private HEAVEN ONLY KNOWS | doeblaze

[LIONGAZE]

The tom tries not to buy into the absurdity that usually rolls out from the rumor mill, but when talk started circulating about his mother...he couldn't resist taking action. What was going on with Doeblaze?

Silverpelt twinkled above, seemingly posing as witnesses for Liongaze's impending interaction with Doeblaze. He had waited all this time, after all, situating himself near the camp entrance after the lead warrior had departed the clearing. They occupy themselves with a small meal, barely satiating their barren stomach but providing them enough energy to stay awake and look out for the familiar white-splotched form.

Once the tattered form of their mother finally weaves through the camp entrance, Liongaze straightens up and meows quietly but firmly, "Ma," There is a serious edge to the chocolate torbie point's voice and he is quick to clear his throat, attempting to dull it. She is his superior, after all. "You were out for an awful long while." In fact, according to word going around, she's been going out for long stretches of time each night. Liongaze doesn't doubt that the woman needs time to herself, especially with all of the violence and politics lately, but what kind of son would he be if he wasn't concerned? The new warrior had not been talking with Doeblaze as often as they once had ( maybe it was just a part of growing up ) but she was still their parent. They cared about her even if they weren't always the best at expressing it.

A flicker of worry glistens in their blue optics, a ginger ear flicking before they press, "... Everything okay?" A voice in the back of Liongaze's mind urges Doeblaze: please don't lie to me.

SHE SAID THAT I MAKE EXPRESSIONS LIKE HIMㅤ ✦✦ㅤINFO.ㅤ/ㅤ01/14

• ooc: @DOEBLAZE
• 
  ■■■■■■■ ✶ liongaze. warrior of skyclan ִֶָ𓂃 ࣪˖ ִֶָ་༘࿐⋆｡𖦹°⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
  ✦ㅤafab trans male, he/they | pansexual, crushing on squirrelsong
  ✦ㅤ13 moons old | ages every 9th
  ✦ㅤwarrior | mentored by crowsight | mentoring n/a
  ✦ㅤlh chocolate torbie point ragdoll-mix with blue eyes, scar across face
  ✦ㅤblazestar† x doeblaze | littermate to candorflight & hollypaw
  ✦ㅤwritten by beatles, ic opinions | tags‎

​

 

[DOEBLAZE]

Artificial flickers must be burned into her eyelid at this point, with how much of them she's seen. The scent of still water and exhaust fumes lingers on her pelt, and she's eager to get back into her nest and wash the smell of Twolegplace's darkest shadows off herself. It had not been that fruitful of an evening, and the impact of a blow delivered lingers grimly on her forepaw. A greasy tom with a pelt like a weasel and a sneer like a fox; a peek through Florabreeze's window on her way home, enough to see the tabby was safe and sound.

Sooty snow lingers on her pelt as she slips through the ferns, jumping slightly when Liongaze speaks. Hardly anyone is usually awake when she returns from her expeditions. They haven't been quite so constant since Kite's exile—she still tries to sleep in camp a few nights, and get home before the moon is too high the nights she doesn't. But clearly they've been frequent enough, if her child's words are anything to judge by. Defensiveness and guilt war in her chest, and she straightens up a little, meeting his sky-blue eyes with her own tired jade.

" Everything's fine. " It comes out a little too sharply; still on edge from the night's confrontation, maybe. She inhales sharply and tries to soften her voice, filter Liongaze's words through her ears. He's just concerned, she thinks, and they have a right to be. She's busy, not foolish; she's not so tired she can't hear her own name on the wind. They're asking for answers that they, as her son, rightfully deserve.

" I was at Twolegplace, " she admits candidly, dragging a calloused paw slowly across her face, jostling the shaggy fur that lies there. Silverpelt looms proudly above, and cool wind whistles through the pines, just like the guilt weaving through her ribs. " At first I was lookin' for Oakrumble's killer. Now I'm lookin' for Kite. "

" I thought some of the seedier residents might be … informative. " Almost furtively, she finds herself thinking of Florabreeze's vivid eyes through frosted glass. Why, she wonders, does guilt seep in when she pictures bright greens? And why doesn't she tell Liongaze about her stops there?

​

 

[LIONGAZE]

Faux brows furrow when Doeblaze admits the recent history of her nightly whereabouts — the Twolegplace. That would explain that acrid stench that clings to her pelt. Liongaze has never ventured beyond SkyClan's border but recognizes the stink of asphalt and monster fluids well enough. He believes that she is telling the truth; not that he's any happier with it.

