Seastones

[anika]

Larkswoop’s eyes narrowed.

“Last time I checked, we may be near RiverClan Territory, but we haven’t crossed the border, Dusklion,” She pointed out calmly with a wave of her tail. She turned to Lynxshade, a snarl twisting her maw. “I never said I wanted a fight, but it seems as if you’re looking for one, Lynxshade.”

Larkswoop flexed her claws and let them sink into the cracks of the stone beneath her. Strong muscles rippled beneath the ThunderClanner’s broad-shouldered form, her outline a sharp black against the sparkling night sky.

“Enforcers are similar to ThunderClan’s Hornets. At least ThunderClan has some honor when it comes to battle. We don’t kill cats for fun,” She shot at the ShadowClanner. If the Enforcer wanted a fight, Larkswoop would most certainly give her one.

Dusklion could watch all she wanted. Lynxshade wouldn’t be the one to win a fight if it came down to it.

Could lark win :0 - also dice rolls lol

Lark is also throwing shade lol. She’s adorable.
@taillow // @Wingnettle

[Wingnettle]

Lynxshade

Shadowclan Enforcer
33 moons | she/her
Shadow Fiend | Silver Tongue | Beefed Up (T3) | Mind Reader

Lynxshade was laying down on the cold rock as if it was a warm day of Greenleaf, enjoying not the weather, but the cutting remarks the Riverclan deputy was shooting at Larkswoop. Well, she deserved it. She had swooped here like a bird ready to give predicaments on acting like the cats they had grown up and trained to be.

She glanced expressionlessly at Dusklion as she bet on her in a potential fight, though she was secretly pleased with herself, but only because she was curious to see Larkswoop's next reaction.
Suddenly the Thunderclan cat was on the defensive, and accused her of searching for a fight. Her, who had tried everything in her power to keep the peace between three different clan cats?!

She unsheathed her claws and raked them on the stone with a sharp sound, but she didn't move a muscle.
Now Larkswoop said something that really pissed the Shadowclan cat off. She suddenly rose to her paws and padded closer to the squirrel-breath, eyes widened in rage. "You liar..." she whispered, fluffing out her fur. Now she seemed even bigger than Dawnstar herself, and she was aware of it.

"Are you trying to deny the fact that your own deputy had blood on his paws countless and countless times? Not only that, he also murdered Shadowclan's apprentices for mere trespassings, instead of dealing with them according to the Warrior Code!" This cat had evidently bees in her brain. Gosh, she needed to control herself. She let her fur lie flat but still hissed with teeth shown openly. A series of white, sharp fangs capable of tearing away the tender flash of a cat's throat. But she wasn't like them. She wouldn't soak herself in blood and run away with it.

She paced right and left, back and fort, glancing icily at Larkswoop. This cat shouldn't have come here in the first place. She would've dealt well with Dusklion, but this one was doing another kind of work.
"You were lucky as much as you can't imagine that Shadowclan didn't raid your dear camp, after Spiderthroat killed innumerable cats of our own! We should've come with Windclan's aid and battled with claws and teeth, and then hit your precious herb's supplies right during leafbare. And you know what? Dawnstar herself decided, in the end, that it was not worth it. But it was my plan, to begin with!"

Lynxshade's green eyes glittered with hatred for this cat's liars. She knew there was a lot the clans had to make Riverclan pay, but right now the only cat she wanted to sink her claws in was this mouse-eater in front of her. She sat down, lashing her tail back and forth, staring at Larkswoop with insistence.
If anything broke out tonight, it would not be her fault.

[BEAR.]

"Enough!"

Wolfhive's voice snapped through the night, just as Lynxshade uttered her final words. "Larkswoop. Back to camp. Now."

He'd seen enough to know Larkswoop was stirring a pot that didn't need to be stirred, and as much as he loved picking on fish, he refused to have his Clan look bad over something so trivial. So much for neutral territory if mouse-brains like Larkswoop were running loose.

