DUCK AND RUN || deputy announcement 8.10.22

[BLAZESTAR]

He's been troubled since his impulsive claim to SkyClan's leadership. Presumptuous. Rain's children had scoffed at him, looked at him like the kittypet he still is inside, and he's begun to think about how little he still knows. Hunting is still all luck for him; Blazestar has never been in a fight. His role in the battle had been to run and warn Rain and stay in camp until his guilt overwhelmed him.

I'm not ready for this. I've never been ready for something like this. The thought that he isn't fit for leadership, to foster and nurture SkyClan, plagues him like fleas in his long fur. Even after Valentine had led him to the moonstone -- even after Blazestar had received nine lives, one even from Rain himself -- he had walked away feeling hollow and unsure.

He knows he needs -- something. Someone. Someone to help guide SkyClan, someone he can rely on in moments of weakness and self-doubt.

But would anyone be willing to be that for him? He remembers the hateful expression on Haze's face, the mistrust in Squall's, Tugger's. The Clan has never had anyone but Rain, the tom who brought them together and solidified them as one unit.

And Blazestar is still, after all, just a kittypet.

He's had only a day to mull this over since his return from the moonstone, since finding Gaia and bestowing her upon a wary and mildly offended Daisy. But he knows he has to act soon. The stars won't wait for him to make his choices forever.

Neither will SkyClan.

Blazestar ascends the High Branch for the second time in his life, but far from the last. He gazes down at the camp Rain created, now wanted him to help expand. He takes a deep, ragged breath.

"SkyClan! Let all able cats meet beneath the High Branch for a meeting." He hesitates, glances to his side, before adding, "It's important!"

He waits for a few cats to gather, and he ignores the looks on their faces. His legs tremble, but he cannot show weakness. He cannot.

"Some of you may know that Valentine and I went on a... trip. A journey, really." He smiles, but it's lost-looking like a kit in a crowd. "His dreams brought us to this stone beneath the earth. A long walk, and we had to go through ThunderClan and WindClan to get there." Troubling, but he presses on. "Once inside, we touched our noses to it and... I saw them. The spirit cats. They're StarClan. And they... they gifted me with something. Something incredible." He shifts his paws. "Nine cats we all used to know came to me and gave me nine lives. Rain was one of them."

He closes his eyes, remembering the glittering sky, the waves of pain and power flooding through his limbs until he'd been weak and battered at the end. Rain himself appearing at last and declaring him... "Rain has named me Blazestar, leader of SkyClan." It's official. His name is Blazestar, and the Clan knows it. Blaise is gone, erased. He doesn't know how he feels about it.

But there's not time to dwell, not now. "I know some of you had doubts when I... I became your leader. And I can understand why." His dark blue gaze sweeps the gathered cats. "I've heard your concerns. And that's why I'd like to name a cat who will act as second-in-command. A cat who can help me make decisions and look after the Clan's best interests."

The gaze pinpoints on the warrior he wants. The queen he wants, belly rounded and tiny kit at her side. "Daisy Flight. Will you do me the honor of becoming SkyClan's deputy and helping me lead?"

With that, with growing tension, he waits.

// just want to give another HUGE congratulations to @Daisy Flight and DetectLife! super excited to have her on our team and looking forward to see what she brings to SkyClan <3
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PENNED BY MARQUETTE​

 

[REDSTORM !]

He had to admit, he had been a tiny bit offended when Blaze had named himself their new leader. What gave him the right to claim his fathers place like that when it so clearly should have belonged to one of his older siblings? Who else was fit to take Rains place other than one of his children? Red himself wouldn’t want the position, if he had been asked he would’ve turned it down, but it still would’ve been nice if one of them had been asked. He watches now as this pretender jumps up onto the place that his father once stood and addressed the clan. Watches as he calls out to him with half lidded eyes. He liked Blaze alright and he believed the tom when he said his father had approved of him becoming their leader. Rain was all about giving everyone a chance. Perhaps Blaze would make things right.

