putting the dog to sleep ✘ riverclan patrol

[SMOKESTAR]

Checking their border with ThunderClan was treacherous now, more so than before given the rising waters and their usual paths buried under the frigid current. The path to Sunningrocks itself had been fully cut off unless one wanted to take a brisk swim and he wasn’t in the mood for another Beesong lecture so his tail flicked to the two behind him in a silent gesture to mind their left side less they go sliding in. How he longed for the river to return to its normal state, gentle churning and brimming with fish; still cold but in a contrast to the warm air of newleaf.
Dark paws carefully found their placement along the uneven stepping stones of a path not yet worn, but perhaps in enough leaf-bares this too would be trodden upon by enough cat paws to be smoothed down in its own right. If they were to survive that was.
As Smokethroat walked, paying more mind to his footing than the ThunderClan border across the river, he paused as the wind shifted and carried over with it a warning that had his fur bristling in alarm.
Dog scent. It was not the passing stale memory of a dog wandering past but a sharp and pungent odor or one who was lingering. Turning to glance back at his companions to see if they had also noticed it, that one fire and brimstone eye settled on Cindershade and then Buckgait before focusing across the river to the border he had not been concerned about at first.
“Look. There, by the reeds.” A single paw print, far larger than any a simple cat could make, imprinted upon the soft and pliant mud along the rising river. It was fresh, because snow had still freshly fallen in the area before to bury any tracks that might have been made any previous days.
The dark tom found himself furrowing his brow in worry, but the frigid waters and its merciless tirade were both a blessing and a curse now. It cursed them, swallowing their camp whole, yet it was also probably the only thing keeping the dogs trapped on the Sunningrocks and away from them. They had enough problems as it were…
Would they even see a ThunderClan patrol passing by this area? Did they know of their new visitors?

Patrol - @BUCKGAIT. & @Cindershade (Feel free to post before them!)
​

 

[HOWLINGSTAR]

// @Sloepaw

Further upriver from Sunningrocks, Howling Wind leads her own patrol. Her ears are angled back, keen on picking up even the slightest sound of the mutts traveling further than they usually do. Exhaustion weighs her down; stars, she hasn't realized how tired she is. Emberstar is dead. It's still a thought she hasn't fully come to accept. She hasn't even has the opportunity to go to the Moonstone herself to receive her nine lives, and she won't until their issue is dealt with. But she's so, so tired.

Movement across the river catches her attention. She lifts her gaze to see the RiverClan deputy, along with a lead warrior and a warrior she doesn't recognize. For a moment, she remains bitterly silent. RiverClan must have noticed the dogs on their territory, on their landmark. But because it's always resided on ThunderClan's side of the river, they do nothing. Will they bring it up today? She makes no expression to give away her negative thoughts, practiced poise in every twitch and movement, but she does lift her voice to call over, "RiverClan, good day."​

 

[RAGWORTPAW]

Thrushfur was okay, kinda boring in comparison to Little Wolf but Ragwortpaw was grateful to be outside of camp. Even so she often finds herself looking behind her shoulder and taking in the air, after being attacked by dogs herself she was more tense than usual… More mentally than physically though as she was still stomping around the whole entire forest like she was TRYING to bring attention to herself!

Howling Wind is greeting the RiverClan cats, Ragwortpaw gives them an empty look with a stupid grin. She has no idea who either of them were. Thrushfur instructs her to take in the scent and memorize it, and by some miracle? She does, and she will retain the scent marking too! Seems she was learning, even if dreadfully slow.​

---

Spoiler: RAGWORTPAW | TAGS

( primary character / "speech" / ic opinions )​

╰ ★ ჻ 001 GENERAL INFORMATION ,
· RAGWORTPAW, female — she / her
╰ ‣ named for her health & strength at birth .
╰ ‣ 5 moons . ages on the ??
╰ ‣ thunderclan apprentice . loner born . believes in starclan


╰ ★ ჻ 002 VISUALS & AESTHETICS ,
· DOMESTIC FELINE, oak and maple trees , status — 100%
╰ ‣ blue furred . long-hared . a very furry head, chest, and tail


