RUN YOU CLEVER BOY — [open]

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    ★ ★ ★ the brute of a tom worked his way over the territory with ease, his body was made for this. he was born and raised within the kingdom of everlasting mountains that spread their jagged wings within the heavens above. long legs of a true siamese propelled the tom over boulders and rocks, navigating down cliffs with ease as his tail balanced him, gracefully following after the tom much like that of a snow leopard. a blur of ivory amongst the darkness and shade that cast over the territory.


    the sun had begun to creep behind the mountains, casting the world within an abyss of darkness. slivers of light illuminated his trail as the sunset above wolfsbane's head had begun to fade and melt like liquid paint within the sky. specks of stars beginning to grace the firmament within a bathe of scattered moondust. liquid gold and sequin silver shimmering within the darkness, beacons of hope to those who had lost their way, he always looked towards them for guidance as though he could hear the universe whispering within his ears. they were his ancestors within the tribe of endless hunting, guiding him, he could feel their power twisting and tangling within his veins. even in the darkest times he could feel them within his own blood, he could look up within the sky and now that his family was too and perhaps they were thinking of him.


    a low growl emitted within the tom's throat, a kind of anger burning within his limbs as he ran. he knew better then that. he knew his family was glad he was gone, perhaps they even believed he was dead. they hoped he was dead.


    he'd vanished from camp that night, slipped from the presence of his guard and found his way standing over the skeleton gorge. the breath heaved in his chest, settling past his tongue as he looked down within the darkness. he could see the ribs and skulls of the dead below, decorating the gorge in a veil of death. the male was silent, his ears flattened against the side of his skull as he just stood, hovering over the edge. the earth below his paws began to crumble, causing him to look down and stand there for several moments, watching bits of dirt and rock separate and fall within the infinite darkness. wolfsbane took a step back, leaning his head down and slipping his bloodclanner collar from his frame with some difficulty before it fell with a thud upon the ground before him. rows of teeth and claws adorned the black leather as he stood before it, anger burned within silver steel irises as he simply stood over it in thought. hard muscles shifted, the wound upon his shoulder aching. it was as if you could feel the coldness radiate from his body as though ice ran through his veins. it was time to dispose of his past.


    "speech."

    SOME LIKE IT VIOLENT

    13758-mery-png


    ✿ MERCYPAW ✿

    ✿ Trad Darkclan | Amnesiac | Permanent stutter | TAGS･ﾟ✧

    Being the weak, girly little molly that she was, the last place you expect her to be at was the skeleton gorge. The steep rocky walls was a known place of danger and horrors. Where cats either died of rattlesnake venom, coyote mauling or broken bones from falling over the edge. A landmark like that was one best avoided.

    And yet, here little Mercypaw was, trotting along the edge - albeit at a safe distance from the actual fall - all alone in the middle of the night. But the surprise would only come to those who judged covers on books. Mercy, if you knew her well, was not one to give into fear. Despite the fact - or perhaps because- she was so tiny and physically weak, she wasn't really scared of much. Midnight walks especially did not concern her. Not even if they were spent along a dangerous trail beside a dangerous gorge. After all, nothing bad could happen so long as she respected the natural landmark and kept a safe distance. Otherwise, this was just a nice night out.

    Of course, Mery wasn't just doing this out of fearlessness. She also simply loved being out here.

    When camp got too stifling and her absence of memories too painful, she would often go out and explore a bit of the territory. Re feamiliarize herself with the home she had forgotten. It so happened she had rather fallen for this particular trail. It was beautiful, in a odd sort of way. How the stars illuminated the grass silver, and the moon shined gently upon the gorge. Even something so dangerous - so consuming and dark - managed to glow with beauty.

    It gave Mercy hope in others. Hope in herself. Bad situations could hide some good ones if you just look at it a little differently.


    This particular night, however, it was Mery who'd be surprised by the presence of another cat.

