private and maybe time's a movie ࿐࿔ foxtail

[lichenstar]

✦　˚ 　✧ ˚　.˚　✦ 　✦

CLAIM THE BURIAL I SEEK IN DREAMS FLOWING RIVER CEMETARY ✧

• The quivering of forlorn lips had formed blades deceptively sharp for their softness. Forgiveness. It still stung like sun-blind tears, in the shape of a blue-souled smile. His name sat more readily on her lips than ever, the memory of his voice clung to with such vehemence as an unfulfilled promise sat locked and waiting. The first life... and so quickly its necessity became apparent.
  
  Trailing past the babbling of a summer-breathed creek, pink-webbed paws dig into damp earth at its banks as Lichenstar searches for words. Her voice already haggard and worn in its new 'natural' state, it demanded more tact now... to choose wisely so what few carefully crafted pieces she could weave together would be far more weighty with implied meanings as well as the superficial. But... wordsmithing is not a school she'd ever tended to much and even with the careful observation of those she'd consider far more skilled, it is easier watched and heeded than enacted in practice.
  
  She'd asked him before, a brittle-leaf shaken by the storm of conflict, if he were hurt. It had not crossed her mind that it was more than fear and the adrenaline of escape that rattled him... and even still when great tragedy fell from his faltering maw she hadn't the strength in her to be angry at him. He groveled like a too-big version of one of her sons, simpering for forgiveness. Begging, like a snow-dusted mother forced to bury her child too soon.
  
  "Are you... feeling okay," she asks, peeking in a quick glance behind pale lashes. At the very least, requesting this time alone meant that their respective apprentices had each other... and could take solace in the break to enjoy with a family reunited (.... mostly...). The concern for her kin and clan tipped the scales dramatically away from petty, mortal wants of who she'd been before ancestral paws dressed her in starlight. Lichentail had wants... needs... could make mistakes and grow and change.
  
  Lichenstar had run out of time.
  
  "All is well..." she ventures to add on, pulling the corners of her lips in a very brief smile before settling back into a tired frown. "There is... no need to worry." It was not a burden he needed to impose on himself, especially not now that fate had unwound the knot of his self-inflicted mistake and returned Hazecloud home. He is a kind-hearted tom... to have such fear and dismay for all the potential realities where he might've done more, may've kept one less cage from being filled, even if it had only ended up being temporary. A sunset phantom, tear-stained and remorseful in her evening woe-song, comes to mind most immediately... Perhaps Salmonshade felt that same grief too... and all the more intensely for the permanence of Riverpaw's absence.
• about
  speech hex code ✧ #6368A5
  ooc notes ✦
  tagging ✶ @FOXTAIL
  penned by tieirlys
• ˚　　★⋆. ࿐࿔　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚　.　　　　　 . ✦　　　 　˚　　　　 .
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[FOXTAIL]

Foxtail's paws lightly tremble, and he wishes they could just calm down for once. He tries to focus on the nature that surrounds them... the calming flow of the water, the chirps from the birds and the buzzes from the insects. He doesn't think he'll be able to forget the petrified look in Hazecloud's eyes.... or how her voice filled his heart with dread. ...He didn't want to leave her back there... but there was no way he could reasonably keep up with an awake monster. He tried, he really did, and guilt still feels heavy in his chest. The young warrior pads alongside his leader with tired eyes, their apprentices left behind in each other's company.

He glances over at his reflection in the creek, and his eyes trail onto Lichenstar's form beside him. For a moment, he wonders how she didn't get furious with him. At the time, they weren't sure if their kidnapped clanmates would ever be making it back to RiverClan. Foxtail had stumbled into camp, with the belief he just cost Lichenstar her mate. The mate Lichenstar cares for so deeply, and shares kits with. Hazecloud, whom rarely goes on walks that aren't escorted by Lichenstar, trapped the moment another cat escorted her through the territory. It should've been me, The thought arises again as the guilt swirls in his chest, and he tears his gaze away from the flowing water.

The young warrior seemed to be lost in his thoughts, but Lichenstar's voice pulls him back into the present. "Are you... feeling okay?" He tiredly blinks as his ears prick up, looking over as he meets the blue lynx point's gaze. She asked him this before.... back when he returned without Hazecloud. He knows she must've been hurting at the (albeit temporary) loss of her mate.... but in the heat of the moment, she put her clanmates above her own worries. "....I'm... t-tired," He finally answers with a flick of an ear, it is evident that the young warrior has lost sleep over the kidnapping, and still is. Bags lay low underneath his olive green eyes, and the warrior doesn't appear to be as lively as usual.... even the fish swimming by aren't grabbing his attention. "I-I could be better," He sighs with a tired frown, and he trudges forward.

