Post by Arlinn on Nov 12, 2022 20:16:39 GMT -6
heavyshadow
redwoodclan
what is normal for the spider
is chaos for the fly
Redwood ridges sprawled upward from the lake, rich with ferns hidden beneath accumulating mulch, steadied by primordial roots that dug deeper than any burrowing mice could ever hope. It was there, beneath the ground, where the frost would not reach the bones of the island's foundation. It would persist, as life so often did.
As did war. And pain. And loss. These truths, Heavyshadow knew, were life's solemn promises. Claws gnarled and gripped the divide, pulling one another apart until there tore a dangerously deep rift where only darkness and decay lay at the bottom of its chasmic cliffs. Troubled in his cold nest, Heavyshadow did wish that the nightmare of it all would someday end; that his Clan could know the meaning of peace. Or else resign to the cruel fate LichenClan had woven for them, and perish unto dark forests that had never known the sun.
Yet the sun, in its sempiternal nature, did rise another day. It smiled upon their world, cascading the top of the sequoia trees with a shining afterglow that so often marked the end of the night. Dark leaves turned radiant, opaline and translucent as they rose to touch the tips of their fingers to feel even a moment of such warmth. After darkness would always come light.
And he envied the tops of those redwoods, they that could reach the light of the sun even if only by the edges of their leaflets. He tread toward an isolated path through the shaded undergrowth, leaving behind all that wore him down to the brittle bone. The constant clouds of fear and doubt depressed his spirit only further.
Heavyshadow walked with a limp in his step, an aftereffect of uncomfortable sleep during wintry-cold nights. The muscles in his shoulder strained with each stretch of his favored leg, and so he did try to accommodate it. Thinking no one around to see it, he began to step upon it with care -- or not at all, for some tail-lengths.
Up along those rising hills, away from the chill of the lakeshores, he pressed. Colossal paws, even if only in threes, left deep and visible impressions upon a mulch-covered trail. He trekked for a short time, until he found roots where the ice had begun to melt away and the frigid gloom cast from tall redwoods was left behind. Into that sought-after light, he stepped. Dew-riddled leaves swiped across his pelt, clutching after his long furs to try and keep him benumbed to the state of the season's deepening.
A small, sunlit path paved around a tree trunk. A beam of sunlight flickered across his eyes, bringing welcome warmth to his frosted whiskers and shivering ear-tips. In hopes of finding somewhere comfortable to sunbathe, he continued around the bend. Though he went slowly, sauntering around in order to soak up every moment he could with the dawn's gracious glow.
Yet when he came around the corner in his easygoing pace, so relaxed that his bicolored eyes were covered almost entirely by tired eyelids, he felt his paw step upon another.
Jerking back to the present, Heavyshadow startled back a pace, blinking to clear his eyes and see what unfortunate soul he'd run into. His initial thought was that it had better not be a foxhearted fool LichenClanner-- but then he realized before he could reactionarily yowl an alarm:
"Daffodilshimmer," he immediately dialed back his aggression and surprise replaced it, bristles lain flat once more, curled lip snapped away; but wideneed eyes remained. He paused for so long it was as though that were all he was going to say. He looked her up and down. She was far along in her pregnancy. Though he was no expert in rearing kits and all that, he knew what it looked like at the very least. Had seen it from afar enough times to know she would have hers soon. Very soon.
"Sorry, I wasn't expecting anyone out here," he murmured. Usually he tried to find spots where others would rarely go, but lately it seemed his favorites were being found out by his Clan-mates. It had become quite an annoyance trying to find new ones that weren't already inhabited. A quiet grumble started deep in his throat as he lowered his head and looked off to some nearby pile of old redwood leaves and fallen sticks, "Just wanted to be..."
Alone, he almost said but, seeing her looking up at him with some level of expectance as he spoke... She cowed him.
Seeing Daffodilshimmer, there before him in the luminous glow of the height of her pregnancy, yet stilled his tongue and mind. He could not simply tell her to leave, especially since it seemed she had found this place first. Besides, he'd rather not take this from a queen. She had kits to think of, to keep warm. Her own health mattered too. "I'll go somewhere else, it's fine," he clarified and turned to leave her to whatever it was she was doing.
