til death do us part | graveyard

[Dandelionwish]

Death was not always violent and sudden. Sometimes it came in luling waves like the wind brushing through the grass, gentle and ever present. He liked to imagine dying of old age was peaceful and if Brackenbelly (NPC) was anything to go by it could very well just be a sleep that never ended. The dappled brown elder she-cat had passed overnight, looking as serene as if she had merely closed her eyes for a moment to rest, but the weight of her body sinking into the ground and lack of even the most telltale signs of movement spoke otherwise.
Generally a cat was just taken out to be buried with no real sense of order or structure; one might even forget where they were placed unless you took the route that Sootstar took. He remembered seeing the leader on several occasions go out to the spot on the flat hills where the heather flowers blanketed the grass in a colorful veil, the rocky formation of broken earth and stone making a sort of monument to the departed where they lay buried under the ground.
That area was hardly good for hunting with its uneven terrain and rocky ridges, upturned broken stones littering the area like the curve of teeth pointing upward to bite at the sky.
It was here, with assistance, Dandelionpaw had brought the deceased elder; inspired by the marker of stone he could see just up the nearest sloping hill that the WindClan leader had laid her own kin to rest.
“...this’ll be the spot.” The apprentice medicine cat said, lightly tapping his paws along the ground to find a soft spot to start digging and the earth gave way quite easily to his efforts. “...then…if we roll one of those here.” Painted tail whipped in a gesturing point to the loose stones along the edge of the spot, “We’ll know forever where Brackenbelly was. We can visit!” Brackenbelly had no kin, the thought of the sweet elder lying beneath the earth with no cat to mourn her or visit made his heart ache in a way he had not expected it to do. Dying was normal, death was something that came for them all..but to be forgotten was worse.
“...reckon we might want to give every cat a chance to be remembered.” They could bring gifts, decorate around the stone and maintain the integrity of the area by keeping it clean and safe. Dandelionpaw was already thrilled with the idea, he wondered how Sootstar would feel about it; surely she'd be pleased to consider her clan mates being buried with similar reverance to her own family.

---

Ooc: This is a new landmark for WindClan and a new tradition the HP team is implementing! A burial grounds and memorial place where cats will be buried and their family will be encouraged to place a stone to mark their plot. (Guide will be updated with the info soon.)


​

 

[Coldsnap]

THE HIGHER I GET, THE LOWER I SINK
I CAN'T DROWN MY DEMONS, THEY KNOW HOW TO SWIM

---

Coldpaws days were as busy as they could get at this point. Hyacinth had him on his feet and accompanying almost every patrol that went out after the trouble they'd been having, and as soon as the sun set it was down to the usual business of training. The only saving grace was that the shecat liked to take it easy in the mornings, allowing the young tom to catch up on some much needed rest and relaxation. To be honest, Cold didn't hate the work. He liked being kept busy and would have probably been out doing stuff even if his mentor hadn't been planning his days for him. Sitting idle just wasn't something he was fond of doing. Unless of course, he was trying to sleep.

And so when he'd felt a prodding at his side that was becoming too familar, he'd opened his mouth and told Dandelionpaw to go away without so much as opening an eye. He'd entertained the other for the ghost-hunting adventure, but he was tired and he really wasn't up for more shenanigans.

Of course, when the new medicine cat apprentice went on to explain that Brackenbelly had died, yellow eyes cracked open to regard the other. They weren't totally distraught, but there was no mistaking the troubled look the other held as they rambled on about how the elder had no family to help with the body, and that they didn't want to just drag them out and place them in any old hole in the ground to be forgotten. Cold wouldn't say he knew either Dandelion or Bracken that well, but he'd still gotten to his feet with an annoyed sigh and agreed to help.

You didn't need to know your clan to be loyal to them.

He helped carry the elders body out to the rocky hilltop the other had chosen, doing his best to ignore the sense of deju-vu that came with carrying a corpse again. His parents were long gone and the great battle had been over for moons now, and he shoved the memories aside as they seemed to finally come to the spot the other apprentice had in mind. As Dandelion began to dig, going on about how they would use the place to remember their dead, Coldpaw would simply nod and begin to dig as well.

"It's not a bad idea." he offered after a moment. His parents had been given no marker, weren't even buried in a place accessable to him. Dozens of others were stuck in the same position, and he could admit that it would have been nice to have a place for them, even if he wasn't the sentimental sort to linger over a grave and cry about what he didn't have anymore. "Did you know Brackenbelly well?" he asked, yellow eyes glancing toward the other. He knew that Dandelion had come from the barns and didn't have a ton of family in the group. Had he spent much time with this elder then, or just been there because he was the healers apprentice?
​

---

windclan apprentice - male - 8 months - a large, dark grey tabby with yellow eyes

 

[ivoryflight.]

“I agree. It’s a lovely idea Dandelionpaw. Hopefully Sootstar and Duskfire will consider making this a tradition for Windclan.” Coldpaw had spoken most of the things she wanted to comment, and knew that this was a moment where either you spoke good things, or reflected quietly. While she didn’t know the elder well, she was curious to see if the medicinecat apprentice had anything to say regarding the life of the elder. Curiosity pricked at her as well, wondering how close the pair had been.

​

 

[LARKTREK]

Larktrek stands alongside the group as Dandelionpaw demonstrates his newly proposed tradition.

