RiverClan Leader's Den

[Fawn]

Fawnsqueak had noticed the commotion in the clearing and was puzzled by Dirtfur's lazy escort, but mostly by the fact he had an escort at all. The snippets of conversation suggested he wasn't leaving by choice, yet Lionstar hadn't made any indication of punishment beyond a demotion. Curious, he approached Lionstar's den, eyebrows furrowing as he realized Raccoontail was ranting about something inside. About... Lionstar? His attitudes? "Whoa.. you might want to stop there for just a bit," he said, grimacing a little. "Dirtfur has actually been, sort of.. uh, wild lately. I was busy fixing a den, and he told me to stop being lazy? It was... weird. I know you think you know him-- honestly, I thought I knew him too, until he completely chewed me out for somehow not contributing?" Almost everyone (if not everyone entirely) knew Fawnsqueak, and that wasn't how he acted when it came to his duties.

However, he was stunned when Raccoontail brought up his warrior ceremony, and that made him want to throw one paw over his face and the other over her mouth. "Can you seriously not?" She wasn't involved in it, a spectator who didn't know of their interactions leading up to the moment with no idea how it'd come to its awkward fruition. "Look, I realize you think this is helpful, maybe? But it's just... oblivious-- I'm not sure you don't know what our relationship is like, or about how Dirtfur has been acting for the past couple moons." It was surreal to walk into this situation that was being described wholly differently than how it'd happened, so he could just guess this cat either walked around with their eyes and ears closed, or they were a friend of Dirtfur's. Maybe both. "I'm pretty sure a leader who didn't love their clan would look more like, say... Fallenstar?” Fawnsqueak had met poor leaders, and he knew Raccoontail had as well since they'd both been in this Clan under the previous one. But his experience went beyond that in his travels. He'd met leaders who didn't know the first thing about their Clans, leaders who were too battle hungry to care that their Clan was hurting, or a leader who just didn't seem around.

@Pepperkins

[BEAR.]

"What are you," Lionstar asked Raccoontail without batting an eye, "an outdated elder? Where do I even begin with you? Look. Dirtfur wasn't even deputy anymore, I demoted him because of his continued detrimental behavior. Let's jump into his offenses, shall we?

"First: Out of the blue, Dirtfur accosted Fawnsqueak and myself and demanded we get off our asses-- with a reminder I was dealing with cats joining our Clan at the time and patrol reports, and Fawnsqueak had been repairing a den. Fawnsqueak and I have been both productive members of the Clan since day one, and to be rudely spoken to was out of paw. I warned him of his behavior and he apologized for his misstep, but he refused to stop there.

"He assigned himself to a patrol and abandoned his Clan-mates in the middle of our territory to take a nap. He had no excuse for his behavior and gave me a half-assed apology when I confronted him. His carelessness put himself and others at risk, and that was my final warning to him.

"He was assigned to place Cherrykit in quarantine because of her sickness. I did not want it to spread around camp, and I expected him to have her supervised so she didn't try to leave until she rested and recover. The best cure to a sickness, Raccoontail, is rest-- but he left this kit alone, bored, and able to slip out of camp because he didn't care to watch her. I found her by the ThunderClan border with Fawnsqueak and because her condition had worsen due to her lack of rest, we sent her to ShadowClan for treatment. I sent a kit to a Clan that hates us, Raccoontail, so she'd survive. Where the hell have you been, honey?

"Next thing I know, Dirtfur is sick. His screwing around caused her sickness to pass on to him, so I confined him to the den to rest. Instead of obeying my order, he opted to leave the den and wander around camp. He went as far as to enter my den during the auditions to sneeze on me, Raccoontail. I specifically had told him I did not want the illness to spread throughout camp, and he intentionally disobeyed my orders and did just that.

"So, that's when I demoted him. But exiling..? If you had been listening, you would have heard Hazelberry's confrontation with both Dirtfur and Cherrykit. They both hated Shiverpetal, Raccoontail: understand this! Shiverpetal was a whacky tom, but he was not malicious and he would not harm a Clan-mate. Why do you think no one died in his care? He had a gift, stolen away by the Star Cats themselves.

".. I know Dirtfur well enough to know he was easily jealous when it came to cats held in a higher favor than he; and it is clear the corruption of his heart and mind drew him to this insanity. Shiverpetal never said he planned on putting her down, but who wouldn't believe the former deputy over a medicine cat not entirely there? He was trying to start a smear campaign, and he was trying to fearmonger kits. He put fear into Cherrykit's heart Shiverpetal wanted to kill her, and because Cherrykit is inexperienced she believed it-- she believed a cruel, twisted tom with malicious intent.

