"they still tell the legend of how you disappeared"

[stag]

“I think I've seen this film before
So I'm leavin' out the side door”

No words left her lips as she drifted deeper into the forest, the evening light had taken its toll on her now. Restless was how she would describe it. If she wasn’t lying it got worse over the past moon. She hadn’t slept well since her former mother’s whole speech. Her own disconnect, her own refusal to compromise. But she felt zero remorse over her own words, her “parents” had pushed the limits so they were paying for it.

Heronpaw allows her drifting mind to wander, diving deeper into her own forest in her mind. It was peaceful for once, no longer was the smoke choking the pine trees. The forest she haunted since birth is now a calming woodland, the burned trees recovering from the former fire within.

She needed to let the remaining embers cool, so she did. The words now spilling out her mouth as they burned the charred remains of the pines spark up once more. “She didn’t care. She’s never cared! Why are you acting like it’s okay?! Why did you sit there and take it for so long! She was so preoccupied with her damn herbs, he was busy with patrols. They never cared!” She hadn’t noticed the failure in her voice at parts, flattened to husky fragments while others raised in volume.

Heronpaw feels the embers die. They are gone now, the forest now again peaceful. Rain started long before her departure from the dusk filled camp, it had been on the brink of night. The storm cloud had rolled over, bringing down the harsh winds and sobs of its own tears. Her pelt was soaked, how hadn’t she noticed? The gray cat shivered suddenly, paws planted firm in the rain drenched ground. She was near the Thunderclan border. How had she gotten this far? They were hostile towards each other, weren't they? The apprentice sighed. She couldn’t risk heading back to camp now and getting caught, or she could face whatever could possibly be out here.

She didn’t like the sound of the first option, so remaining out here was the plan. The faintest idea of charging into the enemy territory crossed her mind. It fell apart when the thought of being killed trotted through her mental woodland. A few leaves shake to her right. What. Was she seriously about to be killed like this? On her own territory, in the middle of a rain shower….?

[ @dino. ]

[dino.]

Given all of the issues at ShadowClan's border, Bumblestar had opted for a solo trip out to Herondive Hollow to make sure nothing else was going on. And if there was, she also wanted to be the one to deal with it. Trespassing, stealing herbs, consuming cats - and then Dawnstar had the gall to say ThunderClan was the one causing issues. If she wanted issues, Bumblestar would gladly give them to her, Sunkissed Creek returned or not.

The rain made the tree bridge slick and unsteady. Bumblestar dug her claws in, eyeing the pit below warily. The only thing it had been good for so far was keeping foxes out of the main territory and acting as a holding cell for dead medicine cat attackers. That was another thing - apparently the promise of handing any further rulebreakers over to Dawnstar still wasn't enough reassurance. Did the dark tabby want her to pluck her own eyes out to replace Lostspark's as well each time something happened?

Heavy drops pelted her coat as she hopped down from the fallen log. It was at that point that shouts met her ears, hard to catch over the din of the rainfall but there nonetheless. Bumblestar's fur bristled and she craned her neck to see through the soaked undergrowth. It sounded like it was just over the border...

...why was there a baby out here?

Not really a baby. But the gray tabby Bumblestar saw once she stepped up to the scent markers looked young enough to have just started training, so she might as well be.

"Yo," Bumblestar barked. "The hell are you doin' out here, shouting like that? You're gonna catch a cold or make yourself fox bait. Get back to your camp, I highly doubt you're supposed to be all the way over here by yourself."

[ @stag ]

[stag]

Heronpaw feels a child run down her spine as the Leader looms just over the boarder. Her voice is bone chilling to the apprentice. Was she serious going to harmed or killed right now? The cream pelt was covered by the growing rainfall and Herondive Hollow was slowly becoming covered in it as well. And it didn't help she was hard of hearing either. Heronpaw turns her head towards the scarred shecat, Bumblestar. Heronpaw knew her name simply because of the Gathering, leader of Thunderclan and she lead with an iron paw. It was something Heronpaw could at least support regardless of the current climate.

Heronpaw listens, straining her right ear to grab onto what she could hear through the constant rain. The grey shecat couldn't help but laugh at the Leader's words. "You act like my mother would heal me for either of those problems, and she wouldn't care if I was out here anyways. Say, how is that your business?" Claws dig silently into the earth. Prompting to get an answer from Bumblestar.

Yellow and blue eyes try to get a better view of the Queen of Skies, but Heronpaw wouldn't move at the current moment. It could cause panic and get her killed. Water dips from her pelt as she starts counting the heartbeats that pass before a response as a way to remain calm.

[ @dino. ]

[dino.]

Droplets slid down Bumblestar's brow and into her eyes, making her blink them away, as she watched the apprentice across the scent markers. 'My mother would heal me...' Was this a kid of Lostspark's? She hadn't even been aware the medicine cat had kits.

"If Lostspark doesn't care, that's her problem," she grunted. "Still doesn't answer why you're out here so close to the border, 'n it is my business 'cause it's my territory you're out pokin' around. Like I said, I doubt Dawnstar's letting apprentices wander wherever they'd like, 'n I'd really rather prevent another border incident from happening. Tell me why you're out here or get goin'."

[ @stag ]

[stag]

Her patience was losing grip, and the urge to lunge at Bumblestar was growing. She would lose, Heronpaw knew that. She would die and be forgotten. A speck in the lives of cats that she once knew, only to be remembered as Lostspark's angry, failure of a daughter. Yeah, that wouldn't be happening, she had Dark Forest cat to talk too after all this. Maybe he would be useful this time and not be there to terrorize...Heronpaw doubted it.

Heronpaw silently shakes her head, not in reply but to get rid of the rain that soaked her face, making vision more difficult. Ugh, the Leader just was desperate for an answer, huh? The Fallen wasn't in the mood to deal with the possible claws that could come from not answering though. Play it smart. Be sm- Eh, who cares? "Can a cat not vent her frustrations about her life in Shadowclan anymore? Or is that against the code?" The 6 moons shecat lets out a barely audible scoff, claws retracting from the earth they clung to before.

Eyes still remained on the Leader after she rolled them, tail remaining still as Heronpaw once again awaited a response.

[ @dino. ]

[dino.]

Bumblestar was beginning to grow irritated. "I'd prefer you keep your venting to your own woods," she barked, "instead of bothering my border 'n scarin' off good prey."

Thunder cracked overhead, and Bumblestar scowled in response. The two of them would sooner drown out here than finish this ridiculous conversation. "It's time you get goin'. Whether it's back to your camp, or to another spot so you can risk your pelt in this storm, I don't care, but you've overstayed your welcome here. Unless you'd prefer I drag you back to your mother myself."

[ @stag ]