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 Feb 21, 2021 23:57:10 GMT -5
This camp was full of strange cats, so it was all the better for the kit staying closer to Quickbird. She wanted to ask about the kits, but her mouth was busy with the mouse in her jaws and she didn't get the opportunity before they were in the den.
She took a sudden step back as the awake kits, minus Thornkit, pushed ahead to greet their father and get a better look at her. It was almost overwhelming her for a moment as they quickly advanced, but the kit took a deep breath, stepping forward once more as she reminded herself these kits were smaller for her and didn't look tough and mean like ThunderClan cats were.
Soon, two more kits were coming to greet her, climbing on and over Rockleap, who let out a quiet grunt of annoyance as she was rudely awoken by them. Fogfoot, and shortly after Thornkit, behind the advancing kits, greeted her, and she mewed a general "Hi," to each cat in the den.
Her ears flicked and she tilted her head in surprise as Thornkit expressed happiness that she came back. Why would he want her to come back to the nursery when she was from WindClan? Maybe he wants to play a game with me. She thought as she recalled his first question the previous day. She couldn't say she was in a particularly jovial mood for game-playing, but a night of rest made her a little bit more amenable to playing around a bit. "Thanks." She quietly mewed back to Thornkit, focused far more on his nice welcome more than any of the various kits eager to figure out where she was from.
Jasminefur blinked, glancing at Brightfrost as he processed what she had said to try to calm him down. After thinking for a few moments he quickly shook his head as he realized she thought he was worried about Fernkit's safety. Well, he was...but more generally. Not so much with kits. "Yeah, I don't doubt that. Quickbird doesn't seem like the type of cat who would let them play really roughly." He tried to settle the idea he might be worried about the kits; there was really nothing to fear.
He padded along her side, trying to take an easy pace to avoid agitating any of his dog wounds too much. It wasn't like they were grave, but he preferred to not be bleeding. When the tour of the dens was interrupted rather quickly, the WindClan warrior tensed up, uncertain what to expect but not expecting anything good.
It might have been a smile on Goldenspots' face, but Jasminefur was feeling something beneath the apparently neutral words being said to him. He was trying to quickly decide what the best response was, but his thoughts were interrupted as he found Brightfrost was much closer and speaking in defense of him before he could even decide what to say. He blinked, staring at her for a few surprised moments.
She backed up what she had said to him only minutes ago, but Jasminefur struggled to understand just why she was so ready to defend him. They were supposed to be enemies, and sure, WindClan was in deep trouble, but why was she treating him so...well?
His tension was eased just a bit after she spoke up, and it was replaced by a strange feeling. Was it awe--how easily she seemed to stand up to a clanmate when he had been utterly incapable of doing so? Was it just more gratitude at how kind she was to defend him? Neither felt exactly like what was swirling around in his chest right now, and he couldn't put his paw on it.
His gaze turned back to Goldenspots as his attention was taken away from his thoughts and the cat emphasized that there were two cats in particular that had brought him into ThunderClan. Was that a sort of accusation that Jasminefur was hearing from him? It sure seemed like it.
There wasn't much courtesy that Jasminefur took from the stilted sort of welcoming the cat gave him. The word 'brief' stuck out to him as a particularly carefully chosen word, nor did he miss playing down the quality of WindClan's available prey. He was extremely nervous about responding poorly and giving the cat an opportunity to speak ill of him, and again his mind went running in circles for what to say. He wanted to respond more directly to what Goldenspots said about prey, but he was too nervous it would be taken as an affront to ThunderClan directly; nor did he particularly want to reply that it was nice to meet him, when nothing about this conversation had been particularly nice.
He settled on what was probably the safest response. "I'm grateful for your hospitality." It came out a bit more flat in tone than he meant it to, but it was said and too late to take it back, so he just stared back at Goldenspots, doing his best not to shrivel under the warriors gaze. It helped a lot knowing there was someone standing right by him who wasn't going to let anything bad happen between them.
