'tis the season of grieving

[BEAR.]

Things had quieted down in Aconiteheart's neck of the woods once Wolfhawk had completed his ceremony. It shouldn't have been a surprise, truthfully - Ebonyfrost and even that one Deerfish had also graced him with their company, only to vanish once they'd gotten what they wanted. It was a bitter thought, fueled by the perceived loneliness of living in a massive forest with quiet dead, and probably unfair to those in question.. he was just envious for company.




So when a familiar cream coat caught his gaze, he nearly jumped out of his skin to get to his paws and greet her. His excitement of a guest outweighed his observational skills and he would've never noticed the danger he was in. "Bumblestar! It's nice to see you!!" Time was hard to track, but it'd had to have been at least a half-moon - maybe even a full or two - since he'd last spoke to her. "What brings you here??"


[ @dino. ]

[dino.]

Bumblestar wasn't entirely sure how she'd gotten here.

She'd forced her way into a vision once, with Brokenstar, but she had been awake for that one. This time she'd started out curled up against the far end of her den, nose buried between her paws as she fought to hold onto the lingering remnants of Wolfhive's scent that had long since begun to fade. Then she'd opened her eyes, and he had been there.

Her subconscious knew what she wanted.

Her claws sank into the grass as she watch him shoot up from across the clearing, apparently excited to see her. Excited. What a joke. The closer he got, the more the fur along her spine rose and the hotter the coil around her heart became.

The thought flickered past the front of her mind for a split second, and that was all it took to act on it. She met him halfway, and suddenly shimmering ichor stained the ground and her paws and her teeth, and Aconiteheart was under her, torn and cut and battered, but it wasn't enough, it would never be enough to make up for what he had done.

"YOU KNEW!"

She tore through the existing gashes in his shoulders again, roaring in his face. "You knew and you gave him that name, that awful name! A mockery of their deaths! Is that what StarClan is now? A means of making me suffer for you more than I already have?!" Another blow landed on his face, slicing open his muzzle and forehead and narrowly missing his eyes. "THEY'RE DEAD! My friend is dead, my son is dead, and now I have to look at him and hear his name and it's YOUR FAULT!"

Her throat constricted, and with a choking sob, she pushed herself off of him. "I should- I should kill you again," she spat through heaving breaths. "Should tear your throat out just enough to leave you to suffer like they did! Screw you, screw StarClan, stay outta my life!"

[ @BEAR. ]

[BEAR.]

It's, confusion in its finest form.

Maybe Aconiteheart had been anticipating an embrace, as Wolfhawk had once done to him - or even a tackle, as his brother once might've long ago.

But nothing could have prepared him for the razor sharp irons that pierced his skin, shredding through his essence and leaving him a broken, beaten, bloody mess on the ground beneath her. He was no fighter, having no training due to a lack of need with SkyClan's isolationism, but even had he the skill he likely would not have fought back out of sheer shock.

There was blood running down his face, tinging his vision an unsightly crimson. The feeling of betrayal hurt more than the cuts though, because he doesn't understand what was going on - why him - what did he do??? "I..." its weak, shaky, barely above a whisper, if that. "... I don't know what you're talking about.." and he doesn't, because she talks vaguely of cats, one he doesn't know. How did this have to do with a name? He has to assume it's Wolfhawk, it's not like he's named many cats, but..

Her son. Aconiteheart hadn't known the kid well, they'd met briefly and his interest was a little more than just in passing. He knew of the taint that poisoned his body but... he was dead?

It shouldn't have been a surprised given how disabling the infliction was, but Aconiteheart still felt the sting that came from loss. It was nothing compared to the grief of a parent though; or even of family, could never be, and that was something he had learned long ago when Ripplesky died. His body burnt and displayed by StarClan themselves, a reminder to stay in line and obey. His nephew - burned alive for what? A Clan that was doomed to fail?

There's nothing he could do to lessen her pain, no words that would dull the ache of a shattered heart. "Didn't know your kid well... but I'm sorry for your loss." It's simple, sympathetic, but trying to not be overbearingly so because he knows she's engulfed in her pain and the patpat of a near stranger will only agitate her wounds further. "I don't... know, what I did - or how I have offended you... but I'm sorry for that, too, whatever that's worth..." He can taste metallic in his mouth, and wondered if at some point he'd bit his tongue in the blur of being attacked. "... I'm not going to fight you, if killing me will make you feel better do what you must." He can't help but brace himself for her claws again, even though she had let him go. He remained on the ground, partly in anticipation and partly because he wasn't sure he could get up if he wanted. "... and, I don't know about all the name stuff, he came a wolf.. but if... if it's too painful we can change that, it can't fix the past but maybe it won't hurt so much going forward..." He doesn't know, it's an offer thrown on a whim. Wolfhawk would probably be understanding given Aconiteheart's being held with a gun to his head.

