Private Territory quiet, sullen storm ~ Hollowmumble

[Hollowmumble]

x

The wrath of God lies sleeping. —— . ･ﾟ☾

It was hid a million years before men were and only men have power to wake it.

Snowflakes were slowly floating through the white tinted sky, wobbling and dancing through the air, eventually oh so gently landing on the ground. It was already a couple of paws deep, dusting the prairie with it's light touch. Undisturbed, it lay out before her, over twists and turns, curves and bumps in the terrain. Coating trees, rocks, hiding the grass below it's deceivingly heavy layers. Every breath and sigh she let out fogged up the air in front of her, fine mist eventually dissolving to nothing, only to start again.

There she sat, atop a hill, watching everything below. A black shadow out in the open.

Crowded in camp, her thoughts were a blur, strife with anger and sadness and grief. Out here, she could finally breathe on her own. One steady breath after the other. In and out. The snow dusting her pelt shifted and moved with every inhale.

It had only been a day since the return of the hunting patrol. The death of Dustystar. The clan sent to turmoil. Too much. Cats yelling and arguing, calling for more blood, violence and aggression. Nothing she could do would ever fix it. The growing restlessness with the other clans. She had seen it, she had known it was coming, but it felt too soon. Far too soon. It was inevitable.

She doesn't know why she ever spoke in the first place.

So many of the cats in this clan would rather have another's head than try and talk to them. They were just like all the others. So few of them understood. She wondered if she was the wrong one. If she was destined to fall to violence, if it was the true way of the world, something unavoidable, to grow ever cruel. To take claws to others. To chomp innocence with sharp, gleaming teeth.

That wasn't a world she wanted to live in.

She wondered why she was still here, amongst this clan.

She let out another breath.

OOC @Merrystalk //

Hell ain't half full. Hear me.

☾･ﾟ. —— Ye Carry war of a madman's making onto a foreign land.

Ye'll wake more than the dogs.

HOLLOWMUMBLE

WARRIOR OF WINDCLAN
Black spotted ghost tabby with bright amber eyes.
She/Her
44 moons old, ages on the 14th.
Relative to nobody, mentor to nobody.

penned by Lassie

 

[Merrystalk Merrystalk]

The gale guard's mind was racing. Frankly, it hadnt stopped. As a mouse chased relentlessly, his mind would not settle. Not even with the reassurance that Sunny was okay, not even when Dimming defended his brother amidst the rage aimed towards him. Nothing soothed him. He managed in the days before to settle his mind, in his outburst towards no one in particular, maybe except Starclan itself.

So, he wandered. Not far, never outside of the territory, but his unsettled paws could not stay in camp. The snow was deep. They had jinxed it, really, hoping the snow would be kind. Nothing was kind to them since the fire. Nothing but disaster after disaster wrought the clan. In places, Merry plunged wrist deep in the snow; in others, the grass still peered through. Regardless, he disturbed the delicate blanket covering the place, realising a little too late that he was following another set of pawsteps.

He set out to be alone, let himself do as he had before, let it all out alone. Let the winds hear his plea, his rage roll off the moors. But instead, he found a familiar sight. All too familiar.

"Hollow?" His voice uncharacteristically quiet, shoulders slumped as he hesitated for a moment, before sitting at her side. The gale guards' ears drooped a little, but a watery smile crossed his maw. "I hope I ain't disturbin' ya' 'r nothin'..." He doubted he was, but seeing her so updated the days prior, maybe she wanted to be alone too. He would leave if she wanted, but he realised now he would rather the company than face his own thoughts, for just a moment longer.

He let out a tired, dry chuckle, watching his breath plume in front of him, rising in rivulets into the air. Merry looked into the sky, some muted expression across his maw, but something tense on his brow. "Ain't it ironic. The weather wasn't far off from this when we met." "When I found you." The thought went unsaid, she knew what he meant, and it was nicer to recall it as a meeting, not a rescue. It pained him to recall the truth, how sickly and in pain she was, how truly hollowed she was. She had no hope for that leafbare, but he made sure she persisted. Hunting until his paws went numb, keeping her company when crueller barn cats gave her unbecoming looks. He couldn't remember what reason he had to be so glued to her side, but he was glad now he had. Hollowmumble was his best friend, even if they were different in almost every way; she was one of the most important cats to Merrystalk.

