pafp MELTING FR ╱ PROCESS MAN ´ˎ˗

Beneath the growing heat of the sun, greenleaf's prowl closer becomes ever more apparent. He swears that he is drowning in it. Between the burning of his ears to the suffocating inescapable swell of fire beneath his thick fur, today is most certainly one of his least favorites. Having lived over three years, that is, many of which have been filled with inhospitable terrain or a deeply rooted trauma...that is saying something. Sunstride is sprawled about in camp once more, trying to find a patch of shade between patrols. In face of his current situation, he had allowed Adderpaw a day off of training (something that he is certain neither of them are all that pleased by) and the day will pass him by in boredom until he can find it in himself to face the rest of his duties. How is he to handle the full strength of their seasons if already he is miserable?

A low, irritable groan rolls from Sunstride's throat, and the tom grimaces where he rests in his small piece of shadow. He finds himself moving from his belly to his back, baring pale white fur to the sky and hoping it may be cooler. His eyes fall upon a familiar face, and in his misery he cannot help but shout out to her: "How have you not burnt to ash with your fur as dark as it is? Do you not feel the sun above you?"
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  • ooc: please wait for @Mintshade !! WOLVES (playfully) BANNED FROM THIS THREAD!! NO WOLFSONG!
  • SUNSTRIDE. named for his coloration and his bold chasing of fate.
    —— cis male, he - him. thirty-eight moons old. lead warrior of windclan + former rogue.
    —— gay, but somewhat closeted. will not be open about his interests.  single, will be so.
    —— seems comparatively stranger than who he was some moons ago, serious and cool.

    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"
 

Mintshade is sitting patiently for once, a patrol had stolen her apprentice for hunting and was not yet returned so her plans for training had been put on hold in a way. The dark she-cat raised a back leg where she perched, set to grooming it in long, exaggerated licks until she heard a shout ring out she was not quite sure was directed at her until the description of 'dark fur' rang clear and she ceased her grooming to cackle in her usual hyena-laugh like way.
"Did they name you poorly, Sunstride? Do long walks in the sun not suit you? I thought the spots were from being kissed by its many shining rays!" Hunching her shoulders as she stood, the solid black she-cat stretched her back with a high arch and let her paws slide forward to flatten her back out before rising to stand and wandering over to the despondent lead warrior where her own shadow suddenly provided the shade he was so lacking.
"I'm built different but I'm willing to offer you my shadow services in exchange for you nicely telling Badgermoon that if he puts me on another patrol with Wolfsong I'll bury them both....and you know MAYBE let me lead one ONCE IN A WHILE!" She'd do it herself but her 'nicely' and the 'nicely' others expected did not quite align.
 
Returning to camp with @SNAKEPAW in tow - their training session cut short by the damned sun - Badgermoon was quite surprised to hear his name spoken. For a moment he felt a flash of alarm, wondering if he was being discussed in conjunction with a certain tunneler's pregnancy, only to realize with mingled relief and irritation that it was only Mintshade, complaining about her patrols. "Might I nicely tell you that I expect WindClan's warriors to be able to tolerate one another well enough to work together." the large tomcat shook his head, amusement and exasperation clear on his face. "Perhaps it was intentional, to see if you're mature enough to lead a patrol. And leave poor Sunstride out of this, won't you? Can't you tell the poor man is roasting?" Dramatically, he flopped to the ground alongside his friend, copying the lead warrior's belly-up posture in the hopes that it would be more tolerable than feeling the sun beating down on his black-furred back.
 


Over the span of the last moon, the peppery apprentice has come to learn that her dark pelt worked like a vacuum of sorts—absorbing all the toasty rays from the skies above, bereft of any intent to release them. It sucks, big time. Returning from patrols all caught up in a pant, trying to find solace in non-existent shadows within in these open moorlands. A fraction of her wonders whether the similarly-toned clanmates endured the same trials and tribulations, and a quick gander at her favourite aunt's slumped figure all but confirms it.

Sunshine weighs on Moorpaw's frame like a boulder today, or at least an unusually heavy rock. Hence, she carries herself with a weary gait, fending off an internal dread as the heat persists.

Her emerald gaze, rested atop folded paws on the camp floor, skims over towards Mintshade once more, only to widen upon noticing she'd invoked the deputy's scrutiny. From what Moorpaw can hear, it sounded as though Badgermoon hadn't taken a fondness to her aunt's ramblings. That isn't fair! If the heat brings out the grump in people, the least the silly badger can do is grant Mintshade some leniency. A spark of rebellion catches light within her, and, slowly, she ascends to all fours.


