⛆ Once again, it was time for her to walk with starclan in her dreams… This was a common occurrence for little FrogPaw of ThunderClan… This time, however, felt eerie and strange… It struck an uncomfortable feeling within her… She had heard of the dark forest before but surely she wasn’t there! She couldn’t be, she was just too good! Sniffing around, she waited for whoever wanted to speak with her…
˚₊‧꒰ა ☁︎ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚ ——————
(Short post, had to get this up!) ——————
The handsome, muscular tom had ventured into a less... trashy part of the Dark Forest for this specific dream visit. This cat in particular, he had a special plan for her. She was going to be his star (other than sweet, aggressive little Briar, of course. her pent up hate and bitterness was just gold to him), his special student who would help him carry out his destiny on earth. Or rather... their conjoined destiny. It was inescapable now.
He had watched this young cat specifically for a while. How she snarled at the leader, rebelled the Dawnstar wannabe that ruled ThunderClan with an iron paw. He had watched with great interest, as she tried to fight her inevitable obsession with ThunderClan's resident impish teen, a gangly boy with a major attitude problem (really cool hair though), and how she had this fun little tangle of darkness and lightness inside her. Teetering on the edge of greatness, just needing a little push.
Speaking of the little push. The little push is I. I will guide you through the blinding darkness to your great destiny. You just need to let me. Snowhawk's cold, stone gray gaze locked on the brown furred princess he had summoned, and the ancient 16 moon old slipped out of his shadowy cover. "Greetings, Frogpaw. I'm Snowhawk of StarClan, and I'm here to offer you guidance." The lie slid off his tongue easily (because 120 moons in literal hell kind of helped with the whole lying thing, lots of practice having cute little chats with the sweethearts down here)
He tipped his head, perfectly feigned concern and ultimate wisdom on his face. Mentally preparing to inquire about her, even though she didn't look too upset and he honestly didn't care if she was or not. he just needed the... what did the adolescents call it nowadays? He needed the tea. "But first, you seemed troubled. Care to share? I won't tell anyone, I'll take anything you tell me to the grave." Ah, a joke about his expired mortality. Certainly not the first nor the last.
⛆ Her fur fluffed out as she felt a chill creep down her spine… Something felt so wrong, so off about this but they were from StarClan… Right? Of course they were! They wouldn’t worry about her if they were evil. FrogPaw could trust this individual… “Well… It’s nice to meet you,” she dipped her head. Almost immediately, this cat asked about her troubles, so she let her words spill… “My clan is being run down the river by my idiot of a leader, BumbleStar!”
⛆ She began quite quickly with an angry flick of her tail… “No one has faith in you guys anymore because you let that dummy lead ThunderClan, The best clan might I add… I’m supposed to fix it somehow, because some others among your ranks led me home but I don’t know…! I’m surrounded by dummies…!” FrogPaw paused with a sigh… “I only have one friend… Well, actually, It’s complicated… Everything is so complicated…! Between me having dreams with the stars every night and waking up to see someone that I wish was among your ranks… It’s just so UGH!”
⛆ FrogPaw seemed quite annoyed, especially with BumbleStar… “Starclan is the only thing that has consistently been by my side… I only have ancestors like you to support me, teach me, answer my questions because hell, even my ACTUAL mentor isn’t training me! And you guys are always taken for granted! I see the code being broken so often and it makes me mad! Doesn’t anyone remember that we do what we do for you? We are warriors because of StarClan…!” With another huff, she sort of just pouted…
Ah, his intuition and manipulative, sociopathic ploy was indeed correct. This was an angry little thing. All the feelings and stuff was gross and made him feel a tad nauseous, but he wasn't too mentally disgusted to not take notes. So she hated the leader. Yes, that was understandable. ThunderClan wasn't used to a leader with an actual spine, so it would take time to adjust. Personally, he enjoyed the new leader's antics. "It is quite sad that your Clan doesn't believe in us anymore. Unfortunately, some cats want to be spoonfed and don't understand that we can't control their fates any more than we could control our own." Except for him. He lived and died by his own power, his own choice. He lived without bowing to anyone, he lived by his own rules.
He won.
His catbrows raised as the cat continued to rant, impressed with the amount of passion (and complaints) spewing from this cat. As the molly fell into a pout (at which he silently groaned), and he had to pause to mentally gather himself. A headache weasled its way right behind his eyes, and he smiled warmly to hide his insanely prominent migraine. One would think that you didn't have headaches when you were dead, but perhaps that was the benefit of hell. "That's actually what I wanted to speak to you about today, young one." She might find is strange that a tom that looked like he was 16 moons was calling her that, but it was one of the few things he found joy in. Once, he called a 50 moon old tom "child" and it was incredibly satisfying. His age dwarfed that of the other cat, and it was magnificently joyful to have the power of such immense condescension on his side.
