Guild: Bones Like Bare Roots - Channel: council-private-meetings

Buzz {

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} Jul 17, 2021 12:28 AM

@council member Crowsong would like to request a private meeting with the Council now that he's Not Dead

adoring rat ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐷ [ larksong ] Jul 17, 2021 12:29 AM

Proud of him. Larksong says yea

cosmic {

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} Jul 17, 2021 12:29 AM

grizzly is fine with that :)

koby Jul 17, 2021 12:31 AM

(directed buzz here because i forgot council chat existed btw but i may @ you all soon as well for discussion of the Twins and their situation , but that would be public! i can also just like, Start that and we can get to it when we get to it if that sounds good-- i finally have more time to Do that)

Buzz {

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} Jul 17, 2021 12:32 AM

(koby piggybacking off my ping smh

/j )

koby Jul 17, 2021 12:32 AM

(:)c)

Buzz {

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} Jul 17, 2021 12:33 AM

(but! I might just start something and anyone with a council member who would like to respond can feel free! if that is okay w everyone!)

Buzz {

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} Jul 17, 2021 01:00 AM

cw for mentions of severe injuries // dissociation throughout the post

Things are... Crowsong wonders if this is how Minkblaze feels. He blinks, and it's like everything around him has changed while he stayed the same. He blinks awake and there are cats hovering (Grizzlyheart, Sheep, Larksong, he reminds himself) around him where he had once been dead. He blinks again, and suddenly there are different cats, ushering him to the medicine den as if there's something he shouldn't see, and something he needs to get checked out.

Blinks again, and suddenly he's where he knows the council to meet, unable to remember why he's here and what he's called them for.

His tongue feels heavy in his mouth as he stares at the assembled cats, not admitting to himself how it takes him a moment to process, where once he might havebeen whip-sharp and straight to business. His blinks are slow, not lazy but unfocused, and the shapes he's met with are blurry at best.

Words are still... they're still hard to come by. And signs are proving just as difficult. Though the killing blow has been healed, Crowsong knows he's not back up to par with what he was before. His chest aches, his shoulder is on fire, his head is numb but filled with an overwhelming pressure and fog.

His throat, he thinks his throat may have been crushed? His breaths come out as a wheeze, and when he does manage to hang onto words they're muffled and crunchy and hard to understand.

He's blaming it on the fact that he just woke from the dead recently. He'll get better with time.

He doesn't realize that he's been sitting here, among the Council, without speaking for a solid few minutes. When he does clue in, he blinks once more and almost stumbles harshly, only managing to hold himself up from spite alone.

And probably adrenaline.

"I, we're here," he begins, breaking off in a harsh cough that he won't admit is being used to cover up the fact that he can't remember he just needs to think why is this suddenly so hard-

"The order... needs, dealt with." He signs clumsily along with his words, sweat beading under his fur with the sheer effort this requires.

@council member (you are free to not reply to this if you don't have time/don't want to!!! No Pressure at all - and if you would like to not be pinged you can just react to this with

if you want! Also for sake of Timeline: this is the same day as he revived, and he doesn't know about hare and ice yet)
(edited)

adoring rat ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐷ [ larksong ] Jul 22, 2021 03:46 AM

Crowsong... didn't look so good. (Frumpulous, a rat-like voice from above echoed. Frumpled, even.)

-

It hadn't been like this before, and she hadn't gone through something like this with Wheatstar, but... between the severity of the injury and the situation with StarClan, it had been something she had been worried might happen. It was better than him being dead, but... she really wished that she hadn't been right. He was looking so disoriented, so pained as he attempted to do even the most basic of things.

-

Waiting for the Court's very own Lazarus to begin speaking, Larksong smiled at him reassuringly. On the inside, she was fretting up a storm- I'll have to meet with him later, get a treatment plan underway- maybe look into thyme?- though it depends on just what his symptoms are- wonder how his experience with StarClan went?- but, barring a few flickers of expression, she was determined to make Crowsong feel as comfortable as possible.

-

At last, he began speaking. It was- strange, to say the least, for a friend so close to have speech so unfamiliar. The shapes were all wrong, crooked and pained; after being interrupted by a cough, she was grateful to see him signing along, clumsy as it might have been. And the message?

-

Well. Let's just say she agreed. Wholeheartedly.

