private UNTIL VALHALLA — SUNSTRIDE

[WOLFSONG]

── .∘°°∘. ── Vulturemask is dead, but it is not the sight of his motionless body that plagues Wolfsong. Neither he nor Sunstride are strangers to battle or the risks inherent to existence, and it is not the first time that the red-brewed hues of Sunstride's pelt have streamed from the imprints of claws and teeth. They are warriors, as were their parents, and parents' parents, a lineage of great swathes of survival through violence that have planted deep roots. They do not fight believing they are untouchable, and yet Wolfsong is no more prepared for a horizon empty of Sunstride than he is one empty of dawn.

His doubts have drawn great shadows over Wolfsong, a cloaking chill he could not shrug free. They have spat and snarled and held stares with narrowed eyes, but it meant nothing when he realized how narrowly Sunstride's fate escaped the breaking clamp of jaws.

Wolfsong's own clench, teeth set firmly around a wad of moss cleaning Sunstride's new wounds. Vulturemask is gone to StarClan, my apprentice grieves wholly, and I am terrified in my relief. I should be ashamed of this fear, but I love him remorselessly. The moss falls from his mouth and he pretends it was intentional, pawing goldenrod closer after pausing over marigold. He swallows, his remaining eye a dam, great pressure heaving in search of cracks. "There are many faces waiting to feel my teeth, it seems." ​

WOLFSONG of WINDCLAN ROGUE TURNED LEAD WARRIOR (MEDICINE CAT IN TRAINING). 35 MOONS, HE/HIM, NPC X NPC PARENTS. BIO, PINTEREST, & PLAYLIST.

medicinal expertise med. part ii med. part iii med. part iv

• — ★★★☆☆ WOUNDS: You're (mostly) in safe paws. You'll know if he's less experienced if he asks for your permission to try a treatment. No wound can scare him away from knowledge. — ★★★☆☆ INFECTION: He can prevent most infections. If you feel feverish, let him know— he'll hum thoughtfully over herbs and sniff your wound before saying, "With your blessing..."
• — ★☆☆☆☆ ACHES & PAINS: If you complain to him of pain, he'll ask where. If it's a headache, you'll likely feel a bit better. For anything else, "Try this, if you'd like, and tell me how you feel." — ★☆☆☆☆ BROKEN BONES: At best. he can ask you to remain lying down in the den. He may try to distract you with conversation while he considers what herb to feed you.
• — ★★★★★ TRAVELING HERBS: Going somewhere? No worries; Wolfsong knows just what you need to stay hale and healthy during your journey. The rest is up to you. — ☆☆☆☆☆ KITTING: He doesn't remember what it was like to be born. Coincidentally, that is the extent of his familiarity with kitting. At least he won't leave you without moral support.
• — ★☆☆☆☆ POISONS: It's best if you avoid eating anything unfamiliar to you— it's probably just as unfamiliar to Wolfsong. The best he can do is offer you yarrow and sit with you. — ★★☆☆☆ ILLNESS: If it's white or greencough, you'll likely recover. Otherwise, prepare for odd concoctions and the usual request that you consent to a little trial-and-error.

​

 

[SUNSTAR]

It does not strike him at first, that Wolfsong is worried about him. It is true that they had seen their fair share of battle. His life was at risk nearly each moment of their lives– if not directly, then in waiting. To live is to die. What use is there in fighting the fate laid out before them? That is the voice of a young warrior. As the moons turn on, Sunstride's own mind becomes heavier. It is weighted with failure and change, and all of his many hopes. How strange to be burdened by such things. What would it matter if things did not go as he had planned? What would it matter if he did not see the fruits of his labor grow ripe and filling?

For a while it had stumped him. He did not know why, could not see what it is that made the world matter so. But as he sits here, moss pressed to a wound as a pale and terrible barrier, understanding aches. The warrior's head hangs low. Though the cleaning stings, he does not react in the slightest. Guilt is a strong distraction, if nothing else; instead of his pain, he thinks of Vulturemask. His failure, and what it had done. Sunflowerpaw, Goldenpaw, Shadowpaw. In the face of their grief, he had looked to Wolfsong. They had wanted sought to destroy WindClan's connection to StarClan. Why else would they take after their healer the way that they had? What if it had been Wolfsong instead? The cat that Vulturemask had taken to training.

Now he would take after his paw steps, at least until StarClan sorted them out. His fault. A risk he had forced him into.

Sunstride sighs, the sound breaking gently across his tongue as the discomfort sets in. He laughs, though even to his own ears it is unsettled. "You take my wounds too personally, my friend. There is more for you to handle than this."

