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Post by vectoring34 on Nov 6, 2018 9:26:36 GMT -5
So then, this is my first attempt at fanfic writing ever since I stopped years ago due to poor quality and lack of motivation. With any luck, this one will be way better than those. In any case, the premise of this fic is an AU wherein Thistleclaw died on the Thunderpath instead of Snowfur and how things change as events progress. Allegiances will be posted after the prologue. Suggestions and reviews are encouraged, even negative ones! Not much else to say, so here's the short prologue. ----- Prologue “Let me make one thing clear, Bluefur. This little excursion is for Snowfur’s sake.”
Bluefur’s tail flicked in irritation, her claws unsheathing to grip the soft moss beneath her pads and imagining she was sinking them into Thistleclaw’s arrogant, spiky-furred face. The boorish tom’s first words on their little “bonding hunt” as Snowfur had called it were just typical for him. The moment the pair of cats had left earshot of the camp, he had immediately turned crass. Bluefur had to wonder how naive her always kind sister must be to put up with Thistleclaw’s unpleasant manners. Does Snowfur think that a little hunt together will just immediately make up for all of Thistleclaw’s problems?
“If it was for her sake, you’d at least make an effort to speak to me without insulting me” Bluefur replied coolly, increasing her pace so she was trotting in front. A moment later, he did the same.
“And you would look at me without cringing as though I’m crowfood” Thistleclaw retorted. He was about to say something more when his amber eyes caught sight of a fat vole lying out in the sun. It was completely still, almost seeming to be asleep. Perhaps it was old or sick, but Bluefur doubted such thoughts entered Thistleclaw’s mind as he lunged for the creature impulsively. Yes, that was Thistleclaw, always seizing any opportunity in front of his nose without any thought at all.
“How impressive, catching a half-dead vole” Bluefur said dryly, padding over to sniff the kill. She didn’t trust Thistleclaw to not have grabbed a corpse in his haste. Ignoring Thistleclaw’s grumbles, she lowered her muzzle down to the fresh kill and sniffed it. It was clean of worms as far as she could tell, unfortunately. “I imagine you will tell quite a tale of it being the fastest and strongest vole in the forest when you return with it” she muttered acerbically, the words spilling out before she could contain them. Her gray companion gave her a furious glare, slashing the ground with his claws as though ripping into the pelt of another cat while he dug a hole for the prey. Bluefur shook off Thistleclaw’s gaze and sighed as she looked in the direction of the river. She had planned to check the border for Oakheart’s presence, but Thistleclaw was a problem. Knowing that mouse-brained brute, he’d probably charge at Oakheart with fangs out and start a debacle. Yes, more and more needless battles…
“At least it’s one vole. What do you have to show for all of your little trips?” Thistleclaw’s voice snapped Bluefur back to the moment and she cringed defensively. Does he know about Oakheart? No, it was impossible. It was just a typical jeer. Still...it was better to be doubly sure.
“I chased a Riverclan warrior from our territory this morning, if you have to know, Thistleclaw. The leader's brother, in fact” Bluefur said, sitting down and licking her paw as to not betray the thumping of her heart. Thistleclaw paused and gave her an odd look.
“But there’s no blood on you.”
“Well, not all warriors want or need to spill blood to win their battles. After all, we’re not mangy, codeless rogues and kittypets, are we?” To Bluefur’s surprise, Thistleclaw hardly responded to the jibe. Instead, he wore a pensive expression and tapped the ground as he looked in the direction of the river as well. It was like he hadn’t even heard her. Instead, his powerful shoulders bunched as he gripped and ungripped the ground.
“We might not be, but Riverclan sure seems to think like them. How dare they be so arrogant, poaching prey and land even after we beat them time and time again? The leader's kin of all cats!” Thistleclaw shook his head in disgust. Bluefur almost wanted to yowl out loud at Thistleclaw of all cats calling other cats arrogant. When Thistleclaw turned back to her, his sharp teeth gleamed in the low light. “When I tell Sunstar about this, then we will finally have a real fight on our paws! We will stroll right into their camp and demand they stop crossing the border or else. I bet they won’t be sunning themselves so lazily when they are nursing scratches and bruises for moons! ”
“Why, Thistleclaw?! When does the fighting end?! When you lie bleeding in a ditch, smiling like the battle hungry fool you are?!” Bluefur exploded, her fur fluffing out to make her seem twice her size. Thistleclaw had to be mad, why was she the only one who could see that? Why did no other cat see that she was the only one who was correct here?
“Oh, do forgive me, great BlueSTAR” Thistleclaw sneered, bowing his head in a mocking display. “But I will make this territory free and whole for my son and mate, whether you and your soft love of peace agree or not.”
“Oh yes, free for them to watch from the den you trapped Snowfur in!”
Thistleclaw froze. His lips curled up and his tail swished frantically from side to side. For a moment, Bluefur could almost swear she saw something like pain in his eyes. She alone knew better, however. He was full of a terrible and black rage, so great that she unsheathed her own claws. She had never felt like this with Oakheart.
“Mouse-dung, there are some warriors right there!”
Thistleclaw and Bluefur’s eyes immediately went from each other to a group of cats staring at them in horror from the woods before bolting. A second later, the reek of Shadowclan hit the pair of Thunderclan cats’ noses and their purpose was clear. Shadowclan was up to their prey poaching ways as usual, and they had missed them thanks to their argument. Without giving a moment, Thistleclaw pelted past Bluefur and charged after the invaders with a terrifying caterwaul. For a moment, Bluefur almost considered leaving Thistleclaw to deal with them himself.
Her flexed claws and jaws needed to be unleashed on something though. That something might as well be the pack of Shadowclan poachers. Following Thistleclaw’s lead, Bluefur raced after him and despite pushing herself, couldn’t quite match his stride. Determined to pull ahead, Bluefur barely even noticed when the treeline gave way to bright light and the paw steps of the Shadowclan cats became louder as they scrambled over the Thunderpath.
“You don’t escape that easily!” Thistleclaw screeched, so loudly that Bluefur thought it might pierce her head. It was so loud that Bluefur had doubts any cat could produce a noise like that. It sounded almost like it belonged to a...monster. Bluefur’s mouth opened but no words left it as she saw Thistleclaw leap through the air with all the strength of Lionclan...and then be utterly broken as a huge, blue monster slammed into him with a sickening crunch. Bluefur could only stare as her rival, the cat who had turned Snowfur into a broodqueen and been an arrogant bully as long as she could remember, lay motionless on the side of the Thunderpath.
Bluefur strode closer to his limp form in a slow, barely conscious way. Maybe he would finally find his peace in dying like this, in a reckless chase instead of by Snowfur and Whitekit’s side. Bluefur’s tail shot straight up. Oh no, Snowfur and Whitekit! What kind of peace would they have now? Swallowing hard, Bluefur bent down and grasped Thistleclaw's bloody scruff to drag him back to camp. They would just have to cope. Without Thistleclaw to stifle her, Snowfur was plenty strong enough to survive this. Bluefur was sure of it.[/qpoiler]
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Post by briarfrost on Nov 6, 2018 11:01:03 GMT -5
Nice start! I feel like their should have been some reaction from the ShadowClan cats, as in canon, and that Bluefur should have been a little more shocked at Thisteclaw's death--yeah, I know they hated each other, but it was still really sudden. There are a couple of small grammatical errors (like capitalizing "Sun"), but those are easily fixed with a beta or SpellCheck. Those are the only flaws I see so far, and they're all small--didn't stop me from looking forward to where this is going in the future!
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Post by vectoring34 on Nov 6, 2018 11:22:35 GMT -5
Nice start! I feel like their should have been some reaction from the ShadowClan cats, as in canon, and that Bluefur should have been a little more shocked at Thisteclaw's death--yeah, I know they hated each other, but it was still really sudden. There are a couple of small grammatical errors (like capitalizing "Sun"), but those are easily fixed with a beta or SpellCheck. Those are the only flaws I see so far, and they're all small--didn't stop me from looking forward to where this is going in the future! With regards to Bluefur’s reaction, I’ll elaborate more on it later. I was trying to emulate the book where it just kind of cuts after the monster hits, but it probably deserves more words devoted to it. Thank you very much though, characterization is important to me.
