camp HOW DO I SAY GOODBYE? [grieving]

[FALCONHEART]

𓍊𓋼 A nudge against his shoulder draws Falconheart out of a hazy memory, fog-laced and dreamlike. Flycatcher, standing over him and cleaning up his cream-striped fur, a warm expression on his face. Even now, he can see the pride in his father’s eyes as he prepared to introduce the two kits to the rest of their clan—and the peace the memory brings is shattered when the other warrior calls his name for the second time, giving a more harsh nudge to his shoulder. “Falconheart! Get a move on. You can’t sleep all day.”

Glassy-eyed, the tom looks up from the rock he’s been blankly staring at for a majority of the morning. He blinks sluggishly, head rolling to face the other warrior, who seems taken aback by his appearance. He knows how he must look, disheveled and ungroomed—he just hasn’t had the energy, the motivation, to do any of it. His clan surely needs him, but… he can hardly manage to get out of the nest that he’s lying in. It still smells of Flycatcher, his scent intertwined with Flamewhisker’s. It’s one of the last pieces of him that he and his mother have, along with the kits. The four of them are still tiny, hardly scraps of fur, and they are the most true, most final reminders of Flycatcher’s presence. Flycatcher had named him, and he will not be around to name them when the time comes.

The thought that his younger siblings will never know their father makes tears well up in his eyes. His chest seizes with a wave of emotion so powerful it causes him to trip over his paws, nearly sending the tabby warrior tumbling onto his face. He catches himself, struck with a sense of vertigo, and attempts to regain his balance. "’m… fine," he mutters, shaking the dirt from his pelt. It’s entirely unconvincing, but he hopes that everyone will be too busy with their own grief to take notice.​

​

 

[Dovepaw]

Dovekit didn't quite yet understand grief, not yet experiencing it for a cat they were close to. Sure, they could understand that cats were sad, upset that Flycatcher was gone, but as much as they tried to mirror that sadness they couldn't do it. The point kitten watched as a warrior nudged Falconheart, watched as the warrior stared off into the distance before trying to stand only to fail quickly afterwards. Soft frown tugged at the kit's features before they walked forward to the other, head cocked slightly before attempting to place a paw on the other's.

"Do you need to see Gentlestorm?" Quietly the kitten would ask, making sure to lean in close to Falcon so that if it was meant to be quiet it could be. "Did you know he has nasty plants, but they can help when you hurt." And it went without saying that Falcon was hurt, though Dovekit didn't yet know that it was a hurt Gentlestorm wouldn't be able to fix.

PEACE LIKE A RIVER 𓇢𓆸 ALWAYS GOING, NEVER GETTING

• --

• 

• DOVEKIT - GEN 4; ROEFLAME X BURNSTORM
  -- afab ;; they/them ;; thunderclan kitten
  -- sibling to littlekit && beetlekit
  -- lh chocolate silver lynx point
  -- stubborn && questions everything
  -- speaks in bolded #96b6a6

​

​

 

[BURNSTORM]

In his lifetime, Burnstorm had been forced to say plenty of goodbyes. His mother was gone, his father, a sister, a brother and now he had lost his second mentor. When Emberstar had died it had been a blow like no other. She had been meant to teach him to be great and he rememebrs the anger he had felt when he had been reassigned to Flycatcher in her stead. Now though? Now he would give anything to turn back time and just spend a little longer with the cat he had grown to respect and care about. Falconheart's grief mirrors his own, and when he lays eyes on the brown tabby tom who he had once mentored, he feels as if he may collapse and join in the chorus of sobs. But Dovekit is there, and the way that they place their paw on Falconhearts, the comofrt they offer, it's enough to heal his heart even if only a little bit.

A soft but sad smile alights his features as he approaches, burying his nose gently into his kits side for a moment in a warm greeting "That's very kind of you Dovekit" he says in that gentle voice that he reserves for his young "There's no herb in the world that can make this better though, just time" and then he glances at Falconheart with golden colored eyes and he remembers how he had been after Emberstar's death. He had looked a lot like Falconheart did now. Directionless. "Say, I'm pretty hungry and but I don't think I can eat a whole squirrel all by myself" he announces suddenly "Falconheart would you care to join us in a meal and sharing tongues after?"

