dovetail | sootstar | checkmate

[Dandelionwish]

Go see Sootstar.

A cat had told him and he all but groaned out loud at the phrase stated so bluntly like an order; most cats would ask if he had a minute to talk. Most would ask him how his day was going first (terrible actually, thanks for asking) but Sootstar just made demands. He had half a mind to tell the poor warrior sent to give him the message where she could stuff her tail, but he knew no one would dare do so for fear of her shooting the messenger.

He stuck it out with WindClan despite his own feelings about Sootstar because he was adamant his name meant something more than a mere word, than just wishful thinking. It had to mean hope, it had to mean he could help here, he could fix things, he could save cats...
And even besides that what would become of them if he left right now, with no healer and no allies (their only allies healer newly abandoned as well) they would simply die off with no chance for survival. To punish an entire clan because he did not support the actions of one cat, leader or not, was not something he could in his better judgement do.

So when she asked to speak to him he grit his teeth and complied, he did not know what for or why and he expected something of a fight regarding it regardless. Would she demand he heal only their strongest warriors? She was out of luck, he was prioritizing the elders and kits, queens and apprentices over the more ablebodied cats. Would she ask him if StarClan said anything to him recently? Alarmingly silent as of late, as quiet as the very snow that settled over their territory. Did she want him to stop going to the medicine cat meetings? Perhaps paranoid he was sharing secrets and herbs or thought it a waste of time.

No matter what he expected, Dandelionwish stepped into the den with his head up and wheat stem clenched between his canines before he tucked it to the corner of his mouth to speak, "Ye wanted to speak to me? 'Fraid I can't dawdle long, got quite a lot of cats to look at..." She knew as well as he did that the clan was on the edge of a full scale greencough outbreak and he was running low on stock. Hopefully she would keep whatever nonsensical complaints she had to a minimum.

@SOOTSTAR
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[SOOTSTAR]

Sootstar's eyes were closed in thought, thinking about a hundred different topics at the same time. With so much going on it was hard to concentrate on just a singular WindClan issue, hard to figure out how to make her clan stronger and hard to figure out how to stop these inner-disasters from happening. Wounds... illnesses, all terrible things but they were apart of life, and they had Dandelionwish to aid with that. Yet if anything was going to kill them it'd be themselves, it felt like every other moon she was exiling a traitor and now she had just exiled whom she had thought to be one of her most trusted warriors.

Sootstar didn't show it but she was deeply saddened by the state of the clan, the only aspect giving her hope were her new brutes. Without them she was sure WindClan would be out of commission right now, they kept her clans heart beating. It takes a lot for her to swallow her pride and ask for help, a leader should not need help... but Sootstar is lost. StarClan gifted the leaders medicine cats to help guide them, so for once she would be using the blessed resource.

Dandelionwish was grown, but he was still incredibly youthful. It was easy to forget that sometimes as the medicine cat carried himself more gracefully and maturely than most grown cats. She feels a bitter feeling confessing it, but maybe he could have some useful insight. "Yes, sit." It wasn't an order but a very blunt offer, she points her nose to the extra nest in the den. Weaselclaw use to be the one primarily using it but... well... no use dwelling on that right now.

"I'm growing tired, I do my best to keep my strength up, but I am tired of the constant chaos. The wounds and illness WindClan has been suffering from is one thing, they're difficult to control and prevent." In Sootstar's world they were anyways. "The clan is split, one half respects me and listens to my authority. They know it is in StarClan's wishes and the small price they must pay for the shelter, unity and resources my clan provides. Yet the other half turns their nose up to my hospitality- I could've turned all these cats away yet they've joined my clan to bicker with me! Call me cruel and monsterous! It's just not true, I do what I must to keep my clan strong." Was it any shocker that her most loyal felines were some of the healthiest right now? Young Wisteriapaw aside... sometimes StarClan beckons far too soon.

