private look at my angel ✧ hazecloud

[lichenstar]

✦　˚ 　✧ ˚　.˚　✦ 　✦

CLAIM THE BURIAL I SEEK IN DREAMS FLOWING RIVER CEMETARY ✧

• She'd been checking regularly ever since the snow first began to thaw. They'd gotten so little time to spend together in the colder months, most of her mate's time occupied by mouths that needed constant feeding and herself shoveling through the sense of duty that demanded she focus harder on work than family. Now finally, with the stressors of the season becoming something closer to memory than current reality, the proper moment had presented itself... and she felt a little more ready to bask in it.
  
  Like the sun's warm rays, she finds the doting smile of her heart's desire to be just as succoring... skies blues meet the spring beds of grass and blooms and like a fluttering bird, there is a lightness in each paw-step now that had not been there before. Hazecloud was rambling about how she wasn't sure Lichentail's suggestion that Snakeblink watch the kittens was very funny... that he might teach them things neither of them would be prepared to deal with and she can't help but agree with an amused smile. The dawn-fog molly is nothing if not annoyed by his antics where the point instead had found a friend. "I didn't leave them... with Snakeblink," she promises, a purr rumbling in a tattered chest. "I was joking," comes her quiet reassurance, drawing tired-heavy lids closed before searching ahead for the meadow she was dragging them towards.
  
  "I asked Ripplesnap," there is a lilt to her voice that suggests she knows this to be an equally silly option; their twin is not of half the rigid workaholic that she is and would likely be found buried in laughing kittens by the time they got home.
  
  Pressing aside a patch of reeds and brush, the pale she-cat bows her head in a show of theatrics, revealing the lush escape that she'd been coveting to share with her daylily. It is the same place they'd been to tens of times... but there is nothing quite like it during its first blooms. The pollen is heavy, something that makes her wheeze a bit (though she does her best to hide it) and the scents of new petal-spread flowers is intoxicating. "After... you..."
  
  A chance to sink into their roots... to find connection in each other again where parenting had wedged a gap.
• about
  speech hex code ✧ #6368A5
  ooc notes ✦ it's date time !!! kiss kiss fall in love
  tagging ✶ @hazecloud
  penned by tieirlys
• ˚　　★⋆. ࿐࿔　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚　.　　　　　 . ✦　　　 　˚　　　　 .
  　　　.   　　˚　　 　　*　　 　　✦　　　.　　.　　　✦　˚ 　　　　 ˚　.˚　　　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚　.　　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚　 　　　　 ੈ✧˳·˖✶ ✦　　˚　　　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚ ★⋆. ࿐࿔
  　　　.   　　˚　　 　　*　　 　　✦　　　.　　.　　　✦　˚ 　　　　 ˚　.˚　　　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚　.　　　　 　　 　　　　 ✦　　​

​

 

[hazecloud]

The noise from the nursery could break sound barriers now. So many little paws to keep track of, so many paws to pull from little mouths and 'we don't eat that!' to follow. How quickly Hazecloud came to realize she was actually lucky to have the nursery mostly to herself. Apricotbloom had been a wonderful guide in aiding her preparations to becoming a mother, and the space was so quiet. So peaceful, even with their surprise trio in the mix. Even when three more arrived soon after.

For all the difficult trials passed it felt far more easier to cope with compared to now living in a crowded den. Elbows poked and prodded into vulnerable sides, hind paws kicked into muzzles, it never ended.

Yet still the queen would hesitate in considering the thought of leaving camp. While Iciclefang may lunge for the chance to patrol again, Hazecloud felt a twinge in her chest for every inch she is separated from her kittens. She had grown comfortable remaining in the camp, and had done so now for six solid moons. The only thing she truly missed was the warmth in sharing a nest with her mate.

"Your humor is unmatched, today." Hazecloud shot back dryly, though not a hint of real anger stirred. Real anger may have had her marching all the way back to camp just to drag the lead by the scruff and into the river. Maybe throw in the deputy with him for good measure.

But she's reasonable today. Today will be good, despite the distance between herself and the kittens. Iciclefang may have a firmer paw than herself but she did not doubt her capabilities of keeping them safe. With the added eyes from Lilybloom, Lilacbird and Swiftfire she may even assume the luxury of it being impossible.

It's hard to stir in her anxieties when spring has blossomed so brightly at her paws, fortunately. The ice and snow have thawed and she had only been able to see its reach from the islands, but for days she had imagined her meadows growing back their lively vines and stems. Waiting with sweet blooms and soft leaves for her return.

"Another leafbare survived." Hazecloud hummed as she trotted ahead at Lichentail's invitation. Soft fur embraced the coverage of lush green and limbs stepped carefully over entangled vines. She felt her words shared from the same root as the flower stems she brushed past. Another wintry season passed, and both her and her beloved meadows lived to greet the sunlight once more.

