[plum]

It certainly did feel like an eternity had passed with Aspenstar standing silently in the tree, all of the cats beneath her in turmoil. The golden Bengal spends only so much time staring up at her before turning to assess the damage wrought upon the Clan. Despite Nectarflame being its driving force, this havoc found root with Aspenstar. Nothing else but the leader had caused this all today.

Nectarflame glances towards Leafwind, and refrains from clicking her tongue. "What has a medicine cat got to do with your leader failing to properly lead?" she asks the cat impatiently. "A medicine cat held ThunderClan together better than these two have combined, and now we are without her. Be quiet if you are going to be foolish- And speak properly, for the love of the Stars. If you speak like a kit, perhaps your name should reflect that." Her tail lashes irritably, and instead of spending any longer on this cat, the warrior redirects her attention. [ @Dawnfallstar ]

However the next cat she chooses to focus on is not much better. "Spiderthroat," the Bengal says tersely. "You..." She stops herself, for some reason, from telling him to leave this place. The tom was a very aggressive offender of the "come and go as one may please" rule ThunderClan had of late. But regardless of this, the golden cat only regards him through narrowed eyes boring holes in his pelt for a heartbeat. But just then, a familiar cacophony rakes her ears and she turns abruptly to see the approching Cornmuffin. His glee derails Nectarflame, and for a fleeting moment she feels compelled to bow her head and swear to him that she would do about anything for him so long as he always came to her the way he just did now. Yet off he goes gain, cartoonlike in all of his energy. The warrior cannot respond in time. A soft smirk shadows her expression before her gaze returns to the gone-again warrior Spiderthroat. One final silent burning glare was all he deserved. [ @Starfall, @finnzel ]

But his sudden reappearance and voice in this meeting seemed to dim in comparison to Scorchfrost. With a plummeting feeling in her stomach, the golden cat shifts her attention to another voice raising against the false leader. This one was just as unwelcome as the last though, and he likely did not even know it. Unable to fathom the how or why he knew these things about them, Nectarflame casts an almost frantic look around her for the closest trusted warrior. And yet so many of the cats gathered for this Clan meeting were...! Damn it! Nectarflame nearly snaps her neck simply tossing a fiery look in the direction of Dogbark. She would not leave this meeting unless Aspenstar was gone, and the fact that they hardly had a trustworthy warrior to escort another intruder away was mind-boggling. She did not need nor desire the support of one such as Scorchfrost, who had been gone for almost a moon. She hoped that the deputy felt the same. [ @Froya, @Willowfern ]

In the interim from that point to the long-awaited response of their leader, Nectarflame notes a few more minor occurrences. Others watching fearfully, thoughtfully, spitefully. Maplewhisker continuing to speak bitterly to poor Sparrowflight, apprentices who ought not be in the camp at all considering they had been gone... It was all a bit much, all a bit much indeed. Sitting back on her haunches, the golden warrior shuts her eyes and takes a slow, deep breath. This ThunderClan seemed to be the only one kits would know, the only one their young generations would grow up in. But this was a lost cause as long as Aspenstar sat on her ass doing nothing but belching out apologies. It was becoming increasingly frustrating that so damn few took note anymore. Who knew who was a Clanmate and who was a rogue anymore? Who could feel comfortable wondering if the warrior slipping into the den late at night was their denmate, or a pretender waiting for an opportunity? Kits went missing for days, weeks, moons. Apprentices commonly wandered. Warriors treated Clan life as optional. The deputy failed to properly arrange patrols for moons, and the leader could not care any less even if held at clawtip who she spoke to, whether it be Clanmate or stranger. And these cats were still chanting for the blessed, wonderful, poor, pitiable Aspenstar. From the dumbest kit to the sharp yet distant sometimes-warrior. And while Aspenstar seemed to care so dreadfully little for any of this, Nectarflame was beginning to grow really, very angry.

