Goldenwing's heart thudded as she watched Fadingstar retreat through the forest. She had felt empathy for Fadingstar and the onslaught of trials that he had been faced with for so long, though uncertainty crept into her mind as she watched her leader flee, unable to confront the criticism they were receiving.
I'm a student full time so I apologize for any late responses. I'm online most frequently ~4pm-11pm (PDT), but please feel free to bump or direct message me.
A storm was brewing. A tumultuous storm that was fueled with nothing but the drowned cries of anger and frustration. It wasn't long before Honeysucklebloom figured that out, curiosity foolishly drawing her in as she overheard Fadingstar call the clan over for what seemed to be a meeting. His voice carried the waves of regret and exhaustion, almost making the sunshine tabby heart quench in painful sympathy and frustration. Before she could ponder what the tom wanted to say, he had already begun to speak, and the most that he had decided to convey was about his lackluster leadership as of late. From the moment Fadingstar started to talk, the longer the former kittypet felt the inevitable quantities of rage start to rise from the stirring of her clan-mates. She knew fairly well that the leader had a fairly mixed reputation within the crowd; both negative and positive. But Honeysucklebloom knew that it was of a more negative impact than a positive, from just the events that happened from the last few moons that had done nothing but severely damage the clan as a whole. Constant threats of execution, unnecessary restrictions, and full-blown exile from more than two moons were all events that had caused RiverClan to turn into the mess that it was. But, even before that, her clan had been struggling. Leadership was always a failure to keep uptight, and the High Ranks always seemed to get swept so often that it was almost impossible to keep someone in the same boat.
Golden-striped tail flicked as it curled itself plaintively over her paws, the black tip twitching nervously as she listened for the opinions of her clan-mates to stir upon themselves. Fadingstar was never clear with his words, and the clan had always been quick to pick up on this rather diabolical behavior of his. Every time he said he wouldn't get angry at someone’s opinion, the opposite would always happen. At first, she listened to Adderstrike speak, admitting her cowardly admission to wanting to speak with the leader with just how inexplicable he can be. Perhaps it was unholy true to the fact that their leader lost all the respect he could have earned if he had just done his job right, but he hadn't. Only doing purely the opposite of good and causing chaos after chaos to uprise. Tinytoad spoke next, and her proclamation made sense, even if it was questionable. The mountains were a horrible place to stay, and the dangers there were elevated in comparison to here. Sure, it was somewhere for them to live momentarily while they were trying to pull themselves together, but it was a massive change to what they were used to in the familiar trenches of their territory. But, all of that was going to be rushing back at her the moment they moved into their new camp… whenever that may be, that is. Her thoughts trailed off as she listened to Flowerhunter speak, noting him as being the first of many to tell Fadingstar to resign from his position of leader. It felt extreme, but the more she thought about it, the more it made sense. He has been struggling with keeping this clan afloat; every decision he made has only caused them to struggle more than ever.
He remained cowardly, hiding away in his den like he had countless time and time again. Every decision that popped off the top of his head had been something inevitably questionable and led to hushed whispers that not even the molly herself could recall. Dusklion seemed to be the only one with a stable head on her shoulders, and while the tabby never interacted with her often, she felt more respect leaning toward the deputy than she did towards her leader. While she waited for more voices to speak up, the most the molly got was hearing Fishpaw speak, hearing the apprentice state the tom as a good leader—the molly felt herself internally wince at the statement. Good was a mediocre statement at best, in her shared opinion. Fadingstar hadn't done much for the clan, and the most that he could offer them was… pretty much nothing at this point except fixing his mistakes and showing that he was a proper leader. Honeysucklebloom almost wanted to speak with the apprentice to tell her of the leader’s true actions, but she kept her mouth shut, staying silent as she felt as if causing unnecessary drama would only do more conflict to the clan than needed. Before she could process her next range of thoughts, Waterlily suddenly began to spit out words coated with malice and venom as thick as a cobra. Her words were loud and burning hot with a malevolence not even a kit would bear. Following after her speech were both Amberdusk and Plumshade, but Honeysucklebloom found herself mingling onto Waterlily’s words, sinking them in with eager ears.
