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ACTIONS FOR POST i.─> consumption: fasting post 1/3.
↪ request: kitestar requests the spirits grant him a faithful shaman.
• hunting party: kitestar, sagetalon, duskpelt, and longshadow.
• border patrol: kitestar, sagetalon, duskpelt, and longshadow.
• herb gathering: none.
• training: none.
• other: sagetalon, duskpelt, and longshadow join from re-adopts. (
proof 1,
proof 2 )
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Whispers. It was all he could hear, all he could sense. Their auras gently flitted through the air surrounding him as he tread the ground, leaving him no room to think. As his eyes scanned the area before him, he strained to keep attention in the current moment──
Damn you, spirits. He cursed to himself. No matter whichever way he flicked an ear, their words were inaudible and he couldn’t make a word out of it. Their nonsense was a distraction, a signal, but for what he could not decipher. Spirits are always cryptic, rarely straightforward and wise as legends state, and in this moment the tom had little patience to pay them any mind. He could tune an ear, pause to listen to what they spoke of, but that was not going to stop him now.
Behind him, a small band of exiled rogues trudged along regretfully. Their paws left heavy indents in the dirt, and their frowns stilled the air among them. A bit off to the left over his shoulder and behind, the tortoiseshell molly by the name of Conifer met the tom’s gaze in annoyance. Her tail lashed maybe once or twice, however the tom merely looked away before she’d say anything more. With that, the group fell back into pace.
A few moments later, her voice arose; "It looks like a storm is setting in. We should find somewhere to shelter. None of us need to be getting sick." Kite glanced over his shoulder once more, expression exude of emotion, and twitched his ears. Looking away, it seemed the group fell back into silence only after taking his signal in disappointment. "We'll be fine, once we get out of the mountains we can rest." He responded, even the whispers taking silence at his words.
But perhaps the she-cat had been wise.
As time went on, a storm whipped into the forest, drenching their pelts and sending shivers to their core. A biting wind numbed the tom’s nose, eyes watering as he pushed on along the path. But Conifer was not having it. “Kite!” Her voice shrieked into the storm. “We need to get out of this!” The tom turned himself around to watch the she-cat, eyes narrowing in a displeased manner. “This should pass! We need to keep moving, it’s-” An unpleasant snap filled the air, directing the band’s attention to the trees swaying violently above. As his eyes drifted to their tops, Kite’s eyes widened in horror as the thick base of a tree came hurtling toward him. Taking action in the moments he had, the tom sprung backward and toppled over the few cats behind him as far from the tree as he could manage. A crash, followed by a few more snaps and cracks, signaled the end of the falling tree──and as the tom opened his eyes once more, he came face to face with its rigid bark.
“C-Conifer!” He yelled, eyes widening in fear as he imagined the horrendous possibilities. With no response, he cried out her name a few more times, the other rogues behind following suite. When finally they heard her voice, Kite released a heaving sigh. “We'll find a way around! Stay there, we'll come to you!" And so, they waited.
And waited they did.
It came to a point when waiting would no longer be an option. Kite sat motionless at the base of the fallen tree, peering as far over its rounded peak as he could. However, the urging of his companions began to wear on his spirit. He begged them to wait longer and longer, spending hours simply watching the area around them. No matter how long they waited, not a sign from the others nor the spirits met the diligent tom. Finally, he agreed to move on. With a final glance to the tree, one that sliced their path and their group in half, Kite shed a single tear in defeat before turning away and trotting deeper into the forest.
As expected, they never met once more.
Kite lead Sage, Dusk, and Long Shadow through the depths of the eerily undiscovered swamps, ones they never imagined to lie at the base of their former mountain home, a terrain they were more familiar with. The swamps were murky, humid, and scoured with darkness and shadows. Each cat was at unease, tense with each step, and keeping their ears perked and at attention. Dusk seemed to be the only tom at his right senses, and to this Kite was quite intrigued──was he somehow familiar with this landscape? It was a question he’d have to save for a later time, but not then and there.
The further they stepped into the dense swamp, Kite was struck with a feeling he’d yet to feel in the past; it was almost like a pull, an urge to go somewhere he’d never been nor heard of before. His mind told him to go on, deeper into what the area could offer, and find whatever place the spirits beckoned him into.
It took merely a few more hours on paw to finally reach the location the spirits which whispered in the tom’s ear spoke so fondly of. Situated against the bank of a creek, willow trees with their long, draping branches treaded the water’s surface, sending ripples throughout. A small clearing drew the tom’s attention, and so he signaled forward and lead their small band toward it. Evidence of past weather conditions shone in the area’s landscape, old trees toppled and worn with their great trunks hollowed-out with age. A single, wide-girthed stump, once belonging to a towering cypress, was toward the center of the clearing, its remnants strewn throughout in smaller sections. It was like a battlefield──devastation askew. No matter, the view into the creek from the clearing was marvelous, taking the breath from Shadow as she gazed from atop a large log. “The mountains never had stuff like this.” She remarked.
“I could get used to this!” Exclaimed an enthusiastic Sage, dipping a paw into the water, then fully submerging himself until his legs disappeared beneath it. The heat and humidity had worn on the mountain cats, used to the dryer climate and not that of the swamp’s, which would take much to get accustomed too. “Don’t get yourselves attached.” Rumbled the voice of Dark, shifting his yellow eyes in their directions. “We only just arrived, who knows if we’ll stay here.”
Kite remained silent, however nodded toward Dark’s words while their eyes swooped toward his own. “He’s right──we’ll stay here for a few days to rest, but we’ll need to scope the area out before we make any big decisions.”
“Well you’re our leader, right?”
“Right.” He responded, turning to face Shadow as she settled herself among the moss.
“Then your word is our command──if you stay, we’ll all stay.”
Quite surprised by her words, the tom caught the other two companions of his nodding their heads in agreement, never once considering otherwise. Pride swelled in Kite’s chest, and not for the power he now held over them, but the respect and trust he had gained from them. All he had done was protect these equally ostracized rogues in the best way he could, and in doing so, he had gained their trust. To have them consider him as their leader was an honor to him, and it was humbling.
“I think it's already been decided, my friends.” Kite replied with a smile forming on his maw. “Welcome to your new home.”