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Post by vectoring34 on Nov 7, 2018 13:05:02 GMT -5
Chapter 1: Whiteout Bluefur barely had the presence of mind to know the way back to camp. The air was too filled with the stench of blood and the rank odor of monster. Thistleclaw was so heavy in her jaws, heavier than he should have been. It was as if his body was trying to make her sink deep into the earth and be swallowed up until she was buried in earth next to him. Bluefur shook the terrible thoughts away, struggling to keep her breathing steady. Thistleclaw was still a warrior and he deserved a proper and swift burial. If only he could have been more alert. Why did he have to be so reckless? Thistleclaw’s empty gaze offered no reply beyond reflecting Bluefur’s own grief-stricken countenance in them. Bluefur quickly looked away and continued the seemingly moons-long process of dragging the corpse with her.
“Bluefur, what’s happened?” The voice belonged to Adderfang, Bluefur faintly realized. She buckled with tiredness, the scents of home on the other cat finally entering her nostrils and working as balm to soothe the nightmare on the Thunderpath.
“Shado-ahem-Shadowclan cats were hunting squirrels over the border. We gave chase and…a monster hit him just as he jumped. He died so quickly...” Bluefur had to pause a few times so that her voice came out clearly instead of cracking in the shock. She was not a mewling kit; she was a warrior and that meant giving a full and detailed report. Murmurs and mews of shock greeted her in turn from the patrol Adderfang was leading, White-eye and Thrushpelt among them.
“Oh, Thistleclaw…” Adderfang said, lowering his head to meet that of his former apprentice’s and nudging it for any sign of life. He received nothing in return. The tabby tom muttered something under his breath that Bluefur could not hear before grasping Thistleclaw and dragging him along the ground with far more care than she’d have expected from Adderfang. “Thrushpelt, check to see if the Shadowclan cats are gone for good. You know their type” Adderfang grunted out through the mouthful of fur in his mouth. Giving a swift nod, Thrushpelt ran off.
“Oh dear, poor Whitekit. To lose a parent while so young…” White-eye said, shaking her head in dismay as she followed along with Bluefur in tow. Bluefur winced at having her thoughts echoed, staring down at the forest floor to avoid seeing herself in Thistleclaw’s glassy eyes anymore. They would be able to adapt, she told herself. Snowfur and Whitekit would come out of this like she had when Moonflower died. White-eye’s tail draped over Bluefurs shoulder and Bluefur felt like she should reject the offer of comfort. She did not, however.
“Bluefur.” Bluefur looked up at Adderfang’s gentle meow and realized they had reached the edge of the ravine. How had the path seemed so long when she was dragging back Thistleclaw on her own and yet so short now? “You must tell Snowfur and Whitekit about this.”
“Me?” Bluefur’s pelt began to fluff back out, her tongue coming out to moisten her lips nervously. “I have to?” Would she have to see that pain in her sister’s eyes a second time? Over a tom who didn’t deserve any of it?
“You love them, don’t you? I’ll report to Sunstar about it” Adderfang said in a matter-of-fact way. Bluefur’s pelt immediately fell flat again, as if she had been soaked down with water. She did care about them; they were the only thing that mattered right now. She should just push down those ugly, unsisterly thoughts of Snowfur being trapped in her den by her now dead Clanmate. Bluefur nodded slowly, curling her tail around her paws once before quickly leaping down into the camp. The nursery seemed more and more like the jaws of a massive dog as she approached it with heavy pawsteps.
“Bluefur! How did the hunt go? Oh, you smell like blood. I suppose you saw my mate’s finer si-?” And if the nursery’s opening was the jaws of a dog, then Snowfur’s cheery, ignorant purrs were its barks.
“Snowfur, things went wrong!” Bluefur burst out, so loudly that Whitekit immediately got up in a startled way. Snowfur herself paused, taken aback by the loud declaration. The words boiled like an inferno in Bluefur’s throat, but before she could spit them out, she could already see the connections forming in Snowfur’s mind. They were not with concern for her, however.
“What happened to him, Bluefur? Why are you covered in his scent?”
“I had to drag him back after he charged at some Shadowclan cats.”
“Drag him back?”
“Thistleclaw would never let you do that” Whitekit interjected unhelpfully. Bluefur looked up helplessly as she saw the other kits in the nursery looking up at her. This was going all wrong, she should have told them outside. “Did he beat the Shadowclan cats?”
“Thistleclaw!” Snowfur’s shriek of agony cut Bluefur down to the bone and set the kits to wailing miserably. Bluefur did not need to turn around to know that Snowfur had just seen Thistleclaw’s body behind her. The white she-cat charged from the den, the strength of her rush knocking Bluefur aside.
“The Thunderpath...ran on ahead, you know how he is...trying to get them off the territory.” Those words came out of Bluefur’s mouth in some order, but the fog in her mind caused by Snowfur’s scream muddled them all up so she could not tell if she had said them in the right way or not. She doubted Snowfur had heard her pathetically soft words in any case. Snowfur placed herself over Thistleclaw’s form, uncaring of how his scarlet blood stained her pure pelt as she howled out wails that devolved into piteous whimpers. Adderfang hardly had to give any report; Snowfur’s cries were enough to inform everyone in the camp of the death in quick order.
Bluefur’s eyes flicked from cat to cat, trying desperately to find something she could hold onto in this raging storm of emotions and finding sympathy at best and grief at worst. Thistleclaw was the one who had done this to himself, who had brought such grief onto his clanmates. So why did they grieve him so? Paradoxical tom! Bluefur’s thoughts were interrupted as she felt a tugging at her hind leg, making her spin quickly around as though it was yet another attack. It was only Whitekit, but the pulls of a kit’s soft paws and an enemy’s sharp claws felt the same to Bluefur’s overstrained nerves.
“Tigerkit said Thistleclaw isn’t coming back, is that true? Is that why Snowfur is so sad?” the little kit asked, trying to be brave despite the quivering in his voice. Bluefur was about to reply when yet another voice called seemed to slash down her ears a heavy blow from a paw. Rosetail had joined Snowfur’s side, grieving for yet another sibling lost in solidarity with the pale she-cat. Rosetail placed her tail on Snowfur’s back, and Snowfur actually accepted the gesture instead of brushing it off. Her whimpers echoed in Bluefur’s ears, as if condemning her for not being there to help her grieve. At the same time, Whitekit’s despondent little face looked up to his aunt for answers. Thistleclaw’s twisted death snarl seemed to become a mocking grin for a moment, as Bluefur frantically looked between her two stricken kin, her heart being broken between the pair of them.
“Your mother can tell you” Bluefur mewed quickly, stumbling away to go join her sister’s side. Yes, Snowfur was a lovely and gentle she-cat who would be able to tell Whitekit the meaning of death. It would not be Bluefur extolling the virtues of Thistleclaw’s place in Starclan to her nephew. Bluefur placed her tail on her sister’s heaving shoulders, giving a respectful nod to Rosetail on Snowfur’s other side as she did so. Snowfur drew closer to Bluefur, eyes screwed tightly shut. Snowfur looked so small, hunched up as she was and with her tail tightly wrapped around her front paws.
“He had been so happy to go out with you…” Snowfur choked out, prompting a flinch from Bluefur. Thistleclaw might have smiled, but there was only ego in that smile. Terrible as it was to admit, Bluefur knew Snowfur could and would overcome this terrible chapter in her life with her help. She had survived Moonflower with Bluefur’s help too, after all.
“It’s okay.” Without thinking it, simply relying on the ancient memory of cheering up Snowfur after Moonflower’s death, Bluefur then spoke words that seemed to freeze the whole hollow. “I’ll take care of you now.” The cacophony of voices around the camp seemed to all fall silent. Bluefur saw all that happened next in crystal clear detail. Rosetail’s ears flattened down and her eyes narrowed, Whitekit’s brave face fell away to a low mewl, and Snowfur’s now open eyes transfixed her like talons upon a mouse.
“I. Don’t. Want. Your. Protection.” Snowfur hissed, standing to her full height ever so slowly. Bluefur could hardly comprehend that the fury before her belonged to the gentle as a snowflake Snowfur, who seemed to insist upon being confined to dens and lying about dumbstruck with love. For a hot moment, Bluefur could only see red. The red of Thistleclaw’s blood spoiling Snowfur’s fur, and then that of her own blood pounding behind her face in anger. Combined with the strange look from Rosetail, Whitekit’s half-understanding squeaks, Snowfur’s sudden anger, and the silence of the rest of the clan, Bluefur exploded.
