TAKE THE GLORY, GIVE EVERYTHING [mini meeting]

[SCORCHSTAR]

༄༄ Nighttime had still reigned shifting and shadowy over the moorland by the time the calico returned to camp. With only Cottonsprig at her side and a small group of warriors trailing behind, there had been a notable absence, and the cats around camp who had remained awake had questioned them. "I will call the clan for an official meeting to explain this… in the morning," she had said, refusing to stop on her way to the tunnel where her nest lies. She had been dead tired after the night’s experiences, and flopping down into a comfortable nest had been the only thing on her mind.

---

Now the sun has begun its climb into the sky, dawn breaking in bright purples and yellows over the line of the horizon. A new day begins, and with it a new era of WindClan—for the cat who steps up to speak across them all does not hesitate to climb atop the Tallrock. The perch of leadership had seemed too sacred a space to settle upon when she had last called a clan meeting, but now with the phantom touch of her mate still lingering on her fur, the calico does not shy away from it. She clambers her way a bit awkwardly to the top of the rock, and allows a breath to fill her chest as she gazes down at the clanmates who gather below. "WindClan, meet beneath the Tallrock. I have… news to share with you all." This is perhaps the last thing she wants to be doing, especially so soon after her friends’ departure. But if there are to be any problems, any questions, any outcry—she needs to quiet it all now.

“Walk with the confidence of a cat who deserves to be where you are today, because you are that cat, Scorchstreak.”

Tigerfrost had imparted confidence upon her, and she wields it now. The scars across her chest catch the light of the sun, and the calico raises her voice to speak. "Last night, many of you saw myself and Cottonsprig depart with Sunstar, Wolfsong, and their kits. We traveled to the Moonstone, where we were told… that Sunstar and Wolfsong intended to leave. They gave their best efforts to WindClan, but destiny drew them far from these lands." There is no better way to say it—that their leader has abandoned his post, leaving WindClan to its own devices. She knows that she will lead the clan through this, but she also knows how many cats still doubt her. Her gaze searches for each of those who have opposed her position as deputy, seeking answers in their expressions. Will they cry out, when she makes clear her own promotion? For a moment she looks to Dimmingsun—I don't have doubts about the Clan's future while you're 'round. She has supporters within this crowd, no matter how dreary the circumstances of her leadership.

"Sunstar relinquished his remaining lives to me, and I stand before you now with nine in total. I have spoken with StarClan… and I have been named Scorchstar. Though I stand before you as your leader now, know that I intend to honor the legacy that Sunstar has left behind. Never again will this clan bow to a tyrant, and it is thanks to him that we are free of one." As much as the tom may have thrown her to the wolves, so to speak, he is still her friend. He will likely remain a friend until the end of her nine lives. "If anyone has anything to discuss, speak now. Otherwise, this meeting is adjourned."

YOU KNOW I DESERVE IT ☽♰☾ WELL, TAKE IT OUT ON ME

• ooc: —
• 
• SCORCHSTAR ⋆⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺⋆ she/they, leader of windclan, tunneler
  ༄ small, slim flame-streaked calico with fiery golden eyes. cold and closed-off, ferociously protective of her clanmates.
  ༄ mate to bluepool ; sibling to rattleheart & rabbitclaw
  ༄ mentor to bilberrypaw & brackenpaw ; previously mentored pinkshine
  ༄ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted, but may react aggressively
  ༄ penned by foxlore

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[SOOTSPOT]

There was a tilt of his head at Scorch's announcement, curious, owl-like, and from his spot at the Nursery's entrance, Sootspot could not help but feel something stir in a heart that seldom beat for anything. Sunstar was... gone, Wolfsong too, but the one-eyed medicine cat had never been so important in his eyes as the leader. The leader who had promised to bring WindClan into a new dawn, the leader that had killed his mother and led to the deaths of so many was now nothing more than a memory, a failure who had abandoned their duty.