-

["P- past time,"] she stressed, righteous fury reigning on her features. ["Th' Order k, killed what was left've the Clans."] Her friends- her family- gone, for no reason more than the cruel whims of a cruel organization. ["Next up- th' Court. W, we will never be sssafe, with them 'round."] She wasn't an advocate of violence, but- if she had known who Marshall was, at the leaf-fall festival... she would have torn his throat out herself, and damn the consequences.

-

With a bit of effort, Larksong relaxed her expression- bared teeth, blazing eyes- and huffed. ["Sss, so. T' me, two mm, main issues. Keeping us ssafe, one. Two: t-teaching the Order a lesson."] The force with which she slashed across her pawpad, even with one claw above its surface, was a bit frightening to those who knew her best as a healer. It was an apt sign, especially to Grizzlyheart who was branded similarly, but that only made Larksong more ferocious in its motion.

larksong | @Buzz { ||||| } @council member | fuck them order guys bro .

cosmic {

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} Aug 07, 2021 12:04 AM

Oh, Grizzlyheart was angry. She couldn't remember the last time she had been so angry. Could she count when Dill and Pickle were found? When she was told that Marshall was still alive, still ruling over the city? When they had brought Crowsong's body back, his side carved with the symbol of the Order?

No, no. This was much worse. Perhaps she'd of still been this angry if they had brought back Crowsong's rotting body- knowing that she couldn't do anything to change what had happened- but this? The consequences of his survival? Damages that would most certainly be irreversible- something that he would have to live with. Something that she couldn't prevented if she had known.

She had to force herself to sit still and be calm, though. Deep breath in. Deep breath out. She couldn't allow herself to rampage and rage- throw herself towards the city on a mission that would only result in her death.

So she sat. She sat and listened, as patiently as her bristling fur and narrowed gaze and the claws dug deep into the earth below her would allow her. Crowsong managed to stumble out his small piece, and that was all she really needed to hear. She agreed; the Order needed to be dealt with. Larksong added an important piece, and Grizzlyheart nodded her head in solemn agreement.

"Yes. The most important part of this whole.. situation is to keep the Court safe from the Order. The Order ain't a group that we can just.. go in and dispatch- they got their Eyes everywhere, and their camp are well-guarded. These ain't just a stray group of street cats. They're organized. Efficient. They've got cats trained to kill and defend with their lives, and the loyal ones are gonna take you down with 'em if it means keepin' the rest of the group safe," Grizzlyheart rumbled out, low and rough. "We don't know why they decided to attack Crowsong and dispose of 'em like they did, but I highly doubt it matter at this point."

Her gaze shifted to look at the other Council members. "Protection is my biggest priority. If the Order don't want us in the city, then we should stay out of the city until we're prepared to launch a counter-attack against 'em. No cat goes in there, and I highly doubt any Order cats will stray out of the city to come for us. They wouldn't dare leave the confines of their territory into the unknowns of the wilderness..."

What they would do about the Order itself? Well, they'd have to figure that out too...

@council member @Buzz {

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}

wyrd {

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} Aug 07, 2021 01:05 AM

Storm is still as stone as the discussion begins, a heavy, contemplative weight settled about them like a thick blanket. Each decision they could make as a collective spins out like strands from the center of a spiderweb, and certainly there was ample opportunity for their best laid plans to be uprooted all together.

They feel for Crowsong, the aberrant impermanence of the death he's suffered, the way its lasting effects seem to cling thick to his voice, but there's little that they can offer asides from sympathy, and their view in where they should be setting their paws next.

They have to bemoan their lack of experience entirely, Storm has never been more than a paws on the ground cat up until this point, strategy came to those who pointed them in the direction of where they swung their paws.

Now they had moved past that, and yet they had none of the experience to guide themself forwards that others who had once been in positions of authority had. That, of course, was the point of there being a council in the first place. Many eyes, many minds, and ideas better than one solitary cat could think up on their own.

Still, other members of the Council are rightly furious. To do such a thing, seemingly completely unprovoked, was so far over the metaphorical line, it was hard to imagine the existence of a line in the first place. Perhaps it's plain and simple cowardice that has them slow to warm to the thought of retaliation.

"As Grizzlyheart has laid out, I am wary of engaging with The Order." Storm signs along as they talk, words heavy and deliberate as their paws "If they are loathe to stray. I would rather focus on protecting ourselves, than risking extended conflict with retaliation." If anything, they'd rather have something more than quiet agreement to offer, one tattered ear twitching.

"I think. That the why, is still important. Why could give us if, and, or, when, they choose to lash out at us again. May help dictate a response, if we knew."

