Disciplinary Action
Stormfur did his best to not show weakness, he sat perfectly still with his head held high, yellow eyes staring ahead and yet at nothing, taking calculated timed breaths. He just listened for the time being.
The temperature in the room dropped, the air becoming colder and frost sneaking up on the walls as the discussion continued.
"He attacked Gingerwhisker!" The glaceon argued.
Tataki, -who had in the light of Pearl's pregnancy had become the temporary glide Lieutenant- was surprisingly the main speaker throughout the meeting instead of Rurses, and she regarded both males with cold purple eyes.
"And so you responded with more violence? I understand that Stormfur might have physically injured Gingerwhisker, I won't pretend that I haven't had him in the infirmary for his injuries before but by attacking Stormfur back aren't you stooping down to his same level? Didn't you think of the medical resources that would be wasted patching up unnecessary avoidable injuries? Of the possibility of not having one member of the glide out of commission but of having three over some stupid petty adolescent argument? What if someone else had gotten stuck in the crossfire, someone like my daughter?"
At the she-cats words the demon flinched and bowed his head looking distraught as he realized the consequences of his actions. The ice grew in thick clusters around his paws.
Stormfur smirked, liking how the overly cocky and violent Reeinee shrunk under the Legion Head. Tataki turned to him and Stormfur tried to flatten his ears and look somewhat guilty. More so to play the part and not enrage the Healer than out of actual guilt.
Reeinee was the one at fault here, he didn't need to go and shove his nose into issues that were none of his concern. If Stormfur needed Gingerwhisker to know how much he hated being lied to, he would let him know and no Reeinee or Vee would stop him.
"Don't think you're off the hook either, and I will make this clear. Gingerwhisker is here because of your actions, him being in this glide is your fault, you talked him into joining us, why are you injuring someone who is in this glide because of your own actions?
Whatever happened between you is none of my concern but what is my concern is how your petty argument affects the glide as a whole, you're a fully grown warrior, it is time you start acting like one. I expect you to not let this argument between you and Gingerwhisker affect your duties in the glide any further." She sighed and glanced at the pages she had been provided by Pearl "however you both keep going against my expectations…. If we catch wind of this incident again, some harsher punishment will be decided."
Stormfur smirked knowing from past experiences that he would be on bile duties. Yes bile duties were a nasty punishment and ment he would have Tataki over his head constantly but on another it meant he could be in company of Tataki's pretty daughter Juno if only he could figure out how to get Caylx ou-
Tataki interrupted his thoughts "I can see that you've been on bile duties multiple times…so that simply won't do…" Tataki's eyes scanned the pages.
"You know Tataki, it's been a while since we've placed anyone for forge work as a punishment " Rurses spoke and Stormfur nearly cried out in shock.
Throughout the entire fucking meeting the white Chimera had looked uninterested prefering to play with the crystal pendant that hung from her neck, dedicating little to no contribution to the manner at paw and now for her to come and suggest that he be punished in such a way was beyond irritating.
"Starting tomorrow and for all of the week aside from your usual duties you'll both be on Lapidary duties,assisting with the cutting and polishing of shards." Tataki concluded by wrapping her long fluffy tail around her legs.
"What?!" Stormfur cried out, being unable to stop himself. He stood up, silver fur bristling "Neither of us are trained in shard working!"
"Of course, we don't plan on sending you into the work blindly, you'll have someone to guide you, at least during the first two days."
"Still Tataki, we could screw something up and get hurt-" if Stormfur's memory served him right, they used thunderstone powered saws at the Forge, aside from fire and strange liquids. "-and well that's wasted medical resources right?"
"In this case it would be purely out of your own negligence and not because you were running amok getting into petty little fights. However Stormfur if the punishment seems unjust to you, we could always forfeit your Honoris Ceremony in front of the whole Glide and have you do training again. In all honesty, it might be the best decision since you are not acting like a proper warrior at all."
Stormfur stared at the black cat with wide yellow eyes before he glanced at the still bowed Reeinee whose muzzle had curled into a silent grin.
He felt exposed.
