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Post by Taxx on Nov 29, 2019 20:54:50 GMT -5
Leaf-fall Day Twenty-nine: Temperatures drop a bit with the presence of random bursts of showers and blustering cold winds throughout the day.Palewing Warrior of StoneClan Take me in, into your darkest hour Palewing was sure she'd never been caught so off guard when Smokestar had returned from her trip to the Moon Tree, when she had gathered her, Mistcloud and Duskflower together and told them the news: Ashpaw was alive. Stunned silence had followed for a moment before her mother had begun to tremble, her quiet voice asking Smokestar if it was really possible the only sound in the den. "Silverstorm told me," the new leader had replied, and Mistcloud's eyes had shone with a depth of relief and happiness.
The ginger-and-white she-cat didn't understand why he hadn't returned if he was alive, and Smokestar had no answers for that- but she had every intention of going to look for him. Palewing had immediately volunteered, and when Smokestar had informed the Clan later, Beetlejaw had offered his help too. The third cat changed by the day: all of Palewing and Beetlejaw's efforts were focused on finding her brother, but the Clan still had other duties they couldn't ignore. Today it was Owlclaw who joined them after a morning meal, as the three set out in another direction- trying to cover as much ground as possible each day as leafbare closed in.
She could only hope they found him soon. How much had he changed? She still saw him as the half-grown tom in her mind's eye, lean despite his fur, looking back at her with a gleam in his eye and his tail waving. He must have grown bigger. Taller. She couldn't wait to find out, pace increasing as the need to make their little family whole again pricked at her. "I hope we find him today," she piped up, amber gaze flashing toward her companions. "Maybe if we get up somewhere higher we can get a better look around?" And I'll never desert you
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Post by Fawn on Dec 9, 2019 9:29:52 GMT -5
BeetlejaW Will you be my breath through the deep, deep water Beetlejaw's first answer was little more than a grunt. The weather had turned, and though no snow coated the ground, Beetlejaw felt it coming like a sixth sense. Only because Palewing asked was he out here, traipsing miserably over every rock and outcropping StoneClan's territory had to offer, looking for a cat he didn't particularly like.
Ashpaw's death had been tragic, he wasn't disputing that. But Ashpaw's death had brought with it... a certain relief. A relief he could never share with Ashpaw's littermate, who would never ever understand what it would feel like to be bullied, and then to have that tormentor vanish in the worst way. He felt guilty for the peaceful nights he'd had in the apprentices' den when the grief had finally subsided, and Clan life had gone back to normal...
Palewing's rational suggestion brought them to elevated terrain, and Beetlejaw's body tensed, bracing himself for the literal uphill battle, his legs churning steadily to keep him at a good pace. Again he felt his stump twitch, left out and useless as the rest of his body all contributed towards that single, simple goal: reach the summit. When the ground underpaw grew even again, Beetlejaw was breathing a little roughly, his expression pinched tight as he dragged air into his lungs, determined to get back to a state of calm. StarClan, only Palewing or a member of his family (or Smokestar, to be fair) could get him hiking mountains on three legs for a cat he didn't miss.
"Palewing wait," he said a little breathlessly, waiting for the light-hued she-cat to face him. "I want you to be ready for what we find, Palewing. We don't know what he's been through, or why he hasn't come back yet..." Was something wrong with Ashpaw? Was he marred in some irreconcilable way? Or were the scars all in his head, demons herbs couldn't cure? Beetlejaw shivered. He had glimpsed that flavor of darkness, and he was in no hurry to experience it again. "Pain changes you," Beetlejaw's voice was a husky murmur, spoken from a place of familiarity. "Just... Keep that in mind. He might not be the Ashpaw you remember."
He might not be Ashpaw at all. Life had a way of warping things, and cats were not excluded in these cruel twists of fate. Can't stay in the shallows, please tell me I won't wash away Taxx || 24 Moons || StoneClan || 388 Words |
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Post by Taxx on Dec 29, 2019 14:05:10 GMT -5
Palewing Warrior of StoneClan Take me in, into your darkest hour Palewing had turned to follow her own suggestion even before the other two had agreed, reaching the peak after a minute's climb and standing alert, gaze swiveling out over the flat ground and the other hills rising into the valley's walls. A gust of sudden cold wind made her eyes water and she turned to look down at Beetlejaw as he padded the last few feet, ears pricking as he spoke her name.
Her paws shuffled over stone, head turning away again. She wasn't sure what to say to that- she knew pain changed a cat. But Ashpaw? Her confident, sometimes foolish brother, who'd never backed down from a challenge? There had to be a reason he hadn't come home, but until she found him... "He will be," she replied, ears flattening in her stubborn claim. He had to be. What would be the point if, after all this looking, the cat she found wasn't the one she still dreamed of? "Nopaw," laughed the voice of a cat who wasn't there. "He should change his name to Nobrain."
Her tail lashed, gaze flashing to Beetlejaw again. That hadn't been nice- but he wouldn't hear it. She didn't have to tell him. "Come on. We're only freezing, handing around."
