border AND A SUN TO MAYBE DISSIPATE | wc border tour

[SEDGEPOUNCE]

ShadowClan border is acrid and—for now—cold. As the moons get warmer so too will the border. The tarmac gets hot enough to boil sometimes, drawing unsuspecting prey to its sickly flank to be struck by monsters and stuck there forever. Sedgepounce wisely refrains from mentioning that ShadowClan eats this roadkill. It's the type of conversation that requires nuance, and he's not entirely confident in a child's affinity for polite discretion.

He perches beneath the rowan trees and scans the roadway for any oncoming monsters. The sun is dipping closer toward the horizon, maybe halfway between the treeline and the center of the sky. He's sure Rimepaw and Comfreypaw are starting to get tired. Not that he thinks they could dodge a monster, anyway.

After a few moments of observation, he starts with a warning. "Kay, so. The Thunderpath is super dangerous. Monsters sprint across here faster than any cat, and they can flatten you with just a paw." It's a somber warning. Bunnyglow had been terrified at the ShadowClan border. Well, she'd been terrified to be anywhere, but the Thunderpath spooked her especially. Sedgepounce frowns. "Just don't get too close and you'll be okay. Foxglare and I will keep you both safe." He doesn't want to, like, scar them for life or anything.

// @FOXGLARE @Comfreypaw. @rimepaw
​

 

[rimepaw]

"Are we to be more afraid of monsters than Shadowclanners?" Rimepaw questions as she takes her place at Sedgepounce's flank, bright blue eyes scanning the tarred expanse of the thunderpath. It does not alarm her, but then again nothing has disturbed the eerie air surrounding them yet. "Bluefrost taught us that Shadowclan is not to be trusted. They are nasty liars and thieves who eat crowfood," she recites in a voice heavily reminiscent of the mother who raised her. Thus far her worldview has shifted enormously under Sedgepounce's tutelage but surely one thing Bluefrost taught her and her littermates must be true?

If not the nature of Riverclan and Thunderclan, then Shadowclan must be as Bluefrost explained by default.

"Is it true that there are rats infesting Shadowclan? Why would anyone want to live in those conditions?" The blue and white calico asks incredulously, her limbs weary from all the walking but her tongue and mind abuzz with questions and connections to be made from what she previously had been taught to what is currently being taught.​

[ penned by kerms ]​

 

[Amberhaze]

AMBERHAZE

HE/HIM SHADOWCLAN LEAD WARRIOR

"N-Not infested... we make sure they s-stay where they belong." A broken voice would break through the momentary silence, providing an answer for the question an outsider may have struggled with. If not struggled, than perhaps embellished in bad faith. Though this was not something he ever thought Sedgepounce was capable of, the tom's ability to withhold all too common judgement a trait that Amberhaze had come to appreciate. He found himself pleased to see the Windclan lead, and he would offer a wobbly half smile as he slunk out of the thick marshland brush.

"Sedgepounce...I-It's good to s-see you." A slight dip of his head would follow, more sheepish than one of respect. He was so focused on the familiar face he almost didn't take notice of those with him, the lack of familiarity of the russet-furred warrior making his skin prickle uncomfortably. He would acknowledge the other tom with a repeated nod all the same, shifting his weight slightly as he stepped closer to his own apprentice, a protective gesture. "Um- I-I don't think I recognize you...?" Blown out orbs fell onto the small form of Rimepaw, curiosity sparking within his gaze as it flittered between her and Sedgepounce. A new apprentice...Is she yours? He would swallow back the question, though he was sure it wasn't difficult to discern his quizzical bewilderment. Bunnyglow- then Bunnypaw- had been brought to the most recent gathering after an inexplicable disappearance, her condition gruesome and without cure. He had not bothered to seek out Sedgepounce for the details- he didn't have to. Whatever had become of her was surely life altering, for her and her mentor both. To see him assigned with a new ward so soon after such a tragedy... it eluded him. But didn't the same thing happen to me? ..It's my fault Talonstrike's walking around with half a face, and yet- His expression softened as it reverted back to Lostpaw. They weren't so different at all, he figured.

ooc:

Apprentice tag: @lostpaw

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Amberhaze is a black oriental shorthair crossed with a cornish rex. He has a sickly looking build with a rat-like tail and unnaturally wide ocher eyes.

