The future's in your paws. Shape it well.Roleplay in a cat Clan of warriors. Based off the Warriors series by Erin Hunter. Takes place in an AU before the cats in the books existed.
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Subject: Not strong enough (c) Thu 14 Mar 2024 - 23:38
I'm back between villages, and everything's still
Tiger Blood
Screaming, pain
Fear
Tiger couldn't help the tears that ran down his striped cheeks as he limped alongside his mother, her beautiful long white coat stained dark crimson. They had been walking for so long now, he had no idea which part of the forest they were in anymore. It certainly didn't look like home; these trees were dark and spindly, with needles instead of leaves. The ground below pricked his paw pads rather than comforted them, adding to the kit's anxiety. All he knew was that Mama needed help, and he didn't know what to do. Her kits were coming, her last litter with Father before he had been hit by a monster, and it wasn't going as it should. He didn't know what exactly was wrong, but Mama said that it hadn't been like this when he had been born. Tiger's back ached under the weight of his mother, she was leaning on him too hard but he knew without him she wouldn't be able to walk at all. So he endured, gritting his teeth and pressing on.
Time passed, it could've been only a few minutes or hours, before Tiger couldn't hold her up anymore. The half-grown kit's paws gave out, and with a shocked cry he slumped to the ground, half covered by his mother's form. Scrambling out from under her, Tiger's yellow eyes scanned her rounded belly; she was still bleeding, and a long trail of red had been left in their path. ""Mama I'm so sorry, I just fell. I didn't mean to drop you. Come on, get up and we'll keep going, there has to be help somewhere!" His voice came out like a whimper, and desperation hung in the air like smoke. His mother's voice was so faint now, so weak. He could barely make out what she was saying...run? Run away...and find help?
Shaking his head, Tiger's eyes grew very wide as he put a paw on his mother's flank, unknowingly spreading even more blood on her coat. "No, please, I can't leave you like this! Just...tell me what to do to help!" Shocked, Tiger stumbled back as his mother shoved him away with her forepaw, identical yellow eyes narrowed and serious like she was scolding him. She really wanted him to leave her with kits on the way, and so much blood? His breath caught in his throat as the tom's lip quivered, paws poised between staying and going. He stared at her for a very long moment, wondering if he should disobey. He didn't like doing the wrong thing, and Mama always knew the best ways to be kind and good. So why didn't this feel right? Chest rising and falling rapidly, Tiger finally gave a shaky nod and mewed "I'll be right back, I promise." As he dashed off deeper into the forest, his breaths came fast and shaky. He had a really bad feeling about this.
Emerging into a clearing, Tiger skidded to a halt and looked around, scenting the air like Father had taught him. There was cat scent nearby, musky and intense. Must have been recent. Taking a deep breath, Tiger called out into the trees, voice so tiny and fragile that it could probably get blown away by the breeze. "Help...please, we need help!" When he heard no response he started running again, and screamed; "Help me please, my mother needs help! I think she might be...dying! PLEASE!" The running was too much for his exhausted little body; Tiger came to a halt and fell to his haunches, panting as his eyes grew wet once more. Please...please...please
Subject: Re: Not strong enough (c) Sat 16 Mar 2024 - 10:15
Everything I say is a lie, but they’re the only things keeping me alive
Quillsplash had been out for a walk, as he often did when the moon began to fall, so that he could pass most of the sharing-of-tongues that filled this period of time as his clanmates finished the day's worth of patrols and began to settle down for the night. No matter how fond he was of some of them, he still preferred not to be around when most of the them were around, and he was still avoiding Swiftheart to the best of his ability.
The forest was calm in the early morning, when the sun was just peaking over the horizon, painting the faintest line of orange through the dark star-speckled sky. He hated the stars. While Copper had been alive, she had insisted on sleeping right under the stars, only moving away when the clouds came in swarms and blocked out her precious specks of light. Thinking back, Quillsplash wondered if she did it to feel closer to her loved ones. She must have felt so lonely, knowing that all her loved ones were in the skies, and she could not join them. It made him wish, for a heartbeat, that she had gone sooner... but then who would have taken care of him and his littermates, however poor of a job she had done? She was young, he remembered, barely older than he was now. He couldn't imagine what it was like to take care of kits when he had not even mentored an apprentice fully.
...It seems that he was about to find out. Quillsplash came to a halt as a wail broke through the air. His gaze darted around the gloomy forest before finally finding the striped pelt of a kit, who looked no older than two moons old, brown coat stained with crimson. Blood. The realisation made his heart skip a beat, and already he could feel his paws trembling. No, not again. The tortoiseshell swallowed his fear, and hurriedly approached the kit. He was trembling, from fear or exhaustion, he couldn't tell. He was too busy trying to keep his mind on the situation to think about what this rogue-- he assumed it was a rogue kit-- was feeling. He said something, something about his mother... dying...
Quillsplash swallowed. This- this wouldn't be like Copper. The kit was getting help, that had to make a difference. "Where's your mother?" He prompted, trying to keep his fear out of his voice. He could safe this kit's mother, even if he hadn't been able to save his own. He had to. Copper, are you watching me? Please, help me, just this once.
