private MINTSHADE ╱ INVITATION ´ˎ˗

[SUNSTAR]

Even as these winds chase them closer and closer to danger, Sunstride has not fully managed to tear himself from his perch at the gorge. Though he has given it more distance now, and digs his paws even deeper into the earth at its edge, the sights of it have ensnared him. The noise is the only thing that can bring his mind peace. Here, the clouds of his thoughts are swept away. The crushing winds of the gorge-fall combined with the brewing storm steal most everything from him. He has never been more grateful for that. Against the dull grey skies, he is a burst of color. A blaring red against the moorland heather and RiverClan's distant territory. Though the world is muted, he will never be.

So he assures himself, even as his mood darkens. There is a weight upon him that he cannot fully shake. Even if his mind is empty, it rests there. Waiting. Like a parasite or an open wound it gnaws upon his strength and leaves him sore to the world. He turns to groom his pelt against the winds to distract himself, only to give up a few short moments later, when the combination of whipping bursts of air and his own dense fur have left him truly breathless. Mintshade is nearby. It was meant to be a hunting patrol, though he'd begged a moment's respite here to settle his frustrations from a failed chase. "What was life like, when you were young?" he calls to the molly. Though his tone is conversational, trepidation nips its heels.

＞ˏˋ〘  OOC NOTES REFERENCE 05.28.2023 〙ˊˎ＜

• ooc: @Mintshade

• 

• 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"

​

 

[Mintshade]

She was having such poor luck hunting lately she pondered if she'd picked up a curse or something, surely she wasn't just this unlucky? Surely she wasn't so unskilled. It was a bit of an ego blow but she'd lick her wounds like she groomed her pelt and carry on.
"Simpler." She's blunt as always, a dark paw raised to groom and swipe over her ear as she sits; there's no hare scent nearby so she doesn't feel very inclined to continue stealthing about. The rabbits must have scented a brewing storm and dove back into the depths, or maybe the wind had spooked them; it was hard to say which but she knew both were likely. Foolish little things that they were, easy prey often but granted sharp claws to keep one on their toes. The perfect prey for WindClan really, one that would maintain the honed edges of her claws and push her to keep pace.
"Colony didn't bother with all this territory nonsense, didn't care about ranks or anything...if you wanted something, you took it. If you weren't strong enough to keep it, you didn't deserve it. I prefer it almost, wish we could go back...."
Mintshade is not often the sort to long for times past, looking ever forward and advancing on the future; but she'd be lying if she didn't admit sometimes she yearned for the days of simplicity where strength was all you needed. She felt useless in a clan where battles were sporadic and uncommon, where she wasn't always present for them.
"...did you lot have anything like the colonies?" She asks, realizing she'd never once thought to question a rogue of their story; when they arrived she had treated them all with skepticism and kept her distance but eventually those worth trusting lingered and those not died or fled.
​

 

[SUNSTAR]

"That does sound much simpler," he admits quietly. Though he does not stir from where he is sitting, he turns his head a small bit more to stare at the warrior beside him. He regards her in a new light with this knowledge– some idea that she had been another, at some point. Not a warrior of WindClan, but a kitten. One who had learned and played, and lived a life that he had been no part of. It is strange to think of; that he would know nothing of most anyone here. He cannot imagine her as anything other than who she is now. He turns his gaze away from her once more, and back to the dark horizon across the way.

Shade begins to make much more sense, for reasons he could not decipher. He hums thoughtfully and takes a moment to answer. Were she to look at him, she would find a distance to his gaze. His mind is many seasons and many days' travel away. "I suppose it was more like your clan than your colonies. I did not spend my life with the rogues. Wolfsong and I came upon them after leaving the place where we had been raised– in search of new, brighter horizons." It is with a scoff that Sunstride looks upon the horizon now, bleak and deadly. "My father stood as our leader, and I was to follow in his steps."

Another lingering pause. "Much has changed for the both of us."

＞ˏˋ〘  OOC NOTES REFERENCE 05.28.2023 〙ˊˎ＜

• ooc: —

• 

• SUNSTRIDE. named for his coloration and his bold chasing of fate.
  —— cis male, he - him. approx. 40 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"

​