#whisperswipe

[darktreeroots]

icefeather's realization

922 words - in which icefeather realizes that the mother of his children was an extremely spoiled child, who thinks that spoiling kid is the way you raise them

“Dad! Dad!” Skykit mewls as she toddles over. 

“Sorry, let me just…” Icefeather says. Foxbelly gives him a quick nod and Icefeather faces his daughter. Still tiny and full of kit-fluff, every meow that comes from her mouth is more like a squeak, “What is is, Skykit?”

“Mom said that we can go explore the territory! Wolfkit and Whisperkit are already ready to go! We’re waiting on you dad!” Skykit whirls around, ready to dash off but Icefeather is quick to grab her by the scruff, ignoring the kit’s complaints as he gets up. With one quick nod to Foxbelly, Icefeather walks over to the rest of his family. 

Well, his mate and the children he had sired. 

It was still odd, thinking of these cats as his primary family. He knows that he should by now, but he had his own parents, his own (half) sibling. Thinking of them and this family as different somehow was odd, but well. If his own father was compartmentalize so well, why should he not be able to?

“Oh, good, you’re ready.” Vastspots says, not looking up from Wolfkit, who was playing with her tail. Whisperkit was content to sit on her mother’s paws, “We’re about to set out—”

“Ah, ah.” Icefeather interrupts, placing Skykit on the ground, “May I talk with you before we go. Privately, please?” 

Vastspots tilts her head, “Sure. You three. Stay right here. Don’t move.”

Their children’s mouths (well, Skykit’s and Wolfkit’s. Whisperkit just looks ahead, like she isn’t thinking a thing.) audibly click shut because they shake vigorously. One of these days, Icefeather will have to interrogate just how Vastspots made them listen so well. He could barely keep them all in the same nest on a good day. 

Icefeather pulls Vastspots towards the medicine cat den, poking his head inside for a quick moment to make sure that this isn’t going to be broadcast as the latest drama. 

“You wanted to talk?”

“What are you doing, Vastspots?” Icefeather blurts, “Where do you plan to go? Our kits are four moons old, there’s a reason kits are supposed to stay in camp, why on earth did you ever agree to let them explore the territory?”

Vastspots stares at him as if he’s grown wings.

“What?” Icefeather exclaims.

“Well. They asked, and so I thought it was a good idea? I mean, we could protect them.”

Icefeather wants to bury his head into the ground, “There’s three kits and two of us. At best, that leaves one kit we won’t be able to grab and book it in the face of danger. And we don’t want the kits seeing us fight at this age, what if one of us got hurt! Nevermind how that means that it’s harder to snatch them up and leave, they’re too young to watch us actually fight! How would you feel if you saw your parents get torn apart by a fox, or a CloudClan warrior, or a ThinleafClan warrior!”

Icefeather only stops when he runs out of air, listing out every negative outcome that he could think of. He inspects every mossball they play with to make sure that they don’t have any thorns and Vastspots wants to take them outside camp?!

“Huh. So we need more warriors?” Vastspots asks.

“...You can’t show special treatment to your kits.” Icefeather sighs, “No. They’re staying in camp until they’re apprentices and that’s final. I don’t know what possessed you to make this decision, but it was a bad one…what did make you think this was a good idea?”

Vastspots, whose face had barely shifted from neutral this entire time, shrugs, “I mean, I would have wanted to do it as a kit. I knew what the whole territory was like before I became an apprentice.”

“Your parents let you leave camp?!”

“...Well. No. They did give me very nice descriptions though…” Vastspots pauses, “Ah.”

“You were such a spoiled kit.” Icefeather tells her fondly. Still her face is neutral but he takes it as an internal smile. If Vastspots was upset she would let him know, “So spoiled that you got everything you wanted without noticing what your parents were actually doing, huh? I’m amazed the three of them coordinated so well.”

Vaststar lets out a quick sigh, “I wasn’t spoiled, per se.”

