Duskhope nodded, sitting across from Rowanblaze and tucking his tail neatly over their front paws.
"How old is he now?" They gestured to Mossykit. @Speckear
The feathery tom entered the den wispily. He hung his head low and let his tail dredge beside his hind paws. He was only able to briefly look at the ground, which caused his shoulders to sag. His fur was only slightly tainted by the blood of his apprentice and kin, and he pondered how much more blood would be shed. To continuously stain his coat like crimson flowers in full bloom. His tear-filled eye bags were red as he reluctantly raised his head. He had clearly been grieving for almost a week. He was constantly in seclusion, contemplating ignoring his responsibilities. Or his heart was shattering from such intense shame. Cracking, but despite all the pain he was experiencing, it kept beating. He was in terrible pain all around. And now, what more? Starclan is undoubtedly pulling practical jokes on him. How can those haughty, 'hard-working' code devotees have the audacity to harm him in this way. Too much blood had been spilled, and it appeared that time was moving more quickly than usual. Like how many lunar cycles had passed, his life was flashing before his eyes.
As his gaze sunk into Sparrowstar's soul, his eyes were stone blank. He attempted to address his leader by opening his maw, but it hung open and he could hardly get any words out. It appeared as though his vocal cords were entirely torn. He was practically choking on the dryness of his already-dry tongue. His eyes were erratic. Everything felt so surreal because it kept going on and on. Attempting to choke out words, he nearly tumbled. He was feeling tongue-tied because something was preventing him from saying what he wanted to say. His voice trembled as he struggled to get out a few barely audible syllables as his pulse rate reached its peak. "He's dead, he's dead. ." He sank to the floor, kneading his eyes as if trying to smash his insides. His eyes began to well with tears, leaving a salty stain on his paws and cheeks. He was trembling. Cowering like a dog in front of Sparrowstar, his leader. The dried blood on his pelt trembled wildly along with his body. Too soon, too quickly. Was he ever qualified to serve as a deputy, given the way he trembled? Was it the reason Rainpaw skipped on congratulating him altogether? Maybe his son was correct. He was failing as a deputy, but perhaps in the perspective of his clanmates, he was a brilliant deputy. He merely felt as though he was carrying out his obligations to support Sparrowstar. Undoubtedly, it is what a deputy does. Just assisting, that's all.
A soft smile spread over her face as the deputy accepted her proposal, and she gave him a gentle nod. No need to fuzz over minor mistakes, and while she would have assigned a different punishment, this worked fine as well. "Well com'on then, Dawnpaw", she called and glanced for the apprentice. Time to actually show how a border patrol should be executed.
She smiled and followed the cat
(sorry for the short response, I am very sick at the moment)
Oriolepaw nodded at Sundust’s words. At least a quarter moon of rest, and physical therapy? StarClan, that sounded like a lot. But, if it allowed him to heal without any complications, then he’d take it. The last thing he wanted was to have to give up on being a warrior now. “Thank you, Sundust,” he said quietly.
As he lay in the medicine den, he began to worry about what Quietpaw and Sootfur would think once they found out he’d been injured. He hoped they wouldn’t worry themselves too much; sure, it was bad, but it wasn’t fatal or anything!
Oriolepaw’s thoughts then drifted exclusively to Quietpaw. With a jolt, it suddenly occurred to him that he’d been meaning to ask Sundust about her. Now would be the perfect chance!
“Sundust?” he asked, lifting his head again. “Why can’t Quietpaw talk?”
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Fadingstar is currently RiverClan's leader. He has an open den policy; his den can be found here. If you have any questions or concerns about RiverClan, or any plots to propose, feel free to leave me a VM or DM! Please do not take my characters' IC opinions as reflective of my own.
While her reunion with Violetpaw- or as she called herself, Indigo- was the next greatest thing that has happened in her life aside from Sootfur and her promotion to the Keeper status, Flameheart's reunion with her former Clanmate was not one she expected, and she doubted Indigo expected it too. Aside from their mini fight and the new addition to her orange pelt, she did quite enjoy being in her old friend's presence once again.
"Sundust? It's me, Flameheart. I got in a fight with an intruder... again." she sighed and sat down, waiting for the golden tabby to make an appearance. That had to be... what? The third time she's gotten in a fight? Yeesh... it seems like I'm the one depleting Sundust's resources... I'll have to ask him if I can get any herbs to replenish his stock.
