BROKEN ALL WE HAD // tunnel accident

[DAZZLEPAW]

It was just another boring day in the tunnels for him doing what he did every single day. Tracking down rabbits. Dazzlepaw was at the lead as he was chasing after the rabbit he and the rest of the patrol was chasing after. Maybe he should have paid better attention that day, usually he was quite aware of his own surrendings after all. But today he was admittedly a bit tired after yesterdays chores and Dirtpools brutal training session. So he didn't notice when one of his clanmates at the back alarmed them of the upcoming danger. Dazzlepaw had just lunged himself at the rabbit to pin it down underneath him, grinning like he always did when he heard something crack above his head. Dazzlepaw would look up to stare in confusion before the ground above his head started to rain down rocks. " Run!!, everyone run!!." one of the warriors shouted in alarm and the panic kicked in for all of them. Dazzlepaw's eyes went wide realising the danger he actually was under. The ground above their heads were about to collapse!.

Dazzlepaw swiftly turned as he left the still alive rabbit behind as he started to run for his life all while the ground above his head started to come raining down on him. He tried to catch up to the rest of the patrol but suddenly something big and hard hit him right across the side of his head. With a held back yelp Dazzlepaw crashed down to the ground his side hitting the wall of the tunnel. His head was throbbing with pain, blood running down to cloud his vision not realising he had been hit with a rock. Despite how dizzy he felt tried to get up but fell right back down. Through his blurried vision saw that white shiny fur, kowing exactly who it was. " Sister!!, sister help me!!." he called out to his flesh and blood, fear never having been so real in his eyes before, terrified to be left behind and buried in the tunnels.

His sister seemed to have heard him before she stopped running. Shinepaw turned her head around to stare directly at her own brother and despite how blurried Dazzlepaw's vision was could see his sisters face clearly in that very moment. He reached out a paw to her in desperation, thinking for a split moment that she for sure would help him. But all she did was stare him down and that paw he so pleadingly reached out to her before a cold smirk spread across her maw. " Farewell brother." she left him with these words as she started to run again away from him.

Dazzlepaw couldn't believe his eyes. He had always feared a day like this might come, that his existence didn't matter much to anyone even less his family but he had never wished it to be true. But now it got confirmed as he watched his sister leave him behind to die alone in the tunnel with a wide-devastated look with tears threatening to stream down his face. With the paw still desperately reaching out for his sister in disbelief. How could she.

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The patrol made it out from the tunnels right before the entrance collapsed making it impossible to get back in there. While everyone was catching their breaths and trying to calm themselves down from the danger they just had escaped from barely with their lives, one of the warriors took charge over the situation. " Is everyone okay?!, did everyone make it out?!." Everyone started to look between one another to see if someone not had made it out of the tunnels....if anyone was missing.

// one of the tunnels collapsed (': fill free to have your tunneller being part of the patrol if you like!, woops! I don't want anyone to know that Shinepaw left her brother behind there!, fill free to confront her and ask about Dazzlepaw though if you like! i will play her if anyone would interact with her (:


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[SCORCHSTREAK]

The sound of a collapsing tunnel is not one that Scorchstreak hears often, but it is one that she will never forget. She grew up in underground spaces, knows how dangerous a tunnel collapse can be to an unsuspecting cat. So she understands exactly what she must do when, somewhere ahead of her, a voice calls for the entire patrol to run. She grips at the scruff of the cat nearest her, urging them to turn as she does. Black paws tear into the earth below, claws digging in for better traction as she sprints through tunnels, recalling the nearest exit tunnel—but she doesn’t have to, because the cat ahead of her is already headed in the correct direction.

The light of day burns her eyes, and she squints against the brightness until her eyes gradually adjust. Her chest heaves and she shakes out her red-streaked pelt as she comes to a stop a safe distance away. Immediately she turns to look across the rest of the tunnelers. "Is everyone okay?" She echoes another cat, counting heads and then tails.

They’re one cat short.

The black and red fur lifts along her back, despite her attempt to keep overwhelming panic at bay. "Someone’s missing. Who all was with us?" Who had shouted the warning when the tunnel had first begun to collapse? She hopes that whoever is missing, they’re simply elsewhere. Maybe they escaped out a different exit, or even just got trapped on the other side of the collapsed tunnel section.
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[ LIKE A RATTLESNAKE ]​

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[SOOTSTAR]

ㅤ

SOOTSTAR

WindClan Leader
☆☆★★★★★★★

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HP:​

██████████

Loves:

Hates:

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Sootstar wondered what would happen if she died in the tunnels. Being buried alive wasn‘t something lives could fix, she was pretty sure. Her fate would be to be crushed and buried alive over and over again until all her lives drained to zero. Still she entered the tunnels fearlessly, convinced nothing would happen to her.