"The eldest and most powerful of StarClan have picked you for a great destiny, if you're willing to take that on. It won't be easy, but I believe it will cure a few of the problems you have voiced to me." He was truly full of crap, but he had a mission to complete.
The tom felt his demons, those lovely companions that hadn't left even though he arguably was equally as much a demon, scream in glee as the molly fell right where he wanted to. She was right where she needed to be, now he just needed to cement the deal. Rising to his paws, he turned and padded a few steps away, before halting, eyes on the sky that he was shocked she hadn't noticed was starless. Cue the brainwashing, as a wise cat (hint hint, it was him) once said.
"You know firsthand how broken and bloody the world is. You have strength through the brokenness, much more strength than the average cat. That's why you were selected for a reason, in fact, you were created for this very reason. You're going to be... the gardener, of sorts. Weeding out the bad that tried to choke out the good, so the pure hearted cats can grow stronger. Does this make sense?" He turned to look at her, glorious eyes of silver locking on her green ones. Lock it in. Root yourself into her mind."There's not a single cat on the planet who holds as much promise as you do-" Excluding himself, considering he wasn't on the plant since he literally couldn't be more dead. "-You need to find cats who also hold promise. I can help you find them, if you wish. You will all gather, and then one-by-one, you will find those cats- the weeds, the sinners. You will force them to consume a snake- because that's what they truly are on the inside. Not cats, but demons on earth who must be destroyed."
"Then you kill them. However you wish. You can do what you desire with their body, but you must remove their eyes and bury them where they die, so their spirit will come to me, and I will take care of it from there. You will be StarClan's secret... "gardeners", you'll be saving countless lives by sending the sinners, the weeds, back to hell where they will stay."
Was he single pawedly inspiring a movement for which many would be murdered meaninglessly and cruelly? Yes he was. And Frogpaw would be the group's leader and founder, but he... he was their king. The self-proclaimed King of Hell (because no one else claimed the title and it was super badass) and his living pawn. But he had to play into her wildest fantasies, he had to stretch her ego. So he continued. "You'll be the leader, because you... you are the strongest and purest of them all. Frogpaw, you were destined for this." If she still had doubts, he would do some more flattering, but honestly? He didn't think he'd need to.
// @Sakura. reallyyy garbage post with him since this is new to me, but hope this was satisfactory!
⛆ He had her in a trance… Jaw open in awe with herself… For some reason, FrogPaw didn’t doubt a single word of what he told her… I mean, she always knew she was destined for greatness, and this wasn’t short of that all all… A gardener, weeding out those that have disappointed her glorious ancestors… She didn’t care if she needed to kill, for that was what the stars needed her to do! They said they needed her…! Her face flushed red, a shade of red that only dear crackles was capable of turning her face… Sweet StarClan, her den mate was easy on the eyes…
⛆ The frog-like apprentice could feel her own heart in her throat… She never thought of herself as amazing, powerful, talented, important… She never saw herself as leader material… Dipping her head, her wide eyes closed. “Thank you… T-Thank you…! I won’t let you down!” That was a promise, she would swear by it… She was sold, she was sold on this made up destiny, and she believed it… I mean… Why shouldn’t she?
⛆ It didn’t take a second for her to immediately jolt up with the thought of CracklePaw, her one and only friend… “I’ve gotta tell crackles! He’s so strong and smart and cool! And he likes killing! Maybe I could fix him by having him kill sinners rather than innocent cats! Then we could be in StarClan together forever when we die! With him at my side, any goal could be achieved! I can be great with crackles!” She wasn’t hopeless, but as long as she was head over paws for ThunderClans very own toddler-like teenager, the whole mission was threatened…
⛆ Along with that, she was already thinking about death…? Jeez… One would just have to trust that everything would be okay… Hopefully CracklePaw was wicked enough to help out…
˚₊‧꒰ა ☁︎ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚ ——————
(We are roasting crackles,) ——————
Easy peasy. He should really win a medal for that performance, that was hook line and sinker if he'd ever seen one. The fool took the bait and devoured it. During his entire monologue, he had kept his hypnotic silver eyes fixed dead into her green ones, drilling his message as deep as he could into this fool's mind. "I know you'll succeed, small one. But you must remember- this needs to be top secret. You know what the fools in your Clan are capable of- you don't want them to ruin it, do you?" His tail swished behind him, and he shifted his gaze downwards at a small pool of water, breaking eye contact with a small smirk on his attractive features.
