sensitive topics EVERYTHING DIES // death

[VULTUREMASK]

Death. No one could escape it. Everyone would eventually die, to wither and just rot away. For some it happened sooner than others. Vulturemask was no exception especially today. One wrong step and he would be there only difference between him and his own clanmates was that he did not fear death. Never had and never would. Before he would just have embraced death with emptiness with a slight comfort that his life finally would be over. Now it was different. Now he had something to look forward to, a hope of something better for him in the afterlife. A light to know his pain would get rewarded once his light faded. So no, he did not fear death, not today or any other day. He would be ready for it. Always he would wait patiently for his time to finally leave this tormenting life to get embraced with warmth and love from the above in the sky.

Today was not his calling though, unfortunately, because he had woken up to another day to just be alive. Stuck down here while some of his fallen clanmates were at eternal peace in paradise. Soon, one day that would be him too.

Vulturemask had been alarmed, one of the warriors rushing into his den to demand for his attention. Snowfeather. An hunting which had gone wrong, a rabbit who had decided to defend themselves. He was quick to leave the den so he could accompany the warrior out to camp to the scene. Vulturemask eyes widened when he saw the snow white molly placed down at the ground. " Quickly, bring her to my den!" he would order, and he would be quick to turn tail about to head back so he could search out after his herbs. " But Vulturemask....she is...already dead." Vulturemask halted, his eyes growing even more wide as his head spun around to stare back at the body...the lifeless empty shell of who used to have been Snowfeather not even realizing...or maybe he didn't wish to. Dead, just like that.

Only this morning he had been talking with her. Snowfeather the queen who had nursed his siblings...the two had looked out after them together. It was true Vulturemask had not cared about her at first, perhaps pitying her situation for losing her own kits but not more then that. Overtime though as time had flew by and the two had have a commen goal to raise the three siblings a bond had begin to blossom between the two. One out of respect and understanding. A friend. His last remaining friend in this clan...One who he always could relay on, to count on. The two had relied on one another alot both lacking experience with how to raise kits. But they had done it together. Every obstacle they had worked out together. Now she was gone just like the rose, just like the dandelion...withered away and the one who was left behind was him, always, always him.

Vulturemask turned himself around slowly, speechless in his approach allowed himself to collapse in front of their body, expressionless eyes staring into the empty vessel that had belonged to his friend. Tearless and emotionless the medicine cat simply placed their nose on top of Snowfeathers forehead, sending her off to starclan with his silent prayers. One day he would reunite with her again. Now another reason for him to long for his own death to come. Another reason to envy his fallen clanmates. This grief was heavy, it was suffocating but he was used to it by now. To drown. The cold had become a comfort in its own way. The feeling of not being able to breath.

" Someone...get my siblings." he would say lowly, his voice numb. With Snowfeather gone he only had his siblings left and Periwinklepaw. The four of them being the only thing left that kept him away from the edge of the cliff.

// prompt - death
@SHADOWPAW @sunflowerpaw @Goldenpaw


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[SUNFLOWERMASK]

.°☀ AND IF IT EVER STARTS TO FEEL BAD, LITTLE FANG

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There's hesitance in Sunflowerpaw's steps as they come to their half-brother. The warrior who summoned them spoke in soft and sad tones, and they see now Vulturemask's night-dark form collapsed to the ground. They hurry their pace as he comes into view. Something is wrong. It's only when they've drawn closer that they see what -- or rather, who -- lies in front of him.

Snowfeather.

Her white fur is bloodstained, and Sunflowerpaw's heart sinks to the ground. They freeze, eyes fixed on her. Vulturemask stares into her eyes, his expression empty. She does not move, but for the wind pulling her fur. Death has come to the apprentice again, its victim now closer to them than any before. They do not feel the same fear, the same sickness, that other deaths have brought. Just... an empty and hollow pit in their chest. Snippets of conversation come to them as they stare in silence, blank face a mirror of Vulturemask's, of Snowfeather's. A hunt gone wrong, a rabbit. Killed by prey in some twisted mockery of nature.

