PAIN IS A POISON I DIGEST » orangeblossom

[BLAZESTAR]

Another warrior, gone. He, Silversmoke, Cloverjaw, and Auburnflame had barely had time to flee before the lumbering Twoleg had seen them crowded about Slate's trap. His heart still aches, pounding, as do his paws. He wastes little time after returning to camp -- as soon as he catches Orangeblossom's eye, he gives her a tail signal, indicating she should follow him to his den. He's sure she can pick up on his fear-scent, his bedraggled fur, the look of fading terror in his eyes -- and he's sure the rest of the Clan can, too.

He knows Silversmoke and the other two warriors will fill the Clan in on Slate's disappearance. He has to talk to his deputy before he can do anything else.

As soon as he sees her fluffy ginger-patched shape at the mouth of his den, Blazestar begins to speak. His voice is hoarse. "Slate was just taken. We saw the Twoleg... if we had been slower, it could've been all of us." He pants, partially from exhaustion and partially to release residual adrenaline. "I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do about... anything."

Blazestar's blue gaze bores into her. He shakes his head. "We've lost so many warriors. Not just those taken by Twolegs, but Sharpeye..." He hangs his head. "Howlpaw is gone, and I know you and Ashenclaw..." He shakes his head again, as if to emphasize. He had lost his daughter, potentially forever, but Orangeblossom had lost her mate, too. He feels as though he's at a standstill, so he quiets, waits for the SkyClan deputy to respond.

// @orangeblossom​

[ PENNED BY MARQUETTE ]​

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[Orangestar]

Orangeblossom has news of her own to share with Blazestar, but any small embers of excitement are doused by uneasiness and the sense that something has gone very wrong when their leader's patrol returns to camp downtrodden and gloomy. The uncomfortable disquiet curled heavy in her stomach is proven correct when he calls for her immediately, beckons her towards his den, and Orangeblossom squares her shoulders as a deputy, not just as a SkyClanner.

The news, however, almost causes Orangeblossom's legs to give out from underneath her.

Slate was just taken.

Instead of crashing to the ground like she might have done last newleaf, when the two were dancing around what their friendship could be, she turns to her left and presses her forehead into the nearest branch. Slowly, carefully, using the pressure to ground herself as she sorts her thoughts. Blazestar continues talking, maybe spurred by the flick of her tail that gestures for him to go on, or maybe just wanting to get all of the words out before he loses them to his own fear. They've lost so much in such little time, and he has no idea what to do. The mention of Sharpeye makes her bristle slightly - that was your fault, Blazestar, my sister lost a perfectly good mentor because you couldn't swallow your pride - but her thoughts are pulled sharply back into line by the mention of Howlpaw ... and Ashenclaw.

"... Are expecting kits." Orangeblossom finishes his sentence for him, hoarsely. She removes her forehead from the branch, and turns to face Blazestar with a miserable shake of her own head (and a dent in her fur from where she'd been pressed into the bough that would, in any other situation, be comical).

"I figured it out while your patrol was gone." She makes a bitter noise of amusement. "What awful timing, right?"

— info

•  
• 
  orangeblossom. tags.
  — she/her, skyclan deputy.
  — mentor to eveningpaw.
  — attack in #e08550. uses trees as an integral part of her fighting style.
  — mean enough to note that her thoughts don't reflect my opinions as a writer haha.
  — penned by mercibun; @ me in any official tabbytales discord for plots. :]
  — art by merc!<3
  

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[BLAZESTAR]

He can see the wobble of Orangeblossom's legs at the news, and the unspoken despair as she presses her forehead against the siding of the den. The Ragdoll watches her solemnly, unable to provide comfort, unable to console her. Her next words fail to inspire excitement -- instead, he only bows his head to her, astonished by StarClan's cruelty. Expecting kits, a mate who has been snatched by Twolegs, Clanmates who disappear left and right.

Blazestar blinks tiredly at her. "I figured it out while your patrol was gone." Her bitterness is palpable. "What awful timing, right?" He does not agree with her, but his lack of reassurance speaks volumes. The two of them stand, oppressed by all that has spiraled away from them, and the silence is thick, suffocating.

After a long pause, Blazestar says, "I'm sorry you had to find out at such a time. You should be able to rejoice in your first litter." In all litters, but StarClan knows he has not been granted that privilege either. He wraps his tail around massive molten-gold paws. "How far along? How much longer before..." Before you must go to the nursery, but it goes unsaid. How much longer did she have before giving birth to fatherless kits?​

[ PENNED BY MARQUETTE ]​

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[Orangestar]

As expected, Blazestar deflates. She'd hardly expected a congratulations, not after what's happened, but his apology makes it all much more real. She would be bringing kits into a Clan half missing from twoleg interference, and without a father.

"Not sure, honestly, I haven't done this before. If I had to guess ... probably just over half a moon? Along, that is? It was definitely before Ashenclaw ... you know." Got stolen. There was no other possible father in the picture, after all; even while they'd been fighting, she hadn't drifted closer with any other SkyClanners in a romantic sense. She has no answer to how long it would be before she retires to the nursery, for a different reason: given that Orangeblossom had never given thought to kits before this, nor paid attention to the passage of time when her Clanmates and even colony-mates beforehand had gone through the same thing, she genuinely has no idea how long it took for a pregnancy to end.

"I'll be continuing my duties as deputy as long as I'm physically able to, Blazestar. You don't have to worry about me abandoning my role." A pointed note of pride enters her voice, and she lifts her chin slightly to reflect that; she would not force a ... fourth? deputy upon him at a time like this. Briefly, unbidden, the mental image of her going into labour mid-patrol flashes across her mind: complete with the horrified expressions of at least two of the Clan's brattier apprentices, and she acknowledges it with a near-silent snicker of amusement.

