| You said my words would kill you but you stood there all the same. |
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STAFF
GaleClan MCA
INVENTORY
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Post by ♛ 𝔽𝕒𝕓𝕣𝕚𝕔𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 on Mar 11, 2022 16:17:39 GMT -5
[googlefont=Xanh Mono][googlefont=Dosis]  RAVENPAW g a l e c l a n 8 a p p r e n t i c e
Open your eyes, choking on his breath. [attr="class","raven-content"]It'll never be the same. He thought, looking around at his new surroundings. Their new home. Just beyond one of the few surviving clusters of rabbit burrows lay the rolling hills that every LightningClan cat had ever known. Yet even further than that, further than Ravenpaw's keen green eyes could see, lay a rift splitting the valley into two halves that would never reconnect. Pain clung to his heart at everything that the Clan had lost. It hadn't hit him until now just how much had changed. Even now, he could see unfamiliar shapes flitting among the cats he had always known. He was supposed to consider these strangers to be his clanmates. Even now, the scent of TreeClan, StoneClan or RainClan clung to some pelts, with the rare whiff of NightClan stench mixed in. It would be a long time before their scent intermingled long enough to become the new, distinct aroma marking them as GaleClan.
GaleClan. How strange it was to have such a fundamental part of your identity changed because... what, StarClan said it was a good idea? He swallowed, his anxiety about the uncertain moons to come and all the work they'd have to do rising to the surface. For once, he wasn't the only one entirely shattered by unexpected change. For once, he could feel that same uneasiness all around him like hanging smoke.
Weaving in between the crowd of cats that hunched together for safety, Ravenpaw made his way over to a familiar orange tabby shape. With everything that had happened, everyone who was lost... He didn't know how Kindleflare was keeping her head up against the pressure. As he finally drew close to the cat who had not only brought him into this world, but kept a guiding paw around his shoulders throughout his kithood, he was struck very suddenly by how much older she seemed. When he was a kit, she had seemed so timeless, an ever-present and reassuring figure you could always find in the medicine cat den. It had felt like she would always be there. But after all the deaths the Clan had suffered, Ravenpaw couldn't help but become painfully aware of how temporary every cat was. Even Kindleflare would not be there forever. And Cloudbelly, who had recently earned his warrior name, would someday be a distant memory. He felt ill at the thought and had to stay silent for several minutes while he forced his heart to steady.
"Hey." He meowed quietly, pressing against Kindleflare's side. "You okay?" He didn't know what else to say, but it was a start.
You grimace, then smile. [newclass=".raven-content b"]color:#9679ff;[/newclass] |
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| Conquer the monster in your head, and then you'll fly |
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GaleClan Medicine Cat
INVENTORY
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Post by BlooRey DVD on Jun 30, 2022 16:57:21 GMT -5
"Some people see scars, and it is wounding they remember.
To me they are proof of the fact that there is healing.” KIndleFlare Dark eyes stared at nothing, not registering what was in front of her. For some time now, the medicine cat had been operating effectively on autopilot; completing tasks, going where she was needed, and never stopping to take a breath. While staying in the Tribe lands, Kindleflare would spend her days essentially working until she could no more, before succumbing to some dreamless semblance of sleep. It had worked to keep her busy and halt her grief for some time.
Now, standing in the midst of what was supposed to be their new home…
Suddenly she had a moment to think. Think about all the strange scents around her, the strange landscapes, faces… Yet, even more soul-crushing to the aging ginger tabby were the faces she did not see. Those who had not resurfaced when the very ground beneath their paws had split like the maw of a great beast to swallow what had once been home.
And with every breath she took she realized… One of those had been her brother, that she would never see Nightstep’s confident gait as he proceeded through his duties as a respected warrior again. That beast that had sought to devour the earth they walked on had devoured her sibling and his mate in the blink of an eye.
A sudden touch at her side jolted the distant medicine cat from her haze, and Kindleflare inhaled shakily as her head jerked up. Blinking the threatening tears from her eyes, she wrapped her tail more tightly over her paws as if to steady herself. When she smiled, it was one tinged with sadness, one that didn’t quite reach her eyes while her ears flattened to her skull.
“I… I m-miss him.” She admitted quietly.
Medicine Cat of LightningClan GaleClan |
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| You said my words would kill you but you stood there all the same. |
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STAFF
GaleClan MCA
INVENTORY
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Post by ♛ 𝔽𝕒𝕓𝕣𝕚𝕔𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 on Jul 8, 2022 19:02:43 GMT -5
[googlefont=Xanh Mono][googlefont=Dosis] RAVENPAW g a l e c l a n 8 a p p r e n t i c e
Open your eyes, choking on his breath. [attr="class","raven-content"]Ravenpaw listened softly to the intake of breath as Kindleflare tried to balance herself in the present. Ever since he had been a small kit, she had been the kin he had turned to for comfort and safety. Of course, he had Robinflame, but she always tried to encourage a tougher side in him and wasn’t much for soft fur and soothing purrs. It suddenly hit Ravenpaw that Robinflame was gone. In all the chaos and tumble of trying to escape, and the process of staying in the crowded, overwhelming space that was the Tribe’s cave… he hadn’t had any time to process that Robinflame was gone, he would never see or speak to her again. Never hear her teasing quips, never feel the touch of her nose to his head. The incomprehension in the face of such a total loss of someone who had always been apart of his life hit him with such an acute wave of pain and confusion that he immedietly felt unwanted tears brimming in his eyes.
