ACROSS THE STARS / BATTLE THREAD 2

[RUBBLE.]

ooc: This thread takes place after the Pine cats have gotten their reinforcements! Please remember to keep one character to one thread, so if your character is active in one of the other two threads, they can't come here! Also, do your best to tag any extensive violence, gore, or death, just so everyone knows what they're getting into in each post. This thread will be locked when StarClan intervenes, but you are free to continue plotted PvP in private threads to its conclusion if you'd like.

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▨ ( about ) The beat of his heart's made itself to a war drum, tired as this old thing might be. There's been little cause for fighting in his long life– Rubble's always favored a more diplomatic route, be it conversation or intimidation, things rarely came down to claws. And when it did...well, it certainly wasn't this many faces. The damage this could do is thudding in his veins, a sickening reminder of the lives about to be lost. Too many of them would lose everything, for all of this nothing. Still his fur is bristled, his teeth bare. As the pine cats come tumbling back in through the forest line, he holds himself steady, looks to Briar, breathes through the pitiful fear that darkens his insides. "We'll hold this place!" he shouts to the others, "No matter what they try an' do."

Though there is more to this aching heart than old bones and tired heart, they cannot allow their fear to doom their children. When Rubble goes to war, it is not for himself but for all those that will come after.​

 

[Sandylights]

Sandra ✧ She/Her ✧ Marsh Group. ░░░░░░░░░░░░░
All that could be heard was absolute chaos. The sounds of hissing cats, spitting blood with claws sinking into soft flesh. Yowls echoed through the air as cats barrled into each other and one particular cat wasn't sure what to do about it. Why had she come? Why did she try to do this? She couldn't fight to save her life! Yet here she was, in the thick of it as those around here fought mercilessly against each other. It was so nonsensical; bloodshed was never to be an answer and she could already see how much damage it would do to cats.

Sandra ducked down behind a group of Marsh Group cats, eyes wide with fear as she tried to figure out how to get out of here. How to go back to camp where it was safe and just hope for the best; that her groupmates would return without too much blood loss. Then there seemed to be more Pine Group cats than before, swarming the grounds like maggots on a body. The skinny cinnamon tabby gave a small whimper, she should've stayed back. Should've helped prepare for those injured coming back to camp. Not stupidly come out here to try to fight when she was cowarding like a kitten. ​

 

[Daisyflight]

"SUREFIRE, YEAH, THE SETTING SUN WANTS COMPANY"​

/tw mild talk of blood and general injury

The call for aid had barely cracked the air before Daisy Flight was a blur of movement. The limp squirrel in her maw was dropped unceremoniously a tail's length from its destination in the fresh-kill pile, forgotten. Legs strained and paws grasped the earth, long-practised strides carrying the desperate molly across furrow and boulder. Any moment lost, could be a life lost along with it. As the familiar wails of conflict struck her she changed course, wrenching her calico length up the nearest tree. Between branches and foliage, there was a writhing, deadly battle unfolding below her. Seeing so many cats already embroiled in it shook her for a moment, this was a far cry from the close quarters she was used to.

Focused on the shuddered breath that escaped her, she steadied her frame and lowered further onto the branch. There. A russet marsh cat disengaged briefly from a fierce bout with one of her clanmates, their back to her. Without hesitation, Daisy Flight dropped. The rush of wind whipped up the senses of battle, noise a disembodied roar, air coarse with the scent of blood. She just registered the gleam of her own claws, outstretched beneath her, before she slammed into the enemy's shoulders.

Their shriek of surprise accompanied by the hot sensation of blood between her paw pads gave her a heady wooziness that threatened to weaken her limbs. It had been so long. Coming to, she registered that in shoving them to the ground their chin had ricocheted off the hard surface. Taking the free moment she unhooked and turned swiftly to meet them as they rose, honing in on their form. In Daisy Flight's concentration, her pale ginger flank lay exposed to the clearing.

/just knocking an npc about a bit until @pumpkin response.
"speech"
​

✿ ✿ ✿​

 

[VERMILIONSUN]

WATCH THE FLAMES BURN AUBURN ON THE MOUNTAIN SIDE​

---

Reinforcements were brought in, and Vermilion was one of those cats- lips drawn into a snarl as he raced after the rest of his groupmates. Rain was a good leader, and Vermilion was loyal to him- and his group. His tail lashed behind him, no longer a stranger to his new family. The flame point raced to the battle field, launching himself at a cat all too occupied by the war around them. Scrawny, these ones were. Pine was much more well-fed, and therefore had much more energy.

