camp THIS CANT BE HAPPENING || Patrol Return

[Rabbitnose]

Nothing is real right now. He forced himself to lead the patrol back to camp one member short, and the gaping, gushing wound it left on his heart was irrepairable. He would not recover from this. The walk back was on heavy feet and trembling legs as he tried to keep himself together for Freckleflame's sake. He needed to be strong. He had to support his family, now more than ever they would need it.

Even as he felt himself crumbling, he pushed forward through the undergrowth. He could cry later. He had to get through this, first. It was going to be difficult, because any words that wanted to leave his mouth threatened to do so in choked sobs. His cheeks were already soaked with tears and he was on the verge of stopping and letting himself break. Sunfreckle was gone. His beloved, his soulmate, his sunshine.

Gone. Just like Mossypaw and Dovekit. Just like Softkit and Sweetkit. There was not much more he could handle, if anything at all. He struggled to keep his mind controlled the entire walk back to camp. Even when he caught the scent of prey, it didn't register. He almost felt like it didnt matter. His inner voice of reason was drowned out by the soul crushing sorrow he was going through. Trying to push through it felt like pushing through a thick wall of brambles. It only worsened the closer to camp they got.

When he did finally reach camp, he stood in the entrance and swallowed the lump in his throat. He tried to reign in the grief so he could speak.

"H-Howlingstar?" He called out, voice shaking. He would wait for her to arrive, if he spoke anymore this moment he was going to break. He sat out of the way of the entrance so he didnt block it. Tears still streamed down his face, he didn't want to say his next words.

((Takes place after this thread! )) ((@Flycatcher @FRECKLEFLAME @Shinebug @HOWLINGSTAR but open to everyone!))​

 

[freckleflame]

reality settles further with each paw step she takes away from the wretched thunderpath. further and further while sunfreckle does the same, carted away in the belly of a monster snarling and growling against his will. no longer did the this can’t be real, this couldn’t be real play in her head, stare wide - eyed and bleary as the beast’s shining pelt glimmers off into the distance, melding over the horizon. it runs, and runs, and freckleflame can only watch dumbly, listen as though submerged as shes corralled towards thunderclan camp.

at some point, the sobbing in her chest had stopped ; the steady string of no, no, no’s from her maw falling into an uncomfortable, shell - shocked silence. now she simply trudges along in between rabbitnose and flycatcher, only emitting a hoarse whimper whenever ginger - black paws stumble and the urge to crumple locks the joints in her wobbling limbs. she ping - pongs between them like a wasting deer and the tears do not stop their flow over apple cheeks, plastering fluff to the knobby bone of her face.

what were they going to tell sparky and mousenose? what were they going to tell the youngest? the thought strikes her in the chest and she know what would be best : to find them, to let flycatcher alert howlingstar and she, rabbitnose alert them alone — to grieve, to suffer the shock of another loss. in some vicious thought, she wanted to hole them up, put them somewhere on a limb where danger could never reach, the least she could offer is.. solace. privacy. to get herself together enough for her family to ache less than they would in the coming moments, in peace. in privacy. in grace, or something like it. ( was she mourning? )

and yet now, as they make their way through the gorse tunnel and into the gaze of their clanmates, her throat tightens. she doesn’t hesitate, or wait for howlingstar. her eyes are closed when she erupts.

” he’s gone! “ her voice quakes, loud and broken as it is, and that is all she manages. speaking unleashes the flutter in her chest, erupting into wings of nausea and grief so harsh it feels as though her ribs could cave inward with it. they have him, and they won’t ever give him back. they’ll take him just like they did mossypaw, another nameless grave to rest alongside sweetkit and softkit. her muzzle falls to her chest, strengthless, ” sunf — dad is gone. “ gone, gone, gone.

𝚈𝙾𝚄 𝙼𝙰𝙺𝙴 𝙼𝙴 𝚂𝙼𝙸𝙻𝙴 -`☀︎´- 𝘗𝘓𝘌𝘈𝘚𝘌 𝘚𝘛𝘈𝘠 𝘍𝘖𝘙 𝘈 𝘞𝘏𝘐𝘓𝘌 𝘕𝘖𝘞

• i.
  
