FAKE IT ‘TIL YOU MAKE IT // looking for coyote

[SOOTSTAR]

Sootstar if she was any other cat would have moved to the nursery by now, but she is a proactive and paranoid leader. Even with a belly plump full of kits she was still keeping an active eye on her clan, this includes her apprentices. As the sun rose she decided that taking Coyotepaw out for some one on one time and leaving Smokepaw to do some chores would be a good idea, her younger apprentice had a lot more… work needed.

First she looks for him in the clearing, maybe he had decided to sleep outside. She does not spot him. Then she sticks her head into the few burrows in WindClan’s camp, he’s not there either. Is he seeing Vulturemask…? She goes to the medicine cats den, doing her best to avoid Dandelionwish, and peaks her head inside. He’s not there either.

”Has anyone seen Coyotepaw?” Sootstar calls to a group of nearby clan-mates, she still remains calm but her eyes begin to widen in realization.​

---

Spoiler: TAGS ★ 01/07

( 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 Smokepaw & Coyotepaw
╰ ‣ average fighter . skilled hunter .
╰ ‣ will start fights . unlikely to flee .
╰ ‣ attack in underline . penned by user @ava.​

​

​

 

[TIGERFROST]

Tags and Information

---

He's an early riser, but Tigerfrost hadn't been picked for the dawn patrols, so instead he had taken to various small tasks around the clearing, from picking out old prey to insure nothing was rotten, to clearing the nests of elders and queens of stale bedding. Of course, he does notice Sootstar going about, eyes darting and ears up, clearly on the hunt for something, or rather, someone. She finally voices her thoughts when she fails to find the cat of her interests, and Tigerfrost immediately narrows his eyes with suspicion. Coyotepaw was gone?

"I haven't seen him at all this morning." He speaks in reply, realization prompting a snap of stained teeth and a curl of his lip. "That rat." He assumes with bitter vocals. Another traitor. Perhaps they shouldn't have bothered trusting a SkyClan cat, even if he had been born in WindeClan.

"I caught him whispering with that spiky furred, black and white SkyClan warrior, at the gathering. I intervened, pulled Coyotepaw away and made sure to watch him for the rest of the gathering." Not fast enough, apparently. Tigerfrost had been right to be suspicious, no doubt Thistleback had been dripping poison into the apprentice's ears after all. "Bet that SkyClan kittypet was trying to arrange some way to get Coyotepaw back. We should have a sniff around the territory, see if we can track him, or if SkyClan snuck onto the moors to help him slip away in the night." He wouldn't put it past those rats.

Of course, either way, Tigerfrost is almost certain that Coyotepaw had run back to SkyClan. ​

 

[Spiderbloom]

Spiderbloom hadn't seen Coyotepaw this morning, nor did she care. She sat in the clearing grooming her paws as she listened to the conversation. Would they go after him, she wondered? She didn't think it was worth it. If the boy didn't want to be here and wasn't loyal to Windclan, then good riddance.

" We should just let him go, then. If he doesn't want to be here, then the trash takes itself out." She said. "That is, if he truly left and isn't somewhere else on the territory." She added. Always a possibility!
​

 

[Badgermoon]

The black-and-white tom was up with the sun like many of his Clanmates - not for any particular love of the morning, necessarily, but because it felt wrong to sleep in when there was so much to do. Besides, the pawsteps falling all around him and the persistence of the sunlight against his eyelids were enough to rouse him out of irritation alone if he didn't feel like stirring anyway. After rising, Badgermoon had done a few laps around camp to allow the slowly forming scar tissue on his chest a chance to soften, as he feared it cracking and splitting open if he moved too much too quickly. He had just settled near the entrance of camp with the intention to groom the tiny flecks of moss out of the fur on his forelegs when he saw the round-bellied Sootstar speaking with Spiderbloom and Tigerfrost. The warriors seemed agitated about something, and though Sootstar was as stoic as ever, he thought he could see alarm in her emerald eyes.

Coyotepaw? Badgermoon approached at his usual strolling pace, but his yellow eyes were narrowed at the mention of the apprentice's name. He knew of the boy's history, albeit only via third parties, and he remembered his reluctance to join the stealth party on the SkyClan raid. It seemed perhaps that the hints of half-heartedness had blossomed into full-blown disloyalty - though the deputy was hesitant to draw any conclusions with no clear evidence. "We should send a patrol to look for him." Badgermoon chimed in, brows furrowing as he thought. Spiderbloom had a good point - it was possible the apprentice was just out hunting, or perhaps taking a morning walk. "The three of us could go - with your permission, ma'am." he twitched one white-tipped ear in Sootstar's direction, his tone taking on an inquisitive note. It would be better for her to stay here, he thought, eyeing her belly, even if it is her apprentice.​