"Had I allow him to remain in our Clan, he would have continued to cause damage, to tear cats down without reason-- he did the same to Hazelberry when she was in talking to them in the medicine cat's den. He would have spread fear into the hearts of kits and be a danger to our Clan.. I had plenty of thought behind my choices. It's not my fault you were blinded by your friendship to see what was going on in this world."

Now that his piece on Dirtfur was done, he was more than happy to continue onto the other part. "If you want a leader that doesn't give a damn about their Clan, you can saddle on over to ThunderClan and enjoy that crashing, burning tree. I have done more for this Clan than any other leader. Lionsgrove, Lionsrange, the tunnels, ceremonies-- I was the one to actually pay attention to mentor reassignments, even with SkyClan cats! I have encouraged mentor and apprentice training, I have set restrictions on training to ensure the warriors we have are the best of the best, and you dare think I don't love my Clan?

"The example you gave is from four moons ago, Raccoontail. If that's your prime example, I'm concerned where your head has been all this time because it's clearly not on current events."

And though Lionstar was annoyed with the idiocy of this cat, he kept his composure. Calm, collected-- unreadable. "Thank you, Fawn." It was nice that Fawn had come, his presence always had a tension-releasing effect on Lionstar. "Oh, and by the way, Raccoontail? The kits you're speaking of were more focused on fighting each other during that ceremony than their actual ceremony. They didn't give a tail-- the only complaint one had was that I wasn't mentoring them."

[ @Pepperkins, @Dipper ]

[marshall]

[Sorry if this is interrupting anything...]

"Well, I hope you will consider me." Honeywhisker said a bit quieter then she usually is. "I should have gone with the Honey idea..." she thought out-loud. "Well, thank you for your time, Lionstar." She said as she padded out.

[Pepperkins]

Raccoontail
[ooc: I couldn't stop laughing long enough to write a decent reply before I fell asleep lol]

So this is what getting roasted felt like. She had never felt so embarrassed in her lifetime. Turns out everything she knew, or thought she knew, about Dirtfur was a lie. Now a lot calmer from having to listen to not one, but two cats tell her how much of a fleabrain he was, she looked down, cheeks a bright shade of red as she tried to find the right words to say. Everything Fawnsqueak and Lionstar had said was honestly true. She had been listening to Dirtfur complain about his life for so long, she never did think to ask the details of the situation. Come to think of it, would she really be in this whole situation had she just stayed in the warriors den? Probably yes still, Dirtfur would eventually come to complain to her again. She shuffled her paws silently, unsure what to say, before just deciding to apologize. She would make up a better apology later, but she couldn't just leave it on this note, it wasn't a very good idea to get fussed at about something you shouldn't have gotten yourself involved in and just leave. Raccoontail didn't just wanna apologize though, she wanted to do something to really prove how sorry she was. The grey warrior finally looked up, glancing into both cat's eyes as she tried to look as apologetic as possible. "Lionstar, Fawnsqueak, I am so sorry, for everything I said. I'm not sure why I'm like this today, I honestly respect you, both of you, with everything in me. I just... I never really grieved for anyone and I'm not quite sure if that's a certain way to do it, but at this point I'm a hundred percent sure I'm doing it wrong... I just hope you'll accept my apology, and I swear I'll make all of this up to you, both of you! I'll work harder, I'll try to be on time to things, I'll help clean up the camp, I-..." Her rant faded off as she tried to think of the words that would fix everything, "I was super wrong, I had no right to call you out like that, I just... I had no idea. I'll accept any punishment, make me a kit again, that's all I've acts like today." She lowered her head again in preparation for some sort of punishment. She felt she would be joining Dirtfur soon and frowned in disappointment in herself. This is what she got for not doing hr fact check first!

[ @BILL. @Dipper ]

[Leucos]

heading on in from the patrol " I have a report for snowsong sir." BrambleBlaze meowed as she sat near the exit .

[tye]

Grand Finale


Greenfur felt conflicted.
One part of him felt sad of a fallen clanmate and the other is quite happy. Not about Shiverpetal's death of course but a little butterfly told him the benefits of becoming a medicine cat. They practically stay in their den all day and uh, fiddle with plants..the stars..? Anyways, it mean't less duties. Sounds like a perfect world for him. From the announcement he picked up that Lionstar wanted more of a performance rather than just spewing traits and blah, blah- The bottom line he wanted something different that the warrior is completely absent minded about. However, he gained some hints from several auditions as he peeked in the den and listened carefully. Damn, Lionstar was harsh. Some cats walked out looking offended or heartbroken.
Eh, they will get over it. Not like it's end of the world or anything. And, it doesn't hurt to try so meh. Greenfur walked away to head back of the warrior's den to collect some things and entered after the next fail strolled out. The aura felt stuffy as hell, filled with tension and smoldering glare of the yellow leader. Felt like he was entering death gates, holy crap. Well. It's now or never. They never really chat before or anything so this is the first. A bundle of grass and twigs held firmly in his jaws before he'd spat them out on the ground , licking his lips to get rid of the taste- bleh. His eyes darted at Raccontail who was blabbering non stop- dang, take a breather and a catmint will you? "This is a solo not a duo. Scram." Then proceeded with his role. He stabbed the ground with twigs surrounding the pile of grass. "This is herbs." Twitching his tail, he gestured the yellow tom to come a bit forward but stepped closer because patience doesn't exist. Sitting down, he placed a few strands of grass between his paws and rubbed them together until it turned into a juicy pulp. Then he took his leader's paw to gloss some on his pad, massaging it in until nothing was left behind. "There. Should make your pad feel soft, relieving pain and the scent helps with headache. I know it does for me at least, heh." Not really. Oh yeah, he'd almost forgot. Med cats should show care. Hm..oh. Greenfur leaned over, touching his nose against the tall feline's shoulder and spoke in a deep, flat tone. "Boop. You're healed."