It's wrong. It's all wrong, it shouldn't be like this. Snowfeather... She was never a cat that Sunflowerpaw cared for as much as they should. Seeing her body now, they feel not fear, but loss. Loss of a relationship that they never cared to maintain. They know, they know what Vulturemaks would say. Amends made among stars, they'll meet her again in time. But now she is in front of them, and her body is empty. It's hard to see anything past that.

Gone like her kits, off to see them in the stars. Maybe she's happier there, but selfishly, they want her here. A childish anger threatens to rise up, unable to accept the loss that they feel. It's a strange realization, a strange grief that claws at them. They never would have though to miss her, not until now that she's gone.

Sunflowerpaw creeps closer, settles dull-eyed by Snowfeather's body. They press a gentle nose into her fur, bigger now than when they used to do so as a kit. They cannot bear to wish her safe travels to StarClan. They don't want her in StarClan, they want her back. They need more time, they can't end things like this.

There's a cold hollowness to the thought. They know, of course, that they don't have a choice.

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IT'S EASY TO EXPLAIN 'CAUSE THIS WORLD'S NOT TAME .°☀

⟪ OOC ⟫ ⟪ INFO ⟫ ⟪ REF ⟫

• //​
• SUNFLOWERPAW named by their half-brother vulturemask after his friend and mentor.
  — they/them, 5 moons.
  — windclan apprentice, mentored by wolfsong.
  — reserved yet loyal, distrusts most.
  — mild limp.
  
  primary character, high activity. penned by saturnid.​
• 

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[SHADOWRUNNER]

\╱╲I SEE A RED DOOR & I WANT IT PAINTED BLACK╱╲/​

Death. A foreign concept to Shadowpaw, at least in terms of actually seeing a dead cat. A cat he actually knew, one he had formed a bond with and come to know as his adoptive mother. She had been the warmth that had kept him safe during the cold nights of leafbare. Now she lay cold before him. Her heartbeat had been the comforting rhythm he had fallen asleep to during his days as a kit, now it was gone. Silence was all that remained, and it was truly deafening.

A selfish part of him wished that he hadn't been retrieved and brought here to bear witness to the sight of Snowfeather's body laying so eerily still. He... he didn't want to be there, and the longer he stood and stared the harder it was to breathe. It was too much, he couldn't process what he was seeing and he certainly didn't want to get any closer. Unlike Vulturemask and Sunflowerpaw he simply could not bear the notion of touching Snowfeather, not if it solidified the reality that they all faced.

A whimper broke from the young tom as he scrambled backwards, flailing like a panicked prey animal before he finally managed to turn around so he could run away. It was too much, he simply wasn't ready to face such a loss in his life. With tears streaming down his face, he barrelled his way past any cat unfortunate enough to get in his away.

NO COLOURS ANYMORE I WANT THEM TO TURN BLACK
╲╱╲╱╲╱​

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[SUNSTAR]

Snowfeather is nearly as distant a memory as his own mother– how strange, that the WindClan molly would have every right to claim a closer bond. Sunstride did not know his mother the way that another would, and though Snowfeather is not the one that had brought this litter to the moors, she is the one that had raised them. Is that not all that a mother may be? All that they could ever hope for one to be? He was not lucky enough to have that; Wolfsong's had been torn from him far too young. And now these apprentices would chase those footsteps. Down and down, or perhaps up to the stars. He does not know where death takes a wandering heart. All that he knows is the pain of it, and how terribly the wound it leaves would gape. It would bleed for moons to come, until it slowed to a trickle.

Yet it would never stop.

The life that they lived was a deadly one. All that they did within these moors was done with the threat of death above their heads. Today, it is Snowfeather that had met hers. Tomorrow, it may be any of them. Rage comes upon him, heated yet exhausted. A flame that has burned far too long. His head is low where he stands in camp. He dares not approach for a moment, afraid of shattering their peace. Yet the noise that breaks from Shadowpaw urges him forward. He cannot comfort as he would wish to, but in some way, he knows he does not need to. It was as much a part of life as the good. Love and death, wound as one. "Vulturemask. I do not know your grief in this, yet I have felt it before." The warrior hesitates some, but continues onward with a lowered voice. "My shoulder is yours to lean upon, should you need it."