Wait, I can't leave her out here alone, he realized with a sudden lift of his eyebrows. He stopped dead in his tracks. Turning around quickly on all four of his paws, despite the fact that it drew a sharp breath from him, causing him almost to choke on the word: "W-wait."
A moment was spent taking a steadier breath, then...
"What are you doing out here?" He asked with authoritative curiosity, tilting his head to the right in an almost kit-like manner as his eyes revealed a more genuine concern rather than demand. "Shouldn't Orchidshade and Bouncefire be watching over you all the time now?" He pointed out, looking back where he'd come from as if expecting one or both of the medicine cats to be right behind her. No such appearances were made, much to further his worry.
"What you're doing- it's dangerous. Even if you weren't a queen, it's dangerous out here on your own." He knew he was a hypocrite for saying it, but he didn't care. She couldn't just wander off without at least some kind of escort. She was too small, fragile...
So much for being alone, he thought, glancing over her cream-and-white pelt again. She is pretty though, he thought, and as soon as the thought crossed his mind he pushed it off. She has a mate, mouse-brain. Though he thought it curious, how such a mate had not been named. Why did she-cats do that so often? Not reveal the father? Was he undeserving of the title or... the credit, per se? Was it something deeper? He had too many questions, and they were certainly too intrusive to be said aloud.
You're a lot of things, homewrecker isn't one of them regardless of the situation. If she wants to keep the father unnamed that's her decision, again he reminded himself to keep his thoughts in check. Heavyshadow at least tried not to be ignorant. Though he still could not help but think she could use the support of a partner..
"I can help you with what you need, okay?" Her shimmering gaze caught his attention, how the light seemed to somehow shine through her eyes. Clearing his throat and lifting back up his muzzle to an even keel, he said more assertively, "I will help you. You don't need to be straining yourself or... whatever." He rolled his eyes, pretending not to know about such things.
It was an awkward subject to him, kits and.. those processes which surrounded them. He had never even entertained such a future, not with anyone. He did not know how to talk about it, how to think about it.
"Then we go back to camp... ahem. Please." He definitely didn't want her to get hurt, or worse. And as a warrior, it would now be his responsibility to ensure such things. That kind of pressure made him nervous, as he began to start a wary sweep of their immediate surroundings. Before he helped her, he had to be sure that there were no dangers lurking nearby.
soot
As did war. And pain. And loss. These truths, Heavyshadow knew, were life's solemn promises. Claws gnarled and gripped the divide, pulling one another apart until there tore a dangerously deep rift where only darkness and decay lay at the bottom of its chasmic cliffs. Troubled in his cold nest, Heavyshadow did wish that the nightmare of it all would someday end; that his Clan could know the meaning of peace. Or else resign to the cruel fate LichenClan had woven for them, and perish unto dark forests that had never known the sun.
Yet the sun, in its sempiternal nature, did rise another day. It smiled upon their world, cascading the top of the sequoia trees with a shining afterglow that so often marked the end of the night. Dark leaves turned radiant, opaline and translucent as they rose to touch the tips of their fingers to feel even a moment of such warmth. After darkness would always come light.
And he envied the tops of those redwoods, they that could reach the light of the sun even if only by the edges of their leaflets. He tread toward an isolated path through the shaded undergrowth, leaving behind all that wore him down to the brittle bone. The constant clouds of fear and doubt depressed his spirit only further.
Heavyshadow walked with a limp in his step, an aftereffect of uncomfortable sleep during wintry-cold nights. The muscles in his shoulder strained with each stretch of his favored leg, and so he did try to accommodate it. Thinking no one around to see it, he began to step upon it with care -- or not at all, for some tail-lengths.
Up along those rising hills, away from the chill of the lakeshores, he pressed. Colossal paws, even if only in threes, left deep and visible impressions upon a mulch-covered trail. He trekked for a short time, until he found roots where the ice had begun to melt away and the frigid gloom cast from tall redwoods was left behind. Into that sought-after light, he stepped. Dew-riddled leaves swiped across his pelt, clutching after his long furs to try and keep him benumbed to the state of the season's deepening.