• 
  
  
• 𖦹 . LESBIAN. SINGLE, CRUSHES EASILY. SMELLS LIKE SUN - WARMED OAK. SIXTEEN MOONS. NAMED A WARRIOR 8 / 3 / 2023. MENTORED UNDER WOLFWIND, PENNED BY ANTLERS !!!
  f. she / her, daughter of sunfreckle and rabbitnose. large cream - ribboned tortoiseshell with seaglass eyes. larger than life! shades of vibrant russet, dousing swathes of shadow and interwoven with ribbons pale cream come to drape like licks of flame over a thick, broad - shouldered figure.
  
  unspecified maine coon heritage born of sunfreckle's kittypet background shows itself in large, round paws and tufted, long - furred toes set upon thick, tabby - splotched limbs. a characteristic lack of personal space leads her to a slouching, touchy posture, often inclined to lean or bump against her peers, all while bearing a wide, bright - eyed grin.
  
  ——— ˙⋆ — prone to bouts of explosive emotion. all opinions are solely in - character and during these times, often untrue or said only in anger.
  
  

​

 

[FOXPAW]

Foxkit is playing with a stray leaf at the nursery’s entrance when a distraught patrol returns to camp. The leaf rolls away in the wind as Foxkit abandons it to focus on the returning cats. Rabbitnose calls out for Howlingstar and Freckleflame who is the most shaken of them all shouts, ’He’s gone!’

Foxkit’s heart quickens and she shrinks fearfully… This didn’t sound good… A feeling she’s never felt before swells up in her stomach, a bad feeling, Foxkit quickly identifies. ” @leopardtongue …?“ Foxkit calls for her mother frightfully, ”Why- why are the warriors upset?” Foxkit’s ears fold and the red she-kit seeks comfort in anyone nearby if Leopardtongue is not immediately found.

♧ INFO BATTLE

• 
  » Foxkit
  » ThunderClan kit
  » She/they . AFAB
  » A red tabby & chocolate sepia she-cat with orange eyes.
  » "Speech"․ thoughts ․ attack
  
• 
  » An incredibly easy foe with no combat training.
  » Likely to swat or flee depending on the size of foe.
  » Fights defensively and to save herself.
  » May powerplay minor harm. Can powerplay healing

​

 

[& RAINBOWPAW]

It's never a good thing, when Howlingstar is sought out immediately upon return. Rainbowpaw finds himself lifting his head, a pinched gaze turning upon his kin. His father's voice trembles like a leaf on the wind. Freckleflame looks more akin to a statue, before she's erupting. He’s gone! A tremble. The face Rainbowpaw makes is one of confusion. Head at an incline, lazy drooping eyes just a little bit wider. A smile tapers off into something that's not a frown. " ...Huh? " Who? even though they know, when they trace Rabbitnose's expression.

Sunf — dad is gone. A blink. Rainbowpaw feels invisble claws clutching at his stomach.

The smile is long - gone, but it's too soon to slip into despair; not knowing, not understanding. " ...What do you mean? " a breathless question, because what did it mean to be gone? There are any number of scenarios, a skirmish ( though the returning cats were not bloody ), a fox, a fall. Rainbowpaw imagines none of them— he doesn't think that he could, if he wanted to. Rainbowpaw is far, far, away, jaws parted as he looks to Freckleflame for an answer. To Rabbitnose. To Flycatcher. To Shinepaw – That's too much pressure. They would apologize for it later.

Foxkit is loud in her confusion. Rainbowpaw waits and waits, not understanding.

『 OOC 🎠 DO YOU EVER WANT NOTHING AT ALL? 』

• 
  
  

• 

• ( I DO, I DO, I DO ) RAINBOWPAW: Sunfreckle xx Rabbitnose. Mentored by Raccoonstripe
  ✦ he / they ; fine with gendered terms ( tom / boy / brother / etc . . . )
  ✦ currently 5 moons old as of 11/2/2023 ; ages every 25
  
  warm - faced and bright - eyed, rainbowkit sports boyish features and an easygoing smile. he sports long curling whiskers and a dip of sun - red down the length of their neck. growing into themselves; rainbowpaw is showing signs of growing into an above - average height with a somewhat leggy frame. rainbowpaw is most plainly to be described as kind, his most tangible goals and motives being to make the people around him happy. somewhat aloof when it comes to more complex / outer clan issues. lives in the present first and foremost.