A fit of spitting and furious yowls as Vermilion tied himself up with a stranger, the fearful look in their eyes one he won't forget. He shut his own eyes, blinding himself to the reality of what he was doing. Was this worth it? They were defending themselves, weren't they? Briar was the one who called for war against them, not Rain.

Kicking off the cat on top of him with his back feet, he scrambled to his paws and cursed as he shook off blood from his cheek; a perfect gash beneath his eye, dangerously close to the bottom of his gaze. Tail flicking, the two cats circled each other- waiting for the other to attack first.

They were just lambs to the slaughter.

;; open to interactions and minor wounds that make cool scars lololol.​

 

[hitch]

in character   out of character   character tags   reference

• 
  
  
  ── So much for holding out on a compromise. They throw themselves at each other now that the pine cats have the rest of their group to join them, and truly, Rose wishes he had learned even fewer faces than he had. There's no telling how many will be little more than discarded husks on soaked earth.
  
  Rather than engage with anyone, the albino retreats from the bulk of this group to crouch against a tree, motionless save for the twitch of his gaze as it tracks different combatants. His breaths are slow and even, but there's something lingering in his periphery, something he doesn't quite believe is real, though neither can he believe it isn't. Just a sound, undefined. Probably a figment of his imagination brought on by stress and the chaos unfolding, but he could have sworn it was a name— not one he's heard before, yet familiar all the same.
  
  Stress, he repeats to himself. Stress and restlessness.
  

  ---

  ​
•  
• n/a​
•  
• ──── surr'oseal'isme (roseal). he/him pronouns. roamer; goes where he pleases.
  ──── approximately thirty-eight months old; not entirely certain of his own age.
  ──── single & uninterested in any romantic attachments; possibly open for flings.
  ──── very tall, scarred albino with sharply-peaked ears and a bobbed, scruffy tail.​
•  
• 
  
  

 

[pumpkin]

This was for the greater good, she had convinced herself. Things can finally calm down. Her little group could finally be happy again and no longer would she see the unmistakable look of hunger glinting in their eyes. No longer see the rib bones that protruded or the lack of meat. Things could be perfect, so why was she scared? Why did the fear keep her up all night, tossing and turning and she’d be lying if there weren’t a few tears that had slipped past their barrier.

Everything felt like it had been slow motion as she accompanied Briar and the patrol to the pine group, where the fight almost immediately started. The pine cats were rude, they didn’t care that they were starving, in fact they had the audacity to try to steal from them! How dare they! the thought of fleeting anger was the one thing keeping her from collapsing completely, her senses completely overwhelmed as she just. Stood there. Fear or foolishness, before long she had realized Cicada had been stripped from her side and Flicker was no where in sight. This adds fuel to the feeling of dread and shes standing there, gawking like an idiot. She was truly alone in this. It was her against the world once more.

What was Pumpkin supposed to do? She was not brave, she was far from it. All was a façade that she put up, walls that had hastily been built due to Mother. She swallows, hard. Was today the day she died? She squeezes her eyes shut, trying to block the thoughts out but the roar of the battle is much too loud. Theres shrieks of pain and battle cries that echoed through the early morning, the silence of the forest adding to the eeriness. Perhaps when shes struck down, she could make peace with all of the words she had never said.

Theres a heavy thump to her left, just a bit away and she jerks to her senses, her heart pounding fast. The cinnamon calico is quick to react, her fur brushing up like a burr. A terrified look is on the childs face as she watches a female almost decimate one of her clan mates. They’re disheveled and disoriented and shes terrified shes about to watch this cat die in front of her, just like Father, just like Father, just like Father. She sees the dogs teeth once more.

