Territory WC Round the decay of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare 🌧️ Yewkit

[Froststorm]

{$title} Froststorm keeps adopting other peoples kids.

It was after his discussion with Dustystar that the silver tom realised something that intrigued him. The same sort of lightness that had tugged at his very form moons ago, when the twisted visage of Shadowclan warriors came to roam the pocosin after their rest being disturbed. And as Froststorm did not try to return to the dark forest, remaining amongst the living, exhaustion did not weigh him down.

Then, the time of the season struck the tom like a distant memory. The last he spent walking amongst the living, this near leafbare was a far-forgotten era, but this lightness seemed to carry unto the spirit of the dark forest. Almost as if the very veil between the living and the dead stretched thin for some small time of a moon. Admittedly, he had little idea what to spend the time with the living doing. The cats he would connect with were ones he was bound to. Though, then again, he wasn't one to relinquish such an opportunity.

So, for the moment, as he tried to decipher what he might make of this time on the periphery of the living, Froststorm simply decided to be among the cats of Windclan. They were not his kin, nor his kind, but a clan ravaged by the cruelty of the weather, and left floundering by the ignorance of starclan; those were cats he could respect.

Rather than pace about, the tom found himself resting atop a large stone. His pelt dripped that awful frigid water, his very pelt soaked and rattled his every breath. But as he curled there, watching over the cats, Froststorm did not realise how he slipped into the fray of the living, not too out of place with a clan still recoiling from pelts being drenched and wheezing lungs from inhaled water. To any outsider, it seemed almost as if he belonged.

And, to a rather sheltered kitten, he was indistinguishable from a living clanmate.

​

FROSTSTORM He/Him, Dark Forest Warrior, ??? moons.
A gruff, silver tom with frostbite scarring and a persistent fog following everywhere he goes.
mentored by Mourningmist // mentored Deadwood & Fleafire, mentoring no one
Companion to Fleafire & Dustystar
NPC x NPC / parent to Beekit, Stormkit, Deadwood & Fleafire / mated to Honeyfluff

"SPEECH"

// 'THOUGHTS' // ATTACK
penned by Pheo ↛ phoenixwashere on discord, feel free to dm for plots.

 

[Yewkit]

YEWKIT

.

Mother was out doing something important and left Yewkit alone, by herself. But Yewkit was obedient, didn't stray from her place, for mother didn't allow her to, and she wasn't about to disappoint her again.

All around her were clanmates, drenched in water from the flood and constant rain, and Yewkit realised she could not recognise quite a lot of them - whether it was from the water-darkened pelts, mud clinging to their coats or just out of not having interacted with them yet. She was never good at introducing herself, at going out of the nursery and getting to know her clanmates. She has learned their names, but some still slipped her and she never bothered to approach. Now would be no exception, except she was cold and alone - her comfort couldn't be found with Meadowpaw or Talon, for they had other duties to attend to, nor Plague, for she kept her distance today. Yewkit knew she deserved it, but that didn't stop the shivers running across her pelt.

And when another drenched clanmate sat down nearby, Yewkit looked into his bright eyes, pleading for comfort. "H..hello." she whispered, afraid to raise her voice above the softness mother required. "I'm Yewkit. I..I'm cold."

Was it alright to plead to an unknown warrior pathetically? Yewkit wasn't sure if mother would approve, she should be able to take care of herself just fine, but the exhaustion from the past days has left her seeking warmth she could not get anywhere. Wasn't even sure if this warrior wouldn't send her away, for she was just a small kitten, sitting in the way, disturbing their peace. But she tried anyway, hoping.

 

[Froststorm]

Froststorm was distracting watching the hubub of the clan from just far enough to not raise suspicions, that he didn't expect a tiny voice grabbed his attention. He had to glance about as confusion knit his brow before he finally considered looking down, a pair of shiny mismatched eyes peering up at him.

A scrap of a kitten, tiny and a voice nothing above a whisper. Her whole body seemed to shake like there was a weight upon tiny shoulders that were about to collapse. It seemed as if she were alone, and her pelt was soaked, and of all the cats she approached, she had stumbled towards the one cat who had not felt warmth in many, many moons.

But, even so, for Froststorm's muddled path of cruelty and violence, there must have been something that drove the kitten to approach him of all cats. So, he gave the tiny thing a small smile.

"Hello, Yewkit."

He tried to keep his voice quieter; the rattle in his lungs wasn't a pleasant thing to warriors, let alone a frightened kitten.

"It is rather cold, isn't it?"

He hummed sympathetically, as if it wasn't all he had known for as long as he could remember.

Warmth on his pelt was something he longed for every once in a blue moon, when the sun beat down overhead in greenleaf. But, to this day, the water of the river still clung to his pelt, just as the rain clung to that of the shivering kitten.

"I may not be of the most help, little one, my pelt's just as soaked as yours..."

Though he took a pause, seeing the glimmer of something in her eyes. It wasn't something he could pinpoint, but he gave a small sigh as a small plume of his breath whisped away into the air.

"But, you may rest with me if you desire, Yewkit, if there are none else to keep you company."

Froststorm relented, gently. He had always been strict with his apprentices, but his heart still bled for them as his own kin. Perhaps they had made him grow soft, but if a kitten sought comfort from a spirit, that instead made the tom curious about the state of her family life.

​

FROSTSTORM He/Him, Dark Forest Warrior, ??? moons.
A gruff, silver tom with frostbite scarring and a persistent fog following everywhere he goes.
mentored by Mourningmist // mentored Deadwood & Fleafire, mentoring no one
Companion to Fleafire & Dustystar
NPC x NPC / parent to Beekit, Stormkit, Deadwood & Fleafire / mated to Honeyfluff

"SPEECH"

// 'THOUGHTS' // ATTACK
penned by Pheo ↛ phoenixwashere on discord, feel free to dm for plots.

