GHOST SHIP ON THE BLUE ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁 cicadapaw

[POPPYGLOW]

ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁 It was only inevitable that the clans would have to shelter beneath the benevolent wings of Shadowclan's marshes. The stars had kindly informed Poppypaw that they would be keeping all the clan cats under their protection, and Poppypaw was glad to be able to serve their part in enacting holy grace. She found herself out in the marshes that evening, wandering near the Burnt Sycamore in pursuit of nothing in particular, perhaps to watch over their guests from a distance. Her paws followed the path of her soul-whim with a cheery silence until it led them to a particular bank of the swamp, and to the creature they were fated to come across that night.

He was an odd-shaped thing, a cat that was stretched at the legs and ears, with a form that hunched with effort beneath some force unseen to Poppypaw's pale eyes—most likely beneath the weight of existence itself. Poor thing. How cumbersome it looked for the creature-boy to exist, all jutting angles and unruly fur. They approached the boy-creature with their floating, silenced gait and caught a glimpse of the eyes on him in the omniscient revealings of the water. One honey, one salt-frost. She recalled with affection the eyes of a friend, neat greys and white and kissed between the eyes by a star, and smiled to themself. The black-and-whiteness of the boy's pelt lacked Flintpaw's neatness, though. White cut and slashed through dark with the viciousness of bear-teeth and owl-talon, and evoked a violence in aura that Poppypaw found fascinating. Poppypaw may have also been jarring in appearance to some, but her blood-on-snow visage was painted neatly on a canvas of fluff and sealed with thematically-icy blue eyes—this was one of Frostbite's many kindnesses to her. Perhaps the parent of this one lacked kindness toward him. Poor, poor thing.

This cat we found, he's kinda...

"Odd."

They said this aloud, in agreement. "Well, wait, no..." they murmured, and Poppypaw appeared perplexed from her seat upon the still water behind him. It occurred to them suddenly, "At odds...!" They corrected with glee, their friend lighting up cheerfully once more. "Friend, do you often feel at odds with yourself?" the small Shadowclan apprentice would ask the boy-creature/creature-boy, focusing their gaze directly toward his face for the first time.

She then recalled the promise she made to the heavens to embody a vessel of grace, and looked downward into the marsh water once more, "You will be safe here... The marsh sings stars back toward the sky." In response, the stars would hum their approval in the shivering ripples upon the water's surface. Yes, they smiled at her for her faithfulness.

PRESENT DAY... ⭑☾༺♰༻☽⭒ ...PRESENT TIME! ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁

• OOC: @CICADAPAW
• 
• 
  — poppykit - poppypaw
  — agender they/she. 4mo apprentice of shadowclan
  — ??? ; child.
  — a tiny, fluffy white and dark red tabby cat with pale, wraithlike blue eyes
  — smells like mushrooms, dust, and foggy night air
  — deaf in left ear
  — sounds like lain iwakura, with a flat yet childlike high-pitched tone
  — “speech”, thoughts, attack, 'poppypaw'
  — icon by mercurial, fullbody and pixel headshot by dejavu
  — penned by eezy
• disclaimer: poppypaw is not always operating completely within reality! they are affected by some delusions and may see, hear, react to, and interact with things that are not actually there. most notably, she will believe herself to have interactions with starclan as a whole and specifically, the deceased shadowclan apprentice Poppypaw. these are not reflective of ic reality and are not real interactions with starclan or deceased characters! this is not an attempt at powerplaying, godmodding, or metagaming.

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[CICADAFLIGHT]

Cicadapaw hates the marsh. It's like RiverClan, but all wrong, made all wrong. It stinks of mud and scummy pond-water and some deep rot, as though the very earth beneath them is mere seconds from collapsing in on itself in a crevasse of mouldering ribs. Everything here is rotting from the inside. The swamps, belching white-bellied frogs to their surface with stomachs swollen with death-gas; the trees, sagging with infestations of lichens and rot-beetles. The cats, skinny things with haunted eyes and disease running down their muzzles. Himself, crusted with blood and muck and slowly festering.

As he hunches over a particular swamp-bank, he chooses not to reflect on this—or he tries. Thinking of rot makes him think of Cicadastar, still missing, potentially decaying into a pile of mossy bones beneath the sand of their home—if the rogues had given him a grave at all. As Cicadapaw stares hopelessly into the water, he doesn't even want to meet his own gaze, blood and water mingling in hanging irises. He sways, leaning dangerously close to the black water of the swamp, to a watery grave, not minding his trembling limbs and roiling eyes.

The voice seizes him, lilting. Mocking? He can't tell. Cicadapaw twists suddenly about until his black-clawed forepaws are nearly planted in an inverse of their hindward counterparts. His back half follows a beat later, jutting vertebra twisting until he faces the stranger. He can't make sense of their gleeful question as they stare into his face with chilling blue eyes. Her eyes look like Cicadastar's, he realizes, and then rebukes himself severely for the thought. His hallowed father, holy and charming, has nothing in common with this bizarre stranger. Nothing.

"Do I what?" A beat as he registers their words properly, appalled at the association. How could they know? How did they know?! Cicadapaw inhales too-sharply, thick swamp air drowning him. His voice is splintering glass, sharp and dangerous, "How—How do you know? What do you know?" He can hear his own voice pitching upwards towards some edge he might never be able to go back over, and he forces it down. "The marsh......what? Sings? It doesn't have a mouth."

something holy wants to get out ✦ ( but you can't let it )

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  cicadapaw ; apprentice of riverclan
  x. he/him ; 5 moons ; tags
  x. unsightly black-and-white tom with heterochromatic amber and blue eyes
  x. played by dejavu
  x. son of smokestar and cicadastar ; brother to beepaw and starlightpaw. apprenticed to iciclefang.

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