the journey [not accepting]

[oceanz]

┊ 𝕣𝕚𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕗𝕠𝕘 ┊
tom | exile | 36 moons | feeling; mixed| tagged; all
______________________________

so this really was it. they had been banished from the clan they had all been raised in, it was all real. the tom looked down at his paws, lost in thought. he remembered when he first came to leafclan, he was only 2 moons old when his mother abandoned him on the border. he was found by none other than the late she-cat lotuspetal. riverfog frowned at the thought of her, the closest thing to a mother he had known. although he was raised by another queen, lotuspetal visited constantly to tell the little tom stories about the clan. he never had many, or any really, close friends in the clan besides lotuspetal until after the flood. the american curl shifted uncomfortably in his spot, remembering that day. he remembered doing as he was told and hiding from the waters. riverfog remembered the two medicine cats, wattleberry and cactusfoot, leaping to immediate action despite being obviously being terrified themselves. they had lost three amazing medicine cats that night, snakepaw being swept away as well, leaving pearlflower. riverfog glanced over at the she-cat, she was so brave, he didn't know how she did it. when he lost lotuspetal in the flood he had been a wreck and shut-down, the only cat he was close to in the world had vanished within seconds. riverfog then looked to sloepool, his ex-assigned mate. the tom instantly felt guilty, he had been a terrible mate. they had been assigned after the floods and all riverfog could do at the time was mope and be bitter. he then looked towards houndcar, the tom had lost so much, yet he still stood in front of them with hope and courage. riverfog snapped out of his thoughts when the others started talking about what direction they should head. he simply nodded his head in agreement with the two she-cats, harsh weather was on their way and they had to stay as far from it as possible.

[imp.]

xxxxxxxx(• ━ 𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡
xxxxx𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈;; abandonedx𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏;; borders of leafclanx𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒔;; the group
xxxxxxxx❝ i've been sad for years, don't tell me it gets better. ❞

vinescratch walked with agitation and snappiness in his steps. he took up the rear of the group, nearly attacking anyone who came back to try and talk to him. his claws were almost always out since he left leafclan. without looking up, he felt fur brush on his left side, and then his right. ivyfeather, snakehiss. he would always tell himself, strongly believing that they still walked with him, even in death. his mind flashed back to the reason why they had died. he had chosen the rogue's life over theirs. a rush of hate filled his body even more, and he finally looked up, waving away the feeling of his fallen clanmates. they were gone now, he had to get over it. that's what everyone told him.

vinescratch glanced up at his company. they all had their stories to tell, but he wasn't interested in any of them. as soon as he made contact with houndscar, he looked back down. this was his only love interest, and it was still flowing for him. he felt his heart start pounding again, blocking out the cold wind and snow as he felt his pelt grow hot. blueflower had fallen in love with him, and he never returned those feelings. he had been a horrible mate, always lashing out at her and others, causing drama for froststar, and for always talking about ivyfeather and snakehiss. he felt distant from houndscar, but decided to keep it that way. he was more popular within the group anyway.

vinescratch was dragged back out from his memories as he heard sloepool speak. vinescratch isn't close to sloepool whatsoever, and doesn't care for her much either. she had to go through almost no hardships at all, but she still claimed she was as determined to 'bring back the old leafclan'. he rolled his eyes and snickered once he heard her coming about anywhere except where they came. "stop acting like you lead us," he spat, trying to force eye contact. he felt his fur bristle but didn't care to stand down. "if we have anything else to say we don't need your permission." just as sloepool did, he let his tail move, throwing up some of the soft powdery snow with the force. right as he was about to open his mouth for a third time, squirreltail spoke. she was a fighter. even though the two never really talked, he knew of her story. losing her love along with her kits - now, that was rough. she had moved on, and was becoming a heavy inspiration in his eyes.

vinescratch pushed through the group to run to the front, next to houndscar. he shot a glare at sloepool before turning back to houndscar. "this is a forest, houndscar." he said, hissing. "we should stop and hunt. he said, tuning out the others. he was already hungry enough. he barely ever ate these days, only stopping when he was on the verge of starvation. even though he wouldn't be one to eat, using his claws would be quite nice. if houndscar disagreed, he wouldn't listen anyway. he would make his independence painfully obvious.

