Bye Bye Birdie

[Mica]

Birdecho
ShadowClan Warrior
she/her | 13 moons
[Grey tabby with a dark overcoat, white underside and amber eyes]
Purrks: Lyrebird's Lullaby, Don't Mind if I Do!
Header art by: @/Daragca
⋆˖⁺‧₊☽ The Fool ☾₊‧⁺˖⋆
· · ────────────── · ·
[Sleepysunrise - @Estelle ]
· · ────────────── · ·
The mouth of the medicine den loomed over Birdecho like a great beast about to swallow her whole. The young warrior stared at it, eyes tracing the rough edges of the burrow, the roots weaving into the dirt above it. The lichen curtain, sickly pale in the watery leafbare light. It wasn't the medicine den she had spent time in as a kitten, but familiarity seeped out of it all the same.

Lostspark's voice brushed past her ears like the hot breath of a predator bearing down on her. I'm alive. Come find me. Save me, sweet bird.

Bolts of emotion rocketed through Birdecho, and her head snapped this way and that to dislodge the false words. Even though Mama hadn't said it, Birdecho knew she must want to be rescued. No one deserved to be stuck in the Star Cave, especially not Mama.

Stars, Mama was alive. Birdecho hadn't believed it in her dream, but when she'd woken up her heart knew it was true. Mama was alive and in the Star Cave. Trapped.

That was where Sleepysunrise came in.

Birdecho peered into the medicine den, nose wrinkling at the sharp, tangy scents that washed over her. Nests and nooks emerged from the darkness as Birdecho adjusted to the low level of light. "Sis?" She mewed in a rasping voice. "Can I--can I talk to you?" Sleepysunrise had to understand. She loved Mama just as much as Birdecho did. They were the only ones who did.

[Estelle]

Sleepysunrise
[ 14 moons | She / Her | Shc Medicine Cat | Shadow Fiend ]

Her paw brushed the edges of the worn, old bones at her feet. Her eyes glazed over, and thoughts far from the present world. They traced the intricacies of the bone, the way they connected among each other and the many ways in which they could be so easily broken. A part of her always had wondered, could she rip this apart? How broken could she make it? She spent days and nights studying its intricate structures, and she spent days and nights wondering what damage she could do to it. Whether it would be satisfying. Whether it would relieve some of the pressure that bore down on her mind day in day out with the violent voices, the violent sights, that wouldn’t cease to exist. Always taunting, always mocking, always talking, always there.

Moments of silence were filled with the soft murmur of her mind, moments of peace were haunted by the knowledge of its ever coming doom. Peace was a foreign concept unless your mind ceased to exist. Sleepysunrise didn’t react when she was spoken to. A bad habit she had gotten into, ignoring the calls of her name – ignoring those who called her sister or daughter as the bird and the husk once did. But the voice persisted, speaking to her again. So tauntingly soft. She visibly flinched, ears pinning back and fur prickling, head falling low. She was silent for another instance, but her gaze swivelled around behind her, eyes ablaze and ready to retort – berate – this fool for entering her lair without so much as a warning.

But the sight of the feline softened her fury, her paranoia. She stared at Birdecho for several long, tense moments before the energy in her shoulders suddenly sacked and all semblance of will or power left her body, gaze turning dull and face unreadable.
“What is it?”
Her tone a quiet whisper, a cautious edge as she regarded the feline that posed as her sister. She blinked slowly, but her eyes remained glued on her equally dark figure.


[ @Mica ]

[Mica]

Birdecho
ShadowClan Warrior
she/her | 13 moons
[Grey tabby with a dark overcoat, white underside and amber eyes]
Purrks: Lyrebird's Lullaby, Don't Mind if I Do!
Header art by: @/Daragca
⋆˖⁺‧₊☽ The Fool ☾₊‧⁺˖⋆
· · ────────────── · ·
[Sleepysunrise - @Estelle ]
· · ────────────── · ·
Birdecho froze as Sleepysunrise's gaze scorched her pelt, surprise evident in her eyes. The fur on the back of her neck rose, the deep-seated instinct to fight flee freeze screaming in her mind. But, like all the others, Birdecho pushed that voice away and forced her expression to relax. "Gee, sis, sorry to startle you." She chuckled dryly, trying to diffuse the tension.