A war cry splits the air, a tiny voice rising above the rest as she unsheathes her claws with tears in her eyes, muzzle scrunched up in hatred as she bolted. Pumpkin aims to bowl in to Daisy Flights side, hoping to knock her off focus with her speed and distract her from her clanmate. Shes moving by a mysterious force again and this doesn’t feel real, she feels like a marionette and she was unsure of who was tugging the string because it sure as hell wasn’t her. Eyes flit up to the other girls eyes. Theres a flash of red in her vision and all of the sudden Father is struck down all over again, causing a panicked scream as she lashes out with a flailing forepaw, hoping to get ahold of anything, anything she could.
// @Daisy Flight

 

[TWILIGHTFALL]

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╰☆☆ The black and white queen had marched grimly beside her groupmates, mind curiously blank beside the burn accompanying her heart and belly. A fire had been started the day the pine cats had found her attempting to feed her son and the children in Briar's colony, and it is steadily sweeping throughout her body, consuming what little rationality is left. Their day has come. Briar has brought them to settle the score.

She watches Rubble and Pumpkin with a keen eye for a moment, before her gaze falls on Sandra. She approaches the cinnamon tabby and presses her flank against the other's for a moment. "Everything will be over soon, and then we can go back to normal, love." She gives her friend a quick ear lick.

That's when she notices the bristling flame-pointed pelt of one of the fools who had taunted her at the border. Twilight's green gaze twinkles with her hatred. She pulls herself from Sandra's side and stalks toward the vile pine cat, her tail beginning to lash. "Let this be a warning to you all--never mess with a mother's love," she says, her normally-bright voice tinged with rage. Twilight bunches her muscles and springs at Vermilion, aiming to knock him flat and pin him. If successful, she will bite him between his neck and shoulder.

// comforting @Sandra , attacking @VERMILION ​

—PENNED BY MARQUETTE.​

 

[HAZE]

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╰☆☆ His father had never wanted this. Haze knows that in his guts. Rain is not a warmonger, not some bloodthirsty, badger-hearted monster like Briar and her demons seem to be--but he is also not a pushover. Haze is outraged by the audacity of these marsh cats to drive innocent felines away from the only home they have access to, even as they stubbornly continue their idiotic mantra of you're all kittypets, go back to your Twolegs.

Haze has never met a Twoleg that he can remember. If he had, those same creatures he is supposed to be cowering back to had left him for dead on the street. He and Squall, his father and aunt, so many cats he's come to love like family--this is their only home. And they will fight for it.

He snaps burning yellow-brown eyes on an older-looking tom, and his throat stings with bile and anger. Not far from where the geezer stands, a molly shivers in her fur, eyes glazed with fear. Haze smirks through crooked whiskers.

"Briar's bringing her best, I see," he spits confidently. The silver and white tabby would aim to charge Rubble, lifting a forepaw and attempting to swipe at the other's face with extended claws.

// attacking @RUBBLE. ​

—PENNED BY MARQUETTE.​

 

[VERMILIONSUN]

WATCH THE FLAMES BURN AUBURN ON THE MOUNTAIN SIDE​

---

// rolled a d20 to decide on how he reacts to twilight's attack ; result: one. (lol)

A fierce mother's love was one that Vermilion had never doubted- but his mouth had always gotten him in trouble. With an ego like his, it was a bit hard for him to not taunt the mother when she was stealing their prey; he could have handled it better, he'd admit. But stress was high, and battle was inevitable. He wasn't an innocent man, however.

Too focused on the cat he was circling, the momentum that crashed right into him surprised him- eyes searching around for the cause of it; too late to react to the bite to his neck. A snarl of pain ripped from his jaws, the male grunting with effort as he tried to stand from his place on the ground, attempting to snap his jaws, aiming to latch his teeth onto her throat or chest to get some sort of grip to try and pry her off of him. He didn't want to kill a mother, he really didn't- especially not this one.

There were no words for a moment like this.

// Battling with @TWILIGHT
​

 

[Sandylights]

Sandra ✧ She/Her ✧ Marsh Group. ░░░░░░░░░░░░░
Sandra was thankful to have Twilight by her side, she didn't know what she would do without the other she-cat. She pressed back into her side with a small nod in understanding. It would all be over soon! Of course! Battles couldn't last forever right? Though before she could even speak to Twilight or do anything for the she-cat, she lunged herself at a flame pointed tomcat. Seemed they had had a previous skirmish or something from the force it took her.