npc x npc / sibling to wormwatcher / other kin unknown
mentored by wormwatcher / mentoring lostpaw
21 moons old as of 02/21/2025

penned by sloane

[/i]

 

[MARBLELEAF]

MARBLELEAF

SHE / THEY ◆ SHADOWCLAN MEDICINE CAT

She's not too far behind Amberhaze and Lostpaw; she'd jumped on the chance to join their patrol this morning. It's far easier to invite herself places than it is to beg for a warrior escort; paws were rarely idle enough in ShadowClan for her to snag someone bored and looking to harvest greenery. Marbleleaf hums to herself, a leafy tendril clutched between her teeth—she'd found the perfect ivy leaf for a wrap—when she's distracted by the sound of voices rolling across the Thunderpath. WindClan, she notes, sniffing the air.

There are two warriors and two apprentices with smoke-brushed fur who could have been littermates. She recognizes Sedgepounce—he is Scorchstar's only lead warrior, to her knowledge—but the other gold-flecked cat's name eludes her. She twitches her ears forward in a friendly greeting, but is distracted by the comments made by one of the apprentices.

She is mostly-white, fluffy and soft-looking as a cloud, and her eyes are a demanding and curious blue; Marbleleaf finds her mouth curving into a smile, even as the girl lobs questions about rat-eaters and thieves at her mentor. Amberhaze is quick to correct her—they keep their rats in check, thank you—and she lets it go. Stars knew where the girl had heard such nursery tales.

As Amberhaze calls to Sedgepounce, Marbleleaf lets the ivy leaf drop and glances toward the other warrior and the two young apprentices. "Hi there! Send my regards to Cottonsprig and Celandinepaw, won't you? Are they both well?"

ooc:

—

accordion

Marbleleaf is the ShadowClan medicine cat. She is thin, with a short fawn tabby pelt; the base color is a dull, almost-gray slate, and the whorling classic stripes are deeper shades of wet sand. She has white facial markings, chest, and paws, an angular face and build, and moss-colored eyes.

Lilacfur x Siltcloud / sibling to Sycamorebloom / mate to none / parent to none
mentored by Starlingheart / mentoring none
14 moons old as of 02/01/2025

penned by Marquette

 

[promisepaw]

[ @Swansong mentor tag :3 ]

Promisepaw blooms from the roadside with his fellow Clanmates, his head tilted just enough to peer beyond it. It's another mentor and apprentice - doubled, even. He notes that they sort of look familiar, in the way that passing faces do. Perhaps they are remnants of the last pairing he had met, had bellowed his name across the thunderpath to. Sootpaw, that was. Perhaps these are Ashpaw and Cinderpaw, then. Promisepaw cannot imagine a WindClanner to have much creativity.

Amberhaze and Marbleleaf are kind, friendly even - his cousin spouts names that he vaguely recognizes, assuming some importance to her. Are these not the cats that stole his aunt? Or, if not these cats (the apprentices look his age, the warriors not terribly old either,) then their Clan? He supposes there's something in forgiveness and not attaching the sins of one to the pelt of all... But the apprentice brings warmth and brevity to his gaze, staring directly at Rimepaw, gleefully speaking next.

"Better than the conditions of the moorlands, I think," he speaks with an air that inspires annoyance - a paw waves like a leaf in the wind, "You look two steps from being stolen by a hawk, Cinderpaw." Alas, he cannot help himself. He thinks it is humorous enough, even if half of the joke rests still in his mind. "Unfortunately I think the hawk would get sick and die. You seem awful vile for an apprentice seeing the border for the first time." And who is he talking, having only seen it twice, maybe three times before this? Still he grins smugly, safely protected by the road between them.​

 

[rimepaw]

Like phantoms rising from the swampy haze, unfamiliar faces begin to appear on the other side of the thunderpath. One speaks in the silence left for Sedgepounce, claiming that Shadowclan is not infested with rats. They make sure the rats stay where they belong… which causes a small look of disgust to grace Rimepaw's visage regardless. She would never want to live where rats had to be wrangled and corralled just to keep them in check.

The disgust fades as another figure speaks with her mentor. She sends her regards to aunt Cottonsprig and Celandinepaw. A medicine cat, perhaps? That seemed most logical, but even still Rimepaw shifts with discomfort over the fondness with which the Shadowclanners speak to Sedgepounce. He has shown every new face nothing but kindness and respect thus far. It's too new. Too uncomfortable to face after moons of being indoctrinated into the belief that the other clans were beneath her.