Which was why he was the one to say what had too long left unspoken. "'m sorry I never stood at yer side, Hollow." His words drifted with the bitter wind that rolled across the snowcapped moors. "Ya' stood fer yer beliefs, 'nd when ya' stood up fer what was right, I ran. 'nd 'm sorry I left ya' to deal with it alone." Merry could feel some muted conflict from his friend; he couldn't tell what it was quite yet, but he wasn't the only one with an awful feeling about this all. The least she deserved was to know she wasn't alone. "I always agreed with ya', always will. It's ironic comin' from me, when everyone just sees me as an argumentative fool. But dealin' with this with an ambush 'n fight was the worst thing I think Dusty coulda done. 'nd now we gotta pay fer it."

The tortoiseshell tucked his paws close, already his pawpads began to numb, but it was a reminder he was still there. He glanced up to Hollow, as he always did, before looking to the horizon. "But if ya' don't wanna talk 'bout it past that, I'll keep my trap shut. I just wanted ya' to know yer weren't alone."

​

MERRYSTALK He/Him, Windclan Gale Guard, 34 moons.
A lithe, tortoiseshell cat with green eyes and pelt speckled with rye grass.
mentored by none // mentoring Talonpaw
sibling to Goldenroar and Sunnyspring
NPC x NPC / parent to no one / mated to Harefoot
"SPEECH" // "THOUGHTS" // ATTEMPTED ACTION // EMPATHY DETECTION // ALETHIA DETECTION
penned by Pheo ↛ phoenixwashere on discord, feel free to dm for plots.

 

[Hollowmumble]

x

The wrath of God lies sleeping. —— . ･ﾟ☾

It was hid a million years before men were and only men have power to wake it.

Hollow didn't turn her head, ears swiveling instead towards Merrystalk as he approached, acknowledging him silently.

She didn't find herself wanting to talk, but she sat still regardless in his presence. An old, too familiar feeling swept about her as he greeted her, like a rubberband over her chest, squeezing until it was hard to breathe. She wanted to sink down and slink away, find her own quiet again, not risk being around others as to not upset them, or call attention to herself. She had far too much of that lately.

It felt like too long ago, when Merry had found her. Starved and new to the outside world, barely able to take care of herself. Oh how she missed the barn and it's simplicity. She ached for it. The peace, the separateness yet the community. Nobody blindly leading one another over a cliff, but sharing responsibility. Hunting for themselves and others if they wished.

Merry had changed a lot since then. He was no longer Merry. Instead he had truly become Merrystalk, a clan cat, a Windclan cat.

But no matter how Hollow tried, she never felt like she quite belonged.

Her shoulders hunched, head lowering when Merrystalk said it. I'm sorry for never standing by your side.

Everything she had been trying to avoid by coming out here was bubbling up. The aching loneliness, the betrayal, what felt like every cat turning against her except a far few. She didn't belong here. Her ears pinned back against her head, and she turned to look away completely.

Hollow could feel herself shaking, as Merrystalk went on, trying to hold it all back. The relief that he agreed with her, that is was wrong to do. It couldn't get rid of the sting of rejection, but it could ease it, just a little.

After Merrystalk finished, she gasped out a barely audible, "I'm sorry..." What for, she couldn't quite pinpoint. Being the match that lit the flame that cause the entire clan to argue and divide themselves? Not being able to stop it, after she spoke out? Not being stronger, louder in her belief?

If she had stayed longer, yelled louder, tried to convince more cats, could she have changed anything? Could she have prevented Cloverbloom from getting hurt? Dustystar's death? Countless other clanmates wounds and injuries, that even now, might get infected or worse, because of their limited herb stock? There was no telling who would die next. It was like a string around her throat, pulling tighter and tighter. She could have done more. She could have stayed quiet.

OOC // GREAT JOB MERRY SHE'S CRYING. @Merrystalk

Hell ain't half full. Hear me.

☾･ﾟ. —— Ye Carry war of a madman's making onto a foreign land.

Ye'll wake more than the dogs.

HOLLOWMUMBLE

WARRIOR OF WINDCLAN
Black spotted ghost tabby with bright amber eyes.
She/Her
44 moons old, ages on the 14th.
Relative to nobody, mentor to nobody.

penned by Lassie