pafp Let me find out ☾ would you rather

Haretooth

The Danse Macabre
Apr 28, 2024
29
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"INDELIBLE IS WHAT I NEED TO SPREAD THE WORD."
“Swansong, I have a hypothetical dilemma for you” he called out to the tabby as he trekked across the marshland of camp. He would be reluctant to admit this fact, however, he took great delight whenever he would partake in speaking with her. If anything, it had become a conversational starter when he felt the desire to speak with Swansong. Whenever an idea made itself known in his mind he would seek her out as he knew that she would engage with him in these situational ideas, there was no pressure from himself to be outlandish with them but he desired to out wit himself each time.

Haretooth took up space to be walking alongside them, body tense as he contemplated what hypothetical dilemma he would present this time. There were multiple options, he knew that Swansong would usually extend whatever he had presented so it didn’t need to be in depth, yet he enjoyed challenging himself to think of something more outlandish than the one prior. “Would you rather die a very slow death, however, you could feel no pain. Say your nerves had been fried in a fire so you wouldn't feel yourself burn or you're drowning? You'd feel that panic as your body shuts down of course but I must emphasise you couldn't feel any actual pain.” He paused, originally the tom was planning to include succumbing to a plague as an example of his question but he thought that would be cheating on Swansong’s behalf. The tabby had survived Yellowcough after all, so they would have more knowledge then himself, that would give her an unfair advantage. Haretooth couldn't have that, it was irksome to think of a looming knowledge that he himself was not privy to.

His tail lashes in the air as he ponders about the second half of his hypothetical. “Or would you rather die quickly, you would feel everything, however, it would be over in a minute, maybe ten minutes at the absolute maximum. Say, being mauled, or being gutted… I have not experimented wherever if a gutting would be quick so let's presume that it is.” He nodded with finality, waiting in silence for her answer.


// Please wait for @Swansong !


✯☽✯
 

⋆⁺₊ ☾ ⁺₊⋆  Swansong is always glad to have the company of Haretooth. His mind is quite a fascinating thing, and often on the same path as her own. He is own of the few who do not shy away from her star-chosen domain, that eternal sleep which calls to all the living. No, he delights in it - how refreshing. It makes the burden easier.

She perks up as the tom calls her over, listens without looking. "Oh, what a terrible conundrum..." she breathes once he has finished, tone airy and near-delighted - starkly at odds with her words. She pauses, inclines her head in thought. "I would hope a gutting to be quick," she adds in aside, casting a quick glance to the other. "I could not begin to imagine the pain of it... a grisly fate, no doubt."

But that is not the focus, here. Her mind drifts back to the matter at hand. "Ah - as for your question..." Another pause. Swansong has never been known for her briskness, but she considers her answer with care. "Slow, yes... I think I would prefer to die slowly... painlessly..." It is a more familiar fate. Her own near-death was agonizing, drawn over the course of moons. Perhaps it is strange to wish to repeat the process... But she thinks it would not be so bad without the tearing in her lungs. "It sounds... almost nice. Beside the panic, naturally, but that is only at the end. There is peace, too..." She knows this well. She often feels as though she is dying still - merely prolonged far farther. There is comfort in it, she has found. She has to find comfort in it, or else the fear will take root. She hums, softly. "Or, ah... time to make peace. It would be much better to see death coming, to greet it properly..." To make it a friend as she has. Familiar and as close to seet as rot can smell.

She smiles languidly, satisfied in her answer. "That is what I think, at least."


  • 81294824_mjXd5ejx6RrZPyn.png
  • SWANSONG ⋆⁺₊ ⁺₊⋆ she / they, warrior of shadowclan, thirteen moons.
    a pale, silky-furred cream tabby with tired blue eyes.
    dreamy and detached, known for her perpetual sleepiness.
    halfshade x smogmaw, littermate to applejaw, garlicheart, & ashenfall.
    peaceful and healing powerplay permitted / / underline and tag when attacking
    penned by SATURNID ↛ saturnids on discord, feel free to dm for plots.
 