“Yes you were.” Says Whiteflower, from the medicine cat den, and then, “Continue on as if I didn’t say anything.

“We will not being doing that Whiteflower.” Replies Vastspots.

“What we will—and by we, I mean you—be doing is telling the kits that instead of seeing the territory you are going to describe it to them and we—and by that I mean me—will be taking the rest of the day off.”

“And by that, you mean doing errands?”

Icefeather gives his mate a sharp look. Vastspots has a way of speaking that makes it impossible to tell if she’s laughing at you sometimes. Straightforward and curt, yet saying words that didn’t need to be said. 

“Go to your children, Vastspots.” Icefeather tells her. His mate turns around without another word and pads off. He’s used to her quick reactions in the face of orders. As deputy, she was more used to giving them than taking them (especially because Morningstar let her take the reins so often) but with the little things, he can make her move.

“Trouble in paradise, eh?”

“I’m not gossiping with you about my wife, Whiteflower.” Icefeather tells the medicine cat, before padding off to continue his errands. 

#warrior cats #allseeing eyes close #warrior cats oc #warriors oc #warriors #kitty talking #vaststar #icefeather #whisperswipe #skyback #wolfbite

[washwashgalaxy]

LET ME BE LOST By Lokanath Rath

Let Me Be Lost———————————————–Whenever the wind reaches meIt’s murmur enlives my feelingsFeelings look at the heart of mineWhich is tied with your love’s string.I close my eyesJust to feel your presenceEven the wind feels shyWhile I feel your whisper’s existence.Your these silent whispersWipes out the pains of lonelinessUnknowingly my eyes shed tearsThey touch my lips to let me feel your…

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[darktreeroots]

cardinalpaw’s confusion

important characters:

cardinalpaw - a yellow cat with a red back and green eyes. 

whisperpaw - a icy blue cat with gray patches and bright amber eyes

“I mean, Beefur’s enough of a mom for both of us, right?” Cardinalpaw says, prodding Whisperpaw with his paw, only for the tom to stop eating, mouth still full of food as he stares back at Cardinalpaw with amber eyes. 

“Uh, did I say something wrong?” Cardinalpaw asks as Whisperpaw quickly chews before swallowing, fear making his fur prick out. He doesn’t want to ruin whatever they might have—

“Just who do you think my mother is?” Whisperpaw asks him, tilting his head and blinking with amber eyes. 

“Ah, well.” Cardinalpaw says, stumbling over his words, “I thought? You didn’t have one…anymore…?” He trails off, fur prickling with shame as Whisperpaw continues to stare before the other cat’s expression changes in an instant just for him to start laughing. 

“Oh! Oh!” Whisperpaw mrrows between laughs, trying and failing to muffle his laughter with his hands. Cardinalpaw flicks him with his tail, forgetting to respect the older apprentice for just a moment in favor of saving his already tattered pride, “You thought—oh you thought!”

“Quiet.” Cardinalpaw hisses at the normally-silent tom, pulling down his ears, “There’s no need to laugh at me so much.”

“I apologize but,” Whisperpaw starts laughing again but manages to pull it successfully this time, “Why do you think my mother’s dead?”

“Because I’ve never seen you stick around one of the female warriors for long. And it’s not like Icefeather eats lunch with only one cat or something like that.” Whisperpaw flicks his ear, a smile still on his face. Cardinalpaw chooses his words carefully, if for no other reason than to make sure that he doesn’t make a fool of himself again, “So. I thought you didn’t have one anymore.”

“Not everyone is as present as Beefur.” Whisperpaw reminds him and yeah, Cardinalpaw can agree with him on that. Beefur did remain in the nursery still even though her kits had been apprentices for two moons. She claims that it’s to give them a nice place to rest, but everyone knows that it’s because the nursery is the place with the best bedding. 

No one really bothered to complain, after all it wasn’t like Beefur was really a warrior. 