"Do either of you have anything to say?"
"No, Tataki."
The she-cat nodded and signaled with the tip of her tail that they were both dismissed.
The pair respectfully dipped their heads to their Leader and her Temporary Lieutenant before each one took measures to leave.
Stormfur got up slowly trying to regain his fallen composure while Reeinee shook himself free of the ice crystals that had grown around his paws and rushed out of the den.
The silver tom cat took a few breaths and padded outside, his steps even and his head held high. Stepping out of the den he was blinded by the bright colors of the sunset across the sky, he noted that a mass majority had returned from their daily activities, various were removing their armors and storing them away in the Storage Den. Already Suli was preparing the bonfire for dinner as Hunters prepared and cleaned their kills for the glide to feed. He scanned the area for two particular felines.
"How was It?" Wildfire mewed suddenly besides Stormfur, causing him to bolt in surprise.
"Don't do that!" He hissed embarrassed.
"Not like anyone noticed Stormfur," the white and ginger tom shook his head "So, how was It ? Something tells me you aren't on Bile duty this time."
"No," Stormfur glanced at the ground. "Got forge work, you know, polishing and helping make shards that kind of shit for the next week."
Wildfire draped his long fluffy tail over Stormfur's shoulders and guided him towards the bonfire. "I assume that Tataki wasn't pleased with you in the slightest."
"No, she wasn't. It's made worse by the fact that I'm forced to spend time with the Psychopath."
Wildfire said nothing for a moment, the tip of his tail twitching, before he chuckled weakly "You and Him alone? He's gonna be eating you by the end of the day."
"Oh shut up, no one is eating me." He pushed Wildfire playfully, They nickered and joked with each other until they reached the bonfire, once there the toms received a single piece of prey and they settled down to munch on their shared smoked demon mouse. The flavor was nearly identical to that of a normal mouse despite the neon purple fur.
Halfway through the lively meal Stormfur caught sight of a familiar feline figure stopping by the huddle where Reeinee and his two followers were dining.
Tornshine fretted over the bandaged Gingerwhisker for a few moments before making a beeline towards Stormfur.
"What is wrong with you!?" She hissed, ears flat against her head.
Stormfur swallowed his bite of mouse and glanced up at the gray and ginger tabby. "Nothing, I just gave that idiot what he deserved."
"What he deserved?! You beat the shit out of someone who did nothing wrong. Of all the things you could do, you decide to be immature and waste time and energy on something so stupid?"
"You don't understand right now Tornshine, but it's for your own good, it's to keep you safe."
"My own good, keep me safe?" The she-cat laughed, her expression dark " I don't know if you've noticed Stormfur but I do not need your stupid attempts at protecting me, I have armor, I can take care fo myself any better than you ever did." her words were laced with angry bitterness.
"You want me to help me? Then why aren't you joining me, why are you not fighting alongside me? We promised to be the best warriors, didn't we?" She did not allow her sibling a moment to respond. "You're a liar and a coward, you make all these stupid promises you can't keep, I don't want or need your 'protection' " And with that she stormed off.
Wildfire made some kind of comment but Stormfur failed to hear it as he watched his sister disappear amongst the crowd.
The following day with the Midday sun beating down on him, Stormfur dragged his paws to the Forge. Between the summer heat and his lingering resentment for receiving such a punishment he was everything but in the mood to assist with forge duties.
Even though his day had consisted in nothing more than a patrol in the northwest section of the forest, near the Pond his armor felt heavy and the feline could not wait to pry the metal off his thick fur.
He made it to the Fallen Forge, -a location he seldom visited unless the Merchants of Roz were in the area- and pushed through the overgrown bushes that marked the edge of the small grassy clearing. He was greeted firstly by the glare of the sun smacking his eyes and secondly to the sight of the beautiful female Lucy.
Lucy was one of, if not the most attractive feline his age, with her long flowing white and brown pelt and brilliant purple eyes, not to mention her swaying hips. She was a trained warrior as well, even being a part of the same wave as Stormfur.
Stormfur now found himself wanting to assist her with shard duties.
