better dig two || open

once upon a time, eaglestrike smiled. the corners of his mouth would turn up and his eyes would brighten up. he seen the light in the world, all the beauty and the possibilities of what a life could be. every gathering that he attended would bring joy into his heart, and make him forget everything else in the world. for a evening, eaglestrike would be simply, and wholeheartedly, happy.

however, eaglestrike couldn't remember the last time he felt the corners of his mouth turn up at anything, other than in a snarl at something that pricked his temper.

the sound of a twig breaking under his weight snapped him out of his thoughts. eaglestrike's brow furrowed in annoyance when the putrid stench of the thunderpath reached his pink nose. his ears pricked up and his tail twitched. he hated the thunderpath. he was supposed to be on a hunting patrol and he wound up on the edge of shadowclan territory. lifting his right front paw, he struck a rotted stick poking out of the mud, causing it to crack off and fall into the marsh. a low growl broke out from deep within his chest as he limped along the length of the thunderpath.

something was getting under his skin and he couldn't put his paw on it. he was miserable, anyone with a brain would know that just by looking at him. they could tell by his cold gaze, the way his expressions barely changed, but yet they still had the nerves to ask if he was ok. the fact that they had the audacity to ask him, and expect an answer from him pissed him off to no end. why would he ever tell them what was eating away at him? what had they ever done for him?

the annoyance that he felt earlier was now blossoming into full blown anger. whatever was bugging him, it had to do with his clan. he was certain of it. eaglestrike stopped walking, and sat himself upon the soggy ground and hung his head. taking in a deep breath, he held it, trying to dissipate the unnatural anger he felt towards the rest of shadowclan.

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Runningthorn needed a breather. It was the night after the gathering and the camp was unbearable. For once she was glad that she had to stay behind. She hadn't witnessed the death of Windclan's deputy but she could tell it was gruesome; she could see it in their hollow, aching eyes. The she-cat threw herself through the undergrowth and toward the thunderpath. She actually hated the place but right now she couldn't think; couldn't process anything but the stench of death and fear. What exactly happened that night? In camp everything had been peaceful. It was a couple hours after moon-high when the sky went black. The she-cat only figured it was a fleeting cloud. She remembers glancing at her fellow guard and rolling her shoulders in response. Before they could think anything of it the sky illuminated with light and everything was calm, serene. And then they burst through the thorn bushes; exasperated and alive with fright. Everyone's eyes were wild, breaths ragged. The entirety of her clan was possessed with fear. It took a few desperate questions and curious glances before anyone would tell her what had happened. Runningthorn narrowed her gaze - a fallen log littered her path, without thought she hurled herself over the limb and continued toward the desolate, barren wasteland that was Thunderclan's territory. She needed to breathe in something sick, something far more terrifying than the weeping faces of her denmates. Perhaps the fumes from the tar would still her thoughts. When she reached the tunnels she was surprised to find herself in someone's company; Eagelstrike. The tom was huddled in a curling sit, his head lowered, and thoughts quiet. The she-cat brought herself to a slowed pad, curious to as why the tom would be so far from camp. Perhaps he needed to get out of there too. Runningthorn narrowed her gaze, she wasn't sure if she could face another weepy clanmate. "Were you at the gathering?" She found herself meowing. The she-cat quickly followed it with an indecent snort and quickly scooted closer to the tabby tom. "Sorry, I can't remember who was there and who wasn't and I don't think I could handle being around another petrified cat." "I mean, if you're suffering...that's cool but uh-" [bg=a68251]

the large tom exhaled his breath in a long sigh. things were just not going his way. he had wanted to escape his clanmates, and their disapproving gazes. unfortunately, starclan wasn't on his side today. opening his mouthever so slightly, he breathed in and caught the tell tale sent of one of those in which he was trying to avoid. runningthorn, is he was not mistaken. why can i never have my peace? shutting his eyes tight, he heard her gain ground on him, until her footfalls came to a halt. his off center ears swiveled at her voice, and he had to force himself not to sigh; sighing was a rude response to one's clanmates. or so he was told.

opening his bright emerald eyes, he turned his head to look at her, keeping his attractive features void of all emotion. her question more or less caught him off guard. why does she care if i was at the gathering? suspicion began to poison his stomach and he felt his eyebrows furrow as he studied her face. she didn't look very impressed either, now that he thought about it. something was definitely amiss with her. and of course, she would find me and now she is going to want to talk about her feelings like all the other she-cats. the thought raced through his head bitterly before he had the chance to stop it. eaglestrike cocked his eyebrow at her last comment and he smirked. maybe she didn't want to talk about her problems. praise starclan for small miracles.

