private BUT I PROMISE YOU THIS, I'LL ALWAYS LOOK OUT FOR YOU ₊˚❀༉‧₊˚. DOEPATH

[GENTLESTORM]

.𓍊↟ DOWN THE BANK WHERE THE DOGS ROAM, POR LA CALLE QUE TE LLEVA A CURICÓ ↟𓍊.​

‧₊˚❀༉‧₊˚. — He can feel his blood beginning to boil again at the fresh memory of the meeting and how Skyclaw had spat on the memory of Howlingstar once more after renaming some of the warriors, it makes him angry knowing that those moons spent training, and passing their assessments that they would be disrespected amongst their clanmates. Doecry is what that foxheart had decided to rename the molly that he had helped recover from her eye injuries caused by her own mother and he thinks briefly of Antlerbreeze whose named after the deathberries she had found in the squirrel given to Coltkit and Ivorypaw, its enough to make an angry breath leave his throat as his claws dug into his nest. The silver tom's ears flick back as they press into his skull and he spares a glance in the direction of Orangepaw's resting figure then to his nephews that were curled together, Gentlestorm shakes his head only to press his paws onto the earth as he pushes himself to stand despite the pain in his side "Forgive me..." He utters under his breath as he pushes forward to slip out from his den knowing that his injury could not deter him from carrying out his duties nor orders, he thinks about what the deputy had said to him.

His eyes spot the fawn pelt of Doepath but he doesn't stop as he ignores the concerned glances in his direction and the quiet mumbles of 'he should be resting', Gentlestorm lightly touches her shoulder with his nose only to offer a faint smile before parting his jaws to speak in a murmur "Would you share a meal with me?" His head nods to the fresh-kill pile dismissing any other glances in his direction as he lets her pick out whatever she's in the mood for, he can't stomach anything right now not with everything that's happening but once they settle down near his den with a piece of prey. His ears angle forward as he makes sure that nobody's too close to hear them talking "Doepath..." He begins not daring to call her that name given to her by Skyclaw, he wasn't truly leader and those names were not approved by the stars, and they definitely weren't approved by him. "I need you to be strong, sweetpea..." The tone of his murmur true to his name as he spares a glance to those passing by and seeing a patrol leave trailed by a few of Skyclaw's followers, "Could you do that for me?"

He extends a large snowy dipped paw forward to place onto her own and tilts his helm to the side, he falls silent for a few heartbeats and he murmurs once more "It won't stay like this, I promise." They wouldn't stay in this hell that Skyclaw has created... Flamewhisker would fix it and Gentlestorm would be there to help as much as he can.

⡠﹞AND DOWN BY THE BEACH ‧₊˚❀༉‧₊˚. WHERE NO OTHERS CAN FIND﹝⠢

• 

  MEDICINE CAT IN TRAINING;
  — ✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿ FLESH WOUNDS
  — ✿✿✿✿✿✿✿❀❀❀ INFECTIONS
  — ✿✿✿✿✿✿✿❀❀❀ ACHES & PAINS
  — ✿✿✿✿✿✿❀❀❀❀ ILLNESS
  — ✿✿✿✿✿✿❀❀❀❀ BREATHING ISSUES
  — ✿❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀ TRAVELING HERBS
  — ✿✿✿✿✿✿✿❀❀❀ BROKEN BONES
  — ✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿ KITTING
  — ❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀ POISONS
• 
  ✿ a longhaired blue sepia tom w/low white and brown eyes
  ✿ gentlestorm is a very warm individual and friendly to those who he meets, he's very social and willing to lend anyone a paw if they need it. he's very patient, caring, and it's usually rare to earn his ire.
  ✿ 58 moons old; ages the 27th every month
  ✿ demiromantic bisexual ; widowed mate of little wolf
  ✿ easy to befriend/interact with ; hard to anger/upset ; peaceful powerplay allowed
  ✿ "speech", thoughts, attacking

​

 

[doepath ࿔]

It shreds at tender wounds with needle-thin claws, to agonizingly pluck her name sake and dissect it. Stealing the meaning, tarnishing it, and making a mockery of the pride that Howlingstar had embraced her with in warm pools of moss and jade. Her grief for the death of a short-lived era is shared with those who suffer in tandem... such wretched names meant to spite them. It was cruel... she couldn't imagine a StarClan that would sanction such horrors.