“I know that, but at least she’s present.” Cardinalpaw exists, kneading the ground for a moment before his paw touches a cold stone and he recoils, “I didn’t even know that you had a mother until right now. And you aren’t that much older than me!”

“My mother simply decided to leave the nursery once we were weaned off milk. And we’re seven moons apart, I’ll have you know! That’s plenty older!”

I wouldn’t say that so confidently if I were you. Cardinalpaw thinks at the other apprentice, who Cardinalpaw is nearly the same size despite how close Whisperpaw was to stopping growing. 

“Fine. I apologize. But then, who is your mother?” Cardinalpaw says. 

Whisperpaw opens his mouth to respond before his eyes start to glow and instead he says, “How about you guess? My mother is in camp right now—” Right before Cardinalpaw is about to refuse and save himself some embarrassment—“I promise to get you some salmon if you get it right.”

“Salmon are in MarshClan territory at this time of year.” Cardinalpaw tells him immediately, “I’m not a stupid kit anymore.”

“I promise I’ll get you a salmon if you guess right. I’ll give you three chances.”

“MarshClan isn’t even our neighbor. I won’t let you put yourself in danger for a stupid bet.”

“Then I’ll get a cat from MarshClan to do it! I can get friends there. Please?” Whisperpaw asks and Cardinalpaw stares at him. Whisperpaw was known for being quiet, in fact the first time he heard Whisperpaw speak loud enough to be overheard was barely a half-moon ago. Even then it was a single word of warning because ThinleafClan cats were coming to chase them back over the border. 

He doesn’t even know how Whisperpaw expects to convince someone to get him that salmon but to say that now would be like stealing a mossball from a kit and crushing it underpaw. 

“...Fine.” Cardinalpaw agrees finally, “But I’m not letting yourself get in trouble for this salmon when I eventually win it.”

“You have to win it first.” Whisperpaw says. He does not smirk, but Cardinalpaw can hear it in his voice so he shoots him a quick glare before getting up and looking around camp. 

He realizes quickly that Whisperpaw wasn’t giving him any leeway by choosing only the cats in camp, it was nearing noonhigh so the morning border and hunting patrols had already left camp and returned. The only cats that weren’t in camp right now were a few mentor-apprentice pairs taking advantage of the short moment of downtime for training. 

“Okay. So…first of all, definitely not Vaststar, Bloodfur, or Canopymist.” Cardinalpaw says, looking at the she-cats one by one. Vaststar is resting in the shade of the Highrock, chatting idly with Mistmoon who looks as nervous as always. Bloodfur is tearing apart a canary while Canopymist is carrying a huge dripping piece of moss to the elder’s den. 

“Why not them?”

“Well, Canopymist and Icefeather are always arguing for some reason or another, and I don’t think they’d ever be mates. I can’t imagine Icefeather choosing to mate with her.”

“Especially not considering that they’re kin.” Whisperpaw says lightly, “Though neither of them like to talk about it. Or talk about how they’re kin either—don’t ask.” Whisperpaw says, cutting Cardinalpaw off before he can do just that, “It’s a sensitive subject. Let’s just say, Canopymist is certainly not my mother.”

Oookay then. 

“Well, Bloodfur also isn’t your mother. First of all, you look nothing like her and I think I would know if we were kin.” Cardinalpaw says, gesturing to all his red fur, “I feel Foxbelly would have mentioned it if Bloodfur was your mother.” He says jokingly, while not saying what’s really on his mind: And she’s so awful that I could never believe that she’s your mother. 

“And Vaststar is. Vaststar. She seems too…too her? Too regal?” Cardinalpaw stumbles over his words to try and explain himself. He hasn’t been to a Gathering yet but he can’t help but wonder if all apprentices thought that their leader was so far away. Vaststar was calm and caring, but she was also distant. She ruled over the Clan, but not quiet within it.

“And also you look nothing like her. And Icefeather isn’t around her much, so not her.”

