The Starcave

[BEAR.]

"A word."

Brokenstar let Cindersky have her say. He simply didn't care to play her childish games. He wasn't sure how she could fall so far from the dignified cat she used to be, but here they were. He was in a constant state of disappointment when it came to the younger generations, it seemed.

As he stepped in front of Thrushstar, he held with him an aura of indifference. Too many times, had he urged ThunderClan forward - and for what? "The blind only see themselves and their own interests, but I have always sought to keep ThunderClan secure. You are not getting lives because they must be earned.

"What you've done before this day means nothing. Better deputies excelled in their role, and still failed my Clan. They sing empty promises but lack the willpower to back their words; and are so willing to step down and surrender instead of embrace their calling.

"Stand tall, and rise above the rest. Dedicate yourself to ThunderClan's success and falter nought when faced with challenge, and you shall be rewarded. You will not need to come here again if you pass these trials." StarClan could easily walk through dreams, and as so lives could be granted while Thrushstar remained in the security of his den.

However Thrushstar felt about this, Brokenstar did not care. He would not give lives to cats so prone to wasting it. If Thrushstar could establish consistency and work ethic, he would allow him to be gifted. Until then.. "One last caution. Heed it well, or be damned to repeat the past.

'Weighed down by a storm, the instability will swallow your Clan whole.'"

On that happy note, he vanished.

[ @Eaglet ]

[Eaglet]

Thrushstar

He awoke with an odd sensation throughout his body. Everything felt rough and chilly. This dream's climate was unmatched by any other. He opened his eyes and experienced a strange sense of gravity. His gaze was fixed on the ground, which appeared to be covered in stars and was rippled by even the smallest motions. Even though the dream was disorienting, he somehow found it comforting. A celestial cat suddenly appeared in front of him and his vision whirled. It appeared splendid in his eyes. Who was this? He's never seen this cat before. He hoped that he might have run into a familiar face. An acquaintance or family member, but this was just strange. The cat did not express any feelings toward him as he swallowed. He was waiting for something extraordinary to occur, anything that would startle him. He just had a talk with this being. He wouldn't be given any lives, would he? No surprise. Cindersky resigned from her position as leader, but died just some time later. This curse on Thunderclan destroyed everything in its path. As well as why Sparrowstar was so readily captured by twolegs. Oh, how awful. Thunderclan was notorious for vanquishing leaders. He assumed that Starclan was telling him this for that purpose. To stop leaders from easily burning through their lives as a result of their inability to maintain the position they hold. And here he was. In the same way that his other ancestors had, he had the ability to become both that stability and a dead leaf on the ground.

He's only been deputy for roughly two moons. It was alarmingly short, and now he had arrived so easily. He was used to the fact that everything was real by this point. Now known as Thrushstar. That's it; he wouldn't be gaining lives. Until he could prove to Starclan that he could beat all the other leaders and hold that position. He grumbled, the discomfort in here felt suffocating. He experienced a squeeze out of his consciousness from this dream. His hearing caught the prophecy that the cat had mentioned. Weighed down by the storm, the instability will swallow your clan whole. Storm? What storm? What mystery will sweep over my clan? Will I be the one? Or another person? "Wa-" He sensed the dream slipping away as the cat disappeared into nothingness. The dream vanished as he felt himself falling somewhere else. Feeling his soul being pulled dangerously.

Returning to reality after sputtering out of the dream. His entire body twitched. His eyes flickered open to the glaring stone's light. The illumination was now darker than ever. With the stone's chipped edges and cat marks visible. He felt exhausted, as though his remaining vitality had been largely sapped by that dream. He groaned and shook his head. His blurry eyesight was beginning to become clearer. He looked away before blinking and pivoting to face Sundust. Did he know this beforepaw? Thrushfur- No Thrushstar grimaced. He gave a headshake. Just as the loop kept going. He would not gain lives until he proved worthy that he would be able to lead Thunderclan. "Nothing, nothing at all." He quietly hissed. "Just a simple reminder from someone about my lives. But.. I’ll need to have a chat with you about something Sundust. As you are the only cat I can ask that is adept at these sorts of things. The name Thrushstar sounds weird on the tongue." He sighed and got up from his seat. He had a new name. Now he had a name that everyone knew. Thrushstar. His brow furrowed. With his whiskers twitching he flicked his tail beckoning to head back. It was repulsive. Telling him that he couldn’t gain lives? It makes sense why leaders have disappeared so frequently. Thrushstar didn't want to keep his people in the dark about it. But he had to for their own safety. Similar to how any other Thunderclan leader has. Starclan no longer gave a damn about their clan; to them, they were just a circus act. How awful. He had a frown on his face.

He padded out of the Starcave and returned to camp.

[ @BEAR.@daenerys, @carmen, @naiad ]

[BEAR.]

[ CLOSED. ]

Enough was enough.

Brokenstar was at his wits' end. Time and time again, he witnessed the carelessness of the living - the blatant disrespect for the sanctity of life and death. There was no order, no limitations, nothing to keep the balance. Even now, a child chose to return on nothing more than a whim.

And it was time for that to change.

