#ofnd: rainfall

[nightly-ruse]

Queen of the Crown with a face always in a frown. Oh how far she’s fallen. Shadows always grip her gaze and pull her mind. Exterior of ice and teeth ready to fight no cat swears they’ve seen her cry. But when the moon falls and she’s all alone her thoughts swirl like a whirlpool. The passing fish either a treat or a stinging bite to her throat. It seems over time the polluted fish have grown. And yet the most abundant most painful thought is always;

Was it worth it?

===============

@oldfacesnewdawnoffical ‘s very own Rainfall (Bluestar). Needed to draw something and felt like drawing her. She’s about to step up and say some shit, all cats waiting on baited breath to face her sharp tongue.

(Rainfall is a dull blue cat with slightly darker color point patterns on her face, legs, and ears. On these areas are sharp stripes that are slightly purple toned. She has sharp yellow eyes with the inner corner of the left one a dark blue, a scar is up her lip and a little fang pokes out. A ginger fox coat goes over her neck with two fangs in her right ear, two yellow feathers at her tail, and three small shiny stones under the feathers. On her head is a crown made of curled brambles with a shiny shard of the moon stone in the center. Branches are at her paws and behind her with three new twigs to the right, one snapped with a leaf on its end. A darker purple tint is over the piece)

[oldfacesnewdawnoffical]

Spoiler question: how exactly does Rainfall die?

In the aftermath of Laurelstorm’s betrayal, Rainfall is shaken to her very core. She becomes a husk of her former self: unable to eat, to care for herself, much less lead. It comes to a point where her neglect is actively hurting her community: She doesn’t name a liaison. She spits on anyone who attempts to approach her. She tries to banish Laurelstorm’s newborn kits with Monarchmask. Her refusal to name Swift and Pigeon lead to the deaths of two bright, promising young cats (Swift and Bright) and the near-death of another (Pigeon) in their attempts to prove themselves to her.

But Rainfall ignored it all, too consumed in her niece’s betrayal and attempted murder to so much as lift her head…

And Firefall has enough.

He approaches her one evening, after he set the day’s patrols; the camp is nearly completely empty. He settles himself at her side, offering her food and herbs - one final ditch attempt to make her rise to her former glory, one last try to get her to rise. She refuses him and lashes out; her claws connect to his cheek, and he reels back, eyes flashing. He sighs… and murmurs to her his latest decisions. He has renamed himself: Rustfire. Rainfall tries to protest, but he silences her with an icy, “if you wanted to have any say, you should have remained orator.”

“I am orator. I am your orator, your superior. You cannot change the name I gifted to you.”

“No… not anymore.” He inhales, straightening. Behind him, Sandstorm and Minktail slink into the den; Sandstorm’s eyes are cold, and Minktail’s glitter with grief. Rainfall bristles, shoving herself upright as Firefall-Rustfire, goes on. “If you are allowed to lead, to continue as you are, you will destroy the Woodruff. Your home. The community you swore to protect has already been hurt enough by you. And I cannot allow it anymore.”

He steps back as Sandstorm and Minktail step up. Rainfall hisses, and turns to Rustfire a final time, attempting to plead… but he turns away. His ears lay flat against his skull as Sandstorm and Minktail work together to silence her dying screams.

In the aftermath, Sandstorm becomes orator, with Monarchmask as her second in command… and Rustfire, his change of name made official by Sandstorm, keeping his place as allay.

[oldfacesnewdawnoffical]

Iris / Rain / “Rhema” Rainfall

Orator (formerly a liaison; formerly a scout) of the Woodruff Faction (as of: the start of A Dream of Destiny)

A tall, lean, short-furred light gray-blue lynx point classic tabby molly with pale yellow-amber eyes with a flash of blue in the left. She has a ripped left ear, and a scar across her shoulders and the right side of her mouth.

Wears a fox tail over her shoulders and two fox teeth in her right ear. Wears two goldfinch feathers at the base of her tail, secured with river stones and briar. Wears elk leather cuffs at her forepaws secured with a single fox tooth each.

Occasionally wears a circlet of woven oak branches inlaid with a shard of the starstone for ceremonial purposes.