"Hey Lucy." he called out while putting on his most charming smile.
The she-cat's heavily adorned ears perked up and she lifted a paw to wave at him.
"Hey Stormfur, you're here for punishment I assume?"
The tom nodded.
"Feel free to take off the armor, this is safe woodland." She nodded to a heap in a corner and Stormfur realized it was Lucy's own gemstone studded armor.
He stripped quickly of the metal and left it lying in the grass for the time being. He felt relief as the wind flowed freely though his silver coat again and the summer heat lessened significantly, after a few deep breaths he trotted over to the other cat.
She was sitting next to a small table that hosted a variety of tools and chunks of purple gemstone that he presumed were obtained during one of the Crystal Cavern raids.
"I'm not even going to ask if you know how to do Lapidary. I know neither you or the other idiot are trained in this field. So let's get down to it."
Stormfur nodded feeling slightly intimidated by the female, she wasn't aggressive but there was something about her that made him feel like he couldn't mess up around her.
"So, these beauties here are our soon to be shards and Cabochons.." She purred at the purple blocks and held one up with her front paws.
"Now amethyst-" she passed the stone to Stormfur, who held it nervously in awe admiring the tabbied pattern of white and violet"-is a rather common gemstone in our forest, but it's wanted quite a bit outside of the Everwoods for its color and properties."
Stormfur handed the rock back to the she-cat and watched her place it back on the table.
"Where did you learn all this?"
"Oh, I picked it up while The Roz were last here. They are eager to teach others about forge work and knowing lapidary is really useful for the glide overall. I tried to learn Armory but it's a lot more difficult in a way."
Stormfur nodded, understanding some of it.
"And all that jewelry that you wear, did you make it?" He asked, referring to the long yellow gemstone earrings and bracelets the feline wore.
"Not really, it was for sale when the Roz arrived 2 years ago, made out of topaz exported from The Whites. Speaking of jewelry-" she smiled teasingly "-when do you plan getting your own earrings?"
"Most likely later this year, Calasis is coming in the winter right?"
"Yeah, according to the calendar anyways.. I'm looking forward to their visit, I need to get my right ear pierced."
With that she turned away from him and dug around in a small crate eventually pulling out a pencil.
Lucy was a very patient feline, she gently guided Stormfur through the ropes of lapidary, teaching him how to cut the raw gemstone with the thunderstone powered saw, how to sand away the roughness of the cut rocks and how to polish it with a cloth until it shined among many other things.
The experience was pleasant mainly because of the beautiful teacher who talked and explained everything with such a passion and devotion that Stormfur couldn't help but feel admiration for her.
She would be an excellent Legion Head he was sure of it.
Stormfur was polishing his second cabochon when Reeinee showed up alongside Gingerwhisker and Vee.
Stormfur glared at the trio briefly and two thirds of it glared back, but before anything else could occur Lucy stepped in.
"Reeinee, I'm going to have to ask Gingerwhisker and Vee to leave. This is your punishment not theirs." Her fur bristled slightly and Stormfur assumed Lucy also did not like the glaceon.
Reeinee's long angled ears flattened sheepishly and he signaled with his tail at his two companions to leave.
"We'll see you during dinner, Reeinee…" Gingerwhisker mewled quietly before he turned away. The eevee stayed a bit longer fiddling with the leather belt that was wrapped around Reeinee's torso for a few moments before successfully extracting an ax and a dagger.
"You don't need these." She stated simply before running off, the two weapons clutched in her fangs.
With the demon and feline gone, Stormfur went back to polishing his cabochon and watched out of the corner of his eye as Lucy told Reeinee to strip off his armor before she led him over to another table with the same kind of tools Stormfur had been taught to use.
The fox constantly invaded her space as she taught him and stormfur could only feel irritation and a bit of anger especially when he saw Lucy's ears flatten slightly in annoyance.
Ultimately, at the end of the day, Stormfur had finished at least 3 gemstones, he hadn't bothered to keep track of how many Reeinee had made, but he did care about how the reynard processed with the task.
Mainly because he kept hogging Lucy to himself.
