| Lightningstorm |
Flock Together [Tier 3] - Inactive | Mind Reader - Active
The medicine cat blinked, feeling a quiet, simmering storm within her as more cats talked. Argued. Did not allow those that needed to grieve their moment of peace. She thought that as a healer she had been exposed to so much death she had grown numb to it. An unavoidable eventuality that came with her position. She could not afford to break down at every death. At every loss. This was not the entirety of the story, of course. Even as a kit she'd had to become her mother's rock as the queen grieved. Became lost with the disappearance of the worthless tom she'd once called a father and her two littermates. Learned to smile and show cheek as she'd always done despite how much she had wanted for it all to end. It simply... leaked into her profession, she supposed. Or rather had... It seemed her brand of heartlessness was simply something WindClan carried with them. She would appear to have more in common with the rats than she'd assumed... who knew?
Flashing a grateful glance at Poppysong for their attempt to give a sense of security to those who needed it, she nodded. She still considered the warrior an idiot... but at least they were a well meaning one. And yet despite the bickering, the yowling, the gossiping... it all seemed to come to a halt when the leader finally spoke once more. It was honestly amazing how quickly she composed herself despite the obvious grief she carried. But then... Lightningstorm had to assume they weren't so different in this regard. Having seen enough death that she had to cope somehow. She was the rock that sustained the clan, after all... and that rock rarely had any support to back it up as it carried all the weight it could weather before it crumbled to dust. Even as she looked to her side, however, she spotted them. Bravebird and Crowtooth. She wasn't certain when they had arrived to Twilightstar's side, but the lithe calico could admit to feeling some sense of relief. The leader didn't deserve to grieve through this alone. The spotted she-cat knew what that felt like, having been tossed to the shadows and forgotten as long as she behaved after her mentor's exile. Awaiting to weather away herself.
She remained silent, having nothing to add to her words. It wasn't her place, regardless. The healer understood her place. She was there to ensure her patients were taken care of, and cats grieving a fallen clanmate was... close enough. She wasn't without empathy, after all. The notion of staying back while others had their worlds crumble around them simply never crossing her mind. She shrugged at the leader's words of gratitude, uncomfortable. She wasn't thanked often if at all. She merely did her work, and the cats left. Going about their day without a second thought for her. It was a strange sensation. One she hadn't truly felt since Cowtuft had been forced away.
"Here to help," she mewed, lapis hues on green for a moment before her eyes widened, turning towards the medicine cat's den entrance... only to stop halfway.
A familiar, tabby pelt now lay besides the body... and her heart broke at the sight. Here was her mate, so fond of this tom... a feline who had been looking forward to serving as deputy under him once he was leader... who had been looking forward to introducing her kits to him - a wish she was less happy with - who she looked up to with stars in her eyes. Dipping her head in gratitude towards the leader, she attempted to press her face close to the lilac's, to give one comforting nuzzle to before turning to the very pregnant warrior, whose tear stained eyes now looked up at her. Her words echoed in her mind long after she had spoken them, even as her mask fell. As her gaze turned crestfallen and she opened and closed her mouth a few times before remaining silent. Because she couldn't. What Firestorm wanted of her was impossible. And yet she remained with her mind reeling, trying to find a way to make it possible...
"I'm sorry, love... I... I can't... I'm... I'm only feline..." she mewed in earnest, her voice rising in pitch as she realized how useless she was here, unable to bring any level of peace of mind to the cat she loved.
Uncertain of what else to do, she padded towards the pale ginger, laying down besides her and enveloping her as best she could. Letting her know she was not alone. That Lightningstorm would never let her be alone. That they were in this together, no matter what. Gently, she licked the tabby's head in a soothing rhythm, drowning out the prattle. She could care less what the others had to say, for the most part. Not right now. Not when Twilightstar had made it so abundantly clear that now was the time for respect, not for more assumptions being made at the cost of a cat's reputation. What was it with cats believing that just because they had the right to say something they had to say it? She could very well tell Littleshock that she was an arsehole. It was a fact. Didn't mean she said it. Common sense seemed to be a scarce resource in these parts, for star's sake...
A resolute voice breaking through her reverie, the medicine cat turned up, only to notice Bravebird sending the gossiping and arguing vermin away. Good. Hopefully they would take the hint this time. If not, Lightningstorm was not above ordering them out of camp for a while if they couldn't behave. She didn't care if they wanted to be arseholes, they could do so on their own time. Now was the time for...
him.
Hesitantly, the she-cat turned almond shaped eyes towards the deputy's body, realizing that in this state she no longer felt bile rising to her throat or anger at how flippant he had been when the time had come to trust the black and white tom he had wanted to eliminate. Execute in cold blood. Who would have guessed then that it would be Fallownose who would lie murdered in the clearing instead? And being whispered so callously about as well. Did he now know? Understand how much easier it was to have your clanmates turn on you now that it was his turn to fall to this fallacy?
Her thoughts were interrupted before they could divulge any further down that rabbit hole of misery. It was a blink and you miss it moment, but she had been exposed enough to know. Had seen enough to realize what she'd seen. A ginger cat. Unknown to her, but the shimmer was unmistakable. One she had learned to identify if only due to prolonged exposure to them. A StarClan warrior... here for the fallen deputy. Once again, StarClan struck too late. It was always the same with them, wasn't it? To only show up when they were no longer needed. A small frown marred the petite she-cat's brow until she heard them. Crowtooth's words.
Blazingstar. It took a former WindClan leader to show up to collect a dead deputy, it seemed, but he was nowhere around for when a message was needed. Alright... that was it. She didn't care how distraught she was. If Firestorm tried to name one of their kits after her grandfather, Lightningstorm was biting that tail.
As she helped her mate mourn, a small voice spoke besides her. Timid, allowing her gaze to lose some of its anger before she turned to Orangepaw's familiar face. It was unfortunate, really... Even when she wanted to be there for her, the life of a medicine cat could never really be fully devoted to one's self. It wasn't about what she wanted. What she needed. Not really. Not ever. It was about her job, and no matter what happened, the world did not stop for her and her loved ones. This was not the apprentice's fault, however, and the healer simply nodded, offering one last nuzzle to her mate before standing up.
"I'm sorry, love. Duty calls. I'll be back... I promise," she whispered in an apologetic voice, large ears flattened slightly at the devastated look still sported in her love's eyes.
"Come now. I'm certain there are juniper berries in stock," she added, twitching her tail to let the apprentice know he was to follow her.
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Moonraven [Twilightstar] | @
Dark [Firestorm] | @
MangofDoom [Poppysong] | @
SeonghwasBunnyEars [Orangepaw] | @
SuspiciousMindz [Blazingstar]