camp PREPARATIONS ╱ A LONG JOURNEY ´ˎ˗

[SUNNVAR]

✦　　. 　 ˚　.   They will leave soon, those that head out as warriors and those that will be there only to witness departure. After all that has happened to them in these scarce few nights– Sunstride cannot pretend he is not reeling. There is blankness to the warrior's gaze, a far-off look. Even as he sets a rabbit before Scorchstreak, he is not as present as he would like to be. The fragility of their state steals all joviality from him. He will do what he can to steady them all. Even if there is very little he can offer. The burnished warrior nudges it a little closer, and settles down himself. "Eat," he instructs gently. "It may be one of your last steady meals before the mountains. After all you have been through– you should leave with a full belly and a steady heart."

Exhaustion weighs down his voice. He sweeps one great paw over his face, mussing the fur along his cheeks and disturbing one eyebrow into a jagged shape. So few days ago he had found himself thinking of life in Sootstar's pawsteps. To have fought in this battle and raised a clan around her as her own young grew within. How terrifying it would have been to be her or to witness her as one that loved her more than as a leader did. Now, he sits and thinks of Scorchstreak. They were friends in the way that lead warriors were; they worked together, bled together. But to know her is something different entirely. He recalls what he knows of her son, and thinks of this litter now. "Perhaps it will be a pleasant distraction, this trip of yours. Your young will lean of life without their father, and you will be there to guide them through it. It is a tough territory, yet you are tougher still," he chuckles.

𝘏𝘈𝘕𝘋𝘚𝘖𝘔𝘌 𝘈𝘚 𝘓𝘐𝘍𝘌 𝘈𝘕𝘋 𝘗𝘖𝘐𝘚𝘖𝘕; 𝘚𝘜𝘕-𝘉𝘓𝘖𝘖𝘋 𝘏𝘈𝘕𝘋𝘚𝘖𝘔𝘌  ╱╱ 9.13.2023 ˊˎ＜

• OOC. please wait for @SCORCHSTREAK !!
• ✦　　. 　 ˚　.  SUNSTRIDE. FORMERLY SUNNVAR. HE - HIM - HIS OR THEY - THEM. LEAD WARRIOR OF WINDCLAN. 4 YEARS OLD. PENNED BY REVELATIONS.  ——————
  
  
  ——  a tall auburn tabby with thick fur and bright glacial eyes. sunstride is broad and bold– a creature standing above most of windclan, though not a beast beyond it, with fur that flames red and deepens to a burnt amber with every stripe. his eyes, in comparison, are a pale summer's blue, still as bold as the rest of them. he radiates confidence and self-assured authority.
  
  

  ✦ NPC x NPC. DECEASED MOTHER, ESTRANGED FATHER. NO LITTERMATES. MATE TO WOLFSONG. FATHER TO BEARKIT, SINGEDKIT, RIVEKIT, SUNLITKIT, AND FEATHERKIT ——

• "speech"

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[SCORCHSTAR]

The days tick by faster and faster, a countdown to what may very well be a trek into certain doom. In the wake of Badgermoon and Curlewnose’s betrayal, the calico feels adrift. Her kits don’t deserve to be seen as the children of a traitor—and now, she is leaving two of them behind to face the clan on their own, fighting off both sickness and the suspicion of their clanmates. Sootstar vowed that they wouldn’t be looked down upon, but she cannot help but to see Periwinklebreeze when she looks ant each of her kits. She doesn’t want to see her kits treated with disdain, suspicion, just because of their traitorous father. Perhaps even more than her concern for Rumblepaw and Frostpaw, though, is her concern for Scorchpaw and Luckypaw. They will be going with her on this journey, but as the time to leave grows closer, the calico cannot help but feel unprepared for the trip the lies ahead.

She knows nothing of the mountains—only that they are rocky terrain and they are far away. She does not doubt herself, not particularly, but she wishes that she knew more about the land that the group is soon going to be traversing. Keeping track of each of the WindClanners on the journey will be difficult enough; keeping track of them in an environment that she’s never faced before seems near impossible.

The tunneler’s attention is drawn by Sunstride as he approaches, looking distant even as he kindly sets a rabbit in front of her paws and joins her where she rests. He tells her to eat, and though her worry has driven her appetite to a new low, Scorchstreak dips her head to the other warrior. "Thank you. You should have some too, though. You look like you could use it." She wonders how much sleep—or how little, rather—the tom has been getting, between his litter of kits and his mate’s duties as the clan’s healer.

The tabby goes on, bringing up how the journey could be good for her, for her kits, and Scorchstreak is inclined to agree. It will be nice to get away from the crushing pressure of Badgermoon’s betrayal, no matter how much she loathes the idea of leaving. A pleasant distraction, he says. It would be more pleasant if the circumstances weren’t so grim. "You’re probably correct. I’m also worried for everyone here, though." Both her siblings will be staying behind, along with half of her litter. She sighs, red and black flecked ears flopping flat against her head. "I only wish I knew what we’re to be up against. It feels wrong, leading my clanmates into unfamiliar land."​

[ LIKE A RATTLESNAKE ]​

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[milkthorn.]

Milkpaw didn't know what to think of Badgermoons and Curlewnoses betrayal. He quite liked the tom, and had grown fond of him a bit as he watched the training that Dewmist led him into. Plus, with the watchful eye of Badgermoon, she became easier on him and not as uptight and angry. Even when there were no longer watchful eyes, she didn't return back to her older ways. He couldnt say he absolutely missed her, but it was still an unfortunate event and still tugged his heart.

Sootstar wished him to join along on this journey, and he would. It was going to be long and dangerous, but it wasn't as if anyone would miss him. If anything, he could learn from this, and maybe he'd come back and others would be proud of him. But for now, he'd be proud of himself. He'd believe in himself.

"But, it's too dangerous not to have this. We can't let fear overtake us, we have to come back before Yellowcough kills everyone," He mutters softly, having been listening nearby. He didn't like interjecting into others conversations, but he still listened a lot. Especially not having a mentor to distract him with training.

 

[Bluepool]

Bluepool is still not a fan of this idea. The other clans were a bunch of fox-hearts. Cowards, liars and thieves all of them. Do the WindClanners who volunteered really believe that they could work together with the others? That the others would not betray them and leave WindClan for crow-food? No matter how much Bluepool begs and pleads though it is worthless and she knows it. Nothing she could say would convince the tortoiseshell molly to stay. When she overhears her fellow lead warriors conversation with Sunstride, when she hears Scorchstreak admit that it would be hard she almost says 'then dont go' almost pleads her to stay yet again. But she would not put her through that again. Her friend was already going through enough.

So instead, Bluepool plops herself down next to Scorchstreak with a heavy sigh passing through her lips "If you start missing home just look at the scar on your chest" she says, indicating to the similar one that she wore. Symbols of their status in the clan given to them by her sister, their leader. "I'll be with you in spirit every step of the way" she wishes she could be there physically too but they both know she is needed here. "This hare-brained journey will go by like a breeze I'm sure, with you there there's no mountain they won't be able to climb" despite the way she feels as f a part of her is being wrenched away from her she smiles, but it is only half of what it usually is, marred by pain and grief.

Her golden colored eyes flash to Milkpaw as she speaks. Part of her wonders if Sootstar was trying to get rid of him by sending him but she doesn't say anything, only grunts in agreement to his words.

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