Candlecast [Sunshade]

Mistyfalcon sat at the edge of camp, dark gaze watching a few Asylum cats as they went about their business for the evening. Occasionally one of them would forget themselves and try to approach, only to be met with a low growl and a venomous tone seldom heard from the dark tom as he reluctantly picked at a mouse.

They'd dragged Murkystrike out of camp and to... stars only knew where. For nothing. For having the audacity to be kind to another cat? And they expected Shadowclan to just sit there and take it? Not like Shadowclan had the numbers to do anything but let Asylum walk all over them, and that only made it more infuriating.

Their negligence had already gotten Brighteye killed. Now they imprisoned Shadowclan's warriors for nothing. Yet they were the fair and just ones to the clan's barbary? The clans were being lied to and used, that was the one thing he was absolutely sure of.

Mistyfalcon stared down at the remains of his mouse, no longer in the mood to even finish what was left of it.

Sunshade had been watching Mistyfalcon run off the Asylum cats that dared to approach as he ate with interest, but now that the kits had fallen asleep and she was sure the other queens would fare just fine without her advice she made her way over, settling comfortably a short distance away. "You're not about to chase me off like I'm one of them, are you? It looks like you could use the company."

Though she chose to treat even their captors with the same kindness she offered all of ShadowClan, she couldn't lay any blame on her clanmates for chasing them away at every turn - they'd had their freedom snatched away so suddenly, when for her it had been a slow realization that long preceded their arrival, and her complacency even now was something she disliked about herself. She had nothing left to lose by embracing the newcomers, but her clanmates had a way of life they wished to return to; one that, unlike hers, had been greatly impacted by all this.

"...It's a sad day, isn't it?"

Mistyfalcon's tail flicked as one of the queens approached him, and he offered a sardonic smirk at her words. He didn't growl or snap at her, and had no intention of doing so. Sunshade hadn't done anything wrong, and she was a clanmate. Not one he knew well, but a clanmate, nonetheless.

"You're not one of them." He shrugged. "Call me crazy but I think I'd rather go to a gathering than have them breathing down our necks constantly." All of which said much about how the Asylum was slowly but surely driving him mad, probably. He'd hated gatherings, had hated the overwhelming noise, the press of unfamiliar cats all talking over each other, the expectation to hold a conversation with those he was unfamiliar with. He'd thought, at first, that having the Asylum abolish that particular tradition wouldn't be so bad. It hadn't been so bad, not at first, anyways.

Yet the longer their occupation dragged on, the more freedom the clan lost. Their every move seemed watched more than ever. It was wrong, no matter how Mistyfalcon had attempted to be okay with some of the Asylum's rules at the start, that had faded.

"I hate knowing that they can take one of our own for something as nonsensical as daring to help another. And we're expected to just... sit here and comply with them? Not that we have much of a choice." Anyone with half a brain knew that going up against the Asylum directly would be beyond foolish and beyond hopeless. That was just common sense. But he could still complain about it, not that complaining would do much good.

"Far be it from me to judge anyone's sanity. I can say I certainly do miss the stories, you know - there's so much less going on these days. Then again... It seems anything that does happen is depressing, so perhaps that's more a blessing than I'm willing to admit," Sunshade sighed. "You're right, of course. They'll spill blood if you give them half an excuse. And while not much has changed for me, I can say with certainty that this is no way to live."

ShadowClan was only a shadow of itself; ruled by cats who stalked the place that was meant to be their own domain. How far they had fallen, that this was their fate. It was a poetic sort of tragedy, wasn't it?

(The way of the clans was that tales were passed on by the warriors of the past; it was how they kept their history alive. So, then, she had to wonder - how would this tale end, when they told it to curious kits in seasons yet to pass?)

"The stories are something I miss... Though I don't think anyone will be wanting to tell these stories for a while. There are less miserable tales to scare kits and apprentices into behaving, I would think." Living it was painful enough, why relive this in future storytelling? He supposed tales of the clan's current predicament could work as a cautionary tale. Though Mistyfalcon wasn't so sure that any overabundance of caution could have prevent the rogues from coming, not with their numbers, at least.

"As much as I hated the crowds at gatherings... We had our freedom. We could choose to go. Now our only choice is to go along with them in the hopes that it might keep our clanmates safe." The warrior shookk his head with a sigh. The notion of it would never sit well with him.