Sandra gave a small gasp, watching the two start their fight and she quickly got to her paws. She had to do something! She had to help in some way! There was no way she was giong to stand by and let her one friend get murdered by some Pine cat! Cinnamon fur bristled and she bounded a few tail lengths inward before aiming to lunge for Vermillion and swat at his face with a paw.

Fight @VERMILION helping @TWILIGHT ​

 

[hitch]

in character   out of character   character tags   reference

• 
  
  
  ── His heartrate has kicked up enough that he can feel it without having to concentrate, and the scars framing his throat are oddly warm with an oozing phantom sensation. It's disquieting. He can't remember ever experiencing the odd sensation before, and he doesn't like that it's decided to kick in now of all times. Just another figment of his imagination, then, exactly like the voice he'd thought he heard. A mirage formed by sorely lacking rest and proper nutrition.
  
  Inhaling deeply to steady himself, he watches the cats present, recognizes some of those clashing. Twilight is here for her children, just as she had been before, and it isn't fair that they might lose their mother today— but fair has no place in a fight.
  
  And Rose already burned his bridge with the Pine Group. What they did with their gift was their choice to make, but he doesn't think they'll overlook him staying even if he remains neutrally pacifistic. He hasn't really chosen to throw his lot in with the marsh cats, but he doesn't think he has any better decisions. At the very least he'll just try and keep them from keeling over, which means the moment he sees a tabby rushing Rubble, he's set on a collision course. Roseal approaches Haze from behind, dipping to aim his fangs for the tender muscles and thin bone of his rear leg to try yanking it out from under him.
  
  //attacking @HAZE
  

  ---

  ​
•  
• n/a​
•  
• ──── surr'oseal'isme (roseal). he/him pronouns. roamer; goes where he pleases.
  ──── approximately thirty-eight months old; not entirely certain of his own age.
  ──── single & uninterested in any romantic attachments; possibly open for flings.
  ──── very tall, scarred albino with sharply-peaked ears and a bobbed, scruffy tail.​
•  
• 
  
  

 

[♥ Indigorain ♥]

✵ ღ ☾ I'D WALK THROUGH FIRE -
He had never ran harder than he was in this moment, ivory laced paws thumping against the ground as he ran alongside his group mates, claws already unsheathed to protect his home.
When Blaise had come stumbling in, calling for help, it didn't take Indigo a moment before he was on his paws, bustling shoulder-to-shoulder alongside Haze.
The sounds of war are already ringing in the air when Indigo skids to a stop, watching with slitted eyes as his kin throws himself at Rubble. He almost turns to throw himself into the fray when a flash of ghostly alabaster catches his peripheral, his fangs outstretched and about to sink into his brothers legs.
He doesn't hesitate, though not sure if the albino's attack was successful on Haze or not in his haze, he would attempt to rush at Roseal, hoping to collide against the tom and rip him away from Haze and take the marsh cat to the ground, if successful Indigo would not hesitate to then attempt to bury his own fangs into the tom. ❝ Watch it ghosty! ❞

[ Intercepting @roseal ]
❝ Speech. ❞

TO SAVE YOUR LIFE​

​

 

[MARIGOLD!]

Marigold's breath rasps, blood dribbling down his temple from a torn ear. His heart pounds in his heaving chest, yellow eyes darting over the battlefield. Yowls erupt from all around him, and he wishes he could make it stop. He wants to run away, cover his ears, and pretend he's anywhere else but here.

He couldn't, though. He has a home to protect. He has family he needs to protect. An image of his younger siblings flashes in his mind. What would happen to them if Briar's group won? They would have nowhere to call home.

Determination floods his shaking limbs. He didn't want to hurt anyone, but he would make sure that his family stays safe.

Sucking in a trembling breath, Marigold leaps towards another cat who reeks of the swamp; a smoky blue she-cat. He aims a few swipes at her face, hissing. "We have every right to be here! This is our home!"

[ attacking @SOOTSTRIDE ! ]​

 

[TWILIGHTFALL]

---

╰☆☆ Twilight's attack finds its mark, and with grim satisfaction she notes the sour taste of blood as it floods between her teeth. He's young, though, and isn't down for as long as she'd otherwise like; his own jaws snap, aiming to close on something corporeal, and his teeth find their mark on her own throat.

