[Undertaker]

 

Originally Posted by Levi 99

When the Shadowclan leader didn’t get too angry with Shadefrost’s attempt to cheer her, he gave a silent sigh of sweet relief, while gaining some well-needed confidence in the process. ”Well I don’t know about anyone else, but I for one like seeing you happy and I have a good feeling that a majority of the cats in the clan feel the same way. Besides, your our leader, which means your practically the mother of Shadowclan. Why wouldn’t we want you to be happy? He asked with a smile. Briefly, the thought of him doing more things like this came to mind, before being shooed away by Dawnstar’s next question. He closed his eyes and gave a quick shake of his head, “Sorry Ma’am.” Said the warrior, before continuing in a blunt manner, “I didn’t feel that I had the authority to go onto another clan’s territory without your permission nor did I want to either.” And that was probably the best call in Shadefrost’s opinion, the chances of him finding much out about the corps were slim to none, and he’d most likely have to get most of the Information from Pepperleaf who was the only one in his knowledge that knew the deceased queen. The blue-eyed tom’s train of thought was broken, yet again by his leader's next words. ”A good enough reason.” The warrior let the words echo in his head for a few seconds to register the command, then his eyes lit up and he answered with an, ”Actually, not just Thunderclan. Windclan too. If we send a small, but capable group into both territories we might just be able to push our borders on two separate fronts. That means access to more prey, healing herbs, and resources in general. Plus an opportunity to identify any possible weaknesses to exploit later on. And I know that you might be thinking about the downside to all of this. But on the somewhat off chance that an enemy patrol catches us, we can always scrap the take-over idea and lie, saying that we were worried about them and that we came to see if everything was alright. I mean like they probably wouldn’t believe us, so maybe don’t do that, but you get it.”

Dawnstar's eyes roll at the mention of being happy. Dawnstar was pretty certain she's never been truly happy in her entire existence. Sure, she's managed to make herself think she was happy, but she was dead certain she's never felt true bliss. It was an emotion that eluded her much like love. She knew she was able to care, show affection, and even worry, but in the long run, she felt like she was incapable of really loving anything. At this point in her life, she wasn't even sure if what she felt was right or real besides her anger. Had she just fooled herself into mimicking emotions to seem 'normal'?

Shadefrost's next words further sent the leader into a downward spiral of doubt and self-reflection. A mother of ShadowClan? Ha! That was hilarious, she liked the ring it had, yet that was about it. She was no mother, not really, not even to her adopted kin. Dawnstar had seen how regular mothers acted around their kits and had watched real families interact, Dawnstar wasn't like them, couldn't be like them. She was too selfish and too shattered to be a 'real' mother. Shadefrost clearly didn't understand what he was talking about with the clan wanting her happy. He seemed to have some strange views, the innocence he portrayed was amusing.

She remained silent, pleased when he changed the topic better something she could focus on. Dawnstar frowned deeply after learning that the body hadn't been moved, or at least that is what it sounded like to her. Though she appreciated him being careful about the borders, the idea that a dead body was laying there attracting predators was upsetting. She'd swing by the border later to see if it was moved or not. Dawnstar's had enough trouble with the predators in her territory without bodies attracting more.

After Shadefrost explain his reasonings to her, the Queen shut her eyes in thought for a moment. In all honesty, it wasn't a bad plan of action and she could see he was making some valid points, but he seemed to be forgetting about some more important details.

"Besides the risks, you're overreaching. You seem to have forgotten that we are one clan, no matter how strong everyone might believe we are, testing two clans at the same time will have devasting repercussions. They will fight at some point in time, and no matter how ready we may be, taking on both WindClan and ThunderClan will end in disaster, hence why I've no interest in pushing WindClan's border. Not to mention, I don't see any reason to antagonize the bunnies." Dawnstar wasn't fond of the 'let's beat them while they're down' mentality unless she had a valid reason behind it. Even then she didn't like it, real strength was proven when you were on equal grounds. What point was there to kick a kitten when it was already down?

She had already settled her grudge against WindClan, and aside from smaller mishaps, nothing they've done has warranted her complete ire yet. Why should she waste resources and catpower just to steal from them? "I'm not going to beat on WindClan just because they've been dealing with a fire. The other clans are already running around calling us bullies, not that that matters, but the thought of proving them right disgusts me." Dawnstar growled in disdain. "Taking from WindClan for greed's sake is not something I'll allow. ThunderClan had a debt that they must pay, leave WindClan out of your schemes."

 

Originally Posted by lio

NIGHTHOUND
huge, dark grey tabby tom with orange eyes and many scars.
he/him

It hadn't been long since he had last approached this den. However, with the guards being put into place and the patrol to Icy Heartlands, Nighthound had made up his mind. There was no use beating around the bush- time was not something to be wasted, and he would not waste it today.

