Territory garbled words — sablestar

[MIREPURR]

By some miracle, Mirepurr had managed to convince Sablestar to join them on a hunting patrol. Their voice had only initially shook—addressing the leader with something that may or may not be deemed foolish in time is quite terrifying. Now, the pines of ShadowClan settle mutely around the pair, traversing the land that both of their paws now know intimately well.

It's just that... you never quite know what lurks in the shadows. Mirepurr likes to think that Sablestar does; his position naturally makes him something otherworldly in their eyes, but he had commanded respect even before that, in his own way. Perhaps Mirepurr just needs some more to get accustomed... like how some apprentices need more time to excel at a certain skill or get the hunting crouch right.

And perhaps Sablestar will be able to help them now.

The forest gradually opens up before them. Roaring from the Thunderpath's monsters hits Mirepurr's ears, and they come to an abrupt halt before they and Sablestar can get too close. A location that is always dangerous... but now it carries additional weight of memory.

Mirepurr glances at Sablestar apologetically.

"This is where we found Coalstrike..."

He must understand.

A moment of silence passes between them, and that's when Mirepurr gathers the courage to continue talking.

"You must miss him."

It's not a question, but the rise in pitch makes it dubious. Sablestar may not be in good enough spirits to humor them and their obvious stalling with getting to the point, but they try anyway.

"He had been valuable to not just your council, but the Clan as a whole."

@SABLESTAR

 

[SABLESTAR]

SABLESTAR
he/him
sixty-three moons
shadowclan leader

PENNED BY gonkpilled

Words have begun to come out with more bite than his usual bark, now. Each maw returned empty was like watching a river begin to roll within Sablestar. At first, the current was strong and centered- they had come home with a bounty of rabbits and the nursery fed decently enough. Yapping gums with nothing between to say their voice was worth listening to had only swayed the tide. But then, the air grew cooler. Not enough to bite, but enough for the frogs to burrow out of reach and paws to get stuck in the mud before they could hook into rubbery flesh. The waters of his patience had become wayside, and it only crumbled further after the death of Coalstrike.

Cut down so soon, too soon, still so much life to live. So much left to give to this Clan that they fought with clenched jaws and ripped claws. To be thrown down by ThunderClan, by his son... Loonstar could sing whatever song they thought worth to his ears, neither of them were there for Coalstrike's reckoning.

Mirepurr was one potential victim to Sablestar's snapping until they spoke perhaps the only thing to cool his temper. A hunt. Productive work. How could he ever deny that?

Sablestar does not pause at the monstrous rumbling up ahead but his tail does give one or two lashes at the sound. Mirepurr had been the one to find their Guard, the tuxedo was just forced to witness the aftermath. "Of course I do." Sablestar muttered in an unreadable tone. His white-licked tail still lashed in rhythm, the dirt pulled beneath his claws as he watched a shrew flee from the sound of the monster. "He was my friend... I trusted him with my life, more than I trust to Wolfpack."

The tom's jaw clenched shut in a grimace. His kits would be apprentices in the most barren of seasons, they would endure feast or famine. Prayer was the only salvation for them to be more like their parents than anything else. Coalstrike was a survivor, Jadethorn a schemer, and Wolfpack a fighter. They could have been built so strong with them all present...

"He wasn't the clean, shiny soul ThunderClan would have desired. He fought for what he had whether he deserved it or not, whatever he wanted was his. I don't know if even I'm that bold sometimes." Sablestar lifted his gaze to the thick forest and shrubbery. Had circumstances been poorer, had love not influenced him so easily, he could see much of that world belonging to his Clan. It would be bloodied and harshly fought for, perhaps to a point beyond redemption or recuperation. But they had prey, certainly...

"Why do you think of him? I didn't strike the two of you as close." They weren't, from where Sablestar stood.

​

OOC:

 

[MIREPURR]

With Sablestar deciding to continue forward, Mirepurr has no choice but to obey and follow. Their eyes track the same shrew, and unsurprisingly, they see themself in that pitiful, fleeing creature. They had not specifically planned to come this way—hunting is poorer with such ruckus in the vicinity. Instinctively, Mirepurr looks for the familiar shape in the distance, staring at him with intense amber eyes from between the trees... but they find nothing.

A quiet hums comes from the back of their throat upon Sablestar's response, perhaps mute enough to be drowned by an incoming monster. They almost wish they were more aware of the relationship between ShadowClan's leader and one of his (now former) guards. The Colony... there had been so many of them, sometimes in one space together and sometimes wholly scattered, that it had sometimes been hard to track. At least Sablestar does them a favor by filling them in. He had known all of these things about Coalstrike before the Clans had even come to be; his comment makes them wonder what life would be now, had Coalstrike seized power instead. Better? Worse?

"No... no, we were not,"

Mirepurr confirms. If anything, they had avoided Coalstrike whenever possible. That's just what you do when you don't want to attract unnecessary attention.

"If I can be honest, he scared me. That is not a bad thing... he, and Clanmates like him, inspire me to be better."

The words, despite their honesty, taste bitter on Mirepurr's tongue. They certainly do not feel like they had progressed.

The fur along their spine lifts, just a little. He scares me more now, the thought comes, unwanted.

A sigh escapes from Mirepurr's maw. They lower their head, and the change in height—already noticeable due to Mirepurr's smaller and more reserved stature—forces their eyes to stare up at Sablestar.

"He spoke to me. In a dream,"

they begin, and their expression is something akin to pleading. They need to say this without making it sound like a scary tale for kits in the nursery. They need Sablestar to believe them. Every bit of their gaze searches him, looking for a reaction- good, or bad.

"But it was... it was real. He had appeared to me deliberately."

Their voice drops then, like this is a secret that can only be whispered.