that was only made that much more drawn out by the panicked breathing, on the verge of a sheer breakdown at this point.
Specklefower drew in a deep breath as the kit asked the questions that were going to be most difficult for her to answer. Answers that were difficult for her to answer when her own kits needed comfort the most, now this kit was asking the same of her now. It wasn’t at all helped by the kit’s rapid fire questions that followed one after the other. “They both were attacked by the foxes when they snuck out of camp.” The queen slowly explained as turned towards her two kits clearly visible inside in the den. She drew her attention towards Cupcake, steadying her own thoughts. “You are safe here.” She hesitated as she took a deep breath knowing that answer wouldn’t be entirely truthful since there was too much uncertainty. “They are healing, although it will take a while for them to heal.”
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Shadowstartheleader
Friendship Rank 4
~The world may be dark, we may be lost forever, but we stand a chance as long as we're together~
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Post by Shadowstartheleader on Aug 23, 2019 1:03:12 GMT -5
(My apologies for the big delay! I got back to college, and there were a number of complications that made it tough to get my feet under me as well as the trainings ive been going through have been 8-5 mon-fri...its like im in high school again and i strongly dislike that fact Dx anyways I'll be more on and off than my vacation as it gets crazy with new residents moving in and i begin my classes. Just letting you know!)
Rainstar had to give Jaggedscar a double take as the cat responded with a horrid attitude that pushed her a little closer to the end of her patience and sanity that she had already been tiptoeing along, both recently as a general fact and with her particular situation in the moment. Of course, she could not imagine that any cat on this patrol would be pleased with how close the Windclan leader had been to pulling the cat's throat out. It seemed Rainstar didn't have any reservations about resorting to the tactics that Shadowclan had been, at least when pushed up against the wall as they were. Certainly, they would have been in grave danger had more enemies found them. Rainstar examined Hazelrunner closely as the warrior pulled in to a small distance to repeat the almost wild claim that Shadowclan was leaving the clans to head outside the territories for more claws to fight for them. When she thought about it on her own, she could see how outlandish it seemed. Even Rainstar had only heard far spun stories of tyrants doing such a thing, leaders and leaders ago. Some even said it was in a different home. The thought was unimaginable to her.
"Why else would those Shadowclan cats have headed in this direction, and not to their home? They must of thought they would find safety in this direction, or perhaps reinforcements for the battle. I don't know. But think about how underprotected the Riverclan camp was. That can't be how they usually defended it. No matter their tactics, too long with the...dozen or so warriors, perhaps a pawful more, that were fighting would never keep the whole surviving Riverclan in check." She gave a clear shake of her head whilst matching the quiet and hushed tone of Hazelrunner, almost keeping Hawktail from hearing any of it as the warrior strained to listen in.
"No, I believe they thought Windclan was too strong to take on with their numbers as they were." There was a clear edge of of darkness as she said this. Rainstar knew the truth about their clan was different. "Perhaps they thought we had been sheltering too many Shadowclan and Riverclan cats to be an easy target. Its also the farthest--harder to control from Shadowclan. I...don't know why Nightstar would not take Thunderclan, but..." It was a true fact that the intense pride within the heart's of most of Thunderclan's warriors made them a hard bunch to beat in a battle, especially on the grounds of their own territory. Thunderclan fought with tooth and claw anytime there was the lightest threat to their territory markings. She began muttering to herself for a few moments. "One would think they would be easier than...fighting all the way over in the Twolegplace."
She lifted her muzzle and pulled her head back from Hazelrunner, scanning the cats around them. Her gaze again traveled to Shadowpaw and Leafpaw, and she had to work to keep her concern from showing on her face. It was extremely dangerous to have the two cats out here, even though they were of warrior age. They were undertrained, especially Shadowpaw. The fact that they had been taken out here...she had a very hard time imagining Ravenfang would have approved of them being on this patrol with all of the promises he had made in his...relationship. No, Hawktail must have made the patrol and taken them out.
"I..." She bit her lip as her gaze returned to Hazelrunner. She wanted to clarify whether the battle had been a total victory, but she gazed past to Jaggedscar and Silverfang, and she figured she didn't need to ask the question. "I am relieved you have your home once more. Your clanmates struggled in our home, without you to rely on." Her gaze alternated between the two warriors as she spoke. "And I cannot begin to imagine what you went through on your end." Her voice took its hushed tone once more. She perished the thought of imagining what they had been put through, extrapolating from what they knew of Shadowpaw's tellings, Lilyheart's impairment, and Tawnyface's reactions. She was beginning to put her claw on the strangely tense aura that was between the cats, seeing how Hawktail stood tense and agitated far from the Riverclan cats. Leafpaw seemed particularly tense and not eager to meet any cat's gaze for too long.Slicky was quiet for several seconds as he was re-checking the state of the wounds on his friends. The loner seemed more distressed about their condition than any loner the clans would think of might be, perhaps a sign of the general bond of The Pelts. Closing his eyes for a moment as he watched the soft rise and fall of their pelts and the occassional eye flicking open to glance up to make certain it was just Slicky, the not-so-loner tom-cat turned to look at Silverfang. "Yes. They were...marvels for our kits to see." He sounded utterly exhausted and almost incapable of placing any enthusiasm in his voice--yet he tried to respond to the she-cat. "Applepaw especially. It was a wonder for our little ones to think a clan cat's apprentice is so similar to our own little ones, just bouncy energy balls." His eyes squeezed shut for a moment as his eyes began stinging and the form of Silverfang blurred a little, before opening again. He couldn't remember his last sleep. "Sometimes you clan cats get exaggerated in our stories."
