private the ocean's not enough || ghostpaw

Stalking forward, it's more than just the weight of Betonyfrost's paws in the soft mud. It's the weight of her shoulder, the line of her leg: it's the weight of herself forced into four points. The mud, cool and damp, shifts beneath her but doesn't make a sound. It spikes her fur up to her belly; there isn't a night passes by without Betonyfrost wading through shallow waters or slipping her way over the filth of the marsh.

She remembers the hunger of last Leafbare and feels something ugly squirm in the back of her throat.

"I won't be going hungry again," Betonyfrost says, not for the first time tonight.

In front of her, cedar-dark waters reflect a wavering crescent moon. She glances to her unwilling companion, and her wilted ears flatten to her head. Ghostpaw bares the name of that creepy little apprentice that managed to drown himself in water no deeper than the first joint in Betonyfrost's leg. Irrationally, Betonyfrost worries this one will meet a similar fate — there needs to be some kind of bad luck in naming a kit for the dead. She keeps herself between Ghostpaw and the water, an unspoken warning.

"We are going to catch something," The hunting patrols have already returned — there hadn't been enough for Betonyfrost. That's what had brought her here, creeping over the territory. Ghostpaw simply had the misfortune of being available when Betonyfrost had passed by, "I know so. StarClan favors me."

@GHOSTPAW.
shadowclan warrior | blue mackerel tabby | 25 moons | tags
 
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ghostpaw does not want to be here.

betonyfrost is a social pariah in a clan where being disgusting is the norm. ghostpaw works hard to maintain a certain becoming mystery, a veiled appeal, and to climb shadowclan's paltry social ladder. she has no interest in squandering it all because she's been made to patrol with the clan outcast. they are nothing alike, and the idea that they are raises bitter bile in the back of the masked she-cat's throat. her raspily girlish voice is roughly cut, like an unpolished diamond, because she bothers less with the effort of charm around betonyfrost.

after all, no benefit could possibly be reaped from the warrior. she's thoroughly average in an unbecoming way, an ugly thing that has only spawned more ugly things. comfreypaw comes to mind in all her whiny neediness; what appeal she has to applepaw, ghostpaw hasn't a clue. to be kept from her nest to patrol with the unsightly creature that is betonyfrost leaves an acid taste against the lengthy pearls of her canines.

"i'm sure." the apprentice's voice is girlishly charming but rattlingly dry without much effort put in to animate it, to suffuse it with life. in addition to her misshapen ears and plain face, betonyfrost is irritatingly repetitive. perhaps whatever took her ears dug straight into her brain and stole away everything that made her normal. perhaps she was simply born like this. the idea that such a sad, sad thing is favored by their hallowed ancestors above is laughable, but ghostpaw does not say this.

"do they, now?" she says instead, beetle-dark eyes sliding towards betonyfrost. she cannot help but let a touch of her irritation bleed out as sarcasm. "i thought they only spoke to medicine cats?"

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    ghostpaw ; apprentice of shadowclan
    x. she/her ; 5 moons ; tags
    x. slender black she-cat with white mask & pants and dark blue-black eyes
    x. played by dejavu
    ghostpaw is the charismatic daughter of starlingheart and granitepelt, her mother's lookalike but without her genuine kindness. a falsified sweet demeanour disguises ghostpaw's hunger for power and listless hatred for most cats she meets.