Standing in the reflection of the Star Stone, Brokenstar's smoldering gaze scored through the silent trees of StarClan. "I expected better from you." His ire was boundless, voice laced with venom toward cats he thought more of. "You of all cats should have known this was getting out of paw, but none of you have ever put your paw forth to stop this." Only he had. He had placed a limitation on a Clan dear to his heart, and it seemed he would have to push the others further.

"It's no wonder the Clans lack faith in us, when the very dead can defy fate itself. Death has no meaning because we allow it to.

"When I restricted ThunderClan's leadership... it was done with the intent to minimize their foolish deaths. To force their leadership to rely not on the lives they were gifted, but their own guile. But you allow any cat with half a brain to die and return, and this is simply not acceptable."

Brokenstar lashed his tail, casting his gaze away from the shades. They could bask in their shame; he had work to do. "Spirits of the skies, I don't give a damn what path you walk. This problem impacts all of us - step forth if you wish to see it stopped."

[ @Poprock, @perseus., @naiad, @marshall, @Jester, @Lillian, @Starfall, @dino. ]

[marshy]

➵ pebblepool ❀⋆˚₊⁻∘･
// ➵ @Poprock @perseus. @naiad @BEAR. @Jester @Lillian @Starfall @dino.

oh dear, it seemed grandpa here was upset.
whilst pebblepool could admit that she would've known better.. she had no part in bringing the dead back, she entirely focused her energy on guiding the future leaders of the clans.. like that had worked at all so far. either she was bad at it or the clans just kept electing really crappy people.. anywho. pebblepool sat through the lecture about a subject she wasn't all that interested in, although brokenstar did make certainly make a case that pebblepool agreed with. starclan had grown distant from the clans and they became lazy. she supposed most just didn't expect to have to work in undeath, that thought made her chuckle. it was such a preposterous thought wasn't it? having to work for others even when you're dead, but it was what the signed up for when they chose their faith. so who's fault REALLY was it?
the talonkit situation was certainly a situation that existed, and it was an entertaining one at that. hmm, pebblepool had thought of a motivator for joining this little club brokenstar was wanting to create. entertainment, dear god was starclan a bore. the dead feeling sorry for themselves plagued it, the clans weren't much better either in that regard. she needed SPICE in her afterlife. stepping forward after brokenstars speech pebblepool B O O M E D her voice in the spiritual starcave. "in that regard you are very right brokenstar! if we are to regain our respect it looks like we must earn it back hm? seems like a thrill for the ages! I stand with you. we must set up the clans for success if they are to realize they have not misplaced their faith in us!" pebblepool liked brokenstar, as he had flare to him. she had never spoken the leader and likely would never have in normal circumstances, but starclan's laze was getting to the point of emergency and it needed to end now.

[Doom]

COLDSONG | @Poprock, @perseus., @naiad, @marshall, @BEAR., @Lillian, @Starfall, @dino.

"Finally, cats with some sense around here..."

Coldsong stepped into the starcave, brows furrowed and pelt bristling. He couldn't believe he was stuck in this pathetic place. "I'm tired of wasting my time. I did enough of that when I was alive." He'd only been dead for about a moon or so (whatever, not like he was keeping track anymore), but he'd seen more than enough. ThunderClan could barely keep a leader, RiverClan had cats dropping like flies, and ShadowClan seemed to have lost their faith in StarClan all together. And he thought WindClan used to be bad...tssk. StarClan, though? What was he supposed to even do around here? Lazily patrol the border between the stars and darkness for the rest of eternity? Hell no! He wanted to do something with his afterlife! He wanted direction and power! If he couldn't achieve it in the living realm, then by stars, he'll do it here.

"Things have to change around here or I'll have a cow. We are the STARS, damnit! We have the power to give life and take it away, no? Why are cats around here so happy just to be sittin' on their starry asses while the Clans below are barely managing? This is ridiculous!" Coldsong hissed, blue eyes blazing between Pebblepool and Brokenstar. He had no clue who these cats were, but then again, he didn't know many cats here yet. However, he'd already taken a liking to them. "I don't know how long you guys have been dead or what you've been up to since dying, but I can't stand being dead like this much longer. I gotta do something!"

[perseus.]

☄. *. ⋆ Ghostblaze

The large snow bengal tom, heavily scarred across his whole body, chuckled, it sounding like stone scraping against stone and he had it echo through the cave as he heard Brokenstar. He opened his burning amber eyes that looked like flames with the yellow that surrounded his pupil. He quickly stalked out, seemingly melting out from the shadows as he let his gaze burn into the two others he could see, Pebblepool was the other one, who had boomed rather loudly as she spoke and the dark forest cat scoffed at silently as he waited for the dramatics to be done, and he let his burning glaze flicker to Coldsong as he spoke. While he didn't know these cats personally, he had at least heard of Coldsong while he was watching his former clan from the darkness. Being the only Dark Forest cat so far, he felt a shiver of disgust of being surrounded by Starclan cats, but pushed those feelings away.

