a cinder falls [p]

[starry]

The giant tomcat stretched his body, letting out a big sigh. StarClan life was quite boring. There were a few cats around, but he didn't feel like talking, so he just went about his life on his own, hunting imaginary prey. Even if he wanted to talk with someone, he needed to pretend he liked them to even get a word out of them, so.. no thanks. Sometimes, he started watching over cats from ShadowClan, espsecially Darkfall. Cinderblaze was really happy with his former apprentice's development.

He wondered if they could somehow talk to each other again - in a dream, possibly?? He'd heard of that, but he didn't know how it worked. Maybe if he closed his eyes and concentrated really hard on it..

@Dark this isn't very great but i didn't know how to start something like this

[Dark]

Darkfall

Shadow Fiend: Inactive | Beefed Up (T3)
___________

It seemed that he was called to StarClan a lot lately these last few moons. It was kind of weird going to sleep, expecting to be tormented by nightmares but waking up in a sea of stars instead. Still a bit jarring compared to his usual dreams. Oh well, he’d get used to it maybe.

This time, he was met with the appearance of a large grey tom, one that he’d almost forgotten what he looked like during his time in the realm of the living. ”Cinder… blaze?” he called, mouth hanging open in shock.

His eyes started to grow misty as he looked at the tom in front of him. He looked… Good. A stark contrast to the battered, broken, and bleeding body he had watched Dawnstar throw down in the clearing all of those moons ago. The body that he wailed over, swearing revenge against the twolegs in retribution for his deceased mentor. The body that haunted him over the last several moons. Before him was a cat that he never thought he’d see whole again, much less visited in a dream.

He couldn’t believe it, his beloved mentor whom he spent so long working hard for, hoping to make him proud up in StarClan was right in front of him. He couldn’t help his voice from cracking with his next words, still uncertain if his eyes were seeing correctly.

”Is that… you…?”

[ @celeste No worries! It was fine! Mine is kind of… meh tbh]

[starry]

Cinderblaze felt odd, doing this. If it didn't work, it was quite embarassing. Hold on a second.. He squinted, a blurry shaped standing in front of him. Slowly it came more into focus. It was Darkfall! The tomcat let out a light chuckle, happy to finally connect with someone back from ShadowClan. "Yes Darkfall, it's me," he purred. "I'm sorry, I should have probably done this earlier, but I didn't know how it worked."

Hm, what was he supposed to say now? Darkfall had seemed pretty shook by Cinderblaze's death, and the tom had watched his former apprentice visit his grave multiple times. This made it difficult to talk - Cinder wasn't used to being liked. His whole clan had been disappointed in him, Dawnstar annoyed to lose another deputy, and to be honest, he didn't make himself exactly likable with his cold exterior either.

"So.. how are you? How is ShadowClan? Darkfall.." He stood there awkwardly, hesitant to say those next few words. He would never have thought he would say something like this. "I'm proud of you. You've achieved so much and have done so much for your clan.. You have shaped into a strong, independent warrior." Before he could stop it, a small smile formed on his mouth. It was not like anyone could judge him here. He was dead, there was no one relying on him, no one he would have to convince that he was strong enough..

That was the thing about living in ShadowClan, about being ShadowClan's deputy - you always had to be strong, tough and fearless. While he enjoyed being that way, his time in StarClan made him reflect and realize feelings weren't necessarily bad or weak, they make stronger.

@Dark

[Dark]

Darkfall

Shadow Fiend: Inactive | Beefed Up (T3)
___________

Darkfall blinked, dumbfounded. Both by the tom’s expression and by his words. Was that a smile that he saw on Cinderblaze’s face? Of course, he’d seen the former deputy smile before, however, those times were very few and far between while he’d been alive.

And he was proud of him…? Darkfall had spent much of his time in the living world attempting to make his former mentor proud, but he never imagined that he already accomplished what he thought would be a Herculean task. After all, Cinderblaze had been a deputy, and Darkfall had gone missing in search of his first apprentice and had to work that much harder to get himself into a position to become an Enforcer. All the moons being tormented by nightmares, told he wasn’t good enough, or that he was a failure were for nothing.

Cinderblaze was proud.

For most of his life, Darkfall didn’t have a dad. Hell, he didn’t find out that the current deputy, Vulturefang, was his father until long after the tom joined just before he became a warrior. Now, he may not have been too extraordinarily close to the tom in their brief time together, nor did he truly know what a father was supposed to be like, but in his early moons he had looked up to the deceased tom in a way quite like how a son would look up to their father.

