TW: Sensitive Content THE RUINER'S GOT A LOT TO PROVE [ returning from the gathering ]

[Frostmoth]

{$title} YYEEEOOOWWWWWW... cw // for post-revival pikestar (ouch) and super bloody riverclanners

There is an obvious gaping wound in the patrol that returns to RiverClan, one short among their bloodied and weary forms. Pikestar had remained dead for long enough that Frostmoth had begun to doubt if what he and Smokewreath proclaimed about his lives were true. But now, he breathes in rattles and gasps as Frostmoth and Pineheart support his revived form. They move at a slow pace, though Pineheart's large form helps to greatly physically unencumber their return. Still, RiverClan travels in rigid silence. There is not chatter among them, nor discussion of events. Quietly, Frostmoth wishes that his ears could be filled with something other than the repeated heaves of air. Every breath Pikestar draws into his ragged lungs presses on the bruises of betrayal Adderfang has left on Frostmoth.

What does this mean for their council? Had they been the ones who pushed Adderfang so far as to kill Pikestar? The deputy had never wished for Pikestar to die. Contemplation turns over like a warm stone in Frostmoth's mind. His stomach churns, but he isn't sure if it's from his anxieties or the scent of blood and death that clings to their tired bodies. There is a lot to think about concerning what has happened, but doubt of his own loyalties are not among them. He dreads the council meeting that will be born of this tumultuous night. Frostmoth is almost thankful to see their camp nearing in the distance, freed from the downward spiral in his mind.

"Please find Jinglemoon, now," is the very first thing to come out of Frostmoth's worn throat. He asks it of the first warrior he sees upon pushing through the reed-lined camp entrance. He does not intend to make this any more of an uproar than it's already bound to be. "Pikestar has lost a life," he adds, as if their being covered in blood is not already urgent enough of a reason to hasten the retrieval of their medicine cat.

Frostmoth does not even want to begin to imagine what he will have to say to Wavesong. Tears prick at his eyes at the thought, but he shakes his head to rid himself of them. He wants nothing more than to find Stormswirl and lie in his nest alone despite everything he knows he must do. This night is far from over.

OH, MY GOD ★ MAKE ME IN YOUR IMAGE

• / @pineheart and frost are carrying @PIKESTAR ; asking for @Jinglemoon as soon as they arrive; adderfang is not among them as he has been #exiled for jumping pikestar </3 read about it here!
• ★ FROST — he/him, riverclan deputy, 21 moons
  — penned by carat, feel free to ping or dm for plots!
  — longhair black and white bicolor with blue eyes
  — peaceful powerplay ok! all interactions ok!
  
• penned by carat!

 

[PIKESTAR PIKESTAR]

The exhaustion that hit after they all made the decision to exile Adderfang was staggering. He tried his best to press on, but everyone was rattled by the events of the gathering that they refused to let him out of sight. It was a little endearing, but he couldn't stop feeling guilty. While it could be argued that he didn't intend to die, that didn't erase the fact that their grim expressions were because of him. The silence is all but suffocating, but Pikestar himself doesn't have the energy to crack a joke. To lighten the mood just a little while they figure out where to go from here. Not even Peachtrot who was known for her cheer and sunshine had anything to say. All of them simply walked together in silence. Maybe that was enough for now. What the clan needed most was for a way for all of them to move past this together. If they couldn't do that, then this clan would really crumble. This was the last thing he wanted for any of them. All of them have already lost so much, they couldn't afford to lose another home. There's still time. We can work together and get past this. It won't be easy, but I believe we can do it. I just need to gather the council.

The council... They've lost another member of the council this night. It had been long coming, but he never expected that Adderfang would actually kill him after being demoted. Not like he cared about the position in the first place. He only cared about what it gave him. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but he had always known that Adderfang's decisions were made based on his own family. His mistake was believing that the brown warrior could make room in his heart for others, just as his mate once believed. Oh, Wavesong, how are we going to tell you? It was impossible not to tell her. After all, he was the only member of the clan who didn't return from the gathering. The topic would be brought up eventually whether or not they liked it. They could lie and say Adderfang died protecting him, but none would do it. What Adderfang had done was far too terrible and the feelings born from this event couldn't be erased so easily.