“I’ll protect you anyway. I can step in for Thistleclaw.” Bluefur was almost as shocked as Snowfur that she said those words out loud. They were all Bluefur did get to say because a moment later, she was slammed hard to the ground and staring up at what seemed to be a warrior of Tigerclan who dug claws ferociously into her shoulders. Behind the scarlet chest was white fur though, and very slowly Bluefur managed to realize that this Tigerclan warrior was none other than Snowfur. The queen looked twice as big as she ever had, powerful shoulders and claws easily pinning down Bluefur as she panted in her face with wrath twisting her lips upward.
“Is that what this is all about? Protecting me?! Is this how you protect me?” Snowfur screeched shrilly, slamming down with her weight on Bluefur hard enough to drive the wind out of her before Rosetail pulled Snowfur off. If Bluefur had expected camaraderie in her eyes though, she was dearly mistaken. There was just pity and a strange unease. It was better than Snowfur’s furious stare, however. Her claws may not have drawn blood, but they had torn through to Bluefur’s heart regardless. How could her kin, a cat she had protected since the beginning, look at her with such eyes? All around, her clanmates seemed to all share glances of awkwardness and discomfort, even Sunstar from on high. Bluefur could swear even the kits looked at her like that. She hardly bothered to get off the ground, the injustice of it all too much to bear. A reckless and cruel clanmate had died by his own claws and she was the one to be loathed and blamed for it? She could understand their regret, their pain, but to not move on from this and linger upon it? Bluefur’s ears lay backwards and her tail tucked in, staring at the wall of the camp to avoid the judging faces of all around her.
Finally, pawsteps padded towards her.
“Bluefur...go clear your head. Give her time” Stormtail soothed, gently nudging his daughter to her paws and giving a loud sigh as Snowfur returned to mourning over Thistleclaw with Rosetail. “It’s not the time, Bluefur. They will not understand the goodness in your heart right now, no matter how well intentioned” Stormtail mewed quietly. Bluefur just shook her head, unable to clear the image of Snowfur’s bloodsoaked form crushing her against the grassy floor.
“Why? It’s unfair. I did nothing wrong” Bluefur muttered, though the guilt in her stance told every cat including herself different.
“It is the will of Starclan. Sometimes, you may find yourself thinking you have done your best, but Starclan tests your resolve to it.”
“Then Starclan is stupid and cruel!” Bluefur lashed her tail, gritting her teeth to keep her voice down as she followed her father away from the camp’s center and from Snowfur’s renewed keening. “All of us suffering so much, meanwhile when Moonflower died…!” Bluefur’s seething got little reaction from Stormtail beyond an understanding nod. The urge to find something, anything to blame slowly died down in time, and Bluefur continued to walk with him.
“A cat’s heart simply cannot be controlled. All we can do is make the best of the heart we have.”
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Bluefur had fallen asleep the moment her paws met the warrior’s den. It was cowardly and utterly unbecoming of a warrior, but she had lost all energy to argue for the day. Sleep would grant her sanctuary for a while at least. That had been her initial thoughts, at least. In practice, thorn-sharp claws scourged her pelt while she slept and the bellowing roars of monsters left her deaf and mute a thousand times over. Through it all, her blue pelt was as red as a sunset, tarnished by an endless deluge of blood that seemed to rain down from the black sky. Bluefur was content to merely sit there in the flood and drown in her dream, up until a mouth met her scruff and roughly yanked her out.
“Leave me alone” Bluefur moaned, slowly blinking the liquid from her eyes. “I don’t care about a dawn patrol.” When she finally opened her eyes and saw clearly, the blue she-cat fell completely onto her back, a strangled yowl dripping from her throat. “N-no, please, not here too…”
“I should be surprised, but I truly am not. You never did like to patrol with me, eh?” meowed Thistleclaw, sitting before her with an amused smirk upon his spike-furred face.
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Post by briarfrost on Nov 8, 2018 1:03:26 GMT -5
Ooof, Snowfur/Rosetail/Whitekit's reactions were painful to read Meanwhile I cringed at Bluefur's well-meaning but poorly-timed and offensive words. The whole scene of her saying she'll protect Snowfur, then being shocked at her fury, does a good job of the idolized/"fragile doll" view she has of her sister. And loooooool that last paragraph. Thistleclaw trolls and annoys Bluefur even in death.
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Post by yuno on Nov 10, 2018 2:43:59 GMT -5
ooh! ever since i saw this au i was interested. hyped for the next chapter!
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Post by vectoring34 on Nov 16, 2018 0:06:45 GMT -5
Chapter 2: Sastrugi Dreams were meant to be immaterial illusions, only holding importance when rambled out by medicine cats to cause destructive battles. Then they were twisted, strange things that had turned Goosefeather into a mad fool who had led to her mother’s death. Thus was the fear that clutched Bluefur’s heart like the teeth of a rogue; that she would end up as deranged as the old medicine cat as this horrible nightmare took form before her eyes.
“But you’re dead” Bluefur murmured out quietly, almost awkwardly. Thistleclaw wrapped his tail around his paws comfortably and rolled his eyes as he licked his paw.
“Yes, living cats usually don’t appear in dreams. That would take quite the power. But now that I am dead…” Bluefur flinched when he said the word but if Thistleclaw noticed, he didn’t show it. Instead, the tom just sat there licking his paws for a good while as Bluefur just stared. She had to wonder if her disrespectful comments to Starclan had prompted this. Her tail lashed the ground and it made a squelching noise. The ground under her paws was a foul quagmire, stained dull browns as though the gory river Thistleclaw had dragged her from had permeated it. The river was not liquid entirely, however. Some parts of it seemed solid and others slurry, more of a slow and melting substance than the thin liquid she had seen dribbling from Thistleclaw’s mouth on the Thunderpath. An unnatural substance like that cannot possibly be of Starclan!
“This is not Starclan” Bluefur growled. Thistleclaw hissed in response and gave her a glare, jumping down from their ledge and landing on the more solid part of the bloody river. The terrain around them was better lit now, and Bluefur could see the forest around them was composed of trees like massive claws that curled to the ground. Even more strangely, they were an odd, deep azure color. All the more reason for her to be sure this was not Starclan, but rather some place altogether more twisted and wicked. More than anything, the fact that Thistleclaw could walk about freely was evidence to Bluefur that this was not the just and glorious Starclan she had been told of. She buried the heretical thought as Thistleclaw offered a reply.
“You can call it whatever you like, Bluefur. It is true whether you say it is or not. This world reflects the future and the world that living cats walk in. And there’ll be rivers of blood to come in the future” Thistleclaw spoke, looking up as if he expected Bluefur to follow him on the foul river. Bluefur instead wrinkled her nose and followed along the bank. Thistleclaw smirked suddenly, and it made Bluefur’s claws sink into the muck as she wondered why. “Tell me, Bluefur, what is it that makes Thunderclan cats so powerful and the most feared among the four clans?”
“Starclan does not care about fear or power” Bluefur shot back, getting a roll of the shoulders in reply. Not even dead can he bring himself to have any dignity. “Why can you not just be at peace, Thistleclaw? Why do you have to hound me here too?” Bluefur pressed on, not letting him leave her sight even as his pace increased. Her breathing felt like sharp, cold crystals in her chest, as though she had been running all the way to Highstones even if she had only been walking a few moments. The trees at her sides slowly started to sink into the ground as they moved along the river, but Bluefur paid them no heed. Thistleclaw took in all of her attention as he spoke in that crass manner of his.
“Most cats would be honored to have a visit from Starclan. Not you, of course. You would think you are higher than them, would you? But your judgement is not absolute” Thistleclaw said, his paws now crossing over a stretch of river that was entirely solid. It reminded Bluefur of when Riverclan’s river was frozen in leaf-bare with its shiny contours and curved formations of still liquid. However, the surface below the ice of this river was criss crossed with roots the color of the sky. They must belong to the trees flanking the river. However, instead of being nourished by the river, every passing moment in the chilled, scarlet liquid seemed to make them wither more and more. Bluefur swallowed, unable to take her eyes away as the trees slowly began to die before her eyes. They went from hauntingly beautiful to twisted brambles and vines that encircled her as though she was their prey. Their bark became white flakes that peeled off their trunks, falling onto the floor in a miniature blizzard of dying bark.