Waterlily pointed out everything that was wrong with Fadingstar—right from his actions to the way he couldn’t even keep himself together. Her words were like a bee stinging a cat repeatedly, the pain only growing worse from there on out. Her roars of anger pounded within her ears, and the continuous involvement of both Sedgeflake and Redmire only worsened this engagement. Cats now fully stepping up and voicing their opinions, enraged fully at the leader who hasn't been proving himself in the slightest. A sharp ringing pain strikes her mind suddenly, making her legs nearly buckle as she seethes from the pain. She raised a paw to instinctively clutch the side of her head while the rest kept her afloat, her vision almost going fuzzy as she tried to keep focus. All their words became nothing but a blur, a tidal wave of migraines rolled into one. All the wrath was too much to bear; a wrath that could rouse the meekest of mountains to erupt. The pain only seemed to drift away as her vision regained its focus, taking in the focus of Waterlily stalking towards Fadingstar as she continued to spit out words coated with venom towards him. Fadingstar at the moment didn't look like a leader; he looked like a kit getting scolded by a queen. The restrained fury weaving off Waterlily seemingly subsided as the frail elder looked to be struggling to maintain her posture for long. It was almost pitiful to look at if Honeysucklebloom was being honest. It wasn't her fault, of course. She had been in the clan for a long time, and that wasn't anything that was gonna change.
Finally, the inevitable happened, and Fadingstar fled. All the power he held on his paws now drifted as he took the cowardly way out. The molly only stood there bewildered as she watched Waterlily shove the tom out of their temporary prison, commanding him to leave and never return until he learned to be the leader RiverClan needed. The guilt that he would harvest would be lined razor-sharp teeth that salivate with unending hunger. They would gnash and bite with a reckless ferocity that wouldn't stop even if advised to. A deafening silence fell over her ears, so loud and thunderous that she could easily hear the accelerated pounding of her own heart. Primrosepaw’s words didn't reach her ears, the tabby only staring at the gateway where Fadingstar… or Fadingsun, had fled. Anyone else who decided to speak up furthermore had left her on deaf ears, and the only thing the tabby was able to catch was Dusklion speaking up against everything. She wanted them to distract themselves; go hunt, go patrol, anything to see past the horrors they witnessed. Honeysucklebloom wasn't certain, but she could feel a lump tightening in her throat. Her claws slipped and dug deeply into the dying grass beneath her paws. So many things were going wrong, and this was one of them. The only thing she suspected was that Fadingstar got what was coming for him. Being a leader was too much for him to handle, and he couldn't even state that he wanted to step down. It… was cowardly, but Honeysucklebloom’s mind was in a messed haze that she couldn't counter everything that happened in that singular moment, only taking it in one sample at a time as the voices began to die down. Stars, what has RiverClan become?
closed !! just a reaction post
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u know u wanna
Last edited by iliri; September 20th, 2024 at 09:00 PM.
Some other asshole was trying to treat her like the one in the wrong here, and she shot Vixenflame [ @Fio ] a furious glare in response. Duskleaf was acting like an idiot, as per usual, but that wasn't the part Redmire was focused on. Oh, no, not at all. The longer Goldfish flapped her jaws like a dying fish, the more Redmire was beginning to seethe. There was no Fadingstar around to make her want to watch her mouth now, and not accounting for that was Goldfish's first mistake.
There were no claws, no threats, no actual sign Redmire wanted or intended to attack - but her hackles bristled and a snarl rumbled in her throat. "Are all of our Lionhearts this braindead or is it just you and Duskleaf?" she spat. "You're telling me to go be useful after I was the one to take charge here and you only came around once everything was settled to jab your nose in my business and try to make a mountain out of a molehill for the purpose of, what, boosting your own ego? Making yourself feel like you're actually doing something useful instead of just sitting around, waiting for something to come along? Get over yourself!"
She bared her teeth, incisors snapping together. "Why don't you take your own starsdamned advice and go do something actually beneficial, instead of running your mouth about a situation that I had already resolved well before you shoved your way into it?"
