BAITED BREATH ☁ skyclan patrol

[ThistleBack]

Nose hovering the ground like a bloodhound, Thistleback’s neck aches the way he’s been walking toward the edge of the forest where the pines greet the oaks from afar. His hackles prickling with the chance of finding her lifeless, this makes the presence of Blazestar feel like he needed to twist around and catch. Catch before the man crumbles apart forever. Truth be told, Blazestar’s role was as vital as a jugular to Thistleback.

They’d make with a provincial audience with Thunderclan today, their spectacle a worried father and a group of Skyclan warriors ready to tear anything that wished her harm. " no stone unturned " is all he speaks to his patrol besides the occasional anything? .

Thistleback picks up his heavy skull and shakes out his coat. Letting out a raspy mrrow to alert any nearby Thunderclanners without spooking prey, by the stars let there be a patrol. He waits, but not without trailing down the scent-line trying and failing to catch a trail. Nose wrinkled in a snarl with his efforts to desperately find, something.

" You think she would go speak with her mother? " an attempt to settle the father’s nerves, to divert attention from the possibilities.

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OOC INFO REF

• — @BLAZESTAR @bluejay @sheepcurl @GREENPAW
  
  
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  Thirty-three moons EVENT TRACKER | IMPORTANT INFO
  — Lead warrior of Skyclan since 12.22.22
  — Devoted to Deersong 9.29.22 | polyamorous
  — Father of Coyotepaw, Pricklepaw, and Eveningpaw.
  — mentoring Snowpaw graduate(s) Quillstrike
  — very muscular piebald black and white tom with spiky fur and cold silver-grey eyes.
  — voice & accent
  — biography･ﾟ✧​
  OPEN for Dice battles | stine#3004
  
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[BLAZESTAR]

Blazestar lumbers right behind Thistleback, deferring to his more experienced lead warrior to lead their patrol along the ThunderClan border. The Ragdoll's rose-gold ears are angled, his eyes stretched wide across the flame-kissed mask fitted over his features. Her scent is second nature to him, but his brain is so addled. "She was born here," he murmurs to no one in particular. It feels as though his paws have turned to stone -- each step is clumsy and heavy. "On this border."

Blazestar's panic has begun to dissolve into grief, and the familiar pull of those dark waters is terrifying. Cold on his legs and the bottom of his stomach, threatening to climb higher, to drown him entirely. He knows it's too early to mourn Howlpaw. There's a chance they will find her. There's even a chance they will find her alive.

But the fear is strong, and tastes metallic like blood in his mouth.

"You think she would go speak with her mother?" Thistleback asks him, and Blazestar gives him an unconvinced look. "Maybe. Maybe she came here to confront her... but Little Wolf is in the nursery." He bows his head as he says this. "Howlpaw wouldn't have found her here at the border..."

He sees movement at the treeline, and Blazestar will call to the first ThunderClanner he sees: "Hello! We're looking for someone... please." The desperation in his voice would likely have turned the heads of any passing patrol.​

[ PENNED BY MARQUETTE ]​

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[BURNSTORM]

Burnpaw has been finding himself at the border more and more often lately. More than he would like, actually. But despite the uncomfortable feeling he gets whenever he comes near his fathers borders he finds it is not hatred that curls in the pit of his stomach, not anymore. When he looks to the pines he no longer finds himself thinking of Morningpaw but instead of fonder memories spent with his father, his brother and his sister. Back when they could pass between the lines easily. They meant nothing to him back then.

His black paws are leading him away from that place, back to where his mentor waits for him when he hears a noise, a soft murmuring of voices. One is so painfully familiar it makes him pause. He stops and turns, listening for only a moment but the only thing he catches is his mothers name and his ears press back against his skull. Was Blazestar here for the kits? Would he demand they hand them over? His mother had not said they were his but one could guess. Especially when she had so mouse-brainedly named one Skykit of all things.

