Silence washes over the scene as Crowlight keeps his head down and eyes closed in a moment of silent reflection. He is not praying to StarClan, nor is he asking for guidance on what to do. No, the skinny black warrior is fuming and doing his best to not sprint from the Starry Meadow right onto ThunderClan territory for retribution. It takes every ounce of will power he has to keep his claws sheathed, his tail from lashing, and his teeth from curling into a snarl. He will not go against his leader's orders, even though they clash and fight with his own view on the situation.
An unexpected touch of Gingersplash's muzzle to his shoulder causes him to flinch. Crowlight's eyes fly open and he leans away, staring at his Clanmate with bewilderment in his gray gaze. It takes him a moment, a flash, to remember that she is a Clanmate and not an enemy ThunderClanner as the claws that have poked out of their hiding spots so desperately wish for. They share a glance and soon the she-cat begins to scrape dirt into the grave. A moment passes before Crowlight joins her slowly.
Eyes flitter over to Mousepaw's body as it becomes unable to be seen, swallowed up by the earth. White paws pat the top of the mound and for awhile the tom just stares at the resting spot. Fury still weaves its tendrils around his heart but the tom refuses to let them sink their talons into him any further. "Let's go," he mutters and stands to his paws. Only a single look is spared to Gingersplash before he begins the slow trek back towards camp.
Gingersplash tredded silently alongside Crowlight when she had finished scraping earth over the apprentice.
Bravebird
The journey had been... rough to say the least. Tired but determined paws had kept her going despite the lack of WindClan scent in each moorland she passed. At some point she had stopped keeping track of how long it had been since she had fled, having not yet found a stream to wash herself off in. Dried blood had matted her chest fur and coated her paws, though it was faded now. Her skinny frame had her shaking with every other step but she did not allow herself to falter or fall.
Finally, after what seemed like seasons of travel, the faintest hint of a familiar scent brushed past her nose. Blue eyes lit up and immediately tears misted them. That was... that was WindClan. That was home. "If this is a trick..." she murmured to no one in particular as she took another hesitant step, whiskers twitching. For good measure she parted her jaws to drink in the scent, nearly choking on a sob when it reaffirmed her earlier thoughts; this was the border to WindClan territory. She had made it home.
Caution was thrown to the wind as Bravebird sprinted forward, crossing the border without hesitation. Dapplebreeze. Was her mom still here? Was Twilightstar still alive? Was Fallownose? The third name wasn't as familiar to her, but she still recalled how he had helped her all those moons ago when she had returned to WindClan without a single memory. Now that some of them had been returned to her, she was certain that they had been friends.
Really though, seeing any of her Clanmate's faces would be a welcome sight.
Long strides brought her zipping across the moorland like a rabbit, coming up near an open field dotted with flowers. Bravebird wasn't going to pay any attention to it - until a lump in the ground had her paws tripped up and sent her rolling. The sky and grass tumbled together until she landed on her back (being reminded of the injury she had sustained earlier that morning) letting out an 'oof!'. The warrior slowly turned herself over and got to her paws, looking at what had tripped her. It wasn't much of anything, but the ground was a little higher there... and next to it as well...
WindClan scent hung heavy in the air, too... was this place?
"What about Juniper's Rest?" Flashes of the fire came back to her then, and Bravebird clenched her jaw as she looked around at the graves. The fire, right. Their old territory had been destroyed... was this place their new graveyard? There weren't many mounds dug, but they were organized and her Clan's scent hung over them like water on stone. Were these... the cats they had lost to the fire??
Caught off-guard for a moment Bravebird walked over to the nearest grave - the one she had tripped over - and leaned down to sniff the dirt. It was somewhat fresh, and the warrior turned her gaze to the stars. She watched them silently, taking a moment to search the sky for any new additions.
...Bravebird didn't dare wonder if Dapplebreeze was up there.