He didn't like that.
The second day had gone much like the first.
After finishing his morning patrol and escorting the Healer Novice Cil across the woods as she collected herbs, Stormfur made his way to the Forge sometime after noon.
He pushed the slightly frosted leaves and branches of the surrounding bushes aside and instead of finding Lucy waiting for him, he was greeted by Aella and Reeinee sitting at the former's workbench laughing.
At the sight of him the pair quieted down,he pretended not to notice the tiny ice crystals forming around their paws as he stared at them.
Stormfur wondered if they had been talking about him.
They probably were talking about him, probably doubting him, hating him, judging him for beating their friend up, maybe talking about his sister and how she had been practically ghosting him for weeks…
He shook his head, pushing his fears back.
Show no weakness
Aella got up easily, overshadowing the already tall Reeinee in size and walked up to the tom cat.
"What happened to Lucy?" He asked as the dragon like Chimera led him to his workbench.
"She's doing her punishments today."
"Punishments?" The feline asked, confused.
The hybrid's teal eyes widened in surprise and Stormfur sat down having arrived at his workbench.
"Didn't you know? Everyone that watched the flight between you and Reeinee got punished for making bets and encouraging the fight."
"When did that happen?"
Why hadn't Wildfire told him?
"Uh…two days ago?"
"Not the fight, this punishment you all got."
"Yesterday morning. Ain ,Kelsea,Lucy, Wildfire and myself."
"Oh," Stormfur said, feeling slightly more bothered by Wildfire's lack of mention of these punishments, although he now also wondered if lapidary had been part of Lucy's punishment.
"So watching over you two fools is my punishment-" She said with a flick of her long fuzzy tail and a smile "-at least for the day."
"How come your punishments rotate?"
The hybrid shrugged, her large bat wings opening slightly to showcase the gesture.
"Don't know, don't care, I'm gonna be doing these silly little tasks till the end of the week. Tataki was not happy at all. To be honest yes, Reeinee could have disemboweled and eaten you…but we weren't gonna let it get that far. " The look on her face was not reassuring in the slightest and Stormfur knew that Aella probably would have let him get killed if it was a good source of rumors.
He wondered if the chimera was here just to see if they would kill each other.
Throughout the course of the day, Aella would hover over each male (mostly Reeinee) for small periods of time, making small talk and checking their progress.
Her constant chatter was interesting to say the least but also irritating after a while. She was a gossip hunter and rumor mill and Stormfur knew half her babbling was not included her mother's new upcoming litter, that Cil wanted to investigate ways to cure corruption, and most disturbingly that Tornshine and Gingerwhisker were more than friends.
It took all of Stormfur's willpower to not lunge at the chimera's scale covered throat and rip it out.
At the end of the day, as he stored his tools, Stormfur watched as Aella walked out of the clearing with Reeinee, her long tufted tail draped over his flanks.
The third day was a day that Stormfur did not like, the clearing was empty and he realized that no one would arrive to supervise and that he would be alone with Reeinee.
With a sigh the tom set out, and started to work on the half finished crystals that he had left on the workbench the prior day.
He had asked Wildfire about the punishments and while the tom had confirmed that Aella' s words were truthful he would not look Stormfur in the eyes and overall seemed off. He didn't even drape his long bushy tail over Stormfur during the evening.
The silver feline had tried to press into his friend's odd behavior but came up with no real answers, he was as concerned as any good friend would be, but had no idea how to help him.
Not even nuzzling into Wildfire's soft thick fluff helped him find comfort.
Stormfur felt alone, his best friend and pillar was acting strange and Tornshine despite his attempts earlier to speak to her had stormed off enraged when he suggested they spend time together and perhaps pay respects to their parents. She kept pushing him away.
His sister had locked herself away in a cage of metal, grief and endless training and seeing her so distant from him only made him feel helpless, he needed to reach her somehow and reestablish what they once had.
Before she got herself killed.
At the sound of the bushes rustling, he looked up from his work and frowned watching as Reeinee slipped into the glade, the ice type glanced at him before he limped to the corner to remove his frost covered armor.
