{$title} the rustclaws have ventured close to the skyclan border (unknowingly for the most part) looking to expand their own territory
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Hello and welcome to Purrgatory! We are an 18+ Warrior Cat Roleplay set in an AU where the clans were unable to leave the forest territories and perished!
It has been 100 or more years since then, the clans of the forest are but distant memories to any cats still alive, stories passed down to kits of strangely named wild warriors and leaders with nine lives but the time of the clans is upon us once more and the stars shine yet again.
Open Border The Rustclaws SkyClan hi-diddly-ho, neighborinos ㄨ EXPANDING BORDERS
- Thread starter MELINOE
- Start date
This thread takes place at the border of the clan territory.
Gaia had been walking just behind the patrol, her pawsteps deliberate, unhurried, like she had all the time in the world and no intention of wasting any of it. The wind whipped at her pale fur, but she didn't flinch. She simply narrowed her eyes and pressed forward, sharp gaze on Melinoe's back as the younger cat trudged ahead like she was daring the trees to come at her. She listened to Mel's little speech without blinking. Her face didn't move, but one ear swiveled in irritation. Do what you want was not a directive Gaia particularly respected, but it wasn't worth the energy to counter. Not yet.
Instead, she stopped a few tail-lengths back from the treeline when Melinoe barked the order. The others moved around, waiting for someone else to move first. Gaia said nothing, she rarely did when silence worked just as well. She had hoped to find catmint. Take some of it with her to add to her little garden and keep flourishing... However, catmint wasn't easy to find. Her paws brushed low through an underbrush. The scent was wrong, bitterer, sharper. Not catmint. But something caught her eye all the same: a splash of gold between two split stones.
She paused, crouched low, and brushed the leaves aside with one careful paw. Marigold. Fresh. Unbitten. Not what she came for, but just as useful in the right circumstances. Gaia let a small breath escape her nose, approval, maybe. Fate had a way of offering what you didn't ask for, if you were quiet enough to notice. She pulled the herbs free with gentle precision, bundling the stems beneath her chin before rising to her full height again. Something had caught her interest... Another scent, one unlike theirs.
Returning to the patrol, she didn't look at Melinoe, but her voice cut through the space just the same. " There's an odd scent here. Other cats. " Calm. Plain. But very much not unaware.
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"speech"
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GAIA she/her, rustclaw, sixty-seven moons.
☆ a fawn point with low white, brown eyes / lean and graceful
☆ field medic
☆ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted / / always tag @lionharted
☆ penned by lionharted↛ LionheartedPhoenix on discord, feel free to dm for plots / click for toyhou.se
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Have you ever felt like nobody was there?
Have you ever felt forgotten in the middle of nowhere?
Have you ever felt forgotten in the middle of nowhere?
Rivet was hardly fond of patrols, but duty was duty. Besides, this would be a chance to collect more items for medicinal purposes. Might as well get to it. As far as fellows along on the patrol... At least with Socket and Gaia present she had the common thread of medicine. Also, Rachet, Socket's sister, while not medically inclined by any means, was at least a tolerable presence not prone to doing something silly.
When it came to the other two? Well... Rivet had her doubts, yet voiced none of them. There was no point in causing a fuss with Melinoe or Minty, it would amount to nothing and be a waste of time. Hopefully they wouldn't be making things worse of their own accord, but Rivet knew better than to cling onto hope of all things.
Leaving the junkyard one way or another, Rivet's gaze moved towards some of the twoleg nests, as it always did whenever she left the castle of this patchwork trash kingdom. It was like tradition, but few would know why, even fewer dared to ask. Besides, it was a harmless habit, perhaps it was related to her medical specialization?
In any case, as the group walked, Rivet situated herself somewhere in the middle of the patrol, senses alert for danger and useful herbs. Melinoe swore, complained, the usual. Rivet gave her a glance of minimal acknowledgement, but some understanding. It wasn't like Rivet wanted to be out here longer than was required of her either.
Given the signal to hold up, Rivet first chose to look around as Gaia did, hoping to find some herbs here, parsley would be... Smart to stock up on. There didn't seem to be any in the immediate vicinity, but there was a bush further away from the tree line and closer to the patrol that caught Rivet's attention. Raspberries. Those were all the way up here? For the longest time she had been pinching it from twoleg gardens, and that was a whole ordeal on its own. So for now, she would swipe some of the leaves from this plant.