Rainpaw
Everything from the tip of his ears to the tip of his tail was sore. His ear was dripping blood and was beginning to dry, which he guessed was good, but every other bit hurt. He had blurry vision in his left eye, but young Rainpaw didn't know if that was the blood from the scar above his eye coming down or what, but he knew it all had to be fixed. He wanted to just sit with his sister's grave for as long as possible before nightfall, but he knew he wouldn't be allowed out, especially with that monster still roaming around the territory. The young tom never wanted to have an attack like that happen again. I just... didn't want Quietpaw to end up being that monster's meal... she deserved the world and I wasn't about to let her body be disrespected like that.
"S-sun... dust?" he croaked, trying his best not to shake his head to get rid of the blood drops that didn't seem to want to leave so he didn't welcome his headache back. "Q-quietpaw... she... s-she..."Oh, stars... I can't even finish a sentence..."I... she... SHE SAVED MY LIFE!"
His words came out much louder than he had anticipated, but it was the only way for him to not stutter as he plopped down and released the tears that were stuck in his eyes. The tears stung when they ran down the fresh scarring under his eye, which made the crying worse, but he was more focused on his emotions and the pain his sister had endured when she was clawed and bitten to oblivion by that monstrous creature.
"I... I sh-should've been t-the one... i-if it weren't f-for her... I- I wouldn't b-be here..." Rainpaw didn't dare dip his head to the medicine cat while he explained why he was in there. He couldn't bring himself to stare at his blood-soaked chest fur. He couldn't bring himself to stare at Quietpaw's blood. Not any longer. "I... I- I t-tried... I tried to s-save h-hers, b-b-but... I- I c-c-couldn't.... I couldn't g-get her b-back i-in time..."
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Characters
Crow (Purrks: Heightened Perception, Agatha Kitty, Hulk SMASH, Dreamwalker)
Ravenhawk
One day. One normal, goddamn day that Cinderpaw wished for. One where she didn't have to stare at the blood of those younger than her, of those gone too soon smeared across the clearing and invading all of her senses. If that day was to come though, it would not be today -- and the overgrown apprentice found herself forcing down a scream as she surged forward to meet Rainpaw carrying the limp body of his sister.
She placed her remaining stump of a tail on the younger tom's back in an attempt to sooth him, enveloping his broken body as she curled around him like a shock blanket, uttering out a shaky murmur. "You've done e-enough. You've done enough for her." The tabby soothed, eyes flickering around camp... "We need-- We need help out here! Dammit, so-someone go get Sundust! Quietpaw's--"
She stared down to the unmoving body before her, and knew the grip of death had dragged her under, and that there was nothing Cinderpaw could do about it. "They're both hurt...!"
Thrushfur hurried past, weaving fast among the swell of folks. When he discovered that his path was obstructed, he stopped moving. He pushed through while growling. "Get out of my way!!" To get to the scene of the crime, he forcibly pushed through. He arrived here due to his instincts being prompted by Rainpaws' cries. His muscles tightened as adrenaline raced through his blood vessels. Before he could respond, he fluttered his eyes. His face was filled with utter terror. In addition to a body, Rainpaw was covered in blood. His gaze moved hesitantly toward the body. No, no, no, no, no. He scurried over to her body and touched every inch of it. Quietpaw? Please god why- His breathing was accelerating rapidly. His mouth was hanging open, uncontrollable. He sank his head into Quietpaw's body, unable to scream forth any words. In her physique, no heat ever built up. Thrushfur, she's now a corpse.
Her paws, eyes, and fur. Never again would he be able to see them. He was unable to comprehend a word Rainpaw had spoken. Why now? why, why, why, why! She cannot be dead.'You didn't have to do that. Instead of you, I would have taken your position. I would have swapped out your body for mine. I would have given you some fresh air. I'd offer my heart to you. Come back to me, please. Please, please, please stay Quietpaw. Please display any signs of life.' His head was nestled in Quietpaws' torso. He was sobbing hysterically. No matter how slobbery he appeared in front of his clanmates, he didn't care. His pulse rate and breathing were out of this world, and embarrassment flew off his pelt. His nostrils was blocked up with mucus. He inhaled her bloodied body while painting himself with it. It seems since that would be the greatest way to keep her here, with him.
