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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Post by Shadowstartheleader on Jun 14, 2021 7:42:31 GMT -5
Jasminefur wasn't able to make any sort of attack before Brightfrost was turning towards him again, so he prepared to get out of the way as she play-growled at him and pushed forward once more. He deftly pulled himself out of the way with equal speed, this time curving all the way around to her back--though she switched her attack into a series of blows, and he found the path wasn't as easy as he expected. He was forced to side-leap her first attack, and on her second he jumped back and narrowly avoided contact with her. It was only on her third that he got his feet under him and made it behind her. He tried to swipe with enough speed to trip her back leg; it was what he would try if she was really a dog, on the off-chance that it gave him a chance to strike hard at a vital part of its body.
Likely due to his unimpressive and unrefined physique, his strike didn't hold the force it would need to unbalance a plump and well-trained warrior. It didn't help that he could hear so much murmuring about their sparring that he was having trouble concentrating on the match.
Creekpaw squealed with excitement as Jasminefur tried to take Brightfrost down. It may be treason to root for Jasminefur, but he's so fast! Creekpaw bounced in excitement and ignored her sister's mentor and bounced up and down until she was in between Honeypaw and Robinpatch. "I can't believe we get to see them fighting!" She whispered incredulously to her sibling. "Who do you think will win?! No way he can actually take Brightfrost down, right? Brightfrost is like, one of the best warriors ever."
This time, when Brightfrost whirled back towards him, he thought he felt the energy shift in their sparring and with a slightly uncertain gulp he took a quick couple steps back. Then, she emitted a strange noise that sounded like a cat trying to imitate a dog, but...it was a little too close to the sound of a dog for his liking, and he wondered why and how she was making that sound. It was just sparring, right?
The sound shot him back to their three-on-one against the dog--there, force really was an option, because there were three of them. But what was going to happen if he really found himself in this situation, face to face with a dog? He could only evade for so long.
He tried not to let her strange growl unnerve him (though it had) and, with the hypothetical situation in mind, he moved to strike more head-on. Though, his first move was to dive to the side to try and get away from her "jaws," and then he hurled himself at her, trying to tackle her and wrap his front paws around her, though since his claws weren't out, it wasn't exactly going to be easy to wrap around and 'attack' her this way.
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Post by berryjuice on Jun 18, 2021 7:19:45 GMT -5
Honeypaw bounced with Creekpaw, occasionally mimicking their fighting moves in her excitement. "ThunderClan always wins, right?" Although, in that moment it seemed like she cared less about who won and more about how entertaining the battle was.
Brightfrost felt a swell of pride as Creekpaw said she was one of the best warriors. At least some cats respected her. If only she had been able to give them a show when Paleheart had confronted her. She watched Jasminefur’s reaction; she wondered what seemed to change his mood. Maybe a fight like this was too much for him. After all, the last fight he had been in had been against a real dog. And before that…she thought again about seeing him in her dream.
She struck back at Jasminefur with her soft paws. She supposed that this was a good time to end things; she didn’t want to hurt the poor tom. And she thought she had already been able to show her Clan that he was a good fighter, even if maybe they wouldn’t admit it. Despite her ever-present desire to win, this wasn’t about her. It was all for StarClan’s mission. When Jasminefur tackled her, she cried out, “Ah, you got me!” She fell to the ground dramatically and closed her eyes.
“Wow!” Honeypaw squealed, looking at Jasminefur with admiration. “That was awesome!”
Brightfrost felt her pelt crawl. Her mind was brought back to the ordeal with Paleheart. She had been robbed of her chance to prove herself against those who doubted her. These apprentices hadn’t seem to doubt her; but would that change? Even if it was just sparring, they were seeing her get beaten- by a WindClan cat, no less.
Autumneyes was definitely right about one thing, even if Brightfrost wouldn’t agree: she wasn’t mature enough to resist any kind of challenge to her reputation.
After a moment of playing dead, she suddenly shot up and leaped at Jasminefur, attempting to pin him while he was off his guard. She went directly for his throat in a faux-death bite. “Never let your guard down!”
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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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Post by Shadowstartheleader on Jun 22, 2021 17:39:33 GMT -5
Jasminefur was struck with a sudden sense of confusion as Brightfrost began falling to the ground, not having expected such an easy end to their mock battle--but when she cried out a mock admission of defeat, he caught a suspicion that she wasn't proclaiming the end of their mock battle.
Creekpaw stared at the two warriors in shock as the slender, unmuscled WindClan cat took down Brightfrost. Her eyes widened and she shook her head as she struggled to process what was in front of her. "No way!" She couldn't believe it! A WindClan cat had taken down Brightfrost! "I can't believe he did that!"
