Peacefully marking the border wasn't a reality Aspenstrike could have anymore, apparently. No sooner than she had finished marking her part of the border did she hear a yell (Sleethound? Who had they found? Who the hell was "her"?) Turning sharply on her heel, a sense of dread pricking her stomach, Aspenstrike padded close behind Poppypaw, yellow eyes narrowed and tail lashing. Oh. Marvelous. A dead body. She wasn't callous, she was tired and why should she waste tears on a cat she didn't-
Oh.
Oh no.
The familiar ginger fur. A limp white paw.
Oh please no.
"Shiningskies." Without another thought, the Abyssinian was plunging into the water, not even batting an eye as she waded across, making it to the body in mere seconds, water clinging to her maple fur. "Shining? Oh god. Oh god. Shining-" Paws wrapped around the limp body and Aspenstrike buried her face into Shiningskies's fur, gagging at the smell of death, blood and soggy fur. "Shining." The Guardian wheezed out, heart slamming into her ribcage so loud in her head it rivaled the fiercest thunderstorms.
Denial. I can fix this. I can fix this. I can fix this. This isn't real. This isn't real. Dragging her beloved mate through the water, Aspenstrike laid the body on land and placed her paws on Shiningskies's chest, trying compression after compression. Desperate, even though her love had been clearly dead for days. The bloody throat wound was covered by sodden fur but it was obvious that it was there. "Breathe, oh skies, Shiningskies please breathe." She pleaded, her brain knowing that it was useless but her heart refusing to accept it.
A blubbering sob escaped her and hot tears poured down her face as she pleaded with the shell of her mate to come back to life. "It can't end like this Shining. Not after everything. This was our second chance, remember? We were going to be elders together a-and Shiningskies please-" After minutes and minutes of failed resuscitation, she felt her legs shake and she crouched, burying her face in her mate's soaked fur, her while body heaving with silent sobs. She didn't even care if they judged her. She was done caring. Done. No more. They could judge her all they wanted because today was her last day in the damn Clan where she was cursed to live on the outside looking in. Cursed to watch everyone she loved die or leave.
But until then, she let the grief overwhelm her and would snarl at anyone who came close to her mate. Her mate, who no one appreciated. Her mate, who left ThunderClan and followed Aspenstrike here, just to watch all their children go and then to die a horrible, lonely death. Shiningskies had been the one to survive the curse of being someone Aspen loved, but no more. The curse had caught up to them both.
She just couldn't believe she was watching their love story's final chapter.
"They killed her." Dull, lifeless words broken by unmeasurable pain came from her, but it wasn't her speaking. It was that last shred of strength that would push her to where she needed to go. She didn't know what would happen when her beloved mate was laid to rest, but that was a bridge she would have to cross later.
Poppypaw's heart filled with pity as she watched all the scene where Aspenstrike was carying the limp body back to their clan. She supposed that Aspenstrike had a close bond to the lost one.
The apprentice slowly approached the Guardian, careful not to upset her more. She gently placed her tail on her back, hoping that everything would be alright. She guessed how Aspentrike must have felt at that moment. It must have been TERRIBLE to experience something like that. It was more than 'neglecting' your siblings, because you can never see the one you love again.
"Aspenstrike, wait--!" Too late, the older warrior was already rushing towards her dead mate through the river's current. Sleethound had mind to tell her it wasn't safe but the other was already throwing caution to the wind as it was so he just shrugged it off. Blue eyes filled with concern and grief for a cat he didn't well, but had the decency to at least show remorse for Aspenstrike. He wadded across the river towards the maple-furred guardian and stood a ways away from the grieving mollie. The low, hurt-filled pleading of Aspenstrike causing Sleethound to cringe, not in a bad way. It always made him uncomfortable around things like this, he never knew the right thing to say at times like these, and more than likely just said the wrong thing and ending up upsetting the victim and their survivor. He stepped closer to the guardian, offering any comfort he could give and look over at Poppypaw. "The river's not safe, just to avoid another death, would you mind stepping back up to the bank for right now?" He didn't have anything against the apprentice, just he wanted to avoid her getting swept by the river's torrent. Sleethound didn't check back to see if she onligied
Turning back towards Aspenstrike, he watches her sink defeatedly into her mate's sodden fur. A low, dull almost growl came from her as she stared on into nothing. "They killed her."
"Hey, maybe we should just get her body back up to our side of the river and take her back to camp Aspen. Then you can tear out all the fishcat throats you want. This river's not safe for us to be in here, and I wouldn't want any of us to get swept down river and not be able to get back up. C'mon, I'll help you carry her body back." He bent down to postion Shiningskies in an easier, more managable way to slide her on his and Aspenstrike's back.
(pp perms to @poppy. if you wanna knock him away and send him flying back bc she doesnt want nobody touching shining) @/poppy. @Shade. @Cinnamon~
It was faint, barely there and not far, but he could still smell it. The few steps taken into RiverClan land, the border ever so subtly crossed from where he knows it to be. After learning of ThunderClan's trespassing, Gingerfrost was particularly irked that WindClan (or at least some of WindClan) was doing the same. Did Twilightstar know about this? He wondered. You'd think that after that fight, they would back off at least for a little while. Well, it has been a little while. Still, he hadn't expected this from them. Frankly, it was disappointing. Clearly, someone got it within their mind that it's okay to cross the border, however slightly. Marking what was very well RiverClan land and RiverClan land only, Gingerfrost soon turned tail and returned back to camp.