    As she crested a small hill she spotted the silhouetted form of a cat standing far too close to the edge. This far away, she couldn't tell if it was a darkclanner or a loner. Either way, it concerned her how close they were. How intently they seemed to be looking over the edge. So, with a nervous twinge in her heart more for their safety than her own, the tiny female quickened her pace.

    "A-are you alr-right?" she questioned once she became within earshot, her pine-green hues aglow. As she neared the figure, she realized at last that it was Wolfsbane.

    He was not a well liked cat in the clan. 'Yet another Bloodclanner spy' cats had claimed, 'a murderer waiting to pounce!'.

    But Mercypaw didn't quite see a murdereing spy in the tom overlooking the ridge. I mean, he certainly looked very angry...but Mery saw it mostly as just...upset.

    Perhaps it was because she couldn't remember the role Bloodclan served in most of Darkclan's tragedies that made her sympathize with the tom. Or maybe it was because he reminded her of a yawning, scary gorge that just needed a bit of moonlight. Either way, Mercypaw was soon sitting down, her concern never lifting from her eyes, awaiting his answer.


    credit goes to lingerie

    ★ ★ ★ the leather collar lay at his large paws, teeth crooked as fangs and birds talons had been pushed within it, glinting ominously, reflective upon his reinforced talons. he wished he could take them off, perhaps he could. he wanted it all gone, time and time again he found himself wanting to forget his past, he'd done it with bloodclan. he thought he could escape it there and yet it haunted him every waking moment. his ears angled upon the brush of fur against grass and paw steps traversing across dirt and rock. his features hardened, sealing over every emotion that tore within his mind.


    "a-are you alr-right?"


    the words echoed, bouncing off the gorge walls as the silence was still, a silver gaze glowing like stars as his irises slipped toward the other, carving over her features that had been illuminated by the moonlight as she approached. he could see the concern swimming within her gaze as his own narrowed slightly as though calculating the other for a moment. he inhaled sharply, "yes, i'm fine," he breathed as she took a seat, his eyes leaving her for a moment as they devoured the landscape in thought. "i thought that if i got rid of it, the past would stop coming back to haunt me, but its not that easy, is it?" he began, his words were level, cold even as he looked down at the collar, brows furrowing slightly as his claws coiled over the leather for a moment. it would take time and he had to start somewhere.


    bloodclan. they drove him to insanity in the darkest moment of his life, twisted his grief into violence, constructed his mind around blood. he despised it all, even if he was desensitized to violence and torture he wouldn't bat an eye if someone had been maimed before him. he was forced to watch, to act as though he accepted it, encouraged it, when he never had, he wondered how he'd gotten away with it. wolfsbane could kill if he wanted to, he made threats and he delivered if anyone had crossed him. but he was a fake all along. he supposed he was a good actor, after all he could wear one hell of a mask. but that mask had almost morphed into his face. he didn't want that.


    his gaze suddenly narrowed as he looked upon the other under further realization, "you're not afraid?" he questioned, even the warriors were skeptical that he'd attack them at any given moment, afraid he'd turn on them when their backs showed.


    "speech."

    SOME LIKE IT VIOLENT

    Tinpelt was out in the middle of the night for...different reasons. As many cats knew, the grey warrior tried his best to be a friend to all. But what they didn’t know, is that it included the dead.


    Every once in a while, he would visit the gorge, sit at the precipice of the mortal coil, and look down. He felt sad that the numerous skeletons were seemingly lost and forgotten to time, so he tried to honor their memories as best he could.


    Tinpelt arrived at the gorge, carrying a mouse and dandelions in his jaws. After tossing the two items into the abyss as a sign of respect, he began to speak to no one.


    “Sorry ‘bout the small morsel fellas, but I can’t exactly feed all y’all, y’know? Haha. I reckon there’s good pickings up in starclan though, so I bet y’all are doin’ fine.”


