sensitive topics STACK THE DECK & BATTLE

[sparkspirit]

Nothing had been real until this very moment. His time in the barn had been hazy. A dream, a nightmare– half-remembered, even in waking moments. That Larkfeather was gone, that Yewberry and Echolight were not — Pollenfur, Hyacinthbreath, whispered words and cats that slowly trickle in with horror stories; he sits at the center of it, the very eye of this storm, and feels nothing. Then his paws break through the threshold of moor heather and gorse woven to a barren frostbit guardian, and like a sudden strike of lightning, energy and memory are forced back into his lungs. He sucks in a breath that smells like home and the beginning stirrings of blood. His heart pounds in his ears.

The first cat before him is the one that he launches himself at. There's only a brief moment of thought flitting past. Not hay-smell. Not Snakehiss. (Who else remains that he would stray from fighting? Weaselclaw was gone. He would be disappointed.)

Particularly when it's @HARRIERSTRIPE that he aims to sink his teeth into. With a sharp hiss of rage, Sparkspirit goes straight for close distance, his claws sweeping towards one of the warrior's shoulders at the same time that his teeth go for an ear. It's reckless, but it's quick, it's intense, it's just how he was taught to be. Blood may sting blood, but what matters now is home, and the death of these memories.

𝘛𝘈𝘕𝘎𝘓𝘌𝘋 𝘐𝘕 𝘛𝘏𝘌 𝘞𝘖𝘙𝘋𝘚 𝘛𝘏𝘈𝘛 𝘐  ･｡ﾟ  🗲  ╱╱ 11.07.2023 𝘊𝘈𝘕𝘕𝘖𝘛 𝘚𝘈𝘠 ˊˎ＜

• OOC. @HARRIERSTRIPE
• 🗲　　. 　 ˚　.  SPARKSPIRIT. HE - HIM - HIS. 14 MOON OLD MOOR RUNNER OF WINDCLAN. VERY LOYAL TO HIS CLAN. PENNED BY REVELATIONS.  ————
  
  
  ——  a trim mock tortoiseshell tom with mostly black fur splashed with the occasional patch orange. he has a singular white mark on the back of his neck shaped similarly to a lightning strike, and a small scar across the bridge of his nose. his eyes are a shocking electric blue.
  

  ✦ ECHOLIGHT x ELMBREEZE. ADOPTED BY YEWBERRY. BRIGHTFAM, BUT SOMEWHAT ESTRANGED DUE TO HIS LOYALTY TO WINDCLAN. ————————

• "speech"

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[HARRIERSTRIPE]

He works himself like a dog. Yellow eyes always searching for Sootstar's, wide and puppy-eyed, an eternal struggle for approval and recognition. He never got it, he's never gotten it, but Harrierstripe always held out faith. One more impressive hunt, one more border skirmish won, one more enemy slain and he'd find the warmth in her eyes.

The time has come, the final battle against the traitors. The cats who had turned their back on his mother, if he helped her to victory she would at last gaze upon him with pride shining in her eyes.

Skillfully, Harrierstripe dodges sweeping claws that would've otherwise torn at his shoulders. In doing so he finds that he had leaned into a worse, more punishing move. Teeth rip into his ear, numb to the cold aside from a sting the only thing he feels is warm, sticky blood begin to trickle down his face. Blinking it out from his eyes he hisses and kicks his paws up into the snow aiming to send it into the warrior's face to blind him temporarily. He curses the snow, sand would've stung the eyes more.

Successful or not he leaps back toward Sparkspirit, hoping to plant his paws against the tom's shoulders. He tries to implant his claws into flesh before pushing him back with all the force Harrierstripe could muster. If he succeeds, he uses this opportunity to make minor distance between him and the orange and black tom.

"Traitor! You've wasted Weaselclaw's training- you've learned nothing from him! You spoil his legacy!" Harrierstripe yowls, anger weighing in his chest. "I don't know where he rests now- but wherever he watches from you can die today knowing he frowns upon you." With that, Harrierstripe bolts forward. With the agility and speed any WindClan moor runner would have he almost seems to fly across the snow, lifting a paw as he speeds past Sparkspirit he aims to drag his claws from shoulder to hindquarters.