As he listens he grows more and more hopeful. Maybe one of his siblings would be named for this second in command position, he rises to his feet and gives their new leader his full attention, blue eyes round and shining as he wait for him to call it out. Briefly he wonders who he will choose, not Haze. His brother was always so lazy, a complainer really but he could be a hard worker if he applied himself. Maybe Squall? He was more responsible, more fit to lead. It was always him who Red had thought would one day take Rains place, though he hasn’t imagined the day would come so soon. Maybe it could even be his littermate, Indigo.

So lost in thought he is that he almost misses it. He’s about to let out a cheer of joy when his brain catches up. No. That couldn’t be right. The name that had come out of Blazestars mouth was wrong it was Daisy Flight. The cheer dies in his throat, turning into a strangled cry of distress. Was Blazestar aware of how bad of a blow he had just dealt to the children of the cat who had led before him? He doubted it, the point tom could be so clueless sometimes.

Numb, Red sits back on his haunches, swinging his head side to side, searching for one of his brothers. He needed them right now, wanted to press his fur into theirs and be told it was going to be alright but the world around him is blurry, he can barely see as his head spins, trying to comprehend what had just happened. Surely, Rain wouldn’t have wanted this?

// IC opinions I promise! BIG congrats to Detect and Daisy Flight for being the first deputy of Sky Clan!! You’ll do a wonderful job and it was well earned!​

 

[Daisyflight]

"SUREFIRE, YEAH, THE SETTING SUN WANTS COMPANY"​

A call for something important stirred Daisy Flight from her light dozing. Her pregnancy was beginning to weigh on her, shoulders stiff and flanks heavy. It had come to her attention, as much as she tried to ignore it, that she was rather large as well. Every step lay upon the ground a pace shorter than she was used to- lending to a stilted waddle. Embarrassing? Perhaps. Irritating? Certainly. Hung low, her cream tail gently knocked across Gaia's ear tips in a gesture of 'get up'.

Leisurely, as there was no need to rush, the queen sloped out of the thorn-tasselled nursery. Arriving towards the tail end of Blaise's first declaration, a trip with Valentine, she tipped her snowy chin to look upon their leader. An odd pair, those two she mused, briefly looking to see if the loam-coated eccentric was among the crowd.

And then the strange dipped into concerning. Starclan's grandiose title was not news to her, having been present when Beesong departed. That poor tabby, chased off by the mere presence of stars in their dreams. Dreams that held far too much power in her eyes. Even if these celestial creatures were real- which, they couldn't be- she didn't understand why there were to be trusted. When the notion of nine lives was cracked through the clearing the calico all but snorted. Surely not. He best not go around and test that theory.

And still the speech continued, until 'Blazestar' finally spoke on what she assumed to the point of this meeting. A second in command. Ah, there was that sense she knew the saffron faced tom had. It was a good idea really, though she hoped it was someone she found agreeable. With kits on the way, there were few she trusted to be responsible for their colony. But then, his clear-sky eyes fell upon her. Daisy Flight stood, disagreement alight on her tongue. Don't you dare-

"Daisy Flight. Will you do me the honour..." The rest fell to static. Thrums of toneless noise rose and fell, and for a moment she was dragged back to her kithood. Monsters thundered by in a barrage, her thin pelt swept up in their wind-torn wake. Her own low snarl shattered the sensation. Couldn't she have a damn break?

Biting green eyes, gripped with disbelief, cut at their leader. Leaden claws churned the earth and the molly twisted to show off her rounded side as if to say 'Now, really?' She- she had kits to carry, to birth and then- she just didn't understand. Feeling a roiling, hot coil of frustration begin to burrow into fury Daisy Flight sucked in a sharp breath, and cut it off. Anger wouldn't help her now.

"If you think that's best, Blazestar." Words a whip, sent to rend his confidence asunder. "With pleasure." She couldn't undermine him, his authority, because apparently it was something they shared now. Her bitter, determined mind lined up questions. Each to be asked the instant they were away from watching eyes. With pleasure...

//THANK YOU! very excited, hope I can do the position justice <3​

✿ ✿ ✿​

 

[SQUALLMIST]

Squall doesn't want to listen to Blaise's words, but he arrives at the High Branch anyway, tired silver paws sitting along the edge of the crowd, tempest-hued eyes glowering at the sight before him.