He let out a sigh as his gaze turned back to the injured cats. "They barely walked the journey here. We were really lucky it was you all and not more of these vicious cats who seem to have come from nowhere." His gaze slowly drifted to Rainstar, and as his gaze lingered on the Windclan leader for a moment, he gulped and then quickly averted his gaze. He had learned a lot about the clans today. And he didn't even have the time or energy to focus on processing that information. He had injuries to tend to. Ebonypelt had to focus on the wounds on the she-cat's body, and watch as Frogstrike gradually began placing cobwebs on the wounds and plastering them about. It was her only way to measure any sense of when this horrid mess was going to be over. The more cobwebs he placed, the sooner this was going to be over. Right? It was the only thing that kept her from pulling her paws off of this desperate and frantic she-cat and running to the other end of the nursery. It was weird enough to think Frogstrike was here using all of these cobwebs on her, but thinking about what the she-cat must be feeling in this moment....it was tearing Ebonypelt apart. Every second made what she was doing harder to impose on this cat and she was gradually losing the strength to press down on her like this.Cupcake gasped with horror as Speckleflower mentioned what had happened to them. She had never seen a fox on her own, but she had heard the gossip around the young cats near her house. One of her friends knew a cat who knew a cat who died to a fox. She didn't even know what they looked like, but to hear that they were so close to these clan cats was a jarring piece of information. Her gaze turned back to the two kittens through the mouth of the den.Ebonykit was gazing out at this new arrival, trying to express interest though he was still aching so much and so emotionally spent that it was hard to even lift his own head. But he couldn't keep from his eyes resting on her's as she gazed towards him, the worse off of the two little kits. He was a kitten, after all. Could anything entirely kill his curiosity?"Are you okay?" It was a quiet mew as Cupcake nervously addressed them, though her gaze and focus were particularly intent on the more injured one laying on the floor of the den. She had to imagine with a lot of clan cats around that Speckleflower's kits must be pretty safe, and it was, in a weird way, reassuring that these horrible wounds had occurred some place outside instead of inside.
Ebonykit blinked slowly and watched Cupcake for several long moments as she asked the two of them directly whether they were okay. No. He was not at all, in any way, okay. But he couldn't say it. He couldn't express everything that had gone wrong in the last two days in words. Averting his gaze towards the floor, he chose silence instead.
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Aug 29, 2019 20:39:23 GMT -5
Post by wildcharm on Aug 29, 2019 20:39:23 GMT -5
(It’s alright I understand. I’ve been seriously swamped myself keeping up with three science classes so my replies are going to be kind of spread out sorry in advance.)
Hazelrunner sighed thinking back to how scarce the camp really was of Shadowclan warriors. Then again it just didn’t sound like anything they had heard about Nightstar and his goals. Wasn’t he wanting to usher in a new age of the Warrior Code with him at the forefront? Wouldn’t including a group of rogues among his ranks undercut that. If he held such little value in she-cats would he see anything of value in cats from the twoleg place? “I really don’t know.” Shaking her head Hazelrunner had to stop to remind herself of just how out laddish this train of thought really was. She was trying to rationalize an unhinged monster of a cat.
“It’s possible, anything is really. He has been rewriting the warrior code to justify anything he wants. “ The young warrior spoke in a hushed tone, not wanting her voice, not meaning to leave Hawktail out, but she also was very aware of Jaggedscar’s presence all to close by. “The Riverclan cats might be able to tell us if there were rogues in their camp. I want to say we were lucky coming into Riverclan camp when we did. The camp was lightly guarded and Petalstream was no where to be found. Still, it could be more than that...” Her voice trailed off the image of Whispersong flashed in her head. An awful dread came over her a feeling of something not being how it should be. Her legs buckled as she braced herself for moment. There were pieces scattered at her paws that she couldn’t quite make fit tougher.
She briefly watched the worry come over Rainstar’s face as she looked at Leafpaw and Shadowpaw with clear concern. Hazelrunner should have found a work around to dragging out apprentices on something like this, but she had been too consumed with her drive to find Rainstar to think of a better solution. She opened her mouth only to abruptly close it again when Rainstar began addressing the Riverclan cats in the patrol. Turning her head she gave Jaggedscar a somewhat leery look. She seemed to be just waiting for him to try and spin even this into something far worse then it was. The only slight bright point was that at least they had found Rainstar alive and unharmed. That was the only comfort she could really take from all of this.
Silverfang looked past him to the injured and nearly beaten cats at his paws. Her eyes softened as she turned backroads the tom briefly watching his tender actions. The care between Slicky and the other cats of the Pelts. “They would have been lost without your group’s kindness.” It was hard to imagine Applepaw as a bright ball of energy now. She wondered if he had ever truly happy, maybe he could put on brave face. “I think that we both have some pretty outlandish assumptions about each other.” She mewed briefly already seeing the tom fading out of the conversation. “In any case I feel the need to thank you for everything that the Pelts have done to help them. We don’t have much to offer, but if there’s anything we can do to help please don’t hesitate to ask.” She mewed briefly before dipping her head.