•─────⋅ᓚᘏᗢ⋅─────•

Daughter of Blizzardtail† and Dovecloud†. Niece of Sors Goosefang†. Littermate of Snowstorm†. Half-sister of Minktail via Blizzardtail. Aunt of Laurelstorm. Ex-Mate of Rhema Crookedstorm of the Riverward. Dame of Fogtongue and Mistfoot of the Riverward, and Lavender†.

Trained by Rhema Songfall†. Trained Sloefrost and Runningflight. Training Sand.

108 moons old (equivalent to a 52 year old)

Reserved, Guarded, Impulsive | ISTJ-T

Cis Female // Biromantic-Asexual // (She/Her/Hers)

Heather Chandler - Heathers the Musical - Melanie Field

Name implies a dappled, dark-furred cat who is graceful and driven; named in honor of Rhema Songfall†.

[oldfacesnewdawnoffical]

How is Rainfall's death covered up?

It’s… not. Not really…

It’s merely not really talk about it. Sort of an insider’s secret for the Woodruffians, especially since so many of them consider Sandstorm and Monarchmask to be LEAGUES better on their own than Rainfall ever really was, especially to the time leading up to her death.

But it’s hard to just completely block out the dying screams of someone within a small den that tends to echo…

[oldfacesnewdawnoffical]

Spoiler about uuhhhhmmggg Rainfall

Shakespearean tragedies are in awe of her last few months of life

[oldfacesnewdawnoffical]

beats u over the head with these (made in clangen cat maker !!)

attempted to make firefall, mosquitonose, rainfall, and ravensong ! ravensong was a lil bit of a challenge

WAAAHHHHHH I’LL CRY THEYRE AMAZING

I LOVE THEM ALL SO MUCH AAHHH HSJHDD

I also think it’s very interesting that Ravensong of all of them was the most challenging :OOO

[oldfacesnewdawnoffical]

How did Rainfall get her fox coat? I assume it was from the same fox the fox tooth she wears comes from.

She got it during an otherwise unassuming outing with Thrushpelt! That fox was how Thrushpelt died, actually; the two fealty members stumbled upon it feasting on their cavy. They moved to defend their stores, the fox panicked and attacked the physically weaker of the two, and then turned tail once they realized they couldn’t protect their newfound meal. Thrushpelt drowned in his own blood while the fox fled, and Rainfall was left without vengeance for her dear fallen friend and first liaison.

She appointed the newly-named Mottledtail as her second-in-command, then left the faction for almost a whole moon to hunt the fox down. She lost two of her blessings in the process, but ultimately trapped the other beast and killed it, taking their coat and teeth as trophies before returning to her faction. She kept her lost blessings very hushed, and only shared it with Nettlewhisper and Featherwhisker.

It eventually spread to Laurelstorm as well, after Rainfall tried to offer one of the fox’s teeth to her as a gift, and Laurelstorm refused it and asked after its origins.

The fox’s name, in life, was Kin.

[oldfacesnewdawnoffical]

If I had a pence for every time Crookedstorm has a bad relationship with a cat with the prefix Rain, a four letter suffix starting with f and who has abandoned her kits I would have two pence. It’s not a lot but it’s weird it happened twice. I imagine he doesn’t think about rain in the same way as he did a kit.

I’ve definitely thought of the fact that Crookedstorm’s mom and first love have the same prefix WAY more than I should… It’s uhhh a little weird T^T But “Rain” fits them both as speckled gray cats, and their respective suffixes also fit them perfectly so uhhhh Crookedstorm’s mommy issues just extend way past the norm lmao

It’s not a lot but it’s weird that it’s happened twice Crying

And no… the way he thinks of Rainface is very different. I kind of project into Crookedstorm a bit in his interactions and thoughts with his mother, before and after his self-imposed exile, but hey, isn’t that what writing’s for? ^^

[oldfacesnewdawnoffical]

Whats Laurelstorm’s family situation like? (Sorry if this has already been asked)

Note: Although many families in OFND have some degree of drama, the ThistleSnow situation is not to be read as though I am glorifying their relationship. I loathe canon Thistleclaw, and although I have revamped his character entirely, he is still not a good person and shouldn’t be read as such; what he and Snowstorm had was not healthy, and should she have lived past the honeymoon phase of their relationship, I’m sure that Snowstorm would have eventually collected her senses and left him… but that’s a hypothetical for another day.