It's a final shout across the inky expanse that snaps her from her inner spiral. An apprentice from the looks of him. Awkward and gangly limbed and clothed in casual annoyance. It's enough to make her pelt bristle. How dare he insult her home (as if she hadn't just insulted his). But it's a faux name that drops from his maw that begins to boil her blood. Cinderpaw. Bluefrost and Sootpaw had departed earlier in the day to visit the borders. Had they sat here hours before? Had Bluefrost shown off her prized daughter, toting her legacy name about like a trophy? She must have if this apprentice slapped a mockery of a name atop her prideful nature, reducing her yet again to a legacy she has never fit into.

Her vision tunnels as Rimepaw jolts to her paws and growls, holding steady in her warning for all of two seconds before his smugness goads her further.

'Unfortunately I think the hawk would get sick and die. You seem awful vile for an apprentice seeing the border for the first time.'

It's like a fiery heat that had been balled up in her gut explodes, flooding the smoky calico with blazing fury that seeks to be released upon the Shadowclan apprentice. It's stronger than the rage that sent her toppling Jaykit after he had insulted her father. Too much had been building within her since then. Storms of inadequacy and discontent building into an unstoppable thunderhead.

She snaps.

Weariness be damned, safety be damned as well, Rimepaw rockets across the vacant thunderpath. Her unsheathed claws barely seem to scrape the rough surface as she barrels towards the haughty rat who had insulted her. Vile he had called her. Well Rimepaw was about to show him just how vile she could be!

With a guttural snarl, Rimepaw steals away whatever safety Promisepaw thought he had across the thunderpath, bowling into the curly furred apprentice in a flurry of claws and limbs. She tries to pin him beneath her weight, and if successful, would raise a clawed paw to try to slash across his smug face.

//this is a preplanned scuffle :3c​

[ penned by kerms ]​

 

[Comfreypaw.]

Comfreypaw has been, characteristically, quiet on the journey thus far from camp. He listens to Foxglare and Sedgepounce with attentive ears, even as his gaze drifts from sky to ground and all around him, taking in all the newness that comes with his first foray outside of camp. He even deigns to find comfort in knowing that his sister, Rimepaw, is there with him, taking joy in knowing that he gets to experience such fresh things with someone he's known all his life.

As they come to the Thunderpath, Comfreypaw does not disguise his aversion to the foul stench that emits from it, something he will instantly come to associate with ShadowClan, whether it reflect the truth of their scent or not. Mother had been clear in her assertions: ShadowClan was little more than filth. Crooks who had betrayed grandmother once many moons ago. Perhaps they should fear monsters more than the ShadowClanners themselves, but at least, from what Comfreypaw gathered, a monster would not lie about its intentions. It would kill and be done with it.

As ShadowClanners begin to appear like spirits on the other side of the Thunderpath, Comfreypaw finds his stare settling on the she-cat who mentions his aunt Cottonsprig, noting the greenery she carries with her. She asks after their well-being, and Comfreypaw narrows his eyes. What should she care, be she medicine cat or not? If Sedgepounce answers, he will undoubtedly give more away that is necessary - but the moment Comfreypaw opens his mouth to settle the matter with a monosyllabic, neutral response, he is interrupted by the youngest of the gathered ShadowClanners.

Comfreypaw's pelt prickles at the other apprentice's nonchalance, the disrespectful attitude that he wears like a badge, the disparagement of Comfreypaw's family, Rimepaw especially. He feels his own paws move forward of their own accord, ready to deliver a bite of his own, but Rimepaw beats him to it - he watches, a stricken look overtaking his face as his sister bolts across the Thunderpath, throwing herself at the ShadowClan apprentice.

"Sister," Comfreypaw grunts loudly, though his feelings on the matter were outwardly clouded.

‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎OOC ᓚ₍ ^. .^₎ .ᐟ.ᐟ INFO ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎

• !

• 

• COMFREYPAW ✩ apprentice of windclan, six moons
  → walks hunched over.
  → peaceful and healing powerplay permitted.
  → penned by Archivist → .archivist on discord.

​

 

[promisepaw]

Promisepaw isn't looking at first. Somewhere between his lashing tongue and Rimepaw launching, the tom looks away. Perhaps briefly to the lead warrior on his side of the thunderpath, curious on if Amberhaze will think him clever. Then to his mentor, who surely may have a trill of laughter on her tongue for his own sharp one. By the time he looks back to the thunderpath, Rimepaw is already partially across it - and only getting closer.