"to answer your first question, runningthorn, no i was not at the gathering. why that should interest you, is beyond me." even eaglestrike could hear the bitterness in his tone, and he internally winced. this is why no one in the clan likes me. "i apologize, it has been an interesting day." he tried to smile, but found his face frozen in his usual cold expression. he sighed and flicked his tail over his front paws, before the she-cats last comment registered. "wait, what? why would i be suffering?" confusion flashed across his face as he tried to figure out how she could know about his broken heart? he had never told anyone about the riverclan she-cat that stole his hea-

"what happened at the gathering?" suddenly her first question and her last question clicked together. he had heard that something had happened, but had fled camp before he heard anything important. he cursed himself for being so antisocial.

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The she-cat watched in slight amusement; the tom was clearly confused by her question. "You really haven't heard?" Before Eagelstrike could respond the she-cat was already leaning closer to him, her voice a gruff whisper, "Apparently Mornginstrike, Windclan's deputy, dropped dead without warning. Everyone keeps saying that she was possessed or something and kept uttering some phrase - what was it..." Runningthorn pierced her brow in deep thought, "Oh!" She exclaimed rather loudly into the tom's ear, "She kept muttering, 'They're beneath us' over and over until she bled out." The lithe tabby shook her head slightly, "Weird, isn't it?" Her eyes slowly traveled along the tips of his toes and up to troubled face. If it wasn't the gathering that had been bothering him then why was he out here alone? The she-cat cocked her head to the side, curiosity burning on her tongue. She wasn't sure if she should ask. She didn't know Eagelstrike very well and she wasn't sure how he'd take her nosy questions. Runningthorn had this uncanny ability to question violently and persistently. She was fond of knowing everything about anything and some cats found it annoying. Judging by his frosty demeanor and huddled appearance he probably wouldn't appreciate her interrogation. Instead she decided to play a different game. The she-cat let a slight grin flash across her lips before continuing, "I couldn't stand being in camp any longer." The tabby danced onto her toes and strutted leisurely around the tom, "I could feel myself melting away with their weeping maws and hollow eyes." She let a shiver run across her spine, "Do you wanna help me clear my mind?" Runningthorn wasn't entirely sure where she was going with this. She figured she'd just play along as he goes - distract him with a small hunting patrol or perhaps an investigation of their own. Anything to keep him from wallowing away by himself - the poor thing looked like he might throw himself in front of a monster any minute. Perhaps if she could warm him up a bit he would be more willing to share his doubts and worries. The she-cat wasn't particularly nice, but she was empathetic. She could tell when a clanmate was suffering; she could adsorb their feelings and drown herself in their atmosphere. Runningthorn enjoyed being happy; the last thing she wanted was to feel someone else's remorse. [bg=a68251]

erasing his face of the evident confusion, eaglstrike cringed away from runningthorn as she leaned into him. her scent was stronger now, and he could smell her last meal on the breath that carried her words. haunting words. a death at the gathering? what had the clans done to upset starclan? there had been no battles, disputes were few and far between and mostly just heated words between hot heads. the tom winced and let out a growl as the she-cat practically shouted into his ear. however, all annoyance and anger evaporated upon hearing the clear warning that morningstrike muttered before dying. eaglestrike's body gave an involuntary shudder that chilled him to the bone and made his paws tingle. worry creased his face and he finally looked up at runningthorn. a tang of uneasiness touched his body as he studied her facial expression. she wasn't exactly delivering the news in a way that eaglestrike would deem fitting. she seemed almost... excited. then again, eaglestrike was awful at reading other cats; another reason he didn't like their company.

"she just dropped dead?" he inquired, curiosity getting the best of him. it was sick, really, to be discussing the death of the windclan deputy so nonchalantly, but he had had heard nothing about it from his other clanmates. he decided to chastise himself later for his insensitivity towards the tragic death later. "it certainly is weird." he said, more to himself than to the femme. still watching her and the way her facial expressions changed with every word as extra emphasis, he was overcome with a sense of discomfort as she cocked her head to the side. eaglestrike decided that this cat was definitely less than ordinary, and he was on the fence about whether or not that was a good thing or bad thing at this point. none the less, the tom averted his green gaze to that of the ground beneath his feet. he was no longer comfortable with the conversation. every nerve in his body told him to dismiss the small talk and leave the she-cat to her own thoughts.

his face twisted into a frown that brought his eyebrows together and made his whiskers twitch at her suggestion. what was she playing at? most of his clanmates would've been offended by him and gone on their merry way by now. what did she want anyways? was this a new game the warriors were starting? another way to taunt him about his apparent failures as a warrior? or maybe she was sent out here to make sure he didn't do anything stupid and break another paw. fresh anger boiled his blood and the frown was swept off his face and replaced with cold indifference that set in and erased all warmness that had found its way into his emerald pools.

