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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Characters : [R]owansong [Ro]okflight [S]ilverhawk [P]igeonpouce [F]ishpaw [Fa]lconpaw [Fo]xsnap Clan/Rank : [R] RiverClan T5 Elder [Ro] RiverClan T4 Warrior [S] ShadowClan T5 Warrior [P] RiverClan Hybrid Medicine Cat [F] ShadowClan Apprentice [Fa] WindClan Apprentice [Fo] SkyClan T2 Warrior Number of posts : 2887 Gender : any or username Age : 22
Subject: complacent with the decisions you've made [O] Thu 31 Aug 2023 - 21:26
Birdstar
The walk home from ThunderClan was a long, arduous one. Birdstar and Wolfblossom walked shoulder to shoulder (the former staying dutifully mindful of the quick plasters pasted over her sister’s wound to keep her from bleeding out along their trek), Trufflesnap’s weight strewn between them. They paused frequently to readjust their carriage or to allow one or both of them to catch their breath, ease off their pain before continuing. Shortly after passing the Fallen Oak-- a landmark that now made Birdstar wince --she became aware of the body sprayed across her back stiffening. It was as if Trufflesnap had seized life back into her bloodied frame, muscles coiling for one final outburst. It was only the creep of rigor mortis. Through the fur, Birdstar could feel the body growing cold. The weight of it felt an impossible one to carry.
But they had returned.
Birdstar blinked wearily at the familiar perimeter of camp looming in front of her. Never had she felt so daunted by the sight of her own home before. The exhaustion of the day caught up with her at once. She wanted desperately to leave Trufflesnap just inside the thorn tunnel, call to the elders they were needed for a burial and disappear into her den. She wanted to be seen by no one, speak to no one; simply retreat. If she was lucky, she would fade from existence entirely. Perhaps StarClan would steal the remainder of her lives in her sleep, as penance for slaughter.
You were only defending your Clan, she tried to tell herself, but the reassurance didn’t reach her. If anything, thoughts of her Clanmates-- a dozen faces flashing behind her eyes, those she sought most to protect --only stoked her desire to cower. How could she bring this news to them? To any of them? Hardly a week after foxes had torn their camp asunder; mere days after Plumleaf passed, stolen by pervasive, incurable illness; only a day and a half after Bloodstrike had perished. She felt sick again.
She persisted.
She moved through the thorn tunnel at Wolfblossom’s side, pausing once they were in camp proper to shift the full weight of Trufflesnap’s body onto her own shoulders. It was crushing. “Smokepetal!” She yowled, voice raw, before turning to her sister. In a softer tone, she instructed, “See her immediately. Please.” Concern shone in the hollow pools of her eyes. Her jaw briefly fell open, tempted to say more, but ultimately closed again. Nothing was enough right now. Shaking her head, she just repeated, “Please.”
Bowing, Birdstar let the body roll off her shoulders, settling gently on the packed earth. When she rose again, she pressed the flat of her head into Wolfblossom’s ruff, breathing deep. Everything was such a nightmare now, and still there was more to do. Once she had a chance to take several breaths, Birdstar separated, gave her sister one last withering look, and departed to cross camp. Eyes were already on all three of them, on her, ripples of confusion and surprise rousing from those unfortunate enough to watch their return. Birdstar could not look any of her Clanmates in the eye as she passed them, but she absently searched their faces. She did not see Beechfang among them. It was hard to decide if that was for better or worse.
Gradually, she made her way to the base of the Tallbranch. Craning her head back to look up at it made her claws flex, pressing into the ground rather than allowing herself a grimace at the pain. The perch looked so dizzyingly high. Even as a newly-appointed deputy, she had never been so afraid of making the leap before. Holding air in her lungs, she gathered her weight and sprang. Seasons and seasons of practice allowed her to reach it with relative easy, though her hindpaws scrabbled against the bark to push herself fully into place. She wobbled on her paws, feeling frighteningly unsteady. Birdstar couldn’t look down. Instead, she stared at the fading light on the horizon and flatly called out, “All cats old enough to climb the trees, gather below the Tallbranch for a Clan meeting.”
