twolegplace you'll wanna catch this smile ⚘ chase

[Dandelionwish]

The order was given and he gave only a moment to spare the scene as Blazestar arrived before doing as told and breaking into a fullsprint after the attackers, it didn't take long until he was almost back behind them with their tail in his sights and a few lengths more before his claws would be in their flank as well.

His chase of the rogues ended in unfamiliar territory, further into two-leg place than he'd ever gone before but his paws did not hesitate as he pursued the vanishing figure in the distance that had attacked their medicine cat apprentice. If even only to scare them into never coming back, but he had hopes to catch up and ask some well-placed questions about what they might know of the disappearances because it seemed not just SkyClan was plagued with this uncertainty. Rain began to drizzle down, blurring his vision in droplets and making each spring forward a dangerous step that threatened to lose his traction at any point but he was once of the moors and the wind was still at his beck and call despite his exile; he was faster than the SkyClan cats and he was faster than this rogue who had a good start on him. He only needed to catch up to them and then he could-
Something moved in front of him, his claws unsheathed to try and leap over the obstruction last second but the slick ground caught his footing and he instead jumped upward to slam into the upper portion of what he now realized was another cat; sending both him and the stranger tumbling head over paw onto cold, smooth stone that smelled of burning and mud at the same time.
Dandelionwish's masked face lifted from the ground, mismatched eyes wandering for his target only to find they had vanished around one of several corners in the distance.

---

[Ooc]
-tagging @selby but no need to wait!
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[coalfoot]

————————————————【 coalfoot | loner | male 】———————————————

【◈】Life in the winding maze of Twolegplace was vastly different from that of Clan life, often difficult and frightening at best. He had been carefully healed under the watchful eye of Twolegs alongside Coldsnap, a fact he still couldn't quite believe even now. Even if the methods didn't quite make sense to him. (His paws had been bundled up with thick swathes of white material. He had been forced into a blinding collar that prevented him from licking his wounds clean. Frankly, it was the main driving force between his decision not to stay, even if it all had been eventually removed).

That terrible night in WindClan would forever be burned into Coalfoot, both mentally and physically. He and Coldsnap had nearly lost their lives. Bloodied, scarred, and run ragged. Even as their life wept in the earth, begging at the paws of Cicadastar himself they were turned away. They could have killed them there and then. Despite it all, he was grateful for what little they had offered to the pair of WindClanners. It was kindness, in their own way.

Learning to live life in Twolegplace was difficult. Monsters rumbled up and down the weaving Thunderpaths, rogue cats hissed and snarled their way should they dare get close. Twoleg nests reached into the sky, blocking their view of the horizon. It often made him feel small. It often made him feel trapped.

Coalfoot missed the moors. He missed the way the breeze tugged at his fur, the way the grass felt beneath his paws. Rough, and often dry, but alive. The harsh stone beneath his paws now was callous, cold. Without the dark tabby by his side, he was certain he would have gone mad by now.

The bicolor tom paused in his steps as a drop of water spattered onto the stone before him. Green eyes lifted to the sky above, squinting at the overcast clouds above. It was starting to rain, yet even as more and more drops dampened the ground, soaking into his pelt, he didn't yet move. It would be a nuisance to dry later, that he knew, but even as the storm blew in, he could close his eyes and imagine he was home, listening to the wind rustling the leaves and thinking how it could almost be the grasses swaying and rippling in hypnotic patterns.

The sound of pounding pawsteps hit his ears. Coalfoot was too slow to react in time, eyes flying wide and whipping around even as a blur of brown bowled into him, both tumbling to the ground, one with a yelp. SkyClan scent overwhelmed him. His heart lurched, an instinct still strong, even now. Paws scrabbling, a leg shoved at his attacker, an attempt to get them away so that he could prepare, regain his footing.

He nearly tripped over his scarred paws but made it back upright anyway, stumbling backward and finally taking in the sight before him. Green eyes searched, not quite believing what he saw, back arched even as the tom radiated confusion. The cat before him was frantic, possibly even angry, yet not quite looking at him, only past him. It was a tom he never thought he would see again, unmistakable.

"Wh- You- Dandelionwish?" His voice cracked involuntarily, throat still tightened from the abrupt scare. "You're alive?"

[penned by its_oliverr].

​

 

[Irispath]

There was no shortage of rancor and hatred that Yewberry felt for the twolegplace. It was a forest of stone dens and paths that wreaked with a smell that made him scrunch his nose. This place was his prison, his punishment. He snapped, and this is what it got him. Sure, he wasn't alone. He had Galeforce and Lavender, the only two cats he cared for out here. He destroyed his life, but he could help them live theirs. Rebuild theirs. He held no hope for himself.