    Suddenly, he heard a voice at the other end of the gorge. Straining his eyes against the darkness, he could make out mercypaw’s petite form. Another voice drew his attention to the other side, where a much larger cat was talking.


    Making his way over, he stood next to mercypaw just as wolfsbane finished talking.


    “Hey there friend, now I can’t speak for miss mercypaw, but I ain’t afraid of you. you’re just a cat, same as us.”

    13758-mery-png


    ✿ MERCYPAW ✿

    ✿ Trad Darkclan | Amnesiac | Permanent stutter | TAGS･ﾟ✧

    //IM SO SORRY FOR THE BURST OF MUSE!!!

    just read the last three paragraphs


    Mercypaw wasn't really an observant kind of gal. Especially in the all consuming night where only the faintest of silver glow illuminated the devoted world. But she did have good gut-instinct. Even from her limited view of his moon-lighted face, she could see a lot more behind the cold expression in his boring eyes. Though of course, she instinctively stiffened ever so slightly when he turned that gaze upon her. At first, even Mery's abilities of optimism and love were futile against those hard eyes. Moons of witnessing death and contributing to it had lent him the face of a predator. A hawk looking down upon a poor baby mouse scurrying upon the gorse, fragile and young and naive to it's destruction.

    But as long as the moon glittered, so too would the beauty in the world. Wolfsbane was no different. Especially not when he turned his focus onto that scary looking collar and she saw far more than just that furrowed brown and snarling mouth.

    So enamored was she in the complete contrast that was Wolfbane and, well, himself, she didn't sense Tinpelt's arrival until he was right beside her.

    She blinked out of her transfixation. Probably a good thing, too. One moment longer and she'd probably have hugged the poor former Bloodclanner.


    She took a moment to smile at Tinpelt, proud of him for being so kind. Most warriors didn't treat the new bloodclanners very well. It was a darn shame! Especially when they held such heavy shoulders...They joined the clans to make friends, didn't they? So thats what they deserved...thats what everyone deserves.


    Though her stutter lent the impression of anxiety, Merycpaw's pine green eyes immediately blossomed with a determined light. "Now why w-would I be s-scared?" she asked, adding a teasing little haughty laugh to her voice. As if Wolfsbane being a symbol worth fearing was just a completely ridiculous idea. Like being scared of a ladybug or a rabbit's tail. She once petted a rabbit's tail, y'know. They are very fluffy.

    But anyway!

    No, she was not scared. Rather, she wanted to very much get to know this tom. To do whatever she could to ease that burden in his cold eyes. Fill the yawning gorge with something other than bones and snakes.

    Maybe flowers. Or bunny tails!


    Looking back at his collar, she thought a moment before saying, "I d-don't think yo-ou should h-hate it. It's j-just a collar, a-after all, but it's also y-your memories!" Mercypaw knew a thing or two about the importance of memories. Having lost nearly all of hers it got...scary, sometimes. Being alone in your own head. Being so confused - a bubble trapped in time. A pebble in a constantly rushing river.

    She looked at Wolfsbane, before gently touching the collar and sliding it back towards his paws. The moonlight made the teeth and bones look like jewels. The rough fabric look like the leather of a rabbit's nose. Beautiful.

    "S-sometimes bad me-emories can be good o-ones. Th-they shape you to b-be who you are..." she paused, then quickly added, "I m-mean, if y-you didn't e-experience w-what you did, h-how could y-you ever ha-ave decided to b-become a Dark-klanner? Or a h-healer?" Her eyes glowed as she said, "I th-think it's o-okay if y-you think about th-the past a-alot, and if it h-hurts...C'us wi-ithout it, y-you'd never have the i-initiative to b-be better!"


    She paused, before her face flushed scarlet. Oh yikes, she just babbled her head off didn't she? Oh boy what a chatter-box she was! Putting her paws on her face, she giggled sheepishly, "A-ah, so-orry, I d-don't mean to g-get all WISE or n-nothin'!" she was no elder, ehr words held no weight. It was silly for this little kitten-sized apprentice to be yammering on like she knew the world!