“All good, but you’re not actually guessing who my mother could me.” Whisperpaw points out. 

Cardinalpaw groans, “I’m getting to it, I’m getting to it. Just to make sure—not an elder?”

“Not an elder.” Whisperpaw confirms, “So, first guess?”

“Uh, well I’m crossing out Shadeswallow because you don’t have a single ounce of black on you—Leafscratch?”

Whisperpaw shakes his head, “Try again.”

“StarClan help me.” Cardinalpaw mutters under his breath, “What’s the punishment if I lose?”

“Oh. Uh.” Whisperpaw thinks it over, having clearly not considered that bets tend to have two sides, “You have to…I dunno? Make my nest for me for the next moon.”

“Next moon!” 

“Okay then,” Whisperpaw says with a flick of his ear, “You have to do my apprentice duties for the day.”

“May I remind you,” An older voice interrupts as Dovestorm raises her head to look down at the two apprentices, “Whisperpaw doesn’t really have apprentice duties anymore because he’s on his last moon of apprenticeship.”

Cardinalpaw gives Dovestorm a deep glare as Whisperpaw ohs and nods. 

“Just trying to help.” The older she-cat says before giving them a toothy grin with her heavily scarred muzzle, “Don’t mind me. I won’t say anymore if you don’t want me to.”

Good. 

“Thanks, Dovestorm!” She flicks her ear. 

“How about I get you a rabbit?” Cardinalpaw offers, giving Dovestorm a quick quiet look. The scales are still heavily skewed in his favor but now it’s not as if Cardinalpaw is getting away completely free if he manages to mess up. 

Whisperpaw nods, “That sounds good. Now you have two guesses left, you should get to it before Waspheart comes back and you have to go out for training.”

“I know, I know…” Cardinalpaw groans, scanning camp once more. His task would be much easier if Icefeather was less friendly—he’d be surprised if the tom wasn’t capable of being mates with every she-cat in the clan, “Uh, Snowbriar has your eyes.”

“And that’s it?”

“You look a lot like Icefeather, give me a break.”

“If you didn’t know, Skypaw and Wolfpaw are my littermates.”

“Oh, shut up.” Cardinalpaw hisses, “I know that.”

“I was just making sure.” Whisperpaw says with innocent eyes. Cardinalpaw swears he’s being mocked though. 

“Got it.” He mutters through gritted teeth, closing his eyes for a moment to think. 

He was looking for a she-cat, between the age of an elder and an apprentice, who was currently in camp. That was his starting point, so he had to narrow it down more. Whisperpaw was an icy-blue with some gray patches, very similar to his father except while Icefeather had stripes, he had patches and stripes. He also had bright amber eyes, while Icefeather had blue ones. 

Going farther, Wolfpaw was a gray and orange tabby with blue eyes and Skypaw already had an impressive mane not shared by either of her brothers and very light gray fur with darker gray patches. And blue eyes. 

So I’m looking at the things that didn’t come from Icefeather…if only they looked more like their mother! Cardinalpaw despairs, I need a she-cat with color patches, amber eyes, orange fur in some places, and a mane? And maybe she can have white fur too?

Cardinalpaw is still thinking when someone pounces on him, using all their—her body weight to pin him to the floor. 

“What are you thinking about?” Yellowpaw says, leaning over to speak directly into his ear as Cardinalpaw fights to throw her off, “I’m not getting off you until you tell me.”

“He’s trying to figure out who my mother is.” Whisperpaw says. Yellowpaw looks around for a moment, searching for who spoke before figuring out that it was Whisperpaw. 

And then she says, “...You have a mother? Alive?”

“She’s in camp right now.” Whisperpaw says with a mrrow, “Do you want to guess too?”

“No, I’d just guess it too easily.” Yellowpaw says, before huffing when Cardinalpaw kicks her stomach, “Fine. I’ll get off. Even though you didn’t answer me.”