Subject: Re: Not strong enough (c) Thu 21 Mar 2024 - 23:54
I'm back between villages, and everything's still
Tiger Tiger's tiny chest was starting to heave as his breath came uncontrollably fast, yet the oxygen contained in each gasp couldn't sustain him. Eyes blurring with a mix of panic and tears, the voice of an unfamiliar cat broke through his fear, and the small tom-cat's head whipped up to observe this cat, a dark gray and ginger-dappled adult tom. Despite the dire situation Tiger couldn't help the twinge of fear at being so close to a stranger, alone for that matter. Mama had never let strange cats get within a tail-length of him. He shoved those emotions away though; this cat had to be able to help, in some way. "Sh-she's this way, follow me!" Stumbling over his growing paws a bit, Tiger dashed off back the way he had come, following his scent trail from earlier. He could hear the running pawsteps of his savior behind him, which gave him the strength to keep going, keep running. To get back to her as fast as they can...before it was too late.
Finally, Tiger broke through the bushes back into the clearing where his mother lay, waiting for him. His throat was sore from panting, but the kit called out with a smile; "Mama I got help, he's here to save you!" As he got closer and closer to his mother though, a heavy weight began to form in the pit of his stomach. Skidding to a halt next to her pure white form, now stained with red, Tiger drew breath to provide more assurances, asking how she was feeling and remind her that soon he would have new brothers and sisters. However, those words died before they could even leave his heart, and the brown tabby tom's tail slowly drooped to the ground. A small forepaw reached out and prodded the she-cat's shoulder, easily moving her limp form.
"...Mama?"
Three other bodies lay on the ground next to his mother, so tiny and so broken. His siblings...they never even got the chance to breathe. The expanse of blood between them and his mother stained Tiger's paws, contaminating him with the same pain and agony. He felt it in his soul as if a brightly shining light had been suddenly extinguished, leaving him lost in shadow. No...no, this couldn't be happening! His yellow eyes, bright like the sun, stared into the dull sunset of his mother's eyes as he shoved his paws against her shoulder, tears falling freely as he screamed to someone who couldn't hear a word.
"Mama no, please! Come back, you can't do this, I need you! Papa is gone, you can't go too! I love you, I love you, I need you! STOP IT, JUST WAKE UP!!"
Sobbing, Tiger spun around to glare at the stranger, hissing at him; "Help her, now! Do something!"
Subject: Re: Not strong enough (c) Tue 26 Mar 2024 - 23:49
Everything I say is a lie, but they’re the only things keeping me alive
He knew what death looked like. He knew what cold, still bodies meant. He knew what glazed eyes and overbearing silence where breaths were meant to be meant. Quillsplash starred at the crimson-marred bodies and still bundles of fur tucked at the queen's belly, still and mouths half-opened as if still fighting for breath. He winced when he accidentally met the gaze of the corpse; dull amber eyes, where a beautiful splash of the purest, most beautiful yellow must have been. The kit's voice was high with a shrill desperation, but he couldn't find it in him to fault the kit for it. Even when his anger and fear was directed at him, poured into words, Quillsplash didn't hate the kit.
"I'm sorry," He murmured, gently reaching out a paw to slowly, carefully, bring the tom-kit closer and tuck him beside him. That was all that he could say, and there was to say. "I'm sorry, but she's not coming back. I'd help you if I could, but I can't. And neither can you," He continued, voice still soft and seemingly a world away. Was he speaking to the kit, or to the kit that he once was? "I'm sorry, Copper," he added in a whisper, this time just for him to hear. He couldn't save his mother, and he couldn't save this kit's mother either. Would it be too mean to think that this was perhaps the best outcome for the fallen queen?
Subject: Re: Not strong enough (c) Thu 28 Mar 2024 - 0:24
I'm back between villages, and everything's still
Tiger Tiger couldn't find the strength within him to move away when the stranger pulled him into an embrace, desperate yellow eyes unable to leave the sight of his mother's still body. This can't be happening...it can't... Sniffling, the comforting feeling of warm fur against his back and the tom's soft, sad murmurs broke the last concepts of self-control he still gripped onto, and Tiger began to sob. Wrapping his forepaws around the tom's leg, he pressed his face into the tom's fur and prayed he would never have to come out and face reality again. Chest rapidly rising and falling with each cry, Tiger didn't know how long he stayed clinging to his savior until words finally managed to form from his mouth. "W-wh...what do I do? Where...where do I...go? I go where Mama goes..." Fear of the unknown clutched his heart, and his grip tightened on the tom's leg. Would he know the answer, or would he be truly alone?
Subject: Re: Not strong enough (c) Thu 28 Mar 2024 - 12:07
Everything I say is a lie, but they’re the only things keeping me alive
He could taste the kit's fear on his tongue. It was strong, heavy, crushing-- and horribly familiar. Quillsplash stayed where he was, body still against the shaking form of the tom-kit. He could feel the rogue kit's grip on him tighten, as if for the fear that Quillsplash, too, would leave him behind. He knew that feeling. It was awful, it was horrible, it haunted him, and he never wanted to feel it again. Perhaps, there was nothing he could do now to save his nights, but there had to be something that he could do for this kit.
"With me," He answered, firmly but softly, "You'll go with me. And I won't ever, ever, leave you."