Her comment aside, Jasminefur started planting his paws down on her underbelly in the common pinning posture, trying to think of a proper finishing move that he would utilize against a dog. His hesitation of how to finish the 'dog' served Brightfrost perfectly. Just as he had decided on the exact move that Brightfrost was about to perform on him, a fierce fake bite to the neck, he found his whole momentum reversed.
He was thrown off of her almost effortlessly, and his back hit the ground with a thud that was a little painful for him--he hadn't doubted the strength hidden in her powerful muscles, but the sudden sharp pain on impact, perhaps exacerbated a bit by his previous wounds, assured that he wouldn't forget it.
When his eyes blinked open after a few moments of wincing to the pain, he found himself beneath Brightfrost's soft paws, staring up at the she-cat before she delivered a 'deathblow,' causing him to half-flinch from instinct, though he knew it was no real attack. This was for show, he figured.
"Oh, wow!" Creekpaw bounced out of her fur as Brightfrost took the battle back. It had been difficult for them to immitate a battle with a dog, given that a cat would never 'pin' a dog, but Creekpaw didn't care! "Look how she threw him! He never saw it coming!"
"Come on," Sandclaw huffed, unimpressed. "She obviously baited him in. That isn't anything impressive. He fell for a simple trap." She turned away from the scene, quickly batting a paw at Wrenpaw, who was just as focused on the two cats' combat as Creekpaw and Honeypaw, to get her attention.
Brightfrost's words of warning didn't particularly phase Jasminefur, as a part of him figured that they were more for the cats watching them, particularly the apprentices, than him. He gazed up at Brightfrost, trying to ignore the pain ebbing away in his back. It was obvious that he wouldn't have paused to consider his next move in a battle against a real dog, so his next comment, clearly, wasn't that serious. "Oh, no...I should have been faster..." It was a very quiet, almost facetious mew just meant for her to hear...and was that another of his tiny smiles? His ears perked up as he heard a couple apprentices remarking on how awesome Brightfrost was, but he didn't take it negatively. From the way the apprentices had been speaking, and how she fought against the dog before, she must have been a pretty impressive warrior. And he couldn't be blamed about the fact that that feeling must have been starting to show in his expression--for the most part, a small gleam, easy to miss if one was distracted, in his eyes.
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Post by berryjuice on Jun 23, 2021 7:39:44 GMT -5
Brightfrost pinned Jasminefur, prepared for any kind of retaliation. For a moment, she was worried that he would be angry. But she relaxed when she saw his face. His smiles, rare as they were, were infectious to her. She smiled back at the cat beneath her- it was a soft smile, rather than a cocky grin. She did notice the emotion in his eyes, more than she usually noticed this sort of thing in others. But of course she would be curious about him- StarClan had shown her that he was special. Her gaze was broken as she became distracted by her Clanmates speaking.
Honeypaw gaped as the battle concluded. She looked back at Creekpaw. “That was awesome! I bet those dogs don’t stand a chance!” She spoke with the confidence of an apprentice who had never seen a mean squirrel, let alone a dog.
Mintbreeze watched the sparring with some disapproval, seeming to agree with Sandclaw. She shook her head and looked to the young apprentices. “You should be training to fight like a ThunderClan warrior, not a ShadowClan cat."
Robinpatch huffed in agreement. “When I was a young warrior, we could defeat our enemies honorably.” Brightfrost irritably thought he probably couldn’t remember back that far.
Goldenspots chuckled. “Robinpatch, I hope you don't expect the dogs to fight with honor."
Brightfrost turned to the onlookers. “We need to use any means necessary to win.” she said, puffing out her chest. Sandclaw may not think her skills were impressive in sparring, but surely she would change her tune once they were in real combat. She looked to the apprentices. “Even if he lost, there are things to learn from Jasminefur- we should all make sure we’re quick enough to out-manuever the dogs.”
Honeypaw pounced to the side, as if to show off her hopefully-burgeoning agility. She stumbled awkwardly but was quickly back on her feet. She looked to Brightfrost and Jasminefur. “Can you show us everything?”
Brightfrost was going to respond before she realized that she should probably let Jasminefur up. She felt guilty as she remembered his injuries. It would be unbelievably stupid if she had worsened them just for something like this. She hastily moved off of the poor cat. “Yeah- I’ll teach you.” She then looked to Jasminefur and spoke to him quietly, her eyes worried, “Are you okay? If you’re hurting- maybe I should bring you back to Autumneyes.”