• this is for cute purposes begone.

​

 

[BERRYHEART]

It was not him for once- a neutral observation, made I neither malice nor gladness. The shout for Howlingstar, static splitting through the air, sharp and crackling- it never meany anything good.

Sadness would not cease its strikes against this family, it seemed. This particular blow struck closer to Berryheart's core than many others had, however. Gone, they said. Nifty, whisked away. The vague wording earned only a concerned glance from the tortoiseshell tom, his crooked jaw hanging a little slack. Dumbfounded, muted completely, he could only wander over to join the crowd like a migrating bird. A drone, but... what else was there to do but drift?

For the first time in a long time, he felt as if he stood among the warriors and belonged there. Belonged in the crowd of ajar mouths and murmurings of shock, a haze where rank and duty did not matter. Gone- where, how, it had not been said. Too many questions fought over each other to reach the tip of Berryheart's tongue- such a vicious, fumbling fight that he ended up saying the only one that could answer his worries directly. "Is he dead?"

Beneath a wall of shadowed steel, a stony face, there lay a layer of worry. Deep-rooted worry, as buried-beneath as an ancient oak. For once, his question was not given in neutrality. He prayed for a good outcome.​

PENNED BY PIN ☾​

 

[Flycatcher]

The walk back to camp is long. Flycatcher keeps his head bowed most of the way, at a loss of any words he could say to bring apt comfort in this situation. Sunfreckle was gone. Taken by the twolegs. Would he return? Flycatcher hoped deep in his heart he would, knowing that the red tom had a family and friends in the clan who would be bereft with his disappearance. But Flycatcher was a realist, he knew cats who had been taken before and never returned, there was a strong chance they might not see each other again.

Frecklefleame's voice breaks him from his stupor, and his heart aches to see her like this. Rabbitnose too seems like a shadow of himself. Their words draw a few of their clanmates over confused and concerned. "It was the twolegs," Flycatcher finally croaks out, looking at Berryheart first before the rest of the clanmates gathered in turn. "One of their cursed traps on the side of the Thunderpath. We tried to get him out but nothing worked. We had to flee or risk capture ourselves."​

 

[HOWLINGSTAR]

Her name is called, and when she looks to the camp entrance she sees Rabbitnose hunched over, tears staining his cheeks. Bewildered and worried, she rushes over to him, searching the warrior's face for answers. "Rabbitnose? What's happened?" He's gone! Wide green eyes flash towards Freckleflame, whose cheeks are similarly drenched. The sight sends the tabby's pelt bristling in alarm, panic overtaking her beating heart. "Who's gone?"

Sunfreckle is gone.

Her jaw drops, her step falters. No.... Foxkit's fearful mew is lost in the blood rushing in her ears as she stares at the two warriors in confusion, in horror. Rainbowpaw - poor Rainbowpaw - is nearby to witness, his own confusion evident on his slack-jawed face. Murmurs rise up around her and she must lean on Berryheart before stumbling herself. Her son asks the question they all dreaded and the world seems to freeze as, finally, she looks to her deputy for an answer.

His head hangs low mournfully before he finally utters his answer. Twolegs. Captured. Her brows knit together in desperation. She had only just lost a daughter. She couldn't bear to lose a friend and lead warrior so soon. She couldn't. "Oh, Sunfreckle," The old woman cries lowly, her own head hanging and shaking to and fro with disbelief. She wants to give orders, do something to help like she normally would, but what can she do against twolegs? They are powerless as long as they've already carted Sunfreckle away in the belly of one of their monsters. Tracking him down is impossible, now.

