ShadowClan Life Before Destruction

[Fawn]

Eyes widening, Fawnsqueak didn't understand why that barrage was unleashed upon him, shrinking back as an unexpected sprinkle of water was cast upon him. "Hey, wait-- I'm not-- I'm just from RiverClan!" was his squeak of a protest, voice cracking from the surprise of the tom's extreme reaction to his presence. He didn't know if it was connected to his own perception of the aura he emitted, but it nothing about this was normal. It was as if an energy field between them kept the tension at its peak and would erupt in a moment's notice.

Beyond confused and not even sure if he should be offended, he replied, "S-sorry?" Barbarian, fiend, getting kicked out already... Perhaps he'd inadvertently broken a ShadowClan custom, but that seemed far too shallow for the strength of his anger. "Look, I'll leave if-- if that's what you need, but what about Cherrykit?" Fawnsqueak asked, the strain directed at the actual patient here who hopefully wouldn't also get water-treatment.

The 'dive' and siblings comment stole his breath. This... was definitely something weird. Beyond weird. "You-- how... do you know about--?" he sputtered. At least now he had a faint hint of what he was rambling about, even if he couldn't discern where they knew each other or precisely why he thought he'd be enacting destruction. An echo of "Him?" fell from Fawnsqueak, though he didn't know if he'd wait for the reply. He was about a shout away from turning tail.

@amber'light @BILL. @Fae

[BEAR.]

The water didn't banish the horror! That meant only one thing.. Thunderhowl would have to take care of it himself.

Hissing, he abandoned the pool to angrily hobble toward Fawnsqueak, unsheathed claws swiping to hit his shoulder, his face, neck. Anything he could hit, he'd try to!

"RiverClan is where the blood first spilled, Dark Forest swine! Do you think you can fool me, girl? I know your kind, I know what you fox-hearts are capable of. I saw the rise of Eternal Darkness throughout this forest twice and I will not let it happen again while breath still stays within my body!"

He had almost forgotten about the kit at this point, and a growl rumbled in his throat. "Demon. If your Clan is in need of curin' greencough, it ain't in anyone's interest to send you packin' without help. Go into the back. Find the leaves with the purple flowers, stem's hairy. Make her eat it."

As for how he knew.. Thunderhowl snorted. "Did you think I wouldn't?" His voice rumbled, bordering on amused even when he was far from it. "I watched from the stars as your fathers blighted the Clans. When Bravestep sought guidance from StarClan, I was the cat he met. On behalf of StarClan's Will, I commanded him to commit the act that killed the evil in RiverClan."

Thunderhowl bared his teeth. "I watched the four as their spirits flew from the river into the stars. Understand this, kit of Bucknight: allowin' those kits to survive would have caused the third evil era. Four kits destined to be the next dark leaders, to continue the reign of darkness. There was no other choice."

[ @Dipper ]

[Fawn]

With the old tom approaching him, Fawnsqueak instinctively was taking a step back, then another, the stranger's shadow basically looming over him as he stared up in perplexed horror. All of this was happening so fast, and made incredibly little sense, but it was frighteningly accurate to his family history. "Hey!" he snapped as he was forced to dodge the blow, staggering to regain his balance as he wriggled from reach only to dip back in and try to land a couple sheathed-claw baps. "Why— we seriously don't need to fight, man. I was just here to drop off Cherrykit!" Whatever he'd done, he could apologize for once he figured out what it was.

The verbal attack was tough to keep up with when he was mostly concerned about an attempt to swat him again. "Tom," he corrected steadily once he was finished with… that rant, "I identify as a tom, and as a non Dark Forest swine. I don't really … get into that stuff." Too many wars over stupid beliefs that didn't seem to have any bearing on the direction of their lives, a scapegoat for poor choices and mental declines. "Look, it's kind of sweet that you think I could bring— what did you call it? Eternal Darkness to the forest? Yeah… no." At that, he let out a tiny, nervous chuckle and prodded the floor of the den with his paw in a mindless motion. In an apprehensive attempt at a joke, he lamely tried, "Well, uh, in that case… I wouldn't go on those tirades too often if I were you."

He raised an eyebrow at the name and corrected, "That's Fawndemon to you." But he didn't dwell on that when he was given a task more than a spewing of awful deeds that he'd never committed. Inwardly, he repeated the descriptor to himself (unaware he was muttering aloud) and brushed past him to squint for the herb. They needed some help organizing, but he managed to pluck it from the pile and carry it to Cherrykit.

But he started into a violent coughing fit of pure shock when he processed what he said, particularly the from the stars bit that suggested he was from StarClan. When his hacking came to an end, he had already swiveled around to face Thunderhowl incredulously, suspiciously. "Dude, you are… are you dead? That's—" Okay, there was a fair possibility he was hallucinating this whole thing since it'd gone from decent to completely crazy very rapidly. If this was truly happening, being in the presence of a potential spirit was much less terrifying than he'd imagined it to be, though there was more assault involved than he'd prefer. "I don't know a lot about StarClan, but they kind of seem to be jerks… and yeah." He wasn't exactly an exception here. In a mumbled huff while he shook out his wet pelt, he said, "Geez. They could choose a better ambassador."

Fawnsqueak was aware of his siblings' demise and his parents' heartbreak over it, and he felt for them — it was a sensitive component of their past… but he had no personal ties to it, aside from being the survivor along with Thistlestep. "Still is pretty messed up, y'know…" he replied, shrugging. "If StarClan didn't kill me too, I'm guessing I'm either not… the worst, or they realized there are more options than 'hey let's drown some kits today'."

@BILL.

[BEAR.]