    Oh, but she did hope he focused on the thought more than the speech. She hoped it would ease his burden, if not just a tad.


    Peeking through her paws, she smiled once more, "OH! I-I'm Mercypaw, b-by the way!" she paused, then blushed scarlet and covered her face once more as she apologized, "Oh dear I t-totally forg-got your name!" Again, she peeked shyly between her toes, "u-um, it was a-after a p-plant...r-right?"


    credit goes to lingerie

    ★ ★ ★ the muse wowowowow love it


    his features tore from the other, tightened sensitivity to his surroundings was a direct cause of bloodclan, you could never have your guard down, ever. there was always someone who was out to kill you. someone who was out to tear their ragged claws down your pelt, to sink their yellow fangs without your throat.


    amongst the darkness was a tom, by the looks of it he through something within the gorge, speaking something wolfsbane couldn't quite make out as though its as an offering. perhaps it was an offering to his gods. they believed in starclan, didn't they? wolfsbane believed in the tribe of endless hunting, he knew nothing of starclan, he knew not of their ways nor of their ancestors... what happened to the dead after they passed? he always had a thirst for knowledge, hungry for more, never satisfied.


    his silver gaze returned upon the apprentice as she watched her own for any signs of emotion he could pick apart to reveal the truth. integrity and honesty was something he always liked to pick apart within others, lies could never seem to slip past his claws. the eyes could reveal far more than words ever could, and she was determined. he was glad they weren't scared. the tom was right he was just like them, but were they naive? he learned to never trust too quickly, always on edge until you were certain, but they had given him a chance. "you treat me like an equal," he calculated, eyeing them almost suspiciously, "thank you," he finished with an appreciative glance towards the two.


    he looked down upon the collar for a moment as she pushed it back in thought, he hated it, yes. he hated the memories, he hated what it represented. but why was he still holding onto hit? why? perhaps it was the memory of his friends, and she'd hit it on the mark. that collar shaped him, without it who the hell would he be now? where would he be? what would he be? that collar had molded his personality, his past, it drove him to become better. wolfsbane believed in destiny, he believed in fate, he believed that there was a specific path for him just as there was for every other individual. he believed that the tribe of endless hunting determined it all, that the universe held every fragile soul within their paws, both giving and taking lives at once.


    he looked up as she giggled, the determination within her eyes had melted into something sheepish, he lifted his chin slightly, it seemed as though she was ashamed, she shouldn't have been. wolfsbane had been been much like her, perhaps too smart for his own good sometimes which brought him arrogance at a young age where as she was quite humble. being humble was good- something he needed to be, but, she should be proud, he'd learned not to apologize for such things and she shouldn't either, to never apologize for saying no, to telling the truth, for being passionate, for his imperfections... "no-," he said bluntly, rejecting her apology, his voice hard before it had softened some, "i admire your wisdom,"he added. "and you're right- about everything. your wise beyond your years, you know," he finished with an encouraging smile as he looked down upon the collar, swiping it with his paw as the thing slid across the ground, vanishing within the darkness, echos of teeth again rock and bone rung within the silence before it was silent once more. "the past is in the past, i intend to move forward," he finished, the pain reflected within his eyes alongside a since of relief before they'd hardened and his jaws clenched, a symbol of his devotion to darkclan.


    "mercypaw... good name," he let the name roll of his tongue, familiarizing himself, eyes lightening upon her next words, amused as his mouth crooked into a small smile. "name's wolfsbane, the pleasure is all mine," he introduced, the name symbolized three things. the wolf that nearly took his life, the largest scar stretching from the side of his neck down to his paw, his talent for healing, and the next steps into the future, leaving his old names behind, he'd renamed himself. aloe of adders bite and aloebite, they'd been his tribe name, his bloodclan name, his former crimes. "and what of you?" he questioned, turning to the unknown tom.