He regrets his decision to attend the meeting almost immediately, with every word the flame-point speaks fueling what watered-down fire that was his anger towards the whole situation remained inside of him. Anger towards Blaise turned into anger towards Blazestar, a name the flame-point claimed was given to him by StarClan. A name tied to an almost infinite lifetime of leading SkyClan for the kittypet.

Could that have been him instead? If he'd spoken up before Blaise ever could have? If his father had rightfully passed his spot on the High Branch down to him instead? Could he have been Squallstar? Could Rain have been Rainstar, if things had been different, if he had survived? Could he have the infinite lifetime Blazestar claimed to have instead?

Rain could've been given those lives instead. Rain could still be here, if StarClan had stepped in at a different point within the battle. Squall would never have had to lose him. Everything could have been okay right now, if those lost in the battle intervened quicker.

He almost misses the rest of what the kittypet-turned-leader says, but unfortunately doesn't. At first, he feels himself sitting up straighter at the mention of the flame-point needing help leading. Could this be his chance? His return to the legacy he was the rightful owner to? That his family was the rightful owner of. It had to be - it must be - he and his siblings, they were the most knowledgeable of the group, of the territory they lived within, of --

Silver ears flatten against his head at the utterance of a name that doesn't belong to him, to his siblings. No, Blazestar picks Daisy Flight of all cats, a queen who was due to give birth at any moment, by the looks of it. He feels his claws sink into the soil beneath him, only to quickly retract them, Blazestar's words - his poor judgement of the silver tabby - heavy over his head. We will maintain peace, he'd said, his words reprimanding, degrading, placing blame over his head.

"Congratulations," he says, begrudgingly, resentfully, to the queen. You'll be so helpful, when your kits are born and you're stuck in the nursery, he wants to add.

Perhaps SkyClan wasn't much of a home for him anymore, he realizes, a sinking feeling growing at the thought.

// in-character opinions, as always! congratulations to detect and daisy flight! you'll do great!​

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[DAWNGLARE]

( ˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ ) The mention of his dreams drawing them there has a purr rumbling low in his throat. Even if dull, Blaise could always appreciate his vast wealth of knowledge, even if others struggled with such a simple task. You could never raise your expectations to high with wild cats, leaves and fluff litter their mind along with the ground.

Blazestar, the name goes through one ear and out the other, much lazier of a name than he'd been bestowed with himself. At this, he quirks a brow. Blaise-star. Was he really to address him as such? No, surely not. He pities this poor soul, hung out to dry by Starclan. Woe, that he did not share the same connection.

A second in command, yes. This, he's certain, is where he's to be called. Dawnglare holds his head high, his tail curls in a regal swoop, long fur twisting downward and cascading in waves. Dawn-streaked fur ripples in anticipation. His eyes flutter closed, expectant.

Daisy Flight.

An eye peeks open with an inquisitive hum, audible in his confusion. His senses had always been blessed with divine clarity, but perhaps this once...

No, nearby, Red falls onto his haunches, face struck with visible shock. So it's true. His eyes narrow into slits. Words spill from between clenched teeth. "This is not what They asked of us," he grits, redirecting his stare to his flame-pointed friend. We will talk about this later, the promise is solid as stone within his mind.

No matter, Daisy Flight was an ugly name, anyways. Compare the both of their titles and it would become clear who should be listened to, 'deputy' or not. Dawnglare was quite the downgrade from his old title, but perhaps it was what it would take to be seen as credible in the eyes of these heathens. The tom flexes a snow-dipped paw, irate expression mellowing into something bored. "Yes, that's lovely, Blaise... Anywho, I'm Dawnglare now. I'm your prophet," he says, casual. This name will take getting used to.​

[ IC OPINIONS!!! I LOVE U DAISY ]​

 

[sheepcurl]

The seasonal allergies had caught up quick to Churro, it was obvious with the fact she hadn’t been around, her housefolks locking her inside the house till she was lookin spick and span. The trek to the camp took a bit of breath out of her, but she was finally here! And… turmoil.