“What is the meaning of this? Thistleclaw, show yourself!” Bluefur meant for her voice to sound intimidating, instead it came out as pitifully low mew that only reinforced the impression her fluffed out fur and flattened ears gave. No cat would be comfortable hemmed in by dying trees and up to their ankles in flakes of dead wood, but Bluefur felt her heart pounding against her breast even harder with the knowledge that her rival must be lurking out somewhere where she could not see.
“Trees are so strong, aren’t they? Noble and proud, holding themselves high. They are Thunderclan’s strength…” Thistleclaw spoke,voice echoing through the gaps in the branches in a fractured fashion. The wall of dead, twisted vegetation was far too high for Bluefur to even think about seeing him. Suddenly spurred on by panic, the she-cat’s claws began tearing at the cage surrounding her. She hyperventilated, eyes dilating as she shot from wall to wall to scrape at each one. She clawed desperately at every single scrap of vegetation she could see for just a glimpse of the spectre that was pushing her to the edge of sanity, foam flecking around her lips.
“What about Thunderclan’s strength? Why are the trees dying? Answer me!”
“Certainly, BlueSTAR.” Bluefur slammed into the barrier of thorns in shock as Thistleclaw appeared right next to her, his spiky fur seeming to be part of the creepers now. Holding back a hiss of pain, she could only stare as Thistleclaw spoke out in a grave, deep voice. “Frozen water and air heralds the weakening of Thunderclan.”
“Leafbare always does that though! What do you mean?” Frightened though she was by the terrible nightmare, Bluefur managed to find the courage to dare continuing to query the dead tom deep inside of her. Enough of the trickery, of the vague platitudes and claims! Answers had to be given now! Thistleclaw looked slightly surprised by her pluck and then amused.
“It’s not in our way to give direct guidance, but I can give you more of the indirect variety.” The forest seemed to rumble in protest, but Thistleclaw waved it off. “Listen carefully once more, if you can stand to; the blue path will lead to Thunderclan’s doom.” For a moment, Bluefur was silent inside of her cage of thorns. Then, with a mighty yowl, she surged forward and ripped the spiny plants off her pelt. For a moment, she had expected more. For a moment she had even thought Thistleclaw might be giving her advice in his own fashion. Instead he said she would doom her clan. Arrogant furball!
“You’re wrong, Thistleclaw! You will see! You will see!” Thrashing through all manner of dead wood and vine, Bluefur crashed forward with her jaws wide open to take a bite from the purring tom who could only trick and deceive others. The grey cat leaped forward to meet her charge, his sharp teeth flashing as though they were made of ice. Bluefur did not waver, did not look away. I will be the one to see the ending to all this and to save Thunderclan.
A terrible sound of shattering ice split Bluefur’s mind and then everything went black.
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Post by MissMisty on Nov 16, 2018 0:08:42 GMT -5
*SCREECHES* IT'S HERE. I MUST READ AND LOVE IT LIKE MY OWN CHILD.
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Post by MissMisty on Nov 16, 2018 0:15:57 GMT -5
*finishes reading it* The blue path....? I dOn'T uNdErStAnD!!! *yeets computer out the window*
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Post by vectoring34 on Nov 16, 2018 0:23:47 GMT -5
*finishes reading it* The blue path....? I dOn'T uNdErStAnD!!! *yeets computer out the window* Remember Spottedleaf's "follow your heart"? Now who says the dead can't play dirty tricks with their prophecies ?
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Post by MissMisty on Nov 16, 2018 0:41:45 GMT -5
Does it mean the blue family tree? As in, to become leader you can't put your family first?
And yes, damn those mystical prophecies!
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Post by vectoring34 on Nov 23, 2018 23:56:08 GMT -5
Chapter 3: Firnification Bluefur ate lethargically, the sweet taste of vole working to soothe her nerves after yet another haunting. Every time her eyelids closed, she could taste the abominable river of the blue forest filling up her lungs and hear Thistleclaw’s ominous prophecies. Always she leaped at him in the dream and always did the dream end all too soon. Bluefur stretched out her back, meowing lowly as she finished off her vole. Now it felt as though every sleep led to her waking up earlier than she wanted. Still, she took it in stride; she had every intention to honor the oath she had made in her dream. As Bluefur rose to her paws, she could see Tigerkit and Whitekit having a brawl in front of Snowfur.
“Ow! That was too hard!” Whitekit yelped suddenly when Tigerkit slammed him to the ground with his superior weight. Bluefur rose to her paws quickly and trotted over, immediately separating the pair with her head.
“Stop. You should always be gentle to those smaller than you” Bluefur mewed, casting a look back to see if Whitekit was hurt. To her surprise, he just shot her back a look of immature defiance and rolled back to his paws.
“What’s the big idea? We were only playing” an indignant Tigerkit grunted, fluffing up his tabby pelt. Bluefur was about to give him a scolding for being so rough before she saw her sister slowly rise to her paws, slowly shaking her head. Snowfur had not talked to her in the past half moon, and though Goosefeather said it was because of having her voice hoarse, Bluefur had her doubts when those cobalt eyes just stared at her.
“I was fine” Whitekit protested, getting back to his paws and sliding under Bluefur’s belly. “Can you get out of the way now please, Bluefur?” Bluefur could only nod as Whitekit and Tigerkit got back to their fight and Snowfur sat down again, focused on the pair of playing kits but letting them continue their roughhousing nonetheless. Can’t she see how rough Tigerkit is? Maybe she's too weak to tell him to stop. Bluefur was so engrossed in her own thoughts that as she walked away, she bumped into Rosetail by accident. Bluefur could not miss the brief flinch from the she-cat and fluffing up of her pelt, even if Rosetail quickly calmed down.
“Ready for the gathering?” Rosetail asked, avoiding eye contact with Bluefur and sitting down to wash her paws. Does everyone in this camp think that I cannot do anything right?
“Ready as I will ever be” Bluefur replied, maintaining a cheerful tone despite Rosetail’s awkward distance. Rosetail did not reply, but Bluefur was tired of the monotonous silence of her life only being broken up by Thistleclaw’s rough voice. Maybe she can help Snowfur see sense. If nothing else that is sure to stir up her talkative side. “What do you think of Whitekit's little games with Tigerkit? Snowfur looks like those two have exhausted her until she can barely see.” Rosetail purred in amusement despite herself, albeit tinged with a hint of wistfulness.
“Well, Snowfur really has gone out of her way to fulfill the duties Thistleclaw used to. She's hunting the biggest prey, taking double border patrols, and fixing up any den with a hole in it. She’s an inspiration. I wish I could move on from Thistleclaw like she did, and she was his mate!” Bluefur felt a bitter sensation at the talk drifting to Thistleclaw again, but she could hardly be picky.
“Well, maybe that’s why she’s staying. She must be so weak from overstraining herself. I try to help, but she doesn’t want it. I wanted to go hunting with her the other day and she looked at me like I was crow-food.”
“I don’t think it’s that she doesn’t want it, Bluefur. She just doesn’t want...well, nevermind it. Give her time.” I have given her time. Bluefur bit back complaining about how unfair the situation was like a kit. Every cat she spoke to said the same thing, but it also applied to every cat in the clan besides herself. Everyone simply needed more time, time that never seemed to end. The fact that she had been invited to the Gathering under such circumstances had shocked her, but at least put some relief in her that Sunstar if no other did not need more time. Thank Starclan, if our leader seriously considered Thistleclaw’s passing to be a transmissible disease like every other cat here does then Thunderclan would truly be in ruins.
As Bluefur approached the thorn tunnel entrance, she could see Lionheart and Goldenflower waiting there with Tawnyspots, Featherwhiker, and Sunstar. Leopardfoot had been considered to come, but she had decided to stay behind. It was unspoken knowledge throughout the camp that it was to soothe Snowfur’s loneliness.
“Bluefur. I think you should know of certain rumors…” Bluefur had been walking for only a few minutes when she heard Featherwhisker’s soft voice at her side. Bluefur was ordinarily a cat to dismiss gossip, but perhaps if she indulged the young medicine cat she could ask him in turn about her dreams. Featherwhisker shuffled on his paws, tail flicking nervously as he stalled his words.
