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Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2019 23:10:43 GMT -5
BELIEVE IN STRENGTH Pumafang TREECLAN - WARRIOR - 30 MOONS
It was dark outside.
Pumafang had gotten used to the sun dappling the forest floor, warming the soil with a newfound heat, though the ground the past day was cooler. Night had turned the soil cold and damp. Stormy, cinder grey clouds kept the stars hidden from sight, and although the moderate temperature was something to be grateful for, Pumafang couldn't help but hope it didn't rain until he returned to camp.
Though, despite his preferences, the chocolate black warrior didn't mind the darkness without the pure, white light of the stars.
There was no wind. Pumafang wouldn't have been surprised if the clouds burst, showering the valley in cold tears, though he had a hunch: it didn't seem humid enough for a big storm. The silence and stillness of the forest made the fur along his spine ruffle ever so slightly.
For as much as he didn't take to rain, he had always loved the calm before the storm. It made his heart skip like a kitten, and the heavier, more violent of the storm which followed, the more he appreciated the sturdy confines of TreeClan's camp.
The chocolate black warrior's paws carried him through the woods, deciduous trees still skeletons from a long leafbare. Leaf litter that was once vibrant shades of crimson had dried to an aged, bloody brown. The tom's steps were slow, yet strong, as he headed towards the center of the clans: StarClan's Claws. Pumafang felt a pull towards the gathering grounds for a reason unbeknownst to him.
After sharing tongues with his clan and watching as they all slowly turned in for the night, he had left his clanmates in the safety of camp to ponder.
It had been a long day, though he hadn't seen fatigue as a good enough reason to tie him down for the night. He had let Elmstrike and Birchfrost know that he would be back late: the small brown tabby tom was on guard duty tonight along with the gluttonous silver tom. It was advised against, going out alone after dark, though Pumafang wanted to digest TreeClan's successes and failures without interference. Seeing the uniquely shaped rock-forms up ahead allowed the massive, black warrior to release a sigh.
Cliffpaw was no longer Cliffpaw. He had become a warrior a few days back, and Pumafang was released from those responsibilities of mentoring for the time being, though Lionstar has selected him as Gorsetail’s replacement. Pumafangs chest tightened. The look in his mother’s eyes during the announcement...It was like his grandkin, great grandkin, and all of those before them were exalting over his new position through her eyes.
Though Pumafang would never have wished it this way.
Gorsetail's injuries from NightClan's attack at the border two days ago had left TreeClan's past deputy in very poor condition. Pumafang was nervous. As much as he hadn't been a fan of the small brown tom's leadership tactics, he would never have wished him such ill circumstances. Pumafang felt hostility course through his veins like fire.
NightClan seemed to be a big problem as of late, and judging by what he heard about the unfortunate event that befell Gorsetail and his patrol, the pine-dwellers were tapering on the precarious edge of sanity. NightClan was NightClan though, and although tensions were high, he didn't notice much change in their shadowy neighbors as of late.
Just that the warmth of Newleaf should have neutralized much of their ill relations. Pumafang couldn't recall a time in which a cat from another clan became enraged enough to do such damage on a routine border patrol.
The death of Blackwolf must have rattled them deeper than he could have imagined.
That ancient, flea-ridden elder? Pumafang almost scoffed aloud. The old NightClan tom had only ever been a thorn in TreeClan's side at every turn, with a personality as pleasant as a pelt full of skin-scraping brambles. Abrasive would have been an understatement. For a cat as unpleasant as Blackwolf to have had as many supporters was beyond Pumafang's knowledge and understanding.
The black outline of StarClan's Claws stole his attention in the stony gloom of night, muted tones and intense stillness making the clearing quite ominous and grave. He relished in the power of their image and the icon they represented, standing calmly in the shadows for a few moments before taking a seat, wrapping his thick tail neatly around his paws. Pumafang looked like a cat from the legends, a panther prowling in sacred grounds.
What happens next? He thought emptily, deep amber eyes glazed with an intimidating lifelessness.
Word Count: 778
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Notes: Anyone from anywhere feel free to jump in! |
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| "If you're gonna hit it, hit it until it breaks." |
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GaleClan Leader
GorgeClan Medicine Cat
INVENTORY
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Post by Ghost the Undead Goddess on Apr 8, 2019 5:07:38 GMT -5
Timberfrost The story's getting old but my heart is getting colder A panther...
And then a tiger.
The massive tabby had left camp as the sun had been falling down behind the rise of the mountainside surrounding the valley of the clans. It wasn't uncommon for her to roam Treeclan's territory at night, the massive warrior like a silent watch dog patrolling for trouble.
That frosted gaze of hers watched from the shadows as her new deputy made his way silently up to the large rock formation in which leaders of each clan stood every Full Moon for the Gatherings.
Muscles rippled under the dark tabby pelt of the massive she-cat as she moved forwards, letting the shadows slip away from her form, only the faintest of light from the cloudy sky illuminated the outline of her form. The stagnant are giving no breeze for her scent to travel upon as she came from the direction of Treeclan's territory.
Icy pools of cerulean glowed every so slightly in that faint light, pupils wide as she was well adjusted to the inky darkness around her. The scar over her eye once again healed after being torn open at the claws of the gray Nightclanner she had fought at the border where Blackwolf had fallen to Brackenstride's claws.
Interesting.
Timberfrost had thought it when Pumafang was named Gorsetail's successor and she thought it again as she drew closer to his larger form standing at the base of Starclan's Claws. The dark tabby's maw parted as her chilly tone broke through the silence between the two. "Power can be such a seductive thing." She still had yet to actually look at the black coated tom near her, those ice chip like eyes focused upon the rock formation in front of her, emotions hidden within those cold pools.
Finally, she pulled her cerulean gaze away to practically stare a hole within his amber eyes. While she had spent many moons purposefully ignoring and avoiding her father's former apprentice, it seemed like recently coincidence or fate kept throwing them in situations together. It annoyed her to admit that the two of them had similarities, it annoyed her even more that she found herself drawn towards him, though it eluded her as to why.
Perhaps she was inherently drawn towards his power. Which, ironically drove her away from Goldenflame as she grew up.
Timberfrost's tail flickered behind her for a moment before her frosted voice sounded once more, "I don't know what he taught you, or what you believe, but if I think you are a threat to Treeclan then I wont hesitate to stop you." She spoke evenly, her gaze cold and hard as she stared down the larger tomcat that didn't even in the slightest intimidate her. It wasn't a threat either, it was a promise, deputy or not. Timberfrost would do anything to make sure her clan was protected and safe, and she would take out anyone who threatened that.
Always the muscle as the ambition to lead far from her interests.
She Cat | 23 Moons | TreeClan | Warrior |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 10, 2019 15:22:12 GMT -5
BELIEVE IN STRENGTH Pumafang TREECLAN - WARRIOR - 30 MOONS
Stop me. The thought flitted behind Pumafang's amber eyes, a question in essence despite the unenthusiastic and dull shadows that creased his features.
He had left camp to get away from company, yet here it was. How annoying. The massive black tom thought, tail twitching ever so slightly. Despite his initial mild irritation, he had to admit that of all the cats who could have shown up, Timberfrost was the best he could have hoped for. Her indifference towards emotion had lured him in, and knowing that there was someone else in TreeClan who treated him normally despite his distant heart was slightly satisfying.
Pumafang thought she was one of the few cats in the clan who wasn't cautious of him, but those insidious, promising words left her maw and shattered his hope for a closer relationship.
"Goldenflame was possessed by anger." Pumafang meowed flatly, voice deep with intensely grim undertones. "The belief of a cruel god makes a cruel man."
He always had his suspicions about Goldenflame. The deceased, brutish warrior whom had taught him so much had a dark side that only Pumafang had ever seen: so black and cold that it reacted to all the light and warmth of the world without change.
The tom's eyes would transform in their vicious, secret training sessions: they became dead, yet Goldenflame had still moved with a vigor and savagery that spelled death to those unable to beat it back with equal ferocity.
It was true. He admired his mentor at first, relishing the warrior's experience, confidence, and ambition. He ended up pushing himself to extraordinary measures because of the discipline and drive his mentor instilled, though Goldenflame was far too volatile in the end. He let his emotions run wild, ultimately sucking the humanity and sentiment out of young Pumafang like a parasite, feeding off of the youth, beating him out of fury, scarring him to an empty, calloused vessel.
For that, Pumafang had begun to see him as a rival: as an embodiment of anger and greed.
