private hear me softly speak ✧ ripplesnap

[lichenstar]

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---

Already so much time had passed... but so little all the same.

It was a nebulous thing that had only grown more fragmented in her mind, a fog that clung since being sick. Maybe it was just her imagination then, this feeling of detachment and distraction. That would be okay... that could be fixed. But something wasn't settling.

Something felt wrong... missing? And it was with each passing day and pushed aside idle wonderings that the answer became closer and closer- tiny increments of hints that all pointed in the same direction. One she'd been willing to admit that day but one she'd insisted on pushing aside since. It could not... She...

Poking her head into the warrior's den to see a pelt identical to her own, the lead warrior let out a soft sigh. Ripplesnap didn't often sleep in... she hated to wake faer but the restlessness in her paws demanded attention and no one else felt safe enough. They curl up just beside their sibling, resting their head lazily on faer sleeping body, eyes scanning the clearing from where they laid together, listening to the soft rise and fall of faer chest. When was the last time they'd cuddled up like this and just... talked? It had been so long... too long.

Time passes... it feels like hours though she knows it to be mere minutes. Fae is unbothered in faer slumber and they cannot help but feel disappointed by that. As much as they were loathe to be a bother, sleep could not find them as easily with the cacophony of thoughts in their head, blaring and demanding to be tended to.

"Hey.... Ripple? Wake up," their voice is gentle, a paw lifted to press gingerly at the sleeping cat's side, hoping to wake them. "I'm sorry to interrupt your sleep- can we go somewhere? And talk..."​

 

[ripplesnap]

"Mmm... huh..?" A quiet murmur drifted from their mouth, body shifting slightly against the gentle prodding and soft words. Ripplesnap.... wanted to keep sleeping. Whatever was waking them up, obviously wasn't that important since it didn't even seem urgent.

But... they couldn't help but open their right eye just a tiny bit to peek at what was bothering her. It took a moment for the amorphic blue globs to take shape into something real, her ears perking up in interest the moment she recognized the form to be her sibling. Idly, her mind wondered what it was that was on Lichentail's mind. Normally, she had a pretty good idea what was going on in there, but recently.... No, it's all due to Ripplesnap's own incompetence that she didn't have a clue what could be going on in there. She wasn't paying enough attention to those who mattered, like usual, and instead wanted to make everything about herself.

With a swift shake of the head to rid herself of those thoughts, she rolled onto her side and practically laid on top of Lichentail. "Laikaaaa.... but I'm sleeeppyyyy..." Fae groaned, eyes squeezing shut once more. "Buuuuuut..... I suppose. For you." Giving Lichentail less than a moment to process faer words, fae suddenly jumped up and snaked faer way over the other sleeping warriors and to the entrance. Glancing back to faer sibling, fae motioned to the door with faer head before bounding outside.

A wide grin formed on faer face at the sunshine, a mental reminder to annoy Lichentail for waking faer up already being made. With everything that had been happening lately, fae could afford to give faer sibling a few moments of respite. After all, there was a reason the blue point woke faer up in the first place, and fae intended to see it through.

[penned by bnnuy].

​

 

[lichenstar]

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---

It wouldn't do enough justice to simply label her a drama queen. Ripplesnap was far more than just the queen of drama, she had practically invented it when they'd been born; always elongating out words to wail instead of speak, waving her paws or tail in exaggerated gestures of woe or fiendish delight.... They were certainly two sides of the moon, opposites yet completely whole in each others company.

The easy sense of comfort that warmed bones otherwise drowned in the chill of the coming winter's harsh reality came as effortlessly as the long, sleepy cry of a name rarely spoken. One shared in snickered secrets and moons of history outside of RiverClan, a name from before the Marsh Group... "Ridley," they return, name stated shortly and sweetly in contrast to the long overdrawn syllables of Laika. "You're always sleepy."

Chronic sleeper, meet chronic non-sleeper.

It appears all drowsiness is quick to leave the bones of their twin as the comfortable chin-rest they'd been using vanishes from beneath them- a smile tugs easily at the corners of their maw, standing up to chase the wildly-inclined warrior out of the den. The sun greets them with cool regard, standing as a testimony to the coming, colder months... it wouldn't be long before the river froze over and fishing would be far less viable to feed the clan.

Would the journey cats be back before then? Would they come home to starvation?

"Somewhere private," they insist in a soft hiss, tattered ear flicking to acknowledge what other clan-mates were stirring to start their day. Trotting past the night guard, who was probably glad to be relieved in a few short moments, the blue casts another glance back to make sure Ripplesnap is in tow before dragging them further towards the river, where the current might yet be strongest before the gorge. A loud enough ambiance to keep prying ears at bay, hopefully.

"How've you been feeling? You're not getting sick too, are you?" First and foremost, they wanted to be sure the sleepy inclinations were not a symptom of the plague that had ravaged them only weeks ago. The... complicated discussion of feelings could be begun once everything felt secure.​