The weakness still had control of her body, but Dapplebreeze had never been one to let herself be kept down. Well... not anymore, in any case. It had been that idle disregard for anything after her apprentice had gone missing that had placed her in this predicament as it was. And it was taking time to heal. Lightningstorm had been... quite the embodiment of her name when she found out the former queen had grown unconscious while out on the field. Because she had overexerted herself? Nonsense. Hunting was part of daily life. If she couldn't do as much, she could hardly call herself a warrior, now could she?
And yet it burned her ears with shame to realize that she was being chastised by a feline who she had once seen as little more than a troublemaking kit. How she had grown... Despite all the loss she had suffered, the molly was a force to be reckoned with. And here she was. Wasting her time. Mourning. No more. She would go back to her usual, active stance within the clan. And she would start with a nice, soft paced walk to Starry Meadow. Surely a walk would do her well, and she could do an investigation of her own regarding the corpses that had been tossed and dug out before.
Dapplebreeze had by now made peace with the fact that the graves of WindClan no longer held her family within them. Whisperbreeze had been left behind. Remaining as a permanent reminder of WindClan's past in the moors, and yet somehow doomed to be forgotten. Her little bird and her troublemaker had been lost after the fire, meaning neither would even be left to the ancient graves. There was a bittersweet feeling to that. To the knowledge that she would never see them again - she had lived far too long to expect even more miracles as far as her family went - and to know that her first two would never reunite again.
Wrapped up in her own thoughts as she was, the former queen's nose twitched, an unfamiliar scent suddenly wafting towards her. Hackles raised in an instant, wondering if she was meant to fight here. She might lose her life. She wasn't naive enough to believe she could take on any enemy despite her current condition. Prideful as she might be, only a fool maintained such views at sixty two moons of age.
Slowly, with sleek, flowing movements that came with the practice of seasons passed, Dapplebreeze turned to the grasses for cover, mismatched ears flat against her skull as she ignored the lingering feeling of familiarity that seemed to cling to the intruder's scent. It did not smell of a clan cat, but the clans were not the only cats that had attacked WindClan in recent memory. She would not engage, but she could at the very least try to see what was going on. Spot the enemy and run back to camp to inform them of this unwanted enemy. Slowly she approached, round, dainty paws making no sound until she was close enough to see the vagrant.
A gasp escaped the patched warrior, her body instantly lifting itself from the meadow's cover. Bright blue eyes took in the familiar pelt, the recognizable scent suddenly obvious. This was no intruder. This was no enemy. This was a cat who should have been here all along. A hero who had been lost while trying to save as many lives as possible during that blasted inferno that had nearly wiped the clan. One paw stepped forward as she opened and closed her mouth, uncertainty clear in her expression as if she dared not believe what she was seeing was true. Because this would be the second time her daughter returned to her... and if she was just seeing things, that would be too cruel a thought for her to bear in such a place.
Bravebird
The WindClan warrior couldn't tell if it was a trick of the light, but Bravebird could've sworn she saw another star twinkle to life in the vast dark sky above. It made her breath catch in her throat and her muscles freeze, hackles rising as adrenaline prepared her for an invisible enemy. Death had taken so much from WindClan over the seasons she had been alive (if her returning memories were anything to go off of) and it had almost taken her too. But there was much for her to do before she joined the stars above - again.
Death had struck her down once - it would have to do a lot better than three half-trained so-called captors and a badger to claim her again.
Never one to let her senses fall too far from her, a rustling in the grass nearby has her spinning around. Blue eyes locked onto a familiar form and it took everything in the lilac lynx-point to not buckle to the ground right then and there. Tears welled in her eyes and her whiskers quivered as her mom takes a step towards her. "Mama..." came the quiet, barely-above-a-whisper reply. Seven moons... seven moons she had thought about this moment, getting back here to her family and her Clan. It was what had kept her going, what had kept her alive.
Everything else was forgotten as Bravebird's maw morphed into a huge smile, unsteady paws rushing her forward. She was nothing more than a kit right now, running back towards her mother after a days' play. "Mama! Mama I m-made it back! You're still here!" The last bit of her words would be muffled though, as her paws shot out in an attempt to wrap around the neck of Dapplebreeze, face going to bury itself in her fur as hearty sobs wracked her body.
