AND BREAKAWAY ☀︎ OPEN, NEW YEARS WISHES

[freckleflame]

” youre just gonna take one like this.. “ a soft lilt amidst the softly falling snow, a cloud of ashen - white fog forming around the dark of her maw. held delicate in her paws is the head of a pale, brittle dandelion — its faint yellow petals rustle faintly in the wind but she is on her belly by the water, watching it drift gentle over mottled pink - black pawpads.she can’t remember who’s shown her this : this ritual for the seasons, when the skies lit up with vivicolor, stars bursting with what she only hoped was happiness over the bustle of twolegplace. she’d always been grateful for the distance, the lines and lines of oak and stone keeping her separated from the beams of blooming pinks, oranges and golds.

there is a faint popping in the distance but she watches the dandelion, how it reflects off the dark of riverclans tide, drifting lazily downstream where ice didnt crust at it’s edges.

” and you’re gonna make a wish, whatever you want most. quietly, you don’t wanna say it outloud. it’ll spoil it. “ wish for an early newleaf, a day of warmth, an abundance of prey. she wishes something hard enough molars like bloody at her cheeks, raw where she gnaws hopeful, hopeful on this poor, fading flower. she knows how that feels, really. she doesn’t wish for prey, or the confidence to put aside her biting worries ; she doesn’t wish for peace, or herbs. freckleflame’s jaw twitches, a ripple of fire up the side of her face. she wishes for someone specific, but it hurts to say, feels to tremulous on her tongue and so the girl only hopes the stars understand. they shine around the reflection of her flower. she lowers it into the water, watching the gentle ripple ring out from around its petals.

” and y’ just let it go. “ murmurs freckleflame, somber more than one would have expected of her. she’s tired. she talks anyway, somewhat muffled when she places a fluffy chin on her paws. the flower head floats away, into the black distance. the bursts overhead bathes it in neon every now and then, bursting sunningrocks to life, ” they say your wish’ll come true sometime in the next round of seasons. dunno about all that, but it’s nice t’ think.. “

𝚈𝙾𝚄 𝙼𝙰𝙺𝙴 𝙼𝙴 𝚂𝙼𝙸𝙻𝙴 -`☀︎´- 𝘗𝘓𝘌𝘈𝘚𝘌 𝘚𝘛𝘈𝘠 𝘍𝘖𝘙 𝘈 𝘞𝘏𝘐𝘓𝘌 𝘕𝘖𝘞

• i. she can be talking to anyone / a group of cats!!
  
  
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  FRECKLEFLAME 𖦹 . LESBIAN, SINGLE. SMELLS LIKE SUN - WARMED OAK AND EARTHY MUSK. SIXTEEN MOONS. FRIEND & SISTER TO MANY. NAMED A FULL WARRIOR OF THUNDERCLAN ON 8 / 3 / 2023. PENNED BY ANTLERS --------
  
  f. she / her, daughter of sunfreckle and rabbitnose. large cream - ribboned tortoiseshell with seaglass eyes. larger than life! shades of vibrant russet, dousing swathes of shadow and interwoven with ribbons pale cream come to drape like licks of flame over a thick, broad - shouldered figure. unspecified maine coon heritage born of sunfreckle's kittypet background shows itself in large, round paws and tufted, long - furred toes set upon thick, tabby - splotched limbs. a characteristic lack of personal space leads her to a slouching, touchy posture, often inclined to lean or bump against her peers, all while bearing a wide, bright - eyed grin. she seems to sing confidence from every laugh, every word.. that can't all be for show, can it?
  

  prone to bouts of explosive emotion. all opinions are solely in - character and during these times, often untrue or said only in anger.

  
  

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[Shinebug]

As Freckleflame speaks - half lecturing, half rambling - Shinepaw is much more attentive than one might expect. The boy had never been particularly superstitious, belief in the stars more passive than most, but as the older warrior spoke of wishes, a mind forever anxious for the future snapped to listen. Suddenly, a relaxing stay at Sunningrocks had become a deathly-important ceremony for the boy.

Shinepaw wanted to be a warrior. He wanted it more than anything. The ball of nerves believed it would be his gateway to friends, respect, a cure for his self-doubt, everything. If someone, a leader blessed from above, no less, could validate his existence, then everything else would fall into place. It had to. If these little flowers would help the deluded tomcat achieve his goal even a little, then he would go all in.

A pair of nervous paws carefully pluck a nearby dandelion, overactive imagination now worrying if he messed up the ritual then he would be cursed to never get his wish. Sky-blue eyes glanced to Frecklefame, searching for reassurance, or a smile, or anything. Once again, her instructions to keep quiet are taken much too seriously, and Shinepaw shuffles a few fox-lengths away before giving the heavens his request.

When the boy returns, he lowers the flower into the water like one would lower a coffin into a grave, anxious eyes watching it float away into blackness. Shinepaw lets out a sigh, suddenly tired from the self-inflicted stress of the ritual, and goes to sit next to Freckleflame, unconsciously laying his head on her shoulder. “D’ya think they’ll listen?” The apprentice asks after a moment, gesturing above with a flick of his flaming tail, flinching at the bursts of light and noise as they appear. “I wonder if they’re busy…”​

 

[BURNSTORM]

There are a million things that Burnstorm could wish for, just at the top of his head. He could wish for peace, for sun and warmth, for a prey pile that was never empty and bellies that were always full. None of the wishes that come immediately to mind are for himself, it is all for the clan. For the clan, like it always would be. Everything for them. It's why he was made a lead warrior, he supposed. He would always put others before himself, it was his nature. But does he really need to use his wish on himself? He has everything he could ever want right now. A mate who loved him, his family, his friends, his title. Respect was the only thing he had ever yearned for in life and now he had it. What else could he possibly ever need besides the survival of his clan?

He watches Freckleflame explain the concept to an interested Shinepaw, watches as the tom puts his own wish into the water, watches it float away. He wonders briefly what Freckleflame wished for, what Shinepaw had. Perhaps that would make his own decision easier, to have an idea of what it was like to ask for something for himself for once.

"Here's to the wishes that are answered and the stars that listen" he says, finally making his mind up as he lowers his own flower into the water, shooting Shinepaw a fleeting but soft smile while he does so.

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