How You Remind Me [Dovefrost]

The sun was high in the sky as Beechfang made her way along the fallen oak. Her steps were slow,, almost plodding in pace, fur ruffled as it usually was. It was clear that she wasn't starving like some of her clanmates, and the knowledge made her not want to be in camp at all. That Bloodstar's body lay lifeless up on that branch, and the shadows that lurked around the camp's edge didn't help.

Patrolling however, could only distract so much. Just like with Asylum, contact with the other clans had been all but impossible... And Beechfang had to wonder how the other clans fared. That gathering hadn't been pleasant for anyone, and the realization that Dawnhawk had kits in Thunderclan... Beechfang almost felt sorry for their forest-dwelling neighbors. Having Dawnhawk's attention was never a good thing, but for the moment it was off of Skyclan, at least. Unlike with Asylum, it seemed that contact with Starclan was now truly impossible. Not that Beechfang cared about Starclan, but the dark forest cats that Dawnhawk had brought to life were abominations. Not that she'd say so out loud.

The sound of pawsteps broke the quiet air, and Beechfang turned her head warily, hoping for a friendly face and not the filthy vermin that Dawnhawk called followers.

The white tom had padded along the forest, following the familiar path to the Fallen Oak. The sun that was poking through the leaves warming his fur in the best ways. While he wasn't on his way to the oak to enjoy the new leaf weather, he was still going to take it all in while he could, even if something was on his tail the whole time he was looking for herbs.

The tom emerged slowly from the forest edge, letting the sun hit him fully. He had to squint a little bit but the scent of Skyclan was stronger than it normally was in the area. Once his eyes had adjusted fully to the brighter light of the open area, his green gaze scanned around before falling on Beechfang. "Beechfang.." The tom uttered out, voice breaking the silence that filled the area. Happiness filled his chest. He hadn't seen her in so long.. He was relieved to see she was doing okay.

The member 'Reaper King' has done the following action : Dice roll

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'Invasion Dice' :

Beechfang had tensed somewhat, though she relaxed when a familiar white pelt came into view. She offered the Thunderclanner a weary smile in greeting, "Dovefrost, it's good to see you." Beechfang was relieved to see him, with everything going on and the dark forest taking over, she'd been more worried than she wanted to admit about her friend. And Dawnhawk had decided that Thunderclan was a good place to be at the moment. He'd return to Skyclan sooner rather than later, Beechfang was absolutely certain of that, but not before making those in Thunderclan suffer just as much as he had made Skyclan. Dovefrost was a good cat, so were most Thunderclanners she'd met in her life. None of them needed to be hurt. "How are things?" She couldn't keep the worry out of her voice.

Lionboar was prowling the territory as usual, mostly bored. He wanted to get away from the Dark Forest cats. They made him uncomfortable and uneasy. He wasn't sure if it was the promise of power and his desire to take it and betray SkyClan that scared him, or the appearance. His paws took him to Fallen Oak, which was strange because he avoided that place ever since he encountered Aether and the coyote and gave him the scar and ripped ear. As he neared, the sound of two cats talking carried to his perked ears on the warming breeze. Anxiety plucked at his chest. Would this be an ambush? Was ThunderClan invading? The golden warrior paused. Perhaps he could just turn around... No. That was weak, and besides, one of the voices sounded familiar. Jogging slightly, he joined the voices before slowing down. The ThunderClan medicine cat was there, with Beechfang. "Everything okay here, Beechfang?" Lionboar called out uneasily as he cautiously approached the pair, eyeing up the ThunderClan cat obviously.

Dovefrost kept his eyes on the she-cat in front of him until he was asked about his clan. They weren't exactly in the best shape still, even with the appearance of the Dark Forest. "We are getting by. Some better than others, but its still pretty much the same. We are all hungry but we will make it." He told his friend, not scared of her using the information against him. He trusted Beechfang with his life, that was for certain.

