[Spotty]

Batblood

Meetings usually didn't move this fast, and the young keeper could feel the tension and distress rise like electricity in the air around him. He was used to more... ordinary meetings, but nothing about this seemed normal. It was fine, he had never had too much trouble falling into pace with his clanmates, it was the chaotic, inorganization of it all that he detested and disliked.
Then again, he supposed only a fool would expect more of these cats.

As Roosterflame started to speak again, Batblood's ears angeled to listen, but his golden-yellow gaze continued to travel around the camp, watchful for any more outbursts of emotion he needed to be prepared for. His question was answered twice by the orange and white warrior, once to Astardance, and once to Batblood. "but that's not the only reason to keep them there..." Whatever, debating this seemed useless, and (ignoring the fact that it was answered significantly less kindly to him) he chose for the sake of his sanity not to try and show the reason behind his argument, despite it seeming obvious to him. Keeping kits in their den during certain types of meetings was far from unusual, and the best way to keep them from overhearing certain things unless someone wanted to have a meeting in the woods.
Sure, the dens weren't soundproof, but the less focused the kits were on the meeting the better this all would go. Even if they would still be able to hear some things from inside the nursery, their minds would be more distracted than if they were out here, and they would also be out of the grown-ups' way while they tried to clear and clean up this whole mess.

He quickly looked out over the camp again, taking in everyone's expressions and body movement, searching for anything he might need to take note of or react to. Nothing new, but his gaze caught for a second on a kit. A pause as the dark-furred Keeper looked at the hairball, but it lasted no longer than a heartbeat before he went back to observing everything else. But no matter how short his glance at the kit had been, the thing hadn't gone unnoticed, and after a bit of searching around in his memories for why in hell it looked both more familiar than every other kit in the nursery while it also feeling like he hadn't seen it in moons, he recalled it as being the same kit Cinderpaw and Bushtuft - Bushpaw, at the time - had buried back in the times of Batblood's apprenticeship. Another one Starclan had tossed back to them? They seemed to be a dime a dozen these days - Cinderpaw, Houndspirit, Astardance... he was forgetting a good handful of them- and seeing as no one else was reacting much either, Batblood didn't pay the situation any more attention.

Instead back to listening, looking for an opportunity to fix at least something, as sitting here, feeling passive was becoming beyond unbearable at the moment. He felt the subtle scent of rain, and a short while later it started dripping on his fur. Wonderful, what fine weather Starclan was blessing them with. But as Roosterflame went on trying to say what Batblood and many more others had already guessed... there was something more happening than the drizzling rain and echoing thunder in the distance... Batblood licked his shoulder a little, then adjusted himself where he sat, and after a heartbeat licked his chest fur. His pelt... was behaving strangely. Usually, he made a point of always keeping it smooth and glossy, giving him that healthy looked he liked and outlining his muscles a little better.

Now it was standing up in a way that wasn't caused by fear or stress, but that he still couldn't control...

KRACK!!!

A flash of blinding light, heading for the ground, flung from the now clouded skies and striking right into the Thunerwillow almost right above Batblood's head, immediately followed by a deafening sound. He staggered back, eyes squeezed shut and ears flattened against the back of his head, his expression twisted into one of pain as if it was him and not the tree being hit. Ears ringing from the sound and eyes stinging and burning after having watched the impossibly right light, Batblood was left crouching on the ground, trying to regain control over himself again. For a few moments he couldn't hear a sound - whether because of being momentarily deafened or because no one dared do anything - but feeling and smelling his clanmates' panic and distress.

The pause didn't last, as his clanmates voices quickly returned, screaming and shouting, some out of fear and anxiousness, some trying to quiet everyone else by making themselves the loudest one... it was all a mess.

Someone finally seemed to realize a bit of what he had been talking about in the begging of the meeting, and Cinderpaw quickly started to usher all the young cats into the apprentice's den, while warriors gathered around, many eager to help, but far too many still just causing more chaos. Then Drippingleaf started up and argument with a few others and Batblood took in a deep breath through his nose as he tried to gather his strength. Stars, this thing is giving me war flashbacks to the time after Dawnstar.

More fighting, more tossing around opinions in a pointless battle that served them no good as of now. Really, did these cats have nothing better to do than argue right now? Did they really find this moment, when the lightning had just struck the Thunderwillow, they had lost the how-ever-manyth leader in just a few seasons, and when everything seemed to be one giant mess... did they really find this moment to be the best one for something like this.



"Yeah ok ok, and that's enough!"

His voice, more powerful and authorize than maybe ever, rose over the clearing as the dark-furred Keeper got to his paws and raised his head. He was large, not usually so, but noticeably larger than most.

"I do not care about your opinion on Thrushy right now. I do not care whether you want him as a leader, someone else, or whether you give a rat's ass about it at all. What I care about right now, and what honestly all of you should care a lot more about, is cleaning up this mess. Whatever you want to interpret all of that as-""
a motion to the fallen branch, Sparrowstar's former place now dripped away and tossed at the ground like just another dry piece of wood
- " doesn't matter right now. If you want to vote about it later like we did before, that's fine. Because the truth is that we've done this very same little song and dance before - y'all remember what happened that time? Well, let me hecking remind you: Because we couldn't keep our crap together, Dawnstar came here and look at how that went."

Stars, he was just so done with all of this.

"So if it's not too big of a challenge for all of you, maybe we should try and get this mess together. That sounding good with you?"
The most rhetorical and sarcastic of questions from a cat quite known for those, but he hardly had the energy to care.




[Not sure who to mention but hopefully this will do]
@Cherry~ @Willowfern @SpiritedWarrior @Eaglet

@Estelle Vix mention in case she is still nearby also PP perms to have her hug him any time