Silverfang perked up when Rainstar turned to address her and her clanmate. She he not been listening in half intently to the Windclan cats’ conversation as Jaggedscar was. Silverfang quickly made her way to stand back beside her clanmate. A low growl rumbled in the tom’s throat as his tail lashed from side to side. Silverfang flicked an ear towards the tom half expecting that she was going to leap between the two cats. She watched him out of the corner of her eye. It was a welcome distraction from the thought of what had happened in Riverclan camp. “We are all trying to coop now and put our camp back together to the best of our abilities.” She sighed softly feeling a heavy sensation on her shoulders.
Jaggedscar narrowed his eyes to slits a rumble erupting from his throat. Even the leader’s words seemed to provoke a new anger in him. “You are absolutely correct. You have absolutely no idea what happened to our clan, neither did Redsky or Otterstar.” He spat vilely stepping away from the gather cats. “I’m done dealing with these rabbit eaters!”
Ebonypelt strangled yowls rang out throughout the den tears face down to the ground. Her breath came out in worried gasps as she tried to get out of this nightmare. The medicine cat’s work was continually interrupted by the constant thrashing the she-cat was doing. He growled in annoyance, the low sound and the tiniest bit of a lapse in the she’s-cat’s grip was just enough. The incapacitated she-cat sprang back to life finding some hidden strength. Frogstrike jerked back in surprise having to get out of the way of the cat’s desperate and sudden flashes, the cobwebs dangling over blood and dirt covered wounds. She sung her face from side to side as she wildly searched for the entrance. Frogstrike came to stand in his way. Swallowing thickly she practically collapsed to the ground in a sobbing panicked heap.
Cinderkit perked up as the strange kit back in. He could hear what they were talking out in front of the den. Well, it wasn’t exactly a secret what had happened. He sat up with a light grunt, back legs scrambling to get traction in the moss. He moved rather clumsily grunting a little to himself. He stood up tall as he could, next to his brother who was still slumped down in the nest. Of course she would ask a question that didn’t have an easy answer. “We don’t know yet...” He admitted trailing off as he shuffled his paw awkwardly.
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Shadowstartheleader
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~The world may be dark, we may be lost forever, but we stand a chance as long as we're together~
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Sept 2, 2019 22:03:57 GMT -5
Post by Shadowstartheleader on Sept 2, 2019 22:03:57 GMT -5
(oh hecc what sciences?? that sounds heccin intense Also can you read Slicky's yellow? Its horrid to my eyes it looks way different in the text box) Rainstar could feel the dread that was creeping into Hazelrunner's form, and she would have been lying if she had said that 'anything being possible' was comforting. Hazelrunner wasn't wrong in being uncertain--it seemed really unlikely that Nightstar would put up with the influence of an outside group of cats if he would not even tolerate the presence of independent clans. He wanted every cat at his paws and it did not sit right with Rainstar that the leader might be operating with cats outside of the clan territories. Why would he want more cats to deal with? Not only more enemies, but allies he would have to placate in some way. It truly did not sound like the Shadowclan leader. Her gaze was one of uncertainty as she looked at Hazelrunner, until the voice of Jaggedscar cut off any trail of thought that she had been padding down. As Silverfang finished speaking Slicky only gave a somber nod. "Thank you." it was a quiet murmur that had little emotion to it, and his gaze turned down towards his companions. "We need a lot right now." There was a strange string of uncertainty in his voice, like he knew they needed a lot for their current situation but he didn't know what that really was. In his mind these cats who were attacking them had come from out of corners of their town and for no reason had began assaulting a group of cats that only wanted to provide shelter and community for those that needed more than just a twoleg. It didn't make sense to him, and he felt like their foes were appearing from nothing other than the shadows. What could stop that?
