THE HOLLOWED EARTH | hole discovery

[BUCKGAIT.]

MY NAME IS BRUTUS AND MY NAME MEANS HEAVY ✧​

there is a noticeable change in buckgait's demeanor, as in, she is much calmer than she had been. her steps are light, lighter than normal. perhaps the reason of its change is obvious. she is still buck, harsh and critical. but there's less tension in her shoulder, a resolved silence, followed by a union. she had been getting better rest after fully joining both her and lightningstone's nest. he has been able to ground her more.

she leaves the make-shift camp, patrols have been sent out and she'll expect them soon. but for now, she is searching fervently. something, anything, to show off to her new companion. something to decorate their nest with. something they can both have as a symbol of each other. perhaps it is sappy, uncharacteristic for the buck that the clan had come to known. but she needs to make it feel like theirs, wholly theirs. buck had always decorated her spaces carefully, to remind her of all she holds dear. to condense the world into a few objects, and hold them so dearly to her that it consumes her.

she is focused upon feathers at the moment, before the deputy takes a detrimental step back. a sudden lurch in her body as she is suddenly tilted, and instinct kicks in. the sound of quick moving dirt fills the air, as the molly hoists herself back onto solid ground. she does not think it is the loose soil of the gorge, no, it looks made. at first, she worries the dogs have crossed and have found their way further into the territory. but there is no scent of dog. next, she worries for badgers, but she has not seen one in the lands for a while. and then...she thinks of clay. but it might be too big for him to make.

and so, she sits. stumped and silent, and silently embarrassed for her plunder. of course, a bystander may just come across her staring into the deep burrow. or, if she's unfortunate enough, had seen the whole thing.

heavens, she hopes not.
​

 

[hyacinthbreath]

Such a bystander happened to be Hyacinthbreath, first. She's taken to watching the Deputy as she works after the incident at the border, carefully examining everything she does to make sure Hyacinth does the same. Though, her quick startle makes Hya snort in response. The sight is amusing, but reality sinks in soon after as she walks over to the hole; closer, closer..

"Is that a tunnel?" Hyacinthbreath mutters softly, her moorland roots singing at the idea of one. Though, the look on her face was disgusted more than anything- how could she ever go back to this? Tunnels were for WindClan. She inches closer, leaning down to examine the hole. Interesting.. "Just a hole, I think. You alright, ma'am?"​

❝ there are wounds inside me, gaping holes of disconnect.
can you drown inside your own body? can you suffocate within this mind? ❞

 

[koispots]

When Koi stumbles upon the scene of Buckgait near a hole after nearly falling in, she doesn't expect to see Hyacinthbreath. With a budding growl that slightly rumbles in her throat, Koi pushes past this and refuses to acknowledge the other molly. Never in her heart would she ever, she had stole Lightningstone right from her. Anger, anger, anger. You'll be left behind once more, Koi. Attention turns back to Buck, face set in quizzical confusion.

"Mighty big fall." comes her monotone statement of the obvious, face hardening as she sniffs the air for potential danger. Nothing brushes past her, no, theres no scent of predator nor prey heavy in the area. Only Buckgait. Buckgait. The two had barely spent time with each other. Replace me, then. It's her bitter thoughts that cause her to look away. "What are you thinking of?" though lighter, it still sounds awkward to her ears, noting the way the deputy stared in to the hole as if it'd suck her in once more. "Seems harmless."
​

"speech"​

 

[FERNGILL]

Concentration snagged by nearby commotion- a gathering of cats around someone important like Buckgait was forever interesting to a simple mind such as Fernpaw's- the tiny ginger tom toddled on over, head poking out from behind the rest of the cats present. Koipaw, Hyacinthbreath- bug-eyes then settled comfortable upon the whole of the scene, their deputy faced with the looming presence of a hole. A tunnel, the silver she-cat had wondered... a head that looked too big for the shoulders it sat upon tilted to the side, dropped and rested. Unsightly features crumpled in contemplation.