He looked up at the molly who would not look at him, his whiskers trembling. He did not know specifically who “him” was, because there were so many toms lost to the chaos that “him” could mean all of them at once. He didn’t know what to do. Kindleflare was crying now too, seeming so much smaller. So much more vulnerable. He reached out a paw, then retracted it, helpless misery overcoming him as he came to realise that he had no idea what to do or say to help. He simply curled closer into her fur, seeking the familiar softness of her ginger pelt. Once more, he was Ravenkit, small, knowing so little about the world that even the birds seemed magical. His own tears spilt over, rolling down his face and making him feel furious with himself. He had wanted to help Kindleflare, not make her feel worse. He reached up his white paw and swiped them away angrily. After several minutes had passed, Ravenpaw finally worked up the nerve to speak.
“Maybe he’s okay. Maybe he’s alive.”
He still hadn’t identified who “he” was. But all Ravenpaw could think to offer her was empty, unrealistic idealism.
You grimace, then smile. [newclass=".raven-content b"]color:#9679ff;[/newclass] |
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| Conquer the monster in your head, and then you'll fly |
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GaleClan Medicine Cat
INVENTORY
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Post by BlooRey DVD on Jul 9, 2022 10:38:02 GMT -5
"Some people see scars, and it is wounding they remember.
To me they are proof of the fact that there is healing.” KIndleFlare Suddenly, she was not the only one with tears in her eyes. Reality struck her then, like a bolt of what they’d once been named. Loss was rampant. No one, alive or otherwise, had stepped away from the rubble of their past lives without a piece of themselves missing. Mothers, brothers, children; when the earth’s jaws had split open, it had cared little for age or circumstance. Indiscriminate in its taking, ceaseless in its destruction. Left behind were fragments of the beings that had once been LightningClan.
Ravenpaw was no different. Kindleflare remembered Robinflame in that moment, and she knew that he too felt loss. Younger than she by several moons, her apprentice hadn’t deserved to experience such a devastating loss so early. Breathing in softly, she pressed her chin to the top of his head and held him. Held him as he held her, two beings in symbiosis. Had she been a more confident, more creative individual, she might have sung to him a lullaby Firebird had once done for her kits. Instead, she settled for a gentle hum of a melody that brought with it memories of a far more innocent part of her life.
One devoid of fear, grief, loss.
She wasn’t sure how much time had passed, though her aging body told her it had been some time. Her neck complained of a stiffness, brought forth by the constant curl of her neck as she all but wrapped herself around the younger tom. His stirring loosened her stance and silenced her mindless hum, dark amber eyes opening to peer down at him once more. His words were both a comfort and a fear, her mind in asynchrony at the thought of Nightstep having not been lost to the quake.
On one paw, he would be alive. On the other, he’d have been left alone in StarClan knows what state.
Her dark orbs studied Ravenpaw’s features for a moment, taking in his fragility; a mirror of her own. After a moment, she smiled again, fractionally more earnest than the last but just as exhausted. “I-If anyo-one could f-find a way to s-survive the ch-chaos, I s-supposed it w-would be N-Nightstep.” She mewed simply, leaning down to rasp her tongue over the top of his head. “Th-Thank you.” Came her appreciation, barely above a breath from her lungs.
“A-And you? Are y-you, as you w-worded it… O-Okay?” No one was okay in this moment, of this she was certain. But she also recognized the question was meant as more of an “are you ask okay as you can be”. That was all they could truly strive to be, in these devastating times.
Medicine Cat of LightningClan GaleClan |
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| You said my words would kill you but you stood there all the same. |
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STAFF
GaleClan MCA
INVENTORY
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Post by ♛ 𝔽𝕒𝕓𝕣𝕚𝕔𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 on Jul 15, 2022 16:29:34 GMT -5
[googlefont=Xanh Mono][googlefont=Dosis] RAVENPAW g a l e c l a n 8 a p p r e n t i c e
Open your eyes, choking on his breath. [attr="class","raven-content"]He jumped at the sensation of touch to his forehead at first, his vision so blurry he hadn’t anticipated it. He closed his eyes tight, a kit once more, swaddled in Kindleflare’s soft embrace. He hiccuped, embarassed at his own lack of restraint as he wrapped a white paw up to hold her as she was holding him. Harebrain! He was supposed to be trying to help her, not the other way around. She had seemed so utterly devastated when he’d crept up to her side, and now his own emotions were making it all worse. How small he felt nestled into her silky apricot-coloured coat. Her gentle humming slowed his breathing somewhat, and he began to rasp his own tongue along her shoulder affectionately. His own sad little attempt to soothe his mother.