[ @BILL. ]

[Fawn]

Fawnsqueak could admire a change in opinion based on new facts coming to light, so he offered a little lopsided smile at Raccoontail. "I don't think you have to be sorry or anything? Not.. to me, anyway," he coughed out that last part, silently noting her wacky perceptions of Lionstar were probably more harmful than anything she'd said about him personally. The only part directing involving him had been the resurgence of the awkward warrior ceremony that was months old at this point, over and done with, but a sore spot that he didn't think needed to be talked about by strangers. Shrugging, he replied, "I.. guess I don't know about grief either." At Lionstar, he frowned and gave a small shake of his head in hopes he wouldn't bother with a punishment when it wasn't necessary.

@Pepperkins

[BEAR.]

Lionstar was less forgiving than Fawnsqueak was, not after Raccoontail had went on a naive rant about Lionstar's behavior and decisions. She claimed she respected him then, but clearly it wasn't enough if she felt it necessary to question him.

And if she thought he had forgotten her failure to obey his orders as well, she was wrong. "Get out of my den. I told you to escort Dirtfur out, so why don't you make sure he actually left?" His gaze was unwavering, not swayed by her long-winded apology that felt hollow given the circumstances. "His behavior has been erratic, as a reminder-- be on your guard."

And he was done with that, with a brisk nod to Fawn.

His moment of relief with dismissing Raccoontail was short lived upon Greenfur's arrival, and he hardly knew what to do when the tom made a goopy paste and massaged it onto his paw. He took his paw by force!!! Lionstar didn't really approve of that, quick to yank his paw back and shake it as if to get the goo off of him. Disgusting..

"Did you just boop me?" He recoiled at the unexpected touch, but quick to return it with a small smirk. "Greenfur.." he dropped his voice to a whisper. "I appreciate your initiative, but I like you as a warrior, you strong, fierce badass you."

And on a more playful note, he bopped at his nose. "Now begone you being of pure tom-muscle, you are dismissed from my den."

That left one last cat for him to speak to: Brambleblaze! "Good news, I hope?"

[ @Pepperkins, @vermin, @SilentLamb ]

[tye]

Honestly, he didn't expect that reply nor reaction. It played out in his head with the yellow tom yelling to the top of his lungs as he forced the big tom out. But nope. And, the compliments really boosted his mood. It's much appreciated. Greenfur returned a half smirk back at Lionstar and quietly nodded. Well he tried! Guess that glory life will only happen once he's old or dead. Scrapping up the remaining grass and twigs that he gathered back into his jaws the tom head out. "See ya later, Lionstar."

[wolfie]

[ poppin this in here so we can finish up this plot and not have it get so behind in time ! also, this takes place before dirtfur's exile, new medicine cats and such, small reminder-- ;;]
@Dirtfur @Pepperkins

wormpaw stumbled into the lionsden, slightly wobblily from the push the warrior had gave him. he didn't grasp why they had to be dragged to get judgement. i mean, they didn't get that violent. not yet at least. he shuffled away from wolfpaw, starting at the other apprentice with narrowed eyes. even the blurry figure was ugly looking now. wormpaw did suppose the view you had on a cat did change how you saw their appearance. hilariously interesting. wormpaw give slightly fluff up fur a lick, rolling his shoulders. still very annoyed at the whole thing. wormpaw's left ear twitch, the blood had dried on his fur and was an uncomfortable feeling. the lanky tom's whole aura radiated annoyance.

he didn't give raccoontail or wolfpaw a chance to speak. "wolfpaw was gossiping and i repeatedly asked him to stop until i got frustrated and pushed him to the ground to shut him up. it.. escalated, " wormpaw explain, gesturing to the wounds on the two.
he shuffled his paws, taking a small step to the side to the other two explain their side of their story. well, for wolfpaw to and raccoontail to.. explain what she briefly saw.