Hello and welcome to Purrgatory! We are an 18+ Warrior Cat Roleplay set in an AU where the clans were unable to leave the forest territories and perished!
It has been 100 or more years since then, the clans of the forest are but distant memories to any cats still alive, stories passed down to kits of strangely named wild warriors and leaders with nine lives but the time of the clans is upon us once more and the stars shine yet again.
{$title} Following the heist and her subsequent punishment from Sablestar, Stoatpaw wanders into the pocosin, trying to busy herself with something other than her regular moping, though she finds she is not alone.
——————————————— Together, we'll make our way home ✦
She had come storming out to the middle of the pocosin, desperate for some semblance of space. It was like being a kitten again, loomed over and coddled like some delicate, fragile little thing. She mumbled to Sablestar that she was going to just look for herbs and flowers in the territory for her free time, which thankfully wasn't anything for him to get annoyed again over. Somehow it was worse this time, she was being punished for something she had seen Fleapaw rewarded for.
Just that thought made her fur bristle, gritting her teeth as she trudged through the pocosin, warm and sticky, the mud thinner from the occasional rainfall. Even so, she didn't mind her fur for now; that would be an issue later. Instead, her eyes were trained on a bird, feathers white, just like her fur. For a moment, her eyes tightened, glaring at the thing. Her fur ruffled in indignation as beady eyes stared back, feeling as if it were taunting her. She darted forward, aimlessly clawing at the thing, obviously missing as it flew up to the branches of a nearby tree, out of her reach.
Stoatpaw's tail lashed as she groaned in frustration. "Can I do anything right?" She growled, as if the dove was meant to reply, glaring up at it high above. Climbing was never a strong suit. It didn't seem like anything was at that point. Instead, she sat in resignation, clawing at the soil under paw. "Clearly not! I try to do something for the clan, I try and help, and what do I get?!" Her voice was still hushed; she couldn't risk shouting her laments, that was just asking to be attacked after all. "Yeah, maybe I led us onto Riverclan territory, but I didn't know! We were a full patrol, and only I got punished." The apprentice huffed, plucking weeds from the grass nearby, dandelions. Useful to some but overlooked by most. Familiar.
"Then I follow orders to the tee, even though I was scared about sneaking into Riverclan, I made sure to follow Cicadabuzz's orders and I get treated like a criminal for it!" She scoffed, discarding the now torn-up flowers and leaves to be absorbed into the mud under paw. She stood up, tail still lashing. "I get followed like a kitten, I can't even see my friends anymore. And Fleapaw gets to be an apprentice first! She gets to lead her own patrol! What do I get-"
Her voice cracked, face scrunching up a little as her frustration began to boil over. She couldn't even be angry without it all falling apart. "I can't blame Flea... She deserves the good things she gets but..." Her voice fizzled out, like the flicker of a flame suffocated. "...when is it my turn..."
It wasn't like the dove could reply, even if it did, Stoatpaw couldn't tell. Instead, it flew down from the tree, not far from her. Those same beady eyes staring at her were enough to have that smouldering upset to bubble up again. She dropped low to the ground. The dove could see her; there was no way about it. But she wouldn't lose it either. Both were at that disadvantage, sticking out in the dark of the pocosin, like something that didn't belong.... She couldn't bear to let that thought linger; it's why she lunged again, unsuccessfully, for the dove. It skittered off again, but these birds being dumb as bricks meant it didn't fly off, but instead hopped off to....
Stoatpaw gulped. Like a star in the night sky, a dove stood on the thunderpath. She didn't realise how far in the territory she had wandered, how close to the border she was. For a moment, Stoat looked around, nervous that someone would catch her. A visceral panic that gripped her. Just the same as feeling cornered by Riverclan. But her gaze fell back to the dove, it stood there, watching, knowing. There was a pit in Stoatpaw's stomach; she couldn't leave the dove alive. No. No, it knew too much. Dove's couldn't talk but... But nothing could know what she said. What she thought. Nothing could.
