private ˙ ˖ ✶ toss your cards ┊ sunstride.

[downyfur]

Wolfsong had graciously released them from his den, but until one more sunrise has passed, they would not be permitted past the recovering gorse wall. When WindClan's leader finds her, she's hovering on the sunset side of it, trying not to let the gorse in her mouth touch her cheek. It's a weird feeling, having wounds once-buried beneath poulice and cobweb exposed to fresh air now, and she's so consumed by it she hardly notices the great tom's approach till he's already at her side. "Oh!" Sunstride! They hastily dip their head, then crane it up to peer at him. "Hello." Try as they might to shoo all trepidation away from their greeting, some of it still leaks into the errant tuck of their tail.

@SUNSTRIDE​

 

[SUNSTAR]

Try as he may to leave his warrior nature at the door of each conversation, there is no escaping what has become the very foundation of his nature. He is quiet as he comes upon Downypaw — that is a cruelty, not a kindness. What had begun as an attempt at not disturbing them startles the young tunneler instead, and his regretful smile tints his very soul through glinting eyes. Thankfully for them both, he does not allow it to linger long. "Wolfsong told me that you were freed. Are you looking forward to your training again? It is strange, even for myself, to find us returning to normal." He carefully scans the small cat's fur, seeking out whatever remnants of injury he can find across her herb-scented fur. "You will heal well, at least."

𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐇 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐌𝐘 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓  ╱╱ 𝐈𝐒 𝐀 𝐕𝐔𝐋𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄 〚 11.22.2023 〛 —————«

• OOC. —
• 

  SUNSTRIDE. WINDCLAN DEPUTY & MOOR RUNNER.
  ——– HE – HIM – HIS ╱╱ 48+ MOONS OLD, ADULT.

  NPC x NPC, LONERS. MATE TO WOLFSONG; FATHER TO BEARPAW, SINGEDPAW, RIVEPAW, SUNLITPAW AND FEATHERPAW. MENTORING SCORCHPAW.
  
  TH ╱╱ LARGE CHOCOLATE ROSETTE TABBY, ICY EYES.

• "speech"

​

 

[downyfur]

A half-practiced smile curves her muzzle when Sunstride remarks on her freedom, because no apprentice wouldn't be delighted at it. "Yes," she hums, careful not to let her head tip too far to the side, to be questioning instead of wondering. Questions gnawed at them nonetheless, chief of which being what exactly the leader of WindClan wanted with them. They had been Cottonfang's, well, not accomplice, but a tagalong in her escape. Other than that, they were only another one of WindClan's apprentices, and a tunneler at that, far out of the taller feline's domain. "I understand why Wolfsong doesn't want me sticking my head back in the tunnels too soon." They smile again. "I'm sure Sootspot misses me." Of that, they couldn't really say.​

 

[SUNSTAR]

It seems that he would not avoid the true subject of his visit for long. Downypaw brings it up as if they knew what he was here for, despite how he had masked it in his approach. Hesitation still crosses his face, and he settles himself into a more relaxed place, legs akimbo and tail curled, so that he might buy some time to sort out his words. Leadership looms. The decisions that he had once advised Sootstar on would now be his own to make. And chief among them — how to handle those that had betrayed this clan until its final hour. Sootspot, Bluefrost, Snakehiss. (It is wrong of him, he knows, not to include Cottonfang among this list. She and Downypaw had escaped; they had been held. The others had made a choice. Hadn't they? Sootspot's had simply come too late, too wrong.)

"Was he good to you, in your time here?" He asks it casually, yet this question carries the weight of her world. "Did he teach you well?"

𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐇 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐌𝐘 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓  ╱╱ 𝐈𝐒 𝐀 𝐕𝐔𝐋𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄 〚 11.22.2023 〛 —————«

• OOC. —
• 

  SUNSTRIDE. WINDCLAN DEPUTY & MOOR RUNNER.
  ——– HE – HIM – HIS ╱╱ 48+ MOONS OLD, ADULT.

  NPC x NPC, LONERS. MATE TO WOLFSONG; FATHER TO BEARPAW, SINGEDPAW, RIVEPAW, SUNLITPAW AND FEATHERPAW. MENTORING SCORCHPAW.
  
  TH ╱╱ LARGE CHOCOLATE ROSETTE TABBY, ICY EYES.

• "speech"

​

 

[downyfur]

Good is so subjective. Downypaw hates the way Sootspot makes them feel, yet can't deny the wisdom in how he goes about it. He had warned them of RiverClan, and RiverClan had lived up to his warnings. He had beaten her into the tunnels and stood idly by as she grieved her kin in Sootstar's camp, but each miserable day had been one he'd given her, for she might've been slaughtered in that first battle had it not been for him. They feel as though they might deserve his ire for ignoring his advice in the first place.

"In my time here?" they echo. In this world? "Yes." Averted eyes return to Sunstride's face at his next question, a far easier one to answer. "Yes..." They tip their head. Was this the reason of for his presence? They would have to check with the other apprentices for whether Sunstride wanted a report from them as well. "I haven't done much for the past moon though," she admits sheepishly, figuring the truth would both endear herself to and help him.​

 

[SUNSTAR]

Good is, in its own way, Sootstar herself. She had been good once. Some of what she had done was good. She had founded this clan. Gave them their structure. She had fed them through leafbare and pruned the weakest of their branches. Her cruelty kept them strong. Was that what he would expect of this clan's youngest and frailest? Would he strengthen their claws on the bones of those that they felled? He looks upon Downypaw, a reflection of his own kittens, and feels. . . uncertain. The decision before him at Sootstar's demise was not only that. Now a future stretched before him, paths he must take. Gently, he shakes his head at the tunneler's confusion.

"Before you came to the barn," he clarifies. "When you were with him, here. Not what you learned, or what he taught you." Back home, training had stretched on for a great many moons. From the time that a kitten first stumbled to their paws into the final days of their life, they would learn and they would grow. Knowledge passed down in an incessant trickle. It is what he brings to WindClan now: patience, and expectation. Downypaw would learn with time. But what they would learn — this is subject to a mentor's careful gaze. "Did he care for you while the others were gone? Were you treated well?"

𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐇 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐌𝐘 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓  ╱╱ 𝐈𝐒 𝐀 𝐕𝐔𝐋𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄 〚 11.22.2023 〛 —————«

• OOC. —
• 

  SUNSTRIDE. WINDCLAN DEPUTY & MOOR RUNNER.
  ——– HE – HIM – HIS ╱╱ 48+ MOONS OLD, ADULT.

  NPC x NPC, LONERS. MATE TO WOLFSONG; FATHER TO BEARPAW, SINGEDPAW, RIVEPAW, SUNLITPAW AND FEATHERPAW. MENTORING SCORCHPAW.
  
  TH ╱╱ LARGE CHOCOLATE ROSETTE TABBY, ICY EYES.

• "speech"

​

 

[downyfur]

Sunstride is...oddly intent on this. Here. Their lips form the shape of the word. They almost laugh, in a confused way, when he goes back on what they were taught mattering. Well, no, not quite. He'd first asked if Sootspot taught them well. "Okay." They blink at him, waiting for more. What he does say makes their brow furrow and their smile still. "Um...not like Brightshine," they meow, slowly. "But he tried. He fought someone to help Cottonfang and I escape." They're not so sure how well hiding from battle would go over with Sunstride, so they substitute it with something they chose to believe as truth instead. Softer, they add, "...are you going to tell him? About what I said?"​

 

[SUNSTAR]

Taught is– more. It is not the tunnels and the dirt, it is a heartbeat. The thrum of blood. He does not often get tongue tied these days. The moors now run deeply through his veins. But in this conversation, the mountains loom. He thinks in concepts that the cats here do not understand, and it leaves him nearly shy. A poor leader he might be, if such things continue. But perhaps, after these many moons of fluent lies, it is time for them to have a leader that stumbles over his hopes and his rage in equal measure. He nearly apologizes to her regardless; he would, if his pride did not capture him mid-motion as his maw begins to open. It drifts slowly shut once more. With some concern, he asks, "Would it bother you if I were to?" A mother's love could not be found in a mentor. It should not be, in truth. Sootspot had helped her? So too had he spent his moons at his mother's heels, and still rests there now, unrepentant.

Or perhaps Sunstride simply has low opinions of snakes.

𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐇 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐌𝐘 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓  ╱╱ 𝐈𝐒 𝐀 𝐕𝐔𝐋𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄 〚 11.22.2023 〛 —————«

• OOC. —
• 

  SUNSTRIDE. WINDCLAN DEPUTY & MOOR RUNNER.
  ——– HE – HIM – HIS ╱╱ 48+ MOONS OLD, ADULT.

  NPC x NPC, LONERS. MATE TO WOLFSONG; FATHER TO BEARPAW, SINGEDPAW, RIVEPAW, SUNLITPAW AND FEATHERPAW. MENTORING SCORCHPAW.
  
  TH ╱╱ LARGE CHOCOLATE ROSETTE TABBY, ICY EYES.

• "speech"

​

 

[downyfur]

Big blue eyes trace the slow open and close of his maw, wondering what had been on his tongue before what he'd decided on. Concern darkens his brow and his words, but—concern could be faked. It was not a leader's place to be concerned about his citizens, as far as Sootstar had demonstrated. A leader's place was to stand at the helm and let his followers fall into line behind him, his shadow long enough to fit all of them. A leader would prioritize the dissemination of information to one of the adults rather than acquiese to a child's requests. (Then why ask them at all?) "No." The answer comes slow; she tries to twist it into being decisive with a nod. Downypaw gazes up at Sunstride, a little smile playing across her face. "I think he might like to hear." It was stupid of them to even ask.​

 

[SUNSTAR]

He is used to a child's lies. The memory of being one is fresher in his mind than most adults might, stained there by his own father, and by who he had wanted to be. So too is he now a father. He looks upon Downypaw with a faintly furrowed brow, and he shakes his head. "No. I will not tell him." It would be too easy to confront him about his apprentice's hesitation. Whether or not it was the truth, whether he could get anything close to the truth from him — that would hardly matter. "What do you think of Rattleheart?" the warrior suddenly asks, distant gaze flicking back to them before he even realized he had looked elsewhere. "I believe they would be a good mentor to you, if you do not hate them." There's even a little half-smile to warm the words.

𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐇 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐌𝐘 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓  ╱╱ 𝐈𝐒 𝐀 𝐕𝐔𝐋𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄 〚 11.22.2023 〛 —————«

• OOC. —
• 

  SUNSTRIDE. WINDCLAN DEPUTY & MOOR RUNNER.
  ——– HE – HIM – HIS ╱╱ 48+ MOONS OLD, ADULT.

  NPC x NPC, LONERS. MATE TO WOLFSONG; FATHER TO BEARPAW, SINGEDPAW, RIVEPAW, SUNLITPAW AND FEATHERPAW. MENTORING SCORCHPAW.
  
  TH ╱╱ LARGE CHOCOLATE ROSETTE TABBY, ICY EYES.

• "speech"

​

 

[downyfur]

Shock plummets through Downypaw, quickly followed by a bewildering tangle of disappointment, shame, and relief. They have the good grace to look only very slightly surprised, silent self-admonishment showing in the twitch of their tail. "Okay." They try their best not to sound particularly concerned about his answer, despite the careful way they'd asked the question in the first place. They don't know why they want to follow it with "Thank you." Maybe it was the fault of that small needle of doubt, stubbornly lodged in their heart.

Rattleheart? "I like them." There was nothing much more to it. Crystalline eyes are suddenly upon them again, softened in the sunlight. "Um." A black-smudged brow dips questioningly. "I don't hate them," they reiterate. I already have a mentor...oh, is that what this is about? "Are you saying...?" Already, anxiety quickens their heart. Not at the thought of parting with their current mentor, but what he would do about it.​