Slicky wished the clan cats were in a place to help The Pelts deal with the threat, but he knew on the left paw that the town was not their natural or comfortable environment, and on the right paw they were dealing with their own troubles if the refugee clan cats had been any sign of their situation. His gaze lifted from his companions and turned towards Silverfang again, but as the she-cat was turning away he could see that some sort of tension was building in the cat directly next to her. Biting his lip, his ears folded back and he tried to keep his mouth shut as he felt himself resenting the idea of another conflict happening around him. In her mind Rainstar was taken aback by the incredibly volatile reaction from Jaggedscar, and even her aged and trained mind had to catch her breath a moment and calm the startle Jaggedscar had given her. The rabbit insult meant nothing to her, but the seeming hostility towards the Windclan cats and even a couple of their own clanmates was something grave that she had not expected, especially at a time like this. She shook her head with a frown on her lips. "My eyes haven't experienced what you did in that camp, but they did see the torture in the eyes of Redsky, and Applepaw, and Otterstar every day, that they could not do enough that day, that they escaped and you all didn't, that it took so long to reclaim your home." She could read his type. Riverclan should have to receive help from no one in his eyes. She knew what had a chance of connecting with him, though she didn't expect it to. "The torture that they had to rely on us instead of being able to protect their clan themselves. Don't dismiss their pain so brazenly." Leafpaw was frozen solid as their leader addressed and responded to the hostile tom so confidently. Jaggedscar was a monster waiting to be awoken so he could hit them all on the Thunderpath. Was Rainstar just padding into it for him? Still, she couldn't argue that her composure was excellent. She was their leader for a reason, and as she briefly thought to Ravenfang's immense struggles recently, she could see what Rainstar had the chance to instruct him on. Still, her mind didn't linger long on that as her attention was quickly whipped back to the tension that was reignited amongst them.Ebonypelt stepped awa as she tears began sinking from her eyes down her cheeks. This was horrid. Absolutely horrible. She'd already seen too many cats bleed out, and yet to save this one they had to put her through a deluded horrid reliving of an event only moments ago. It was starting to become too much for her. As Frogstrike stepped back her own shoulders sagged and she failed to continue holding the poor she-cat down as their clanmates readjusted to keep trying to hold her down. Ebonypelt felt a gag coming on, and as she turned away it seemed the only thing keeping her from vomiting on the floor of the den was the knowledge that the tomcats of Shadowclan might kill her for the indignance of having to smell it.Well, it was a tough thing to hear for such a young kitten--the uncertainty wasn't something they were supposed to have to deal with at their age. She gulped, thinking about just how similar she was feeling in that way--she had absolutely no way of knowing whether she was going to be okay afrter the horrors she had experienced this day. She didn't even know what life without her mother meant. She didn't know if she was going to be safe with a twoleg without her mother, but she didn't know if she was going to be safe in the clan either. It was all scary. All of the options had unclear conclusions, and she felt she understand Cinderkit's response in a way because of that. Her gaze drifted back up to Speckleflower. She hadn't seem to notice Proudpaw quite yet as she asked another question. "Are you taking care of them?" Her high pitched squeak at Speckleflower was audible through the den. "It looks like they're hurting."
edit: i just noticed our thread has 10,000 views?!?
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Sept 9, 2019 22:36:24 GMT -5
Post by wildcharm on Sept 9, 2019 22:36:24 GMT -5
(I have 1 bio lecture, 2 bio labs, and a chem with a lab ;-; This semester is going to be the death of me! The yellow was really hard to read honestly. 10,000? That’s crazy)
Hazelrunner’s head was sent even further spinning as Jaggedscar at his visceral hatred, while she expected as much to be directed at them, she certainly wasn’t expecting the Riverclan cat to go off on his own clanmates as well. Standing there utterly stunned she was somewhere between, shock and utter frustration. Thank Starclan for Rainstar being able to keep her own composure and not immediately take the bait. Staring between the cats the air around them was becoming almost unbreathable. Not that any cat really seemed to be breathing anyway. Every cat was just leering at the exchange, even the members of the Pelts had no choice, but to listen in on this bitter tom-cat’s ravings. The young warrior knew she didn’t have the experience or wisdom their leader had to know how to react to a cat who seemed bent to ripping apart Riverclan and Windclan’s fragile trust by whatever costs necessary. Her blue eyes clouded over. It wasn’t just Windclan he seemed to hate. Otterstar was his leader, Redsky was dying, and Applepaw was little more then a kit. Did he really think they were responsible in someway?
Every inch of Jaggedscar’s pelt was bristled, every hair standing on end. He felt the urge to laugh when Rainstar insisted that they had been suffering in their own way. That thought was inconceivable to the tom. They had been safe and sound in Windclan while the rest of their clan were suffering under Nighstar’s paw. “Really torture? That’s a funny word for it.” Jaggedscar clearly wasn’t in anyway shape or form being receptive to the leader’s words. He wasn’t ready for that, if he ever truly would be. “They might have missed what Riverclan used to be, but they don’t have any right step paw in Riverclan now. They should have all turn tail and run back to Windclan with Wrenflight.” It was a low dangerous undertone to his voice.
Silverfang reeled back at her clanmate’s outburst. This was the last thing that they needed to happen. Why? Why did he have to let every cat in the forest get a glimpse of what he felt was plaguing Riverclan. There it was, ugly and festering for all to see. If Nightstar’s aim had been to poison Riverclan he’d succeeded in that much. The Riverclan cats left in the wake of Shadowclan’s destruction had very little resemblance to the cats that they had once been. Most blamed Shadowclan, but some also went further, reaching for a cause desperate to find an easy answer to all of this. “Enough Jaggedscar.” She mewed lowly taking a step back towards the tom. She wasn’t going to stand back and watch her entire clan crumble to dust again. Neither her or her clanmate seemed ready to back down. “Don’t do this here.”
The reaction he expected to get came from an unlikely source. He turned sharply to look at the silver coated she-cat ordering him around with her new found power. “Or what Silverfang? You’ll run to tell Otterstar? The only reason you have any power is because Redsky is going to Starclan. Do you really think he would have given it to any other cat otherwise?!” The questions were rapid fire, ceaseless as he took a step closer with everyone of them. Now, even Silverfang. She was as delusional as the rest of their clan that still held out hope that everything would just go back to the way it used to be. The way things were when the wise old Shadestar reigned over them.
The last burst of strength had seemingly zapped her of any fight she had left for the moment. Still, the she-cats pinning her in place certainly couldn’t relax. Her muscles were tightly wound, waiting and praying for the slightest chance for an escape. All the she-cat wanted was this nightmare to end. She stared towards Ebonypelt with the whites of her eyes flashing in the low light. A low almost kit like cry came from the she-cat as she collapsed in on herself falling still enough to let whatever was going to be done to her happen. She didn’t recognize that all of this was in some vain attempt to help her.