Some other asshole was trying to treat her like the one in the wrong here, and she shot Vixenflame [ @Fio ] a furious glare in response. Duskleaf was acting like an idiot, as per usual, but that wasn't the part Redmire was focused on. Oh, no, not at all. The longer Goldfish flapped her jaws like a dying fish, the more Redmire was beginning to seethe. There was no Fadingstar around to make her want to watch her mouth now, and not accounting for that was Goldfish's first mistake.
There were no claws, no threats, no actual sign Redmire wanted or intended to attack - but her hackles bristled and a snarl rumbled in her throat. "Are all of our Lionhearts this braindead or is it just you and Duskleaf?" she spat. "You're telling me to go be useful after I was the one to take charge here and you only came around once everything was settled to jab your nose in my business and try to make a mountain out of a molehill for the purpose of, what, boosting your own ego? Making yourself feel like you're actually doing something useful instead of just sitting around, waiting for something to come along? Get over yourself!"
She bared her teeth, incisors snapping together. "Why don't you take your own starsdamned advice and go do something actually beneficial, instead of running your mouth about a situation that I had already resolved well before you shoved your way into it?"
`~Owltalon
She, Her\Lionheart\45 moons\Riverclan
"Are you listening, starchild?"
Purrks: Agatha Kitty [ACTIVE]
- - -
Whatever happened here wasn't something Owltalon wanted to ever experience. Not again. Another leader, down and pushed to rot. The Lionheart winced at the news, watching as Fadingstar buckled under the weight and slipped away. As always, chaos ensued. The Lionheart put on a brave face and marched forward to Redmire, her ears flicking in slight agitation.
"Redmire! Calm yerself before ya subject anycat else ta yer yappin'." She addressed the she-cat with an authoritative but level tone. "Calm it. Everyone's stressed 'ere and yer yellin' ain't helpin' with our dire situation." She gave the warrior a slow blink, trying to slow her own movements to perhaps make Redmire realize how crazed she looked.
She glanced her good amber eye over to Goldfish, her expression taut with something even she couldn't describe. She then turned back to Redmire with a more sour expression.
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@/anyone else who was involved! Just had to get this post out quick :3
As always, owls thoughts don't reflect my own!!
__________________
❝And the cats kill one by one!❞
- Hartebeest by Yalokre
OKAY, a lot was going on. Fadingstar skedaddled, Dusklion went after him - a lot of bickering in general but most notably, some asswad was threatening kids and the Lionhearts were dogging on Redmire instead. The hell.
Grandmew was already being helped, so Sedgeflake stepped beside Redmire and fixed Owltalon and Goldfish a hard stare. "Instead of focusing on the cat who tried to stop a problem, why don't you deal with the guy that threatened to tear into an apprentice? Do you have selective hearing or something???" Then, to Red, he moved to gently brush her away and out of the den. "Let's be more useful than these tadpoles. You wanna hit the Springs one last time before they throw it away like crow food?"
Wowzers. That was probably the most Riverclan that Riverclan has ever been. Arguing and fighting and threats and insults and all that with a leader that runs off and if Riverclan’s leader pattern anything to go off of, won’t be coming back. The fights continued afterwards. It’s a shame that Seabreeze never got to really say anything about the matter. But it had all happened so fast he doesn’t even blame himself for missing the chance this time. Dusklion did eventually tell everyone to go their separate ways and do something productive while she goes after the leader. Whatever. His blue eyes swept through the crowd of cats and his attention was nabbed away by a conflict with Redmire and Goldfish and Grimpaw and some warrior he couldn’t be bothered to remember the name of.
Redmire separated a fight, Neato, and then Goldfish… scolded her for it? Was Goldfish just trying to flex power or something? He didn’t think more action was needed after Redmire separated the folks besides keeping the warrior on his radar, after he was threatening an apprentice of all cats in the clan, but the fighting continues. With more and more voices joining the fray. He really shouldn’t intervene with this but also he was getting annoyed and Redmire had a point. Goldfish was doing nothing but talking now and wasn’t seeing the point of Redmire’s argument. Getting scolded for something she was fine doing and then not getting any straight answer or response from Goldfish afterwards. Just ‘go do what you’re supposed to’ well having a conversation is certainly allowed wasn’t it?