Her Mama was still alive. Dapplebreeze was still here; the fire had not taken her away. Stars, Bravebird couldn't recall the last time she had felt this grateful... The same brown tabby pelt and green eyes she had seen in her dream flashed through her mind however, and a similar feeling struck her in tandem. She didn't know who that was... but something told her she had felt this feeling before...
"I'm s-so sorry. The fire and the smoke... I got ambushed when I went to check the camp again. T-They pulled me i-into the tunnels. I-I-I-" For once, the normally spitfire always-had-something-to-say warrior was stumbling over her words, the thoughts in her mind all trying to get out at the same time as she pulled herself back to look at Dapplebreeze. Blue eyes shimmered and stared into familiar blue. "I remembered you, though. You're my mom. I'm... I'm so sorry I didn't remember before."
Emberdusk lead the two to the meadow with energy, bouncing around instead of taking a straight path. He wasnt really excited cause of the type of patrol, more just being out and about, having something to do.
Smoke nudged the apprentice along side him for the patrol to get her attention "Whats got ya so down? yeah sure its just an herb patrol but that doesnt mean you have to be so down from it! you should learn to make the most of things when you can! youre out of the camp! you get to run around! enjoy life a little, youre still an apprentice, enjoy the freedom while you can! before you have grumpy ol' serious warriors telling you that youre 'being to carefree'" He deepened his voice to mock some random warrior and then started giggling
Emberdusk lead the two to the meadow with energy, bouncing around instead of taking a straight path. She wasn't really excited cause of the type of patrol, more just being out and about, having something to do.
Smoke nudged the apprentice along side him for the patrol to get her attention "Whats got ya so down? yeah sure its just an herb patrol but that doesnt mean you have to be so down from it! you should learn to make the most of things when you can! youre out of the camp! you get to run around! enjoy life a little, youre still an apprentice, enjoy the freedom while you can! before you have grumpy ol' serious warriors telling you that youre 'being to carefree'" He deepened his voice to mock some random warrior and then started giggling
Even though collecting POPPY SEEDS wasn't something she was excited about, Emberdusk's effort to cheer her up made her feel better. Today was her very first patrol outside, and she was happy about that. "Thanks, Smoke!" she chirped happily, giving him a lick on the shoulder to show her respect. Then, she went ahead of them.
In the distance, she saw some bright red spots. "Smoke, look there! I think those are poppies," she said, pointing her tail in that direction. Without waiting for Smoke's response, she ran towards them.
When she reached the flowers, she realized they were not Poppies but Calendula. She felt a bit disappointed but turned around to rejoin her patrol. However, a little farther away, she found real poppies! Their bright reddish-orange petals and seeds in the middle caught her eye, and she ran towards them.
Fallowpaw wanted to make sure she didn't damage the flowers or drop the seeds. She carefully bit off each poppy by the tiny stems. She picked up four out of the five poppies and happily returned to her patrol.
Stopping in front of Smoke, she quietly showed him what she found, sharing the joy of the patrol together.
Battle stance long forgotten, Dapplebreeze could no longer be bothered to remember her surroundings. It was only her pride and her sense of decorum that kept her from running to her daughter, alongside that admittedly still present fatigue that she hadn't quite been able to rid herself of. Not even these things could stop her from opening her forelimbs to accept her daughter's loving embrace as the younger molly rushed to her. It had always been a flaw of hers, to never quite be able to remove herself as a parent. Her kits would always remain so, no matter how old they were. It was nothing that benefitted the clan. Strong warriors should stand without their parents' help. But she knew her kits could, so their choice to allow her to stay present in their lives was something she would never be able to take for granted.
"Oh my little bird! How I feared you wouldn't find your way back to us. But of course I was here. I will always be here to wait for my precious, bravest of birds," the former queen cooed as she attempted to encircle her own paws around her sobbing daughter, making a motion to pass a soothing, loving tongue between her hears.
