ONLY IN FAIRYTALES && pollen

[honey]

Nursing what feels like a hundred kits has sucked the life out of her, quite literally. A big and healthy family besides the scare from Thunderkit and Honey couldn’t ask for anything more BUT peace and quiet. Kitten mewls filled the air and it had begun to grate her nerves, they would not stop no matter how many times she licked them and tried to lull them to sleep.

But the moment finally came where all of them fell in to a milk drunk sleep and she slipped out unnoticed. A breath of fresh air and as the sun slips behind the horizon, the cool chill of night arrived. She fluffs out her pelt as she settles in to a loaf position, flicking an ear as she rests her eyes for just a couple of seconds before turning them to the starry sky. If there was one thing she liked about Windclan other than some of her clanmates, it was the fact that she still felt so close to the stars, it was beautiful out here. She heaves a tired sigh, flicking her ear once more.
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"speech"​

 

[POLLENFUR]

The beautiful stranger from the pines. Pollen can still detect the spice of the needles on the air as she approaches the cinnamon tabby, lit with starlight. Still a stranger to the moorland, still a piece that does not quite fit into their odd, fractured WindClan home.

Pollen can hear the quieting murmurs of Honeytwist's tiny children. The new mother is seeking peace, paws tucked beneath her as she admires the stars. The tortoiseshell saunters close and settles beside her without offering a greeting or asking if she would be allowed to.

"Tired, I'm sure. Take your rest while you can, dandelion." Pollen's eyes flick from Honeytwist's face to the night sky. "You've come a long way, but you've a road to travel yet."

She doesn't clarify. Pollen is referring to many things at once. Gaining Sootstar's trust, and by proxy, the rest of the Clan's. Becoming the stars' designated healer, prophet. A new mother. So much in Honeytwist's life that she must adjust to.

The tortoiseshell blinks with sympathy. "I've been meaning to ask you. All that... StarClan business. You must have really seen them, huh?" She hums to herself, deep in thought. "All my life, I've wondered if there might not be something above us, more than us... and here you are, living proof of that. Chosen by the sky itself."

She gives the other femme a cryptic look. "Tell me... what is it like? To share dreams with them? It must have been compelling if you left your home to come here." She tilts her head, curiosity turning her tone songlike.
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PENNED BY MARQUETTE​

 

[honey]

Pollen is treading over and Honey does not complain, offering a tiny, tired smile towards her. She finds the other girls presence comforting in such a wide world, Pollen speaks as if she had wandered the whole earth, knew all the wisdom from the smallest corners, poetically beautiful. She finds herself staring before looking back up.

Dandelion. She slightly giggles, bashful, nodding in agreement. "Rest is hard to come by with them," she nods her head to where the kittens sleep. "But I wouldn’t have it any other way. As long as mon bébés are with me… I can go through any hardship." she did not expect to get slightly sappy, eyes softening up. Part of her feels betrayal to Tugger, to Skyclan, but another part of her feels like this is just right, sitting beneath the stars and sharing a conversation.

"Ah, yes…" Starclan. A bittersweet thing to her, she had seen them at the battle and once more in her dreams. "They were beautiful, and their lands were too." she almost wants to shed a tear remembering poor Marigold, the cat whom come to deliver the news, but she keeps her gentle composure calm. "It’s.. odd, as if I were a prophet. I’m not sure if I like being ‘Starclan’s chosen’, i’m a cat like anyone else." she laughs though it doesn’t last long, looking away with a small, heavy breath.

She asks her a question, so personal, so… intimate, a songbird trill. She looks over and the stars reflect in amber colored eyes. "Heavy," she admits, any walls previously built up now knocked down. "It’s a crushing expectation. I miss my home, I had a family there… But I can’t disobey the stars, I can’t disobey Marigold, I fear the dire consequences." she raises her head once more. "The dreams are cryptic, though I have not had any more since appointed. I’m sort of scared, that with my limited knowledge, that it will not be enough to heal if they do not send me more."

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"speech"​

 

[POLLENFUR]

Pollen can't help but grin at Honeytwist's easy response. The phrase she uses to refer to her children -- mon bébés -- it's melodic, different enough to be endearing. She purrs. "You know, I've been meaning to ask... I've never heard someone speak like you. It's lovely. Where did you pick that up?" It amazes her still how many different sorts of cats and creatures roam the earth, so far from anything her eyes can see.

