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    Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires.


    ♚ Talk to me, Talk to me—a feverish chant in her minds eye to see the Dark Forest tom once again as she walked the spaces of sleep. She dreamed of his midnight pelt, rising from the swirling darkness, the kaleidoscope of pitch behind her eyelids. Veles, she whispered into the imposing forest that loomed before her, trunks five pelts across, greenery that blocked out the twinkling of stars.


    But he did not come.


    With a start, Severa awoke. Her nest was sight to behind, off against a ledged window that watched the sunsets. With a combination of sticks, cloth, and animal bones she had crafted a slowly growing mountain of skeletons that morphed into her nest against the windowpane. The dilute torbie stretched, and leapt down. Her shoulder blades jut forth sharply as she prowled through the Blood House, the skeletal nature of her figure not having changed since she had first come to these dilapidated walls, even though she now stood twice as tall. If anything, the ridges of her bones had become more pronounced, no matter if she gorged herself or not.


    Eyes like liquid metal traveled across the corridors, feeling like she had slept for an age. It weighed on her heart, the fact that he hadn’t visited and she knew the time was right for an offering. The molly caught a stream of light as she passed a window and the ginger in her fur ignited, the color blended into the scattered spots and tabby striping across her desert pelt.


    She reached the main entry way and turned around, taking a careful seat before the door. “And who would like to join me in making an offering to the Dark Forest?”



    Just as the little kit was getting used to all the different coat colors of the Bloodclan members, it seemed... a new one came along. A tortie- but a pale one! Was she sick? Maybe she needed to go to Aleksei for some healing juice or whatever the healers gave to the ill! The fluffy kitten down would shake in the excitement she gorged in from this new pattern, absentmindedly following the older youth around with curiosity plastered all over her duo-colored face.


    At the mention of some Dark Forest, Hyl would jump. Such a spooky name, worthy of a high and startled little hop. She'd catch up to Severa, voice shrill as she yelped out a, " What's that?"

    YOU KNOW, YOU CAN'T EVEN SLOW ME DOWN ——— TAGS

    Cae didn't remember a lot of Severa, he was a lazy fellow that generally preferred to stay within the comforting confines of the blood house, but he did remember her, vaguely. So as oversized dinner plates of ears twitched atop his head he twisted his neck, carrying his skull along with it to face the direction the former guard's voice emanated from. With lame, obviously disinterested steps and an equally disinterested facial expression he made his way over, stopping just beside Hylcynth. Glancing down at the kit and considering her question he figured he'd be blunt with it. "The Dark Forest is a place full of old dead guys who apparently did some pretty bad things, I don' know the specifics of it, but they did some importan' stuff. I guess," he answered with a slight shrug. He really didn't believe in the Dark Forest, or Starclan. He believes that if they were real than they already would've smote him.


    Turning back to Severa to temporary inferior offered her a toothy grin. "Welcome back to the party," he chuckled, allowing his grin to drop back into his usual bored countenance. "Think I'll sit this one out," he finished as he plopped into a seated position and making himself comfortable.


    Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires.


    ♚ The feline turned as a kitten was the only one to respond to her call, one that she had yet to encounter. Her lips twinged with a smile as she watched the creature give her startled little hop. The dilute torbie lowered so that she met the she-kits gaze, the posture only further accentuating her shoulder blades. A predator in prowl, but her amber gaze was gentle, firm. However, someone else responded before she could.


    Caesious, the tom demoted to inferior until he learnt his lesson for kidnapping or some such nonsense. While she didn't quite know the particulars, the entire scenario sounded ridiculous. If Shadowclan believed he would really face severe repercussions in the Blood House, then maybe they deserved what came to them. Not that she cared one way or the other. But at his words her lips pulled back in a sneer, and she returned his grin with a false one.


    "Ignorance is a poor excuse," she said icily. Her right ear twitched, the injury there had scarred over by now into a v-shaped nick. Her gift from Veles the last time she had forgotten her patronage. "If you don't know, why guess?" She turned back to the kitten. "They are the spirits of the dead, dangerous and shadowed as they were in life. They stand against those coddled forest cat's Starclan, in a battle that fills the night sky. They are how our leaders obtain their nine lives, but in return for great power they demand sacrifice." She lifted her head slightly, and took a seat for a moment, her ringed tail curling around sandy paws.


    "Ignore them, they will ignore them. Promise yourself to them, and they will respond in kind. Forget your devotion," and here she pointedly touched her ear with her paw, "And they will make their displeasure known."