“Thank you for your kindness. StarClan should welcome you. Right now.” Cardinalpaw huffs before turning away from his sister as she settles beside him, “Now be quiet and let me think.”

“Do you want help?”

“You’re going to ruin it so no I don’t want.” Yellowpaw huffs a bit but does keep quiet as Cardinalpaw looks around camp one last time, looking for a she-cat that fits the description he needed.

“Is your mother Badgershriek?” Whisperpaw shakes his head once last time and Cardinalpaw groans, sinking to the floor as Yellowpaw begins asking question after question but he ignores her, placing his paws over his ears to block her out as Whisperpaw gently answers her questions. She keeps on talking, clearly taken by the novelty of Whisperpaw’s broken silence. 

“Then who is your mother?” 

“MOM!” Whisperpaw calls out suddenly, voice ringing through the entire camp. 

Then he starts coughing, because even that was too much for him. 

“...What is it?” Says the most unlikely cat, breaking away from her meeting with the deputy to look over at Whisperpaw, her son. 

Vaststar looks over at them with an expression that clearly says I do not know what is going on here and I am not sure that I want to know. 

“Do you need to see Clawstem for your throat.” She asks, as a statement.

“No, mom.” Whisperpaw says, lowering his voice back down to normal levels, barely louder than Dovestorm’s laughter, “Thank you.”

“...You’re welcome.” Vaststar says with a flick of her ear before she turns back to Mistmoon, swallowed up by important leader-deputy things in moments. 

“Vaststar?”

“She’s your mother?” He and Yellowpaw say in turn, before turning to each other and nodding before they say together: “Her?!”

“Yes. And I’m not sure what’s so confusing about it.” Whisperpaw says, shuffling his paws, “She’s the Clan leader, of course she can’t be around Icefeather much. They’ve been like this as long as I can remember, although Vaststar was already deputy by the time she had us.” He shrugs, “And my eyes come from her mother.”

“How did none of you get green eyes?” Cardinalpaw points out with an irritated huff. 

“I asked that once. She told me that she thinks that since that eye is in one of her orange patches, that it’s been discolored. She doesn’t know how, but she told me that she thinks that eye should be amber, not green.”

Cardinalpaw lets out a loud groan and sinks down even father, thinking about how much work it was going to be to find Whisperpaw that bird. 

“I would never had guessed her, even with the eye thing.” He admits, “It’s not like she pays special attention to you guys or whatever.”

“We spend a lot of time with her.” Whisperpaw points out.

“That’s because it’s your last month of apprenticeship. You have to spend a lot of time with her or else you won’t become warriors.” Cardinalpaw points out back, with no small amount of snark in his voice, “And it’s not like she eats with you or anything like that. I think I can count the number of times I’ve seen you talk to her on one paw.”

“Well, I could count the number of times I’ve needed to see her on one paw. She’s busy often, but I know that if I have a problem that Icefeather couldn’t help me with, I could go to her.” Whisperpaw shrugs, “She knows that we can ask her for help whenever.”

Cardinalpaw swallows his next retort. 

It just seems…wrong, for all a parent to be is someone to run to when you need help. Yes, it was good that Vaststar was there for them when they needed it, but what about if they didn’t know it yet? What if Vaststar had a perspective on things that her kids didn’t. 

Well it seemed like they could go to Icefeather instead but…it just seemed. Slightly wrong. Beefur could be smothering with her affection, but at least he was only telling her to back off instead of asking politely for her attention. Foxbelly was no Icefeather, clearly because you couldn’t be as careful and have as much freetime as Icefeather while taking in a rouge as a mate, but he was still a good father.

Vaststar was just. There. She was leader but not a mother at the same time. And Cardinalpaw knew that must be possible because it was Vaststar. She was one of the youngest leaders the clan had seen in a long time, it was possible that she was even younger than Heronstar when he took over MarshClan. She ruled her clan like it was second nature, she kept her head effortlessly high. 

Yet, being a mother was something she expended no energy to even attempt?

