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Post by Sasha on Aug 31, 2008 13:31:20 GMT -7
She could have attempted to lighten the air with a smile as he approached, but she didn't. Instead she turned her head to see him with one eye and watched without making a sound.
She supposed that years of living with this sort of sadness had nearly desensitized her, though her reactions had always been rather profound if the feeling was great enough. Stargazer's breath slowed and she fidgeted, turning toward him. She didn't look directly at the apprentice, a bit over his shoulder.
"Do you need me to leave you be, comrade?" she asked, keeping her voice quiet and even. Stargazer rose to a sitting position, wrapping her tail about her front paws, her nose pointed at the ground.
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Post by windrunner on Aug 31, 2008 15:21:05 GMT -7
Dartpaw began to feel disconnetced.She got up and wakled away sadly.She soon found a tree and climbed it sadly.She cryed and cryed herself to sleep.Maybe I'll leave I get in everyones buisness so I might as well leave.Fine I'll leave when I wake up.
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Post by windrunner on Sept 1, 2008 9:46:35 GMT -7
Um no I can wait while you do your thing with Dante and Darkpaw.
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Post by **Liz** on Oct 8, 2008 22:48:42 GMT -7
( Okay I am starting... now  Oh, and this is after the gathering, 'cause Stargazer already asked Darkpaw if he'd scented something other than Bobcat so... yeah  )
Darkpaw's throat contracted in a pained swallow.
What was he to tell her?
" Stargazer this isn't... normal behavior for me." He laughed slightly, although his chuckle was hollow. Just get on with it, his nerves scolded him. He closed his eyes and began, treating each word as tenderly as if he were speaking to a dying elder.
" ... My father was tyrant. He wanted to take control over the forest and, before I got to Thunderclan, was almost going to, too."
His eyes felt heavy in their sockets, his whiskers quivered with inward pain. He drew a shaking breath in and steadied himself, slowly letting it out. Without breathing he continued.
" Before-before he was killed... well, I had a brother from an earlier litter... Blacktail, and he-he and my father were close, real close and Blacktail was to be the next in line to my fathers throne." He stared in the direction of the sky oak, looking around him and then into the water, as if drawing himself a mental picture of that day.
" We were in the hideout and my love... ah, Shiverpaw, she told me just before she died who led her to my mother... ' was-uh, Blacktail... I don't know but, I think... I think he's here. He's looking for me. He killed my mother! He killed my father! He killed my love!"
Distressed, he whirled around, burying his face into Stargazers shoulder, drawing in her sweet scent. His whole body shook, his tail twitched nervously. Even through all that the wicked thought popped into his head;
What if Stargazer rejected him?
" I don't know..." |
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Post by Sasha on Oct 9, 2008 20:34:37 GMT -7
Stargazer flinched as Darkpaw pressed his muzzle into ehr shoulder, but did not pull away. "Your...brother..." she said slowly, but said nothing more. Darkpaw had mentioned his father before, Stargazer already considered him to be, as it sounded, a more powerful cat than Rojor. And if not so much more powerful, then at least more motivated.
"Darkpaw..." she said slowly, pulling back to look over his face, her eyes sincere. "You remember that I said I would help you? You must remember that the entire clan, all of your friends: we'll all help you, comrade. Why do you think your brother is here searching for you?"
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Post by **Liz** on Oct 9, 2008 22:30:32 GMT -7
" Stargazer, if I knew what went through my brothers mind then I'd either be insane or as twisted as him."
The sun shone down on his fur, accenting his shiny black muscles. The scar like marking on his nose looked as if it had been cut by a claw, although Darkpaw was sure (somewhat) that it was only a birthmark.
But, he couldn't meet Stargazers eyes.
His conversation seemed to take a new weight to it, and he struggled to compose himself.
" My father had high hopes for me, though, and he spent many moons training me by his own paws." his claws extended and retracted, he wondered whether or not this was relevant to anything they were discussing, maybe she could make sense of it though. Rumor had it, she wasn't clan born. She might have some insight or sagely advice to give him. " Blacktail was so... jealous of me. He wanted all of fathers attention. So, in a sense, he turned me against my kin, so I'd be disowned. Shiverpaw was his last resort... it worked, din't?" Sighing heavily he turned away from Stargazer and faced the lake, his head hanging low above the water. He seemed to mature in those five seconds as his broad shoulders ripped with muscles sagged, and his eyes seemed bogged down with time.
"To prove to my parents that he was totally against the clan system, after I was banished, he changed his name. Everyone did..."
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Post by Sasha on Oct 11, 2008 11:17:58 GMT -7
"Jealousy..." she said slowly, and shook her head. To be honest, as she thought on it now, his story reminded her of something Rahkashi would say. Without the jealousy, of course, as Rojor had had his own selfish reasons. She waited a moment before speaking again, her ears flicked forward and to attention. "You say he wanted you out of the picture, and he...did. Why would he...?"