[ ༻❄༺ ] Death or dying wasn't something that Snowpaw wished to think about. He already worried that the next day or today could be his last so why would he wish to prefer a certain way of dying? He slowly approached the two with a wary look in his yellow gaze. Why Swansong would choose to die slowly was beyond his comprehension. Wouldn't one still feel their own panic? Or their lungs giving out? And if it was a fire... they'd still feel pain even if it was for a moment...no, dying slowly sound like the worse way to leave this world, especially when your clanmates would know that there was suffering involved.

"Going out quickly...sounds better, because you'll only feel it in the instant it happens but it's over just as quickly" he stated, piping up his own opinion over the question that had been presented to the pale warrior. Yet, perhaps he did not understand fully why his former denmate would choose the ladder and maybe in the future he would, yet still he feared the day it would be his turn to be taken away from his wordly body and become another member of Starclan, something he hoped not to happen anytime soon.

  • "speak""Thoughts"
  • Snowpaw He/Him, apprentice of Shadowclan, 9 moons.
    Lithe long hair blue lynx sepia with high white, and yellow eyes. Stubby tail, permanent resting bitch face
    Hailfreckle x Mudsplash
    peaceful and healing powerplay permitted (ask first) / / underline and tag when attacking
    see battle info here
    penned by Ryn@/Rynnaro on discord, feel free to dm for plots.

 

"StarClan, these are morbid." Lilacfur's voice exhaled in exasperation. Haretooth had an odd way of starting conversations, that was for certain. While his approach was meant for Swansong, who didn't appear as taken aback as she felt, it's hard to ignore what she overheard. Lilacfur couldn't dare ponder about it for long before it made her stomach churn and feel queasy.

Too much of her kin had died, far beyond peaceful manners, to linger on. Swansong had contemplated her answer carefully in these hypothetical choices and Snowpaw added in his own thoughts. Lilacfur fought the shudder that threatened with the caress of a chill down her spine.

"Hopefully none of this occurs any time soon. I hope not to ponder any meetings with StarClan until I've got aches in my joints and crooks to my whiskers." She would see to that elders den, one day. She would not befall to any beast or cat.
[ i need the clouds to cover me ]
 
both. they've done both. they've died quick, so quick that the pain they felt was over as quick as it started. they've taken a long time, but they barely actually felt the pain they were in. or maybe they did, but they wre so out of it that they didn't remember. they don't like either options. neither of them are better than the other. they walk over and stand next to lilacfur, offering a quiet flick of their ear in greeting.

"I do hope none of you have to ever deal with that."

their brows furrowed in thought, though their gaze is hollow and unsteady.

"like lilacfur says, the elders den. you should all live to tell stories of your heroisms to your young."

they know they want to grow old and weary. but the stars do not have this mapped out for them. they're not naive. they're not going to due a peaceful death from old age. nearly every death has been painful and they will keep being more painful until the last until they can no longer return. it was their fate, and it was sealed a long time ago.

———————---***ALL OF MY FEELINGS ARE GONE***———————---

  •  
  • black feline with a white marking across their face, a white chin, a white right front paw, and blue eyes. chilledstar is covered in scars, the most prominent ones being the one across their face, and the one across their neck.
    46 moons old; ages the 3rd every month
    they / them pronouns
    aromantic / homosexual ; currently not looking / looking
    child of JAGGED and RAVEN
    shadowclan ; loyal to shadowclan ; other info if applicable
    mildly difficult to befriend ; trusts barely anyone; trusts no one outside of shadowclan
    "speech", thoughts, attacking
    peaceful powerplay allowed
 
Death is a benign and foreign concept to Marblekit. She knows, in theory, what it means to be dead—it means you are no longer here in the forest with your family. She knows Siltcloud had caused cats to die—Betonyfrost’s daughter, for one—and she knows that’s terrible, terrible and bad and dishonorable, as Lilacfur had said. She often looks at her own paws and wonders what it’s like to cause someone to never come back again. Wonders what it would take for her to unleash a darkness of that magnitude—is it even possible? She hopes not, but she does not know; her mother had seemed kind and brave and loving, even when murder had lain in her wake.