Yet today it had been a close call, not only for her, but for all of the patrol.

Panting she turns and looks at Scorchstride who notes someone was missing, her eyes flash in alarm as she scans the cats present. It takes her a quick second to realize an apprentice was now gone, ”Dazzlepaw!” She exclaims in alarm, eyes dilating. There was no way back into the tunnel to get to him, it’s entrance now firmly closed off. Sootstar’s heart sinks and she sits down as a stinging realization washes over her.

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[Firefang]

There was a rebellion to the way Windclanners lived, their paws bringing them to the depths they should not walk - that no other clan dared to brave. It was a duty for the bravest of them those who could handle the pressure of of not solid walls pressing on their flanks and the feeling of dirt perpetually smeared in every pore that lay under their fur. A duty she had to abandon with little reluctance; fear swayed her feeble heart. She would not forget the immense cacophony that sung through the ruined tunnel as it's unfaithfully ceiling came crashing down on the depths of all who roamed it; not caring if the smallest rabbit or sturdiest warrior was trapped in it's all embracing crush. Firefang had gotten lucky and she wouldn't get lucky again. Staring in those barren holes only made her remember her shame that burned as brightly as her mothers disappointment. Sometimes she misses the pressure of being surrounded by the darkness, wonders if the dark beyond beneath her paws could speak what exactly would it say? Yet it stayed silent until it wasn't but she's none the wiser of it's roar anymore, she runs over the moors naïve to it's malignance.

The tunnels gave so much, made them prosper throughout the barren leafbare but they also took away. There was always a price to pay.

A rabbit hangs limply in her jaws, and how ironic that she catches one risking so little while Dazzlepaw lays buried beneath the weight of the bones of all tunnelers before him who've met the same fate. Her ears would flick catching sounds of commotion from nearby, it's faint but the moors offer little when it comes to dulling the sounds that erupt form within on. Something wasn't right. Her hackles raise as if a veritable chill breathed down her neck in the midst of green leaf. She gives her patrol a side glance before deciding quickly with little preamble to investigate; ever the curious one - forever the anxious. She drops her catch at her apprentices paws a quick order for him to run it back to camp and a brief stern look thrown Harrierpaw's way for good measure to insure he didn't follow her.

She's fleetfooted, running fast until she's at the scene eyes wide; familiarity never faded when it came to a sight like this. Her paws tremble, a name almost echoes it's way from her throat before she soothed either remembering the she-cat wasn't in this patrol in the first place (or standing here just fine). Her ears are flat and her large paws bring her closer eyes brimming with worry as she looks to Sootstar and the rest that gather covered in the dust of the collapse. ❝What happened?❞ she hadn't caught exactly what had been yowled, hadn't heard the name that had been forgotten and now buried. ❝Nobodies hurt right?❞

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( ✦ )

 

[WEASELCLAW]

The scent of dirt-streaked feline pelts hits Weaselclaw's scent glands. He looks to @sparkpaw. , a twinkle in his pale blue eyes as he mutters, "Tunnelers are coming up for air. Shall we go see if they caught anything?" He begins to kick dirt and prairie grass over his own catch, pulled neatly into a thicket of gorse to hide it from high-flying predators.

When he crests the slope, he finds himself staring down at a small group of disgruntled-looking WindClanners. Firefang is among them, apparently having heard the commotion herself. As he gets closer, he begins to hear words that chill him down to the marrow in his bones. "Tunnel collapse."

Weaselclaw's fur begins to clump with fear along his back; he leaves his apprentice, kicking up sod as he rushes to Sootstar's side. He presses his cheek against her own, frantically eying her smoky fur for abrasions and injuries. "Are you alright? Bluepaw wasn't... Cottonpaw...?" He stammers, but then he remembers with overwhelming relief that both of his daughters were camp-bound today. Cottonpaw is still injured, and Bluepaw had last been seen exchanging the elder's bedding for clean moss.

But Scorchstreak says with dismay that their group is one cat short, and Sootstar exclaims, "Dazzlepaw!" Weaselclaw's head snaps around to the tunnel entrance, his pupils slivers of gray in storm-blue eyes. "No! There's a cat still down there? An apprentice?" Dazzlepaw. One of those infuriatingly disrespectful young apprentices, but a WindClanner nonetheless. Weaselclaw's breathing becomes ragged as he imagines the young tom's fate, alone in the darkness, crushed by earth and losing oxygen. "Wh-what can we do? Is there anything--? Who was his partner?"