╰ ★ ჻ 003 MENTALITY & MANNERISMS ,
· ESTJ-A ❝​

EXECTUTIVE ❞ , Hufflepuff, Lawful Good
╰ ‣ Kind-hearted . Honest . Loud .Justice-seeking . People-pleaser . Gullible . Empty-headed . Humorous
╰ ‣ Though she is all brawn and no brain, Ragwort tries her best and carries a bleeding heart to all whom surround her. She takes the role of "big sister" with her siblings and friends, never failing to have their backs, take care of them, and defend them when needed (sometimes even jumping the gun). While she doesn't offer the best emotional support (not due to a lack of trying) she gives the best hugs and is great at giving cats distractions with her shenanigans.
╰ ‣ finds minimal difficulty relating to others . wears a bleeding heart


╰ ★ ჻ 004 INTERACTIONS & RELATIONSHIPS ,
· GRIME x CINDERFROST, sister to toadpaw, prowlingpaw, hollypaw
╰ ‣ unknown sexuality.
╰ ‣ poor fighter . poor hunter .
╰ ‣ will start fights . unlikely to flee .
╰ ‣ attack in underline . penned by user @ava.​

 

[Sunnyday]

☀ - WHILST MY HEART STILL BEATS
Sunnyday didn't like being out near the RiverClan border thanks to the hanging threat of the dogs. Even less so when he had his apprentices with him as well, but regardless he knew that they would learn valuable life lessons from being there. Where he'd normally chat with those around him, he instead remained silent with a tense stare whilst his large ears swivelled about endlessly in their desperate bid to catch any nearby sounds.

In his heightened state of alertness it wasn't hard to miss the RiverClanners, and he was somewhat relieved to see that it was cats and not dogs. He offers a quick greeting in the form of raising his tail and swaying it side to side, something that was more reserved and less loud. He then looked back at his apprentices. "Those are RiverClanners. Decent enough cats, I've never had a bad run in with them. Heck, one of them even taught me to swim." Not to swim well, but enough to avoid drowning if he ever fell back in the water again.

// @sandpaw and @LICHENPAW
​

 

[BERRYHEART]

Meandering behind, his mind wandered elsewhere during the wayfair. It was only at the sound of voices, soaked in honeyed nicety, that Berryheart's attention lifted from the shuffle of his white-dotted paws. Riverland scent, river... RiverClan, shuffling along the fringes of the territory, tiptoeing the tightrope between storm and water. Silence fastened his jaw for the moment, no inherently interesting conversation taking flight into the air. The swivel of shadowed ears angled toward the conversation- one of pleasantries and education. Nothing new, unfortunately...

Olivine eyes trickled back toward the ground, attention fast filtering toward the task his mind had been set upon. Flame-flecked shadow in the backdrop, he occupied his space as silently as he could, intending not to get into a winding spiel of conversation with a Riverclanner. Bear-tail was not here, the only riverside feline he might glean something of interest from. Unless- among them lay a hidden healer. An unlikely happenstance, but not impossible.​

PENNED BY PIN ☾​

 

[FAWNCLOUD]

thunderclan has been thrown into a whirlwind of disarray for the past few days now, emberstar's unexpected death hangs heavy upon their shoulders and it feels like there was little time to fully mourn the flame-point molly because now they had slobbering canines running amock at sunningrocks who refuse to leave. its gotten everyone on edge but there are patrols to be done and mouths to feed so all have been advised to keep a close eye on their surroundings and to steer clear of where the dogs happen to linger.

fawncloud filed in alongside the rest of the patrol with @PEBBLEPAW in tow, across the choppy waters stood their neighbors and by those furrowed brows it's assumed they also took notice of the scent of dog wafting from their forest. "heya riverclan friends, how's things over on your side?" he hums in amiable manner, nubbed tail twitching.
​

[ LIFE HAPPENS WHEREVER YOU ARE. ]​

​

 

[BUCKGAIT.]