As Bravebird continued speaking, Dapplebreeze's expression darkened, remembering the chaotic day. That inferno had been horrid on its own, the stormy blaze searing their clanmates and home. And yet somehow, she always found herself wishing that had been it. That there had been nothing else to test them. StarClan had shown them no mercy that day, however, and in their darkest hour, they found themselves attacked by a band of worthless rogues playing clan and foxes. Foxes! Of all thing!
The patched warrior had not been present for the foxes. The clan had separated. She had been in charge of the team building the clan's new camp wall. Had she known that the sick and injured would be targeted by an even stronger foe than the cats who had dared look upon them as weak and defeated simply because they were injured - a foolish mistake, had they no sense to realize that they hadn't been defeated, but survived the hellish flames - she would have stayed behind. Fought tooth and claw against the foxes. Gratefully, the round, dainty looking molly hadn't been needed, and considering how she had kept her apprentice safe, she would consider that a victory. One that had not felt fully won until now, with the return of her precious daughter.
"Oh come now, my dear. We both know that there is no need to apologize. The flames alone, the soot and smoke changing everything. And as for the brigands that dared to pull you into the tunnels! You were lucky to escape with your life! No... not lucky. Skilled beyond recognition," Dapplebreeze mewed, her voice laced with unfiltered pride as she returned her daughter's gaze with a loving one of her own.
Any residual ire she had reserved for that horrible nightmare was gone in an instant. It was simply impossible for the plush furred warrior to think of anything at the moment that did not involve her complete joy at having her daughter back. Back and well, with her memories intact this time. Not wondering who she was. True, it might be a tad selfish of her to wish for her little bird to remember her, but... it wasn't entirely so. Family might not be the center of a clan's backbone, but... she could never deny the absolute joy that being in the company of one's own loved ones provided. And after having lost so many... it was a gift she was beginning to cherish all the more fervently with each passing day.
"You have nothing to apologize for, my darling. It wasn't your fault you couldn't remember me. You came back! No mother could dare dream for more. Now! What do you say we bring you back home proper? Let's go meet up with Twilightstar, my dearest. I can't very well imagine her being disappointed with your return. Especially..." Dapplebreeze paused, her features darkening once more before she continued. "There is much to catch up to. Trouble brews in the horizon, and war might be knocking on our borders and walls before long. Let us make haste."
@birdie [Bravebird]
| I am not sure if you would want to roleplay Dapplebreeze catching Bravebird up, have it happen in the background, or waiting for them to reach the leader's den so that Twilightstar can welcome her first into the clan? Let me know and I'll throw Dapplebreeze to the leader's den or continue on here as you prefer. Also, she does say to make haste, but she will pause a few times during the journey, as she has been sick and while she is recovering, she's not fully better yet! |
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Lightningstorm is WindClan's current medicine cat.
She has a semi-closed den policy.
Emberdusk lead the two to the meadow with energy, bouncing around instead of taking a straight path. He wasnt really excited cause of the type of patrol, more just being out and about, having something to do.
Smoke nudged the apprentice along side him for the patrol to get her attention "Whats got ya so down? yeah sure its just an herb patrol but that doesnt mean you have to be so down from it! you should learn to make the most of things when you can! youre out of the camp! you get to run around! enjoy life a little, youre still an apprentice, enjoy the freedom while you can! before you have grumpy ol' serious warriors telling you that youre 'being to carefree'" He deepened his voice to mock some random warrior and then started giggling
Quote:
Originally Posted by Amber2010
Even though collecting POPPY SEEDS wasn't something she was excited about, Emberdusk's effort to cheer her up made her feel better. Today was her very first patrol outside, and she was happy about that. "Thanks, Smoke!" she chirped happily, giving him a lick on the shoulder to show her respect. Then, she went ahead of them.
In the distance, she saw some bright red spots. "Smoke, look there! I think those are poppies," she said, pointing her tail in that direction. Without waiting for Smoke's response, she ran towards them.
When she reached the flowers, she realized they were not Poppies but Calendula. She felt a bit disappointed but turned around to rejoin her patrol. However, a little farther away, she found real poppies! Their bright reddish-orange petals and seeds in the middle caught her eye, and she ran towards them.