The apprentice honed in on the thing, eye flickering back and forth for just a moment, before breaking her confinement. She lunged onto the Thunderpath, sickeningly scented, finally trapping the dove under her paws. The thing squirmed desperately, but with its wing trapped under unsheathed claws, that was the best it could do. Stray feathers dislodged the more it writhed. Maybe Stoatpaw waited a cruelly long amount of time to put the thing out of its misery; she wasn't sure, but the stillness of it was a relief to her.
Nothing can know.
But the stillness was sobering. She looked around, gulping hard as her heart began to race. She had left the borders, she was motionless on the Thunderpath, standing over the bloodied body of a once pristine white feathered thing. Her stomach churned, especially with the metallic taste in her mouth from the kill. Stoatpaw was far too aware of herself now; all frustration and adrenaline had left her mind.
Though her fur bristled, she realised the rumbling under her paws was the telltale roar of a monster. She didn't hesitate to scoop her catch up and bolt back into Shadowclan, the wind of the monster rushing past a few delayed seconds afterwards. She wouldn't have been attacked if she had hesitated, but anyone else would have fretted over if they witnessed the event, or worse, if it were Sablestar or the other higher-ups. The apprentice didn't wait any longer and pushed back into the territory.
She had intended to pick flowers; she likely still would. It'd be nice to lace her fur in more of the pretty white flowers Fleapaw had given her. Just to find them was another feat. But even as she tried to busy her paws again, there was the slightest shake to her paws. What was the cause? she couldn't tell anymore. Stoat was determined to steady it as much as she could; if anyone noticed it, they would interrogate her, and frankly, she was exhausted by the prospect. Though just like when she was a kitten, she was expecting someone to tail her, it was unavoidable. She just had to figure it out as she went along.
Still clutching the dead bird in her maw, she wandered deeper into the pocosin she called her home, in search of prey or plants. Of course, those who could not flee at the sound of her pawsteps were what she found first. Delicate little flowers that looked a lot like daisies - even perking up at first, thinking that's what they were - until she realised the leaves were wrong. Stoatpaw deflated a little, but they would still suffice. She delicately plucked a few sprigs and tucked them carefully into the fur of her tail.
The apprentice readied herself to pick up the dove, before something caught her eye, a familiar face. Her fur bristled a little, seeming to be right that she was being followed, but she let out a resigned sigh. "Guess I'm not the only one busying myself out here." She chuckled, dryly. It was much more exhausting these days to keep face, but she had no choice. "Did you... Want to hunt too? I was gonna pick some flowers but this dove was uhm... Pestering me."
To admit she would really rather not hunt more, it was likely a fluke getting the dove, it was broad daylight and the only time she could leave the camp now without Sablestar breathing down her neck, but it put her at a disadvantage when hunting. Paws shifted awkwardly beneath her, trying to even her stance in the damp mud underfoot, she hoped the scent of the pocosin was strong enough to mask any scent on her that wasn't meant to be...
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Rolled 1d20 for catching dove -> 19
𖧧 1d3 Roll: 2 - Success
𖧧 1d7 Roll: 2 - Aches
𖧧 Herb Found - Feverfew (doesn't count to herb count, these are decorative, sorry, not at all sorry cicadabuzz)
ooc - you Can have cats having overheard stoats rambling if youd like BUT you cannot rat on her about crossing borders pls this is meant to be her realising she can test these boundaries and kind of need her to Not be caught DFGHJK but you can overhear her if you like but it Will have negative effects on relationships if she learns or realises thats happened :p -
Stoatpaw
✦—Shadowclan apprentice | 9 Moons
✦—She/Her
✦—"SPEECH", 'THOUGHTS', ATTACK, PAWSPEAK
✦—A slender white cat with faint lilac markings and blue eyes.
#96d5f1/#50BBF0
⤷ Written by Phoenix