Subject: Re: complacent with the decisions you've made [O] Thu 31 Aug 2023 - 21:47
Stormwatcher glanced over at the sound of a meeting called. Curious he went over. His eyes widened as the leader and deputy both appeared to be injured??
He got very nervous,
Stormwatcher from 4 moons ago would not have cared all that much and would have seen this as an interuption to a nap.
However! now he was much more close with wolf as much as he would never admit that aloud. And he did like bird too, the pair of them were like his older sisters not that he would ever tell that aloud either.
Going over towards wolf but stopping to give her enough room and for enough room for Smoke to inspect injures and all.
"good stars... are you okay? he meowed. For once the concern in his voice was actually apparent.
his eyes drifted over and he saw the lifeless trufflesnap and the hair along his back rose in shock.
"oh no" he muttered
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Subject: Re: complacent with the decisions you've made [O] Mon 4 Sep 2023 - 10:47
Her shoulders felt like they were on fire.
Wolfblossom had accepted only the bare minimum from Thunderclan’s medicine cats, wanting desperately to be back on her own territory and away from their prying gazes after what had just occurred in Mottlestar’s den. She limped alongside her sister, the weight of their former clanmate shared between them doing little to make the deputy’s wounds hurt any less. Their trek was plagued by pauses and stops, Wolfblossom’s ragged breaths the only sound beyond their pawsteps.
She didn’t trust herself to speak, choosing instead to keep her silence and her expression carefully neutral until they were well away from the fallen oak that marked the border between the two clans. The body they carried stiffened, a twitch of limbs making Wolfblossom’s own posture stiffen in turn. Dead, she reminded herself, Trufflesnap was dead.
Even if she had trusted herself to speak, the hard lump in her throat would have made that impossible. The deputy’s shoulders dropped, exhaustion and pain lacing each step toward camp. Her head turned briefly, eyes flicking to Birdstar before returning to the path ahead with grim resolve. What a mess the past few days had been, what a mess that single, solitary patrol had turned out to be. Trufflesnap had not been a member of Skyclan for some time, but Wolfblossom dreaded bringing this back to Skyclan camp all the same. Her transgressions could not be allowed to stand, she was – had been, Wolfblossom told herself – a danger to them all. Killing a leader so indiscriminately, trying to take Wolfblossom with her at the end... No. Sister or not, family or not, Trufflesnap could not be allowed to continue to be a threat. Skyclan would not suffer such looming over them again, no matter how much the decision left a bitter taste in her mouth, no matter the ache in her chest that rivaled the physical pain in her shoulders as she limped onward.
The entrance to camp was awkward, walking side by side with Birdstar and with the body across their backs, but Wolfblossom managed. Trufflesnap’s weight was removed from her back, though Wolfblossom hardly felt the difference as she sat heavily, pain etched in every movement. Birdstar briefly pressed the top of her head to Wolfblossom’s, and the deputy closed her eyes, a ragged breath escaping her as she pressed against her sister. “I'm sorry it came to this.” She said quietly, then Birdstar was turning toward the tallbranch and the unenviable task in front of her. Wolfblossom’s gaze flicked around camp, searching for family. Falconmoon, Sunfire and Graywind... The aunt they had hardly known daring to speak their names had sent anger boiling through her blood. They would never become what she was. Never. Finding them among her clanmates was a relief. Beechfang, sitting near the entrance to the warrior’s den... Not a relief. She had thought about it since making their way into Thunderclan’s camp, and any thoughts of how to explain this mess to their mother were simply beyond Wolfblossom’s capability right now. All she wanted to do was find her nest and sleep for a moon or three.
---
Stoneheart sat quietly outside the nursery, watching over Kestrelkit when movement at the camp’s entrance heralded the return of clanmates... And the scent of blood and death. The body the deputy and leader brought with them was vaguely familiar to the aloof queen, and the sight of it immediately had her turning, gently ushering Kestrelkit inside the nursery. Evidently, foxes were not the only threat to Skyclan that had been dealt with violently, if the disheveled state of their deputy was any indication. She’d noted Wolfblossom and Birdstar’s absence earlier in the day, but had just thought the two were patrolling together. Trufflesnap had been a clanmate once, but she was Thunderclan now. What were they doing with a dead Thunderclanner in camp? Worry for the potential outcome swirled in her gut, but Stoneheart’s face remained stoic.