If Timberfrost would have given her father what he had wanted and not denied Goldenflame of her succession, Pumafang wouldn't have had to endure the hellish training his mentor put him through towards the end of his apprenticeship. Though part of Pumafang had thrived on the brutal attention, and he had convinced himself that it was best. The ambition that Timberfrost failed to embrace was the same ambition that endured Goldenflame's eruptions, that acted as a lifeboat for the emotionally drained youth.
That now made him TreeClan's deputy.
Pumafang never regretted his past. Never blamed someone else for his own hardships. Never pitied. Never prayed.
Yet he prospered, and TreeClan has prospered. It was from his own choices within his environment that shoved him down the path as a protector: a leader. There was no room for regret, and the only thing that mattered was moving forward.
So why did Timberfrost's words make him recollect something so useless? They would never understand, and tainting his mentor's name after the tom's death was cowardly. If he was going to soil Goldenflame's legacy, he would have done it when the tom was alive.
Pumafang blinked away the futile memories.
Anger. Sadness. Pain. Accomplishment. Confidence. Helplessness. Loneliness. Power.
"So that's how you felt all along?" The colossal black tom mused with a resonating rumble. "No wonder you avoided me. I would have avoided me too."
Does the whole clan see me as a monster? Pumafang thought emptily.
Word Count: 603
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Notes: xxx |
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| "If you're gonna hit it, hit it until it breaks." |
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GaleClan Leader
GorgeClan Medicine Cat
INVENTORY
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Post by Ghost the Undead Goddess on Apr 12, 2019 6:07:34 GMT -5
Timberfrost The story's getting old but my heart is getting colder Frozen pools never once wavered as the massive tabby feline stared down the larger tomcat across from her. Her whole stature was intimidating, as that was who she was merely as a large warrior, but she remained calm and cold while she silently analyzed both his reaction and response to her bold statement.
Did she mistrust the black coated warrior?
No, he had never given her a reason to. The Treeclan warrioress had no problems with Pumafang, no reason for distrust, animosity or disloyalty. Hell, Timberfrost hardly knew a thing about the tom except for the fact that he was training under the eye of her deceased father.
That was where the problem arose.
It always came back to Goldenflame...
Ever the heroic type when it came to the masses of the clan, even in death he was mourned and remembered for his courage and heart. The tabby she-cat found no point in wasting her breathe to attempt to tarnish his reputation. Not a single cat was aware of the broken minded, dark spirited golden warrior of Treeclan.
They didn't see his fury when it rose like a flame within his amber gaze. They hear the threat lingering within his tone as he spoke of destiny. They didn't see the taint of evil clouded around his heart like an inky black aura, sucking the life out of those around him. How many lives had been damaged because of the cold-blooded, twisted way Goldenflame viewed the world and those around him. Those he used as pawns.
Briarshade and her foolish weakness and cowardly heart, she let Goldenflame walk all over her. A once strong and bright she-cat reduced to a permaqueen through manipulation and negative affection, she believed he could do no wrong. She even attempted to reason with his methods. Brushfire and Bramblevine cast aside while he turned his obsessive attention, his fury, his crazed ideology onto the largest of his kits. Her denial of his belief sent him spiraling at every turn, it was almost as if it were due to her rejection that he retaliated against his last apprentice.
No-one knew Goldenflame as she had... No-one except Pumafang.
"Stop mewling." Timberfrost finally responded in that chilly tone of hers,though a command as if he weren't just named her new deputy, there was the faint tone of sarcasm within the words. Cerulean ice chips remained locked onto Pumafang, no emotions crossing those frozen pools when her deep rasp broke from her chest again, "I didn't avoid you because of who you are... I avoided you because I didn't want to see him in you."
The damage done by Goldenflame was ever present, lingering like a scar, similar to the one that carved across her eye. While Pumafang had received the claws and the fangs in devastating training sessions, Timberfrost had endured emotional trauma due to the mental, manipulative twists her father used in an attempt to control her from the time she had been born to the time he had taken his last breath.
A moment she remembered clearly as the fire finally died from those amber eyes of his, blood soaking his neck and flank as well as the grass where his body lay still. She had never been one for the clans belief system with Starclan, but from that moment Timberfrost knew that Goldenflame would walk among the shadows and scraps of the Dark Forest. Her only regret that he hadn't died from her claws rather than the work of several angry badgers who happened to invade their territory.