The gentle brush of whiskers and muzzle at her shoulder summons her attention abruptly, sunset eyes wandering the floor to search for pale fur so she might confirm what herb-drowned scent already told her. "Gentlestorm," she breathes softly, relief melting the tension held in round features. "Of course," her appetite wasn't exactly flourishing but she wouldn't dare make the medicine cat worry for her health my admitting it so plainly. She plucks a mouse, humble and meager so as not to be a waste, before trailing after him with her head held low in the vain hope they'd go unnoticed that way.

They sit in relative privacy, as private as the heavily watched camp can offer, and in a cotton-soft tone he says her name. Not this accursed caricature but the real one. It strums at her heart strings with miserable comfort, taking solace at least that there are plenty amongst their crowd that thought the same thing he did. That it was a nasty joke... that it meant nothing. He asks for strength in the face of their greatest hurdle yet- When have I ever been good for strength?- her lips draw down to an uncertain frown.

It felt like a virtue already feeble and sapped more and more with every development. Slowly the supports under frail limbs were being ripped away, even the kind-hearted tom that sat here now, stinking of poultice to hide the smell of blood underneath. "You're hurt," she answers flatly, opting not to answer the question in favor of pointing out the danger of 'being strong.' Look what good that got you...

There is a promise of better times to come, that suffering is all temporary, that it will change. She'd told Sunshinespot that too, hadn't she? Had it been a lie then, like it felt like it was now to hear it? Did he hate her for it? For saying something so sweet and so unlikely? Her mouth opens, thinking to speak, closes... opens again at last with a small, demoralized sigh, "I'm trying.... I am trying...."

Her gaze flicks towards the sea of shifting colors, the impressionism of her clan-mates and after a hesitant pause, whispers, "I keep getting this horrible feeling...." Skyclaw's jagged grin looks like broken glass, fractured and sharpened in her mind's eye, "Like I'm being hunted... Like I'm going to die..."​

 

[GENTLESTORM]

.𓍊↟ DOWN THE BANK WHERE THE DOGS ROAM, POR LA CALLE QUE TE LLEVA A CURICÓ ↟𓍊.​

‧₊˚❀༉‧₊˚. — "You're hurt." The molly says rather flatly to him and Gentlestorm can feel the smile on his maw faltering as he shifts his gaze away from the honeyed pools that belonged to Doepath, his ears pressing flat against his head as he tries to find reason to why he's hurt and a dry chuckle slips from his jaws as he shakes his head "I am... But I'll be fine... Everything will be fine soon enough." He tries not to think about that fight that unfurled within his own medicine den and how the smell of copper still lingered on blades of grass, Gentlestorm had made several attempts to pluck out every blade in hopes of lessening the stench that he had been injured but only so much could be done. He thinks of the fangs and teeth that had caught onto his skin, he winces as he pushes the memory away not wishing to think of the damned chimera that paraded around with his wolves. Batwing isn't here to sacrifice himself for others so Gentlestorm sees that it is his turn to be brave and to face off the fangs of their enemies.

You would wish that for me... wouldn't you, friend? To be brave as you were. He thinks glancing down at his paws only to focus his attention once more to Doepath as she mentions that she's trying and he wishes that she didn't need to that she could be safely tucked away in his medicine den along with his kin and Orangepaw so she'd be safe. The last thing he wanted to see is the fawn that he nutured back to health get torn to bits by the hungry and cruel teeth of the wolves that surrounded their home, he doesn't know what he'd do if anything bad happened to Doepath... What he would feel but he knows that she isn't a little fawn anymore not the same that had stayed within his den that first moon, no, she's all grown. "I know you are... I believe you." Gentlestorm murmurs quietly as he clears his throat to avoid his voice from cracking underneath the pressure and the overwhelming emotions that he felt as they sat there with the mouse between them.

"I keep getting this horrible feeling.... Like I'm being hunted... Like I'm going to die..."

His eyes widen at this confession and he feels his stomach twist with unease as the blood coursing through his body running cold as he briefly imagines Doepath's stilled form... No, no. He musn't think of that... The fact that she feels this way makes Gentlestorm want to tell her to come to the medicine den where she could be safe and that he'd protect her, he would keep the monsters at bay just like before. These words do not slip from his mouth but he feels as if its lodged in his throat like a chunk of meat that refuses to go down, he shakes his head once more as he parts his jaws to speak and struggles for a heartbeat. "You won't... You aren't going to die." The large tom finally says and he silently prays to Starclan to make his words true, she would not die, he didn't want to lose another cat dear to him.