He stood up and turned his gaze towards the woods where Fadingstar had disappeared. Well, nothing a little patrol doesn’t hurt. “Redmire, wanna go on a patrol with me, I was thinking hunting. Don’t know bout you but I’m tired of… all this, wanna get away for a bit.” He flicked an ear as he finished his final statement. Despite her general demeanor, she did seem to care about Riverclan and just didn’t hold back her thoughts like more and more cats have started to do after the executions and the dreams and the fear got worse. Op there was Owltalon… who was scolding Redmire.
“Wait. I’m confused now. Redmire stopped a conflict, Goldfish scolded her for it, Redmire defended herself, Goldfish only repeated herself rather than properly responding, and now you come up and scold Redmire again for defending herself? I- what?? Am I missing something here?” He blinked and then turned tail with an emotionless stare, he was not awake enough for this. “Actually, I’m too tired for this. I’m heading out, Redmire, you can join me if you want.” He left the abandoned nest to go out for some hunting. What a mess.
[ @dino. - Redmire | @Blaaze -Goldfish | @Marigoldwhisper - Owltalon ]
[ I know this already has so many people but I was writing this before Owltalon post and didn’t wanna just delete it lol. Feel free to ignore him if you want ofc ]
Sorry bear let’s pretend seab walked away before sedge arrived and thus didn’t respond to him lollllll
Owltalon and Goldfish were about to have had a lot worse to deal with than just some hurtful words. Her ears flattened and her pupils constricted as the other Lionheart's words shot through the air, and she rounded, ready to verbally tear into the newest arrival next in a much worse way - and then Sedgeflake's interruption just barely managed to cut the words off on the tip of her tongue.
If her heaving sides and bushed out tail wasn't enough of a sign as to how royally pissed off she was, nothing would be. She shot Seabreeze's retreating form a grateful look. The other two weren't worth the strife, and with a last sneer in Owltalon's and Goldfish's way, she let Sedgeflake lead her in the opposite direction. "Fine. I'm tired of being treated like scum by damn near every cat with even a shred of authority here." It hadn't ended with Fadingstar.
Sheesh, Goldfish must like hearing herself bark orders or something. This fiery hiss-fit that came out of Redmire was more than justified, in her opinion (even if it was a little dramatic), but Duskleaf's nonsense was concerning in contrast. Maybe that one 'oughtta pay Berrypaw a visit...
Then more cats chimed in out of nowhere. Stars, the only cats making sense in this were Seabreeze, Redmire, and Sedgeflake.
"Goldfish," She finally chimed in, taking a step toward the lionheart "You don't have to use such fowl language referring to Strongstorm. Nor do you need to talk down to Redmire as if she needs explainin' to like some kit. I suggest you learn to handle your role with grace and respect for your clanmates, or you'll come to find that your clanmates will stop respecting you."
Unwilling to escalate things further, Vixenflame sighed, giving a side-glance at Seabreeze and Sedgeflake's comments on getting out of here. "Y'know what? A patrol sounds pretty good right now. Peace!" With a tail-flicked turn, she left the scene.
__________________
✲ The true secret of happiness
lies in taking a genuine interest
in all the details of daily life. ✲
heavily scarred & skinny black tom with white speckles; cloudy light amber eyes. walks with a prominent limp & has protruding fangs that overlap his bottom lip.
content + interaction warning : this character frequently explores themes of mental health, complex trauma, and abuse
└➤ ⌗ @/closed ! just having here b4 the event closes
to be frank, the oriental felt awful. turns out since the head injury wasn't enough to cause him to sleep for hours on in, drifting in and out — he was more aware of every single symptom. the nausea, dizziness, headaches - noises and lights seemed like torture was all bubbling up to create an irritated, fatigued wormbite. he did not enjoy being left to rest, it was the worse thing in the world. he needed to move, needed to work on something. they would be moving camps soon, the clans were far too unpredictable. (fifteen cats. fifteen.)
