pafp FATHERS AND SONS ✧ sunwarmed pool

[WEASELCLAW]

“When you asked… if it was a good thing or a bad thing—” Weaselclaw’s paws leave the dried-out, hard-baked earth that singes paw pads and enters the first ring of lukewarm water, “—I think… I don’t know anymore.” Water, hot from the springs beneath the moor and further broiled by the relentless greenleaf sun, begins to lap at his ankles. He turns to look at Sunstride, who’d followed him here on a hunting mission. Others mill about, perhaps wishing for cooler waters, as he was. As lovely as the Sunwarmed Pool is in leafbare, its little reprieve from the elements in greenleaf.

The tabby is referring obliquely to Adderpaw’s gift from Whitepaw. Weaselclaw had always known his son showed a softer side of himself to the strange red-eyed she-cat, but as his children near adulthood, he begins to wonder what the next moons hold for them. Cottonpaw has become medicine cat apprentice, though he tries not to think of such things. He trusts Wolfsong—it’s StarClan he does not trust anymore. His other kits are nearing their warriorhood, for better or worse, and all of the joys and sorrows adulthood brings on its back.

“I just want the best for him. For all of them.” He stares into the water, devoid of fish, thoughtful. “I want them all to find a cat who they feel is worth protecting, but it should be more than that…” He lifts his troubled blue gaze to his friend’s, blinking. “You’ll find out soon enough… one day the kits your mate bears for you are squirming and sightless, and the next they’re choosing mates of their own.” He smiles, but there’s little joy in it.

✧ INFO.

• @SUNSTRIDE
• 
  — weasel . weaselclaw
  — he/him ; lead warrior of windclan
  — heterosexual ; taken by Sootstar
  — short-haired chocolate tabby with white and blue eyes
  — “speech”, thoughts, attack
  — penned by Marquette
  — chibi by Oliver

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[SUNNVAR]

Even heated as it is, the shallow water is a blessing upon cracked, heated paws. Moorland grass is unkind as it begins to dry. It prickles between his toes and catches terribly upon its pads. The long fur that had been a blessing among the snowcapped lands of his home seemed little more than a hindrance now. Heat remains, trapped and swirling, and it snares upon the prickly ground. He steps into the water and sighs, a gentle exhale. It is good to hunt with Weaselclaw. The warrior is among their finest, and as much as he may enjoy his training with Adderpaw, it comes to a close soon. His apprentice grows ever closer to independence. Sunstride will honor it as he may. Things are changing as they are eternally sentenced to do. They will not change their fates. They will not save Adderpaw from his own.

Settling down in silence, the warrior listens carefully. Without judgement, as best that he may offer. His belly touches the water, then the stone as he sinks lower. Slowly, he begins to speak. "I understand more than you may know." One paw laps at it, droplets singing their ascent and dropping back to the water's surface. For all that he may wish to, Sunstride does not splash the other lead warrior. "When I was much younger – Adderpaw's age, perhaps – he sat me down and asked much the same." A pause, wherein his eyes grow distant. He does not see Weaselclaw where he stands, but a tom of similar color and stature. Broader and greater still, with fur that swayed with the wind. In his prime, his father had been the bear of their colony. He had stood beneath him nearly to the day that he left.

"To love and to protect, but to see more in this match than that. To see duty and my future, and theirs alongside." His maw opens and then closes. "I was not to love for the sake of love, but for love of my– home." Glacial eyes find Weaselclaw's, at once thoughtfully pointed and terribly uncertain. "My clan," he sighs. "It took many moons and much effort, but with time, I made it both. Yours will do the same. They are strong; they will not fail those that they love."

＞ˏˋ〘  OOC NOTES ╱ REFERENCE ╱ 07.10.2023 𝘏𝘈𝘕𝘋𝘚𝘖𝘔𝘌 𝘈𝘚 𝘓𝘐𝘍𝘌 𝘈𝘕𝘋 𝘗𝘖𝘐𝘚𝘖𝘕 〙ˊˎ＜

• ooc: —

• 

• SUNSTRIDE. named for his coloration and his bold chasing of fate.
  —— cis male, he - him. approx. 40 moons old. lead warrior of windclan + former rogue.
  —— gay, monogamous. mate to wolfsong from 07.05.2023.  npc x npc, no larger family.
  —— has recently regained some of his earlier lightness, but maintains his steady facade.
  
  sunstride is broad and bold– a creature standing above most of windclan, though not a beast beyond its borders, with fur that flames red 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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[HOUNDTHISTLE]

"BECAUSE COWBOY DAN'S A MAJOR PLAYER IN THE COWBOY SCENE"​

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There was much Houndthistle could say about his experiences with the entirety of "fatherhood." He had, afterall, raised Foxpaw a majority of the kit's life-give or take-and now... now a new knowledge sat in his brain, eating away his mind like a parasite feasting on his insecurities and every part of what he was raised to be and still chose to go against. The large brute was one of the cats milling along the bank of the pool, his eyes skyward as he searched the clouds, idly listening to his clanmates mull around and talk amongst eachother. The conversation his twin nicked ears zeroed in on, however, was Sunstride and Weaselclaw's, and it matched with the melancholy chaos that whirled around his mind. Slowly, he dragged his mismatched eyes away from the clouds, failing to find the answers he sought in their puffy, lazy trail through the blue sky, and instead looked to the pair that stood within the warm waters together, conversing together. His stubby tail flicked, thumping thoughtfully against the ground, before, with a grunt, he rose to his paws, making his way toward them. "Given how you 'n Sootstar are, 'least ya know the boy'd be good t' whoever he ends up with," Houndthistle muses, not even bothering to try and decipher the metaphors and more personal words Sunstride nor Weaselclaw spoke. It'd be a waste of time on his part to attempt it, but he could relate, in a sense. Foxpaw was his pride and joy, his only kit(he doesn't even think of Them as his own, she'd taken that opportunity from him) and he isn't sure how he'd feel if his son were to show interest in another. Afterall, Houndthistle had been the only parent to the tom, he didn't exactly exude prime father his time before they were separated and a lack of another parental figure, he wasn't sure exactly what Foxpaw would even look for. If he was anything like Houndthistle, then all that awaited the boy was heartbreak and anger, something he's never wanted for his son. "It's hard, y'know, to know 'xactly what yer kids pickup from ya, but if anythin', he's gon' stand by whoever he gets with," He adds, shrugging nonchalantly, glancing at the water as it laps at the sandy edge.

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"speech"

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OOC CURRENT STATS INTERACTION RULES

• text
• Physical Health
  
  100%
  ⤷ left eye is blinded
  Mental Health
  
  98%
• 
  Single | Bicurious | Not actively looking | Interested in Wolfsong, Scorchstreak, Sootspritespark
  
  Houndthistle is both an easy one to gain the trust of and impossible to gain the trust of. He'll rarely reveal personal information or be vulnerable-if he's even capable of such things-but he will show trust in his willingness to lay his life down. To gain it, he needs evidence that you're loyal and strong, same as him, otherwise he understands he may one day have to come head to head with you.
  
  — will start fights / will not flee / may show mercy
  — excels at Fighting, Tracking, Following Orders, Intimidation
  — poor at climbing, swimming, stealth, talking, strategy, politics
  — sounds like: deep, gravelled and thick with a sort of country accent / Arthur Morgan
  — smells of iron, leather, and wood
  — speech is #435E75

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