He wanted to laugh, he wanted to cry. Scorchstar continued despite him and charteuse eyes grew wide as he processed what exactly this meant for his family. 'Tyranny made this clan strong.' His mournful gaze was cast upon the crowd, those who had fought with fire and disease and buckled beneath the other groups' pressure. 'Look at what weak cats have done. Can they even be bothered to be as outraged as they should be?' He could not see them crying out, a fear of subjugation still running rampant through his clanmates, a fear of being different. Claws unsheathed as he pictured them sharing stories and agreeing with every word the calico said. Was Sunstar even gone? What if he was dead, killed in some conspiracy between zealots and kin? 'I suppose it doesn't matter.' Even if that were true, it did not worry him.

He sucked in a breath, feeling it hitch and tremble with excitement. This felt right, like everything was falling into place for him after moons of suffering. There was an ashen crown in his future, already he could feel its weight upon his skull - but who would've thought that the traitor king would've forged it for him?

"I have but one question." His tail swayed as he called out from his resting spot. "This destiny... is it in aid of WindClan?


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[heatherkit]

( ⊱✿⊰ ) when stuff happens without heatherkit's knowledge, it makes her grumpy. getting up early makes her grumpy, too, but sootspot makes her and her littermates be present for every meeting, and so she does as she is told. dutiful paws carry the small she-kit towards the nursery entrance, where she seats herself, wrapping a feathery tail around her pale body. leaning in to her father's plush pelt, the girl casts dusky blue eyes up towards the tallrock, expecting a golden coat to shimmer there. instead, rust and pitch mingle among snow, the slim figure of scorchstreak formed against a dawn-dappled sky. surprise allows a small murmur to escape the girl's mouth, lips moving as she quirks her eyebrow. yet again windclan's deputy is not where she should be. her place at the base of the rock looks barren.

heatherkit's father shifts, something hungry in his yellow-green gaze, and the girl mirrors his look, eyes sharpening as scorchstreak - now scorchstar - announces the predicament. displeasure sets a bitter taste upon the kitten's tongue at the idea that her clan leader could ever just abandon them like he has. she glances towards her aunt cottonsprig, wondering if the woman feels just as abandoned by her former mentor. papa does not seem angry, his stiff muscles and eager expression portraying more of an excitement than anything, and so thea makes herself okay with this change. if papa is alright with it, things must be going their way.

SAY WHAT YOU WANT ⊱✿⊰ BUT SAY IT LIKE YOU MEAN IT

• // "#b2a0bc"
• 
  
  
• HEATHERKIT ⊱✿⊰ SHE / HER, WINDCLAN. DAUGHTER OF SOOTSPOT, SISTER TO BRAMBLEKIT, NIGHTKIT. 5 MOONS, PENNED BY LAVS
  
  
  
  a longhaired blue lynx point with blue eyes. her body is cloaked in pale snow-white fur, a storm of blue flooding her face, tail, and paws. stripes of darker blue accentuate her eyes nose, and band around her legs. shining eyes stare out from the angular shaped face, a deep, faded blue color.
  

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[PINKSHINE]

It would've been a feat for her not to notice... Obviously, of course... her nest, newly expanded for two had been occupied by one lonely she-cat last night... ( Dramatic... Pinkshine could survive less than a day without Featherspine. But when something like that was so fresh and new to begin with, it'd obviously be more noticeable, wouldn't it? ) She's happy to wake beside her later that morning, groggily glimpses ruffles of chocolate tabby stripes. But of course she'd been curious... Of course she'd just been buzzing with the desire to prod her awake, to ask what happened... but she hadn't; and she'd thought she was real good for that.

Instead, it's Scorchstreak that relays the news. Scorchstar.

Her stomach drops. She doesn't know what to feel, what to think. Leadership was... was until death, wasn't it? Was until a Leader was stripped of all nine of their lives, and Sunstar had plenty. Pinkshine was old enough to know him as Sunstride. To see the dog rip out his ninth life. To see Granitepelt take another. They intended to leave. It didn't... sound like a demand. It did not sound like something that had to happen, or something that couldn't be stopped. She doesn't get it. " What? " her mew is small.