[ @dino. ]

[dino.]

'I'm sorry for your loss.' She hit him again, the jaw this time, not even registering the fact that apparently Aconiteheart somehow knew him. Bumblestar's thoughts clouded with grief turned rage and not much would make it through. But, oh, he doesn't know. He doesn't know. How could he not? StarClan knew everything. They knew of the flower that cured the poison from RiverClan, of WindClan's plight so she could avoid handing them Spiderthroat without risking war, of the cure that had taken three long moons to retrieve - but not of Wolfhive's death, not Redhawk's, not the dozen others that occurred between then and now.

He's sorry again. She struck him a third time, not caring where that one landed. But he wasn't going to fight, not like she wanted him to. Her legs shook as her strength waned. "Do what you want with him. I don't care. I'm not lookin' at him, not talkin' to him - don't care." It wouldn't change anything.

The order would be a stretch, and Brokenstar had told her only once, but this cat wasn't Brokenstar. "Bring 'em both back," she rasped. "Two of my lives, three, all of 'em, I don't care how many it takes. I can't- I need 'em. I can't go on.." Not without Wolfhive.

[ @BEAR. ]

[BEAR.]

Blood welled from the several more wounds inflicted upon him, and he makes no effort to staunch it or resist. He can taste the blood from where she struck his jaw - he can't tell if she knocked some teeth loose or he bit his tongue - the pain blurs it all together.

He didn't know what she wanted from him, didn't understand the wide scope. Before meeting Wolfhawk he hadn't a reason to care, and even with the couple dream sessions he was fox lengths away from everything and everyone. "I don't know what half you're talking about is, I don't keep up with the Clans well! That's an individual thing, not a collective. We're not some... some omnipotent entity... we're a bunch of dead cats who sometimes can scry and meddle with the living on a case-by-case basis. And even then, only some bother - how many spirits have you reliably seen? One, two? A pawful out of dozens???" The afterlife sucked and there was no loyalty! Once a cat died they were about as useful as a leaf filled with rocks. "I'm sorry, and I know that doesn't mean much, but I'm not one of the cats that've been screwin" with you, I barely know any of you outside the kid asking for help cause of that... ex medicine cat not helping him." Would that give her a better timeline of events? He hadn't met a Thundercat until Wolfpaw found him, largely untrained and with a dud who was ordered to mentor him. He wasn't sure he could even name the other cat, had it come up? It didn't matter.

He just hoped this gave Bumblestar a better idea of what she was dealing with, because while he was submitting to the ass beating he'd rather, Not, please and thank her. "... and i... don't know how to do that. If I did I would, without the killing you if possible... but I've never messed around with the revival hubbub... most I've done is give a leader a life some time ago..." And that was, typical? He didn't think it'd really be applicable now given she was Bumblestar already though.

[ @dino. ]

[dino.]

No, of course he couldn't. What had she been expecting? Miracles didn't just fall from the sky out of thin air. They didn't even exist. Everything that had occurred, everything she had done, had resulted in an exchange; maybe not equal, maybe not good, but an exchange nonetheless.

"Your definition sucks." Bumblestar wanted to hit him again, but she didn't have the energy. "'Course you all know. How the hell else could you hand out prophecies 'n omens or- or meddle like you've been?" It wasn't as if the Dark Forest was giving her the same trouble. She'd received useful information from one of their members just twice, and they scarcely intervened, hardly went out of their way to make her life a living hell.

She stared Aconiteheart down. If he couldn't bring them back, she could make him do something else. Exchange. He was a coward. StarClan cats had the privilege of being able to die again and again, and she'd already proven she was willing to beat him bloody; another flash of claws and a hint of teeth should be enough to scare him into doing what she wanted. "Then give me a life. I've spent enough time tryin' to wrangle my Clan through this hell without fallin' over. Time for you lot to pay up."

[ @BEAR. ]