Fallowpaw wanted to make sure she didn't damage the flowers or drop the seeds. She carefully bit off each poppy by the tiny stems. She picked up four out of the five poppies and happily returned to her patrol.
Stopping in front of Smoke, she quietly showed him what she found, sharing the joy of the patrol together.
Trodding along behind the two cats, Houndear found himself sleepily blinking at their antics, only bringing himself to pay attention when Fallowpaw came back with The Goods. The floppy-eared cat stepped over to the patch the apprentice had left, nosing at the last flower to fruitlessly check if there were any more hidden around. Seeing nothing else, the colourpoint joined back up with the group, trying his best to stay vigilant.
Even though collecting POPPY SEEDS wasn't something she was excited about, Emberdusk's effort to cheer her up made her feel better. Today was her very first patrol outside, and she was happy about that. "Thanks, Smoke!" she chirped happily, giving him a lick on the shoulder to show her respect. Then, she went ahead of them.
In the distance, she saw some bright red spots. "Smoke, look there! I think those are poppies," she said, pointing her tail in that direction. Without waiting for Smoke's response, she ran towards them.
When she reached the flowers, she realized they were not Poppies but Calendula. She felt a bit disappointed but turned around to rejoin her patrol. However, a little farther away, she found real poppies! Their bright reddish-orange petals and seeds in the middle caught her eye, and she ran towards them.
Fallowpaw wanted to make sure she didn't damage the flowers or drop the seeds. She carefully bit off each poppy by the tiny stems. She picked up four out of the five poppies and happily returned to her patrol.
Stopping in front of Smoke, she quietly showed him what she found, sharing the joy of the patrol together.
Trodding along behind the two cats, Houndear found himself sleepily blinking at their antics, only bringing himself to pay attention when Fallowpaw came back with The Goods. The floppy-eared cat stepped over to the patch the apprentice had left, nosing at the last flower to fruitlessly check if there were any more hidden around. Seeing nothing else, the colourpoint joined back up with the group, trying his best to stay vigilant.
Emberdusk: He/Him, Smoke/Smokes/Smokeself
Emberdusk lifted his head in pride from hearing that he successfully cheered up the apprentice.
Smoke stumbled when the younger suddenly went past him saying she found poppies, taking a moment to process everything smoke smiled at Fallowpaw "Good job!" He watched Houndear inspect the last one and nodded at it "Lets leave the last one there so they can regrow, lets see if we can find another patch though, should bring back plenty so they dont have to worry about the stores!"
Emberdusk walked up to the patch Fallowpaw had found and started to look around nearby for the redish flowers, seeing some a little further off he ran up to them "Theres a bunch over here Houndear! come help grab some!" After calling out smoke carefully picked 5 up, holding them carefully as he looked at the patch that easily had another 6-7 of the flowers growing. He carefully walked back over to the group, making sure the flowers werent damaged or jostled to much
Emberdusk lifted his head in pride from hearing that he successfully cheered up the apprentice.
Smoke stumbled when the younger suddenly went past him saying she found poppies, taking a moment to process everything smoke smiled at Fallowpaw "Good job!" He watched Houndear inspect the last one and nodded at it "Lets leave the last one there so they can regrow, lets see if we can find another patch though, should bring back plenty so they dont have to worry about the stores!"
Emberdusk walked up to the patch Fallowpaw had found and started to look around nearby for the redish flowers, seeing some a little further off he ran up to them "Theres a bunch over here Houndear! come help grab some!" After calling out smoke carefully picked 5 up, holding them carefully as he looked at the patch that easily had another 6-7 of the flowers growing. He carefully walked back over to the group, making sure the flowers werent damaged or jostled to much
Fallowpaw raced towards the patch of poppies Smoke spotted; she already had a load of poppies in her mouth and she couldn't afford to damage them; so she decided to stand there to mark where the round vibrant flowers were so that Houndear could collect a few more; she pointed her tail towards the reddish orange flowers waiting patiently for him to join her.
Re: Starry Meadow
Re: Starry Meadow
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