"Remember when I caught you here? Didn't even know I was back from the mountains yet... You must have thought I was a ghost, almost clawed me to see if I was real." The queen teased as she tucked herself comfortably among the mix of ferns and flowers. ​

 

[lichenstar]

✦　˚ 　✧ ˚　.˚　✦ 　✦

CLAIM THE BURIAL I SEEK IN DREAMS FLOWING RIVER CEMETARY ✧

• Her smile is light at the unimpressed comment at her humor. Her daylily knew better than to expect much in the way of jokes and pranks from Lichentail, at least now, at her more matured age. When they'd met as hardly more than young adults high on the freedoms that youth and a common cause had handed them... A pair of fledglings taking their first flights outside their nests.
  
  They wander into this space to be washed in the renewing spirit of new-leaf as a better version of themselves than the first time... or the times after that (hopefully). A bonded pair that had seen incredible hardship and for once, endured despite it. It's hard not to cling to that hope with glimmering eyes and weightless paws and she trails after her mate with such calm, she is sure she could nap against Hazecloud even during a thunderstorm.
  
  Anywhere she is... it means safety.
  
  She hums of memory of a time just before they'd become parents... a reunion so foggy that Lichentail grows uncomfortable trying to grasp at it with her, to share in the reverie. For the teasing that comes is harmless... but stirs up a swell of agonizing discomfort where there is meant to be jest and joy.
  
  They had sunk their claws into her skin like she were a piece of prey that might have kept her from starving... ravenous, dizzy with hunger and paranoid uncertainty. Lichentail didn't like who she'd been then... was afraid of becoming that duty-crazed and rib-thin molly again.
  
  "I was... certain you'd died," she explains softly, drifting through the gently swaying grasses and flowers with careful pawsteps, unwilling to snap them unintentionally if it could be avoided. The vain hope to leave this place untouched so that others might be able to enjoy it too, that they might be able to come back to it for another moment of peace. "It had been.... moons...." with no signs from StarClan to assure them of the journey cats' victory. 'And I'd almost died too,' stays at the tip of her tongue.
  
  Was it worth sharing... just how bad things had gotten when she wasn't here? How angry she'd been at those that had escaped such hardship in favor of wide-stretching horizons and adventure? "Didn't realize... how much I... missed you."
  
  And how could she, when they'd been at odds for seasons before that?
• about
  speech hex code ✧ #6368A5
  ooc notes ✦ dont talk to me about how late this is i'll burst into tears
  tagging ✶
  penned by tieirlys
• ˚　　★⋆. ࿐࿔　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚　.　　　　　 . ✦　　　 　˚　　　　 .
  　　　.   　　˚　　 　　*　　 　　✦　　　.　　.　　　✦　˚ 　　　　 ˚　.˚　　　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚　.　　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚　 　　　　 ੈ✧˳·˖✶ ✦　　˚　　　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚ ★⋆. ࿐࿔
  　　　.   　　˚　　 　　*　　 　　✦　　　.　　.　　　✦　˚ 　　　　 ˚　.˚　　　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚　.　　　　 　　 　　　　 ✦　　​

​

 

[hazecloud]

Time was a whirlwind oracle to the life the pair had led. Leading up to this moment, reunited at the hip of the only other her heart had grown for the way it had, Hazecloud would go through it all again if she must. A cardinal kissed string coiled between their souls, no doubt, always meant to remain tethered at any distance.

It felt as much when her paws trekked through an ankle-deep tundra and the blue molly still had a home in her thoughts. When she sat beside a frigid river with Dovethroat and reminisced of the days where she was wrapped with long limbs and scruffy fur in secret. But that had always been the point of contest, hadn't it? Keeping everything below ground, buried where not even their fellow colonists could tell?

"I thought as much, some days." Hazecloud confessed as her eyes followed the path of countless pawprints that had passed through.

It was comforting to know in her absence, the meadows were not so lonely. In time as newleaf sprouted new love (it certainly sprouted enough kittens to prove), she and Lichentail may see tufts of someone else's fur between the vines and lingering scent of other cats. What a great way to anticipate who else may join the nursery, surely.

"I could never guess what we would face next. We passed a river and we all believed that would be the worst of it. We couldn't even fathom what other trials waited for us." The rockslide that had her and Dovethroat convinced the rest of them had succumbed to the collapse. Convinced it was only a matter of time for themselves with such little prey and water to find. The screeching of the eagles still appeared between the echoes of braying hounds. Little Wolf's death, Honeyjaw's defection.

"Near the end I wondered of those ThunderClanners might throw me back to the dogs. Flamewhisker's daughter paralyzed her legs trying to escape them but- well, you know what happened." It had been the source of her disappointment with Dovethroat entirely. She had stated her demands, and while they complied... there had to be one outlier. It had to be him.

"I thought of you so often, up there. When I felt hunger, remembering your scent kept me fed. When I felt cold, thinking of your fur kept me warm. When I was afraid... knowing you wouldn't stop kept me moving forward." Because no matter the number of seasons they had been estranged, the amount of looks shared of wistful distress and regret, they could not deny their history was invaluable to their lives. To who they were in the course of growing up.

"Life has given me so many blessings, so many starting with you. I don't want to take that for granted ever again. I don't want to regret not loving you for even a single moment." A cluster of petals drift from the swaying breeze and the queen tipped up her chin to watch them. Floating through the gust freely, a sigh of what felt like relief exhaled from her maw. They had made it. After all this, they made it together.​