Cinderblaze had been more of a father to him than his own (whether intentional or not), and though he never really expressed as much to him, hearing those words… “I’m proud of you” struck something deep within him and he was no longer able to hold back the tears that began flowing. Walking up to the tom, he smiled softly and touched his forehead to Cinderblaze’s.

”I’ve missed you,” he whispered silently, a soft sob making its way into his voice ”I've missed you so much.”

Pulling away, he wiped his eyes with a paw before grinning at the older tom. ”My bad, that was kind of lame wasn’t it?” he said with a light laugh. Ahh, it was great to finally get that out. He had needed some kind of closure after Cinderblaze’s death, and this was as good as any.

”Life has been an adventure,” he admitted before gesturing to the slight cut in his left ear ”I’ve still got that nick in my ear from our first training bout.”

”Oh! I became an Enforcer too! Not quite deputy yet, but gotta start somewhere, right? Oh! And I have a mate, she’s just lovely. The current medicine cat, Larkfire. She was an enforcer too — before me, but she’s great. I think you’d like her,” he purred proudly. He left out the incident that left her blind or her name change, but that could come later.

”Oh and I’m a father now! I have three lovely daughters — if you count Sleepykit, and two sons. Larky is pregnant again I think. I’m a little nervous because the last time she uhh… almost died, but hopefully everything will be okay this time around.” he admitted. He was kind of hoping to hold off on having kits with his mate after the traumatic experience of her last time kitting, but he’d make sure everything went smoothly this time.

”Oh and I- wait, I’m probably talking too much, sorry.” Darkfall remembered that Cinderblaze hadn’t been much for words during his life, but He just couldn’t help himself! He might have grown significantly larger, approaching the size of the clan’s huge leader, but he was still a kid at heart sometimes.

He was just really happy right now, more than he could express with simple words.

[ @celeste ]

[starry]

Cinderblaze

starclan warrior | 45 moons at death | worldweaver: inactive

Cinderblaze carefully observed Darkfall's reactions, amber eyes focused on the tomcat in front of him. He seemed pretty surprised at the "I'm proud of you" statement - honestly, Cinderblaze was too. And then.. were those tears? He stood there awkwardly as Darkfall went forward and they touched forheads. What was he supposed to do now? He'd never had to comfort someone before. He definetely understood why, who would come to him, a cat who always seemed cold and closed? Him saying something would probably just make this weird, so he stood there, whiskers twitching, looking at Darkfall with sympathy in his eyes. He would never have expected anyone to cry over him or something he said. Well, there were first times for everything, right? "I.. missed you too," he said, chuckling when Darkpaw said something about this being lame.

"No, it's fine, it's just your emotions." Did I really just say that? Cinderblaze knew barely anything about emotions, so how about he just didn't elaborate on that. All he'd ever dealt with was anger when cats prepared for attack, or perhaps he'd observed grief once in a while, but he never needed to talk with someone over it. At the next comment, Cinderblaze's gaze went over to Darkfall's ear. Yeah, he could still see the cut. "Well, you'll always remember then," he remarked. Oh, Darkfall was an enforcer now? That was great news. "Not quite deputy yet, but gotta start somewhere, right?" He let out a little chortle. "Yep, always gotta start small!" he meowed.

Alright, next topic - Darkfall's mate. The medicine cat who was a former enforcer.. that seemed pretty promising to him. So his former apprentice was making good life decisions and choosing "good" cats. "Oh, that's nice, she seems valid. Dawnstar usually makes a great choice in medicine cats." Hold onnn - Darkfall had kits? Cinderblaze had been trying to watch over his former apprentice from up here, but there were so many other cats and events happening that he usually lost track. So it was three daughters. Cinderblaze was sure they would shape into great warriors with Dark and Lark as their parents. "Thats great to hear, I'm sure you are a good father." Oh, Larkfire almost died last time she gave birth? Hopefully that didn't happen again.. "Uh, I'm sure she'll be fine this time, maybe it was a little harder for her because it was her first time? But you'll get a healthy litter of kits this time and a healthy Larkfire too I hope. I mean, how does a medicine cat heal herself? It will be alright, you know how to help her now too, right? You've seen it once and will be wiser this time."

"Oh and I- wait, I’m probably talking too much, sorry." The large tomcat gave off a little shrug. "It's alright, keep talking. Usually I don't enjoy long conversations and would rather just speak facts but I've been sitting here for so many moons not interacting with a single cat - please just talk however much you want." Literally he was extremely grateful for any interaction with someone he knew. "How are your daughters doing?" he asked.

@Dark this post is kinda all over the place and my brain is not functioning lol