[redshiftreign]

i can change. i can channel. i can change. i can-

the dark forest is not kind to cats like (it’s greenbay, stop deceiving yourself. liar as you are. as you always were.) phthalo.
with eternity at your paws, you have two options. grow up, or stay the same.
not many dark forest cats can truly say that they have changed. timelessness has a way of trapping the bad inside you, cutting into you and making it fester and fester and fester until you succumb to the violence. until you give into your nature.
repentance. it does me no good and still i revel in it.
days. moons. years. they go by ad nauseam. after so many years- so much growth, so much guilt, doesn’t he deserve a taste of peace? a breath of mercy.

the stars know no such thing, and nor does the forest that lacks them.

no one knows mercy anymore, it seems.

—

okay okay okay so! my idea is that phthalo is standing on the border between the dark forest and starclan, as it’s been weakening recently. not trespassing. merely. . . watching. tranquil and at peace.
still, even that is not permitted.
mayhaps cindersky happens upon phthalo just inches from trespassing into starclan? i don’t think they could have known each other in life as he’s supposed to be of an uncertain ‘age’, but has been in the dark forest to see his victims become elders and die, so it’s been a good. . . while. he was of thunderclan initially when he was living, and after being exiled on the trek through shadowclan territory he was bitten by a snake as almost karma for the lives he had taken.
unlike most dark forest cats, you can no longer describe phthalo as evil or even morally grim. he’s merely reformed, remorseful, and quite helpful now. he goes out of his way to stop dark forest training and talk some sense into some of the other denizens. somehow, it’s even lonelier being a good person among a sea of killers and liars. make no mistake, however, in life he was very different than he is now. a sadistic killer with a toothy smile and trouble in his eyes. now, unfairly aged by the forest of bones and death, he is a kind albeit reserved and observant tom who longs for nothing more than a second chance at life. a way to repent.
maybe an at-first defensive warning to stay away from starclan territory becomes a somewhat civil chat, if only for a few moments.