---
Graywind was resting outside the medicine den. The wounds on her shoulder were healing up nicely, and her paws itched to be back on her normal patrols and duties. Following the medicine cat’s orders was a struggle, one that the warrior undertook only reluctantly. The appearance of her mother and aunt arriving in camp with a body andblood staining their fur made the golden-eyed warrior rise to her paws, fur bristling at seeing her mother in such a state. Smokepetal was called for quickly, but Graywind paid the medicine cat little mind as she glanced between her mother, Birdstar and the body of a somewhat-familiar calico. She remembered that pelt only vaguely, having not spent much time with the former Skyclanner while she’d been alive... And she was very much dead now, as the vivid crimson staining her throat and the stiffness of her body indicated. Wolfblossom looked exhausted and the wounds she had acquired were still bleeding through very minimal cobwebs... Graywind’s eyes narrowed, her tail lashing once. Whatever had happened, she didn’t think it was anything pleasant. Not that Skyclan seemed to know much of pleasantness the past couple days.
---
A dull eye lifted from staring at blood on her paws that only she could see, turning toward the camp entrance in silence as the commotion of Birdstar and Wolfblossom’s return roused her attention. The scent of blood and death permeated the air, only this time it was all too real and not her own paws. The returning leader and deputy looked as though they had seen better days, and the blood covering their fur was more than a little alarming. The body they carried with them, coming to rest on the soft earth before Birdstar turned toward the tallbranch was more of a shock. An all-too-familiar dilute calico lay unnaturally still, the vivid stain of red at her throat and soaking her chest fur indicating the reason why. No, no no no... Beechfang’s own hackles rose, heedless of the minimal herbs covering her own recent wounds as her stare bore into the trio. The daughter who had left Skyclan before her return, who she hadn’t seen in moons. Who had thought she abandoned her, who might have been right, Beechfang thought, as a twinge of guilt tangled with other emotions made her chest constrict painfully. Trufflesnap. Dead.
Her daughter, perhaps the one too much like herself for her own good, was dead. Wolfblossom, injured. And Birdstar... Her eye turned toward the leader, swinging from the closed down, distant stare of Wolfblossom to the daughter that was calling the clan together from the tallbranch, something in her gut twisting at the sight. Birdstar’s gaze too was fixed on a distant point, the heaviness that surrounded leader, deputy and their fallen sister thick enough to cut with claws. There was a sinking weight of dread in Beechfang’s stomach as she watched, grief clouding her expression. Whatever had happened, the stars had taken another of her children today. So soon after Plumleaf had succumbed to illness, and her father had...
Beechfang shook her head slowly, jaws parting briefly before words failed her. All she could do was watch, paws frozen to the earth.
Characters : Sunfire, Timberpaw, Newtpaw Clan/Rank : Rogue T1, SkyClan Apprentice, SkyClan Apprentice Number of posts : 1883 Gender : she/her Age : 32
Subject: Re: complacent with the decisions you've made [O] Fri 8 Sep 2023 - 16:40
The scent of blood and death still lingered upon the walls and floor of the medicine den. First Plumleaf, stolen from her in the night by some uncontrollable sickness, and then Bloodstrike, slain by the claws of his own daughter only steps away from where Smokepetal slept at night. Or... tried to sleep, at least, trying to ignore the spike of fear every time a shadow danced across the entrance of the den.
There were many shadows, now, as the sun began to dip below the treeline, but she still didn't sleep, choosing instead to curl up in silence and stare outside, eyes following the movement of the warriors and apprentices as they walked past. The ground beneath her was hard and empty, the nest having been thrown out after the vicious conflict that had left the inside of the den splattered with gore. She hadn't had the energy nor the heart to replace it.
