Sleepy Thicket

[Cove]

‘I’m gonna try to hunt som ghosts!’ Squealed Mothpaw, bouncing around.

Anyone is free to roleplay with me! Just mention me

[starry]

[ @marni @Rainquail ]

Robinpaw shrugged slightly at Palehound's question. "I'm not sure, I didn't check. I guess I can do that now." As Fawnpaw called out to her, she couldn't help but chuckle lightly. She's so joyful! "Thank you Fawnpaw!" she replied, then made her way back towards the place where she'd first found the poppy. Oh, there were a few more! Gently, Robinpaw took one more into her jaw before padding towards her patrolmates. To speak, she dropped the bundle, because she didn't want to sound like a complete idiot. "No, there's more," she meowed to Palehound. Her blue gaze flickered back to the small patch of poppy flowers.

"I could pick up one more, if that's needed." Robinpaw felt like she wasn't contributing enough to the patrol, but maybe that was just her and her insecurity. I guess I'll never really fit in. She held back a sigh as she waited for the warrior's reply. Do they even want me here, or am I a complete failure to them? Why doesn't Skystar remember me? Or Sunpaw? We're siblings! Maybe they don't want to remember me, because it's been so long. Okay. One. Two. Three. Four. She needed to calm herself down - everything was fine. Sudden mood shifts were common to Robinpaw, but she had to learn how to control them.

[Abyssopelagic]

[Sorry for the late reply, been sick the last few days, will not be doing her side posts so I'm not holding up your role plays]

Palehound watched as Robinpaw went back to check if there were more poppies and followed just a few steps, giving her space.
One more poppy..... She looked at the Marigold she had picked up, that Fawnpaw had, and had to refrain from sighing. It wasn't much of a haul, but it was later than she wanted to stay out with two apprentices (even if one of them was older than her) in the territory.
Maybe they could find a few on the way back to camp.
"Sounds good."

She took a half step to turn back to the herbs she'd left on the ground when she noticed Robinpaw have.... a moment, and she recognized the instinct to fight down the emotions threatening to overtake you.
She turned half way away from the apprentice and looked back towards Fawnpaw, moving herself into a position to subtly put herself between the apprentices so she could have some semblance of privacy with herself, ears pointed to listen for signs of distress from her.

When Robinpaw seemed better, Palehound took one last look to the sky, scowling at the time they didn't have. She'd have to come back out here another day, she wouldn't keep up the patrol for something personal.
"It's getting late, we should return to camp. Good job, the both of you, and thank you."
She gave them each a small, genuine smile before picking up the marigold she'd dropped to speak much earlier and slowly turned in the direction of camp.

@starry @marni

[taillow]

Fawnpaw
As Robinpaw thanked her, Fawnpaw felt a smile grace her face. It made her feel warm inside, and instantly she marked down the older apprentice as a cat she liked. She was nice and friendly! She even offered to help pick more, which made Fawnpaw gasp a little. Someday, she hoped to be as helpful as her Clanmates.

At Palehound's suggestion, the fluffy brown she-cat gave an eager nod. "Okay!" A light purr came from her as she picked up her stalks of marigold - three in total - and hurried to pad at the warriors side. She felt good, having done something for her Clan. She had participated in the collection of herbs that could potentially save her Clanmates lives. The mere thrill of it sent a zap of electricity through her - how exciting!

[ @Rainquail @starry ]

[Dirtfur]

The air felt eerie and dreary. Trees are closely packed with no clearing. Animals made no sound yearly and early. Rumors had whispered of a headless leader, how dreading. Who will be bold to enter without worry? The air felt so eerie an- Crack!

Cricketsting silently hisses at his clumsiness, noting that the animals around had likely scattered. Fortunately, hunting was not on the creamy warrior’s mind. It is time for what he had been waiting for all these years.

During his time in the nursery, Cricketkit had listened to the stories of the RiverClan elders. The most notable story was about the Sleepy Thicket. How they had told about the Sleepy Thicket’s greatest legend had started his mischievous pranks.

~~*~~*~[Flashback]~*~~*~~

Cricketkit ran to the elders’ den, listening to the same tales when he first visited the place. Oh, he loved imagining himself in the forest pretending to be the former leader’s ghost just to scare away bigger animals or outsiders that threatened RiverClan! In the nursery, he will pretend to be Hawkstar's phantom and scare the other kits and howled at them for trespassing a clan’s territory. It resulted a night full of cries and unneeded nightmares, but it also gave Cricketkit satisfaction because some kits were laughing at the small prank. He desired to feel that emotion again, just so he can feel satisfied that he made his clanmates happy as well as giving himself pride for his clever planning and scaring.

