ASHES TO ASHES ( open, joiner

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    // this is a little long, the last paragraph is all you really need to know

    also don't feel pressured to match the length <3


    It had been an unbelievably long time since Constellationdreamer had last inhabited a real body. Frankly, she thought she was dead for good, that she would finally get to rest forever in a realm that wasn't a constant reminder of everything she had lost in the years since her prime. As far as she knew, everyone she had ever loved was dead and gone just like she had been expecting herself to be for the rest of time. And she would have been happy to let her soul fade away to nothing as the millennia passed her by. It was easier to stay dead, she decided, and much less painful. She was tired of being forced into an increasingly unfamiliar world with unfamiliar ranks and faces. How much had changed since she last returned? Surely nothing would be the same, with how the Clans changed like the seasons. While she could rely on the five or six main Clans to stick around, she doubted anyone remembered places like the Compendium or SeaglassClan. And she knew that there would be nobody left that she knew and loved. At best, there would still be creatures who knew her name as a leader of old, but none of her beloved children would still be alive after two years of frequent absence.


    Despite her best efforts to fight it, Constellationdreamer felt the change as her flickering spirit found root in a body. Disgust passed through her mind at her first awareness of the world, cold seeping into her very bones. Oh, how she wished she could just stay dead for once. Why couldn't she just rest in peace? Could she not have that small mercy? But there was nothing to be done about it. She would just have to live out whatever life this body had left, and make the most of it. Perhaps she could learn to love the world of the living once more, as she had always done. It would only hurt more once she died again, but at least she wouldn't spend her time on earth miserably. With her resolve set in place, Constellationdreamer opened her eyes of mismatched copper and turquoise, gazing upon the ring of rocks that Henri had placed there at her death. Inside the ring, flowers had sprouted up from the bouquets he had left her, both her favorite and ones equally as lovely.


    Getting stiffly to her paws and shaking out the dirt clinging to her fur, the golden tabby tigress stepped forward to press a massive paw to the stone with her name engraved in it, taking a deep breath to steady herself. She was alive, she was feeling, and she was utterly alone. Gaze turning stony, Constellationdreamer turned from her own grave and began her trek to the newest ShadowClan territory, wondering where they had decided to settle in the time she had been gone.


    It took a week to track down ShadowClan's new home, but she had done it as a labor of love for the Clan that had raised her. Upon reaching the forest across the western border, Constellationdreamer drew herself to a halt, letting her heterochromatic gaze shift across the eerie trees. They were definitely living up to their name, but it was so much darker than back in her day. Maybe it was better for their reputation, and better for her mental state to not be reliving her old life. Change meant less chance for nostalgia. "This is ShadowClan, correct?" the golden tabby tigress called out after a deep breath, unaware of the name change that her old home had undergone. She would find out exactly how much had changed soon enough. For now, Constellationdreamer stood on the border, holding herself with the steady confidence of someone who had led her clan through countless wars and was not afraid to do it again. She was a regal queen, awaiting the arrival of subjects who had long forgotten her.


    Losteyes had never experienced what it was to be dead. He'd never felt the life seep from his writhing and cold settle upon his stilling frame, never had the edges of the world turn black as his breath rattled low and fleeting from his ribs until whispers of wheezes turn to nothing and his soul flickers out, leaving behind a corpse to be left and forgotten, or buried six feet under the cold dead ground. There had never been a moment of fleeting breath as his torso is crushed under unbelievable weight and he finds himself dead instantly, a bloody carcass no one would remember. He'd seen it, yes. Many, many times he had been the witness of death looming over his shoulder and claiming those around him. He has been lucky enough to remain untouched.


    Because where he comes from, when someone dies they stay dead. Supernatural occurances of reincarnation or reanimation don't happen, so if your bones are thrown in a grave to be buried, they never resurface. Though he may live somewhere those laws are different, he believed himself to be bound by the fact of his heritage; that death was indefinite and life could be taken at a backwards glance.


    Though, he sometimes figures that he might as well be dead. A ghost meandering along a foggy ocean, wandering in search of peace. There's something like longing within him, pulling him to search for eternal rest. He can't seem to find it, so he pads day and night among the mist of a town he cares not for and searches, fruitless in the end. Unfortunately, blood still pumped through his veins and he was alive. He approached the border on steady paws to peer at the blurry form of Constellationdreamer, coming to stand afore her with his cranium angled up to match her stare. He takes a dull moment to conaider her question before he speaks. "Shadow Veil now. But yes." Losteyes answered through the low monotone of his voice. Though his recognition of rank and authority was instilled within him from a young age, it was sometimes finicky, and this creature afore him stood with some strange authority which he did not care to recognize. He didnt see a queen, he saw a stranger who'd been oblivious to a common change through out common clans. Still, his bland remarks were begrudingly polite. "What's your business here?" Losteyes inquired simply.


