YOU DON'T OWN ME [ MEETING ] YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW ME

[Ptarmigankit Ptarmigankit]

———————————— You're not meant to sing along, it isn't that kind of song. ✦

She watched with a mixture of nervousness and curiosity, enraptured by the appearances of all these new cats. They're angry, so very angry. But by the sounds of it, someone had killed one of their own. They couldn't blame their fury; it wasn't like it was their place to say anything. It must have been why this place reeked of death the night before.

Though they were surprised when the brown tom, Fitzgerald, curled his tail around her. A quizzical look shot up to him, but the comforting presence was enough for her to remain quiet.

That was, until she froze in place as the molly who seemed to be the leader of them all spoke again after a lull in her reassurances to the rest of her colony. "Who's kit is that?" Ptarmigan's blood ran cold, staring with wide eyes as Fitzgerald's tail was dragged away from around her.

The tiny kitten stood there, terrified, as her paws shook more beneath her form. Eyes all around falling upon her from around the clearing, boring into her. Already floppy ears pinned back as other slightly older kittens whispered at their sudden appearance, shame and embaressment burning their still feverish face hotter. Swallowing hard, they tried to speak up.

"I-I'm sorry ma'am, I was looking for help, aft-after my c-colony-" Their face screwed up, words caught in their throat as they tried (and failed) to stifile the cough that clawed its way from their lungs. They managed to muffle the sound behind a quickly raised paw. They glanced up nervously to Fitzgerald for help, or anyone who had been there the night before, to ease their nerves.

It wasn't like these cats would protect them over their own, but it would give them a better chance at not being cast out while still recovering, though, then again, she couldn't have blamed them if they did. His gaze shifted back to the scarred molly, fear knit across their face, her fury was unavoidable, and they were terrified that they were the next to be at the end of it.

——— Now you're lying face down.

You blend into the background. ———

• Looking to @FITZGERALD for help and addressing @Hawkstar :p
• 
  Ptarmigan
  ✦—Future Skyclan Kitten | 4 moons
  ✦—They/He/She
  ✦—"SPEECH", 'THOUGHTS', ATTACK
  ✦—A long-haired sealpoint kitten with tired amber eyes.
  #94e4ae

 

[starlitpath starlitpath]

(˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗) there's a dryness to the warrior's mouth that stops them from joining the cacophony. their bright gaze is fixed solely on their mother, nodding along with her words as if the sky's king speaks scripture. the gathering had been nothing short of a disaster, and the stains of blood across their mother's paws tells a better story than any gossipy elder. the clan yowls about lost codes, broken promises, and hawkstar calmly comforts them in the only way she knows how. starlitpath's mother has always been a martyr of sorts, taking on troubles so others may thrive. she apologizes to skyclan now, her sole aqua eye bloodshot, piercing. her child raises their tail in support. they will find her later, curl within the leader's den to wash away rosebelly and juniperstar's dueling blood.

admiration for her mother soaks through the dilute calico as she watches snowveil address the king, her words wiser than anything anyone else could say. hawkstar seems to still, her tail lowering as if she has said her piece and is now awaiting judgement. she rules with her head as always, shutting down the borders, marking shadowclan and thunderclan as enemies. her daughter watches with pride, her support clear. she is named for her mother's devotion, after all. starlit, for the skies that guide, for the miracle they performed in keeping her living as a child. path for her fated destiny, for her guidance and perseverance. the heaven-named woman will always follow her rightful queen.

as movement ripples through the crowd and fitz reveals a small kitten, curiosity flares in the ocean gaze of the warrior. new blood for the clan, and with him, a promise that skyclan would always uphold those sacred laws of their ancestors. the girl looks to her mother again for her reaction.

LIKE CONSTELLATIONS ˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗ IMPLODING IN THE NIGHT

• // tldr she loves her mama " #dcccf0"
• 
• STARLITPATH ★ HE / SHE / THEY, SKYCLAN WARRIOR. 27 MOONS, PENNED BY LAVS
  
  
  a shorthaired dilute calico point with low white and aqua eyes. short, thick fur decorates her frame, cream hued, swooping into a cowlick on her head. their face, paws, and tail are dappled with fawn and slate gray, broken through by speckles of white. a star shaped white splotch on their forehead offers them their namesake. eyes like ocean water, a deep aqua blue, pierce out of almond shaped sockets.

​

 

[cygnetscratch]

The clearing, still dimly lit with the moon's light, grows louder and louder with each pawstep forth. Cygnetscratch's sentiments are met in kind, twofold, three - louder, quieter, between friends and families. The other Clans have no code, aside from the one that their false divinities cast upon them. A gathering - every other moon? The blood scent in the air isn't the only thing to leave a sour taste on her tongue. Moons following a code rigidly, moons being raised upon it, to listen and watch as her father repeatedly defied it for the safety of his twolegs but the freedom of Clanlife, only to obey it in the end, and lose them in the process.

The chaos sets fire to her veins, the want the riot, to rage - Quailstep is by her side, Mousefang just nearby. Cygnetscratch isn't sure what comes off her tongue when she says it - the quickness of, "They're fool-hardy idiots that think they can parade around with Clan titles," the sharpness of, "What use are they in these sacred woodlands if they don't even know the code?" The chill of, "They shouldn't be here."

Hawkstar commands attention.

Hawkstar apologizes. She claims her acts were barbaric in turn. The sharpness of her odd-eyed gaze fades with a sense of broken insecurity, and while cats flood to praise her vulnerability, to reassure her that she did what she must and not a single cat here will admonish her broken code...