There was a commotion outside as the clan began to stir, and Smokepetal was on her paws and halfway into the camp when Birdstar's sharp summons startled her into a trot, and her eyes raked the pair, searching for injuries to explain the sudden scent of blood. Then Birdstar spoke, and Smokepetal noticed the cobweb bandages. "Oh," Wolfblossom, her beloved mentor, now in harm's way as well. Unfamiliar anger bubbled up in Smokepetal's chest, her throat burning as she lamented about the injustice of it all. What had SkyClan done to deserve all these terrible things?
"Come, please - g-gently though," the smoky tabby turned and touched her shoulder against the deputy's, offering the support if she needed it on the way... and it was then that her eyes landed on the body they'd brought with them, something she hadn't noticed before. Smokepetal froze momentarily in shock, but didn't linger on it, and quickly made her way past it and towards the den. The cat was someone she only barely recognized... and if it had anything to do with what had happened to the leader and deputy tonight, Smokepetal couldn't bring herself to care... she was full up on grief. Right now, the only thing on her mind was getting Wolfblossom to safety, so she could treat her and make her better. This, she could - no, she wouldfix.
Characters : [R]owansong [Ro]okflight [S]ilverhawk [P]igeonpouce [F]ishpaw [Fa]lconpaw [Fo]xsnap Clan/Rank : [R] RiverClan T5 Elder [Ro] RiverClan T4 Warrior [S] ShadowClan T5 Warrior [P] RiverClan Hybrid Medicine Cat [F] ShadowClan Apprentice [Fa] WindClan Apprentice [Fo] SkyClan T2 Warrior Number of posts : 2887 Gender : any or username Age : 22
Subject: Re: complacent with the decisions you've made [O] Fri 15 Sep 2023 - 6:58
Birdstar
SkyClan assembled at her call, gathering to crowd her periphery. Birdstar's far-away stare only wavered when soft murmurs of confusion and concern reached her. Chest constricting, she tipped her head down to survey her Clan. It was Stormwatcher's hushed mew that had drawn her attention, and it was him that she saw first, hovering nervously by Wolfblossom until Smokepetal began to lead her away. I'm sorry, Birdstar wanted to call down, but the words stuck in her throat. I'm sorry she got hurt. I should have done something more. Her gaze flickered to the edges of camp, to the body laid unnaturally still behind the meeting crowd. Should have done something more-- hadn't she done enough? She'd done the most she could; she'd killed her sister. But no; no, it was never enough.
When she managed to look away from Trufflesnap, her attention moved immediately to Beechfang. She hadn't registered her mother moving through the crowd, but Birdstar looked to her now; to the grief that took deep root in her scarred features, the confusion and shock. Birdstar's paws itched with the urge to dismiss the meeting, clamber down the Tallbranch and disappear again, but she held herself firmly in place. She squinted briefly, a myriad emotions flickering through her own eyes when she caught Beechfang's, before she tipped her chin to stare into the horizon again.
The Clan was here, all eyes roaming between herself, Wolfblossom as she was shepherded away, and the body. Birdstar wasn't sure what she'd expected, when it came to this. Perhaps she'd hoped someone older, wiser, some great ancestor would descend and steal this task from her' at the very least, possess her briefly so she would have the words to address her Clan properly. But there was only her and the expectant crowd, and the quiet wind brought only a faint chill to the air, no spirits providing wisdom. Birdstar breathed in deep, holding the air until her lungs ached before letting go.
"There are many of you too young to have known Trufflesnap before she joined ThunderClan, or too young for her to have made much of an impression before she did. For those that are: she i- was my sister, and had left SkyClan in pursuit of a relationship across the border." She began slowly. The steadiness and clarity in her own voice surprised her. The returning tide of shock had, thankfully, brought her senses back enough to allow her to speak cleanly. "She has held a grudge against me-- against all of her siblings--" but Fogfeather, Birdstar thought painfully, though she kept that to herself, "since we were young. She envied the positions we came to hold, thought of herself as the unwanted kit. She believed we hated her-- that I hated her." Maybe once, she had. Birdstar struggled to imagine the feeling now, though. It was so strange, that she could not drum any hate from her bitter heart at the expense of lives, but a petty squabble had been enough. Shaking her head, she continued, "We fought once, as young warriors. I hit her. She goaded me into it, saying I was a pathetic deputy, and she reciprocated the blows, but... I struck first." Birdstar closed her eyes tight and breathed hard through her nose again. You deserve this, the treacherous voice whispered. Her whiskers shuddered as the breath passed out of her, and she was slow to reopen her eyes.
