Private your low warm voice curses ──✩°｡⋆⸜ owlbark

[loonstar loonstar]

juniper

"and this time, she won't be forgiving"​​

she looms over the riverside like a phantom staring at an unfamiliar reflection. it is not the same spotted tabby from a moon prior, not the one that had sat at this border jovial and enjoying the company of their neighbors. this one is whittled down, a creation of hollow, thinned bone, tightly drawn lines of scarlet to contrast deep sea-green hues. there is a flash of movement under the water, a glimmer of something moving and without much consideration her paw darts out to try to catch it-

it slithers between her toes like it had nothing to fear at all... and she withdraws a dripping paw with a flick of disgust. how RiverClanners managed to do this with greater odds of success is a talent. they remember Frostmoth commenting that soon the river would not be as plentiful. did they simply stop swimming, lurch to the bottom of the river? where could fish even go but the river? her thoughts are broken by the tell-tale sound of twigs snapping behind her.

the ThunderClan leader whirls to face her would-be assailant, spine bristling already in preparation for conflict. but the bushes reveal only the familiar bark-toned pelt of her deputy and she scowls immediately. "Did you follow me out here," Loonstar asks, incredulous where a spiny tail lashes behind her. "Next time I'd rather you just admit it, rather than stalk me like prey, Owlbark."

the tingle of anger is warm against river-soaked paws, it scratches at an itch between her ribs that says this fire feels so much more comfortable than the cold of grief. (more, give me more reasons). more reasons to flare into a blaze of fury, if only to keep the chill at bay. her ear twitches, dragging her gaze away from his face for fear of what might sit there, behind his eyes. was she recognizable anymore?

"What do you want? I'm just... fishing..." she pauses, eyeing up the empty shoreline beside her. "Or... trying to, at least."

──✩°｡⋆⸜ ✮

•  
• loonstar
  leader of thunderclan
  six lives remain
  

 

[OWLBARK]

Juniper berries can be found on pine-like trees around the territory. They had a crisp scent that would really flare after they dropped and were crushed under paw. They were a soft blue color and popped against the dull green of their nursery branches. Owlbark had never gave them thought other than the annoyance of having to groom them from his paws on occasion. Before he joined the clans, they were a steady indicator of when to begin preparing for leafbare. A gentle one, even. A flash of blue and he would pick up his pace in his hunting.

Loons, on the other hand, were stark in contrast to their world. On a deep blue lake or stream, loons were a deathly shadow calling out in the early morning to whoever would listen. They took up space with their eerie presence and sent chills up spines. Owlbark was equally surprised and expecting this change in his leader. The blatant name change was a claw to the face, and he admired her for it. He always thought her to mild to declare such a thing.

"You're being paranoid. It's unbecoming, Loonstar," he replied. Somewhere inside of him, he was sure Serpentberry was cringing at his response. She would have dipped her reply in saccharine sweet poison. The ghost of that molly hung between the pair, now. Loonstar's grief and Owlbark's regrets seemed to form in an invisible shape between them. She had been a crutch for them both. A mediator of their differences. Now, she was gone and their hearts were laid bear with no one to rein them into niceties.

Loonstar hung near the water like her new namesake. She didn't look so breakable anymore. In the past, she had been an eggshell holding up a bolder, but now she had become that bolder. It was weathered by storms and sand to something smaller and unredeemable. She was unrecognizable, he realized. She was something new. "I was hoping to earn some insight at your thoughts," he huffed. He stayed standing at a distance, that invisible presence urging him to stay where he was. "Grief has changed you." A fact. A solid fact that seemed irrefutable. It was no insult, and it was no sympathy. Just an observation said with no inflection.

i turned 'round and there you go *ੈ✩‧₊˚

• ooc: -
  
• 

  ☾ OWLBARK
  ☾ THUNDERCLAN DEPUTY
  ☾ 58 moons, ages every 1st of the month
  ☾ open to peaceful interactions
  ☾ "SPEECH #687A63"
  ☾ penned by muddly

