Feel the vibe, touch the sky // Intro

[Whisperwish]

Whisperwish finds herself staring at the night sky, hoping that it will give her clouded mind some clarity. She was loyal to WindClan, of that she was sure. But despite this, she just couldn't find it in herself to accept the way it was run. Sootstar was not her favorite cat by a long shot, though that would not be evident by anyone. She prided herself on keeping her true feelings secret, as she knew opposing the leader would assuredly be a death sentence for her. It hurt to keep it all in, but she truly did care for her clanmates, and she would not leave them without her. Her secret will die with her...or with Sootstar. Whoever joins StarClan first.

With her further thoughts of StarClan, she gazes directly into the stars, wondering if they really were looking out for them. She cares deeply for their wisdom, but not being a medicine cat means she might never know. She tries not to let it eat at her, but the anxieties lay bubbling deep in her stomach, squashed down by her fear of letting it out. It doesn't help that she has never felt satisfied with her path in life, though it is not up to her discretion what her role in the clan is. If she was to be a moor runner, then she shall be. Maybe one of these days she could sneak a glance in the medicine cat den and watch Vulturemask at work, if only to satisfy her curiosity.

She isn't aware of how long she has been stargazing, and jumps a bit as she's broken out of her trance by another cat approaching her. She quickly turns her frown into a warm smile, hoping it wasn't too obvious that she is feeling conflicted. "Ah, greetings," she meows, words light as always. Her light coat in the darkness gives off an ethereal vibe, it's no wonder her name is what it is.​

 

[SOOTSTAR]

SOOTSTAR ♀​

Sootstar misses praying. She misses her faith. It was confusing… still deep inside ire burned for StarClan, how could they think her to be wrong? How could they think that the path she travels now is not one of strength and utmost devotion to them? Sootstar knows she‘s led with a firm paw, but these cats made her! They forced it! And all of the traitors got what they deserved if not worse. Still in her religious confliction she tries to at least show faith and goodwill towards her gods. ”Hello.” She greets Whisperwish before shooting a look up at the stars for herself, do they look down at her now and glare? ”Silverpelt is pretty tonight. To think most of the clans won’t even be able to gaze upon it.”

 

[Bluepool]

Blupool's faith is a sure, unwavering thing. She believes in StarClan with her whole heart, believes that they were looking out for WindClan, that when they had struck that great stone a couple of moons ago that they were showing the other clans how strong WindClan was. The others had t backwards. Her sister, her leader, she wasn't a bad cat. Sure, she was strict, sure she had a different way of doing things but did it make her evil? Did it really warrant all the bad things she had heard cats say about her? They had never seen her vulnerable, had never seen the look in her eyes when she gazed upon her kits, had never seen her share tongues with her clan. It was these little moments that Bluepool saw the she-cat she knew, the sister she loved. They do not know her like she does.

Another sleepless night brings the silver tabby out of her nest. When she raises her head, she sees two other shapes, head tilted to the stars and she decides to join them, immediately gravitating to her sisters side, but still she offers Whisperwish a smile. Sootstar comments on Silverpelt, on how beautiful it is and how most of the other clans wouldnt be able to see it, not as well as they could. "It's a shame" she says quietly, tilting her own head to admire the twinkling lights above them, wondering which one is her mother, her father. Were they looking down on them now? Were they proud of the cats they had become. She envies her sisters ties to them. She could ask them, she could visit them in her dreams whenever she wanted.

She casts her jealousy aside though, discards it like the bones of prey after a meal. Being leader was no easy task, she saw it on Sootstar's face and that she didn't envy. Instead, she allows her mind to drift, to wonder what it was like up there. Was it truly as great as everyone said?

​

 

[Juniperpaw]

Juniperkit is yet another cat with his eyes fixed to distant stars glittering like shining drops of dew. The child should be tucked away in the nursery among the press of his siblings, lulled into deep slumber by the comforting thunder of Spiderbloom's heart. He should be dreaming of catching rabbits and outrunning the wind. Even so, sleep is not something that ever came easy to him. How can it, when nighttime is the closest he can get to Juniperfrost? Somewhere, one of those distant, glittering stars is his father. Juniperkit can't see him, but he can feel him, and the feeling is the strongest when he's bathed in the silvery light of the crescent moon.

"I want to go to there," Juniperkit says with a wide yawn. "To see my Da."

He waves sleepily at Whisperwish, Bluepool, and Sootstar with a mittened paw before curling up in the grass beneath the great expanse of Silverpelt. What he doesn't say is that he's already been to Starclan. Or rather, he has stood at the precipice, but something brought him back before he could complete the journey. Juniperkit doesn't remember it, but he feels it the same way he can sometimes feel his mother's sadness or feel that Scorpionkit is getting hungry before she ever starts biting him. Juniperfrost is little more than a bedtime story to his son, but Juniperkit knows his father the same way he knows the sun, the moon and stars. Had he not caught his first breath, had his heart not been jolted awake by the frantic rasping of Spiderbloom's tongue, then Juniperfrost would've been the one to bring him to Starclan. Instead, Juniperfrost sent him back to his family.

