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Post by Vipernose on Oct 6, 2018 19:17:37 GMT -5
Vipernose Gray paws shuffled through the snow, leaving faded red prints wherever they stepped. Without a medicine cat, Vipernose hadn’t been treated with herbs yet. It had been a few days since the fox attack, and the molly’s wounds were getting infected. She still vomited blood every once in awhile, and she tried to avoid her mate and kit and Otterkit as best she could so they wouldn’t see her like this.
The tabby had gone through a lot emotionally since the attack. Fallenstar - now Fallenfox - had stepped down from leadership in the middle of their journey, leaving the choice of leadership up to Vipernose. She would’ve been okay with becoming leader, if only she had a stable family. If Ravenfoot and Sootkit weren’t depressed and in terrible shape, she would’ve stepped up to the responsibility. She knew the decision would put ShadowClan into a frenzy, but she said no anyway. Now everyone was angry because Mushroomstar had practically claimed her clan as his own. She closed her eyes - she should’ve said she would take the role as leader until the journey ended. But at the same time, she was glad she hadn’t.
Vipernose wasn’t content with her choice, but she wasn’t upset either. She was still trying to understand the whole ordeal herself. She knew she should be talking this out with someone else, or finding someone to help her with her injuries, or at least trying to find a cat who could take over leadership of ShadowClan. Right now, the clan had seemingly tripped and started rolling down a hill… and it was still rolling. She had so many things she could be doing right now, but she was too afraid to let anyone see their deputy so broken. She was afraid to let the cats she needed to be strong for see that she was weak. She was just so afraid.
Amber eyes skimmed over the cats in front of her - she had trailed close to the back of the crowd - and watched as they struggled to survive. All the cats who had been injured by the foxes weren’t exactly doing well, but at the same time, at least they weren’t dead.
@kris
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"I thought nothing good would ever happen to me-that I was in hell after it froze over, thawed, and then burnt to the ground."
MADE BY VEL OF GS AND ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0 |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 6, 2018 19:45:04 GMT -5
I said hey look Ma, I made it.
Owlpaw wanted answers. Well, truthfully the whole clan wanted answers, but none of them were brave enough to ask Vipernose what the fuck she thought she was doing. In fact, Maplepaw had tried for days to convince Owlpaw he shouldn't go "bothering" the deputy by questioning her, but ultimately when the young tom saw a chance to sneak away from his friend, he took it without hesitation. It was damn hard to talk Owlpaw out of doing something he wanted to do.
It was no secret that something was going on with Vipernose. The she-cat had been growing more distant over the course of several months, as many of her kin had lost their battle with mother nature. But, in Owlpaws personal opinion, if you held a high power over other cats you simply did not get the luxury to mourn over deaths when cats who were still alive needed you most.
To put it simply, Owlpaw was rather pissed at Vipernose. The grey tabby and single-handedly given Shadowclan to Mushroomstar, even if she hadn't intended for it to happen. It was made worse by the fact that when the golden tom did voice his claim, Vipernose hadn't bothered to correct him. So, in Owlpaws mind, Vipernose was guilty, no matter what she was currently struggling with. It was only when Owlpaw caught sight of Vipernose lingering at the backlines did he slip away from the crowd and stalk over to her. She looked absolutely horrible, and that really meant something coming from a cat who had several aggravated wounds himself.
"Ahem," Owlpaw voiced in a less than friendly tone, rising one of his paws to press against Vipernoses chest to stop her from walking past him. "Vipernose." Owlpaw started, his eyes slightly narrowed as he stared down the wounded deputy. "I mean this in the friendliest way possible," his tone was low and full of barely suppressed anger, "what the fuck are you playing at?" 326 words
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Post by Vipernose on Oct 6, 2018 21:36:02 GMT -5
VipernoseVipernose felt like everyone was watching her. Or at least, someone was watching her. Instead of looking around to find a pair of eyes on her, she just stared at the ground, forcing herself to take each step forward. Her half-lidded, tired eyes studied the snow as it disappeared behind her, examining every pawprint that each cat had left behind. They were all different sizes, different shapes, told different stories. She focused on one of the sets of prints, following only those ones now. They were about the same size of her own paw, but the distance between each step was too small for her liking.