    "speech."

    SOME LIKE IT VIOLENT

    13758-mery-png


    ✿ MERCYPAW ✿

    ✿ Trad Darkclan | Amnesiac | Permanent stutter | TAGS･ﾟ✧

    How could anyone consider this male a threat?

    Her heart warmed as he spoke and the occasionally glimmer that surpassed the sadness and doubt in his mood. She would watch silently as the collar disappeared over the edge, noting solemly the decision Wolfsbane had just made. While Mercy was an advocate for seeing every fragment of history as a treasure, even she knew there were just somem things you needed to let go. Thoughtfully, she touched a paw to her chest. Maybe one day she'd be able to release her own pains - her own longings for the past and who she was behind the rushing water and the cold journeys.

    "Welcome t-to Darkclan, Wolfsba-ane," she would say softly, her pine green eyes shinning with joy as she looked back at the former Bloodclanner. For that was what that missing collar spoke in volumes, wasn't it? The official, true arrival of him in their ranks.

    Mercypaw was ore than happy to have him here.

    Waving her tail about, Mercy's childish eagerness replaced her moment of tranquility. "Th-thank you!" she'd purr, blushing. That was a fist - someone calling Mery wise? She giggled, thinking about what Hyenapaw and Beanpaw would say to that! She'd wave her tail back and forth as she let out a little breath, "Wolfsbane is a c-cool name - I s-saw a couple of 'em o-on my journey, th-they're flowers a-are tru-uly beautif-ful!" Yet again, Mercypaw found herself smiling in amusement. Wolfsbane - a poisonous, but beautiful flower nonetheless. Just because you can't touch it, doesn't mean you can't admire it. Kinda like the cat himself!


    credit goes to lingerie

    THREAD HUB ✦ ✧ ✦ — Heatherkit wasn't exactly like them, from an evil clan she wasn't but there was also that little thing they had in common, being from a foreign clan and not having the DarkClan blood that everyone else around her seemed to have. That very thought made her feel as though she wouldn't and didn't belong. She had RiverClan blood, made to swim even through the fiercest and strongest of waves, not DarkClan blood where you live in the mountains. She wasn't fit for this, she was fit for the marsh under her paws that would occasionally stick to her sleek groomed fur, and the sound of harsh waves crashing against the riverbank. The fights over sunningrocks and the tales of old RiverClan warriors and leaders from snappy fish smelling Elders. To say she missed that was a complete under statement, to say she longed for it wasn't. Her RiverClan blood reflected in the way she did things and how she would question why the fresh kill pile isn't full of fish or why their pelts weren't as sleek and shiny as hers. She was a foreign entity here and so far she surely did feel like it.


    The young kit had been bounding out of the medicine cat's den, looking for something interesting to do. Usually when she was in RiverClan she would play with the other kits or play a game of mossball, though from what she could see there were very little kits in the clan for her to play with and mossball definitely wasn't fun alone. The she-kit looked around the camp until her shining blue eyes landed on Mercypaw, Tinpelt, and Wolfsbane. She had only met one of those out of the three that being Wolfsbane, so she wasn't exactly as hesitant to walk over as she would be around total strangers. She began to pad over, the young kit giving a little grin towards the three. She hadn't entirely missed their conversation as when she had gotten closer, she could hear the last few words of the gathered cats. "Oh uh, hello!" She introduced, maybe a bit too enthusiastically. It was easy to tell she was nervous by the way her voice had sounded, high pitched as she tried to make a good first impression. A second impression for Wolfsbane. She winced as she heard the high pitch of her own voice, clearing her throat and giving it another go. "I mean uh, hi. I'm Heatherkit." This time her voice more quiet than the last. No doubt her first attempt had probably disturbed the peaceful sleep of a few Elders.


    Heatherkit stood with a puffed out chest and a raised head. It was an honor to be able to socialize with an apprentice and two warriors.