[Lightningpaw666]

Originally Posted by iliri

High Rank Announcement [#hrannouncement]

Drizzlecloud’s lack of attendance threw the youngest of the ThunderClan medic duo off guard. It was odd for her mentor to not show up at the gathering, especially given that she usually showed up every time a gathering occurred. It left her a pitiful taste in her tongue, but she hadn’t wanted to stay clear of that thought for too long, noting the other ShadowClan medic make his way into the sandy clearing and make his way onto the perch. He was odd, to say the least. She didn’t want to say it abruptly just to prove a point, but the way he always seemed to be stargazing up towards the stars or seemingly be lost in his thoughts made her speculate whether he was a good choice to becoming a medicine cat. Springlight trained hard to earn her position and she overgrew her anxious shell of barren that she had developed moons after becoming Drizzlecloud’s apprentice. Speaking of the blue-gray ticked feline, the calico anxiously scraped her claws against the stone she sat atop, nervousness prickling down her spine like a pair of snakes. What if someone came after her and no one was there to protect her? She knew Drizzlecloud was a warrior before she became a medicine cat, but Springlight’s worries for the molly couldn’t remain unscathed after she became permanently deaf by the incident at the RiverClan raid. The molly was still ticked off by the cat who caused Drizzlecloud to nearly die from impact, not even knowing who she was in the matter. The most was that she hoped that she was dead and buried deep underground.

The arrival of two apprentices atop the Seastones caught her attention, the calico furrowing her brows as she glanced towards the apprentices scampering towards the ShadowClan duo. Both of the adolescents seemed to praise the duo greatly, even calling the eldest of the duo mother. It hadn’t thrown her off guard, but she hadn’t bothered to comment about the apprentices’ appearances, other than the fact that it was blatantly disrespectful for them to intrude on the perch while High Ranks sat atop it. She wasn’t the one to make foul comments, but this was relatively obscure and she hoped that the ShadowClan medic duo would handle it. Other than handling it, they seemed to cradle and croon the apprentices as if they were just young kits coming out of the nursery. Talk about ignorance being bliss. Whiskers whisking, she noted the apprentice's names being Moonpaw and Birdpaw, but she hadn’t bothered to make it anything worth keeping in mind. It was just apprentices, after all. The nicknames both Mossfreckle and Lostspark gave the apprentices made her stomach curl uncomfortably. She hadn’t received a nickname like that in a while; the only thing close to any nickname like that was Spring from her mother, Dovefluff. Just as she had thought about the molly, she hadn’t seen her around in a while. She was curious about where she could be, but she didn’t want to keep herself too shelved in her thoughts, keeping note of the greeting that Mossfreckle gave her, giving a respectful nod towards him in return. It wasn’t anything special, just a simple greeting between both herbalists.

WindClan’s arrival didn’t phase the calico much, other than the fact that she noted the fact that Twilightstar clearly looked… disheveled. Even with the moon gleaming down on her slender, lilac-furred, wind-tousled body, it wasn’t hard for the ThunderClan medic to note the leader’s clear hollowed expression adjacent to her expression. Brows furrowing forward, Springlight almost found herself questioning why the leader looked so shallow before noting Fallownose not being amongst the High Ranks making their way into the gathering. Odd. Usually, the tom-cat was with Twilightstar during gatherings whenever they were being held, but she found herself thinking something was… wrong with the absence of the deputy. Springlight didn’t want to pressure any sort of question out into the open, only mildly waiting for the leader to state why the deputy hadn’t shown up to this gathering. Lightningstorm’s presence didn’t help loosen her strengthening curiosities, the molly looking to be hiding her own true thoughts behind the whimsical smile she always had plastered on her face. Springlight was no fool to note a fake smile; she’d seen it plentiful of times before. To see a fellow medic bear such a smile as agonizingly fake as that, it almost made her heart twist and churn deeply within her chest to turn away from pestering the molly behind her false smile.

