Backwritten Camp sadness as a gift // littlebrook

[pineheart]

✦ It's been a long time since Pineheart… relaxed. Since he didn't look over his shoulder and tense up at the slightest noise. Since he spent more than a few minutes without worry. But now, in this moment, lounging by the side of the river in the sun, the water brushing and cooling down his paws, Littlebrook by his side, he cannot find it in himself to do any of it. Their respective kits are safe, food is plenty.

Their grief has found a home in one another, soothing and being soothed, not forgotten but no longer as painful. His heart is… full. Fuller than it ever has been. Full because his late kits are still there, as is his mate– fuller, because Torrent, Squid, Lilac, and Brook too have settled in there. Brook… he looks over at her through icy blue eyes that are somehow still warm. Maybe it's the sun.

"Don't think I've felt this relaxed since I was a kit," he says, stretching large paws out in front of him. "Could almost go for a dip. What do you say?"

haven't had a dream in a long time

see, the life i've had could make a good man go bad

• ooc: takes place before the shadowclan herb heist
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  PINE, - 49 moons / riverclan + warrior
  large brown tabby town
  adopted guardian of Torrentpaw and Squidpaw / future mentor to Torrentpaw
  healing and peaceful powerplay allowed

 

[Littlebrook]

⋆˚✿˖° I was dancing in the rain, I felt alive and I can't explain

Littlebrook laid with a certain contentness, her eyes half-lidded and her paws tucked beneath her as she basked in the little sun that was gracing their day. Her ear twitched when she heard the familiar rumble of Pineheart's voice, causing a smile to curl upon her face as she turned her head a bit, turquoise eyes settling upon the tom as the sun dappled her fur.

There was a fondness in her gaze, as if she had found something she believed had been lost. Pineheart had opened a home in her heart she thought would slowly sink away after the losing of Rain... Lilacbird, her sweet Lilacbird was grown up now. And she was ever so proud of her daughter. Torrentpaw was growing too, as was Squid! A yawn slipped past her despite herself, causing her to push herself up a bit.

" Are you challenging me to a little race? " she joked in a gentle voice, knowing that the other certainly was not doing such a thing. Wavesong, yes. She would have. Pineheart? Just wanted to enjoy the day. Then with a softer voice, she continued, her nose brushing against his cheek.

" I think a dip sounds just right. The water's calm today. Like it's finally listening. " she hummed softly as she rose to her paws, stretching out her limbs with the slow grace of someone who knew how to move. Her eyes dart to the side momentarily, trying to spot Lilacbird and finding rest only when she did. Perhaps too overprotective, perhaps too overbearing... But that was her child. She would fuss the same way over Torrent and Squid.

Then finally did she brush against Pineheart with a loud purr escaping her. " Let's test the waters, my friend. "

✿────────────── ──────── Brook ──────── ─────────────✿

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[pineheart]

✦ Looking at Littlebrook now, it's almost hard to believe she's the same cat he'd joined on that rock so many moons ago. She looked stronger, now. Content. Somehow at peace with the world around her, despite what it's taken from her. She was stronger than him, that much is certain. For how many moons had he sat aimlessly, half a cat, next to the grave of his family? For how long had he closed himself off to the world, to everyone he met, before finally letting himself care again? All that loss and all it ever taught him was how to hide himself, how to ruin something so he'd never get to have it.

He makes a silent promise to himself, here, under the sun and beside the river, in their new home. That he would not let this go, that he would hold on with all the stubbornness he'd spent staying next to that grave, but use it to hold on to something good this time. Something alive. His mate… his Lily… she would want that for him too. He knows it in his heart, where she still lives, beautiful as she was the day he lost her.

When Brook jokes, he mreows with bemusement, though her eyes have a look in them like she knows he will say no. And at any other time, to any other cat– he would have. But today, he gets up and stretches next to her, eyes crinkled in the corners, though he doesn't smile outright. When her nose brushes his cheek, his heart does something strange in his chest. Something it hasn't done in moons.

"Perhaps I am," he replies, "a race would do me good. I haven't swam more than a few fox lengths at a time in a while."

Let's test the waters, my friend.

Ah. His heart does something again, this time slightly painful in nature. A contraction or a twist. Friends… yes. That's what they are. He shakes his head, shaking off the strange feeling that suddenly came over him, and wades out into the water, trying to enjoy the coolness of it against his paw pads, to let it wash away that feeling. Something unnamed, something he does not dare look at directly. But something tender, anyhow.

haven't had a dream in a long time

see, the life i've had could make a good man go bad

• ooc: -
• 

  
  

  PINE, - 49 moons / riverclan + warrior
  large brown tabby town
  adopted guardian of Torrentpaw and Squidpaw / future mentor to Torrentpaw
  healing and peaceful powerplay allowed

  
  

 

[Littlebrook]

⋆˚✿˖° I was dancing in the rain, I felt alive and I can't explain

Littlebrook didn't really say anything at first, her light eyes settled upon the large form of her friend. Sometimes she wondered how she made it through the journey but the thing was... She merely had to look beside her and find Pineheart's eyes and there the answer lay... Yes, it still hurt, thinking of Rain, of her gentle little boy... The boy who would never become a warrior. The boy who loved his sister so much, he gave his life for her. Sometimes, it still hurt and felt like she could not breathe... But today was not such a day. Today was a good day.

Today, she spent it with Pineheart, who she watched move up to his paws, causing an almost triumphant smile to touch her maw for a seecond. She watched him and felt something in her chest ache for a moment, not painfully... Not sharply, no... Just... Deeply. Like river water slowly wearing down the stone.

She had been there, when he had just lost his mate and kits... Had been there to guide him back up, let him watch her youngsters, Rain and Lilac, her sweet Lilac bird. She had hoped that their presence would coax him out of the cave he had made back then for himself.. And then tragedy happened and he had done the same for her. He had made her live again. Not just survive to live another day.

She felt a flutter in her stomach and then a sound escaped her, soft and bell-like, the rare kind of laugh that felt unguarded. She brushed past him with that sound still on her breath, her fur catching his as she went. Her tail tracing lightly along his side, the contact fleeting but sure. Come with me, it said without words, come see the water through my eyes.

The sunlight danced on the surface of the river as she approached it, every pawstep silent upon the grass as she moved into the river without a moment's hesitation, this after all was her element. And there's a brief moment where she breathes out in relief, feeling the weightlessness of it all. Then she turned, gracefully so and settled her eyes upon Pineheart, a twinkle hidden within them.

She was still for a moment, didn't name the flutter in her chest, or the longing, no... She didn't want to let herself look too long, or too wanting... She wouldn't betray how often she caught herself watching him when he wasn't paying attention, no... She did not want to ruin that friendship they shared. For now, this... This was enough.

" Squid and Torrent. " she called finally from the water. " They're growing so big now. You've taught them both well. "

✿────────────── ──────── Brook ──────── ─────────────✿

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