THE THREAT OF WATER | open patrol

[BUCKGAIT.]

MY NAME IS BRUTUS AND MY NAME MEANS HEAVY ✧​

the air feels stagnant, chokingly still at the quickly-made temporary camp. the colony has tried to make it more comfortable, but nothing compares to the home they have spent their moons at. there's a sense of homesickness resting in her stomach, slowly lapping at her ribcage and threatening to tear at her heart. near the gorge, the trees grow sparse. she is farther away from the willow tree that had housed her family. it lays vacant now, aside from buck visiting regularly and keeping it clean. the den is frozen in time, a place for buck to go when clan life is simply too much.

sometimes, she thinks she is born to be solitary. it had been in her blood, staying as a family unit for as long as her bloodline can trace the roots of the eldest tree. a huff escapes the deputy as she leads the patrol to their home. they will not be returning, she knows. the water does not retreat so quickly. but the floods should be beginning to fade now. she simply must check and see the levels. @LIGHTNINGSTONE is beside her, and she is far closer to him than she should be. furs rubbing against each other, with her checking in with him far too often. still in slight disbelief at their situation. she whispers things to the tom at times, but is mostly silent and listens to him and what he may say.

near them is @koipaw, who buck also regularly checks in with. trying to get more emotion from the molly. trying to draw her from her shell once more. she hopes that the apprentice can enjoy the outing, she hopes she finds comfort in having her mentor by her once more. and hopefully, having buck near as well. @CLAYFUR and @Cindershade are back with @WASPRATTLE. and @GLOOMPAW. others are scattered around, idle chatter.

"we're here. split apart and see if there is a place where the water thins the most. we'll check on the river channels as well," the command flows easily from her, attention turning to her patrol and awaiting their movement. she glances back to koi and lightning, silent in hoping they'll stick by her.

//THIS IS OPEN FOR EVERYONE !! please do not feel like you have to wait for anyone tagged !
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[CLAYFUR]

The new camp sucks. Maybe it’s only a product of Clay’s frustration at losing his entire feather collection, but he hates the temporary camp that RiverClan has been holed up in—or maybe it’s just that the brown tabby hates sudden change. He’s all too eager for the water level to recede so they can go back to living on their quaint, well-protected island where everything is relatively predictable. The gorge is too volatile to be comfortable, WindClan too close on the other side. He misses his sunbathing spot as well; the sun-bleached rocks that border ThunderClan would surely feel so good on his tired bones.

He trails along with the rest of the patrol, a hitch in his gait as he walks a couple tail-lengths away from Cindershade. He’s lost in thought for a majority of their trek, frustration etched across his normally cheerful features. Still, he lifts his head to offer the deputy a reed-thin smile when she gives her orders to the patrol. Searching for thin parts of the river—that sounds easy enough, not too intensive as long as he isn’t asked to tread into the water. He glances back to the other warriors, then heads off down the riverbank a ways. Hazel eyes scan the water, dull and narrowed. They definitely won’t be moving back into their camp today, he thinks.
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[ WHAT'S MY AGE AGAIN? ]​

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[koispots]

Bucks wishes were answered, Koi did, infact, enjoy having Lightning near her side once more. Though she lags behind, she feels a bit happier knowing that three of her favorite cats were on this patrol. Koi does, however, quirk a metaphorical brow at the fact that two of them were so close and shes not an idiot, she can see it. Do I want that? Koi looks away in slight jealousy. But with who? The first cat to come to mind is Gloompaw and Koi purses her lips, swings her head towards the other girl and regards her with a look, the softest Koi's face has been. But they're just friends. Just friends, Koi tells herself. That stuffs stupid, anyways.

"Okay," mom, she almost wants to joke because Koi feels light and unburdened today. But it never slips from her lips and she only blinks slowly, her own sign of affection. "I'll be back." Koi catches Buck's glance and hopefully her own stare back is as reassuring. She wants to say hello to Gloom and so she shuffles off to the medicine apprentices side. "Hey," Koi greets, a ghost of a smile on her lips. Things feel normal again. "Stay by me and I can protect you, yeah?" light tone, its another joke. She knows Gloom is more than likely able to defend herself but Koi doesn't want anything to happen to her best friend.
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"speech"​

 

[Cindershade]

With snow finally melting away, the last of it's icy grip falling to the mighty power of sunlit rays, things were starting to feel a bit more normal. Their temporary camp seems so far away as they trekked back to skeletal willow trees where rushing water enters her ears. The peaceful white noise of home and Cindershade wants nothing more than to curl up within the reeds, to feel their feathered touch tickle her nose again or to feel the warmth of smooth stone seep into obsidian fur as the sun beats down upon her. Living by the gorge was doable, but not preferred. It was too open, too vulnerable. Though, who'd dare to even try to get close to the gorge? It provided protection from the other clans, the only way across was the Two-Leg bridge after the steep drop of the falls that roared endlessly.
She follows behind the patrol with a twitching tail, her gaze focused at nothing in particular while her mind whirled in thought. The air was stagnant, a thick layer as the humidity weighed upon them. She felt gross, as if she needed to bathe herself in the very river they were inspecting. A pungent odor of stillwater touched her nose as they arrived, her shaded features twisting into disgust. Hopefully the sun would soon dry out their camp so they'd finally be able to return.
Buckgait leads the patrol with Lightningstone by her side, their deputy seeming to be awfully chummy with the gray tom. Her eyes trace over the duo, observing how close they walked and almost became intertwined with one another. Cindershade couldn't help but stare pointedly at them, a sly smile pinching at her eyes as a snicker bubbled in her throat. How cute, she wanted to say aloud but spared herself and Buckgait's embarrassment by keeping her mouth shut. Now wasn't the time, was it? They needed to check to state of their home, but as Buckgait ordered them to spread out, her heart begins to sink into her abdomen. Mud cakes the bottom of her feet, knots up between her toes as the ground squelched beneath her. The warrior fans out away from Clayfur, nosing her way through the reeds and into the shallows of chilling water. Her toes submerged immediately, sending a sudden chill down her spine as she looks around. Camp wasn't too far from them now as the clumps of sedge and willows come into view, her heart now beginning to ache to pass through the cat tails to be back within the sanctity of their flooded home.
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[ SILENCE IS DEAFENING ]​

 

[WASPRATTLE.]

They were all aching to go home. Of course they would be, suddenly washed ashore like this, kept away from the land they had only just grown with. A few moons could be a lifetime to some, and hardly anything to others. His own pelt prickles with unease, hair-raising, despite the brownish curls. Apart of him has not yet dared to say he was comfortable, but that hope was still there...

The air is cautiously optimistic, despite it all. Buckgait remains close to those who have always seemed to be there with her. His gaze does not linger as some others do; any strangeness goes unnoticed. Clayfur trails behind Cindershade, and Wasprattle stays aside, further still. Still burdened with many a sleepless night, his tail nearly feels like dead-weight behind him. The drag never ceases. Reflex– here and there, to jump away from particularly sodden ground, but it would always and easily return to slump; liquid gold across the ground.

He is the slightest bit wary, but follows Cindershade's lead from a distance, nonetheless. Hesitant of water, he still somewhat was, but he wanted his efforts to seem nothing but sincere. At the least, the flooding was not quite as... angry, this time.

ooc translations

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