Mourning Ruins

[Rani]

With a final thorough check to make sure they were alone (they were, who would even be out here at dawn other then Adder-I dont know sleep-fang and Doe-Im worried-tuft) so the molly took a deep breath and begin the long story.

"My first apprentice was a tom named Croakingtoad, Croakingpaw at the time, and I was not his first mentor. He was an older tom who'd been abandoned and needed someone to finish off his training, something I happily did. We got along well I thought and enjoyed eachothers company for being similar cats. So when the windclan raid occurred and he fought alongside the warriors I was so proud, even among the bitterness of being driven out of our home. Im sure you can remember how the clan was then, roiling and angry, and how Icestar injured from having lost another life wasn't around to give us answers for a time beyond a short ceremony naming the new warriors. And sure it was a lovely thing to see and I nearly burst when Croakingtoad was one of them but it's not like that was enough to state us in our hunger for justice out in the outskirts. So when someone offered a solution.... Well I cannot say I hesitated or even thought twice against such a powerfull hook." Here she pauses again looking around and decided that even alone, she would not risk anything but a whisper into Doetufts ear.

"Falcondive spoke of a rebellion, that Icestar was responsible for the raid and that we needed to remove her to be strong again, and that if no one did it shadowclan would continue to sink. I believed him. Croakingtoad and a few others I trusted were there and I was so pleased that we were aligned in our want to help our clan and willingness go farther than most in it. We got into the planning stages of how to kill Icestar and who might be a good replacement before we were interrupted by retaking the territory but we were seriously going to go through with it. Then of course the meeting, Dawnstripe, and everything happened while I was at the thunderclan border and the whole thing fell appart. Croakingtoad though, he continued to put the clan ahead of himself and tried to take out Dawnstar too before he was forced to flee and still I was proud of him, but then.... Well he ran to windclan.

Now with what I know I see our plan was a foolish one and Falcondive wanted to do this for his own purposes, that there is no such thing as a truely good leader and if they keep the clan well and happy that should be enough but I still dont think the desire to do good for the clan at the expense of one cat, any cat, is a bad thing. So Im not disappointed in him, I understand his actions. But windclan? That I don't understand. He was loyal and dedicated and he had family here, if he simply wished to live in a clan I could get it but he went to the enemy that hurt us! He went from risking his life to better shadowclan to betraying us and I dont understand it. He was loyal, that doesn't just disappear like nothing! I trained him, I taught him, so why.... I-I dont understand why I still want a traitor to be happy...."
Adderfang fell silent, emotions choking her into quiet as they so often did when she (rarely) expressed them. How could she still be proud of this cat who turned his back on all she stood for, why did she still care, and why oh why did a cat she knew was so similar to her do what he did. The molly had come to peace with the failed (or perhaps succeeded) assassination and her role in it, even when her perspective had changed and her reaction should it occur again she still understood why she acted and agreed with the motives but still her ex apprentice haunted her. She wouldnt be able to work through this alone, she'd been trying without success for moons already.

@Arie

[Starfall]

Galeflame
(Her rejoining rp if you're still down for it. Sorry it took so long back from my trip. Also posted here so I wouldn't overtake the rp in the Den.)
@Undertaker


The Molly stood there patiently, ears twitching every once in a while as she heard snaps and cracks. The foliage that surrounded the burnt structure were coated in a thin layer of frost, Everything seemed brighter and shinier. It was gorgeous. She'd missed this, the Territory. Most other felines said it stank, always smelled of wet dirt and stale water. Croaking frogs and chirping crickets littered the territory. As if it sang a tune other than the rest. Not that she'd been in any other territory other than Thunderclan's and her own. Not really anyways.

The pale tan Tabby mix brushed her tail in a circular motion behind her. Listening to the way the snow sounded, the subtle crunches. She was nervous, to be perfectly honest. Unsure of how Dawnstar would respond to her coming back, and even her reason for leaving. One could hope though. Galeflame wasn't scared of the Shadowclan Leader. She just viewed her as...different. There's been a few moments, sure, where she was intimidated but that was it. Shadowclan was thriving.

