Open you always come to town, you never stick around / gone

[MAREMANE]

A certainty, an imminent lack. Maremane's disappearance was no maybe. It was a promise.

One buried under her skin for quite some time, parasitic and in wait. Her heaven was freedom and horizon, every WindClanner could tell. Whether she had succumbed to it, or fate had closed the gap in some other way, was anyone's speculation.

Even the scent of her woven into her nest seemed to be staling at a rapid rate -- as if it too were attempting to vanish.


// hey guysss.... mare is currently missing! nobody would have been a witness to whatever happened to her ( >:) ), her vague scent can be tracked towards the highstones but will fade into nothing detectable before the foothills.
please be assured this is NOT the end! ik u were scared ur fav wc char was gone for good... i just needed to step down from gale guard since i am quite busy and will be inconsistent with posting, this was always a planned plot point for mare and it is a little bit of an awkward timing but we ball

 

[Merrystalk Merrystalk]

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

It was something Merry had tried to deny was happening. Mare always had that weird habit of drawing away; she was the same in the barn. Frankly, it was one of the many reasons the two of them ended up incompatible as mates in their youth.

The tom just thought she was a little overwhelmed, was all. The gathering was a nightmare, and with Gladebloom missing, the pressure was growing on everyone.

But he never thought she would vanish.

The day he noticed her utter absence was uneventful otherwise. Cats went on their days like nothing was amiss, but that was only because it seemed her leaving was... Calculated.

She had always been smarter than him; it's what he could always appreciate in her company, sharp wit and a sharper tongue. Even if they had their spats, she was good company, and they were slowly fixing a bond of some kind, far from friendship but enough that Merry's heart sank when he realised just how faint her scent had grown.

But he didn't chase. As much as he would have rather tried to catch up with her and try and figure out what had driven her paws to wandering, he knew better than to. He trusted Mare, even if this seemed sudden to most; she'd be back. Someday.

Even with that knowledge, it didn't stop him from being more than evidently torn up about her leaving. They weren't as close as he was with other cats, but the nauseating feeling of failing someone wouldn't cease its clawing in the back of his mind.

Merrystalk didn't ask if anyone had seen her; he knew she had left without a soul seeing her. Even at the worst of their spats, she was one of his first friends, and he would be there to greet her warmly the day she would bring her wandering paws back home to the clan where she belonged.

He sat in camp that day, picking quietly at half-eaten prey. Appetite was few and far between for all that had happened in the last few moons. It rested on his shoulders and only made him feel weaker knowing Maremane had slipped away unseen, away from the dizzying hubbub of it all. Maybe it was for the best, for now.

— And it's harder than you think,

Telling dreams from one another. —

• 
  Merrystalk
  ✦—Windclan Gale Guard | 30 Moons
  ✦—He/Him
  ✦—"SPEECH", 'THOUGHTS', ATTACK
  ✦—A skinny, tortoiseshell cat with bright green eyes and pelt speckled with hay.
  #9D6E46

 

[Dustystar Dustystar]

✪ Align my Heart, my Body, my Mind​

indentDustystar does not take the disappearance with nearly as much as grace as Merrystalk. In the days following, she and her best trackers make the trek to the highstones, again and again, searching for signs of the bay molly. When nights pass with not so much as a tuft of fur or loose whisker to show for it, though, Dustystar has no choice but to call off the search.

indentShe worries that Maremane has been taken away, captured by the same force that took Gladebloom. The idea that she's been killed somewhere far away, with nobody to lead her spirit home, is chilling. Dustystar still thinks it's preferable to the alternative though. The idea that Maremane left of her own will.

indentHer claws dig into the soft moss of her nest as she thinks about it, late into the night. Windclan is at it's most vulnerable, now, sharp claws and fangs bared beyond it's borders. They need their council, now more than ever. Dustystar needs her council. Needs Maremane.

indentShe wills her bristled fur to smooth. Stewing in anger won't bring anyone back, or change anyone's minds. It's time to move forward, now.

Dustystar - 27 moons - Windclan Leader

 

[Peafowlpaw]

His assumptions were no less brutal than Dustystar's own. Peafowlpaw woke up that morning feeling something was off. That something was terribly wrong. He never could have guessed what had actually happened.

Greeting Maremane early, if not first thing in the morning, was routine for him. Peafowlpaw was an active apprentice with a mentor who knew how to let him flourish and every day was something to look forward to in ambition, but she was gone now.
Not a word. Not a hint of anything to come. She hid herself away so well.