The she-cat jumped as a scent drifted into her nostrils, distinctly a ShadowClan male. She looked up to meet a pair of upset mint green eyes. She realized that this cat was shorter than she was, and found herself staring down at him. His pelt was tan and brown, and his scent was very familiar. As were his eyes. Vipernose found herself wondering who in the world this cat was, and then mentally kicked herself for forgetting. Owlpaw.
She gawked at him, her eyes now wide and alert. She barely registered his paw on her chest, only the fact that he had the courage to come and stop her stood out. Vipernose gazed into his eyes with her own, not flinching, not blinking, not looking away. She didn’t care how intimidating or disturbing her staring could be, she just couldn’t bring herself to avert her eyes from his. She watched his eyes narrow as he spat the words out. That was when she winced, when she backed away and didn’t look back at him. His question had been a very hard blow; it was almost as painful as it would be if he were to rake his claws across her muzzle. Even the fact that he had said he meant to be friendly didn’t help anything.
She gritted her teeth, trying not to draw attention to her flattened ears. She blinked away tears she didn’t know were there and faced Owlpaw again. “Hello Owlpaw,” she started, meeting his eyes and then looking away. “We’ve never really conversed before.” Vipernose decided to play the role of Captain Obvious and avoid saying anything that could set the apprentice off, knowing that it wouldn’t be hard to do so. “And thanks for trying to stay friendly, I appreciate it.”
She met his aqua eyes again, this time not shying away. She had to remain firm when she said her next words or he would think she was lying. “I’m not playing at anything, Owlpaw,” she said, keeping her voice as gentle as she could. She didn’t want to be rude right now. In any other situation, her sassy side would get the best of her and she would be telling him off like her life depended on it. “I understand that you and the rest of the clan is angry at me for what I did, but I had to. You wouldn’t know what I mean unless I told you my story. And I don’t think you want to hear that at this moment in time.” She was trying her best to keep him calm… The last thing she needed right now was Owlpaw screaming in her ear the rest of the journey.
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"I thought nothing good would ever happen to me-that I was in hell after it froze over, thawed, and then burnt to the ground."
MADE BY VEL OF GS AND ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0 |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 14, 2018 14:46:12 GMT -5
I said hey look Ma, I made it.
Owlpaws stance did not falter, not when Vipernose stared at him with obvious surprise, not when the she-cat physically flinched and took a step away from him, and definitely not when they she-cat grew visibly upset with him. In Owlpawa mind, the deputy had it coming to her. She needed someone to set her straight if Shadowclan gad any chance of wiggling their way out of Mushroomstars grasp before he trapped them like a mouse under his blood-stained paws.
Owlpaw had to admit that he was impressed by the deputies quick recovery, however, his mood was quickly soured when Vipernose began spewing excuses to try and placate him. He "wouldn't understand", Vipernose said, and Owlpaw couldn't stop his lip from curling upwards in disgust at excuses that sounded like they were coming from a moody teenagers lips.
"You sound like a damn apprentice who doesn't think any cat could possibly understand the injustices they have to face, all because their mentor ruined their plans to goof off with their annoying friends." Owlpaw took a step forward to close distance that Vipernose and forced between them in a rather threatening manner. "Cut the shit, Vipernose, I'm not going to pity you. You don't deserve my forgiveness." Owlpaw hissed under his breath, trying to keep his voice as low as possible as to not disturb any other cats. The tom jabbed one claw towards her chest before continuing, "You fucked up, and your attempt to try and cover your ass is fucking pathetic. Take responsibility and grow up, stop fucking running away from the responsibilities you accepted. Maybe you should be more like Fallenstar and step down if you're just going to be a damn crybaby."
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Post by Vipernose on Oct 20, 2018 12:55:33 GMT -5
VipernoseThe tabby didn’t ignore the expression upon Owlpaw’s face. It took everything in her not to leap on top of him and growl at him. He’d better start showing her some respect if he wanted to have a civilized conversation. If he thought she was weak, he would think otherwise if he did one more thing to set her off.