He relinquished his lives. Relinquished, he hadn't been... attacked; couldn't have been, with all of those cats beside him. Featherspine wouldn't have let that happen. It's not as if it would've been better if that had happened — so why did it feel worse? Why did this feel worse than a future that hadn't happened? She didn't get it. " What? " Louder this time, partially a wail. Tears are welling in her eyes, and she doesn't get how she can cry over something she doesn't even understand. Is it that her guess is worse than it actually is? Was it that she's imagining something terrible— something impossibly sad?

Sootspot speaks, and as much as it feels wrong, Pinkshine speaks beside him. " Did he... Is he- is he on a quest? A- a- a journey? " Like the journey, she thinks. Like the journey... but then, why would he go so far as to relinquish his lives? As to bring them Scorchstar like this, not in a blaze of glory, but... but...

Pinkshine blinks the tears from her eyes. Like she's an apprentice again, she looks for an answer in Scorchstreak. In Scorchstar.​

 

[SCORCHSTORM]

The goldfinch in her chest has been thrumming against its cage for hours. She had been guarding camp when the small patrol had departed — had been guarding camp when Sunstar and Wolfsong had bid her farewell. It hadn't felt like it would be forever. It had been the kind of goodbye that was really a see you later, hadn't it been? When Wolfsong had stared so harrowingly deep into her, when Sunstar had turned his moonlit cheek away from her, it hadn't felt final.

But apparently it was. She had been asleep before the diminished party had returned — but even in the few breaths of morning she has had, it is difficult not to notice the hefty absence that Sunstar and Wolfsong have left behind. Her mother climbs Tallrock. The pieces click together.

They left. They left their Clan, their kits. They left her. And for what? For... destiny? Scorchstorm wears her despair far more obviously than she realizes, but all she can picture is their retreating silhouettes from the night prior; all she can picture is Badgermoon and Curlewnose tearing across the moors in shame. Leaving you, the dark dragon whispers. Leaving you. Neither of her mentors walk WindClan's soil now. Neither her own father nor the cats that quietly took his place will share a meal with her anymore at the end of a hard day's work; she has no cat to demand patrol with her just to sob so weakly. And it's not exactly true — Scorchstar, after all, still crowns Tallrock now — but when your father is only supposed to leave once, the second time becomes difficult to bear.

And maybe her sadness is unearned, especially compared to that of Sunstar and Wolfsong's true litter. She does not seek their reaction now. She hardly hears Sootspot's question; only hears Pinkshine's because journey never fails to prick her ears, after everything. But what Scorchstorm desires most is... to scream, she thinks. Or to tear up a hay bale, like she sometimes gets away with when there's no twolegs out by the Horseplace. Maybe she could pick a fight, or maybe she could let all of her anger and sadness and grief slough into the foaming ocean, and then she'd weave flower crowns and collect sunshine in a jar and never be sad again. But of course, catharsis is much more carnal than that. What Scorchstorm would like most is to find Sunstar — whatever his name might be now — and Wolfsong (and why not Badgermoon! Stars have mercy on them!) and claw them all the way back to WindClan to answer her.

"They just... left?" Her mother would not lie to her. Maybe to the Clan, if it would keep the peace, but not to her. Sunstar and Wolfsong are gone. Exorcised wraiths. Sunstar has relinquished his lives to her mother, has yoked her with the duty of a leader, with nine lives to spend before death could take her in full. Realization sets in. Suddenly, her seat at the council curdles her stomach. StarClan has sentenced her to die nine times over for a Clan who will betray her.

Dual-toned gaze sweeps her clanmates, nakedly wild, raking. Who among them would be next to break the code? To invite a stranger into their nest? To leave them in need, hearts aching?