"Ah!" She cries out, releasing her grip on him in her surprise. The pain is immediate, sharp, and there's a dampness at her neck that she knows is at least partially blood. "Off--get off!"

She begins to flail with her lower body, kicking out with her hind legs and hoping to connect enough to push Vermilion away.

She's thankful for Sandra's own paws attempting to make connection; she hopes the battery is enough for the tom to let her go. Her plan is to stay alive, so her son will have someplace to come home to at the end of the day.

[ is bitten by @VERMILION around the throat; attempts to kick him off with her back paws ]​

—PENNED BY MARQUETTE.​

 

[HAZE]

---

╰☆☆ His attention had been singularly focused on the grizzled old marsher, and as a result, he's completely blindsided by the apparition who appears behind him. Haze does not hear him at all, and only manages to look over his shoulder and become startled when he finds himself looking into blood-colored eyes.

"What are you--" he sputters, but his voice becomes a single note of pain as the creature latches onto his hind leg with piercing teeth. The pain is almost unbearable, in the tenderest, softest section of his leg, but he remains upright long enough to spit.

"You, you come into our nurseries, share our prey and our shelter, and this is how you repay us? Traitor!" Haze almost crumples then, but with a final lashing forepaw, he attempts to reach for Roseal's face and score some sort of blow below his cheek, near his muzzle.

After that, he's on the ground, clenching his jaw at the injury left on the inside of his limb. He wonders if he's going to die before the battle has even started, from this traitorous phantom of a cat who has refused to pick a side, when his brother steps between them, ferocity glinting in his blue eyes.

Haze struggles back to his paws, but his leg is bleeding and there's something weaker about it now. He pants, hoping to catch his breath and steady his back leg before he's assaulted again.

[ attacked by @roseal and attempts to retaliate with a blow to the cheek before going down; helping @♥ Indigo ♥ ]​

—PENNED BY MARQUETTE.​

 

[hitch]

in character   out of character   character tags   reference

• 
  
  
  ── He tastes brief resistance and blood and knows his teeth found their mark. Roseal doesn't consider it a victory, even if it is the successful culmination of a goal. It chills and heats him both and he doesn't understand the satisfaction that coils underneath grim resignation, hasn't recognized its grinning mouth in himself before.
  
  Its fangs break off and embed in his tongue as barbs. " Don't pretend to be some lost, manipulated kit when you're so eager to whet your claws on an old man's eyes." He tilts his head and the blow lands on old scarring instead of his face, a stream of blood joining the phantom seeping, real and imagined soaking his pale fur. Traitor, he accused, all indignant rage, and the maw in his throat feeds off of it. Roseal swore them nothing.
  
  He throws himself back as charging paws draw near, narrowly avoiding the pine cat's attempted rescuer. "You'll sit the rest of this out if you're wise, but I doubt it." Roseal stares down his nose at the injured feline and the other cat with him. His second attacker is little more than a child.
  
  A step back, and another. Air stirs and a faceless cat rushes by, bumping into his side as they meet their equally faceless opponent. His eyes squeeze shut but it only heightens the vicious cries and desperate snarls, the stench of coppery humidity and the harsh throbbing in his throat. His lungs fold in on themselves, breaths fast and shallow. He turns, turns again, and again, and staggers away from the mesh of colliding bodies.
  
  //disengaging from @HAZE and @♥ Indigo ♥
  

  ---

  ​
•  
• n/a​
•  
• ──── surr'oseal'isme (roseal). he/him pronouns. roamer; goes where he pleases.
  ──── approximately thirty-eight months old; not entirely certain of his own age.
  ──── single & uninterested in any romantic attachments; possibly open for flings.
  ──── very tall, scarred albino with sharply-peaked ears and a bobbed, scruffy tail.​
•  
• 
  
  

 

[RUBBLE.]

▨ ( about ) The rush of bodies is not one that he'd anticipated. Blood stirs the air and he thinks himself prepared, but the moment for that is there an' gone, a whisp of fog on a hot day. A ghost of white there to pull death from him, and there's so much anger at him in turn. Youth, arrogant and prideful. Was this ground worth the blood that'd be spilled? All the young that'll die for this? His paws carry him a few strides back on their own, away from the trio that had formed in a moment of regret, of old age bearing down on him. "I ain't here to kill what's little more than kits," he rasps, to Haze and Indigo, ears pinned on his head. "We've got too many bellies to fill." A hollow excuse, as truly as he means it. Rubble shakes his head, looking between all three of them. "Things weren't supposed to be like this."

