June Medicine Cat Meeting 2023

Batsong led her apprentice Sparrowthorn on the relativly short trip to the moonstone. Being so close it was no suprise that they showed up first.

She glanced nervously to her apprentice. She was sure that burdockroot and harriertalon probably hated her all the more here. There was no undoing that. She accepted that, she was worried about them taking that out on sparrowthorn. Sure, she deserved it she supposed although she was not the one who ordered shadowclan warriors to start this whole bloody thing she blamed herself and was sure others felt the same way.

But she would not let them take it out on her apprentice who had nothing to do with it. Any action taken against sparrowthorn would not be allowed. "Sparrowthorn, if things get ugly please just get home. Just run, dont worry about me" she said quietly.

No one would attack during a full moon med cat meeting right?? She was not so sure, if they did attack though Batsong would do anything in her power to protect her apprentice though. This war she would accept she was partialy responsible for but not sparrowthorn.

She sat waiting. She really hoped that any other clan than shadowclan would show up second. Having to sit with them alone would be torture.

Following close behind Burdockroot was Harriertalon, haggard, stressed, and in need of a break just for herself. Unfortunately, the nights were busy. Long. The endless restocking. The nightmares. The pieces of her that would never return, buried deep within the earth side-by-side.

For the very first time since the gathering that had started it all, Harriertalon looked at Batsong directly. The pain this one cat caused had ripped a family apart. Had severed trust and loyalties. The very sight of her made her sick, and had she nothing more to lose, her long, talon-like claws would have been deep within Batsongs throat. And she'd never been a violent cat; never a single malicious thought. Till right now. I hope you're satisfied. A thought directed towards the very cat she knew she could never forgive. It was infuriating that she even felt a pang of sadness over losing someone she thought could be an ally when every cat here walked the same path of stars.

Her eyes leveled with Batsong's - silently cursing her - before moving onto someone she guessed to be her new apprentice. She gave a curt nod in greeting, refusing to let herself be angry with someone associated with the WindClan medicine cat. Not unless he openly supported what Batsong had done.

Burdockroot was furious. She knew that Batsong:s action would result in death and she was right. She was there to witness it. To witness Harriertalon's change. It would have been impossible to shelter her her whole life. But both of her first deaths being siblings? It was atrocious. Unfortunately, Burdockroot was just as angry at Nightpaw. If Harriertalon didn't need her, she'd take an execution to punish both Batsong and Nightpaw. She could do it too....

When they arrived, nobody was there to buffer them. Shooting BTsong a furious, disgust, and hatred filled glance she sat down with her back to the molly, wrapping her excessively fluffy tail around Harriertalon and shielding her from the monster.

Plumleaf arrived at the meeting shortly after the two Shadowclan medicine cats, and she immediately noticed the hostility directed at Batsong by the other medicine cats. It broke Plumleaf's heart to see the medicine cats so divided; they had always been above clan rivalries, and she'd come to think of them less as just colleagues and more as friends. Still, it was unreasonable for Batsong to think that her actions at the gathering wouldn't come with repercussions, which included the anger of her fellow medicine cats. Plumleaf knew she wouldn't have gone about things quite in the same manner as Batsong had done, but she also knew the she-cat had only been doing what she felt was right, both for her clan and for the forest as a whole, and no cat could be faulted for doing their best. She sat down in silence, dipping her head to the other medicine cats cordially. Given the current tensions, she doubted anyone would be very eager for the usual friendly chatter, and she'd rather not have the others bite her head off for trying to start a conversation.

"How have you been faring? ShadowClan has had two deaths this moon and our very own deputy gravely injured - as well as others- this past moon?" Burdockroot spoke pointedly, whipping a glare back at Batsong as she spoke. "I was really hoping to get Harriertalon to her name before seeing death - her two siblings to be exact - but alas... You can't control stupid." Whipping her head back around, she hugged Harriertalon tighter with her tail.

"Don't be stupid," were her only words in response to Batsong's, frankly, brave statement. Running if things got rough, what foxdung. Sparrowthorn didn't like Batsong, and thought she needed to retire ASAP, that was for sure, but she wasn't about to watch a Windclanner get hurt by another clan. She didn't even really think another Medicine Cat would try anything. The young molly didn't want to see another dead clanmate.

Shadowclan appeared first, of course they had. Deep, hate-filled glares were directed toward her mentor, but it was as if they didn't even look at her. Sparrowthorn could tell that at least one of them was trying not to hate her for just being Windclan. She couldn't hate them for being Shadowclan. She just hated whoever took the lives of her clanmates.