Peafowlpaw spent the following days and nights orbiting Maremane's nest. Desperate for clues or a lead she carefully made sure to not leave behind. Anything was better than how she left them.
He was in no place to yell orders to his elders, but Peafowlpaw still yowled for more. Search better, search further, interrogate the patrols or other clans, for all he cared. Just… find her. Find something of her- even a body he would accept.


When the warriors were out for yet another day– another day that would come up with nothing, he sat limply at the edges of the camp, watching them on the horizon. Peafowlpaw's figure had a stillness of the dead. Eating was difficult. Sleeping was even more difficult. Sleep flooded his mind with anxieties he hadn't felt since fire consumed their home.
How could she leave without giving him a reason why?

Hold on tight ∅ My compass is curiosity

• "speech" thoughts
  

• 

• peafowlpaw he/him, windclan, nine moons.
  ∅ long haired blue smoke chimera with bright amber yellow eyes
  comically large, fluffy ears and a long tail with black striped markings
  maine coon genetics: large for an apprentice
  ∅ mentored by maremane
  ∅ adopted brother of nutmegpurr & meadowpaw
  ∅ views barncats as family
  ∅ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted
  ∅ penned by idola

 

[HoneyflowerHoneyflower's icon]

Slow Down, Just Breathe

It was inevitable, but that made it no less painful. Made it no easier to accept. Honeyflower was a known worrywart, and despite her duty to her kits in the nursery she still on occasion found her paws tagging along in Dustystar's patrols until like before they tapered off into nothing. She may be a mother but she was also a council member. A Gale Guard. And one of their number was now missing, so soon after Gladebloom's disappearance...

What was she to tell her daughters? How does one tell them that someone who was meant to protect them, that could be trusted if she or their father wasn't nearby was simply... Gone. Left them all for stars know what? Didn't Maremane know this was going to affect the entire clan? Did she care? A rare flicker of anger flares in her chest at the thought but it dies down as quickly it appears.

The days drag on, the sun creeping painfully slowly across the sky. And again. And again. Again. Until they all blur together into a stiff routine, a neutral frown on her face more often than a smile. She still does not have an answer that makes sense to her. Honeyflower hopes, wishes, has to believe- that wherever she is, Maremane is ok.

xxx

All We Have Is All We Need

Tags

Honey

✿—Moor Runner Of WindClan
✿—She/Her
✿—"SPEECH", 'THOUGHTS', ATTACK
✿—Dilute Calico Shecat With Green Eyes And A Floppy Ear
#a4e1ba

 

[nutmegpurr nutmegpurr]

Nutmeg hardly knew the rest of the council outside of Meadowpaw. Aside from her sister, she'd probably say that she knew Merrystalk the best, and even then their interactions were fleeting, forged by a need for their medicine cat apprentice to be okay. Maremane was... a mystery to her. Odd to her, in a way. She could never understand the other, but she hadn't held any animosity for her fellow Gale Guard... She can't imagine why she had fled, had pulled a Gladebloom right under their nose. It burns her chest to think about and shes not quite sure if its anger or frustration or another thing, all she knows is that search patrols have been going out, and Nutmeg had tried, tried her very best to cling to any faint scent she could have. The sun goes up, and then down, but nothing ever changes. The scents grow fainter, and she swears shes trying to find something that just isn't there anymore.

She passes by @Peafowlpaw, a tight-lipped frown turning her lips as she stops by her baby brother, turning to offer an encouraging, or maybe just comforting, nuzzle to the ear. She does not like seeing the vacant expression on his face, does not like how he stays eerily still. She settles heavily next to him, tail sweeping over her paws as she shifts her weight to be comfortable on the ground beneath. She'll stay here, as long as she needs to. She'll be a pillar of support, as she has done for Meadowpaw, despite the feeling of dread churning in her stomach.

Life goes on, unfortunately, with or without those that have departed. Gladebloom, and now another council member. Nutmegpurr did not know Maremane, but she sees the ripple that she had left, had seen the appreciation others had for her, had seen the admiration Peafowl had for her and that all was enough. Wherever Maremane be, let it be happy.

GOOD NEWS FOR ANYONE ♡ WHO LOVES BAD NEWS

• 
  
•  
• 
  NUTMEGPURR ♡
  
  ( gale guard of windclan )​
  ❥ a tall cinnamon tortie with curled ears & pink-brown eyes; well-muscled & fluffy
  ❥ mentoring pebblepaw
  ❥ sister to meadowpaw & peafowlpaw; reluctantly interested in roostertuft
  ❥ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted / / underline and tag when attacking
  ❥ penned by chuff
  
  "speech"