Skyclan scent was a smell he often scented around here, usually from daylight warriors coming and going from the pine forest. He often stayed out of sight of them, not wanting to interact with more cats who would just spit on him. Today though, he picked up on a Skyclan scent that was less....Kittypet smelling. He scented along with it a few others. He rounded a building and peered around the corner, hollow gaze landing on the tangle of two cats before him.

Two cats he recognized immediately.

Coalfoot and Dandelionwish.

The light returned to his eyes for a moment. Dandelionwish had escaped... He was glad. He was relieved. But.... Why was Coalfoot here? He felt apprehension keeping his paws in place. He was wary. Should he bother approaching? One of them was a Skyclan warrior now. Would they chase him off? Would they show their claws to him as Hyacinthbreath had done just to show loyalty?

He stayed where he was. He wasn't hidden, his paws firmly rooted to the ground at the mouth of an alley.
​

 

[Galeforce]

↞ RACE THE WINDS

Exile had meant leaving behind so many familiar faces. It was a harsh reality that Gale had to accept, but he did not regret his actions. Sootstar was, as far as he was concerned, the embodiment of evil. Something to be removed, cast out, stripped of her pedestal for the betterment of WindClan. One day he would return to do just that, and when he did he would either force his way back into WindClan's ranks or return to the wilds in order to maintain justice from a distance.

Gale hadn't been too far behind Yew, simply hanging back in order to freely grumble without disturbing the other as the rain plastered his normally fluffy pelt to his figure. Though there was a scent in the air that attracted his attention. Pricking his ears up he tried to gauge how many cats were ahead as he hurried to catch up to Yew. What he saw surprised him; Dandelionwish and Coalfoot! Unlike his fellow exiled buddy he had no intention of staying quiet and he simply let his bold personality takeover as he began to approach the pair. "Ain't today full of surprises! Long time no see!"
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[~Lavender~]

( ) Lavender knew next to nothing about the clans, save for what Gale and Yew and Sharpeye told her about them and the little she had interacted with them when she had asked them for help and had been turned away. That moment was enough to put a bad taste in her mouth about them.

She had been walking beside Gale, a smile of amusement tugging on her lips as she listened to him grumble about the rain and how the drops made his pelt cling to his frame. Her gaze drifted to Yew as they walked, gratitude once again warming her chest, this was her family now, and she would do anything for them after all they had done for her. Her smile would be replaced with a frown when Yew stopped walking, whiskers twitching as she noticed how he seemed to freeze and stare at something. She moved to stand beside him, gaze not leaving his face as she opened her maw to ask what was wrong but Gale would speak, and Lavender turned her head to spot the two cats ahead of them.

Did they know these cats? Her eyes would narrow ever so slightly as she took a step back, lightly pressing into Yew. Gale began to approach the two strangers and she would give Yew a look of uncertainty, should they follow? Were these cats dangerous? Her wounds had long since healed, so she could fight if it came down to it but...

Nervousness pricked her pelt as she took a deep breath and held her head high, moving to follow close behind Gale, taking in the two cats before them with skepticism. ​

( I'M FEELING LONELY; WISH I'D FIND A LOVER WHO COULD HOLD ME )

 

[THYMEROOT]

There's a solemn solitude in the way Thymeroot roams along the twolegplace.

Though these rock-flat pathways between tall twoleg nests have been his stomping grounds for a couple of moons now, the former moor runner doesn't know if he'll ever get used to this place. With its loud noises and dangers at every turn, Thymeroot knows it bares some similarity to his old home in WindClan -to his final, anxiety-ridden days as a warrior, nightmare-laced with images of his brother's inevitable demise.

This place will never be home to him in the way WindClan was.

Though he sees some familiar faces around from time to time, it's never going to be same. It's never the faces he wants to see, anyway - fellow exiles, yes, but never the one he hopes for.

And he mourns. Mourns for a trio now separated. Mourns for Shrewtuft, whose safety Thymeroot fears for under the assumption she stayed in the moors. Mourns for Dandelionwish, who Thymeroot fears may have already made his journey to the stars. The smell of blood had been all too thick that night - the exile couldn't differentiate his own from his brother's, and had lost the former medicine cat's scent trail quickly among the chaos.

Thymeroot misses the moors in its early form - in the days before he and his siblings had full names to go by, when the future seemed so bright for the three of them. The exile knows his life will never go back to that way, that he'll be stuck here for the rest of his existence - far from StarClan's guidance. When his time finally comes, he hopes he doesn't have to search far to find his brother in the stars.

Once colorful blooms - now withered and dried into crumbling petals -rustle along his pelt as he wanders through the twolegplace's pathways. His days feel empty now, without the arduous amount of chores he'd once overtasked himself with - a need for something to do almost always biting at his mind, just as it is now.

He doesn't have to look far, this time around. He hears the commotion up around the corner, can hear the voices of his former clanmates - those living life in exile like him. It doesn't sound too dire, doesn't sound like whoever it may be needs any help, but still, something tells Thymeroot to investigate, to round the corner.

