[poppy]

tw: this post references cannibalism

Dovefluff

The first cat to approach, thank the stars, was Bumblestar. The fluffy gray queen ducked her head in a respectful meeting, deep blue eyes searching the leader's face. No suspicion, thankfully. She wouldn't know what to do if she was accused of such a horrible crime. Grateful for at least the benefit of the doubt, she lowered her voice so that only Bumblestar could hear. "I found him deep in the territory, but he wasn't near any borders. The closest border I could smell was the one we share with the Outskirts. He had brown fur in his claws, so I think that would be a clue, and it was definitely rogue scent. And um..." She choked on the words slightly, faltering a bit. "He was... half eaten." That would hopefully explain why she was a little... bloody. It had been a messy job, moving the dead tom to the burial space. Most of her reasoning for not bringing the tom into camp was the clear as day, feline bite marks in his body. It wasn't just a murder, it was the result of... a hunt.

She looked around the clearing, locking gazes with Springpaw. The uncertainty in the young cat's eyes caused her stomach to clench. You don't really think I did this? She wanted to plead, but instead forced her eyes to move to other arriving cats. Dragonflycliff and Mothdapple, the former looking very... suspiciously at Dovefluff. The molly felt like she shrunk under the calico's gaze, and turned to look back at Bumblestar. Relax, Dove. You didn't kill anyone. You didn't... you didn't do that to him. You can barely catch prey without guilt tripping yourself. Anyone can see you're not a killer.

Although the odds were stacked. She had joined from ShadowClan 5 moons ago. The Clan well known for gruesome murders. She was covered with blood by carrying the destroyed body to Willow's Rise. You look like a monster, Dove. She was just glad that the murderer didn't have gray fur, or that would just add to the unnecessary suspicion.

Jumping slightly as Cracklepaw came darting over, sniffing her (wait what?) and chattering away excitedly, the queen sighed softly. How could he ask such questions? Like they were going to see something cool and exciting, and not a mangled corpse. "Bad for the kits." She murmured a response, luckily there weren't many kits in the clearing. She didn't understand Cracklepaw- and honestly she didn't want to try to. She tried to believe in the good, especially in children, but... oh hell, she was probably still going to assume that he was just a dumb kid who didn't understand death (which was obviously not the case)

Looking back at Springpaw, she felt a twinge in her chest. The poor thing looked like she was going to be sick. Because of Dovefluff. She was covered in the blood from carrying the dead Darkpetal and half the cats here looked like they thought she was the psycho cannibal killer. Clearing her throat, she made the decision to wait for a few more moments to allow more cats to come, as well as give Bumblestar any information she could, while waiting.

[ @dino. @Leafí @ares @dragonwind @Radetzky ]