The tom wouldn’t even go near the deranged she-cat until she was properly restrained again. He frowned when he caught sight of Ebonypelt shielding herself from the horrible truth of what they were putting this poor cat through. That didn’t stop him from feeling any sympathy for Ebonypelt who had practically threatened him just to put his neck on the line. Grumbling to himself he moved quickly once she was down. The tom kept an ear flickering around the den. He half expected to hear Ebonypelt being sick over in the far corner. That was the last thing he needed to deal with. This Riverclan cat was causing him enough problems.
Moving as quickly as he could he slapped the last of the cobwebs over the shreds of her face. It wasn’t pretty. Sighing he moved to step back nodding to the she-cats who had been brave enough to hold down one of their own. Before Frogstrike was entirely aware of what was happening the she-cat had lunged herself forwards enough to sink her teeth deep into his front leg. It took everything Frogstrike had left in him not to yowl like his tail was on fire. His claws came out briefly before he quickly retracted them. With heavy stifled breathing he slammed a clubbed paw into her neck. She coughed and that was just what he needed springing back the tom landed clumsily on the three paws glowering towards the she-cat with pure venom.
Speckleflower hesitated in the entrance, wanting both to comfort a kit that had just lost her mother, but feeling the pull to go back to her own kit and wrap him up as tightly as possible. It killed her to even hear her kits uttering nonsense like that. They were going to be fine, they had to be. Drawing in a deep breath the kit’s voice brought her out of the darker sections of her already clouded thoughts. “Healing takes time. They are being looked after in the mean time.” She soothed noticing the apprentice pull a face towards the tiny kit who seemed utterly oblivious to him being there.
“I am doing everything I realistically can. Starclan has to do the rest.” There was a note of defensiveness in Proudpaw’s tone. Flashes of being yelled at by Lavenderfur were playing on loop. “They will be alright with enough time.” He mewed directing it at both the new kit and the sulking balls of fluff as well. Not that he sounded very reassuring in saying this.
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Shadowstartheleader
Friendship Rank 4
~The world may be dark, we may be lost forever, but we stand a chance as long as we're together~
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Sept 10, 2019 0:36:30 GMT -5
Post by Shadowstartheleader on Sept 10, 2019 0:36:30 GMT -5
(oh. my. god. are you taking all of your lab requirements in one semester?? that sounds absolutely horrid. I dont know if it works the same way there but classes with labs are 1 hour or 1 hour and a half and the lab portions usually are three hours in the afternoon or at night) im going to try more of a mustard with slicky tell me if that is hard to read. I can't imagined I've viewed it myself more than...1500? Like reloading and coming back to it? I think we have silent stalkers o _ o ) Rainstar's own composure seemed to be completely unaffected, save for the dulling of her eyes as she listened to the Riverclanner's condemnation of his own clanmates, the few who had escaped and had to live knowing how they failed. Now they had done everything they could of, and won back what they lost not too much later, and yet...here was the utter raw and awful detestation of one of their own. A deep pang of complete sympathy, that likely would have drove Jaggedscar mad at the concept of a Windclan cat pitying him, pulsated within her heart as she listened to the hate in his heart. She knew that these feelings were not something a cat naturally developed in the course of a warrior's clan life. No, this was the horrid claws of Nightstar and everything he wanted, tearing their way through every cat's life. Her gaze drifted slowly to the side and fixated on Shadowpaw, who froze up, unblinking as his attention was still on the leader. Then her eyes shifted slightly to look at Leafpaw, who's gaze was still queasy and had drifted off to the left side. Rainstar wondered if her mind had drifted to poor Applepaw. Oh, savior Starclan...The horrors that your father has wrought in our hearts...
Rainstar felt a few moments of vulnerability as Jaggedscar turned away to try to clash with his own clanmate about the subject. Her mind couldn't help but wander to her own clan. Amberberry had failed to even put in the proper effort to help protect his clan, and Russetfur had claimed his scent was found near Shadowclan. And there was Russetfur himself. He claimed to only want to protect his clan, but that was the problem. He only wanted to protect his own clan, and that was a very rigid list of cats that he made himself--that he did not have the right to define. Who was to say....who could assure any cat, including her, that the tendrils of Shadowclan were not already infecting the hopes and solidarity of more of their own cats? There had been no word whatsoever of any such occurrence in Thunderclan, but would the prideful warriors even share such information? No. Her gaze nervously drifted about the room, an added drop of concern in her eyes, perhaps giving away some of her concerns that were lying underneath her composure.
It wasn't hard for Shadowpaw to be confident in the assumption that Silverfang was happier about the return of Otterstar than her present clanmate. He could see the distaste lying on even her tongue. No wonder she had at least brought the opportunity to speak with Leafpaw first to life. Don't do this here. It really looked like this had been brewing, and his guess was that since the Shadowclan takeover, Jaggedscar had found the easiest culprit. The cats who ran to survive. He bit down hard on his tongue to keep from saying anything, if he could have even worked past the fear of Jaggedscar's uproarious temper. There wasn't any sort of certainty that said he could. But he was incredibly cognizant of Silverfang's reaction. Not here.
This...this felt familiar.
