Sleepy Thicket

[Spotty]

> Stagfrost

Quiet and firm, not breaking from his stoic mask, the tom followed Snowleap in complete silence. He didn't like Skystar and would have picked another cat for both deputy and leader, but burials weren't something he passed up. He could have hated a cat with all his heart, but if they were a Riverclanner they should be laid down here, and he would attend even those. So be it stubbornness and insistence to keep the traditional things the same, or stupid and proud honor, but he wouldn't pass up on attending the burial of a leader, no matter how little he had agreed with some of the choices made during his leadership.

Anyone had yet to speak, and without a word, Stagfrost moved after the deputy and bent down beside him, his paws joining the deputy's in scraping out the dirt. His pace was quicker, more determined, but he was pressing down a vague limp in his throat. He had a hard time missing Skystar, a cat he hadn't known close enough to be able to miss in that way, but it was the general emotion with the other cats. But he kept his face straight as he took a step back to give space as Skystar's body would be lowered down.

[taillow]

Fawnpaw
Grief hung heavy in the air on the trek out to the Sleepy Thicket. The last time she had been out here was to collect herbs for Snakeheart with Palehound and Robinpaw - now, it was to bury a body. Tremors had stopped passing through her body which she was grateful for. Being so close to Beansprout, Fawnpaw refused to give the tom yet another thing to worry about. She could easily press down her own emotions for the time being - her Clanmates needed her.

Soon enough they reached the thicket and right away several cats got to work digging. So many paws working that eventually there wasn't a space that Fawnpaw could join in and help. It was fine... except that she wanted to help in some way. There had to be something she could do, right? Other than sit here, blue eyes round with grief.

Without a word she leaned against Beansprout, letting the stuffed bear arm fall to the soil at her paws as she turned her face to press it into his shoulder. As much as she was perhaps being a comfort to him, he was to her as well. Ever since their outing in the territory, Fawnpaw had felt this exuberant feeling of security. As if Beansprout was a sturdy cliff that she could curl up on during a sunny greenleaf day and rest.

But today, Fawnpaw knew she had to be that sturdy cliff for him, that safe place for him to land. She owed it to him after the kindness he had showed her. So with that though she moved closer to the older tom, allowing a purr to rumble through her - albeit shaky and slightly broken - hoping it would offer solace to Beansprout in the midst of his grief.

[ @maelstrom ]

[~Fierce~]

~Slatewhisker~
Slatewhisker padded towards Sleepy Thicket, her paws leading the way. As soon as she had left camp, the grief had crashed into her and made her mind numb. She had let the grief engulf her for the time being and her silent tears still flowed heavily. She hadn't known Skystar personally but she had watched him grow, grow into the cat he had become. Despite what it seemed like, he had cared for Riverclan. He had been gone from the clan but he had come back and strived to be better. It was only in the situation that he had been left with that he had seemed like a bad leader.

When the mourning party reached Sleepy Thicket, Slatewhisker watched as one by one, her clanmates started digging. As soon as she saw some room for her big body, she took up that space and started digging, remembering just in time to unsheathe her claws to dig better. The whole time, tears escaped her eyes and her fur, dripping onto the dirt below her.

[Captain]

SNOWLEAP
⸻⸻⸻⸻

➣ As he began to dig the hole, the dark-furred deputy noticed one after another cat came to help him. First was Beansprout, obviously, pushing down his own grief to prepare the grave for his deceased friend. Next was Reedwhisker, then Splashstripe, Gingerfrost, Stagfrost and lastly Slatewhisker. Fawnpaw stuck close to Beansprout, leaning against him and burying her face into his fur. It was strangely emotionally moving for Snowleap to witness such an act. Everyone worked together to dig Skystar’s grave so that he could rest easy in the afterlife. It surprised him, but the oriental longhair didn’t dare say a word to break the silence as he kept on digging. Digging more and more with the other RiverClan cats until the hole was a decent enough size.

Gently, Snowleap stopped and then uttered a small huff to signal that they stopped. Turning back to the body of their clan leader, the RiverClan deputy grabbed him by the scruff and ever so carefully pulled him over to the hole and lowered him inside. Snowleap stepped into the hole to make sure the late golden tabby leader was positioned comfortably and that his eyes were closed. It almost looked like he was sleeping in some weird way. Good. With that, Snowleap climbed out of the hole and stood back, sitting down for the moment. He looked to Fawnpaw, blinking at her. “Would you like to give Skystar your gift now?” He meowed, his voice soft and caring, “I bet it will help him on his journey to StarClan.” At least, Snowleap hoped so.

Directing his partial gaze to the other cats present, he dipped his head in thanks for helping with digging. “If any of you would like to say something or maybe place some flowers, you’re free to do so. Once everyone’s ready to start putting the dirt back in, we can all do it together.” Maybe it seemed over-the-top, but it was a funeral and Snowleap wanted to respect the dead and honor that good that was in Skystar rather than dwell on the mistakes and wrongs that he had done in his lifetime.

⸻⸻⸻⸻

 

@marni @maelstrom @SpiritedWarrior
@silentstalk @Estelle @Spotty @~Fierce~

[*longfire*]

splashstripe huffed as he was digging then hearing snowleap command them to stopp splashstripe stopped quickly and turned to snowleap seeing snowleap put skystar in the gravehe dipped his head in respect then hearing words come out of snowleap he watched, as to snowleap adding more words he got up and picked some flowers that was nearby and came back, his eyes gloomed heavily with sadness as he dared not to cry, as he sat up straight he dropped the flowers into skystars grave and gave a flick of his tail" may starclan guide you, riverclan was lucky to have you and now you rest in starclan, may you rest in peace" he said as he was sitting straight but his head dipped with respect, the feeling he could not bare as it was to much

[SpiritedWarrior]

After hearing Snowleap's quiet huff, Reedwhisker stopped digging and stepped back, though it was a bit difficult given how many Clanmates joined in digging Skystar's grave. Once she was clear of the small crowd, she stepped aside to let Snowleap grab the RiverClan leader's body and place it in the grave. In silence, she watched as the dark-furred tom positioned the golden-furred body in a somewhat awkward-looking way. However, Reedwhisker didn't dare say anything about it or do anything about it. Her amber eyes watched Snowleap crawl back out of the hole.