Cricketpaw scampered away from his mentor, who was too busy teaching about a boring subject in swimming while looking away from the apprentice. He had no time for swimming! Cricketpaw kept hearing apprentices talk about the scary Sleepy Thicket and how they got to hunt in it. It was not fair to Cricketpaw! Why does Springfoot have to ruin every chance the creamy apprentice gets every time he desires something?! He doesn’t want to train to become a boring warrior; he just wants to have fun and make moments enjoyable! Springfoot does not, and never will, have the right to block Cricket’s fun! Finally, the creamy tabby found the entrance to the patch. It gave him the shivers as he thought back to the spirit that haunts the place. He could feel Hawkstar’s ghostly eyes lighting the apprentice’s creamy fur ablaze, but it didn’t happen at all because Springfoot was there to get him back to the training area. Cricketsting could remember the aftermath: Springfoot giving him the harshest treatment for kits: The silent treatment….

~~~**~***~~~[Flashback Over]~~~***~**~~~

Cricketsting felt proud as he finally went against his fears. He ignored his late mentor’s and mother’s advice to stay away and now he is here! He is ready! Ready to prank his clanmates! He had been prepared to do this for many moons! The warrior scanned the thicket to find something to hide in. He found a dark green bush next to a big tree. He padded to the behind of the tree, finding branches that could lead to the top. Perfect! The tabby leapt onto each branch, slightly leaning forwards that could throw him off balance. Instead he had his claws dig into the back to help him balance on the branches. At the top, Cricketsting stared through the leaves, eyeing at the forest floor. Clearing his throat, Cricketsting pinched his voice to where it sounded dark and deep, but also loud enough for any cat whoever stumbles into the thicket to hear him clear. “Who goes there?” rasped the deep-pitched voice of Cricketsting in order to practice out loud. “You dare to trespass here?”

(Open!)

[Captain]

SNOWLEAP
⸻⸻⸻⸻

➣ None of this was getting any easier for him, but that was to be expected. It felt like everything was happening all at once and even as he carried Skystar firmly in his jaws, the dark-furred tomcat had a horrible sickly feeling in his stomach. Anxiety, of course, regarding the future. After waiting for Fawnpaw to return to them after running to get something, he noticed the familiar shape of the stuffed bear arm that she had wanted to give Skystar oh so long ago. Ah. Nodding gently to that, they continued along, several cats following behind them as they left the RiverClan camp and soon made it to the Sleepy Thicket after a bit of walking in complete silence. He hadn’t been to this part of the forest in quite some time, but that didn’t stop him from making his way into the dark and eerie thicket, coming to a halt when they reached the area were cats had been buried in the past.

Gently lowering his head, Snowleap set down Skystar onto the ground and looked to Beansprout and Fawnpaw. He nodded to both of them, silently thanking them for the help. Whether they would help with digging the hole for him was their decision to make, but he wouldn’t blame anyone if they just wanted to mourn some more and let Snowleap do the deed. Maybe it would be symbolic in a way. After searching the area for a spot that was appropriate enough, the RiverClan deputy got to work, using both front paws to scrape away at the loose dirt and starting to dig a hole to bury the golden tomcat and give him a respectable resting place (even if there were some cats that thought he deserved elsewise). He stayed silent the entire time he was digging.

⸻⸻⸻⸻

( @marni @maelstrom // anyone else who's attending the burial )

[vellichor]

// @marni @zenosaurus @silentstalk

beansprout // he/him

fawnpaw's presence at his side was grounding, in a way. he felt as if he could bear this, if only to make her and his clan mates feel better. it was a heavy burden — and not just because of the heavy body he was carrying. he knew his emotions were taking a huge toll on him. he just had to get through this, one pawstep at a time.

before he knew it, fawnpaw left him. why — why?? he knew he shouldn’t be this desperate for support that he had to rely on a young apprentice, but it still felt like a claw in his heart. stars, his stupid heart. so open and so fragile. he thought he was fixing that, but obviously not. maybe… it took time? yeah, yeah. that was all. he needed time.

and then, fawnpaw was back, carrying… something. it looked like a human — er, twoleg thing, and reminded him of his kithood, somehow. but that was an entire different ocean of emotions that he couldn’t afford to swim in right now. he had to focus. one step at a time. he was going to be okay. everyone was going to be fine. he nodded his head at some soft spoken words beside him, again realizing how much other cats cared for skystar, too. was it selfish of beansprout to want to curl up and lay with him for awhile? he meant a lot to other cats, too.