If she wasn't lacking critical context to this situation, she might have responded differently...but as it was, Rainstar's next words were demanding and likely a trigger for worse things. "You are playing like a caught vole right back beneath Nightstar's paw when you speak of your clanmates that way. He doesn't need to beat us when we divide ourselves up and lay the victory out for him. Do you wish to wage that war for him?" Her voice was a low warning, a quiet premonition of what her parents had spoke of in the wars they had known. But a cat like this...he placed no extra value in the wisdom of the ancestors of a Windclan cat. Grimacing, she felt the approach of Slicky behind her and the exhausted and strained voice of the Pelt.
"I think its clear," rasped the young cat who felt older than the dirt under their paws. "that his mind is wrapped shut." Slicky could see the bristling rage, the burning hate that was already planted within the cat. He wasn't used to it, but perhaps the clan cats were more susceptible to this sort of corruption. After all, their lives were placed much closer to conflict and violence than any of their lives. His gaze snapped back to the injured cats behind them. Of course, it seemed to have invaded the minds of even their usually peaceful ranks. Shaking his head, his gaze turned to focus on Rainstar again. His voice decreased in volume and his tone grew sharp and more serious. "Focus on who we can aid right now."
Rainstar was pulled back to their moment in time as Slicky tried to keep her from tying herself up around a cat who didn't sound willing to hear any words she would have for him. There were injured cats to protect, and her own patrol who had sought her out for a reason. She wanted to press her clanmates for what the situation was, and what was needed now, but it didn't seem Jaggedscar was going to leave them peacefully to speak.
Ebonypelt's breathing turned into relieved sighs as she heard the quieting scene behind her and she turned back to see the cats beginning to release the victim. She was close to vocalizing her relief when the cat suddenly lurched forward and bit into the medicine cat who had just given her the thickest little chance of surviving that she had-- she choked on her breath a moment as she expected him to respond very poorly--yet his clubbed paw that came down seemed the most measured way to get her off of him that she could of pictured him doing. She drew closer after she took a moment to make certain the flavor of vomit was gone from her throat and wasn't threatening to reappear. She gazed down at the now-bleeding cat's leg, wanting to say something to apologize for the cat and remind him she was in a state of utter delirium, but the strength of his venom gave her pause and caused her to take half a step back and reconsider saying anything.
Was there anything else the strange cats could say? It sounded like this place was just as risky as returning to her own shelter, but Mister Frogstrike had promised these cats were going to give her more safety than a twoleg could. Well, that hadn't been what he said, but it was what she took away from it. And he probably wouldn't even disagree with her interpretation if she had laid it out to him. Proudpaw gave her pause for a moment and pulled her gaze towards him. Starclan would handle the rest? What in the green lawn did that mean? Her confused gaze admitted a question she had, but she did not ask him what she didn't understand, not certain he would be any nicer than the tom-cat outside of the camp.
She pulled herself into the den slowly, then began taking full pawsteps towards the two other kittens. She could see the twitching nose of Ebonykit as she drew closer, and when she was only a couple tail-lengths away, her own eyes wide with the wonder of a new meeting, she finally pushed past her uncertainty, as a numb Ebonykit's head lifted slightly to gaze up at her. She couldn't help but take a clearer stock of the wounds, and her discomfort seeing how painful they looked was clear. Ebonykit seemed almost equally uncomfortable with the rank stench of twoleg that permeated from her. "I...I'm...Cupcake..."
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Sept 11, 2019 16:22:12 GMT -5
Post by wildcharm on Sept 11, 2019 16:22:12 GMT -5
(Yep I’m taking the lecture, lab, and supplemental instruction class with a few others. Studying for two exams this week nearly did me in already. I’m juggling it well enough so far ^^’ I can see slicky’s text much better now And I think you’re right! Now I’m side-eying the views every time I visit the thread 0_0)
Something sparked in his eyes, the Windclan leader now seeming to be taunting him calling his very actions into question. That was all the tom could stand to listen from the leader of an arrogant and self-righteous clan. At least Thunderclan had left them be. They weren’t so fortunate to be free of Windclan hanging over their clan. “You think I don’t know that? You think I want to have to second guess my own clan every pawstep of the way?” His face contorted as he looked around the cats in the group. His eyes narrowed to slits watching the loner cat whisper right into Rainstar’s ear. “After everything that has happened the only thing any cat can truly trust is what their eyes tell them.” He growled lowly before glancing at Silverfang, a look of almost betrayal flashing in his eyes. “All I see is a bunch of hypocrites. You are playing into Nighstar’s paws just like the rest of us.” He looked dead at Shadowpaw, the closest representation of Nightstar that could be found. While Jaggedscar wasn’t heartless enough to hurt a kit, the cat he saw in front of him was a shadow of the cause of all this. He took a step forwards only to be blocked by the gangly she-cat stepping forwards first as if she was going to protect the runt. Scoffing he turned away. They were all delusion not to see it.
“The fear of him is ruling your lives just the rest of us that much even a newborn kit could see.” In one motion he pivoted himself around and stalked out of the den, his last few words hanging in the air. He knew as long as Otterstar was in place this cycle would continue. Couldn’t they see that their own clan was so polluted by Shadowclan’s influence. They had all see the corrupting influence of Nightstar first paw. He had to fight his own clanmates who decided to continue supporting Shadowclan even once it was clear they weren’t going to win. Riverclan cats had truly been won over somehow. He couldn’t risk such a thing happening again. Their clan needed to realize that. He slithered back through the doors of the barn, glad to be rid of the stink of twolegs and other creatures.