He knows enough -- that tunnelers do not do their work solo. The lean tabby whips around, finding Shinepaw with angry, narrow eyes. "You're his littermate. Were you with him?" His eyes narrow. Does she seem concerned that she's lost her brother forever?​

[ PENNED BY MARQUETTE ]​

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[SOOTSTAR]

SOOTSTAR ♀​

The touch of her mate is hardly noticed by the blue smoke. She’s edging her way to the collapsed tunnel and noses at it, her brows upwardly arched and a weighted frown worn in distress. She hardly has it in her to answer her moor runners concern and confused questions, her mind much too fixated on the certain loss of Dazzlepaw to formulate words. Weaselclaw steps in and asks the tom’s littermate if she was with him. Meanwhile Sootstar looks to Scorchstreak, ”…We must try- at least.” It would be a waste of energy and time, she knows… but what if? Sootstar would not be able to forgive herself if she left an apprentice suffocating and she could’ve helped it. With dirt still caked to her pelt the she-cat races off in the direction she knows access to the tunnels will present itself. She is expecting her fellow tunneler to follow, but perhaps she will be stopped. It would be unwise to enter the tunnel path that had proven to be unstable. //sootstar may be stopped or encouraged in her pursuit back into the tunnels

 

[KAZENIKURA]

// posting as shinepaw because i dont have an account for them lol

Shinepaw who usually loved to stand in the spotlight had been quiet hoping to not catch anyones attention. It had worked well in her favor until their very own lead warrior suddenly adressed her. The apprentice flinched at this, her attention now drifting to the respected lead warrior of the clan. Shinepaw was not one who was easily frightened but even her thought Weaselclaw to be quite intimating with his sharp glares. It made the young molly feel nervouse and she cursed Dazzlepaw. It was all her fault for putting her into this position right now. " Yes i was but...i lost sight of him in all of the chaos in the tunnel...I really thought he was behind me...i'm sorry." she dodged to look directly into the lead warriors eye as she spoke, looking apologic but not did she wore the expression of someone who was mourning the potential death of her own littermate. The two didn't get along. Dazzlepaw was known to be an outcast of the family and Shinepaw was uncable to show any compassion for her brother-pretender.

Didn't made it any better that Sootstar wanted to return back into the tunnels to search for her littermate. That left a bitter taste upon her tongue. Why would even their own leader go to such lengths for a such pathetic being like her brother!. He was just a waste of space, unworthy to even get to live here among them. Shinepaw had made them all a favor by leaving him behin so why couldn't they just let him rot in there to suffocate to his death like he deserved. Shinepaw had to bite down on her tongue as she looked away with jealousy over the attention her brother was receving right now which should be placed on her instead!. Even more then before she hoped he was suffering down there.



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[SCORCHSTREAK]

More clanmates gather, but the calico isn’t paying attention to them. Her pulse pounds in her ears, nearly deafening as others begin to panic around her. The only cat who has her full attention is Sootstar—the leader says that the tunneler they’re missing is Dazzlepaw. And the apprentice is likely still trapped beneath dirt, buried alive under the weight of a collapsed tunnel. If he isn’t dead already, he doesn’t have long.

Before she can say anything more, Sootstar is sprinting away. She seems determined to somehow find Dazzlepaw, even at the risk of her own pelt. "Sootstar!" Scorchstreak shouts, tearing off after the other she-cat. Her paws aren’t quite as quick as the leader’s, but she manages to keep up with her well enough. "We can’t go in! We’ll have to try and find him from above," her cries are interspersed with panting, anxiety rippling through her stomach. What if they can’t find him? What if he’s lost forever? It’s been so long since she’s lost someone to a tunnel collapse… she can’t lose a clanmate.
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[ LIKE A RATTLESNAKE ]​

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[WEASELCLAW]

Weaselclaw listens to Shinepaw with a terse expression. "So he was behind you..." He shudders again, fearing the worst. Dazzlepaw is lost to them, it's clear enough to him. He would not have survived, surely, with the earth caving in around him, smothered and suffocated.

Sootstar is quiet, almost deadpan at his touch. When she speaks, Weaselclaw turns to look at her with horror. "We must try at least." Her paws are quick -- she's off, running toward what he assumes is another opening to this particular underground network. Scorchstreak's protest is lost to the wind as she pelts after Sootstar. Weaselclaw hastily follows suit; his fur is fluffed up with genuine fear, his gait unsteady. "No! Won't any of these tunnels be unstable now? You can't!" He does not mean to forbid his leader, but he can't stand by while she drags Scorchstreak to their deaths.

StarClan might not find her underground, after all.