    //welcome back!!!

    TAGS

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    THE CRITICS TALK OF STUBBORNNESS

    BUT YOU'RE JUST PASSIONATE

    Yuri liked the company of the forest best of all the scenes in the Shadow Veil. It was due to the grove of purplely tinted flowering trees that existed within the forest. He was around resting among the blossoming trees when he heard the presence of Constellationdreamer and Losteyes. The winged cat dropped off a tree limb but took flight before hitting the ground. He took his time gliding through the trees to the border. He had to be careful not to strike his wing on a spiky branch. That would be very uncomfortable for him.

     

    He landed very near to Losteyes despite not knowing his clanmate well. He examined the reincarnated lioness of the border. Yuri was very familiar with having multiple lives and coming back to life in other forms. He had not known Con in her past lifetime however. He, being a past prideful former leader, knew how to pick out those with a likeness. ”Greetings. That is correct. ShadowClan has changed their name to the Shadow Veil,” he explained. ”My name is Yuri Muzikant. Where are you from?” Yuri assumed she was from some foreign place since she didn’t smell of any group’s scent in particular and because she was not aware of the name change.


    TAGS | BIO

    It didn't take all too long for two faces to greet her - unfamiliar, though she expected no less after being gone for so long. At least they were generally friendly, and prompt enough that she wasn't already cursing the dropped standards of her old home. It wouldn't be polite of her to insult the changes of the Shadow Veil, apparently, when change was simply what Clans did with time. Besides, it was just another thing to help separate this version of her home from the gilded version in her mind, full of friends and power. For a moment, she allowed her mismatched gaze to linger on Losteyes, and then Yuri as he came flying down, taking in the appearance of these two who had come to welcome her home. She recognized herself in the way Yuri held himself, offering him a dip of her head in understanding, then doing the same to Losteyes.


    "I'm here to join. My name is Constellationdreamer, but Con or Connie is fine," the tigress finally spoke, offering a warm smile to Losteyes in thanks for his correction to the clan name. The Shadow Veil was certainly... edgier than the previous name, but she found it fit the territory and group itself quite well. That was an okay change, she decided, although it wasn't his place to decide that anymore. At Yuri's question, she wondered if the winged feline would recognize her name enough to answer what he had asked, but she turned her gaze on him and responded to his inquiry regardless. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Yuri. I'm actually from here, born and bred, but I'm afraid I've been gone for quite a while," Constellationdreamer told him, pleasant smile still on her features despite the pause before she decided on the word gone. Her death was still a sensitive topic, especially since it meant she had had to leave her husband and children behind because of it.

    HOW TO BEHAVE IN THIS PLACE —

    Shu was the next Veiler to approach the scene, coming to a stand after Yuri. He was much too young to know who Constellationdreamer was, as he had only been born six moons ago to their current leader-- But if there was one thing he loved, it was history. And anybody who must have been 'gone for a while' knew about their past, right? Intrigued, he tilted his head to the side, warm chocolate eyes glittering with his interest. It was just too bad he was stuck in this Chow Chow body when greeting her. "Welcome back, then. I'm Shu." He said finally.

           

    OPEN YOUR WINGS EVIL ANGEL —

    Raven sensed something different about the older feline. She wasn't entirely sure of what it was, but she knew she couldn't figure it out at the moment. Not with her being a complete stranger to this newcomer. So, with that said she kept herself from asking questions that she wouldn't get the answers to.


    "As Shu said, welcome back. I'm Rose Bleumoon, and this is Damon," The apprentice greeted and motioned over to the floating spirit as she mentioned his name. Damon kept a large, crooked grin on his face as he dipped his head slightly in greeting. He was getting slightly better about greetings as she had been intensely training him for the past couple of days. The results so far were quite rewarding as he didn't invade anyone's bubble instead.

