private In a minute [Sunstride]

[Badgermoon]

The sun was rising, and Badgermoon was up early enough to see it. In fact, he was in a prime place to see it, awkwardly perched in one of the branches of the rare few, snarled trees which dotted the moor. Something had called to him out here - was it StarClan? The stars were still visible, in fact, delicately scattered across the awakening sky. But he stared at them intently and felt no call beyond the usual tug in his chest. Perhaps it was simply that the other warriors had intruded on his personal space at too early an hour and he had fled the warmth of camp to come out here; perhaps he was an idiot just looking for a way to catch greencough. Either way, though, the dawn breeze was unseasonably soft on his black and white coat, the sky was awash in immaculate, beautiful color, and the moors rolled out beneath him, stretching ever on like a vast sea. He let out a deep sigh and closed his yellow eyes against the splendor of it all, feeling the intense love that he had felt those moons ago when he had first found this place and the cats who lived here. He felt again the deep, deep gratitude for his opportunity to live on these wide-open plains, to feel the utter freedom of them and the thrill of the winds which raced alongside him.

@SUNSTRIDE​

 

[SUNSTAR]

It had been no such calling to take Sunstride here. The freedom of the moors was an unfamiliar beast. It sat awkwardly beneath his paws– he craved the stony outcroppings, the tinge of cold between his toes. It was not a beautiful place. It was flat and plain, and shaped by paws that he did not know the stories of. In that he found the greatest of faults. His father had taught him of the lands he grew up in; they spoke of tales in each landmark, and the warrior had learned them with eager and boundless love. These nights, it has been torn from him. All that know him have been left behind but one. The greatest, closest one, the one that he could not bear to lose at all. But the company that he keeps is not enough to stave off the sweeping waves of homesickness as they come to wash over to him.

Out here, there is nothing he can truly do to stymie the wound. He walks the moors as if, with it, he might find the perfect bit of snow that sends him back to kittenhood. Or perhaps he too is looking for sickness, freedom, isolation. Anything but the aching gap of his throat. He does not expect to find Badgermoon. A wandering gaze caught the sight of black slotted to a tree. The white of him is easily forgotten, but as his breath shifts the patches of his fur, a predator's gaze is pulled to movement. Rather than food, a clanmate. He watches in silence for another slow moment, then deigns it a better choice to disturb him than be caught staring. "Are you meant to grow ill here?" he calls to the other warrior. "There are far more honorable ways to die."

﹥ˏˋ〘  OOC NOTES INFORMATION 〙ˊˎ﹤

• ooc: —
• SUNSTRIDE. named for his coloration and his bold chasing of fate.
  —— cis male, uses he - him. thirty-four moons old. warrior of windclan and former rogue.
  —— cautious of clan life, but an apt learner. encourages close bonds between clanmates.
  —— loyalty uncertain, cares for those surrounding him. undoubtedly closest to wolfsong.
  
  sunstride is broad and bold– a creature standing above most of windclan, though not a beast beyond its borders, with fur that flames red at its base and deepens to a burnt amber with every whorl and stripe. his eyes, in comparison, are a pale summer's blue, still as bold as the rest of him.
• "speech"

​

 

[Badgermoon]

It was a surprise to hear someone's voice, and Badgermoon started slightly as the familiar voice came up to him. "Sunstride," the bicolor tom called in greeting. He laughed at the question and shook his head before dropping unsteadily from branch to branch until he finally hit the ground with a great sigh of relief. He flexed his claws into the cold earth and offered a half-sheepish, half-amused purr. "You're right, there are - but knowing me, I'll die in the least respectable way a cat can. I'll choke on a rabbit bone, probably, when I'm old and gray." it was a joke, naturally, and the sparkle in his yellow eyes make it clear that it didn't originate from a place of self-deprecation: rather, it's an easy comment, thrown out as if between old friends. He began rasping his tongue over a spot on his foreleg where a twig had gotten stuck, though not before adding, "I was just admiring the view, actually. Something..." he stopped his grooming, midway through easing the tiny bit of wood out, before shrugging and continuing, "I don't know. It felt like something called me out here. Perhaps it was StarClan." there's a lack of commitment in his words, a clear uncertainty - but he didn't mind showing this little vulnerability to Sunstride.​

 

[SUNSTAR]

He cannot imagine himself living so long that he might choke on a bone. Such things must sound miserable to those who do not know the life he has led; to him, it is a thought that has grown to wrap around him like roots do to a stone. A truth that surrounds him, without ay thought to change. He was a warrior– not the way that these clan cats use the term, but a creature meant for battle. For a mighty death. To speak of this to any other might earn him more than a few strange looks. But Badgermoon speaks of his own demise effortlessly; Sunstride can only do the same. He laughs. "And I will be there to welcome you when such a day may come, to hear your glorious story."

The twinkling in his eyes is quick to fade in face of Badger's shifting mood. No longer is this some grand joke, but a quiet thought. And so his shoulders soften, and his head turns to a tilt with the breeze that sweeps his cheek fur. Another might speak in hushed reverence to the warrior's religious calling, or a heavy-tongued disbelief. Sunstride instead stares, contemplative, with a quiet hum. "Do they often call to you in such ways? Since Sootstar– I cannot say if I have felt their touch as you have." He is but a former rogue, learning, uncertain. Hopefully there will be enough goodwill remaining to tolerate his prodding.

﹥ˏˋ〘  OOC NOTES INFORMATION 〙ˊˎ﹤

• ooc: —
• SUNSTRIDE. named for his coloration and his bold chasing of fate.
  —— cis male, uses he - him. thirty-four moons old. warrior of windclan and former rogue.
  —— cautious of clan life, but an apt learner. encourages close bonds between clanmates.
  —— loyalty uncertain, cares for those surrounding him. undoubtedly closest to wolfsong.
  
  sunstride is broad and bold– a creature standing above most of windclan, though not a beast beyond its borders, with fur that flames red at its base and deepens to a burnt amber with every whorl and stripe. his eyes, in comparison, are a pale summer's blue, still as bold as the rest of him.
• "speech"

​