TW: Sensitive Content Open Camp how i find myself without you ──✩°｡⋆⸜ return

[juniperstar]

juniper

the journey home is marked in dried blood and the unfortunate hosts of nauseated heaving. were it the stress or the new found knowledge of what rests within her belly remains to be determined... or maybe it is the burden of knowing she has abandoned him to rot there until other paws can drag him home. hers are stubborn... but lack the strength to travel so far with the smell of aged copper thick enough to drown her.

to travel through what is ultimately unknown pastures feels like an extra insult.. to wander towards a home that is too fresh to truly feel like one and know that she returns without their leader. without Thornstar. the brambles that guard the entrance of their camp gouge into her like nature's claws, dragging scratches through a spotted pelt as punishment for her failures. what deputy could not even do so little as to safely guide their star towards its heavenly nest? what friend wouldn't spill a drop of her own blood to spare him? (the caked droplets that clotted amongst the fur of her tail go ignored- it isn't nearly enough... not a fitting enough wound to call valiantly earned or brave...)

she cannot help the distinct feeling of isolation that clings to her... she is not alone, decidedly, as starblood runs in her veins... as new life squirms like a parasite in a slowly rounding abdomen. even as she enters the camp to an overwhelming crowd, hustling back and forth to restructure dens and make nests and guide the injured to more comfortable resting places... it is almost completely transformed from how they'd left it. a proper home.

a proper clan.

the first pair of eyes to find her seem to recognize painfully quickly that she stands with no one at her side... that there is a distinct lack of pale cocoa fur with her. the seas burst, flooding the canyons of dampened fur that had been scored into rivers already once before... "I-" there is nothing but a thin whine that can be squeezed out, knowing the moment it's said it is another nail hammered into his coffin. another admission of its realness. "I lost him..." as if he were just misplaced, to be retrieved at a later date and returned to them.

"He's gone..."

there is no search and rescue that might save him... only a hollow throated corpse awaiting burial. "I couldn't- couldn't carry him alone..." couldn't risk that three assassins might still be waiting for her lonesome return.

──✩°｡⋆⸜ ✮

• juniperstar
  leader of thunderclan
  nine lives remain

 

[honeysucklecry]

Honeysuckle's grief has been reshaped in Juniper's absence. Between the nudging of shoulders and gentle attempts to get the others standing, reflected back to her in kind, she has found purpose once more. An understanding, one which carries her to help; to make do, to settle in this new place without her father and without Juniper and Hawthorne. Even as she works on the den-structure with stems gripped between her teeth, the wound over her brow threatening to reopen with how hard she furrows it, ravenous anxiety gnaws at her ribs.

Unfortunately, that anxiety is given basis as Juniper returns alone. The chocolate tabby looks stricken, weary in a way Honeysuckle has never seen her aunt, and that brief moment of eye contact is apparently all they need to break down into tears. The calico steps forward involuntarily, but can't offer them much of anything aside from an open jaw and a flabbergasted expression.

"Huh?"

Honeysuckle is no eloquent cat at the best of times, but she has never seemed so openly stunned. No, this couldn't be- not again. Fray had just died. Bracken had just died. Pale strands bristle with familiar agitation, Honeysuckle searching the maw of her kin for any sign of elaboration. "Can we go and get him? Or is he ..."

☼ YOUR SUMS AND YOUR PIECES

•  
• HONEYSUCKLE ☼ penned by wren
  — — she/her, thunderclan warrior
  — — a thick-furred dilute calico with soft yellow eyes.
  — — single ; no apprentice
  — — bracken x hazel ; littermate to magnolia, hyacinth
  
  

​

 

[Graybird]

He has been in agony since she left, though he held no dislike for Hawthorne it was Juniper's safety that he was much more concerned for especially given what had happened recently with his brother; was she truly in a state that made her capable of wandering along to some star destined monolith of stones with only the lynx point at her side? Fear and anxiety gnawed at him along with the knowing that deep down he knew this was far from over. Gray had once respected and even admired his brother for his determination and refusal to ever yield but now it was a blight upon them, a stain of blood forever burned upon the ground and in his eyes. His worst fears came to light as she staggers forward, breathless, eyes haunted and hollow and broken words falling from tightly drawn lips as if fearing to speak them would make it all too real. Gray is only just faintly aware of what was said, already moving forward with eyes wide and steps stumbling and harried; the wound he had received against Gecko let him near dragging himself with a limping gait but it did not deter him nor had Serpent's prior threats to rest - his only thought, his only priority was Juniper.
"It's okay, it's okay, sit...sit down..." It's not okay, but he pushes down his unease and gently nudges his nose into her flank to urge her to settle off her aching paws. Gray cobbles together the broken pieces of her words and Honeysuckle's quiet question and he knows Hawthorne is gone without it needing be said. Was it his brother really? He hopes, somewhere inside, that it was a fox or a hawk or anything, anything that meant they were not haunted by a tuxedo phantom now, a relentless pursuer who would stop at nothing to achieve his goals. Sable scares him now more than any predator.

