pafp I'M TAKING THE WORLD — joining

[CRESCENT]

Crescent was no longer a young cat. Many moons had gone by since she'd been a kitten, and her life had changed ten times over since then. She'd grown hard and cold, wearied from her countless days spent fending for herself in the twoleg alleys where she's resided since birth. She could hardly remember what it was to be young and innocent, to not feel weighed down by the struggles of her world. But there were a few things she did remember with a fragile fondness. Her mother, telling her soft stories in the dark of night, lulling her into a dreamless sleep. Her brothers happily playing circles around her, their laughter ringing in her ears like windchimes being softly swayed by a summer breeze. These were the memories that kept the darkness from swallowing her; they were the only thing keeping her from tumbling over the edge of her own malice to a place she could not come back from.

She was tired.

Tired of fighting every second of everyday only to barely scrape by, constantly plagued by gnawing hunger and the lingering fear that this day might be her last. She was fierce as they came and more than capable of handling herself out there in the cruel streets of the twoleg city, but she wasn't getting any younger. Each day felt harder, and each day brought more longing for those times that had long since passed, moments spent laughing in the sunshine with her family. She wanted that life back again, even if it meant surrendering a part of herself that she'd always clung to.

She knew where her brother was.

Whispers had reached her, many moons ago, of groups of forest-dwelling cats banding together to form clans. There was one that existed now just beyond her doorstep. She knew that Dog was there; she'd asked around, and descriptions of a scarred pale tabby with one missing eye had circled back to her. She'd known where he was for a while now; a place called Skyclan. But she was... scared. She wasn't bred for communal life. She wasn't good at sharing, she wasn't good at caring about others. She only knew how to take care of herself, and the reason she was so good at it was that she wasn't afraid put others down for her own wellbeing. Following her brother meant giving all of that up, it meant changing. She knew enough of these clans to know they didn't want her kind around.

But she had to try. What else was left for her here?

Deceptively delicate paws moved quietly over hard earth as she drew near to where she'd been told their border was. It was late in the evening by the time she arrived, and her heavily scarred pelt of shadow blended into the darkened forest perfectly. Every pawstep brought her closer, and doubt grew like a monster in the back of her mind. Heterochromatic eyes scanned the night-laden trees, her senses heightened by years of a nocturnal life. Her fur quivered with anticipation as the bitter odor of a scent marker suddenly hit her nose, which wrinkled in obvious distaste. She paused then, hovering just outside the Skyclan boundary, unwilling to go any further but incapable of turning back.

A branch snapped to her left and her head whipped around, her fight or flight instincts kicking in as every muscle in her body tensed. Her lip curled back in a vicious snarl to reveal canines sharpened by overuse, and her gaze locked onto a ghostly figure approaching through the darkness. A familiar scent enveloped her and she knew, instantly she knew, without even having to see him. Her body relaxed and her snarl softened to a wary smirk, her yellow and blue eyes glinting with uncharacteristic sentimentality in the moonlight. What good fortune it was that he should be the first one to find her here, where she had been waiting for him.

"Hello, brother."

[ please wait for @Dogbite <3 ]

 

[DOGBITE]

✦ They were present in body, but the scarred warrior's mind was yards away, off into nothingness. Paws moved on instinct alone as his heavy chest bore down into his guts. A few nights had passed since the loss of their leader, and the harrowing damage was inflicted upon Bobbie. Still, he could not bear to look at the she-cat head-on in such a state. It mirrored his own ancient injuries and reflected as a fresh reminder of his lack of action. He couldn't dwell on it, or else his tear-stained cheek would become raw again. Dogbite just wanted to sleep for days, but their wretched insomnia never seemed kind enough to allow it. Bear had been a rock to him and a constant grounding to stay among the conscious. Going so far as to volunteer alongside him to catch some much-needed grub. For now, doing the work he was assigned was the best they could offer. The body moved of its own accord through the familiar motions of work. Today it was a hunting patrol they'd been tasked with taking part in, and just like him, there was a grim silence across every cat. The lack of food evident on the pile would've been a good enough excuse, but he knew the truth behind it. There was a vacancy now in every Skyclanner's heart, and nothing to fill it other than time and moving forward. What else could they do aside from move forward.

Absently, he split off from his brother's side, trekking after nothing in particular and seeking a moment to escape the tense atmosphere. Since the start of the patrol, there had been hardly hide nor hair of prey, and Dogbite didn't feel up to the task for groveling. In his mindless state, the scruffy warrior nearly waltzes right past the ebony she-cat calling him by something that made his body freeze. Their fur spiked in odd directions, and his head turned slowly to lock with bi-colored eyes. At first, they do not recall the grizzled feline, but her scent is unmistakable, and he feels a fool for not catching it several moments ago. A soundless gasp escapes them as his maw drops open in disbelief. For just a small moment of sweet release, the recent tragedies are put in the back of his mind. Dogbite's voice is cracked with misuse and trilled by surprise. "Cr-crescent?" The name is strange to their tongue but familiar all the same. She hadn't been the cat he prayed for as of late, but it was a blessing to the tabby nonetheless.

If he could cry more, the disheveled tom might have done just that, but instead, he lurches forward, aiming to shove his nose into her neck fur. Rarely did he lose all decorum, but right now, this was what he needed most in the world. Thank you. Thank you. No matter the distance or time, his heart had yearned for the presence of his siblings, and now they were both here. They were both alive, safe, and within reach. His disbelief melted away into raw gratitude as he sits back and smiles brokenly. "It's you.. It's you! Where have you been? Why are you here-" A rusty laugh grinds from his throat with a bittersweet twang. He knew she was the most reclusive of their trio and growing up far more vicious, but there had been no mistaking her love. Realization split across their good eye, and the cinnamon and white tom whips his head to the side. Calling out into the tree line with unbridled joy. "BEAR! GET OVER HERE!" His words bounce off the barren trees and fences, most likely scaring what little prey was nearby, but they didn't care. His sister was here, and they were reunited once more by some unknown fate.