@council member @Buzz {

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}

Buzz {

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} Aug 07, 2021 02:39 AM

Cats are talking and Crowsong is trying to pay attention. Quietly, to himself, he's glad that Larksong is speaking. He doesn't know if he could follow her signs right now - his vision is blurry and his head is cloudy and he's sure there's some he's forgetting right now. But it's fine. That will get better. It's important that he does this now, while it's fresh.

He pretends very hard that the cloud of noise doesn't miss him by a mile.

He can pick out some words. Larksong saying that they need to teach the Order a lesson. That they need to stay safe. Grizzlyheart and Storm offering their support. Crowsong's brow furrows. The Court is already unsafe. As long as they're surrounded on all sides by enemies, they will always be unsafe.

Because, if the Truth knows about the Order and has done nothing about it, then he's an enemy as well.

Crowsong makes a mental note. The mental note evaporates in the flames of his mind.

He zones back into the conversation as the consensus seems to land on No action right now. Which is. No. That's the wrong play. He tries to say as much but no words come out and he coughs again, this less a cover up and more a oh my breath is gone, give me a second. He didn't know lungs could bruise. Could lungs bruise? Why hadn't StarClan fixed that.

Wait, matter at hand.

He stares off into the middle distance, face both annoyed and considering.

"Avoidance... is not an issue." He says, but that's not quite right. Stalls, backtracks, rewords. "A solution. It's not a solution." He says, putting his paw down and trying to play off the stumble he almost falls into as a deliberate action.

Storm says they need a reason. Grizzlyheart says that they're too dangerous to go after right now.

Crowsong comes to a decision.
-

"If... they won't," his words won't come and it's so frustrating! He may have just revived today, but he should be better! Why would... Frostnose. What is she playing at. Is she deceiving him?

Anger flashes across his vision, red hot and dangerous.

"They have! Prisoners!" He bursts, and he can't place faces. He doesn't have names to offer. But he knows. "They make them fight! Torture! If we," he coughs, stumbles, loses his train of thought.

Sits there, as if he's just said something profound, waiting for a response.

Realizes his thought was incomplete, starts again.

"If we know about it... and... and we do nothing." Righteous fury is in his eyes. "I have a plan. If we. If we don't follow it. Then. We're just as bad." He doesn't have a plan. He had a plan.

But in his mind, it's all the same right now. "And. And if you aren't with me." His snarl is cold, the look on his face unhinged, and the emotion in his eyes startlingly blank. "Then. You're against me. And I will have to... I will act alone."

He spaces out after he says that, unsure what discussion takes place around him. Clues back in, vaguely wonders why he's angry and why he's with the council.

Remembers. Heart hurts. Lungs, face, back, pain. "Where's Icehawk? I need. He would want to know I'm okay."

@council member

adoring rat ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐷ [ larksong ] Aug 10, 2021 10:53 PM

Grizzlyheart and Storm agreed with her insistence on keeping the Court safe, which hardly surprised Larksong. They wouldn't have been elected in the first place if the Court didn't feel like they would protect the group, after all. Their hesitance in pursuing combat against the Order is... a bit less expected, though with a bit of consideration it wasn't exactly shocking.

-

["I've been... l-looking at ssafe places, ah, around here,"] she offered firstly. ["Th'- mmm- cave, where the ol-d Court had, where they... made things,"] Larksong settled on, [" 't has a ss-small entrance. Bit've work, an'... Place for, to hide, if they come. Easy to g-guard."] She wasn't a strategist, but Larksong had seen her fair share of camps and the measures taken to protect them.

-

[" 'Cause, they've come into the forest b'fore,"] she pointed out, glancing momentarily in the direction of the Green Cave. ["Ch-chasing 'dockheart, n' Wildscar. And..."] Her face twisted as she debated whether or not to reveal what Helsing had said to her. ["And they're here, now. Th' Eyes,"] she said at last, voice louder with the act of confession. ["In the Truth's... Inky,"] Larksong practically spat. The betrayal of it... it hurt, deeply. ["One here, too... don't know who. But here."] Here, with all the cats she had left.

-

Crowsong resumed signing, though it very quickly devolved into total nonsense. He was moving with purpose, but the meaning was completely absent to her eyes. It... it reminded her of when they had first met. Back then, she had known that practically nobody would be able to understand her signing; when Crowsong had learned that she was Deaf, though, he had been familiar with signing already. His brother had used a form of it, too...