When the pushes part and he studies his fathers face though, he knows that is not what he is here for. "Dad?" he asks softly. He feels very much like a kit again and he wants to run to his father and press his nose into his soft fur in greeting. He has not talked to him since… well, he doesn’t want to think about that. Grief for what he has lost weighs heavy in his heart but he is not willing to let it show. "What uh- what are you doing here?" he finds himself asking, his voice awkward and unsure. If they were just here on a simple border patrol then why was they just standing here like that? "Should I uh should I go get Flycatcher or Howlingstar?" Flycatcher was not far, he’s certain the gray tom is nearby actually. Being his mentor and all.


// mentor tag @Flycatcher
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[GREENEYES]

Greenpaw follows, bright eyes wide with worry as he scans the area.

ThunderClan... ThunderClan made sense, right? It made sense for Howlpaw to go there, for her to speak to her mother, to her littermates. Maybe to meet her new siblings but, Greenpaw doesn't think she'd want that.

He can only hope that she's over there, that she's within the safety of a camp familiar to her. That she's not hurt, not marred by monsters as Figpaw was when she returned from her own disappearance. Fireflypaw and Blazestar have already lost enough, they don't need this too.

But, as they keep moving forward - as more time passes without seeing the apprentice - Greenpaw only grows more worried beside his mentor. More restless, as the possibilities for the worst grow. As green, green, green grows, threatens to wash over him.

"Maybe she's hiding in the trees?" he suggests, gaze looking up at the branches above him, hoping to see some movement within the canopy.

Blazestar's call brings the boy's sight forward, and he finds himself stepping back at the face that approaches. Burnpaw. One of Blazestar's. A ThunderClanner, now. He hasn't seen him in moons and it's... odd seeing him again - a face he'd once find Firefly beside often, now on another path. Had Howl chosen this path too? A life of a ThunderClanner, over that of a SkyClanner?

He can only hope so at this point - that bad news won't be shared with another family member of Howlpaw's.
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[Flycatcher]

"No need to find me, Burnpaw. I'm right here," Flycatcher chuckles as he pads up alongside one of his apprentices. The chatter of SkyClan cats nearby had drawn over their patrol, though they had been too far away to make out much of what was said. What is clear though is that something has them rattled, and from what little he can tell based on the words of Greenpaw it seems as though somebody might have gone missing or stumbled onto their territory. "Has a cat gone missing?" He asks, gaze shifting between his apprentice and Blazestar opposite.​

 

[BLAZESTAR]

When the undergrowth parts to reveal jet-black fur, Blazestar thinks for a moment that Little Wolf has gotten a moment away from the nursery. But the broad shoulders, thick pelt, and molten golden eyes tell him his son is on this patrol, not his former mate. He searches his kit's eyes, and he realizes he has not spoken to Burnpaw since he and Moonpaw had chosen to stay in ThunderClan.

Then, there had been resentment smoldering in that amber gaze, but now there is hesitance. "Dad?" Blazestar has not heard Burnpaw or Moonpaw call him that in moons... For a moment, he doesn't know what to say. Burnpaw offers to get Flycatcher or Howlingstar, but the blue-pelted deputy is quick to appear next.

Blazestar looks to Greenpaw, to Thistleback, to the rest of his patrol, before he dips his head to the ThunderClan deputy. "My daughter. Howlpaw has gone missing." His eyes are clouded with the grief he has been attempting to suppress. Another daughter, lost. "She left by herself some time ago and hasn't returned. I had thought maybe she'd come to ThunderClan..." That hope is dashed. Flycatcher and Burnpaw would have known, would have surely told him already?​

[ PENNED BY MARQUETTE ]​

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[Flamewhisker]

The flame hued Molly had been hunting with Cloudypaw near the Skyclan border when a strong scent of Skyclan started to fill the area. Her pelt would prickle with apprehension, still weary of the other clan after the last border skirmish. She would beckon for her apprentice to follow her, and they would make their way towards the smell. It could just be a border patrol...but we still better check it out.