Green eyes looked up at the sound of another voice, while on the outside Dovefrost remained rather unbothered, on the inside he was startled by the other tom's appearance. "Sorry, didn't mean to cause a stir, I was just coming by to collect herbs when I ran into Beechfang here." He told the tom, hopefully his answer was acceptable, it was the truth after all.

"That's... Well, as well as we could hope, I guess." Beechfang muttered with a huff. "Strangely, I find them somewhat more tolerable compared to my littermate leading them, I can't complain that he's no longer in our camp." She muttered, fur ruffling before she could force it to lay flat. Her tone said the dark forest creatures were hardly tolerable at all, but the shadows seemed at least to refrain from judgement about their actions and now seemed to mostly leave her alone. So long as she didn't think of what had happened she could even delude herself into thinking things were okay... For a few seconds.

Approaching pawsteps signaled the arrival of one of her clanmates, and Beechfang glanced over her shoulder. Lionboar wasn't someone she'd spent much time around, but he was still a clanmate and she wouldn't complain about having more cats along the border during her patrol, however unlikely it was to be Thunderclan causing trouble. "Peace, Lionboar." Beechfang mewed with a wave of her tail. There was irony in her telling someone to stand down, she was sure, but Beechfang was being genuine. "Dovefrost is a medicine cat, as I was. He won't cause trouble." Unlike a certain pale-furred Riverclanner she could name. Cloverheart, thankfully, was not anywhere near this border or Skyclan territory. Unlike her, Dovefrost was someone Beechfang could trust, and Thunderclan was a clan worthy of respect.

Lionboar looked over the situation once more and flicked his tail. He nodded respectfully towards Dovefrost. He knew Dovefrost was a medicine cat, but he never realized Beechfang was once one. She was such a fierce and scarred warrior, it never crossed his mind. It made him wonder- maybe he wasn't finding his way as a warrior because he was meant to be a medicine cat. Maybe StarClan was wrong about his path... If they were wrong about Beechfang's. He made a mental note on this manner then backed up. Turning his head to Beechfang, he nodded towards her as well. "Of course. I heard some voices and wanted to make sure. Be careful though, you two, this was where that rogue and coyote attacked me. Although, I suppose neither would be a problem much anymore..." He trailed off, remembering that day and how weak he had felt. He came back with a start then took another step back. "In any case, I'll leave you two to catch up. Finally he turned and made his exit, a slightly uneasy feeling in his gut. It was weird to allow and stand down to one of his own talking to another clan cat in a friendly matter, but then again, a medicine cat was safe enough to allow. As he wandered back through the trees, he decided to go talk to Muddythorn and Myrtleturtle. He had an idea to create his legacy.

Dovefrost nodded a goodbye as the other warrior turned and walked away, thankful that the tom was willing to give the two time to catch up. Once the tom was finally gone, Dovefrost found his voice again. "Mm.. yeah, he has found his way to ours.. Surprisingly he hasn't done anything yet but it's only a matter of time." He told her.

"Are you happy as a warrior Beechfang?" He asked her, trying to change the topic around so they weren't talking about the dead warriors that haunted their camps. He didn't like them much. Not when he knew that Starclan was out there, somewhere.

Her clanmate seemed satisfied with the answer, and quickly turned to leave. Admittedly, Beechfang was relieved by it, turning her attention back to the Thunderclanner. It was good to see Dovefrost again, even if she was no longer a medicine cat and no longer beholden to their laws, she still considered Dovefrost a good friend. "Oh... Foxdung." She muttered after he'd spoke. "I'm sorry you have to put up with that in your camp." There was no advice she could offer him about Dawnhawk beyond what everyone already knew. Dawnhawk was a madman, and he got what he wanted. Usually, that tended to be bloodshed and power. Both of which he had in spades now, more than any clan leader. Dovefrost thankfully, changed the subject, and Beechfang was grateful. A small smile crossed her face at the question, the scarred she-cat's posture relaxing slightly. "I am, actually... It's a lot less stressful. Honestly, it feels like I'm able to do more to help the clan as a warrior than I ever could as a medicine cat." Hunting and defending the territory... Among plenty of other things that medicine cats were forbidden from. And she no longer had the displeasure of fussing over the wounds of stubborn warriors, either.

