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.
Welcome to WCC! Here are our latest announcements:
Activity checks take place on the 1st of the month. If you miss one activity check, make sure you do the next one!
Leaf-fall is finally here, and with it, the promise of colder, crueler, days ahead.
Gatherings take place on the 1st of the month; keep your eyes out for a staff member's post!
Please feel free to hit up any staff member if you have any questions!
Subject: Heaviest of Hearts [OPEN Mourning Topic] Sat 27 Apr 2024 - 11:34
The last couple of days had been a whirlwind, to put it very mildly. Wolfstar sat outside her den, weariness clouding her expression despite what should have been a beautiful day. The sun was shining in a cloudless sky, the air was warm... And the birdsong heard through the trees was a cheery mockery of what her clan was experiencing.
Sunfire, missing. Smokepetal, dead. Yewshade, dead. Mallowcloud, dead. Brackendawn. Honeydew... Myrtlebloom. The losses seemed to keep mounting with the threat on their territory, and the camp felt oddly quiet as the reality of it all sank in. So many bright lights extinguished, so much carnage in such a short time.
It had been Wolfstar's patrol to find the dogs, two of them. They had been forced to retreat into the trees and make it back to camp, the beasts still at large. The failure to protect her clanmates stung, the grief and fear etched into so many familiar faces felt like claws digging into her pelt. The nine lives she had while the rest of them only had one to lose. If she could have traded those lives for them, she would have in a heartbeat.
Silently the leader sat, gazing out over her clanmates.
((Note: Midnee asked for Bracken to be included among the dead.))
Characters : Falconmoon, Sagefeather, Asmodeus, Snowhunter Number of posts : 3142 Gender : Female; She/Her Age : 33
Subject: Re: Heaviest of Hearts [OPEN Mourning Topic] Sat 27 Apr 2024 - 12:16
Falconmoon was stock-still as he sat beside the warrior's den. He hardly blinked, his breath caught in his chest. He stared at the fresh-kill pile that was low, but no one felt like eating, it seemed. Seeing the bodies of almost all of his kits and some of his friends and clanmates had taken the breath and strength right out of him. To have watched them be buried, set in the cold ground to become nothing more than food for the worms later, brought him to the ground. Once the speeches had been over about how each of them had contributed to Skyclan in their own unique and special way and the clan had returned to camp, Falconmoon's head was in a fog.
He knew he should probably go out on patrol and hunt... but he barely had the strength to draw a full breath. How much more are you going to test me, Starclan? How much more do you think I can take? He sent a mental message to the stars, hidden behind the bright blue sky above. There was no anger in his thoughts. Perhaps he was still in too much shock to feel anything other than deep, terrible loss and a fear for what might come next.
His azure gaze traveled to the medicine den. Thymelight... how would this affect her, in her current condition? Will I lose them too? He would cherish him and keep him close, but it did not dull the pain of what he'd lost. He would comfort her too, when she appeared, but for now, he was trying to keep himself together.
Does Starclan even hear me anymore? Was this all just a sick joke to them? A flash of anger brought a soft growl from his throat. His claws pierced the earth and his eyes narrowed at nothing in particular. He caught himself, beating the darkness whirling around inside him back down where it belonged. He took a deep breath and faced skyward, his eyes closed as he grounded himself as Falconmoon once again.
It really does feel like the only one that listens lives inside my nightmares. Help me, Flowerthorn. You said you were on my side, guide me. I am struggling. I am going to fall.
Subject: Re: Heaviest of Hearts [OPEN Mourning Topic] Sat 27 Apr 2024 - 13:37
Creamsky stood off to the side, his ears flat as he fought with the bitter-sweet feelings that fought within him - angst of all of the cats who had been lost...And yet relief that he had not lost his friends. It was a matter he felt he could never give voice to - less those who had been close with those the recent tragedy had taken feel snubbed by the fact that he felt lucky despite it all. ...But perhaps it was partly because he could not imagine how he would cope if he had lost Lightningbreeze, Rainfrost or Crookedlight. He still struggled to come to terms with what had happened with Astershine, if they had been among those recently lost, he...
That was all to say that he didn't grieve - so many bright lights had been snuffed out. Promising cats who looked for a better tomorrow who would not get to see what their hard work would bring. He might have escaped unscathed in some sense, but the Clan itself would never truly recover - there would be no returning to normal after such a sweeping loss. His eyes slowly raised to stare at their leader, his heart sinking even more - Wolfstar had meant the world to him in the aftermath of Blackbear leaving. He wished he could be there for her but he didn't know how - but he knew he had to cling harder to those he did still have. Pushing himself to his paws, he approached the leader - pausing for a moment to see if his company was welcomed before he sat down next to her - enough to give her space but still obliviously be there for her as he found no words to say. Instead, he could only offer his company to the leader and hope it would be enough, even for just the moment.