Born within a moon of each other, Thistleclaw and Snowstorm led drastically different lives - their similarities ended at their upbringings, both born into broke families that ultimately ended up fueling similar ambitions.

For Snowstorm, she was raised primarily by her kind, soft, infinitely loving mother, detached from her father’s influence in every sense but by name and blood alone. Due to their drastically different personalities, Snow and Rain (both named in light of their sire, Blizzardtail) often bickered and butted heads; Rainfall, even as a very young kit, was seemingly unable to do anything but follow her head, be analytical and sharp to a fault, whereas Snowstorm was the exact opposite, brash and bold with a tendency towards leaping before she looked. In the wake of Dovecloud’s death, both sisters sank even deeper into their own respective mindsets, and further away from each other, as Rainfall lashed out at Blizzardtail, and Snowstorm found comfort in her peers and in honing her skills - especially with Thistleclaw.

Thistleclaw’s dame died giving birth to him and his littermates, resulting in the trio being raised primarily by the sovereign of the time. While growing up with no solid parental figures impacted each differently, as Nettlewhisper was firmly not part of their life and Dappledfur wanted nothing to do with them, Thistleclaw was the runt of the litter, and it showed in his personality. Withdrawn, unsociable, and with a tendency towards horrific mood swings, Thistleclaw felt out of place compared to his littermates, so, rather than try to follow their examples of being bright and eager to please, he hung in their shadows. Always padding after them, he considered himself to be incredibly close with his littermates - though the sentiment wasn’t always echoed back at him in turn. On the cusp of receiving their full names, famine struck, claiming the life of Pear and shocking Thistle into a state of horrified, manic near-obsession with his remaining sibling, doing his best to stay close and bat back anyone that might threaten Maple.

It was only then that Snowstorm stepped in, partially because she was concerned for the friend she had gained in Maple, and partially because she felt empathy for Thistle, who had had someone so close to him ripped away so violently. She knew what it felt like. The two didn’t become close right away; Thistleclaw actively avoided Snowstorm, but she was clever and had come up with creative ways to coax him out of his patched-up shell. And with the added effort between them bloomed a friendship, and within that friendship bloomed codependence. Snowstorm could soothe Thistleclaw’s anxieties in a way that no one else seemed to be able to, and Thistleclaw kept Snowstorm’s temper in check and matched her energy effortlessly, but what they had bordered blatant obsession with one another. It wasn’t healthy, but in their eyes, even if they acknowledged that as a fact, did it even truly matter all that much?

They mutually wanted children, to have a family together, forged from them and not their past. And thus, Laurelstorm was born - a lone-born runt. The two adored their child, adored their little family, and in this time, Thistleclaw was overjoyed. He showed his kit off to his sister at every chance he could, would always make a beeline for the nursery after every patrol, and shamelessly pestered Featherwhisker for her advice and input should anyone near the nursery so much as sneeze. He took Snowstorm’s place in the nursery once their kit was weaned, as he knew the restless energy thrumming through her, and doted on their child even more, telling her stories of her brave and powerful mother to pass the time until she returned. But of course, this couldn’t last forever, and one evening during a patrol, Snowstorm didn’t return until much later, dragged back to camp by her sister, with her leg having been sliced open chasing a Fenlander off their territory, already visibly blackened and infected with the darkpathpad illness. For days, Snowstorm fought her injury, fought for life, with Thistleclaw never leaving her side, leaving the care of their kit to Mapletail. But alas, Snowstorm withered away over the rapid course of days and eventually succumbed to her infection, and Thistleclaw snapped.

