[spade]

Originally Posted by ~Fox~

Lionspot stepped back. Kestrelstar was way to close to comfort. She didn't even like riverclan. Why was she telling on reedpaw. He was only an apprentice he didn't know any better. What had she done. She looked at her paws. It was... She reflected to herself. Why was she even here. She knew if reedpaw was exiled or killed it would be her fault. Had she finally had emotions. What was this feeling. Why was she sad. He betrayed riverclan. But at the same time she couldn't help but feel like she was out of her own head. This wasn't like her.
@spade

Something in the way that Lionspot's demeanor changed captured Kestrelstar's interest more so than Reedpaw's indiscretions did. Was that... sympathy? Towards blatant disloyalty? The leader made a note to keep an eye on Lionspot. She was a ferocious warrior, and one that would be needed in the upcoming plans he had for ThunderClan. But for now, he'd just sit with it. Bide his time... it's not like she would go anywhere.

"Thank you for reporting this. I'll handle Reedpaw." Kestrelstar debated on saying anything else, perhaps tossing a statement of accusation at Lionspot to question her for the sudden change in her behavior... but the leader thought better of it. "If you catch him or any other RiverClan warrior, report it to me. They will be dealt with as necessary."

Originally Posted by finnzel

@spade
its more than fine!! poor kes ;0; //

➸ crabkit

eyes finally catching the leader in the dim den, that glare that was sent her way made her hesitate before taking another step forward, pushing the shell along with her paw. "you are in here!" she gasped, mouth dropping into an 'o' shape before it quickly formed into a wide smile. the smile dropped in an instant once she heard the snarl, backing up a bit as kestrelstar made his way over. (he seemed a bit snappy in some moments when he had found her, but she didn't remember him being like this.)

crabkit blinked, frowning slightly and her brows furrowed. "you said a bad word!" she said, shaking her head in disappointment. was it also not known that words like those were bad, in clans? either way, she simply shook her head and didn't add anything onto that sentence, because she had a feeling that she should probably just leave it at that.

she outstretched a paw, pushing the shell closer to the tabby. "crabkit got you this! it's grey and white, like a fish, mister fishstar." she bit back a small comment on how he shouldn't sound so mean, because her mother would probably be very angry if someone spoke to her like that. "crabkit's not in the nursery because she doesn't wanna be! the river-camp is a lot bigger, there are more things to find." she explained. the most she could find in the nursery were some moss balls, sticks, and some rocks. the camp was way more exciting.

Annoyance rolled off of Kestrelstar like thick fog, and the leader couldn't help but give a roll of his eyes. "I'm the leader, I can say whatever I want," he snorted, irritation slick in each of his words. Far be it from a kit to control what he did or said, and the leader simply dismissed the accusatory statement with a flick of his ear. Crabkit would surely hear worse as she grew up into RiverClan.

And that nickname... Had he not given her a name to use? "It is Kestrelstar, and you will address me as such," the leader retorted, giving a lash of his tail. Only certain cats got to call him Fishstar... one apprentice in particular came to mind, and for a small, brief moment, the leader felt a trickle of guilt. What would Fernpaw think to see him like this?

Fernpaw wouldn't understand. The stressors, the weight of responsibility, leading a Clan that wanted nothing more than to see him drop dead where he stood.

With a noisy sigh, the gray tabby turned his head to look at Crabkit. At the shells. If only to appease the kit, he reached a paw forward and scooped the shell closer to him. It reminded him of the shells he used to collect with Duskfall... but that had been quite long ago. "The nursery is where kits belong. You are a kit. How would you feel if your mother came looking for you in our nursery and couldn't find you because you're here in the wrong den?"

Perhaps bringing up the young kits mother was the right way to go - she seemed pretty bonded to the only family that had abandoned her, for reasons Kestrelstar didn't understand or comprehend, other than the fact that Crabkit was young and didn't understand. He only hoped it would get the hairball out of his den.

Originally Posted by ~Storm~

[ @spade ]

Mistypaw sighed. She had actually done it now. With slight nervousness, the she-cat stepped into Kestrelstar's den. "I... I just wanted to say that I support you, no matter what the others think about you." Her mouth turned slightly dry as she thought of the next thing she wanted to ask. "I also wanted to ask if you are doing okay these days. It does seem like you're a little stressed, so I wanted to check that." Mistypaw meowed, breathing out a sigh of relief when she had it over with. Okay, so now one last thing.

