Training cave [Mafia training area II]

[nocturnal]

// @TheNyanCatMinecart

He didn't care that she had… disabilities, deformities; both or whatnot. Talonstone would treat her as he normally treated others, and truthfully, that might rub her fur in the wrong direction. Fortunately, Blackhaze would be there to clear up any misunderstandings that might come to light during the session.

Had she, now? She'd known the rosetted tom while he was still alive? That was unexpected, but not necessarily surprising.

The warrior noticed her shaking legs. If not for that, he would've asked if she would rather walk while they talk. "Sit if you wish," he allowed. His tone was astonishingly amiable considering the guarded stance he held himself in. If Ashfeather chose to relax her legs, then he would follow; it would be rude to stand while another sat.

"You made a brave decision," Talonstone remarked. "Is there anything specific you would like to discuss? Or anything you would like to rant about?" He leveled his gaze, something similar to reassuring amusement in the depths of his abyss-shaded eyes. "I will not judge you for your words, emotions, appearances, or actions amongst other things. Everything said here remains confidential for the both of us. Or, if you prefer, we could play a game of questions and answers. That tends to let secrets out inti the open, even if not our intention."

[TheNyanCatMinecart]

@bmkmb @Exis (Blackhaze is watching from the side so that's why I'm mentioning them)

Ashfeather wished that she could be as confident as the long-furred white tom. He seemed so confident, so self-assured. If only she could be like that, without her stuttering and shaking, and always worrying about what she was going to say. At Talonstone's invitation, the black she-cat sat down, sitting upright. She probably looked like a mess, with her dull, matted fur, the ribs that pressed against her fur, and her light gray belly, which had now shrunk back to its normal, pitiful self. Could she really express her emotions to this tom? Swallowing, she eyed him, then knew that she had to lighten up a little. This was the whole point of the lesson, right? Looking into his piercing yet comforting blue eyes, Ashfeather decided to tell him some of her troubles. Nothing about ShadowClan, especially with Blackhaze watching.
"Thanks... and, uh..." There she was, with her stutters and "uh"s. She had begun to glance down at the ground, her voice growing low and mumble-like. Forcing her gaze to lift, she decided to try again. Badly clearing her throat, she decided to tell Talonstone a bit about what was going on in her life.
"Things are shaky, like really shaky, for me right now," she admitted, her gaze occasionally flicking away from the white tom's. "I had a litter of kits, but one of them was stillborn. He - he was named Dogkit." She swallowed; she'd said this to Blackhaze, right? But not Talonstone.
"A-and then my mate, Flameclaw, died too. I'm glad to have so many g-good friends in WindClan, but I have troubles with some cats." The grief for her lost ones was building up, especially after the escapades of Ravenkit and, pretty soon, Whitekit. Her heart fluttered in her chest. How could she just... talk about it like it was normal? Like WindClan was still average? It all burst out before she could stop it.
"Things are terrible right now! My two remaining kits are almost apprentices, but Ravenkit ran off, and Whitekit almost followed him. I don't understand, was I a bad mother, what have I done? Could they not handle a deformed, half-rogue cat's legacy?! Or was it because of what's happened?! How can anything be normal anymore? Dawnstar's taken over WindClan and kidnapped Twilightstar somewhere, and killed Breezefeather, and I have no idea what to do!"
Ashfeather was trembling so hard that she couldn't even sit upright anymore. She slid to the ground, laying down, her body trembling so hard that she couldn't speak. Mist gathered in her eyes, and she stared down at her broad, round paws. Oh, StarClan, why did I tell them that? She realized that Talonstone smelled of ShadowClan... and Blackhaze had lived there once. What would they think of her outburst?!

[nocturnal]

// @TheNyanCatMinecart — [No need to match the length—I may have gone a bit overboard.] || @Exis — [Talonstone nonverbally commands Blackhaze to leave in the shortest and third to last paragraph if you wanna skip to that.]