[Estelle]

Some part of Nightshiver likely would've wanted to point out that perhaps Ebonyfang meant Catmint had a scent most found nice, said word also sometimes replaced by pretty, but decided against it. Chances were, it would sound a bit.. dumb anyway "g-good thi-ing yo-ou're he-here to cor-rect that th-then" the molly flicked her tail slightly and managed to crack a small smile. It was actually quite interesting to learn a plant had such a characteristic and once again it'd be something to make the search easier, hopefully. Although for now, she didn't scent anything intoxicating just yet.

Her own thoughts had remained on the topic of the catmint when Talonstone spoke again, the molly glancing his direction, undeniably a bit surprised. But he was right, they hadn't spoken since the reclaiming of their land "I-It's be-en... Dif-different, and c-came ra-ather unex.. Unexpect-edly" In all honesty she would've been less surprised by an exile for failure, rather than a promotion along with the others. If Nightshiber had to guess, perhaps the former leader hadn't been aware of how the battle went on her end - which may have been for the better. "I su-supose I qui-ite en-jo-joy the fr-freedom th-though," even if sneaking out of camp had never really been an issue before, now it was just without the risk of punishmen "and t-trainign Bra-Brack-enpaw has be-been sur-prisingly n-nice, she le-learns fast an-and seems to be ea-eager t-to as w-well" and so it was, the only problem would be teaching her how to fight, but- Nightshiver would figure something out, surely.
Naturally there were more sides to all of it though, she'd never touch upon them. Some the she didn't even understand herself and others she'd rather not bring up - it would be utterly unnecessary anyway, wouldn't it?

Shaking her head just a little, the warrior turned to the other "h-how have yo-ou be-been en..joying i-it?"

[ @bmkmb ]

[Arie]

-- @Rani --

Doetuft in all truth didn't know what to say. What she was hearing was that her friend, her friend for quite some time had been a member of some conspiracy against Icestar... while the blind molly herself didn't particularly care much for the now deceased leader. The leader had done some good though, or at least Doetuft had benefitted off of that. She'd joined Shadowclan under Icestar's rule after all, and had grown stronger and gotten herself a spine and put herself together thanks to that leader. So in a way she owed Icestar for her place in the clan, but while she felt like that, there were clearly decisions with the leader that she could not care less for, including this need for Shadowclan to fight.

But... this was worrying and she would have to keep a lid on everything that was said here. Talking about loyalty was such a strange thing and even she still struggled to process it all, and especially this. But to an extent she understood what Adderfang was trying to convey. It was not the fact that she'd been part of an uprising against Shadowclan, and it wasn't about the uprising in general, it was more about her apprentice.

Her apprentice who she'd trained but when things had turned sour and well, good but Dawnstar had took the place, had fled. Not even cared enough about Shadowclan to see his plan through and just left everything and ran. That she didn't understand and she fully understood where Adderfang was coming from with her points and all. "I feel for... you my friend. Do you... want to change the topic?" She didn't know what else to respond to but this pain was doing her friend no good... and maybe a change of pace would lighten things up.

[nocturnal]

// @Estelle

The large warrior glanced at his friend inquisitively, uncertain of whether or not the molly was being sarcastic. Granted, he'd never heard of Nightshiver behaving in such a manner, but cats could change to be near unrecognizable in only a few moons. He would know—he himself transformed drastically within fortmoons.

Talonstone was well aware of the multiple meanings of pretty though he preferred to avoid using the word whenever possible. He believed, however, that pretty and intoxicating were not interchangeable. Meaning could be lost in the mixing of words, and such was dangerous when dealing not only with herbs, but daily tasks, also.

"I have taken Brackenpaw hunting before," the warrior remarked. "You have taught her well." He listened to the rest of Nightshiver's response, then launched into one of his own when prodded:

"I also enjoy the freedom. I have long been capable of fending for myself; it is refreshing to venture off alone without an older feline breathing down my back. My former apprentice, Sparkpaw, was a pleasure to teach. Her replacement, Hazelpaw…" He lashed his tail downwards. "She is not kind, though she holds great potential. Her obsession with battling does not unnerve me as much as I would expect it to."

A sweet scent settled onto his tongue as he spoke, and Talonstone hid a grimace. He learned early in his life that its effects were not as intense on him than on most felines; he loathed the smell of it nonetheless. "Catmint," he warned, nodding slightly in its direction.

