sensitive topics what a waste of army dreamers // discovery

[Ternfrost.]

// CW/TW: for emetophobia and mentions of violence, blood, and death

WONDERED WHAT IT'S LIKE TO
TOUCH AND FEEL SOMETHING​

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maggotfur ♛ 21 moons ♛ female ♛ she/her ♛ shadowclan warrior ​

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it's meant to be a simple patrol - Maggotfur thinks nothing of leaving the others behind to wander on her own, always having better luck with her own keen eyes and quick thinking when she doesn't have to worry about others. But it's not prey scent she catches, but blood - in the hot greenleaf air, it's sickening, and stomach churns queasily. Still, she takes hardly a moment to catch her breath before pressing forwards - pace only quickening as she finds a familiar scent lying beneath it.

Raggedbite,

'Stars, not again' the plea is a silent one, meant not for living ears - but even by starclan it is unheard, or perhaps even worse, ignored. She finds him first - grey fur marred by wounds and stained crimson. He'd fought to the very end, and despite her growing horror part of Maggotfur only feels proud, thinking back upon the bumbling apprentice she'd once sparred with (and had even let win). It's impossible - he can't possibly be dead. But body is still, not a single breath leaving his lungs. Already, she knows it is late, but the words leave her lips without thought.

" @leechpaw - go fetch @Starlingheart! Or... or anyone, " voice is raspy with greif, petering out into a whisper, and it isn't until she is alone that paw touches her face absentmindedly. Blue eyes blink, staring unseeingly down at her silver-mitted paws and the dampness that gleams on her pawpads. She's crying.

Head shakes as though the force of it might clear her clouding thoughts, and as world blurs she finally takes note of the other. Fawn and white, throat marred by teeth and eyes unseeing. They're both dead - and nobody had even been around to witness it. One pawstep forwards and then another, Maggie can't keep her body from shaking as the horror truly sets in as she takes in the full scene. Life is cruel - she knows this, doesn't she?

So why... why does it hurt?

It could've been anyone out here - they hadn't even been alone. Rogue scent colors the air, but mind is to frazzled to do much more then take absent note. Heart pounds in her chest like a frightened mouse and all she can think of is that it isn't fair. They'd been young - younger then her even. Happy. Mates. And then she's scrambling backwards, doubling over with choked sobs and as the contents of her stomach makes a reappearance. Greif shakes her, leaves her frozen by the time the rest of the patrol makes an appearance.

'It isn't fair'

━ actions & " speech, " & 'thoughts/quotes' ━

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M O N S T E R , - H O W - S H O U L D - I - F E E L - ?

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// she found raggedbite and orchidbloom and is ordering leechpaw to fetch starlingheart (or anyone), no need to wait before replying

 

[Haretooth]

"INDELIBLE IS WHAT I NEED TO SPREAD THE WORD."​

The scent of blood isn’t uncommon to Haretooth, he would hope that it wouldn’t be uncommon to any of the warriors present on this patrol. Just because it isn’t uncommon does not make it not of concern however. He can smell it, it’s faint from where he stands amongst the patrol but he makes a note of it. Hearing the voice Maggotfur indicates that he does not have to take note of this smell anymore, it seemed that someone else had discovered the source. Her voice weighs heavy, with an emotion that he has not known, it clings to her like a parasite and it worries him to hear it. As he approaches he brushes past Leechpaw, who seemed in a hurry to do as told.

It’s always a shock to see something dead, that shock is further when it’s someone. A clanmate, not just one but two. Raggedbite and Orchidbloom, two blessed lovers of the clan now left to blister under the sun. Nature seems fast to try and take them from the clan, to selifhsly claim stake to their bodies. It’s… Unnerving to see them in such a state, he had seen them earlier. They were plagued with strife like most of ShadowClan was but they seemed to make it work together. At least they have each other in death as well. He considers it to be a much worse fate if one of them were to survive, destined for a life without their mate.

“You should go notify Smogstar” his voice cuts through the tense air that was silent safe for the choked sobs, glancing at Maggotfur’s tear stained face. He frowns, the concern is clear, this isn’t good for her- not that it’s good for him either. He doesn’t wait to see if she will heed his advice, the scent of others being here than the ShadowClan clanmates had caught his attention rather quickly. “I’m going to try and… Find something, I do not know what. If anyone wishes to follow, be my guest” he regards the patrol in a clipped manner, trying to take the role of a strategist. They needed some kind of answer, ShadowClan was not going to lose two warriors and have nothing to come from it other than the senseless deaths.

He does not consider his own safety in this moment, does not think about the fact that the threat could still be there. This is not from some kind of bravery but rather a disregard to his own wellbeing, too interested in trying to catch a scent before it disappears. He was no medicine cat so who knows how long these bodies had been, who knows how much time was left before all clues had been snuffed out. Despite his best efforts however he can’t get far. The scent dies after the stream, there is a hiss of disappointment. Damn them for being smart, why could they not be blessed with stupidity for once.

// trying to find the scent of the killers! Finds that dead end at the stream that was mentioned in Kites post and can’t go further from there
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✯☽✯​

 

[scalejaw]

★ Bodies. A grim thing to find on a midday patrol, where the sun was high- when she wasn't in the shade of something, her pelt was burning hot, the dark fur all but sucking up the heat. A low grumble left her, and just as Haretooth caught the scent, Scalejaw did too. She did not trade suspicious glances, finding it much more.. to the point to just go and see. There was no point waiting around for someone to announce it.