That girl is like an architect

& I am just the new invention.

• 

  GRAY

  
  — Colony Cat (ThunderClan)
  — He/They
  "SPEECH", 'THOUGHTS', ATTACK
  — SH Gray Tabby with holly green eyes.
  #82847e
  

 

[Copperstorm]

COPPER OF THUNDERCLAN

Copper's ears twitched, his golden gaze lifting to meet the sight of Juniper at the camp's edge. Something in her posture, in the broken way she carried herself, sent a cold pang of worry through his chest. Then came the dreaded words, she had lost him. He's gone. His heart clenched as he rose to his paws, a glance cast toward Pandora beside him.

His wounds had been tended to, less severe than he'd initially feared, but that didn't ease the ache spreading through his chest now. Taking a cautious step forward, his voice softened, though it carried an edge of resolve.

" Tell us where he is, and I'm certain some of us will help you bring him back home. " he offered, ears angling back briefly as the weight of the situation settled over him. So much bloodshed. So much loss. The question of what had caused Hawthorne's death lingered in the air, though Copper felt he already knew the answer. Sable's crew. It had to be.

A flicker of anger surged in him, and he straightened, holding his head high despite the sadness that gnawed at his edges. " We won't go with too few. Maybe a group of six? " His gaze shifted to Honeysuckle, the suggestion hovering in the tense air between them. But even as he spoke, doubt crept in.

The way Juniper had spoken, the look in her eyes... Hawthorne was gone. Copper felt it deep in his bones.

Gray's gentle movements caught his attention, the way he moved to comfort Juniper in her grief. Copper's heart ached further as he watched. What horrors had Juniper endured on her long, lonely walk to find them? What had she seen?

He turned toward Pandora, his voice a low hiss. " That mouseheart... " The anger in his tone was unmistakable, though it trembled under the weight of sorrow. " If this is the cause of-- " He cut himself off, unable to finish, though the image was vivid in his mind: his father's gleaming, merciless eyes.

Would Sable truly have gone so far? Would he have killed Hawthorne?

you walk along the edge of danger ——･ﾟ✦​

･ﾟ✦ —— AND IT WILL CHANGE YOU

 

[Ravensmoke]

RAVEN OF THUNDERCLAN

Raven's eyes narrowed, his hackles lifting briefly before settling as he took in the scene. He remained a few paces back, silent, his mind racing with the implications of Juniper's return alone. Hawthorne... dead. The weight of the possibility pressed heavily on him, though it came as no surprise. If Sable had a hand in it, it was a grim reality Raven found all too easy to believe.

His gaze lingered on Juniper, a flicker of sadness flashing through his amber hues before he dipped his head in quiet respect.

" If... you need someone to help bring Hawthorne back. " he murmured, his voice low but steady, " I can help. " He offered a faint shrug, not rising just yet, as though waiting for the call to action. His eyes held no hesitation, only a somber resolve. He wouldn't move until he was needed, but his willingness was clear.

"IN THE DARK, I HEARD MY NAME." ——･ﾟ✦​

･ﾟ✦ —— "Lift your broken crown, and let's be warriors."

 

[THUNDERFLASH]

While Hawthorn had gone to get his... leadership qualities from Starclan, he had been wrestled into the medical den, he had been bandaged up- and then? He had been booted from the same den out into the open, forced to rest while other souls busied themselves without putting dens and nests and a comfortable home together. Well, rightfully so, anyways. Serpent had kits to pop out. Anytime he tried to move his side strained, and it seemed Ghost was never too far from him, almost hovering in the corner of his vision nearly hour after hour. A breath left him as he heard the entrance rustle, head turning to expect another colo- clanmate 'home', but Juniper pushed through by herself.