"So how do I get it to stop? You know what Hyacinithbreath did to me on the RiverClan border- it's grown so bad some of these cats are abandoning me to deal with a neighbor's fury alone. This cannot become a norm, it cannot fester..." Though it hurts, she looks to the young tom for an answer.​

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Spoiler: TAGS ★ 12/18

( primary character / "speech" / ic opinions )​

╰ ★ ჻ 001 GENERAL INFORMATION ,
· SOOTSTAR, female — she / her
╰ ‣ 34 moons . pisces. ages on the first
╰ ‣ windclan leader . marsh-born . believes in starclan
╰ ‣ former soldier of the marsh group

╰ ★ ჻ 002 VISUALS & AESTHETICS ,
· DOMESTIC FELINE, smells like heather and wet dirt , status — 100%
╰ ‣ blue smoke . scarred chest, difficult to see through fur . green eyes

╰ ★ ჻ 003 MENTALITY & MANNERISMS ,
· ESTJ-A ❝ EXECTUTIVE ❞ , Slytherin, Lawful Evil
╰ ‣ Cunning, brash, fierce, confident, self-reliant, envious & selfish
╰ ‣ finds great difficulty in relating to others . can be cruel, usually shows mercy to those she can find sympathy with
╰ ‣ sole key to her heart is loyalty, if you have her trust, she often shows a completely different side of herself. Aggression tends to manifest from her extreme paranoia
╰ ‣ Appreciates titles such as "miss, m'am" etc

╰ ★ ჻ 004 INTERACTIONS & RELATIONSHIPS ,
· SOOT CLAW x PEBBLE BREEZE, sister to Pebblenose
╰ ‣ heterosexual. mate to Weaselclaw
╰ ‣ mother to Windpaw & Sootpaw
╰ ‣ mentor to Sootpaw & Coyotepaw
╰ ‣ average fighter . skilled hunter .
╰ ‣ will start fights . unlikely to flee .
╰ ‣ attack in underline . penned by user @ava.​

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[Dandelionwish]

He witheld the sigh trying to rise up in his throat at the gesture and stepped over stiffly to take a seat on the empty nest with a frown and his focus down on his paws for a moment; he made no attempt to get settled down or comfortable because he was adamant on not lingering here long no matter what it was she wanted to discuss and when she began to speak he fell utterly silent.
It seemed he was listening with attentiveness but he quickly lost interest as she went on about he woes, her struggles for obedience, her unhappiness that her grip was not one of iron.

"....what?" Why was she asking him his advice, his nine moons worth of advice, did she not have anyone else to poke and pry at? If he gave her an answer she didn't like would he walk out minus an eye or ear and be left to deal with that too? He wants to just leave, he feels the weight ever more, wishes she had left him alone to do his duties in stressed silence.

Sootstar feels more like a lost cause every day, at one point he had hoped he might be able to sway her one way or another but it seemed pointless.
She can't see why cats do not like being ordered and demanded to respect a cat who had not earned it because she considered StarClan's blessing above all logic. She doesn't understand that her brutality is not strength, but cruelty.
Dandelionwish closed his eyes in annoyance, because it had not taken him long to determine they were about as all-knowing as a hedgehog. StarClan were not some wizened and omnipotent ancestors that could foresee the future and know which path was needed to take, they were just a bunch of cats who died. Cats with experiences, opinions and personalities all on their own that did not change upon reaching StarClan outside ridding themselves of their body and no longer needed sustenance to survive. Rosepaw was just Rosepaw...they were a council of cats and some were foolish while others knowledgeable and logical. They made mistakes. They made so many mistakes while guiding the clans and how Sootstar didn't see that was beyond him when she had lived through one of them; Honeytwist had not been able to handle being a medicine cat and she broke, if StarClan was so wise how did they not see the burden they put upon her that they then simply placed on him?
He could feel the cracks widen everyday, he was in despair, struggling to keep his head above water and breath...he wanted to cry nightly but had no energy to do it.

"...what do you have to give to the clan that we can not just take from you?" He asked suddenly, sharply, his tone almost a hiss, "How many lives do you think it's going to cost you when they decide they've had enough? You dig your claws in too deep at times, why is it I heal more wounds from our own clanmates than our enemies? The forest is five clans...yet we are simply one because our neighbors will not spare us a glance. I'm...SCARED....I want the help of my fellow medicine cats but they DO NOT TRUST ME because of YOU!"
His tail lashes behind him, an earthen serpent twisting in its death throes, "StarClan picked you. Well, they picked Honeytwist too and a lot of good that did us...She wanted what was best for the clan, you want what is best for the clan-where's the difference?"


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