He brought no gifts. No skulls, no pelts, nothing. Instead, the massive tom brought himself. His words, his experience, his loyalty. One must not use flattery and bribery to weasel their way into what they want. Slipping into the camp from another solo patrol, he had immediately approached the looming den, an unintelligible glint shining in orange eyes. Nighthound stopped outside and silently thought over what to say.

He would do this. For his Clan, for his kits, for his leader.

"Dawnstar, may I enter?"

[ @Undertaker ]

So many visitors! She supposed if she didn't want to receive them she should have been out of camp. Dawnstar paused in her blank staring at a wall, lost in thought, and turned her attention to the mouth of her den while slowly working out who was calling for her. "Enter." The Queen replied after surmising it was just Nighthound.

She was hoping this had to do with the guards she had told him to take control of. The leader wanted to see how he worked with the rest of her Enforcers, Larkfire in particular, since unlike the other warriors, Larkfire had been promoted to a higher rank immediately and so most likely wasn't used to taking orders from other warriors. Dawnstar was still trying to figure out replacement ranks and a deputy, those that step up and prove they could be of aid to her would get their dues.

"What is it?" The humongous feline arched her back while yawning her question. She took to grooming the scars etched into her face while waiting to hear a reply.

 

Originally Posted by Leafí

:*: Vulture'fang :*:

Oh boy,
He was sure sticking his neck out for this interaction. Inhaling a bit, he gave his ragged chest fur a couple of self reassuring licks before moving towards her den with a gift in tow. He had seen a multitude of other cats trying to butter up dear old Dawn, and all of them managed to make it out alive. So what was the difference with him? Ouch... Now that he thought about, he was almost ninety-nine percent sure that he pissed the leader off just a lil' bit. Was there evidence for this? Why yes of course. You could see the sanity drain from her eyes whenever he brought up her nickname. And honestly, he was sure it was more than the nickname... It was probably himself as a whole. This was quite flattering in his eyes, nothing got his twisted heart thumping more than someone suffering from his pestering.

Feeling the thoughts slip from mind, Vulture'fang made it to the entrance of the den. Any other cat would give a proper greeting, buuuuut.... He wasn't any other cat. Mulling over a little greeting wasn't him, so the first thing that popped into his head was uttered almost instantly. "Knock, knock Snips! Guess who just showed up?" chuckling to himself, the burly tom cleared his throat before continuing. "I was wondering if you'd want to have a quick little chit-chat between the two of us? That is if you don't mind..." Yup, that was hella smooth. He'd give that introduction a ten of ten. Who needed formal greetings when you had his flattering charm?

// @Undertaker \\
( ack... Ik I asked u like month ago if vulture could stop by... But life got chaotic, so I hope this isn't a problem posting w/ him now )

[Nope, you're good]
NOOOOO! WHYYYY! The Clan leader finished cleaning out some gunk in between her claws and was moving onto one of her hind paws when she heard the paw steps. She hadn't stopped her grooming until her nose twitched, picking up the scent and her tattered ears swerved in the direction of the voice. Her head snaps in the same direction and her eyes follow, presenting one of the last cats she wanted to interact with today. Vulturefang.

There was nothing in particular about the tom that annoyed her, it was everything, his very being. His existence! He aggravated her, but not in the sense that she wanted to straight up murder him. More like she wanted to box his ears in and stuff his tail in his mouth to shut him up, so basically he remained her of Grimhound in all the worst way. At the same time, he was somewhat refreshing to be around and seemed to be well aware that he tottered between being a pest and being dead. It was a line that not many cats could walk between.

"Go jump in a river." The leader spat back in reply to his oh-so-charming question. Sadly, Vulturefang had proven himself after finishing his training and had already begun training one of their apprentices, so it wasn't like he hadn't shown he could be useful. The fact that he was literally one of the very very select few former outsiders to remain and use what he had been offered to make something of himself was impressive in its own way.

"Why are you bugging me?" She asked a second later. Dawnstar was still super annoyed that he was in her presence, but duty demanded she tends to her clanmates, even the ones whose tongues she'd liked to tear out. Hated that nickname almost as much as she hated Slytiger's nickname for her.

 

Originally Posted by ~_LuzuraTheTitan_~

＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚　 Deadfeather of Shadowclan - Schzoid Personality Disorder - Non-binary (afab) - Gray with black markings and near red, amber eyes.　˚*• ̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊·̩̩̥͙

[Aww dawn warming up to Deadfeather? How sweet]

Tail curled as they sat awaiting the invite, ready to grab the skull and large rabbit. There it was, the invite to enter. It wasn't harsh as harsh as it normally was, but it wasn't inviting either. Recollecting the prey and the skull, they padded into the den, placing the gifts down.

