At some point, when her leg had gone from a dull ache to an actual bone-deep pain, Dusklion had stopped running. She had lost her breath, and though her tears had long since dried her throat still felt tight. Now as she limped through the forest, blood crusted along her new wound, whatever life or spark was once in her blue eyes appeared snuffed out.
The deputy didn't really pay much attention to where she was going, outside of making sure she did not return to camp. Not yet, anyways, not when she still hadn't... decided...
Stars above, there was that selfishness again.
After awhile of limping around the gray-furred eventually sank to a half-seated, half crouched position at the bank of the river that flowed through the territory. Staring into the swift moving water, Dusklion could see the faint outline of her face. She watched it unmoving as it flickered among the ripples, distorted and blurry, until eventually she had to close her eyes.
Breathe in. Breathe out. Ignore the way her foreleg ached something terrible. Think about what she wanted to say, and how she wanted to go about this. Did she want to stay in RiverClan after stepping down? How could she, when she had failed so many?
Go With the Flow | Silver Tongue (T1) [Perm] | Mind Reader [Perm]
___________
The small-framed tom was slowly becoming more and more self-aware. Dusklion hadn’t given him the reaction he had expected but instead rushed to get out of camp with little to no words. Had… had he messed up? Had he driven Dusklion out of her role instead of lit a fire beneath her to do better?
Ugh. This was a pain in the ass.
After waiting for the meeting’s conclusion, he decided that he should go out and make sure that the deputy didn’t get into anything stupid. It was out of the kindness out of his magnanimous heart that he was willing to give her such special attention today. She better appreciate it.
Padding out into the territory, he first determined the direction that her scent was going. She seemed to have traveled a lot of ground in a short period, had she been running? Ugh… this might be more than what he was willing to devote his precious energy to.
It took a while to find her. His head was pounding and he had to take several breaks as he was still recovering from starvation and sickness just under a moon ago. When he did, however, he found her by the bank of the river that winded through their territory and gave them their clan’s name. She looked…. Sad. Ew. Padding forward as softly as he could, he wordlessly took up a spot next to Dusklion.
”I can answer that question,” He said, at long last breaking the silence. He had just barely caught what she said as he approached and it seemed as though she was confused on how to proceed. It made sense, really, he had given her a lot to think about after all. From the claims of bias, to the hypocrisy, etc. there was so much he had grilled her for over a little situation in the meeting.
”Move on.” He said bluntly. ”You give too much credit to others – letting it influence what you think, honestly, you need to cut that out.” Turning towards her, he reached out a paw to gently bap her on the head ”You have the qualities of a good leader. You may be impulsive and make mistakes at times, but like I told you earlier, I prefer your style over your brother’s. Same with many of our other clanmates, they want you Dusklion.”
”You’re what the clan needs right now. Sure, there’s negative comments and hell, maybe I was a bit too harsh, but that’s the truth. Without your presence, I fear that the clan may have faced an entire rebellion several times over due to Fadingsun’s… methods.” A pause as he allowed that to sink in for a moment. ”You need to focus on your strengths and aim to cover your weaknesses. I didn’t tell you all of that at the meeting so that you could run away or step down. I told you didn’t I? That I didn’t want to be disappointed? I meant it. Don’t run away. Use the negativity – let it fuel you. Let it push you to become better. Not just for your sake, but for the clan’s. If you lose your position, who would replace you? Who could replace you? You’re the deputy of what used to be one of the greatest clans in the forest, you need to get yourself together and act like it. I love RiverClan, as flawed as it is now, and I believe you to be the one who can and will get us out of this awful streak of chaos and misfortune.”
There. He would allow her to speak now, having said the most important bits of his thoughts. He feared that he may have been rambling a bit, but he really needed to drive the point home. Dusklion was good for the clan, regardless of the bias, regardless of her careless action in killing WindClan’s former deputy. She was what the clan needed right now. Honestly, he wished she were the leader instead of Fadingsun at times, however, that didn’t matter at the moment. Right now he just needed her to see that she wasn’t a failure and that she was good for the clan. He meant all of the words he said, genuinely. Fishfreckle may not have been one to give compliments often, so it may have seemed a bit heavy-pawed, but being told “You can do it” meant a lot when coming from him. If he hadn’t been so confident of that fact, he wouldn’t have said it – hell, he wouldn’t have even bothered to come out her to convince her to figure things out.