Through by herself. The statement is repeated in her brain, and maybe he's the first set of eyes that catches hers, baby blues widening to stare at darkened aqua. She didn't have to say anything for him to know- the distinct lack of Hawthorne at her side, the scent of blood light on her (from her tail?) was enough for him to assume. Her words, however, made it reality. A choked, keening noise left him. Much like how he had felt during Fray's final breaths is how he felt here, his chest compressed and his stomach twisting into a ball.

Others crowd her, trying to put their new leader together, trying to support her, trying to gather together to retrieve the second leader they've lost in just hours of moonlight. He swallows thickly, eyes turning to where he knows Serpent lay, where kits made soft cooing noises. "What..." He swallows thick and clears his throat, then speaks with a watery tone. "What about Serpent?" He said, looking for Ghost, looking for Juniper's eyes. Looking for anyone.

___________________ YOU'VE GOT MY BODY ☆ FLESH AND BONE, YEAH ___________________

• "speech"
  

• 

• THUNDER he/him, future thunderclanner, nineteen moons.
  ☆ a sh/lh chocolate tabby with low white and stunning baby blue eyes. stands of average height with a 'mohawk' and spiky-shaped mane.
  ☆ mentored by who / mentoring no one
  ☆ whichever relations / want listed
  ☆ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted / / underline and tag when attacking
  ☆ penned by dallas ↛ dallasofnines on discord, feel free to dm for plots.

 

[GHOSTSTRIKE]

WE SLEEP SAFELY AT NIGHT BECAUSE ROUGH MEN STAND READY TO VISIT VIOLENCE ON THOSE WHO WOULD HARM US

​

---

Ghost was tired. Tired of moving. Of fighting. Of trying to understand what was happening to him. His paws felt like anchors, not just heavy with exhaustion, but purposefully mooring him to Thunders vicinity. His mind still flashed red with danger when he couldn't see them, and so while others were bustling about trying to prepare nests and find food and build shelter, Ghost ignored them all, hunkering down barely a tail-length away from the chocolate tabby with a look in his eyes that sent most cats in the opposite direction.

His eyes burned, wanting sleep but instead flickering to all the weak points in the quarries barrier. It was protection, yet, but a cat that didn't overstep and fall into the ravine would have a perfect spot to spy on them from. He itched to go up there. To start dragging branches and brambles into the mix to strengthen it from prying eyes, but something still recoiled at the thought.

Not yet..

Muscles tensed as he caught sight of Juniper returning, expecting two cats and only seeing one. His gaze momentarily shifted to Thunder, already anticipating it– the emotion he'd see there– but Ghost could not share in it. As those around him began to grieve and mourn, all he could think about was that the threat was still out there.

"There should be guards in rotation here, as well– before something else comes skulking out of the shadows." It seemed so seemingly obvious. If not because of the new surroundings, then *certainly* because of Sable and his penchant for attacking in the dark.

"What… What about Serpent?"

Ghost didn't have answers for that, and even if he did, it wasn't his place to speak on it. The shecat was none of his business. Neither was Hawthorne. But if he was staying in this camp for any extended period of time, he could at least limit his chances of getting jumped in his sleep.

​

---

future thunderclanner - male - a large, grey tabby with dark amber eyes and several scars​

​

 

[juniperstar]

juniper

the gathering of faces comes quick, following on the back of Honeysuckle's denial- that they ought to just go search for him. that Hawthorne could be recovered and guided home. her teeth grit, painful friction where they click into place. those that surge forward seem to understand more willingly than their niece... exchanging misery in their glances, a mutually understood grief that does not need to be spelled out any more than it already has been. Gray buries his nose into bramble-knotted fur with a plea that goes heeded out of the desperate need to be told what to do. her haunches buckle, sitting in horrified stupor as Copper grumbles his suspicions, as Raven pledges to be of help, while Ghost tilts towards the mantle of leadership to suggest ways they might preserve themselves.

Guards... retrieval... and- "What about Serpent?"

her ears flatten against the curve of her skull- "He's... Take who you can... Don't go alone," she tumbles through her thoughts, "He's past the four oaks... we were headed towards the great stones- they..." her lips still into a pained grimace. the thin cuts that mark her successful flight from combat were not wounds of an emboldened owl, the bite of a fox... "There were three of them..."

seafoam finds Thunder's furrow features, stumbling back to her paws despite what protests the foggy furred tom beside her might share, "I'll tell her- I'll.... She.... She should hear it from me," comes out in hardly more than a whisper, pushing past their forlorn stares with only half of the needs answered for.

──✩°｡⋆⸜ ✮

• juniperstar leader of thunderclan nine lives remain

  ignore me