private RUST-RIDDEN [🌙] GRANITEPELT

[SOOTSTAR]

Sootstar finds a confidante in an unlikely friend, once foe, the spitting image of a cat she beloathed. In the night their gray pelts meshed together as they crossed the snowy moorland, a twisted look on the she-cats face as she turns and hisses to him. "My entire clan has betrayed me, Granitepelt." She growls, throwing a heavy paw into the snow as if to crush an invisible enemy. "My own kits have turned against me, my own blood. You are the only one in this clan who might understand a sliver of what I go through now." It was most of Granitepelt's own kin, after all who had not stood by his side when he faced exile. His own clan too weak and puny minded had practically forced him into taking the actions he had, ShadowClan needed Granitepelt, and ShadowClan spat in his face.

This is what it felt WindClan- her clan was doing to her, but tenfold. "Idiots would rule the forest if cats like us were not there to stop them. Without me, WindClan would become weak as ShadowClan has become without you." Thorn sharp claws crunch against the snow, she narrows her eyes against the harsh lighting of the moon. "Cunning you are- Granitepelt. You are smart. You've weaseled your way out of plenty of situations, what would you do now if you were me?" Not to imply he was smarter than her, no... not at all. But with so much experience under his own pelt scheming and dodging, perhaps she could still learn from him.

☾ INFO BATTLE

• @GRANITEPELT
• 
  » Soot ․ Sootstar
  » WindClan Leader
  » She/her ․ Mate to Weaselclaw
  » Tiny blue smoke she-cat with green eyes.
  » "Speech" ․ thoughts ․ attack
  
• 
  » A high-stamina foe who can be difficult to hit.
  » Excels in quick, short moves.
  » Fights to kill and maim
  » Fatal attack of choice is an underbelly dive.
  » May powerplay minor harm. Can powerplay healing

​

 

[GRANITEPELT]

Like Sootstar, Granitepelt’s closest confidante is gone. Starlingheart had refused him a final time, and he’d had to leave her battered and dead in the snow. She’d forced his paw—she’d forced him to cut the rest of his heart out and leave it impaled on a curved claw. He’s aimless now, his pawsteps matching Sootstar’s as they cross a snow-blanketed moor. Frost crunches underpaw and gleams above him—he feels as though StarClan is too close, as though starry fangs could reach down from its seat amongst the clouds and sink into his mortal flesh.

He shivers—mostly from the cold.

He’d never imagined Sootstar would be here with him, the disdain having abandoned the emerald depths of her eyes (and the sanity?) Granitepelt levels her with a long, searching look before he answers her question. “The Clans are made of cowards and fools,” he mews simply. “The Clan you built has crumbled beneath you. It’s not your fault, either. The same will happen to Chilledstar someday—to all of them.” His breath flares ivory before his face.

Granitepelt muses, “WindClan is yours no longer, but you still own something. You own these moors. You own the loyalty of many cats. I don’t know what it amounts to, but it has to amount to something, doesn’t it?” He flicks his tail out into the wind.

, ”​

​

 

[SOOTSTAR]

Sootstar’s tail waves back and forth, bits of snow clumping into her fur as she whisks it up into the air. ”But I’ve kept the firmest grip over my clan. If they are all destined to fall why has mine crumbled first?” She growls, frustrated as she casts a look into the inky sky above.

The stars felt close on this night in particular, almost as if they were slowly caving in. ”It’s because of them, isn’t it? They’ve doomed me, my clan.” She shakes her head violently back and forth, ”Well I will not go down without a fight- Granitepelt. If I’m to be taken down it won’t be without tearing a chunk out of silverpelt.” She vows, her eyes narrowing as if daring them to draw closer.

Delusioned, she continues to trek forward.

”WindClan was the first of the five clans, Granitepelt. ShadowClan and SkyClan may have deeper roots but it was me who had been the first to step forward.” She explains with no clear or obvious direction on why she told the ashen and white Tom this. ”I do not get the respect I deserve from StarClan. I was among the five cats who set out to make their prophecy reality. I made the first clan, the strongest clan, all these moons of leading, serving and strengthening my clan has got me nothing but spat on.” The blue-furred leader victimizing, believing every syllable to come from her lips to be true. ”Perhaps if all five leaders who had elected themselves had been cats like you and I, things could’ve been different.”

☾ INFO BATTLE

• 
  » Soot ․ Sootstar
  » WindClan Leader
  » She/her ․ Mate to Weaselclaw
  » Tiny blue smoke she-cat with green eyes.
  » "Speech" ․ thoughts ․ attack
  
• 
  » A high-stamina foe who can be difficult to hit.
  » Excels in quick, short moves.
  » Fights to kill and maim
  » Fatal attack of choice is an underbelly dive.
  » May powerplay minor harm. Can powerplay healing

​

 

[GRANITEPELT]

Granitepelt listens to her simmer, his expression remaining carefully neutral. There is something unpredictable in the disjointed way she moves, in the listless way she speaks; she is like a sick viper, something that cannot be contained, prepared to strike at any errant movement it spots from the corners of its eyes. He says, “WindClan is only the first to show it. ShadowClan has rotted from the inside since Briarstar.” He curls his lip at the memory of the she-cat splattered against the Thunderpath. “You have clung to every one of your StarClan-given nine lives. ShadowClan has been stripped over and over.”

Nevermind that he had taken Pitchstar’s final broken, miserable life. He had acted as StarClan’s agent then—never knowing Chilledstar’s rule would be as disjointed, as miserable.

“I agree with you, Sootstar.” He dips his head toward her in what he hopes is a placating gesture of respect. She’s beginning to make him nervous, but it would not do to show it—not at all. “And I stand behind you until the end, for whatever that’s worth.”

, ”​

​