"We'll do what we can from above," he vows desperately, imploring Sootstar to look at him, away from the tunnels that could spell her demise.​

[ PENNED BY MARQUETTE ]​

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[Azaleafrost]

Azaleapaw had been nearby on a hunt, but the sudden frantic voices had drawn her attention, also scaring her mouse away. She didn't care, the voices were more important. It was mostly tunnelers who spoke, and from what she could hear, something terrible had happened.

She made her way closer, eyes widening in terror as she gleaned that Dazzlepaw hadn't made it out of a collapse. She burst through the grass, her emotionless facade completely gone to show a terrified wide eyed stare.

Dazzlepaw couldn't be dead. He was one of her only friends, he couldn't die.

Her eyes were beginning to mist as her chest tightened. What should she do?? She looked to the tunnel they had escaped, contemplating going in herself.

She wasn't small enough anymore, though....

"We... We have to help him- we have to do something- we could... We could dig from the top???" She suggested shakily. "We can't leave him..."

She was near ready to choke on her tears, but she held back, for now.
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[SOOTSTAR]

SOOTSTAR ♀​

Scorchstreak and Weaselclaw are quick to implore her not to go. She stops in her tracks and looks at their pleading eyes, maybe they were right. Going back down would be foolish, not that she didn't have lives to spare but... if the apprentice was already dead... "Okay... but how? I... I don't know how we'd be able to find him from up here." She confesses, knowing the collapse likely didn't cause the earth to visibly dent. They could try and backtrack the tunnels they took above ground, but mistakes in retracing their steps were likely. Despite her inner-confusion she's already attempting to retrace the path of the tunnels from above ground, looking for any visible sign of a collapse.

 

[SCORCHSTREAK]

Weaselclaw chases after she and Sootstar, and the calico is grateful to the tom once more as he chimes in as well, lending his voice to also urge the leader not to go back into the tunnels. She may have more lives than any of the rest of them, but what good will those lives do her if she’s trapped beneath dirt in a collapsed tunnel? Leaders can lose multiple lives at once—they’d all heard of Emberstar, Briarstar, and Pitchstar’s fates. Would the same happen to Sootstar?

Thankfully, the blue she-cat relents, turning to face Scorchstreak and Weaselclaw and asking how they’re going to find the apprentice. She glances to Weaselclaw, hoping that the tom will have a suggestion. "I don’t know, we’ll just have to hope we can find the right place. But we can’t go back in there, Sootstar. Us being dead won’t help Dazzlepaw." Us, she says, because as dangerous, as risky as it would be… if the leader decides once and for all to charge back into the tunnels, Scorchstreak will follow her. As it is, she trails behind Sootstar as the other she-cat tries to trace a path back to where the tunnel may have collapsed. Her memory of the twists and turns of the tunnels is normally good, but through the panic of their quick escape, the calico can’t recall exactly where the collapse would have happened.
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[ LIKE A RATTLESNAKE ]​

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[WEASELCLAW]

Sootstar halts and agrees not to burst through the tunnels again, and Weaselclaw's legs are weak with relief. That is, until she begins to nose around again, tracing their path, he guesses, from above. The tabby imagines Dazzlepaw below, suffocating beneath soil, unable to move, and he's not able to control the flinch that overtakes his features.

"It's possible we've lost him," he says, as much as he hates to say it. He can feel Scorchstreak looking at him with beseeching amber eyes, but he shakes his head gently. She and Sootstar would know better than him, and if neither of them have a clue about how to save the young apprentice... Weaselclaw has to consider the fact that he's gone to join StarClan.​

[ PENNED BY MARQUETTE ]​

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[Periwinklebreeze.]

STEADY THE RIGHTS AND THE WRONGS
periwinklepaw | 09 months | demi-boy | he/they | physically easy (pacifist) | mentally easy | attack in bold #ccccff

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As periwinklepaw finally reaches the group, slowed by the heaviness that weighs upon his very soul and the mole clutched tightly in his jaws, he cannot comprehend what he is seeing - what he is hearing. He stumbles - legs giving out beneath him, and it is only sheer willpower that keeps him from collapsing completely in the dirt. Blue eyes snap to meet orange as he stares at azaleapaw in shared horror and incomprehension. Even as he drops his prey - what use is prey when dazzlepaw is in danger? - he cannot find his voice - jaw working silently save for a muted whine that nearly chokes him. He can only nod frantically in agreement, throwing himself forwards to help in any way he can. All his childish animosity and fear is forgotten as he follows sootstar, follows weasleclaw and scorchstreak and the rest. He does not care who as long as somebody saves his friend. He cannot die - periwinklepaw cannot lose anyone else.

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