It was confusing, his story, but as she sat, silent, she tried to putthe pieces together. "Could he want to--" she stopped with a breath. Stargazer couldn't bring herself to speak what was on her mind: death. She couldn't ask the question, simply couldn't, so shook her head numbly instead.
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Post by **Liz** on Oct 11, 2008 11:40:50 GMT -7
He knew what she meant.Death would be more than welcomed.
" Most definitely, he would, he's already gone for my neck, and when i came to Thunderclan I was already half dead. "
His head hung slightly, his neck was sore from his violent seizures minutes ago. The blood was dried, although with every word his face cringed painfully, had opened the wound and it now bled freely.
" We'll see, if he decides to come then he comes. If he decides to kill me then... we'll see."
This is so sad...
He closed his eyes against the dripping blood, sighing heavily, let his shoulders fall even more.
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Post by Sasha on Oct 11, 2008 12:30:35 GMT -7
Stargazer felt rage boil up inside her chest, and her eyes narrowed to slits. Darkpaw was so young, and already...
"We'll see indeed, comrade," the gold-eyed warrior said slowly, her soft voice shaky with emotion. "If he decides to kill you, he shall be delt with."
She stopped suddenly -- this was Darkpaw's brother, however murderous! "I...I doubt after face the clan he would...dare to try and come back."
Her eyes flashed, and she felt as if she were taking orders from Rojor again.
'Kill 'im, girly,' he used to say, and she'd pounce. His warriors would move like a crowd of fluid machines, their movements quick and concise. She'd lost some of that, especially being next-in-line for healer had turned that switch off shortly after Rojor had installed it.
Shaking her head, Stargazer's eyes caught sight of the newly-opened wound. It seemed as thought it took her a second, darting from the knotted tree roots and back, a clot of spider webs in her muzzle. "Here now," she said softly, pressing them tight on his forehead. "You can be sure nothing bad will become of you, comrade."
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Post by **Liz** on Oct 12, 2008 16:49:40 GMT -7
We can never be sure. " Thank you, Stargazer."
Darkpaw looked around, and felt a bit embarrassed now that she was having to take care of him. He should be able to tough it out, and be a tom. Grow some stones, his father always used to tell him.
Now, exactly what that meant confused him to this day, he got the main point.
" He became a rouge, I believe. I could have killed him, but he walked. Can you tell me anything about rouges?"
He'd had a dream about Dante. Him and Dante were always very close as kits, until they grew apart.
" Do they form clans?"
To Darkpaw, it would make sense that Dante would join a rouge clan. Probably to just take over.
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Post by Sasha on Oct 12, 2008 19:50:56 GMT -7
Stargazer gave him a weak, yet somehow hopeful, smile. "You could call them clans, yes," she answered, shrugging beside him. "The term pack was used most often around my ears. Rojor called himself a king, in fact. It fit him. Most rogue leaders are extremely powerful. They have to be, for you see, they are constantly being fought against. If a strong packmate feels he is being treated unfairly, he will schedule a fight of power against the leader cat." she took a breath, rolling her eyes off to look at the tree branches above her slick gray head.
"Rarely does a female ever stand up, and if she does she should hope to be the strongest of every cat around until the day she passes on. It is a difficult life," she said slowly, quietly. "You are subserviant. You must do as your leader tells you. If you hear a comrade speaking out silently against the leader, you must report them. It is a difficult thing," she repeated, "rogue life."
[Is Dante going to pop up in this thread or is that for later?]
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Post by **Liz** on Oct 13, 2008 22:09:39 GMT -7
( Sure, he'll pop in now I suppose XD)
Darkpaw listened intently, as if this were the last he'd ever hear of these...packs.
His nose was still caked with the blood seeping from his forehead. It smelled like death.
Dipping one of his paws into the lake water, he managed to drag it across his nose to clear it up.
The wound had stopped bleeding for sure now, and he hated not having the sense of smell...
Theres the bloody kid... massive little chap, though, in't he?
Emerging from the bushes, just downwind of the pair, a smaller version of Darkpaw emerged from the bushes. But, he wasn't exactly like Darkpaw. Darkpaw did not have the ringed dull brown eyes. His chest was not puffed out with vanity and sureness of his own build. Darkpaw was definitely a larger cat, but Dante... he was pure muscle, and blood. Every possible white hair was dyed crimson.
He snorted.
" Rojor? A 'king' indeed! Ha!"
He was a cat. And yet, he strutted like he was the king of the coop.
But for this occasion he kept the strutting to a minimum, and resorted to a highly effective show of modesty.
" Star, Rojor was never king. Never had been, never was."
Who was he kidding? He didn't know Star personally, hell, he hardly knew her name! He'd only heard the little brat mention it a few times, which was useful to him.