Everything was bad enough as it is and now they had even more of a mess. Much needed to be organized, said, and done. He's more than sure that they all want an explanation of the whole nine lives business, but there isn't much to explain. If anything, he's fully expecting it to be a why didn't you tell us sooner session rather wait for us to figure it out firsthand. His true answer is that he simply forgot, but he can't tell them that. Then there's the matter of what transpired in the gathering. He's in no mood to go visit the other clans soon to get their sides of the story. Besides, the clan had more pressing matters. Namely herbs. Great. Everything is going great. For sure. Ugh, I'm glad Pine and Frost are carrying me cause I think I'd rather just lay on the ground and roll around in frustration.

Ears flick, listening to Frostmoth's orders through his ragged breaths. When the deputy is finished he tilts his head to face them.

"You should get cleaned up and rest. I'll break the news to Wavesong. It's my responsibility. I'll be fine, don't worry. We're home and Jinglemoon will take care of me. I'll be in safe paws."

Frostmoth has already done so much for them. Too much if you asked him. That is why he looked to Pineheart afterward.

"I know you're exhausted too, but if Frostmoth tries to push himself can you please help him? I'm sure everyone will have questions. I'm sorry I can't be here to help you all with answering them. I'm really sorry for making you all do the work again, I'll make it up to you all when I can. I'll arrange a council meeting when I'm feeling well enough, if that's okay?"

𝐨𝐨𝐜 𓆩♱𓆪 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭

• PIKESTAR

  — leader of riverclan, former shipyard cat
  ♱ 39 moons — he/him — ages realistically on the 1st — mentoring iciclepaw
  ♱ speech is

  "#00caa2"

  — thoughts are italics — attacks are underlined
  ♱ short haired silver mackerel tabby with green eyes
  ♱ peaceful & healing powerplay permitted — underline & tag when attacking
  ♱ penned by velou — kasaven on discord — open to plots & dms
  

 

[Iciclepaw Iciclepaw]

ICICLEPAW

Just close your eyes, the sun is going down... You'll be alright, no one can hurt you now

Iciclepaw walked on shaky legs, each step unsteady beneath the weight of everything that had happened. The entire ordeal had passed in a blur, like a nightmare that still clung to the edges of his thoughts no matter how hard he blinked it away. Adderfang was gone now, exiled on the spot. And Pikestar… Pikestar had returned to them. The moment the leader stirred, breathing once more, it had pulled a fresh, raw wave of sobbing from Iciclepaw. Not from grief this time but from relief. And now, he walked beside the cats who had stood with him through it all, clinging close to Pikestar's side, as if afraid he might vanish again if Iciclepaw strayed too far. His wide blue eyes drifted back again and again, back to the place they'd come from. The hollow where the blood still stained the earth.

Fear had etched itself deep into his chest. He could still see it, Pikestar's lifeless body, the brutal scars now slashed across his face, the blood that had spilled across the ground… and the blood that had splattered onto him. His breathing hitched sharply, chest tightening with a ghost of panic. He clenched his jaw and tried to force it down, tried to focus on walking. His head ached, a dull throb pulsing behind his eyes. Not badly, but enough. He just wanted to sleep. To curl up beside someone safe. To forget.

His dream of being brave tonight, of making friends, of stepping forward... They had been shattered. The Gathering had turned into chaos. Boarpaw had been nice, at least… the one bright spark in an otherwise endless storm. But even ThunderClan hadn't been spared from the night's unrest, if the other cats' whispers were to be believed. Blinking slowly, he lifted his head and looked at Pikestar again. For a moment, his face softened. He gave the leader a trembling, tired smile before quietly stepping closer, brushing his cheek gently against Pikestar's shoulder.

" P-please… please rest soon too… " he murmured, voice hushed and raw with lingering emotion. Then, without another word, he padded over to Russetfall and pressed close to her side. Her warmth, her scent, familiar and steady, was a small comfort in the storm still spinning in his mind. " I'm tired… "

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[Littlebrook Littlebrook]

There's so much more
You can reclaim your crown
You're in control
Rid of the monsters inside your head

.