[ @paris primarily // @taillow @Wingnettle wolf is collecting the naughty tc child ]

[taillow]

DUSKLION
she/her | riverclan deputy | 28 moons

"Yeah, that's why I said defendin', squirrel-brain." Dusklion simply shook her head and drew her tongue over her paw, then over one ear. It seemed now the attention had shifted back to Lynxshade, and the deputy had to stop herself from laughing. "Honor? Is that what your warriors call killin' a barely out of the nursery apprentice durin' the raid? Interestin'." Yeah, as far as she was concerned, ThunderClan didn't have much honor. Not like current RiverClan could speak much either but... well, that was a work in progress.

Oh? Spiderthroat had killed some ShadowClan apprentices? Intrigued the RiverClan deputy focused in more, eyes wide and a half-smirk on her face. Funny how it seemed she wasn't the only deputy with blood on her claws. And - wait, what was that? WindClan's aid? Confusion twisted her features as she mulled it over. Were they... allies?? That was surprising in and of itself. "There's no way they're allies..." she murmured quietly to herself, though her smirk only grew. She hadn't known about this, so she assumed the rest of RiverClan didn't either. And if they were allied, and Twilightstar was as angry as she was...

Just then another ThunderClanner came into the mix, but Dusklion was already getting to her paws. Her blue eyes gleamed with interest as she saw the familiar form of Wolfhive, doing nothing more than smirking at him before she glanced at Lynxshade. "Have fun baskin' in the moonlight there, Enforcer. 'N thanks for the tid-bit about 'WindClan's aid'." Yeah, she wouldn't hide the fact that she'd heard that - any regular cat could connect the dots there.

With a wave of her tail the RiverClan deputy turned and bounded back into RiverClan territory.

[ Lynxshade - @Wingnettle ] [ Larkswoop - @paris ] [ Wolfhive - @BEAR. ]

[anika]

Larkswoop flashed Lynxshade a challenging glare before following Wolfhive.

As they left, Larkswoop caught the eye of Lynxshade and the form of Dawnstar standing behind the Enforcer.

“Good luck with that!” She called behind her before bounding off alongside her Clanmate.

@BEAR. // @Wingnettle

[Undertaker]

"Lynxshade!" Dawnstar's yowl ripped through the air as she came sniffing around for their missing Enforcer. Fur bristled and hackled stood as she heard the Enforcer's final words. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" Dawnstar is pissed. As the other clan cats started heading back she fixed the she-cat with an enraged glare.
@Wingnettle [popping in here since the other clans weren't supposed to know about the wc/shc alliance. Too late to fix it, now. ]

[Wingnettle]

Lynxshade

Shadowclan Enforcer
33 moons | she/her
Shadow Fiend | Silver Tongue | Beefed Up (T3) | Mind Reader

Lynxshade turned abruptly at the sound of Dawnstar's voice behind her. She was always where there was trouble. Had she some sort of supernatural nose for this kind of things?
But she flattened her ears as soon as she realized what had just happened. She'd spilled their alliance with Windclan! And with both clans, Thunderclan and Riverclan!

She thought back at her evening. Why did she have to come here? Why had Dusklion to be here, and especially that Larkswoop from Thunderclan? She gritted her teeth and sunk her claws in the sand. If it hadn't been for her, none of this would've happened...

She bowed her head in shame, staying in silence. "I... I lost my temper. It's my fault, Dawnstar." She admitted, not trying to put any ashes on the fire. The damage was done, and nothing could take it back now. She will be demoted and everyone in the clan will hold her guilty of spilling a secret that could've been strategic for the balance between the clans.

Damn it.

---

@Undertaker

[Undertaker]

@Wingnettle
Tail tip twitching agitatedly behind her, Dawnstar sheathed her large claws into the sand grains while taking some breaths. Boy, did she want to rip out Lynxshade's throat right then and there! Dawnstar's maintained the alliance with WindClan for moons now, not a word of it spoken to the others. Moons!!! It wasn't like this would affect ShadowClan or WindClan all that much, not like the other clans could do anything about it anyway, but still. This was something Dawnstar expected a dumb apprentice to run their mouth about, but even the younger cats knew not to talk about something Dawnstar hadn't announced at the gathering to the opposition.