Gaia spoke up not long after, which drew Rivet's attention to try and scent out what the older cat had. "Forestdwellers, then?" Rivet asked with a bit of bite in her voice as she furrowed her brow. She didn't trust that Melinoe and Minty wouldn't start a fight, but she had even less reason to trust the cats of the forest just in general given what Brick had mentioned in passing.
When it came to the other two? Well... Rivet had her doubts, yet voiced none of them. There was no point in causing a fuss with Melinoe or Minty, it would amount to nothing and be a waste of time. Hopefully they wouldn't be making things worse of their own accord, but Rivet knew better than to cling onto hope of all things.
Leaving the junkyard one way or another, Rivet's gaze moved towards some of the twoleg nests, as it always did whenever she left the castle of this patchwork trash kingdom. It was like tradition, but few would know why, even fewer dared to ask. Besides, it was a harmless habit, perhaps it was related to her medical specialization?
In any case, as the group walked, Rivet situated herself somewhere in the middle of the patrol, senses alert for danger and useful herbs. Melinoe swore, complained, the usual. Rivet gave her a glance of minimal acknowledgement, but some understanding. It wasn't like Rivet wanted to be out here longer than was required of her either.
Given the signal to hold up, Rivet first chose to look around as Gaia did, hoping to find some herbs here, parsley would be... Smart to stock up on. There didn't seem to be any in the immediate vicinity, but there was a bush further away from the tree line and closer to the patrol that caught Rivet's attention. Raspberries. Those were all the way up here? For the longest time she had been pinching it from twoleg gardens, and that was a whole ordeal on its own. So for now, she would swipe some of the leaves from this plant.
Gaia spoke up not long after, which drew Rivet's attention to try and scent out what the older cat had. "Forestdwellers, then?" Rivet asked with a bit of bite in her voice as she furrowed her brow. She didn't trust that Melinoe and Minty wouldn't start a fight, but she had even less reason to trust the cats of the forest just in general given what Brick had mentioned in passing.
Have you ever felt like you could disappear?
Like you could fall, and no one would hear?
Like you could fall, and no one would hear?
LEADER OF SKYCLAN
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Whatever reputation SkyClan had in comparison to the other clans around the lake, Hawkstar could most certainly be the epicenter of the more negative outbursts. Brash, detached, and proud, Hawkstar had little need for pleasantries when her claws still worked and her teeth were planted firmly inside her skull. She was a general, first and foremost. The brawn to Coffeestar's wisdom.
It was a role that became harder and harder to play now that Coffeestar was no longer there to temper her worst intentions.
At a younger point of her life, as Coffeestar's headstrong deputy, Hawkeye would've been able to look to her leader for the proper "appropriate" way to respond to a conflict, complain about her leader's tactics, and then execute her will with near flawless precision. She had been a tool, a razor-sharp knife balanced somewhere between Coffeestar's kindness and her need to keep order. Without a queen to wield her, Hawkstar's razor edges were more prone to slice and wound in chaotic frenzy rather than intended consequence.
Dangerously she dances on her own edges now, rubbing her own thumb across the blade with little regard to the consequences she once delivered.
The edges of her kingdom were not so clean-cut though, and not nearly as perilous to the casual observer. Her cloud-touching pines thinned at the border, breaking through to sunshine and sparse meadow. Hawkstar could imagine that on a quieter, cooler day, in the earlier hours, she might be able to see a herd of deer from some vantage point further up. Today, all she could see were a group of cats that very much did not belong where they were.
Hawkstar snorted at the sight of them. Stinking of twoleg trash, reeking of clanlessness. Almost on instinct, her tail flicks an angry twitch, as if attempting to beckon forth her closest warriors and scouts to her side, even though she knew her soldiers were not within eyesight of her will.
But oh, if there was anything that Hawkstar hated more than kittypets, it was rogues.
"This land is accounted for." the leader shot over to the group of them, her voice raised but clipped, halfway between disappointed mother (a role she played all too well) and unimpressed sergeant (a role she embodied fully and totally). In either manner, she was not ready to play with whatever had decided to trample against her empire's invisible walls. "I suggest you go back to where you came from, and leave the pines to their rightful clan."
