The Starcave

[Fawn]

With everything seemingly slowing to a crawl, Fawnsqueak was losing interest in the idle chatter, left without direction or what they were supposed to do next. This was already a collossal chunk of his evening that he felt could be spent on a more practical activity; after all, telling some patient that he'd sat around with the other medicine cats wouldn't be healing anything. In his boredom and the absence of conversation, he was starting to drift off into a light slumber, waking every now and then only to have heavy eyelids eventually crash down.

[Wings]

[ @Moon Lily @Dust @Dipper @NIGHTOWL @CheetahPelt @wren ]
-Echopaw-

Echopaw was happy when Condorpaw sat beside her. He seemed like a reasonable tom, unlike Dewpaw. As he spoke she gave a huff. "I generally don't know. Something about politeness." She gave him a quick smile before raising her voice above everyone else's. "Can we get this going? We've been here for awhile and all you guys have been doing is arguing."

[CheetahPelt]

@wren @Moon Lily @NIGHTOWL @Wings @Dust @Dipper

Otterstone’s ears grew hot at Irisflame’s comment. She stayed silent for a moment, awkwardly avoiding responding to Fawnsqueak. She watched the two apprentices for a moment before jolting a second. “Oh! I wanted to ask you lot about a set of herbs that I collected of late.” she raised her meow just slightly, enough to give it emphasis but not enough to really raise suspicion, hoping Fawnsqueak had heard during one of his minutes of irritating snoozing. She continued though. “Has anyone dealt with using willow for anything? Or dried oak leaves? Willow doesn’t really grow anywhere else, but oak leaves I thought someone might have used before.”

[Moon Lily]

[ @wren -I think it's your turn! ]

[Wings]

Bump @wren

[Wings]

[ @Moon Lily @Dust @Dipper @NIGHTOWL @CheetahPelt @wren ]
-Echopaw-

Echopaw was sick of just waiting for the adults to get going on things. Sitting up from her slowly sinking position, she looked over to Otterstone. "Irisflame and I usually just used Oak leaves for carrying herbs. I can't really think of any other uses for them. And Willow doesn't grow in ShadowClan territory as far I as I know."

[BEAR.]

[ It may be best to drop this roleplay since two of these characters are no longer medicine cats. @Wings, @Moon Lily ]

[Moon Lily]

[ @BILL. -Yep! Will do. ]

Irisflame stared at the moon, oblivious to the tension around her. It had been covered with several shadows, probably angered by the snarks and snaps that had taken place tonight. It was far last Moonhigh, and if the moon wasn't going to show... Great stars, we need to get home. Echopaw's mother would probably be worried sick otherwise, not to mention the more important reason that she had a perfectly good nest waiting for her back home. Jolting around as Otterstone made a frail attempt to quell the unsteady air, she frowned.
"Oak is only used to transport things, as Speedy said. Willow...not sure. To heal cats, probably. But enough babbling." She gestured to the lake light coming from the cloud-covered moon, now low in the sky, "It's close to sunrise, and those clouds are preventing this meeting from progressing. If Condorpaw wants to have a meeting next time, I suggest we pull our asses out from disagreements and get on with it." It may have been harsh, but she was done with this. She was tired, annoyed, and had a hullabaloo of other emotion overwhelming her.
"C'mon Speedy, let's go. We're leaving. See you folks next time." And with that, she whisked her tail in farewell and stormed out via the passage.

[ @CheetahPelt @Dust @NIGHTOWL @wren @Dipper @Wings -see BILL.'s previous post. It also wasn't progressing, so this just makes it easier ]

[lio]

[ @Slushie ]

It felt strange, returning here.

Her pawsteps didn't feel like her own as she led Buckbranch to the Starcave. Leading. Right. She wouldn't be doing that much longer.

Duskstar swallowed the lump in her throat and cast a thin smile over her shoulder, hazel gaze settling on Buckbranch. He would be a fine leader. If only she could truly make up for how she had treated him for so long.

Maybe they'd meet again. Maybe she'd return to ThunderClan some day. Who knew what would happen?

She couldn't dwell on that for long. Instead, the calico made her way into the cave, just barely able to do so without running into anything. Living with one eye still wasn't something she was used to, but she'd have time to work on that.

For now, she had to get through this ceremony without having a breakdown. At least the nagging voice of insecurity in her head was quiet.

The calico settled down with a flick of her tail, though she glanced toward Buckbranch once more.

"Are you ready?" Duskstar asked.

[dino.]

[ @hxney ]

----Buckbranch----

The cave seemed dark and foreboding as he followed Duskstar inside. He cast a furtive glance over his shoulder, at the entrance. Then, with a deep breath, he turned and picked up his pace.

His heartbeat seemed too loud. It thrummed in his ears, against his chest, like it wanted to break out and run. Run from responsibility. Run from the fact that Duskstar was leaving and just abandon him to go on without it.

He returned Duskstar's smile with one of his own, though it seemed strained. Was this really what he wanted? To push her out, and take over? A voice whispered at the edge of his mind, Shush, you dummy, it's fine. She CHOSE this.

He took another deep breath, and another, to calm his pounding heart until he could feel it no longer. His paws seemed to move on their own, and even though his body told him "no", he could only give one answer in response to Duskstar's question.

"As I'll ever be," he whispered.