“Well?” Bluefur finally prompted him.
“It regards Thistleclaw’s death…” Bluefur snorted aloud this time and Featherwhisker sighed. “That is exactly the reason for them.”
“What rumors are these about Thistleclaw’s death? He may have been a strong warrior, but even a strong warrior dies when struck by a monster. What’s so unbelievable about that?” Bluefur tried very hard to keep the exasperation from her mews, but it came through regardless.
“Well, some cats find it suspicious that a pair of cats who hated each other went into the forest alone and only one came back. One who immediately tries to take his place at Snowfur’s side.”
“Utter nonsense! You expect me to believe that any cat older than five moons would believe such a tale?” Bluefur’s hairs stood on end and she had half a mind to yell at Featherwhisker for playing such a cruel joke on her. The more she thought about the way other cats acted, however, the more his words seemed to make sens. Cats only spoke shortly and curtly with her, and none of them took their eyes off of her. My own clanmates think I’m a killer? Blufur’s head fell and her fur flattened once more, unable to meow as the reality of his words sunk in.
“Not all cats, but some. I suspect you too feel guilty of it.” When Bluefur spat, the medicine cat quickly amended his statement. “I don’t mean to say that you killed him with your claws or forced him onto the Thunderpath, Bluefur. Only that you feel the situation was your fault. After all, if you had not gone on that hunt with him, he would still be alive.” My fault? Bluefur almost had to close her eyes as images of that last look Thistleclaw had given her before rushing against the Shadowclan cats came unbidden to her mind. He had looked angry, but also deeply wounded.
“We had an argument before he charged” Bluefur mumbled quietly, her ears lying backwards. Featherwhisker’s tail came to lay over her shoulders.
“We cannot change the past, Bluefur. All we can do is learn from it. The guilt keeps us from doing that.”
“How am I supposed to move on from it when no cat will let me pass?”
“Your heart is strong and you have never wanted anything but the best for our clan. I think that when another cat is in need, you will be the one to step forward and help them. Snowfur and Whitekit would be a good place to start.”
“They don’t want to listen to me.”
“They don’t want your mind, Bluefur, but they still love your heart dearly. They are your kin.” In typical medicine cat form, Featherwhisker did not bother clarifying his cryptic statements trotted ahead to join the rest of the patrol. Bluefur’s claws crunched through leaves as she followed in the patrol’s wake and she found her mind being muddled by Thistleclaw’s warnings in her dream. She was still certain he was trying to deceive her, but what if there was truly a threat to Thunderclan’s strength? At the same time, she had to think of ways to follow Featherwhisker’s own advice. How was she meant to offer her heart but not her mind to her troubled kin? Bluefur barely even noticed when she entered the Fourtrees, instead sitting at the edges of her clan and staring at the greenleaf enriched land.
“Get your paws wet lately?” Bluefur turned to see Oakheart’s brown shape standing behind her, purring softly. Having an acquaintance in another clan was very suddenly a privilege, a friend who would not judge her or throw her mind into constant chaos.
“Hello, Oakheart. No, I stay out of rivers these days. I wish I could cross them sometimes though.”
Oakheart blinked and drew closer, then said “If you do want to come to Riverclan, I could beg Hailstar for it.” Bluefur purred and then playfully boxed his ears.
“Don’t bother doing that quite yet. I’m still a Thunderclan cat. Besides, I can hardly swim.” The chatter was entirely aimless, yet Bluefur found herself not caring. She was so relaxed now, the tension piling on her seeming to vanish into thin air. Oakheart’s smugness was a salve for her loneliness. It seemed barely any time had passed at all before the leaders began to speak and she had to return to her own clanmates.
“Shadowclan’s leaner than usual” Goldenflower observed of the raggedy looking cats that Cedarstar had managed to muster up. Bluefur briefly scanned them for a sign of the ones who had been poaching, but it was hard telling all of these broad-shouldered brown tabbies apart.
“And meaner no doubt” Rosetail added curtly, flicking her tail dismissively. Bluefur nudged Rosetail softly, and Rosetail just sighed and nodded to Bluefur. “I’m fine, don’t worry.”
Sunstar addressed the clans first, announcing the new kits and the new warriors Goldenflower and Lionheart alongside foxes and kittypets being chased off. Cedarstar went next, naming a former warrior as a medicine cat. Immediately, Bluefur’s nose wrinkled and she turned to Rosetail.
“She could be trouble, like Hawkheart was.”
“When is Shadowclan not trouble? I can’t wait for Sunstar to tell them off for prey thieving.” Yet as the meeting went on, Sunstar said nothing. Every moment that passed without mention by Sunstar of the invaders seemed to make Rosetail’s head sink lower. This time, when Bluefur nudged her, the she-cat did not stop herself from leaning onto Bluefur’s shoulder and taking comfort in a friend’s presence. Perhaps this is what Featherwhisker means when he talks about my heart. Windclan’s turn to speak was uneventful, but Riverclan’s was more intriguing, with Hailstar calling Oakheart forward to speak. He reported a Twoleg invasion on their territory in detail and with confidence, a sight impressive enough that many of the cats who had previously grumbled at his ego were now chatting amongst themselves about how well he had explained the situation.
“I really think he might become Oakstar one day” Bluefur commented to Rosetail. Rosetail purred in amusement and stood up, a sardonic remark upon her tongue.
“And who will you be? BlueSTAR who’s lovestruck over the border?” Bluefur silenced her friend with a playful swish of her tail, enjoying the fact that the ice between them had thawed a little at least. Though Rosetail spoke in jest, Bluefur couldn’t help but wonder. Oakheart really was handsome. He was a talkative tom too, a trait that Bluefur suddenly found very appealing. Still, he was from another clan. It could never be so, and that was the end of it.
All too soon the Gathering was over and though Bluefur lagged at the back of her patrol, she had no more words with Oakheart. On the other hand, Rosetail was more open to chat, even if she spoke in more terse sentences than usual.
“Bluefur, may I have a word with you?” The voice came from Sunstar, slowing down his pace and letting Tawnyspots take the lead. With a respectful nod at Rosetail, she went to the front of the patrol and left him alone with Bluefur. “Before I begin, is there anything you want to ask me?” As she walked with her leader and former mentor, Bluefur felt like she had a thousand questions to ask him and all of them too important not to ask. Finally, as her gaze settled on Rosetail’s dejected form, a bold idea struck her.
“Why did you not tell Shadowclan about the poachers?” Sunstar looked taken aback for a moment before looking forward and towards the horizon.
“Did you see how thin Shadowclan was? They almost looked like Windclan cats. Any cat can do desperate things when pushed to their limits. Your report told me that Thistleclaw did his duty, and now I know they did theirs to feed their clan; no one but the monster was at fault.” Their paws sloshed through puddles as they crossed through the glade. “I know that you bear the burden of that knowledge upon your shoulders, Bluefur. It is a heavy one and I do not envy your position. However, be careful that in holding it you don’t over do it.”
“I have to do my duties to the clan” Bluefur respectfully pointed out, a little confused as to his meaning.
“That you do, but that is what all clan cats must do. All cats must share in the duties to the clan; they cannot be taken. Snowfur and Whitekit will live on, but you must let them battle their own fears and doubts.” Bluefur blinked quizzically and Sunstar continued. “You are their kin, so you should support them, but support is all you should offer. You cannot replace that which is already gone. But you already know that, Bluefur.” Sunstar said nothing more and left Bluefur to stew in her thoughts. Her leader was asking her to step away from rearing Whitekit and being Snowfur’s emotional lodestone. It was a reality she could not accept, not when she had sworn to be the protector of her sibling. What good was being the best cat she could be for the clan if she could not even save her own family? Yet did she dare to disobey the advice of her leader and a medicine cat.
I’m sorry, Sunstar, but that won’t happen. I know there’s a greater destiny for me and that Snowfur and Whitekit need my help. Bluefur closed her eyes as she mulled her disregarding of the leader and Featherwhisker’s advice and there before her were amber eyes and a spiky furred face.