"Besides, hardly any cat finds you that scary when Elmstike is stuck to your flank like mooning apprentice." This time her tone was fully laced with a sarcastic tone, a sliver of amusement finally breaking through the icy chips of her gaze. Of course, there was also that time where the two of there were returning from the mountains and Timberfost had found him with a newborn kit after a testy battle. It had been the last thing she expected to see when peaking over the cliff side, but found the whole scene rather amusing.
"No, I don't think you are dangerous." Timberfrost spoke again, flickering her tail as the dark brown feline lowered her haunches to sit, the shadows around them licking at her black tabby stripes and her pale gaze illuminating within the pale moonlight. "But I'm a warrior, I'm a fighter. My loyalty is to Treeclan and keeping it safe and I will do it at the cost of my life."
Lionstar had been leader longer than either of the two massive warriors had been alive, just because she didn't always agree with the figurehead of Treeclan it didn't mean Timberfrost didn't trust his decision, especially when it came down to something as important as the next cat to lead once the lion like tomcat finally passed. If he wanted it to be Pumafang, then it was.
And Pumafang would have Timberfrost's loyalty.
She Cat | 23 Moons | TreeClan | Warrior |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 17, 2019 14:43:35 GMT -5
BELIEVE IN STRENGTH Pumafang TREECLAN - WARRIOR - 30 MOONS
Just as the feelings came, they went, washing by the colossal, chocolate black tom like a lazy breeze. He had to admit, Timberfrost's arrogance made his eyes lighten and the burden of memory lift from his shoulders. Her confidence was enticing.
"I have never doubted your loyalty to TreeClan," Pumafang started, responding quite timely to Timberfrost's last statement. "but I am curious."
There was a brief pause in his speech as the question flashed through his mind. Timberfrost also would have been an excellent choice for deputy. Foxfire was in the ranks as well, being well enough qualified to take up the leadership role Pumafang was fortunate to have secured. He didn't know Foxfire well, but he did know that he would make sure TreeClan prospered under his reign with no doubt, no hesitation in his mind. Pumafang felt like Timberfrost would have done the same perhaps, if her father weren't so insistent.
"Why are you so against assuming power?" He questioned cautiously, ears flicking towards Timberfrost as amber eyes digested her reaction. "You could have become just as equitable of a leader. If there is a better way to protect the clan than that, I would be quite interested to know what it is."
Timberfrost admitting her loyalty to TreeClan did nothing to solidify his trust in her: he already knew there was hardly a cat more faithful and devoted to the wellbeing of her clanmates than Timberfrost, though he was curious why she delved off the path of power to live a normal life. Pumafang sought the throne for mostly selfless reasons. He desired not just peace for his clan, but glory as well, and his grandiose dreams for TreeClan would only be recognized if he had a say in the clan's path forward. He wanted to make TreeClan greater than the legends he heard the elder's boast about, but carefully. He recognized the value of a life, and he wanted to forge ahead smartly. Strategically.
Pumafang wanted to give TreeClan the world. Didn't Timberfrost want the same?
If she did, why wouldn't she stand up for TreeClan herself?
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GaleClan Leader
GorgeClan Medicine Cat
INVENTORY
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Post by Ghost the Undead Goddess on Apr 17, 2019 18:32:30 GMT -5
Timberfrost The story's getting old but my heart is getting colder Frozen cerulean pools watched the massive tomcat in front of her as she mulled over the question she asked of her. Despite the lack of emotion within her cold features the massive tabby already knew the answer, it was something she learned a long time ago and hardened over time.
Why did she not want to lead?
"Even the greatest leaders cannot exceed without the strongest warriors at their paws." After all, what was a leader if he didn't have his warriors or his clan. He was merely a cat with vision and grandeur dreams. The leader was merely the figurehead of the clan, but the brunt of power came from those around him, formed together as a group, a community, a clan.
Timberfrost wasn't interested in diplomacy or leadership, let her handle all the nasty business of muscling around those who didn't belong to Treeclan. Let her be used as an intimidating technique or as brute force within a fight. She'd make for a frosty figurehead.
While her statement was true, it was only partial to her reasoning to stay away from Deputyship and Leadership beyond that. Goldenflame had been opsessed with reaching that position at any means neccisary, simply because of who their ancestor was. It had driven him mad, and a cat possessed by the need for glory and power was a dangerous cat.
Tigerstar.
She had only found out recently about her connection to the ancient cat queens used as scare tactics to make kits behave when they were acting up. The massive tabby tom who had killed many in his path to power, who had been exiled to the Dark Forest and beyond, always craving. Briarshade had pulled her aside to explain, as if it would change the situation around Goldenflame's erratic and abuseive behavior. As if it made everything okay.