♱ Stormcrow happens upon the scene just as Hawkstar begins to speak, and her eyes move swiftly from her king to the intruders, a mangy and roguish lot, clearly up to no good. Like a loyal dog, she steps up beside Hawkstar, claws digging into the dirt as she bristles with barely contained anger. How dare they speak to Hawkstar like that?
A cat with a missing ear speaks, and her tone is one of feigned niceness, of sneaking and murdering in the night. She decides immediately that she despises whoever this is. They have no respect for their betters.
"We're?" Stormcrow says softly, but soft like yarrow flowers, like slowly dripping poison. Her eyes narrow as she surveys the cats in front of her. There's only six of them, but the way they speak, there must be more hiding somewhere like rats in their holes. "There's more of you then, eh?" In an undertone, only to be overheard by her king, she adds, "bloody rats. You kill one, and a hundred more come rushing out. I am at your command as always, Hawkstar. If you wish these pests to be dealt with, it will be so."
♡ STORMCROW. 44 moons
mentor of stonepaw,
daughter of snowveil
peaceful powerplay allowed
ooc -
mentor of stonepaw,
daughter of snowveil
peaceful powerplay allowed
ooc -
Her eyes—icy and hollow—hold no warmth. No fire. The creatures that crowd their border are lesser, and yet… in the hollows beneath their ribs, in the grime clinging to their pelts, she sees echoes of herself. She was once an outsider too, but that does not mean she pities them. Not even a little. Cats much like these once snatched prey from her weak paws. They once chased and snapped at her and her starving brother with no less viciousness than a snarling hound.
Now, she is stronger. There is a quiet pride in standing beside Hawkstar and Stormcrow, her tail held high, catching the breeze. She did not survive all that to place herself on same low bar as them.
The one that speaks is covered in more scars than she can count. Every word they say is at an angle, a badly disguised knife that could just as easily cut them. Why speak to them at all? They claim not to want to be a bother, yet everything about them is bothersome. The thought of cats like this living near their borders unsettles her deeply.
Her jaw tightens. More questions press at her tongue, but Stonepaw holds onto them as she was told. Now is not the time for questions—but for watching.
Wide eyes do not so much as flutter. Rounded ears drink in every word. Stormcrow tenses beside her, ready to spill blood if their king demands it, and Stonepaw does her best to mirror that. Her head swivels—first to Stormcrow, then to Hawkstar—waiting for what comes next.
I’ve watched it happen again and again, haunted by
⛉
A thousand kind beginnings and a thousand bloodied ends
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"speech" - thoughts / emphasis
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Stonepaw she/her & skyclan
☁︎ LH lilac point with a thick mane, blue eyes, and a half-tail.
☁︎ A hollow, vacant voice, stripped of emotion.
☁︎ Mentored by Stormcrow.
☁︎ Peaceful and healing powerplay permitted For other, DM.
☁︎ Smells of pine needles and petrichor.
penned by Scarlet
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Gaia had remained still through it all. Through Melinoe's sharp-tongued swagger, through the clipped authority of the scarred leader, through the venom-dripping whisper of the bristling she-cat beside her. She did not bristle. She did not flinch. She simply listened. Watched. And when Stormcrow started whispering to their leader, something behind Gaia's eyes flickered. Not anger, she was long past such reckless things. But there was a twitch, a ripple beneath her pale fur, like a cold wind teasing the edge of a storm. Only then did she move. Her sharp brown eyes lifted, slowly, to the red-spotted molly. The gaze she gave was unblinking, expression carved from quiet stone. There was no fear. There never was. A sharp flick of her tail.
Then Gaia stepped forward, every movement deliberate, purposeful. She held herself like she didn't just belong here... She had always belonged here, and would continue to long after others had passed into dust. When she spoke, her voice did not rise, yet it cut clean through the air like winter's breath. " We have no interest in tussling with you young'uns... " she meowed, soft but unwavering. Her words demanded attention by virtue of their stillness. " Your place is over there. Our place is here. We can mark our borders in peace and leave it at that. " She turned her gaze on Hawkstar then. The one who carried command not in her voice, but in her stance, her scar, her presence. Gaia understood it. She respected it, even as she refused to bow to it.