But there is one thing we can do. Blinking away tears, she looks back to Flycatcher and utters, "We must ensure there aren't anymore traps. We need to get patrols out fast, and tell them to be careful." They could not risk anyone else being taken.​

 

[braveheart : ̗̀➛]

☀ . ° ✦ The return of Rabbitnose's patrol would have normally been greeted with the bombarding questions of how it had gone. Bravekit had fantasized the wonders and risks of the forest, imagined himself fighting off foxes and scaring away rogues to protect his family. But seeing the expressions worn on everyones faces while they filed in kept him remaining close to Leopardtongue and Foxkit. A fluffy tail wrapped around his sisters in quiet comfort, worry clear in wide blue eyes.

"Freckleflame is really upset." He murmured the observation aloud, but his fear left his voice in a raspy whisper. Berryheart's question drew a small flinch from the dark rosette. No he can't be dead! Sunfreckle's too strong. Just like their father, just like Howlingstar! But Flycatcher would respond- he's not dead but... but might as well be. Taken by twolegs and whisked away.

Howlingstar's grief stirred something within Bravekit that he couldn't recognize. A grief of his own, though he wouldn't know it. Sunfreckle was a well-known stranger to him but seeing the sadness tugged at everyone's faces, the distress, his empathy pushed him on.

He brushed his pelt close to Foxkit's before unwinding his tail from hers and approached the leader with bold steps. "Can I help, Howlingstar? What if we decorate his nest for when he comes back?"

✧　°　.　✶　.　°　✧​

ooc Information

• ooc: —
• 

  BRAVEKIT — HE/HIM ･ 2 MOONS ･ THUNDERCLAN & KIT ･ PENNED BY beatae!

  A Longhaired chocolate tabby/blue tabby chimera with deep blue eyes. Very thick coat that tangles easily. Paws that seem too big for his little body. Wide fuzzy satellite ears.

​

 

[MOUSENOSE]

Mousenose feels something amiss even before the gorse tunnel rustles and parts to reveal her father, her sister, a dejected patrol. The smile she’d worn drops. She’s on the verge of asking Rabbitnose what had happened—and hadn’t Sunfreckle been with them?—when Freckleflame cries, “He’s gone. Sunf—dad is gone.” They turn green eyes that fill with immediate glossy tears on their littermate, her lips pulling away from their teeth with shock. “Gone? What do you mean, gone? What happened to him?” She looks wildly between the cats on the patrol for answers that take too long to come—and hysteria begins to rise inside of her like woodsmoke from open flame.

Berryheart asks, voice low with dread, Is he dead? “He can’t be dead,” she gasps. She feels as though a cat is stepping on her throat and crunching her windpipe. “He—Twolegs? Twolegs, like—like Mossypaw? But why—why, why!” She throws herself to the ground like a tiny kit, her belly brushing the camp floor. Howlingstar’s grief is final, her directive cursed. Mossypaw had never come back—and Sunfreckle—Sunfreckle wouldn’t, either.

“StarClan, why,” they wail again, this time slamming both forepaws onto the camp floor. Accusatory green eyes fly to Flycatcher, to Rabbitnose, to Freckleflame, but—but she knows there is no fighting Twolegs or monsters. As much as she’d like to lay the blame at their paws, she knows there is nothing they could have done for her father.

, ”​

​

 

[Tybalt [Stagstrike]]

"What do you mean, he's gone?" Tybalt blurted, tail swishing in agitation as he listened to Rabbitnose's explanation. He was not close with Sunfreckle, but a hiss still left his mouth at the mention of twolegs. Could they never leave anything alone? Traps, monsters, poisons. He had seen traps before, during his kithood, but his parents had always cautioned him to stay well away from them. As he'd gotten older he'd learned how to steal food from them without being caught during particularly desperate times.

His ears swiveled towards Howlingstar as she mentioned patrols. "I'll go," he offered. "I've seen them before, and I know how twolegs try to hide them." And then another, more risky idea came to mind. It was one he knew Howlingstar would never go for, and unlikely to be successful, but came tumbling from his maw anyway. "I could go and look for him."

 

[EMBERFACE.]

Emberpaw is working at a particularly stubborn knot in his thick tail fur when the patrol returns. He glances up, gaze skating over the returning members like clean winter ice, then stutters back. It's Rabbitnose. It's Dad. And he's crying. The boy is on his feet in an instant, tripping over newly outsized paws to reach his father. Blissful summer child that he is, such tragedy is a good deal removed from him—sure, being stuck in ShadowClan had sucked, but none of his family had died. Emberpaw fixes Rabbitnose with pleading baby-blue eyes, wanting an answer. "Dad? What—what happened?