Cygnetscratch feels the rock in her stomach grow heavier.

"You're sorry?" she says it in but a whisper, the shock bleeding from her tongue. Her brother is dead because another broke the code - perhaps hypocritical, but Cygnetscratch cannot pity the pointed tortoiseshell for her shame. Her shame is drenched in the blood of two cats, one who deserved their death and another who didn't. One who could still walk by StarClan's beloved grace... and the other who only exists within the stars now. Guilt? Remorse?

Was avenging her brother... not right?

SkyClan's rules shift. Their code remains the same however outwardly, they are to act by new laws - or, well, law, as floppy and useless as it is. Cygnetscratch feels the incredulousness leave her expression and the cold chill of divisiveness settle in. She does not coddle her own leader. Her mother and sibling can bid their own heartfelt thank you's for Hawkstar's so-called sacrifice. A life for a life. As if that matters when the new murderer regrets their kill, yet the former happily walks away.

Attention shifts to a new child. Cygnetscratch pulls away from the crowd to join her brother's corpse elsewhere. She says nothing, does nothing. She simply folds herself beside his pale fur and closes her eyes, the anger of a scorned molly burning just beneath the ice.

 

[Teaselfeather Teaselfeather]

TEASELFEATHER

Over hill, over dale, through the valley and vale do not weep, do not wail, I am coming home to you

Teaselfeather said little as Hawkstar's summons gathered the Clan. Their steps were slow, heavy with sorrow. Eyes dulled like moonlight behind cloud, fixated on the earth beneath their paws as if afraid to meet the eyes of anyone else. They were… in turmoil. What had tonight truly been? They had demanded justice, yes. Had cried out for something to fill the hollowness that Rosebelly's death left behind. But not like this. Not this blood-soaked justice. Not this price. They had not asked for another death that was innocent in the whole ordeal. And yet… now they stood beneath the weight of it. A leader slain. Not the cat who had taken their brother's life, no, but a leader who had offered her own in place of the one who had. A leader who, in that brief moment, had shown more grace than the code itself could teach.

And Hawkstar had taken it. There was no triumph in it. No justice. Only silence. And more ghosts. Teaselfeather's fur bristled slightly, unease crawling like frost beneath their skin. These so-called Clans, ThunderClan, RiverClan… what were they now? What had they become in this place so far from the home they once knew? What had... They became... A soft breath left them, and they finally looked up. Their mismatched eyes, one skyblue, one lightgreen, settled on Hawkstar. Their gaze held no malice… only grief. And a quiet, bitter kind of disillusionment.

" ...You broke your own morals and the warrior code we upheld... " Their voice, always a whisper, cut like ice in the hush of the clearing. Cold. Clear. " And it wasn't even to give justice to the cat who truly killed Rosebelly. " A pause. Long enough for the weight of their words to settle in the air. " No debt has been repaid. We only made more enemies. "

They said no more. They didn't have to. Turning, they followed silently after Cygnetscratch. Toward the body of their brother, once bold and fierce, now cold and still. The broken thread of a future never to be repaired. They did not weep. Not yet. They only sat, pressing close to their sister, flank to flank. The air stretched around them like a shroud as they held silent vigil for Rosebelly, the sky above weeping in their place. Somewhere behind them, voices murmured about a kit. Ptarmigan. But at this moment, Teaselfeather had no room for anything else. Only the stillness. Only the dead. Only the ache.

═════════════⊹⊱ ⟡ ⊰⊹═════════════

 

[Fujimoto]

┍

To say the Gathering had been a mess was an understatement for the century. Fujimoto had felt the scent of too many cats crawl through their fur like ants trying to overwhelm and suffocate him. There was too much to see for his eyes to take it all in. On top of trying to keep Downypaw from getting into trouble... the Sun Guard felt like a total failure (but what else was new) as they left shortly after arriving.

"D-Downypaw, don't-don't, uh, go to your den just yet." Fujimoto mewed as he brushed his paw to the molly's shoulder. He knew as Hawkstar followed the rest of them into camp that something would be said- too many in the Clan were begging to know how Rosebelly was brought to justice. Even as fresh blood caked over where the tom's had been Fujimoto still felt a stone in his gut over it. A life for a life... that was not the life of a warrior he knew of.

What Fujimoto expected was something more valiant than... admittance. The Sun Guard curled his tail closer to his body as Hawkstar spoke woefully, flattening his ears as she spoke of sacrifice. Haven't I said this before? Frustration burned the tips of his ears while he tried to listen, his face contorting into a more serious frown. It was hard not to feel angry, it was hard to remember that StarClan had accepted Hawkstar as King and Coffeestar's choice in her. But if they saw how StarClan allowed these... 'Clans' to live... what good did that mean?

"You br-brought us here following C-Coffeestar's... dying wish. H-Her-Her vision from their pr-prophecy... maybe it wasn't a lie. But-But a, um, a glimpse of the future! What bounty this... this land could be." Ever so optimistic, they pushed aside their troubles with Hawkstar to rally in good spirits as Fitzgerald and Snowveil had. Rosebelly's littermates are not as soft, still hardened by their grief. Fujimoto shifted uncomfortably as they returned to their brother's body to mourn.

They watch the pair sadly before pulling away to follow the eyes of his other Clanmates- a kit. "A-Another colony?" Wary, he hoped this one didn't belong to any that they just finished speaking poorly of.

‎┙