The she-cat’s eyes were wide with surprise as she watched him disappear through the entrance in a huff. She at once relieved and horrified all at the same time. She knew she couldn’t leave him to have Otterstar’s undivided attention. Frowning she looked to cats around her. She gathered herself back together as best she could. Nothing she could say would erase Jaggedscar’s words from their minds. Breathing heavily she felt as if a boulder had been laid on top of her shoulders. “I am sorry all of this happened. Before you go back to Windclan I think it’s best to come to speak with Otterstar.” Nodding her head to Leafpaw she turned around rather sharply in pursuit of Jaggedscar. Starclan help him when she caught up with him.
Frogstrike shakily set his bleeding leg on the ground, keeping his eyes on the she-cat he felt the strong urge to murder right here right now. At the very least he was tempted to yowl at her and call her a piece of crowfood. By some miracle of Starclan, he didn’t. Instead he took a deep breath and leaned down to give the stinging bite a few quick licks. He turned his head towards Ebonypelt, still with something close to what look to be murderous intent in his eyes. After what he had been put through today he certainly running short on empathy and understanding for other cats. Hobbling his way closer to Ebonypelt he knew she could easily out maneuver him if he was really planning on doing anything. No, instead he drew close so that not every cat in the den might hear him say what he was about to say. “You owe me for this.” He mewed plainly and matter of factly resisting the urge to turn around and look back outside the den.
The lies slid off his tongue as easily as they ever did. “If anything happens to me see that Ebonypelt is being taken care of.” The medicine cat narrowed his eyes. “A father has got to protect his future kits after all.” He It was all lies. He just didn’t want cats getting any ideas about why he was doing what he was doing. With that out of the way he turned his attention back to the maimed she-cat as if he hadn’t just said something that would make most cat’s skin crawl. “Keep her still as possible. Treat her like a sick kit, don’t let her out of that nest no matter how much she whines. I’ll look to see if they are dragging out her body in the morning.” Callously he spoke rather loudly letting the Riverclan she-cat hear it all. With that he limped out of the den, giving up on carrying himself with anything resembling dignity. He had lost that right a long time ago. Sighing he paused to look towards his den before hobbling off towards Nightstar’s den.
Cinderkit shifted himself into an awkward sitting position, with his legs sticking out to the side. He was just as curious as his sibling was of the newcomer. He scrunched up his nose and sneezed when she came close enough for him to smell. He could almost taste the Thunderpath and twoleg in the roof of his mouth. It was his first real time smelling twoleg scent up close and so far he wasn’t a fan. At least it was something to distract both of them for a little while. Cinderkit looked towards his brother, expecting or more wanting him to be the first to introduce himself. Instead all he was doing was staring moony-eyed at the other kit. It looks like introductions were up to him. “Hi I’m Cinderkit and he’s Ebonykit.” The tom-kit mewed as he shifted himself around again to try and get a little more comfortable.
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Shadowstartheleader
Friendship Rank 4
~The world may be dark, we may be lost forever, but we stand a chance as long as we're together~
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Sept 14, 2019 4:02:29 GMT -5
Post by Shadowstartheleader on Sept 14, 2019 4:02:29 GMT -5
(Well big respect i do not have the endurance for all of that at once the view count keeps going up...100 more since i mentioned it 0 _ 0 h-hewwo??)
Rainstar slowly pulled in a breath as Jaggedscar began weaving through his own lamentations about what was going on within his clan. At the end of it all it seemed to her that he was letting himself draw the worst conclusions about his clanmates even as he lamented having to do so, as if it was a natural conclusion to the loss that they had been put through. If he had asked her directly if it was so wrong to question any mixed loyalties, she wouldn't have said that she hadn't understood But she would of fought the idea that the cats who had escaped and brought other clans in to save them were the ones that needed to be scrutinized and questioned. She was predisposed to be far more sympathetic to the captured Riverclanners than Jaggedscar, something that struck her as simultaneously wrong and just another indication of the awful circumstances they were living in.
Her frown intensified as he claimed all that he could believe in anymore was what he could see with his own eyes. There were so many things that her gut wanted to snap to saying, how mouse-brained of a thing it was to say...how awful it was to look at the clanmates he had lived with his whole life and be able to lose any faith in all of them so easily. But she could see the rage in his eyes and how unstable he really seemed to be. She kept her mouth shut for the moment as he ranted on about them playing just as bad a role as himself. She was prepared to listen to him yowl about their hypocriticism because she could see that his ears were closed.
But her disposition had to change when she saw that his attention was shifting around the gathered cats. She wasn't very concerned when his gaze flashed towards his clanmate, before it turned dangerously to rest on Shadowpaw. Rainstar's muscles flexed into motion and she almost burst forth to intercede when she saw Jaggedscar pushing forward towards the Shadowclan-born young cat--but Shadowpaw's guardian moved in the way even quicker and was far closer, and Rainstar bit her tongue and quietly thanked the valor of her warrior. I trust my warriors to defend my own. If Jaggedscar followed his believe to its logical conclusion, at the end of all of this...he was going to be fighting the tide of darkness on his own.