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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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Post by Shadowstartheleader on Jul 5, 2021 9:25:13 GMT -5
Creekpaw expressed her shock with a "wow!", but soon her bouncing came to a stop as Sandclaw, Mintbreeze and Robinpatch dogpiled onto the incredible sparring match. Her ears fell dejectedly, but her eyes continued shining with the same incredulation as Honeypaw despite the grumpy cats speaking over their shoulders. She returned to whispers with her sister, trying to be covert even though they were basically tail to tail with the old warriors. "I bet Brightfrost could take on a whole dog by herself. Did you see how easily she threw him? I bet even a dog couldn't pin her under its giant clumsy paws." She was right behind her sister when Honeypaw pounced forward, trying to clip Honeypaw's back leg with a paw before quickly turning to Brightfrost when she said she would teach them everything.
Jasminefur blinked up at Brightfrost as she held him down while speaking, wanting to ask to be let up though he wasn't brave enough to speak over her. Though she had been lecturing the apprentices, he couldn't help but wonder who exactly she was speaking to. Even if she was looking at the small cats, it didn't seem like the apprentices were exactly complaining about the fight--no, she was lecturing the senior warriors complaining about her 'tactics.' It was bold, but he had to wonder if it was a little too early to have 'Jasminefur's training' erase their 'honor.' It wasn't him who said it, but they were just as likely to blame it on him as on Brightfrost.
She was ultimately right, though. Thinking back to the scene that had surrounded him, a ruined clan, he didn't think honor was going to keep any of them out of the jaws of a dog. The other warriors were going to have to accept that if they wanted to be able to face that sort of threat.
He rose awkwardly back to his feet when Brightfrost finally stepped off of him. He was a little flustered having been pinned for so long, perhaps because of how it degraded him in the eyes of the ThunderClan cats. He wasn't going to say anything about it, though. Jasminefur turned to her again as she addressed him, picking up right away on her more hushed tone and the worry that it translated to him through her expression. "Oh, n-no-" He lied, turning his eyes downwards and shaking his head quickly as the brief jolt to his back wounds settled into an almost unnoticeable annoyance. "I'm fine. It doesn't hurt."
He had to admit to himself that it felt a little weird hearing her ask him that--'Are you okay?' 'Are you hurting?' They weren't questions most cats would ask him. He had a hard time processing it, and it led to his answer being quick and dishonest.
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Post by berryjuice on Jul 6, 2021 8:05:45 GMT -5
Brightfrost took Jasminefur’s answer at face value; it didn’t really occur to her that he might be lying about something like this. She was rather relieved that she apparently hadn’t hurt him; the worry in her eyes faded and was replaced with pride. She smiled. “I think we really showed them something.” It was obvious that she didn’t just mean in terms of fighting techniques; there was always so much to prove. Sure, many of the warriors were still disapproving- of a WindClan cat teaching them fighting moves, of Brightfrost resorting to cheap attacks, of a WindClan cat even being in their presence...but it seemed like they were swaying some apprentices, and that felt good.
Brightfrost looked to the apprentices. She badly wanted to be the cat that they thought she was- a cat who dogs didn’t stand a chance against- a cat who could easily protect the Clans. “You can be just as great. Dogs may be tough, but you can be tougher.”
She began going over some moves that she thought would be useful. She walked the apprentices through the decisions that she had made during the ‘battle’ and tried to show them the techniques she had used. She also made sure to let Jasminefur demonstrate as well; she couldn’t forget that she needed him to look good too. Thankfully, as training went on, the other warriors did not remain focused on what Jasminefur and Brightfrost were doing. But there were still frequent suspicious glares at the WindClan cat. Stoneheart rarely acknowledged either of them as she worked on training.
Honeypaw bombarded them with questions once more about hypothetical battle scenarios- her inexperience was obvious. She tried to copy the moves she was shown as closely as possible; it seemed like she was making a little progress. She wrapped her paws around Creekpaw’s neck, as Jasminefur had done to Brightfrost- her movements were clumsy and fairly weak. She was also rather distracted as she looked to Jasminefur and Brightfrost for their approval. “Am I doing it right? Is this good?”
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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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Post by Shadowstartheleader on Jul 6, 2021 18:41:53 GMT -5
If he hadn't been avoiding her gaze, Jasminefur might have seen the pride for the shared feat they were working towards accomplishing--showing two cats from two rival clans working together was so much more important, at least for now. If they couldn't even work together, the sparring match being of a high quality wasn't going to matter much in the end. He shuffled awkwardly on his paws, not feeling like he did much except hopping around to dodge her--but he thought of the apprentices' outbursts and excitement, and wondered if maybe it had been useful for something.