Eventually her eyes land on her mother once more, far more desperate and imploring. She wants to talk to her — wants to talk to her alone, wants to talk to her not as a lead warrior, but as her daughter. Her mortality. The leaving. All of it. Did you see Bluepool? Did you see Rattleheart? Scorchstorm hopes Scorchstar will get the message. Talk to me.

𝐀𝐍 𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐋 𝐎𝐑 𝐀 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐎𝐍, 𝐀 𝐋𝐈𝐎𝐍’𝐒 𝐒𝐈𝐋𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐄 ✧

• ooc.
  
• SCORCHSTORM —— lead warrior of windclan, mentored by sunstar & badgermoon . scorchstreak x badgermoon . littermate to rumblerain, frostwind, and luckypaw ✦ penned by meghan
  
  ✦ a broad-shouldered tortoiseshell with low white and dual-toned amber eyes. extremely loyal to sunstar and her family, and enjoys a deep connection to the moorlands
  ✦ demigirl / she they pronouns / lesbian / 18 moons & ages every 1st
  ✦ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted / underline & tag account when attacking
  —— will start fights / will not flee / may show mercy. fights honorably and with great ferocity. can tank a few hits, but is not the sturdiest cat in windclan. starts fights with the intention of finishing them permanently, but will not aim to maim or kill obviously young cats
  
  ✦ "speech", thoughts, all opinions are in character
  ✦ full biography — msg on discord for plots — toyhouse
  

• 

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[SEDGEPOUNCE]

"What?" Sedgepounce echoes, the word like ash. A cold dark cavern hollows out his chest as he stares up at Scorchstar. She's cast in this dusty glow of dawn, haloed in stray bolts of light that simmer from a deep red sun along the horizon. Sedgepounce has never known her to lie. If Sunstar was dead, Scorchstreak would declare it. She'd have killed him herself, ripped each star-given lives from the bloodied, shredded lines of his throat herself if he'd turned toward corruption. She wouldn't have followed him and their medicine cat and their troupe of children to the meadow like a funeral procession.

The realization spreads, settles, then seethes.

They're gone. He has to repeat it in his head a few times for it to feel real. They're gone. They're gone. They left.

WindClanners around him all clamor and cry for two cats that couldn't even give the dignity of a goodbye. They're long gone by now, happy to wash their hands of this place, its denizens, their own children. Oaths broken when it no longer suited them.

"So they lied," he mutters. It escapes him bitterly and mindlessly, loud enough only for Bunnypaw beside him to hear. When the Warrior Code demanded loyalty above all else, Sunstar and Wolfsong—their leader, stars, their leader!—crossed their fingers behind their backs and promised to oblige. They were supposed to live by the code, die by the code. If they were willing to just...abandon everything, why didn't they just leave when Sootstar demanded their heads?

Sedgepounce tail goes from lashing to wrapping tightly around his legs. He hunches close to himself, teeth gritting. It's worse, he thinks. It's worse that Sunstar would lead them through rebellion, through flame, through hardship, than if he'd just left before it all started. Because they rely on him, now. They trust him. Sedgepounce trusted him and—stars, isn't he the fool?

Again.

A rough breath shoots from between his teeth. He steels himself, willing this new, open wound to callous over like the rest. Of course Sunstar would abandon them. What was the straw on the camel's back? Wolfsong's battle with Yellowcough? WindClan's council secretly colluding with RiverClan, with DuskClan? Did they just not care anymore?

It doesn't matter. This, now, his mind repeats like a mantra. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. They're gone now, and Sedgepounce should have seen it coming.
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[SHEEPPAW]

Having had been woken up from the sudden commotion, lifting his head from the crook of his elbow. Sheeppaw splits open his charcoal - dusted jaws in a yawn, clicking it shut with a sleepy grumble under his breath. What's happening that Scorchstreak has to call a meeting...? With a thump of his plumed tail, he raises onto his paws with a huff leaving his nostrils. Dark - dusted paws carry him away from his comfortable nest, and away from his other denmates with already a slight frown settled on his face. Getting up early is a pain in his behind. He finds his mother drifting to a spot to settle in, the long - limbed black smoke promptly follows Frostpond greeting his mom with a sleepy 'good morning' that rumbles in his throat. He leaned against his mother slightly, as his ears swiveled forward to listen to what was happening. Casing sky - blue eyes up to the calico that stands upon Tallrock like a sunbeamed throne, the slim figure of Scorchstreak formed against the dawn - dappled sky.