Feathered paws drew to a stop as they arrived, her ears lowering at the utter rot that was before them. Bodies, of two lovers. She bit down the thought of her own deceased mate, bit down any thoughts that threatened to rear their ugly heads before they could. Scalejaw exhaled slowly, working through her breathing as she moved to stand near Maggotfur, pressing her shoulder to the other she-cat in silence support. "Easy. Get yourself some water when you make it to camp." She says, quiet enough that it was clear it was for Maggotfur's ears only.

Her vision lifted towards Haretooth, who was already in action. "I'll remain here until Smogstar arrives." She agreed quietly. She'd be here to shoulder the bodies back to camp, to ensure that the blood left spilled wasn't disgraced by those above. She inhaled and exhaled slowly, pressing the memory of her lover's body to her eyelids one last time before finally seperating herself from the grieving, sickened warrior, her head tilted down to the mates tangled together at death.

Starclan rest your souls.

‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎┌── MESSES WITH YOUR SANITY ⋅❁⋅ TWISTING ALL YOUR THOUGHTS AROUND ──┐‎

• "speech"
  

• 

• SCALEJAW 🌧 she/her, warrior of shadowclan, sixty three moons.
  ★ A SH black/LH blue smoke chimera with glowering orange eyes, tufts of fur that make her look dragon-akin, and scars that she wears with pride. motherly and stern attitude, with a warm streak for clanmates and a cruel streak for enemies.
  ★ mentoring no one
  ★ padding after no one / / mother to bonerattle, nightwhisper, and shadefall
  ★ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted / / underline and tag when attacking
  ★ penned by dallas ↛ dallasofnines on discord, feel free to dm for plots.
  

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[smogstar]

Dark news finds its way to him. Two clanmates, found slain and left forsaken in the remote stretches of their territory. It's an over-told story by now, a tale as common as the dirt beneath his paws. Yet, as bitter and numb as he has grown to the ebb and flow in their numbers, his heart grows cold and hollow at the thought. An obligation and responsibility to protect the very lives he leads has gone unfulfilled.

Stiff-tailed and strained, Smogstar arrives at the site of the killing. Orchidbloom and Raggedbite's final, violent moments, immortalised in bloodied clumps and torn flesh, the land around them agitated and smeared. There are many scents, but none fresh enough to chart a course of any consequence. One look at the cats who cradle the scene, and the leader knows: alongside the stark grief written into their expressions - especially Maggotfur's - is this shock, and this uncertainty, without a speck of anger. The assailants were unknown to them, and are in all likelihood gone.

Here and there are scrapes and pockmarks in the earth, blurred tracks scattered between the trampled grass and mud. A common trajectory, they mark a visible path out towards the stream that bisects ShadowClan's territory. He curses under his breath when he makes out Haretooth's distant form lingering there, assumedly searching, too.

"How long've they been here, do you think?" he asks of Scalejaw. The dusky she-cat attends to the bodies, ensuring their final rest is as reverent as it could be given the circumstances. She could glean insight from their wounds and other details, perhaps. All the while, his digits clench and unclench, claws digging into the soil at intervals. Why couldn't they defend themselves, he wonders. How did the culprits manage to sneak up on them so seamlessly, so completely?

The two fallen clanmates'll have to be moved in due time; but he does not give such an order just yet. In leaving the scene undisturbed, no clues will be lost - if any even exist. "Terrible. Just- augh!" The tom emits a sour grumble while making a wide circle around their bodies. Looking upon Raggedbite and Orchidbloom, resentment curdles deep in his gut. "Hope you two rest easy, and free from the burdens you'd both been dealt."

Senseless. Needless. Pointless. And the weight of not knowing bears down on him, bears down on all of them, and it is suffocating.​

 

[Starlingheart]

Starlingheart is fetched alongside Smogstar, she follows him out into the marsh with a heavy heart. Death is never easy, no matter how many times she is forced to face it. Her clanmates may think otherwise based on the way she does not balk from the corpses, based on what she has endured over and over and over again that aids her in standing stoic even now as her soliatary gaze flits to the two slain warriors before them. Scalejaw is already comforting Maggotfur but Starlingheart comes to her side as well "When you get back to camp- ask-ask Marblepaw for some honey as well" to soothe her throat from the acid that no doubt scratched at it after such an episode. Her gaze is sympathetic, understanding as even her own vision grows blurry.

She reaches up with a forelimb to wipe away the tears before they have a chance to form fully and spill. She is glad she had ordered her apprentice to stay back, this was not a scene the young girl should be forced to see. "We should-we should get them back to camp they should be-should be home" she says quietly, though to who exactly she is speaking she is not fully certain.

Haretooth follows the trail of the killer, Smogstar says a prayer, but all Starlingheart can do is lower her head to Orchidblooms cheek and whisper "I'm sorry" in a whisper only meant for the stars

( ‧₊˚❀༉‧₊˚. ) fly me up on a silver wing

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• 
  STARLINGHEART SHADOWCLAN MEDICINE CAT; SHE / HER ; SISTER TO PITCHSTAR, CHITTERTONGUE, NIGHTSWARM, SKUNKTAIL, AND LILACFUR. MOTHER TO NETTLEPAW, FLINTWISH AND GHOSTMASK.
  

  A skinny she cat with short black and white fur littered with scars and one singular green eye.

  ✦ Easy in battle + has little to no formal battle training
  

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