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Post by berryjuice on Feb 22, 2021 2:39:31 GMT -5
Thornkit seemed to notice Fernkit step back as the other kits approached. He approached her more cautiously. “...are we scaring you?” His eyes were sympathetic, even though he had no idea of what Fernkit was going through. But despite his inexperience with the world around him, h could tell that there was a reluctance to her that the few kits he normally interacted with didn’t have.
Quickbird nuzzled his kits and tried to slow them down. “Be gentle- this is a lot to handle all at once.” --- Despite Jasminefur’s tone, Goldenspots seemed to regard the tom’s response as being subservient enough. “If there’s anything I can help you with, let me know. Some of the others here won’t be so polite towards you.” He regarded the WindClan cat appraisingly, appearing more interested than hostile at the moment.
Brightfrost was glad that Jasminefur had responded in a fairly safe way; she appreciated that he was smart enough to know that he should avoid angering any of the warriors. She supposed that she should try to be diplomatic too- she was annoyed that several of her Clanmates were unhappy about Jasminefur’s presence, but she supposed she couldn’t blame them. She would have to help them get used to it.
Though, that thought did make her consider what Goldenspot had just said. Jasminefur’s ‘brief’ stay...she wondered how long it would be, exactly. Specklestar had indicated that he would be staying until the next Gathering, at least. But after that? She wasn’t sure that Jasminefur would have a home to return to anytime soon, and the thought of him being cast out on his own made her feel sick. Surely, no one deserved to be entirely without a Clan.
So, if Jasminefur was going to be staying for long, she needed to find a way to get ThunderClan to warm up to him at least a little. Which meant at least trying to be civil with her more annoying Clanmates.
“I’m sure I can take care of things. We wouldn’t want to bother you.” Brightfrost brushed her tail against Jasminefur as she moved to lead him away before Goldenspots said more. She tried to resume her tour as if nothing had happened. However, she was increasingly aware of the eyes on them that reminded her of how hard it would be to persuade her Clan that Jasminefur’s presence was something they should accept. Though, as she thought about the dream she had had the previous night, she wondered if she should focus on that at all. Could she really trust any of 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 Feb 22, 2021 13:42:55 GMT -5
Fernkit was immediately aware that Thornkit didn't seem anything like her siblings or the other kits she knew from WindClan. The normal, unending energy to charge at whatever new thing presented itself didn't seem present in Thornkit, unlike most kits, and his sympathetic mew left the little cat lost for words for a bit.
It was only when Quickbird swooped in and slowed down the rest of the kits that Fernkit refocused, and her cheeks started running red as Thornkit bluntly asked her if they were responsible for her reaction. They were, but even she didn't feel good about just saying that. "...I'm sorry," she mumbled quietly, unable to express that she was already going through a lot and there were a lot of kits here, a lot of sights and sounds to overwhelm her.
Her gaze was locked on Thornkit's. "Is it going to bother you if I come here to play?" She asked the younger kit, uncertain if she had an open invitation for such games.
~ What in Starclan's left ankle was this cat's game? When he thought he had a good read on this cat as being hostile and unwelcoming to him, Goldenspots said something that was actually starting to sound legitimately hospitable after Jasminefur almost verbally prostrated to the warrior.
He left the conversation in silence, not sure what he should say anymore or if saying anything at all was worth the effort. Plagued with uncertainty, he looked helplessly at Brightfrost, and was rewarded for his uselessness when she spoke up to cover for him...again.
Her tail to guide him away was a comforting gesture that left him half grateful and, again, half bewildered. Following beside her as she guided him back onto the path of their tour, His gaze was basically fixated on her back now, and as she started trying to get back into the tour, Jasminefur found the words weren't really entering his conscious thoughts, just blurs of sound as he thought to himself.
"Why are you doing this?" It was a skeptic question, not the same sort of skepticism that had sounded in his voice when he doubted his safety in ThunderClan. It was just a little warmer, more curious than worried--more interested in the answer than asking the question just to make a point.
But then he glanced around them, and he saw far more pairs of eyes than he had registered before--even more cats had come out, or he was a terrible judge of how many cats there were visible in this foreign camp. "No, no-" He cut the question off before she could answer it. "Never mind." This wasn't the place, not with all these cats listening in and watching. Maybe her answer would be just as generic if he asked her while they were alone, but he felt certain the answer wasn't going to please the cats around them very much.