[Estelle]

"th-thank yo-ou, alth-though, I d-do bel-ieve Br-Brackenp-aw mi-might mostly be-e s-self-taught" She paused for a moment, thinking back "I-I don't rec-call he-er sa-saying she h-had done anything wi-with her p-past me-entor acutally, a-and I do-don't dou-oubt she'd be ca-capable o-of that" Truthfully all Nightshiver had really done was give some pointers here and there. But that being said, Nightshiver wasn't fully aware of her apprentice's outsider history either, which would explain the hunting- Brackenpaw likely joined during one of the meetings she may have.. Skipped. Sort of. "b-but I'm g-glad she's do-done we-ll" she finished with a small smile.

The moly fell silent once Talonstone gave his answer. Unsurprisingly, the thought of a battle-obsessed apprentice was a bit nerving to her, but "I su-sup-pose as l-long it doesn't tu-turn in-into un..necess-sary v-viol-ence it sh-shouldn't be-e to much o-of a p-problem" she glanced to the tom, perhaps wondering what he thought of it - she didn't fully expect a reply, and could imagine her words not having been that well chosen, but who could blame her. She did wonder about Sparkpaw however, what may have happened to them, though her thoughts were quickly cut off when a scent hit her nose which was accompanied by the announcement of catmint.

Nightshiver lifted her gaze and looked it's direction, quickly spotting them. Goodness- the scent truly was intoxicating, pretty would've been an understatement. Nonetheless she was rather interested by the plant, wondering how such a thing could give off such a scent. But those were questions for another time, weren't they? She glanced quickly towards the other patrol member before approaching the plant, proceeding to carefully gather some of it. She took what she could, then stepped back, holding back a bit of a sneeze. The smell of the catmint was a lot stronger like that, a bit overwhelming even, though not bad.

[ @bmkmb ]

[Witchy Madelaine]

(sorry its late.)

Ebonyfang lead Sparklight and Poppypaw out towards the Mourning ruins. Hopefully there were still herbs there. They would grab as much as he could to take to his garden. It still had plenty of space for more plants. "Just keep look out for any kind of plant. Even if your not sure its an herb and tell me and I'll take a look.", he meowed. Ebonyfang scanned around, seeing some catmint over by one of the walls.

The medicine cat padded over to it and dug around to keep the roots preserved. Once he was able to he pulled it out. Ebonyfang set it down in the middle of the burnt barn.

[ @Trouble; @~dust~; ]

[-Ash-]

[ @Angelique @~dust~ - She found marigold]

Sparklight followed Ebonyfang to Mourning Ruins, and listened carfully to his instructions. Any plant I can find. Got it. She looked around, before some orange-ish flowers caught her eye. "Do we need these?" she questioned as she watched the medicine cat lay down the herb. She wasn't sure why she had been chosen to go, she knew nothing about herbs and had many better things to do. But it's not like she really had a choice anyway.

[~dust~]

Poppypaw looked around for any plant that looked interesting. She sprinted over to some flowers she saw that where really pretty! She tried to pull them gently but had already crushed some of the red flowers. She picked up the other ones and walking over to ebonyfang said

“Is this good? Oh and over there I crushed some of them sorry about that.

she pointed her tail to the patch

Its good now though! I got some more.

She grinned her tail swishing on the floor
(XD she got poppy flowers XD))
@Trouble
@Angelique

[nocturnal]

// @Estelle - [No need to respond; just wrapping this up on my end—]

Strangely enough, he agreed with her words. Battle-obsessed, death-obsessed, and murderer were three different things. Hazelpaw sat with the second grouping better than she did with the first, and she was nowhere near the latter of the three… yet. He genuinely hoped it didn't come to that; as the feline's mentor, he'd be the one regulating her skills and watching for any signs of collapse.

As for his other apprentice, Hailpaw… the young tomcat was nearly himself from his rebellious stage reincarnated as a separate shadowdweller. It both irritated and amused him. Though bizarre it might seem, Talonstone was slowly growing attached to the novices. Neither were naive—they knew their brands well.

He waited for Nightshiver to take some of the plant, then gathered what he could in his maw. Although the scent didn't affect him much compared to other felines, he absolutely despised it. Perhaps more than he loathed holly, even, and that would be saying something. Catmint scented strong enough that it could cover the scent of death, while also corrupting curious felines. The perfect herb to hide murder.

With his tail semi-bristling in restrained aggravation, Talonstone turned and began silently leading the way back to camp. They could attempt conversing with plants in their maws, though last time they did so with prey, things didn't go so well.