"Hey -" he breathes, and for once his half lidded eyes widen, shock evident on his expression. She thrums hefty paws into hard rock and hits their softer soil with the same fervor. His voice clips a sharper, "HEY!" in the moments before she lunges for him. White paws shove his willowy frame over, knocking his head into the wet dirt beneath them. He moves only instinctively, though still with the lack of grace a child fresh from the nursery would have. He heaves his muddy hindlegs into her stomach, trying to kick the molly off.

She swipes and gouges a sliver of his nose. In a moment of shock, he replicates the same motion, and brings his claws down over her face, too.​

 

[SEDGEPOUNCE]

Rimepaw pins him with that skeptical eye of hers. Are we to be more afraid of monsters than ShadowClanners? "Near the Thunderpath, yeah." Hearing about it doesn't do the danger justice. Bunnyglow had the misfortune of an overactive imagination—she didn't need to see a monster to fear it. But he doesn't blame Rimepaw for being skeptical. She's learning.

So he doesn't blame her for clinging to Bluefrost's ankles either, but in StarClan's name, he sure is tired of hearing about her! "I'm...sure she did," he starts. Totally cool and collected and not at all irritated. It wouldn't be fair to Rimepaw or her brother. "I don't that a clan with only liars and thieves would last very long, do you?"

Soon the tangled wires of brambles marring the border begin to rustle. Friendly faces emerge from the darkness. "Amberhaze!" he calls brightly. Amusement curls through him at the lead warrior's sudden twist of expression—he glances at Foxglare mirthfully before turning back to the patrol, calling back toward Marbleleaf's trill. "They're great—and I'm sure they'll be happy to hear from you, Marbleleaf." Well, Celandinepaw will, at least. Notorious grudge-keeper Cottonsprig though..?

Interrupting the mild conversation is a heavy-furred apprentice, his shrill, mocking voice delivering kind of a lackluster insult. Sedgepounce huffs at the intrusion, leaning down to mumble something to Rimepaw about silly apprenticeship rivalries, except—"RIMEPAW!"

Shock slams through his chest. She's flying across the Thunderpath, quick as an arrow, and Sedgepounce feels the ground flip from under his feet. He meets Foxglare's eyes with a wild look before he's off too—racing over the tarmac, head swiveling to and fro in search for a monster that, thankfully, never comes.

In a few quick strides he's there. Rimepaw and the ShadowClanner swipe at each other like dumb, angry, dangerous children in a clumsy flurry of claws. Sedgepounce wrenches Rimepaw away, grabbing at her scruff and pulling.

The coppery-stench of blood wells in his nose. He wedges himself between the apprentices, hunches over to peer at Rimepaw's face. A torrent of red weeps there—it instills him with a practiced calm. "Don't move," he cautions sternly. A paw sweeps out, not quite touching her face but hovering just in case. "Close your eye. We're—heading home."
​

 

[rimepaw]

Oh how she internally relishes the shock that widens half lidded eyes moments before impact. Rimepaw feels the undertones of success race through her fiery veins as blow comes to blow, bodies toppled and dirtied in the mire. The apprentice huffs a certain strained sound as hind paws meet her soft underside in an attempt to throw her off. Rimepaw clings evermore, determined to have the upper paw and teach this cryptid youth a lesson.

Her bright blues blaze like cobalt beacons as crimson slices across Promisepaw's nose bridge. That will teach him! A scar across his smug face to forever remind him to keep his loose tongue on a tight leash. She could nearly grin at the minimal gore caused by her paw.

Rimepaw's victory is short lived – her internal desire to gloat stealing away precious time and a precious lesson in fighting. In a flash of silvered claws and granite paw, the left side of her face burns white hot. She barely has time to register Promisepaw's hit before teeth dig into her scruff and she is yanked away.

Her ears ring and face throbs as Rimepaw stumbles away and struggles to focus on the world around her. Sedgepounce's visage doubles and warbles back into one as he inspects her, uttering words of caution that do not register until she feels the wetness of blood upon her fur. Until she realizes the vision from her left eye is blurred crimson and the seconds to follow beget swelling that makes it all too easy to obey her mentor by closing her eye.

