SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES — shadowclan patrol

[WEASELCLAW]

╭── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╮​

He flanks Sootstar, opposite Jaggedoak, face drawn tight with his disapproval. Their ally is standing at the border, leader spitting and threatening, his warriors braced for battle. He tenses himself, prepared for the worst. Sootstar had been counting on this alliance, he knows, though he still doesn't find it necessary. The other Clans are weak, filled to the brim with kittypets and fish-eaters. He isn't scared of them.

But Sootstar greets Pitchstar pleasantly, though he hardly minces words with her. Weaselclaw's ears prick as his accusation flies. A WindClan scent found tangled in the ShadowClan medicine cat's fur. He feels his skin burn beneath his tabby pelt -- surely no one had made the mistake he had upon the Clans' formation?

Dandelionpaw speaks, then, and Weaselclaw's ears flatten with surprise. Demoted. Sootstar latches onto it eagerly enough, but he frowns in contemplation. It's a bold-faced lie, and he's surprised the apprentice he's always viewed as meek has spoken it so readily. Dandelionpaw does not wear the scar Weaselclaw, Duskfire, and Hyacinthbreath do, but the young sepia has shown where his loyalties lie.

The blue-eyed warrior nods, a simple confirmation. Sootstar seems to notice something he had not -- the mention of ThunderClan.

"As Sootstar and Dandelionpaw have said, we have punished our medicine cat for her crime. She didn't act on Sootstar's wishes, or WindClan's, period." He inclines his head. "Interesting, about ThunderClan, though," he murmurs. He hopes Pitchstar will take Honeytwist's 'demotion' as an act of good faith and focus on ThunderClan's crimes.

- ,,​

​

 

[PITCHSTAR]

The one to answer him is not Sootstar, but instead the tom who'd called himself WindClan's medicine cat. An ebony head whips towards Dandelionpaw, twin embers scorching the chocolate sepia. I'm sorry, Dandelionpaw blurts, and Pitchstar does not expect the confession which escapes from the quivering lips of the healer. Honeytwist, WindClan's original medicine cat and StarClan's chosen, had attacked Bonejaw. Another fault of the stars. Pitchstar's claws dig deep into the hardened moorland, tearing and ripping until blood oozes from their sheaths. (The stars will always fail ShadowClan, one way or another.)

Honeytwist has been demoted, Dandelionpaw explains. (That isn't enough. It would never be enough.) Pitchstar snarls, swinging his head from Dandelionpaw to Sootstar. StarClan can judge her? It's not fuckin' good enough. His aunt could have been killed. He could've lost Bonejaw, too. With wild eyes, Pitchstar crosses the threshold of neutral territory and WindClan's land. One paw into the empress' kingdom, and then another, until he's nearly a whisker's length away from Sootstar. "Tell me you did more. Tell me she's been exiled, persecuted, executed, anything more than a simple demotion for what she's done." His voice, now eerily constrained, rasps out. Demotion is not enough. Not for risking the life of his medicine cat, his aunt. Pitchstar leans forward, close enough to Sootstar for his ragged breaths to brush her features if she does not back away. "Tell me you did that, and I will... I will continue to consider a potential alliance."

Oh, but Sootstar reignites the anger which had settled into a simmer. What about ThunderClan? A manic stare hones in on Dandelionpaw, the soot-furred leader taking a step back away from WindClan's queen to instead draw closer to Dandelionpaw. And Dandelionpaw answers without further provocation... ThunderClan's medicine cat, Salamander- no, Cinderfrost, that's what she calls herself now. Pitchstar hisses, shaking his head in a frantic manner. Of course... Of course. That fuckin' she-cat had tried to murder Bonejaw before, when they still called Cinderfrost a friend. Of course she would be the one to instigate this.

He's going to pay ThunderClan a fuckin' visit. He's going to ensure that Cinderfrost has been persecuted properly, even if he must do it himself. She would never harm his family again.​

 

[CHILLEDSTAR.]

this was getting out of hand rather fast. sootstar clearly had some weird tactic going on here that had the poor medicine cat ( he is but a paw. how could he possibly have stopped this? ), trembling like a leaf. the frown that seemed permanently fixed on their face only deepened as they let their leader handle it. until this. they can't let anything happen to him. he's angry ( and stars, rightfully so. if anything happened to their family members or even pitchstar, they'd be inconsolable. ), but he's taking it too far. he's being irrational with this. they get it, but damn it he needed to get a grip for a second! hissing loudly, they pushed themself against pitchstar, aiming to push him back away from the windclanners before spinning and facing them. they move their gaze to dandelionpaw, offering a small tip of their head.