Red looks like he had just seen a ghost, and Valentine- Dawnglare, now, holds an odder, more… self-absorbed air to him and Churro hesitates. What does she do first? Congratulate the new deputy, comfort her friend, or does she go to Val- Dawnglare (it will take a lot of time to get used to) and congratulate him? She nods to Daisy, to Dawnglare, and yet her paws instead carry her to Red, attempting to press against his side and rest her head on his shoulder. She swallows hard. Red was more important, he looks as if his world had shattered. "All will be good soon, do not worry!" she chimes in her ever happy tone, a sharp quip, questioning tone. She feels slightly overwhelmed with the amount of differing emotions in camp.
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"speech"​

 

[Lionsnarl]

"LIFE DOESN'T DISCRIMINATE BETWEEN THE SINNERS AND THE SAINTS"​

Oh, how the pine group was changing. Renamed SkyClan by a cat that had only been with the group for about a week, a cat that positioned themselves as their de-facto leader when there were cats who had been with Rain for many seasons, had fought and cried and mourned and toiled alongside him, only for a soft-coated pet to take a more capable cat's place. Tugger's eyes narrow as Blaise calls them all together, speaking of StarClan. Of Rain. Tugger can feel the hairs on the back of leonine neck begin to bristle and his eyes slide to Valentine, his lip curled in distrust.

Another newcomer with no respect for how their colony had been run. Another prideful pet in the forest - this one with no discernible pedigree, tch, typical mutt thinking so highly of themselves with nothing to back it - this one claiming connection to StarClan or whatever that ugly celestial display was. He loathes that Rain's legacy is overtaken by these two, despises that his friend has been -

And then Blaise calls out to Daisy Flight. The anger momentarily subsides. Daisy Flight. Daisy, with whom he had not always gotten along with. With whom he had squabbled and jeered at for months. With whom he had called a mutt, an idiot, and so much more. Daisy, who had known Rain. Daisy, who hadn't left the pine group despite everything. In that moment, it was not jealousy that sparked in his gaze but pride. Hm. This was the first good decision that Blaise had since he joined. He nods to her, and even blinks at her kit. Congratulations.

The momentary calm is ruined when Valentine - ahem, Dawnglare speaks. A prophet, he says. Tugger can't contain his disgust at the word, and his face twitches up to reveal shiny white fangs in response. Yuck.​

✦ ★ ✦​

 

[BLAZESTAR]

When his meeting starts, Blazestar's eyes are bright with excitement, and his tail is curled, lifted and proud behind him. He's done it, he knows he has -- he's found a solution to appease SkyClan, to make friends again with the cats he's turned against him.

But as his gaze flicks from cat to cat, absorbing crestfallen expressions, burning anger, doubt, confusion -- the tail lowers. His jaw clenches, flinching from Red's glare, Squall's departure, Tugger's blatant look of disdain.

Worst of all, Daisy Flight herself gives him a cold, placid look from shrewd green eyes. "If you think that's best, Blazestar. With pleasure." There's nothing grateful or excited in her tone -- only a spike of anger that she's clearly attempting to hold onto like a squawking bird.

His best friend, even, gives him an impatient glare. "This is not what they asked of us," he says, as though Blazestar is supposed to know what StarClan has asked of them. But Dawnglare's anger seems to fall by the wayside as he smugly makes his own announcement -- that he is SkyClan's prophet.

The flame point stares at him, shaking his head. "Medicine cat," he says, defeat hanging on every word. "You're... you're our medicine cat, Val- Dawnglare." He's embarrassed, now, shuffling his paws like a chastised kit.

And now what? SkyClan still resents him for being the kittypet who took Rain's place. Daisy resents him for choosing her as a deputy. Dawnglare is upset because... well... Blazestar isn't really sure, but he's sure to find out.

With a sigh, he flicks his tail. "You're all dismissed. Except you," he says to Daisy, "and you," to Dawnglare. "Meet me in my den. We should..." He fumbles. "Um... we should talk, I think."

With a broken sigh, Blazestar leaps from his position on the High Branch. His tail all but drags the dust as he disappears into Rain's former den.

/ out!
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PENNED BY MARQUETTE​