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Post by berryjuice on Feb 22, 2021 14:33:39 GMT -5
“Oh- no- I don’t mind,” said Thornkit quickly. “I think...you should play with us whenever you want. It’s...fun to have more kits to play with.
Another kit got into a play stance and looked to Fernkit excitedly. They appeared sweet and friendly, but without the gentleness of Thornkit. “We can have bigger games now! Do you want to join?”
“Don’t push her into anything she doesn’t want to do, okay? It’s important to be respectful of new friends.” Quickbird smiled gently to his kits. “I have to join the hunting patrol. Be good and listen to your mother until I’m back.” He exchanged a few quiet words with his mate before preparing to leave for the patrol. --- Brightfrost paused at Jasminefur’s question; she was visibly deep in thought as she wondered exactly what she should say. The real answer felt like it would be much too complicated to explain to someone that she barely knew. And she didn’t think that they fully trusted each other yet. He may not believe her, and may even be offended if she tried to say that his mother was in her dreams; it also occurred to her that all the information she had received was rather sensitive. There were things she hadn’t wanted to tell Autumneyes, her medicine cat and a trusted friend. Could she really tell those things to a warrior who might have tried to rip her to shreds only a few sunrises ago?
She could have sworn that she felt the cold feeling sink in, despite the pleasant sun around them. Why was she doing this? What was it about this cat that made her want to trust him- and that made her want him to trust her? It was because this was what StarClan wanted, right? Surely, Jasminefur’s mother would not have appeared to her if she didn’t want Brightfrost to ally herself with her son. She must be on the right path.
She felt her normal confidence coming back as her thoughts aligned. She was doing this for StarClan- but she couldn’t tell him so plainly.
“There have always been four Clans.” As Jasminefur backpedaled, Brightfrost also became aware that this was possibly not the best place to discuss this. She longed to find somewhere they could be alone together- but sneaking around now would earn the ire of her Clanmates. Maybe when most of the patrols had left, she could seize an opportunity. For now, it would be good to give responses that most wouldn’t argue with. “Something that’s a threat to one Clan could be a threat to all of the Clans.”
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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 Feb 22, 2021 16:01:09 GMT -5
It seemed like they were making a pretty big game--Fernkit wasn't feeling so certain anymore. But Thornkit was fast to respond and seemed to insist that she join in, so she continued trying to conquer her crowd anxiety. "What game are we playing, then?" She continued focusing on Thornkit, not exactly trying to be rude to the other kit who had addressed her, but trying to do what she could not to shrink back and make herself as small as possible.
~ It was a diplomatic, plain answer, nothing more than the Warrior Code dictated; yet he was left with the feeling that she wasn't saying something, based on how far beyond the Warrior Code he felt she was going just to help him here. The silence that had hung between them for a time left him feeling more certain about this.
There have always been four clans. It sounded like such a simple thing, such a basic rule of their lives, but now when he thought about his own clan he was utterly uncertain of what remained and whether they were going to be able to withstand the crushing losses and rebuild WindClan.
Well, that may be true, but I don't think your clanmates are that great threat you need to be vigilant about. He thought sarcastically in his head, though he would hop off a mountain ledge before saying it to her face.
But he was mentally kicking himself moments after thinking it. Why was he spitting in the face of her kindness? Sure, it didn't make sense, and he wanted to know more, but it just wasn't important at the moment. He needed to treat this cat with the utmost respect and stay in her good favor, for Fernkit's sake, and for any surviving WindClan cats' sakes.
Wary of the gazes piercing into his soul, and uncertain of how much to say to Brightfrost at the moment, he just exhaled with a heavy sigh. "Hopefully we find clanmates of mine soon, and Fernkit and I can return to our camp and not be an issue." It was extremely wishful thinking and his own voice didn't even sound like his heart was in it. All he could really say was true was that he wanted to find more of his clanmates. Even knowing so many were dead, he had to hold on to there being survivors.