The kit tumbles toward Lilacfur, and she clumsily presses herself against a pale foreleg in a greeting. “Any frogs for me today?” She chirps, before fixing her eyes on Haretooth and Swansong. They play a strange game, a dance where one feigns and the other dips away. Death. Would you rather. She knows a little bit about would you rather, but she’s out of her element with this topic. She does not know the difference between dying slowly or quickly, but… Lilacfur and Chilledstar say young warriors should want to retire to the elder’s den.

She scrunches up her nose. “The elder’s den? Yucky! Is that the only place you can go?


  • ooc:
  • pcAn1D5.jpeg
  • Marblekit, she/they w/ feminine and non-gendered terms.
    — “speech”, thoughts, attack
    — 3 moons old, ages realistically on the 1st.
    — mentored by n/a ; mentoring n/a ; previously mentored n/a
    — shadowclan kit, formerly a rogue. siltcloud x lilacfur, gen 3.
    — currently mated to n/a.
    — penned by Marquette.

    sh fawn tabby with dull green eyes. courageous, curious, introspective, observant, judgmental, snarky.


 
Sneezepaw is one of the unlucky few to witness such a grim conversation. Out of all ShadowClan's darkness and morbidity, he must've stuck out like a sore thumb, huh?

The apprentices grimaces as each question is presented, and his paws shift uncomfortably beneath him from where he rests. What kind of question was that? He remembers games of 'would you rather' as a kit - would you rather kiss a toad or a WindClanner? Would you rather bathe in the marsh's mud or do a silly dance in front of everyone? It was never.. how painful would you like your death to be?

Sneezepaw doesn't like to think about death, not at all. Life is a big fantasy to him, and the world is magical where his dreams can come true. He'd remain blissfully ignorant to the grim and gore of it all for as long as he could. He almost ups and leaves from the cats fueling such a conversation when Marblekit arrives, and he settles himself down once more. He wouldn't make himself seem weak by asking them to talk about something else around him - it was selfish anyway, he thought, when he could just leave - but perhaps they'd stop with a kitten listening in.

"Well - we don't have to go to the elder's den for a long time. I want to be a warrior until I'm too old to walk," he'd mumble in response to Marblekit's question. "But I don't think there's anywhere else to go when you're old. Maybe Starlingheart's den - it doesn't stink as bad in there."
  • sneezekit SNEEZEPAW
    ━━ APPRENTICE of SHADOWCLAN | 6 MOONS ,, ages every 2nd
    ━━ DUCKSHIMMER xx NPC | SIBLING to SINGEPAW and SWALLOWPAW
    ━━ MATE to none | PARENT to none
    ━━ MENTOR to none | MENTORED by SHARPSHADOW

  • speech is #ffcc8a

 


Ferndance, truly, did not know how she wanted to die, only that she did not want it to be as a plaything for a hungry fox. It would be a fitting end to die as she should have moons ago, but 'fitting' was something the cinnamon tabby had not attempted to do in all her moons of being a ShadowClanner. Haretooth's question was one pondered semi-seriously by the eavesdropper, her head tilting back and forth like a pendulum in consideration of both options presented. As others curled away in disgust, the warrior leaned closer, eyes glinting in a sincere interest in the macabre subject. Briarstar's death had been a fascination of hers for a while, wondering how it felt to lose all nine lives at once, wondering if being squashed by a vehicle was quite the sudden end as it seemed. Though the conversation shifted to the elder's den, Ferndance's gaze remained contemplative as it settled upon the white tom, blinking sparsely. "Going out slowly, for sure. I could pretend to have something important to say and die before I get a chance to say it." It would be funny. Being gutted, by Haretooth's definition of it, would not grant such a golden opportunity.

"When you die... I want you to haunt me and tell me how it felt..." Though she looked at Haretooth with a saccharine smile, it was an inclusive request, evidenced by a slow swivel of her cranium towards the rest of her clanmates. She would probably outlive them all, at least she hoped she would - there was still so many things to try in this mortal life.

 

"INDELIBLE IS WHAT I NEED TO SPREAD THE WORD."