(edited)

-

She didn't think he would be able to shift back to her 'dialect' right now, even if she reminded him. Though his speech was garbled with stuttering and wound around itself like an addled adder, Larksong furrowed her brow, grit her teeth and did her best to sort through it all.

-

["Mmm, making sure the Court is safe isn't, t, 'voidance,"] she chided. [" 'n injured cat can't fight. Not a s'lution, but a step towards one."] The track he was going down... It worried her. Larksong knew that she saw things very... divisively, to say the least, but Crowsong was... She padded closer, forsaking the ability to see what the others were saying in hopes of getting her message across to him. ["You're angry. I know. I am too,"] she began. The agony of losing the Clans- permanently, forever- of very nearly losing her closest friends, too, ensured she would never side with the Order. He had to know that- right?

-

["B, but. You aren't- you aren't thinking straight."] Perhaps it could have been said more tactfully, but there the truth was. [" 'f not 'mediately stopping ev'ry in- injus- bad thing w, we saw made us just 's bad... there'd be no-one good."] Larksong reached out, gently laying her paw on his shoulder for a moment before withdrawing it to continue. ["Let us talk. Let us think. And we will be with you in time. But if you go, alone, now..."]

-

Her face grew grim, as though she were imparting a terminal diagnosis to a family member. But it had to be said.

-

["You'll die. For nothing."]

larksong | @Buzz { ||||| } @council member | crowsong... you sussy little baka
(edited)

cosmic {

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} Aug 28, 2021 03:39 AM

Grizzlyheart was glad to hear that Storm was agreeing with the idea that they should prioritize the Court's safety first. If they couldn't keep the Court protected, then what good would it be to fling themselves in full-force at the Order? The city was their home territory, after all, and the members of it knew their ways through every little alleyway and street like the back of their paw.

Larksong's suggestion had Grizzlyheart thinking, but the idea didn't seem entirely full-proof. "It could work as a good hide-away, yes, but what if they find it? They could trap the cats caught in there for as long as needed. We'd need an emergency exit if that were to happen," she mewed in response.

However, it was what Larksong had to reveal next that caused Grizzlyheart's fur to stand on end, her normally half-lidded eyes going wide with shock and anger. "They've got Eyes here? Inky?!" the confused question ripped out of her with a snarl, already moving to stand on all three paws as her tail lashed back and forth. How had she not known that there had been an Eye here? How had she not have noticed that Inky was an Eye?? She knew the stench of steel better than anything else in her life- how had Josiah not have known?!

Josiah... Oh lord, her dear sweet Josiah didn't even know-

"If there's an Eye here, we have to find 'em and get rid of 'em. And we ain't lettin' Inky back here until we know for certain whether or not they're still workin' with Marshall or if they've had a change of heart," she growled, beginning to pace back and forth in the little area she stood in, her breathing becoming labored and wheezy as she grew more and more upset.

She shook her head at what Crowsong had to say, mind whirling."No. You're right. Avoidance isn't a permanent solution if they're edging on the boundaries, but it is necessary for us if we want to plan our next actions," Grizzlyheart insisted, forcing her voice to stay low and gentle, and frowning as Crowsong stumbled, correcting himself as he did.

The comment about the prisoners doesn't bother Grizzlyheart. She knew they had prisoners. They've always had prisoners, from before she even opened her eyes to the day she left.

Grizzlyheart stopped dead in her tracks and looked dead on at Crowsong when he spoke about acting alone. Already struggling to choke back the red-hot waves of anger that lapped at her, it was impossible for her to hide the look of rage that crossed her face for a few brief moments.

"If you act on your own, Crowsong, then you ain't actin' on behalf or for the continued safety of this Court, you hear me? You go 'n start doin' shit none of us- the Council or the Court members- agreed on, and you'll be doin' it in your own god damn name. For your own selfish desire for revenge. You went out there 'n got yourself in trouble with 'em. Don't drag the rest of us with you just cause we ain't got any plans or preparations to handle a big fuckin' threat like them."

A little voice in the back of Grizzlyheart's brain told her that she needed to go sit down somewhere and take a breather- literally, it was getting hard to breath with how upset she was getting. She shakes her head, barely softening when Crowsong asked where Icehawk was.

"He's.. gone," is all she can think to say, nowhere near any kind of state of mind to give him the news in a gentle fashion.

@council member @Buzz {

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}

🪐 Kendall (

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| Lelia

) Jan 06, 2022 04:37 PM

shoot shes not here (edited)

s.export

Spades BOT Jan 06, 2022 04:38 PM

Please stand by, this may take a while.