Storm Warning || Mother nature murders a cat

[Morningsong~]

Morningpaw had been quieter than usual after Echolight was taken. It wasn't fair. Now all he had were his siblings, and he feared for them too. Gorseprickle didn't seem to care much, as usual. He left Morningpaw with little time to grieve, and Morningpaw quietly went along with it.

Gorseprickle led him out onto the moors during a time when the winds were a little more tolerable. Once he found a place suitable for training, he turned to his downcast apprentice.

"You shouldn't be so sad." He spoke. "At least your mother didn't leave you, like your father did." He said.

Morningpaw did not reply. Gorseprickle often brought up his father, as if to goad him into saying something incriminating. Morningpaw never took the bait. His most common thought was that at least his father loved him, which Gorseprickles clearly didn't if he turned out to be such a.... Thorny lump of dirt.

"You're going to be a warrior soon. " Gorseprickle spoke again. "This is your assessment. Defeat me in combat, and I will deem you worthy."

Morningpaw looked up with wide eyes. "Oh. ..." He hadn't expected this. "Alright."

Anxiety began gnawing at him. He hated when things were sprung on him!! Especially important things!!

Gorseprickle lashed his tail. "We begin when you are ready."

Morningpaw closed his eyes and took deep breaths to calm his nerves. This was the moment of truth, he could prove he wasn't his father.

But fate had other plans. As the spar began, the winds picked up. The gusts blew them off balance, and Morningpaw gripped the ground tightly. He heard Gorseprickle yowl in frustration, and Morningpaw crawled his way to him only to see his mentor be sent tumbling away again.

The next yowl he heard was one of terror, and Morningpaw ene ged from the grass just in time to see Gorseprickle fall into the gorge. As if just wanting to be cruel, the winds died down and Morningpaw rushed to the edge to peer into the rushing waters below.

There was no sign of Gorseprickle.

"Oh no... What do I do...?"

He had to go back to camp. To tell someone... It's not like anyone could do anything, but.... He had to tell someone, right??

He left the edge of the gorge and carefully walked through the grass. He wanted to be ready to brace himself if the wind picked up again. He picked up the scent of a fellow clanmate nearby, and decided to call out.

"H-hello?? I... Gorseprickle fell in the gorge!!" He called out. What else was he supposed to say? He was distressed and worried about being blown away himself.​

 

[Mintshade]

"Why the HELL were you training by the GORGE?!" It was the first thing blurted out of her mouth, unkind as it was, because any sensible warrior wouldn't take their apprentice there for anything other than showing them where it was and the first lesson of avoiding being alongside it at any point. That Gorseprickle had taken Morningpaw there during such intense winds as they were having lately was just asking for trouble, if you asked her the only good thing about this was the apprentice had not been forced to join her mentor's fate as a result of his incompetence.
"...he went over? Like, fully over? We can't send anyone to look or they might get tossed in to but if he did fall..." Well, that was it. Not a cat alive could survive crashing down into that gorge, it took a special kind of someone to even consider going near it and a few of the more daring cats of the clan had even considered leaping across it (herself included, the thrill was exciting) but despite all of that it still amounted to nothing more than a death trap.
Mintshade's crooked black tail lashed, she held her head up high as the wind whipped around them and tangled dark fur billowed about her frame; almost rippling like water as it passed. She despised when the wind did this, clan name or not, it was a pain to manage and some cats didn't take it as seriously as they should. Gorseprickle was probably already dead but they could perhaps get a patrol to collect the battered body that would be swept downriver.
​

 

[WOLFSONG]

──⇌•〘 INFO 〙It is not often that Wolfsong agrees with Mintshade, but in this case, he shares the sentiment of her outburst. The winds have made of themselves an aggressive foe, a danger as palpable as a badger's teeth, and that Gorseprickle thought to train within distance of such a fall— folly. Folly he has paid for dearly. "Mintshade speaks true," he says, gazing upon Morningpaw, remaining eye gentle but firm as he attempts to gauge whether the apprentice has sustained any injuries. "A tragic accident we have no recourse for but to mourn. I believe it would be wise if we all avoid that area while the winds remain unpredictably fierce." He draws in a deep breath, stepping closer to settle a paw on the apprentice's shoulder. "We will go to Sootstar together."
​

 

[Morningsong~]

"We weren't near the gorge originally!" Morningpaw quickly explained. "We were further away...A-and then the wind picked up and blew us this way.."

Gorseprickle must have underestimated the wind, thinking that surely it couldn't blow them away, or blow them so far. Oh well, that was his fault, now wasn't it? He paid for his misjudgement. Morningpaw wouldn't grieve him.... Much. It was still a tragedy, after all.

"H-he went fully over, yes." He affirmed.

Wolfsong arrives and he is thankful, he finds him less scary than Mintshade. He views her as the monster under the nest.

Sootstar is the other monster under the nest.

The only one in that family that didn't scare him (yet) was Bluepool.

He nods to the two, agreeing with their statements. They do have to find the body.... And they do have to let Sootstar know....

"I suppose so.... Should we look for his body first?" He asks. Surely it would have gone over the waterfall by now.... Right???​

 

[WEASELCLAW]

Weaselclaw’s ears flick at Mintshade’s outburst. He leaves Sootstar’s den, eyes creased with worry. Morningpaw’s frantic cry hadn’t gone unheard—Wolfsong approaches, too, and he catches a fragment of their conversation. “The gorge… he’s gone.”

The tabby’s eyes go dark, and he tilts his face toward the sky. Too-blue, too-pristine. Is StarClan laughing, sending wind to destroy their Clanmates and throw them to their deaths? His breath becomes shallow, but he does not show fear on his face as he pads closer.

“It blew you that far?” He rasps, his eyes widening. Morningpaw suggests retrieving his body, and he shakes his head. “No. We shouldn’t be going near the gorge at all… is it even safe to hunt?” He lashes his tail, his anger at StarClan growing. Will they be content to kepe WindClan hungry and trapped within their gorse enclosure?
​

[ PENNED BY MARQUETTE ]​

 

[sparkspirit]

The growing winds have left Sparkpaw anxious in a way that he cannot fully word. An itching, clawing, primal fear that buries itself within his gut as the winds pick up. They come at uncertain times and with strength he cannot predict. It has made hunting too difficult, and training a chore. Weaselclaw must know it. His mentor's voice catches the apprentice's attention and his gaze flicks that way– only then does he see Morningpaw at the center of the growing conglomeration. Remarks about the gorge, and the wind, and...body. Gorseprickle was dead? His eyes widen some, and he picks up his paws and trots over with concern that is not quite right, not quite tangible. Rusty, if wholehearted.

"You're okay? How did– how did it blow him over, but not you?" The lead warriors speak of informing Sootstar, the validity of hunting– Mintshade seems to call them stupid for being so close, and through his worry, Sparkpaw agrees. What had they been thinking? "...are you even going to be able to be a warrior now?" Truly not the best time for that sort of question.

˗ˏˋ〘  OOC 05.20.2023 〙´ˎ˗

• ooc: —

• sparkpaw, sparky. dmab male, he - him - his.
  ──── apprentice of windclan. loyal to windclan and weaselclaw.
  ──── 06 moons old. born on 12.15.22, and ages 85% real time.
  ──── echolight x elmbreeze, adopted by yewberry. brightfam.
  
  a long-limbed, trim sterile tortoiseshell tom with mostly black fur splashed with the occasional orange. he has a singular white mark on the back of his neck, as if he had been bitten there. has a fresh scar across the bridge of his nose.
  
  

  

• "speech"

​