There was a soft grunt in agreement as Haretooth pondered Swansong’s reasoning. It seemed just, he always had faith that her answers would be sound. As a fellow appreciator for the macabre her words were not viewed as morbid. Of course death would be viewed positively by her, she had danced with it before. “I’ve been pondering if death is more of a spiritual belief or just a feeling? Would you be able to greet it if you couldn’t feel the suffering? Perhaps you would confuse it with falling unconscious and the opportunity would slip by for your greetings.” His words were curious, akin to a kit asking about something as mundane as where the sun went when covered by clouds. Going out slowly with no pain had its merits, Snowpaw offered the opposite and the warrior had to admit that his reasoning made just as much sense. A good topic for debate it seems, Haretooth adored the conflict of mind. A waltz of opposing opinions, different world views, it really would form how one would feel about this. Personally, he hadn’t reached a sound conclusion to his own question.

Clan-mates who did not wish to hear this conversation weren't factored into Haretooth’s calculations. He was not naive per say, he knew that this conversation would be suited for all present. Lilacfur was the example of that, he had taken the position of ignorance instead, he had presented this not holding a particular regard for those who wouldn’t want to hear this. It was a mere hypothetical after all, he was not going to regulate how it would be taken. Yet he couldn’t help but chuckle with a wry toothy grin as he listened to Marblekit’s reaction to Liliacfur and Chilledstar's words. That amusement remained at Sneezepaw’s attempts at answering the young kits question, he didn’t hold a strong opinion on the elders den but he was never the type to pass on an opportunity to dramatise a conversation.

“The elders' den is a slow death in itself.” He declared with a thoughtful nod, “inadvertently you’re choosing the first option in my hypothetical” there was a mirth in his voice, the closest to a teasing tone the pale warrior was ever going to take. He wouldn’t call himself a caring figure yet there was something concerning in that hollow look his leader held. The mirth was there to ease their potential concerns more so than his own amusement. He did wonder about their experiences given their gifted lives. Was death such a welcoming figure when you’ve greeted it multiple times? Or does it become a part of oneself, a suffocating presence? Perhaps overbearing? He would have to question them about it sometime, that day would not arrive soon in their current state.

Ferndance’s reply shakes him from the shackles of a short lived concern. Circling the conversation back to answering the question he had proposed. “Only you would find a way to bring theatrics to your death. This is an impressive feat.” the words were blunt but they still carried that mirth in his tone. He had faith that she would get a final word in, no matter her manner of demise. He enjoyed that about the cinnamon tabby, her amusing outlooks always seemed to inspire his thoughts to extend the concepts further. “ “Of course, I expect you to do the same. It’s a pact, when I pass you will be top choice the blessing that would be my haunting.” he decided with a solemn nod, taking her words seriously.

He lapsed into silence for a moment. Finally able to reach his own conclusion to his question he looks around at his gathered clan-mates. “I would like to die slowly, if I’m not feeling the pain then I could take the time to study it. The final knowledge I could learn before my departure being a deeper understanding of myself in a non spiritual sense? I would settle for nothing less.” Of course he did not intend to pass anytime soon, there was much work to do here in ShadowClan. Though, he was certain that was a sentiment shared by everyone.

✯☽✯
 

Lilacfur glanced down to the dusty-furred kit at her inquiry and gave a gentle laugh. "I don't have one right now, but we can get one together from the fresh-kill pile." She offered softly, her tail twitching behind her as she hoped none of their senior Clanmates overheard her daughters words.

Sneezepaw laid a new direction for Mabrlekit to see that path. It wouldn't be for quite a while, the same went for Lilacfur! She didn't view herself as very old or wise. She worked hard for her home, and she could see herself doing the same for many moons to come.

Haretooth elevated how her answer was not a suitable dodge to his game, and her whiskers twitched in subtle amusement. Sure, he could win this one time for that. "A suitable agonizing end, being pampered by my Clan for the rest of my days." She imagined it would be peaceful. A gentle drift from her sleep and into the stars embrace.

However, now that the conversation continued she would rather Marblekit not participate in all of it. Instead she began to guide the young one away, giving a respectful nod to her fellow Clanmates. "Let's go find a good frog for you! We'll surprise Sycamorekit with it.