He was consumed by his grief. He became an angry, bitter, horrible shell of his former self. He didn’t listen to orders from his higher ups, snapped at anyone who tried to approach him, and stopped caring for himself. He refused help, and simply melted away into his grieving. It was only moons later that he showed any signs of “recovery” - his mind seemed clearer, but his underlying aggression and grief still remained. He watched Laurelstorm grow up from afar, and did nothing to help soothe her when her beloved mentor, Rhema Pineheart, was labeled a traitor and banished. In an effort to pull him out from his slump further, Songfall gave him Spottedpaw as a ward, in the hopes that her gentle, cheery disposition might do well for them both, but he couldn’t care less. He was impatient, irritable, and outright cruel, issuing unusual punishments to a young cat who knew no better. He didn’t even bat an eye when she showed signs of magic and was whisked away into the position of augur, simply glaring after her wake from the shadows with baleful eyes. He retired after that, properly, to the depths of the historian’s den.

While he seemed to gain clarity in the short moon that marked the end of his life, reaching out in a desperate attempt to mend his relationships, Laurelstorm rejected him. She had grown up alone, her life one tragedy after another, pushing away the soft, hazy memories of her earliest days when her family was a family, and she didn’t intend on continuing on any differently just because the twisted cat who sired her decided he wanted to do “better” far too late.

Too young to attend Snowstorm’s funeral, Laurelstorm made an active decision not to attend Thistleclaw’s.

[oldfacesnewdawnoffical]

Does Kin have any important connections?

Also why are they named 'family'?

Nah… most foxes, regardless of the status of their mind, are solitary wanderers. They don’t tend to forge any close connections, and those that do are a rarity.

Kin’s name being “family” is actually a tie in to Thrushpelt and Rainfall’s relationship! How Thrushpelt’s death, and ultimately Rainfall’s act of vengeance, symbolized the death of her remaining family - at least, those who she considered to be family.

She doesn’t acknowledge Brindleface because she blames Goosefang for Dovecloud’s death, and removed ties with him. She doesn’t acknowledge Minktail because she’s removed ties with Blizzardtail. But Thrushpelt was her closest friend, above anyone else in her life, even her sister. So when Thrushpelt died, it was as though another sibling died - like a part of her died as well.

[oldfacesnewdawnoffical]

Fun fact! #2

Rainfall has gone through many developmental names over the course of OFND’s life. Here are a few!: Asterfall, Hurricaneheart, Coldsnap/star

[oldfacesnewdawnoffical]

So with the Songfall thing, are Rainfall’s therapy sessions with Featherwhisker retconed or do they stay?

I’d love to be a bird on a branch during one of those.

Unless I specifically say something has been retconned out, don’t assume anything ;)

Featherwhisker and Nettlewhisper are the only two who knew of Rainfall’s actions - both through “forced therapy sessions”… Nettlewhisper can keep a secret, and was a constant source throughout all of Rainfall’s life, a secondary father figure to her in some ways, even. And Featherwhisker is her adoptive auncle, her literal therapist who pulls all her traumas out from her in the hopes of giving her methods to cope and heal, as well as regulating her chemical levels via specific herbs.

Featherwhisker knows everything. But Rainfall is her orator by right, through blood, and the only one fit enough to lead - as much as he may privately loathe her, as much as he may wish horrors upon her psyche, he still has a job to do and a duty to uphold.

Or… Featherwhisker had. May they rest, now knowing they no longer have to uphold Rainfall’s secrets and the horrors of her past actions.

[oldfacesnewdawnoffical]

Rainfall, after everything you’ve done to become orator and everything that followed to now, I have to ask, was it really worth it?

“‘Worth it’…?”

“…”

“I-…”

“… I don’t know…”

[oldfacesnewdawnoffical]

“She lost two of her blessings in the process”

Did Rainfall lie about losing blessings, Pine’s was still alive at point?

(Not me Fully Forgetting a major plot point-)

Crying, no.. I just full-on forgot a huge part of my own lore… My mind’s super boggled, that’s entirely my bad; thank you for catching that T^T

[oldfacesnewdawnoffical]

I noticed that Laurelstorm being the one to kill Rainfall got retconned... who's going to kill her instead?

I’m planning to do one last “1 hour questioning” sometime tomorrow… Keep an eye out so you can ask again then ;)

[oldfacesnewdawnoffical]

how does rainfall die, if this hasn't been asked already?

Laurelstorm.