__________________
Sleepysunrise is ShadowClan's current Medicine Cat.
She has a Semi-Closed den policy.
Despite her recent attempt at being a cat of the people, Rookscreech's instinctive response to the corpse of Shiningskies was to shroud herself in apathy. Okay, someone who Aspenstrike cared about was dead, big deal, not her problem. It was a way for her to protect her emotions.
"You do that, I'll finish the border." she said to Sleethound in a neutral voice, letting them deal with the whole emotional death fiasco while she finished the actual work.
*-Willowwisp-*
she/her || 28moons || Herbal Knowledge T1 A black stripped tabby with blue/grey eyes and an oriental build. She wears a lavender sprig on her ear.
Burdock, goldenrod and thyme. That's what they're here for. Looking around as she leads her patrol, Willowwisp doesn't exactly know what she was looking for, but she kept her eye out for tall, fuzzy yellow flowers she thought might be goldenrod. Burdock and thyme were something she had next to no clue about - other than the smell of thyme.
"See anything promising?" She asks the two cats beside her, wondering both if they knew what they were looking for and also if they could even spot some. A little ways off, Willow thought she saw a splash of yellow, but she couldn't be sure if it was the gold plant they needed or just the leaves of the trees changing.
*-Willowwisp-*
she/her || 28moons || Herbal Knowledge T1 A black stripped tabby with blue/grey eyes and an oriental build. She wears a lavender sprig on her ear.
Burdock, goldenrod and thyme. That's what they're here for. Looking around as she leads her patrol, Willowwisp doesn't exactly know what she was looking for, but she kept her eye out for tall, fuzzy yellow flowers she thought might be goldenrod. Burdock and thyme were something she had next to no clue about - other than the smell of thyme.
"See anything promising?" She asks the two cats beside her, wondering both if they knew what they were looking for and also if they could even spot some. A little ways off, Willow thought she saw a splash of yellow, but she couldn't be sure if it was the gold plant they needed or just the leaves of the trees changing.
CinnamonSwirl
They/Them - Nonbinary|Asexual + Panromatic - 28 Moons - A cream and cinnamon cat with light cinnamon swirls and darker cinnamon flecks and dark green eyes
CinnamonSwirl followed their patrol leader, looking around at the trees in awe. The cinnamon swirled cat was amazed by the different colors, like a kit seeing them for the first time. They'd seen them come and go every season but it still always amazed them. Suddenly, their patrol leader's voice brought them out of their whimsical trance and asked if CinnamonSwirl and the other cat had seen anything. "No, it's hard to find goldenrod when the leaves are all kinda gold, assuming that it's gold of course!" CinnamonSwirl said, ending with a bit of a chuckle. They hadn't the faintest idea what anything they were looking for was.
•° Heatherwhisker °• Shadow Fiend • Silver Tongue • Just A Scratch
Shadow Fiend: ACTIVE
Ahh, safe and sound on WindClan territory. Heatherwhisker rolled around in the muck for a good few minutes, taking care to get rid of allll traces of RiverClan scent on his pelt. And also rotting prey scent. He would rather smell like stinky mud than have some cat on his tail after all, right? Afterwards, he shook off, his already dark tabby pelt stained with mud. Ewww. But at least this would disguise his scent to actually go hunting...
Shadow Fiend: INACTIVE
Sure enough, Heatherwhisker managed to basically stand right on top of a lark before it noticed him, and even then it was toooo late. He totted back home, bird in his mouth, an annoyed look plastered on his face. After all, Heatherwhisker had been doing some solo hunting when he slipped in the mud. Although he was annoyed, he had decided to use it to his advantage. That was why he was all muddy.
// +1 lark \\
Last edited by vellichor; October 8th, 2023 at 10:18 PM.
Sure enough, the scent led back to WindClan grounds - no surprise - where, of course, was a WindClanner rolling in the mud, happily going about his day hunting. Gingerstar scoffed, approaching the border with large strides, though stopping before he could actually cross it - he wasn't going to stoop as low as whoever did this. "You. The hell were you doing on RiverClan territory?"
Whoever was a big word - he had a pretty good idea of who it might've been, seen as no one else was around. Growling the few words, he was evidently displeased with the whole show. Seriously, do borders mean nothing to these cats?
*-Larkwing-*
She/her | 17 moons | Mind Reader - ACTIVE A sleek dilute tortie she-cat with green eyes
WindClan... The scent had been practically smeared all over their territory, and it was pretty fresh, too, so when Gingerstar had mentioned it and turned to leave, Larkwing took that as an invitation to come with him to track down the idiot(s) who had so graciously granted them the honor of smelling them everywhere. Sure enough, the scent was freshest in the direction of Sedgewater Valley, and there was even a cat trotting away from the border openly, evidently covered in a very fresh layer of mud and carrying a lark in his mouth... Larkwing chose not to take that personally. Taking her place beside Gingerstar at the edge of the border, she waited to see if this cat would answer, tail lashing behind her irritably, and eyes narrowed. If this turned into a fight it wasn't looking good for the WindClanner.
Re: Sedgewater Valley