"how would you suggest i do that, runningthorn? i'm not exactly the greatest at giving advice." he stated blatantly, bringing his gaze back up to her face which was, to his surprise and even greater discomfort, grinning. what kind of she-cat was he dealing with? he didn't know her on a personal basis, never exchanged more than the polite greeting, and even that came up short sometimes. they might have went on a few border patrols together, but none that he could remember. hopefully they hadn't gone on a hunting patrol together, considering he was a far cry from a good hunter. pushing the embarrassing thought aside, he dropped his gaze from her again. she looked demonic with her grin and slanted eye brows, and now more than ever, he wanted to leave.

"look, runningthorn it's nice that you came out all this way and decided to talk to me, but the thing is, i'm kind of dealing with some stuff, and, uhm, i wanted to uhm, be alone." his low voice came out weak and pathetic as he stumbled over his words. if he was lucky, she would leave. unfortunately, luck wasn't on his side today.

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"You think I came all the way out here to talk to you?" The she-cat stilled in her tracks, the laughter in her eyes fell and instead, quickly replaced itself with a narrowed look of discontent, "I came out here to get way - to be alone." An edge settled at the end of her words, "As morbid as it sounds I cannot - I cannot be around them when they're acting like this. All this talk about death - their eyes..." Runningthorn gave herself a quick shake, Eaglestrike didn't deserve the sting on her tongue. He was blatantly suffering - from what? The tabby wasn't sure. However, she was sure that he won't appreciate her bitter words. A softness settled in her eyes, and with careful steps she approached the tom, "Look, you're obviously upset about something -" She paused, letting the words roll around tongue, "I don't want to know why or what it is but..." "Let's do something." Her words were higher, brighter sounding. Runningthorn hardly knew Eaglestrike. He was far older than she was and they never had any reason to cross paths. She couldn't even place a moment when they were in the same patrol together. But he was unusually quiet - antisocial for the typical shadowclan tom. The lot of them were obnoxious and arrogant - much like herself. A thin smile licked her lips for a few seconds, but it quickly vanished as her thoughts consumed her once more. She did suppose there were two ends to the shadowclan spectrum. You had your deviously arrogant, cocky types and your quiet, cold types. There wasn't really an in-between when it came to the farthest clan corner. In sum they were rather unreasonable. The lithe tabby could feel his emerald eyes watching her; trying to pick her apart. She raised her brows, "I know Stormstar already scored the land in search of-" Runningthorn scrunched her nose tightly, "Well whatever it is we're dealing with." The she-cat let her claws dig into the earth, her body succumbing to an involuntary stretch, "Angry spirits, stupid mumbo-jumbo." She felt the corners of her mouth curl in distaste. Runningthorn didn't believe in Starclan. It was hard to believe in something she couldn't see. Life after death? As a warrior she's seen death. She's seen chilled corpses; lifeless. How could there be anything after that? Death was final, inevitable; something you grew up and faced. Words of prayer and muttered strings of forgiveness are nothing; worthless. They don't work for anybody. The she-cat felt her eyes narrow bitterly, they've never worked for her. "Let's go investigate ourselves." She spoke the words quickly, desperate to lighten the mood. "There might be something lurking out there..." Runningthorn could feel the fascination rise in her stomach; there had to be more to this? Deputies just don't drop dead for no good reason, and it definitely wasn't some spiritual, starclan punishment. What kind of 'praised' deity would innocently kill a lowly bystander? No, this had to be something physical; something more. [bg=a68251]

the large burly tom winced at the icy edge on her words. obviously, he had struck a nerve. what else was new?there was a reason no one in the clan would give him the time of day, let alone take the time to actually talk to him. however, he was foolish to think that she had actually sought him out to talk, to find out if he was ok. how stupid could he really be? cursing himself for thinking someone might actually care enough to find him, eaglestrike tuned out from what she was saying and sunk back into his own thoughts. maybe if he ignored her, she would leave him alone. unfortunately, he wasn't accustomed to the one on one conversations where only one voice was heard. he watched as her paws approached him, and every muscle in his body became taught as she spoke to him again, her tone softer than before, almost empathetic and caring; two things he wasn't used to. that's a first. he thought bitterly.