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Re: RiverClan Territory
Whisper licks her newborn kitten it looks like a rat now but in time it will look like a cat the other newborn kittens mewed for Whisper so she hugs them close with her tail trying to calm them down "This is bad...." she managed she didn't want this to happen so soon but it did she just hoped that the mewing would stop
[ this is separate from the above interaction with dusk ]
Dusklion - RiverClan Deputy
When would outsiders learn to stop coming on their territory? Stepping out from the undergrowth, the deputy gave a low snarl. "Dunno where you think home is, but it isn't my Clan's territory. Get your kits 'n get out." She jerked her head towards the outskirts, tail flicking behind her.
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Re: RiverClan Territory
"Oh can you help me get up? so I can leave I 'polagize for giving birth on your territory I'll get my slimy kits out of here just help me get up Please!" Whisper says with a pleading look in her eyes
Oh for the love of stars above. The deputy, without much care, lowered her head and attempted to nudge the cat onto her paws, hoping the sudden movement would act as a a way to show this cat she wasn't kidding about leaving RiverClan territory. "Is your nose broken? Why the hell would you have your kits on some cat's territory?" This was not what she wanted to deal with today. "Now get goin' - I'm not in the mood to repeat myself."
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Re: RiverClan Territory
Whisper attemped to stand but one of her hind legs didn't respond and she tumbled to the floor "W-what happens to my leg???!" She says in panic as she trys to push herself up but fails "oh my what will I do I cant walk and worst of all I have no home....." she says looking at her kits which look like the cat she wished to look like
"Don't know, don't care. You need to get out - your legs 'n kits aren't RiverClan's issue." With a grunt she tried to shove the cat up again, using her paws to slide the kits closer to her. "I'll help you to the border but after that you're on your own." With that she continued to help the she-cat up. "Don't stand on that leg then, keep it off the ground 'n use the other three."
[ @Ameythistmoon - hi! this isn't the correct way to go about outsider joining, and since whisper has trespassed dusk will be escorting her to the border! ^^ ]
Rainsong who was padding into the territory, just for a quick breath stopped dead in her tracks at the small of an unknown cat and the smell of her deputy...but there was something else. Kits? Rainsong padded closer to where they were, she listened to what Dusklion was saying. How could she turn away kits? and a queen who just given birth hearing enough, she walked into the clearing where Dusklion and the unknown she-cat was. Her icy blue eyes turned on Dusklion. "Dusklion!." growled the queen. "How can you turn away a queen and her kits! A queen who just gave birth?" she asked, she moved closer to the deputy. Her eyes a blazed. Rainsong was a queen herself with four kits.
@taillow *not trying to get in trouble, just standing up for a helpless queen and kit* @Ameythistmoon make sure you post a request like taillow is saying. Need the link?
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Re: RiverClan Territory
"......" she smelled a fox it smelled close "Wait I smell....FOX" She says starring at an orange fox it snarreled and she pounced on it despite her injury she trys to claw the fox but instead it pins her "At least I'm kind unlike you!" She hisses at the deputy as she pushes the fox with her front legs
Of course. Flattening her ears against her skull, the deputy turned and shot Rainsong a warning glare. "'M sorry, didn't know we're suppose to cater to any outsider who wanders into our borders 'n decides to have their kits on our territory when there's clearly scent markers. Not sure if you've seen but we've already got quite a few kits to take care of, 'n goin' into leaf-fall, 'n then leaf-bare - with the other Clans still ready to jump at our throats - we can't afford the extra resources."
As she tried to get the queen moving again, as well as the kits, the scent of fox caught her attention. Oh, for crying out loud! Shoving the queen away, the deputy turns to the side and leaps onto the creature, slashing with her forelegs. The fox lets out a yelp and takes its attention from the queen to the deputy.
[ killer aptitude t3 activated ]
"'M not in the mood!" Slashing her claws down to effectively blind the creature, Dusklion then ducks underneath and lunges for its throat, jaws parting and clamping down while her claws slashed the front. A piercing cry echoes throughout the forest before the fox falls limp. Dusklion stepped back and licked her muzzle clean, then turned to glare at Rainsong and the outsider. "Get. The hell. Out. Now." Gaze snapping to Rainsong, she gave the queen a warning. "Go back to camp 'n send two or three more warriors out here - wanna make sure there's no more foxes about."
Once again she resumed trying to help the outsider to the border, pickign up a kit in her mouth.
[ @Ameythistmoon can you let me know next time you plan to spawn a fox? was a bit caught off guard hehe ^^ ]
[ @Splitmoon if you could have rain go back to camp and send out 2-3 more warriors to join dusk in the territory, she's going to make sure there aren't anymore foxes ]
Re: RiverClan Territory