Two other cats appeared before Burdockroot spoke. She hadn't been expecting her to hold her tongue so long, based on how it looked like she was contemplating the best way to murder her mentor. The words she said made Sparrowthorn bristle, she wouldn't have cared if the snide comments were just about Batsong, but she brought up how Windclan was faring, and Shadowclan's dead. Before Batsong could speak, Sparrowthorn lowly uttered, "Quit." She had been trying to push her own grief deeper inside, but Burdockroot wasn't helping. Green eyes glancing at Harriertalon, she spoke only a few more words. "I'm sorry for your loss."

A deep breath in as Burdock spoke of ShadowClans ailments, courtesy of WindClans very own medicine cat. At the condolences she received from both Sparrowthorn and Echopaw, all she could give was a stiff nod. What else was there to say? Thank you? Her mouth would continue to stay closed until she was certain she wouldn't say something horrendously mean to those around her. It was not their fault. It was not their fault.

Now that everyone seemed to be here, Harriertalon parted from Burdock, her tail lightly tapping her mentor in a sign that they should just get this over with.

Squeezing her large body through the dark tunnels and into Mothermouth, the dark she-cat found a resting place at the base of the sickeningly bright stone and closed her eyes. Whoever was to talk to her tonight, her hopes were high that it would be her recently departed brother and sister. "Batswarm... Moondancer..."

Burdockroot ignored the comment from Sparrowthorn. No apprentice would tell her when to be quiet. She had extended a good natured paw to the cat multiple times now, and if she was going to align with the murderous medicine cat, so be it. With a nod to Harrier's tap, Burdockroot stood and followed her apprentice, curling next to her.

The member 'Stags' has done the following action : Dice roll

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#1 'StarClan Revelation' :


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#2 'Effect Dice' : 6

It was strange, to watch the medicine cats bicker as they headed down to the moonstone. Stranger still were the stars seemingly embedded in Moondancer's pelt... But she couldn't say she disliked that aspect. She had to look on the bright side of things, or try to.

Moondancer had never expected to be watching, nor had she expected to find herself padding through the starry marshland toward Harriertalon as she appeared in Starclan's lands for the night. But she was, and she hoped that the apprentice would listen to her. That this conversation might go a little better than the last one they had among the living. She had watched as Leopardsun had borne her and Batswarm's body back to camp, watched their father's outburst. Watched as they were buried, with careful attention paid to the pelts of the two cats who had been so vain, only to die covered in blood. Watched as Badgermask retreated into herself.

"Harriertalon," Moondancer called softly, sitting and curling her tail over her paws. Instead of mud clinging to her dark tabby pelt, it was starlight shimmering with every small movement. Green eyes regarded her sister for a moment, weighing what to say. A sigh left her.

"I see there's fools in Shadowclan and Windclan still. Keep bickering, keep fighting. See where that gets them." The fighting, the bodies, it seemed, had not taught anyone a thing. Still they bickered, and she doubted that either Windclan or Shadowclan would stop in their tension. Not when they had the fallen to avenge. "I only regret that I wasn't faster. If I had been, maybe there would have been one less corpse for you to take care of. I never expected things to end as they did. I don't think anyone did. That's war, I guess. All that carnage because of an accident. Not that anyone will care about how it happened, just the end result." Batswarm, lazy and not a fighter in the slightest, had killed. It was hard to believe and Moondancer had seen the whole thing. What followed the first death had not been an accident. Certainly not on her end, and she didn't expect that the Windclanners viewed it as such either. They had both avenged their clanmates, hadn't they?

...Who would avenge her? Moondancer thought she had an idea of the answer. It wouldn't be pretty, she knew that. But she wasn't here to complain about war to Harriertalon. Her sister had disagreed with it, she knew, there was little point in rehashing it. "I have a message, actually, that's why I'm here. For Badgermask, and mom. Pineblossom, maybe." Her mentor had been through much, recently. Losing her apprentice had to hurt even more, with everything else that happened.

"Badgermask blames herself because we had just spoken before she turned away to help mom. Pineblossom was fighting with the one who got me. She let him go - trying to let him retreat, Iguess. She couldn't have known that would happen - either of them." Moondancer shook her head, "Make them understand that, please. It wasn't their fault." She wasn't sure that Harriertalon could, but someone had to try.

"And... Don't be too hard on dad for what he said. He's hurting." And Echomist hadn't been wrong in his words, either. But Leopardsun already blamed herself, and fighting over that was going to be even less help. And Nightpaw's threats... Shadowclan's not-leader was a fool who ought to be ashamed of himself. But Nightpaw had no shame, it seemed.

With a huff, Moondancer stood. "There more I want to say, but there's no time, you'll be waking soon." Her starry tail flicked. "Stay strong for them, Harriertalon." Someone had to.

Moondancer had said what she wanted to, and with that, the starry she-cat turned away. She couldn't offer Harriertalon anything else, only hope that her words might get through to the broken remains of their family.

Plumleaf shook her head as the medicine cats continued hurling angry words at each other. When would they realize this fighting would get them nowhere? Sighing, she got up and followed the others into the cave, curling up beside the stone.