He finally lifted his head again as Brightfrost reassured the apprentices, and he gave her a side-glance for a few moments. Sounds like a mentor. He tilted his head curiously at her and stared for a few moments. Is there anything you can't handle? before backing away a few steps and looking away when Brightfrost began demonstrating again.
...and then he was forced to come back soon after, when Brightfrost wanted him to demonstrate how WindClan cats performed quick evasions like he had shown in the battle. Unlike most of the warriors in the clearing, Jasminefur didn't care about showing these techniques, especially not to the neutral apprentices. Jasminefur knew that, however many of them remained, something about their rivalry would change.
It has to. A grim shadow cast over his face for a few moments before beginning his first demonstration. Or who knows what will happen to ThunderClan, and maybe even the other two clans?
It was this desire, one that was sharply in line with the mandate of StarClan, that made him comfortable showing some of WindClan's tricks. They still needed to find his remaining Clanmates, but he was really beginning to think of all of the clans now that they were giving training to ThunderClan. He wasn´t particularly expert at WindClan's maneuvers, but all but the most senior of warriors who had studied WindClan for countless moons likely didn't recognize this. He was good enough to have avoided Brightfrost, and he was good enough to show the gathered cats. Creekpaw struggled with a snappy evasion, getting bowled over by Honeypaw several times after being matched to practice with her sister. ThunderClan cats were known for their physical endurance, not necessarily for their snappy movements in battle. Jasminefur knew this, but there wasn't much more that he and Brightfrost could do other than insist on repeating it. Sandclaw and the warrior she was partnered with were not paying that much attention to the instruction, much preferring to spar in their own, ThunderClan way. It wasn't lost on her how much Jasminefur was staring at Brightfrost before and during the demonstration, taking in every word like she was a lake of knowledge that he was drinking from. This quickly made her more cross than she already was, not wanting him to keep taking in more ThunderClan secrets--even though she wanted to admit what Brightfrost was demonstrating herself wasn't exactly ThunderClan's generations-protected manuevers.
She was itching to interrupt in some way, and she particularly wanted to get her claws around the WindClanner for a bit.
"Your grip is too weak. Don't your mentors teach you anything these days?" Branchstep was bound to be in the elder's den soon, and like some of the senior warriors of ThunderClan who were unable to retire due to the necessity of more fighters, there was an aura of permanent fatigue about her, in her decreasing amount of muscle, only somewhat maintained fur, and her deep, tired rasp. She had already spoken her disapproval of Paleheart's behavior in camp, and she certainly didn't think that the apprentices were being shown the proper techniques if Honeypaw's grip was so flimsy. "She's right," Sandclaw murmured quietly, not caring about who she ticked off saying so. She stepped away from her partner and closer to the apprentice, Jasminefur, and Brightheart. "I'll show you how a ThunderClan warrior does it." She enunciated both words so clearly and with such a pause in between that not a cat in the clearing would be unsure what distinction she was making. She grinned when she was a tail-length from the two apprentices. "Are you ready to see it?" She didn't make any movements towards Jasminefur. Yet.
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Post by berryjuice on Jul 18, 2021 6:23:50 GMT -5
“We need to be training the apprentices more strenuously,” said Stoneheart, looking to Honeypaw sternly. “When the dogs come, we cannot have any weak fighters.”
“Maybe having a WindClan cat here is too much of a distraction,” said Robinpatch in agreement. “Only ThunderClan cats can teach our apprentices the ferocity that they’ll need to survive.” He looked to the two young apprentices. “Apprentices, focus on your real training; not cowards' battle tactics."
Honeypaw flattened her ears dejectedly, her fun ruined. “When there’s a real dog, I promise I’ll know how to kill it. I'm sorry.” She did perk up somewhat when it seemed like her and Creekpaw might get to see another battle.
Brightfrost stepped between Jasminefur and Sandclaw. It was getting to be a common occurrence- her defending him, especially from her fellow ThunderClan warriors. She glared at her, obviously ready to fight Sandclaw if she took another step towards Jasminefur. Like with Paleheart, she was itching to attack. And again, she felt confident she would win. “Are you bee-brained? He’s recovering from his injuries; Autumneyes doesn’t want him doing anything too strenuous.”
Mintbreeze scoffed. “Only a WindClan cat would be so fragile. A ThunderClan warrior would never spend so long taking up space in the medicine cats’ den.”
“Brightfrost, weren’t you sparring with him not long ago?” said Goldenspots.
Brightfrost ignored both of them. “Jasminefur needs rest.”
“Enough. This is a waste of time,” said Stoneheart firmly. She gave Brightfrost and Sandclaw a look that clearly said there would be consequences if either of them dared unsheathe their claws. “Brightfrost, take Jasminefur back to camp.”