“Snowfur is the best fighter in the whole clan now that I’m dead, and not just physically. You are making a mistake. Let my son and mate stay strong and keen, lest they become crooked and wilt underneath your shadow” Thistleclaw hissed, looking more imposing than ever before. Anytime in the last half moon, Bluefur would have cringed. Now she merely walked forward and opened her eyes. Just like that, Thistleclaw was gone and she was back with the patrol.
“Is that why you trapped her in a den? Stop with your lies. You never thought she was strong when you were alive. But I won’t let you confuse me. I know what my path is.” Not a very eventful chapter, basically just a lot of setup for the current state of the camp. The next one though will bring quite a few TINY changes .
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Post by briarfrost on Dec 1, 2018 14:11:43 GMT -5
Loved the past two chapters! It totally makes sense ThunderClan would suspect Bluefur of murdering Thistleclaw, whose adivce by the way is perfectly confusing. In short, he's a great StarClan cat. Also love that you're giving her more screentime with Oakheart, their relationship did feel quite rushed in the books, and Rosetail bc I love their friendship.
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Post by MissMisty on Dec 1, 2018 15:34:00 GMT -5
EEEEEEEEEEEE YELLOWFANG HAD A CAMEO
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Post by vectoring34 on Dec 1, 2018 15:37:23 GMT -5
Loved the past two chapters! It totally makes sense ThunderClan would suspect Bluefur of murdering Thistleclaw, whose adivce by the way is perfectly confusing. In short, he's a great StarClan cat. Also love that you're giving her more screentime with Oakheart, their relationship did feel quite rushed in the books, and Rosetail bc I love their friendship. Thank you. A bonus of Snowfur not being dead is we get a much more active Bluefur which lends itself to more relationship building with Oakheart and Rosetail. And of course Thistleclaw is very much a Bluestar or Spottedleaf type Starclan cat, very selective with the truth as it were.
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Post by vectoring34 on Dec 1, 2018 22:49:41 GMT -5
Chapter 4: Powder “How long until I’m an apprentice like Tigerkit, err, Tigerpaw?” Whitekit asked, bouncing around and throwing slashes at invisible enemies. Seeing his former denmate strutting about with all the pride in the world after his apprentice ceremony had inspired quite the ambition in him to suddenly be an apprentice all at once. Finally he threw himself at Bluefur with all the force his young body could muster, giving a mildly intimidating squeal of battle. Bluefur snorted, easily avoiding her nephew’s tackle and shaking her head.
“Only a few more moons, Whitekit. Until then though, you have to listen to your mother” Bluefur said with a mrrow of amusement. Snowfur seemed to have gotten over her quiet grief and although her only words to Bluefur usually consisted of requesting she keep an eye on Whitekit while she patrolled, Bluefur took them happily. Finally it seemed like things were back to normal with her sister without Thistleclaw about to poison her mind. Thistleclaw had even stopped appearing in her own dreams.
“But she says I’m strong enough to be an apprentice now. I do special training, you know” Whitekit murmured mutinously, flexing his tiny claws. Bluefur’s ears perked at the mention of special training. Perhaps he merely referred to some new hunting crouch.
“Did he give you much trouble?” It was Snowfur, coming back from yet another hunt fully loaded with prey judging by how much blood had stained her pale pelt. Snowfur barely looked as if she’d been a queen, so quickly had she worked off the fat and regained it in muscle with her fully loaded patrolling schedule. Even when Sunstar didn’t order it, she tagged along with patrols anyway.
“None at all. He’s a model kit when he’s not trying to bite my tail” Bluefur joked, jerking her tail to one side in time to avoid Whitekit attempting to do just that. Usually, Snowfur would at this point just give a curt nod and take Whitekit to her corner of the camp. This time though, Snowfur smiled slightly, and the sight of it made tingles run up Bluefur’s spine. It was only a little, but maybe she was finally appreciating her presence again.
“Thank you for helping, Bluefur. Sorry I’ve been so absent lately. I just needed some time to myself and those rumors in the camp didn’t help” Snowfur mewed, beginning to lick herself down and wash off the prey’s blood. Bluefur got closer to her sibling and Snowfur’s eyes immediately flicked up in warning. “I can wash myself, you know” Snowfur said, returning to her licking with a slight roll of her eyes. Bluefur shrugged and sat down. Not sharing tongues with her sibling was strange, but at least they were chatting out in the sun.
“I hope you don’t believe the rumors.”
“I don’t. They’re an easy answer because that’s all cats want these days. They just want a simple solution to all their issues so that they can get back to napping. Honestly, sometimes I almost wish Riverclan got Sunningrocks back or at least tried to go for them again. Might change up the pace around here” Snowfur scoffed, licking her paw to finish up her wash by cleaning off her ears. Bluefur blinked, rather awed by her sister’s intensity.
“You’re really serious about this. It’s different.” Snowfur cocked her head at Bluefur’s amazed tone. “In the best of ways” Bluefur added. She supposed maybe this was what Featherwhisker and Sunstar had meant; tell Snowfur when to take a break for herself. She clearly needed it. She was about to say so when she gave a sharp yowl of pain. Attached to her tail was Whitekit, needle-sharp teeth buried in the tip of her tail.
“Gotcha!” he crowed through his grip on Bluefur’s tail.
“Excellent form, Whitekit! Just don’t try it on Bluefur’s tail” Snowfur said, giving the kit a praiseful slap on the back. Whitekit let Bluefur’s tail go and beamed at his mother before giving a somewhat shy glance at Bluefur.
“Sorry.”
“Oh no, perfectly fine. Just don’t bite as hard next time. I’m not fresh kill, you know” Bluefur managed to whimper out, looking at the bloodied tip of her tail and doing her best to hold back a whine. The wound was hardly serious, but any scratch on the tail left her having to dig her claws into the ground to avoid falling over. “Is that the special training you were working on?” she managed to gasp out, slowly regaining feeling in her tail.
“Whitekit, what did I tell you about fibbing?” Snowfur immediately spoke to her kit, her tail flicking side to side as she awaited a response. Whitekit immediately stared at the ground, suddenly very interested in grass. “Whitekit…”
“I’m sorry” he repeated in a low mumble, his legs shaking a little. Snowfur’s cross expression eventually faded and with a sigh she brought her son in close and began licking his ears.
“There, there. It’s no harm done” Snowfur soothed her son while Bluefur looked on. With a final twitch of her wounded tail, Bluefur prepared to go off and speak to Goosefeather about the tail bite. Something inside of her compelled her to stop though. It was her duty to her sister that made her turn around and speak on.
“Snowfur, maybe you should stay off patrols a little more. Teach Whitekit some manners” Bluefur said, looking down on the pair of pale cats lying down below her. Snowfur’s tail kinked and her teeth bared, fury covering her whole body. Instant guilt shot through Bluefur. “I didn’t mean it like that…” The air crackled with tension between them, and Whitekit instinctively burrowed into his mother’s chest to avoid the tense staredown between littermates.
“Help me!”
The stalemate was broken by a terrified shriek followed by a crashing through the undergrowth as a pair of small shapes raced through the thorn tunnel, bowling over Thrushpelt who’d been trying to guard it. All the clan turned their heads to the disturbance, claws becoming unsheathed and teeth baring themselves at the thought of a possible invasion. However, the pair of crashing figures were much too small to be an invasion force.
“Tigerpaw, not here!” Rosetail called out for her apprentice, bounding after the pair of shapes as they finally stood still. In the center of the clearing stood Tigerpaw, almost as big as an adult cat despite his age and viciously pummeling a small black cat into the forest floor. The little black cat squeaked, the bell on his collar jingling as if in mockery of the beating he was being given.
A kittypet. And so small...a kit? Bluefur watched on, deciding she could hang back and let Rosetail deal with her aggressive apprentice. Rosetail had a good head on her shoulders, and would surely tell off Tigerpaw for attacking such a harmless looking kitty-pet and scaring him straight into camp. Snowfur was much less casual, instead stepping in front of Whitekit and arching her back in preparation to bat back either clanmate or kittypet if the onesided fight rolled anywhere near her.
“He got my nose!” Tigerpaw bellowed out in his defense, and Bluefur noticed a thin trail of blood dribbling from his nose where the kitten must have gotten a lucky shot on him. Rosetail approached the pair, her tail sticking straight up and her ears flattened.