She had plans to break the alliance with WindClan anyway. With Bumblebrat finally putting her paw down and gaining control over her clan of rodents, and the plans to shove the fishes out for a few moons, there was no reason to continue the alliance. But that didn't mean she wanted cats running their mouths about it. They could have broken the alliance with anyone being the wiser. How vexing!

The she-cat paced along the beach, livid, while thinking. Whether accused or not, it didn't matter, no one had proof of anything. This might ruin the surprise joint attack against RiverClan, which was no fun. But aside from that she wasn't coming up for any repercussions that ShadowClan needed to prepare for. That did not mean Lynxshade was getting out of this unscathed, however.

"You," the huge she-cat twisted to face Lynxshade, amber eyes glowing with rage. "Choose, your inability to hold your tongue makes you a threat to ShadowClan. So, I can kill you and you can run your mouth all you'd like to the dead, or you can live out the rest of your days in ShadowClan as a mute, cause that tongue coming out of your mouth." Lynxshade was getting a demotion, no doubts about it, but one couldn't just run about blabbing about clan secrets and expect a mere demotion to be it.

[Wingnettle]

Lynxshade

Shadowclan Enforcer
33 moons | she/her
Shadow Fiend | Silver Tongue | Beefed Up (T3) | Mind Reader

Silver tongue: ACTIVE

Lynxshade could not believe her ears. Or maybe, more probably she did, but did not want to admit it. That the biggest mistake of her life had been to trust this dangerous, ruthless cat who ruled a clan as a tyrant, and not that she had spilled out a clan secret by mistake.

She had given up everything for Shadowclan: her freedom, her past, her pain. She had proven herself over and over again, following her ambition to become the best version of herself.

A cold, icy shiver ran through her spine and she felt the bones in her limbs quiver slightly against rigid muscles, which forced them to stay in place and retain her position. She did not bow her head anymore. That was it. Had she something else to lose, besides her life, which she realized now that it had always been in Dawnstar's paws?

She had grown as a loner, lost her father, watched her only brother get crushed in a firestorm, and escaped a terrible fate only to arrive at this point. Had Starclan even ever followed her? Were her prayers hollow words ignored by ancestors that weren't even hers? She cursed them all for allowing such a cruel beast to remain alive, leading a whole clan.

She wasn't sure whether her survival instincts were pushing her to speak, or if she was admitting her defeat and speaking her last words, but she raised her chin and used all her energies to keep her voice steady and calm. As if that was possible.

"... I have served this clan for many moons and gave you, my leader, faith, and loyalty even when my beliefs differed from yours. I put all of that aside for Shadowclan. I followed, you almost blindly."
I do not deserve to die like this. Now.

"Think about it, Dawnstar..." She was trying to calm the leader down and put some reason into her head, but she knew that more often than not, rage always won her - "Giving the other clans this knowledge might have been a mistake because it was not under your consent, but it cannot bring other than positive consequences in certain cases."
She wanted to slither her way out of this. She felt exactly like a snake, but there was something wrong about it: the snake was Dawnstar, and it was the most poisonous one.

"No one will dare attack now under these conditions. Windclan won't betray us, but we have all the freedom to do so, may we ever need it. Thunderclan is now alone, and so is Riverclan. No one will ally with the water cats, so we may as well make whichever move we want, and the other clans will already know they have no chances against us, right since we have one clan by our side. We might even put any of them under conditions that are advantageous to us. Bumblestar will not counterattack, and Riverclan can only hide these days."

She felt herself heavier and heavier as if death were already clawing its way into her body. Carving a lethal plan into her black mind. Put her soul to sleep forever.
She was trembling, and she was aware of it. at that moment, a small thought was developing in the back of her mind: was the old firestorm more fearsome than this cat she was facing right now? She couldn't find an answer.