"I brought a large Rabbit for the Queen and a Skull, which I can only imagine is a fox by the shape of it."

The skull was mainly intact, yellowed from age and a few teeth missing, but it was otherwise in pristine condition. The rabbit was large and was caught a little ways away from the Windclan Border, they were lucky they caught it for the Queen of the Shadows.

[ @Undertaker - Dawnstar]

[Sure, if you want call it warming up.]
It wasn't a pelt this time? Dawnstar observed Deadfeather carrying a skull and a bunny. They really liked giving her gifts, didn't they? Dawnstar was wondering if they were just trying to get into her good graces, or if they just genuinely going out and finding stuff to give her. She's heard that there are some weird generous cats out there. Whatever the reason, she'd take them, although she'd remember they were given, when push came to shove, it didn't matter how many gifts one gave her she'd still kill'em or hurt'em if she felt like she had a reason to.

Cats seemed to simply forget that. She was superficial but not that superficial. Rising, the she-cat dips her head to wrap her fangs around the bone, digging into the empty socket holes and picking it up with some awkwardness. She pulls the skull back so it sits next to the fox tail she was gifted from Mirehound, and the vulture skull her late kit had given her so long ago. Her pelt collection was getting big again, it might be a good idea to take some of them to the outskirts.

"What's the rabbit for? Am I supposed to skin it?" The feline asked, returning to stand in front of Deadfeather with a curious glint of her golden pools. No one brought her prey unless they wanted her to skin it, but she was pretty sure that Deadfeather knew how to skin to some extent considering that they had given her a pelt before.

 

Originally Posted by Ravensong

**Elmshadow**

@Undertaker [So both of these have to do with Longclaw, as it happens, so I'm not sure how much you care to go into Elmshadow's report, but here it is, obviously taking place decently before Cougarivy's. Elmshadow's report takes place before Dawnstar lifted her buddy system rule]

As soon as the warrior had left this den with orders to stay in camp until otherwise told, the dark tom made his way up to the leader's den. He padded to the entrance and called out, "Dawnstar, may I enter?"

After awaiting a response, he took a step forward and got quickly into his report, "Longclaw ended up in my den after he decided to attack a fox out by the Thunderclan border. It took some questioning to get out of him the exact story but it seems he considered the fox sick so he decided to attack by himself. He had no answer for why he was out in the territory by himself. I have told him to remain in camp until he hears otherwise from one of us."

**Cougarivy**

Moving through the camp entrance, the enforcer commander pranced easily up to the mouth of Dawnstar's den and sat down, her black tail twitching thoughtlessly behind her as her chin lifted, "Oh Dawnstar! I found another weird warrior." She waited for the massive shadow queen's response and admittance before she got into the rest of it. Moving joltingly, Cougarivy thought back through the entire strange encounter, happening upon Longclaw after he'd eaten prey he'd caught in their territory and then his aggressive proclamation of leaving but that had still been followed by some nonsense about thinking he wouldn't be accepted and then running off. "I found Longclaw in the territory smelling of Riverclan. He'd just eaten some freshkill and then told me to tell you that he's out of here," she shrugged. "He ended up running off. Marshhowl and Silentstorm were there and I think making sure he makes it to the border."

[Replying to these is optional, if they don't have anything else to add.]

Yea, a new report about an idiot is just what she wanted to hear. Dawnstar glowered at Elmshadow after hearing about Longclaw. He had clearly broken her rule, but at the same time, it sounded like he got his ass kicked by a fox. She was not pleased to hear that Elmshadow was wasting herbs on an idiot, though. "I figure out what to do with him after he's patched up, don't give him any poppy seeds, and use as the minimum amount of herbs on him as possible. If he wants to be stupid and disobey orders, then he can suffer for it." Dawnstar replied snappily. Exile and execution seemed too extreme maybe a demotion would do.
________

Greeeeeat. The scarred feline looked over to Cougarivy as she came prancing in like the looney that she was. "Weird? What do you mean weird?" Dawnstar questioned and then regretted it a second later. If Cougarivy, who was a weirdo herself, was saying someone was weird then that had to be some serious craziness.

"Never mind, don't answer that." She sighs as soon as she heard the name Longclaw. The explanation that followed was indeed odd, but also kind of relieving, since that cat would no longer be her problem. "Okay, so he was with RiverClan and trespassing or..." She trails off trying to figure out what the hell that cat was doing but then decided it really wasn't worth her brain cells. "You know what, I don't care so long as he's gone. I'll inform the clan about the traitor and make sure that everyone knows that he's to be killed if he's seen around here."