DIRTY LAUNDRY // ThunderClan Patrol

[RAGWORTPAW]

RAGWORTPAW ♀​ ​

Ragwortpaw is absolutely not the leader of the patrol, but she is most certainly the loudest. The topic of mother’s had come up within the patrol, Little Wolf and Wolfwind likely talking about Howlingstar. It causes the blue she-cat to look to her elder sister, Roeflame, and meow ”Have you thought much about Salamander?” Just like that. The patrol goes dead. Silent. Brushing along side a fallen tree a short distance from the thunderpath she continues, not paying mind to how quiet everyone got. ”I think she’s going to come back for me one day. I mean- surely she wouldn’t just- leave forever? It doesn’t make any sense.” // @LITTLE WOLF @Roeflame . @SHININGSUN @WOLFWIND @CHITTERTONGUE (shadowclan tag) this is a plot patrol thread but I can’t imagine any viable way your character could do something to change the outcome! Nothing terribly angsty is happening here so don’t be terribly afraid

 

[LITTLE WOLF]

Little Wolf is enjoying a pleasant stroll through the woods with her clanmates as they make their way to their border they share with their neighbors in the marshes. The topics of mothers comes up and she has to admit, she has the biased opinion that of anyone, she had the best. Howlingstar had filled her kit-hood with so much love and light, had told her stories and given her memories that she would cherish for moons to come, that she still cherishes now. She hopes she had provided the same for her kits. Wolfwind's mother, however, was a close second in her book but that was also a biased opinion considering Lily Pad was her sister.

There is a short pause, just a moment of silence and then her apprentice is speaking. Little Wolf tries not to eavesdrop on what she is saying to Roeflame but considering the proximity it was impossible. She heard every word. 'Have you thought much about Salamander?' she asks, and at first Little Wolf is willing to shrug it away as coincidence. Perhaps Roeflame had told her about her, how they had once been close but then her apprentice keeps talking, keeps going. 'I think shes coming back for me one day' she says and the ebony molly is bewildered into silence. She looks to Roeflame first, then Wolfwind, trying to guage their reactions, trying to read their faces. She doesn't know what to do or say. This news was a shock to her but yes, now that she thinks about it, now that she knows she studies the gray-furred she cat and she can see the similarity. Features that once meant nothing in her eyes stand out clear as day now. She closes her eyes shut tight, trying to pretend she hadn't seen, hadn't heard.

"Ragwortpaw why don't you come over here? Away from the Thunderpath" she says when she finally opens her eyes again and sees how close the she cat had strayed to it. She can feel her heart hammering in her chest, twisting like a twoleg wringing out one of those strange pelts. Despite her conflicted feelings she still worried about her safety. Ragwortpaw was a clanmate after all and her apprentice. Her blood did not change that.
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[WOLFWIND]

A tense cloud dips over the patrol without much foregoing, clawed from the sky by Ragwortpaw herself, a loud chirping question to Roeflame. A nicked ear flicks. Wolfwind can't stop her nosy self from glancing towards them with a puzzled look, catching similar confusion written on her aunt's face. It's a fuckin' weird Segway. Wolfwind knew Ragwort was no next - level thinker, but...

And it's easy to hear what she says next once everyone has stopped talkin'. Wolfwind can't really keep herself from blurting. " Eh? Whaddya' talkin' about? " she questions, craning her neck toward the two mollies. She hadn't a reason to be suspicious, not really, but damn, if that woman doesn't put her on edge, even if she wasn't here to do it in person no more. " Come back for you and do what? She doesn't have no business with ya, " right? is the unspoken question. She knows she doesn't. Cinderfrost shoulda been long gone by the time they had Ragwort's litter with them, but why was she talking like she'd known her? She meets Little Wolf's questioning gaze; shoots one of her own to Roeflame. Of all cats, she'd know what this is about. Wolfwind wasn't goin' crazy, was she?

" Plus, we need you here, " Wolfwind huffs with finality, mentally brushing away the thought even if her question still hung in the air. Little Wolf opted to ignore it completely, better at pretending she wasn't listenin' than Wolfwind was. She's fine with changing the subject at this point. Wolfwind stops beside her clanmates at the Thunderpath, regarding Ragwortpaw with an odd look. ​

 

[SHININGSUN]

☼ Shiningsun had been merrily chatting away like usual, but even he fell prey to the silence that spread through the rest of the patrol as Ragwortpaw spoke. The large tom pricked up his ears as he tried to listen a little more closely, if anything to gauge what was causing the rest of the group to seem so off-kilter all of a sudden. Frankly he didn't know too much about the Cinderfrost situation, but he had heard tales spoken on late nights among some of the apprentices. They were more so horror stories, so admittedly he didn't know what had been truth amongst the fiction.