She seemed to like her children, and even if she didn’t spend much time with Icefeather she seemed to be on good terms with him too. It was simply odd with no other way to describe it.

Cardinalpaw pushes down his misgivings as he swipes Whisperpaw’s shoulder, “I guess I owe you that rabbit.”

Whisperpaw laughs at him. And then soon after, with him.

#warrior cats #warriors oc #allseeing eyes close #vaststar #whisperswipe #cardinalback

[darktreeroots]

a family tree in the works

undecided means that i haven’t decided, not the cats themselves (i had to figure out the names of vaststar’s kits on the spot) and beefur only has a gender because broadleafclan believes in them

#warriors #warrior cats #warriors oc #warrior cats oc #allseeing eyes close #Beefur #Foxbelly #Finch #Vaststar #Icefeather #Yellowsight #Honeystep #Canaryback #Cardinalback #Whisperswipe #Wolfbite #Skyback

[darktreeroots]

Toadstar's Inaction

Allegiances:

MarshClan

Leader:

Toadstar - a fluffy brown tom 

Deputies:

Sedgewhisker - a handsome gray and white tabby Thistlemind - a trans calico tom

Medicine Cats:

Starlingblossom - a beautiful calico she-cat Dewdrop - a black trans tom

Cats Currently Within the Borders

Clawstem - a gray tom, trained as BroadleafClan’s medicine cat Cardinalback - a yellow trans she-cat with a red back, trained as a BroadleafClan warrior Whisperswipe - an icy blue trans tom with gray patches and stripes, trained as a BroadleafClan warrior

LaurelClan

Leader:

Floodstar - a gray and orange tabby

Warriors:

Palewince - a red and orange she-cat with special markings

ThinleafClan (partly dispersed)

Leader:

Woodstar - brown tom

BroadleafClan

Leader:

Vaststar - muscular blue she-cat with orange patches 

CloudClan

Leader:

Moonstar - a muscular pure white trans tom

MountainClan (absent)

Leader: 

Warblystar - a small and fluffy golden cat

(1.3k)

Toadstar’s ear flicks at Vaststar finishes speaking. 

He’s…scared, in a way that he hasn’t been in a while but he knows that he’s hiding it well. After all, the other leaders respond with similar actions and he knows that they all feel the same way. There isn’t any chance that the other leaders aren’t just as worried as he is—anyone would feel fear in this kind of situation. 

“I refuse and I also request the other Clans to escort us back to camp after the Gathering is dismissed.” Woodstar snaps back to her.

“No.” Floodstar replies simply, swishing her tail a single time before she calls out, “This Gathering is over!” She crouches down to leap down from the willow but Woodstar is just close enough to snag his claws in her fur, “Let go of me.”

“You cannot just leave me and my Clan in a moment like this!” Woodstar hisses. 

“Yes we can.” Moonstar says from Woodstar’s other side. For a moment, he shares a look with Vaststar. Toadstar cannot see the expression that Vaststar is making, but it is apparently sufficient enough for him to leap down. Woodstar reaches out for him but misses Moonstar completely. 

The attempt to catch Moonstar lead to Floodstar slipping through his fingers. Orange tufts of fur clung to Woodstar’s claws, stark against his brown paws. 

Maybe if Warblystar was here…Toadstar thinks, casting a longing stare at the place the MountainClan leader had occupied just three moons prior. The reclusive Clan had descended from their icy home at the perfect time to see what a mess they had become—their return had to have been helped by StarClan because there was no other way that they would have known of BroadleafClan’s attack on ThinleafClan any other way…then I would stay. 

However seeing as two of the three leaders who had nothing to do with this had already left…Toadstar isn’t going to hold this up. 

He leaps down, ignoring Woodstar’s depressed yowl. Sedgewhisker tries to catch his eye, but that’s because she’s a good cat. She believes that it’s best to stick one’s muzzle into events if that will change the tides of time. Thistlemind is already moving to the front of the Clan, directing them forward with a flick of his tail. He doesn’t look back. 