“Good… seeing you… too… Lightningstorm… I hope… WindClan… has been… well,” Springlight retorted, her blue gaze not leaving the sleek calico as she watched her groom the ruffled fur behind her ear. From seeing how agonizingly hollow both Lightningstorm and Twilightstar looked after they arrived, Springlight found herself questioning how horrendously anticlimactic the drama this so-called truce would succumb towards. The last few gatherings had only proved that it wasn’t anything for a truce, only proving there to be more and more drama to unfold as time passed. Secrets that cats kept, murders being spilled, and more fuel to add to the flame as it kept burning away through the dying fields. Springlight’s paws instinctively flexed against the cold stone again, the oriental molly shivering slightly as a chilling breeze tickled down her spine, making her grumble quietly to herself. It may be new-leaf, but the cold weather that came during the late hours of the day didn’t help keep herself warm. It also didn’t help shelter her growing unease about the dramas to occur at the gathering, only further worsening it as she awaited for the gathering to start. Given RiverClan’s lack of attendance towards this gathering, she wouldn't be fairly surprised if they don't bother showing up to this one due to how crippled their leadership standards were. The last time she saw the camp, they had been struggling to keep their cats together from facing defeat - hell, they even had random warriors and apprentices trying to call the whole thing off. Just only proved from how far of a dark path RiverClan has fallen.

Before she could even mention the otter-dwellers' absence, Bumblestar’s voice rang through her ears as the molly declared that RiverClan wouldn't be showing up at the Seastones again and would be starting the gathering off with ThunderClan’s news. Not that Springlight could argue with the fact that this was the second gathering that they hadn't bothered to arrive at all. The most that Springlight could assume was that they were having leadership issues again, and now they were struggling to make it convenient to even bother attending a gathering. It was sad really, knowing that the clan could eventually climb and become a good clan again, but now? That wasn't going to be the case from how much they were struggling at the moment. Springlight rolled her shoulders and listened to Bumblestar start off the meeting, noting all the kits that recently became apprentices and both Daylightwing’s and Sprucejumper’s warrior status. Both of the news wasn't much for the calico to take on, only merely proud of both of the warrior's successes. The short sign of gratitude didn't last long, however, as Bumblestar began to list out the issues that had been occurring near Herondive Hollow that had been explained at the last meeting. The whole occurrence with Spiderthroat and herbs being crushed made her blood boil, herbs had been needed more than ever in case a greencough incident spread throughout the forest and caused minor quarantine to occur within the clan. Something like that wasn’t what Springlight wanted to occur whatsoever; there hadn’t been any drama or occurrences in the medicine den lately so it would worsen everything if something were to happen all of a sudden and some sort of illness takes flight.

Goldenheart’s death was disheartening to hear, to say the least. She already heard it once before, but hearing the death of a clan-mate again only made her stomach curl uncomfortably in its grasp. Hearing a warrior get mutilated and killed in such a horrific way made her skin feel like it was crawling with ants. A whole rush of white noise blasted in her ears, her claws reverberated against the smooth stones to try to appease her inner unease; feeling the haunting fog of Smallsky’s voice whisper amidst the nonsensical taunts of her inner mind. Eyes clutching shut, she tried to peel her mind away from the imaginative thought of Goldenheart’s body turning mangled, bones jutted off at odd angles with slight crunches, almost hearing the feline wailing and quivering as she howled in agony from her untimely death. Bile rose in her throat, nausea swaying around as the corners of her vision grew fuzzy and unclear. Anxiety crippled at the crevices of her heart like sharp talons, the calico using all the force in her body to remain upright and listen through the surging thumping in her ears against the raw validity of cruelty she was listening in on. How can one cat be so authorized to just devour their own kind; to brutally murder and then mutilate the body of one another all out of pure gluttony? Her paws began to hurt from the amount of coercion that was pressed against the stone, her claws aching as they incessantly scraped against its smooth edges, gouging into the surface of the stone. She tried to listen to the rest of what Bumblestar was saying, but her hazy mind felt cloudy and covered by the horrors that invaded her presence. How can StarClan even allow such cats to exist in the world?