Was it somewhat petty that she ignored that path just to scorn her father. Perhaps.
Timberfrost finally let her icy gaze move away from Pumafang towards the jutting formation of Starclan's Claws. There was an faint sense of strength from the spot, as only leaders stood there looking proud and powerful among the mass of the clans whenever they gathered under the full moons. "Power can be a seductive thing." She repeated the phrase she spoke when she happened upon her deputy only mintues earlier.
Did she fear that the waters of regency? Did she fear her birth right, laid down to her by her deceased father as the crazed flames danced behind his golden eyes in the darkest corners of her mind? Did she fear that control and thirst would drown out her moral standings if she chose to follow the path that was attempted to be laid in front of her massive paws? Timberfrost let the chilly questions swirl around inside her head as she continued to stare at the rock formation before her, only the twitch of her ear happened before the warrioress pulled her attention away from such things.
"Just because I don't have the desire to lead doesn't mean I don't have the ambition to be the greatest warrior Treeclan has produced." The faint flames of a cold fire burned within her cerulean pools as Timberfrost held Pumafang's amber gaze with ease, the smallest of smirks touching her maw. She had a dangerous side to her, a side that lived for the intensity and the thrill of battle, the feeling of adrenaline as it coursed through her veins, the power as her claws tore at her enemies. She would take on the whole of the valley if it mean't Treeclan would be the best. Which they were, and Timberfrost would never stop proving that.
She Cat | 23 Moons | TreeClan | Warrior |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 18, 2019 14:00:42 GMT -5
BELIEVE IN STRENGTH Pumafang TREECLAN - WARRIOR - 30 MOONS
"Even the greatest leaders cannot exceed without the strongest warriors at their paws."
Timberfrost's response made a faint smile kiss the creases of his maw, though he quickly flattened his features. Supposedly it was futile, his attempts to be intimidating, though he didn't need his tabby companion to think any lesser of him. She's seen too much already. He mused, remembering their journey back. It was unfortunate, the death of the kit, though he assumed it was what fate had desired. What would Lionstar have said if he had left with Magpiewing and returned with a rogue kit?
Nothing good. Pumafang assumed.
The large chocolate black tom shifted his weight as he listened further, ears drinking in a familiar comment. Power. Pumafang let the concept flow through his mind. Power is the true test of a man's character.
What better way to understand someone than to give them supremacy? To watch in real time how their varying motives ebb and flow at society, motives of justice, humility, grandiosity, enmity, revenge...or lack thereof. Power is the key to souls. Power is the ultimate release of character, and the clan would live and die by the words of their leader.
Yet power is not a means; its an end. Power is so pure a thing, tainted by those who grasp at it.
There was much to be learned by Tigerstar's motives, uniting the clans by fear and iniquity was a promise of revolution, though a revolution against the power who sought to unify the valley. The long dead tabby's grossly immoral tactics had failed, and his vision was faulty. No one leader could rule the clans: the valley didn't need a god. Tigerstar groveled for power, succumbing to the throes of criminal transgression, attempting to build a balanced, egalitarian society out of something purely nefarious: the culling of said "impurities".
This could not work, and in the process of eliminating those deviant in blood, he capitulated to degeneracy himself.
It was a bone-chilling thought, knowing that if he did manage to live up to Lionstar's death, he would inherit a piece of the power. There were five slices of course, but perhaps in due time the valley would come together like the tribe? What if all five leaders relinquished their titles for the good of all the cats in the valley? To make it whole again.
Surely there would be a small council of leadership, likely the five leaders themselves, though what better way to protect the valley than to disperse the knowledge? Clans would share their hunting and fighting strategies to make each cat ultimately well rounded, and the hostility would eventually regress over time. StarClan's claws was large enough to fit all the cats in all the clans...
Though would the leaders lay down their crowns to save their citizens?
Pumafang was lost in thought for several moments, chewing over history and the potential of the clans, though Timberfrost's last comment lured him in. The greatest warrior TreeClan has produced? He almost snorted out loud.
"Well then, Timberfrost," He started arrogantly, teasingly, his voice deep and raspy. "you'll always be competing against me."
Pumafang's amber eyes sparked with warm regard, hoping she would overlook his poor attempt at razz-ery.
He always liked a good challenge.
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