[ disengaging from @HAZE and @♥ Indigo ♥ / please feel free to press the attack, he's simply having a Senior Moment™ ]​

 

[SQUALLMIST]

Wide eyes stare at the scene before him.

Was he dreaming? Had it truly come to this? Were their lives really in danger, all over one group's lack of hunting skills? Over a lack in problem solving?

Squall doesn't have time to dwell, realizing this when he sees the white tom go after Haze - when Indigo goes after the white tom - a glimpse red and blue fur on standby. His brothers. A wave of anger rushes through him. He needs to protect his brothers. He can't let them die in... in this mess.

Silver paws race through the crowded battlefield, weaving through cat after cat. By the time he gets there, the white tom has backed up substantially, but red and blue still stands too close to his brothers. Squall leaps, claws unsheathed, hoping to land against the elder and knock him over - with claws digging at patchwork fur, if successful.

"Stay away from them," he snarls, storm-filled eyes glowering down at the elder.

// attacking @RUBBLE.
​

 

[Daisyflight]

"SUREFIRE, YEAH, THE SETTING SUN WANTS COMPANY"​

The air was knocked from her lungs, hard. Daisy Flight was rocked from her concentration, back legs briefly buckling. In the skid away from her assailant, she managed to pivot and get a hasty look at them. The visage of such a young cat, pelt drenched in russets and oranges, caught her off guard. And the expression on the molly's face, a volatile rage and panic that scorched her from the inside out. What, in this fight for prey and territory, had wronged her so deeply?

Now on the back foot, Daisy Flight reinforced her stance and lifted her snout to begin her retaliation when the cat before her let out a sudden shriek and lunged. Heavy paws battered her shoulders, her chest, her face. Burning blades of hurt accompanied them, and the scent of her own blood flooded her nose. One strike raked across her right ear, the force flattening it against her skull. Immediately she felt it, the tear. The hot throbs of pain, like a sun-soaked thunderpath, pulsed fast and low.

Any empathy for the marsh cat was set ablaze, gone. She had ripped it. Ripped her ear! The ear she so carefully cleaned every day, moon after moon. It wasn't fatal but it was personal. "You frog's spawn know nothing of our group. I am no kittypet to frighten off, and if I must flay your pelt to prove it I will!" The calico's voice cracked the air, rough with dust.

In a pause in the onslaught the calico molly rallied, and would attempt to lash out deftly towards her assailant's brow and nose with eager claws . Using any time that gave her, Daisy Flight would try to follow up by bolting forward a pace and leverage her front paws to clamp onto either side of the molly's exposed neck. Even if the momentum carried them both to the ground she would latch on, adding teeth and claws to tether them into the tussle.
@pumpkin
​

✿ ✿ ✿​

 

[SOOTSTAR]

A thick fog of fury and bitterness wraps around her mind. No desire lingers in the blue smoke aside from sinking her claws into kittypets and watching them run back where they belonged with tails tucked in between their legs. Soot may have retreated on her first battle with them, but she would not be sent retreating this time. She'd either leave this place victorious, or the earth here would be her grave.

She had no intention of dying at the paws of kittypets and twoleg lovers. It was an impossible outcome.

Her opponent is a tom of similar size to her. She doesn't have time to estimate his age or get a good look at his features, but his tone gave away with ease that he was an adolescent. That may be an issue for some cats, but Soot was not soft. This was a battle! Cats would bleed, cats would lay down their lives, if Soot didn't give this cat a beating some other Marsh cat would have to. She was no softy.

"It was our home before it was yours!" She hisses as she braces a few sharp blows to her face, it takes her mere seconds to grow intolerant of it. Drawing back a paw she aims to give a strong smack against the cheek to the tabby. Regardless of whether or not she is successful she then lunges to the side to build up momentum before aiming to forcefully collide her shoulder into his. Her hopes are to knock him off his paws or at least stagger him in some shape or form.

// @MARIGOLD! sry I suck so bad at writing fight scenes but its good practice B) ​

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