✦ OOC ✦ INFO ✦

• @BEAR sibling reunion time!!

• 

• 
  ———✧———​
  ✧ LH cinnamon tabby w/high white one blue eye
  ✧ child of npc x npc ; sibling to crescent and bear
  ✧ skyclan warrior ; ex-loner ; mentor to littlepaw
  ✧ 32 moons old ; birthday 07/01 ; ages realistically
  ✧ AFAB ; nonbinary ; he/they
  ✧ pansexual ; polyromantic ; single
  ✧ "speech", thought, attack, powerplay
  ✧ peaceful powerplay allowed
  ✧ penned by tasmagoric
  
  ———✧———​

​

 

[TWITCHBOLT]

He was aimless again. Wandering like a feather on the wind, and every night since the loss of Blazestar he'd slept awfully, thinking of how deadened he felt, how much it hurt his head- and how pressurizing the grief felt, squeezing him into a flat piece of snow-striped wood. The frost calmed him, at least a little. Doing was always the best he could manage when he felt lost like this- he'd been the same after Tidespin and Ravencall, busying himself so he didn't have to think on new, difficult feelings-

And of course, he regarded Blazestar's memory with a lot more fondness than theirs. But it was the mere fact it was a memory that disquieted him, and- and then there was a strange scent on the border, and- a voice unfamiliar, and was that Dogbite's scent? Of course, of course- the worst was instantly assumed, sprung upon, and Twitchbolt's gaze blew wide as he saw Dogbite...

... smiling. Laughing. Calling for Bear, his brother- and that was ironic, wasn't it? He'd ended up like this last time, stuck in the middle of a reuinion, and somehow he'd managed to fall right into it again. His teeth chattered into an awkward-looking grin. "Stars, I've- interrupted something, haven't I..." he muttered, wide eyes flicking to the stranger at the border, someone Dagbite clearly knew. And trust did not come easily to Twitchbolt, but Dogbite had surely earned his faith by now, and- well, it didn't make him immediately hostile, for once. No, instead it all made him want to melt into a big puddle on the floor, never to be seen or spoken to again.

"Hello ...?" he offered awkwardly to the stranger, gaze only meeting their's for a moment before darting off to stare somewhere else. ​

penned by pin ✧​

 

[FIGFEATHER]

The marmalade tabby arrives at the side of Twitchbolt, a surprise look glossing over her eyes as she watches the reunion unfold before her. It was surprisingly, not uncommon for cats of SkyClan to find kin, old friends and more at their borders. It seemed more often than not loners, rogues, and kittypets found them based on word a feline they knew of lingered in SkyClan’s forest. From the looks of the overjoyed Dogbite, the heavily-scarred molly was a more welcomed sight.

Figfeather, though not feeling the same impact, shares Twitchbolt’s awkwardness. So use to barring fangs at outsiders and having her guard up it was difficult to know what to do with herself instead. She forces a polite dip of her head but offers little more than her presence, for now.

♡ INFO BATTLE

• 
  » Figfeather
  » SkyClan Warrior
  » She/her . AMAB
  » Mentoring Wolfpaw
  » Mate to Fantastream
  » Sire to Sangriakit & Coffeekit
  » A red tabby she-cat with a mangled leg.
  » ”Speech”․ thoughts ․ attack
  
• 
  » A foe in battle whose ability to strategize can shift tides.
  » Excels in strategizing and pre-planning her battles.
  » Fights defensively and aid to her clan to victory.
  » May powerplay minor harm. Can powerplay healing

​

 

[BEAR]

While the tension now eases off him within the confines of camp, when they're amongst the trees, he can't quite shake it off the same. He's brushing shoulders with a tall reaching tree, muzzle lowered near the dirt, when a loud call has him snapping to attention, barreling towards the call of his sibling. He's more than ready to launch into a fight, to flash his teeth and spite. Instead, his breath catches in his throat, his paws rooted to the floor, as deeply entrenched as the roots of the trees looming over them. He's disheveled, his shaggy pelt collecting grime and tangling with the lack of attention he offers it.

Those days of fear and youth, should feel like an eternity ago, be nothing more than a foggy recollection of pain, should be baggage he's long since shed. It's been the majority of his life, alleyways and scraps, survival being the only thought. But what his eyes see - he can't quite believe it. He's been making his peace with leaving things behind, he's left his family behind, any ally ships he's formed have long since been abandoned. After all, it seems it's all Bear's ever done.

While Dogbite readily approaches, Bear does little more than bow his head. He can't decipher what causes a tremor in his paws, working his claws into the dirt. While the same age he can't claim to know much about his sister. He's always sat comfortably, or rather uncomfortably in the space between distant and close. "Crescent.. Bear grumbles. The past doesn't seem to be leaving no matter how hard he's fought for freedom of anything stable, feels Velma's lack of presence more than ever, feels it more than when he was gone. He hears Twitchbolt, sees Figfeather duck her head from nearby but can't redirect his attention to anything else.

When the earth begins to settle again, he's able to lift the mournful blue stare to his sister. It's hard to look at her, he sees himself when he had bustled past the border, ragged, surviving off scraps and crowfood, but the way she holds herself, the smirk that's present. It could only be her. He drags his paws, has to unroot himself from where he's been stock-still to get a little closer, something uncertain in the stare that flits from Dog- Dogbite and Crescent. He should have questions, but he can't grasp them. "Didn't think I'd see you again." It's stilted, gruff and unnatural sounding, his social skills long since rusted. He's grateful he's able to restrain the wobble in his tone regardless.
​