Dawnstar was up next, and Springlight found herself breaking out of the internalized prison that had been set up for herself. It wasn’t easy to push through the discomfort swirling the inner depths of her brain, but anything was perceived as possible if it were given the chance. Finally listening to the news of what ShadowClan had to offer, Springlight found herself growing immensely… satisfied by the death of Shadefrost. The tom-cat had been her perpetrator and nearly killed her without any sort of reasoning. His demise had been something that she saw coming eventually, and evidently, he deserved it. The tom-cat seemed to be the type to gloat about any sort of victory, her stomach burning with ire as she thought about how he must’ve bragged about almost killing a ThunderClan medicine cat. Given how nearly dead she had looked at Sunkissed Creek, she wouldn’t be surprised if he had thought he killed her. Spiderthroat killing him was one thing to take off her shoulders, even though the calico felt mixed feelings about the tom-cat. Ever since he became deputy after Foxstep’s failures, Springlight had always felt off about Bumblestar choosing Spiderthroat as ThunderClan deputy. She couldn’t quite put her word into it, but she just felt off with the calico as deputy. But, she didn’t want to explicitly state her inner opinions about him, not wanting to make any opinions that would risk her reputation on the line if they were just false rumors. Other than that, she hadn’t known who Hawkbite was, other than that he was in ShadowClan, but it wasn’t like she wouldn’t hold a grudge against them not trying to crush herbs. It was an idiotic decision to make.

Wanting to ignore the entire section concerning Goldenheart, Springlight’s attention spiked the moment she overheard Dawnstar giving Sunkissed Creek back to ThunderClan. Given the immense amount of trouble that the clan had been causing, Springlight wasn’t certain if this would do any sort of cause for ThunderClan other than the fact that it was an increase in territory. Would they even need Cattail Pond anymore? Brows furrowing, the calico cast an inquisitive glance towards Bumblestar to try to read her expression, to see what she would think of how she would take this seemingly valuable asset of territory. Even with Sunkissed Creek returning rightfully to ThunderClan, the medic couldn’t help but feel her emotions whirl ceremoniously within her gut. She couldn’t find herself trusting the place as much as she used to when she was younger. Ever since the last two bloody battles with ShadowClan, the place left her a painful reminder of the incident where she was nearly brutally murdered at Shadefrost’s paws. Dread poured into her system as she thought about if the grass was still tainted in her blood from where she was lying out there, bleeding out while the cacophony of the battle roared all around her. It was all so long ago, but it was a memory that she couldn’t keep herself at peace with knowing. With it back in ThunderClan’s paws, she knew that she wouldn’t be able to visit the place without the memories coming back at her like rapid fire. She’d avoid it; only send patrols out towards the piece of territory and never go there herself. It was traumatic, and she hadn’t been the type to want to wake up deep-rooted traumas that were buried deep below. Sunkissed Creek was nothing but a blur to her mind.

The remains of ShadowClan’s news was nothing more than the fact that they had new apprentices and a couple of new warriors, nothing too special for the molly to take in. Other than the fact that the other clan shockingly had more apprentices than ThunderClan did at the moment. It wasn’t much, but relatively odd. How many kits were being born per day just to have that many apprentices? It was a question that didn’t need to be answered, nor did she want an answer. The duo of warriors, however, was an achievement, even if she hadn’t known them. Quietly huffing, the calico watched as the colossal feline made her way back to her seat and Twilightstar stepped up, brows furrowing forward as she watched the bristling rage practically come off the feline. The herbalist had never really seen the molly this disgruntled before, only questioning why that may be the case as she began to hear her speak, hearing about their only apprentice that was made recently. Her brief need to search for the apprentice in the crowd was short-lived as Twilightstar began to speak again, mentioning that three RiverClan warriors invaded WindClan’s camp, making her brows furrow quizzically. Was RiverClan really trying to get themselves in more trouble from just being a bunch of arseholes? If they had warriors just waltz into other clans as they owned them, then they were definitely down in the low blue from how they used to be. It wasn’t long before she found out about the real reasons why Fallownose wasn’t around, only making her further angry at the otter-dwellers who caused more trouble than they should have. Deciding to murder a beloved deputy was a big low blow, even for ThunderClan. Maybe RiverClan deserved the beating that WindClan was bringing them.