Neither male said a word.
As he grinded away at the rough edges, he thought back to the events that had led him to this situation.
The fight with Reeinee.
While Stormfur's entire perception of the situation had softened due to the day he had shared with Lucy, he knew that now without anyone as a mediator it was only a matter of time before he got on the bad side of the violent and psychotic Reeinee.
So what?
Yes,he did beat the shit out of Gingerwhisker.
Was it morally wrong?
Yes.
Was it necessary?
Yes.
When they had first met, Gingerwhisker had given him the air of a confident knowledgeable feline, but after a few weeks in the glide his true colors showed.
Anxious, nervous, paranoid freak who kept drawing his sister.
Creep.
Stormfur felt lied to, he felt like Gingerwhisker was nothing more than a slippery liar who wore a facade of confidence to look good and be accepted by the glide.
Then again what told him that the paranoid fear wasn't also a facade to look pathetic and weak and have others pity him.
It was hard to tell with a liar.
Stormfur however did know one thing for certain and it was that he loathed Gingerwhisker and the reminder of everything he hated being.
The day stretched on, cut and grind the gemstone, check that it's smooth and that its edges are no longer sharp, wash it off and polish it with a rag, then place it with the other Cabochons. Remaining pieces that were too small to carve could be placed with the other shard scraps.
The day, while slow and awful, was still going better than Stormfur initially imagined or at least it had been going he and Reeinee crossed paths while placing the cabochons into the bin. They stared at one another unsure of which one of the two would make the first move before diving in at the same time to place the rounded gemstones in the bin.
Of course they smashed head first into one another and of course both of them hissed in pain as a result, and of course that small encounter broke the tension they had been trying to ignore.
"You couldn't fucking wait couldn't you?" Reeinee hissed, rubbing his head with his bandaged paw.
"Speak for yourself,"
"Is this how it started, you and your fucking temper?"
"Temper? Well you just started this argument Reeinee."
"Oh you know this argument has been going on for much longer.." the demon snarled "You started this by beating Gingerwhisker up!"
"Again with that,stop getting your nose into other's business."
"Oh sure but if I were to… I don't know, maybe…. brutally disembowel Wildfire…-" The glaceon unsheathed the middle claw of his left paw and ran it downwards through the air in a manner similar to slicing . "-..would you just stare and watch?" he smiled in a way that made Sotrmfur bristle, it was the infamous smile of a Hunter, a murderer's smile.
"Keep Wildfire out of this!" Stormfur spat, losing his composure.
"Not so much of a 'Not my business' when it involves your little bitch eh?"
"The situation between Gingerwhisker and I does not concern you or Wildfire
So stay out Reeinee."
"I'm only staying out if you stay away from Gingerwhisker! Why do you even hate him so much? You were the one who made him join this glide!"
"Because he lied to me!"
"How did he lie to you?! If anything you lied to him by backsta-"
Their argument was interrupted by cruel hyena laughter.
"Aw…I was hoping there was some action going on.." a horribly familiar voice pouted, both toms whipped around to face the source and snarled seeing the black she-cat perched on one of the rocks that decorated the glade. Stormfur glanced at Reeinee feeling unsurprised as the ice fox flattened his ears in response to the newcomer.
The she-cat dropped to the ground in an uncaring yet graceful manner and smirked at the two males.
"Mother Tataki sent me to make sure you two weren't fucking the ever living shit out of each other."
"Shut up Nyx, I'm not screwing any males." Reeinee hissed, turning away and heading back to his workbench.
Stormfur for his part, stayed quiet edging slowly to his own workbench while hoping that Nyx would forget he was present and only focus on tormenting Reeinee.
Her orange eyes glanced back and fourth of them and she smirked, her face clearly showing a perverse glee as she decided on who to fuck with first. She made her way graceful as ever towards Stormfur and he shrunk back trying to avoid sharing even the air that he breathed with her.
"I'm not surprised that your acting so cowardly, Tornshine was right, you really are useless dead weight, can't even kill a slightly more pathetic tom cat right can you? Spoilers, next time go for the throat, you're a rank above me and don't know that?"
