camp Through the mist, through the woods || battle plan rambling

[Riverwhisker]

Riverwhisker wasn't quick to anger. He was the river on a calm spring day, gently flowing with whatever happens his way. But the past few days had turned the calm river into raging rapids, and a river's rage was only quelled with time, or not at all.

He paced back and forth, deep in thought. Windclan wanted to fight dirty, did they? So be it. He started thinking of a plan, if only to cope with this uncomfortable rage building inside. If anything became of it.....

He'd be so stressed! What if it failed!

No!!

He shook his head. This was no time for doom thinking. It was time to therapeuticly plan murder.

He stopped pacing and drew a circle in the dirt. He didn't know what Windclans camp looked like, so this circle will have to do.

"They probably have some kind of wall around their camp.... Maybe we can take advantage of it...." He muttered.

He sat there, glaring at the circle in the dirt. He didn't have much to go on. The moors were open, he knew, but.... Oh!

"What if we do what they did to Skyclan.... A diversion at the border or elsewhere in the territory to weaken their defenses at camp....." He muttered.

Yes... It was all coming together!

"Could attack them at night like they did us.... They want to fight dirty, then so should we..."

He kept muttering to himself as he stared at this circle on the ground. Some might think he was insane, but he begged to differ.

His rage was subsiding as he gained focus in his planning. Ideas that may never come to fruition, but it helped him feel better and that's what he needed right now. Because man was being angry giving him a KILLER headache.

"UGH!" He shouted, and then slammed his head into the circle. An act of frustration.... That only hurt his head more. Maintaining his now awkward position of having his head firmly planted on the ground, he gave a long, drawn out sigh.


((Nothing serious is being planned, he's just fantasizing about beating up windclan as a form of coping!))
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[HOUNDSTRIDE.]

He knows the anger. It doesn't plague him the way that his grief does, some muted echo of rage that tastes of missed opportunities. Whether he'd want to fight them or swear an apology...sometimes not even he's sure of that. He'd want a rematch, but more than that he thinks he'd want it wiped from the slate. No Hyacinthbreath. No Juniperfrost. No Clearsight. Clay wouldn't be so wrecked, his ear wouldn't ache, and they wouldn't have to deal with all this anger.

He watches Riverwhisker pace. Clearly, he's not the only one irked by all of this. Back and forth, back and forth. Muttering. In strict conflict to the sight of it, Houndstride's body is tucked low to the earth of their temporary camp, head on his paws and tail swishing 'cross the dirt. They're tied together with nothing more than anger, and the coincidental closeness of the other's wandering path. "That's what they'd expect, ain't it just?" the warrior points out, lifting one paw. He's not close enough to reach the pale tom's head as he touches the ground, and can't be all that bothered to get up. "Of course they'll prepare for that, if it's the way those rogues fight. Get out'f their heads and into your own. And get your own off the ground."

﹥ˏˋ〘  OOC NOTES INFORMATION 〙ˊˎ﹤

• ooc: —
• ──── houndstride. trans male, he - him - his pronouns.
  ──── over three years old. born late december of 2020.
  ──── bisexual but with a heavy masc preference; single.
  
  ──── a chocolate tabby with ( stylized ) low white and intense lime eyes. lean and lanky,  with whiplike musculature and a long, quick stride. hound's notable features include his impressive height, the long scar across the left side of his face from nose to jaw, his very deep, dense fur, and the confident manner with which he conducts himself.
• "speech"

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[Skunkpaw]

His new mentor was a hard one to place in his mind. Skunkpaw had no idea how to feel about Houndstride who perpetually looked as though someone had stepped on his tail most the time. He seemed especially grouchy now, though so did everyone else. Skunkpaw had panicked the moment the fighting started and would never admit to anyone that he'd ran into the forest to hide inside a rotted log for the duration of WindClan's assault. The black and white tom had no desire to out himself and anyone who asked would be met with a different spiel each time. He was fighting on the otherside of camp from them, he had chased an apprentice back to the bridge, his coat was so dark maybe you didn't see it in the night! The lack of consistency was more his own forgetfulness than anything akin to mocking or playing a prank, his usual pranks were a little more bold and blunt than any of those whacky lies.
"Ya gotta think outside the box, Riverwhisker!" The scruffy child said, plodding over to stand alongside his new mentor despite his unease with the tom. Maybe if he acted a little more tough, he would feel a little more tough; fake it until you made it, right?
"What ya gotta do is attack them when they'd never expect it. Broad daylight? Maybe right before a gathering! Truce said nothing about fighting before you got there!"
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[FERNGILL]

He'd not been on the frontlines of the attack- a weakling, undeniably, he'd not be much use there anyway. Though there was an insatiable want to fight, to throw himself headfirst into any action he could possibly find- it wasn't smart, was it? Not when he hadn't won a single fight, hadn't triumphed in even one spar. It'd be a stupid thing to do, wouldn't it? Even he wasn't that dumb.