She quirks an brow, Windclan's deputy is not where she is allowed to be. Where was Sunstar...? Is he sick? Still asleep? Do leaders even oversleep...? She is confused. Instead, Scorchstreak announces that Sunstar and Wolfsong have left the moors...?

WHAT?!

Oh, he is wide awake now. She stands up on her paws, craning her neck to look at the– new leader. "WHAT?!" He barks out, teeth gritted against each other with a small clack. Her tail is lashing now in her surprising anger, rearing its ugly head around like a feral predator. "W-What do mean they just... both LEFT?!" The moor king and windclan's medicine cat left... because of destiny? She can't comprehend this development. It is shocking, yes. B-But... Sunstar was supposed to be the one who named her– her final name at her warrior ceremony. So, the rising moor king abandoned his post, leaving Windclan to their own devices? She presses his paws against the dusty ground below her, wide eyes locking the- the leader. He felt his breath hitch, as he whipped his head around to Pinkshine, as the warrior asked about a journey. They're gone. They're gone. They left Windclan behind.

Does that mean Sunstar and Wolfsong are gone for good? Just moor-dwelling wraiths? Sunstar actually relinquished his lives to Scorchstar, her new duty to spend nine lives before her final death... Starclan has sentenced her to die nine times. They didn't even say goodbye! Did they always have their fingers crossed behind their backs? Just waiting to leave? Tail thrashing against the ground, fur spiked along his back. He feels sick to his stomach. Sheeppaw doesn't want to hear anymore. A growl bubbles its way from his throat, through gritted teeth, and dark dusted ears angled towards his downy skull. Eyes narrowed to slits. He turns around, turning his back away from the once grand Tallrock. "I'm finished..." He bitterly, mindlessly says, as he leaves the meeting without hearing anymore of this... this stupid nonsense.

⊹ ⏜ ۫ . 𝙎𝙉𝙊𝙊𝙕𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝙄𝙉 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝘾𝙇𝙊𝙐𝘿𝙎 ᶻ 𝘾𝘼𝙉 𝙔𝙊𝙐 𝙁𝙀𝙀𝙇 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙇𝘼𝙐𝙂𝙃𝙏𝙀𝙍 𝘽𝙐𝙄𝙇𝘿

• ooc. out!
• no ref yet </3
• ( WHAT? THE FACE? ) ꕤ ‧₊˚. SHEEPPAW. ╱ windclan apprentice.
  ⤷ CLOSETED GENDERFLUID ; HE / SHE
  ✶ CURRENTLY 11 MOONS OLD. AGES EVERY 29TH.
  ✶ undecided / not actively looking — mentoring none.
  ✶ a lanky, longhaired black smoke with high white and blue eyes
  ✶ thoughts ; "Speech, B9D6F2" ; attacks only
  ✶ may powerplay minor harm ╱ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted
  ✶ smells like night air & windblown heather
  — all opinions are ic
  
  → biography / @ on discord for plots
  — penned by calzone

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[BLUEFROST]

She is not permitted to leave the nursery, so she fits herself into the entryway as Scorchstreak makes her way to the Tallrock. The news is like frost-bitten winds sinking teeth into her pelt. Sunstar and Wolfsong are gone. They had left — their destiny had pulled them elsewhere, their new leader says, though the vague explanation leaves Bluefrost spiraling.

The cat who had overthrown her mother is — is gone? The cat who had sat with her, sharing prey, who had given her a chance, who had seen potential in her cunning and her resourcefulness, the cat whose heart she had broken by her blatant betrayal —

Something bitter clouds her mouth. Is this her fault?

And Scorchstar's amber gaze sears them all. Bluefrost cannot shake the cold feeling she has now. Scorchstar has no love for Bluefrost or her children; the calico had made that apparent. She turns wordlessly to Thriftfeather, her heart beginning to pound in her chest. "What does this mean for us?" Her voice is hoarse, clotted.

It had been only Sunstar's mercy that had kept her family together. With Sootspot, snakelike, in Scorchstar's ear, it seems only a matter of time before the marbled leader destroys what little she has left to cling to.

『 out of character. 』 ✧･ﾟ:* 『 about. 』

• ooc: —
• 
• Bluekit . Bluepaw . Bluefrost, she/her w/ feminine terms.
  — “speech”, thoughts, attack
  — 18 moons old, ages realistically on the 14th.
  — mentored by Sootstar ; mentoring Brackenpaw ; previously mentored n/a.
  — windclan queen. sootstar x weaselclaw, gen 2.
  — penned by Marquette.
  
  
  lh blue smoke she-cat with white and emerald eyes. aloof, dignified, poised, haughty, composed, distant.
  
  

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[SCORCHSTAR]

༄༄ Her words linger for a few moments, and she watches the whole of WindClan absorb the news. Some of her clanmates react with disbelief, some with fury—they all appear just as shocked as she had been, when Wolfsong had revealed the two toms’ intentions to leave. It only takes moments before Sootspot speaks up, surely aiming to prove himself better than the former leader and his mate. “This destiny… is it in aid of WindClan?” Fiery eyes spark to life, flaring with rage that dies out just as quickly as it had ignited. Scorchstar is glad once again that she had refused to speak with the clan last night, and insisted upon having a decent night of rest before managing the fallout. To Sootspot, her only response is a simple, damning, "No." Her chest aches—she aches—to defend her friend in his absence, to explain his disappearance as something less than abandonment. But it is clear, is it not? Sunstar and Wolfsong have abandoned their clan, and they have left her to pick up the pieces.

Pinkshine looks near tears, so much like the frightful, emotional apprentice that she had been while still training under Scorchstar. Even now she seems so young, so hopeful as she grasps for some tangible reason that Sunstar and Wolfsong had left. But there is no great quest leading the duo’s paws astray, not this time. It is as Scorchstorm says: they just left. The newly-promoted lead warrior catches her gaze, and Scorchstar sees it for what it is—a plea, a request for something that the leader is unsure if she can give. Can she give her daughter comfort, or at least more answers? She dips her chin minutely to the younger calico, hearing more cries rise above the rest of the crowd. Sedgepounce, bitter. Sheeppaw, angered. Bluefrost, too quiet to hear over the din.

Dappled paws shift atop the rock. It feels wrong, still, to take his place so high up. With time, perhaps this perch will become hers, but for now she cannot worry about it until she settles her clan. "Sunstar and Wolfsong felt that their destiny led them elsewhere, outside of WindClan’s borders. They were no longer dedicated to this clan, and so their time of leadership was over." It sounds final, a condemnation. Scorchstar could never condemn them for obeying fate’s whims, because at least she had not been forced to put down another cat she cared for, in the end. "If I had more of an explanation, I would give it to you. All I can do is swear that I will not do the same." As little as that means to the clan, seeing as the last leader to make such a promise had broken it.

YOU KNOW I DESERVE IT ☽♰☾ WELL, TAKE IT OUT ON ME

• ooc: —
• 
• SCORCHSTAR ⋆⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺⋆ she/they, leader of windclan, tunneler
  ༄ small, slim flame-streaked calico with fiery golden eyes. cold and closed-off, ferociously protective of her clanmates.
  ༄ mate to bluepool ; sibling to rattleheart & rabbitclaw
  ༄ mentor to bilberrypaw & brackenpaw ; previously mentored pinkshine
  ༄ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted, but may react aggressively
  ༄ penned by foxlore

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