camp ROSARY UP ♱ prayer lesson

cygnetstare

eternally ♱ 6.10.2024
May 20, 2023
108
31
28
As soon as dusk begins to streak the sky, Cygnetstare shepherds her children out of the nursery. Time's passage has strengthened a body weak from the difficulty of her labor, filled out limbs wracked far too thin from the darkness WindClan had been plunged into throughout those final moons—and it's all worth it for the gaggle of little scraps that tail her out of the den. To produce life, to defy death that chose to creep up on one and steal away every voice—to live on in memory and in lineage past the swinging sickle—what power was greater than that?

" Do you see those glittering dots in th' sky? " she asks, one bone - white paw indicating the wide smear of twinkles. " Those are th' stars, and each one of 'em represents a different StarClanner. Some of them from our own Clan. " Though not all, goes unspoken, including your father. An overlong tail raps a boneless staccato against the dusty ground newly carpeted with stubborn sprigs. " It's important to honor StarClan. "

" When you're all old enough, I'll take you to th' graveyard and show you how to care for the graves, " they add instructively, sitting and curling their lengthy tail about whichever kits will accept their bizarre affections. " But for now, you can pray to StarClan. You can ask 'em for help, or thank 'em for what they've done for us. Like this, " she pauses in contemplation, and then begins, " StarClan, thank you for four wonderful kits and a healthy Clan, " And a leader that isn't a madman, she thinks privately, concluding, " Many thanks. Now, you four give it a try. "

// @gravekit @Heronkit @MILKWEEDKIT @SHRIEKKIT kit tags, but no need to wait!


"speech"

 
AS HE RAISED HIS FIST BEFORE HE SPOKEStarclan had been an entirely unknown entity to Rattleheart when he had been a kit, bearing a different name and a pair of loving parents whose beliefs weren't turned towards the glittering stars in the sky. Yet, in spite of only learning about them later in life, the tunneler had always been a fairly devout warrior of Windclan. Perhaps that was - bizarrely - a fact that he had Sootstar to thank for. Despite their former leader's outright accusations and venom towards Starclan at the end of her reign, she had once been more than happy to give lengthy speeches about how blessed Windclan was. How they were the ones truly touched by the stars, because they lived and breathed beneath them constantly.

Ironically, that very same idea had been what Rattleheart had turned and clung to when Sootstar's sanity had begun to go, praying constantly that Starclan would eventually lead them back to peace. In the end, they eventually had. Though he wouldn't have minded it if they had been a bit more swift with the whole process, and allowed less brutality to take place before her life had eventually come to an end. That delay had been what had eventually convinced him that Starclan was far from infallible, even if he did continue to put his faith in them with each day that passed.

There was a soft smile on his muzzle as he watched Cygnetstare's teachings from afar, glad that giving thanks to Starclan would be allowed to flourish once more without Sootstar at their helm. The next generation wouldn't have to deal with her constant sacrilege, nor would they have to use their claws to defend territory around the sacred Moonstone that never should have been claimed. There was seemingly always more relief to be found in Sunstar being their leader now, another task he silently thanked Starclan for. Though this time his prayers weren't silent, piping up alongside Cygnetstare as an example for her kits. "Thank you, Starclan. For blessing us with a new, peaceful future, and newleaf warmth that will hopefully keep us all very well-fed... even with all the new little ones." Rattleheart glanced over at the nursery with amusement glittering in his eyes, fairly certain that Cygnetstare's brood wouldn't be the only pack of kits to come and give their thanks to Starclan fairly soon.


  • 75034712_8183RsjuzqJmQXv.png
    longhaired black and white tom with pale green eyes
    49 moons old; ages the 1st every month
    afab; uses he/she/they pronouns
    homosexual homoromantic; mated to venomstrike
    sibling to scorchstreak, lizardbounce, and rabbitclaw
    currently mentoring downypaw
    somewhat difficult to befriend; wary but kind
    "speech", thoughts, attacking
    peaceful powerplay allowed
    all opinions are ic
 
his mom had never been one to teach him about the dead. she hadn’t exactly been a believer in starclan, nor had his father been. the two of them had been through so much that it was hard to believe in a higher power, or to believe that there was anyone watching over them other than their own living clanmates. how could the dead protect them if they were buried under dirt and stones? heatherpaw had, instead, learned most of what he knew of religion from other queens that had been in the nursery while he grew up.

staring up at the sky as he listened in on cygnetstare’s lesson to her children, he found a pang of jealousy stabbing him between the ribs that protected his heart. he found it very hard to believe that every single star was a starclanner. he’d tried to count them once, but he last count before he even reached one hundred. there had to be at least a billion of them in the sky right now, and surely there hadn’t been that many cats that have died, right? ears pinned back, the apprentice idly flicked his tail back and forth as he once again tried to count.

"uh.. hey, cygnetstare?" the boy called attention to himself as he finally made his way towards the queen. he didn’t want to be offensive, but he had to ask in order to make any real sense of it in his head. "how do we know that every single star is a starclanner? that’s a lot of stars, and that means a lot of souls." he tried not to sound skeptical, but heatherpaw tended to just sound like that, sometimes. he hoped the queen wouldn’t end up offended.