 

[HOUNDTHISTLE]

"YOU'RE NOT A PART TIME GOD"​

Houndthistle, a typically quiet, solitary cat, perked his ears small ears up as he observed the heavily pregnant leader poke her nose around camp, taking a moment from his breakfast to watch the small she-cat mosy about, his short tail thumping before he heaved himself to his paws when others began to gather around her. Ambling over without much hurry, he perked his ears as Tigerfrost spoke, making an accusation the little kit, Coyotepaw, had made his way back to those soft-pawed kittypets in Skyclan. Twin nicked ears flicked back as Houndthistle came to stand with the group, displeasure of the news causing his brow to furrow, licking his lips the remaining of his breakfast before speaking up, "If he is back in Skyclan, he knows things about our camp and problems. Best if we find him to silence him while we can." Too many risks having such a hesitant pest in the clan. A yawn parted his large maw, lips drawing back over his teeth, clearly not caring which way the higher ups deal with the situation.

His orange eyes, once finished yawning, looked to Badgermoon before glancing to Sootstar then back, rumbling, "If you need another one, I ain't got much goin' on today. Can never have too many on your side if we're goin' by Skyclan territory." He stood a bit taller, shaking his pelt to wake himself up more, ready to get going if he is given approval.
​

✦ ★ ✦​

 

[GRAVELSNAP]

Gravelpaw’s days begin and emd with the sun. With the exception of the times that they’re awoken in the middle of the night by nightmares, they don’t stray far from their carefully-set routine. The black and white apprentice is predictable, and they like it that way. If something goes wrong, they hope that the rest of the clan can easily determine where they’ll be or what they’re doing no matter the hour of day.

Today, though, Gravelpaw’s morning hunt preparations are interrupted by Sootstar’s question—Coyotepaw seems to have come up missing overnight. They don’t care for Coyotepaw, not really. Not any more than the dirt below their paws. But the fact that he’s missing, so soon after the gathering and the battle with SkyClan, is suspicious. And it’s not as though Coyotepaw knows anything damning about the clan—the typical drama and their territory layout, but that’s obvious to anyone who’s set foot on the moorland before. Still, they would be doing less than their duty if they were to ignore the other apprentice’s disappearance. "I’ll help search, if I’m needed," they murmur with a shrug of black-splashed shoulders.
​

[ DEATH OF A DREAM ]​

​

 

[ELKSKULL]

"You want to silence a child. How interesting." The silent glee in those chilling blue eyes were apparent as the young warrior stepped forth after hearing the conversation. So young Coyotepaw decided to make a break for it. That was either exceedingly smart or dismally dumb. Either way it was all in good fun to him. His thick pale tail twirl in the air as he looked at those that have spoken about the act and he is quite enchanted by all of it. What is Coyotepaw going to do now? He can't exactly run from Windclan nor can he fight them. But he is sure that Skyclan may try it again and if that wete to happen he is not too sure that their home will hold up against another assault. With a long look at Badgermoon for a moment he has to agree about going on the search. After all, Skyclan made a deal. He is supposed to be here with them and slowly the ivory male inclines his head.

"I suppose we can drag him back. It will most likely he kicking and screaming though. Is he honestly worth the hassle?" This he says toward the deputy and his leader. Mostly curious of their answers. But regardless he is open to helping if they need him to.​

 

[icebreath]

TAGS — Icepaw's half asleep when the tense discussion begins, and she raises her head to listen blearily for a few moments from where she rests on the outskirts of the clearing. Anxiety pulses through her once she puts the pieces together and suddenly she's up, the weariness chased from her small frame by crackling nerves. She shouldn't be surprised by this — if the worst case scenario is true, that is. She'd witnessed Coyotepaw's sympathy for SkyClan firsthand on their stealth patrol, the way he'd refused to fight for their sick and dying clanmates. She'd judged him then and she judges him now; how could he live with himself for that indifference? Sure, he'd been born in SkyClan, but WindClan is his true home and maybe more could've been done if he'd actually helped! He's small and swift; he probably could've made it into the medicine den if he'd tried. And maybe I would've had some help in there. Though she'd managed to grab herbs, it only amounted to a single dose and she'd been too panicked in her escape attempt to take more. And all he'd done is sit around, not even wanting to be there, not even giving the fighters a heads up about the incoming RiverClanners. Some lookout.