So, the tom does, fawn-pointed paws leading him down the alleyway, only to stop in their tracks at the sight he's faced with.

"... Dandy...?"

He hardly believes the name that he speaks, as he sees that mismatched gaze of his brother's looking back at him. Thymeroot didn't think... Thymeroot didn't think he'd made it out of the moors, but it appears that his assumptions were wrong.

His brother is alive. His brother is here.

Thymeroot must be dreaming, right?
​

 

[Coldsnap]

IM SCARED TO GET CLOSE AND I HATE BEING ALONE
I LONG FOR THE FEELING TO NOT FEEL AT ALL
THE HIGHER I GET, THE LOWER I SINK
I CAN'T DROWN MY DEMONS, THEY KNOW HOW TO SWIM

---

Coldsnap did not enjoy twoleg place, but he made it work. The tom knew there was no going back to the clans- Windclan would never let them back after what they'd done, and after the horror stories associated with their group it would be a cold day in hell before one of the other groups decided to take them in. Riverclan had all but proven that, turning them away even with Hyacinth pleading on their behalf. A part of him had expected her to come with them, but he didn't blame her for staying. If Coldsnap had a home worth living and dying for, he would be hard pressed to give it up as well- even for cats he cared about.

Thankfully, it hadn't been a difficult to choose his friends over Windclan.

As the odd one out, Coldsnap didn't necessarily miss the moors. He'd been born in the marshland after all, and then traveled to the moors after the Great Battle tore his family apart and killed his parents. And so in a way this was just another place for him to get used to.

No, rather than the rolling hills, it was the concept of a clan he found himself missing. He longed for the late night border patrols, training with his apprenitce, and the hunting with his clanmates. He missed defending his groups territory from predators and taking part of crazy missions like raiding the farm for chickens. Hell, he'd give a whole rabbit just to see some unsuspecting newcomer look at Mallowlark and his creepy grin like he'd grown a second head.

He was sure Coalfoot could tell.

Coldsnap was never too far from him. In the aftermath of their escape and near-death experience, the dark gray tabby become.. attatched. He'd lost too much too quickly, and in a way Coalfoot was what kept him going. Cold had no family. He no mentor, and after Rosepaws death and Dandelions escape, he would have had no friends either. No clan. No home.

No purpose.

Death would have been an easy thing to embrace had the spotted tomcat not made it out beside him.

Finally free from the twolegs and their contraptions- though he did begrudgingly acknowledge they were the only reason the two of them were still standing, Coldsnap tried to keep to 'the norm' as much as he could. He would spend his time stalking birds and squirrels in alleyways or parks to provide fresh meat, would train regularly every morning in the light of dawn, and wouldn't hesitate to chase a cat off what he considered to be his and Coalfoots 'territory', even if it was just some half crumbled shed they were spending the night in.

He'd been treating their little walk around twoleg place as a patrol in order to make the place more bearable, amber eyes taking stock of their surroundings and causing him to pause when they landed on a grackle that was pecking at something in the grass a few yards down. He could probably get it, if he was smart about it. He just had to-.

His thoughts were cut off by the sound of pawsteps and bodys hitting each other. Coldsnaps head snapped in the direction of his companion just in time to see them tumble to the ground in a twist of limbs with another cat. His jaw clenched in anger on Coalfoots behalf, and he quickly rushed over to make sure no serious damage had been done- and maybe to stick his claws in someone.

Only, no he wasn't going to stick his claws in someone, because that was fucking- "Dandelionwish? Your alive?"

Coalfoot took the words right out of his mouth, yellow eyes widened in shock. Coldsnap hadn't seen Dandelionwish since the day they'd escaped Windclan- moons ago. He'd known the chances of them getting away were slim, but he also knew that if there was truly a Starclan, that they wouldn't have let a cat like Dandy meet his end like that. He deserved more, and it looked like he might have gotten it.

And then, like Starclan themselves had planned it, another voice rang out.

"Galeforce?" Coldsnap muttered in confusion, attention momentarily pulled away from the ex-medicine cat to rest upon another feline he hadn't seen in an even longer time. It felt surreal after it just being him and Coalfoot for so long to see the two other toms like this, and he glanced between the pair for a moment, unsure of what to say.

And was that Yewberry he could smell clinging to Gales fur?