MY NAME IS BRUTUS AND MY NAME MEANS HEAVY ✧​

she had done well with keeping her tongue to herself, occupying herself with cindershade and some mindless chatter here and there. but mostly, buck is quiet. scenting the air and making her presence known. smokethroat is the first to acknowledge the beasts, and the deputy has little reaction to his statement. if there were dogs on thunderclan's side, then perhaps the river had been protecting them. in some way, but the riverborn molly knows better than to ever doubt the workings of the river. where it goes, it is meant to. what it drowns, is what is meant to perish.

when she catches sight of howlingwind, buck's head finds itself lowered slightly. a small sign of respect towards the other deputy. they don't talk much, and very rarely glance at each other during gatherings. and buck liked it that way. "thunderclan," the cinnamon molly calls out, authoritative and calm. her voice rings loud and clear, so they can hear her over the sun-kissed rocks. she misses the warm days of newleaf, lounging upon those same stones with little care. it had all seemed so long ago, a misty memory.

"we've scented dogs. we hope you all are alright." she makes contact with every single thunderclanner, eyeing the warriors and some apprentices. observing their appearances and any potential scuffs and marks. her remark is passive, a worried statement made out of pleasantries instilled into her. though, she won't find herself fretting over them when she returns to their makeshift camp, having more pressing manners to deal with.

"riverclan is well, we're dealing with the river as we should. giving it time." a tom speaks about how riverclan fares, and there isn't a reason to hide that the territory is flooding. it is just the way of nature.
​

 

[LICHENPAW ❁]

( ☘ ) Lichenpaw has never been out this way before. Everyone talk of Sunningrocks with hushe tones, with fear in their voices, the word "dogs" spoken like a curse. Well, Lichenpaw isn't scared. There were plenty of dogs in the Twolegplace; he's had to evade many, climbing up on dumpsters and through holes in fences. The way his fur stands on end as he catches the scent of dog on the wind is coincidence, nothing less.

Now, the other patrol, that's more interesting. He scans the three faces that gaze from across the river, attempting to commit them to memory. There are so many cats here, it's hard to keep track of. Lichenpaw inclines his head as his mentor speaks, keeping close to his side. "RiverClanners. Huh," he repeats. It's the first time he's actually seen any. He wrinkles his nose. "Why -- why would any cat want to swim? Seems, uh, bad. I hate wet fur." His words are far too loud for their intended audience of Sunnyday, the young tom taking little care to prevent eavesdropping.​

 

[HOWLINGSTAR]

Howling Wind's flicks an ear as some of her clanmates chatter, a mentor teaching his apprentices about their neighbor. Her attention is fully on Buckgait now as the other deputy calls attention to the dogs on RiverClan land, but on ThunderClan's side of the river. Well, now that it's been spoken, there is no reason to be hushed about it.

With a swish of her tail, the tabby steps closer to the high water and calls, "They've camped themselves at Sunningrocks, as I'm sure your clan has noticed. Does Cicadastar have plans to run them off your basking place? They're proving a problem for us as, you can imagine." The exhaustion hanging heavy on her voice is clear. ThunderClan is not faring well. If one looks closely enough, they may be able to even see the thinning forms of the warriors and apprentices present.​

 

[SMOKESTAR]

As if summoned by his idle thoughts the pine forest warriors begin to emerge, an apprentice or two in their ranks and their deputy at the lead. While he had no real dislike of ThunderClan they were not RiverClan and therefor of no real interest to him. He does not offer a greeting as Buckgait already had and frankly he's surprised she bothered at all. The dark tom glances at the shoreline on the opposite side again, looking for more prints visible to see if he can determine how many there are. Howling Wind comments on the dogs, refers to them as a collective and informing him its more than one, she remarks on how much trouble they're being given and what they intended to do about it and he almost laughs but manages to maintain a neutral expression though that one orange eye blazes in amusement.
"Well, we're not necessarily using the basking place right now are we?" Smokethroat's lips curl slightly as he observes the patrol present, they seemed tired, haggard but they still had plenty of eyes. They could see the river risen upward, the sunningrocks no longer so easily accessible and while it was none of their business: RiverClan had a flooded camp right now and they didn't have the time nor energy to waste chasing dogs who wouldn't dare cross the waters anyways. The beasts wouldn't risk the cold nor the force of the river in its current state and if they did they'd drown: problem solved. "That sounds like a ThunderClan problem." What did she want them to do? Come chase the dogs off for them? Dogs? Even one of those depending on the size could kill several cats with ease. No, he'd let Cicadastar know all about this and they could share a laugh over the audacity of some clans asking for favors so openly.