( ☼ ) come and take it

• 
  
• 
  BURNSTORM THUNDERCLAN LEAD WARRIOR ; HE / HIM ; BROTHER TO MORNINGPAW, MOONWHISPER, HOWLFIRE, FIREFLYPAW, SKYCLAW & DUSKBIRD ; MATE TO ROEFLAME
  

  A large, sharp tongued, tom with long black fur and golden, oval shaped, eyes.

  ✦ Difficult in battle. A skilled fighter + fights honorably
  

​

 

[FALCONHEART]

𓍊𓋼 The tom is only hardly paying attention when a small figure approaches, caught up in the thought of simply… going back to sleep. He could lie here all day, probably, but would he feel any better afterward? He considers going to the nursery to see his mom and his still-unnamed younger siblings—but he doesn’t want to risk making Flamewhisker feel any more devastated than she already is.

He’s jostled from his thoughts, however, by a tiny paw being placed upon his own. Bicolored eyes dart to his paw, and there he sees the little culprit—it’s Dovekit, their expression turned downward in a frown. The little point asks if he needs to see Gentlestorm, and he shakes his head lightly, though he nods his understanding as they explain how the medicine cat can help him. He doesn’t think there’s a plant that could make him feel better right now, but he appreciates the gesture from a kit (Burnstorm’s kit, and isn’t that a shock, to think about his mentor being a father now?). Just in time, the warrior in question approaches, telling his kit that herbs won’t help. Falconheart bumps his paw gently against Dovekit’s, forcing a small smile onto his face. "Thank you, though. You’re… very helpful."

The dark-furred tom suddenly changes the subject, and Falconheart may be distracted by the grief that weighs heavy on his heart, but he knows pity when he sees it. Burnstorm’s offer seems genuine in spite of it, though, and he nods once. "Uh, sure—and thanks." He doesn’t feel like he can eat anything, but he supposes he needs to.​

​

 

[ROEFLAME .]

-ˋˏ ༻ ☀ ༺ ˎˊ-

The grief a parent leaves in the wake of their death is suffocating, grief was suffocating. Roeflame had watched it bleed the life from Freckleflame and Rabbitnose, seen how it changed her mate, felt it breathing down her own neck.
Flycatcher had been a guiding star throughout Roeflame’s youth and far into the queens adulthood, and when the news had broken that the closest thing she had to a paternal figure had been slain in almost the same fashion Dewfrost had, the tabby felt nostalgic bile rising in her throat, the icy pit in her chest cavity.
The camp swelled gray with mourning despite the new-leaf sun, her kits the only thing that had kept Roeflame tethered in that moment.
Now, she watches her children from outside the nursery, ears alert despite the far-away look that glazed over celadon optics.
She doesn’t notice Dovekit approach a staggering Falconheart until their small, sweet voice catches on half-alert ear drums.
Oh, stars. Roeflame sighs, she couldn’t blame her child’s ignorance- no, the queen cherished it.
Just as she begins to make her way over, the comforting sight of broad-shoulders steps into her line of sight, and she closes the gap between herself and the trio that they had created.
Coming to Burnstorms flank, Roeflame to aim to stand over Dovekit so she could rasp her tongue over her first-borns ears. “You’re fathers right, loss is a powerful thing, my dove.” The queen hums, trying to resist the throb that begins to beat against her heart.
Burnstorms offer is laced with empathy, and though the thought of a meal makes Roeflame nauseous herself, but with some effort, a soft, sad smile would work its way onto her features when she looks up towards Falconheart. She doesn’t know what to say, doesn’t know what she could say, so instead the tabby runs away from the topic, as far as she could.
”Would you three mind another?”

‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎┌── SHE BLOWS OUTTA NOWHERE ⋅✴⋅ ROMAN CANDLE OF THE WILD ──┐‎

• 
  
  
  

• 

• 
  ROEFLAME ✩ she/her, Lead Warrior of Thunderclan, twenty-two moons.
  ⭃ petite cinnamon silver ticked tabby with murky green eyes & a small scar over her left eye.
  ⭃ mate to Burnstorm ☀ mentor to Foxpaw
  ⭃ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted ☀ underline and tag when attacking
  ⭃ penned by Noor ↛ @toyangel on discord, feel free to dm for plots.
  

​