Then the words came out of his mouth.
She had mentally told herself that she wasn’t going to make a scene, this was just going to be a normal exchange between two clan members. But, man, had she forgotten who she was. Just because she was deputy and had to earn her respect didn’t mean she didn’t have the ability to get pissed off with a cat in her clan, let alone a cat moons younger than her.
Her self-control now destroyed, she advanced on him, making sure she stood straight and didn’t slouch so that she was looking directly down on him. She got so close that she could smell the anger emanating off of him. He was not happy, but now neither was she. Vipernose wore a slight snarl on her lips; she wasn’t going to show any type of weakness with wimpy excuses.
She cleared her throat. “Excuse me, Owlpaw,” she snapped. “You may be speaking the truth, but you have no right to be telling me in that tone. Have you forgotten that I am the authority here? I know you may think that I’m not good enough for this role and that I made the wrong decision, but it wasn’t up to you, was it?” Her amber eyes were flaming with rage now.
She did not care that he was trying to threaten her; she was not going to let him win. The deputy did not back off or flinch. She didn’t even blink. “I don’t want your pity,” she spat. “I suggest you cut the attitude and start acting your age. A mature warrior does not go around looking for cats to pick fights with.”
She watched as he shoved a claw at her, and her glare deepened. “Put that claw away, Owlpaw.” She was trying to keep her voice low so as to not draw attention to herself, but when she was mad, her temper was not easily controlled. All of the ShadowClan cats had seen her in a bad mood, but what would WindClan think? Worse yet, what would Mushroomstar say?
After everything the tom in front of her was saying, there was no way she was going to calm down. Why in his right mind would he think he could demand things from her? Had he never seen an angry Vipernose? Everyone knew that getting on her bad side was a terrible idea, so why was he doing it?
“Do not tell me what I should and shouldn’t do,” she huffed. “Do you see me crying, Owlpaw? Maybe I’m not doing the greatest at keeping up with my responsibilities, but at the end of the day, I do not go off and cry about it.” She could see the reasons he was upset… He was past due for his warrior ceremony, and he didn’t want ShadowClan to fall in the paws of Mushroomstar.
Vipernose knew that Owlpaw should be made a warrior first thing when they got to their new home, and she wished she could tell him he would be. But if she wasn’t leader, she’d have to find someone else to step up and take over ShadowClan before anything. The same question just kept flowing through her head: What if there was no one willing to take over leadership? Would she let the leader of WindClan take over or would she take action?
The molly narrowed her eyes, bringing herself back to the present. “Owlpaw,” she breathed, the vexation still in her voice. “I know you want to be a warrior and you think that I f-ed up, but you need to understand that I’m trying my best. I’m doing what I can to keep us all on our paws, and I know everyone is upset, but I will tell you right now that I will do everything I possibly can to stop Mushroomstar from claiming us as his own. That doesn’t mean he won’t lead us all to our new home, but it does mean that I will not let him tell ShadowClan what to do. He betrayed us a long while ago; he doesn’t deserve to come back.”
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"I thought nothing good would ever happen to me-that I was in hell after it froze over, thawed, and then burnt to the ground."
MADE BY VEL OF GS AND ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0 |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2018 23:57:22 GMT -5
I said hey look Ma, I made it.
Yes, Owlpaw was still pissed, but he couldn't stop the satisfied smile slipped onto his lips as he saw the anger flare into Vipernoses eyes. Her face contorted into one of rage as his words pierced her skin like razor sharp claws, and at that moment Owlpaw decided he preferred angry Vipernose over self-loathing Vipernose. Seeing her angry reminded him of a strong leader who wouldn't take anyone's bullshit, which is exactly what Shadowclan needed right now. That being said, Owlpaw wasn't going to let Vipernose know his true feelings just yet. Besides, she was stalking towards him with murder in her yellow eyes.