He had been watching the clans from the dark woods that he called his home, snarling in disgust as weakling cats were brought back from the dead and they wasted the kindness those in the dark woods had given them by dying like a weak kittypet, only to beg to be brought back once again. He wish he could have stopped every single one of those lives that were brought back, but he was only one cat and couldn't be everywhere at once.

Truly he wasn't surprised at the amount of weakness that seemed to infect the clans lately as it even infect his clan when he was still alive before he was killed because of a mistake. He pushed his past away as he spoke, his voice sounding like stones scraping against stone, "The cats of the clans have always been weak and soft, and I'm disappointed that weaklings have been allowed back just to be killed only moons later. I don't take kindly to that. I'll stand with you in this matter, they must learn that we are to be feared and not easily walked over." He rasped, though the cold and calm anger was evident.

@Poprock @marshall @naiad @BEAR. @Jester @Lillian @Starfall @dino.

[beau]

silt | 10 moons at death | he/him | stc in death, outsider in life

Silt hated this afterlife. Hated, hated, hated it. In all his moons up in the stars, it was silent. Cats spoke, sure, but they didn't talk. He could count on one paw the number of times he had eavesdropped on a substantial conversation, or witnessed a cat actually care. He himself had not had a conversation since he was first guided to StarClan by Snailkit. Honestly it was surprising how hard these pretentious rat-tails were gate-keeping the place. 'Oh welcome to StarClan! We don't want anyone else in our crappy club so back to your silly little life you go!' It was ridiculous. What ever happened to resting in peace? Or those cats who burned through their life like a pile of brush? Those who lived terrible lives? Who gave them the right to send the most obnoxious cats back down to torment all the other cats smart enough to still be alive.

One day, though, the silence broke. Someone was talking. Not speaking, not prattling, but talking. Lecturing, even. Showing at least a smidge of emotion that wasn't vacant complacency. He did as the cat requested and stepped forward, half-surprised as other spoke their own grievances. "I don't want a single unworthy cat dancing the border of life and death again. Life, especially life after death, is no longer valued as a gift or miracle, but as an expectation. I stand with you all." Did he know any of these other cats? Heck no, but they were talking and the words they were saying made more sense than anything he had ever heard since his last conversation with Tidepaw.

[ @Poprock, @perseus., @BEAR., @marshall, @Jester, @Lillian, @Starfall, @dino. ]

[Starfall]

Rowanmist
@Poprock, @perseus., @naiad, @marshall, @Jester, @Lillian, @BEAR. , @dino.

The tabby lifted his head as a voice boomed over the echoey domain. It felt as though the voice bounced off the stars themselves. Half of him wished to simply lay there, and let them babble. It seemed as though even a soul who belonged to the Dark Forest had found their way into the conversation. That being said curiosity got the better of him, flopped ears perked as much as they could before he picked himself up, making his way to the small gaggle of cats that were beginning to accumulate.

The former RiverClan warrior tilted his head to the side as he listened to them babble, whining about how nothing was being done, and how the Clans were now soft...which they were. They no longer upheld the code they swore to, those who deserved...and didn't deserve, to be brought back were running around with new lives they had no right waving around. How was that fair to those who perished in fight, did they too not deserve a second chance? Why were they not worthy? As a tom spoke up, the tom turned to look at him, soft smile blooming. "Than why didn't you do anything?" he hummed, before turning his head to look back at the others.

"Well I suppose there's no point in whining about it now. As you've said let's fix it. I'd like to see this problem stopped." he laughed.

[Poprock]

Strawberryswirl

From deep within the starry field stood a small figure. Her curly tail waved side to side idly, bits of stardust shimmering off in it's wake. It was time for Strawberryswirl to make herself known to the world once more. It had been such a long time... With a quick shake of her orange and white fur, the ancient windclan cat noted that she was not the only one roused by Brokenstar's call.

"Oh my!" A cheerful giggle escaped before it could be stopped with a dainty white paw. These cats were filled with a shared passion, regardless of where their souls ended up. It was quite sweet! Even if she was not thrilled to be working with cats of the Dark Forest... she could see they meant well. The line between life and death had gotten much, much too thin. Someone needed to do something about that!

"I agree with you all!" A gentle smile sent each and every cats way. "The clans have lost our light a long time ago, it is time we shine on them once more."
@Starfall @perseus. @naiad @marshall @Jester @Lillian @BEAR. @dino.

[Ian]

╔══════ ❀•°❀°•❀ ══════╗
Shimmerbird
╚══════ ❀•°❀°•❀ ══════╝

The star-flecked she-cat's ears swiveled in the direction of a booming voice. She turned to see a cat addressing everyone, though she wasn't quite sure who he was. The way he carried himself meant he must be important and had been here for a long time.

Shimmerbird had died recently, and hadn't been in StarClan for that long, though what he was talking about made since from what she had seen during her time in RiverClan. Padding towards the cats who had already given their support, Shimmerbird gave a firm nod to the tom who had originally spoken.

"I may have died recently, but I don't want StarClan to be like my time in life. I made mistakes then, and I will not make them now. The Clans havae lost faith in us, but we will bring it back."

@BEAR. @Poprock @perseus. @Starfall @naiad @Jester @marshall @dino.