"I say all that to provide context for... this. Trufflesnap has felt nothing but resentment toward her family for... seasons now. Despite any attempts to mend our relationships, she was committed to her rage. I thought-- I'd hoped, naively, that the peace she sought in ThunderClan was genuine. I thought she may find happiness there, and this bitterness would be buried." Her throat, still raw from being torn open, ached from speaking so much. Birdstar wasn't sure what had possessed her to say so much, anyway, when a curt review may have been better. But her Clan deserved to understand the scope of this; or maybe it was herself that needed to hear the words that came almost unbidden; to justify this, any of this. "It's been several moons now since she left SkyClan. I'd heard little of her from Mottlestar; I had not encountered her on patrols, and if she'd encountered any of you, it was not noteworthy enough for report. I'd believed she was happy, leading a life apparently better than the one SkyClan brought her. I was content to think she was happy, finally.
"Early this afternoon, I ran into her at the Fallen Oak. She had been... waiting for me, like she'd known I'd come. She leapt at me from the trees. We wrestled. She said she'd known this would happen since our first fight, the-- one I just spoke of. She claimed this was a prophecy. She knew what would happen; what would follow. She--" Birdstar stopped short, jaw half-parted. She killed me. The concise words wouldn't come. Stars, she killed me. Birdstar's head spun as she marveled that again. Every wound she'd incurred seared like they'd just been drawn. She shook her head slowly, like her neck was caught in thick mud, and cleared her throat. "Trufflesnap took one of my lives, and fled." She hurried uncomfortably through the words, and was quick to clear her burning throat afterward. "Wolfblossom found me just as I woke. I'm grateful she did... but," Birdstar allowed herself a fast glance toward the medicine den before she sought the sinking sun again. "I regret what follows.
"We left for ThunderClan as soon as I could move. Maybe we should have waited, or should have returned first, I-- I don't know. But we went straight for their camp. We informed Mottlestar of what happened. We asked for execution. She obliged. Trufflesnap was not far behind us, and when she returned to camp, she came to us with no resistance. She was even... she seemed happy." A chill ran down Birdstar's spine. Her claws flexed, sinking deep into the rough bark against her pads. It was all she could do to keep from falling. "In her final moments, she leapt at Wolfblossom. I'm sure Trufflesnap intended to take her life, too. Even on the ground, she was determined to... I don't know. Not to fight. Just to... cause harm." Her throat closed halfway through the words. If Trufflesnap had lost enough of herself to kill, Birdstar was grateful it was her Trufflesnap chose to target. She could return; that was what her lives had been for. Rarely did they feel like blessings, but if kept her last sister, her beloved deputy alive one more day, she would consider them such.
"I cut her throat. It was quick." While she had to skirt around her own death, she spoke of this one plainly. She could not deny it, the way she could delude herself into thinking it hadn't been Trufflesnap to kill her; just some wrathful spirit taking shape of her kin. But this-- the feeling of sinew and tendon caught on the points of her claws, a pull that still lingered; the sticky heat of blood on her paw that still burned, still felt wet despite having been cleaned --she could not craft an illusion for that. Birdstar opened her mouth again, hesitated, and spent a moment letting her jaw work closed and open again. There was no more to say, no more story to share. Only orders, only, "She will be buried on SkyClan territory. There will be no vigil for her. Meeting dismissed."
Birdstar exhaled and tilted her gaze down again, and this time she did not jerk away. She looked back and forth across the faces of her Clanmates and felt horror chill her blood when she realized none of them stood out to her. They all looked blurred, hazy as if buried behind a thick fog. Her breath caught in her throat. She spilled from the Tallbranch more than she left it purposefully, though she managed to catch herself on her paws; shaky, stumbling to force her balance against the numbing jolt that ran through her legs. Birdstar stared at the ground she'd landed on, at her paws atop it; at the one stained darkly red, sharp against her pale fur. Her nostrils flared and she jerked her head up. Still the faces of her Clanmates were muddied to her; and now, the world itself seemed to shrink, like the sky itself was lowering to press against her head. Speaking had been a momentary reprieve against this, a moment of lucidity. Now that the distraction was gone, panic sparked wildfire in her chest.