Quailfur
Walking amidst the crowd, she found herself to be in a trance finding a crowd to be accumulated. She whisked her head in the direction of the crowd, before her nose caught the scent of rusty blood in the air. She slowly sped into a trot then a canter, her silver stripped tail tailing behind her. The former queen made herself be known before she saw Thrushfur and Cinderpaw immediately rush on over. Additionally Bumblebreak had already gathered to help. She couldn’t exactly see through the crowd, but she narrowed her eyes. Slinking through as it came to light what it was all about. She gasped, pure shock and terror being plastered on her face. Seeing her sobbing mate and her son grieving. She already knew. She let out hoarse repetitive breaths. Her green eyes softening into dilated irises. She bolted over screaming her heart out. "MY BABY! NO NO NO!" She joined in with Thrushfurs commotion of sobs.
Crashing herself into Quietpaws body. She couldn’t make sense of what happened. She went on a rambling of words that were squeaked and slurred with sobs and sniffles. "You were just getting comfortable too! We missed you so much! You didn’t have to leave us! Curse the one who killed you! Curse your suffering! I was supposed to be your MOTHER! You didn’t have to leave me! ME! CURSE YOU!!" She yowled, her voice cracking. Unable to control herself as her eye veins were stained a violent red. Her uncontrollable anger was present in the situation. She swatted her tail, digging and grieving into Quietpaws pelt with all her might. Almost suffocating the poor corpse.
Today had been a calm day, returning from hunting with a fair amount of prey, getting to move around without worrying about someone watching. She hadn't been forced to engage in conversation yet today, so that was yet another thing going her way for once. That, and, no one else had randomly died today. Nothing was wrong, all was right with the world. All was well.
Screams broke through the silence, yells and gasps and the scent reached her nose before her eyes had opened. No. How many of the younger ones recognized it from Redfur? How many of them didn't know what the stench of metal and iron and blood meant? Walking down to the growing crowd, moving through the gathering, collection, she stopped at the outer ring, a few shapes condensing long enough for recognition before flitting away, out of comprehensible thought.
It was blurring together, she was watching from outside her body, a brown and orange form looking back and forth at each cat before moving on. Cinderpaw, screaming something incomprehensible, Roosteflame, frozen, Bumblebreak, paws moving as quick as her mouth, others were doing stuff, others moving to the point where she couldn't clear her mind long enough to figure out who they were. They didn't matter, nothing mattered, only one thing she was looking for, the source of the blood, someone standing up, for StarClan knew that she wouldn't look to the ground until completely certain that it wasn't someone standing.
Rainpaw."You?" A question, a prayer, a silent outburst asking, begging that he was the only one hurt, that the lump displayed on the ground wasn't real, she was seeing something wrong. "Why were you out of camp?" She stumbled to the side as Thrushfur brushed past her and it came together. Oh. Why weren't they healed, why was she dead, why was she dead?
She was dead.
She was a baby. She was just a baby. He was one too, he was nothing more than a little one.
"I'm sorry." Whispered words as she began to shake, eyes watering as her head tilted down to stare at the family. Broken, shattered, dead.
Weak.
Pathetic.
She was supposed to protect those who needed it, but here she was, falling apart over someone she didn't know. Falling apart over the slow decline of an era of short-lived happiness. Falling apart over the death of someone who hadn't lived long enough to experience happiness. Faces blurred again and she was falling, head spinning, nausea building.
Sootfur's claws were sinking tightly in the hard, cold ground. The control over his body, his head, and the reality... everything was falling apart. He stood still without breathing, ignoring his shrinking chest and the burning of his lungs as his eyes were fixed on a terrible scene in front of him.
The lithe body of her beloved apprentice was laid out in an innatural position, her eyes glazed with a curtain that would never leave her. Starclan... hoe could you let this happen?
His eyes darkened and became the color of the gray sky during a thunderstorm. He could not leave the sight of the red stains coloring her fur, but too soon his sense tried to shake him awake to hear the desperate cries of Rainpaw and his parents. Oriolepaw limped toward his friend, too.
This.. must be a nightmare...
But the feel of the cold sand under his toes felt real, and he had never smelled such a strong scent of blood in his life before.
He padded on with slowly, mechanical movements, ignoring the cats he pushed away involuntary to make her way to the center of the clearing.
When he reached Quietpaw's body, he collapsed on the ground and almost choked in pain. She is DEAD..."Dead..."
Everything around him became once more blurred, but the lifeless eyes of her first apprentice kept o staring at him. I didn't save you... I'm so sorry...
Sootfur touched her head with his nose, sobbing as he made his best efforts to clunch his jaws and concentrate only on her scent. But that had disappeared, replaced by another one that had the name of death.