" We do not need to be a bother to one another. " her voice lowered by a shade, yet carried the same cold clarity. " Lest you make it so. " She stepped back with the same calm grace she had entered, the faint scent of marigold still clinging to her pelt.
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"speech"
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GAIA she/her, rustclaw, sixty-seven moons.
☆ a fawn point with low white, brown eyes / lean and graceful
☆ field medic
☆ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted / / always tag @lionharted
☆ penned by lionharted↛ LionheartedPhoenix on discord, feel free to dm for plots / click for toyhou.se
You're toxic, I'm slippin' under
She had fallen behind slightly, distracted getting her nose into all the new scents along this way where before it hadn't been so noisy - the source being abundantly clear when she spotted the strangers standing opposite Melinoe and her sister. Minty waltzed over on long, bouncing strides, her head up and tail crooked into a disjointed question mark at her back as she smiled with all teeth and no sincerity, "Need your pal to tell you what to do, guard dog? If its a roll about you want I do love dragging my claws over pretty pelts~" The black feline said in a rasping, high tone as she cackled through clenched teeth, her false smile never wavering and twisted whiskers quivering, "Come on, come on, gyeh heh heh - I'll show you what a bloody rat can do!" A flash of white along each dark paw, curved claws unsheathing to grip the earth as she leans forward and tilts her head, tail lashing venomously and serpentine behind her. Acid green eyes danced over the forest cats, flitting up to Hawkstar who seemed to be the one speaking for the others in a commanding tone not quite unlike mama but with a little less care and a lot more command - if she toppled this one would they get this territory? Often times rogue groups scattered to the wind when their leaders fell, they weren't made of the same kind of stuff as the Rustclaws.
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don't you know that you're TOXIC
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MINTY
— Rustclaw Enforcer
— He/They/She (Will be written predominantly with she/her, but answers to all.)
"SPEECH", 'THOUGHTS', ATTACK
— Long & wiry solid black cat with acid green eyes.
#A1E447
Oh, now I'm here and i'm hoping
for sun in the afternoon
for sun in the afternoon
.
Sagesong is in a bad mood today, irritable and on a patrol with their... Level-headed leader, hardly what she had planned for today but if it's what Hawkstar wants... She found that she did not care as much as she used to- or at all- whether or not the leader had a positive opinion of them. The bare minimum for the patrol is given. It's when the scent of twolegplace cats catches the chimera's attention that she snaps to proper attention instead of training their paws on the ground, mismatched eyes widening as Hawkstar bounded toward the scent as if her tail had caught fire. Sagesong follows, more out of curiosity than any actual sense of duty. Six cats in total. All clearly looking for trouble despite their words saying otherwise. It's when the jet black one steps forward with a grating voice and laugh that a growl rumbles in the back of their throat.
She steps forward, tail lashing and fur bristling. "A rat could put up a better fight than you, come a little closer and I'll show you just what we do to pests." Her and Hawkstar may be at odds, but this was still their home and she'd be damned if some uppity rogues thought they could waltz in unchallenged.
She'd dealt with these types enough as a loner. Most were only brave in groups, and usually scattered the moment any actual show of force was given. If they listened to her goading this was most likely going to end quicker than it began.
She steps forward, tail lashing and fur bristling. "A rat could put up a better fight than you, come a little closer and I'll show you just what we do to pests." Her and Hawkstar may be at odds, but this was still their home and she'd be damned if some uppity rogues thought they could waltz in unchallenged.
She'd dealt with these types enough as a loner. Most were only brave in groups, and usually scattered the moment any actual show of force was given. If they listened to her goading this was most likely going to end quicker than it began.
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The Flood, The Feeling Comes Over
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SAGESONG
✿—"SPEECH", 'THOUGHTS', ATTACK
✿— Small, Curly-furred, Mottled Black And Brown Cat With Heterochromia.
#356458
DUSKPOOL
He ain't sure how he felt about Hawkstar, brash and downright hot-headed. It made Duskpool's gut coil for SkyClan's inevitable future. Unlike her deputy days, the older warrior had to wonder if Coffeestar made the right choice in makin' the molly deputy all those moons ago. Too late to think about the what-ifs, eh, old man? Obsidian wool rippled with the muted snort that left his scarred muzzle. Reckon it was late for a lot of things.