His mind was left completely uncertain as far as whether they were really going to be able to return to camp any time soon. It was almost certainly a graveyard at this point, littered with dead bodies and ruined dens. It was going to be a heavy load of work to fix the camp and make it liveable again, and that was only doable if they had enough cats with them. These thoughts left a rather distrubed feeling in his stomach that manifested in a grimace on his face.
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Post by berryjuice on Feb 22, 2021 19:17:30 GMT -5
Thornkit stopped; he didn’t seem to have thought that he would actually get this far. “We can play...uhm…”
Fogfoot chuckled lightly and rolled a ball of moss towards the kits. “Why don’t you all practice your hunting skills?” --- Brightfrost considered what returning to camp would mean for Jasminefur and Fernkit. She did want to be optimistic that they would find more WindClan cats. It was disturbing to think that only two cats out of the entire Clan had escaped- she was hopeful that there could be at least a few more. But would there be enough to get WindClan back to...well, she wasn’t sure she should wish for them to get too strong, but she at least wanted them to get back to being a Clan.
“When we find your Clanmates, we’ll need to do something about the dogs first- or else it won’t be safe to take everyone back to the same camp,” said Brightfrost, remembering her Clanmates’ warnings. “Maybe we convince a few of the Clans to cooperate and work to take them out so that they don’t attack any of the other camps.” She paused to remember an old story she had caught from the elders. “You know, ThunderClan defeated a pack of dogs a long time ago. I’m sure we can figure out a way to do it again.”
Her eyes shone as she tried to work out a plan in her head. She knew it would be dangerous, but it was a danger that she felt like they could take on- somehow.
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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 Feb 23, 2021 5:30:18 GMT -5
"ThunderClan...Defeated a whole pack of them?" His voice could not hide the disbelief in his voice--he had been able to build on her idea of convincing the other clans to help with the dogs, but the thought was left behind as she mentioned the ancient story that didn't seem to be passed down on WindClan's side.
"Well, if ThunderClan really did, I suppose it wouldn't really be told by our elders..." His voice was a little more measured, the previous disbelief diminishing as he gazed at her evenly, standing in place. "You have to tell me how they did it. Do you remember the story? Or do your elders remember?" He didn't realize just how long ago she meant. He didn't realize the details might not even be clear.
"You're right that this pack is obviously a threat to all of the clans, but that doesn't mean they're going to want to help until the dogs are at their borders. I'd certainly prefer to have RiverClan or ShadowClan at my back when we take the fight to the dogs, but it would be safer to have a plan of our own if we don't have that backup." How weird it was to say he wanted a ShadowClan warrior at his back.
Of course, even as he pressed her with questions, it wasn't even clear if Specklestar was going to permit a bit of this. He wasn't exactly restricted from leaving and going to beg the leaders of ShadowClan or RiverClan, but she didn't share a bit of that freedom. And any clan was going to respond how Specklestar had--as one clan, they weren't going to risk sending warriors into WindClan territory. And if no single clan was eager to help, it would be even more complicated to get multiple of them to help.
As his gaze intensified, locked against her's, he took in the fact that she seemed almost as motivated as him to deal with the dogs, something which he wasn't sure anyone else in ThunderClan shared. Was she really that eager to make sure her rival clan survived this attack, that they could return to WindClan and live like they did, fighting between their clans moon after moon? For StarClan's sake, you're not acting like a ThunderClan cat at all, and I can't even ask you why with all these cats staring at us.
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Post by berryjuice on Feb 23, 2021 5:52:51 GMT -5
“Uh…” Brightfrost struggled to remember the details of the story, which were vague even from the elder’s mouth. And of course, she hadn’t listened all that closely; when she had heard it as an apprentice, she had been busy being annoyed that she was stuck with tick removal duty. “I think they threw the dogs into a river?” Which river, she wasn’t sure. It felt like it belonged to a land that existed only in stories. In fact, she supposed it was very possible that this never happened at all- but she was going to cling to the idea anyway, for the sake of convincing Jasminefur that defeating the dogs was possible.