Number of posts : 1621 Gender : cryptid (they/he) Age : 25
Subject: Re: Heaviest of Hearts [OPEN Mourning Topic] Sat 27 Apr 2024 - 15:31
Icepaw
icicles don't soften when they die; they sharpen into sabres and they stab you in the eye;
Icepaw sat stiffly outside the apprentices' den, her face impassive. Inside, her thoughts were racing, her heart fluttering in her chest like a trapped bird. Among those that were dead and gone was her own father, Sunfire. Sunfire, who had pushed her since her kithood to be something, to give her all to SkyClan even at the cost of her own life.
Well, she wouldn't let him down. Wherever he was now, be it StarClan or somewhere else, she would not let him down. Glazed eyes shifted around camp, watching her Clanmates grimly. Her mismatched gaze landed on her uncle Falconmoon. She wasn't particularly close with him, but seeing the grief etched on his face made her want to go to his side. He was mourning his brother too, plus his kits. Silently, Icepaw got to her feet and strode over to her uncle, offering no words. Instead she took a seat by his flank. She didn't know what the right words to say were, so she hoped her companionship and familial bond was enough for now.
Subject: Re: Heaviest of Hearts [OPEN Mourning Topic] Sun 28 Apr 2024 - 7:06
Lighttail lay curled in a ball at the edge of camp. It had followed her. The whole world had been against ShadowClan from the moment she was brought into their camp, and now the world was against SkyClan. Or rather, against her. Seven cats dead.
“I’m sorry,” she mewed softly into the open air. “It’s all my fault. I’m bad luck. I shouldn’t be here. I shouldn’t be anywhere. Sablestrike was right to cut me off.”
Subject: Re: Heaviest of Hearts [OPEN Mourning Topic] Sun 28 Apr 2024 - 23:35
BLAZEPAWi can't be who you need me to be he/they - skyclan app. - 7 moons
Camp was so much...quieter now. So many cats, gone in an instant. Good cats, strong warriors and kind souls. He might not have known most of them, but they still ached. Honeydew, who he'd looked up to since her promotion to deputy so young; Myrtlebloom, who he'd seen in passing a few times, who had been so kind to him when he was a kit; Sunfire, who he'd never fully trusted, but who he knew Firepaw would be devastated about.
And the worst...Brackendawn.
Blazepaw hadn't left the apprentices' den in days. Why should he? There was nobody to rouse him for training anymore. The depth of his Clan's loss hurt, but the loss of Brackendawn ached in a way he'd never felt before. Any moment, he expected that familiar face to poke into the den, gently teasing him for sleeping in so late - but it never did.
He'd never hear that voice again. He would never hunt alongside him, show him how much he'd improved his battle moves, or even defend the Clan alongside him again. And what hurt the most...well, what hurt the most was that Brackendawn would never get to see him earn his warrior name. He would never hear that proud voice call his name out alongside everyone else, knowing he was one of few who truly meant it. No, Blazepaw had no kin - not a mother or father to speak of, no siblings. Reportedly, his mother had died during his kitting and his father had fled the Clans in his grief, but the young apprentice had no means of remembering them. With the exception of Firepaw, Brackendawn had been his only real connection in the Clan - someone he'd looked up to like a brother from the day he was named the young tom's apprentice.
He just wanted things to go back to normal.
He lowered his head to his paws and sighed, the week-old moss dry and brittle on his chin. He didn't see the point in changing it. Why should he get to be comfortable, when Brackendawn had died so brutally? That spark in his gaze was gone. Blazepaw's world had caved in. Never before had he experienced grief, never really known what death truly was, and here it was, clawing him in the face without even saying 'hello'.
Firepaw had been right, all those moons ago. StarClan was just a lie. He couldn't even count on the comfort of knowing his mentor was watching over him from above - because if StarClan was real after all, how could they have let this happen?
If her heart continued to hurt this much for the rest of her days on earth, then Thymelight was unsure how long she'd be able to stay alive. There was never enough room for her to breathe. She was never provided with enough time to raise her head above the water to inhale before she was shoved back under the dark depths. No matter what seemed to happen to her, Thymelight would take it in stride by reminding herself that her friends and the relationships that she had formed with her Clanmates was what made her strong enough to survive the world and its terrors, but now that they were gone, what excuse could she give herself now? There were too many familiar bodies amongst the group, with the most notable ones being Smokepetal, Honeydew, Myrtlebloom, and Brackendawn. She wasn't even sure how to react. When she had witnessed the dead body of her uncle not too long ago, she had immediately bursted into a fit of tears and screams. Her paws had moved her faster than she had ever dared to go, but this time she was silent.
Too silent. Too still.