Millions of stars are reflected in the pallid green pools of the child's eyes. "Sootstar?" he asks after a long pause. "What is it like to talk to them?"​

 

[WOLFSONG]

──⇌•〘 INFO 〙 He knows Spiderbloom is an attentive mother, and it is not why Wolfsong has made a silent oath to keep an eye –his only eye– on her children. Guilt motivates him as much as care for the clan's most vulnerable, and he is sorry that they have yet to avenge Juniperfrost in the gnawing of Hyacinthbreath's bones. Wolfsong has thought often of how he might make a gift of her to them— a claw, a tooth, a shrivelled tongue. He doesn't underestimate the importance of a physical reminder that the one who has wronged you can do so no longer, and as a child he would have slept far more easily with the same confidence.

So it is his watchfulness that brings Wolfsong here, following Juniperkit. I should prod him off to bed before Spiderbloom wakes to find him missing.

But he pauses, the boy's sleepy voice stilling his paws. It's not a question Wolfsong can answer; Vulturemask is the only cat aside from Sootstar who has spoken to their stars. He glances at Whisperwish and Bluepool, wondering if Juniperkit's question holds as much interest for them as it does Wolfsong, who is still uncertain of StarClan.

"You should return to your mother once Sootstar has satisfied your curiosity," he advises as he steps closer, looking down at the kit with a slight smile. He will be taller than Wolfsong one day, he's certain. "We don't want her to worry, do we, kópr?"
​

 

[SUNNVAR]

There is little clarity to be found among the stars. This Sunstride knows with conviction and fire. He has learned to see the stars the way that those in WindClan do, yet this– this he knows for certain: the dead have truth that the living do not, and they will not share their answers. To live is to make mistakes, to follow blindly or to wound a loved one. To live is to suffer, and falter, and eventually to die. Whether or not they are right in the steps that they take matters none. One day these moons will be stories to tell. They will be remembered with joy or with sorrow, though remembered either way. All that mattered was for them to write their stories so the next may learn of them. If they will be rejoiced for what they have done many years before them....that is a feat worth celebration.

For all of his insistence, however, he cannot pretend that the stars hold no pull to him. He wishes to look upon them the way that the others do, hopes and yearns with the jealousy of Bluepool and the curiosity of Juniperkit. To look upon them now is a blessing. Even if it is not one the other clans may share with them, this tie to the land of their dead is what ties each cat in these clans. Looking down upon Juniperkit, and up to his shadow, Sunstride smiles at the thought. It is tinged with sadness beneath his amusement; he hopes that the kitten will not see it in full. "You will join him in time, and he will rejoice in your company. But you must meet him with stories to tell, so he may not bore of eternity."

﹥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"

​

 

[SNAILSTRIDE]

Silverpelt had been empty for the marbled tabby, a fact that still brought about feelings of conflict within Snailstride. He understood he was not special, a rebellious apprentice who'd done little to earn the right to be amidst the stars and whose family was distant but alive. When the living world struggled to give them answers, they'd held on to the hope that perhaps, just maybe, the dead could guide them - a hope shattered with a simple touch of chilly stone in a room both ethereal and empty. Staring up at the stars brought about those same feelings, they forced a smile upon their maw in the presence of their clanmates but the expression did not reach their eyes. They were glad that, in this light, only the faint grey hues of an average-sized cat were visible, the rest of Snailstride smothered in shadows. Shaggy hairs lay slightly upright as the young warrior approached, wanting to wither away the moment they heard Juniperkit express wanting to go to the Stars. 'Does he know that means he's got to die?' What an awful sentiment, intentional or otherwise. Snailstride's gaze withered from the stars, suddenly finding them repulsive when someone as young as Juniper longed for them even for but a moment.

'Bore of eternity' Sunstride added on and the classic tabby felt as if a hairball had lodged in their throat. Eternity sounded perfect for one who feared death, but it was a number he could not quantify, an expectation he didn't know how to comprehend. To be in infinity was to take the joy out of smiles and laughter, for they were moments suspended in time that held less meaning when they could be repeated forever. Catching themselves amidst an existential crisis, Snailstride shook their fur out and flattened it down in one quick motion with a pink tongue. "Only good cats get to go up there though, so be nice to your mother, y'hear?" It made him wonder if Juniperfrost was actually up there - repeated out loud, it was a sentiment too cruel to say. "D'ya think you're a good cat, Whisperwish?" They asked the other warrior, hoping it would prompt her to give some examples of good behaviour to the curious little kitten that was staying up far past his bedtime.