A loud snarl was heard behind her and she calmly turned around to face Reeine.
"Oh don't be like that, you know it's for the best, Gingerwhisker is even more useless than the idiot behind me. Although I guess you're blinded by your little romance. You can't deny it Reeinee, you two seem awfully close especially with the nest sharing and sleep cuddling."
Reeinee huffed, clearly irritated by the feline "Well, actually-" he said smirking " -i'm quite into females, especially after that night with Vee, sharing is a bit hard but Gingerwhisker and I are having a lot of fun with her." The vulpine grinded his hips against the air for a moment "and let me tell you that while she is small that eevee can really take some large co-"
"SHUT UP ABOUT MY SISTER!" Nyx snapped her fur raising on its ends, as she lost her composure.
"Oh so you don't want to hear about how i sho-"
"SHUT UP!"
"She was so eager to learn. Sure, she was a tad confused at first but after the first few sessions you could see how eager she was for more. I know it's hard to understand but I can teach you too" the glaceon stuck out his long tapered tongue and wiggled it in obvious reference to certain lewd acts and he moved closer invading Nyx's personal space.
The she-cat snarled and glared at Reeinee flustered and ruffled by his comments, without glancing at either male she sprinted out of the glade, her ego and pride hurt.
"You got rid of her fast." Stormfur noted genuinely surprised.
"That cunt annoys me all the time."
"Same, she's absolutely awful."
With their argument forgotten by their mutual understanding of how horrible of a being Nyx was, they both continued with their Lapidary work In silence until the sun set over the horizon.
The next two days had gone without much incident, on the fourth day of the week Aella had arrived with loads of gemstones that had just been extracted from the Cavern and as a result of the extra work, the last 2 days had been spent in a busy silence.
Now with his final day of punishment done, the tom settled down in a patch of ferns and observed the glide until he saw the familiar mix of snow white and ginger fur make its way through the clearing.
"Wildfire!" He called out.
The other tom lifted his head and gave a soft smile trotting over to his friend.
"Out of punishment?" he asked, slightly tipping his head to the side.
"Yeah but honestly I might sign up for it once Pearl's back to her Lieutenant position."
"Is this because Lucy is there?" Wildfire smirked
"Perhaps."
Stormfur followed Wildfire to the storage room and waited at the entrance while the other feline took off his armor. Warriors and Hunters alike passed him while he waited, most to remove their armor after a long day but some of them were getting ready for some last minute task they had been assigned.
Finally Wildfire made his way out of the cavern and Stormfur thrilled a greeting which was to his delight returned.
The duo made their way to their usual spot at the right side of camp and settled down to wait for dinnertime.
"I've been meaning to ask Wildfire, if everything is alright with you."
Wildfire ears flattened slightly
"Yeah, just kinda thinking about stuff."
"What kind of stuff?"
"About our punishments, Gingerwhisker, your attitude…"
"What about it?"
"I don't know…" he kneaded the ground with his paws. "I just think that maybe we should stop beating up Gingerwhisker…it was funny the first….five or so times…but now it's not funny."
"Is this because Reeinee and Vee could rip our guts out without trying?"
"Yes…" he winced " but also…" Wildfire sighed "I'm more concerned about you than anything, Tornshine hasn't properly spoken to you in a few weeks now and that's obviously not going to improve unless you stop beating her….boyfriend? Aella says he's her boyfriend... around."
"If you say that again I will beat you instead."
"My point is that you are both pushing each other away with how you are acting. I know you are both grieving and you're coping…but you're not the only one who has lost family to corruption-" His expression shifted to one of hurt "-and these actions are….leading both of you- especially her, down a concerning path…"
"What do you want me to do?"
"I'm not sure..-"
Stormfur looked across the clearing where his sister was settling down besides Gingerwhisker, her armor was off for once showing the patterns of her grey and ginger coat. She and the tom cat were occupied reading one of the many books Gingerwhisker kept. Next to them the other two members of the Hunter Trio chatted in their own separate world.
"-..but not beating Gingerwhisker up could be a start."