​

 

[Cindershade]

Trailing behind Smokethroat, she remains mostly quiet. Velvet ears flick to and fro, the roaring of the gorge behind them now but the steady churn and bubbling of the river was a steady back ground noise to her. She shares some pleasantries between her and Buckgait, sparing a glance or two towards the deputy. Smokethroat doesn't make much conversation either, but that's not out of the ordinary. She honestly revels in the quiet, keeping vibrant eyes sharp on her surroundings. The skeletal willows come into her peripheral and suddenly she's longing to go back, to just peek at the current state of their camp. A sigh escapes her, a cloud of fog billowed around her dark features as she walks with them. Honestly, she's surprised Buckgait and Smokethroat haven't at least sent a scowl towards the other during their trek to ThunderClan's border; but she merely shrugs it off. The day was still young, she supposed.
The path feels a bit foreign to her, but not so much that it obscures her stride as she walks in step with the duo. Freshly fallen snow lays across their way, a light blanket of ice that sends small shivers up her spine. It clumps in between her toes, the cold causing her to curse under her breath as she shakes it off. As they continue, a pungent aroma of musk and ammonia with a twinge of blood violates her nose. Dogs. Of course. Cindershade's lip curls in disgust, the fur prickling along her spine in silent alarm as it grew stronger with each passing step. "Mangy mutts." She utters, her tone venomous with the edge of a growl in her throat. She hated dogs, encountered a good chunk of them in her past life. They were all the same. Excitable, predatory, and dumb.
Smokethroat points out a paw print onntne snow-laiden ground across the river, on their land near Sunningrocks. Voices pricked at her velvet ears not too far off, a ThunderClan patrol led by Howling Wind. She recognizes the brown tabby, but the others she does not or care to. Pleasantries are bounced back and forth, Buckgait mentioning the hounds on their side and hopes they're fairing well. Cindershade says nothing in the midst of it all, merely studying the cats across the river with an intense gaze. Howling Wind speaks of Cicadastar making a plan to rid thr dogs off their basking place and the warrior snorts in amusement, shifting her paws to thaw them out.
Smokethroat chimes in smoothly, an amused tone playing in his voice as he speaks that it wasn't there problem and he was right. The rosetted warrior couldn't help but let a smile slip through her usual stoic mask, nodding in agreement. The river have and it took away for RiverClan. Here they were, frustrated with it's flooding on their camp and now thankful for it's protection from a threat. They had enough to fret over with having their home destroyed and in the middle of Leaf-Bare to boot. "If they can manage these waters, I'll give them my tail as a prize." She scoffs, casting a glance at the rising river between them.

​

[ SILENCE IS DEAFENING ]​

 

[sandthorn]

sandpaw moved briskly behind sunnyday, head held high as they crossed the riverclan patrol's gaze. decent enough cats he said, but they couldn't be that great. how decent could you be surviving off of fish and always being wet? "lichenpaw's right, they've gotta be crazy," she said, pushing her speed to fall in line with the two.

she paid little attention to everything else going on until howling wind asked if they had any plans to run the dogs off. the tabby was quickly shot down by two dark furred cats, and sandpaw narrowed her eyes. their tones were all too calm, amused as if they enjoyed thunderclan's troubles. she then decided that sunnyday must be wrong. these cats were anything but decent. the dogs weren't even technically on thunderclan territory, but it was their job to drive them out? bobbed tail lashed behind her. "they couldn't even fight those dogs if they wanted, buncha scaredy-cats," sandpaw sneered quietly, turning her head to sunnyday and lichenpaw.​