On a reflex that the Bengal wished she could have resisted, a low growl begins in the back of her throat when Aspenstar speaks. Her voice begins to curl over them all, and the warrior looks up at the she-cat perched in the tree to watch her as she spoke. Tracing her features, following every little twitch of muscle she could spot. She talks about responsibility and failing as though they are kithood fantasies, inspirational stories for apprentices to instill motivation and effort. But these things are foolishly, dreadfully naive. Giving up did not always come when one was prepared to lay down their arms and relent. Sometimes, giving up was a cold and cruel slap to the face. A bitter, miserable realization that after doing what one could and striving with everything one had in themselves for so stars-damned long, they would not make it. Defeat was concrete sometimes, no matter what one did to try and alter reality. A cold, cruel, harsh, painful ending. That was all there was sometimes. It was not forgiving, it was not kind, it did not offer a retry. That was one of the consequences of growing up that nobody wanted to talk about. Yet, heartbreaking as this may be, the growl at the back of her throat does not quiet throughout the speech, nor the rest of it.

Aspenstar had acknowledged that one apprentice among them, only because she had drawn attention to herself. Slatepaw, a RiverClan runaway who had not been here in a moon, enraged over... Nothing of worth. If the apprentice did not wish to live among her new Clan, then she was not of ThunderClan. Yet the leader invites her into her den after the meeting, apologizes to her, gives her a warning despite the complete lack of right whatsoever for Slatepaw to even be present.

Opening her pale green hues, Nectarflame shoots a poisonous look at the she-cat above. The growl in her throat seizes into silence and she averts her eyes to the deputy, as though imploring the tom to speak, to act. Because now, the Clan was rising with support again. Oh, great Aspenstar! Fearless, pitiable, forgiven Aspenstar! You can do no wrong, and if you somehow do, never worry! All will always be forgiven! Cats speak in support of her, and propose to her more words to feed them all- How she will be better, of course. Yet, if the apology is prompted, is laid out for another, is given to them by those whom they are apologizing to... Then there was no point in an apology at all, and that cat has failed. Why was this so insanely difficult to comprehend? These cats were adults! They were warriors! "Aspenstar, to apologize to us, tell us you will do this, this, and this, please!" "Yes I am so sorry, I promise to do that, that, and that." "Wow! She truly means it! She deserves a chance!" What a miserable waste of energy, and a foul disgrace to ThunderClan. All of these cats. An utter disgrace.

As this chorus of support continued to spread, Nectarflame struggles to remain resolute. Yet even Cindersky wavers, beguiled and fooled by this new promise. And that is a hard blow to the Bengal, who already felt tired by it all. Was her Clan of forty-some moons finished? ThunderClan felt like it would perish soon, perish now even. Aspenstar was no leader. Dogbark was barely a deputy worth keeping yet he immediately acknowledged this head-on the very first time he was confronted, and that was enough for the cat to feel confident in his words, in his desire to work harder. These cats though, were they worth it? Were any of her efforts going to bear fruit? The golden Bengal was extraordinarily exhausted suddenly. "I fear we will soon be warriors no more," Nectarflame murmurs under her breath to nobody in particular, her eyes flitting skyward for a second.

And then her weakness is gone. She stands, looks at Dogbark for another moment, and then up again at Aspenstar. "You, more than your predecessors, are a defilement of our Clan," meows Nectarflame. "I will be glad when you are gone, for that alone shall begin our healing process anew. If ever there was a future where you remain, leader to nothing but memories you will be. Alone in a den collecting dust, in a camp devoid of life, surrounded by cats you no longer know who feed you epic tales of your grandeur to satiate the pit where the love of your Clan should have been." Her voice was quiet and calm, her gaze resting on Aspenstar alone until she was finished speaking.

"I will see you when this meeting has ended," she says, swiftly moving on, to Dogbark. Padding through the cats, she hesitates as she passes the one she-cat she had gotten to knowing a little better. Her eyes rest lightly on Cindersky for a heartbeat, but a heartbeat is all she could tolerate. Shaking her head, Nectarflame continues out of camp. [ @tulle, @/Willowfern ]