If only Ashfeather knew that he wasn't nearly as confident as he let off. He must've seemed so coldly determined, maybe flamboyant even, in that strange way of his—nowhere near Blackhaze, of course, but that's why the two of them opted to work together. Although, from Talonstone's perspective, it hadn't been much of a choice.

Anything that Ashfeather saw on his exterior came from his resolute, frozen resolve. Something that had been beaten into him, quite literally, at a young age. If not for that, he would've died long, long ago. He, too, was broken. Only, it would be too shameful to admit such a thing aloud. His inner demons were for him to face alongside a select few, but really, for him and said demons alone.

He briefly wondered how long it would take for his demon to crash this party. Said demon had been lenient with him recently. Proud that he was following in his pawsteps, no doubt. Or perhaps he had enough of a heart left to change for the best? But that was unlikely. Highly unlikely.

When Ashfeather spoke, he listened. Talonstone was particularly good at that. He made a note to address her stutter and lack of eye contact later, but for now, he allowed her words to wash over him. And the sheer force of them… startled him, although not a movement he made displayed that.

Death came first, then external troubles. It sounded complicated, each event digging deeper into the trench left behind. And then… Dawnstar what? Without anyone's notice? That was… highly impressive. And somewhat distressing. How did that molly manage to run a clan without telling them a thing? If the windrunners despised them before, now there was no going back. So much for peace; they were a clan built on power and war. They couldn't—or rather, their leaders couldn't—survive without war.

As much as he wanted to inquire more about that incident, this wasn't the time. Frankly, he shouldn't even know… how would this affect his plans? He decided then, to keep the knowledge to himself. His clanmates couldn't hear of it, and his lack of surprise later on wouldn't bother them much with how inexpressive he already was.

Unsure of what his next move should be, Talonstone took a risk. He approached Ashfeather and (attempted to, for the sake of not powerplaying) gently rested his tail on her back in what he hoped was a reassuring manner. The "tail treatment" worked on the majority of his friends, so why not? One should note that the warrior rarely, if ever, purposely made contact with others. He avoided touch like most felines stayed far away from water, so this had better work.

With that, he shot a glare at Blackhaze that more or less warned, 'Go find someone else to train. You are no longer needed here. Also, I absolutely despise you for leaving me to deal with this situation alone.' He could be very expressive with his glares if he wanted to be.

"It is not your fault," the shadowdweller assured with an air of affirmation laced into the words. Last time he'd spoken like that, it had been to Nightshiver after the windrunners demolished their home. Now he said it to a windrunner after a shadowdweller basically imprisoned them. Wasn't there a saying about not befriending the enemy? Or what comes around, goes around? Regardless, the ironicness of the situation didn't escape him.

"Dogkit and Flameclaw likely live in comfort, and I like to think that all felines go through a rebellious stage," Talonstone remarked, referring to Ravenkit and Whitekit. "If you have given them any sort of attention, then you are not a bad mother—believe me, I have seen much worse. As for Dawnstar… I cannot tell you what your role should be. What she did, she did without the knowledge of anycat but herself—I doubt that our deputy is aware of this… advancement." It was bizarre that he was still speaking calmly throughout all this. "Before you question what lies in the future, you must calm yourself now—in the present. Once you quiet and comprehend your thoughts, you can plan for future actions. I will not share my own thoughts on the matter until then."

[Exis]

Blackhaze’s eyes steeled. Dawnstar was taking over other clans now? Great. He nodded to Talonstone and padded away to deal with another apprentice.
@bmkmb @TheNyanCatMinecart

[TheNyanCatMinecart]