Toadstar does, only for a moment as they leave the grove of trees. 

Vaststar is watching them go, a sly gin on her face. 

Toadstar shudders and turns back. 

Normally the Clans would leave in a staggered manner, but since they left all at once he was walking out beside Floodstar. Moonstar was only a few tail-lengths away, but just far away enough that he couldn’t see the expression on the other tom’s face as the first yowl split the air. 

Immediately Toadstar tenses, looking back again. In doing so he sees cats from all the Clans doing the same. 

“It’s the full moon! What about the truce?” Toadstar snaps. 

“Technically,” Starlingblossom says from beside him, face screwed up into an expression of distaste, “The truce is based on the Gathering. And the Gathering is over.”

“And so is my attempt at pretending to care.” Floodstar adds with a sharp flick of her tail. Toadstar notices that he didn’t notice her looking back at the first scream. Now that there were more filling the air, she doesn’t even look alarmed, “LaurelClan, we’re leaving.” 

Instead of immediately peeling away, one warrior that Toadstar doesn’t recognize as being a deputy—ah yes, Palewince. Toadstar remembers that she had introduced herself to him that one time, proclaiming that she would be important to remember—yowled, “LaurelClan, turn around and—!”

Immediately, Floodstar whirls around. She lashes out at Palewince with an unsheathed paw, but the spray of blood is much less concerning than the way that Palewince falls over her own paws, head slamming into the earth. Thankfully it’s not leaf-bare else Toadstar would have been worried that she would have split her head open. 

“We are not doing anything that I deem unnecessary.” Floodstar hisses, poison dripping from her teeth. She stalks closer to Palewince and places her paw on the red cat’s neck. 

Toadstar…does not remember Floodburn ever being so cruel, ever so hungry for conflict, ever so willing to ignore a cat that needed help. She was level-headed, not kind nor cruel. His tail twitches and he nearly missteps and tries to help Palewince. 

She was breaking the warrior code sure, but Palewince was doing it to prevent stop a leader that the Clans hadn’t seen…since his two predecessors. Not that long in comparison to the time that the Clans have existed, but time never moved fast. One second after another after another. They were all trapped, unable to be free from the rising of the sun the falling of the stars…

Toadstar grits his teeth and brings himself back to earth. He’s far grown from the cat that would stare endlessly into rushing waters. He was leader and he was going to prove every single day that he deserved to be one. 

And that meant not helping as Palewince whimpered on the ground as Floodstar leaned over her, whispering something into her ear with bared teeth. 

“What a display.” Moonstar comments. He tries to keep his voice steady, and if Toadstar wasn’t used to hearing the slightest tremble in his own voice he wouldn’t have noticed it in Moonstar’s. A tremble, hidden over false confidence hidden under nonchalance accompanied by the fact that that this facade must be done. They were chosen for it, not only by StarClan, but by their predecessors. Every moment of every day was spent as members of a story, the fearless leader who would lead their clan to from glorious day to glorious day. 

Moonstar was unnerved by the scene, by the screams behind them that grew into a terrified crescendo. 

But still, he feigned disinterest and led CloudClan away, bright white fur quickly vanishing between rows after rows of cats. Toadstar pushes himself into motion again before he can disappear completely. 

“You need to make a statement on what we’re going to do.” Starlingblossom mutters. 

“I say we help.” Sedgewhisker pipes up. 

“I say we go home.” Thistlemind counters. 

“I say that you do it quickly. Some cats have already peeled off.” Starlingblossom says, talking over the two deputies before they can disagree once more. Toadstar would worry about who would succeed him, between Thistlemind’s cold heart and ability to think like a leader and Sedgewhisker’s strong morals and willingness to stick her muzzle into trouble—if he wasn’t confident that Thistlemind would step down for Sedgewhisker when the time came. 