"Y'shouldn't be going by yourself, Ma. It's too dangerous." The chocolate torbie point tells her, a soft frown present upon his muzzle. "What if someone hurts you? What if y' ran into Kite and they..." What if she got killed? Had she ever thought about how that would impact SkyClan? Impact him and his siblings? Her recklessness frustrates Liongaze, much more than he could express. And why was this her responsibility, anyhow? Why did she feel like she had to be the one to track down Kite? Liongaze does not understand it. Everyone was upset about the whole Kite mess but there was surely a reason why Orangestar wasn't ordering anyone to track them down. While a warrior could probably hold their own against a stray, it still was not a safe place to be.

Even if she insisted that she was fine being out beyond the borders on her own, Liongaze would never forgive himself if he knowingly let Doeblaze continue without offering assistance. She was a tough and independent cat, but at the end of the day, she was still his mother. "Let me go with you, at least. Or Candorflight or Figfeather or- or someone." The young adult insists, a glimmer of hope trembling in his expression. He prays to StarClan that she would consider, if not for her own sake than for her children's. SkyClan could not afford to lose her, too.

SHE SAID THAT I MAKE EXPRESSIONS LIKE HIMㅤ ✦✦ㅤINFO.ㅤ/ㅤ01/14

• ooc: text
• 
  ■■■■■■■ ✶ liongaze. warrior of skyclan ִֶָ𓂃 ࣪˖ ִֶָ་༘࿐⋆｡𖦹°⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
  ✦ㅤafab trans male, he/they | pansexual, crushing on squirrelsong
  ✦ㅤ13 moons old | ages every 9th
  ✦ㅤwarrior | mentored by crowsight | mentoring n/a
  ✦ㅤlh chocolate torbie point ragdoll-mix with blue eyes, scar across face
  ✦ㅤblazestar† x doeblaze | littermate to candorflight & hollypaw
  ✦ㅤwritten by beatles, ic opinions | tags‎

​

 

[DOEBLAZE]

Even in the half-light of a time she registers faintly as close to moonhigh, Liongaze's expression is painfully clear. His face pulls into tight, familiar furrows of concern that pull at her heart, wringing feeling out of it like a careworn dish towel. Even up to the elbows in her convictions, it gives her pause; she wavers, suddenly all too aware of the artifical smog clinging to her pelt's cowlicky shag. The smell of asphalt and culverts is oppressive in her nostrils.

" I— " she starts, biting her cheek against the unfortunate intrusion of logic. Liongaze is right; what she does is dangerous, risky, downright stupid is what she'd call it if she caught a Clanmate doing the same. Every foray into the Sandy Hollow ends with her sprawling in the dust; the mosaic of scars her dense fur conceals are a testament to her inability to slip through life unscathed. So why, why, why doesn't she just acquiesce?

" I won't get hurt, " she says, her heart giving another wrung-out twist. Her voice is still scratchy with the weight of her ex-mate's paws on her neck. She has been hurt; she will be hurt; she seems to exist in a constant state of infliction. To say otherwise is a consummate lie, but she clears her hoarse throat and adds, " They're expectin' kits, they're away from home, from a steady supply of prey. If I run into them, I'll already have the advantage, " she reasons.

Doeblaze chuffs a thick breath out of her nose. " Not that I seem to be gettin' closer to doin' that, anyhow. "

" What? Absolutely not. " Shock blooms in her eye, the tawny lead warrior appearing affronted at the very notion. " Those alleys are no place for you or your brother. They're far too dangerous. " Every line of her weary face is genuine; there's not a hint of awareness of her own hypocrisy.

​

 

[LIONGAZE]

Doeblaze's insistence is less than convincing, especially as her words rasp from a hoarse throat. Has she been running herself ragged each night? These "missions" obviously were affecting her health, even if she didn't realize it!

Although what the lead warrior says about the murderer may be true, Liongaze still does not think that Doeblaze was exactly safe out there on the streets. He scoffs in disbelief when the lilac tabby deems her personal sleuthing as "too dangerous" to accompany. "That's exactly why you should be goin' with someone! What if you ran into some serious trouble?" Did she forget that she would have lost her life to a rogue if Blazestar hadn't sacrificed his own? She was foolish, dancing with death like this. She did not have lives of a leader to spare. If she was cornered or injured out in the Twolegplace, SkyClan would not be there to help.

An unpleasant image of a bloodied and beaten Doeblaze burns into their brain. Dilute and cream-colored fur stained with sticky crimson as shaky paws crawl across the asphalt until she can go no further. Worst of all, a mangy and yellow-teethed rogue stands over her, grinning maliciously as they gladly sinks their teeth into the neck of the clan cat.

For the first time, perhaps ever, Liongaze found himself staring at his mother through a lens storming with frustration. Insisting that she was better off alone, like she always did. Pushing him away, like she always did. Why couldn't she just accept his help for once? Was getting his warrior name still not good enough in her eyes? Why was she so... Ugh!