She exhaled a long-held breath through her nose as Jaggedscar finally took his leave. She took a slow gaze around the room at each of the still-present Windclan warriors. Hawktail's brow was furrowed and he seemed eager to bite back as the cat took his leave. Leafpaw was looking down at her paws now, looking plenty bothered by all of what the warrior had said. And Shadowpaw seemed to finally display his full anxiety and fear as the warrior had approached him, and only a physical intervention stopped a potentially gruesome event that he didn't want to think too much about. She didn't say any more, beginning to pad forward to Shadowpaw.
He was taken back to when he was dragged into Windclan, and his early relationship with Leafpaw. When she had blamed him so badly for almost taking Hazelrunner's life with him. That was the tendrils of the scourge of Shadowclan. What Shadowclan had brought him to do and the effect it almost had on Windclan. Was it so weird that Jaggedscar would come to think he was an image of what had been brought to the paws of the other clans? He couldn't imagine how their world would be if he had just...continued to take everything he was dealt in Shadowclan, but was it possible it would have been better than what all of the clans were going through now?
His attention had drifted far away from where they were, and he was snapped back to their reality when Rainstar's exhale was close enough to ever so slightly tickle his whiskers. His eyes widened and he blinked up at her as the aged and fairly tired leader gazed down at him with a steady gaze. Her voice rang with certainty as she opened her mouth and spoke. "You brought us knowledge of something that would have come to consume us anyways." She shook her head as she thought of what Jaggedscar must have thought about Shadowpaw, but Shadowpaw only took it as a sign to remain silent. "More importantly, you belong here with us." These words held a crystal clarity that left Shadowpaw silent not by choice but by a mixture of uncertainty and confusion. A chill was running down his spine after the leader's words, feeling so foreign to the idea of really belonging anywhere. As his mind twisted with various thoughts Rainstar leaned forward and settled a few hairs on top of his head down with a couple strong licks. Staring up at her, a mixture of her total certainty in what she said and this strange gesture towards him left him at a loss for words...or any emotion beyond the confusion he was feeling now.
Hawktail wasn't inclined to believe Shadowpaw didn't deserve a place in their clan, but the strength of the words Rainstar spoke and her strange form of reassurance to the tom-cat left Hawktail feeling somewhat off-put. It was the way she said it, not the fact that she did. Leafpaw was drawn out of her avoidant stupor as she heard what the leader said and she looked up to gaze at the leader. It was true that they would of faced the wrath of Shadowclan whether Shadowpaw had brought them the news of Dawnstar's death or not. Perhaps, to some extent, Jaggedscar would have ended up acting this way no matter their actions. It wasn't exactly liberating to think their actions might not have much effect on what was happening, but...Rainstar was at least right that Shadowpaw wasn't the cause of any of this.
Ebonypelt was pushed into a dark silence as Frogstrike laid the price for the action that she had guilted him into doing. Well, he didn't lay the price so much as lay out the fact there was a price. She didn't want to ponder what collecting might look like for the medicine cat. Word was he was plenty happy satisfying himself with Whispersong, but she had no reason to believe that was as far as he would go. She essentially closed her ears as he began spinning the normal web that to her only seemed like the normal for him and all the rest of these tom-cats. She didn't move at all until he had left, and then her gaze turned to the maimed she-cat who's maw now held a little blood from the medicine cat's leg. She released a shaky breath. "I-its fine now. Its all over and you can sleep." As if that was possible. Anything she might fall into with her wounds likely wasn't going to be sleep.
If his somewhat indignant deputy hadn't been there, Nightstar might have been planning a much more direct approach. The truth was, his patience for Frogstrike's...independent decisions was thinning. He was wasting too many of their herbs; the deputy knew it, Frogstrike knew it, and the clan knew it too. The ironic thing, though, was that the she-cats all still hated him. Meadowleaf loved exchanging the whispers of the nursery for a more gentle interaction. It was an easy way to keep his paw on his clan's happenings.
But he was interested in testing his new deputy's composure. Surely if Frogstrike had the right to handle the she-cats as he wished, the deputy would feel it was his right as well? Well, if the deputy was smart enough to respect his will, he wouldn't make such a leap. He needed a second in command who would learn to take every decision to Nightstar. That was the only way to have true order in the clans. Everything else was utterly prostrate to chaos.
"Mmmmmm. Frogstrike returns." There was something of a mocking humor in Nightstar's voice, one that came only from the confidence he had in his utter authority. "How are the she-cat's? Resting peacefully? Cleaned moss? Pampered their paws?" He wanted a rise out of the medicine cat. Some sign that Frogstrike was doing it with the intention of disobeying the leader--at least, anything Nightstar could interpret that way. It was a fun game that he had come to love since taking over the clan--interrogating for any sign of disobedience. It was a fun dance to make other cats tiptoe through.
Cupcake stared down at Ebonykit for a few long moments as the hurt cat said nothing in addition to his sibling, seeming to barely even focus on the kitten standing over him. As she stared down at him she was starting to notice that he wasn't even breathing like a normal cat, shorter than normal and almost seeming to give the slightest of a flinch with each completed breath. Biting her lip she struggled to think of something to say now that she had said her name and they were both injured and they were other kittens and they were from another place than her and there was no easy way for her to make conversation and it was stressful enough to meet new cats in her own home! She shuffled about on her paws and brushed the dirt with her paws. She reticently pulled back a step, uncertain what more she could say. "H...hi..."
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