“And well he should have! Shame on you for not even giving a warning!” Rosetail spat, striding forward and digging her claws into Tigerpaw’s scruff to pull him off. For one moment, Tigerpaw’s oppressive weight was no longer smashing the young black kit into the ground. With blue eyes full of terror, the kit swung out with his suddenly free hind claws and hit Tigerpaw right where any tom would hate most to be hit. Tigerpaw shrieked, hitting a higher octave than usual as he buckled over in agony and almost fell on top of Rosetail. Squealing and whimpering, the black kit scrambled away with panicked, unsteady movements and crashed right into Bluefur.
“Help me, please! He’s going to kill me!” the kit begged of Bluefur, huddling himself between her paws. Snowfur took a step back, rolling her eyes.
“Kittypets are so dramatic. Warriors don’t kill” she mewed dismissively. “Tigerpaw just wants you out of the territory, little one, that’s all.”
As if on cue, Tigerpaw’s still shrill voice cried out “I’ll kill him!” Rosetail still held him back, but she hardly needed to with how much pain he must be in. Rosetail looked utterly overcome with embarrassment, stuck with an apprentice who was clearly out of control. For her part Bluefur did her best to smile awkwardly at the black cat between her paws, inwardly praying to Starclan that something would end this debacle. She could see Sunstar leaping down, preparing to speak. But his was not the voice that called out.
“Stop!” All cats, even Tigerpaw and the kittypet, turned their heads to the authoritative call from the camp entrance. It was Thrushpelt, having gotten back to his paws after being tripped. Upon seeing all eyes on him, the brown cat wavered a moment before clearing his throat. “Warriors and apprentices should give a report whenever they come back. So Rosetail and Tigerpaw...do that.” It wasn’t much of an order and his sudden fire seemed to have vanished, but nevertheless Thrushpelt kept the peace.
“We were looking around near the kitty-pet incursions and saw this one scent marking one of our trees. He kept on saying how this was his territory. I was a little quick to judge now, I think, by sending Tigerpaw after him. I am deeply sorry, my apprentice” Rosetail replied, her usually jocular expression serious for once as she dipped her head to her wounded apprentice. “You should go see Goosefeather now.” With a pained grunt, a shamefaced Tigerpaw limped off to the medicine cat den. The camp was so silent that the air seemed loud for a moment. Bluefur looked down at the quivering little scrap below her paws and with a sharp gulp she made her choice. The code said to protect kits, and this one was obviously too terrified to speak in his defense for trespassing.
“What’s your name, little one?” Bluefur asked him quietly.
“What does it matter? What are you doing, Bluefur? He’s not your business” Snowfur hissed under her breath as she saw all of the clan cats giving very odd looks at Bluefur as she actually conversed with a kittypet. Perhaps it was out of concern for Bluefur’s reputation that Snowfur shook her head and mouthed “no”. Nevertheless, Bluefur knew Snowfur was wrong about a great many things and she was wrong here too.
“Come on, you can tell me” Bluefur asked again, giving her best smile to the young black tom. Shivering, he raised his head and gulped.
“T-tiny. My name is Tiny.”
“Is he gonna get ripped to shreds?” Whitekit suddenly blurted out, only repeating what he’d heard so many older cats say.
“T-to shreds?” Tiny repeated, his little blue eyes rolling into the back of his head as he fell into a dead faint. Both Bluefur and Snowfur hit Whitekit with a glare that could kill but the kit’s enthusiasm wasn’t stopped. “Wow, it really is easy!”
Sunstar up from his vantage point sighed and suddenly got the feeling the day would be a lot longer. Now things are really picking up! Hope that'll tide you all over while I get through finals.
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Post by briarfrost on Dec 3, 2018 17:02:47 GMT -5
And Tiny makes an appearance! It's interesting to see how it goes differently, he makes it all the way to ThunderClan? I am CHANTING for him to join. I approve of Rosetail as Tigerpaw's mentor, I was wondering who'd do that. Hopefully he'll end up better under her care.
Snowfur and Bluefur's small moment was sweet. I know things are going to collapse later on, but for now it's good that they're getting better.
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Post by vectoring34 on Dec 15, 2018 22:03:46 GMT -5
Sorry for the chapter being late, finals were a killer. Chapter 5: Frost Chapter 5: Frost “The young tom will be fine. So long as he learns a lesson from this” Goosefeather remarked brusquely and loudly for all to hear as he dismissed Tigerpaw from his den. The humiliated apprentice staggered away with Rosetail for a private chat, and Bluefur could not avoid focusing on the contrition on his face. Perhaps it was better for the rambunctious tabby to learn by harmless experience than in a battle that respecting even your enemies was necessary.
“He was mean…” Bluefur rolled her eyes as Tiny’s small voice complained between her paws. She truly sympathized with the small black tom after seeing how viciously Tigerpaw had attacked him, but he had been whining and simpering for the better part of an hour about the same thing ever since he’d come to. She’d have left him behind, but he trailed among her paws like he was her kit. She hadn’t mustered the motivation to tell the kittypet to back off, but he was doing an excellent job at making it easier.
“Goosefeather patched you up, didn’t he? Why don’t you scamper back to your Twolegs if he scares you so much?” Bluefur finally said, sitting herself down and chewing on the bones of a mouse idly. At first, the kittypet’s form seemed to shrink. Then he puffed up and sank his claws into the ground.
“H-he doesn’t scare me at all. None of you forest cats do. That’s why I came to live here, because those Twolegs couldn’t stand how much of a scourge and savage I was.” Tiny let out a little hiss that was rather impressive as he did so, but all the same Bluefur could tell he was bluffing easily. His jingly little collar was immaculate and she was certain that were it not for Tigerpaw’s attack, his fur would have been too.
“What a little liar” Snowfur scoffed, having overheard Tiny’s boasts. Tiny, to his credit kept the bluff up, even if he was a little deflated. “We don’t take scourges and savages here in Thunderclan. If that was the home you were looking for, you should have searched in Shadowclan or Riverclan.”
“What’s Shadowclan and Riverclan? And Thunderclan?” Tiny asked. Bluefur was about to reply when Snowfur shook her head and quickly batted her son’s ears to get his attention off of Tigerpaw’s battle wounds.
“Show me how much you know about the clans and tell the history to the kittypet” Snowfur ordered briskly, winking at Bluefur. Whitekit took to the task enthusiastically, making dramatic motions with his arms to set up his tale. While the younger cats discussed the clans’ history, Snowfur stepped closer to Bluefur. “I could see the little scrap was getting to be a bother for you. And you were too soft to tell him no.”
“You know me too well” Bluefur mewed in amusement, sharing a relieved look with her sister. The kittypet was so obviously just going off on an adventure, secure in the knowledge of its returning home. If she’d have had to spend one more moment with that spoiled scrap, she might have torn her own fur off.
“That is why I think Rosetail’s silly little strings of gossip about you and Thrushpelt are doubly mouse-brained. You would not be able to handle kits.” Bluefur had to do a double-take, not sure if she’d heard Snowfur correctly. Snowfur peered back with a baffled look before shaking her head in disbelief. “You didn’t know? Rosetail has been chattering away constantly about how you and Thrushpelt are sure to end up together. It seems ridiculous to me. You’re not the kind of she-cat who has families” Snowfur whispered, likely for the sake of Rosetail who was a few tail-lengths away and scolding Tigerpaw viciously.
“Being stuck in a den all day? And if all young cats are like that? Please! As if I could ever fall in love with Thrushpelt.” But what about Oakheart? A flash of dark brown fur and kind eyes struck across Bluefur’s memory, and she felt her heart beat against her ribs. She let out an awkward purr, noticing that Snowfur mirrored it in awkwardness. Bluefur was quiet for a second, unsure of whether she had tipped off Snowfur to her hidden feelings or not.
“You’re so harsh with him. Didn’t you see how brave he was, calming down the whole clan when Sunstar was busy?” Rosetail came to the pair’s rescue, her fur fluffing up and giving a dreamy little coo as she sat down beside them and began licking her rump. “I saw it in your eyes, Bluefur. You were going ‘Oh, be still my heart!’”
“Only to your eyes. I was just shocked by what a calamity that little battle was” Bluefur meowed, quickly changing the subject from the real tom that caused her heart to throb in her mind. “Poor Tigerpaw almost lost the ability to get mates himself.”
