camp 𝗕𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐆𝐔𝐈𝐋𝐓 ╱ 𝐍𝐄𝐖𝐒...𝐀𝐆𝐀𝐈𝐍

[SUNNVAR]

By the time that Sun returns to camp, it is with a different kind of exhaustion weighing upon his pelt. Not the dampness of snow-frost or the agony of their trials, but the bone-heavy weariness of a long, long walk. WindClan were journeying cats. They did not have an easy life upon their territory, to sit and fish like RiverClanners or stalk slowly like ThunderClanners. Even still he is worn down. As he descends back into their sandy hollow, a small, private smile graces the burnished tom's face. Maybe life as a barn cat has left me spoiled. It was good, easy food upon those hidden grounds. Joke as he may, however, he knows that is not the case. Their time of rest had done nothing but return some strength to his bones. This exhaustion is from a long, long war.

He sees now that it is coming to an end. There is almost a bounce of confidence to the warrior's stride as he pushes through the heather wall. Though he comes carrying weighted news, and a great deal before him, it seems...manageable, now that the other clans know their struggles. In their own strange ways, he had gotten a blessing from each of them. A tentative agreement to look towards peace. He could only hope it would last. "Do you all live?" he calls towards the warriors on guard. It's intended as a joke yet certainly falls somewhat flat in face of what they had survived. "No sign of snakes in the gorse?" Now Sunstride is entirely serious.

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"

​

 

[SCORCHSTAR]

༄༄ The auburn-spotted tom has returned at long last, and it feels as though the entire clan breathes a sigh of relief. Sunstride had gone on his own, without a patrol or even a single cat to accompany him, and the calico would be lying to say that she didn't worry for his safety. The likes of Blazestar and Howlingstar would not have the spine to attack him across borders, but Smokestar and Chilledstar she is not certain about. The former is just as unstable as the leader before him, and the latter may still hold a grudge for their clan's stolen kits. "It's good to see you return in one piece," she says as the larger tom makes his way inside of the protective wall.

Sunstride asks after snakes in their midst—any traitors who have shown themselves later than the others—and Scorchstreak shakes her head once. The only snakes within WindClan are Snakehiss and Bluefrost, and of course the ashen-furred disgrace of a leader who lies prisoner in the clan that she once ruled over. Her voice is genuine as she responds, "Only the ones we've already known of."​

​

 

[RATTLEHEART]

Broad shoulders pushed determinedly through the heather wall, followed by a familiar voice that filled Rattleheart with relief. Much like his sister, he had been worried when Sunstride had decided to go off to the other territories without an escort of any kind. He could understand why - the last thing any of them wanted was for the other clans to think they were presenting a threatening wall against them - but that didn't make it any easier to just let him go. Each hour their leader had been gone had seemed to drag on relentlessly, and the tunneler was glad to not have that particular worry hanging over his head anymore as he worked. His pale gaze scanned over the other as he approached, more surprised than he'd like to admit that Sunstride didn't wear any new wounds on his pelt - he'd half expected Riverclan to try and rip him to shreds.

It didn't take long for him to come padding over, sitting down beside Scorchstreak's colorful form and curling his tail around his paws. "None of us had any chunks taken out of us while you were gone... I'm glad it seems like the same can be said for you." His croaked out words were genuine, accompanied by a grin that seemed brighter than those of the past - even if it was tired. "How'd the other clans take the news? Well, I hope." Rattleheart honestly couldn't imagine any of them were displeased to hear that Sootstar would no longer be leading Windclan. Nearly all of them had all been calling for her head on a pike, resisting only because of Starclan's will seemingly putting her where she was.
​

[ PENNED BY EO ]​

 

[cottonsprig]

Cottonfang is mid stride when the rusty-golden tom makes his way back into camp. A clump of moss is held gingerly in her maw, another tucked under her chin, and both are soaked with too much water than they should be holding. It's hard to keep the medicine den's residents and visitors hydrated! At least it keeps her busy. The she-cat's eyes sparkle upon seeing Sunstride once again, but she completes her task in bringing some patients some water - whilst also notifying her mentor that his lover has returned home, and thankfully no worse than how he left.