OOC- assuming Lav and Yew are still hiding :)

---

windclan warrior - male - 16 months - a large, dark grey tabby with yellow eyes and a ton of scars​

​

 

[Dandelionwish]

It takes a moment to see past the mass of scars and recognize the cat underneath those layers of torn pink flesh, but the second he does it takes all of his will to not leap upon the black and white tom in excitement; despite how horrified he was by his injuries. Dandelionwish had escaped WindClan near death but his scars were plasted across his flanks and thankfully healed with skill (although Dawnglare would have preferred otherwise).
"Coalfoot!" His declaration parts in a gasp from his spotted maw, mismatched eyes lighting up as one by one other cats he recognized appeared before him. Cats he had thought long dead or he would never see again.
Thw two exiled upon their return from the SkyClan raid that lead to his own imprisonment there in the camp. Toms with good hearts, who spoke up despite knowing the reprocussions of doing so.
"Yewberry, Galeforce!"
Galeforce is spotted at the same time Coldsnap approaches and speaks as well, he turned sharply to look at the dark striped tom who had been one of his few confidents back then and he sucks in a deep breath.
"Coldsnap...."
His name is uttered once more in surprise, his nickname a meek cry. "Thymeroot.." His heart catches on a snag, tears, the familiar voice from his kithood shattering him in an instant. He had wondered so often if his siblings were okay, knowing he might not see them again since he was not permitted to go to gatherings; but to find Thymeroot here of all places...his escape had been a disastruous and bloody mess, he had only been able to focus on getting Daisypaw out alive and prayed to StarClan his friends would not be killed for daring to stand up for him in the madness. But they all looked terrible, even Thymeroot's normally plush pelt seemed to hang, the scars on his muzzle new and forboding. He leans forward to give a careful bump to the nose with the other, resisting the immediate impulse to mewl like a kitten in a combination of sorrow and delight. Everyone was alive, everyone was...
Well...most of them were here. He could come and see them sometimes, he could visit. SkyClan had plenty of cats go back and forth from this area; daylight warriors and the like.
"...you're....I....I'm so glad to see ye all..."
​

 

[coalfoot]

————————————————【 coalfoot | loner | male 】———————————————

【◈】Coalfoot found it surprising just how amazed he was to see his medicine cat standing before him, intact and well. He had gotten out. He had seen him run away, never saw his body in their own frantic run to the border. The bloody scent trail had carried well beyond their stopping point, and that was the last of it. No sight nor smell of him ever since.

At the same time that Dandelionwish seemed to recognize him, eyes lighting up, a smile broke out onto the bicolor tom's face. He couldn't help the choked bark of laughter he let out, stepping forward to affectionately bump his head against the sepia tom's. "It's so nice to know you're okay!" he exclaimed, looking over to Coldsnap as he drew near. No doubt he was shocked too, taking in the tabby's wide yellow eyes.

Between his fixation on his reunion and the falling rain, he hadn't seen nor scented the approaching cats, an unexpected voice bringing him to jump. Coldsnap and Dandelionwish were quick to beat him to uttering the name, Coalfoot twisting around and smile growing wider. "I could say the same to you! Hey, Galeforce! I'm glad you made it out okay! Is that Yewberry with you?" he knew the two had been chased out together, from what he'd been told.

It was a strange but welcome coincidence that everyone seemed to be showing up at the same time. It was a weight off his mind, knowing at last that everyone was at the very least alive.

Quickly, he turned back to Dandelionwish. "Wait, you... smell like SkyClan. Did they-? Are you a SkyClanner now?" SkyClan and WindClan were sworn enemies. Blazestar allowed him into their ranks, despite everything?

[penned by its_oliverr].

​

 

[Galeforce]

↞ RACE THE WINDS

So many of them who had been driven out by Sootstar and her lackies... Gale could hardly hide the shock from his expression as he swept his gaze across all the familiar faces he had grown up knowing. Bitterly he knew these were only the ones who had survived the escape, he held no doubt that some must have perished but he didn't know who. All he could do was send his own silent prayer to those who were lost. Right now it was the living who he had to focus on, especially on those who lived alongside him. Yew, Sharpeye, and the sweet Lavender.

Sensing her presence behind him he extended out his tail so he could touch her shoulder reassuringly. There was nothing to fear here, not this time. Looking back over his shoulder he offered up one of his big confident grins before he returned his focus to the other felines. "I'm glad to see you're all still kicking despite the Mad Queen on the moors." So, how exactly did they all get away? He wanted to ask, but he wasn't entirely keen on holding the conversation in the rain in the middle of twolegplace. "Yew! Come on out!" There was no point in his comrade hiding now either.

"I just go by Gale these days. Oh! Meet Lavie! And Lavie, meet Dandelionwish, Coalfoot, Coldsnap, and Thymeroot. Just like me they all formerly lived in WindClan." As he stood there he finally had his first proper look at each of his former clanmates and he couldn't help but take note of the scars they bore. His own were now hidden beneath his thick fur, making his injuries a forgotten nightmare at this point. But he imagined that things were still hard for them. With the rain still coming down he decided to extend a welcome to the others they wished to take him up on it. "I would love to catch up with you all but standing in the rain is hardly pleasant company for conversation. Our home isn't far and it's sheltered, we could talk there if you like?"
​