———————---***LIKE A TRAIN ON A TRACK***———————---

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  • lilac / red tabby chimera with low white and green eyes
    6 moons old; ages the 15th every month
    unknown orient. ; currently not looking
    son of npc and npc
    windclan ; loyal to windclan, doesn't understand why sootstar is gone
    slightly difficult to befriend ; not quick to trust these days
    "speech", thoughts, attacking
    peaceful powerplay allowed
 
Praying to StarClan is a familiar thought, yes, but– one long-denied. A memory of times past, and Sootstar's calls before a battle. Before her refusal of them came a lifetime of great respect. Adoration, he might now say. It had been uncomfortable for a quite different reason. He was a warrior of WindClan, a part of those that split that day of their battle, yet so too was he a rogue. An outside. Not a warrior of birth or choice, but. . . circumstance, one might say. Had she not died before him that fateful day, his life could have taken a far different turn. Who could say that they would have accepted him? Sootstar had raised him to lead warrior. Eventually, to her deputy. Now he stood blessed by them and still those worries lingered. A dead weight upon his spine. Pressing him down as if to grovel. He would never allow it.

The guiding forces of his youth had never sought it from him. They were fickle, guided by offerings and fealty, by sacrifice rather than love, and now he stands before Cygnetstare, who teaches her kits simply to ask. To whisper it kindly, and see their wishes fulfilled. He knows that the stars are not so straightforward as this. Not even Wolfsong could give him straightforward answers more times than not. "I do not think they are all occupied, as of yet," he ponders with Heatherpaw, finding a small amusement in comparing his confusion to an apprentice's. "It would be quite dark if they were not there, and empty if they were to wait for us. They must stand for those who have died, alongside all those who will in time. Each star, a cat that may join them — not merely the ones that already have."
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  • OOC.
  • sun_icon_new2.png
    SUNSTAR. LEADER OF WINDCLAN.  
    ——– HE – HIM – HIS ╱╱ 48+ MOONS OLD, ADULT.
    NPC x NPC, MOUNTAIN CATS. MATE TO WOLFSONG; FATHER TO BEARPAW, SINGEDPAW, RIVEPAW, SUNLITPAW AND FEATHERPAW. MENTORING RIVEPAW.

    TH ╱╱ A LARGE, FRESHLY SCARRED CHOCOLATE AND WHITE ROSETTE TABBY TOM WITH SEAGLASS BLUE EYES
 

She didn't want to believe Starclan cursed Windclan - cursed her, it was something she just couldn't accept she could never let go of her faith in silverpelt and the deceased that watched over the moorlands. She remembered once Sootstar declared them as Starclan's favored, it couldn't be true no not after everything but it was a nice thought and the naïve part of herself she hadn't snuffed out into embers still held onto that hope that they were and if they weren't they'd earn back their place as Starclans favored. Firefang listens to the tones of Cygnetstare as she regales to her children the mythos each and every kit was shown, the destiny that awaited them when their days were done. They all would join the stars, that wasn't exactly true anymore now was it? They pray for Starclans protection, to thank them, to bless them but Firefang doesn't pray for any of the sort. Her eyes close and while she listens to the prayers of her clanmates who'd follow the lead of the mother and she sends her own out. A silent hope that they aren't all damned - that she isn't damned that somehow someway she could figure out why she still lived, if she even deserved to.

Her silent prayer ends quick and she listens to the question of Heatherpaw and lets out a exhale but finds she has no explanation to reply with - did any cat? She hadn't heard any cat question what seemed to be gospel to her. Before she can snap a retort Sunstar gives his own views and she hates to admit it but it made some sort of sense. "Huh, hope whatever stars waitin' up there for me is real bright and big"[/quote] she thinks aloud.

 
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Whatever Dimmingsun believed in the past - which is to say, whatever came out of his father's mouth in an effort all in vain to keep him satisfied - had been quick to fade the moment the first cat rose from the freshly fallen cats of the Great Battle. He still remembers it vividly, the shock of it all making it quite difficult to forget the details of. His mouth had stayed agape, fur no doubt standing on end, hearing the echoing words of cats no longer in this very world.

It really makes one think- had the battle not taken place and instead dealt with in peace, would the discovery of something so heavenly not even come to fruition? Imagining a world where he doesn't think of fallen friends and foes alike when peering up at the sky is... a lonely one, all things considered.

Of course, the concept of having so many pairs of eyes see your every move can be unsettling too.

"You gotta make it bright," he says to Firefang. "Or at least, that's how I view it. The better you are now, the prettier you'll be up there. Makes sense, don't you think?"

Either that, or it just helps him sleep at night.

Dimmingsun folds his front paws underneath him and regards Cygnetstare first, then the little kittens. Their future should be brighter than those who had joined Soot all those moons ago; they had all been oblivious to the fact that she'd go mad, and it's near impossible to imagine Sunstar reaching the same fate. The very way he carries himself is reassuring. Perhaps he is reason enough to thank StarClan for a decision well made.