“But- we’re not done training yet!” Brightfrost’s fur prickled with anger again. Why should they be the ones to leave when Sandclaw was the one causing trouble? Especially when they were obviously helping; the apprentices were learning from them! They knew moves that they hadn’t before, thanks to Jasminefur. It wasn’t fair.
Stoneheart didn’t respond, but gave her a silencing glare. She looked to Honeypaw and Creekpaw. “I will teach you the correct technique.” Honeypaw cowered at the thought of sparring with the much larger she-cat. She already missed the fun of training with the outsider, who was different enough to be exciting but didn’t feel too scary.
Brightfrost clenched her teeth and moved closer to Jasminefur to lead him back to the camp. She felt like her steps forward were constantly being ruined by her Clanmates. It felt like nothing Jasminefur did would be good enough for them.
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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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Post by Shadowstartheleader on Jul 22, 2021 18:56:59 GMT -5
Sandclaw hissed as Brightfrost seemed to guess her intentions, taking the warrior's gaze off of the apprentices as she blocked Sandclaw's path using her strong, fluffy frame. General opinion seemed to be with her, that the freeloader wouldn't be able to handle any real training, but Brightfrost was making such an effort to protect the pathetic excuse for a warrior that Sandclaw was starting to feel a special kind of dislike for Brightfrost.
The insult almost set Sandclaw off. She wasn't exactly fixin to fight her clanmate like some other cats, but her nostrils flared and her hackles raised more rigidly than they already had been as she was insulted. She didn't make any particular acknowledgement that she had planned to jump at Jasminefur, even though Brightfrost had been certain of it. "You don't even know if I was talking about him! And anyways, if he can't handle a real ThunderClan skirmish, none of that soft mouse-dung you were throwing at him, maybe he shouldn't-"
Sandclaw was cut off when Stoneheart put an end to all of the discussion about the WindClan warrior. There was plenty left that she wanted to say, but she wasn't going to dare push the senior warrior. She didn't have a lot of respect for Brightfrost, but playing with ticking off Stoneheart wasn't something she wanted to do.
Creekpaw didn't want to be there anymore, starting to feel a little scared about how tense everything was becoming. Jasminefur's speed was something that had impressed her, but it seemed the cats around them didn't feel the same way, and she went silent, losing her bouncy excitedness and she pulled in closer to Honeypaw and looked down at her paws.
Jasminefur had been uncertain of Sandclaw's intentions, but particularly seeing the visible anger on Sandclaw's face as Brightfrost got in the way made him step back with alarm as he realize what she had intented to 'show' the apprentices. Was half the clan seriously going to take any chance to get their claws on him?
His retreating step came at a poor time, as Robinpatch commented on the training so far and called what he was showing all of them the tactics of a coward, and Sandclaw sneered as he essentially backed up what Robinpatch had said by retreating away. Jasminefur's pelt burned with shame just at this comment and her reaction, exhausted from the waves of disdain coming off of these cats.
But they weren't finished, and Jasminefur just seemed to shrivel up more with every word as he was ridiculed from various sides. You fight like a coward. You're a waste of space and so fragile to be stuck in Autumneyes' den so long. You're wasting our time. Go away and let us train them properly. It wasn't exactly what they said, but it was what he heard and what he thought they meant.
He couldn't look at any of these cats anymore, as his heart started choking on everything he was hearing from these cats who shouldn't have mattered to him. Even Brightfrost had brushed past the individual insults and just insisted that Jasminefuir shouldn't be sparring (with anyone that wanted to decorate their nest with his pelt) and that their training wasn't finished. Maybe even she was starting to feel a bit of the same way, even defending him as she was?
Whatever the case, Jasminefur left, guided by Brightfrost and playing back all the insults in his mind, hearing it again and again as he stewed deeply in it. Brightfrost was right that they were looking to be dissatisfied with him, searching for reasons to dismiss him out of paw, but it didn't change how worthless it was making him feel about himself and his attempts to contribute.
He finally thought back to Brightfrost leaving their insults unchallenged again wondering if she was feeling they might have some truth to them, even if a logical cat would point out how they got on her nerves. Jasminefur felt the negative emotion building up within him, and after three-quarters of a minute of padding dejectedly away from the group, wet tears began sliding down his cheeks. Enough ridicule from his own clanmates had taught him well the art of silently crying to avoid being noticed, and as such it was hard to notice until he spoke up, his voice conveying his dejectedness and hurt. "I'm sorry-I wasn't trying hard enough. I didn't know what else to tell them, but I should have said something. I'm sorry..." He looked down at his paws, jostling a tear off his cheek in the process, and he watched it fall onto and wet his left paw a touch.