It seemed to be the end of the gathering, judging from Twilightstar jumping from the leader’s perch and onto the sandy ground below, followed soon by Bumblestar briefly speaking towards Dawnstar about the creek and potentially assisting Twilightstar in beating up RiverClan again if their assistance was required. As much as the herbalist didn’t like the ways of violence, she wouldn’t mind seeing them take in the beating that they deserved. Maybe she’d come across both of the cats who tried to attack both her and Drizzlecloud during the raid and give them the proper beating that they deserved. It was a bit of a stretch to think about, but it was better than nothing. Ears erected up towards Bumblestar after she called that it was time for ThunderClan to head home, nodding briefly before glancing back towards the other medics. “Well… at least… it was… decent… seeing you… lot… I hope… you have… a safe-” her head jerked upwards the moment she was interrupted by a bone-chilling, loud shriek ripping through the air, the herbalist instinctively standing on all four paws to look towards the scene to see what was going on. The familiar red coat of Redhawk caught her eye, alongside Wolfhive, Sparrowpelt, and Skunkstrike instinctively trying to push a seemingly large boulder off the molly. Not good. Flashing a quick, sideways glance towards her fellow medics, the youngest of the ThunderClan medic duo quickly hopped down onto the sand and rushed towards the scene, weaving through felines to truly inspect what had occurred. Riversong’s loud shrieking for the ThunderClan medic duo definitely didn’t help, only further fueling her frustration towards Drizzlecloud’s lack of attendance. Why wasn’t she here when she needed her now?

Gritting her teeth against the cold tickling her spine, the calico whipped her head around to search for ThunderClan warriors willing to go search for elder leaves and cobwebs. Only stars above knew how bad Redhawk’s paw would be once the boulder was off of her, but she wasn’t going to be wasting time just standing around and doing nothing. Blue eyes narrowing, the calico noted out Brackenclaw from the crowd and instinctively gestured for the tom to approach, her eyes focused as she began speaking. “Brackenclaw… go search… around the… nearest… side of… the Seastones… for elder leaves… and cobwebs… and be fast… I am not… wanting to… waste any time… standing here… while Redhawk… is stuck… underneath this… boulder… elder leaves… are usually… attached… to an… elder flower… the flowers are… attached… to elder bushes… which is a… tall stalked plant… with clusters… of white flowers… which is… the elder flowers… collect the leaves… they are broad-looking… and should be… simple to… collect… bring Riversong… with you… and be sure… to collect… a singular… wad of… cobweb...” The medicine cat ordered, gesturing towards the warrior who had called out for her, not paying any more attention to the duo before focusing her attention on the boulder. Without hesitation, the small calico placed her paws on the side of the boulder alongside the trio already pushing and began assisting, mustering her strength to help them push it off Redhawk’s paw as much as they physically could.

[ @Rose @ellie @Alchemist Kitsune @Poprock @Mica @SpiritedWarrior @taillow @SuspiciousMindz @BEAR. @sillycreatur @Lightningpaw666 @Tiabirb @Littlesun0112 (this was a mess, honestly, and only mentioned cats who are involved in the incident! but, in case if i missed anyone, please lmk! ) ]

Brackenclaw would at first want to help in moving the Boulder off the cat his large muscles would do well to help but he wasn't about to ignore an order from a Medicine cat. He wouldn't say much only nodding at the instructions before he bounded off to do just that. He would run off to the base of the Seastones searching meticulously for the bushes that the Medicine Cat had mentioned. He saw the white flowered bushes and before he went for the leaves he would look to see if there were any cobwebs inside. He noted there was thank Starclan. Picking up a branch on the beach he would run to collect the cobwebs. They were abandoned apparently the occupant either left the webs in favor of a better place or died already. Making collecting the webs easy enough. Brackenclaw would put the stick down before using his teeth to gingerly pick apart some leaves. Brackenclaw wasn't very delicate given his large size but he did the best he could. The leaves weren't good on his tongue and he wanted more than once to spit them out. But he persisted. Brackenclaw would gather the leaves hoping Riversong could grab the branch. Brackenclaw wasn't much for conversation it wasn't that he was shy more that he didn't speak unless absolutely necessary. Reserved was a better word to describe the big Maine Coon.

@illiri @Littlesun0112