High Rank Announcement [#hrannouncement]

***Alchemist Kitsune*** · #**129** June 10th, 2025, 09:15 PM

High Rank Announcement [#hrannouncement]

She was lagging behind. The WindClan medicine cat knew this, but frankly this time she wasn't very bothered by it. She had three temporary residents in her den that she had to ensure were doing well before she left them alone for the rest of the night. All of them were healing quite nicely at this point in time, yet the amount of injured patients made her uncomfortable. Then there was, of course, the matter of grooming herself. Sure, she was a skinny cat that was looking a bit less nourished than usual of late, and true, she'd had next to no time to keep her pelt well kept these past few days, but she couldn't show up to the gathering looking like Crowtooth on a regular day. She might not be able to do anything about her general physique, but she could very well tidy up before making an appearance, thank you very much.

It seemed she had missed something, however. During her time away. Moonshine hit her slick, well groomed fur as she approached the stones, dainty paws stopping as she openly stared at the deputy's perch, seeing all the apprentices just... clustered there. There seemed to be a new ThunderClan deputy, spotting a gray tabby who had leaped down to wrangle one of the paws, and a quick glance at the leader's rock let her know that Bumblebreath was no more, the - alleged - medicine cat killer having taken his place among the leaders instead. Lightningstorm still remembered the odd accusations revolving Elmshadow's apprentice's death, but she also distinctly remembered nothing having ever come from it. A part of her wondered if the allegations had never been possible to prove, or if it had been brushed to the side much in the same fashion as Dusklion's murder of WindClan's former deputy.

The medicine cat tilted her head with interest, doubting that was the case. After all, Twilightstar had somehow rallied the two other clans against RiverClan for that little crime - among others - so even if Dusklion herself had later on turned into Stormstar, there had been an atonement of some sort made. She couldn't remember any sort of similar vengeance having been wrought on ThunderClan or Spiderthroat for that matter, which made the potential of it all having been naught but rumor more than plausible... or it could also be the simple fact that a medicine cat's life was worth less than that of a deputy's or hell... even that of a warrior's. If your own clan would turn on you in the blink of an eye over a perceived mistake without a shred of evidence to it - hard to come by evidence that didn't exist, after all - it would make sense that another clan killing your own medicine cat was not worth being hostile for. Much less if it was a mere apprentice.

Shaking herself clear of those thoughts, Lightningstorm took a deep breath, preferring to not linger on that little rabbit hole of political inquiries that she would probably never have an answer for. She doubted Sleepysunrise would know much about it - the medicine cat was curious, but her smarts for anything not herb related were... lacking as far as the herbalist had seen - and even if she did, it had all happened before her time and the calico wasn't interested in second paw accounts. It was tantamount to gossip, and she didn't care to find half truths that were worth nothing without exact knowledge on what were the parts that had actually happened. Instead, she leaped to the medicine cat's perch, sitting down easily on her usual spot before spotting the new, ThunderClan smelling feline as well as the tom that sat besides the ShadowClan medicine cat. Again. This wasn't her apprentice. She knew that much. She'd seen him before. Hadn't stopped this one from being all close and cuddly with the dark she-cat before, though, making it clear they were close, just not exactly in what manner. Only one way to find out, she supposed.

"Good night to you all, ya beauts. You know... between Mistlewhisker's bring your kit to the deputy's perch night and you bringing your mate over to the medicine cat's perch every gatherin', I'm startin' to think you lot are a lot cuddlier than you let on," she mewed amicably, lapis gaze blinking innocently at the dark furred medicine cat and her... companion.

Look... was this a complete shot in the dark? Yes. Did Lightningstorm have any real reason to believe these two were mates? Well... maybe? They might just be friends, but their closeness was far more intimate than any friendship she'd ever spotted. It could be that WindClan cats were simply more self absorbed and even less friendly than she gave them credit for, true, but considering how uncharitable she was with her thoughts towards most of her clanmates, she doubted that was the case. Which left either family bond or mates and... well... They looked as much like each other as Lightningstorm did to Leechscar. Which was to say not at all. Leaving only the potential of them being a couple as a possibility. Could she be wrong? Absolutely. But would the potential for a fun response regardless be worth that possibility? Even more so, so she would take looking the fool for a bit of teasing. She'd never been the proud sort, anyway. Not in silly matters like this, in any case.

@Estelle [Sleepysunrise] | @Dreamingstars [Dragonflypaw] | @Rani [Bleedingpaw]