Finding Dusk [Dusklion Search Party 2]

[occultation]

( @alec @finley !! )

This search party takes place after the one Fadingstar went on with Goldfish and Heroneye. It will fit into the timeline roughly one week after Dusklion's disappearance; we'll finish it up on Monday when Dusk is scheduled to be found.

To say that Fadingstar was feeling immensely defeated was an understatement.

It had now been roughly a quarter moon since Dusklion had disappeared, and nobody had found a single trace of her. With each passing day, the fear that she was indeed dead - or worse - only grew. He felt immense remorse over the way their last interaction had gone. A fight was not the last memory he wanted his sister to have of him.

Guilt and grief were powerful emotions, and they were almost strong enough to bring the RiverClan leader to his belly. He knew that he'd have to choose a new deputy if they didn't find her soon, but he wasn't ready to give up hope yet. He wanted to keep looking. He had to keep looking.

If there was even the slimmest chance that she was alive out there, he was going to find her.

It was early in the day, the air crisp and cold. The cold only served to give him an excuse other than fear and defeat to shiver.

"Jayfrost and Cobwebfern!" he called. His voice was weaker than normal, strained and cracked. He'd gone out many times on his own, but this time he wanted more paws with him. In case he was missing something.

Jayfrost and Cobwebfern were both close with Dusklion (he refused to even consider the verbiage "had been"), so he trusted that they'd put the right amount of effort into this. Not that he didn't think others would, but he wanted no doubt in his mind. Thunderchaser's threats, combined with Dusklion's disappearance, had him less trusting of most of his Clanmates than usual.

The black-and-orange leader waited, claws scraping against the stone and tail whipping back and forth, for the two warriors.

[alec]

->> jayfrost <<-
[ he/him | riverclan | 30moons | beefed up t3 ]
a tall, silver classic-tabby with well groomed short to medium length fur and icy blue eyes

jayfrosts ears perked at fadingsuns call, and had this been a different situation the warrior wouldve probably had some internal snarky remark for fadingsun, but he could understand why. why his voice was cracking and why he looked worse for wear. had he been a different cat he wouldnt be so pathetically affected by this either. jayfrost was convinced, after he had lost cardinal, mother and father moons ago he was dull and emptied out enough to take another loss without comment or complaint, but the warrior had let his composure slip, like too many times before, so now he stood by fadingsun, eyes burning from the lack of sleep (he'd blame it on the dry air if pointed out) and mildly dizzy from simply standing up. well. this wasnt the first time, and he could suppose his worst coping mechanisms had always come out when it was least convenient. but really, it wasnt his fault the nausea followed everywhere he went, and that he was equally too tired to sleep and too caught up in everything he had shoved down pretty much crashing down around him.
and he knew it was weak, and he should be holding up better, but hell, here he was, very much so holding up (even if he didnt really believe it himself), even if he had been thinking weak self pitying thoughts since he noticed dusklions disappearance.
"fadingsun" he had quietly greeted the leader with a sharp nod, before finding his place next to him. perhaps his distain for the leader was mostly shadowed by the understanding he could extend to him in this situation, and the way his words bled together, unique accent harsher than usual, perhaps fadingsun was well aware what jayfrost thought of his leadership. though, it wasnt of much importance to jayfrost either way.

"wasnt hopin our paths would cross again like this" he mewed as the grey molly took her place by them, offering cobwebfern a weak nod and even weaker smile, eyes dull and empty. he could imagine what "this" was, fadingsun looking upset and calling for jayfrost and cobwebfern specifically? it didnt leave much room for imagination. however, the black and orange tom was yet to speak it into truth, so jayfrost remained quiet in waiting, tabbied tail alternating between tapping the ground and flicking from side to side.