Despite all of this, Thymelight felt numb. This was all the more reason to despise the fact that she would soon be bringing kits into the world. How long would she be able to hold her offspring close to her chest and hear their steady breathing before they ended up looking like one of the deceased bodies before her very eyes? It was unfair to them, and it was unfair to her. The she-cat never imagined that she would ever feel such resentment toward being a mother, but the amount of danger that tainted the forest seemed to grow more and more everyday, and that wasn't an environment that she wanted to be a mother in. Everything and everyone good was disappearing before her very eyes. It saddened her so deeply to know that this was the temperament that she had received overtime after moons of wear and tear. Thymelight mourned the loss of the kit and apprentice that she had been, with wide, sparkling eyes full of wonder and positivity. They had been so much happier. Every time the medicine cat took a hit, she believed that it was truly the first time that she had felt absolutely alone. Surely nothing else could top this. She scanned the crowd from where she stood at the medicine den's entrance. Falconmoon was amongst the group of mourning cats, and she desperately searched the tom's eyes for some sort of hope, but there was nothing to be found.
How much crueler would the world get, and how much longer did Thymelight have until the stars grew tired of inciting such pain?
discord: chuufacts | timezone: est | code (c) kieer
Creamsky sat nearby, and the leader offered her friend a grateful glance but said nothing. For the moment, she was glad for the company, though she didn't know what she could possibly say in this situation. Everything seemed to have happened so quickly, and there was so much grief and hurt among her clanmates. Perhaps if they had fought harder when finding those dogs, they could have brought at least one of them down before succumbing themselves. Instead the patrol had fled, at her orders.
Ears swiveled at the sound of lighttail's voice. "You cannot blame yourself, Lightatil. No matter how it might feel that the stars are against us. It wasn't your presence lighting our camp that led to these beasts on our territory, nor was it your presence in Shadowclan that led to their own hardships." Wolfstar mewed gently to the warrior, though it was hard to keep the utter exhaustion and pain from her tone.
---
Finding her brother in the crowd, Graywind was like a pale ghost as her paws carried her forward, silently pressing against Falconmoon's pelt. Sunfire had not been among the bodies, but with how many others were buried Graywind did not have high hopes for his survival. Her niece and nephews, her friends... So many cats gone. It was almost incomprehensible to her, that their territory could suddenly become so very dangerous. All she could do now was stick close to her loved ones and hope they wouldn't be next.
---
Stoneheart stared ahead at nothing in particular, normally stoic gaze shadowed by grief. The shock of death after death made her feel queasy, sick. Her former apprentice among the dead, such a bright, earnest young warrior snuffed out in a flash. She feared for Mistflower, she feared for her kits, and her clanmates. It felt like they were being hunted on their own territory, and she didn't like that. Not one bit.
Subject: Re: Heaviest of Hearts [OPEN Mourning Topic] Wed 1 May 2024 - 7:51
Lighttail straightened up a bit. “I appreciate that, Wolfstar. This is why I’m here. That’s not the kind of thing I tended to hear back in ShadowClan.”
OOC: sorry for short post
Cays Former Staff
Characters : Kestrelkit (SkC) | Marshkit (SC) Number of posts : 2456 Age : 34
Subject: Re: Heaviest of Hearts [OPEN Mourning Topic] Thu 2 May 2024 - 14:52
Kestrelpaw sat silent at the entrance of the apprentice's den. A few days ago, she had been eager to take flight. To see the territory, revel in the sunlit parts of the forest they called home. She had always imagined a mentor by her side, or her kin... but now such daydreams felt like moons ago. Her own mentor was gone, along with so many other cats she had known and seen all her life. Suddenly those dreams felt much farther away.
In their place was a heavy feeling that weighed on her chest and paws. A feeling that made her step over towards Stoneheart and bury her face into her mother's warm shoulder. She was still here. Even as tears fell from her eyes freely. A question rising on her chest with every breath. Why? Why had this happened? What was next? Who was next?
Was there anything she could have done to stop it?
______________________________________
Kestrelpaw ♀ Marshkit ♂
Sponsored content
Subject: Re: Heaviest of Hearts [OPEN Mourning Topic]
![Heaviest of Hearts [OPEN Mourning Topic] ABC-Gang-Acornstar-2](https://i.postimg.cc/KjP70W1N/ABC-Gang-Acornstar-2.png)
![Heaviest of Hearts [OPEN Mourning Topic] EBrhYrd](https://i.imgur.com/eBrhYrd.gif)
![Heaviest of Hearts [OPEN Mourning Topic] Ezgif-1-d163073db6](https://i.ibb.co/jvtGSxD/ezgif-1-d163073db6.gif)
![Heaviest of Hearts [OPEN Mourning Topic] Marshk12](https://i.servimg.com/u/f21/20/07/61/86/marshk12.png)