It'd been so long since she'd felt so small in front of her Clan. She felt like a kit, barely larger than a warrior's paw, staring into the maw of a great beast. Birdstar turned away sharply. "If- if anyone has questions. I will be in my den." Her voice strained and wavered, her clarity gone. Birdstar spared another look over her shoulder but was quick to twist away again. One thousand visceral emotions bubbled within her, and she ducked her head into her shoulders as she slipped away, disappearing into her the dark silence of her den on shaking legs.
Subject: Re: complacent with the decisions you've made [O] Sun 17 Sep 2023 - 16:48
Smokepetal was quick to appear from the medicine den, and Wolfblossom gratefully leaned against the offered shoulder as she was guided toward the medicine den. "Thank you... Been a rough few days, hasn't it?" She wished that this would not be placed upon her former apprentice's shoulders as well, but the burden of leading the clan was a heavy weight they all shared. Birdstar began to speak, and a weary sigh left the deputy. It was more than just the blood loss and extent of her injuries that made her feel exhausted.
---
Wolfblossom was led toward the medicine den, and Beechfang's attention was caught and held by Birdstar's words. She'd known her daughter had left for Thunderclan, but to realize that most of the clan now was even too young to remember her... It was another startling reminder of how fast the world moved, of how time marched mercilessly onward.
Birdstar continued, and Beechfang despaired as the hopes of a rogue, a predator, the siblings defending each other were stripped away. Trufflesnap... Had attacked her own sisters. Had taken one of Birdstar's lives. Had been prepared to bring Wolfblossom down with her. Something bitter rose in Beechfang's chest, clawing at her throat as she listened to Birdstar strip away any hopes she had once held of her daughters not being like their ancestors. The conversations she'd held with her kits before her own exile for murder... With Trufflesnap. Attempting desperately to make them understand the importance of family, the idea that some actions were simply wrong and deserved appropriate consequence, but that she would never abandon them. For Trufflesnap, it seemed, those words had fallen on deaf ears and gone ignored.
Birdstar continued, sharing bits and pieces of a story that Beechfang had never known. Of nonsensical sibling spats and disagreements, of being goaded into fighting... It reminded Beechfang far too much of her and Dawnpaw as apprentices and young warrior, young medicine cat. After everything, that cycle had repeated.
Trufflesnap was dead before things could escalate more than they already did. Perhaps Beechfang's earlier thought about the stars claiming another had been wrong. Listening to Birdstar speak, it was hard to imagine that Trufflesnap would walk among them. The leader's words and stare were filled with too much heartache to be falsified, much as Beechfang did not want to believe that her kits would succumb to the same mistakes she had.
She had taken Trufflesnap's life. Made it quick. Hardly a comfort, given the suffering Trufflesnap had already inflicted, hardly a comfort knowing that it was her own kits who had fought each other. That one of her own could be so murderous. But then, thinking of herself and Dawnhawk, how could she have expected they turn out any differently? They had both raised claws against family, why should Beechfang's kits be any different? Something in the dark forest had cursed this family long ago, it seemed, and nothing escaped it. Birdstar's bloody paws were not alone. Just another way Beechfang'd failed them all.
Anger stirred beneath the grief and shock of what Beechfang was hearing, stirred more at Birdstar's final orders before dismissing the meeting. The way her daughter's voice cracked made her claws itch to tear into something, but there was nothing for them to tear into. Birdstar disappeared into her den, and Beechfang lifted a paw to follow, before hesitating. She ought to see Wolfblossom too, be there for both of them. But she lacked the energy to make her paws move. She didn't know how to even start, were she to make it into Birdstar's den or to Wolfblossom's side. She felt numb, and Trufflesnap... A single, ill-timed glance at the body was all at once too overwhelming for the old warrior to do a thing.