[~Wildfire]

ＦＡＬＣＯＮＷＩＮＧ

male - exile - 36 moons - tagged; all

indentfalconwing drew to a halt one step short of crossing the border line out of leafclan. it all seemed so definite. a point of no return. once he stepped paw over that border, there was no coming back, no changing of mind. the dark tabby looked back over his shoulder, towards the clan that had been his home, the cats that had been his family. how far away, how long ago, those merry days of his apprenticeship now seemed. he allowed himself one last moment to remember. to remember his kind mother smokefur, who had always been there for him, always protected him, to remember the pride and happiness he had felt when he had become an apprentice, the thrill of his first hunt, the many warm afternoons he spent laughing and sharing prey with the other apprentices, the longing to become a warrior worthy of protecting leafclan. but not all of the things in his past were good, and his thoughts were overcome by memories of watching his mother succumb to a sickness that spread through camp last leaf-bare, of being assigned as a mate to cat that he didn't really love, of the panic that gripped him when he first realized that his eyesight was failing him. but the most distinctive memory was that of froststar attacking him in the middle of camp and permanently blinding his left eye. he would always remember that moment, courtesy of the three scars in the shape of clawmarks that crossed his blind eye from top to bottom. but now, it was time to leave those memories in the past and focus on what was awaiting him in the present. so falconwing pushed the nostalgia into a small, dark corner of his mind, let out a breath that he hadn't realized he had been holding, and stepped over the border.
indentthe layer of soft snow crunched under his paws and he looked around at his fellow exiles. if he had to travel in the harsh weather, he was glad he at least had these particular cats for company. each of them was valuable and extraordinary in their own way, and if they worked together, they might actually have a chance of starting all over, of making a new home for themselves from scratch. a home where no one cowered in fear.
indentfalconwing heard squirreltail speak and despite his better judgement, he looked up to make eye-contact. he had always liked the ginger she-cat and hoped she also considered him a friend. they had been apprentices at the same time and there had been a time when the dark tabby tom had felt something more for her, but then they were both assigned different mates and falconwing put his feelings aside, knowing she would be happy with her new mate. but then froststar killed her family and falconwing would have killed the leader that day, had his mother not prevented him from doing so. from that day on he tried to be there for her as a friend, should she ever need one.
indenthe noted vinescratch's snappy behavior, which pulled him out of his thoughts, but chose not to comment on it. it was obvious the tom wasn't very fond of sloepool and even though falconwing wasn't sure why, he could see that it would be a source of tension. when vinescratch proposed hunting, falconwing nodded, taking a few steps forward, focusing his good eye on houndscar. "I think it's a good idea, we should hunt while there is still something to hunt. we don't know what we will come across on the way and I don't know about the rest of you, but I would feel better if I wasn't facing it on an empty stomach. Besides, the snow will only get thicker and prey more scarce." he concluded, shaking his head to get rid of a snowflake that had landed on his nose.

[monta,]

ｓｌｏｅｐｏｏｌ
female ▪ journeyer ▪ 36 moons
mood. annoyed ▪ tagged. all

indent[✘] — sloepool watched with a confused expression as the elder vinescratch dashed by, only to halt by houndscar, but not before giving her a ill-intentioned glare. In any other scenario, she would have shot back at him by saying something along the lines of "i never said that you did need permission. speak if you want, it's not like i can stop you" or some other snarky, unnecessary remark to hold her ground, but seeing as they needed to work together whether they liked it or not, she simply dipped her head and resigned herself to a quiet "sorry, it was not my place." trying not to let her irritation show, she focused on the crystals that gathered at her dainty, grey paws before she decided she had been bowing her head for long enough. lifting her thickly-pelted frame up, she calmly moved away from vinescratch, not wanting to impede on whatever the, apparently, irate tabby wanted to discuss with the group's unofficial leader, houndscar. she carefully seated herself next to squirreltail, giving the younger molly a curt, but well-intentioned smile. allowing it to fade, she sat tall against the snowfall, partially shielding squirreltail from the snow before turning her green gaze to houndscar and vinescratch with a vaguely interested, yet somehow harsh and cold, aura.
indentthe grey molly listened to the two toms' conversation as falconwing spoke up in agreement to vinescratch's suggestion to hunt. it would be smart to hunt whenever they had the chance, that part she understood, but doing so while they were still so close to clan territory wouldn't be wise. there was nothing but an invisible border between them and froststar, and she didn't think it smart to hang around here longer than necessary. for all she knew, he could be parading around the border with a few of his loyalists, looking to kill them before they fled too far and spread word of his tyranny. "it's true that we should stop and hunt, but doing so while we're still near clan territory wouldn't be safe. perhaps we should travel for a bit and stop to hunt a little farther?" sloepool suggested, trying to compromise with the older, irate tabby from where she sat, trying to meet eyes with vinescratch for a moment before looking to houndscar inquiringly, as if she was asking for him to validate her suggested course of action

[Officialme]