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Post by berryjuice on Jul 22, 2021 20:55:55 GMT -5
Brightfrost swished her tail dismissively towards the others as she turned around. She kept her ears pricked for any signs of an attack from Sandclaw or anyone else. She felt unsettled as she realized most might not be afraid to turn their back on their own Clanmates. They weren’t her enemies, but it felt like it at times.
She stayed close to Jasminefur as they walked. It was easy to tell she was still agitated; her fur stood on-edge and brushed against his. “Sandclaw’s not even that great at fighting,” she grumbled. “I could have taken her…”
She was lost in her own bitter thoughts and didn’t notice Jasminefur’s fragile emotional state at first. She looked to him once he started speaking; her expression softened. She realized she hadn’t been thinking much of his feelings; it must be rough to have so many cats openly despise him. “It’s okay- it would have just made things worse.” She paused. “Um, I mean...it’s fine. You should just let me handle it.”
She looked into his eyes, feeling her heart sink at Jasminefur’s tears and sad expression. He didn’t deserve such harsh treatment. She moved closer, her flank pressing against his. She draped her tail over his back. “There’s nothing you could have said. They’re just...stupid. If they had good sense- and if they really trusted StarClan- they would treat you better.” She paused, seeming unsure of what to say. She was never good at this sort of thing. “You’ve done nothing except help them; you don’t deserve to be attacked like that."
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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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Post by Shadowstartheleader on Jul 22, 2021 22:15:00 GMT -5
Jasminefur's sulkiness intensified as she said him saying anything else would only have made things worse. Wasn't he already doing that anyways? He already knew that, and it just hurt a little more to have it repeated back to him by her. He didn't say anything in response as she repositioned the way she had spoken, but he felt that she might have noticed that her words had come out a bit...unsympathetically.
He finally seemed responsive as she pressed closer to him, causing him to come to a stop on their path back and remain still as she tried to comfort him more. He didn't exactly mind, despite how unusual it was for someone to make such a gesture for him, because he needed any kindness he could find. She might have only been saying what they already knew--that he just wanted to help and they didn't seem to care--but just hearing it repeated from someone else in a genuine effort to comfort him set it above telling himself this fact and made him feel just a bit better about the treatment he was getting.
"They don't care. They don't care if I really want to help." It was a flat, matter of fact statement, and an audible sob made its way out despite his attempts to keep his crying silent. "I'm from WindClan, and that's all they'll ever care about." It was irrelevant how much help he offered or how much he served their interests, or even that WindClan had been destroyed; once a WindClanner, always one. He sighed tiredly. "I just want to see my clanmates again." He didn't even care how few of them would be thrilled to see him; at least he could exist without feeling waves of hate from all directions.
He shut his eyes and listened and breathed as a quiet wind danced around the trees. He felt her fluffy fur brushing from side to side as the wind tickled it, and it was a sensation that he found pleasant along with the general warmth that radiated from her. It might have only been the earlier part of the day, but he already could feel the call of a rest, and he wanted it with this sort of warmth and support. His mouth opened to suggest they not follow orders. What if they just found a place that was calm and away from all of the cats that despised him? But he shut his mouth, because they were supposed to go back to camp--so Stoneheart had said.
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Post by berryjuice on Jul 23, 2021 2:16:46 GMT -5
Brightfrost frowned softly as Jasminefur longed to be with his old Clanmates. She still wanted to hope that some of them were still alive and he would be reunited with them at the next Gathering. But she really didn’t know. And from what she had seen in her dream...well, she thought maybe someone else might have escaped, but it didn’t look great. There were likely many cats that Jasminefur would never see again- at least, for the rest of his life. And there wasn’t much of anything Brightfrost could do to help him with that.
So she stayed quiet, doing her best to be a comforting presence- the way that Autumneyes had been when she was younger and struggling. She remained close to Jasminefur, allowing for warmth to grow between them. It wasn’t often that she was in this sort of position; she couldn’t imagine her Clanmates coming to her for this sort of thing. And she wasn’t sure she would offer it. But she felt herself wanting to help Jasminefur for some reason. Maybe because she needed them to trust each other for the sake of the quest. Or maybe she was feeling some empathy for the WindClan cat.
She too thought about not going back to camp so that the quiet moment with Jasminefur didn’t have to end so soon. Although, she didn’t want to rest. She fantasized about going off into the woods and hunting for a while. A satisfaction of a good hunt might help Jasminefur feel more useful, and they could go somewhere far enough away that Brightfrost’s Clanmates wouldn’t be around to ruin everything. But she could only imagine how they would react to a WindClan cat disappeared to who-knows-where in the territory. They would be able to leave on their own soon, she hoped. Once Autumneyes gave her blessing.