＞ˏˋ〘  OOC NOTES REFERENCE 05.28.2023 〙ˊˎ＜

• ooc: —

• 

• SUNSTRIDE. named for his coloration and his bold chasing of fate.
  —— cis male, he - him. approx. 40 moons old. lead warrior of windclan + former rogue.
  —— gay, but somewhat closeted. will not be open about his interests.  single, will be so.
  —— seems comparatively stranger than who he was some moons ago, serious and cool.
  
  sunstride is broad and bold– a creature standing above most of windclan, though not a beast beyond its borders, with fur that flames red and deepens to a burnt amber with every whorl and stripe. his eyes, in comparison, are a pale summer's blue, still as bold as the rest of him.

• "speech"

​

 

[WOLFSONG]

── .∘°°∘. ── He hasn't yet considered that the rogues' goal may have targeted him as they had Vulturemask. He has mulled over their goals; it seems plain that they sought to deal WindClan a lasting blow, or perhaps some grudge against Vulturemask finally met its mark. But whatever their motivation, they were willing to harm Sunstride for it, and he cannot forgive that. Even if Vulturemask had wronged them terribly in the past, leaving the craters of their claws in Sunstride's skin robbed themselves of any understanding Wolfsong may have otherwise spared them. An uncompromising position, to be sure, but one he has no interest in remedying.

He frowns, glancing up at him when he laughs so unconvincingly, so fragilely. The tension behind his eye eases, if only to focus on Sunstride's struggle— escaping, however briefly, his own turmoil. "I wonder," he begins slowly, "what you would say were our positions reversed. Your battles are mine: before, now, and always." Shaking his head, he chews goldenrod until he can pack it gently into claw-crevices. "Do not be so eager to part our fates. Though we have...quarreled more often than we once did, we are still tightly bound." He smooths a paw over his wounded shoulder, gentle, overcome with a tenderness that seeks Sunstride alone. Agree with me, tell me you understand, that we are bonded. "I cannot avenge you because I cannot avenge myself. But I can seek revenge, and they have wronged us both." The moss again, cleaning another of his wounds.
​

WOLFSONG of WINDCLAN ROGUE TURNED LEAD WARRIOR (MEDICINE CAT IN TRAINING). 35 MOONS, HE/HIM, NPC X NPC PARENTS. BIO, PINTEREST, & PLAYLIST.

medicinal expertise med. part ii med. part iii med. part iv

• — ★★★☆☆ WOUNDS: You're (mostly) in safe paws. You'll know if he's less experienced if he asks for your permission to try a treatment. No wound can scare him away from knowledge. — ★★★☆☆ INFECTION: He can prevent most infections. If you feel feverish, let him know— he'll hum thoughtfully over herbs and sniff your wound before saying, "With your blessing..."
• — ★☆☆☆☆ ACHES & PAINS: If you complain to him of pain, he'll ask where. If it's a headache, you'll likely feel a bit better. For anything else, "Try this, if you'd like, and tell me how you feel." — ★☆☆☆☆ BROKEN BONES: At best. he can ask you to remain lying down in the den. He may try to distract you with conversation while he considers what herb to feed you.
• — ★★★★★ TRAVELING HERBS: Going somewhere? No worries; Wolfsong knows just what you need to stay hale and healthy during your journey. The rest is up to you. — ☆☆☆☆☆ KITTING: He doesn't remember what it was like to be born. Coincidentally, that is the extent of his familiarity with kitting. At least he won't leave you without moral support.
• — ★☆☆☆☆ POISONS: It's best if you avoid eating anything unfamiliar to you— it's probably just as unfamiliar to Wolfsong. The best he can do is offer you yarrow and sit with you. — ★★☆☆☆ ILLNESS: If it's white or greencough, you'll likely recover. Otherwise, prepare for odd concoctions and the usual request that you consent to a little trial-and-error.

​

 

[SUNSTAR]

That there is any doubt to what he would do– that is what strikes Sunstride once, twice; a deathbed blow. That he has to wonder at all, that is what bleeds him through. He is still as mountainous ice where Wolfsong tends to him. He must be frosty to the touch, though the other warrior makes no comment on it. There is only the moss, the herbs, the drying blood. Patted clean as if that is all there is to it. As if it is simple. All the while, Sunstride's heart beats a war drum within his chest. The only enemy here is himself and the beast that he had become. Obedience has left its mark upon him. WindClan, however important, was an early fog that swims across his vision. It obscures what matters to him. What he had chosen to stand by, those many moons ago. When they had left their home, it had not been for himself alone. It had not been for WindClan, then. He had laughed and pressed upon Wolfsong's shoulder, teeth bared in a wild grin. A home for the both of us, he had said.

What a fool he had been. What a blind traitor he had become.

He jerks away from the moss. The warmth of his paw nearly stings, and yet it is only a second later that he is seeking it out again. Chasing the closeness with a paw that presses hard to his cheek. His claws are flexed out, tangling in thick fur and yanking him so that their foreheads might press together. It is with more force than he typically allows. It is a gentle touch, if firm. It had always been meant to show closeness, support. Appreciation, in a sense. Now it is desperation. He screams know me, know me, know me as if it might be heard through his skull. His ignorant, foolish, terribly dense skull.