He finds himself looking to the other warriors like Little Wolf, Wolfwind, and Roeflame for some form of guidance on how to approach the matter. Naturally he longed to chase what he believed to be the most optimistic approach, but with so little to go by he found himself unable to muster up the words in that moment. So he decided to keep listening, maybe the answer would come then.
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[ROEFLAME .]

ROEFLAME — break the air to feel the fall.
Despite her disdain for the Shadowclan border, Roeflame actually finds herself enjoying the patrol despite- though that was mostly just because she was getting to spend time with Ragwortpaw, her younger sisters presence enough to settle even her most troubling thoughts.
That is, until the apprentice asks a silencing question. For a moment, Roeflame is taken off guard, eyes whirling to the other. She had made sure that as young kits her siblings heritage was never revealed, fearing they would be shunned by even just a partial group of the clan. They had been so scared and confused…
"I.." Little Wolf interjects, and Roeflame cannot help but find a small relief in it.
"We can talk about that later, Rag. Okay?" She answers with a promising nod. Attention only briefly focusing on Wolfwinds comments.
In all honesty, Sala- Mom- Cinderfrost had been one of the things consuming her thoughts recently- not that she would reveal that to Ragwortpaw, the context too dark for her younger sister in Roeflames protective opinion.
"Have your den-mates been speaking about her to you?" The fearful conclusion flickers in her train of thought abruptly, and she’d touch a tail to her siblings shoulder as a silent sign to take a pause and look at her. Apprentices could be brutal, Roeflame knew that all too well, having to have defended Toadpaw from their juvenile bullying once before.

"speech"

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[CHITTERTONGUE]

જ➶ Hearing Thunderclan along the other side of the path is normal. It's an almost everyday occurrence that he sometimes finds himself indulging in and then sometimes ignoring. To say the least, Thunderclan was just Thunderclan to him. He never uprooted them or wished them harm, at least not vocally. Stealing prey to avoid starvation had been a nasty business but the lilac tom had to do what was necessary to survive. But here and now, hearing that olden name evoked a horrendous amount of disgust and anger within him. Slowly the chimera makes his way from the pine forest to stare at the patrol from across the way. His smile that is ever amused seems almost fractured, cracked. Simply not right. The pain that that cat had caused his family and his clan is enough. Despite Bone's traitorous turn he will always remember that molly as a traitor herself for being such a coward. For whining and not wanting to defend the territlry the marsh colony had worked so hard to obtain.

His tail lashed back and forth and suddenly his laugh splinters the air. It sticks in his throat and he swallows as if choking. "She won't have anything to come back to if you are gone right? Simply vanishing in the wind, poof." His voice is strained but his eyes are bright as they fully lock on Ragwortpaw. No one wanted Salamander back, no one needed her back and he would be damned if her kit brought her back.​

 

[Poppypaw ★]

"Poof! In the wind! Like all the Thunderclanners should!"
She stomps forward behind Chittertongue, on the patrol with her mentor but not waiting for him to catch up to her. Poppypaw's fluffy tail rises up, shaking bits of twigs and leaves from it as she laughs across the Thunderpath at the patrol there, "Frostbite! You're SO SLOW!" The red and white apprentice whirls around to look back down the marshy path where she had left the white tom in her dust; her speed was unmatched and the only thing keeping her from crossing the border to smack those forest fools was because she didn't want to get in trouble with the weird guy her mom seemed to like. Or maybe she didn't like him. It was hard to tell really, Poppypaw didn't understand relationships but she didn't have a dad so she guessed they must not be very good if her own mother didn't like them.

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[Ooc]
Mentor Tag - @Frostbite
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[Frostbite]

"IM NOT SLOW-!"

Frostbite called after his apprentice who had taken off ahead of him before he could even blink. Oh, to have such energy all the time. Couldn't be him. He sprinted after her, appearing before the thunderpath. His eyes narrowed at the sunlight and he cast his gaze down to shield his delicate eyes from its onslaught.

He didn't need eyes to acknowledge the cats across from him, though. He hadn't heard the conversation, all he knows is Poppypaw is insulting Thunderclan. Border patrols were always interesting with her, thats for sure.