​

 

[SOOTSTAR]

SOOTSTAR ♀​

The arrival of her striped litter-mate is acknowledged with a dip of her head. There is soft thudding against the earth and she turns to see Juniperkit, wide-eyed and looking up at her. I want to go there, he says, to see my da. Sootstar suppresses a tug against her lip. What a foolish, sad thing to say, but Sootstar understands where the blue kitten is coming from. She knows what it is like to walk a path without ever knowing a parent, her mother had died kitting her and her sisters. What is it like to talk to them? Terrible, she can't help but think, her last memory with her ancestors consisted of what sounded like thousands of them yowling into her ear, telling her to change paths. They've not spoken since, and Sootstar doesn't think they ever will. Even if she wanted to share her thoughts about StarClan with Juniperkit, she could not. One did not share the dreams they had with StarClan lightly. "Magical." Vaguely she would tell the child, a soft look glowing in her eyes.

 

[Whisperwish]

Speak of the devil, and she shall appear. Whisperwish doesn't falter despite her surprise at Sootstar being the one to come speak to her after where her thoughts went. Maybe it was on purpose, confident StarClan was aware of her worries, or maybe it was not them. She wishes to please them either way, so for now, she will let her thoughts take a back seat. The question about how the other clans will never know the stars like they do is a good one, and she ponders on it for a moment, before nodding her head in agreement. "Very pretty, yes. And a true shame. I could not imagine a life without the deceased watching over me, even if I cannot hear their calls like you do." Oh how she wished, desperately wished, that she could. It felt hopeless to linger on it any more, lest she fall into despair.

Unlike her leader talking to her first, she is not surprised in the slightest to see more cats joining them. Bluepool tells her sister she agrees with the sentiment, and while she's more neutral on the silver tabby, she's happy to have more company. Her heart softens especially as Juniperkit joins them and is honest about wanting to see his father again once he passes. She doesn't really have anyone in particular she will be happy to reunite with, but having a kit so young be robbed of that innocence makes her sad. She hopes that if she were to ever have kits herself, she’d be around for as long as possible.

Another question is asked of her by Snailstride, and this one really catches her off guard. Whisperwish prays that there was no bad intention by it, but she has no reason to believe he would truly find her to be bad. "Yes, I do think I'm a good cat. Very much so." She always tries her best to be kind, in a clan where she feels it's lacking. "And so is Juniperkit," she says, as she nuzzles the sleepy kitten's side.​

 

[Juniperpaw]

A void exists in the young kit's heart where Juniperfrost should have been. The imagined memory of his father is as all-consuming as the long, hungry shadows cast by a weary sun sinking low, low beneath the horizon. A terrible and cold as his father was in life, Juniperfrost has been transformed into a glorious creature of honor and starlight in his death. Though loss is never easy, the truth is that Juniperkit never really had his father in the first place. He has never been anything more than a bedtime story to his son. A cherished story, but a story nonetheless.

Upon the arrival of Wolfsong, Juniperkit purrs a delighted greeting. He blinks sleepily up at the warrior, lazily stretching out his front paws so that he can touch Wolfsong's side in an affectionate gesture. Although the ghost of his sire will always haunt Juniperkit, he's comforted by Wolfsong's presence. The tomcat may be the closest thing to a real father that Juni has ever known. "Okay," he says simply. He definitely doesn't want to upset Mama. "But can we stay here just a little longer?" He snuggles closer to Wolfsong in an attempt to plead his case. Had Sunstride not arrived, Juniperkit might have fallen asleep despite his protests. He nods wisely, trying to pretend that he is more awake than he feels. "Lots of stories," he repeats, trying, and failing, to imagine "eternity." It sounds like a very long time. "I hope he doesn't get lonely waiting." If Juniperkit had to go that long without seeing his siblings or his mama, he would be very sad.

Juniperkit doesn't want to die. It's not really something that he fears, however, he would regret leaving all his friends behind. And he thinks Mama would be very sad, so he vows not to leave her behind like his father did. So ardent is his silent oath that the child is almost insulted by Snailstride's reminder to be nice to Spiderbloom. "I'm always--" A yawn interrupts his grumpy retort. "--nice to Mama." Except maybe when she spends too much time grooming the fur around his ears. It tickles!

Sootstar's thoughtful silence goes unnoticed by Juniperkit. He has almost forgotten what he asked her in the first place when she finally replies. "Magical..." he tries out the word himself, enjoying how it feels to speak it until the word devolves into another yawn and he begins to lose the battle against sleep. He doesn't really hear Whisperwish, but her affectionate nudge is the last thing he feels before he slips into dreams, nestled comfortably against Wolfsong's paws.​