She'd just started down again when a flicker of motion caught her eye: a trio of cats cresting a smaller rise, padding abreast of each other. Her first inclination was to disregard them- she wasn't interested in loners- and yet something about the silver cat on the right pricked at her. He was looking to the two black-and-whites, his head tossing back to laugh at something one of them had said... Palewing's breath caught in her throat and she sprang back down the slope, suddenly too anxious to waste another heartbeat. Her paws hit a patch of gravel and she slid gracelessly on her belly until she reached the bottom of the incline, only then lifting her head to stare into the eyes of the three facing her.
Heart thudding, Palewing blinked at her brother, amber eyes meeting his olive green, and whiskers twitching in amusement at her clumsy spproach. His tail flicked as he spoke, head dipping to her. "Hello, Palepaw." And I'll never desert you |
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Post by Fawn on Jan 9, 2020 10:35:39 GMT -5
BeetlejaW Will you be my breath through the deep, deep water Beetlejaw's hushed curses and grunts of pain were overlapped by the staccato of gravel flying everywhere as he too skidded down the mountainside after Palewing. She'd ignored his demands to stop, to think about what she was doing while hurrying over to an unknown cat, and Beetlejaw had had no choice but to follow. A cloud of dust had been kicked up in the ugly descent of two graceless cats, and though he was quick to get back to his paws, he froze.
"Hello, Palepaw."
It was the silver tom. Full grown and with gleaming eyes, shadowed by two identical black and white toms on either side of him. Beetlejaw stared. "How are you still alive?" StarClan, how was Ashpaw still alive? He'd been carried off by a fox. Not in the grim exaggerated sense. In the literal sense. Beetlejaw's gaze raked over every visible inch of the lost StoneClan apprentice.
Call him petty, but Beetlejaw's jaw tightened as he noticed how strong and healthy his old enemy looked. He was looking at a miracle, a blessing, but Beetlejaw felt only wariness and distrust. Smokestar, Palewing, Mistcloud--they all deserved to have Ashpaw back. They'd suffered enough. But Beetlejaw was too shocked to dredge up any kind of joy. Instead he stared, claws unsheathed as if that might anchor him to this strange new reality where dead didn't always mean gone for good. Can't stay in the shallows, please tell me I won't wash away Taxx || 24 Moons || StoneClan || 232 Words |
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| I will not be like a bird bred in a cage, I thought, too dull to fly even when the door stands open. |
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INVENTORY
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Post by Ginger on Jan 10, 2020 0:13:01 GMT -5
"Ashpaw, I promise you I could've caught that rabbit if I really had wanted to," Tumble huffed at the silver-furred tom, who threw his head back in laughter.
Flash and Ashpaw had let Tumble come along with them to hunt for the first time in what had felt like forever. And of course, Tumble did his namesake move and clumsily chased after an incredibly fast rabbit. He had no chance from the start.
But he could at least pretend like he did. Right?
As the three toms bickered back-and-forth about where next they would find food, Tumble saw Ashpaw's ears swivel around to a sound far away from them. Curious, Tumble looked to where his friend's ears pointed, seeing two cats who were built nothing like loners. It had to be those clan cats?
Which one though?
Tumble matched Ashpaw's urgency as he followed the silver tom towards the two cats, a little confused by it but still willing to back up his friend in case of a fight. As the three cats emerged from the bushes, Tumble was expecting to see incredible hostility on the clan cats faces.
Instead he saw...shock? Was our entrance really that dramatic?
But the source of that shock was not directed towards Flash or Tumble. No, it was instead directed towards Ashpaw, who looked back at them.
"Hello, Palepaw," Ashpaw had said. So he knew these cats? That must have meant that they were from GroundClan!
The tom who was clearly not "Palepaw" interjected, asking how Ashpaw could still be alive. Wasn't it obvious? "Because he's the coolest most awesome fighter and hunter I've ever seen," he butted in.
Now it was awkward. He had made it awkward. "Heh heh... I'm uh, Tumble, by the way. Ashpaw is cool." Was this a good stopping point? "He's still alive too.." That had to be the place to stop talking. "I'm not dead, if you were wondering."
Oh dear.
324 words ♛ 𝔽𝕒𝕓𝕣𝕚𝕔𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 Taxx Fawn |
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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 Feb 17, 2020 13:31:02 GMT -5
not a yes, sir. not a follower. Flash strode forward on his lean, powerful legs, emerging from a few tussocks of bushes with a few teasing words for his brother’s failure to catch the rabbit on his tongue. Amusement prickled through his fur as Tumble swore the only reason that rabbit had evaded his paws was because he wanted it to. A lopsided grin and a sideways glance was the only sign he gave that he disagreed. “Sure, Tumble. And I bet if you really wanted to, you could sprout wings and fly, eh?” Despite their playfulness, Flash was beginning to feel a biting rumble of hunger, and he suspected the others felt exactly the same. They would have to find something substantial to eat, and soon. A bird flitted over his head, and Flash glanced up to watch the feathered beast pass, wondering privately if StoneClan warriors could leap high enough to snatch them right of the sky, as Ashpaw had told him. Well, it had to be true, if Ashpaw said so. He smelled them before he saw them. A sharp tang of catlike scent that was unlike anything he had smelled before. Startled, he halted, but before he could spit out a warning to the other two toms, the scramble of paws dislodging grit and dust announced that whatever he had smelled was fast approaching.
