Dusk Syndicate Clearing

[~Breadsticks~]

Originally Posted by SamCats

Patch's whiskers twitched in amusement at her question. If they weren't different, then why would they be named different things? An oak is not a pine, after all. But he obliged, answering her question with a polite meow, "It's very different. We have to stay near the camp, and we don't get to sleep in a den. Some of us barely sleep at all."

Now that he thought about it, he couldn't quite remember why he'd decided to become a guard. Scratch that, he'd been forced to. Not sure why he'd let it happen, though. Fear? Tiredness? Who knows...

"Really? I'm not sure how you function without sleep." The molly said, now almost looking concerned for the guard. Maia did what she normally would do upon hearing this and circled the tom looking him up and down, "Do you guards eat how you sleep?" She asked, sniffing his pelt worriedly.
[Sorry, short]

[aleka!]

Of course, Moon got understood why Singe would chase her off. Maybe it even was a hard decision from the tom, but he kind of doubted it. After all, she did reek of clan, which even to the molly herself, was unsettling smell that made her fur bristle, though she had been doing her best to keep it flat. "Well, I mean we did all guess that she had died..." She trailed off. "But, how did she die then?" I swear if a clan cat had somehow came here and murdered her, that I would flay them. She hissed inwardly.

@narwhalgirliv

[Autumnblaze]

@Aleka @Gusty

Woodpeckerflight was just where she feared she'd be, it was either lie or be found out, Ill have to lie my way out of this one... "Uhhh... she, umm... she, uh- she-she caught greencough..?" The white and red molly started sweating, it was all too obvious, Moon would know it was a lie. She fidgeted her paws and stared down at them with her tail flicking anxiously.

[aleka!]

Moon stared at Woodpeckerflight, her head tipped to the side with curiosity. It was bluntly obvious that she was lying. The signs were the unsure tone, she was also staring at her paws, which were fidgeting. "I know that's not what happened." She said in a soothing tone. "What really happened? If she was attacked, I know you would defend her."

(School started, bye)

[Autumnblaze]

@Aleka @Gusty

"I killed her, okay!?" Tears ran down the molly's face as she unsheathed her claws, "And Ive regretted it ever since! It's all I think about at night!" she confessed, "Then one day, Patchy's spirit came to me, and said it wasn't my fault! She said that she was out of control when she attacked me, and that it was only self defense for me to bite her neck... she bled to death, all because I was stupid enough to open a wound in her in the first place... but she said that wasn't true. That I attacked her because I felt I needed to, and that she, she wasn't the kind of cat to give up... so she continued to fight, but then she died of all the blood loss because she chose to get back up even if it cost her life." The Molly started crying, sheathing her claws and curling her tail around her legs.

[aleka!]

Moon hissed, lowering her head. Her shoulders were shaking her a moment before she stilled them. "What do you mean...?" She asked, her voice dropping into silence at the end of the sentence. But she knew what that meant. Exactly what it meant. What do I say to her? Her kind fretted as she scooted near her kit, nuzzling her gently. She was about to say something, though the the words died in her throat. She glanced in Halite's general direction, her green eye shining with what seemed to be defiance. She knew that for sure he would drive her off now, or kill her. But the molly just couldn't let that happen.

@narwhalgirliv @Gusty

[Gusty]

@Aleka @narwhalgirliv

Halite couldn't help himself. He just couldn't stop listening to the story of Woodpeckerflight and what she did and how she... ah, murdered Patchy. Excellent, just excellent. The tomcat thought, more emotionlessly than anything else- although deep inside his heart was the trickle of pity that he fought down intensely.

Despite how oh-so-dramatic the story was, Halite didn't enjoy how Woodpeckerflight had just disobeyed his previous orders about leaving. Perhaps clan life had softened her up; made her believe that a leader's words were mere suggestions than actual orders. Well, as long as she was here, that would change.

"Both of you. Go out into the territory. Now." He stated, much more firmly than before. His dark, ocean-blue eyes held an intense glare of leadership. The tomcat nudged Woodpeckerflight with his front paw, intentionally roughly, towards the exit of the dusty clearing.

[Empress Of Evil]

An Egyptian Mau sat down by himself in a quiet corner of the syndicate clearing. His pale green hues were as cold as ever as he scanned the camp. If a cat looked closely enough, they might notice how hard he was trying to keep up the hard gaze. Normally the icy look in his eyes came naturally and it was easy to keep up, but now he was putting in effort that he thought he’d never had to use. His breaths were deep and slow as he concentrated on his breathing. The tom was ready to use whatever he could find to distract him.

Oh how he wished he could go back in the past and fix the recent events. He’d found himself a new cat to hate with passion and he’d lost one that he had loved deeply. Now he was stuck, all alone and in charge of taking care of his kits. A few moons again, he had felt love and care towards his kits, now he wanted absolutely nothing to do with. He scowled whenever he saw a kit, more so at his own kits than others. Hades blamed them. He blamed them for not saving Illusion. They should’ve done something to save her. The fighter knew that they couldn’t have fought to save her, but they should’ve done something like wail for help. They should’ve sneaked out after their mother out of curiosity and wailed for help once they saw what was happening. He would’ve come to the rescue and he could’ve saved them. But no, his kits were generally well-disciplined kits and he blamed them for that. Why couldn’t they be like every other kit and constantly whine and shriek? At least he wouldn’t have to worry too much about taking care of them. They could take care of themselves.

The memory of blood-stained white fur was still fresh in his mind. As the image reappeared in his mind for what seemed like the fiftieth time, the tom felt imaginary claws raking across his heart. He never knew that losing a loved one would be so bad. He’d always just shrugged at the thought. He’d never believed he could actually love someone so hard. Hades hadn’t had many encounters with emotional pain before. He just wasn’t the type of cat to get attached. He wanted to forget it all. But how could he possibly forget Illusion? She was probably one of the best things that had happened to him.
He sighed. Why was grief so hard to live through?

@Nighty

[Autumnblaze]

@Gusty @Aleka

"Wha- You can't just banish my mother from her home because she's trying to make me feel better! What kind of sick fox-heart would do such a thing?!" Woodpeckerflight growled, sniffling. The red and white she-cat unsheathed her claws, flattening her ears, "I will protect my mother, and I won't let her be treated this way because of something I did!"

[aleka!]

"Wait, what exactly do you mean, both of us?" She asked, surprise very obvious on her face. How did this cat not understand that all she was doing to do was make her daughter feel better? She hadn't seen her in a long time, and after all there was the fact that this cat was her daughter. "I don't understand..." She said quietly, mostly to herself. The molly just didn't want to leave, she felt like she couldn't. She would have nowhere to go. She doubted she would feel at home in a clan, if a clan would even let her join in the first place.
And she couldn't really imagine going back to living as a loner again. And of course, she would ask Navy, and her other kits to leave with her, which just didn't seem fair to Eclipse, Star and Mercury, since this was the place they grew up.

@narwhalgirliv @Gusty