    "we do not follow the forest clan ways," viperkit stepped into view, his dark fur nearly blending in with the blackened blood house itself. having been on a small self-guidance about herbs, the cat that had so easily caught his attention was standing before him now, yet he had seen severa before, in clan, it seemed as if she were part of the clan, yet she was talking about the foresters as if they were them.


    he continued his train of thought, "you are part of bloodclan, yet you claim to follow the dark forest, an ideology of the forest clanners?" his question rang pure throughout the room, his voice thick with sleep, hoarse from burning sage. his fur lay flat, sleek against his delicate build, yet only a slight prickle across his lower back caused him to swish his tail back and forth, curiosity rippling through him like a wave crashing rocks below a cliff.


    jade eyes, a piercing gaze, was what made viperkit so striking. it wasn't his nearly-black fur mottled with stripes, or how he intelligently spoke to others, what his acquaintances said was a gaze that seemed to look right through someone, with viridescent orbs glazed with gold. he trained this fixed regard towards severa, picking up any slight movements. "why would you bring a forest clan piety into our midst?"


    although viperkit had never heard of the dark forest before, he did not think that ignorance was poor; well, it was poor, yet it could be easily trained into education with the right patience, dedication, willingness, and teacher. he was not so keen on the solicitation of the idea of the dark forest, an obverse to starclan, a devotion that was ingrained in the idle minds of the forest clanners.

    "The Dark Forest is real. I've seen them with my own eyes. I've walked with them in my dreams and they've given me nine lives," Ruth said as she padded closer, hearing Viperkit's rejection of the forest Clan ways. As much as Ruth detested the way forest Clans ran things, she could not help but wonder how many of their idealogies were based in truth. If the Dark Forest was real, was StarClan? Regardless, Ruth did not follow either of them. Higher deities were something she did not understand fully, and worshipping a group of dead cats seemed pointless to her. They were powerful but... she was unconvinced, and she would certainly not be partaking in Severa's offerings, though she did want to observe, to see if she could find some reason to allow herself to believe in the Dark Forest or StarClan or some other religion.


    With a weary sigh as these questions swarmed in her mind, Ruth turned towards Severa and dipped her head. "It's good to see you again. It's been a while," she mewed. Ruth had not seen Severa since her ascent to leadership, but the familiar face was a welcome one, even if she had committed her soul to dark beings Ruth did not understand.

    — ✘ —


    Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires.


    ♚ It was perhaps lucky that Ruth arrived when she did, for Severa had bared her teeth at the insolent kit that presumed to know more about their ways—and then licked her lips. She was not this child’s mother, and if they did not understand the significance it was not her job to educate him. Instead, she turned and dipped her head to Ruth, offering the she-cat a small smile.


    “Yes, it has,” she agreed, “It looked like you could use a little support.” She turned back to Viperkit and decided to be kind. Or something like that.


    “The Forest Clans may be aware of the Dark Forest, but that does not make it one of their ways. In fact, the two wage war from beyond the grave. Now, I don’t know about you but the enemy of my enemy is my friend, and if they give us power,” her gaze drifted significantly over to Ruth, “I will gladly make a sacrifice in their name.”


    Well, in the next minute, a lot happened. Another cat, a blue and pale splotched tom who met the pair with a lazy gaze. Spoke of dead cats- and oh, she'd heard of Starclan! Millie had uttered the words at times, talking of starry, noble cats. And the Dark Forest seemed to oppose them- evil, scorned souls. Cool! Was she going there? She hadn't made any sacrifices though... " Hey, can I j-" she was cut off by the presence of a second kit, cutting herself off as two more cats entered.


    His way of speech seemed far beyond his years, and in all honesty Hylcynth didn't understand what the dicussion was about by the time the leader had padded up. Instead, her eyes glittered in awe of how awesome the tortie looked- her tooth stubbed collar was something Hylcynth wanted to replicate. Ruth was so cool, and Hyl couldn't help but forget all her manners as she blurted out a hello Ruth.


    They seemed to know each other- the first cat and Ruth. Was she important? Should she ask her name? Hyl felt starstruck in the leader's presence now, cheeks flushing as she sat still and quiet, bursting with excitement.


    Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires.


    ♚ Her ears did not miss the faint offer that died in the young kit's voice as other arrived. She paused a moment, waiting to see if anyone else spoke but in the ensuing silence she decided to return to her original mission. "As such, I intend to go for a hunt." And splatter the blood of some living thing across the roots of the large oak tree a few blocks down, the one in the small green patch amid all the stone and concrete. But that went without saying.


    She glanced over at the kitten. "Did you want to join me, little one?"