private DIGITAL NIGHTMARE ♱ [ SEARCH PARTY ]

[SHARPSHADOW]

In theory, what they're tasked to is easy. Find Smogstar, the cat that's been bedridden for nearly a moon. A starkly - striped, broad, albeit terribly - postured, but never subtle in all the moons she's known him tom. Why was it that they were turning up empty? Was was it that she had this sinking feeling every search party would turn up empty?

Maybe this would be more affective in silence. With heads bowed, ears pricked to any rustle the marsh sent their way... But Sharpshadow chatters — blurts, more like, with worries tumbling from her maw in a paranoid slurry. " So — so say we don't find S-smogmaw " Forestshade's presence isn't helping either. Somehow — at some point, she's stockholmed her into being someone she doesn't mind expressing things to as much... " What happens then? " And its a stupid question, she knows. They'd move on, like they had after Briarstar, after Pitchstar, after Chilledstar... but didn't this make the least sense of any of them? Not a death. Not brutally crushed beneath monster paws or felled by Granitepelt, but a disappearance. Those weren't new for ShadowClan, but she would have never thought it'd be him. Anyone but Smogmaw. Anyone but him.

...Smogstar, he means. His Leader, his deputy, his mentor, his superior. No matter in what skin, always there, always watching, always insufferable, always him. What would ShadowClan be without him? ( What would he be without him? )

He isn't acting the way a Lead Warrior should. It's the first thing he realizes before he even tunes into the blood rushing in his ears or the pound of his chest. He definitely isn't, when he realizes he's not the only one that can hear his breathing. When he swallows, it feels like choking down carrion — even though all it is is his own bile. " S-sorry, I'm sorry, " she strains not to stutter, not to shake. The slowness of a search wasn't the exhilaration she needed to make herself useful. She just needed to do more. Somehow do more.

OOC: @FORESTSHADE @Gigglepaw @scalejaw

​

 

[Gigglepaw]

Gigglepaw had been chomping at the bit to get out in search of Smogstar, and she was full of nervous energy as she finally followed Sharpshadow, Forestshade, and Scalejaw out of the camp on their search patrol. Gigglepaw didn't want to imagine the worst case scenario, but she reminded herself that she should be open-minded in that regard: there were too many dangers out in the world for the worst to be ruled out completely. She just had to hold on to that final sliver of hope in her chest that they would find Smogstar, even if everything suggested otherwise.

Sharpshadow asks what happens if they don't find Smogstar, and Gigglepaw frowns. They had to find Smogstar. It seemed to her as though the world would just end if they didn't - and there was some truth to that thought. Things would change greatly if they couldn't find Smogstar. Her life, for one, wouldn't be the same. She'd always imagined growing up as a warrior under Smogstar's rule, performing for the chance to gain some words of approval from the tom.

"What if..." Gigglepaw trailed off for a moment as she looked out in the shadows. She quickly bounced back and continued, "What if we talk about what'll happen when we do find Smogstar? Like, there'll be warrior ceremonies!" She suggested, the idea of her older siblings receiving their warrior names fresh in her mind. Yeah, that was for sure - Smogstar had to be there to give them their names!

‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎OOC ᓚ₍ ^. .^₎ .ᐟ.ᐟ INFO ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎

• !

• 

• GIGGLEPAW ✩ apprentice of shadowclan, six moons
  → blinks incessantly & uncontrollably.
  → peaceful and healing powerplay permitted.
  → penned by Archivist → .archivist on discord.

​

 

[scalejaw]

★ Her paws already ache, and they aren't far from camp. Her eyes are narrowed, and in an uncommon show from Scalejaw, she is tense. She does not walk the territory with the confidence of a she-cat who knew this place like the back of her own paw. Her vision is sweeping, looking for any catch of silver, of strong, of what was left of her heart. Heart. Is that what was going on? Is that why she felt unbalanced as so?

Sharpshadow distracts her from her barbed thoughts, and glowering coals sweep towards the warrior. What a suggestion, where there's a world where he doesn't come back. She nearly sneers, nearly bites back with words, her tongue sharper then it had been in moons. What happened when Chilledstar left? What was to happen now, that Smogstar left them behind? Left her behind? Her breath is silently caught in her throat as she tears her vision free from the lead warrior back to the territory.

Gigglepaw attempts to break the tension, trying to think happy thoughts. That's good. Her mind volunteers briefly. But it won't help. Scalejaw is all but chewing on her cheek before she finally speaks, her tone far more unsteady then she would have liked. "If... If we find him, he needs to get healthy first." She swallows her trepidation, her doubt, and glances towards Forestshade. ".. And if we don't, we move on."

We move on. She is just to move on, like that, from her heart. She wonders if it's overstepping, an overreach, to realize this in the twilight of what is likely his life? To realize it was more then just bundles of mushrooms and vines, it was more then blood scattered on the snow from a predator. Smogstar, don't do this to us. To me.

‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎┌── MESSES WITH YOUR SANITY ⋅❁⋅ TWISTING ALL YOUR THOUGHTS AROUND ──┐‎

• "speech"

• 

• SCALEJAW 🌧 she/her, warrior of shadowclan, sixty five moons.
  ★ A SH black/LH blue smoke chimera with glowering orange eyes, tufts of fur that make her look dragon-akin, and scars that she wears with pride. motherly and stern attitude, with a warm streak for clanmates and a cruel streak for enemies.
  ★ mentoring no one
  ★ padding after no one / / mother to bonerattle, nightwhisper, and shadefall
  ★ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted / / underline and tag when attacking
  ★ penned by dallas ↛ dallasofnines on discord, feel free to dm for plots.

​