conspiracy / 'honoring' the dead

[GHOSTWAIL]

Moor-runners were made to be above ground, made to run through the fields that made up WindClan's expansive territory. Speed was the key trait of a moor-runner, a trait that the cat in front of her had sorely lacked. He was below her front paws now, buried among the fallen his fallen brethren. He had been slow and useless, an unwanted lesion that were able to be excised without much lost.

"Your clan continues without you, somehow..." The phantom muses at the dirt, her paws ghosting over the wilted flower that adorned the marked grave. Just as she had suspected, Tigerfrost had been superfluous to WindClan growth. Sootstar was stronger than ever, ready and willing to overthrow the other leaders, the pretenders and liars that represented the rest of the forest. They would all fall to her claws. None of them deserved the Queen's mercy, just as Tigerfrost had not deserved hers.

Still, a token of her appreciation is laid beside the flower - a singular claw. A talon ripped from the paw of some kittypet playing at warrior. "The clan grows strong. Soon, the forest will be ours." And it will be me that Sootstar shares her victory with, while you rot in the wake of my achievement. Tigerfrost was the first, but if the phantom of WindClan had her way, he certainly wouldn't be the last.​

- you call for peace when it suits you​

 

[HEAVY SNOW]

Heavy Snow had spent many moons in Mallowlark's presence and while, at first, he had found the toms permanent grin unsettling he had, with time, grown accustomed to it and when he had gotten closer to him, gotten to know the real him, he could look past the quirks and the oddities and love him for who he was. The time spent with him had given him a unique tolerance for the stranger cats in WindClan, Ghostwail included. He does not even blink at the strange habits of the alabaster she cat, does not even blink when he comes to find her hunched over a grave, speaking to the dead. Granted, he does not know much about his fellow moor-runner. Still, he is polite anyways.

He dips his head in solemn greeting as he approaches. The graveyard was not where his own family rested, but he still came to pay his respects to the fallen anyways. They had been his clanmates after all. "Ghostwail" he says in way of a hello. He had heard the last bit of her small speech but he makes no comment on it. He does not care for such things as violence and bloodshed, after all. Instead, he indicates with his head to the grave of the cat she had been speaking to. "Were you close?" he asks. He and Tigerfrost had only known each other the way Clanmates did, in passing but never anything deeper than surface level.
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[WOLFSONG]

── .∘°°∘. ── Tigerfrost was a capable warrior, whose absence from WindClan's recent battles has been felt quite deeply. Wolfsong has wondered whether they could have left one of those battles victorious with his experience and ferocity on the field, and whether Wolfsong would have needed to treat as many severe wounds had Tigerfrost intervened in just one or two scuffles. They are fortunate to have welcomed new warriors and apprentices to account for the day-to-day routines of hunting and patrolling, but battles are best fought with experience, which Tigerfrost had in leaps and bounds.

They were not especially close, and at times Wolfsong was wary of him, but he did respect him. He deserved more than a death at the claws of honorless, spineless rogues who could only defeat him with greater numbers.

He visits their fallen from time to time. Vulturemask is among them now, and Wolfsong wonders if he might speak to him from StarClan, but he has yet to find anything related to a sign. Today, his visit brings flowers for the buried, though he will not return to this place again until after his kits are born.

"He is missed," he concurs simply, laying to rest a single flower above his grave. Sunsetbreeze, Juniperfrost, Tigerfrost, Vulturemask, and Sedgebreeze. Do they all wait and watch from StarClan?
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WOLFSONG of WINDCLAN FORMER ROGUE TURNED MEDICINE CAT. 36 MOONS, HE/HIM, NPC X NPC. MATES WITH SUNSTRIDE (07/05/2023). BIOGRAPHY, PINTEREST, & PLAYLIST.

medicinal expertise med. part ii med. part iii med. part iv

• — ★★★☆☆ WOUNDS: You're (mostly) in safe paws. You'll know if he's less experienced if he asks for your permission to try a treatment. No wound can scare him away from knowledge. — ★★★☆☆ INFECTION: He can prevent most infections. If you feel feverish, let him know— he'll hum thoughtfully over herbs and sniff your wound before saying, "With your blessing..."
• — ★☆☆☆☆ ACHES & PAINS: If you complain to him of pain, he'll ask where. If it's a headache, you'll likely feel a bit better. For anything else, "Try this, if you'd like, and tell me how you feel." — ★☆☆☆☆ BROKEN BONES: At best. he can ask you to remain lying down in the den. He may try to distract you with conversation while he considers what herb to feed you.
• — ★★★★★ TRAVELING HERBS: Going somewhere? No worries; Wolfsong knows just what you need to stay hale and healthy during your journey. The rest is up to you. — ☆☆☆☆☆ KITTING: He doesn't remember what it was like to be born. Coincidentally, that is the extent of his familiarity with kitting. At least he won't leave you without moral support.
• — ★☆☆☆☆ POISONS: It's best if you avoid eating anything unfamiliar to you— it's probably just as unfamiliar to Wolfsong. The best he can do is offer you yarrow and sit with you. — ★★☆☆☆ ILLNESS: If it's white or greencough, you'll likely recover. Otherwise, prepare for odd concoctions and the usual request that you consent to a little trial-and-error.