The night had gone terribly, terribly wrong. Everything they'd done to try and prevent this, to keep Adderfang calm, to soothe his restless, boiling frustration, it had all come undone. They had pandered, they had appeased, and in the end… it hadn't been enough. They should have told him no. Should have made him stay behind, made him stay with Wavesong, with his family, with his dying kits. They should have fought him harder. And now… now all of them had to live with the wreckage.

Littlebrook's thoughts had not strayed far from the medicine den since the moment blood had hit the ground. She thought of Jinglemoon, overwhelmed and exhausted. She thought of Wavesong, frightened and fraying at the seams. And she thought of the two tiny lives, hanging in the balance. And now they had to tell her. Tell Wavesong that her mate had thrown it all away. As they neared camp, Littlebrook moved closer to Pineheart, her fur brushing against his, silent support laced with a storm of emotions. Her gaze stayed forward, heavy and unblinking, as her paws carried her with more grace than she felt. She had spent the whole journey searching her thoughts for a kind way to break the news, and found none.

There was no kind way to say it. No version of the truth that wouldn't splinter.

She halted just inside the camp, her eyes finding Lilacbird's in the blur of returning cats. For a moment, everything else paused. Her breath caught. " Lilacbird... " she murmured, stepping in close to press her nose gently to her daughter's cheek, the gesture feather-soft and maternal. She rasped her tongue across her ear, just like she had when she was a kit. " Hello, my sweet Lilac bird. " she whispered. But the weight never left her shoulders.

She glanced briefly to Pikestar as he addressed the others, told them that he would break the news about Adderfang to Wavesong... Oh... That alone caused her heart to churn, a deep breath being drawn in. Then she turned back to Pineheart, something quiet and unreadable in her turquoise eyes. " I'll wait for you in the den... " she said at last, her voice low, warm, but heavy with the burden they both carried.

They had both been too late...

Speech, thoughts/emphasis

MOONS

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RIVERCLANNER

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SONG

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bio

 

[Shimmerpaw]

She had not been near when Pikestar had been killed, believing him to be safe as he was with clanmates. Adderfang was upset over the gathering, sure, but he was a RiverClanner, someone to be trusted, and so what harm could he do to the leader of their clan, whether or not he believed him to be the right fit for it? She had instead been with other apprentices a few paces off, the sight of her leader being murdered by one of their own blocked by the bodies of too many cats, blocked by the chaos that had happened soon after with the arrival of SkyClan - a group that Shimmerpaw had addmittedly been wary of but never thought they would stoop so low to waltzing in blood-covered and demanding a life for a life, speaking of made up codes before the ThunderClan leader lie her head before the other on that grand boulder in her deputy's stead, chaos once more before light flashed and StarClan was there.

StarClan, where her mother was, where Dewdrop had gone once she had died. And yet it wasn't Dewdrop that had visit to give orders, it had been a cat unknown to Shimmerpaw, demanding that they meet once every other full moon under the promise of peace and she couldn't help but replay that over and over in her head as shaky and tired paws had brought the apprentice home. Peace. StarClan demanded peace under the fourtrees after everything that had happened? Peace amongst the ShadowClan rogues who dared to trespass and harm a medicine cat of all felines, stealing herbs. Amongst SkyClan who thought it fit to kill another in already the first gathering that was meant to be peaceful, and already she was fretting over who she could trust within her own clan though Adderfang had been exiled. Who else thought like him enough to try and do something about it, enough to kill clanmates and kin for their beliefs?

She swallowed the lump that was within her throat, orange-hued eyes looking around for a nest to collapse in while paws glued her to the spot she had found herself in within camp. There was too much on her mind now, much more than there had been before she had left to go to the gathering and much more than she thought there would be when she would get home.

​

SHIMMERPAW she/her, riverclan 10 moons old.
all white cat masking cinnamon tortie
mentored by NPC // mentoring none
littermate to none
NPC x NPC / mother to none / mated to none
"speech" // "thoughts"
penned by tikki ↛ rabbitcake on discord, feel free to dm for plots.