She nodded at Jasminefur’s statement about needing to have a plan of their own. After all, she couldn’t really depend on anyone to help with this. Well, at least she could assume that she would have Jasminefur on her side; it would be in his best interest to help with a plan to save his own Clan. “I think it’ll be hard to convince any of the leaders to send many of their cats to help with something really dangerous- unless we can really prove that they have no choice.”
Her ears twitched as she tried to consider different possibilities. She again felt aware that there were likely cats listening to them, though at least the hunting patrol had now left. She nudged Jasminefur. “Come on, let’s get a better view.”
She began leading him to the edges of camp, so that they could sit at the edge of the rock walls of the camp. It wouldn’t exactly be private and other cats would surely take notice of them, but maybe they could talk a little bit without their every word being dissected; it was the best she would be able to do until they were able to leave camp. She ignored a comment from a passing elder about “letting the enemy get a good look at our camp.”
She stayed close to Jasminefur, not sure how comfortable a WindClan cat would be with heights. Autumneyes would never let her hear the end of it if she let him fall.
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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 Feb 23, 2021 8:42:54 GMT -5
“They-“ He stared at her, his eyes widening, a little bit of doubt coming pack into his voice. A river? He mouthed, having a tough time imagining how they could have managed such a feat. Images of dogs twice his size flashed through his mind and he visibly flinched shortly after mouthing his doubt.
The problem was that he had no idea how to throw a dog in a river, and he had no idea if the dogs were going to be able to swim—clearly, if the ancestors of ThunderClan did it and survived, the dogs probably couldn’t.
It was a bit crazy that an essentially successful dog raid on the WindClan camp wouldn’t be enough to convince other clans, but he knew that Brightfrost was right about the likelihood of receiving help. They would have to make an incredible case to the other clans, and even then they would need some incredible luck on their side. “StarClan help me...” he mumbled with an exhausted sigh.
He silently nodded as she urged them to as close as they could get to out of earshot as possible. He followed right behind her, conscious of making it look like he wasn’t going to go anywhere she didn’t take him, far more for the cats around them watching than for Brightfrost. Although, in some way, it might keep a little heat off of her.
He kept his mouth shut as the elder identified him as a clear enemy, averting his gaze down to the white paws ahead of him to avoid seeming challenging to the elder. How else was he going to survive here?
He was behind her until she approached the rock wall, when he emerged from behind her to step to her side, before his eyes widened as he gazed over the deep dip in the ground that the frequent tree-climbers didn’t think twice about.
Before he realized what was happening, his vision was starting to spin as his stomach twisted as he realized how close he was to having nothing under his paws, and the tom-cat began swaying and attempted to step back, but with his mind twisting the space below him as it was, a ‘step back’ didn’t go the way he was expecting.
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Post by berryjuice on Feb 23, 2021 17:01:23 GMT -5
Brightfrost was glad that Jasminefur kept close to her. Hopefully, no one would think that Jasminefur was trying to run off on his own. She felt bad for him- having to walk on eggshells and not respond to insults from enemy warriors. But she also felt some respect; if she were in this situation, she wasn’t sure that she could handle it as well as he was- mostly cats probably couldn’t.
She thought about saying something to reassure Jasminefur regarding the elder’s comment- though what could she say? Lost in her own thoughts as she was, she almost forgot that the cat she was thinking about was right beside her. She looked back to him and noticed his expression; it reminded her of the times that she had seen an apprentice climb up a tree and then become shocked as they realized how high up they were.
“Whoa, it’s okay-” Brightfrost was too late to warn Jasminefur. When she saw him about to fall, she surged forward and grabbed him by the scruff in a quick motion, pulling him back from the edge. She didn’t want to be too rough, but her main focus was just on preventing Jasminefur from plunging off the edge.
She let him go once he was safe, but remained close against him as she took a moment to catch her breath. “Sorry- this was a bad idea-...” She looked to him, finally voicing the obvious truth. “I’m not really used to...hanging out with WindClan cats. And you’re not…” She paused. “It must be hard to get used to this camp. All of this must be hard, I guess.”