☾ INFO BATTLE

• 
  » Harrierkit . Harrierpaw . Harrierstripe
  » WindClan Warrior
  » He/him
  » A black and chocolate chimera with golden eyes.
  » "Speech" ․ thoughts ․ attack
  
• 
  » A foe who uses jeers and taunts to distract his opponents.
  » Excels in using terrain to his advantage.
  » Fights to overpower and see another day.
  » May powerplay minor harm. Can powerplay healing

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[sparkspirit]

It strikes him with Harrier's words, hot as an iron brand, that he is fighting his mentor's son. There are glimpses of him each time that he looks. The color of his pelt to the intensity of his eyes; the violent vibrancy of his words. It's a wound he's unprepared for. The snow blinds him, sends him reeling, yes, but it's not that or the claws that follow which truly set him off balance. The searing pain only makes way for a greater split. He frowns upon you. Oh but he does, doesn't he? The one cat that had been there consistently, who had always seen something more than a traitor's child. Does his mother see Harrierstripe the same way now? A traitor's child. Who was right, in the end?

His mind is reeling.

Weaselclaw would be ashamed, for more reason than one. As the warrior's claws shred through fur and flesh, his body half-twisted away from the pain, he stumbles. It's nothing grand. Though he scrambles desperately for his footing, he leaves a bloody swath in the snow as he moves. "At least he was proud of me once," he spits back. As good as a careless lash of claws, without rhythm or reason. Hopefully it's enough to wound Harrierstripe the way it had wounded him. His ears are pinned back and his pupils blown with panic, the snow giving away beneath him each time that he tries. Should the brown warrior attempt to close the gap between them again, the patchwork tom's teeth are prepared to snap at any extended paw. It's a poor defense, all too ready to crack open.

𝘛𝘈𝘕𝘎𝘓𝘌𝘋 𝘐𝘕 𝘛𝘏𝘌 𝘞𝘖𝘙𝘋𝘚 𝘛𝘏𝘈𝘛 𝘐  ･｡ﾟ  🗲  ╱╱ 11.07.2023 𝘊𝘈𝘕𝘕𝘖𝘛 𝘚𝘈𝘠 ˊˎ＜

• OOC. —
• 🗲　　. 　 ˚　.  SPARKSPIRIT. HE - HIM - HIS. 14 MOON OLD MOOR RUNNER OF WINDCLAN. VERY LOYAL TO HIS CLAN. PENNED BY REVELATIONS.  ————
  
  
  ——  a trim mock tortoiseshell tom with mostly black fur splashed with the occasional patch orange. he has a singular white mark on the back of his neck shaped similarly to a lightning strike, and a small scar across the bridge of his nose. his eyes are a shocking electric blue.
  

  ✦ ECHOLIGHT x ELMBREEZE. ADOPTED BY YEWBERRY. BRIGHTFAM, BUT SOMEWHAT ESTRANGED DUE TO HIS LOYALTY TO WINDCLAN. ————————

• "speech"

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[SNAKEHISS]

Sootstar had told Snakehiss the plan, to attack the rebels' hideout that very night, to spill the blood of every cat who had betrayed her. Their conversation had been tense, leaving the young deputy with a sinking feeling in his stomach, so much so that the thundering of paws and the roaring of battle cries penetrating the sandy hollow had completely caught him off guard.

The thin-legged tom scrambled backward as chaos ensued, eyes widening with horror as cats he had known his whole life tore into each other like scraps of meat. Blood, yowls, screeching, flying fur... His eyes hastily sweep the mass of tussling felines, eventually finding a red-splashed tom facing off against Harrierstripe. Sparkspirit... He would die tonight by Sootstar's demands. Her son, ever dutiful, would carry out the deed without a second thought.

Snakehiss knows what is expected of him. If he did not launch forward and sink his teeth into Sparkspirit's throat at that moment, the others would take notice. His position as deputy—his life, even—would be jeopardized. Sootstar might even execute him on the spot. He would not get to meet his future children.

This was perhaps the most foolish thing would ever do in his life. But, for the first time in a long time, he felt free.

