- Jul 29, 2023
- 34
- 7
- 8
ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁 Poppyglow had become accustomed to the visions that threaded through the tapestry of sleep, significant and insignificant tidbits of past, present, and future woven artfully in the non-waking hours of their time upon the earth. Lately, their sleep was inhabited by frightful visions and memories, the old memory of raptor talons digging into their pelt and being lifted into the air, and the blurred image of a skunk-striped savior coming to haunt them again so long after their kittenhood.
Mostly, they dream of falling.
The forest is empty, but filled with an echoing, neverending roar from all sides that only seems to be closing in on them. She runs, from whatever it is that’s coming. She doesn’t know what it is, only that she cannot be caught. A tree stands up ahead, and she knows she must climb it, but when she leaps up, their claws don’t dig in—not enough to lift her up. And then she’s slipping, claws skittering against bark. Panic floods her veins, and there is no one there to save her, she falls backward.
'Help me-!'
Poppyglow leaves camp with quiet footfalls, knowing that sleep will continue to elude them. The fear that wracked their body in their sleep lingered in their blood, the low growl of the malicious place in their dreamscape rumbling echos through the very real marsh they stepped through now. It felt rude, pointed.
She looks up to find stars, lingering silently in the greenleaf sky. "I would like to be left alone, please." She says to the sky, knowing that they had a captive audience, if anything. Even if they no longer looked at her with gentleness, there was some satisfaction to be had in being heard.
She smells something before she hears them, an intruder.
With mind still frantic, in that place of near-waking but not quite, Poppyglow gives in to corporeal feline instinct to flee, scaling the nearest tree, one she was familiar with. Though, things were different tonight. (Was she still dreaming?)
The blanket of this night’s malice hung heavy over their head, heavy enough perhaps to make the branch the small cat sat upon creak and crack beneath a mysterious pressure. Nothing but familiar dread fills her as it happens. The branch breaks, and Poppyglow falls backwards the short distance back to Earth. In the obscuration of the dark branches, a flash of malevolence, green-eyed venom makes itself known to her.
They land with a thump, the air knocked out of them, and wheeze to catch their breath again. All of that previous instinct is replaced with the dulled cotton-filling of dread, and as the stranger parts the ferns to approach Poppyglow, she staggers to her feet, but makes no more moves to flee.
Not a stranger.
”Ah, welcome back, my friend. I hope I had not frightened you just now…” they almost felt sheepish for getting spooked so badly, but that too-familiar disquietude stayed seeped in their bones. Even so, they looked on quietly.
It’s a subconscious realization that the lingering growl of the marsh had fallen into complete silence.
Mostly, they dream of falling.
The forest is empty, but filled with an echoing, neverending roar from all sides that only seems to be closing in on them. She runs, from whatever it is that’s coming. She doesn’t know what it is, only that she cannot be caught. A tree stands up ahead, and she knows she must climb it, but when she leaps up, their claws don’t dig in—not enough to lift her up. And then she’s slipping, claws skittering against bark. Panic floods her veins, and there is no one there to save her, she falls backward.
'Help me-!'
Poppyglow leaves camp with quiet footfalls, knowing that sleep will continue to elude them. The fear that wracked their body in their sleep lingered in their blood, the low growl of the malicious place in their dreamscape rumbling echos through the very real marsh they stepped through now. It felt rude, pointed.
She looks up to find stars, lingering silently in the greenleaf sky. "I would like to be left alone, please." She says to the sky, knowing that they had a captive audience, if anything. Even if they no longer looked at her with gentleness, there was some satisfaction to be had in being heard.
She smells something before she hears them, an intruder.
With mind still frantic, in that place of near-waking but not quite, Poppyglow gives in to corporeal feline instinct to flee, scaling the nearest tree, one she was familiar with. Though, things were different tonight. (Was she still dreaming?)
The blanket of this night’s malice hung heavy over their head, heavy enough perhaps to make the branch the small cat sat upon creak and crack beneath a mysterious pressure. Nothing but familiar dread fills her as it happens. The branch breaks, and Poppyglow falls backwards the short distance back to Earth. In the obscuration of the dark branches, a flash of malevolence, green-eyed venom makes itself known to her.
They land with a thump, the air knocked out of them, and wheeze to catch their breath again. All of that previous instinct is replaced with the dulled cotton-filling of dread, and as the stranger parts the ferns to approach Poppyglow, she staggers to her feet, but makes no more moves to flee.
Not a stranger.
”Ah, welcome back, my friend. I hope I had not frightened you just now…” they almost felt sheepish for getting spooked so badly, but that too-familiar disquietude stayed seeped in their bones. Even so, they looked on quietly.
It’s a subconscious realization that the lingering growl of the marsh had fallen into complete silence.
- OOC:
-
-
—
poppykit-poppypawpoppyglow
— agender they/she. 15mo warrior of shadowclan
— padding after swansong. friend to all.
— a small, fluffy white and dark red tabby cat with pale, wraithlike blue eyes
— smells like mushrooms, dust, and foggy night air
— deaf in left ear, may display asthma-like symptoms of "long-yellowcough"
— “speech”, thoughts, attack, 'poppypaw'
— penned by eezy - disclaimer: poppyglow 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.
