Private i'm not the waiting kind // moth

[SABLESTAR]

Gone was the shaken ground they once stood on and for now he would allow himself the moments of calm to breathe. For at least while it lasted. Life was an unending rise and fall to a tide uncontrolled and he would bask in this until it turned once again.

Sablestar sat at the gnarled roots of the cedar within the camps center, carefully placing down the nettles he collected to create more sturdy bedding to lay on. The space behind the reeds had been where he made home since they arrived, and with it's placement he saw it a perfect abode for a leader. Right in the middle of it all, but given a curtain over foliage to mute some of the noise.

As the tom turned to sweep more inside he found himself caught in another's stare. "Moth...?" He prompted with little more than a grumble, but it couldn't be said if he was truly irritated at the approach. "Were you needing help with finding a den?" He really ought to keep track of who still needed to find a place to sleep.

this heart beats cold like the devil his own

• @Moth
  "mew"
• 

  SABLE— he/him ･fifty-two moons ･colonist ; no clan ･penned by gonkpilled

  a black and white tuxedo with dark amber eyes

 

[Mothbite]

-

indentMoth clicks his tongue in annoyance, avoiding Sablestar's gaze. "I don't need help with something as simple as that. I'm not a kitten, you know." He shifts his eyes, shyly, to meet with his leader's. "I wanted to apologize, actually. For calling you out during the meeting. Moth takes in a harsh, sharp breath, before letting it out softly. "I know you're doing a lot for all of us, and that you've given up a lot. We all have. I don't want to seem ungrateful, I guess." He does think this place sucks, but at least it's theirs, something they don't need to share with anyone. That alone was a huge boon.

indent"What were you talking about, when you said this place is a treasure trove? It seems like a total dump to me." Maybe Sablestar saw something he had missed, hidden among the mud and pine trees. Moth hopes, in some small corner of his heart, that ablestar really had discovered something tremendous. Maybe then, this new 'Shadowclan' wouldn't be quite as doomed as Moth had been expecting.

-

 

[SABLESTAR]

The answer is more fiery than he anticipated, but Moth made up for it quickly. An apology that Sablestar shrugged off with little care, it wasn't the worst thing he had heard. Hell, it wasn't the worst he heard from their new Clanmates even, but maybe it was nice to know not all of this frustration and anger wasn't with him at it's core. He hadn't been the only one to take losses, he hadn't taken the worst either, but he had endured a great change alongside them. Moth's words are just another reminder of Juniper's rejection.

"That is appreciated, considering." Considering Moth was still here standing, and if Sable was as cruel as they believed he could have had his more loyal followers flay those who spoke out against him. The mercy he served only briefly flickered through his mind. Instead he thought Moth's lack for objective thinking. A literal mindset searching for reason. "Walk with me, I can show you." Though his eyes were hardly in any shape to go sightseeing, he knew enough of the pocosin's western path to show Moth something new.

The tuxedo hooked his claws into the soft earth, drying in the sparse hours without any rain as he brought his warrior down a similar path he, Shade and Dunny had the night before. Their scent had gone awash with the heavy rainfall, just as he expected. "Sit here. Listen." Between the spindly branches above them the sky had grown overcast, but he had brought them to a kinder view: murky pond clustered with pond pines at its edge.

this heart beats cold like the devil his own

• "mew"
• 

  SABLE— he/him ･fifty-two moons ･colonist ; no clan ･penned by gonkpilled

  a black and white tuxedo with dark amber eyes

 

[Mothbite]

-

indentMoth huffs. "Alright, fine, i'm following." He holds back a rude comment about letting a nearly blind cat lead him around unfamiliar ground. Moth had just apologized, he doesn't want to muck it all up again. He really did respect Sablestar quite a bit. He was upset, of course, to be banished to such a miserable little corner of the forest, but it's not as if it's totally Sablestar's fault. If Hawthorne had just listened to them, or just surrendered, then they could have all moved past this with full bellies and far less bloodshed. 'If only he hadn't stuck to his stupid pride.'

indent As they walk, Moth thinks to all he's left behind. The day-to-day in the colony wasn't great, especially once the famine hit, but it was safe. Moth had settled in nicely, and formed a stable, comforting routine of hunting in the forest and sunbathing in camp. He wasn't sure the pocosin even got any sun. It certainly didn't have any now. The few relationships he did have were left behind as well. He would never get the chance to win over Ghost, to see the tomcat look at him with the same shining eyes Moth regarded him with. He and Serpent had been on bad terms they last spoke - but still, he craves her affection. The memories of his time under her care once warmed his heart, a reminder of his value in the eyes of at least one cat. 'There's no way we can go back. She thinks we killed her mate. We can't recover from something like that.' Hawthorne had been an enemy, an obstacle to progress, but he was still Serpent's family. He couldn't help but grieve a bit, on her behalf. 'At least Rat is still here,' He thinks, bitterly. As if his own sister had ever regarded him as anything other than a shameful reminder of their shared past. Moth is sure not even the increased proximity will make her look at him for more than a few secnds before running away.

indent"Sit here. Listen."

indent Sable's words break him from his reverie. 'Here? Whats so special about this place?' Moth can imagine it might look nice during greenleaf, when plants are lush and the pond was stocked with singing frogs. Now, though, it just looked like a sad, nearly frozen puddle, tucked within a shaded corner of the swamp. Sablestar had seen something in this place, and Moth is determined to find out what it was. Obediently, he sits, closing his eyes to focus on the sounds of the still forest.

-

 

[SABLESTAR]

There is a long, silent pause that stilled the space around them. Sablestar sat beside Moth with a more relaxed demeanor. Something with the nature of the pocosin felt like stepping into a familiar air, perhaps nostalgia. Maybe his parents had lived in a similar place when he and Gray were just kits but when the shadows swallowed the trees it felt like stepping into his own coat.

Even as leafbare clutched the trees with brittle bark and drained the color from the shrubbery surrounding them, the peaty soil still hugged at his pads as he walked. The scent of petrichor that followed him, the cricketsong that pulsed across the cedars and pond pines.

Even now as the breeze of winter swept at their backs he felt relief with the scent of sedge and poplar. "It sounds like home, something just for us. Not for someone else's Colony or ego. Just... this." Rebuilding towards greatness, a legacy of their own. "This place is yours just as much as it is mine. It will grow with us." Newleaf would come and they would get to see the real beauty that only glimmered in sparks now.

this heart beats cold like the devil his own

• "mew"
• 

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

  a black and white tuxedo with dark amber eyes