The tabby tom didn't flinch as Vipernose shoved her face directly into his, his neck naturally tilted upwards in order to maintain eye contact with the deputy. She immediately barked at him, trying to correct his behavior as if she were his mother. Narrowing his eyes slightly, Owlpaw fixed her with a serious stare before replying. "Maybe it should have been up to me." The tom meowed cooly, "You think you can talk to me about maturity? Ha!" Owlpaw laughed in the gray she-cats face. "I wouldn't say calling you out on your bullshit is picking a fight, sweetheart," Owlpaw practically purred as he brought his paw up to the bottom Vipernoses chin and tapped it. "Honestly, how weak do you have to be to cower like a scared little kitten in the face of Mushroomstar of all cats? If you tripped that fat oaf, he'd be down long enough that you could cut his throat and be done with him!"
"Oh please, Vipernose," The tomcat sighed loudly, jerking his head away dramatically as he rolled his eyes. "You've been moping around since before the journey even began. Sure, you've lost cats, but so have the rest of us. Do you see us dragging our paws in the snow and looking like we're on the edge of a complete breakdown? You're a fucking mess, and you need to get it together." Renewing his glare, Owlpaw fixated on the she-cat once more. "And I'll damn well tell you what I want until you stop being a fuckup. You're wasting so much potential, Fallenfox didn't pick you for you to back out when we needed you the most."
Owlpaw fell silent as Vipernose practically shut him down in order to speak what was on her mind. He kept her locked in his gaze, his expression remaining angry as he drank in her words. This wasn't about being a warrior, but Owlpaw kept his jaw clamped shut as the deputy continued. He even bit his tongue when Vipernose said she was "trying her best", considering he strongly disagreed, but Owlpaw couldn't contain his anger any longer when Vipernose mentioned Mushroomstar leading them home.
"Absolutely fucking not, you spineless she-cat," Owlpaw hissed as his hackles rose. "If you let Mushroomstar lead us home, he's going to claim all the credit for himself! That will only further his claim to both Clans, and some dipshits might actually buy into it!" Angrier than ever, it was time for Owlpaw to shove his face into Vipernoses. "I will not let you throw Shadowclan down in front of Mushroomstars claws, I'll kill that idiot myself before I let you ruin Shadowclan for the rest of us. Get your head out of your ass, Vipernose, do you even hear what you're saying? If you give Mushroomstar an inch, he'll go a mile!" 577 words
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Post by Vipernose on Oct 27, 2018 11:49:34 GMT -5
VipernoseVipernose could see the satisfied look on Owlpaw’s face, but she had no idea what he was so happy about. She could see that he did not approve of the way she was talking to him by the way his eyes narrowed. He probably didn’t like the way she was scolding him like a kit, but she didn’t care. Being a mother was what she was used to, and there was no way to change that.
Maybe it should have been up to me… What was he trying to say? That she wasn’t good enough to make her own decisions? She scoffed at his question. What, was she not allowed to talk to him about anything? Sweetheart!
“Maybe I wasn’t talking about this becoming a fight… How about back with Bluepaw? Was that not a fight?” The she-cat was still pissed, but her anger was slowly dissipating. And, boy, had that outrage felt good. She had needed that.
She batted his paw away from her face as it touched her chin, a disgusted look on her face. She did not like physical contact unless it was from a cat she loved. Like Ravenfoot or Sootkit… Or even Otterkit. But from Owlpaw? No. Not yet, anyway. Maybe they’d grow close and she’d be fine with small touch here and there, but not right now.
She stared at him, a look of something like boredom on her face. “I know that Mushroomstar would be easy to… handle, Owlpaw.” Vipernose decided not to say anything else on the topic, being that whatever came out of her mouth, he’d take and have something to say about it. She was done listening to him try and talk sense into her because she knew he was right. She didn’t want to fight anymore, but considering it was Owlpaw she was talking to, it would take some thinking to get him to calm down. Since the deputy had no experience talking with the apprentice, she had no idea what she could say that would work.
