horseplace I THOUGHT I DREAMED HER — coming to the horseplace

[Echolight]

Her time as a kittypet had been excruciating.
Passed from the hands of one twoleg to another, and promptly shut into one of their dens. Her legs had begun to ache, no longer could Echolight run over the rolling moorland. The kibble was dry and stale, so she refused to eat.
For moons, all she could bring herself to do was stare longingly from a perch, out into the world where an invisible barrier blocked her from her freedom.
Her heart longed to embrace her children again, the worry for Sparkpaw’s fate snowballing by the day.
Though, she supposed her son would be a warrior now, all of her kits would.
The morning was rainy when she was suddenly seized by one of her keepers, fit into an ill-fitting harness of strange thread, and whisked out the entrance guided by a broad thread of shimmery blue.
For the first time in moons, powder blue optics had sparked, her instincts kicked her fight-or-flight back into full gear.
She sat, a melodic song of whines playing just the right tune as she shifted her body uncomfortably against the contraption strapped to her chest.
The two-leg bent down, their lips contorted into a disgusting pout as they cooed at her.
Echolight whines on, a scarred paw shakily lifting to press against them.
Victory had surged through her chest when she heard a click from behind her head, the twine loosening.
The whines stopped, a low growl replacing her somber song as abruptly her lips would peel back, nipping at the twoleg until it sprung away in shock.
The vibration of its companion rushing towards them rumbled under numb pawpads, but it didn’t matter, the warrior cat was already fleeing, limbs outstretched as a tension was lifted.
The calico had made her escape, and her instincts drove her straight back to the moors.
It wasn’t until she had just about reached their borders that doubt began to creep along her spine.
There was a strange scent, drifted to her nose. Sickness and something foreign, death and blood.
Faint, but still there.
Her heart dropped, horrifying thoughts playing a symphony behind widened optics.
A blazing victory quickly slain by her fearful discovery is what brought her here, head craned to the strange dens reddened roof. It was Echolight’s last resort, surely the barn cats that resided here had some information as to what had been happening.
Gingerly, she steps in, eyes searching for any sign of life.
"…hello?"

"Speech."
​

[ WHAT A TIME ]​

 

[Irispath]

Nothing felt worth it anymore and Yewberry struggled to find the will to carry on through daily activities. The mice in the barn were easy to catch and he was thankful for it. He didn't have the energy for a hunt. His grief stole every bit of willpower he had from him, and he lays curled into a pile of hay, barely visible to anyone looking. Sometimes the twoleg who lives here comes in and gives him a pat on the head when he notices him hidden away, and Yewberry lets him. After all, he knows this twoleg has a dangerous tool, a loud stick that somehow wounds whatever its pointed at. If a few pats on the head is the price he has to pay for safety in this barn, thats fine.

He's seen what that thing does to animals, he's seen it kill a fox with one boom. He's going to stay on the twoleg's good side, thank you very much.

But he fears even the threat of this weapon won't keep Windclan away for long. He'll have to consider going back to the Twolegplace, most likely the area near Skyclan and Riverclan. It was the farthest from the moors, and still near the forest. He was NOT going any deeper into that place. The two clans were just going to have to deal with it. Better to be torn apart than....Than crushed under a monster. He'll never change his mind.

But he doesn't want to leave the barn. It was peaceful here, even if Windclan was so near. And if they ever came looking for him, he can easily burrow into the loose piles of hay to hide if he has to. He's gotten quite good at it. Whatever makeshift den he makes doesn't last though as the twoleg often takes from the pile to give to the horses.

This is just his life now.

He hears paws stepping into the barn and he's content to ignore it until he hears a voice he thought he'd never hear again. He jumps in surprise, out of the hay and scrambling forward.

"E-echolight!?"

He swallows hard, halting himself. What right does he have to approach her? After putting her family in so much trouble? If she's here to kill him, he'd let her. He truly believes the best thing he can do for his family is die, and by their paws. Then, Sootstar won't hurt them because they've shown their loyalty. He trembles as his heart pounds, wondering what she's come for....And..... Why does she smell like a kittypet?

He tries to force the tears to stay in his eyes as they begin to water. "I-it.... Its been a while...." He says.​

 

[Pumpkinpatch]

—————————————————————⊰❦⊱————————————————————
Pumpkinpatch admittedly didn't like how many cats were coming to the horseplace as of late, it made her worry that they would look more noticable to outsiders, it made her worry it would draw the moorland cats here to deal with growing group they might think a threat to their territory. Every day she starred wistfully out across the fields she used to walk in and play in that she now feared stepping paw upon. She almost doesn't get up to greet the new cat entering, thinking perhaps she would watch safely at a distance to gauge threat but Yew's lilac form steps forward to greet her with a confused declaration and an awkward comment. Hearing all this she decides to step down the ladder of the hayloft to join them.
"Friend of yours, Yew?" She asks, surprised at how emotional he'd gotten and she turned to look back at the she-cat entering the barn with a careful stare. She didn't seem threatening and if she was friends with Yewberry then she was probably alright. She had yet to meet a friend of his who was hostile, it was probably why none of them fit into WindClan too. From what she knew that place would chew up and spit out a softhearted cat, she'd probably be torn to shreds in such an environment.
"Hello, I'm Pumpkinpatch."

