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Post by amber on Dec 28, 2022 22:44:09 GMT
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Groaning softly, Thistlepaw’s eyes groggily opened - expecting to see the newly familiar walls of the apprentice den greeting her. Having just been appointed as an apprentice, the young molly presumed that she was waking up out of excitement for the day to come - so it was no surprise that her fur immediately bristled upon realising she was somewhere that was completely unfamiliar.
Springing to her paws and noticing how the ground seemed to sag underneath her weight, Thistlepaw was quick to whip around to take note of her surroundings. Decaying trees, dim, flittering lights that seemed to glow within the daunting shadows of shrubbery and the occasionally screech that broke the desolate silence was all she could see. Willing her fur to lay flat and reminding herself of her goal - Thistlepaw straightened from the cowered stance she had been in to stand strong.
“Hello?” She called out, cursing softly when her own voice bounced back at her with a slight warble. It was impossible to deny that she was being watched from somewhere within the decaying landscape - but it was difficult to pin-point where exactly the predatory eyes were watching her from. “Show yourself. Don’t be a coward.” Thistlepaw eventually snapped out - eyes narrowing into the darkness as she set a challenge for the seemingly invisible enemy that was simply observing her.
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Post by littlewing on Dec 29, 2022 2:13:25 GMT
Ｄｏｖｅｓｐｉｄｅｒ ![]()  A voice rang out from the darkness. She couldn’t help but laugh in response, tone like saccharine wind chimes bouncing in the breeze. It had been a long time since she last had company… well, good company at least. Many cats would pass through her territory, but none notable in any way. They were all the same: some lost soul full of regrets, lashing out at anyone they could. Then they did something awful to end up here. The trauma they carried was always so boring. Boo hoo, your mate died! Or your kit! Whatever! Some of us didn’t have the luxury to have mates or kits. Some of us were actually interesting. Dovespider stepped out, the moonlight bathing her fur in a spectral glow. Even in death, the she-cat’s form remained well-kept, coat evenly groomed and not a speck of dirt present. Her emerald eyes traced the younger cat up and down as she continued to approach, her gaze nothing less than obvious. This other cat wasn’t like the others; she didn’t reek of blood from another life. No ghostly injuries or hollow gaze either. She was still alive, and that was interesting.“Oh, sweetness, I’m anything but.” She purred, not comforting like a mother would to her kitten, but similar to a growl, a rumbling that starts deep in her chest and escapes from between her fangs. A purr of a predator content with her catch. Dovespider stopped right before she could invade the other’s personal space. She was one to test boundaries, but she could see the tenseness stored in black-and-white haunches, the way they were ready to pounce at a moment’s notice. Dovespider wasn’t the fighting type, that was much too messy and she’d spend the rest of the afternoon obsessively cleaning herself afterwards. She’d avoid that if she could. “What’s a cute little mousey like you doing here?“ She meowed innocently, head tilted to the side. |
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Post by amber on Dec 29, 2022 21:51:38 GMT
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A chill crawled up and along the apprentice’s spine as the unknown voice laughed. Pin pricks of ice cold fear began to tingle within her paws yet, instead of turning and fleeing, Thistlepaw instead unsheathed her claws and dug them deep into the decaying floor. This was her first challenge, she reasoned with herself, a voice without a face would not make her cower in fear. She was no kit anymore.
Yet as the she-cat emerged from the oozing darkness, her ear flicked in surprise. Such a beautiful molly in such a horrific terrain - that within itself was surprise enough to catch Thistlepaw off guard. Narrowed eyes tracking this strange she-cat, Thistlepaw made note of the trees around them. Though her training was slim to none - the slim cat had found comfort in using trees to her advantage to bound off of, so though it was most likely just a blanket of comfort, Thistlepaw still found herself shrugging off her unease as she took note of her surrounding.
“I simply woke up here.” Came her paused response, voice curt and unamused. “I assume this is not a place where good willed cats come - no matter how pretty you seem to make yourself. The question is better aimed at you - what is a cute little ‘mousey’ like you doing here?” Mimicking the greyed molly, Thistlepaw tilted her head to the side and widened her eyes into one similar to that of a kit begging to leave a camp.
