APPARITIONS OF ANOTHER PRODIGAL NIGHT \ iciclefang

[FERNGILL]

He'd been putting it off. Of course, he'd checked in on Iciclefang as much as possible, but... as the sun sunk low, as cats began to retire, he beckoned Iciclefang for a short walk, with the promise there was something important to say. They couldn't risk anyone overhearing... Ferngill kept his ears angled, his bright eye aware, before he even thought about opening his mouth.

It was stupid by all accounts. Stormywing's request had come from a good place, he knew it- an unexpectedly soft heart beneath her rugged exterior. But it was a terrible idea and he was sure he was going to make Iciclefang feel even worse by delivering the message. Still... it would be wrong not to tell her.

He fixed his sister with a long, uncertain look. It probably looked as if he was about to tell her he was dying. "Stormywing spoke to me at the Gathering. She seemed... upset." To say the least. He spoke lowly, voice as hushed as he could make it. Yeah, he was sure there was no-one around, but... but who knew? Cats had an ear for gossip, sometimes... even the life-ruining sort. "Don't wound the messenger, but- she wanted you to meet her at the bridge." Swallowing, Ferngill wrinkled up his nose- a deep sigh pulled through him. There. That was the right thing to do, wasn't it?

\ @iciclefang ​

✦ penned by pin ✦​

 

[iciclefang]

It has been only days, but Iciclefang has grown weary of the nursery’s tight quarters already. Kits tumble and play and snooze, Hazecloud tends to them. She herself sits uncomfortably on scraps of moss, feeling lazy, feeling stiff in the limbs. She doesn’t know how to interact with the inquisitive kits who approach her or eye her from their periphery; she barely knows how to interact with anyone anymore. So, she accepts her brother’s request for a walk in the riverlands easily enough.

The sunset glistens amber on the water’s surface, reflecting in her brother’s sole emerald eye. When he turns to look at her, it’s somber—the relief she feels at getting to leave the nursery, at getting to stretch her creaking limbs, dissipates like his breath is a storm and she is a spiderweb. “What? What’s that look for?” Her frown cuts creases into her muzzle. She takes an uneven step toward Ferngill, her ears flicked forward… and then he speaks her name, and she understands more than she wants to.

“Of course she’s upset.” Iciclefang’s response is cold and sharp. “Stars, you didn’t tell her I’d… I’d meet her there, did you?” She grits her teeth against a surge of pain—internal, emotional, but it feels like a cramp all the same. She wants to be done with this turmoil, but Stormywing won’t let her, she won’t let what they had die the peaceful death it deserves. She can’t help but feel a flare of resentment, though it’s tempered with heartbreak, with love for the tempestuous she-cat she’d journeyed with. “How am I supposed to get away now? Did she say… did she say what she wants?”

She flicks her blue gaze away from Ferngill and toward the river, longing streaking its claws across her throat. She hopes Ferngill hasn’t noticed the haunted look in her eyes—nor the hunted.

『 out of character. 』 ✧･ﾟ:* 『 about. 』

• ooc: —
• 
• Iciclekit . Iciclepaw . Iciclefang, she/her w/ feminine terms.
  — “speech”, thoughts, attack
  — 20 moons old, ages realistically on the 17th.
  — mentored by Smokestar ; mentoring Cicadapaw ; previously mentored n/a
  — riverclan lead warrior. mudpelt x icesparkle, gen 2.
  — former mate to Stormywing ; current mate to no one.
  — penned by Marquette.
  
  
  sh tortoiseshell and white she-cat with ice-blue eyes. confident, capable, proud, dry, conceited, condescending, distrustful.
  
  

​

 

[FERNGILL]

She looked about as strained by the requst as he'd anticipated- but her accusation had him looking incredulous. "Of course I didn't! I'm not that stupid," Ferngill whispered harshly, ears flattening against his skull. His expression softened rather quickly, though. It was always pretty difficult for him to stay upset, and- well, when it came to a situation like this... it was just unreasonable, wasn't it? Iciclefang was hardly to blame for this new development... it probably stressed her out infinitely more than it did him, and- and he was already quite stressed about it.

How am I supposed to get away now? Ferngill's nose wrinkled. It was clear Stormywing was trying to hold on to something, anything, that was left between her and Iciclefang- though he had a sneaking suspicion his sister was not eager to get away. She was tearing herself away because it had to be done.

The fiery tom expelled a rough sigh. Did she say what she wants? "No," he grumbled, resigned. "Not really. Just said she had to see you." His face crumpled into a wince, yet again, remembering the pleading way the ThunderClan molly had looked at him, her yellow eyes dewy and pained. Ferngill sought words, stuttered about, shrugged. "Ah- I... she, she looked... desperate. It was..." Sad. He failed to find the right word to say, though it wirled in his mind. It would be very easy to make Iciclefang feel worse.