           

    She had been around Shadow Clan for a little while once again, but it was hard to notice someone who chose to stay invisible, went through the trouble of hiding her scent and walked so lightly she hardly ever left paw prints behind her and used earth manipulation to fix when she happened to leave some, one who ate other cats and was pretty much set on going without being noted. An immortal being was always bound to go through spurts when her heart went cold and she did not want to interact with the mortal, those who could abandon her. ConstellationDreamer was one of those who had abandoned her, the other female had died and taken another piece of the calico's heart with her. Sometimes she greeted those who had left her behind with open arms if they managed to find their way home to her, but sometimes the stoic had a much harder time accepting existences back in her life. At the moment, she was not so sure of how she wanted to treat Connie, was this someone to be hugged or someone she should smite for some time before forgiving her for leaving an already shattered heart another piece short?


    Did she even want to appear again when it was for someone who had left her to emotionally rot again?! She had visited that grave so many times in hopes of even just being able to feel the warmth of a friend again, the same rounds she always did before choosing to close herself off once more, yet nothing had ever been brought from it. Where was her 'friend' back than? Her claw's sunk into the branch of the tree she had been standing up in, a slip up because the only thing that softened her frozen heart these days was rage over being abandoned again. With a few chips of wood hitting the ground? The calico materialized her mismatched eyes, the rest of her body following suit as she stared with an empty gaze down at the tigeress. Honestly, she had been leaning more towards just going somewhere else for a bit, however the slip up with sinking her claws into the tree partially forced her paw in this case. If she did not choose to be involved, than if anyone like Connie who knew her, knew of her habits, would know she slipped up, that was not an option. "Yeah, she was a leader." the lithe female walked along the branch, balancing at the tip of it where she should really be falling off, dangerously, but she did not fear anything anymore, after-all she was immortal, even reincarnation had failed her. "Until she abandon the clan by dying." abandoned me. the static in her voice, the snow fall blowing icy winds from her monotone words, barely even looking at Connie as she leaped from the tree.


    Why did mortals have to live such short lives? "You better go get settled, dead girl, and don't look forward to seeing me around, because you won't." she could stay invisible forever if she really wanted to. Constellation couldn't possibly check every cold, damp, tight space in the territory to find her, cause heck it would also involve throwing flour or something into every single space to make the invisible into something visible. Of course Jiyu by now had forgotten to caculate the fact Connie had been persistent enough to see past her normal facade and befriend her in the first place. If her brain hadn't been affected by her frozen heart, she would realize that Connie likely did not give a damn about her desire to remain cold hearted.

    There were kids here! Constellationdreamer really shouldn't have been surprised by the fact that the people around here continued to have kids to bring new life to the Clan, but it had been a long time since she'd run into anyone younger than a year old and acted the part. "It's a pleasure to meet you guys," the tigress spoke to both Shu and Raven, entire expression brightening at the sight of the very fluffy puppy. Then, being introduced to the strange spirit that seemed to follow Raven, the golden tabby tigress tilted her head in interest, but decided not to comment. It was nice to get to see the new life of the Shadow Veil was active and interesting. For all she knew, her own kids were dead and gone, and any that weren't were all grown up by now.


    A few chips of wood raining to the ground had Constellationdreamer snapping her turquoise and copper gaze up to the source, spotting her old friend clinging nonchalantly to a branch. Of course, the calico still had the same dead eyes, but Constellationdreamer was just happy to see the face of one of her closest friends. How long had Jiyu been here alone, though? She had obviously been hiding out a lot, as was typical of her nature, but it didn't stop the grin from spreading across her features. "Ji-" Constellationdreamer began, before Jiyu began to speak, voice cold. Abandoned. Constellationdreamer hated how her friend had spat that word. She couldn't help that she had died, especially when it had been murder. She'd been about to propose to Radiantmemories, trapped in her weakest body, when some bastard had slipped up behind her and slit her throat. She'd had so much left to do. But she had come back almost immediately after that, with no memory, and somehow became the leader of a small group while she tried to figure out who she was. A chance visit to ShadowClan had everything rushing back, and she reunited with Radiantmemories. She had proposed, and they had planned their wedding together. A few days before the big day, she had been killed again, though her memories of that death were murky at best.


    There was so much she had wanted to do, ruined by the death that Jiyu seemed to blame her for. Anger flaring in her eyes, Constellationdreamer forced herself to take three deep breaths before actually speaking. "You know I couldn't do anything about dying," she said first, voice resigned instead of angry. And after Jiyu said that she wouldn't see her around, the tigress just nodded simply. "Okay," she responded, although she had every intention to attack the whole territory with flour if it meant finding Jiyu and fixing whatever was broken between hem. Jiyu knew all too well how persistent Constellationdreamer could be when she wanted to make things right.