She would never agree to have herself mauled by the cat who was supposed to protect her and inspire loyalty. If she ever survived, would she ever be able to live in Shadowclan again? Under Dawnstar's guidance?

"Think about it, Dawnstar... why lose a loyal warrior over a trivial mistake that can't bring anything but good? We can turn the cards in our favor any time now. Murder will quench your rage, but there may be a better option. A more strategic, smarter choice..." She was lowering gradually her voice now, taking a little step every now and then to try and unlock her scared bones from their place.

Lynxshade's heartbeat was faster than ever.
She felt it could explode out of her chest at any moment.

---

@Undertaker

[Undertaker]

@Wingnettle - Lynxshade
What's with the look? Dawnstar would never understand cats who look at her like she suddenly turned into a monster! Dawnstar's never lied, never hid, never deceived. Hell, if anything she went out of her way to make sure these cats knew exactly what they were getting into when joining ShadowClan. Yet Lynxshade dared to appear as if Dawnstar was the one betraying all her trust and loyalty! Ha! The tabby has never changed her stripes in the slightest. Her clan has merely learned to avoid giving her a reason to hurt them.

Dawnstar would call herself a good leader... until she found a reason to be a bad one. She'd rip through those she considered her own flesh and blood without hesitation if she deemed them a threat to ShadowClan. Lynxshade wasn't an expectation. Even though she has contributed to ShadowClan, the contributions weren't enough to get her out of the mess that she got herself into. But Dawnstar would at least let her try to talk herself out of this.

"Laughable! You speak as if I made you do that. You weren't born in my clan, you chose to come here. You decided to serve this clan, your loyalty and faith are merely what is expected to be given in return. You were given a home, food, security, a purpose, power, and more. You make it sound like you were taken advantage of here." If anything Dawnstar was the one paying the price for trusting her.

Sadly, what Lynxshade had to say might have resonated if she were more like Icestar. "It's cute how hard you're trying to make this seem positive. But I don't see how a warrior blabbing like this can be anything but bad. Your plan is ridiculous by the way. WindClan may not betray ShadowClan, but they can break off the alliance at any time. Stirring up senseless trouble is the easy way to turn ShadowClan into RiverClan." She highly doubted Twilightstar would sit idle while Dawnstar used WindClan for her games. Not to mention, the whole reason the alliance was formed in the first place was because of ThunderClan's and RiverClan's unreasonable attacks.

"At the moment, I've no moves to make, no reason to be fighting with Bumblebrat. I've already played the power game with WindClan and ThunderClan, it got boring and exhausting fast. I do not need extra territory and I've enough on my paws at the moment to keep me busy with ShadowClan."


She couldn't think of a reason to flex her strength now, and if she was being honest no one was challenging her. Don't even get her started on the whole tree falling omen, this was not the time to start throwing ShadowClan into wars she wasn't sure they'd win. Dawnstar was not interested in repeating Icestar's mistakes. She was confident, but if she let that turn into arrogance, she'd have no one to blame but herself for ShadowClan's suffering.

"Trivial as it seems, the point of the matter is that you can't keep your mouth shut. Losing a warrior would be disappointing that's why I told you that I don't have to kill you. I need insurance so that this never happens again and the easiest way to do that is to take your tongue. I obviously can't take your word. You can return to ShadowClan as a loyal warrior, mute, and that will be that. If I merely demote you for this, which will happen regardless, and take you back to the clan. I'll worry, and then I might actually feel guilty about killing you later."

There was no way Dawnstar wouldn't worry about Lynxshade talking after this. Her paranoia would go ballistic every time she saw the cat in camp, and eventually, Dawstar would kill her if nothing more than to retain her sanity.

"So, choose, lose your tongue or lose your life. This is the last time I'm letting you decide. If you can't I will for you." The choice seemed pretty simple to Dawnstar.