Knowing that he did not possess the strength to ram Harrierstripe's side, Snakehiss executed the battle move he knew best. The midnight-colored tom leaped into the air and aimed to fasten himself onto the chimera's back, hopefully snagging his claws into the warrior's skin. Pouring all of his concentration into getting him away from Sparkspirit, Snakehiss tried to sink his teeth into one of Harrierstripe's ears and tear.

Once the tom was focused on him, Snakehiss stumbled away from Harrierstripe and growled, "Enough of this, Harrierstripe." It was perhaps not even worth trying to reason with Sootstar's prince, but Snakehiss felt the urge to get his true feelings off his chest. They had been brewing for so long, after all, bubbling like a geyser that had yet to blow. "Your mother is nothing but a mere mortal in the eyes of StarClan. Their judgment will prevail — she will not." It was only a matter of time before Sootstar lost all of her lives. She would not live forever, she would not rule the moors for the rest of eternity like some of these blind fools believed.

Snakehiss was done following her. In the end, if Harrierstripe killed him here and now, at least StarClan would have heard his final pledge of loyalty to them.

₊ ⋆ * ⊹ ₊ ☾ —— 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙮 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙛𝙞𝙩

• 

• 

  ✰ SNAKEHISS
  —— he/him; deputy of windclan
  —— bisexual; mates with berrysnap
  —— long-limbed black tom with green eyes, a small white chest patch, bite mark on right foreleg & thin scar across chest
  —— "speech", thoughts, attack
  —— link to full tags; @ on discord for plots.
  —— penned by beatles

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[HARRIERSTRIPE]

'At least he was proud of me once.'

Harrierstripe had known his entire life words cut deep. Praise and approval were all he's worked for during his life, from Weaselclaw, from Sootstar, no matter what he always seemed to fall short. The black and brown warrior had not gotten to be there when his father died and had scarcely rose above the flaming image of his brother, Addervenom and his more likable sisters. To Sootstar he had felt like nothing at all, she had always looked straight past him as if he was a ghost. He's never been able to climb high enough, the lowest link of Weaselclaw and Sootstar's kittens.

Sparkspirit is right, and that's what hurts the most.
But not for long- it's this battle it would all change! It had to be!

He's about to charge for Sparkspirit when a heavy weight slams down onto his back. Claws fasten into his shoulders and Harrierstripe lets loose an agonizing yowl. Teeth reach out and pierce through his ear, just like the last it rips in the maw of his attacker and gushes blood. He can barely see when they disengage, he blinks blood away from his eyes and is nearly knocked onto his rump when the tom's voice sounds.

'Enough of this, Harrierstripe'. The voice is as clear as day to him, he had grown up and trained next to that voice, admired it, and now as deputy followed it's command. A look of pure betrayal takes over his face as Snakehiss promises his mother's demise and StarClan's triumph. "What-" He sputters, his own blood dripping into his mouth, "Snakehiss- you're her deputy!" He reminds as if the tom-cat had been possessed and merely needed some sense knocked into him. How could he do this?! How could he do this now?!

"I- I trusted you! I looked up to you!" Harrierstripe roars, he felt like a lost kit. "Why did you do this- I have to now. You have to die!"

With a great leap he sends himself flying in Snakehiss' direction. If he lands they both tumbleweed in the snow, up and down and over and under again until momentum is lost. With luck on his side Harrierstripe would land on top, the black and white deputy beneath him. The moor-runner's face is streaked with blood, both torn ears bleeding relentlessly when he smacks a large paw into Snakehiss' face, claws ripping into the flesh of his cheek. Then he rears up on his hindlegs only to slam his forepaws back down onto the traitor's chest. Bloodied claws gouge into black fur just under the base of his neck.

Harrierstripe only just misses his mark on a fatal blow to the neck. He always had fallen too short.

☾ INFO BATTLE

• 
  » Harrierkit . Harrierpaw . Harrierstripe
  » WindClan Warrior
  » He/him
  » A black and chocolate chimera with golden eyes.
  » "Speech" ․ thoughts ․ attack
  
• 
  » A foe who uses jeers and taunts to distract his opponents.
  » Excels in using terrain to his advantage.
  » Fights to overpower and see another day.
  » May powerplay minor harm. Can powerplay healing

​