In the small puddle, as she chattered away, he caught a glimpse of the slumbering Cracklepaw, and cringed slightly, looking up at her with his brow creasing in amusement. Perhaps her decision making and feelings weren't... totally sane, but he wouldn't worry. "But of course, you won't be doing it by his side. You'll be his superior, so some of the things that you know must stay between us. Like myself, for example. This.... Cracklepaw isn't nearly as advanced or powerful as you are, so naturally he must be kept in the dark about some things. You wouldn't jeopardize our mission like that, of course, would you?" He padded closer, glimmering and shadowed silver gaze locked on hers, muscular frame looming over the smaller cat as he approached. Intimidating, but not dangerous like he could be. Like he was.
"You can be great without Crackles. You can be all powerful if you chose yourself, if you choose power, over whatever feelings you have for him. You can still like him or whatever but.. prioritize power and strength and... individuality, over some guy. Speaking as I still consider myself a teenager, you have your whole life ahead of you to be in love and be obsessive over your funny looking friend, but you're only given one destiny, one chance at power. I took it, and I don't regret a thing. It's important for me to stress that you must, too."
⛆ “But Crackles,” her voice cracked, “My crackles is amazing! He’s handsome… strong… Uh… Handsome…! He has a cool big sister!” Wow, did he really not have any redeeming qualities other than his looks? And it wasn’t even his face frog was attracted to, it was his muscles and eyes…! FrogPaw takes a moment to admit to herself that she is indeed a wolf in sheep’s clothing… Kind of like SnowHawk, however, she had no idea…
⛆ That was the whole meaning of the saying… Wearing a mask, some kind of cover to hide who you truly were… FrogPaw was just wearing the mark of a sweet, innocent mollie, Almost sheep like… When really, she was a wolf… She was only in it for herself and her own happiness… At least that’s what she thought of herself… She never once thought if crackles WANTED to like her, it’s like it didn’t matter when she plastered herself to his side…
⛆ This idea felt like a stab in the heart, because FrogPaw was just as selfish, just as greedy as the leader she despised… she was just as gross as those she hated… And that made her hate herself… However, StarClan HAND PICKED her to do this, they chose her… She had to be special… She needed to be special… Special like how crackles made her feel that one day he called her pretty…
⛆ Jeez. Now we’re back to crackles again…! Her face flushed red as she remembered that small, little, totally tiny fact… I mean, FrogPaw wasn’t ugly, but she also wasn’t magnificently beautiful either… She was sort of just… Average…! It disgusted her sometimes… But her dear den mate, CracklePaw, showed her some kindness and compliment her beauty (the little bit she had,) and it struck some more confidence within her once again…
⛆ She liked CracklePaw because he said one thing that felt life changing… A small compliment had caused her to sleep better at night, eat more when she was hungry, and smile more often… Surely starclan picked her because if she was capable of trying to get her life together, she was capable of everything…! Was this obsession? Uh… maybe… but it was a healthy one…! It motivated her to try better…!
⛆ She didn’t like the thought of being better than everyone else if it included crackles because he was pure deep within… The two were such opposites… While crackles is a gentle deer trapped inside an angry bear, FrogPaw was just… A wolf in sheep’s clothing… She was a bottled up storm, a poisonous gas that was just being released into the air to infect and corrupt everyone around her… FrogPaw was so much more dangerous than she thought she was… She would soon come to learn this…
⛆ “How do I start this mission…? Who do I start with…?”
(Yes this entire post was also her internal confession to begin pansexual!)
˚₊‧꒰ა ☁︎ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚ ——————
(Her first kill will be a prey stealing loner…!) ——————
-Snowhawk-
demon king | he/him
active purrks: world weaver, nightmare fuel
______________________
The tom's eyes flashed as Frogpaw seemed to have a battle within herself. Perhaps one of these other nights he would sow the seed of doubt in her little... infatuation with a gangly teenager that she was obsessed with. "Don't be so focused on one guy that you ignore your destiny." He murmured, shadowed, haunted gaze raking over the forest surrounding them while he stood idly waiting for her to stop fighting with herself.
One thing to make note of- she didn't ask to know anything. Not the names of the other cats that selected her. Not his past, why he was dead. She just... blindly accepted. Made his job a whole lot easier, but was something to make note of for future reference. Naive. He snapped back to attention when she spoke again, catbrow quirking. It seemed like he would get to try out his new gift.
"Soon, someone will try to steal from your Clan. That is who you start with. I'm not permitted to tell you any more, but you must find them and make an example. I don't care how you do it, or who you do it with. If I'm satisfied, check.... check your nest afterwards. I'll send you a sign if I'm pleased with your work. Understand?" He had learned the intricate art of manipulating the living world slightly, and he would milk that for all he could.
Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing…