"That we have quarreled at all is a failing of my own. That is not a burden for you to bear. You are as much a part of me as my blood. To pull you from me is to take out my heart." It is said firmly, without a hair's breadth of hesitation, yet even still his voice wavers. Be it the manner in which Wolfsong shares his breaths, or the tension that winds around his lungs each time their pelts touch– to speak is to pull his words from deep within his belly and bare himself to the sun. He has dropped a shield that he has carried a lifetime. From the first his father spoke to him, the very first time that he heard his name, he has held this burden. And for Wolfsong it is set aside. Willingly and gladly. His skull might break from how he presses into him. The paw holding to his cheek loosens and catches instead on the fur of his throat. "Do not question the place that you have at my side. Whatever else may come– do not doubt my promise of that."

＞ˏˋ〘  OOC NOTES REFERENCE 05.28.2023 〙ˊˎ＜

• ooc: —

• 

• SUNSTRIDE. named for his coloration and his bold chasing of fate.
  —— cis male, he - him. approx. 40 moons old. lead warrior of windclan + former rogue.
  —— gay, but somewhat closeted. will not be open about his interests.  single, will be so.
  —— seems comparatively stranger than who he was some moons ago, serious and cool.
  
  sunstride is broad and bold– a creature standing above most of windclan, though not a beast beyond its borders, with fur that flames red and deepens to a burnt amber with every whorl and stripe. his eyes, in comparison, are a pale summer's blue, still as bold as the rest of him.

• "speech"

​

 

[WOLFSONG]

── .∘°°∘. ── It is no grand epiphany. His affections for Sunstride are rather more like the slipping of seasons than a sudden, unexpected blow on the battlefield. Specifically, the next season's murmur, details slight enough to ease them all into the burnished hues of late leaf-fall without moving so quickly they stumble. He has heard love described as a fall, but he thinks he has walked into it willingly, open-eyed and trailing in Sunstride's pawsteps, occasionally at his side.

And yet he had not considered what that truly meant until this moment: Sunstride, clawing him near until their foreheads knock together with such earnesty he thinks he intends to force his thoughts into Wolfsong's mind. He had followed Sunstride, and Sunstride had led him, and leads him still when he swears that Wolfsong is his heart, his. His remaining eye widens, and the pressure of their foreheads intensifies to a point of near-pain until clasping claws fall to his throat. There is no danger in it, no terror. He inhales and exhales faith and Sunstride breathes it back, and though a tremor reaches a crescendo in his legs he has never stood on firmer ground than on Sunstride's passion.

I do not dream. He holds me near and swears himself to me. He smells of goldenrod and old blood and all of him life. I do not dream— no flight of fancy has flown this high. Shakily, he hooks the paw caught in the fur of his throat and keeps it aloft, balanced atop his own. His forehead leaves Sunstride's to drop his cheek against that paw, muzzle dragged adoringly across it. "You love me," he exclaims, lifting his face once more. "If I am your heart then I beat twice with your love and mine and I do not want to stop." ​

WOLFSONG of WINDCLAN ROGUE TURNED LEAD WARRIOR (MEDICINE CAT IN TRAINING). 35 MOONS, HE/HIM, NPC X NPC PARENTS. BIO, PINTEREST, & PLAYLIST.

medicinal expertise med. part ii med. part iii med. part iv

• — ★★★☆☆ WOUNDS: You're (mostly) in safe paws. You'll know if he's less experienced if he asks for your permission to try a treatment. No wound can scare him away from knowledge. — ★★★☆☆ INFECTION: He can prevent most infections. If you feel feverish, let him know— he'll hum thoughtfully over herbs and sniff your wound before saying, "With your blessing..."
• — ★☆☆☆☆ ACHES & PAINS: If you complain to him of pain, he'll ask where. If it's a headache, you'll likely feel a bit better. For anything else, "Try this, if you'd like, and tell me how you feel." — ★☆☆☆☆ BROKEN BONES: At best. he can ask you to remain lying down in the den. He may try to distract you with conversation while he considers what herb to feed you.
• — ★★★★★ TRAVELING HERBS: Going somewhere? No worries; Wolfsong knows just what you need to stay hale and healthy during your journey. The rest is up to you. — ☆☆☆☆☆ KITTING: He doesn't remember what it was like to be born. Coincidentally, that is the extent of his familiarity with kitting. At least he won't leave you without moral support.
• — ★☆☆☆☆ POISONS: It's best if you avoid eating anything unfamiliar to you— it's probably just as unfamiliar to Wolfsong. The best he can do is offer you yarrow and sit with you. — ★★☆☆☆ ILLNESS: If it's white or greencough, you'll likely recover. Otherwise, prepare for odd concoctions and the usual request that you consent to a little trial-and-error.

​