Mother? Startled by the realisation that he had thought of Kindleflare under the title “mother”, he found anxiety and embarrassment stirring in his heart. If Kindleflare knew he thought that way, would it bother her? She was his mentor, his teacher, a calming presence who had been a part of his life since he opened his eyes. Even before that, since he had come into the world. She had been at his side every step during his short life, and the day she became his mentor had been a joyful and relieving experience. Was it wrong to think of her as a mother? And was thinking of her as a mother a betrayal to Robinflame, lost to the earthquake? After all, she had raised him too, since he was a kit. Was she sitting in StarClan now, thinking that he never loved her because of how quickly he had turned to Kindleflare for reassurance?
Her humming vibrated against his side like a purr, and he felt almost sleepy. When she stepped back, he didn’t quite meet her gaze, instead listening to her voice as he looked out across their clanmates. Some faces were familiar, some new. His dark tail tucked nervously around his paws, he nodded. Nightstep, that was his name. He recalled, his eyes darkening. That was her brother… right? Unsure of what to say or how to continue, he shuffled his white paws. “I bet he misses you, wherever he is.” He meowed quietly. Surprised by the question, he finally looked up at her, studying her whiskers, the outline of her muzzle. He could see tears glistening against the white of her face. “I am now.” He answered, pressing his nose to hers. “I…” His voice shook. “I’m glad the earthquake didn’t take you, too.”
You grimace, then smile. [newclass=".raven-content b"]color:#9679ff;[/newclass] |
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| Conquer the monster in your head, and then you'll fly |
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GaleClan Medicine Cat
INVENTORY
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Post by BlooRey DVD on Oct 10, 2022 19:46:55 GMT -5
"Some people see scars, and it is wounding they remember.
To me they are proof of the fact that there is healing.” KIndleFlare The sincerity of his words struck her then, a surge through her heart before a bittersweet warmth overtook it. She realized, in that moment, how easily it could have been her. Why StarClan had deemed her paws would continue to walk the earth, whereas others would join the stars, she could not say. But it could have been her. Looking down upon the young tom she had come to love so dearly, she couldn’t help but think I’m g-glad it didn’t t-take me too.
But most importantly, she was glad the earthquake had not claimed Batear or Ravenpaw. Batear was the other half of her soul, and if the black she-cat had not made it through well… If she was being honest, the ginger healer wasn’t sure she would have been able to find ample reason to keep going. This wasn’t to say others in the Clan weren’t important to her.
And yet, how could one be expected to continue without a whole soul?
Clearing her throat and dismissing those thoughts from her head, the ginger healer offered him a warm smile as she returned the touch of his nose to hers. “I w-will always d-do what I c-can to w-walk at your side, Ravenp-paw.”
And even when her time came to walk among the stars, Kindleflare would fight tooth and claw to be Ravenpaw’s guide. It didn’t matter how timid she might be, this was bigger than her. This was a promise to someone she loved.
“I-I am g-glad the earth f-failed to c-claim you as w-well, Ravenpaw.”
Perhaps, when the wound of their lost Clanmates, his mother included, was not so fresh, she would admit to him that she’d come to think of the young tom as more than just her apprentice. For now, it would have to do that she was here, and that she cared.
I w-will watch o-over him, R-Robinflame. I p-promise.
Medicine Cat of LightningClan GaleClan |
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| You said my words would kill you but you stood there all the same. |
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STAFF
GaleClan MCA
INVENTORY
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Post by ♛ 𝔽𝕒𝕓𝕣𝕚𝕔𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 on Nov 11, 2022 16:40:27 GMT -5
[googlefont=Xanh Mono][googlefont=Dosis] RAVENPAW g a l e c l a n 8 a p p r e n t i c e
Open your eyes, choking on his breath. [attr="class","raven-content"]Despite the devastation and loss that surrounded them, Ravenpaw felt in that moment that he had never felt safer than he did pressed up against his mentor’s side. She must have been named Kindleflare because of the warmth she could ignite in others, a glowing hearth that radiated out from the chest all the way down to the toes. The “why” of everything that had happened felt so far away now. All he could feel was gratitude that they were there, together, in that moment, breathing and feeling and seeing the new world that StarClan had deemed essential for their future.
Consoled by her vow to tread by his side, he remained pressed against her cottony fur, watching other cats move around them, trying to piece together the wreckage of their old lives. He thought of all the cats who had left them to join the stars, and could only watch helplessly as their surviving clanmates tried to reconstruct normality. And he realised, that had he been among them, he would have felt no resentment for the living. The thought gave him peace, and he found himself closing his eyes briefly, his face still leaning against Kindleflare’s shoulder. “I love you.” He mumbled, and he meant it. He always had, and he always would.
The new future was terrifying, and unknown. But the knowledge that he wouldn’t be facing it alone gave him just enough strength to want to put one paw in front of the other.
You grimace, then smile. [newclass=".raven-content b"]color:#9679ff;[/newclass] |
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