"Oh, I want to see you bury Badge-uh-moon!" calls the charging she-cat. Equipped with an ill-behaved smirk, she barrels across the length of camp at ludicrous speed; the deputy's tempting moon-and-midnight furs are well within her sights. Moorpaw would cry, "Look, I'll help!" as she encroached on her quarry, before hurdling off the ground in an attempt to land on Badgermoon's exposed belly with her own.

If he carried a shrivel of the honour he liked to expound so much, then Sunstride would have to help her in this noble effort.

 

"GYEH HEH HEH, I tolerate EVERYONE just fine, you're still alive aren't you~?"
Count his blessings and all that, she wasn't really above smacking around her clanmates on a whim for the fun of it all and as far as authority figures came most of them got the same short ended stick other than her sisters and even then they were her sisters first. Old habits died hard, she still found herself calling them 'Soot' and 'Blue' in her head without really thinking about it. Long black legs stretched out before her as she arched her back, kinked tail lashing in annoyance and a roll of her eyes in response to the deputy's little 'lecture'.
"MATURITY! Riiighhht and letting the little traitor lead was mature of you. Don't touch him, Badgermoon, stars forbid what makes your head thick is infectious." With a wriggle and a leap she stepped over the lounging spotted tom and wedged herself between him and the black and white deputy so she could stretch her limbs out to shove the other away and feign it as just getting comfortable, "Sunstride likes me MORE anyways! Don't you sparkle boy?"
Out of the corner of her eye she spots a dark blur shoot by, Moorpaw's words barely even registering before she's raised her head to watch her niece throw herself onto the deputy with a huff of a laugh. "WELL! Not making friends with too many black cats lately are you? Careful..." Her voice dropped, a low growl through her smiling teeth, "....that's bad luck, Badgy."

 
It seems that things have gone belly-up before Sunstride could fully comprehend the situation he is in, but could the blame even lie with him when his head is as melted as it is? He laughs just as loudly as the hyena-mouthed warrior at her mockery of him, for with it comes all the comfort of home long-denied. There were not many here that would tease him the way that he was used to; WindClan was built on respect, yet Mintshade came from a time before the clans. Whether or not she would ever learn to bow her head to the hierarchy– in truth, he can only hope she does not. "Ah but I have been named instead for the terrible heat I will hold for the coming moons. Those who dare come close enough will still feel the sun's heat as leaf-fall comes to us once more." Perhaps by then, it would not be so terrible a curse. Warming his clanmates was a noble profession, and a duty that he can never quite shirk. Poor Badgermoon will find this well, as he comes to join them.

Though the closeness of the deputy startles him, it does not inspire discomfort as it once might have. Instead there is a confusion, and a distant comfort. Both are readily crushed by Mintshade's sudden presence between them. He rolls some to accommodate her wriggling form and laughter already sparks out of his mouth once he recognizes the whole argument between them. "Speaking as one outside of his duties at this moment, Badgermoon, it was a strange choice. But we are not here to discuss the details of our patrols unless you see it fit to send me on one like this." Even with the burning presence of the dark molly beside him, their pelts touching with heat that might start a fire that rages across these moors, Sunstride shifts closer again in some strange jest.

Only to roll away on instinct as a blurred bundle of equal parts shade and enthusiasm launches into the place where they rest. He rolls back to his belly, alert to whatever may have come, but instead of a predator he finds Moorpaw mid-launch, and again his laughter overtakes him. How strange and good it is, to suffer beside cats he might consider friends.
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  • ooc:
  • SUNSTRIDE. named for his coloration and his bold chasing of fate.
    —— cis male, he - him. thirty-eight moons old. lead warrior of windclan + former rogue.
    —— gay, but somewhat closeted. will not be open about his interests.  single, will be so.
    —— seems comparatively stranger than who he was some moons ago, serious and cool.

    sunstride is broad and bold– a creature standing above most of windclan, though not a beast beyond its borders, with fur that flames red 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"
 
Littlekit had been watching the others from the nursery, where he was nice and shaded from the sun. The others seemed content to bake in its rays, though he realized they didn't really have a choice. Littlekit had never seen a tree in his life, he doesnt know what shade is. As he observes, it looks like the others are having fun. Sootstars sister is among them even, the funny black one. He idly wonders why Sunstride isn't sun proof. His name was Sunstride, he should be able to walk ON the sun!

He hears something about burying Badgermoon. He does not know what this means, but he sees Moorpaw launch onto him and decides that looks like fun. So, he hops out of the nursery and clumsily dashes for the deputy to also attempt to pounce on him.

"Bury him, bury him!!" He chanted playfully​