"And ..." She hesitates. If their Clanmates knew, they'd have to take things slow because of her. She'd be a liability, and she wants nothing less. Maybe she'd be able to get away with blaming her suddenly careful attitude on a series of bad days with her injured leg. She'll never thank the WindClan scum that did it, but she has to admit it's given her a plan. "... Let's not tell the others yet. SkyClan has enough worries at the moment without this being added to the pile, which is ... too large already." She sighs, and carefully eases herself down to sit properly within the leader's den. She could be a concerned mother-to-be later; for now, she needed to be a deputy, and that she would be.

"Okay. Tell me what happened with Slate."

— info

•  
• 
  orangeblossom. tags.
  — she/her, skyclan deputy.
  — mentor to eveningpaw.
  — attack in #e08550. uses trees as an integral part of her fighting style.
  — mean enough to note that her thoughts don't reflect my opinions as a writer haha.
  — penned by mercibun; @ me in any official tabbytales discord for plots. :]
  — art by merc!<3
  

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[BLAZESTAR]

Blazestar searches her face. The pain is there, but Orangeblossom quickly conceals it, becoming taciturn and duty-forward again. He flicks an ear. "Half a moon," he repeats softly. "You may continue your deputy duties for now, but your kits must stay healthy. Please do not neglect yourself. There are other cats who can take over your duties until you leave the nursery." He has to admit he's relieved to hear she isn't going the route of his previous deputies. Though he won't say it aloud, he needs a strong right paw more than he ever has.

He acknowledges her request with a dip of his head. "I will honor your request. It is your news to share." His eyes cloud with fresh sorrow as he begins to recant how Slate had gone missing. He describes it in detail, how they'd found the dark warrior in the trap and how no amount of biting or clawing had freed him.

"...and just before we'd made up our minds what to do, the Twoleg came for him." His ears flatten. "They took him away in the trap, just as they did the others, but they got so close to us." Blazestar sighs and meets her dark gaze again. "I believe it's their intention to rid the forest of every last SkyClanner."​

[ PENNED BY MARQUETTE ]​

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[Orangestar]

"Understood." She nods again, and settles somewhat with her request accepted. Plumy tail curls around pale paws, and Orangeblossom's ears prick as Blazestar recounts what had happened - everything from the moment they'd found Slate to the moment he'd been taken away. Her eyes narrow thoughtfully, and with a roll of her shoulders she realises just how tense they'd been. She tries to release some of that tension with a short sigh, but it does little to help.

"I'm glad they didn't try to reach out and grab your patrol." It's a flimsy condolence, but SkyClan could have lost more cats today than just the one. The twoleg coming so close to the others, though, strikes her as weird. They're big and strong enough to pick up cats by themselves, and with Slate trapped why wouldn't they have done so? "Hmm. And it just ... ignored you and the others? Even though it might have seen you? That's so weird. If their goal is to rid the forest of SkyClan, why wouldn't it just try to grab a different cat if Slate couldn't get out?" She muses aloud, feline brow furrowed as she tries to work through her train of thought. "I don't get it."

— info

•  
• 
  orangeblossom. tags.
  — she/her, skyclan deputy.
  — mentor to eveningpaw.
  — attack in #e08550. uses trees as an integral part of her fighting style.
  — mean enough to note that her thoughts don't reflect my opinions as a writer haha.
  — penned by mercibun; @ me in any official tabbytales discord for plots. :]
  — art by merc!<3
  

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[BLAZESTAR]

Blazestar's frown deepens, his tail curling around his paws thoughtfully. "Twolegs are intelligent creatures," he muses. He'd lived with the creatures for many seasons since kithood, and they'd shown him nothing but kindness and affection until the day he'd chosen to leave them. "But they are not as swift as we are. Their legs and paws are clumsy, and there is no fur to protect them from our claws and teeth." He shakes his head. "They use the dens to protect their flesh from our defenses."

Blazestar flicks an ear, acknowledging his deputy's words. Perhaps she's right, and their motives are not so sinister. "They may have some strange intentions we could never begin to guess at. Even when I called my housefolk my kin, I could not pretend to know what they were thinking or what they intended."​

[ PENNED BY MARQUETTE ]​

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[Orangestar]

"That sounds terrifying. Kittypets are braver than even I thought ... at least StarClan thinks like cats do." The sunkissed deputy shudders, and shuffles her paws to rid herself of some of her restlessness. Silence falls between the two cats for a few heartbeats, Orangeblossom still chasing the line of thought like she would pursue a mouse through the sparse undergrowth of SkyClan's forest. But it comes up empty, and with an annoyed click of her tongue she shoves it aside.

"Should we pull back from twolegplace aside from border patrols, then? Forbid apprentices from going there, and forbid warriors without a buddy to avoid one getting caught out without another cat to report back. Slate shouldn't have been out there by himself but he's always been stubborn like that." Her ears twitch backwards, eyes flicking skywards in an exasperated roll. "I think that if this was fated to happen, it's very lucky your patrol stumbled on him when you did, Blazestar. Now we just have to figure out where we go from here."

— info

•  
• 
  orangeblossom. tags.
  — she/her, skyclan deputy.
  — mentor to eveningpaw.
  — attack in #e08550. uses trees as an integral part of her fighting style.
  — mean enough to note that her thoughts don't reflect my opinions as a writer haha.
  — penned by mercibun; @ me in any official tabbytales discord for plots. :]
  — art by merc!<3
  

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