But still, that doesn't mean she wants him gone. Houndthistle's right — he knows too much about WindClan to be trusted across the border. If it weren't for her knowledge that SkyClan is still recovering from the battle, same as their own clan, she'd be freaking out about the possibility of a raid in their near future. She has to agree with Elkskull, though; silencing him feels... extreme. Gruesome. Plus, Juniperfrost would never allow that to happen to his own son. What they need to do is bring him home, remind him where his loyalties should lie. And remind SkyClan to hold their end of their bargains. She would never say that to the warrior, though, and go against his authority — and Elkskull's comment, passive in tone but full of weight, reflexively alarms her before she remembers he's a warrior as well now. But he still feels like a peer; they're practically the same age, after all. So she has little reservation about engaging in a discussion with him when he speaks again. "I don't think we have a choice," she replies in her soft tone. "He knows too much to live in an enemy clan." Her pale gaze drifts to the older warriors and lingers specifically on Sootstar, searching for approval. "I mean- if that's actually where he went. I can also help check the territory first." That'll be the extent of her willingness to help, though if push comes to shove and she's asked to attend a patrol to SkyClan she will. But, stars above, she really doesn't want to. She hadn't come out of the last battle too injured but she doesn't want to tempt fate. Half-clan cats are way more trouble than they're worth, she muses bitterly.
​

 

[SMOKESTEP]

TAGS — Smokepaw didn't know Coyotepaw well, but he does know that the half-clan cat wasn't exactly a paragon of loyalty. Hell, how could he be, when even full-blooded WindClanners felt comfortable turning against their clan? Bitterly his thoughts trail to Yewberry and Galeforce, but he silences that line of thinking in favor of staying focused on what's happening now. He'd been doing the chores that Sootstar had assigned him when he'd heard the commotion about the other apprentice's unknown whereabouts, and though he'd have loved to keep his head down and work diligently, something sparks in his stomach to bring him towards his fellow WindClanners.

Smokepaw stills near Icepaw, ears twitching as he takes in the other cats' words. If what Tigerfrost said was true, Smokepaw has little doubt in his mind that the apprentice tore off for SkyClan. His tail flicks thoughtfully as he recalls Coyotepaw's demeanor at their little apprentice discussion. Surely he'd made a break for it. "Bet he ran back to those kittypets," he mumbles to Icepaw, amber gaze flickering with dull disdain. Truthfully, he thinks a search isn't worth the effort right now- but Icepaw and Houndthistle have a point about how much Coyotepaw knows. Part of him wonders if it's too much. After all, the illness ravaging WindClan isn't exactly secret after they'd raided SkyClan to cure it. But even still, the idea of Coyotepaw spilling whatever he knows to the SkyClanners ruffles the fur at his neck.

Smokepaw glances back to his mentor and Badgermoon, ears angling towards the two. "I'll help too, if you need me."​

​

 

[WEASELCLAW]

He's polishing off the thin hind leg of an athletic hare when his mate pushes her way through their Clanmates, looking stunning, fur glossy and expression poised -- but the tabby narrows his eyes at her question. "Has anyone seen Coyotepaw?"

It's Nettlepaw who flashes before his eyes then. A sick rogue, picking off apprentices. And he thinks of the gorge, swollen and battering the flanks of the riverbed...

He rises to his paws, alarm flashing behind his blue eyes, but Tigerfrost speaks and a storm quells the flames. "I caught him whispering with the spiky furred, black and white SkyClan warrior at the Gathering." SkyClan warrior. Weaselclaw grits his teeth, his lip rising. "He's betrayed us? After all we risked to bring him home and welcome him into our Clan?"

SkyClan. SkyClan. His Clanmates begin to speak, many of them calling for search parties, to march again to those hateful kittypets' borders. Weaselclaw fixes his pale gaze on Badgermoon, then back to Sootstar, who has not decided yet what their best course of action is.

He flexes his shoulders, claws sinking deep into the earth. "I'll do whatever you command. But I don't want that filthy kittypet lover in our home." And then he almost flinches -- this is Juniperfrost's son he's talking about. His eyes flick from warrior to warrior, wondering where the blue tom is. He surely has not heard the news yet.​

[ PENNED BY MARQUETTE ]​

​

 

[Firefang]

It's impossible for her to understand the kind of stress Sootstar must be under, heavy with kits while watching her back for any kind of uprising from would be traitors following in Galeforce and Yewberry's lead. She does her best to help where she can keeping an eye on the other apprentices, getting a good idea where all of them stand in the grand scheme of things rather they were loyal or not mattered especially now and one thing was for sure and that was Coyotepaw's complete silence was far more telling then any hissing complaint he could give. She'd never been close to him (as if she was close to any of the apprentices) but she knew that one he was somehow the son of Juniperfrost and two he played a imperative part in the raid on Skyclan's herb den and held a intimate connection with their enemy. His role in that should've meant he was loyal but with his presence scant it meant little now, he was gone vanished leaving only stale memories of his scent in camp.