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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 Feb 24, 2021 7:43:14 GMT -5
Jasminefur was lucky; moons of practice being looked down upon and chastized and insulted by his superior, senior warriors left him with something of a thick pelt. Or, perhaps it was better to say that he was just good at hiding how much it all impacted him.
Still, the urgency of not offending a single cat hung stormy over his head as well, leaving him eager to be complacent and take whatever was thrown at him.
As the tom-cat lost his sense of direction in a particularly violent reaction to being high up, his own disoriented reaction seemed set to lead him to something of an unpleasant fate as he felt a front paw miss the ground, realizing he had stumbled himself forward--either he'd fall and break so many bones that he would instantly die, or he'd be so hurt that few cats would care to waste herbs on him--he thought about Fernkit, alone in ThunderClan, with noone to keep her safe, seeing the only other WindClan cat's body broken on the floor of the camp...
But he had two paws on the ground, and his attempt to backpedal, though not enough to stop his descent on his own, was enough when Brightfrost sank her fangs into his scruff and dragged him away. The short-haired cat's pelt was fluffed up in fear, and he instinctively pressed closer to the cat as she finally let him go, as if the dip were going to follow their retreat and send him falling anyways.
"I-I've never been so h-high..." It couldn't have been more than climbing some branches of a tree, but he was obviously no tree-climber. "I-I should have known it wasn't-" He leaped to take responsibility for the problem, but he was suddenly interrupted from below.
A higher-pitched, cackling laughter sounded from closer to the center of camp. "Awww, Brightfrost, you should've just let him fall! More food for all of us." There was a mockingly disappointed tone to his voice which made clear how little the young tom, Paleheart, cared for the life of any WindClan cat. Applewing, another tom who never left his side, started laughing with Paleheart, making their voices sound throughout the clearing. "Aww, look how he's cowering in her pelt! Brightfrost, I didn't know you were so popular with the Windclanners!" Paleheart lost it after Applewing spoke up, hooting and snorting in a fit that didn't seem to stop. Neither of them seemed to have gret opinions of Brightfrost either; they never had, since the time they were apprentices together.
Jasminefur felt a cloud as pitch black as night descend over his mind as he heard the guffaws from below them, and he mumbled some sort of quiet apology, meaning it for Brightfrost, though it wasn't really clear if it was for her or the two tom-cats, who were clearly out of earshot from how quietly he mumbled it.
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Post by berryjuice on Feb 25, 2021 4:54:12 GMT -5
Brightfrost frowned, wishing that she hadn’t pushed Jasminefur to come up here. She was going to need to learn to understand him- and WindClan cats in general- a lot better if she was going to be any help at all. She wanted to attempt to comfort him, but she instinctively moved back as she heard the jeering of her Clanmates below.
She glared down at the two mocking cats, her long fur puffing up in anger. How dare they make fun of her! Babysitting a WindClan cat might seem fairly unglamorous, and she knew that she wasn’t doing her reputation any favors by seeming to get along with an enemy warrior. But she was following leaders that came from their leader. Who were they to question any of this? “Only you would stoop as low as eating crowfood!”
She moved closer to the edge, digging her claws into the rock. She wished that she could leap down and teach them to respect her. In her anger towards her Clanmates, she nearly forgot about Jasminefur beside her. “Don’t you have something better to do than stand around camp and snicker like apprentices?”
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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 Feb 25, 2021 6:57:43 GMT -5
Jasminefur reflexively pulled further back from the edge even further as the barrier of Brightfrost vanished and a slight spinning started returning to his mind as he stared down below them.
Once he had pulled back more, the spinning stopped as he stood (more like fearfully crouched) about four tail-lengths away from the dip, almost retreating out of sight of the jeering cats below.
~ Paleheart grinned as Brightfrost lashed back at him with such a weak response, and gave an intentional, wide yawn in response. "I'm actually quite content with my vole, thank you for asking." His gaze quickly snapped to the WindClan cat as he started pulling out of view, and his eyes narrowed meaningfully.