"Sunf—Dad is gone." Freckleflame answers him in quavering tones, his sister, usually so strong and loud, crumpling inwards like a crushed leaf. "What?" Emberpaw mews tonelessly, his blue eyes wide and blank. His oh-so-social flame is extinguished, deaf to the cats and the bodies moving around him. Talk of Twolegs and long-missing siblings is lost on him. Mousenose flings herself to the ground, and while he might normally run to comfort her, he stands still as a morning deer. Frozen. "Gone?"

"Yeah, what—what do you mean gone?" Emberpaw steps to Rainbowpaw's side, repeating his brother's question. Safety in numbers. Keeping his brother safe, keeping him from being gone, only what did gone even mean?

look for the rainbows ☀️ ( they're always there )

• 

• 

  emberpaw ; apprentice of thunderclan
  x. he/she ; 5 moons ; tags
  x. fluffy, broad-shouldered golden tabby with baby blue eyes
  x. son to sunfreckle and rabbitnose ; adopted brother to rainbowpaw, sunshinepaw, & pigeonpaw ; younger brother to mousenose, freckleflame, sparkwing, mossypaw, & dovekit. mentored by wolfwind.
  x. played by dejavu

​

 

[Rabbitnose]

He watches his kits break before him and it hurts him more than any injury possibly could. He should reassure them. But how? He can't say it will be okay, because it isnt. It wont. nothing will be okay with Sunfreckle gone. He breathes in and squeezes the tears from his eyes. Flycatcher has already said what needed to be said and he's barely hearing anyone elses words above his own thoughts. Above his sorrow. He looks at his youngest kits and his jaw tightens. They're going to grow up without Sunfreckle in their lives.

It hurts to think about.

He feels himself crumble even more as Mousenose falls to the ground and he finds himself moving towards her, settling close to her and wrapping her in a hug despite the accusatory glare. He's at a loss as to what to say, there has to be something.

"He'll find his way home... I know he will. " He says. "He has to." His voice trembles. Doubt immediately grabs hold of him. Mossypaw didn't find her way back.

Nothing will be okay from now on. A devastating blow has been dealt to his family today, and he doesn't know if the wound will ever heal.​

 

[freckleflame]

murmurs and gasps bubble around her, and through the bleariness, howlingstar bows her head. mousenose starts screaming, starts howling as if she’d witnessed it herself just now, a horrible sound that pulls her father away from her side and towards her. attention moves to mousenose, a phrase so familiar if feels carved into her thoughts, and rage trickles down her sternum watching their dad focus solely, wholly, on her. perhaps if she were loud enough, were stubborn enough, she could find the same dedication — but she was not born grasping. she could do this herself, could splinter and shoulder the wide eyed horror the youngest litter levels them with. freckleflame sniffs, feels the gunk at the back of her nostrils cool her throat and choke her on it — cries still, moves towards her younger siblings with her head low and eyes hazy, haunted. for them, she says, and she knows it is for her too, the way she circles around emberpaw and rainbowpaw, her often coiled tail drooping to circle around their heels. everything is hollow. howlingstar, mourning alongside them. from where she sits, she hears him — stagstrike, weaseling his nose in where he didn’t belong. freckleflame throws her glare upwards, that thunderclan signature heroism that makes him imagine he would be addressed before their present deputy. only this time, they were talking about her father. he talks of their father, with a stupid, blurted mewl, a kitten asking permission for something they know would never fly. he uses him as a platform, a limb to reach his lofty goals, his eagerness in the eye of a sullen leader. i could go look for him..

