Everybody Knows This Place Is Dying, As Am I [p]

[Mica]

Eaglepaw
RiverClan
she/her | 8 moons | 61/100
[Golden and white tuxedo tabby with green eyes]
Purrks: Dreamwalker, Herbal Knowledge T2
· · ────────────── · ·
[Dusklion - @taillow ]
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Eaglepaw walked with the lumbering gait of an angry predator, her dull eyes blazing with fury. Her tail lashed behind her, but it wasn't enough to keep the energy under her skin from exploding. Was it smart to go investigating when she was this angry? Probably not. But Fadingsun had agreed to let Dusklion take Eaglepaw around the territory and inspect the borders for any sign of Rushwater. Eaglepaw was mostly interested the outskirts border and ThunderClan border, so she gunned for the outskirts border first.

She could hear Dusklion struggling to keep up behind her, and forced herself to slow down. The deputy had royally screwed up, hurting the clan in a way that could not be fixed with apologies. Eaglepaw wanted to be angry with her, but was struggling to muster the energy to do so. But Dusklion... despite her faults, she was consistently there. There for the clan, there for Eaglepaw. Eaglepaw pushed all her doubts aside, knowing that right now, the thing she needed was a friend. Someone who took her seriously and didn't look at her with the disgusting sympathy her mentor did. She didn't want sympathy. Yes she did. She didn't deserve sympathy. Please, someone help her.

Eaglepaw was clearly beyond herself right now, the fury of living in a clan full of imbeciles mangling her desire to help into a desire to control. It hurt her both inside and out, bruises under her eyes indicating lack of sleep, her pelt hanging loosely off her thin frame. Losing Rushwater and finding out he had been taken had been her breaking point. It wouldn't be long until she was shattered, unless something intervened.

[I'm so so excited for DuskEagle bonding ]

[taillow]

DUSKLION
she/her | riverclan deputy | 28 moons

Surprise was an understatement when Eaglepaw still wanted Dusklion's help in searching for Rushwater. The deputy was certain that her revealed secret would be the end of the cats she cared about doing the same; mostly Cobs and Wings. But here the two of them were, with Wings taking off into the forest and Dusk sprinting to keep up. She wasn't a fast runner by any means, and the 'paw she was following had much more at stake during this excursion.

Lengthening her stride she forced herself to catch up to Wings, running close beside her. "We're nearin' the outskits border. Let's slow down 'ncase there's any sort of odd stuff happenin'." That was partly true, but moreso Dusk had taken notice of how... different Wings looked. Older than she was, fur starting to hang a bit lower. Was she taking care of herself? Or was this consuming her? Dusklion didn't say anything though and instead started to slow her own pace down so that Wings would have to do the same.

Once they had neared the area, Dusklion gave a sniff of the air. She wasn't entirely certain what she was looking for as she scanned the outskirts border. She also wasn't entirely sure why this had been their first stop. But she knew the mindset that came with the idea of someone close taking off, and how the fury of it all drove a cat to operate faster. This was Wings' mission; Dusk was simply here to make sure the young she-cat didn't run herself into the ground.

[ Eaglepaw - @Mica ]
[ me too!!! aaaa!! ]

[Mica]

Eaglepaw
RiverClan
she/her | 8 moons | 87/100
[Golden and white tuxedo tabby with green eyes]
Purrks: Dreamwalker, Herbal Knowledge T2
· · ────────────── · ·
[Dusklion - @taillow ]
· · ────────────── · ·
Irritation flickered along Eaglepaw's spine as Dusklion called for her to slow. The reasonable part of her brain--the part that hadn't been cannibalized by her paranoia and apathy--agreed with the deputy. It was the same part of her brain that had been banging on the walls of the self-imposed cage she trapped it in, begging to be let back in control as it watched her waste away. But she had no time for reason. No one in this clan saw reason, so in order for her to remain alive she had to think like them.

Eaglepaw had thought Fadingsun was reasonable, but then he turned into a tyrant that had cats fleeing for the hills. Personally, Eaglepaw thought he had every right to snap at the clan. The bit with Fogmuzzle was a bit much, but she was sure after a few more gruesome deaths the clan would fall in line.

She ignored the way her stomach lurched at the thought of watching more cats die.

She had gotten very good at ignoring certain parts of her.

The border came into view, and Eaglepaw slowed to a trot. The unfamiliar scents of non-clan territory beckoned her, but she merely turned her nose up at the promise of freedom and began to scan the border. "Rushwater said he spent time as an outsider and kittypet. Fadingsun was attacked by outsiders not long ago. Maybe those outsiders know something." If the RiverClan cats hadn't killed or driven off every single one, maybe she could find a lead... but once again that wretched reasonable part of her brain admitted that this was a severe leap in logic. But stars, it was all she had. The new cat--Wisteriawren. She was a former kittypet. But Eaglepaw hadn't gotten the chance to corner her yet, what with the forest literally crumbling around her. "Maybe catch a scent..." she muttered, Dusklion slipping from her mind. "... ambush..." Her formerly expressive eyes were dull and twitchy as she picked apart the border for the slightest sign of feline life. She walked like a haunted elder--shoulders up, ears swiveling towards the slightest sound.

The search was useless. All it did was turn the twitchyness in her paws to exhaustion, the irritation in her chest to hot, smoldering anger. The sun was rapidly setting, but Eaglepaw showed no indication of wanting to go back. No indication that she remembered Dusklion's presence at all. The fronds and reeds that were prevalent in RiverClan territory began to shift into bracken the farther they strayed from camp, the usual scent of cats from regular patrols had become nothing more than a whisper of familiarity. Until, suddenly, a singular scent rose above the rest.

Decay.

It was sweet and sick, the kind of smell that settles in your nose and surprises you as you breathe in for hours after. The faint sound of flies reached Eaglepaw's large, narrow ears and made the apprentice pause. Her head throbbed as the scent of death enveloped her, and for a moment she swayed on thinning paws. Eaglepaw frowned, turning her head in the direction the scent seemed to come from. A body, clearly. The question was: was it predator, cat, or prey?