The Windclanner seemed to stop just after Paleheart looked at him, and it left the ThunderClan warrior suspicious the cat was ready to run. Really, it would be all the better for ThunderClan if he was gone. He was about to say something to Jasminefur when Brightfrost spoke up once more, and his gaze turned back to her. "Well, unlike you, we actually do what warriors are supposed to, and don't bring enemies into our camp," he barked back, copying what the elder had said previously.
Autumneyes narrowed her eyes and lost her place in her work as she heard the raising of voices outside of the den, and the young medicine cat finally spun around as she heard Paleheart responding, much closer to the den than Brightfrost. It was pretty obviously who the warrior was speaking about. She exited the den with a gaze of fire ready to burn the tomcat alive, taking a look around to figure out where everyone was.
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Post by berryjuice on Feb 26, 2021 18:39:21 GMT -5
Brightfrost stifled a sigh when she saw Autumneyes come out of her den. She really didn’t need more cats to be involved with this right now- she could handle the two annoying toms by herself. And she also didn’t need the medicine cat to know that she had risked Jasminefur taking a fall just so she could bring him up here. But these thoughts reminded her of the patient’s presence; she noticed that Jasminefur was not as close as before and looked for him. She frowned as she saw him slinking back.
She looked back down at the two toms. It was hard to argue that she had indeed brought an enemy to their camp, which was generally the opposite of what a good warrior was supposed to do. If only her Clanmates could understand that there was a bigger picture here. Really, should she even be wasting her time with them? Did it matter if everyone hated her?
A part of her deep down knew that it did matter. But she ignored that and spat at the toms below. “You’re too mousebrained to understand anyway. That’s probably why you’re never given any responsibilities bigger than going on border patrols.”
She turned her nose up at them and turned away with a swish of her tail. She then moved to Jasminefur’s side. “You don’t have to listen to them. They don’t know anything.”
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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 Feb 26, 2021 19:01:42 GMT -5
It really was sad how much a ledge freaked him out, and Jasminefur tried not to think about what his clanmates would have thought if they saw him, to put it in Applewing's own words, "cowering in her pelt." How pathetic and low this slaughter had brought him.
Paleheart's nostrils flared up as Brightfrost implied they were horribly lazy warriors, unable to shake off that sort of insult. He was ready to fire back at Brightfrost, but she started turning away and padding away from the ledge. He was just starting to make his way to the ascent up to where the she-cat was, primed to pick a bigger fight, when Applewing's tail came to rest along his back.
"She's not worth it at all, Paleheart," his soft voice distracted the other warrior for a moment, and as Paleheart turned back to Applewing, the slightly younger warrior kept speaking. "She knows you're an excellent warrior, she just feels like she has to shift the blame, since she was obviously responsible for bringing him here. Everyone knows you work harder than any of us," Applewing gave the other tom-cat a slow blink, a quiet purr starting to rise into his throat.
Paleheart eventually took a deep breath. "I suppose that you're right. She'd say anything to deflect away from this." He sighed quietly. He settled back down on the camp floor, having turned away from Brightfrost and Jasminefur, content to leave her comments behind for the moment as Applewing set to grooming Paleheart's rustled fur.
"I could be making all of this up," Jasminefur mumbled quietly in response, completely unmoved by Brightfrost's attempt to comfort him. "I could be here to spy on all of you. I could have trained Fernkit for a moon to be able to fool you and seem innocent. I..." His voice carried an incredibly dull intonation, and more, a frustration whose source wouldn't be clear to the warrior in front of him. "I could be using you to get close to ThunderClan's secrets. It makes no sense that you're treating me like you are--like I deserve any sort of kindness."
One thing was being a warrior from a hostile clan, but Jasminefur's words almost sounded like the reasons not to trust him and treat him well went beyond him being an enemy warrior. It wasn't clear why, but his choice of words and the tone of his voice made it seem, just a bit, like he might not think he deserved to be stood up for by any cat, much as Brightfrost had been.
"They're just pointing out the smartest position from which a ThunderClan warrior should look at me." It was a tactical mindset, and equally dehumanizing.
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