"Poof in the wind indeed..." He said.

He didn't hate Thunderclan exactly. They were more tolerable than Windclan, at least.

"I'd much prefer to drown them in the swamp." He added. Perish in the place that they mock constantly. Those forest cats wouldn't last on this side of the thunderpath.
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[Ravenwatcher.]

So I walk alone down the darkest roads​

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Ravenwatcher hardly got wind of what was said as she made her enterace, dark blue eyes drifting towards the thunderclanners from across the border before dipping her head in greetings to them. "Fine day today" the warrior stated smoothly towards the other clan, she knew she had heard of Cinderfrost from somewhere... yet the young warrior didn't have any warrant to have an opinion on the cat that had been brought up into conversation, not knowing of the ill deeds shr had committed, yet even then...would Ravenwatcher care much for it?

Her tail flicked before she settled down, curling her tail around her paws while she watched the others, trying to see any familiar faces in the crowd before shrugging slightly and glances at her other clan-mates who seemed to have their own thoughts to the faces at their border. Luckily it was not those fluff-brained Windclanners...that was for sure.

"speak""Thoughts"​

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[RIBBITLEAP]

Ribbitleap is silent among the ShadowClan patrol as they approach the border. The warrior expects it to be just like any other border patrol - arrive, mark the border, and leave. But, it seems like StarClan has a different plan for today. An overheard conversation, a name that leaves the tom stopping in his tracks.

"Have you thought much about Salamander?"

At first, he thinks it's a question pointed to him, but when he looks up, it's to see ThunderClanners across the way speaking to one another. An apprentice - not even older than the last time he'd spoken to his aunt himself - is the one to utter her name. How would an apprentice know of Salamander? How would they know her by that name?

"Salamander...?" he echoes across the thunderpath before he realizes he's even doing it. Eyes go wide at the realization, a torn ear twitching as he looks at the apprentice. Gray in color, just like --

Maybe this is just a coincidence. Maybe the kid's talking about a different Salamander, asking if a different Salamander will come back for her. The way Chittertongue speaks back leaves his heart twisting - the way Poppypaw and Frostbite add to it only make him feel worse. His gaze pulls from the apprentice, the warrior she talks to. It must be a fluke, surely.

There's no way his ThunderClan kin extended past Cinderfrost's stay in the oak forest, was there?
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[WOLFWIND]

She isn't imagining how awkward this is. Roeflame snatches up the chance to change the subject quicker than she can say "mouse". Shiningsun chooses not say anythin' much at all on the matter. Probably for the best, anyways. Wolfwind acknowledges the dropping of the topic with a heavy breath.

The heads of ShadowClan appear over the horizon. Nothing out of the ordinary, but she doesn't expect to see a familiar face. More familiar than others, anyway. That idiot she'd saved from near - doom in a spot not too far from here. Clearly, he hasn't recovered from stupid syndrome yet, judging from the way he's laughing as if the world's funniest joke has been told, and now mumbling some mumbo jumbo about disappearing. All of them seem to be a few apples short. Or maybe in their land the dark molly – the only one not trying to talk death or whatever to em – would be the crazy one.

There's a prickle of fur long Wolfwind's spine. Taking a small step closer to Ragwortpaw, she lifts her chin. "Is that a threat?" she asks, face going steely. Had it been any other typa weirdness, she'd probably just call them frog-brained and leave it there, but this was... stranger than typical ShadowClan weirdness. Too specific. She glances exasperatedly at the molly within their ranks that, no offense, must have her ears shot or somethin'​

 

[ROEFLAME .]

ROEFLAME — break the air to feel the fall.
Akin to vultures, Shadowclanners appear across the border in a blink, their stench louder than their provoking words.
Roeflames expression flattens to a grimace. Several more echo the first, nothing to come back to?
She steps in front of Ragwortpaw, hackles raised towards the gangly group. "Don’t you rats have a carrionplace to scavenge through?" She shoot’s back, the oddly worded threat still making laps in the back of her mind, if any of these swamp monsters were to touch her sister… they’d be choking on their own blood, Roeflame would make sure of it.
Wolfwind asks if a threat was made, and Roeflame inches to stand alongside, tail lashing behind her. Cinderfrost’s former name is spoken once more, but it is from the side of the swamps, a hardened gaze sweeps to the Shadowclanner who had spoken it, his presence meek in comparison to his peers. Curiosity pricks faintly along her spine, but the instinct to protect overrides. "Take a pawstep over that border and you won’t be around to regret it."
"speech"