...Something else lingered on her pelt, but it became more obvious as he turned to Rainpaw. Something vicious that he had already smelled... something like.. "A fox." The words came out more empty than he'd thought. "Rainpaw, was it a fox?" He asked Quietpaw's brother, hoping that he would reply between a sob and another. His head was spinning at incredible speed. He needed a reply, and he needed it now.
Tears had started to stream down his face, but he'd still not realized it.
His only apprentice had not only died, but had died in a terrible way. He shut his eyes closed and felt tears leave his orbs for the first time. Whoever has done this... WILL PAY WITH THE SAME DESTINY.
And so, with Sootfur's first apprentice came also his first promise to Starclan.
//The bottom of the post is strictly meant for Cinderpaw, please refrain from having your character hold him back
Rainpaw
One after another, Clanmates came running toward him and his sister's body. First to arrive to the scene was Cinderpaw, his friend. The large she-cat was quick to place her stubby tail on his back in comfort, but as much as Rainpaw hated to admit it, it didn't help all that much. Her words stung even though she did not intend it in such a way. I could've gotten her back to ThunderClan faster... I just... didn't know how to fight a predator properly... or at all. I should've been the one to die. I should've been the one to be torn apart bit by bit... Although Cinderpaw had called for Sundust, the medicine cat had yet to come. And he was thankful for it, despite needing to get his wounds checked on and his sister's body ready for burial.
Thrushfur had come up, pushing everyone gathering aside to get to his daughter's body, which brought Rainpaw by surprise. He... he still cares about Quietpaw? But- but he never even sent a search patrol for her when she was still known as Quietkit! He shed a few happy tears to see his father actually caring for the small apprentice, but a question was still there: Why had Thrushfur chosen to care about his daughter when she was dead but not before? In Rainpaw's eyes, it was already too late. His sister was dead.
Foxflurry was the next cat to approach, though what she said... he couldn't find the words. His own former denmate, the den Quietpaw and Rainpaw both shared for a couple of moons, was more focused on what he was doing out of camp in the first place. A low snarl threatened to rumble in his throat, but he swallowed it down. Instead, he tried to find the answer the she-cat was looking for without spilling out more tears, but it was near impossible. "I- I... I... I..." his mouth trembled and fumbled to find the right way to say what it was his Clanmate wanted to know. Foxflurry was quick to apologize, however, so Rainpaw remained quiet for the moment, trying to not explode right in front of multiple Clanmates and his father.
Sootfur had come running, and although he didn't care for the tom, he saw that he truly cared for Quietpaw. Of course he would. He was her mentor, why wouldn't he care for her? It took a long time for the gray tabby to talk, and although Rainpaw originally wanted him to say something about Quietpaw, another question was directed toward him. When he could, the young tom nodded. "I-if... foxes are, uh... o-orange, b-b-black, a-and... and white, y-yeah, I s'pose i-it was a- a fox t-that... you know..."
"I want to be there for her burial... can you all hold off? Please...?" he spoke as he heard more paw-steps come toward the group. This time, it was his mother.
She... she cared for Quietpaw too? Quailfur's words were almost poetic. She says all that, but she never sent search patrols out for her. She never talked or did anything with Quietpaw after she returned... How selfish could she get?! He was about to tell his mother what had happened when she spouted out two words that would forever haunt Rainpaw's mind and change his views on the warrior. That... that- that PIECE OF FOX-DUNG!!!! Quailfur then went to smother Quietpaw's body and Rainpaw was more than furious with his mother as she disrespected her daughters' corpse. "GET AWAY FROM HER!" he screeched and launched himself for his mother, extending his claws while adding: "NEVER CURSE HER IN FRONT OF ME!! DO NOT SUFFOCATE HER BODY!!!!"
His demands were not something he wanted nor did he even think he'd ever need to say, but his mother had crossed the line. While he was fine with her being upset, she was going much too far in his opinion. "SHE SAVED MY LIFE, QUAILFUR!" he snarled as he went to attack her.
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Characters
Crow (Purrks: Heightened Perception, Agatha Kitty, Hulk SMASH, Dreamwalker)
Ravenhawk
. Violetslash .
( I hope it’s okay for me to use the clan wide mentions seeing as @jupiter ‘s Cloudyflight has died, although you have no need to reply with a reaction. )
This was the second time recently that the molly had come back into camp with something that might invoke a reaction in lots of her clan mates, however this time she wasn’t coming back with news of anger, she was coming back now with news that might make some very upset. The weight of Cloudyflight on her shoulders was surprisingly light, which was pretty unnerving. Violetslash had had to carry her fallen clan mates before, and they had been much heavier than the white molly is, but she supposed that was because the she-cat had been heavily malnourished before passing away, by stars the white cat looked almost like the clans oldest elder, practically a skeleton.
