a safe place somewhere in the woods. [re-intro]

[HUCKLEBERRY]

Still holding steady with a stranger's laugh ♡​

It felt like a lifetime since he stepped back onto the familiar grounds of the pine forest, the sprawling underbrush becoming squashed underneath large, inky paws as they carried this hulking figure through the territory. There was a situation that had unexpectedly sprung up at the barn which made his short visit into an extended one and during his stay he had heard through the whispering chatter of other residents on the farm that some huge fight had broken out between the two groups but before he could even delve into it more, they all but disappeared over the expanding moors or beyond.

After things have settled on his own end, Huckleberry had shared his farewells with his family and departed back to what he considered his second home without a second to waste in hopes everyone who he once knew was still around and safe.

Now here he stood, head held high with a warm smile gracing his maw before going ahead and clearing his throat to announce his arrival in hopes someone would hear him. " Ah, hello pine group? Rain? Haku? Ember? Anyone? It's Huckleberry, if any of y'all still 'member me! " After that was said and done it was time to wait in quiet anticipation on who was to heed his call first, would it be someone he was familiar with or maybe it'd be an entirely new face he has yet to give a name to?

// anyone is free to have their character [most likely any of those who were around at the beginning of everything] have a sort of pre-established friendship / connection with huckleberry before he ended up vanishing !​

 

[DRIZZLETHROAT]

Stepping through the foliage is she quiet for a moment, eyes shifting across the landscape. Even with her sickly frame she likes to wander on her own for a bit. Though she never travels too far even though she despises the need to have someone with her she normally concedes and does so anyway. Still her trembling paws stop as she hears a familiar voice calling out brightly and she turns her head to the side. The name of her father drops from a maw and pain presses against her chest. Rain is dead, no longer with them and now one with the stars. Shifting she allows her tailless form to head towards that voice and she presses through the undergrowth before blinking bright amber eyes in surprise. "Huckleberry?" For a moment she just stands there, the silver tabby woman not knowing what else to do before she slowly walks a bit closer to the other. "Where did you go? I..." She stops suddenly and she looks down at her paws before she sighs a little.

Maybe she should just say it so that it doesn't sound too bad. Sugarcoating things will not do any cat any good and she shifts a little before stifling a sudden cough that leaves her chest heaving. "My father's dead, a lot has changed since you were here. But I'm sure Blazestar will welcome you back home with open paws. We are called Skyclan now." Of course he would welcome him back.

---

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[BLAZESTAR]

Blazestar vaguely remembers the friendly black smoke with the odd accent. He'd been friends with many of the cats calling the pine forest home, including cats Blazestar himself had been fond of, like Rain, Haku, and Ember. The flame point's throat tightens when he hears that voice calling to the SkyClan cats, naming cats dead and separated.

He steels himself and exits his den to meet Huckleberry. Drizzlethroat is there, looking lost as she delivers the hardest news first: that Rain has died, and that many of the cats Huckleberry had been friends with are no longer among them. No longer friends.

Blazestar dips his head. "Huckleberry. It's good to see you. You're welcome to stay, if that's what you want, but perhaps you should get caught up before you make that decision." He flicks an ear. "Drizzlethroat is right, though. There was a battle just after you left. Briarstar marched on us and we met at Fourtrees to defend our land."

He says "we." Blazestar had not fought anyone. No one's blood or fur had been under his claws once they'd returned home. He'd been the messenger, the one calling Rain and the pine group to action. Once he'd willed himself to go to Fourtrees, it had been too late.

He shakes his guilt away like so many fleas. "Rain and Haku are gone," he murmurs. "And Ember is Emberstar now. She leads ThunderClan, in the pine forest. Fritter and Honeybee are medicine cats in other Clans now." Sadness colors his eyes, but he decides to allow Huckleberry time to react before adding more grief.
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PENNED BY MARQUETTE​

 

[HUCKLEBERRY]

Still holding steady with a stranger's laugh ♡​

the rustling of foliage caught his attention and watched as it was carefully parted open to reveal the silver figure of drizzlethroat who he remembered somewhat as one of the many children that rain had taken under his wing to raise as his own. a feeling of guilt spread underneath his fur like creeping ivy when asked where he had disappeared to for that stretch of time, if it were up to him he would have been back to them far sooner. huckleberry had lowered his own gaze for that moment when he was unable to formulate a proper response which gave the she-cat the opportunity to break the news to him.

" my father's dead, a lot has changed since you were here. "

the black smoke couldn't help the way his body seemed to flinch at that information, gaze snapping back towards the other with somewhat wide eyes as if trying to see if he heard that right. rain had died? a lump would form at the base of his throat in these moments of silence, it was hard to believe that this is what he had come back to but. . . with all that talk of a fight happening when he was still at the barn he didn't expect everything to be hunky dory.

huckleberry pressed forwards closer to drizzle where he would gently rest his head atop of hers, he couldn't imagine how painful it must've been for the family and rest of the clan to lose such an important figure. " oh sweetheart, a-ahm so sorry. . . " he'd mutter, voice thick with a mixture of grief and sympathy. he would stay like this for a few minutes before pulling away when he was graced with the sights of a familiar flame point coming to greet them. blaise.

bla- blazestar of course welcomed him to stay with open paws but also decided to fill in more of the gaps that the barn cat happened to miss. more deaths. the groups splitting off into these so called clans, funny sounding ranks, friends who once used to roam these forests alongside other pine group members now had a destiny somewhere else on these lands. it was quite a lot for him to take in, to process in this very moment and will probably take few days for everything to sink in and get used to. " ah guess ah really did miss a lot, huh? 'course ah'll be stayin' ya'll are lak my second family! ah jus' wish. . . ah could'a been here so much sooner. . . " sorrow colored his usually warm voice.

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