Pearlflower;

female-36 mooons;ex-medicine cat apprentice; mood: Upset; tags: open

Everything she had known, everything she had, gone before one sunrise. Her whiskers twitched and her heart ached; for her family, hers and other's lost mates, her role and her memories. Pearlflower padded through the snow uncomfortably, the hunger striking her stomach like a fresh thorn, rippling through her stomach. Pushing the pain aside, she turned around, leaving lingering memories of her clan behind. 'I wish you could have been here, Snakepaw,' she thought.[/right]
She flicked her tail, sprinting ahead to keep up with her few clanmates. How would they survive with such a small number of cats? Her eyes flickered to Sloepool, which—after hearing her speak—nods in agreement. "I agree," she meowed, "There's a water source near that direction, and plentiful herbs as far as my explorations have gone. I do not know about the prey there, though judging by other factors, there should be enough."
She bowed her head to Sloepool, then towards Houndscar.
During her brief medicine cat life in Leafclan, she had ventured out many times down the south-east, where rarer herbs were located. She'd only visited once, but from her fogged and cluttered memories, she remembered it as a bright, seclusive location. Her main concern was prey, and, largely, predators. Due to the sheer lack of cats down in that area, she assumed there would be many fox-dens buried beneath the mushy layer of porcelain snow. She turned around to shoot a glare at Vinescratch."We need to work together, not bicker about petty things."

Hearing of news about hunting, a warmth flowed throughout her body. Food! She couldn't even remember the last time she ate. Beneath her coat, her ribs were easily identifiable, allowing one to count them. Thankfully no one had noticed. "In that case, I'll see if I can find any herbs." She didn't believe anyone would question that, as her poor hunting skills may have driven prey away.

[morrissey]

♞ ＨＯＵＮＤＳＣＡＲ！！

tom - exile - tagged; all - feeling; mixed - location; outskirts of leafclan
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

houndscar dipped his head in regards to the input placed by his clanmates. he opened his jaws, about to reply to sloepool and squirreltail, when he heard a snap from vinescratch. houndscar flinched, his mental wound still open, as vinescratch brushed past all of the others and went and stood next to him. houndscar turned his head to look at vinescratch, many feelings and emotions flooding through him, but he thought better of it. instead, he listened patiently as vinescratch bickered with sloepool.
when vinescratch mentioned food, houndscar took some time to examine the other tom's features as some of the others were talking. vinescratch was gaunt and skinny, very different from his physique when they were apprentices. houndscar pondered on this. hopefully vinescratch would survive the winter.
after he let his clanmates come to somewhat of an agreement, he spoke again. "we'll hunt then, but we should move away from the borders just a bit, so we don't have alarmed leafclan cats calling us prey-stealers." he paused, glancing around. "down the hill is good enough. i'll go with sloepool, mapleleaf, and falconwing. squirreltail, how about you, vinescratch, riverfog, and pearlflower go together?" houndscar glanced to the sky, noting what position the sun was in. it was a few hours from touching the horizon. "let's meet at those pile of rocks at dusk?" houndscar motioned with his head towards the tumble that was down the hill. "then we can decide wether we would want to rest or start our travels."

[imp.]

xxxxxxxx(• ━ 𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡
xxxxx𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈;; abandonedx𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏;; borders of leafclanx𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒔;; the group
xxxxxxxx❝ i've been sad for years, don't tell me it gets better. ❞

vinescratch ignored the comment from pearlflower. if she didn't want them bickering, why would she add in her two cents? whatever, she lost snakehiss too, so she was okay is vinescratch's book. what hurt the most was houndscar. he avoided almost all the looks, and he took it as a sign of disgust coming from his past lover. he started slowing his pace, dropping to go back to the rear. whatever, he didn't matter either. looking at the already fallen snow, he lifted a paw, striking the powder below him. it left a slice in the ground, and he turned around to see all the paw prints from the camp they had left. "hey, guys," he said, starting to walk back towards the prints, away from the group. "shouldn't we cover up our tracks?" he asked, already fearing that froststar sent a patrol after them to kill them for good. he wouldn't put it past some of his ex-clanmates to even volunteer to do that. he had caused enough drama within leafclan for that to be possible.

vinescratch's ears lay flat to his head as he started to gently push snow over his tracks. he was forced to sheathe his claws so that they would stop leaving small holes when he patted it down to make it firm. the group continued to walk, maybe they didn't hear them. he heard houndscar setting up assigned hunting patrols. his heart almost broke in half when he was put far in the opposite group. of course he wanted to go with sloepool, they were already acting like an old mated couple. they would probably even be having kits in the next few moons. vinescratch let himself flex his claws at the thought as anger surged through his mind. he missed blueflower. he missed, even though they weren't official, having someone to lean on and talk to. he missed his parents and ivyfeather, he missed snakehiss and all of his sarcastic jokes. he even missed his fights with froststar. a sense of home clung to those memories as he looked back towards the camp's way, a longing to run back in his eyes. i guess this is my family now. he called out again, but this time louder. "i think we should be covering our tracks."