His shoulders reared back, takin' stalk of the strangers tryin' to creep into what was otherwise, unoccupied land till SkyClan came and twisted its pines into their home away from stone, surrounded by dense forest where rats grew by the dozen. That's just askin' for a fight, kid. Molten copper swept to Stormcrow's form with a downward tug of his scarred lips. If they were smart enough, this ain't needin' to end in a fight, but with hot blood and bristlin' fur, Duskpool reckons this was gonna end in nothin' more than pointless bloodshed.
Now, the old tom ain't against crossin' claws with the rogues if it meant defendin' their home, but he ain't stupid. His fur riddled with battle scars. His mind sharp, brimmin' with past wars he braved with steady eyes and grim determination. The guilt remained heavy on his broad shoulders. Somethin' the tom would always carry till he'd gone and die.
If threatened words fail, then, by all means, show 'em the wrath that was SkyClan. It was a cruel world, but it ain't nothin' without a push to learn, even if it resulted in bloodied claws and loss of life. Duskpool swept a wooly plumage, head cocked, peerin' at the rogues with a critical hue, withered but fierce.
"Enough, the lot of ya." His tone rattled like boot heels on old wood. "There ain't a need for bloodshed, not unless yer willin' to lose lives and tend to wounds." His gaze flickered to Minty, reckon the kid was just itchin' to sink her claws into warm flesh. "Suggest ya get goin'. This here is SkyClan's territory and we'll defend it, tooth and all if need to be, but I reckon the lot of ya are smart enough to keep yer distance and we'll keep ours." He swept a molten iris across his clanmates with a wrinkle of his whiskers.
Considerin' what he saw, Duskpool ain't sure if these rogues got a brain between their eyes, but it seemed the fawn point got enough intelligence, but the matter is if anyone was willin' to pull their head out of their rears and think logically.
His shoulders reared back, takin' stalk of the strangers tryin' to creep into what was otherwise, unoccupied land till SkyClan came and twisted its pines into their home away from stone, surrounded by dense forest where rats grew by the dozen. That's just askin' for a fight, kid. Molten copper swept to Stormcrow's form with a downward tug of his scarred lips. If they were smart enough, this ain't needin' to end in a fight, but with hot blood and bristlin' fur, Duskpool reckons this was gonna end in nothin' more than pointless bloodshed.
Now, the old tom ain't against crossin' claws with the rogues if it meant defendin' their home, but he ain't stupid. His fur riddled with battle scars. His mind sharp, brimmin' with past wars he braved with steady eyes and grim determination. The guilt remained heavy on his broad shoulders. Somethin' the tom would always carry till he'd gone and die.
If threatened words fail, then, by all means, show 'em the wrath that was SkyClan. It was a cruel world, but it ain't nothin' without a push to learn, even if it resulted in bloodied claws and loss of life. Duskpool swept a wooly plumage, head cocked, peerin' at the rogues with a critical hue, withered but fierce.
"Enough, the lot of ya." His tone rattled like boot heels on old wood. "There ain't a need for bloodshed, not unless yer willin' to lose lives and tend to wounds." His gaze flickered to Minty, reckon the kid was just itchin' to sink her claws into warm flesh. "Suggest ya get goin'. This here is SkyClan's territory and we'll defend it, tooth and all if need to be, but I reckon the lot of ya are smart enough to keep yer distance and we'll keep ours." He swept a molten iris across his clanmates with a wrinkle of his whiskers.
we're only haunted by the things we refuse to accept
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xxx
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DUSKPOOL he/him a storm carved in flesh and smoke, duskpool towers with the bulk of a maine coon and norwegin forest cat. his wooly black pelt bristles with ghost-stripes and scars—old wounds etched like lightning through dusk. one copper eye burns like molten steel and the other a mangled ruin of war. every step is heavy, thunderous—war-born, death-burdened, and unflinchingly alive.
ᯓ★ senior warrior of skyclan (sun guard during coffeestar's reign)
ᯓ★ brother to outlawbite & thistlestrike, half-brother to flowercloud
ᯓ★ eighty-two moons; ages on the 1st of every month
ᯓ★ speech thought action
ᯓ★ peaceful/healing powerplay permitted -