"Are you stupid?" Thunderhowl demanded, ears flattening back. "Do you not understand anything, boy?" He could respect pronouns-- Thunderhowl didn't give a damn if this idiot wanted to identify as a stick. "Eternalstar, you blasted fool. His poison always started in RiverClan. Hawkstar's death, the corruption of your father. His taint lingers on in the physical world. He has touched you, his tendrils of corruption have curled around your pelt and have damaged your senses. It won't be long before you become like They were. Followers, blinded by devotion to a cat who ran our rivers red."

Thunderhowl knew it sounded bizarre, but that was the last of his concerns when a cat tainted so deeply by evil was within his presence. Thunderhowl could smell it on him.. Eternalstar. Somehow, somewhere-- Fawnsqueak had been near him.. and Thunderhowl needed to know where. He knew he was back, he knew he was in the forest. But his identity had been concealed from him. "Where is he." It was a demand. "You've been around him, I know you have."

Was he dead? Sometimes Thunderhowl wished he was still. Would've saved him the headache of being the only competent medicine cat in miles. "Do I look dead?" He questioned. "No, boy. I got a second life, unfortunately." There was no Bravestep to be seen, and that alone was disheartening when he only came back for him. Being back just reminded him of how much of a dung-heap this world was. Everything was. "I ain't here for StarClan."

As for StarClan not killing him-- that wasn't anything to be fine about. "Son, StarClan killed 'em because they were the next leaders. It stopped 'em before they could become demons. Just 'cause you ain't one of 'em, doesn't make you good. StarClan is selfish-- they stopped mass murder to avoid another swell in their numbers. But they still let dung-hearts roam the forest without penalty.. you're not cleared of wrong-doin' 'cause you ain't dead yet."

[ @Dipper ]

[Fawn]

Fawnsqueak had a whole list of items he didn't understand about this. "If we're going to start in on that, maybe we could begin with the water incident?" It didn't do anything except make his pelt temporarily matted and uncomfortable. "If that's your demon defense, I kind of get why you're concerned about me." He hitched an eyebrow at the mention of Eternalstar, and from the minimal information his father provided, he didn't know the guy. "I'm... assuming you mean Eternalstar, with that, uh- touching business. I hope. But I can pretty safely say he hasn't touched me, or... met me, or been around me in any capacity. So yeah." Speaking of being blinded by a belief system, this golden member of the undead was a great example, and it was beginning to creep Fawnsqueak out. Not his extensive knowledge, which was a little unnerving, but how he was ranting on about religious matters of life and death and the evil that was long-since gone.

"Dead?" he guessed, looking about the den as if a specter of Eternalstar was going to be manifesting somewhere. "I thought he died forever ago. And uh, I'm... like, twelve moons." Suddenly concerned about that, he inquired, "Do I look ancient to you?" Though there was something odd about the connection between them, a binding of despair that couldn't be celebrated. "I wish I could help you, man, but I don't know where he is. I don't even really know who he is, except in theory. I kind of thought you'd know that." With his unique awareness of his family's dark history, Eternalstar's whereabouts should've been an easy one for a formerly all-seeing StarClan cat.

At the question, he examined Thunderhowl skeptically. Add in a pinch of dirt and he could probably pull off the 'fossil' appearance. Although he wanted to dig into what he meant by 'unfortunately', he refrained, squirreling that away to dwell on later, not that he genuinely expected there to be a 'later'. "Well, I'm not here on behalf of the Dark Forest." Even if Fawndemon did sort of have a nice ring to it. "You know, your lineage doesn't have to define you."

Another strike at StarClan, directly from one of their members. They weren't shaping up to be the best cats, and he was glad they were contained to some.. otherworldly paradise where they could frolic and watch their world burn. "Just because I'm not one of them doesn't make me bad, either," he pointed out the inconsistency in that logic. Despite the unusual tie between them, Fawnsqueak was convinced that he didn't know him, couldn't know enough about him to accurately make that deduction. Gaze unwavering, he confirmed, "Yeah, they do." He guessed they also had a habit of spitting out the ones they disliked.

Fawnsqueak didn't know what to say beyond that. He wasn't sure he believed in the good cat - evil cat, black and white mentality anymore. It was too simple for complex beings. If he was a demon, he was a demon who did good things and aimed to inflict a net positive upon the Clans. "I appreciate the warning and everything," he said, sparing a glance over his shoulder, "but I should probably go unless you preferred I wait for Cherrykit, or wanted to take a couple more swings at me or something." Being in the presence of this cat was uncomfortable for reasons that eluded rationality, and he didn't even know his name yet.

@BILL.

[wick]

Ratkit yawned and looked around the nursery, lounging comfortably in his nest.

[kittygirl]

cherrykit looked up at the two with wide eyes huh? I thought fawnsqueak said he new the medicine cat on a personal level... she finally opened her mouth to speak,"umm...m-medic...sir...please i just want to go home...i just want to go home to mymom, but i can't if im sick...i just don't want to die this way...please can you fix me..i don't think shiverpelt can!" she squeaked through a cracky sickly voice while mucus dripped from her nose, she just needed clots foot and maybe catmint, but she was hoping the medic knew what she needed to cure her early stages of green cough (white cough) @Dipper @BILL. cherry'kit blinked as catmint was set infront of her and without hesitation she ate the catmint.

[meowsticool]

"Vixenpaw time to train agon." Night called to his apprentice the next morning. She scampered out holding a rat in her mouth.

[Foxfrost]

"OK! Lets gooooo!" she purred around the rat. She ran off to the training grounds.

[meowsticool]

"VIXEN DROP THE RAT!" Night yelled running after her. "Okay," he said catching up to her easily. "Today we're going to practice fighting." Nightwing drop into a crouch and rolled his apprentice over. "Heh. You have to be ready at ALL times!!" His apprentice bounced over to grab the rat which had flown from her grasp still alive.