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[CHITTERTONGUE]

જ➶ Slowly eyes shift to look at Wolfwind, someone that he may consider an acquaintance. Maybe. Yet he just grins wider, tail swaying side to side excitedly like this is some kind of game. Then suddenly his gaze snaps back to Ragwortpaw and he can't help but be intrigued by what has been started here. Oh, he'll get rid of one of them for sure. Through planning. "Maybe it is, may not. I'm only a little Shadowclanner though, so what could I do?" His voices is filled with his amusement, his ill intent as he keeps the apprentice in his gaze. Words are spilled forth about crossing the border and he almost rolls his eyes. Crossing the thunderpath, that border is simple. Batting someone around with less experience is even easier. So he doesn't feel threatened himself. Merely calculating the next steps to a plan he will fulfill. ​

 

[RAGWORTPAW]

RAGWORTPAW ♀​ ​

Ragwortpaw blinks at Little Wolf before obeying with a nod, she hadn’t meant to get so close to the stinking black pavement. Wolfwind’s confusion by what Ragwortpaw had said is notable, she looks at her confused. Has no business? Why…? ”Well… I just thought because she‘s my ma.” Ragwortpaw tries to explain, wasn’t that reason enough? Plus we need you here, her eyes glow with innocence, nativity, ”Oh I wouldn’t leave! Wouldn’t Howlingstar let Salamander in?” Salamander had spoken so poorly about ThunderClan, but once she sees how well they’ve taken care of her kits, wouldn’t she reconsider? Roeflame on the other paw, seems more horrified than confused. She tells Ragwortpaw they can talk about it later, the blue she-cat grows frustrated. What was the big deal? Everyone else was talking about their mom, why did she need to be so hush hush about hers? Was it because she was a loner? Not clan-born? Was that it? Than the voice of a ShadowClan cat. She wouldn’t have anything to come back to if you are gone right? Poof in the wind! Like all ThunderClanner’s should! Another one, closer to her age mews. Ragwortpaw blinks at them in stunned confusion, Wolfwind steps forward, her fur bristling. Is that a threat? Maybe it is, maybe its not. Ragwortpaw doesn’t like this- she‘s confused on how words of Salamander, her mother, had caused this. But she was going to fix it now, ”Wolfwind, it’s okay!” She assures with a forced grin, ”Um, I think this is ShadowClan’s way of joking. Probably.” They didn’t actually mean any of this…? Ragwortpaw should feel afraid, but she wasn’t, this cat couldn’t possibly mean anything by what he was saying… He had bees in his brain just like every other ShadowClan cat! Whatever happens, I don’t want a fight! //I apologize for the late response!!!

 

[WOLFWIND]

Well… I just thought because she‘s my ma. Wolfwind pauses. She blinks.

Her first instinct is to ask Ragwortpaw what the hell she's talking about, but sunset eyes rake over the apprentice's Ashen pelt, and suddenly there's resemblance there. Is that why Roeflame was so nervous? Is that why Ragwort and her littermates had come into their camp behind Roeflame's paws, and those of the traitor? Wolfwind fixes Roeflame with a hard look.

She couldn't blame her for keepin' that a secret, though. It's not exactly heritage Wolfwind would be proud of. Not like it changes anything. She doesn't think Ragwortpaw could hurt a fly.

It's unfortunate, is all.

Wouldn’t Howlingstar let Salamander in? She doesn't know anything, Wolfwind realizes, and the look that she gives the apprentice is a bleak one. She can think of few things that Howlingstar would rather do. Wolfwind herself would be damned if she ever let her make a decision that delusional, whether she was in any real position to say what's what or not. Her fur instinctively bristles at the thought of having to see her face again.

She makes it lie flat for Ragwortpaw though, and dully, she tells her, " Your ma' is a killer, Rags. " Her voice is one of sympathy, but not of kindness, and its one that ShadowClan would not hear.

Wolfwind straightens her stance then. She shoots a glare at the flea - brained tom grinning across the border, and then an exhasperated one to Ragwortpaw. " You're giving them too much credit, " she tells her. Same for Salamander – Cinderfrost. She raises her voice to be loud even across the thunderpath. " Move along, ShadowClan! "

Maybe she should talk to Roeflame later.​

 

[SHININGSUN]

☼ Ah, ShadowClan. Always as prickly and unwelcoming as a patch of bramble thorns. Shiningsun found himself wrinkling his nose with deepening distaste as he peered over at the felines across the border. Any space to hold onto manners was well out of reach as the less than savoury remarks were made by the ShadowClanners, leaving even the usually steady Shiningsun feeling somewhat agitated. "Someone should really wash out your mouths." He huffed with a shake of his head as he pressed onwards with his head held high.