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Post by littlewing on Dec 30, 2022 1:20:27 GMT
Ｄｏｖｅｓｐｉｄｅｒ ![]() She smiled. This one was chatty. ”Usually I prefer beautiful, gorgeous, or lovely… but I’ll take ‘pretty’ as well.” Dovespider’s tail wrapped around her paws, swaying from side to side slowly in amusement. So her company had woken up here. The siamese had never walked amongst the deceased while she lived, so she reckoned that this must be a unique ability, something rare amongst these new clan cats. She wondered if it would work the other way around, too.
Dovespider was seated casually, no signs of aggression at all. Though she didn’t blame the young cat for being so defensive. Meeting a stranger in a scary forest isn’t exactly the same as going on a little morning patrol.
She sighed. Avoiding questions with this one would probably lead to more questions. Might as well be honest and get this all over with. And if this other cat wanted to pick a fight afterwards, well, it’s not like you can die twice. (Right? Right.)
”Killed a couple of toms. Who hasn’t,” she responded flatly with a wrinkle of her nose. Her crimes against Starclan were probably not as bad as half of the other dark forest cats. She didn’t deserve to be in such a disgusting place, the whole debacle wasn’t even her fault. It was Pinesun, or Sunpelt, or whatever his name was! It was his fault, not hers.
Her eyes closed for a moment as she re-centered herself, expression clearing once open again.
”Whats your name, sweetness? Maybe I can help you get out of here.” Or not. It didn’t matter to her. |
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Post by amber on Dec 30, 2022 13:34:30 GMT
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Instead of fear or disgust, Thistlepaw felt that she should have experienced at the news of how this she-cat had murdered others - she only had curiosity. The young apprentice did not consider herself a violent cat by any means, and never once had she even thought about harming her clanmates…yet she had heard tales. Every kit had. They knew how they came to live on the land they now called home, how Aspenstar dug his teeth into the throat of the leader who previously claimed home over their land.
Thistlepaw found it all intriguing. Was Aspenstar going to be put on trial for how he acted? What about the other cats who lost their lives and home to them - would those responsible face repercussions for their actions? Or would they be placed in Starclan instead?
“Why did you do that? And what is your name?” Thistlepaw asked, tone now tinged with genuine curiosity as opposed to faux. “My name is Thistlepaw. I am an apprentice in Meadowclan.”
Perhaps stupidly, she felt her shoulders losing their tension. Something about this newcomer felt unthreatening. It felt like this molly was only asking questions to entertain herself as opposed to wanting to harm the apprentice.
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Post by littlewing on Jan 23, 2023 23:56:46 GMT
Ｄｏｖｅｓｐｉｄｅｒ ![]() ‘ Why did you do that?’ She blinked. Why did she do that? Her past was hard to remember- hazy at best, completely forgotten at worst. The details were blurred, muffled through the mossy layers of death and many moons spent wandering the darkness that surrounded her. The way that the Dark Forest stifled her every breath, every thought, sickly branches reaching down and sapping whatever life remained in her spirit… all that Dovespider was left with was what emotions she carried during her final moments. Jealousy, desire, regret, disgust… towards the toms, or towards herself? Her stomach flipped, and suddenly she felt a bit queasy. “Maybe we’ll talk about that next time we meet, over some fresh-kill perhaps?” Or as fresh as they would come in this rotten hole. She forced a smile, the expression not reaching her eyes. Meadowclan. It sounded familiar, something just out of reach within herself, but no matter how far she stretched and extended her claws, she couldn’t grasp it. Was that her clan? She could make out a fuzzy landscape in her head- pleasantly green and dotted with wildflowers. Just as quickly as the image arrived, it left.
“Thistlepaw,” she repeated, Dovespider’s expression slowly relaxing, though still tensed from the young cat’s previous question. “Promise me you’ll be careful out here. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to that adorable face of yours.” Dovespider’s fluffy tail flipped atop her paws as she leaned forward, taking Thistlepaw’s appearance. Youthful and not a scar in sight. She wondered how the seemingly innocent cat was able to enter the Dark Forest… though maybe she wasn’t as innocent as she let on. “Make sure to always try to find me when you come here. We girls should stick together, don’t you think?” |
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