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Post by Deleted on Jan 25, 2016 19:00:43 GMT -5
I wanna taste love and pain, wanna feel pride and shame...
Being assigned to a hunting patrol with his father was not entirely Rushwhisker's idea of a great time, but at least it was a hunting patrol rather than a border patrol. It's not that he hated his father, for that was something he didn't think he was capable of, and his father had never been cruel to him so there was no real reason to hate him, it was only that... he was everything that Rushwhisker himself might have become if he'd allowed it. He'd tried to reach out to the white furred tom on many occasions, to pull him back as he had been pulled back, but Whitewater simply... seemed content to dwell in his darkness. Whitewater had never been the easiest cat for him to get along with, but now he was completely beyond his reach.
He trudged along in the snow behind his father, who was breaking their way through and making it quite a lot easier for himself and their final patrol member, Bitternwing, to walk. He cast a glance back at the she-cat to see if she was doing all right. Tension seemed to hang in the air, and at first he had thought it was only because he and his father had become estranged, but looking at Bitternwing staring down at her paws made him wonder otherwise. He ran into Whitewater's backside while his head was still turned to regard Bitternwing.
Icy blue eyes turned to regard him coldly, “We'll split up here. Watch the trees, branches have been falling from the weight of the snow,” he turned to leave but paused to glance back at his kit, his tone dry and bitter, “Don't make me drag my own son back to camp, defeated by a tree.” With that he plodded off into the snow.
Rushwhisker's ears twitched and he sighed, watching him go, murmuring with some concern, “Don't make me drag you back either.” He turned to face Bitternwing, a concerned expression still on his face, “Are you all right? I don't know if I've ever seen a cat stare at their paws so much.” He gave her a soft, encouraging smile. He had no idea why she had seemed so distant on their little journey, but if she wanted to talk about it he was ready to listen.
I wanna live better days, never look back and say, “It could have been me.”
Leaf-bare 19 Fawn
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Post by Fawn on Jan 25, 2016 19:17:32 GMT -5
B I T T E R N W I N G Warrior of RainClan. 15 Moons. She-Cat.
"Hey, Brother. Do you still believe in one another?"
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Being assigned to a hunting patrol with her former mentor was a far cry from ideal. Maybe it was something about the season, but the tom's bitter, at times abrasive commentary seemed to sting more than usual. That's assuming he even paid her any attention at all. Not wishing to cause trouble, the oddly patterned she-cat had taking up her usual position behind the older warrior, noting with dismay that she had somehow been reduced to a six-moon old kitten all over again. Don't let him get you down! Said the small voice of sunshine in her heart, and Bitternwing nodded absently to herself, as if someone had spoken these words aloud to her. I will. I'll stay positive. The patrol wasn't a complete bust; joining them, much to Bitternwing's surprise (and reddening) was a familiar tabby-and-white warrior a few moons older than her.
After managing a quiet but friendly hello to Rushwhisker when she was certain Whitewater was out of earshot, Bitternwing followed the pair out into RainClan's sparsely wooded territory. All of a sudden, looking down at her paws felt like a much better idea than ever before; it wasn't that she was afraid of Whitewater, it was just that...
He was grouchy. But it wasn't him she had trouble making eye-contact with...
“Don't make me drag my own son back to camp, defeated by a tree.”
Dark, ginger-speckled ears flattened with dismay at the overwhelming bitterness in Whitewater's tone. She was fortunate to have never heard her own father sound so broken, to talk to her as if she were more an inconvenient stranger than his own flesh and blood. When the white water trudged off into the barren wilderness beyond, Bitternwing had stolen a tiny glance to the tabby warrior—wondering if he was alright.
Yet he was the one who'd spoken up first. Asking her if she was okay. Warmed by the unexpected kindness, Bitternwing smiled in her gentle, non-interrupting way. "Oh I'm okay. The snow's a little bright," why did I say that? With a self-conscious twitch of her tail, she followed up quickly with something much more honest. "I was trying to stay out of Whitewater's way. He's..." She trailed off, searching for the right adjective to describe Rushwhisker's father. Or did she even need to find one? None knew him better than the cat standing before her, so she let it go, feeling her mouth run dry with nervousness.
He'd always been so kind to her, even if those moments were fleeting or considered somehow trivial to anyone else. In a smaller voice, slightly apologetic in case her words were offensive, Bitternwing asked him a question. "Does it... upset you? When he speaks like that?" To think he was used to it was sad.
-----
"Oh, if the sky comes falling down for you, There’s nothing in this world I wouldn’t do."
Word Count: 488 Words Tags: @zen Notes:
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Post by Deleted on Jan 25, 2016 21:47:18 GMT -5
I wanna taste love and pain, wanna feel pride and shame...
Her answer seemed avoidant at first, but that was fine. If she didn't want to talk to him about whatever was bothering her, then she certainly didn't have to. It's not like they knew each other well, at least not yet. He was still working on reaching out to more cats in his Clan. But then she continued and he couldn't help but sigh again, glancing back the way his father had disappeared, “I'm sorry for how he is.” He turned back to her with sympathetic pale green eyes.
Her question gave him pause and he gave a sad smile, “Always... because it makes me feel so helpless.” He looked after his father again, his voice softening, “I wish I could help him... but you can't help someone who doesn't want help.” He shook his head, turning back to her, “I really hope you try not to take anything he says or does to heart. It's all coming from a place of incredible pain and he doesn't really mean them. It doesn't excuse his actions or his words. He just doesn't want to hurt again... so he keeps pushing everyone away.”
He spoke knowingly, because he had been there. He hadn't fallen as low as his father, had never deliberately hurt those around him to keep them at bay, to stop any attachments or affections, but he hadn't been too far away. He hadn't ever completely given up. He had still been kind and polite when others came to him, even if he had tried to avoid every cat like the plague most of the time.
He flicked his tail and turned, having little more to say on the subject of his father. He didn't expect anyone to forgive him for how he treated them, he just wanted them to know where he was coming from, and how broken he truly was... so maybe they could feel at least a little compassion for him, even though he could be cruel. Whitewater wanted cats to shut him out and leave him alone, but giving him what he wanted would never help him heal. Only kindness and understanding could heal him, and even then... he wasn't sure his father was still able to be saved from himself. “We should probably try to hunt a little before we freeze our ears off for nothing.”
I wanna live better days, never look back and say, “It could have been me.”
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Post by Fawn on Jan 29, 2016 1:47:15 GMT -5
B I T T E R N W I N G Warrior of RainClan. 15 Moons. She-Cat.
"Hey, Brother. Do you still believe in one another?"
-----
It's all coming from a place of incredible pain and he doesn't really mean them. Bitternwing felt those words resonate the strongest, out of all that the young warrior had said to her. Thoughts of Crowblaze filled her head, and she nodded sympathetically, at once understanding just what Rushwhisker meant. He was so different from the others, and the tortoiseshell couldn't help but notice; it would have been much easier to just scoff and say some cold retort to excuse Whitewater's actions. Instead, here she was, and here he was, having an honest conversation about a cat that had caused them both no small amount of emotional torment.
Apart from Gullswoop, Bitternwing didn't know any other cat in the Clan that she might have such a conversation with. "You're exceptionally kind, Rushwhisker," her declaration was soft and sincere—before she realized what she had said and quickly agreed with his statement about hunting. "Of course! I'll go search over here, and try not to wander under any dangerous branches." Or fill his ears with my senseless chatter.
Torn between a strong desire to talk to him further, about anything at all really, and keeping a respectful distance, politesse won the day, and she guided her focus from the tabby tom onto the surrounding environment. Looking across RainClan's thin, particularly bare looking woodlands, Bitternwing couldn't help but wonder if there was anything left to find.
But we'll try anyway. Besides, Bitternwing did not wish to return to Whitewater empty-pawed, and if perseverance was what it took to ensure that didn't happen, then she'd better get started. The urge to look over her shoulder was promptly ignored, and she raised her nose to scent the air, trying to pick up anything that was not feline. The snow made tracking quite difficult.
Maybe I can catch a bird. Maybe. Was it possible? Well sure, anything was possible. But was it possible for her, who had never caught so much as a wading bird, catch a grackle or a cardinal?
Aptly watching the skies, Bitternwing could promise nothing except that she would at least make a brave attempt.
-----
"Oh, if the sky comes falling down for you, There’s nothing in this world I wouldn’t do."
Word Count: 378 Words Tags: @zen Notes: Branch falls on her? Bird lands and they both try to catch it?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2016 21:05:06 GMT -5
I wanna taste love and pain, wanna feel pride and shame...
Rushwhisker almost hadn't caught her soft spoken words. He wasn't sure what to say to them, but she saved him from having to figure it out, agreeing that they should try to hunt. She turned away from him, and he watched her for a moment as she tried to pick up prey scent, before padding away as well to give her some space to hunt without interrupting or getting in the way. His jaws parted, drawing in the cold, dry winter air in the hopes of finding some trace of prey.
He glanced warily at branches creaking above him as he padded on, his father's warning reminding him not to get so caught up in looking for prey that he forgot the dangers around him. The fact that Whitewater had warned them... maybe it was promising. He still cared, somewhere deep down, about the cats around him. Even if he tried to mask it with cold comments and bitterness. He shook his head, parting his jaws once more to scent the air, ears twitching for any sound that could indicate prey nearby.
Suddenly his ears angled forward, focusing on the slightest of scrabbling sounds, muffled by the snow at the base of a tree. Shifting his weight, he stepped as lightly as he could, heading toward the sound with a quick glance up at the tree's branches before his focus returned to the sound. As he drew the closer the scrabbling stopped, and so did he, frozen in place, ears angled sharply forward, straining to catch that sound again. At last it started back up, he moved forward once more, slower this time, angling his head slightly, first one way and then the other, trying to pinpoint the source of the noise.
At last he paused again, crouching. He drew in a deep breath and prayed to StarClan for just enough luck to catch this piece of prey, whatever it might be, so that he could return to camp with something, anything, to feed so many hungry cats. Then he leaped, his paws driving straight down into the snow, claws unsheathed. He felt soft flesh beneath one paw and scooped it up instantly, flinging a scrawny water vole onto the snow. He scrambled around, pouncing on it before it could recover and nipping its neck to kill it. Picking it up, he quickly removed himself from beneath the tree, taking another glance up at the branches, which seemed to still be safely connected to the trunk.
Feeling quite triumphant over his catch, he gave thanks to StarClan for heeding his prayer. He hadn't really thought he'd be able to catch the creature beneath the snow without seeing it at all. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing, which was what a lot of cats were bringing back from hunting patrols this leaf-bare. He trotted back the way he'd come, the water vole swinging from his jaws, to see if the others had managed to catch anything. He slowed as he caught Bitternwing's scent over the scent of the water vole, lowering himself in the snow as he saw her stalking something, though he couldn't make out what it was. His ears angled forward as a strange groaning sound reached them. The water vole fell from his jaws as he leaped forward, as fast as his paws would take him, eyes wide and yowling frantically, “Bitternwing!” He barreled into her, sending them both rolling in the snow as a branch crashed down where she had been standing only heartbeats before.
I wanna live better days, never look back and say, “It could have been me.”
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Post by Fawn on Feb 2, 2016 2:59:54 GMT -5
B I T T E R N W I N G Warrior of RainClan. 15 Moons. She-Cat.
"Hey, Brother. Do you still believe in one another?"
-----
If pressed to answer, Bitternwing could not state whether she was more adept at fighting or at hunting. She was average at both, the tortoiseshell surmised, without having had an opportunity to really test herself in either category. Whitewater had been the opposite of supportive—and it was easy for a more experienced mentor to see if she had any latent potential that simply hadn't been tapped whatsoever throughout her 6 moons of training.
There was one thing to be said about her, though.
Bitternwing had surprisingly fast reflexes.
Hunkered low, she was like an autumnal shadow pressing herself low to the gnarled brown and gray roots of the naked trees, trying to blend in to her surroundings as best she could. Her eyes, sweetly rounded and earnest in their determination, were set upon a fluffy red cardinal, admiring the plumage without getting too distracted from her task. Just another pawstep closer... then another... Provided her splotchy black and orange fur didn't give her away like a bright autumn leaf on snow.
creeaaaaak
The cardinal took off without a second glance. Bitternwing froze and immediately looked around. Is there a branch falling? Is Rushwhisker alright? Before these concerns could manifest into her deviating from her current hunting path to seek out the tabby tom, her name rent the air, and something furry hurtled into her like a rock that had rolled down a mountainside.
With a gasp of surprise, a cold wet world swallowed her up as she was flung back, toppling tail-over-ears into a deep fluffy snowbank, tangled with Rushwhisker. "W-What? What happened?" Dazed and confused, Bitternwing looked at him with deep alarm, mystified as to why he would screech and tackle her as if he had lost his mind, when she finally noticed the tree branch nearby.
OH.
Bitternwing flushed underneath her pelt. "You saved my life!" In a flurry of activity, the tortoiseshell scrambled out of the snow, checking him over with a cold press of her nose and worried eyes. "Oh StarClan, did you get hurt? How did you get over here so fast?" Breatheless, Bitternwing tried to take a few calming gulps of ear, attempting to wrangle her nerves into something less frantic. In a voice made distant by shock, the she-cat murmured."That tree almost crushed me."
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"Oh, if the sky comes falling down for you, There’s nothing in this world I wouldn’t do."
Word Count: 421 Words Tags: @zen Notes: Is it a bird? Is it a plane? NO IT'S RUSHWHISKER!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2016 0:45:32 GMT -5
I wanna taste love and pain, wanna feel pride and shame...
Rushwhisker's heart was pounding so hard he thought it might burst from his chest at any moment. All the things that could have gone wrong began to play out in his mind. If he hadn't caught the water vole, he would have kept going, trying to find something else to catch. He never would have returned as soon as he did, instead... instead when he came back he would have found her lifeless body beneath a broken branch. Or if his paws hadn't carried him fast enough. Or- ”What happened?”
He turned wide eyes toward the sound of her voice, meeting her mystified gaze for a long moment. “Thank StarClan,” he finally gasped, pushing himself up out of the snow. Surely StarClan had been looking out for her. Everything had worked out perfectly. With a jolt of surprise, he looked over as she pressed her nose against him, asking if he was hurt. He took a step away from her to shake out his pelt, freeing himself of some of the snow that still clung to him, and gave his chest fur a few licks in an attempt to calm his still racing heart.
“I'm fine. I didn't hurt you, did I? I just...,” he trailed off, eyes darting back to the fallen branch, an image of her dark fur caught beneath flashing through his mind and sending a shudder through him. His gaze swept above them quickly with a spark of alarm, wary of any branches hanging over them, ready to make his vision come true. Luckily RainClan's woodlands were not as thick as the other wooded territories, and it seemed they were out of any immediate danger from falling branches.
With the danger passed, the rush of adrenaline that had propelled him forward was gone and he suddenly felt weak with relief. His hind legs buckled and he sat heavily in the snow. “Thank StarClan...,” he repeated quietly. ”That tree almost crushed me.” He forced himself back to his paws and rasped his tongue over Bitternwing's ear in what was meant to be a comforting gesture, a soft purr rumbling in his throat, “I'm so glad you're all right. Everything... everything's all right.”
I wanna live better days, never look back and say, “It could have been me.”
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Post by Fawn on Feb 11, 2016 23:57:40 GMT -5
B I T T E R N W I N G Warrior of RainClan. 15 Moons. She-Cat.
"Hey, Brother. Do you still believe in one another?"
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"I'm so glad you're all right. Everything... everything's all right."
A soft lick to her ear and a comforting purr, and Bitternwing felt some of the shock dissipate. Enough to leave a kind of embarrassed delight over the kindness Rushwhisker showed her so easily—he'd saved her life, and for as long as she lived after, she would try to show to him that hers had been well worth saving. Though the she-cat's heart had already been thumping like rabbits' feet against her chest, it now flipflopped, her body still feeling nerveless with the disbelief and relief of it all. "Thank you, Rushwhisker," she mewed, anxious at the thought of those words lacking. Why wasn't there something stronger to say for big impossible moments like these?
Bitternwing would have to be content with this meager expression of gratitude. Turning her thoughts outward and beyond Rushwhisker, she cast a concerned look around the small woodlands, now very conscious of the dangers it possessed. Falling branches had not been just a cautionary tale from the elders and senior warriors; it was a very real issue, and something she hoped they could prevent from happening to another cat.
"We should check on Whitewater, make sure he's okay." Bitternwing's ears swiveled, hoping to catch sight of her former mentor. They both knew that Whitewater wouldn't appreciate the coddling, but after a scare like this... It was better to be safe than grieving, wasn't it?
The light brown and white tabby fluffed her fur out further, losing muscular definition in favor of keeping warm. Bitternwing's plentiful fur coat was like a security blanket in times like these, and she felt more than grateful to have it; not only could she stay out longer if searching for Whitewater took a while to find, but she could keep Rushwhisker warm too, if they needed to find shelter.
Such thoughts were unrealistic, of course—it was still bright out, they had enough time to get back to camp.
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"Oh, if the sky comes falling down for you, There’s nothing in this world I wouldn’t do."
Word Count: 330 Words Tags: @zen Notes:
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