“ what part of gone do you not understand, stagstrike? “ its torn from her abruptly, a snarl that rips her lip above gut pink gums to reveal teeth, long cheek fur swaying belatedly after the sudden pivot of her head towards stagstrike. stagstrike! her tongue feels more barbed than ever, a violent lashing that turns stout limbs towards the gold - eyed warrior with a sardonic growl to bursting anger, “ what’re you gonna do, huh? you gonna go hunt ‘em down? the twolegs? maybe go ask skyclan real nice if they’ve seen ‘em around? you think we woulda left him if there was a chance? he was taken. gone! “ her throat aches, scratches from the gradual lift of her voice until she is yelling, shouting at him — and perhaps he doesn’t deserve this. perhaps, in time, she would regret the anger brimming at her maw. misdirected, made worse by the sharp thrum of pain in her chest. it’s an attitude rarely seen, something welling at her serrated seams like an opening wound. she feels ready to burst, ready to claw out of the chest - pain hurt that had unsheathed her claws and pinned her ears flat to her skull, ” but hey, go sniffing! if you’re lucky y’ might get caught by the same monster that took him away. “ he’d find him then, if the beasts were merciful.

she whips her head around, towards flycatcher, ” i’m going on one of the patrols. “ a please unsaid. looking for traps, at least, would accomplish something, ” maybe there’s a way to open them. or set them off, so no one else.. “ her teeth grit. she doesn’t finish — they knew already.

𝚈𝙾𝚄 𝙼𝙰𝙺𝙴 𝙼𝙴 𝚂𝙼𝙸𝙻𝙴 -`☀︎´- 𝘗𝘓𝘌𝘈𝘚𝘌 𝘚𝘛𝘈𝘠 𝘍𝘖𝘙 𝘈 𝘞𝘏𝘐𝘓𝘌 𝘕𝘖𝘞

• i. she’s just upset i’m SO sorry
  
• 
  
  
• 𖦹 . LESBIAN. SINGLE, CRUSHES EASILY. SMELLS LIKE SUN - WARMED OAK. SIXTEEN MOONS. NAMED A WARRIOR 8 / 3 / 2023. MENTORED UNDER WOLFWIND, PENNED BY ANTLERS !!!
  f. she / her, daughter of sunfreckle and rabbitnose. large cream - ribboned tortoiseshell with seaglass eyes. larger than life! shades of vibrant russet, dousing swathes of shadow and interwoven with ribbons pale cream come to drape like licks of flame over a thick, broad - shouldered figure.
  
  unspecified maine coon heritage born of sunfreckle's kittypet background shows itself in large, round paws and tufted, long - furred toes set upon thick, tabby - splotched limbs. a characteristic lack of personal space leads her to a slouching, touchy posture, often inclined to lean or bump against her peers, all while bearing a wide, bright - eyed grin. she seems to sing confidence from every laugh, every word.. that can't all be for show, can it?
  
  ——— ˙⋆ — prone to bouts of explosive emotion. all opinions are solely in - character and during these times, often untrue or said only in anger.
  
  

​

 

[Tybalt [Stagstrike]]

A low growl rumbled in the back of Tybalt’s throat, but he managed to smother it before looking back towards Freckleflame. Sunfreckle was her father. So, in a more restrained manner than he might have managed with someone else, he spoke with measured response instead of yelling back at her.

I know you wouldn’t have left him,” he told her gently. “Twolegplace cats might’ve seen him, that’s all. If they’ve got him in one of their dens, other cats might know about it.” He wasn’t worried about being trapped by twolegs or their monsters, but he kept the thought to himself. “I learned how to steal food out of them without setting them off when I still lived in Twolegplace. If we can get rid of whatever the twolegs are using to lure cats into the traps, nobody else will get caught in them.”

 

[Flycatcher]

In the wake of Sunfreckle's kidnap, it seems that emotions are running high. Not that Flycatcher could blame them in that moment, Sunfreckle was the mate and father to many of the cats present, so it was understandable they would be distressed given the situation. So when Freckleflame turns on Stagstrike, lashing out at him for what was a surprisingly decent suggestion, the deputy cannot find it in his heart to reprimand the younger warrior.

"No more patrols will go to the Thunderpath today," Flycatcher announced after a moment. "We don't know if there are anymore twolegs about and I won't risk anyone else getting taken." An apologetic glance was aimed at Freckleflame, before he continued. "However, I will take a small patrol out tomorrow and see if we can spot anymore of these traps, perhaps see if there is a way to harm them from the outside. The two of you are welcome to join if you'd like?"​