Instead of turning his gaze to take in the approach of some threatening feline, a pale orange and white she-cat slid clumsily down the slope that led down towards where they stood. She slid on her stomach to the bottom, a little ungracefully. Flash gaped at her, his yellow eyes a little bewildered, still not sure if this approaching cat was a threat or not. “Uh, are you okay?” He meowed, glancing at Ashpaw. But the other tom stood with a knowing look in his eye, still as stone. The two cats stared at each other a moment, and Flash was speechless in bewilderment. “Hello, Palepaw.” Ashpaw said with a dip of his head. It only then dawned on him how similar the two cats looked. They were kin! And that meant that these cats were from… Another skitter of paws against the slope drew his attention, and Flash watched as another cat made a slightly more dignified slide down the hillside. Coughing as the cloud of dust grew around them from the descent of what must be StoneClan’s scouts, Flash blinked through the gloom. He was startled to see that one of the newcomers had only three paws. Only three paws? How did he hunt? Realising that he was staring, Flash averted his eyes elsewhere and stepped backward, knowing that this was Ashpaw’s moment, not theirs. He looked between Tumble and the Clan cats, excitement thudding in his heart.
“How are you still alive?” The three-pawed tom blurted out, his eyes bulging out of his head. It took everything in Flash’s being to remind himself not to snort at the amusing expression on the two felines. He had to remind himself that these cats, for the longest time, probably thought Ashpaw was dead. He couldn’t imagine how he would feel if Tumble disappeared, most likely mauled by a fox, and suddenly, moons later, showed up alive and strong. The dark tom had claws digging into the gritty ground beneath him, which despite everything, was a bit intimidating. “Because he’s the coolest most awesome fighter and hunter I’ve ever seen,” Tumble interjected with an explanation. The moment shattered, and Flash broke free of whatever spell had held the cats in silent awe of eachother. He slapped his tail across Tumble’s flank playfully. “What about me, featherbrain?” He bantered. “I bet that dove you ate yesterday thought I was a pretty awesome hunter.”
Tumble seemed to die inside with awkwardness, and Flash almost burst out laughing. How was it that despite their black and white pelts, you could almost see Tumble flushing? "Heh heh... I'm uh, Tumble, by the way. Ashpaw is cool." True to his name, Tumble tumbled through this first meeting with all the grace of a fish on land. Flash loved his brother, clumsiness and all, but right at that moment all he wanted to do was grab him and go hide in a bush while the Clan cats sorted out this little reunion by themselves. Well, too bad for that. He sighed. “I’m Flash. And you’re Palepaw and…?” He turned his eyes expectantly on the black tom, who hadn’t seemed to acknowledge the two loners at Ashpaw’s side just yet. “Blackpaw… Spotpaw?” The conventions of Clan naming evaded him, but somehow he felt “Nopaw” was a little on the nose, and mean.
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Post by Taxx on Feb 17, 2020 17:57:01 GMT -5
This wasn't quite the reunion Ashpaw had expected. He hadn't anticipated meeting them out here, when he'd already been heading back to the territory for this very encounter. But here they were, outside of StoneClan territory; face to face with his sister and former Clanmates. Beetlepaw's question pulled his attention and he gave a roll of his shoulders in reply. "Does it matter?" Palepaw asked, her eyes bright as she stepped forward to touch her head to her brother's. He allowed it for a moment and then shifted away.
"They saved me. Them and their mother." Ashpaw nodded to the two brothers as he continued, a bump of his shoulder and a purr of amusement directed at Tumble at his heartfelt praise. "That fox was taking me back to its den when they found me and rescued me. I've been with them ever since. Flash, Tumble, this is Palepaw, my sister, and Beetlepaw. Though I suppose you've been given your warrior names by now." His gaze flicked past to the calico, who'd appeared behind the two other StoneClan cats- whose name he couldn't remember.
"Yes, for some time now: Palewing and Beetlejaw." Palewing's tail flicked against the spotted tom's shoulder. "But why didn't you come back? We've missed you. We... we all thought you were dead, Ashpaw."
"Well, I'm not." It wasn't an explanation, if she was hoping for one; he wasn't ready to explain himself just yet. "But I was going there. If Hawkstar will accept us." His eyes narrowed as Palewing's widened, her gaze flashing back over her shoulder at Beetlejaw and the calico before turning back to him.
"Ashpaw... Hawkstar's dead. He and Frozenrain died back in leaf-fall." Ashpaw Loner Those who fly solo have the strongest wings Tags || Made by Fawn |
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