❦ ——————— I'm in the rafters looking down ❦ —————————— It's cold up here

•  
• 
  
  
  Pumpkinpatch
  —⊰⋅ Barncat/Loner
  —⊰⋅ She/Her
  "SPEECH", 'THOUGHTS', ATTACK
  —⊰⋅ LH Chocolate Tortiseshell
  

​

 

[POLLENFUR]

Yewberry moves to greet a stranger bearing kittypet scent, and Pumpkinpatch isn’t far behind him, gracefully descending the ladder to land amidst the spill of golden straw across the barn floor. Pollenfur is at first disinterested. The queen’s pelt is messy, cowlicked from lack of grooming. Darkness pools from a dull amber gaze and settles in the shadows beneath her hollow eyes. She has not bothered to clear the mud from between her toes she’d accumulated after burying her mate; the earth has dried, thick and painful, but she leaves it as a reminder of Hyacinthbreath. A newcomer is hardly enough to stir her, until she hears Yewberry’s tremulous query: Echolight?

“What?” Pollenfur stumbles from her makeshift nest, blinking dust mites from her eyes. A shaft of light falls through the gaps in the roof and illuminates a familiar half-scarred face, a lilac-splashed pelt and one hardy blue eye. “Echolight, my love, it’s you! Echo!” She chokes, brushing along Pumpkinpatch’s flank to stand beside the tiny former WindClanner and her leggier, taller niece. “They were very close friends,” she murmurs to the other calico, “and she is my kin.”

Pollenfur reaches for Echolight’s muzzle with her own, attempting to nuzzle the other she-cat. “Brightshine and Mallowlark will be so happy to know you’re safe,” she murmurs, though she does not tell her kin just how impossible it is to visit just now, just how dire the situation with WindClan truly is.

, ”​

​

 

[Echolight]

There is an eerie moment of quiet met with her call, but it is fleeting with something suddenly bursts from a pile of hay, Echolight’s eye instinctively widens as she lets out a gasp of surprise.
E-Echolight?
The feeling of imminent danger completely depletes when it is not a threat standing before her, but the trembling form of Yewberry, her closest friend, the adoptive father of her children.
His words are thick with emotion, and while Echolight had been disappointed in his departure, the toms act of rebellion had been the bravest thing the lilac-dappled molly had ever seen.
"Oh, Yewberry." Her words are breathless, spoken in the same heartbeat she aimed to embrace him, head dipping to touch against her old friends shoulder and feathered tail curling comfortingly around him.
"I’ve missed you, stars know." Echolight sighs as she’d withdraw, a sad smile parting at half-barren features.
A true stranger approaches before she can ask what the tom knows of her family’s fate, and the former warrior gives a polite dip of her head, "It’s wonderful to meet you, I’ve-"
There’s an exclamation from somewhere behind Yewberry and Pumpkinpatch, a figure shaded with dust staggering to their paws.
Yet, Echolight would know that voice anywhere, and now her own single optic shines with tears.
"Pollen!" She cannot help but exclaim at the same time the patchwork molly begins to call out her own name.
She returns her aunts gesture, trying not to linger a concerned gaze on the older she-cats muddied paws or unkempt fur. A purr rumbles deep from her chest when her kin reveals that her mother and littermate are okay, are alive.
"So they’re okay? The border… it reeked of rogues, of blood- I was so scared something had happened to them." Echolight explains with a shake of her head, but the sigh of relief could not come yet.
"What about my kits? Are… are my babies okay?" Her heart throbbed at the thought of her children, singing the same broken tune it had since the day of her capture.

"Speech."
​

[ WHAT A TIME ]​

 

[Irispath]

Having been lost in his own mind, ripping himself apart over speaking out and being made to leave his family, he had convinced himself that Echolight would hate him. He was sure of it, even. He almost expected to be struck. When he wasn't, and greeted with such warmth, it took him by surprise.

She embraces him, and he feels himself crumble. Not in a negative way, though. He has not been embraced for moons. This level of affection is a shock to his system, and all he can do is tremble and press his face into her fur.

"E-echolight...I'm sorry... I-I'm sorry for everything, I should have kept my mouth shut-" He says, voice threatening to become choked with the sobs he's trying to hold back despite the tears in his eyes. "I failed you..."

Pumpkinpatch is unaware of the history between the cats present, he realizes when she speaks up. "Yes...This is Echolight, she's my best friend." He says to her. Well, one of many best friends. Yewberry kind of considers all his friends his best friends. "I haven't seen her in...A while."

He's glad Pollen is here to greet Echolight. He thinks it will do her some good, after.....All that has happened. Fate has not been kind to her, and Yewberry wishes he could help in some way. But he's not sure there's anything he could possibly do, it's not like he could just AVENGE Hyacinthbreath and take her kits back.

Though, Echolight's next words confuse him. Did she not...Know about the rogues....? What exactly happened to her, for her to smell so unlike the moors?

"There was...A big fight. A ton of rogues nearly overtook the territories, but the clans won, in the end." He explained. "A-as for the kits, I... I haven't been able to see them. They're likely warriors now...." He continues. "They hate me, I'm sure. I know Spark does..."

He feels so empty, pathetic and useless.

"Did you.... Did you leave Windclan? You don't smell like the moors. Did something happen?" He asks. He can't imagine she just up and left to become a kittypet.​