I wonder if she got the hint, the excessive use of the past tense should have been a graceful hint.
Dante sat, curling his tail around his paws contently. A gutsy move, around enemies.
" If there even were a throne, it now belongs to me anyway."
BIG hint.
Darkpaw whirled around, his jaws parted with a massively aggressive hiss.
Dante!
Throne? That worried him. Dante should not be the king of...anything.
He took a hesitant step back, placing himself in the proper position to protect Stargazer if Dante made any move whatsoever.
His bloodied eyes darkened and widened as he growled a warning, lowering his head so as to protect his neck.
" What are you doing here, brother?"
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Post by Sasha on Oct 18, 2008 19:48:54 GMT -7
"How do you know who I am?"
Her mind went wild. Was? This is Darkpaw's brother, she told herself. He's dangerous, Darkpaw said so. Trust him.
She always would.
But something he said tugged at her mind, bringing her to take a step closer to the mysterious tresspasser. "You...you mean to say that you..." she could hardly speak, but swallowed and took another step past Darkpaw and toward the stranger, though keeping herself plenty of space away that, if he attempted an attack, she could bound away practically unscathed. "Did you kill him?"
She couldn't bring herself to say murder. Rojor's death, natural or otherwise, would be happy news on any occasion. Perhaps, even, to his family.
To Rahkashi.
She wouldn't dwell on him.
"You know Rojor," she said slowly. "And somehow, you seem to know me, however vague. Do you, sir, know anything of Rojor's pack? Anything of the others? Or did he murder them, too?"
Any lie would do, she decided. She would let her mind rest with any answer she recieved. Again, she thought: this cat is tresspassing.
She erased the thought.
What does he know? she wondered instead.
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Post by **Liz** on Oct 21, 2008 17:12:39 GMT -7
" Stargazer you can't honestly-"
Darkpaw found himself frustrated at his seemingly unimportant existence.
He would have left, but then again he would have done a number of things had he the chance...
Dante ignored his whining little brother and set his sights on this Stargazer cat.His ears drooped a notch, he lowered his eyes and let the fur on his tail lay flat.
He looked distraught, shaking with fits of remorse.
" Stargazer, is it now? Stargazer," His tone was deep and quavering, " They're dead. All dead. You see-"
Taking it slow was the main thing, he thought, keep it slow.
Taking a deep breath he lifted his chin and stared her in the eyes. Looking down forced his eyes to water and moisten, deepening the effect.
" Rojor- we had just lost a battle with a gang of kitty pets. Kitty pets! You can probably imagine how mad his was. He set out to make an example to us all, he murdered all the she-cats except for one, and three males..."
Then what? Lying on the spot was something he was good at, but to speak of the mannerisms of Rojor, that was a challenge to parrot.
" I challenged him. 'That's enough!' I said ' This is disgusting. Disgraceful! I challenge your position, Rojor'... and I did. You know the rules, a fight to the death and only between the two cats... you know. I won, obviously."
He sighed heavily again, looking up to her. Thinking over what he'd just said made him realize, That doesn't explain how they're all dead.
No problem.
" After that we moved southward up the mountain face but... there were only so many of us and only so much I could do..."
Do about what? He sighed heavily, looking as if it was too painful to go on.
" I'm sorry..."
Mouse dung!
Darkpaw growled under his breath, taking a side step closer to Stargazer, not taking his eyes off his precious older brother. She was a warrior, he can't tell her what to do and where to go. So he just sat tight, his tail lashing quietly.
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Post by Sasha on Oct 26, 2008 17:39:43 GMT -7
"I could imagine..." she said slowly, her eyes narrowed to golden slits, "that what I thought about your words were true. Slithery, slimy lies. Damn me if I run with it!" she hissed, taking a step back. Suddenly, her flattened ears flicked forward. "Sir, I know them better. Rojor would never lose. When Rojor lost a battle, he had his warriors fight until they were broken and on their dying breath. Sir, there would not be one warrior cat alive in his pack if he lost a battle." Her shoulders slumped, and her chest heaved. "But I told myself I would take a lie. I cannot disprove the story of your challenge, I cannot say that you are not a sorry excuse for a leader, sir, which you may rightfully be!" With that, the spark in her eyes vanished, and her voice softened.
Stargazer righted herself, biting her lip and taking a deep breath. "Sir, you are tresspassing. I wish there to be no more exchange between you and I."
The gray warrior spun, then, staring blankly into the water. She kept her back to him. Even if this cat had given her a lie, she doubted there was a cat from Rojor's pack left alive. Her friends--
Teared welled in her eyes, and she pushed them away, shutting her eyes tightly.
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Oh, and this is after the gathering, 'cause Stargazer already asked Darkpaw if he'd scented something other than Bobcat so... yeah 
)