 

[Yewkit]

YEWKIT

.

Yewkit quietly scolded herself for asking for warmth from a cat that surely must have been cold himself - how could she ask for such a thing when he needed it too?

Though the cat next to her didn't appear to mind her company at least and so she sat next to him, close enough for companionship, but far enough for their pelts not to touch - leaving that choice to him instead. If he chose to approach, she would be glad, but if not... well, she'd understand.

If there are none to keep you company

Yewkit winced at those words, like thorns pressing against her ribcage, threatening to pierce through her. Mother was her company, the only company she needed really... just not today. Today mother was keeping her distance, for Yewkit had been disobedient and needed to be taught a lesson. She knew this, though it didn't ease the loneliness creeping at her from all sides. But maybe that was the point. Maybe she needed to learn to be by herself, to not rely on anyone else, lest they all leave her in the end. Only mother and her siblings will remain to be there for her forever.

"No." she finally said. "There are none today."

The words 'I don't deserve any' are left unsaid, though Yewkit knows them to be true.

 

[Froststorm]

The tom watched with unblinking curiosity as the kitten, in her own silence, settled at his side, facing out to the rest of the clan, clearly still not recognising his deceased state. But, then again, a little ignorance wouldn't hurt the kit.

But, as she spoke, he was rather taken aback.

"None today?"

He muttered as an echo, tilting his head slightly as his face knit in a furrow of confusion.

"Are you without companions? Littermates or kittens your own age? I had sworn I had seen kittens your own age around here."

If his tail were still attached, he would have found it flicking in a quietly creeping, unsettled feeling. No kitten talks in such a way; no kitten would seek the comfort of an utter stranger.

Something was terribly amiss, something that squirmed under his flesh. Perhaps it was his own paternal instincts he could never shake, or simply the observation of someone outside the clan. But it seemed as if there was something more to this. For a moment, Froststorm reached to gently ruffle the kitten, reassuringly, only for him to phase through the tiny form sat beside him. Something cold gripped his chest, letting an exhausted breath slip from his maw. It wasn't so often he interacted with the living outside of his own domain, so on instinct he assumed some sort of corporeal state. But even while the moon was so strong to suffocate the stars, it did not award him any sort of form to comfort the kitten.

There was some sickening irony in it all. A cat condemned to the dark forest, giving a leader advice in the face of Starclan's absence, a spirit unable to comfort a kitten clearly gripped with sorrows too large for such a tiny form. All he could do, as he often did, was talk. His words still carried some strength, some comfort to a clan that seemed so detached from the high and mighty spirits above that supposedly granted them all guidance. On a night like this, all it seemed was that they had been abandoned, even the smallest of them all. No mother in sight, no kin or friend. But, at least Froststorm could fill that absence.

"It is quite all alright, I will be your company."

He purrsed, solmenly. Froststorm was no protector, but even if his own kittens had been ripped from his paws by Starclan's negligence, he would not grant such cruelty to another. Not again. Never again... Perhaps it was for the best he held no body, in the end of it all.

The silver tom shook his head, continuing.

"Tell me, Yewkit, how long until you are to be apprenticed? I am sure you shall prove to be a strong warrior to your clan, in time."

She was tiny, in voice and confidence. Utterly unlike the last kitten he had spoken to in such a manner. Vibrant and loud, unwilling to be ignored. Yewkit seemed to want to vanish, to be insensible. While it was natural for kittens to be reserved or nervous, Froststorm couldn't help but feel unsettled by her behaviour.

​

FROSTSTORM He/Him, Dark Forest Warrior, ??? moons.
A gruff, silver tom with frostbite scarring and a persistent fog following everywhere he goes.
mentored by Mourningmist // mentored Deadwood & Fleafire, mentoring no one
Companion to Fleafire & Dustystar
NPC x NPC / parent to Beekit, Stormkit, Deadwood & Fleafire / mated to Honeyfluff

"SPEECH"

// 'THOUGHTS' // ATTACK
penned by Pheo ↛ phoenixwashere on discord, feel free to dm for plots.

 

[Yewkit]

YEWKIT

.

Yewkit waited for the stranger's touch, yet it never arrived. Just a cold chill running through her fur, as if the breeze itself was against her. She understood, though. Mother had taught her better than to whine and beg for softness of one's touch, the warmth of one's fur.

"I have my siblings - Phantomkit and Drearykit. And mother - Plague. They're...they're here." Had she said too much? If mother found out about what she'd just said, surely the coldness Yewkit felt now would be nothing compared to what would to come. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean..." she tried to save it, but what could she possibly say?

It is quite alright

Yewkit sighed a breath of relief. Perhaps warmth was a bit too much to ask for, but not company. Though his next question was one she feared the answer to, "Three moons." She shivered at the thought of leaving the nursery (if they even were to return to the nursery after the floods), of leaving mother. Who, then, would be there for her? "Mother said I'm named after the great tree. Protective, yet dangerous. I think...that's the kind of warrior I'm meant to be."

Though she wasn't sure if that's the kind of warrior she would be. Dangerous, probably. Making everyone worry, putting others and herself in danger, that's what she was good at. But protective? Sure, she helped Meadowpaw with Fogstare's wounds, but she was just repeating what the medicine cat had said. None of that was her. She was good at destroying things, not mending them. That must have been true, for now she was alone, having hurt more than soothed. As her paws threatened to tremble once again and her eyes threatened to cry, she bit her tongue to stop herself. She can cry later, when she's out of sight. Not here, not now.

Instead, she turned to look at the clanmate sitting next to her. "What was your name again?" She must have missed it.