hand in hand | needledrift

[Orangestar]

𝐵𝑈𝑇 𝑇𝑂 𝐴 𝑊𝑂𝑀𝐴𝑁, 𝐵𝑌 𝑇𝐻𝐸 𝐸𝑁𝐷 ✧ 𝐘𝐎𝐔'𝐋𝐋 𝐊𝐍𝐄𝐄𝐋 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐀

• @Needledrift
  
  
• 
  
  — orangeblossom | tags
  — she/her ; deputy of skyclan, mentoring eveningpaw.
  — scarred white-and-ginger she-cat with brown eyes.
  — "speech" ; thoughts
  — chibi by waluigipinball
  — penned by mercibun. @ me in any official tabbytales discord for plots.
  
  

​

Orangeblossom can't see much, even now that they're days into the tunnel and she swears she should be able to make sense of the gloom - yet she finds herself on watch with Needledrift anyway, the two she-cats taking a turn to guard the patrol while the others sleep. Needledrift's flank rises and falls rhythmically next to her. Their pelts brush, forced into proximity by the cramped quarters of the cave they've settled in for a rest, but Orangeblossom finds she doesn't mind so much now. If not for the occasional shift of the grey-and-white molly next to her, the white-and-ginger SkyClanner would wonder if she's dozed off as well.

"You must miss your Clanmates." The deputy meows, a small attempt at conversation. She herself is lucky to be able to ensure the safety of two SkyClanners, Greeneyes and Duskpool trapped in here with her, but Needledrift has no such luxury. Orangeblossom wonders if she misses them like she does Cherrypaw and Slate and Figfeather, or worries for them as she does Bobbie and Chalk.

​

 

[Needledrift]

Again, Needledrift cannot say that claustrophobia is a friend of hers. The tightness of the tunnel reminds her all too well of the tunnel under the Thunderpath, though the acrid scent has been traded for dust and the spectre of death sings a different tune. Whereas the souls that the Thunderpath had claimed laid above their heads when they were taking cover from the bears, here beneath rock and rubble, there was a far greater risk of being among the departed they could not see.

It was a morbid thought to dwell on, but in truth, being a ShadowClanner meant being borne into the bloodshed that meant being a soldier. Death was her birthright. She could imagine Magpiepaw and his curious omens would not disagree.

It is not until Orangeblossom poses a delicate question that the gray and white molly is pulled out of her morbidities, and instead launched into reveries of Magpiepaw foretelling his own death, Smogmaw marvelling at a mushroom he had "found" in his nest, Clearheart jesting with Rosemire.

"I can't miss what isn't gone." She offers after a moment, taking the time to sound out the words carefully around her tongue and teeth. "I've lost clanmates before, truly lost." Dogfur comes to mind then, and .... another. But Dogfur had returned, as wily and sporadic as he was. Honeyjaw, Clearheart, Smogmaw - they were all seasons more measured than he, so they would return to her as well. "Even clans aparts, forests apart, lifetimes apart, we're still connected by our values and our home... and our feet."

A giggle passes her lips, and she places her paw against @orangeblossom 's own to enumerate the webbed toes she possessed. mindful that her companion could not see as well as she could in present conditions.

"Are you worried for your own?" Comes the softer woman's question after her giggle fades and her paw is taken away. "I hear that SkyClanners don't do much in the dark." ​

 

[Orangestar]

𝐵𝑈𝑇 𝑇𝑂 𝐴 𝑊𝑂𝑀𝐴𝑁, 𝐵𝑌 𝑇𝐻𝐸 𝐸𝑁𝐷 ✧ 𝐘𝐎𝐔'𝐋𝐋 𝐊𝐍𝐄𝐄𝐋 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐀

• 
  
  — orangeblossom | tags
  — she/her ; deputy of skyclan, mentoring eveningpaw.
  — scarred white-and-ginger she-cat with brown eyes.
  — "speech" ; thoughts
  — chibi by waluigipinball
  — penned by mercibun. @ me in any official tabbytales discord for plots.
  
  

​

"Odd." Orangeblossom muses aloud, shifting their paws so that Needledrift could feel the lack of webbing between her own toes. Is that a ShadowClan trait? Or had Needledrift been part of the Marsh Colony prior to the Clans' formation? She'd remember the bicloured warrior, surely. Were it so, how funny that she'd be leading a former Pines cat through the darkness like this.

She's lucky I can trust her. The realisation of her thought, unbidden, comes like a shock of icy water to her system. Orangeblossom stiffens around the shoulders briefly, then makes some attempt to relax them, a long exhale working its way into the musty air. Luckily, Needledrift continues, removing her paw (Orangeblossom is acutely aware of how warm her own pawpad suddenly isn't), and though the white-and-ginger she-cat is now very sure that Needledrift had misinterpreted her question, the question returned earns a small noise from the deputy.

Always, she wants to say. All she feels she does, ever, is worry. For the safety of her Clanmates here in the tunnels, for the lives of her Clanmates trapped - or worse - elsewhere. For her Clan, at home. She wouldn't be here in this journey, if she weren't. Wouldn't be Blazestar's deputy. But though she knows her Clanmates see her do so, it's ... odd, to have another cat ask that of her outright. Especially a cat so far removed from her life such as Needledrift. It sparks an odd glow of warmth in the sunkissed SkyClanner.

"We're best suited for the trees in daylight." She agrees. Orangeblossom hesitates, eyes sightlessly searching the ground before them as if they would provide her the words she seeks. Slowly, she continues: "I'm lucky, knowing that Greeneyes and Duskpool are safe. But the others ... I don't think I'll breathe easy until I know they're alright. My daughter, especially."​