She walked to camp at a slow and steady pace. Normally she would be less patient, but she was concerned for Jasminefur and she knew neither of them was excited to be back in ThunderClan camp. As they came through the entrance and she knew that eyes would be on them, she instinctively moved farther away from Jasminefur. The warmth dissipated and she found herself wanting to keep him close for longer.
But she tried to think about it much as the cats in the clearing glanced up. Thankfully, many cats were training or on a hunting patrol, but there were always some camp around in case there was an attack- now they also had the dogs to worry about.
Specklestar had been napping in his den; he walked over to the edge of the Highrock to look down at Brightfrost and Jasminefur. He smiled. “How is training going?”
“Great. We taught them a lot,” said Brightfrost confidently, hoping that Specklestar wouldn’t read into the fact that they had had to come back to camp early. “You should see the apprentices; they’ve gotten much better.”
“That’s great. I can’t wait to see what everyone’s learning when I get a moment,” said Specklestar, as if he had been busy. “Does Stoneheart want to switch which cats are training soon? It won’t be long before the hunting patrol is back.”
“Um, she didn’t say. I can go ask- but I need to take Jasminefur to the medicine den,” said Brightfrost, though she didn’t really want to go back. Unless going back meant potentially getting to spar with Sandclaw and really showing the apprentices how it was done.
Specklestar nodded sympathetically to Jasminefur, seeming to notice that he wasn’t in a great state. Though, hopefully he attributed that to Jasminefur’s physical rather than mental condition. “That’s alright- don’t worry about it.”
“Thanks.” Brightfrost continued leading Jasminefur towards the medicine den, not wanting to spend much more time conversing with her Clanmates. She peeked her head inside, hoping that it would be fairly quiet.
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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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Post by Shadowstartheleader on Aug 16, 2021 1:13:19 GMT -5
Everything from his clan's unclear demise to ThunderClan despising him was hurting him immensely, and even though he hadn't actually said it, Jasminefur had been hoping for some sort of verbal and emotional reassurance from Brightfrost. He seemed to be keeping a stony gaze on her, waiting for some sort of answer; but it never came, and his gaze fell back down to his paws, even as Brightfrost took pains not to pull away from him, to remain close and warm.
Why did it hurt to listen to nothing but silence from her? He shouldn't have been harmed by such a cat's reaction--even now, his place as an outsider relying on such a cat wasn't lost on him, and he felt a double-layered mix of misery and shame, both for his aloneness and reliance on a ThunderClan cat's empathy. He was just....pathetic.
It built into a reinvigorated self-loathing, unable to do anything useful himself as he hid behind a ThunderClan cat. He wanted to push himself forward to accomplish something, anything, just anything that would redeem him even a little bit in the eyes of his clanmates, to wipe away the fact he was a coward who ran away when his clan needed him most.
So Jasminefur couldn't help when his resentment showed a bit on his face as Brightfrost separated from his flank and they entered the camp. It would be really hard to guess it was aimed at himself when he simply looked ticked off and out of patience--showing these emotions, specifically towards one's self, was incredibly difficult.
The expression on his face didn't leave as Specklestar approached them--it may have soured just a little as Brightfrost exaggerated how the training session had gone. In his eyes, it went very poorly; okay at first, especially with the apprentices, but it ended in utter failure. It was hard to see this, though, as he turned his head to the side to avoid the leader's gaze.
It seemed the leader didn't read much more into this, because Jasminefur noticed a nod from the leader, and when he glanced back, the Windclanner realized it had been directed at him. He blinked at Specklestar, his eyes widened a little bit in surprise as Brightfrost was reassured that she didn't need to worry about it. Was...that nod meant for me?
He didn't say anything else as Brightfrost lead him away. His gaze lingered on the leader for a few moments, meeting Specklestar's eyes and trying to read what that nod had been meant as. But eventually, Brightfrost had tugged at him enough that he turned silently towards the medicine cat's den.
Herbs lied in unusually straight, stacked piles in the herb stores, almost obsessively organized in as neat a fashion as possible--a sort of organization that just wasn't standard for the medicine cat. Autumneyes was pacing away from the stores, near one wall of the den by her personal nest, a stack of horsetail and catnip almost crushed beneath her paws with each absent-minded pacing. She seemed very bothered by something despite how nicely the den seemed to be organized; all the herbs except those at her paws were incredibly well organized, both Brightfrost and Jasminefur's nests were pristinely remade, with the softest moss Autumneyes had been able to find. Only she was off.
