TW: Sensitive Content hear the snake charmer // sealpaw

[SABLESTAR]

{$title} sensitive content for paranoia, descriptions of death & intense anxiety

The dark had taken over his dreams long enough to expect it now. Accustomed to the way it blanketed across his pelt, molding him into it himself, sticking to it like he was just a simple shadow. If only it ever remained as such. Sablestar would have welcomed the nothingness of dreams or dreamless as he slept during the daylight hours, rather than the ruthless ravaging of loved ones. For so long it was just Juniperstar subjected to such brutality. Her dappled pelt glowed like a beacon to the dark, calling attention to herself and no matter how much he tried to scream or shout, she could not hear him before They descended upon her. Claws and teeth that dripped in ichor ripped her apart with sickening joy, brandishing ugly smiles that relished in his misery.

Days turned to weeks, weeks turned to moons. Over and over and over again was his sleep plagued with the sight of his mate becoming the victim of the power of championed for. No starlight could save them, no precious lives they claimed to have just like him. Maybe it was for good that she never came back to endure more of it. No matter how many times it repeated in sleep he still tried to beg and plead from the shadowy prison until his voice became cracked and hoarse, only to never be heard.

The day Dreamkit , Asterkit and Magpiepaw had come into his life had been a joyous. But they, too, were not safe from the taunting twists that haunted him. His dreams were now a roulette of torture for him to watch in helplessness, but this one felt different. Like something else was here, other than the faceless demons that ripped his family apart. Sablestar's dream paused in suspense, and he waited in dazed confusion when he saw rosetted fur in the thick mist.

"Don't come any closer!" He shouted in warning, as he did for every face that approached him. His pelt pricked into bristling spikes. "Please, hear me, you'll only get hurt."

this heart beats cold like the devil his own

• @Sealpaw
  "mew"
• 

  SABLESTAR— he/him ･fifty-eight moons ･leader; shadowclan ･penned by gonkpilled

  a black and white tuxedo with dark amber eyes

 

[Sealpaw Sealpaw]

You Say That You Are Close

Is Close The Closest Star?

x

Sealpaw was not normally one to sleep during the day, but the fight with Marbleshine had left her morose and avoiding the warrior in any way she could. Sleep was the easiest way- most cats were respectful and let her be.

Lately whenever she dreamed it was a replay of her and her foster mother's argument, sometimes the scene melted into that day across the thunderpath where she'd been cornered by Gravelpath- though this time Fleapaw was nowhere to be found to tackle the other in order to help her. This dream was alarmingly different, though.

The backs of her eyelids were brighter than the darkness she now found herself in. The silence so overwhelming Sealpaw had to strain to hear her own breathing over it and for a brief horrifying moment she wondered if she had somehow died in her sleep and this was what awaited those who passed away. "H....hello...?" It was little more than a squeak, nearly drowned out entirely by the darkness.

Straining to hear-to see- smell- anything, the apprentice tentatively stepped forward, shaking her paws of the wetness clung to her almost like watery mud with every step. She felt like she had been walking forever when movement brushes past her vision and Sealpaw slows to squint in the direction of it.

Sealpaw can barely make out another cat's form, the white pattern of their coat serving as a beacon in the darkness and her pace quickens in relief at seeing another at...wherever this was. Sablestar's voice cuts through the gloom, a warning snarl in her leader's tone and she nearly falters completely out of confusion. That was not how Sablestar held himself. The tuxedo was calm and composed. Even when Thunderflash had flung himself at him he had stood tall.

This Sablestar before her felt like some pale imitation of the real thing. "Sablestar..?" Her paws move of their own accord despite the warning to stay farther back. Widened blue eyes stare at her leader from afar, concern and fear all in one. "Where are we...?"

You Just Feel Twice As Far

SEALPAW

— Shadowclan Apprentice
— She/They
"SPEECH", 'THOUGHTS', ATTACK
— Grey Rosetted Tabby With Blue Eyes And A Bobbed Tail.
#4c66bf

 

[SABLESTAR]

The worried tension that cut into his features deflated into a mix of confusion and unease at the she-cat lingered. Sealpaw had looked at him, not just in his direction but recongized him as a tangible being. In her eyes he saw his reflection within her pupils. His name echoed around him in her voice and the white-streaked tom flinched instinctively. The only sound these shadows played were of gut-wrenching nightmares, cruel imitation to his worst fears. The softness of her tone is foreign to his sleep, and his tail-tip thudded against the ground in quick disquiet twitches.

The leader crouched and hissed in warning to the apprentice. Heart lurching into his throat, he expected the darkness to burst all around him and consume her. "Listen to me!" He growled, looking around them frantically. Sablestar's ears pinned backward at her question while the panic in his gaze darkened to something else.

"This place... It is the price I've paid for... It was to protect them." Amethyst-studded eyes slowly lowered to the ground, his shoulders sagging as if defeat had taken over him. "Power is not without sacrifice." Sablestar murmured uselessly, the vast emptiness mocking his words in it's echo.

this heart beats cold like the devil his own

• "mew"
• 

  SABLESTAR— he/him ･fifty-eight moons ･leader; shadowclan ･penned by gonkpilled

  a black and white tuxedo with dark amber eyes

 

[Sealpaw Sealpaw]

You Say That You Are Close

Is Close The Closest Star?

x

The Shadowclan leader flinches so violently at her own voice that Sealpaw finds herself flinching away in response. She pauses, studying the other. Something was wrong. A step. Another is taken despite the hissing from Sablestar. She desperately wanted to help. Somehow. She had to try. Even if this turned out to be some strange dream, she felt she might not be able to look the real Sablestar in the eye if she didn't at least make an attempt.

"I'm listening," She murmurs, slowly approaching despite feeling as if the muck at her paws grew thicker the closer she got to him. It's a struggle she's willing to make. "Tell me..? You're protecting Juni an' Magpie an' Dream, right?"

It feels like an entire moon had passed before the tabby apprentice finally stands but a fox length away. Blue eyes study him, brows knit together in deep thought. "I'm here..." The whisper is nearly swallowed up in the overwhelming silence. "I'll sit here and listen, if you let me. I don't know what you did, but you're still trying to do right by everyone, right..?"

The puzzle pieces in her mind's eye are refusing to be put together into the full picture; there's a vague idea of what might have happened the final night of the colony's existence but she finds that she can't quite voice the theory. Instead Sealpaw leans forward to try and catch the tuxedo's eye, hesistant, questioning.

'What did you do? What power..?'

You Just Feel Twice As Far

SEALPAW

— Shadowclan Apprentice
— She/They
"SPEECH", 'THOUGHTS', ATTACK
— Grey Rosetted Tabby With Blue Eyes And A Bobbed Tail.
#4c66bf