"while you may feel like it, you were not directly responsible for the actions of your former mentor, and that other cat. you did the best you could. don't beat yourself up over it. it's not your fault, but theirs for acting so irrationally.

they sigh, with a lash of their tail.

"just do better next time. don't be so frog footed about how you handle stuff."

and with that, they turn their attention back to pitchstar, offering him a look that simply said they needed to go. aftwr sootstar has answered, they had nothing left. they knew who did it. she'd surely be punished later... with a leader like sootstar of course they would. but they couldnt do more. how utterly annoying. and for sootstar to have that look on her face? how starclan decided you were to be leader is beyond me. you're unsettlingly nice right now. i don't trust it.
​

[ NOBODY ELSE MATTERS, GIRL ]​

 

[Irispath]

Woah now. That's the border you're crossing there. That's Sootstars face you're getting in. That's Dandelionpaw you look like you're about to bite the head off of.

No, no. He wouldn't stay still.

The switch flipped, and with a steely glare he bristled as he put himself between Pitchstar and his two clanmates. Not that it mattered because Pitchstar could likely just step on him and be done with it, but.

He couldn't sit and watch.

He was thankful for Chilledgaze intercepting Pitchstar. His gaze softened a little and his fur relaxed a bit, but he was still on guard. He didn't know what Pitchstar was going to do, and that scared him.

But now that his blood was pumping, he was much more alert. Focused.

If he hurts any of his clanmates, he'll gut him.

He kept his aggression born of fear to himself. This alliance was important to Sootstar, and he wouldn't be the one to ruin it.
​

 

[Dandelionwish]

What? No. NO! Execution?!
Dandelionpaw whipped around at the declaration, not even caring how close Pitchstar was now, not even caring how unhinged the ShadowClan leader was acting. He was almost grateful for the dark tom with him, who seemed sensible and didn't want bloodshed anymore than the rest of them did. His mismatched eyes met Chilledgaze's cold one and he blinked sharply to bring himself back to focus.
“Wh-buh-w-wait-you can't kill her!” Even as he openly began to plead for the ex-medicine cat’s life he knew it would fall on deaf ears, there was no point in appealing to morals with some cats and he was all too aware of it. He had to appeal otherwise, he had to appeal with logic, “Who is going to teach me?! I just started learning! What happens if the clan gets sick? If we get more injured that I don’t know how to handle?”
Honeytwist was like a second mother to him, despite her many flaws and the horrible decisions she had made recently she did not deserve death. He didn't want to see her die, he had seen enough clanmates die recently...Rosepaw was still an open wound.
“Ch-chase her out later, let her finish teaching me first!” He could buy time, he could buy them time to figure something out-he foolishly believed if he could just stall for a while that something might give. At best he was going to lose her by being chased from the clan, at worst he would be digging another hole in their burial site and he could not stand the thought of it.
"Just for a moon!"​

 

[BONERIPPLE]

She has lagged so far behind, battle with her own indecision to do something befoee things went too far. She didn't say a word on what had happened to her. She didn't want to and the only one she had confined in was her son Fogpaw. He knew. Yet it seems her lack of decision making has led to a full on patrol going to Windclan. This is not what she wanted. Even being told to lay herself down and rest she figeted, shifted, no spot gentle against the wounds upon her and soon she could not do it any longer. It takes her sl much longer to get to where she needs to go. Limping as quickly as she can to find them, to at least assuage the aggression. They don't need it right now and surely not over someone like her who has denounced the role Starclan has given her. Putting Shadowclan lives in jeopardy. Not like she already hasn't and lost them as well.
She cross the thunderpath as quickly as she can, hiking up her pained leg where her hip stings. Her eyes shift over the rolling grasses and she breathes in. Smelling thickly the scent of Shadow.

And soon they come into sight, aggression rolling off her nephew. She can see it in his face and she wishes it were not so. That he did not have to do this. "Pitch!" She calls out, tense and a bit breathless but she is there. She does not wish for vengeance, she does not wish for revenge otherwise she would have told him just who had done the deed. This is her choice and she wills him to let her have it. "It's enough, please..." Her voice is barely above a whisper. She's a wobbly thing as she creeps up closer towards her nephew, gaze flicking to look upon those of Windclan before frowning just slightly. Dandelionpaw was saying something but she does not know yet he seems distressed. "Don't... Let's just go home. I'm fine, all of us are fine." The former medicine cat doesn't want this look upon her nephew's face and she lightly rests her tail against his back. Coaxing. ​

 

[SOOTSTAR]

Oh, she truly had thought that'd work...
He was in her face, she could smell his rancid breath and felt the blow against her whiskers. Sootstar readjusts her position, straightens her back, her legs. Despite all that she hardly gets any bigger and Pitchstar remains decently taller than her, yet despite all that? The blue smoke doesn't back down, her ember eyes remain wide open. She stares right back into amber eyes, right into his manic soul as Dandelionpaw pleads for his mentor's position in the clan.