"I think Thunderclan has too much to worry about right now to focus on him. Hopefully we can keep him occupied long enough to keep you from worrying about him too much." If it made things a little easier for Skyclan.. no if it made things easier for her.

"Good I'm glad that things are going well for you." His tone sincere. "Its nice to see you happy. I have seen you stress way too much out of the time I have known you." It was true the medicine cat path wasn't for everyone. Sometimes he second guessed his choice, missing going on hunts and patrolling borders, other days he loved sorting herbs, healing the minor wounds his clanmates received in their day to day life. If only there was a perfect balance for him.

"I hope he doesn't turn his attention towards your clanmates, Dovefrost. You've enough to deal with between your normal duties and the rest of them, I'd imagine." Beechfang offered the medicine cat a genuine smile, shoulders relaxing as Dovefrost continued and the conversation moved away from the subject of her littermate. "The stress... I guess some of us are better at handling it than others." Her whiskers twitched in amusement, stars only knew she wasn't good at handling the stress at all. "As much as I don't miss it I'm glad we can still talk to one another." She admitted. I'm glad we can still be friends.

"Likewise. I don't think anything would stop me from worrying about you. Even if I went back to being a warrior again." He admitted. She had been a support for him from the beginning, even if to others it didn't seem that way. He liked to think their bond was something that went beyond the clans, though he wasn't sure if she thought the same. She was bound by a different code now.. if it came down to it would she attack him if it meant the best for Skyclan?

The large white tom shook his head. He couldn't be thinking about things like that. They had their own responsibilities to take care of, if it came down to it. He would understand. "How are things in Skyclan?" He asked, realizing he didn't ask the question earlier.

Dovefrost worried about her, and didn't think anything would stop him from worrying about her. The thought was... heartwarming. "You mean a lot to me, Dovefrost." Beechfang mewed softly, "You always have." They'd always been friendly with one another, but she'd never bothered to give it much more thought than that. Her words were true, she realized. Maybe... She doubted he would entertain the idea.

The question about how Skyclan was doing... Well. "It's a mess, honestly." She sighed, "Bloodstar is strung up on a tree. He hasn't resurrected. Our relationship was rocky but..." Her claws flexed into the earth as she shook her head. Words came before she could stop them, "I'm not sure I'll ever get a chance to repair things, there. I was so angry at him over Briarthorn." It wasn't even that he'd taken a mate from another clan, not truly. It was what he'd done to Smokefeather and their family in the process. What Dovefrost had helped her figure out later. "Mom forgave him, but I held onto that anger even after he let me train as a warrior again." Guilt was a strange feeling. She didn't like it. "My littermate got his wish of killing both our parents that night. Dawnhawk ordered Smokefeather's death or the rest of the clan, I'm still not sure I made the right choice even after she begged me to. At least she's away from whatever torment Dawnhawk would've put her through had she lived. If the stars are even watching us... I don't know." After everything... Maybe Starclan were well and truly gone now. Not that the dark forest were any better, but at least Beechfang understood how they chose to exert their control over the clans in a way that she had never understood Starclan's intentions. "Every day it seems, even the most optimistic in the clan are losing hope."

"I'm just so tired of things always going wrong, Dovefrost. I'm so tired of losing the cats I care about most."

Dovefrost listened silently as she spoke, his green eyes dropped slightly as she went on. He hated hearing about her pain, hated to be hearing that things had to go this way for her and Skyclan. No one deserved a situation like that. It was a shame that Bloodstar was in such a terrible situation. Dawnhawk causing such grief for her after everything.. Hopefully he was satisfied, but he doubted it. Dawnhawk didn't seem to be the type to ever be satisfied.

"I'm so sorry Beechfang.." He didn't really know what else to say to her. He wasn't one that was best with words, and it was starting to be difficult to hold on to hope because of their current situation. "If I could help somehow I would. You deserve something good, even if it may seem like the world is against you." He hoped that was enough to comfort her, at least a little bit.