The little tom kit inside of him wants to hide in a corner and cry to himself, but an older and mature version of himself knows he needs to stand his ground here and now. "I'm a warrior now, Ma. I- I can handle myself." The young adult asserts themselves, blue eyes hardened as they force a straight face.

They exhale sharply through their nostrils, averting their gaze and dully glaring off in a random direction before they risk losing their temper. Liongaze does not want to argue. He hates arguing — a pang of sadness hangs in his chest, a bitter and disappointed feeling churning in his gut. "Does Orangestar know you're doin' this?" The chocolate torbie point finally asks, their voice lowered to barely above a whisper, still not looking Doeblaze in the eye. He doesn't know why he asked. He sounds as if he's looking to tell on his own mother, but if it came down to it, would he be able to do so?

SHE SAID THAT I MAKE EXPRESSIONS LIKE HIMㅤ ✦✦ㅤINFO.ㅤ/ㅤ01/14

• ooc: text
• 
  ■■■■■■■ ✶ liongaze. warrior of skyclan ִֶָ𓂃 ࣪˖ ִֶָ་༘࿐⋆｡𖦹°⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
  ✦ㅤafab trans male, he/they | pansexual, crushing on squirrelsong
  ✦ㅤ13 moons old | ages every 9th
  ✦ㅤwarrior | mentored by crowsight | mentoring n/a
  ✦ㅤlh chocolate torbie point ragdoll-mix with blue eyes, scar across face
  ✦ㅤblazestar† x doeblaze | littermate to candorflight & hollypaw
  ✦ㅤwritten by beatles, ic opinions | tags‎

​

 

[DOEBLAZE]

DOEBLAZE

SHE/HER ✦ SKYCLAN LEAD WARRIOR

Silverpelt watches indifferently as tension slips fluidly through the silvery night breeze, the dead's windowed eyes sending down heavy rays of dewy light. Her claws pop and she paws agitatedly at the ground like her namesake, scraping awkward grooves into the frost-armored grass, which crackles under her seeking paw. Liongaze's jagged words brim with an unfamiliar heat, a confrontational wall of flame he's never quite put up to her before.

" I can hardly ask my Clanmates to waste their free time and risk their pelts in leaf-bare, " she answers, a touch more snappily than necessary. Tension pulls a choking string between the two of them, bringing shadows of irritation to flit beneath the papery surface of her composure. " For the stars' sake, Liongaze, it's my personal decision. I'm a capable cat, not an apprentice fresh out of the nursery. "

Her typical rough-around-the-edges maternity is curtailed by the sharp inflection of her voice. It's a tone she more usually takes with disobedient young warriors or backtalking apprentices, not her own son. But his concern is inexplicably as painful as if she were a bird whose feathers he'd pushed insistently against their grain, until the reedy hollows of her bones gave under the force of his paw. Weighty displeasure, untumbled and rough, fills the hollows spots in her heavy limbs.

In unknowing tandem, the vision of old dreams slinks knowingly around the blueblack foliage that edges her subconscious. Liongaze, backlit by the seedy buzz of dimming streetlights, following a snowed-in trail of pawsteps. His tortoiseshell brow is creased in consternation, robin's-egg blues searching the uneven horizon for her body. Then her ex-mate separates himself from the shadows, his scruffy chin clotted with blood and a manic gleam in his milky old-penny eye…

Before the image can bloom itself into violent fruition, Doeblaze jolts back to herself. It only reaffirms her stance; more than as Liongaze's superior, as his mother, she cannot permit him to follow her. She cannot permit him to even consider doing it. " I don't doubt that. Your brother trained you well, " she says in a tight voice. " But that by no means qualifies you to deal with the kind of cats Twolegplace's full of this time of night. "

Shoulders broiling with tension, she regards them through eyes hooded with a steadily deepening frustration. Why can't he see her reasons for doing this? That she does this for SkyClan's sake, for the safety of the Clan his father founded? At the same time as Liongaze does, she lets out a hard breath through her nose and forces her lush gaze towards the star-spotted horizon. Her temper is a storm carefully tended, but they're testing its edges of it in a way her children have yet to do. At their last remark, her expression of exasperation gives way to affront.

" No, and I should hope you won't be tellin' her. " Even in the height of their disgreement, both of their clipped tones round the sloping hills of their verbs. It's not that she thinks Orangestar would disapprove, per se, but it might call undesired attention to her midnight missions. The bicolor leader has enough on her paws this moon without unnecessary concern over one of her council's well-being. " It's not like she'd disgree with me, anyways, " the tawny lead warrior contests in a hoarse, terse mrrow.

ooc:

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accordion

Doeblaze is a small, scruffy lilac tabby she-cat spotted with white. She has one jade-green eye, the other blotted out by a prominent scar.

thomas x champagne / sister to bloomfur / mother to many
shadowed blazestar / mentoring n/a
57 moons old as of 2/2/2025

penned by dejavu