"I-I," she mumbles, adrenaline draining as reality hits, her paws rooted to the ground. "… Sorry, Sedgepounce." Maybe Bluefrost had been right. And maybe fulfilling the blue smoke's own prophecy had filled her with enough dread to forget about Promisepaw altogether and cause the calico to move to her mentor's side for comfort.

She was still a child after all.​

[ penned by kerms ]​

 

[lostpaw]

lostpaw had rather enjoyed her first interaction with the windclanners she had met when amberhaze took her around the borders, so when the wind turns with the scent of moor she simply flicks her ears and looks over with cautious optimism. not that their clans were friendly, necessarily, but she had thought they were rather nice overall, and--

"Is it true that there are rats infesting Shadowclan? Why would anyone want to live in those conditions?"

she winces slightly. alright, so they weren't all friendly. it reminds her of the old elders' rumbled complaints about the harebrained warriors and their tendency for their legs to move faster than their brains, and she's sure the windclan elders spit the same vitriol, but still. it wasn't very nice, was it?

she doesn't have much time to dwell on it, though, because all of a sudden the windclan apprentice was running across the thunderpath. she yelps, eyes widening as if a monster would appear out of thin air to trample her underneath its claws, but miraculously the black grit remains silent. instead, the only sound is promisepaw's yell, moments before rimepaw is on him. she's slow to react, still as averse to combat as always, and by the time she reaches forward the windclan warrior has ripped her away for them.

she ignores them, quickly moving over to promisepaw's side -- "are you alright?" well, at least marbleleaf is right there. blood is dripping down the windclanner's face, but from her angle she can't see if promisepaw has suffered the same injury.

｡:ﾟ.°✧ PLEASE DONT LET THEM SEE ME

• ooc.

• LOSTPAW (she/her) is a six moon old shadowclan apprentice with shorthair cream tabby fur with low white and blue-green eyes. she is the gen1 daughter of two rogue npc's and is being mentored by amberhaze.
  
  TAGS. penned by riyue. dm me on discord (xriyue) for plots.​

​

 

[Swansong]

Promisepaw is so much alike his father. She lets him take the lead as the pair approaches the border, certain that the young tom will be eager to prod at the WindClan apprentices. And prod he does - with all of Ashenfall's sarcasm and none of his cynicism. Barbs are tossed with an airy confidence, matching the other apprentice's badmouthing of their clan doubly so with his own blows.

And then - it happens so fast. The WindClanner is tearing across the Thunderpath, and Swansong freezes.

"You...!" Her breath shakes, a trembling wail. Deathly pale eyes blow wide as their smile falls into a blank panic. They dart forward, focus narrowed to a single pinpoint: Promisepaw, with claws raking down his face.

White teeth flash from their hiding place. Rimepaw is lucky that it is her own mentor who arrives first. Sedgepounce, Amberhaze said. He wrenches the snarling kitten away, and Swansong comes up behind her nephew to curl her body protectively around his. "I would advise you... to keep your... your dirty paws off of my apprentice," she hisses lowly, fixing the Rimepaw with an unblinking stare. It slowly shifts to her mentor, and their head tilts. "And... to control your own, Sedgepounce..." Her tail brushes against Promisepaw, hoping to guide him back to his feet.

It is only once they have crossed the Thunderpath that she turns, eyes caught on the spot on his nose where the WindClanner had sunk her claws. "You did well... to defend yourself..." she murmurs soothingly, leaning in to touch her nose to his forehead. A quick glance to Marbleleaf, and then Promisepaw recaptures her attention. "Does it hurt...?" The sting of injury, yes, but she fears his pride has been wounded as well. He will have to learn, some day, that his words do have consequences.

⋆⁺₊ ☾ ⁺₊⋆

SWANSONG BIOGRAPHY ㅤ/ ㅤTOYHOU.SE
★ demigirl ( she / they ) ㅤ& lesbian, mate to poppyglow (npc'd)
★ㅤ 22 moons old & ages realistically, every 17th of the month
★ㅤ warrior of shadowclan for 10 moons
★ ㅤhalfshade x smogstar ㅤ& littermate to applejaw, ashenfall, garlicheart
★ㅤ ㅤmentored agaterain, swallowflutter & mentored by skunktail, sabletuft
★ㅤ penned by saturnid & ㅤmessage saturnids on discord for plots!

"SPEECH"