She departs from the medicine den shortly after, just as Rattleheart asks her question. Cottonfang's ears swivel for a moment and she says, "I wouldn't be surprised to hear that RiverClan is hosting a celebration to commemorate the hour," though cheering for her mother's denouncement still weighs odd on her chest. She cranes her gaze back to Sunstride, "I'm in the middle of some water-runs - do you want me to find a moss ball for you?" With how long of a day the tom's had, Cottonfang would not be surprised if he was dehydrated himself.​

 

[SUNNVAR]

The littermates draw a smile to his maw. He could bask in the comfort of familiar presences for an entire moon and allow this body its rest, yet Cottonfang's presence draws something else to the front of his mind. The brief glimmer of warmth dies. The ashes of unease are all that remain. "Cotton." How would he begin this? How'd the other clans take the news? How could he say that they had celebrated? That they had heard of her mother's death and thought nothing more than finally? That SkyClan had dumped her brother's remains outside of their territory, in a land forbidden to Sunstride; that he would not even be buried with the courtesy he had offered the loyalists who died upon these lands. How would he tell her that another piece of her family had fractured, entirely unable to return?

"There is news from the other clans — from SkyClan. That your brother did not follow the others as he fled. When I came upon SkyClan's border, I was met with hostility. They had found a WindClan warrior upon their territory. Harrierstripe attacked Blazestar. They did not–" Sunstride swallows. It was insincere to speak of this as SkyClan's fault. That they did not allow the warrior to live. He leaves it there, instead, and glances to Rattleheart. Scorchstreak is as useless as he when it comes to comfort, yet they had easily tended to Bluefrost in the aftermath of this. Perhaps they could offer her what Sunstride could not as 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"

​

 

[cottonsprig]

She's not sure when she began tuning out his words. Maybe it was right up front, when he greeted her by name and left the siblings with a simple smile. Or maybe the white noise kicked in when she recognized what she was being told. Harrierstripe... Her older brother, who once told her she was a runt and said that Sootstar must not like her as much as the other kittens, who she loved despite his shortcomings as a sibling - "He's dead?" Cottonfang had told herself in the few hours between taking back their camp and now that it's a miracle only one of her siblings found their demise within this mess (rest in peace, Shrikethorn,) and now she wonders if she's thought it into existence.

A piece of her tells her she should've expected at least one of her brothers to defect. Any one of them - Addervenom, Sootspot - had the same gall and devotion as Harrierstripe. But... But...

There's work to be done. Sunstride hadn't returned with his body, and so she can only assume that SkyClan... what, buried it? She doubts it, truthfully. Maybe they fed her brother to some twolegplace dogs. There's no hollow laughter to be played, shock bubbling deep in her chest but remaining subdued for now. There's... so much, so much, to be done.

"Let me tell my siblings, please, Sunstride. I..." she doesn't know what to say. She shakes her head and departs with the request unanswered, shoulders sinking.​

 

[MOORBLOSSOM]

Sunstride's clan-trotting excursion did not do her belly any wonders. His presence meant sanctuary, refuge from all the loud disorder that clenched WindClan by its scruff. Prayers for his absence to be a temporary one preserved the last threads of her morale, and in a whisper of shoulders rustling against heather, Moorblossom would see her silent psalms realised.

"Sunstride!" she skedaddles towards the great tom with nary a sound to stifle her delight. Frosty paws plant parallel to her sister's, while an affectionate trill floats from her chest. "You're back-" The purr falters into a brittle murmur, the sentence cut midway. It is Cottonfang who's lent the crux of his attention, and as his solemn news is relayed, her meow peters into cold nonexistence.

Truth comes crashing through, unspoken in a pause that's too drawn out and quiet. The silence rings unbearably loud and forces her ears snugly to her skull, until they throb with every haggard heartbeat. "That... that mouse-brain! He went and got himself killed!?"

Before grief can so much as knock, disbelief bars every entrance to sentiment. Her tail flags upright at the gruesome implication, its tip angrily jerking side-to-side as confusion demands a verdict on which emotion should claim precedence. She decides that anger tastes the most fitting, though sorrow trailed closely behind.

Harrierstripe, her brother, who'd come baring brawn to offset his littermates' wits. Who, despite a proclivity for arrogance, carried in him promise, and potential, and valour she'd yet to find the equal of. That he would resign his story to an early, gruesome end felt far too unreal, so Moorblossom seethes for lack of better. The indignant cry that follows cracks around the edges; "How are you so sure? Where's his body, even? There are clanmates unaccounted for still! It's... he can't be..."

The coming breath snags on a knot. She glances Cottonfang's way as she slithers off, seemingly having decided to take the rosette tabby's words at first sight. Moorblossom wishes, against her better judgement, they're unfounded.

// ninja'd :'3 ​

 

[RATTLEHEART]

Hearing the words that spill forth hesitantly from Sunstride's muzzle wasn't entirely a surprise, even if Rattleheart found himself wishing it was one. While he hadn't known about where Harrierstripe had gone and what he had done, his fate seemed unfortunately fitting for the child of Sootstar that had been so dedicated to following in her pawsteps. Perhaps even more than any of the rest of her flock, a fact that had ultimately led to his demise. Though the tunneler found that he couldn't truly say he would miss Harrierstripe - his memories and interactions with the other were limited, and far from positive - he did at least feel sympathy for Cottonfang and what she had lost. For Moorblossom too, her almost frantic denying cry causing him to wince. It made sense that she wouldn't want to accept it, having already lost so much.