"And there's one more thing. I wanted to say thank you. Thank you for giving me Stormtalon as mentor, I mean. " So, maybe she had lied with one more thing. She had a lot more questions about the RiverClan ThunderClan thing. "Kestrelstar..." The word barely formed in Mistypaw's mouth. Ugh, she had to do this quickly so she was done. "Do you have any idea why ThunderClan thinks it's okay to just kill RiverClan cats when we didn't really do anything?" She didn't know why they thought the way they did. And they way they thought was absolutely horrible.

---

Rainynight pondered a little. Should he really do this? I have to. he thought to himself. " Why did you kill Quietclaw? It wasn't the right thing to do. " he whispered, trying to remain in his confident state, at least on the outside.

" You could've just exiled him along with the others. He was your clanmate! " Rainynight meowed desperatly.

The support, or more so the comment on it, was unexpected. Kestrelstar blinked a few times to make sure that the apprentice before him was real and there and not really a mirage. It wasn't the first of his Clanmates to voice their willingness to stand by his side, but she had taken it to his den to tell him directly instead of shouting it at a Clan meeting. Something about that chipped off a bit of the ice within Kestrelstar, the hardened black charcoal around his heart being scraped away.

A young RiverClanner, one who was old enough to start forming her own ideas and thoughts on the world... "I... Thank you, Mistypaw." A weight felt as though it was lifted off his shoulders as the reassurance came down like a soft wave, the residue of it lapping gently at his paws as it subsided.

"So it's noticeable?" Kestrelstar hadn't been sleeping really at all, and on the night he did it was restless, filled with shadows and despair. Constant training with Blossomclaw until his head was nothing more than revenge against ThunderClan. It was wearing hard on the tom. "I have a Clan who hates me, warriors being slaughtered left and right, and a leader at the helm of ThunderClan who appears more mouse than cat. Does that sound like any cat would be doing okay?" It was... odd to be talking this candid with an apprentice, but her words had struck a nerve in him.

Yellow eyes now turned onto Mistypaw, abandoning their aimless search on the den walls for answered he already knew not to be there. "Stormtalon is a noble warrior. He is loyal, and fights for his Clan above all else, like the warrior codes demands of him. You will do well to learn all you can from him, and study how he handles himself." One of the few trusted warriors that Kestrelstar had left, Stormtalon always came to the forefront of his mind whenever he needed something handled.

- - -

Yellow eyes went wide with shock. Whatever Kestrelstar had been expecting to come out of Rainynight's mouth hadn't been that. Was this warrior so bold as to seek him out in his den, of all places, and display sympathy towards a traitor? The recovery from shock was quick, and soon the leader's eyes were slits again, locked dead on the warrior before him. "You come into my den and question my decisions as leader?" he growled, his claws sliding out and digging into the ground. Was he going to have to use him as an example?

Kestrelstar assumed that had been it, but oh no. Rainynight continued, causing Kestrelstar to begin laughing. "Exile? Exile?? You think a cat like Quietclaw deserved exile? That would've been far too kind. To allow that worm to live another moment. His defiance was not just at this meeting. I've had plenty of personal conversations with that fox-hearted fool that should've resulted in his death earlier!" Quietclaw had it coming, at least in Kestrelstar's mind. Poke the bear one too many times and soon it would come after with flying claws.

But now the leader's mind switched gears, connecting the dots. "It appears, though, that I may not have gotten all of the warriors I needed to out of this Clan..." There was a darkness to his voice, shadows laced the words he spoke as the leader glared at Rainynight, curious as to what his next words would be.

Originally Posted by OliveFlower

@spade
" I think some thunderclan cats are training to swim. They might be planning to attack riverclan. I am not sure, I just think so. " WillowSong explained.

Assumptions... no hard facts, or evidence, or names... Kestrelstar let out a frustrated sigh, yellow eyes unable to conceal the annoyance he felt at being disturbed with wild guesses. "You think, is that right?" the leader questioned, ears perked in feigned curiosity. Taking a step or two closer to the warrior, his eyes narrowed just slightly. "Well, I think that you should be focusing on catching cats at the border like I asked you to instead of sitting around thinking up conspiracy theories. Do you think I haven't considered this??" With each word the leader's voice rose, anger dripped off the end of his chipped sentence. Bees for brains, every cat in this Clan...

Taking a moment, Kestrelstar stepped back, obviously done with this interaction. "Make yourself useful and stop bringing me information I am already aware of." With a jerk of his head, the leader motioned towards the entrance for Willowsong to leave.