[Dizerel]

Originally Posted by spade

[ Powerplay has been approved! ]

The wildfire that raged inside of Kestrelstar's chest only grew and expanded, charring whatever feeling or emotion that had been left over. In its wake were the ashes of anger, of a need for vengeance. Yellow eyes were ablaze as he stared at Junipersong, lips curled back into a snarl as she spoke. Before him was not the friend who had stuck by his side, but yet another doubter. Another disloyal RiverClan warrior who couldn't see past their own nose to what ThunderClan - and the entire forest - was doing to RiverClan.

With her standing tall, hovering over him, Kestrelstar felt his anger rise to a fever pitch. A challenge to his authority was what it was. It was a shock to him, her confession of love, but not enough to cause him to falter in his steps. "If you have no allegiances to me, you have no allegiance to RiverClan. That makes you a traitor like the rest of them," he growled, ears going back as his eyes narrowed. A hunter, focusing in on his prey.

It took everything for the leader to restrain himself from slashing a claw across her face. Drawing blood from a traitor that refused to shed hers in protection of her Clan. To honor the commitment she had made during her warrior ceremony.

Suddenly, the rising tides felt like too much.

It was only a second, but the leader lashed a claw out, scoring it across Junipersong's muzzle. The satisfaction of claws ripping through fur and flesh exhilarated him, and his own mouth contorted into a sadistic grin. "Get out of my den before I shred you," he spat, the fur along his back rising with each word as his unsheathed claw hung in the air, scarlet drops dripping from it.

A sharp pain rose across her muzzle. A diagonal slash, barely above the lip on the left side of her face, over the bridge of her nose, to the right side of her face, a few inches short of her eye. It took a moment for blood to come out, as if her body hadnt expected to be cut open like this. But afterwards it flowed out freely. The feeling of her own blood matting her fur was not an unfamiliar one to Junipersong. It reminded her of the time she stood in front of a coyote to take the full brunt of its attack.

Her head flinched back. There was no anger. No desire for retaliation. Just a deep sorrow in her gaze. Her blood did the weeping for her. "Score me with a thousand marks if you need to. If that's what it takes for whatever has consumed you to leave. My physical body means little to myself. Your claws cannot inflict any type of pain unto me that matters. The only thing that hurts is seeing what you have become. I leave only because I cant stand to see you like this any longer. But shred me to pieces if it makes you feel better. Stomp me down until what remains of my body mixes with the earth, and my blood flows stronger than the rivers this clan was named after. The tears of regret will fall from the sky, and I can only hope you feel remorse for the loss of a friend."

She stands there, staring Kestrelstar down for just a few seconds after she finishes speaking, then turns to leave. Out of the den. There is no point in seeing Snakeheart. Poppy seeds wont relieve this type of pain, and no strengthening herb will reduce the weight that has been placed against her heart.

(Power play permission if Kes wants to get any last hits in while she leaves.)