when fadingstar called, he did not move to gather with the crowd. instead, he drifted closer in the shadows. staying away as much as he can without not hearing a lick of what was to be said. he had doubts about fadingstar's leaderships, but had given his former apprentice the benefit that perhaps wormbite was missing context. now he understood it was simply his attachment & lack of knowledge hazing his judgement, a foul part on his part. he had been — he wasn't sure.
he had thrown himself in patrols, attempting to help riverclan in any way possible but for the most part ran partially on reflex almost. the repetitive motions he knew without having to put thought into it.
it kept calm at first. it never did, though. it was an elder, a cat that had been alive far longer than wormbite could imagine, who kickstarts it. an eyebrow raising higher and higher as she started to spill history, things he had not one clue about. its startling, the jerk of realization. its disappointing, the only apprentice of his to make it to warrior - the rest of them always disappearing - to rely on saviors. he had thought he had instilled the one simple undeniable fact: no one is ever guaranteed to save you. at the end of the day, you had to lick your wounds and persist; the only constant in your own life was yourself.
hypocrisy and unfair trials. frightening clanmates, giving his duties to dusklion. the list seemed to grow and grow, and waterlily must've been blessed with energy that night as her voice started to boom. wormbite flinched back, kneeling over and pressing paws against his head as if it would cease the throbbing. it was a pain worse than imaginable, and he knew he was stubborn. stubborn enough to refuse poppy seeds, anything of the sort. he couldn't go through it all again.
his ears ring, and he stumbles, leaning against a wall for support. it takes a moment for him to stabilize, cloudy eyes blinking rapidly for the pounding to settle into something more tolerable. to his disappointment, it seems fadingstar had ran away. it makes him wonder what he expected. some of his clanmates still defend the tom, but to be frank wormbite had taught him that most cats weren't cut.. out for leadership. it took something out of you. slowly, and slowly. he knew how kestrelstar attempting to use fear had only furthered riverclan's suffering. yet he repeated.
wormbite supposed it was always a quick-fix tactic. his clanmates started to get into heated debates and perhaps on a different day, he would've help the lionhearts (,,,,, er, actually from the sounds of it seemed like they weren't. quite helping. Starsdammit. ) but he felt as if he might end up losing a meal if he stayed near the growing loud noises.
looking like the definition of death, he retreated back. thoughts whirling with more questions. what else did he not know about?
[ obligatory these r just worm's thoughts and is just ic ]
★ ULTIMATE PREDATOR ★ JUST A SCRATCH ★ SHADOW FIEND ★ SURVIVAL INSTINCTS
Saltcurrent, to say simply, was overwhelmed. He was a whirlwind of conflicting emotions, unable to process a single thing after the heat of the crowd started rising.
It felt like the clan was crumbling once again. It had been exceedingly tumultuous for a while now: was this all inevitable? Negative emotions had laid festering for too long, doubt a disease that wormed its way in after moons of drastic -- for better or for worse -- decisions. And now the result that could've been seen a mile away, and yet, the tom was blindsided by it.
Seeing Fadingstar's fleeing form, chased out by a clan elder, left him shaking. His tail tip was flicking to-and-fro with such force pain spread from it. Even purposefully hiding along the edge, remaining just close enough to hear his clanmates, he felt exposed. As if he were the cat RiverClan's scorn had turned to, setting ablaze a time for new change.
Was this what the clan needed to survive? For Dusklion to build together the broken pieces of what remained? He didn't know and his head was spinning. He felt nauseous at the state of it all: how quick and viciously everything blew up at once. His body screamed to run but he felt paralyzed to the spot, unable to look away as his clanmates turned against one another. If he didn't know any better, the venom they spat would've made him think they all came from different clans.
With a sudden burst of energy, the blue-grey tom slinked away, using the shadows to remain hidden the best he could the entire time. He could barely see in front of him, feeling as if he was floating. There was only one thought ringing through his head as he stumbled as far as he could away: StarClan above, help us.
//
just a post before the event ends! i've had to rewrite this 4 times since every time i came back, something else major happened lol
Re: RiverClan Open Forum [All cats welcome!]