Sootstar's call isn't alarmed but Firepaw isn't a mousebrain not like him or some of the other apprentices, she pads up as the warriors speak already making their assumptions as to what he's done; part of Firepaw hopes they're mistaken that he was just off hunting or maybe he'd fallen into the entrance of a tunnel and was trapped tail high in the sky like Rampaw was almost a moon ago. It's optimistic something she rarely is but she doesn't want to think about her peer spitting on everything Windclan did for him; doesn't want to truly meet him in battle claws unsheathed and fangs bared ready to rip him to shreds if it could be prevented. It's unlikely, Tigerfrost's words seal the deal reveal the truth before they can see it for themselves Coyotepaw had chosen the clan of losers and kittypets over a true clan; over his home. She frowns uncomfortably shifting on her paws from where she stands just behind the shadow of her mentor sticking close to him as she listens to them discuss.

She casts a look Icepaw's way as she meows it's brief, she's glad out of all the apprentices her loyalty was resolute but she can't help but find her words amusing, she wasn't ever the fighter she would be the last Firepaw would see dragging Coyotepaw back or worse; like the suggestions of Houndthistle imply. She'd do anything for Windclan, if he couldn't be convinced then well she wouldn't hesitate long to send him to starclan where he couldn't spill secrets; it wasn't a matter of wanting to do such a thing but it was a necessity but it's naïve of her to think it to be so easy. I shoulda been keeping a better eye on him in the first place. She'd been busy however and the thought to do so escaped her, now it might be to late ❝I dunno where he could've went but I wanna help find him❞ she looks to her mentor then to Sootstar ❝And if he's really betrayed us to go lick kittypet ass then I'll show him what for! I'll turn him into the crowfood those foxhearted bastards looove to eat❞ she heard before they eat these like round pellets like owl droppings, she wonders if that was really true.
​

( PLACE ME IN MY CASKET TONIGHT ; BECAUSE IM ALREADY DYING INSIDE )

 

[LEMONTONGUE]

Coyotepaw is gone.

And, Lemontongue is glad. Relieved for the child - the former SkyClanner brought back to WindClan by his father. He'd made it out of the moors, and realized that, despite its vastness - open moors and open skies - it is merely a prison for cats like him and Coyotepaw, children of those deemed traitors to WindClan.

He'd made it out. He is free.

How lucky the child is, to make it out of here, on his own decision. And, though he and Coyotepaw didn't interact much - outside of welcoming the new face - part of him wishes he'd gone with him. But, Lemontongue doesn't think the pine forest is much of a home for him either, despite the SkyClan blood the new warrior carries.

He is glad for the ever-present frown on his face, a shield of his emotions.

"Once a kittypet, always a kittypet," he adds in, a sour tone to his words, tail lashing behind him. "He's a traitor through and through. Should we be surprised?"

He hopes Coyotepaw is alright, wherever he is, that the moor-dwellers don't try to go after him. The conversation before him doesn't seem promising, though.

"I'll help check the territory," Lemontongue offers, hopes it will be enough, that their search for the kid won't go further than that.
​

 

[Juniperfrost]

Fire bloomed in his chest, burned and ramapaged through his veins in disbelief and outrage. He was seconds from snapping his teeth, his tail flicking behind him in a violent lash as he stalked forward. Sootstar's initial remark on the boy's absence was eventually met with the slow realization that no one had seen him and thus he must have run back to SkyClan to cower like a child and cry to the kittypet king how poorly he was treated. Why? What foolishness had he settled in his head to make him believe such? He had helped them in their raid, he was a proud WindClanner who had fought for his clan and now to so suddenly turn tail and run when he had made his loyalty seem so clear? Despite his immediate apprehension he had done as told, guided them, lead them, even fought with them. Juniperfrost felt his claws sheath and unsheathe, he wanted to sink his teeth in to the little bastard's throat that dared sully his family name with such weakness, such frailty. Just like his mother, well if he missed her so much he would go running back to the clan she took him then he would happily send him to her proper.
"I want him dead." His voice rings with finality, fur bristling, insulted and appalled that his own flesh and blood would be so feebleminded and disgraceful. That Coyotepaw was now a name all WindClanners would know as a failure of his and he blamed Leopardcloud for taking them to SkyClan in the first place. Filling their heads with these weak sensibilities.
"He is no son of mine." He had already disowned Squirrelpaw and he did not hesitate to cast aside the other now, the promising aspects the boy held were nothing to him any longer; it had been a waste of time.
​