Padding in a little further so she could sit on the inside of the den, where cats couldn't easily eavesdrop, Birdecho took a moment to collect her fractured thoughts. Ever since that dream with Mama, Birdecho had been thinking. Which, for her, was rather dangerous, since she had very little thought capacity and might overwork her limited number of braincells. Not long after the dream, the Star Cave had collapsed. While Grandmother didn't appear concerned, and Birdecho couldn't care less about StarClan, Mama was in there. Maybe alive, maybe dead. But Birdecho couldn't just sit still. She had to know.

The problem was... she had no idea where the Star Cave was. But Sleepysunrise did. And surely, surely Sleepysunrise would agree that this was an important cause.

"Well, I'll just get into it, haha--" Birdecho suddenly hopped to her paws, proceeding to pace the length of the den. "So, I got a dream visit. First I though it was a StarClan dream which like--crazy, right, because why would anyone want to visit me in a dream?" Her head dipped and bobbed as she spoke, following the cadence of her voice. Her eyes avoided looking at her sister. "Uhm, but, turns out, hahah, it wasn't StarClan. It was a living cat." Birdecho paused, facing away from Sleepysunrise. "It was Mama." Birdecho turned, slowly, her wide amber eyes suddenly filled with desperation. "She's in the Star Cave. She's trapped there, a-and I want to save her." Birdecho's shoulders met her ears in a shrug, eyes fixed on the floor. "A-and I know you loved her just as much as I did--"

no one loved her like you did

"Shut up! I'm talking." She snapped over her shoulder, then shook out her pelt to dispel the unwanted voices. "Sorry. Anyway, I don't know where the Star Cave is." Finally, finally she met Sleepysunrise's boring gaze. "But you do. I need you, sis. I need you to take me there. Or at least tell me what direction to go."

[Estelle]

ׂ╰┈➤ Sleepysunrise ✘ Shc Medicine Cat ←
☽ She/Her, 14 Moons ✧.* Petite dark semi-long-furred feline with white tufts across her body, white freckles and piercing blue eyes ☾
Shadow Fiend * CALL ME MONSTER * Purrk * Purrk


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Her sister's voice echoed through the den clear as the songbirds in the morning, and the crickets at night. Sleepysunrise kept her gaze low to the ground, afraid of meeting her sister's eye for fear of what she would find. She was hyper aware of her sister coming to sit at her side, so much so that her fur prickled in response, the way it often did when someone sat too close. The brief silence was ever so daunting, too heavy for even the medic to bear when she couldn't tell whether her sister was really here, or a vivid ghost was paying her another visit. She moved again only when Birdecho's voice echoed in her ear once more with the cadence of one that was nervous about what she was about to say. Sleepysunrise tensed the moment those first words left her mouth.

Dread began to seize her heart, and deeply rooted anxiety began to build in her chest. Her sister paced the den behind her, but Sleepysunrise couldn't watch. Living. Mama. Her eyes were zeroed in on the nothingness that lay ahead of her paws, Birdecho's words grew weary in her mind as an intense beeping noise began to cloud her hearing, and bright flashes and sights began to fill her vision. Loved her. Her words echoes in her mind. Stupid fool of a child, it lulled, stupid weak little thing. She shut her eyes.
"No, no, no, no...."
She began to mutter, claws digging deep into the ground, paw lifting to dig those those same claws into her arm, holding herself close. The den felt big, oh so big and daunting. So heavy. The air was heavy. She couldn't breathe.

Wild words behind her made her gaze snap around towards Birdecho, wide-eyed and almost openly terrified, trembling. I need you. The words struck a chord within her chest, but Sleepysunrise could only slowly shake her head in brisk little movements. She could only trembled in place as she muttered those same words.
"No, nonononono."
She backed away into the corner. Go find her. My darling love, Always with you.
"No. No, no, no. She's dead."
Sleepysunrise gasped, claws coming to find to her head and digging into her scalp.
"Leave me alone, go away!"
She hissed at her shadow, body suddenly propelling from the ground as she began to pace around the den, her head snapping left and right and hissing at the monsters only she could see.
"Leave me alone. She's dead. I know she's dead, he said she's dead!"

She lashed over her shoulder, the world spiralling around her, her path wobbly and uneven as flashes and haunting sights filled her her vision. The ringing in her ear wouldn't stop, the voices wouldn't quiet.
"Shut up!"
She hissed as her ears struck low and tears seemed to fill her eyes with desperation. She crumbled in on herself, tail between her legs and claws finding the side of her body. Her eyes flashed warily around the den, only after several seconds did it land on Birdecho. She was still here.
"She's dead, she has to be dead, you know she's dead."
You never knew with her.

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⊹ [ @Mica - Birdecho | @/mention - Character ] ⊹