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[Badgermoon]

Badgermoon had perhaps been closer to Tigerfrost than the average cat, simply by dint of their serving on Sootstar's council together. However, he knew that several cats had known well and loved the ferocious chimera, including Scorchstreak - it was why, after all, one of their children bore Tigerfrost's suffix. I should bring Frostpaw here sometime. Thought the deputy as he gently laid a slender hawk-feather beside Wolfsong's flower, eyeing Ghostwail and her strange offering.

Perhaps they were close. He knew little of the white she-cat, other than her outward appearance, which he had to admit he strongly disliked - though he tried not to judge based on appearances, Ghostwail's constantly filthy coat and ever-oozing nose made him feel vaguely sick. "WindClan is poorer for his absence." Badgermoon voiced his agreement with the medicine cat's sentiment before taking a few steps back and sitting, bowing his head and falling into silence.​

 

[Periwinklebreeze.]

❀​❀ I FEEL SCARED AND I'M STARTING TO SINK ❀❀​
periwinklebreeze | 12 months | demi-boy | he/they | physically medium (pacifist) | mentally easy | attack in bold #ccccff

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Though periwinklebreeze remains quiet as he joins the group, gaze watchful and wary, he too finds himself mourning as he stares at the grave ghostwail has visited. He'd not always gotten long with tigerfrost - the understatement of the century really. but... if he ignored those dark days spent in the medicine den beside dandy and vult under his watchful gaze, every moment fearing for his friends life... well, the tom hadn't been all that bad. There'd been a few moments towards the end where peri had rethought his stance on the older warrior. And then he'd died - life snuffed out, just like that. No killer to be caught. And now he can't help but wonder if someday, that will be him - life cut too short much too soon. "... he was st-stron-g," he mumbles softly, blackened paws scuffing the ground as his ears twitch nervously.

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[GHOSTWAIL]

Cats gather around her, all speaking in reverent tones for their fallen clanmate. Gifts are placed alongside her own. Words are said to his memory. The phantom flicks her tail at all of it, a dismissal by way of acknowledgement. "Our destinies were intertwined." She says, as if that is a true answer to any question. But to her, it is undeniably true. Tigerfrost stood in the way of her imagined goals and ideals. In her own head, Tigerfrost was an obstacle that had to be removed in order to proceed.

Her clanmates were foolish to not see it, but perhaps it is easier for them to simply grieve the loss of a warrior than consider the ramifications for the future.
It is a lessening of burden that Ghostwail does not envy of any of them. She much preferred her cognizance and erudition. "WindClan perseveres. We will always persevere. I am sure that Tigerfrost would expect nothing less."​

- you call for peace when it suits you​

 

[RATTLEHEART]

Truth be told, Rattleheart's own visits to Windclan's graveyard were infrequent, only really coming about when their mind felt far too weighed down with anxious thoughts. That wasn't an indicator of them not caring about the cats that were buried there, or honoring their memory. Rather, death had always been a specter that they preferred not to think about, banished from their mind unless they truly needed to. These days though, they felt a new need to honor those that Windclan had lost in the past, feeling eternally grateful that they had not ended up one of the bodies buried beneath the dirt following the last fight against Skyclan. Perhaps that was a selfish reason for coming, but those that had been lost were thought of all the same.

Their steps were quick and quiet compared to the rest as they navigated the graveyard, scattering various tokens - flowers, prey bones, feathers - at the graves before they eventually found their way over to Tigerfrost's. A warrior that they had never known particularly well, but had respected all the same. Even if they had never been close, Scorchstreak's faith in and respect for Tigerfrost was enough for Rattleheart to know he had been a Windclanner worth knowing. A sentiment that seemed shared by those that were gathered around - including Ghostwail, much to the tunneler's relative surprise. They hesitated for a moment before depositing their own feather offering at his grave, muttering, "I'm sure Ghostwail is right. He's probably watching over all of us, glad that we've continued on so strong." Did they really believe that, or was the thought just enough to ease their own guilt over Windclan's actions?

Truthfully, they weren't entirely sure.
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[ PENNED BY EO ]​