"i guess we could do something." eaglestrike mumbled. conversation really wasn't his forte, and he was feeling emotionally exhausted from trying to not be overly rude to the she-cat. there was something about the way that she spoke, and looked at him that made him feel uneasy, but safe at the same time. she was actually making an effort to speak with him, and that was huge. blinking he once again looked at her as she spoke about evil spirits and his whiskers twitched with amusement at the look of disgust on her face. she must really be bothered by all the things going on. it never once crossed his mind that someone didn't believe in starclan. the thought was absurd to the seasoned warrior. "you want to search for whatever murdered morningstrike? well, alright i guess." shrugging his shoulders, the tom rose to his feet, and in doing so, stretched his hind legs, his left leg end in an ugly twist.

flicking his ear, eaglestrike glanced at the odd she-cat. "what do you think happened?"he asked trying to keep the conversation going. thus far, it had only been the she-cat and he had been doing a terrible job helping her. "the clans obviously did something to upset starclan." he began to walk away from the thunderpath, his tail flicking with distress as his mind went into overdrive. was it a warning of some kind? were the lost warriors trying to demonstrate to the clans that at the end of the day, they still held the power over the lives of the living? "maybe she ate something that was poisoned? oh, wait, nevermind." by now he was at least six fox lengths away from his fellow warrior, moving swiftly but awkwardly away from her. his mind was racing, and with it, he wasn't thinking straight. runningthorn had stated that the windclan deputy had bled out. poison doesn't make a cat bleed out. no, it had to have been starclan unleashing their anger out.

he passed a pine tree and then stopped. he was having a conversation with another cat and had just walked away. eagelstrike sighed. way to go. he turned towards her and grimaced sheepishly as he waited for her to join him. it had been her suggestion after all and he had merely gotten a little carried away with everything.

eaglestrike needed to work on his social skills.

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"What do you think happened?" Runningthorn felt herself shrugging in response, she rolled her shoulders and meowed rather quickly after the tom, "I don't know. Maybe she was sick beforehand? Ya know?" But instead of answering her Eaglestrike begin padding away, too consumed by his own thoughts to even wait for the she-cat to follow him. The tabby pressed her lips into a thin line, watching as the tom grew further and further away. She raised a brow, "Eaglestrike." She meowed, "Eaglestrike!" Louder this time. Still, he continued to saunter away, his movements awkward from his limp. A small snort left her nostrils, followed by a quip chuckle, "Well - alright then." With a bounce in her step she quickly met up with the tabby, her strides long and graceful. Runningthorn moved fluently. She was a gifted runner and took pride in her speed. Her eyes traveled over her fellow warrior, pride was something he obviously lacked. "Do you think it was an internal injury?" The she-cat was quick to smooth over the incident. She figured it'd be easier just to pretend he'd never left her side. Eaglestrike was already uncomfortable enough as it was - she didn't want to add to his embarrassment. "What if something severely mutilated her but it just wasn't visible from the outside..." Runningthorn pierced her brows, no, that doesn't seem plausible. This would have been much easier if she had actually been present or if someone would just explain it to her. The she-cat didn't know all of the details and the lack of information was only adding to the mystery. "Oh! Maybe it had to do with those words she kept saying." The pretty tabby cast the tom a curious glance, "She said they're beneath us...maybe it's something underground that killed her?" What lived underground? Badgers? Rabbits? Was it the prey? "Wait..." Runningthorn ran the thought over her tongue, tasting the words before she spoke them, "What if the prey made her sick?" The she-cat blindly led the hobbling tom through the forest, too consumed by her thoughts to notice where she was bringing him. Suddenly the sharp scent of decay filled her senses. The tabby immediately stopped; her nose scrunched in disgust, "You smell that?" Opening her mouth she reluctantly let the tainted flesh settle on her tongue, and drew the scents in. Her curiosity was higher than her distaste - she wanted to know what they had stumbled upon. The smell brought her to the base of a tree and beneath the clutter of decomposing leaves laid a maggot infested squirrel. Runningthorn shrank away from the rodent, her eyes narrowed; mouth hung open in surprise. "What happened to it?" It was hard to tell but the squirrel had looked healthy. She couldn't detect any other unusual scents - no fox, badger, or other cat for that matter. It was just dead. Had it died of sickness? Was her theory correct? No, what would that have to do with Shadowclan? Morningstreak couldn't have had anything to do with this. Runningthorn let her eyes slowly drift onto Eaglestrike, she felt herself shrugging once more before speaking, "Do think they're connected?" [bg=a68251]