[oceanz]

┊ 𝕣𝕚𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕗𝕠𝕘 ┊
tom | exile | 36 moons | feeling; mixed| tagged; all
______________________________

'ah, hunting in the snow. now that will be fun...' riverfog thought sarcastically. however, at the mention of food his stomach growled quietly. it was a smart idea to hunt and feed now, they had a long journey ahead of them. the tom quickly picked out them members of his assigned group and moved closer to them. he was glad he was with pearlflower, he knew a tiny bit about how to identify herbs, maybe he could be of some help. only, of course, if she wanted or needed help that is. riverfog turned to vinescratch as he spoke, then glanced down at the tracks they had made. of course they should be covering their tracks, h wouldn't put it past froststar to send out a patrol to kill the small group. "absolutely." the multi-colored cat agreed, it was the first thing he had said in quite a while. he kept to himself and he kept quiet, he didn't like the attention speaking usually brought. riverfog looked around for something to help them cover their tracks and spotted a few fallen pine tree branches not too far off. he quickly made his way through the snow over to the branches and brought them over, dropping them near vinescratch. "we can use these pine tree branches to sweep away our tracks." riverfog said, picking up one for himself before making his way over to the tracks. he begun to sweep the branch back and forth, covering up the spot of tracks he was working on.

[Keriae]

ＳＱＵＩＲＲＥＬＴＡＩＬ

female ;; warrior ;; 35 moons ;; tagged - everyone

xxxxxxxVinescratch's sudden outrage almost made her jump, and the ginger molly flattened her ears back against her skull, whipping her head around to look at the brown and white tabby. But before she could say anything, he completely changed the subject. And other cats agreed with him - Falconwing, Sloepool, Pearlflower. And Houndscar almost jumped on that, also agreeing. And he split them in two.

xxxxxxxHer pale yellow eyes cast over to Falconwing and she stepped closer to him for a second, butting her head against his shoulder. If they were going to be in separate groups, she could at least wish him luck. They needed all the food they could get.

xxxxxxx"Don't do anything mouse-brained." She murmured, and then looked back at their self-appointed leader. But just as she opened her mouth to speak, Riverfog spoke, backing Vinescratch up in the notion to cover their tracks. Squirreltail tilted her head to one side.

xxxxxxx"There's no point," she said, "he wanted us gone from the territory, and we're out. He's not going to waste the cats he has left to track us now we're over the border." They were safe, and they'd only get safer the further they travelled. But, of course, they needed to eat if they were to keep their strength up. Now she turned back to Houndscar, and nodded.

xxxxxxx"We'll meet you on time. It's probably worth travelling a little further and then settling down before it gets too cold." She said. It would be best to curl up as a group, to keep each other warm. Travelling throughout the night was a bad idea. While it would get them further away, it wasn't worth risking illness.

[~Wildfire]

ＦＡＬＣＯＮＷＩＮＧ

male - exile - 36 moons - tagged; all

indentfalconwing narrowed his eyes slightly at houdscar, contemplating whether it was worth it to start the discussion about who was the leader among them, seeing as he seemed to appoint himself as one, but eventually decided not to create any more tension then there already was. as long as they were all fed and safe by the end of the day, he didn't really care who called the shots.
indenthe listened to how they were supposed to be split into groups and glanced at squirreltail seconds before she moved to stand by his side. lowering his head, falconwing gently nudged her neck with his nose, his face split by a soft smile, which he used so rarely. "i'll do my best." he replied quietly before adding, "be careful." falconwing then watched her talk to the others and he himself padded a few fox-lengths away to taste the air for any sign of predators.
indentever since partially losing his sight, he had discovered that his other senses had improved, namely his hearing and scent, because he now relied on them a lot more heavily than before. so after the dark tabby tasted the air and listened intently to his surroundings, he could say with certainty that there were no predators lurking around. however, that did not mean they couldn't be drawn here if they made their presence too obvious. it would be best to get moving by dawn, after sleeping through the night.
indentfalconwing returned back to the group and looked at all of the cats in turn. "there are no threats nearby as far as i can tell, but we all need to stay alert and within range of each other." he said, flicking his long fluffy tail from side to side.