[ 𖤓 ]​

 

[HOWLINGSTAR]

The lead warrior's response draws a surprised blink from Howling Wind. She'd expected their neighbors to be sorry for the trouble of the dogs, at least even sympathetic. But they seem humored by the troubles they cause ThunderClan. The thought of Emberstar's torn body causes her jaw to clench. She won't let the knowledge slip, not yet. These RiverClanners are proving not to be the friends she thought they were, and she won't gift them the secret that ThunderClan has no leader right now. Instead, she grimly growls, "You scoff, but these dogs have taken lives from ThunderClan. And they are living on your territory, land you're not even marking right now." She needs not detail whose lives were lost, but disappointment hangs heavy in her voice.

Sandpaw mocks them quietly, and normally the deputy would correct such bad-mouthing. But right now, it's deserved, and she only gives the apprentice a glance before touching her tail-tip to the cream she-cat's shoulder in acknowledgment. "Let's keep going. We'll find no help here." She casts one more look across the river before continuing to pad down the bank.​

 

[iciclefang]

Iciclepaw flanks her mentor, nose crinkled at the gnarly taste of dogs infiltrating her senses. She can see scraps of prey bones and droppings littered about Sunningrocks, but who knows how stale they are. Fro this distance, it's hard for her to gauge.

As ThunderClan makes an appearance through the treeline on the other side, Buckgait calls out a greeting, and the ThunderClan deputy returns it with a hollow expression. Iciclepaw's ears twitch -- does Howling Wind think it is Cicadastar's responsibility to drive their predators away? Sure, Sunningrocks belongs to them, but they can't use it, as Smokethroat had said.

A she-cat with a sandy-colored pelt makes a remark, "They couldn't even fight those dogs if they wanted, buncha scaredy-cats." Iciclepaw levels her with an icy stare from across the churning waters. "Let's hope you brave ThunderClanners can, then," she retorts, voice cool.​

[ PENNED BY MARQUETTE ]​

​

 

[SMOKESTAR]

"Sorry for your losses but those dogs didn't spring from the river." Territory they weren't marking, sure. Let him just get right up in the frozen waters and waste his time on stones no cat could use right now. Surely that would solve the problem. The dark tom turned to keep walking without much pause, they chased their problem onto RiverClan land and thought they could force them to deal with it for them but they'd be sorely out of luck. It was Cicadastar's call in the end but frankly he'd probably feel similarly that there was no reason to stick their necks out for ThunderClan when they were dealing with enough.
He ignores the apprentice's comment, unbothered and his gait does not slow as he continues his trek forward on smooth stones with Iciclepaw at his heels; turned from them all she can not see the amused smirk that crossed his maw at the tortie's final comment, but he hopes she's aware due to his lack of chiding that he approves.

//out
​

 

[PEBBLESTEP]

Pebblepaw stuck unnecessarily close to his mentor as the RiverClanners and ThunderClanners discussed the dogs, stands of bristled lilac fur brushing against him. He lacked a voice for most of the discussion, nothing that he thought felt worth sharing, but the pleasant (albeit meek) expression the apprentice held slowly soured into something more disappointed the longer the conversation continued. The dogs threatened ThunderClan, sure, but what happened when they got bored? Or if the wind changed direction to RiverClan's territory and they found better hunting there? His tail lashed, selfishly considering that if ThunderClan were the ones to chase the dogs off of the land owned by RiverClan, then it was land that should've belonged to his home instead. He let the thought appear and disappear without little visual indication, and turned his attention to the apprentice on the other side of the border. "Good luck." They offered with a placid smile, genuine affection for the strangers lost in their introversion. "I hope they don't find your camp. T-They have a taste for cats now... and ThunderClan's numbers may not be enough to satiate them." Not when they'd already taken so much from them. 'Poor Emberstar...'




​