She huffed as she made it to the base of the Thunderwillow, moving the molly off her shoulders gently and onto the camp floor. Violetslash took a step back from the body, and she turned to face her clan mates ”I found her at Willows Rise, she seemed peaceful, but unfortunately Cloudyflight has passed away.” the scent of death had begun to slowly waft from the fallen molly, hopefully Sundust had lavender or some sort of flower to hide it.. the pale blue/grey molly moved away from the body, to give her clan mates some space to grieve.
~ Mistheart ~
Grey was the colour of today.
The clouds that filled the sky were soft, puffy ones (indicative of Leafbare's day to day weather), the ground was frosty, and the small grey molly that sat loafed outside of the warriors den watching the sky blended well with her surroundings; short grey fur only occasionally shifting in the breeze as she looked for shapes in the clouds above.
Speaking of clouds, they looked to be delightfully soft. Perhaps one day she'd be able to climb a tree that reached juuust high enough for her to touch a paw to them and test her theory... but for now the young molly was content to merely sit and daydream as the swirling puffs of grey made their way through the sky.
However, Mistheart's musing and daydreaming was quite abruptly interrupted by Violetslash calling out about... Cloudy?...
Grey eyes widened. Blinked once. Twice. Before the words sunk in and she abruptly lurched to her paws. The rest of the clearing disappeared; the only cat she could see was her sister (oh stars, HER SISTER) laying limp and still in the center of camp. Suddenly her muzzle was pressed into the long white fur of her littermate (how did she make it across the clearing?... Was this even real?...). Her scent... her scent was starting to fade, slowly being replaced with the still and stale scent of death. A low, quiet wail was echoing in her ears (was that her?) as her nose desperately pressed against Cloudyflight's body to try and locate a breath, a shift, even a shiver from the cat against her.
"C-Cloudy?..." she whispered, voice barely audible and cracking as she spoke into her pelt. "Are... A-are you?... Where did you... W-why did... Oh stars, please d-don't leave me too..."
A sudden sob choked it's way out of her body as she nuzzled into her sister's fur. Her halting, childhood speech pattern seemed to be the only thing she could force out... but force out her pleas she did.
"You... You were all I had l-left... I... I'm sorry f-for not being a good sister--just please... C...come back... P..please don't leave me alone..."
The crowd around them kept growing and growing, yet all Cinderpaw could hear was the blood roaring in her ears. She recognized some of the faces coming over - Thrushfur and Quailfur to bury their noses in their daughter's fur (though she couldn't help but remember the way Rainpaw had spoken of his parents with such malice), then flashes of pelts she once thought she knew like the back of her paw but not really now. Through it all, she stayed curled around the still living tom.
It was the garbled, almost intelligible posing of questions that released Cinderpaw from her haze. What the hell... "His-- His sister just died. Why the hell are you interrogating him? He's--" Her words came out unexpectedly pointed, eyes narrowing at Foxflurry and Sootfur. He hadn't even had the time to go to the medicine den... Like a switch had been flipped, she turned back to Rainpaw, eyes softening. "A'course we'll wait. I'll make sure t-they do." The older apprentice murmured, looking back to the two's parents. Quailfur had begun wailing.
Cinderpaw found herself gritting her teeth as the bereaved parents sobbed. How heartless was she? But all she could think about were all the ways Rainpaw had accused them of failing to raise them. She was just about ready to call it quits and usher the brown tabby to the medicine den when a low snarl sounded off.
"No, you don't." Reflexes like fire, the overgrown apprentice caught Rainpaw's charge with her own body, claws sinking deep into her side. Her face stayed steely, as she forced herself not to cringe. In all honesty, the tattered rag of a child still left within Cinderpaw wanted to let him at her - she of everyone knew how it was to long for the sweetness of revenge - but she knew... "It's not w-worth it. They'll punish you more for hurting her then they ever would be for the pain th-they've caused you. I am not letting you be failed again."
How long would it be until it sunk in to everyone that this had happened too many times to be just a tragedy or accident? Maybe it was just her being jaded, but as Cinderpaw curled around Rainpaw like she was some demented version of a weighted blanket, it seemed like that day would never come. "You... you need Sundust. Let's go."
Re: ThunderClan Clearing