She hadn't seemed to have noticed the two cats near the entrance, having had time to stress over her anxieties since Fernkit had gone off with the other kits once more.
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Post by berryjuice on Aug 17, 2021 4:46:14 GMT -5
Specklestar met Jasminefur’s gaze for a moment. In his eyes, there was pity and a bit of curiosity. The leader seemed to have less open animosity towards Jasminefur than most of his warriors did, but that mattered little when he seemed to be ruled by ThunderClan rather than the other way around. Specklestar watched the pair head to the medicine cat’s den for a moment before he went to pensively lie in his den.
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Brightfrost was glad that Specklestar didn’t keep them much longer. And it was probably a good thing that he hadn’t questioned them more about exactly what had happened at the training session. She didn’t think that Jasminefur wanted to discuss it much, least of all with the ThunderClan leader. She frowned softly as she thought about his angry expression. The way he had been treated at the training must have furthered his dislike of the ThunderClan cats. She couldn’t really blame him, but at the same time she thought about how he was probably raised to hate ThunderClan, the same way that ThunderClan cats were raised to hate WindClan. She wondered how much anger towards them Jasminefur might be hiding and felt reminded again that normally he would be an enemy that she would need to be on guard around.
But surely she didn’t need to worry about that. It was safe to have him here- StarClan had showed her that. Still, it was concerning. They needed to be able to trust each other as much as possible if they were going to deal with everything that was going on. And Brightfrost definitely had other threats to watch out for- Jasminefur might be the only real ally she had. "You're doing as well as you can, they just...they don't get it. They're paranoid," she mumbled to him.
She walked with him to the medicine cat’s den and paused at the entrance as she took in what was in front of her. It was clear to her that something was wrong. Her anger at her previous argument with Autumneyes faded and was replaced with concern. Regardless of what was going on between them, the medicine cat was still a dear friend.
Brightfrost quickly looked concerned and moved closer to Autumneyes. “Are you okay? Is something bad happening?” She took the horsetail and catnip, placing them into the painstakingly-organized storage before they could potentially be damaged.
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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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Post by Shadowstartheleader on Aug 20, 2021 2:05:26 GMT -5
Jasminefur sagged down with tiredness as Brightfrost's words flowed through his ears and lounged themselves down on his shoulders. "I know," He quietly agreed with the clear fact. "Maybe I should just stay out of their way until..." He trailed off, padding into the den where Autumneyes was walking, looking plenty stressed. It caught him by surprise, and he shut his mouth and cut himself off.
Autumneyes turned with a jump, taken off guard by their silent arrival. How had they gotten so far without her hearing? She was lucky it hadn't been a warrior here to thrash Jasminefur, because she might not have been able to stop them in time. "Uhh...yes! I-yes, I mean-no! Nothing bad happening right now," She stared at Brightfrost with wide eyes from the start she had been given. StarClan's sake. Brightfrost, you're wrapped up in something so much bigger than yourself, you've wrapped WindClan into this, and you're more fierce than you've ever been. How can I not worry about you? There was no true blame in her thoughts, just anxiety for the future and her own role to play in keeping Brightfrost alive--as well as lamenting the fact that they weren't in a reality where Brightfrost could have been a just a little bit less headstrong. Just a bit. "Thank you, Brightfrost. That's very sweet," She murmured as her sister ward adopted kit friend? helped finish a job that Autumneyes hadn't even realized she wasn't done with. "I was just busy thinking about all that's going on," she admitted a half-truth, hoping that it would settle the concern on Brightfrost's features. She reached forward to give Brightfrost a few licks to smooth some of the little signs of recent agitation in her fur, hoping Brightfrost wouldn't reject it given their previous conversation.
After, her gaze turned towards Jasminefur, and she slowly circled the cat, looking for signs of new damage. She, thanks to StarClan, didn't come up with any new wounds, and even his head looked to be healing healthily. However, she paused and frowned as she saw the previously well-sealed teeth marks. Bleeding, his back was not, but it still left her a little exasperated. If a stone hit him there, he could have bled out that far on the territory. We can't have him rolling over rocks like this. Her excessively worried gaze turned to Brightfrost once again, and she circled the cat in the same way--though this time, she didn't seem to end up with any serious concerns on her face--and then she turned back to her herb stores, counting again they had enough of the herbs Jasminefur would need to re-set the cobweb clumps and see if the poultice had stayed on well enough. "I'll have something for you in a minute, Jasminefur."
He blinked. Maybe he shouldn't have done the training--maybe, even, have pushed back, just a little bit, against the idea. When Autumneyes told him he would need a new 'something,' he felt a bit of shame wash over him for letting the wound get worse. "O-okay."
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