As he watches the young medicine cat apprentice bury Brackenbelly - as he watches him mark the place the fallen elder will forever lay with a stone - the brown and white tom can't help but feel a twinge of sadness in his heart.

He'd never be able to do the same with his mother. She'd be forever lost to him, taken by the river, with no tradition to carry her memory in.

Larktrek wonders if he'd be able to sneak a stone into the area for her, if anyone would even take notice to it. Maybe just visiting Brackenbelly would be enough - maybe he could honor both of them at once.

"It's a wonderful idea," the warrior finally tells the young tom, agreeing with Coldpaw and Ivoryflight. "I'm sure Brackenbelly would've been glad to know she's being honored in such a way, too." ​

 

[SOOTSTAR]

"It's a nice location." Sootstar would agree upon arriving at the scene, they'd have to bring flowers after the burial occurs... liven the area up even more for the fallen she-cat. "Mothermouth has plenty of holy stones that look just like these sitting outside of the cave. We can decorate graves with stones from there, perhaps the slight connection to StarClan will help cats ascend and find their way to StarClan with more ease."

It was a beautiful idea, one Sootstar was happy to implement. She'd have to fetch stones for her own parents memorials, one for each of them... Maybe she'd take Owlpaw and Shrikepaw to assist, they were their grandchildren after all. It was only right.

Sootstar moves forward and begins to help dig with her paws, they'd have Brackenbelly buried by sun-down. ​

---

 

[Dandelionwish]

Despite Coldpaw's prickly demeanor he enjoyed the quiet tom's company and was pleased he'd agreed to help with the arduous and melancholic task at hand.
At the question the sepia point faltered.
Did he know her well? He knew her well-enough. It was enough for Dandelionpaw to just know a cat's name to be agonized over their death internally, because no cat dying was ever easy. Brackenbelly had it better than most, peaceful and content with her clan around her. No family, but sometimes the family you made was just as good.
“Knew’er tail real familiar like, no idea how she kept gettin’ ticks but she sure did-chewed me ear off each time I came to try and get rid of’em.” His tone was light, he didn’t mention her stories and how her ornery manners were mostly in jest, because he felt like he might dwell on it all too much if he started talking about it. "She was a right friendly ole'lady, gonna miss'er complain' the rain makes her joints hurt and chucking bedding at me fer being too slow in help'n."

He smiled at the rest of the patrol assisting, examined the hole and glanced back at Brackenbelly to gauge if it was big enough only to spot Sootstar arriving and was pleasantly surprised at her agreeing and offering another idea for the idea. Apprentices had to go to the motherstone before becoming warriors, this was similar to that and also meaningful; he liked it! "I reckon that's a good idea, honestly. Wish ah could've had Ma buried like this..." Felt better than just a hole in the ground that he couldn't visit cause it was back at the barn area and he wasn't going to risk such a venture-much as he might want to.
Dandelionpaw wondered if she made it to StarClan or did she go somewhere else like he was telling Coldpaw before. Where did cats go when they died and weren't in clans? The idea he might not get to see his mother again when he finally passed was agonizing, but the scarier thing was meeting StarClan itself. He'd be doing THAT before he even died.
He was a little scared, admittedly. What if StarClan didn’t like him? What if they didn’t agree with Honeytwist? He already knew that many decisions they had made were not exactly viewed fondly by every chosen cat, would he be one of those as well? Would he even be allowed to go to StarClan if they decided they didn’t accept him as a medicine cat?
The point tom smiled in a strained manner, warding the thoughts away; that was a stressor for another time and another outing. "I bet Brackenbelly would like marigolds near her rock..."

​

 

[SOOTSTAR]

The blue molly's tail swish, understanding and sympathetic to Dandelionpaw's situation, though it doesn't visably show. "My mom and dad are buried in the heart of whats now ShadowClan land. I'll never be able to visit their resting place again." her attempt to confide, "You could build them a memorial, like I did for my folks." That suggestion went to anyone who could no longer visit their loved ones, in fact. Building one and the emotions that went into it she believed at the power to connect their spirits to the memorial, Sootstar swears she can feel the presene of her own parents when she sits by theirs.

"A marigold patch grows merely over the hill there. WindClan can gather a boquette for her." She points her ebony nose to the hill.​

---

 

[hyacinthbreath]

Funerals.

Hyacinthbreath hated nothing more than such an event. Such sorrow, such anger one feels in this moment when they know the deceased. The pain is unbearable, agonizing in its own right. When her colony died, she didn't have the strength to bury them. So she slept amongst the corpses of her lifelong friends, parents, and neighbors until they had started to decay. Some would think her weird for such a thing, but that was her way of grieving, spending one last heartbeat with her life before she had to leave it behind.

She attends Brackenbelly's funeral, watches in a daze as her clanmates prepare the newly named graveyard. The idea is bittersweet, but not a horrible one. A place for them to bury their dead and visit, a healthy way to mourn the dead while respecting them. Her lips part, closes momentarily, then opens again- she speaks soon after, voice cracking with an emotion long kept under wraps. She seems to look through the cats she's talking to, unfocused.

"Will someone be.. Sitting vigil overnight? Do you do that type of thing for the dead, in these lands?" She asks hesitantly.​