Juncostar
shadowclan leader
(he/him)
There was a heavy shadow hanging over Juncostar in recent weeks. It had crept on slowly, beginning at about the time that Waspsight had told him that something had followed him home. The grey tom had written it off as the stress of worrying what those words meant. The lapses in his memory, the claims that he'd been too rough on apprentices-- it all was just because of stress... right? It had to be. There was no other logical explanation for it. And so when the ShadowClan leader laid down in his nest for a nap, he was relieved that sleep came quickly. Maybe he could sleep off the pounding headache that had been growing all day.
As he awoke not long after, however, there was a darkness in his eyes. He looked almost angry, irritable. The headache was still there, and it felt like the walls of his den were closing in on him. He stumbled out into the clearing, blinking against the harsh sunlight as though it'd help him see through it. The sun had dropped in the sky, and it was nearing bedtime for most cats in the camp. They were gathered in the clearing, sharing tongues and prey, and Juncostar was almost deafened by the soft meows coming from them. He curled in a ball just outside the entrance of his den, covering his ears with his paws and closing his eyes tightly to try and drown out the various sounds and sights that were unbearable in that moment.
A while passed, or maybe it had just been a moment, but Juncostar could feel his anger rising. His tail began to fluff, his paws pressing more firmly into his skull. Why didn't he just go to his den? A nap might help. Or maybe he should see Waspsight; he could've been coming down with something, and the little tom might have some kind of herb that would help. The camp was spinning. He didn't know if he could manage to walk all the way to the medicine cat den without collapsing. And so he accepted that he was stuck, until some-cat came along and took pity on him and fetched the medicine cat themselves.
Juncostar
shadowclan leader
(he/him)
Juncostar's lips curled into a snarl as Hareflight backed away, his ears pressing to his skull as he watched her cower from him. He was desperately fighting against whatever this thing was, trying in vain to stop himself from saying these awful things to this poor she-cat. He knew she had only wanted to help. Why was he talking to her like this? Why couldn't he stop? The pounding in his head grew, and he was painfully aware of the setting sun's dim light as it still blinded him.
"D-d-do you think you could speak normally? We all know this is just some stupid act you're putting on; you can't expect us to believe you're actually this pathetic," he sneered, "Or maybe I've just overestimated you." Rolling his eyes, he lowered his chin to his paws, tail still lashing behind him. He scoffed as she offered to get Waspsight, shaking his head. "What help could he be? After all, you're the one who trained him. He's probably just as useless a medicine cat as you always were," he jeered.
Juncostar watched himself, feeling horror settle into his belly. He couldn't understand why any of this was happening to him. He'd never think-- much less say-- any of these things. He held such great respect for both Hareflight and Waspsight; why was he suddenly tearing them down? He just wanted it to stop. This had to be some kind of awful nightmare. He could just wake up, and he'd still be in his nest... Right?