@bmkmb

Ashfeather lifted her head as Talonstone began to speak. In the corner of her eye, she spotted the ringed tail of Blackhaze disappearing, but hardly glanced at it with her only good eye. Instead, she focused on the white ShadowClan tom, wondering how he could speak so calmly. It didn't make any sense... or was it because he was in ShadowClan? Yet he also seemed grim, despite his calm and comforting words. She got a lot of mixed vibes from him, and she wasn't sure what to think. The words about Dogkit and Flameclaw were comforting; she knew that they were in StarClan, but it was better to hear it from somecat. "I just wish that they were here with me," she whispered, and continued listening. What he said about Ravenkit and Whitekit didn't make her feel any better. "B-but Ravenkit could die! I have a feeling that he went to follow Dawnstar. And Whitekit won't even tell me anything!" The thing about rebellious kits made sense, though. She hadn't been rebellious. Wolffang had been, she remembered vaguely, but she preferred not to think of the deformity-phobic tom. Knowing that Talonstone had no idea what in the name of StarClan Dawnstar had done made her feel better... about him, at least. Something had to be done, and desperately. His last words made sense, at least, in context. Yet Ashfeather wondered how she could get anything back to... normal, if that was even possible.
"Okay," she murmured, surprised that she had managed to keep eye contact with the tom. "But it's so hard. None of WindClan is handling it well, and I don't know what to do about Dawnstar or any of it." That much was true. Her words were quiet, but shockingly, her voice was much steadier than it had been before.

[poppy]

( @bmkmb should we do the Darkmoon thing?)

[Quasar]

Ashenpaw silently stalked over to the designated training area, scowling as he saw that he was late. His pelt stung as the not-quite healed wounds brushed against the bare tree branches that hung from the withered trees surrounding him, as he roughly shoved his way through the rest of the forest separating him from the group. That damned loner was the reason he was late to training. ¨Blackhaze. Im here¨ he drawled as he approached the larger black tom.

// @Exis @S t a r (in case dorkie wants to pester him haha)

[S t a r]

( oop p e s t e r @Exis @Mumble )

As the apprentice stood to the side, unsure what to do, she noticed someone talking to Blackie. She looked at their face and.. it was Ashen! Ohhh, he was finally here! She grinned and quickly made her way over to Blackie and Ashen, "Hi Ashen!" Eek! She was so happy! And he was.. ohstarshewasstillsuperhOT- It took everything she could from not leaping on the other apprentice and hugging him and squishing his face. She had to keep her composure.. in front of Blackie, at least. Her heart leapt in her chest as she looked at Ashen. Oh stars, if she didn't stop looking at him, she would EXPLODE. Darkpaw looked over at Blackie instead, her heart and mind calming themselves down. Ohhh.. she definitely couldn't keep looking at Ashen. His beauty was beyond words! Stop, you're looking at him! She looked away from Ashen again and back at Blackie.

[Exis]

Blackhaze looked at ashen with a bit of a glare, “Where were you?” He asked, not very nicely but not meanly either.

Ahh, Darkpaw. “Hey Darkie, how are you getting along here?” He asked not failing to notice the way she looked at him when he arrived.
@S t a r @Mumble

[nocturnal]

// @TheNyanCatMinecart

He was not a therapist, nor was he a counselor, and stars knew that he was not—by any means—good "friend" material. Yet he was capable of listening with his mouth shut, capable of keeping any negative thoughts solely to himself, and so here he was with Ashfeather (and it was still all Blackhaze's fault).

"Dawnstar would not kill a kitten," he (hopefully) reassured. The leader enjoyed testing others, but if the last moon had shown him anything, young, inexperienced felines had a higher chance of surviving her ruthless mannerisms, though mostly because she took it as a sign to train them and twist their opinions to reflect hers. Regardless, if Ravenkit actually dared to confront the leader, he would likely survive.

Talonstone noted that Ashfeather no longer spoke with a stutter. Perhaps the advancement would only be temporary, but it was an improvement considering her prior actions included quivering against the earth. "Step up," the warrior suggested. "If the windrunners are leaderless as you say, some felines will need to cross the river and step up. A clan is lost without somecat to guide them. You may not know what to do; however, others might. Gather them and discuss your options…"

Was this treason? To lend advice to the enemy? If the clans merged, were they really the enemy or simply an oppressed group in a complex society? He dismissed those thoughts warily. No one would know other than Blackhaze, he, and Ashfeather.