She watched as he rolled his eyes and talked about how she was a complete mess. Like she didn’t know that already. The brown tabby’s glare reappeared on his face, but she didn’t not return the expression. She understood that Fallenfox didn’t want her to follow in his pawsteps, he wanted her to create a new trail. But the problem was that she had no idea where to go. She didn’t know what she should or shouldn’t do, and she hated being the one everyone looked up to when she knew she wasn’t capable of leading them all successfully. She wanted someone to be at her side to help make decisions. She didn’t want to be the one making them.
Then she realized that the answer to her problem was sitting right under her nose. Literally.
Her eyes widened slightly as she suddenly knew what she absolutely had to do for once in her life. She let Owlpaw get everything he needed to out, and she agreed with every word. She was being stupid and she needed to get it together, but she needed his help.
Knowing that he was probably wondering why she wasn’t responding to anything now, she opened her mouth to speak. The anger was strong on his face, but she thought she knew what would calm him down. “You’re right. About all of it. I am really bad at this job, aren’t I? I still want to know what made Fallenfox think I had any potential at all.” There was sadness clouding her eyes, but she didn’t let it into her voice“I want to propose an idea to you, Owlpaw,” she began, watching his expression closely to make sure he was listening. “Since you have verbally told me that I’m doing a crappy job, I now know that I’m not the only one who thinks so.” She was admitting a lot of things to him right now, and she hoped he wouldn’t make any snarky remarks. “So I want to ask if you’ll help me in making my decisions, or at least until we find a leader. You obviously have more common sense than I do, and your mind is a lot clearer than mine. You are a member of ShadowClan, and you know how you and your clan feels about certain things. If I’m speaking my mind, I honestly think that if you were a warrior, you would be the cat I would choose for leader.”
_____________________________________________ "I thought nothing good would ever happen to me-that I was in hell after it froze over, thawed, and then burnt to the ground." MADE BY VEL OF GS AND ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0 |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 31, 2018 18:35:00 GMT -5
I said hey look Ma, I made it.
Even though Vipernose's next words held less anger in their tone, it did nothing to sooth the apprentices own irritation. "That was different," Owlpaw practically snapped at the deputy. "I'm not denying that was a fight, these two situations can't even be compared! Bluepaw was dissing my dead mother, and there was no way in hell she was going to get away with it! She knows what my limits are and she willingly crossed that line. She got what was coming to her."
As his paw was slapped away, Owlpaw watched as a look of... was that disinterest? overtake the mollies face. Feeling offended, Owlpaw seemed to puff up as if he were about to yell at her again, but he found himself biting his tongue. He glared at her as she spoke about how she knew Mushroomstar would be easy to handle, and every fiber of Owlpaws being wanted to scream "Then why aren't you handling it?!" until he was blue in the face. But he didn't. He restrained himself. The deep concentration on her face was the single thing keeping Owlpaw was letting loose on her for the second time in ten minutes.
Owlpaw felt the blood that roared in his ears quiet as Vipernose pacified him by agreeing to what he was saying. At once, the hair that had risen along his spine began to slick back into its usual position. "I wouldn't say you're bad at your job," Owlpaw responded with a grumble, clearly not ready to let go of all his anger yet. "... just that you need to try harder. I thought you were a great deputy, and great deputies become great leaders." The tom glanced away, almost as if he were embarrassed to admit this to the she-cat he had just been belittling. His gaze was brought back to her quickly, though, as she looked at him with such hurt in her eyes and mentioned a proposition. He quirked an eyebrow instantly, having no idea where this was about to go.
"Me?" Owlpaw meowed with a hint of laughter in his voice when Vipernose asked him for help. "But I'm just..." his interruption had not stopped Vipernose from continuing her question, and Owlpaw found himself... shocked, to say the least. He opened his mouth to respond, but when no words came out, he found himself clamping his jaws shut a few moments later. Was she being serious? Not long did she want his help, but she would pick him as Shadowclans next leader if he was of age? ... But why? Why not one of the other warriors?
"But I was an outsider," Owlpaw finally meowed, all the anger had left his voice and subsequently replaced with disbelief. "I don't know anything about being a leader." 461 words
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