Private Thread Empty Paws

The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all
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Heatherpaw, nearly a warrior, found herself taking a well worn path to a place that usually had decent hunting prospects. However, this day she was doing less hare chasing and more bee chasing as she had scented pass her by.

With every ill tiding that seemed to plague WindClan they were lucky their spirits weren't all mud trod. Pipertuft...Aspenberry...and now Cedarpaw. It wasn't fair. As much as she was taught that StarClan always has a plan, her mood was dimmed by the shadow of all the loss around her. Still...silver lining had to be sought for a better tomorrow.

When she spotted the cat ahead of her, she padded up slowly towards the older warrior. Maybe Beewhisker deserved peace...quiet, but they also deserved to know that she had their back. "Hello, Beewhisker...Scented...any prey around?"

Real strength isn't just in fighting, it's knowing when to stand firm and when to lend a paw.

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When Heatherpaw approached, Beewhisker didn’t flinch, the only thing that would have indicated acknowledgment of Heatherpaw being there was a simple twitch of the ears, and that was the only sign that they had heard what Heatherpaw was even saying. As they fell silent for longer than it was comfortable before answering her, quiet and voice breaking.

"I wouldn’t know." They spoke, not dismissive or rude, simply devoid of anything that could really be read, except for one thing, the grief that had been plaguing them while they were ‘missing’ for the past night and morning. "I haven’t been hunting." They added, lowering themself to the ground, a pathetic lump of fur and meat that landed sadly on the moorland ground. If it weren’t for the dryness of their fur, some might say that they looked like wet dirty moss, their fur fell messily and unevenly across their body from temporary lack of care. They haven’t bothered.

Their once bright, pale blue eyes seemed duller, almost, half lidded is if they were tired but the rest of their body was rigid and firm. Like they haven’t been able to rest properly since they left. They didn’t really turn to Heatherpaw as they spoke to her. "Did Emberdawn send you to look for me?"

The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all
❖ ⭒ ❖ ⭒ ❀ ⭒ ❖ ⭒ ❖

teh she-cat's shoulders sagged once she came up beside the cat, unsure how to not be...obvious in the matter. She didn't want to lie to them, so honesty was the best sort of remedy she could think of. Heatherpaw kicked a stone beside her, flipping it into the grass. "Yeah..." Her warrior ceremony was close now and she felt confident enough in her own paws to search for Beewhisker on her own now that the rogue had been dealt with.

"We're worried about you." She stated simply, looking the ragged cat over. It didn't look like she slept a wink since the news. Berrypaw was probably no better, but it wouldn't do to leave the other apprentice wondering where his mother went. She loafed next to the older warrior, long neatly groomed tail curling over her own flank as she glanced over at them, undettered that Beewhisker didn't seem to meet her gaze.

Real strength isn't just in fighting, it's knowing when to stand firm and when to lend a paw.

∘◦❁◦∘ 🐝 ∘◦❁◦∘

Their body rippled beneath their coat, perhaps the only sign that they had responded to Heatherpaw’s touch, how little there was of it. If they were so worried, why hadn’t they looked for Beewhisker yesterday? Cedarpaw was surely more important than that, they understood it for the most part, but the lack of the cats that they had spent their life beside… it clouded their judgement, slightly.

"Why are you worried about me? Everyone should be searching for Cedarpaw." Beewhisker flattened their ears, not moving save from curling their tail tightly around their body. They wanted to share everything, how worried they were for everyone who speaks with them now, what sort of curse had they brought upon the ones they loved, Aspenberry, Cedarpaw, StarClan knows who was next! "You can tell Emberdawn that I’m alive." They added, glancing down at their white paws pressed against the ground.

There was a moment of silence, neither cat leaving, but neither cat making any sort of move to drift closer, all until Beewhisker flicked their eyes towards Heatherpaw "I’m cursed, the cats I get close to, Aspenberry and now Cedarpaw, they’re gone, it could only be a matter of time for another cat vanishes next. Berrypaw… Bayflower?!" They wailed their tail fluffing up slight before flattening, Heatherpaw didn’t need to carry anymore weight of their sorrow. Not now.