When the deputy dipped his head to his helpers, Reedwhisker too, dipped her head. She was nearly at a loss for words to say to honor the late leader, but then she remembered that she would be able to talk about whatever was on her mind at the moment.

"Like all cats, Skystar had his flaws, but we all still cared for him, despite his... obliviousness," she sat down and snagged a nearby flower with her claw, then grabbed the flower with her teeth to drop it into Skystar's grave. "May he hunt amongst our ancestors and find happiness."

With that, the dark brown she-cat dropped the flower and dipped her head to allow whoever was next to pay their respects to go.

[~Fierce~]

~Slatewhisker~
Slatewhisker willed her paws to stop moving at Snowleap's signal. If she was being honest, it was hard to stop. Not because she wanted to put Skystar in his grave and as deep as it would go, but because it was a soothing, harmless coping method. It required no talking and if you concentrated on your paws digging up the dirt, you would simply float away. But she stopped, she stopped because she didn't want Skystar to be forgotten in a way that you could no longer reach him unless you dug deep enough.

Slatewhisker watched as Snowleap placed Skystar in his grave, her ears flicking as Snowleap talked to Fawnpaw. That poor, young soul, gone through so much in so little time. It wasn't fair. And they couldn't do anything about it. Because there would always be a war to be fought, a problem to solve, a body to grieve. There was no end to it. But right now, they were mourning, at that was enough of a problem right now.

She waited for Splashstripe and Reedwhisker to place their flowers and say their words before she said hers. She would be completely honest, no matter what the words were. Because it wasn't until she spoke them that she knew what those words were going to be. "Skystar, I believe you're in Starclan, that you're watching over us. Some cats may think that you were a bad leader, not worthy of leading Riverclan. I think that you were just leader at the wrong time. It wasn't fair with the problems that were passed to your shoulders, with the responsibilities you had to bear. You truly cared for Riverclan and for that, you will be remembered. Rest in peace, Skystar, and may you find never ending happiness." She meowed softly before bowing her head.

[Estelle]

So that was it. He was buried.
Gingerfrost sheathed his claws and stopped digging at command. His expression hadn't changed since he left the clearing, if turned just a little more sour looking. It was awkward to watch the deputy place Skystar in a position as if he were sleeping - was this custom? His tail lashed. He couldn't take his eyes of off the seemingly sleeping form of their leader, but was forced to lean back even just a bit as one by one, cats stepped forward to pay their respect. They all had something to say. He didn't. Not really, anyway. Rather his throat felt blocked by some sort of lump, and yet he couldn't move away to make more room for others either. He was just looking at Sparrowskip, face of stone, and a look as if he was in deep thought.

After Slatewhisker passed, the ginger warrior suddenly found himself taking a step closer to the grave. Now better and full view of the leader again, he remained silent for a few heartbeats before leaning forward.
"Be the warrior you always were (up there)."
Is all the tom said before watching his passed friend for another few heartbeats, and ultimately having to take a few steps back to leave space for another. 'Up there', StarClan. He had been unable to clearly say the words, instead carried by the breath he exhaled as he rose back up. He knew of the Clan of Star's existence, but sometimes still doubted? It was hard to put it. He wouldn't trust them to save a life, because he knew they couldn't. But did like to think they were real.

Compared to the rest, Gingerfrost only said very few words. What he meant was for Skystar to be the warrior he once knew again. The role of leadership, if anything, looked like it took a turn for the less good in his case. Skystar had still been the Sparrowskip that he knew, but appeared more... Bitter, if that's how he could put it. Leadership, or whatever happened, certainly hadn't brought out the best in him. And that the ginger warrior hoped would be reversed in death.
Clarity.

[Spotty]

> Stagfrost

The body was in the ground, but the dirt had yet to be laid over it. Snowleap offered anyone to say, and almost everyone took the chance. Reedwhisker, Slatewhisker, even Gingerfrost - a cat who had struck Stagfrost as a very quiet and reserved cat - everyone seemed to have something to say, no matter how short it was. The brown and white tom's gaze hadn't moved from Skystar's unmoving body as his clanmates' voices went on.

He could say something to the former leader, but no words came to mind. What could he say that would stay true to what he thought without coming off as either smuttering or way too rude. There was a certain problem with talking honestly about a cat who was dead, because if he said anything too nice it would feel as if he was lying to respect the dead leader, and he couldn't exactly be harsh with his words because the cat was dead.

A low grunt escaped the tom as he reached for a flower growing near his paws, snapped it off at the stem, and tossed it onto the body before retreating to the back of the crowd. His goodbye was a little off-book maybe, but words weren't his thing.

[Nat]

Mistypaw


Mistypaw grabbed a flower that grew near her and placed it in Skystar's grave. It was the best she could do. She was good with words, but bad with emotions. If she started talking about Skystar now, she'd likely say something stupid. She wished she could've said something, but the numbness that had filled her since the news of her leader's death had not left. It would be better to stay silent. If she could last through the funeral without breaking down, perhaps coping would be easier. Mistypaw wished she could feel empty instead of sad. Feeling nothing would be better than feeling all this pain. "May StarClan light your path." She murmured.