"As long as I'm here and able to run to you, you won't die." He pauses for a moment thinking about how running through the woodland to reach Doepath would reopen his wounds but he doesn't care, Gentlestorm would drop dead before Doepath did if it meant that she got to live. He would've ran through Thunderclan and the wolves if it gave him even the silver of hope and chance that she'd live, he would do the same for Batwing if he could do it all over again. Those canid creatures wouldn't continue to take from him... "I don't care if they reopen... I'm sincere... you won't die." ... you can't die... I won't let you... The silvery pelted tom takes a deep breath and blinks the sadness away from his eyes as he tries to focus on his task once more.

"Flamewhisker will make Thunderclan safe again." He whispers despite the croak in his voice and he looks to her once more, "A stand against Skyclaw and his followers..." His wolves... Gentlestorm focuses his eyes on the mouse once more but feels sick to his belly at its stilled form and snaps his gaze away. "I need you to be ready when that day comes, Doe..."

⡠﹞AND DOWN BY THE BEACH ‧₊˚❀༉‧₊˚. WHERE NO OTHERS CAN FIND﹝⠢

• 

  MEDICINE CAT IN TRAINING;
  — ✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿ FLESH WOUNDS
  — ✿✿✿✿✿✿✿❀❀❀ INFECTIONS
  — ✿✿✿✿✿✿✿❀❀❀ ACHES & PAINS
  — ✿✿✿✿✿✿❀❀❀❀ ILLNESS
  — ✿✿✿✿✿✿❀❀❀❀ BREATHING ISSUES
  — ✿❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀ TRAVELING HERBS
  — ✿✿✿✿✿✿✿❀❀❀ BROKEN BONES
  — ✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿ KITTING
  — ❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀ POISONS
• 
  ✿ a longhaired blue sepia tom w/low white and brown eyes
  ✿ gentlestorm is a very warm individual and friendly to those who he meets, he's very social and willing to lend anyone a paw if they need it. he's very patient, caring, and it's usually rare to earn his ire.
  ✿ 58 moons old; ages the 27th every month
  ✿ demiromantic bisexual ; widowed mate of little wolf
  ✿ easy to befriend/interact with ; hard to anger/upset ; peaceful powerplay allowed
  ✿ "speech", thoughts, attacking

​

 

[doepath ࿔]

The fact that the warm pools of muddy amber dart away from her statement is the only answer she needs. Skyclaw couldn't be fought nor won against... And there was little Gentlestorm could do about that either. As much as she beloved him as a hero, protector and healer, he is finite and mortal just as she is... and for all his stubbornness, he creates risk. Everything will be fine.

Her eye lids lower in skepticism, whiskers twitch in disbelief, casting her stare away from downy fur. She's smart enough to know better. This would only end in bloodshed, the same way it started... and somehow she didn't feel very confident about her odds. There was only so much her little tutoring lessons could do for her when she was outnumbered and besieged by those that shared a den with her... she couldn't even name all of their tyrant leader's sympathizers... To know who to avoid.

She nods, confirming her promise of her efforts. She wouldn't forsake the chance to be apart of a better future... if only to fulfill her promise to Sunshinespot. If all else failed... they'd see each other again anyways, even if it meant reuniting dusted in stars.

Guilt wiggles and worms around uncomfortably in her stomach as Gentlestorm's breath catches anxiously in his chest, a tiny hesitation that her ears flick towards. "Sorry..." an apology for upsetting him, for making him promise it was just a bad thought. That he'd be there to keep her safe.

What a burden... The molly thinks, wallowing in self-pity, That everyone always has to protect me. As much as it brings her shame, a sickening satisfaction curls up close to her chest; to be cared for and nurtured and wanted in all the ways her mother hadn't. "You don't need to do all of that," she promises, placing her extra paw on top of his that had reached for her to begin with, "I'll find my way back to you if I need help, promise."

The mention of Flamewhisker's name more directly makes her wonder.... What did he know... He kept saying it wasn't forever. That it would change. She wouldn't be left to wonder for long, a hushed conspiracy shared with hopeful eagerness. A chance at freedom, at salvation. She reaches down to take a bite of her mouse, chewing thoughtfully (to hide the fact that eating felt so dissatisfying) as the medicine cat urged for her preparedness. "Gentlestorm.... Did she tell you," the fawn she-cat asks in a hushed whisper, "Fallowbite tried to save Howlingstar.... It doesn't have any fondness for Skyclaw- please don't let anyone hurt it." She remembers the fear in her voice when she'd confessed how thin her will to continue the ruse was, "I'll keep my head down.... stay out of trouble.... As long as it keeps up the charade... we may be okay."

Stubbornly, she lifts her head to glare at him, "You on the other paw... need to be more careful.... We don't have another medicine cat Gentlestorm.... There's no replacing you. I'm just another warrior, it isn't worth it."​