• toyhouse
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[loonstar loonstar]

juniper

"and this time, she won't be forgiving"​​

she tries to summon the attention enough to give her task another attempt but the moment her paw flies, his voice rips like a bullet through the air. the shot only heard by those close enough to be wounded by it, a splash alike the sound of flesh torn through on impact. there is no blood when she looks at the rippling reflection that stares back... he had not struck her and yet- "Paranoid?" her eyes narrow, moving from her own paws to follow the grass back towards Owlbark. the bristling along her spine doesn't calm, only flaring as anger rushes like hot lightning under the surface; it crackles, begs for something to snap at, to release the jolt. she draws herself to her full height, twirling to face him as she takes long, drawn-out steps towards him, a glower cutting unkindness across her expression. "How can it be paranoia... when the entirety of this clan... keeps making me clean up their messes?" he is no exemption, the splintering scars that decorate her throat, that slice through the soft pale white furs, prove as much.

who was there to trust when even her closest advisors decorated a guillotine for her neck to rest beautifully in?

she stops just short of him, pupils narrow and devoid of affection. he levies a question, presents it like it should be some sort of surprise. that grief has changed her. like it has never changed anyone ever before. "You came out here to say something so.... cotton-headed? To suggest to me that maybe the loss of my best friend, my partner-" her throat seizes against the will of molten anger, tempered by the cold wash of loss. to say it out loud, to admit just what tether had snapped in the loss of her medicine cat. hers.

she sits back on her heels just enough to have both of her forepaws available, shoving them against his chest with an overzealous use of force. "It doesn't change you? Only sad, soft Juniperstar? Care about it Owlbark- care about her," a command, as if it might summon up the dead synapses of his scarred heart and force the connection... might paint a bond he had missed. "Go on- bite back, it's all your good for." she snaps her teeth a whisker from his muzzle, inviting him to flinch, to react- anything but leave her to sit in it alone.

──✩°｡⋆⸜ ✮

•  
• loonstar
  leader of thunderclan
  six lives remain
  

 

[OWLBARK]

Owlbark stood stalwart like an oak, staring down his leader as she stalked closer. He did not flinch or react as she stood nose to nose with him, breath hot and angry. He has not once feared Loonstar. To him, she was something akin to the distant rumble of thunder. Not loud enough to startle, but a gentle purr in the night sky to lull kits to bed. Now, though, he could feel the jolt and shock of crashing thunder. The kind that shook the ground they stood on and turned grown cats to quiver like babes.

His face can't help but sneer at her rage. It was a vulnerable and raw display of emotion he was ashamed and embarrassed to see. This was supposed to be private and not for his eyes. The deputy turned his head to look away from the vulgar display. Owlbark let her speak, unable to find the words to say anything in response. Loonstar knew his stance on his misfortune with the SkyClan cat. She knew he was not smart like her and Serpentberry. He was hired to be her muscle and she was mad he acted like it.

Owlbark is shaken from his bubbling rage by paws slamming into chest. He stumbled back away from the push. "Care about her." The strap holding the muzzle to his face snapped and the dog bared his teeth at his leader. The tom straightened his body to look down on Loonstar, green eyes alight. Loonstar was different now, he noticed again. Before he was afraid to touch her for fear she might crumble.

Olwbark had lost that fear with the snap of her teeth. "I cared. And then I moved on," he growled, wanting to talk about his tender and scarred heart no longer. Wasn't it enough he had to watch her pathetically from the sidelines earlier as she grieved her dead mate? Why point the paw at him now? Dark brown paws stepped closer to Loonstar, closing that distance between them even further. "Be careful. If you ask me to bite, Loonstar, I'll do what you say." Lips pulled back from teeth and his growl filled the quiet of the streamside. It was a warning and a promise. She had seen him in heat of battle before, and he would be more the willing to show her his prowess again if she pushed him enough.

i turned 'round and there you go *ੈ✩‧₊˚

• ooc: -
  
• 

  ☾ OWLBARK
  ☾ THUNDERCLAN DEPUTY
  ☾ 58 moons, ages every 1st of the month
  ☾ open to peaceful interactions
  ☾ "SPEECH #687A63"
  ☾ penned by muddly

• toyhouse
  playlist
  pinterest