"Maybe something was living in it," he suggested, looking up at the cats who surrounded him. There was no scent to suggest such a theory would be true, but... Fernpaw had learned not to rely heavily on his nose. It often failed to catch nuances in the air, and... for all he knew whatever had lived her might be scentless, like some kind of walking rock or plant. Of course, he'd never heard of inanimate aspects of nature springing to life- but if he'd learned anything in his relatively short life, it was that the world held endless possibilities.

(An inexperienced mind was not concerned with the impossibility of such possibilities.)​

✦ penned by pin ✦​

 

[Cindershade]

Velveteen ears perk in alarm as a crashing sound touches her ears followed by a clash of voices. She approaches with haste, her stride quickening till she shoulders her way into the crowd to see what was happening. Her eyes grazed to Buckgait immediately, then to Hyacinthbreath before falling upon a rather large hole in the ground. Questions buzzed in her ears and she clicks her tongue behind gnashed teeth, her shaded tail tip twitching back and forth. What had happened here? Since when does the earth just give way to a hole? Her eyes traced the figure of her deputy, noticing soil that had clung to her pelt. She had fallen in? Cindershade sighs, moving to the cinnamon molly while taking a brief look over her. Koipaw speaks so flatly, her hardened features earning a pointed stare from the lead warrior, virdian eyes challenging before the aporentice looks away. She wasn't sure who twisted her tail, but she would be wise to change her tone before she'd say something regretful. "You're not hurt, are you?" She mused, turning her attention to the deputy with a brow raised in light concern. She looked okay; okay enough to escape from fallen soil that now piled from the pit below them. Fernpaw had the same theory as her, mentioning that something had to live there before. Why else would the soil just collaspe in on itself? She nods to the apprentice before speaking. "It has to be an old set or something."

​

[ SILENCE IS DEAFENING ]​

 

[BUCKGAIT.]

MY NAME IS BRUTUS AND MY NAME MEANS HEAVY ✧​

her attention snaps to hyacinthbreath, growing still and tense. for a second, she thinks its a trap. one that buck had managed to escape. that the windclan-traitor had come to take vengeance for buck's cruelty towards cats she had known. the small molly asks if she's alright, and the deputy is silent for a few heartbeats.

"i'm fine." a short and simple answer, before returning her attention to the hole. before koi speaks in a voice that is unlike her, yet she had become it entirely. the molly welcomes the apprentice with a grin. though it is dismissed with koi's attitude, and her expression grows slightly cross with koi's lack of attention. she's tried over the moons to help the girl heal. yet through everything, there is still something that is missing. something that stops the younger from moving on. but buck cannot force healing when it is not wanted. she knows.

fernpaw pipes up next, suggesting that something had made this a home. and that is what buck was worried about. cinder questions if she's okay...and of course she is. the hole isn't anything too threatening aside from the implications. "that's what i'm worried about. i thought...maybe clay had gotten bored." her voice is far-off, deep in thought. there's no fresh scent, nothing traceable. yet she is still filled with a sense of dread. perhaps it was something she had eaten this morning. there's something off with her, she knows.

just can't find as to what. "hyacinth, why don't you go in the hole and see if you can find out anything. i'm sure you moor cats know tunnels." it must be solved before she can move on, and she wanted to pick on the other a bit. "i suppose the rest of us can just try and see if we can find anything above ground. if it's nothing, we should fill it up. tripping hazard." there is just something about staring into this made-abyss that unnerves her.

she wants it gone.

​

 

[hyacinthbreath]

"Not a tunnel, ma'am. No air flow." Hyacinthbreath hums softly, distant look in her eyes as she moves back over to the hole to examine it- missing the sarcasm. A dainty paw dips out, feeling along the deep confines of the burrow. "Probably wild-made. Rabbit, maybe. Even gophers. Or something bigger." She hums in thought, tail flicking side to side as she lets the mud coat into her fur without worry. Once finished, Hyacinthbreath crawls out of the hole and back to safety. Her claws sheathe, and she nods her head to the taller woman. "Perhaps you just caused a landfall, Buckgait. With leaf-bare ending, the ground will be more loose." She chimes softly, avoiding eye contact with her superior. "Filling it in will be a temporary fix. It'll cave in when the soil gets wet and dries once more."​

❝ there are wounds inside me, gaping holes of disconnect.
can you drown inside your own body? can you suffocate within this mind? ❞