Forever Home

[Estelle]

Vixen hadn’t been away from home much these days; Flower had been so young and small before, she couldn’t bring herself to leave, then, but she was older now. Weaned off and exploring the little area of their home, Vixen had decided she could allow herself to step out for a moment – take in fresh air, refamiliarise herself with the surrounding area. Besides, everything was so pretty this time of year. The flowers were blooming, the birds were chirping and she just… Couldn’t help but feel happy.

It brought back memories, too. She knew the season of her youth was coming up, green-leaf; taking a deep breath, it was almost like she could smell it. Her home; ThunderClan, she meant. It brought he so much peace and nostalgia, unless… Wide sky-blue eyes opened with surprise, a sudden realisation that what she’d been smelling hadn’t just been her imagination. It was within her surroundings. She was baffled, and when she looked around? Well, she saw him.

“Crow-crow…?”
She whispered in disbelief, before a happy smile spread across her jaw and she bounded over with utter excitement.
“Crow-crow!!”
She called, beaming at the sight of the familiar tom.
“Crow-crow, I found you! I found ThunderClan! It’s been so long, Crow-crow! You remember me, right, right? It’s Vixenpaw! We patrolled and trained together, remember? With Tushdad and Cindy, right, right?”

The young mother was so happy, ears flicking and whiskers twitching.
“It’s been so long, Crow-crow! You look so much bigger, but also smaller!! I guess I got bigger hihi,, I’m so glad to see you!! Are you okay, Crow-crow? Is ThunderClan okay?? Oh, ThunderClan is here, right? Everyone is okay and safe and happy? Did mama and Turty ever come back, do you know? Oh, I miss them so! And Cindy, and Tushdup, and Batty and, and… Oh; sorry, sorry!! You do remember me, right?”


[ @SpiritedWarrior @taillow ]

[SpiritedWarrior]

Crowpaw

Purrks: Heightened Perception and Agatha Kitty
@taillow @Estelle

The walk through the territory wasn’t bad. It gave him a great chance to review the layout of ThunderClan’s claimed wooded land. It had been so long since he entered such a place, after all. Of course, to his unamusement, Redhawk was tagging along with him. The young tom could do nothing about it though. Rules were rules, and he was expected to follow them just like Redhawk was.

Nearly at the outskirts, it wasn’t long before he heard a voice. ’Crow-crow.’ The voice was vaguely familiar, but it wasn’t familiar enough to merit a welcoming response from the 21 moon old tom. Instinctively, he let out a snarl and slid his long claws out. Within what seemed to be the same breathe, the she-cat revealed herself to be Vixenpaw. The apprentice he had once known to call Thrushstar ‘Tushdad.’ Did that mean the two were siblings by adoption? I think? I don’t believe Thrushstar ever adopted Vixenpaw though. He was too much of an ass to me and all my other siblings, I highly doubt he wanted to add an extra bit of fluff to the game he seemed to love playing.

Everything inside of him wanted to scream out. To block out the sound of Tushdad in his mind. Vixenpaw was completely unaware of what happened between him and Thrushstar… she didn’t even know about Thrushfur becoming Thrushstar. She doesn’t even know about… about the argument we had that led to me getting disowned. And neither does Redhawk.

Anger threatened to explode out of his mouth in a violent manner. He didn’t just want to scream out. He wanted to get angry with the former ThunderClan apprentice. But he refused to cause such a scene, especially when Vixenpaw did not deserve any of it. After all, she had no knowledge of the situation nor did he want her to. I’ll tell her a shortened version of what happened. But I’ll save it for later.

For right now, he focused on one thing at a time: Mama (which he could only assume to be Quailfur since Crowpaw didn’t know who Vixenpaw’s biological mother was) and Turtlekit, Vixenpaw’s sibling (at least he thinks… it’s been a long time). “Yeah, I- I remember you, kid. Um… I’m sorry to tell you this, b-but mama… is dead. she died giving my little sister a chance at life. I don’t know what happened to Turtlekit, but I think she’s safe and sound somewhere.” Whether Turtlekit was in the outskirts or in StarClan, he didn’t know. But he hoped that what he said would suffice as an explanation.