and with that, he started to dig.

[SpiritedWarrior]

Originally Posted by zenosaurus

SNOWLEAP
⸻⸻⸻⸻

➣ None of this was getting any easier for him, but that was to be expected. It felt like everything was happening all at once and even as he carried Skystar firmly in his jaws, the dark-furred tomcat had a horrible sickly feeling in his stomach. Anxiety, of course, regarding the future. After waiting for Fawnpaw to return to them after running to get something, he noticed the familiar shape of the stuffed bear arm that she had wanted to give Skystar oh so long ago. Ah. Nodding gently to that, they continued along, several cats following behind them as they left the RiverClan camp and soon made it to the Sleepy Thicket after a bit of walking in complete silence. He hadn’t been to this part of the forest in quite some time, but that didn’t stop him from making his way into the dark and eerie thicket, coming to a halt when they reached the area were cats had been buried in the past.

Gently lowering his head, Snowleap set down Skystar onto the ground and looked to Beansprout and Fawnpaw. He nodded to both of them, silently thanking them for the help. Whether they would help with digging the hole for him was their decision to make, but he wouldn’t blame anyone if they just wanted to mourn some more and let Snowleap do the deed. Maybe it would be symbolic in a way. After searching the area for a spot that was appropriate enough, the RiverClan deputy got to work, using both front paws to scrape away at the loose dirt and starting to dig a hole to bury the golden tomcat and give him a respectable resting place (even if there were some cats that thought he deserved elsewise). He stayed silent the entire time he was digging.

⸻⸻⸻⸻

( @marni @maelstrom // anyone else who's attending the burial )

Watching Fawnpaw go back and get something she intended to give Skystar a long time ago, Reedwhisker couldn't help the tears that filled in her eyes. To think Skystar held the trust and respect of a young and rather enthusiastic apprentice showed that Skystar wasn't entirely the cat Reedwhisker thought he was. Turning away to continue following Snowleap, she padded into the Sleepy Thicket and paused to allow Snowleap a moment to himself and begin the burying process.

Once the moment was done, Reedwhisker unsheathed her claws and padded to dig beside Snowleap. It felt right to help her future leader. To say goodbye to a leader who somehow managed to keep RiverClan afloat after Kestrelstar's passing. The dirt that entered Reedwhisker's claws felt annoying, but with each swipe, some dirt fell, and then another swipe moved it all behind her. She stayed silent beside Snowleap, figuring it was the respectable thing to do.

[SpiritWolf_yt]

as the walk came to an end at sleepy thicket his eyes took one gaze then he headed off to help snowleap, the death of a leader began to break his heart, he lowered himself unsheathing his claws he began to dig, the thought rambled through his head of such sad things and memories while skystar was leader, the ramble bursted around his head almost making him have a headache,

so many cats attended that his ears switched around listening to the digging and stuff, the death of many cats are sad for him to see, losing a leader is hard for a warrior who fights for the clan, seeing now that skystar is dead snowleap will have to take the leadership role, that must be hard as to there are a lot of responsibilities as leader and yet the deputy only takes half of the responsibility,
@maelstrom @marni @zenosaurus [apology if this is short i am working on trying to type more]

[Estelle]

The entire time he kept his eyes trained on the RiverClan leader. Despite the lack of emotion on his face, Gingerfrost felt waves of what could only be described as discomfort in the pit of his stomach. He couldn't place the exact feeling, but it didn't feel good, despite it's faint familiarity. A faint familiarity from when he was faced with Yarrowkit's death, closer to when he learned of Flyfur's passing, and a phantom of what he felt when he watched his sister die and learned his mother wouldn't be coming back either. A churning feeling that made his skin crawl and body feel cold yet hot at the same time. Like some fever creeping up to taunt the happenings.

The trek to Sleepy Thicket felt unusually short, or maybe it just was. He never really went there. The tom paused and watched as Skystar's body was put down. His gaze moved to Snowleap, watching as the deputy found a suitable place. He began to dig, so did Beansprout. For a heartbeat, he didn't move. Or maybe he did, either way, the stone faced warrior wordlessly stepped up by the other two and began to dig as well. He didn't care if it was unceremonial or something, he just silently dug as some fourth warrior appeared to have joined as well.


[ @zenosaurus @maelstrom @SpiritedWarrior @/Anyone else ]