Event Camp SC of warbled whispers and strength // silentkit

[Coalstrike Coalstrike]

That's the price you pay
Leave behind your heart and cast away
Just another product of today
Rather be the hunter than the prey
And you're standing on the edge, face up

.

" Become stronger. Like you promised me at my death, Silentkit. "

The voice came first, warped, distorted, leaking from the dark like smoke through the cracks of the world. The shadows around Silentkit stretched long and heavy, and within them, two eyes burned like smoldering coals. Coalstrike emerged, not fully, never fully... But enough. Enough for the dark to cling to him like breathless reverence. His pelt was slick with old, dried blood, the wound at his throat a torn and permanent grin. He bore it with pride. A badge of true death.

No mercy of herbs. No coward's end.

He circled the kit slowly, pawsteps silent despite his size, a phantom lion stalking its cub. His gaze flicked over Silentkit like she was being weighed and measured. " Tell me. " he rumbled, voice a rasp, a tremor of stone breaking. " How do you mean to become stronger? What is your goal? What is your vision? " He leaned closer, so near that the air between them could barely breathe, nose to nose, his eyes like molten suns in the dark. " And next time you see a clanmate dying... " his tone lowered to a dangerous murmur, almost soft, almost gentle. " You will not even think of deathberries. Do you understand? "

He bared his teeth, bloodied and sharp. " That is a coward's way. Weakness dressed as mercy. You do not let a warrior die through the use of p l a n t s. "

Speech, thoughts/emphasis

69 MOONS

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DARK FOREST

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[silentkit]

Silentkit hears the voice first, familiar even in its distortion, and looks around to see her father– maybe– slipping out of the shadows, a fish in water as he walks around her. She'd heard about this, cats coming back as ghosts, lingering at the edge of life. Even having known Coalstrike for only the few months she'd been alive, she could've guessed he'd come back. He was as stubborn as he was strong, although in the end, he'd lost, hadn't he? He asks questions, many of them, and Silentkit listens attentively like she'd been taught, oversized ears flicking.

"I will train," she replies simply. "Goals… visions…" she flicks an ear again.

Maybe she's just too young to understand what Coalstrike means, but she really doesn't get it. She has to be useful, that's all, isn't it? Useful, strong, obedient. Listen to your parents. Listen to the warriors. Crush the weak parts of you, stomp them out like embers after a fire.

"I want to be strong. Stronger than you. The strongest. Does anything else matter?" She says, and then, turning to face her father fully, "and why should I care what a warrior who's already lost wants?"

 

[Coalstrike Coalstrike]

That's the price you pay
Leave behind your heart and cast away
Just another product of today
Rather be the hunter than the prey
And you're standing on the edge, face up

.

Insolent welp. Despite the words that were spoken to him, a flicker of a smirk touched at his muzzle as he gazed down at Silentkit. The kit's defiance sparked something darkly amused within him, a mirror of his own arrogance returned in miniature. " Train. Be the strongest. " he hummed, settling himself beside her and wrapping his tail around his paws. The shadows rippled faintly at his movement, as though unsure where his body ended and the darkness began. She was right, he was long gone from the waking world, but that did not mean disrespect would be spat upon his memory. Even from his own brood.

" You've learned to sharpen your tongue... " he said at last, his massive form half-dissolved in the black that birthed him. " But strength, Silentkit, is not just in the mouth. " His tone dropped low, dangerous, vibrating like distant thunder. " You think I lost because I died? Foolish kit. Death is not loss. Death is inevitability. What matters is what remains after. My blood remains. You remain. " Golden eyes glowed in the dark as he studied her, the rise of her tiny shoulders, the unflinching way she met his stare.

" You ask why you should care what a warrior who's already lost wants. " He let the silence draw out until it felt heavy enough to crush the air itself. " Because I am still here. Because even dead, I am stronger than most of the living. Because every drop of your strength will carry my name whether you like it or not. " He leaned closer then, until his breath, cold as grave air, brushed her whiskers.

" So go on, little flame. Be stronger than me. But remember, every shadow you walk through, every claw you raise, every breath you take… It all began with me. "

Speech, thoughts/emphasis

69 MOONS

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DARK FOREST

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SONG

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bio