﹥ˏˋ〘  OOC NOTES INFORMATION 〙ˊˎ﹤

• ooc: —
• SUNSTRIDE. named for his coloration and his bold chasing of fate.
  —— cis male, he - him. thirty-eight moons old. lead warrior of windclan + former rogue.
  —— gay, but somewhat closeted. will not be open about his interests.  single, will be so.
  —— seems comparatively stranger than who he was some moons ago, serious and cool.
  
  sunstride is broad and bold– a creature standing above most of windclan, though not a beast beyond its borders, with fur that flames red at its base and deepens to a burnt amber with every whorl and stripe. his eyes, in comparison, are a pale summer's blue, still as bold as the rest of him.
• "speech"

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[cottonsprig]

Cottonpaw watches the ongoings with a furrowed brow. She had seen the patrol arrive just as they did weeks ago, with Juniperfrost - instead, a white pelt adorned their shoulders and slipped unceremoniously onto the ground. There was no urgency, no rush. The fact that the other cats simply lingered nearby whilst a warrior obtained Vulturemask and the rest told her the simple truth: whatever happened out there isn't reversible. Whatever happened to Snowfeather... is the end.

She tries to justify it in her silence. Snowfeather will be in StarClan, like Juniperfrost, perhaps with less gnarly scars to care for (do StarClanners keep their injuries?) Maybe a nasty RiverClanner did it again, a cause for uproar and anger once more - but the lack of anger suggests otherwise. Cottonpaw wishes she could understand better, however truth is she can't. Death is a concept understood but not comprehended in a personal way. Even her own experience paints it as escapable, though she would never test it again.

Cottonpaw shakes herself from her mental prison in time to see Sunflowerpaw approaching the body. It takes another moment to register the companionship between the two felines - something adjacent to her and her nursemaid. She then wonders if she would be more upset if it were Kestrelsnap lying, dead, on the ground. Maybe she would be. Regardless, the grey apprentice decides to approach only then. Like Sunstride, she wishes to be a shoulder to cry on, though unlike the tom she's not too capable of expressing it. Instead, she stands close to the lilac tortie, offering a pitying glance towards Shadowpaw as the other bolts off.​

 

[VULTUREMASK]

At first he was relieved when Sunflowerpaw and Shadowpaw arrived to the scene of grief but that was before he saw how they reacted to the loss. Sunflowerpaw being as wordless as always the older brother could still tell when their sibling was in pain. What struck him the worst though was Shadowpaw who was unable to copy with this sudden grief. It pained him to see them run away this unbearable guilt come crashing down on him. This was not how he had wanted things to go. Vulturemask had gone to such extreme lengths just to give his younger siblings a normal happy childhood by replacing their vile mother with a warm and loving one. He had tried his best to keep them safe and protected from painful experiences. At that moment he realised he had failed. They where only six months old far too young still to lose Snowfeather like this. He had wanted them to have their childhood longer, to have a loving mother figure by their side for far, far many more months. But now they where truly orphans just like him.

Vulturemask felt more for their grief then his own. This had been exactly what he had been trying to protect them from.

He could do nothing but stare after Shadowpaw as he disappeared and even if he wished to run after them he wouldn't even know what to say to them. It was not him that Shadowpaw needed right now. He needed Snowfeather.

And then there was Sunstride who was reaching out a paw yet again like he was expecting the medicine cat to buy any of it to be for anything else but to lure him into a fake security of trust. Like he honestly thought Vulturemask would bleed his heart out to them so Sunstride could run straight back to Sootstar to rat him out for being a weak link to the clan to give them a reason to get ride of him. One mistake was all he needed to do and it would be game over for him just like the ones before him. Hawks, like hawks they where waiting to tear their talons into him.

All he could do was give them a gloom distant look. " That wont be necessery." he would once more reject the lead warrior's attempt to show kindness to the medicine cat with a wall of steel. It was true that he in that moment could have needed a friend but he had run short on them and with how unlucky he was when picking friends out it was better to not have any.

He would return his attention back to Snowfeathers body, and as he noticed Cottonpaw standing beside Sunflowerpaw at the corner of his eye decided against to address them. Closing his eyes again he would return back to just stare at his dead friends body as he slowly moved his tail closer to Sunflowerpaw to wrap his tail around them. That was the only comfort he could give. Later...soon..he would get up and try to find Shadowpaw but for now it was probably better to leave them alone.



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