"All is well..." His gaze falls back onto the lynx point as a brief smile twitches on her maw. The smile fades back into a tired frown, but his leader continues. "There is.... no need to worry." His claws dig into the soft earth, and the young warrior gives her a nod. Hazecloud is back in the nursery.... safe again with Eveningkit, Horizonkit, and Twinklekit. But despite this, the guilt only grew more and more. The young warrior seemed to be his own worst critic, whom still hasn't been able to forgive himself. "...It's been h-hard to let it go," He admits with a low swish of his bushy tail, and he pulls his olive green gaze off hers. "I.... I felt like it was m-my fault."

All is well. Her words repeat in his head, think about how his clanmates have been reunited with (most of) their kin... how no more clanmates are trapped within a metal cage.

The young warrior felt some relief though... hearing those words from the cat he thought would be furious with him. "...T-thank you for that," He tiredly mews, with a sigh escaping his maw. "I-I think I needed to h-hear that from y-you..." A weight has already been removed from his chest.​

𝐨𝐨𝐜 𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭

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  credit to raphaelion (via da) for the artwork <3
  
• Foxtail

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  warrior
  20 moons
  warmhearted
  timid
  experience: trained
  backstory: [HYPERLINK]
  biography: [HYPERLINK]
  credit to meghan for the chibi <3
  

  cisgender male [he / him]
  eyes: green
  pelt: cinnamon/chocolate
  fur length: long
  parents: dawnflower and redfur (riverclan npcs)
  

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[lichenstar]

✦　˚ 　✧ ˚　.˚　✦ 　✦

CLAIM THE BURIAL I SEEK IN DREAMS FLOWING RIVER CEMETARY ✧

• Exhaustion finds everyone.
  
  For some it starts far younger than others and she is reminded of moon-bright eyes in the gloaming dark that whispered of nightmares. Cicadakit... tiny treasure of the river and already haunted by the weight of his blood. Did her own children already have nightmares? When had they started losing sleep? If they have told her, it is already forgotten in the fevered fog of grief. Her attention is fleeting and cursory, struggles to fixate on anyone for much longer than a private conversation...
  
  There is too much... all at once... and there is nothing she can do to make it simmer. "You should rest.... get more sleep..." It would benefit no one to have one of her better hunters drifting off at the river-side when bellies were meant to be filled instead. Besides... she'd already seen how a tired body betrayed its master and could still feel the weight of Petalnose collapsed against her in the frigid cold. It wouldn't be allowed to happen again, if she could help it.
  
  It leaves a welt, like a scar whipped and left to throb with memory of its creation, to hear Foxtail groan of guilt wound so tightly around his throat that it has become suffocating. It isn't his burden- shouldn't be, at least. "Unfortunately," she hums, glad to be out of Hazecloud's range so she did not risk losing her other ear for her incoming wisdom, "She is wont... to do anything... she puts her mind to...... If you had not... walked with her... someone else would've... been made to. The fault... is largely... hers." It was a risk she'd known she was taking with the multitudes of missing cats that had been reported.
  
  Her mate, ever soft and twice as stubborn, was no fighter... and that was saying something, coming from Lichenstar who did little more than take a beating to give others windows to attack with.
  
  Warbled thanks is accepted, if only for his own sake. She doesn't need thanks for trying to settle his trembling paws- he should've been allowed to breathe days ago. "I'm glad... I could help." Friendship and consolation and tenderness in conversation are not her specialties, it's a great success to have them swing in her favor for once. Though.. maybe that weight shifted under the guise of leadership and she didn't realize it yet.
  
  "How is... Pebblepaw? I know... he seemed... tense with you," it isn't meant to flick like barbs against his skin but very well could... "He is... a good boy.... Tender-hearted. I am sorry... if his hurt.... felt like hurt... to you too."
• about
  speech hex code ✧ #6368A5
  ooc notes ✦
  tagging ✶
  penned by tieirlys
• ˚　　★⋆. ࿐࿔　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚　.　　　　　 . ✦　　　 　˚　　　　 .
  　　　.   　　˚　　 　　*　　 　　✦　　　.　　.　　　✦　˚ 　　　　 ˚　.˚　　　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚　.　　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚　 　　　　 ੈ✧˳·˖✶ ✦　　˚　　　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚ ★⋆. ࿐࿔
  　　　.   　　˚　　 　　*　　 　　✦　　　.　　.　　　✦　˚ 　　　　 ˚　.˚　　　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚　.　　　　 　　 　　　　 ✦　　​

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