He sits in stunned silence for a moment, only driven back into animation when he notices Sunstride's gaze is focused on him. For all his worrying and stumbling over himself, it seemed that he was the one being trusted to offer support - an almost touching gesture if it didn't make his heart clench with fear. Rattleheart looked towards Moorblossom first, a frown etched onto his muzzle as he looked between her and where he knew Skyclan's territory to be in the distance. "I don't... I don't think Skyclan would have any reason to lie about this, Moorblossom. I wish they would, for your sake." His gaze drifted up towards the sky, searching for the stars he knew to be twinkling up there, even unseen. "Even without a body, though... we can try and hold a vigil for him. Some kind of memorial, to say goodbye to him as he goes to Starclan." Would Harrierstripe end up in Starclan, after everything that he'd said and done? Any alternative seemed nearly impossible, but Rattleheart also found that he couldn't imagine them greeting Sootstar with warm purrs anytime soon.

Looking then towards where Cottonfang had headed off to, he found himself at a temporary loss of what to do. What were you supposed to say, in a situation like this? "I should... I'm sure she'll need a friend, once the others have been told. It's still good to see you Sunstride, I wish you could've had the chance to bring better news..." Hopefully there would be time for that in the future, when death stopped clinging onto them all like an old friend whom you hadn't seen in years. For now though, he followed along after Cottonfang, figuring he could at least offer her and her kin an additional shoulder to cry on if they needed it.
​

[ PENNED BY EO ]​

 

[Periwinklebreeze.]

HE COULD NOT BREAK SURFACE TENSION
HE LOOKED IN THE WRONG PLACE FOR REDEMPTION ​

---

periwinklebreeze ❀ 18 moons ❀ demi-boy ❀ he/they ❀ windclan moor runner​

---

It was too much, Peri suposes, to have expected only good things from here on out. To think that their troubles were over now that sootstar was capturd and the rest driven out. It's not even that harrierstripes actions are all that surprising - sootstars followers had been insane - violent, cruel. But the timing of it... eyes shut for a moment, then blink once he's gathered his thoughts.The entire forest hates them anyways. If skyclan has all the more reason to hate them now, there's really nothing for it. What's done is done. He's just glad it was blazestar, and not someone he knew, like greeneyes or bobbie. Tail flicks as he remains silent - Cottonpaw (fang?) and moorblossom don't take the news well, and despite everything he can't blame them. It hurts, to lose a sibling,no matter how much you may have disagreed or not gotten along.

━ actions & " speech, " & 'thoughts/quotes' ━

---

D O N ' T ━ L O O K ━ A T ━ M E ━ W I T H ━ T H O S E ━ E Y E S

---

 

[SCORCHSTAR]

༄༄ As Sunstride delivers his news to , the calico steps aside. She catches the larger tom's eyes shift to Rattleheart just as her own do—her brother has always been the more emotionally intelligent of the two of them, and she trusts that he will know what to say. Scorchstreak could try, but it's Cottonfang, and she has not know how to approach her former apprentice for months now. Perhaps it is wrong, to still hold her own feelings of inadequacy against the smoky she-cat. Perhaps it is wrong, as well, to even consider Cottonfang her apprentice at any point. She'd only trained her for a short time, and Icebreath had trained her before that; does that time count at all, in the midst of it all? She blinks harshly, uncertain of what to say. Cottonfang walks away, clearly distraught, and the tunneler makes no move to follow after. Maybe some time alone will help her to heal, or maybe she's going to tell the rest of her family.

Scorchstreak's own kin is, thankfully, a better mediator than either herself or Sunstride, and steps in to speak reasonably when Moorblossom expresses disbelief. He's correct—SkyClan has no reason to lie, even if the pine-dwellers hate WindClan. Harrierstripe is most likely dead, especially if he'd had the nerve to attack their leader. Scorchstreak herself wouldn't mind sinking her claws into Blazestar's thickly-furred hide, perhaps threaten a life or two, but she isn't stupid enough to believe that striking the SkyClan leader is anything but a death sentence. The idea of holding a vigil without a body seems even more depressing than with one, but they had done the same for Venomthroat. It can be done. The only question is, will the family want to hold a vigil at all? Or will they sweep the fractured memory of their brother under their nests, to be forgotten about?

With a stiff nod, Scorchstreak looks to Sunstride once more. "And what of the other clans?" Back to business. She wants to know what RiverClan, their greatest enemy, had to say upon hearing the news.​

​