Neither was he deaf, though- so of course he heard Riverwhisker's out-loud battle planning, pacing tirelessly and rambling aloud at all the ways he could possibly fathom the inevitable justice RiverClan would enact. He bounded up to the trio of Houndstride, Skunkpaw and Riverwhisker, his head tilting to the side a little as he listened to the verdict. Battle-plans were all about unpredictability- yeah, he was sure he'd been told that a couple times.

"Hm- right before the gathering might, uh- might be... a, uh- loophole, yeah. But what if we lose StarClan's, uh... like, what if the battle goes on too long and it- crosses over with the full moon?" Maybe useless hypotheticals, but... they couldn't let themselves teeter into the realm of StarClan's disapproval, could they? Fernpaw knew it'd be with good intentions, but... maybe StarClan and the other four Clans would not see it the same way.​

✦ penned by pin ✦​

 

[Cindershade]

Outside the medicine den she lay with paws tucked beneath her chest and abdomen. It was the only comfortable position she could find herself in, yet her muscles still throbbed along with the steady beat of her heart. Torn and bruised she was, lacerations dried with crusted blood and poultice. Her own tattered ear stung, the image of fierce ivory claws ripping the sensitive skin causing it to sting. She sits rather still, with eyes half closed and feeling hollow. So much trauma. So much anger. So much grief. Hushed and frenzied voices whisked past her ears and she finally stirs, moving her head to where Rainwhisker was pacing, unable to settle. He drew something within the soil, mumbling outrageous plans to himself before his head collapses onto the ground.
Houndstride tells the warrior to get of their vermin head space and Cindershade can not help but agree to it. Skunkpaw joins in, throwing in their own ridiculous ideas into the fray while Fernpaw questions the motives. If it was a matter of light-heartedness, perhaps she'd just ignore it. But with Clearsight's death only happening the day prior, the shadowed warrior couldn't help but feel the bitter taste of bile threatening to spew from over her tongue. "And do what, exactly?" She begins from her position, eyes narrowed coldly with a tone that rivaled it. "Ambush them like rogues? We have more honor than that. More honor than they ever will. They're cowards. No better than the shit that gets buried in the dirt place. But we've also suffered enough. We need to rest and regroup." Her own tabby tail lashes to and fro in irritation. As much as she wants to rampage through their camp, to rage and pillage and spill their own blood within their home and wreak havoc upon their medicine den—it wasn't the right way to do it. "Damn them all—"
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[ SILENCE IS DEAFENING ]​

 

[Riverwhisker]

Upon being spoken to, his head shoots back up, covered in dirt and tiny pebbles that had stuck to his fur. Was he being too loud? He noticed the audience he had drawn and felt the heat of embarrassment in his face.

"I uh... I didn't think I was being that loud- Sorry for disturbing you all.." He said, then looked to Houndstride. He did have a point. And he was humoring him! He didn't expect anyone to come over here and ramble with him, he more expected them to ask if he was okay, if he was going insane. But to have someone to bounce ideas off of..!!!

"Yes- You're right, they'd expect that..." He agreed, and then Skunkpaw chimed in. He sure was getting happy about discussing murder with his clanmates. He had to sit and think if that was normal or not. "Not sure about attacking before a gathering though.... I wouldn't want to anger Starclan." He added. No, he didn't want to get struck by lightning. He nodded to Fernpaw in agreement. "We should avoid attacking that close to a gathering."

And then came Cindershade's voice, who's tone made his fur prickle. She was mad! He looked at her with an uneasy smile. "J-just throwing ideas around...!" He said. But she was right... They were better than that. "You're right, though.... We're better than them. If we do anything underpawed, they'll cry about it and try to act like they're better. If we went for them in the daylight, they couldn't complain." He said, agreeing with her. "Oh- We should send a group near Shadowclan's border to intercept anyone running for help, too. Not that Shadowclan....Would be any help." He added.

Shadowclan was still recovering from the awful leafbare they had. He was impressed they survived at all, really.

" Perhaps we could lure them into a trap of sorts....Make them think they've won... And then crush their spirit with our full force." He said. "What they did to us sort of, but in the daylight and not in the cover of night like cowards."

"But Cindershade is right....We do need to rest and recover...." He said with a sigh.



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