 

[dogflicker]

"@BOARSTOMP and I didn't see any ratface's at the border." Dogflicker meowed proudly to @PIGEONPEARL, knowing the Life Guard had spent most of the night guarding camp in the slim chance that something slipped between Dogflicker and Boarstomp's noses. The cinnamon-patched molly had held herself tall as she finished her report when the fur at her nape began to rise. The warrior's body reacted before her mind had processed the scent of iron ichor in camp. Her eyes snapped to attention towards the bloodied patrol that approached, her teeth bared in a grimace.

Dogflicker's movements felt as if they were not her own as she hurried to meet the patrol. Pikestar looked rugged, and Frostmoth's took her thoughts right from her mind as he spoke. Lost a life. The fiery comforting feeling of anger sat where her heart thudded against her chest. "They attacked you? When Juniperstar asked for peace?" The question of they was obvious to the only Clan they spat the name of. Her eyes darted between the faces of the patrol, her lips tugging further in a frown as her eyes narrowed.

"You're missing someone." Her voice hung heavy in the air. She expected Adderfang to rush to his mate and kits the moment they stepped into the island, Pikestar's situation be damned.

​

OOC NOTES . ◭ . CHARACTER INFO

• ooc : —​

• ▵ chocolate/cinnamon chimera with high white, and green eyes
  ▵ littermate to foxtail and coyoteclaw
  ▵ mentoring ??
  ▵ mate to none ; peace powerplay allowed
  ▵ "speech"

 

[Russetfall]

FALLING FOR THE PROMISE OF THE

EMPTINESS MACHINE

.

Russetfall trails in from the back of the returning group, tail dragging on the ground and head and ears lowered. She had done nothing and yet exhaustion weighed her paws down as if she had been walking nonstop for days. There was so much to unpack. To tell the rest of the clan of the events that had transpired. Of Adderfang... No, Adder's betrayal as well as the strange spirit that had touched down in the chaos with a decree. She barely knew how she was going to process that last part herself but at the very least those that had also been present could lend credence to the story.

Dogflicker approaches as the group nears camp, growls out an accusation that otherwise would have been sound. She does not miss the look at the warrior seems to do a mental headcount.

You're missing someone.

The chocolate tabby steps towards the front to stand beside Frostmoth and Pikestar. "No, it wasn't Shadowclan. Not this time. And we have everyone- Adderfang left camp with us as a Riverclanner-" Her tail lashes once, voice sharp and cold underneath the exhaustion. "But he left us all tonight as a traitor and exile when he killed Pikestar. If anyone sees him along our borders send him on his way, he is no longer welcome here."

She pauses, casting a quick glance at Pikestar, eyes briefly darting to the medicine den before facing the gathering crowd with a frown. "...If he asks after Wavesong and their kits try to reassure him that they are in good paws before sending him away. Riverclan is not so cruel as to deny him news of the state of his mate and kits."

If she could sleep standing up Russet was sure she'd do so here and now, she wanted nothing more than to sleep until the next moon. Maybe then she'd be more alert. Be more on guard for when things inevitably go wrong. She flinches when a small body presses against her and looks down sharply before relaxing slightly. Iciclepaw.

"I'm tired too," She finally murmurs with a nod, some semblance of a smile on her face before its just as quickly wiped away when she raises her head to speak to Pikestar and the others. "If you need anymore paws don't hesitate to call me, I doubt I'll sleep tonight anyway. And Pike, you don't need to apologize for this. You appointed us all for this exact reason, let us handle this. Go to Wavesong and Jinglemoon."

Regardless of their answer Russetfall moves to nudge the little white tom along with her nose. "Let's get you to your nest..."

22 moons

◆

Life Guard of Riverclan

◆

she/her

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tags

it's been decided how we lose

RUSSETFALL

— Life Guard of Riverclan
— She/Her
"SPEECH", 'THOUGHTS', ATTACK
— A Green-eyed Chocolate Mackerel Tabby With Low White
#8a2c55

ooc: