camp ☼ rising sun - intro

[Halfshade]

She did not envy the poor spotted soul bearing the crown of the marshlands, she pondered if there were spots on his heart as well. It was a burden no cat should carry alone and not one so already heavily weighted down upon by grief and youthful naivety; it was tragic. Life was often riddled with tragedies. True happy endings came only after so many broken stories ended without. One did not often see the shattered trails of failings that lingered around happiness, that each path was oft rife with struggle and suffering for just a whiff of divinity. It was a story similar to hers, why she had come out treading through soft earth seeped wet with tears and trees that bowed mournfully before her path in welcome.
Halfshade, once called Cat (short for Catherine), had taken to her new home with a degree of confidence bordering arrogance but never quite crossing over to it. If things needed doing, she did so. If duties must be upheld she volunteered. It was not enough to simple exist for a cat like her, she had to be heard, to be present; part of the everflowing stream and not just a stone sunk beneath the water.
Tensions were high now, things had happened, it reminded her of the concrete forests of two-leg place where her old nest and kin still remained in tattered remnants of their once glorious kingdom. It often took only one fool to knock the scales aside, to send one end rising and the other plummeting far down below the depths to drown. My kingdom, ruins and waste. She'd been asked to lead once sharpened blades withdraw from a porceleain throat. Leader of what? War and conflict? A better cat might have stayed to try, to pull them back from their madness into on cohesive heartbeat once more; but she had been young and the responsibility too much. She'd seen the chaos spread like sickness, it was all beyond the means of one cat alone to fight.

The blue torbie stretched out in the camp, plush form a bright burst of sunlight on one side and the cool expanse of night on the other as she wriggled in place and scratched her back idly on the ground with her paws tucked up close. It had been a favorable hunting trip that morning so she was taking advantage of the warmth of the day to bask briefly before the next patrol was called.
"I wonder if someone else would take my patrol today...I really rather hunt. Hm."
​

 

[Ravenwatcher.]

So I walk alone down the darkest roads​

---

Happy endings...it was only a foolish dream of that of a kitz the land battered and barren with hardship which strips many of their hopes. Dark oceanic blue gaze tilted over Halfshade as she approach overhearing the others pondering words and then her ear flicked as a soft hum danced on to her throat while she sat herself down, if Halfshade needed the help, Canarywatcher was there in readying, tail flicking slightly as she spoke no words, a common thing with the young warrior.​

"speak""Thoughts"​

 

[Starlingheart]

Her brother, unpredictable and volatile as he was, was still her brother and her mentor. She loved him dearly, looked up to him, respected him. He had lost so much in such a short amount of time. All of Briarstar’s kits had. A father gone before they had even been born, a mother taken too soon. No kit should have to go through what they had and yet Star Clan kept persisting.

Training was exhausting. Most days, Starlingpaw came stumbling back into camp yearning for her nest, bones aching and eyelids threatening to shut prematurely. Today had been easier, the muscles under her pelt beginning to take shape as she grew more and more accustomed to a life where the only expectation on her shoulders was tossing a moss ball around and wrestling her litter mates.

As she returns to camp, making her way to the fresh kill pile she can’t help but overhear Halfshades comment she sends a look in the bi-colored she cats direction and lets out a short laugh. "I-I al-also pr-pref-prefer h-h-h-hunt-hunt-hunting" she informs her, wincing at her own speech, as if she’s afraid her words will bite.
​

 

[GRANITEPELT]

╭── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╮​

Granitepaw pads behind his co-apprentice, blue fur along his spine still ruffled with irritation from the sessions he's suffered through today. Though it would be invisible to anyone except, perhaps, his mother -- damned traitorous kittypet that she was -- his shoulders are beginning to broaden, his chest muscles thickening. There's a narrowness settling into the hollows of his face, kitten chub sloughing away like excess skin from an adder.

And yet, like Starlingpaw, Granitepaw is alone. His mother is not dead, but he'd prefer that she was. Weak. Worm-bellied. Running to Twolegs to escape the harshness of Clan life. Granitepaw hates her. He'd rather his father were alive, but he'd died before he'd been birthed. His sibling had died, leaving him Siltpaw, who was a quiet shadow.

No. He doesn't need family. Blood kin are nothing but trouble you happen to be eternally burdened with, tied to. Granitepaw has Starlingpaw, who is not a friend, quite, but someone he feels comfortable around. It's enough for him, for now. He settles beside her, dark green gaze flitting from her stuttering white jaw to Halfshade's patched pelt. "Hunting? I'd rather go to the borders." He flexes his claws. They sink effortlessly into the soft marshy earth. "I'd love to chase off a kittypet or an enemy warrior." He narrows his eyes and thinks of Sandra -- mother or not, if she shows her kittypet hide in ShadowClan territory again, he will drive her off without mercy.

- ,,​

​

 

[CHILLEDSTAR.]

//retro to promotion!!!

chilledgaze watched with discontent and annoyance as they debated back and forth with what to do. either would be fine, but here they were sitting and arguing about what would be better. granitepaw was too ambitious about fighting, but as long as those claws stayed out of his clanmates, he would be a good warrior. starlingpaw had ways to go, but she would be a good addition to the clan too, once she found a way to use her energy properly. canarywatcher had been a good warrior, too, but even their silence is a bit telling of their character, though its not necessarily a bad thing. halfshade was the one who started the entire thing, wanting to hunt. to feel useful. their paw propped against their cheek as they watched before snorting, and turning away. they had half of a mind to just not even go... but what good would that be? they had to do something before their brain went haywire– in spite of their lack of sleep.

"youre more than welcome to join a border patrol then. hunting sounds good, halfshade."
​

[ NOBODY ELSE MATTERS, GIRL ]​

 

[Glowingsoul]

"ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE SHIELD WALL"​

A soft murr of amusement would enter the air as Glowingsoul sauntered up next, copper gaze glowing with intrigue as she listened in on all of the options laid before them. "Hmm perhaps, with the cats we have right now, we could have a sort of competition." Her tail would sway behind her as she spoke, a soft smile that was reserved only for her clanmates melting onto her maw, "Give the apprentices something fun today. A hunting competition maybe? Or a sparring session if Granitepaw is itching to fight."

Glowingsoul would look between those gathered and shrug lightly, "Otherwise I would be happy to join a hunting patrol if that's what everyone wants to do." ​

✦ ★ ✦​

 

[Halfshade]

She rolled to her paws, briefly glancing at Canarywatcher poised to the side in silence and then directed her full attention proper to the ones who had suddenly piped into her nonchalant remark. "If only I could be put on just hunting patrols I would be content!" The little apprentice with the stutter stole her heart and she resisted the urge to coo at her as one would a kit, most of the daring youth didn't like being coddled unfortunately! So her mothering was best left to smothering actual kits and the occasional warrior acting like one. Chilledgaze's remark that she was free to hunt was sadly lost on her, she did still have to find a cat to take her spot; it wouldn't do to just ditch it like an irresponsible adult. Despite her whimsy, she had that much sense thankfully. "Oh my, look at you-so eager to draw claws. Won't you take my border patrol then?" Twin pools brightened, widening in amusement as she regarded Granitepaw's steely resolve and fierce declaration of violent intent; to be so young that ones paws still ached for the glory of bloodspill, she was once so bold but in time she had learned the truest testament to strength was resolving a battle without a single drop of life striking the ground. If the young tom really wanted to go out and stalk the borders then by all means, she was happy to let him satiate his desire to be intimidating; while she disapproved, she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. A funny little loner saying she picked up in her time back in the stone forest; she wondered if horses were often gifts for two-legs. How strange, then again they also kept cats-so perhaps not so strange. "A competition!"
Now there was an idea she was fond of and she cast Glowingsoul a warm smile in reply, "Birds are hard to find here, perhaps who can catch the most birds?" While she wasn't going to turn her nose up if she came across other prey, the idea of swiftly leaping to stop an avian from soaring away was exhilirating and her favorite sport of hunting.


​