what do you mean, you've lost your scarlet welly boots? [p]

[redshiftreign]

BUT YOU ARE SCREAMING FAR TOO LOUD TO HEAR ME SWEAR:

JUST BECAUSE I LEFT DOESN'T MEAN THAT I'M NOT STILL. . . THERE.

@Mica [eaglepaw]

the rain seemed to be staging an orchestra on the flat stones of the ridge, raindrop melodies mingling with the subtle ebb and flow of the brackish tides several fox lengths below. the sun had long since set, the sky cerulean and suffocating, blanketed with thick clouds as harsh as the sleuth's judgement. it's one of those dreams, he supposes, that suffocates. on the brighter side, this one did not begin awakening in the torrent, battered by river and water until air stole from his lungs and from him life was taken for the umpteenth time, it felt. this dream, however in poor weather, was a peaceful one. there was something darkly beautiful in the tempest of the sea. he wondered if the stars stared down on him with scorn, even yet.

still, there was a feeling at the back of his neck, like hackles raised, as he sat overlooking the mighty ocean. it was a poor imitation of lion's beach, with certain aspects missing entirely. he hated that he could tell that it was wrong, though he couldn't remember why or what specifically was missing.

holes in his memory. gaps in what was once true, now left in a muddy confusing mess.

he let out a sharp breath, claws digging into the stone painfully, pressing back into his flexed muscles. so far from home. a whole world away.

suddenly, his head swam with a familiar scent, a headache even in fiction deciding to rear up in surprise.

but this was just a dream. he assured himself he had not accidentally dragged his daughter into this mess. guilt washed over him, but he assured himself. a dream. a mere dream. he would not pass up a chance to sit with his daughter, though he wouldn't be surprised if this dream turned nightmare and she scorned him as much as he scorned himself.

so he stayed there, where he sat, watching the ocean with enough emotions to swell his chest, to break and destroy him.

[Mica]

Eaglepaw
RiverClan
she/her | 8 moons | 70/100
[Golden and white tuxedo tabby with green eyes]
Purrks: Dreamwalker, Herbal Knowledge T2
· · ────────────── · ·
[Rushwater - @redshiftreign ]
· · ────────────── · ·
The body next to Rushwater was its opposite in almost every way. Where he was lean and scarred, she was bulky and unmarred. Where he had short fur, she had long. Where his fur was dark and blue, hers was light and golden. Where he was soaked from the rain, she was completely dry. The raindrops fizzled into tiny, shining stars when they got too close to her, disappearing before they could drop on her pelt.

And yet, the two shared a similarity in how they carried themselves. And yet, the two were undeniably father and daughter.

Eaglepaw knew this was a dream. By now, she had figured out that Her Place was nothing more than a figment of her imagination that she managed to keep returning to night after night after night. Even though this dream was different, she was certain that it couldn't be anything other than her exhausted mind trying to reconcile everything that had been happening recently. Everything she had found.

Eaglepaw didn't look at Rushwater as they sat there, watching the ocean beat against the cliffs like a caged lion. Lionsbeach, indeed. She felt like she was floating in a calm body of water, all her senses dulled. Her mind worked very slowly, only registering one thing at a time and never for very long. Rushwater was here, and that was a fact. Her mind did not go beyond his existence, not even to start asking him questions. There was no need.

Eaglepaw looked.... worn. Old beyond her age. Her eyes were dull, and her form was thinner than it should have been. Her shoulders were slumped as she sat there, and it was very clear she had not been taking care of herself in the waking world. Why should she? Who had the time, now?

The longer the pair sat on the cliff, the more Eaglepaw's carefully constructed wall of ice unraveled. At first she thought that maybe some rain had gotten onto her face, but the warmth indicated that they were tears. Tears... why tears? Why was she crying? She hadn't cried in moons. She hadn't cried since the night Rushwater came back and held her in his arms and told her that he wouldn't leave her again. Yet here she was, sitting by that very same tom, slowly crumpling into nothing more than a small, helpless kit again.

Wordlessly, Eaglepaw leaned into Rushwater's side, silently sobbing into his fur. She was so, so tired. She wanted her dad back.

[redshiftreign]

AND LOUDER I'LL SCREAM BACK FROM I-DON'T-KNOW,

I KNOW YOU'RE STRONG ENOUGH TO DO THIS ON YOUR OWN.

@Mica

the wind howled, whistling through distant trees and pinning his tattered ears to his skull. as eaglepaw pressed her muzzle into the crook of his shoulder, and her warm tears sunk into his fur. he lifted his chin, tensing his jaw, and let the raindrops conceal the wetness in his eyes. a shaky breath escaped him, the first sign of life, and he curled his thin tail around his daughter's flank, finally dipping his head to appraise her with his indigo eyes.

they were both hurting. stars above, they were both in agony. so, he did what he always did when she was litter. he told her a story.