But Honeytwist looks almost miserable as she begins to discuss StarClan -- not something Pollen expected at all. Sleepy honey eyes become liquid with sympathy as the cinnamon tabby tells her about losing her home, being forced onto the moors under the guise of fate, of prophecy.

"Your family. Do they know you're here?" Her tone is careful. She's referring, quite obviously, to the father of Honeytwist's kits. Perhaps he knows and is simply too callous to follow, but...

She waves her tail, curious. "And Marigold. Who is Marigold? Someone you... knew?" Pollen tilts her head at Honeytwist. She knows she's asking so many questions; she fears the tabby will be battered. It's been a problem of her's, admittedly, since kithood. She'd been the puffy ball of fur trailing their parents' heels, constantly peppering them with senseless questions neither could answer. Pollen ruefully admits she has not changed much since then.
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PENNED BY MARQUETTE​

 

[honey]

Pollen asks where she learned it and she lightens up. Whatever this other female was or did, it made Honey feel comfortable. "I grew up on the streets of Paris. We had a lot of folk talk in phrases we could not understand, but as you hear it more and more you get the gist of what they’re saying. It means a lot to me," she sucks in a breath before smiling. "I want my kits to learn the phrases I did. It makes me feel closer to my home." she flicks an ear, searching her face before she purrs softly.

Her demeanor is quickly destroyed as she swallows hard. "I could not say goodbye to them, Sootstar did not allow it. We came back to camp immediately after the omen. I do not even know if he would come, if I had." she admits, quiet, eyebrows furrowing. Shes finds herself afraid, afraid of raising the kits alone, afraid of being alone. Were her and Tugger even a thing anymore? No. She had severed that tie when Starclan called her forth. No longer was she his love, nor him hers. But it aches.

"Marigold," she asks about Marigold and she remembers his starry face, the once youthful eyes full of wisdom. He knew, grew much more in the wake of his death than when she had last seen him. "Was a cat I failed to protect." she admits. He had died to the claws of Soot, and if she had been faster, stronger, quicker to join the battle perhaps he’d still be wandering around. Inwardly she finds herself wondering what clan he would have gone to. Would he have stayed in Skyclan? "He’s the one who gave me the gift of prophecy." she thumps her tail against the ground idly, a bittersweet tone taking over the regretful one.

She turns back to Pollen, searching her face once more. "And you?" she’d ask, listening for any mewls from her kittens. Nothing. They were still sleeping. "Whats your story?"
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"speech"​

 

[POLLENFUR]

Grew up on the streets. Pollen smiles to think of soft white paws on rough concrete, treading paths that monsters and Twolegs travel, fighting for scraps of food. "So there is flint beneath all that fluff, hmm?" She teases. Honeytwist comes across so sad, so soft, but she must be made of stronger stuff than she lets on -- and Pollen can respect that.

The cats with layers to them are her favorites, like deep, salty waters she gets to swim through like an eager fish. The chocolate calico nods at Honeytwist's assertion that she wants to teach her kits those phrases she learned in her homeland. "Maybe you'll teach me some, too. I'd love to try. What an interesting place this 'Paris' must be." A dreamy look enters her amber gaze before she realizes her faux pas.

Bringing up Marigold, Sootstar, Honeytwist's face falls. "You couldn't even say goodbye? Even to..." She glances toward the nest where Honeytwist has left her children sleeping, mouth dry as though it's full of ashes. "He must be dying to know if you're okay, flower. How cruel fate has been to you."

Pollen does not want to linger on the subjects that make Honeytwist sad. Too much sorrow can sour the stomach, the heart, and their medicine cat is too lovely for such a fate. Honeytwist asks Pollen about herself, and she shrugs.

"I've always lived out here on the moors. The motherland." Her eyes grow soft. "My sisters and I are very close. We lost our father to the tunnels when we were quite small, and our mother brought us as far as the outskirts of what is WindClan territory now before leaving for Highstones. We have not seen her since. Part of me wonders if she's where I got my taste for wandering from." She wrinkles her nose. "Oh, Rose, if you're out there, I hope you know you've passed your flakiness on... hopefully just to me." It's a teasing tone she takes, giving Honeytwist a small smile.

"I know you're bound by fate and duty now, but maybe someday, I'll take you somewhere you've never been. There's something so freeing about showing up somewhere unfamiliar, with no one who can define you." She gazes at the starry spread above them, thoughtful. "Had Sunshine not been left with fatherless kits, I might still be out there somewhere."​

PENNED BY MARQUETTE​