RiverClan Leader's Den

[Abyssopelagic]

Flyfur decided it was time to report in. If anything was going to happen, it would have already and there was no need to delay one so long Lionstar began to thing she was skimming her duties.
She popped her head in.
"Hello? I'm reporting in."
She quickly made her way inside.
"The nursery has been quiet since I last gave a report, nothing new. I was waiting for something to happen before I came by, but nothing did so I decided to stop putting it off."
And that was about all there was to say.

[plum]

She feels as if she is stepping into the shade at last after being made to stand in the scorching sunlight on hot stone for hours. His acceptance and, in fact, his disgust in Springcry as well, brings immense comfort to the apprentice. Plumpaw remembers the death of Firebug, and how she'd felt staring at the mangled remains until rescue came. How no one in the Clan had taken it upon themselves to sit with her and listen, how no one had even jumped up and made the effort to act on it. She lived with the paranoia and got on with life after a time, but even so, she felt sickened by the sight of blood when it ran dark and heavy.
The silver she-cat also recalled moons ago, when she had gone out into the territory alone one day. She'd found a rogue talking to a young apprentice, coercing her into leaving ThunderClan with him so that he could teach her properly. Lobsterbreath, he'd called himself. If Plumpaw hadn't ferociously spoken for her Clanmate, what would have happened then?
Plumpaw's eyes moisten and grow clouded with emotion, though she does not lift her gaze for several heartbeats. When she finally collects the strength to do so though, she fixes Lionstar's figure in her gaze and nods slowly to him.
"Thank you, Lionstar, I..." The words she had formulated in her mind to say to him suddenly disappear again and she bite her lip, unable to do anything else other than shake her head.
"For promising to do something. I want to know what you'll do. I want to be there, if you let me." Her weakness had left her now, and all she felt was that same fire that she'd felt when listening to Springcry's nasty voice address her.

[BEAR.]

Though Lionstar was torn between exile and killing the fox-heart, he recognized the impracticality of both options.

If Springcry was merely exiled, he could prey on others. Continue to harass the Clan. If he died.. assuming all the afterlife nonsense was true, it might mean he could harass his Clan-mates as they slept. Neither option was ideal. But! It did give him an idea.

"Springcry cannot be allowed to continue this wretched behavior. It's more than likely you're not the only cat he has.. manipulated, to put it lightly. He is a threat to RiverClan and to cats he thinks are beneath him." Lionstar let this words sink in for a moment, mind reeling. "But there's a chance, if he is killed, he will continue to prey on others even in death. So he will be exiled, but we need to silence the snake and make him useless. I'll be assigning a warrior or two to escort him out of camp - and then disable him. Blind him and take his voice, so he can neither spy nor verbally abuse others again. You're more than free to help if you wish, but I don't believe there's another option to this."

[ @implimm ]

[plum]

Plumpaw watches her leader in the shade now as a flutter of trapped exhilaration flits about within her ribs at the mention of exile. I've led a cat into exile, she couldn't resist thinking. A shiver runs down her spine, but it is not out of fear.
"Perhaps not," the silver apprentice agrees quietly with his final statement. Anything less and he could become the same as that rogue she'd met in the woods that day. Finding lost kits and apprentices and goading them closer...
"I'll be there to witness it happen."
The solemn promise felt heavy in her mouth, and it was a relief to speak it aloud. Feeling lifted now, Plumpaw rises to her paws and nods to Lionstar gratefully. What was going to happen to Springcry, when? She trusted that he'd say when the time came, and she trusted that he really would allow her to attend the cruel fate she'd pushed the warrior along into.
"Thank you very much, Lionstar. Is there anything else I can do for you before I go?"

[duckie]

Sootflare
__________

Following the meeting, Sootflare followed Lionstar to his den, trailing behind by a couple of tail lengths. He didn't want to assume the leader wanted to talk to him - but he had a feeling there was something on his mind and he wanted to talk about duties anyway and this seemed to be a good opportunity.

"Ah - Lionstar?" he meowed, sticking his head in through the den entrance.

[BEAR.]

"No, I don't believe so."

Lionstar rose to his paws fully, starting to head out of his den, and he beckoned Plumpaw to join him. "I'll be handling Springcry during the next meeting, but for right now.. stay away from him, and let me know if he tries anything else."

[ @implimm ]

[BEAR.]

Entering his den once the meeting was over and done with, Lionstar's shoulders sagged and he looked back toward Sootflare as the deputy followed behind him. "Sootfather."

Without really giving Sootflare a chance to talk, Lionstar sprang on. "I'm so sick of this, all this.. authority, and duty, and not having much me time. It was fine at first, I felt like I had all the energy in the world and I could do things, but I'm tired. I'm exhausting. It's.. draining, and I don't want to end up some shriveled up old man like Fallenstream was because I no longer enjoy playing leader."

"I.. just want to be happy again." His ears flattened back, adverting his gaze. The weight over him had lifted only slightly, to be replaced by the twist of guilt for merely thinking of no longer being leader.

He did this to himself, he had to see it through - right?

[ @wnder ]

[duckie]

Sootflare
__________

"I-... hm. Okay."

That... was a lot to take in all at once. But this was just what he was here to talk about, wasn't it? Seeing if he could take anything off of Lionstar's shoulders. This just meant that could get right down to business. Perfect.

Definitely perfect.

"Right, well, that's actually what I wanted to talk with you about. I wanted to check in, see if there's anything I can do - take off your paws - to free up your day a little bit?" he replied, stepping firmly into the den and settling down for a long conversation. Deftly and expertly shoving down the nagging feeling in the back of his head that this meant more than just... delegation of duties.

[BEAR.]

"That's the thing." Lionstar wanted to sink his claws into his skull. "I just.. don't.. want? to do anything. All the cats coming into my den, talking to me about issues and problems and the more that piles up, the less involved I want to get. I used to love just.. doing everything, being involved in even the tiniest of spats, but it's like my fire burnt out. I just.. don't feel like I have the passion of a leader anymore, and I hate it."

Instead of his skull, his claws settled for the sandy floor of his den. "I know you lack a social life too Sootfather, but that doesn't mean I want to dump all of my unwanted chores on you so I can improve mine." Except, he kind of did? But it felt wrong. "How do you do it..? How do you not get driven insane by the same old, same old, boring, job.. focused dung? I don't remember the last time I truly enjoyed doing things."

Maybe Sootflare had some secret ancient method to combat a lack of motivation? He was old, surely he had some tricks up his pelt.

[ @wnder ]

[duckie]

Sootflare
__________

A younger Sootflare might’ve gotten frustrated - taken this little speech as a full grown tom whining about his responsibilities like a child. Lectured him like he would have any other warrior. But a younger Sootflare didn’t know Lionstar. Not well, at the very least, and an older one still didn’t, but he hadn’t worked with Lionstar for however many moons now and come out having learned nothing. This was different - not a simply hissy fit. Letting out a sigh, he met the leader’s gaze and for a moment seemed to be searching for where to start.

“Burn out is... normal. You can’t expect yourself to shoulder all of the clan’s problems and come out of it... just fine. Your clanmates shouldn’t expect that from you either. The past moons have been a lot and you’ve burned pretty hot for a while now - it’s only natural that it dies after a while. You run out of fuel.”

“I... love my clan and as a part of that I love doing any job I can to help out. It may not always be pleasant in the mean time - teaching a bunch of kits who seem intent on drowning themselves is a less than ideal way to spend the day - but I know in the end it’ll have some sort of... positive result. And - more than anything in the time I’ve been your deputy, my goal has been to not disappoint you. You had a bad streak before me and I do my best be my best. For you.”