"you know," he said, voice low and rough. damaged. his gaze flickered back out to the ocean. "when i was little, we used to own firefly cove. it was a. . . a very pretty place in the greenleaf, with a few trees around the rocky crescent, with their leafy branches reaching upwards like claws into the sky, and little glowing bugs flitting about like stars, but you can reach up and clutch them between your paws and it's like holding the stars." he took a deep breath, tail tip flicking. "and if you crush them, they glow on your pelt. like little stars. have you-" his throat tightened. he steeled himself, practiced poise.

"this is your first green-leaf, isn't it? are the fireflies out yet? have you seen them?" he closed his eyes, remembering his very first summer. it wasn't as peaceful as he wished it would have been. it was the opposite- his youth was like that. filled with hatred and disappointments. he didn't want eaglepaw to grow up the same way.

yet here he was. like his father. gone.

a sharp exhale escaped him. "well, like i was saying, when i was an apprentice, thunderclan decided to take back the cove. riverclan has. . . done a lot of things i am not proud of us for doing. when we took riverclan back the first time- i think i was barely a kit then, a moon or so, it was thunderclan's burial grounds. still, we ripped it from them and claimed it our own, because long, long ago it was our own. or so the stories say." he tilted his head a bit, letting the rain splatter him. "kestrelstar lead the charge straight into thunderclan's camp while reinforcements pushed the cove borders back and reclaimed the territory. we had the cove for quite a while. until i was about your age."

rushwater's tail twitched, and he glanced down at the apprentice, "the cove was taken back to thunderclan's by cinderpaw, but we kidnapped one of their apprentices. skystar came into power, and i think that was the beginning of riverclan's poor luck. the thunderclan hostage- cinderpaw, i think, died."

"all this, all this over a bit of land. and- that's to say, the history runs deeper. far deeper- the oldest tale i've been told about the battles there. between wolfstar and stonestar."

[Mica]

Eaglepaw
RiverClan
she/her | 8 moons
[Golden and white tuxedo tabby with green eyes]
Purrks: Dreamwalker, Herbal Knowledge T2
⋆˖⁺‧₊☽ The Star ☾₊‧⁺˖⋆
· · ────────────── · ·
[Rushwater - @redshiftreign ]
· · ────────────── · ·
Eaglepaw sniffed as Rushwater began his story, staring out over the stormy seas with tired eyes. Firefly Cove, hm? That sounded nice. Eaglepaw liked bugs... butterflies were her favorite, ever since Cobwebpaw had told her about them. She had never seen them before. It had been too cold up until recently, and she hadn't the time nor the energy to go hunting for them at night. But if catching them was like holding stars... she would like to hold some stars. The stars above always made her feel at home, and had a soothing effect on her. Like the stars were watching over her. If she could shield herself in these little star-bugs, maybe she would start to feel better.

Eaglepaw hated being miserable. She missed when she was happy, cheerful, when she had friends and playmates and the world wasn't so scary. She missed not understanding the politics of clans, and she missed being too stupid to see the clan falling apart around her. She wanted to be a normal apprentice with a normal life, not one who took what she did have for granted and instead sat in dreams with her dead father crying about how much her life sucked. She truly was pathetic, wasn't she.

She tucked those thoughts away for later, instead focusing on Rushwater's words. She shook her head into his flank when he asked if she had seen fireflies yet.

As Rushwater continued his story, her mood soured further and further. Resentment for her clan built up in her chest, even stronger than the resentment she held for ThunderClan. They had stolen a clan's burial grounds? She knew what a close connection burial grounds had with StarClan, and desecrating anything like that was beyond horrible. Where had ThunderClan buried their fallen in the moons the cove was RiverClan's?

The next bit of information had Eaglepaw's tail lashing behind her, scattering stars over the rocks beneath them. A hostage. An apprentice hostage. What kind of foul, disgusting monster takes an apprentice as a hostage? Was the territory that important to RiverClan? The hostage died, too.

Frustration clawed up her throat in the form of a growl. What had been the point of this story other than to make her angry? To make her hate her home, her clan even more? "RiverClan has always been scum. I understand." She muttered, unadulterated hate in her eyes. Her voice had changed since she was a kit. Deeper, fuller. Her accent had lessened. "My whole life, and your whole life too. What's the point of it even existing."

Truly, what was the point? All RiverClan could do was mess things up and make other cats angry. Even cats who tried to fix it like Dusklion and Fadingsun were failing. Dusklion was an impulsive mess, and Fadingsun was as temperamental and as contrary as the wind. Would RiverClan ever learn from their mistakes? Or would the line of failed leaders and deputies just continue forever?