“MarshClan!” Toadstar calls out, raising his voice into a yowl because the sound of cats fighting and dying has only gotten louder, “We’re leaving. Any cat who goes to join the battle will be walking home alone.” 

He thinks of helping. 

He thinks of drawing Vaststar’s ire.

He thinks of Floodstar’s look to Vaststar. 

He thinks of being trapped between two allies—LaurelClan and BroadleafClan. 

He thinks of the three toms who sleep in the medicine den because if they were to be suddenly attacked, that would be the safest place for them. 

He thinks of Clawstem, BroadleafClan’s medicine cat, the cat who had caused Vaststar to take Thunderpaw from ThinleafClan. The young medicine cat apprentice hadn’t been seen since by any member of her Clan.

He thinks of Cardinalback, a BroadleafClan warrior. Toadstar thinks of his fear. 

He thinks of Whisperswipe, a BroadleafClan warrior. Toadstar thinks of his mother, who attacked ThinleafClan barely a quarter-moon after her son disappeared with only a feather as a notice. 

He thinks of what would happen to him if Vaststar discovered that his Clan was housing her warrior, her medicine cat, and her son. 

Toadstar turns away, trembling beneath his fluffy pelt. And he walks away.

#warrior cats #allseeing eyes close #warriors oc #warrior cats oc #warriors #kitty talking #vaststar #toadstar #floodstar #palewince #woodstar #starlingblossom #sedgewhisker #thistlemind

[darktreeroots]

finch and the situation

Allegiances:

BroadleafClan Leader

Vaststar - an oddly patterned blue cat with orange patches

Outsiders

Finch - a bee-colored cat with long ears and a fluffy tail

timeline placement: right after Whisperswipe, Clawstem, and Cardinalback leave BroadleafClan, and right before BroadleafClan's invasion of ThinleafClan

drabble

“Why isn’t he here?” Vaststar sinks to the floor of her den with a soft moan. This was the third time she had asked this question. 

If Vaststar was like her Clanmates, then Finch might have said something about it being in StarClan’s will. Though, if that would work for Vaststar then Finch wouldn’t be here. Finch wouldn’t be settling down beside her if Vaststar was like all of the fools up there, so easily believing in gods that didn’t bother to look for them. Trapped in a plane that no one but the dead could reach. 

No, Vaststar was different. The gods that had lorded over everyone didn’t have such a grasp on her. It was one of the reasons Finch liked working with her—she had the ability to do whatever she pleased, the knowledge to make others do whatever she pleased, and the desire to do whatever she pleased. 

Vaststar lets out a sob and Finch can’t help the thought Oh you look so beautiful when you’re crying. 

“He has to be somewhere, right? He left the feathers!”

Oh yeah. Her missing son. Right. 

“I’m sure he’s out there.” Finch replies, hiding her disinterest. She doesn’t care about Whisperswipe or Clawstem or Cardinalback but she doesn’t expect this night to end up well for her if she let that be known. After all, to meet with a ruler, one must assume that two things are always in balance: what they want to acquire from you, and how much they want to be rid of you.

Eyelash might have been incorrect when she declared that there was no such thing as a leader who was one or the other (well. Maybe not fully incorrect. Finch has never met a leader who wanted nothing but to acquire something from her. And it’s not like she met the leader who wanted nothing else other than to be rid of her) but it doesn’t mean that she wasn’t right about there being a balance. 

Finch is useful to Vaststar, Vaststar is useful to Finch. Finch knows that if she loses her head and starts overreaching, Vaststar would simply claw off her paw. Vaststar knows that if she starts encroaching on Finch and her plans, then her own cats would tear her limb from limb. 

But they also know that not everything is about long-form plans or manipulation or bringing the bed back to life.

“I’m sure they’re fine, somewhere out there.” Finch tells Vaststar as the mother cries over her lost child, “We’ll see them again. I promise.”

#allseeing eyes close #warrior cats #warriors oc #warrior cats oc #kitty talking #vaststar #finch