This tom wouldn't budge, he was crazy, mad in the head, insane.
"Let us be clear moving forward... I am not to be pushed around. I am not to be reckoned with, and I am not to be scared into making decisions for my own clan. Do not expect to make a habit out of making me bend." She holds back the hiss, she wishes to be stern, clear as day, not hostile. Her tail raises into the sky, fully displaying her dominance over her clan.

Sootstar was the one who was suppose to be doing the controlling here... yet it seemed now like quite the opposite was occuring.
She wouldn't let this continue.

Yet... just this once after a long pause, she draws away from Pitchstar but her eye contact is not interrupted.
"I, Sootstar, leader of WindClan sentence Honeytwist, former medicine cat, now warrior of WindClan to exile. She is no longer welcomed on WindClan land, and starting next dawn if she is found on WindClan land she is to be attacked on sight." Honeytwist was not here to witness these words, but she'd hear of them once they got back to camp. Yet she said the ceremonial words before Pitchstar, before StarClan, to prove to ShadowClan she meant it.

Honeytwist was no longer WindClan... How Dandelionpaw would get his training? Only StarClan knew, but... they'd figure it out. This alliance was worth it, it'd have to be.

"She will be taken to the borders immediately. Exiled into the loner lands. We will now feast. Name a time." She's paid the price, danced with Pitchstar. It was time for Sootstar to have want she wanted. ​

---

Spoiler: TAGS ★ 10/19

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

╰ ★ ჻ 001 GENERAL INFORMATION ,
· SOOTSTAR, female — she / her
╰ ‣ 31 moons . pisces. ages on the first
╰ ‣ windclan leader . marsh-born . believes in starclan
╰ ‣ former soldier of the marsh group

╰ ★ ჻ 002 VISUALS & AESTHETICS ,
· DOMESTIC FELINE, smells like heather and wet dirt , status — 100%
╰ ‣ blue smoke . scarred chest, difficult to see through fur . green eyes

╰ ★ ჻ 003 MENTALITY & MANNERISMS ,
· ESTJ-A ❝ EXECTUTIVE ❞ , Slytherin, Lawful Evil
╰ ‣ Cunning, brash, fierce, confident, self-reliant, envious & selfish
╰ ‣ finds great difficulty in relating to others . can be cruel, usually shows mercy to those she can find sympathy with

╰ ★ ჻ 004 INTERACTIONS & RELATIONSHIPS ,
· SOOT CLAW x PEBBLE BREEZE, sister to Pebblenose
╰ ‣ heterosexual. romantically interested in Weaselclaw
╰ ‣ mother to owlpaw & shrikepaw
╰ ‣ average fighter . skilled hunter .
╰ ‣ will start fights . unlikely to flee .
╰ ‣ attack in underline . penned by user @ava.

 

[hyacinthbreath]

She knows nothing of this cat, only that he was Briarstar's son. Pitchstar, his name was now- word traveled fast when those around you gossiped so much. A small, silvery figure pierces her way through the growing crowd of WindClan cats, fur fluffed up with anticipation. Violet hues seem to watch Bonejaw from a distance, the protectiveness these cats had over Pitchstar ebbing away from the front of her mind. She takes a step forward, then another, before she finds herself beside Dandelionpaw, her tail draping across his back in an awkward attempt at comfort.

Though, Hyacinth's tail drops when she hears of Honeytwist's exile. There's a look of staunch surprise that flashes across Hyacinth's silvery face, though it's quickly replaced with stoic reserve once more. She could ask questions later, but she didn't realize there had been a fight. Between medicine cats, too? How shameful.

She doesn't wish to question Sootstar, but with all the hawks and the fresh-kill pile being hard to stock, would it be right to feed them? Her paw brushes over the healed scar on her chest, a reminder of her loyalties- tied with the words that Smokethroat and Pollenfur had whispered in her ears.

WindClan, or Sootstar?

"I can have a few cats bring some rabbits." She offers softly, eyes lazily sliding over to Bonejaw to briefly glance at her. Wasn't she the one who was watching her lead her patrol, like some stalker? Perhaps. She chuckled to herself at the thought, tail flicking behind her.
​