"I dunno." ​

✦ penned by pin ✦​

 

[iciclefang]

Ferngill takes her tone about as well as expected; his ears flatten, and his retort is a breathy hiss. I’m not that stupid, he says, and Iciclefang’s mouth twitches, despite her turmoil. “I know. I know you’re not.” She exhales, her own breath feeling like a bit of prey bone lodged in her throat. Ferngill paints her a sordid picture of Stormywing at the Gathering, her lip quivering, her voice wavery as water, golden eyes misty and bright with pain. The tortoiseshell’s heart dips lower into her ribcage; she feels it sinking like a rock through the river, and she’s too numb to retrieve it from its depths.

“Desperate,” she repeats. It’s hollow. She supposes she’d already known how Stormywing had felt. Iciclefang, wait! It reverberates through the still night air like a cricket’s warble. Like frogsong. But she hadn’t waited. She hadn’t even turned around. “If I…” She looks back up at Ferngill, her eyes shadowed and far-away.

“…If I go, will you accompany me? A night-time walk. That’s it. Just to make sure nothing happens.” To keep myself accountable. “If you say no, then I won’t go. We’ll… we’ll just pretend it never happened.” She sighs, kneading the earth with snow-pale paws.

『 out of character. 』 ✧･ﾟ:* 『 about. 』

• ooc: —
• 
• Iciclekit . Iciclepaw . Iciclefang, she/her w/ feminine terms.
  — “speech”, thoughts, attack
  — 21 moons old, ages realistically on the 17th.
  — mentored by Smokestar ; mentoring Cicadapaw ; previously mentored n/a
  — riverclan lead warrior. mudpelt x icesparkle, gen 2.
  — former mate to Stormywing ; current mate to no one.
  — penned by Marquette.
  
  
  sh tortoiseshell and white she-cat with ice-blue eyes. confident, capable, proud, dry, conceited, condescending, distrustful.
  
  

​

 

[FERNGILL]

Ferngill realised that his candidness had probably already made Iciclefang feel worse, and he could've just said Stormywing was a sad sight. But- wasn't it the right thing to do, to give her all the information? And yet- in doing so, he was basically convincing her to break the code even more. The matter of his stupidity was left in the dust, for Ferngill's mind settled solely on what he'd actually said... that Stormywind looked upset and desperate and she'd begged to see his sister. He felt like he was trying to digest a boulder.

Was he breaking the code too, by doing this? Breaking the code made a bad cat, he'd always thought it, but... Iciclefang wasn't a bad cat. Neither was Stormywing, and- and he didn't think he was, anyway...

She looked at him, then. Dread raked claws across his stomach, its pressure growing with each word his sister spoke. A solitary eye wavered on her face, brimming with guilt. "Okay." He said it without really thinking, though his reluctance soaked easily into his voice. He sniffed. "If you really wanna go, but... I really think it's a bad idea, Iciclefang."

Ferngill sighed, deep, long and defeated. "But... whatever you do, please can this be the last time I have to pretend something never happened?" He didn't want to be cruel, selfish, when his sister was already in such a hard position. But he rather preferred his ignorance, here.​

✦ penned by pin ✦​

 

[iciclefang]

Iciclefang sits, tense, waiting for her brother’s answer to her ultimatum. If he says no, she tells herself, then I’ll bury those cries deep, and I’ll never hear them again. Just thinking about confronting Stormywing again—having to tell her again that they could not see one another anymore, that this has to be the end… her paws prick with dread that she can see crease Ferngill’s features. “Okay,” he tells her, and she blinks, half-surprised. “I won’t lie to you. It is a bad idea,” she murmurs. “But I have to make her see that this is for the best. I… I can’t have her asking after me at Gatherings.” Guilt lumps in her throat again, but she pushes past it, raising her chin up.

“This is the last time. I promise.” She feels movement in her belly—is it a trick of the imagination, is it indigestion, or is it her kits, Stormywing’s kits, reaching toward their mother with outstretched paws? She pushes herself to her paws, feeling numb. “Shall we?”

One last time. It would have to be, for all of their sakes.

『 out of character. 』 ✧･ﾟ:* 『 about. 』

• ooc: —
• 
• Iciclekit . Iciclepaw . Iciclefang, she/her w/ feminine terms.
  — “speech”, thoughts, attack
  — 21 moons old, ages realistically on the 17th.
  — mentored by Smokestar ; mentoring Cicadapaw ; previously mentored n/a
  — riverclan lead warrior. mudpelt x icesparkle, gen 2.
  — former mate to Stormywing ; current mate to no one.
  — penned by Marquette.
  
  
  sh tortoiseshell and white she-cat with ice-blue eyes. confident, capable, proud, dry, conceited, condescending, distrustful.
  
  

​