private Lovers Brothers Killers ♡ Houndshade

[WRATHPAW.]

*+:｡.｡ Wrathpaw winces as a paw strikes down hard on a feline's sensitive head, the loud thunk making him cringe. There's nothing he can do though as NPCpelt, one of Skyclaw's followers, reprimands a group of apprentices for their disrespect against Skyclaw. The youth had been quite aggressive in their beliefs. Insults flew like gnats under the breaths of many, vocalized loud by the naive, making them prime targets for example on what happens if you don't respect the new head of Thunderclan. Wrathpaw didn't understand. Things would go a lot better if everyone just accepted it...after all, it wasn't like Howlingstar is coming back...He trembles at the memory, squeezing his eyes shut against dimming suns, ivy old as the towering oak it hugged raked from it's tower, left to rot amidst the dirt below.

"Can't the fighting just end?" he sighs, barely able to disguise the whimper in his voice. The question wasn't intended necessarily for Houndshade, but when he looks up to see them beside him (after jumping out of his skin first, of course) he can't help but ask them specifically, "What's the point in it all? Shouldn't we all focus on making Thunderclan better, stronger?! Without...Howlingstar...and the kitty-pets, Thunderclan is without weaknesses now, right?"

*+:｡.｡ Updated 7/9/24

• 
  
  
• 
  
  
  GENERAL:
  ♡ Wrathpaw
  ♡ DMAB— He/Him
  ♡ 10 moons — Ages 1 moon every month real-time
  ♡ Brother to Lovelight, Joywing, Laughblossom || Pridepaw, Merrypaw
  ♡ Thunderclan — apprentice
  ♡ Mentored by Wildheart
  
  
  
  
  COMBAT:
  ♡Physically mediocre | mentally very easy
  ♡ Attack in bold #4a59ff
  injuries: None currently , mentally unwell
  "SPEECH"
  

​

 

[Houndshade]

There's no hiding the scowl from Houndshade, biting her tongue to hold back her scoff at the scene. Talking back was never really encouraged under Howlingstar, at least as far as she was aware. Houndshade was never reprimanded like this anyways when they snapped a snarky remark someone's way. It showed the instability in her opinion, to be unable to have apprentices of all cats be snarky. Granted… They were a little too vicious in their remarks, talking like that was an art and they were showing their paw too much.

Striding next to Wrathpaw she cranes their head to get a better look at the scene unfolding. Tail lashing behind her with a sigh, a wicked grin flashes at the apprentice as he jumps. Nothing malicious, just finding it funny that after everything he would jump at the surprise presence of another. “Cats always fight, though I guess a tragic death of a beloved leader followed by suppression and a violence to all answers type of leadership kind of breeds more animosity” they speak passively, happy to loosen her tongue a little in the apprentices path.

It was a gamble, to see if she would be reprimanded by him or if that warrior was still lingering with an eye for punishment. They scrunch their muzzle in thought, squinting at the apprentice to try and get a read of what he wanted here with these questions. She's stunned truthfully, blinking in surprise. “You think it's about weakness?” She should laugh, scream, something. The emotions can't find her and all she can do is just stare.

“Can you give any example of weakness from them? Any patrol I was part of had been competent” the ones she bothered paying attention to anyways, still she attempts to humour the thought. “Why exile or kill them, wouldn't it be better to keep ThunderClan stronger in numbers? Couldn't they just have more training?” She turns to face him properly, trying to look him in the eye. “If strength is the goal then why don't we just exile or kill the weak or sick next?" Voice laced in sarcasm, truly a test to see if he would agree with this suggestion, they hoped that he wouldn't.

​

 

[WRATHPAW.]

*+:｡.｡ Wrathpaw's eyes lose none of their initial fear as they meet Houndshade's glittering smile. She reminds him a lot of Fallowbite, though Houndshade is less inclined to silence than his friend. Still, wherever his former den-mate stands, an odd miasma seems to extend from her, whipping and lashing as though she's a specter existing only for an instant, to watch and perceive but never quite to disrupt, even if her assistance is greatly required. Wrathpaw wonders if he has any right to think so judgemental. He, after all, remains just as frozen in place...does the ache in his chest make up for his cowardice? Or is it the mark of a monster who actively denies the flow of fresh water to watering holes? He hangs his head lower and does his best to not think about his capable his paws still are.

Wincing at her matter-of-factness, Wrathpaw mumbles, voice quiet and weak, "Skyclaw won't...it's growing pains..." but he isn't sure who he's trying to convince.

Houndshade could've dug her claws into his chest and he would've felt less pain from that than he does currently by her question. His eyes widen, but his vision stubbornly tunnels. She's trying to meet his eyes, but he looks away, only caring to look at his paws, at the nonexistent smoke that billows from ragged breaths. Why exile them, why kill them? Why?
Green eyes that stared past loved ones; golden hues that hold no light, no kindness - why kill them?
Why?
Why?
Why?

Why hadn't he asked that sooner?

"Th-the truth" he barks out, voice like a clumsy scratch thrown out within the midst of flaying limbs gunning for his throat, "the truth - it - it is -"

What would Skyclaw say?

"It's - it's not about - it's the bloodline" he tries, juggling each buzz word like the stinging nettle they are. It tasted rotten on his tongue, mold creeping from a withered plant left in the sun too long. But there's nothing else to eat. There'll never be anything else to eat.
So he swallows.

"Kitty-pets, their descendants too, they're...they're corrupted. They're inherently greedy and weak - cowardly! Stormywing mistreated Fallowpaw, and for all her scars I- I saw her lounging when everyone was on patrol! They're idiots, like Roaringpaw! Eating poison and wasting herbs! You tell me how useful kitty-pets are when Coltkit c-cries like a coward over a little teasing" rotten, slimy, bile slithers down his throat, his stomach recoils from it, but he swallows it down. Skyclaw's words are his words. He's saying it, he must believe it.

"Strength is in community and they - they ruined that. They're born to ruin it!" right? Right!? That's why Howlingstar had to die - because she was corrupted! And that's why Pebblestep had to d-die because...because he...despite his kind eyes and gentle demeanor he, too, was fated to be...l-like his sister and...and there was no other option. "Th-there's no training it out of them" but why didn't they try? "there's no saving them" but why didn't they try? "It's not our job to!" he finally chokes.


Shaking his head and lashing his tail, he does his best to free himself of the suffocating air that has since draped around him. Could that stifling, unseeable miasma really be coming from Houndshade or...he claws angrily into the dirt, finally looking up to glare at the older feline, "Why're you even asking? I-if you don't agree with Skyclaw..." a threat? No. Immediately, the boy bites his tongue. There are a lot of things Wrathpaw can swallow...but there are some words Skyclaw has spoken that Wrathpaw could not bring himself to repeat. He sighs, shaking off his pelt like he's caught in a personal rainshower.


"...does it matter anymore, what the truth is or whether Skyclaw's doing the right thing? We're here now, aren't we? There's nowhere to go but forward" his voice rumbles with gravel of an empty stomach.

*+:｡.｡ Updated 7/9/24

• 
  
  
• 
  
  
  GENERAL:
  ♡ Wrathpaw
  ♡ DMAB— He/Him
  ♡ 10 moons — Ages 1 moon every month real-time
  ♡ Brother to Lovelight, Joywing, Laughblossom || Pridepaw, Merrypaw
  ♡ Thunderclan — apprentice
  ♡ Mentored by Wildheart
  
  
  
  
  COMBAT:
  ♡Physically mediocre | mentally very easy
  ♡ Attack in bold #4a59ff
  injuries: None currently , mentally unwell
  "SPEECH"
  

​