As much as he wanted to remain focused on the task ahead he simply couldn't stop himself from tuning in again on Ragwortpaw's words. So... Salamander was Ragwortpaw's mother? The fact alone wasn't enough to entirely cause alarm, it's not until Wolfwind's addition reaches him that a chill shoots through him. Wait... was Salamander really Cinderfrost?! The shock sits on his face as plain as day but he finds himself shying away all the same. "We should leave talk like that until we're away from here." He warned lowly before he pushed forward again with a longer stride, hoping to gain some distance from the others.
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[ROEFLAME .]

ROEFLAME — break the air to feel the fall.
Well… I just thought because she’s my ma.
Roeflame supposes it shouldn’t be so heart-dropping to hear the apprentice so casually blurt out something that shouldn’t even be a secret.
Yet, it is. Roeflames seasoned fear of public ostracism doesn’t stop at her own self. No, that spread the moment she had brought four mewling bundles back to camp.
Irrational is it is, the gaze she flickers back to the over side of the border comes the icy realization that it wasn’t just their own clan that had overheard. Cinderfrost had biological children, a reason to come back to the forest. The step Roeflame takes to shield the view of her younger sister from the Shadowclanners is firmer now.
Your mom is a killer, Rags.
Roeflame turns once more to the warrior nearby, her gaze slitted. "Wolfwind, shut it." Roeflame snaps then, her tone too low for the cats across the Thunderpath to hear, but far from a whisper, her words are a sharp bark, her tail sweeping around Ragwortpaw, who’s frustration is about to go from a cool twenty to a hundred and one.
"We’ll talk when we get back to camp, okay? Toadpaw too, maybe." She hums with a promising nod to the apprentice. She’d say nothing more to Wolfwind, not here at least- she’d spare the molly of being chewed out in front of their clanmates, her anger is silent when she only furrows her brow in the others direction.
"The topic of Cinderfrost is not for you to gossip about like bored apprentices, let’s do what we came here to do and let the worm-munchers cackle from their swamp." She’d then say dismissively. This was a family matter.


"speech"

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[RIBBITLEAP]

The coincidence is proven to be anything but in only a matter of words.

"... Because she's my ma," the gray apprentice says. It's another jolt to his form, another piece of his crumbled family placed before him. This doesn't seem real, she doesn't seem real. If he looks hard enough, will he be able to see his aunt in the child - more so than their shared pelt color?

His aunt... Why didn't she say anything to him, spare him from the secrecy now spilled? Does his mother know? It's a secret ThunderClan had hardly known themself, it seems, but why? Didn't Salamander think he'd want to be aware of his cousin? He isn't quite sure how to feel about this revelation - a realization that there's someone younger than him within his family. That he has ThunderClanners in his family still.

There's a look thrown his way from the warrior his cousin talks to and he doesn't realize he'd been staring until then. Swamp-green gaze moves to look at his paws instead, ears twitching at the exchange between Thunder and Shadow, at the threats Chittertongue still carries.

"Quit it, Chittertongue," he mutters, tail lashing behind him. No one else is happy about this. Of course not. Salamander's final days among the clan were nothing but bad news, from the tales he'd heard, the glimpses he's seen. But that doesn't mean threats of bloodshed should be shared across the border... right? "Kid's not worth the time anyway. Let's go."

He aims to turn, to push the ShadowClan patrol to continue on with their duties, when the voice of the warrior who'd stared him down arises once more. He cannot catch what she says, but a name is caught on the breeze, one that leaves his heart twisting more than the rest of the day's revelations.

"... Toadpaw, too."

Ribbitleap can only assume what this means. He has not one, but two cousins, at least. One of which his aunt had taken the liberty to name after his own brother. His brother's memory is alive in not just Ribbitleap's name but this... this Toadpaw too. The tom stops, sparring one more look at the ThunderClanners, before finding the means to push his limbs forward - to push any questions down and move on with his day.

"Come on," he makes another attempt to urge his patrol-mates forward, "We can't spend our whole day taunting oak-dwellers, can we?"

He needs to get home. He needs to talk to Geckoscreech about this.
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