It took him a long moment to get a grasp on the explanation he sought for Vixenpaw’s behalf. There was nothing more in the world he wanted than to keep a cat as innocent as the she-cat who stood in front of him. ”Vixenpaw… listen to me. Thrushfur… he became the leader. But after that, he and I… had a heated discussion. Very heated. In that discussion, he gave up on being my father. He let the whole Clan know it. He let me know it. He didn’t want to be a father anymore… so he did what’s called a ‘disownment’. He has not considered me a son since that day. And if he has regretted any of what he said- I wouldn’t know it. He left ThunderClan after he said those things. Forever.”

“As for… Cinderpaw… s-she went missing. I haven’t seen her since she had been stripped of her medicine cat apprentice rank by Bumblestar. I can only hope she’s doing well, just as you seem to be doing.”

“I’m not going to lie to you, kid. I’ve seen better days. I think ThunderClan’s doing well, though… but don’t take my word for that. I only just came back a moon ago after I spent some time alone with my thoughts- away from the eyes and ears of ThunderClan.” He looked over at Redhawk, “Redhawk can answer that one I think.”

[taillow]

REDHAWK
she/they | thunderclan hornet | 32 moons

Today was a rare day where the normal pressures of her hornet duties weren't getting to her, and Redhawk felt comfortable enough to relax as she padded alongside Crowpaw through the territory. One last tour before his assessment got started - he was practically ready now and the hornet was planning to start it after the next moon's gathering. The tom didn't seem to be in a chatty mood as they neared the outskirts border though, and Red hadn't pushed it. She was okay with the silence as she glanced around at the territory, a small smile on her maw.

Suddenly a voice cut into her thoughts and her responsibility as a ThunderClan hornet came back to her. Following suit her claws came out as she hurried alongside Crowpaw, wondering who was trespassing on their land. But it wasn't an intruder - it was Vixenpaw. Redhawk blinked, staring at the missing ThunderClan cat before her. It seemed this cat knew Crowpaw though, and wasn't a threat, so for now the hornet let her claws retract back.

The news about Thrushstar had Redhawk's eyes widening as she glanced at Crowpaw. He had done what? A slow burning anger seeped into her chest as she recalled the last time she had seen the tom; disappearing into the mouth of the Starcave to claim leadership of ThunderClan. She'd gone missing that night, never to see him or her home for quite some time. When she had returned and Bumblestar had let her come back, she'd learned that he had disappeared after the sink hole that took their camp.

Cinderpaw was a situation she wasn't familiar with outside of hearing about it from others. She didn't really have strong opinions on it, outside of the fact that she had always found it odd that the fiery she-cat never wanted to take on a name. Her name was spoken then and Redhawk blinked. Shooting one last worried glance at Crowpaw, she turned to look at Vixenpaw and offered a soft smile. "I'm glad t-to see you're alive, Vixenpaw." She had faint memories of the she-cat, but not much. "ThunderClan has been alright. We recently had a battle with RiverClan because they were poisoning part of our territory, then went silent. Bumblestar was worried, so we... led a raid to make sure they weren't up to anything." Red ignored the flicker of guilt in her belly.

"Things have been pretty quiet though lately. Lots of new apprentices, and warriors... Crowpaw's only an assessment away from his warrior ceremony." At that she glanced at the tom with eyes full of pride. "He'll be t-the first cat I've brought t-to warriorhood. Well, more credit to the mentors and warriors before me, but..." It was still a nice thought, that Crowpaw would be the first cat she completed an assessment for and helped get their warrior name.

Looking to Vixenpaw now, Red tilted her head. "Are you... looking to come back to ThunderClan?" Outsiders were strictly forbidden from joining she knew, but missing ThunderClan cats were different.

[ Vixenpaw - @Estelle ] [ Crowpaw - @SpiritedWarrior ]