The pair arrived right after Flycatcher had. She would raise her tail in greeting to her mate, then her attention would shift to the flame point leader. It wasn't often that a leader was on the border...hopefully it wasn't something serious. My daughter has gone missing. She couldn't help but widen her eyes in surprise at his words. Why had Howlpaw left...Had she been taken? Of course...he had assumed she had come here. She would glance to Flycatcher, her eyes giving away some sympathy. She knew how they would feel if Falconpaw or Stormpaw had gone missing.

She looked back to the leader, slowly shaking her head. "I'm sorry...she is not here. I will let Little Wolf know as soon as possible.." Even though Little Wolf was in the nursery, there was no way she wouldn't tell the queen.

/
Apprentice tag
@Cloudypaw

[₊⋆]​

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[Moonwhisper]

⋅⊱—————————————————————⊰⋅ ☾ Moonpaw, Apprentice of ThunderClan
It had been a long time since she'd seen her father this close. At a distance at gatherings was all she had, rarely did she come across him on patrols and if he was on one she was not present. It's how it was, it how it would forever be. She'd long since gotten over it but as she approaches she can not help but overhear his broken tone lament his missing daughter and it sends a chill down her spine.
"You lost her?" Her voice is disbelieving as much as she tries not to make it sound as much. Moonpaw shouldn't care that a SkyClan apprentice is missing, she shouldn't care that her sister is gone because she was already gone in her heart wasn't she? When they chose to stay with Blazestar they were no longer kin; Raccoonstripe had said as much and it was something that had been drilled in her from that point on. Still, she finds herself upset as she moves to stand alongside Burnpaw, ice blue eyes wide and then suddenly furious; he had one job and he could not even do that. Could not even keep safe the cats who stayed at his side, their stupid law of loyalties meant nothing if her sister could so easily just vanish under their noses without a hair left to trail behind. Moonpaw wants to not care, but she does. She wants to think only of ThunderClan but time and time again she is tested. It was a constant battle and she failed it everytime.
"...how could you lose her?"

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[BURNSTORM]

Burnpaw feels a detached feeling as his father speaks, and then Flamewhisker and then Moonpaw. Their voices sound so far away. Howlpaw, missing. The last thing he had said to her had not been kind. He had called her a traitor. His heart skips a beat and he finds himself struggling to breathe. He presses himself against his sister, into Moonpaws matching plush pelt, drawing strength as much as giving comfort. His sister is angry, but one look at his fathers face and he knows Blazestar is not to blame, the her anger is unfounded but he cannot blame her. He would probably be too if he wasn’t spiraling right now.

"Someone needs to tell mom" he finally manages to choke out. She deserved to know that her daughter was missing. But he is not sure if he is strong enough to be the one who tells her. His yellow eyes sweep across the cats present, looking for a willing face before he turns and storms off, black tail the last thing to be seen as he disappears into the undergrowth but he was not going back to camp. Not yet.

// out! ​

 

[bluejay]

"Now, now.. Nobody is to blame in this situation." Bluejay chirps as she rounds Blazestar and Thistleback's sides, ears swiveling to the front to listen to the conversation. She felt.. A bit out of place, to be honest. These were all forest dwelling cats who chose to make the forest their permanent home, and she felt jealous of them in this moment. How could she leave her twolegs behind forever? Even if she didn't like staying in their nest for too long, they were still her twolegs.

Turning to Blaze, Bluejay approaches this with a much more gentler perspective. "Perhaps a twoleg picked her up, then? If she is not here." She wants to say that it's a better thing that a twoleg would snatch her up, but she wasn't so sure. There were always bad upwalkers at times, those who hurt cats that didn't do anything wrong.

Cats begin to leave, fetching someone called Little Wolf. These two kits must be Blaze's children, ones who chose to stay with their mother seemingly. "Thistle, buddy, pal.." She sings, turning her attention to the lead warrior. "Please, for the love of stars, don't let this go downhill. We're only here to check and see if Howlpaw was in ThunderClan's territory, right? Right?" We can handle our own affairs, right? Without making a big deal?​