Open Event Camp WindClan The price of your greed is your Son and your Daughter 🌾Apprentice den flooding

[Merrystalk Merrystalk]

—————————————— Dreaming along in a pace you'll understand. ✦

Under the cool lull of the night, Merry would have slept content, even with the thrum of the rain. For a glimpse of a moment, the gale guard could convince himself he was home, there within the barn. Hammering comfortingly on the roof of that bold, immovable structure.

Maybe he could have stayed in that dream, lived in a past without the difficulties of clan life. But as each breath grew laboured, and the chill in his bones became something impossible to ignore, the tortoiseshell finally roused.

A dull roaring in his ears as everything seemed to sway, something cool rushing all around him. It was as the ringing morphed into the shouts of cats, a panic that drove cold to his very bones, that Merrystalk stumbled to his paws, nearly tripping on himself as he struggled to keep his balance, every breath a heaving splutter like something heavy resting on his very being.

Through bleary eyes, the roaring was made more clear, water. Far too much. It hammered from the skies above and tugged at his paws relentlessly. Cats yowled from the dens, trying desperately to escape. Dustystar crawled from her den, cats already rushing to the nursery, and the gale guard's eyes rested on the apprentice den. Voices called from within, his stomach churning.

Even while his mind felt clouded, more dull than it had been that... That night, he waded closer to the apprentices' den, eyes wide in horror as he looked within and saw the flooding rising rapidly. "C'mon! To hig-" He found his speech caught in his throat, hacking up water that dripped in rivulets down his chin, eyes watering with the burning in his chest. There was no time to hesitate. "High ground, all've you, camps floodin' 'nd we gotta get y'all to safety."

Even as the water rose higher on the short tom, he trudged within the den, bowing his head and pulling the nearest apprentice to their paws by the scruff of their neck. "Watch yer steps, that mud's gonna be dangerous." Merrystalk found his voice rising louder, the rushing of the water and thundering of the rain overhead grew deafening, but even his words seemed to ring dull in his head, trying desperately to keep his cool.

His chest cried out, with every word, every forced step through the water, every desperate shove to help the apprentices from the den. The gale guard wouldn't leave until every last one was out of the den, the place of safety that had quickly become a death trap.

— And it's harder than you think,

Telling dreams from one another. —

• Anyone can be the apprentice Merry grabbed and other warriors are free to come help evacuate or lead them to safety !
• 
  Merrystalk
  ✦—Windclan Gale Guard | 32 Moons
  ✦—He/Him
  ✦—"SPEECH", 'THOUGHTS', ATTACK
  ✦—A skinny, tortoiseshell cat with bright green eyes and pelt speckled with hay.
  #9D6E46

 

[Chickpaw]

————————————————————— Here comes the sun ☀︎

The rising water had already roused the fluffy apprentice far before Merry had stormed in. He didn't mind, though—if anything, he found it a bit bewildering how the water lifted him off his paws, pushing the small apprentice from his resting spot in the deepest parts of the den. He didn't... actually know how to swim, and perhaps he should have been afraid of the water rushing around his cinnamon-colored paws. But how could he be? As though he were some little duck, the water seemed to carry him easily for the few moments he was in it. Chickpaw bobbed along easily, his thick, pollen-covered fur seeming to repel the worst of the water.

He looked up in curiosity as a familiar face, Merrystalk, barreled into the den. "Oh, hi—!" He begun cheerfully, but quickly his face turned sour. While he was used to the taste of dirt at this point (I mean, surely other tunnelers got a mouthful of dirt on the occasion, right?), the swirling water carried something far more rancid-tasting. Chick made a spitting noise, trying to lift his head out of the water—but thankfully, he didn't have to float for much longer. Merry gripped the small apprentice's scruff, pulling him from the deepest parts of the water and setting him somewhere far more reasonable, somewhere he could actually touch the bottom of the den. Maybe he could have touched the bottom of the water-filled den, but he didn't really try. He was short anyway, it was nothing he wasn't used to. "THANK YOU!" The sunshine-colored tom shouted, the violence of the storm becoming far more clear to him now that he was free from the water. "I REALLY DO APPRECIATE IT." With some struggle, he began to trudge his way out of the den, mud pulling on his small paws as he went.

We'll be here when the world slows down

And the sunbeams fade away

• 
  Chick
  ☀︎—Windclan Apprentice
  ☀︎—He/Him
  ☀︎—"SPEECH", 'THOUGHTS', ATTACK
  ☀︎—A small cinnamon shorthair with patches of long golden fur.
  #FBCC86 #847635