A small, sunlit path paved around a tree trunk. A beam of sunlight flickered across his eyes, bringing welcome warmth to his frosted whiskers and shivering ear-tips. In hopes of finding somewhere comfortable to sunbathe, he continued around the bend. Though he went slowly, sauntering around in order to soak up every moment he could with the dawn's gracious glow.
Yet when he came around the corner in his easygoing pace, so relaxed that his bicolored eyes were covered almost entirely by tired eyelids, he felt his paw step upon another.
Jerking back to the present, Heavyshadow startled back a pace, blinking to clear his eyes and see what unfortunate soul he'd run into. His initial thought was that it had better not be a foxhearted fool LichenClanner-- but then he realized before he could reactionarily yowl an alarm:
"Daffodilshimmer," he immediately dialed back his aggression and surprise replaced it, bristles lain flat once more, curled lip snapped away; but wideneed eyes remained. He paused for so long it was as though that were all he was going to say. He looked her up and down. She was far along in her pregnancy. Though he was no expert in rearing kits and all that, he knew what it looked like at the very least. Had seen it from afar enough times to know she would have hers soon. Very soon.
"Sorry, I wasn't expecting anyone out here," he murmured. Usually he tried to find spots where others would rarely go, but lately it seemed his favorites were being found out by his Clan-mates. It had become quite an annoyance trying to find new ones that weren't already inhabited. A quiet grumble started deep in his throat as he lowered his head and looked off to some nearby pile of old redwood leaves and fallen sticks, "Just wanted to be..."
Alone, he almost said but, seeing her looking up at him with some level of expectance as he spoke... She cowed him.
Seeing Daffodilshimmer, there before him in the luminous glow of the height of her pregnancy, yet stilled his tongue and mind. He could not simply tell her to leave, especially since it seemed she had found this place first. Besides, he'd rather not take this from a queen. She had kits to think of, to keep warm. Her own health mattered too. "I'll go somewhere else, it's fine," he clarified and turned to leave her to whatever it was she was doing.
Wait, I can't leave her out here alone, he realized with a sudden lift of his eyebrows. He stopped dead in his tracks. Turning around quickly on all four of his paws, despite the fact that it drew a sharp breath from him, causing him almost to choke on the word: "W-wait."
A moment was spent taking a steadier breath, then...
"What are you doing out here?" He asked with authoritative curiosity, tilting his head to the right in an almost kit-like manner as his eyes revealed a more genuine concern rather than demand. "Shouldn't Orchidshade and Bouncefire be watching over you all the time now?" He pointed out, looking back where he'd come from as if expecting one or both of the medicine cats to be right behind her. No such appearances were made, much to further his worry.
"What you're doing- it's dangerous. Even if you weren't a queen, it's dangerous out here on your own." He knew he was a hypocrite for saying it, but he didn't care. She couldn't just wander off without at least some kind of escort. She was too small, fragile...
So much for being alone, he thought, glancing over her cream-and-white pelt again. She is pretty though, he thought, and as soon as the thought crossed his mind he pushed it off. She has a mate, mouse-brain. Though he thought it curious, how such a mate had not been named. Why did she-cats do that so often? Not reveal the father? Was he undeserving of the title or... the credit, per se? Was it something deeper? He had too many questions, and they were certainly too intrusive to be said aloud.
You're a lot of things, homewrecker isn't one of them regardless of the situation. If she wants to keep the father unnamed that's her decision, again he reminded himself to keep his thoughts in check. Heavyshadow at least tried not to be ignorant. Though he still could not help but think she could use the support of a partner..
"I can help you with what you need, okay?" Her shimmering gaze caught his attention, how the light seemed to somehow shine through her eyes. Clearing his throat and lifting back up his muzzle to an even keel, he said more assertively, "I will help you. You don't need to be straining yourself or... whatever." He rolled his eyes, pretending not to know about such things.
It was an awkward subject to him, kits and.. those processes which surrounded them. He had never even entertained such a future, not with anyone. He did not know how to talk about it, how to think about it.
"Then we go back to camp... ahem. Please." He definitely didn't want her to get hurt, or worse. And as a warrior, it would now be his responsibility to ensure such things. That kind of pressure made him nervous, as he began to start a wary sweep of their immediate surroundings. Before he helped her, he had to be sure that there were no dangers lurking nearby.
soot
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