- Nov 28, 2022
- 54
- 19
- 8
// tw: detailed description of drowning
After she emerges from the water a third time, nose barely breaching the current, Apricotflower stops trying to figure out where she is. The RiverClan camp is long gone from view by now, and sometime during her last dip the terrain beneath her nicked shore slipped away. She's found the river properly now (or, rather, it has found her), and with the open waters comes the surety that there are no more pawholds for her to grab onto.
She dips under the foam again, a vicious cycle emerging. She breaks the surface with a kick and a gasp, bleary vision catching on nothing. With the reflex to breathe kicking in she immediately starts to cough to try and clear her lungs, but that leaves her jaws open for the next wave to catch her square in the mouth. Each time she thinks she gets close, another surge slams into her nose-first— or worse, drags her under. She isn't sure if the darkness of the rapids makes it better, or worse. Would she want to see the edges of her vision beginning to darken?
Her eyes sting, her flanks burn as she heaves, and a twist of the current makes her jaws part in a wordless gasp as something goes wrong deep within her. Her legs stall in their frantic kicking, energy sapped from the futile motion. Her head feels fuzzy. Maybe ... maybe it would be best to let the current carry her where it wants. She'd wash up on the shore, and she'd get to go home. Home ... home sounds good right now. Where Robinheart was, and her grandkits, hopefully all safe and sound. She would see Willowroot, and even that damned Snakeblink. The racket of the nursery would be a sight for sore eyes, and they'd have to rebuild, but RiverClan had done that before.
It's just as she resigns herself to this fate does the white-and-cream molly find that a newfound strength surges through her limbs. Apricotflower doesn't question it as she kicks upwards with energy she didn't know she had, breaking the surface of the water with a gasp she doesn't need anymore. Her vision is clearer now. Is dawn starting to break? StarClan, she hopes so.
Treading water is easier now than it has been in a long time, as if she has been a queen for six moons instead of six seasons, and she was to join her kits for their first swim. Her long pelt swirls in the water, cradled as if weightless, held aloft by the current as Apricotflower strikes out for the shoreline with renewed vigor.
It's only when she rises to the shallows and meets familiar eyes that she stops in her tracks, sense returning to her all at once. A faint, rueful smile touches at her maw. It's briefly pained at the sight of someone she'd lost so long ago but she blinks at her dear friend regardless, slow and warm and pleased to see him after so many moons. Starlight drips from her pelt like water, disappearing amidst the grass as Apricotflower emerges to join him on the riverbank.
Despite everything her tone is fondly exasperated as she meows, "I would have at least liked to say goodbye to them, Clearsight."
@CLEARSIGHT
After she emerges from the water a third time, nose barely breaching the current, Apricotflower stops trying to figure out where she is. The RiverClan camp is long gone from view by now, and sometime during her last dip the terrain beneath her nicked shore slipped away. She's found the river properly now (or, rather, it has found her), and with the open waters comes the surety that there are no more pawholds for her to grab onto.
She dips under the foam again, a vicious cycle emerging. She breaks the surface with a kick and a gasp, bleary vision catching on nothing. With the reflex to breathe kicking in she immediately starts to cough to try and clear her lungs, but that leaves her jaws open for the next wave to catch her square in the mouth. Each time she thinks she gets close, another surge slams into her nose-first— or worse, drags her under. She isn't sure if the darkness of the rapids makes it better, or worse. Would she want to see the edges of her vision beginning to darken?
Her eyes sting, her flanks burn as she heaves, and a twist of the current makes her jaws part in a wordless gasp as something goes wrong deep within her. Her legs stall in their frantic kicking, energy sapped from the futile motion. Her head feels fuzzy. Maybe ... maybe it would be best to let the current carry her where it wants. She'd wash up on the shore, and she'd get to go home. Home ... home sounds good right now. Where Robinheart was, and her grandkits, hopefully all safe and sound. She would see Willowroot, and even that damned Snakeblink. The racket of the nursery would be a sight for sore eyes, and they'd have to rebuild, but RiverClan had done that before.
It's just as she resigns herself to this fate does the white-and-cream molly find that a newfound strength surges through her limbs. Apricotflower doesn't question it as she kicks upwards with energy she didn't know she had, breaking the surface of the water with a gasp she doesn't need anymore. Her vision is clearer now. Is dawn starting to break? StarClan, she hopes so.
Treading water is easier now than it has been in a long time, as if she has been a queen for six moons instead of six seasons, and she was to join her kits for their first swim. Her long pelt swirls in the water, cradled as if weightless, held aloft by the current as Apricotflower strikes out for the shoreline with renewed vigor.
It's only when she rises to the shallows and meets familiar eyes that she stops in her tracks, sense returning to her all at once. A faint, rueful smile touches at her maw. It's briefly pained at the sight of someone she'd lost so long ago but she blinks at her dear friend regardless, slow and warm and pleased to see him after so many moons. Starlight drips from her pelt like water, disappearing amidst the grass as Apricotflower emerges to join him on the riverbank.
Despite everything her tone is fondly exasperated as she meows, "I would have at least liked to say goodbye to them, Clearsight."
@CLEARSIGHT