“He was sloppy” Snowfur said curtly, unsheathing her claws and taking a practice swing at the ground. “Even the most cowardly of cats can be dangerous when cornered. He has a lot to learn about underhanded tactics.”
“There’s no need” Rosetail said, moving to defend her apprentice quickly. “Kittypets, rogues, and Shadowclan are the only clans who fight like that, and of those three, kittypets run if you hiss at them, rogues haven’t been here in moons, and Shadowclan is always skinny and easy to scare too.” Being that he was her first apprentice, it was only natural the red-tailed she-cat was defensive of his prowess. Bluefur disagreed privately, having seen how brusque Tigerpaw had been with Whitekit.
“That’s the problem; they’re too easy to scare” Snowfur grumbled, the fur on the back of her neck rising. “They make us drop our guard and turn our skills sloppy. If we’re reduced to just hissing and bullying away those crow-food eaters then we’re no warriors.”
“Yes, Snowfur’s very serious about us growing complacent” Bluefur cut in jokingly, adding a good-natured roll of the eyes. Snowfur was dead serious, however, as she continued.
“We need as many tough warriors as we can find. Warriors like Adderfang, Stormtail...and Thistleclaw.” Bluefur scoffed a loud. Thistleclaw was the last kind of warrior they needed at the moment or at any moment. She sobered when she saw the look in her sister and Rosetail’s eyes at the mention of his name. Clearly they still had fond memories of him. If only they could see him in their dreams constantly, then they wouldn’t be so adoring. “Tawnyspots has been getting sick lately. We can’t afford anymore weaknesses” Snowfur murmured, her tail flicking back and forth. Bluefur murmured her assent. Tawnyspots had taken part in barely any patrols and had often been relegated to his nest for his weakness. To see such a fine warrior in such a destitute state was a bitter reminder of how ephemeral life could be. She was also certain some were anticipating it, desiring his position. She had to check such thoughts too. I have not had an apprentice, so I cannot be deputy regardless.
“I’ve heard it’s some kind of weird illness that makes lumps in his stomach” Rosetail offered, chewing on her lip for a moment. “Even Goosefeather can’t really get rid of it.” Bluefur had to wonder if the reason he could not cure the illness had to do with that strange look in his eyes whenever she went near him. He constantly muttered strange words and phrases when he was near her and then shook his head as if he was more confused than usual. Once or twice she had even heard him say “Destiny’s paw marks have been muddled for you” and it had turned her stomach to ice. Bluefur was so absorbed in her thoughts about Goosefeather that she missed out on the rest of what her friends said, blinking in surprise as Snowfur prodded her side and blinked expectantly for her to say something.
“Thunderclan is not as big as it should be” Bluefur said diplomatically, deciding she would pretend she’d heard the rest of their conversation. The answer seemed to satisfy Snowfur and Rosetail and Snowfur went back to stretching while Rosetail cleaned herself of the dust of her apprentice’s battle.
“‘Scuse me...you said it’s not big enough?” Bluefur turned around to see Tiny at her heels once more, a questioning look in his ice-colored eyes. They were truly a striking shade, Bluefur realized, as the kittypet bit his lip in thought and worked the ground with his paws. Unbidden, Thistleclaw’s words returned to her mind. The blue path will lead to Thunderclan’s doom. She gave a shiver and began licking her paws. Thistleclaw no doubt only wanted to spark excess conflict, there was no need to listen to him. If anything, she should do the opposite of what he said. “Well, did you say that?”
“Yes, I did. What of it?” Bluefur replied casually, moving on to washing her ears. Tiny gave an affirmative squeak and then gestured with his tail towards his left.
“And that tom over there, his name is Sunstar and he’s your leader?” Bluefur turned in the direction the young cat pointed with his tail and nodded. Sunstar at that moment was conversing with Tawnyspots, casting furtive gazes towards Tiny every now and then. Bluefur had to guess he was at something of a loss as to what to do. To simply chase away Tiny without warning would be dishonorable and unbecoming of a leader who had extended an invitation to the kit in order to heal his wounds, but on the other paw, simply letting the kittypet lounge about despite having no right to their territory was entirely unacceptable too.
“Tiny’s really brave for a kittypet. He told me all about how he’d caught and killed a fox and beaten up an eagle and scared off a dog.” Snowfur’s tail came over Whitekit’s mouth, interrupting his tirade and looked at Bluefur. Bluefur shrugged and turned away. Tiny was not her kit or her apprentice. Why should it be her responsibility to keep him from spewing out his ridiculous tales?
“Tiny is a fibber. A very, very naughty one. And he should be punished for it. And he will be when his mother finds him” Snowfur meowed, a hidden warning in her voice for Whitekit to drop the subject. Whitekit paused and looked thoughtful for a moment before adding in just one last word.
“But what if he never sees his mother again?”
“Now how could that happen?”
“Because he’s going to ask Sunstar to stay here. Isn’t that so weird and amazing?”
At that moment, before Bluefur’s horrified eyes, Tiny quickly sprinted up to the Thunderclan leader and interrupted him in the middle of his conversation. Then, in a voice loud enough for the whole camp to hear, the little cat asked “Can I please join Thunderclan?”
“The utter disrespect and cheek on that scrap!” Snowfur snarled, and her sentiment was echoed by more than a few cats.
“Show respect to our leader, little kittypet!” Adderfang called out, the warrior’s tail lashing in annoyance.
“How dare he?!” Tigerpaw yowled out, the fur on his shoulders bristling and his claws coming unsheathed. “Are we really going to let that furball stay here? Why that snotty piece of fox-” Rosetail got to her paws quickly, almost squealing in delight at the sudden source of gossip before sobering in order to go and calm her apprentice. Tiny shrank under the jeers and angry yowls and finally his facade of cool confidence broke down. The little cat began to look around for an escape route with frantic darts of his head and his paws seemed ready to run off until Sunstar’s ginger paw came onto his shoulders. The kittypet froze in place, awaiting the leader’s judgement.
“Enough!” Sunstar yowled and the camp quieted once more. Tiny visibly shook against Sunstar’s firm grip. Bluefur felt a sudden stab of pity for the kittypet, who looked so vulnerable and shaken. Something more than just a beating from Tigerpaw had happened to him, of that she was sure. His eyes almost seemed to mirror the ones she’d seen on Snowfur’s face after Thistleclaw’s death. “Now, little one, why the urgency? Surely you have some good Twolegs to return to, and then good food and shelter. Forest life isn’t for you.” Sunstar lightly touched Tiny’s collar to make a point, his voice gentle nonetheless as he spoke to the small cat.
“B-but I want to be with you. I’m strong enough, I swear it. Please, let me stay, Sunstar” Tiny begged. Sunstar sighed and looked to Tawnyspots, who simply shrugged his shoulders.
“You would need training and for someone to remove that collar of yours.” Before he could add anymore, Tiny fell to the ground and began desperately tugging at his little collar with all the franticness of a trapped cat. A few cats here and there seemed to take some fun at the kittypet’s expense, but Bluefur could not share in that sentiment. Could they not see his eyes? The fear that lay in them as though he was a piece of prey? “There’s no need” Sunstar said firmly but compassionately, stopping Tiny’s terrified struggles. “I shall have a patrol escort you back to your home. Good-bye and make sure to stay away from the forest from now on.” Tiny’s pleading eyes turned onto Bluefur and she felt them rip through her sharp as a claw. She knew now in her heart that this kittypet was the blue path that Thistleclaw had spoken of. And if Thistleclaw had said it, it was a lie.
“Wait.” Bluefur stepped forward, feeling the clan’s gazes burning on her. She took a deep breath and then continued to walk towards Sunstar and Tiny. Her leader remained impassive, carefully assessing the situation as she dipped her head to him in front of Tiny. “I think he should be allowed to stay. A cat may train him if necessary and remove his collar, there is no need to drive away one so clearly lost and young.”
“You can’t do that. He’ll never keep up!” Snowfur yowled, shaking her head vigorously. The unspoken implications in that were clear; to take care of Tiny only proved the rumors of her disloyalty true. Bluefur heard the warning and knew it was correct, but she ignored it. She knew she had a greater destiny, after all. “We can’t afford more mouths to feed now, and you’ll be setting an awful example for the kittypets.”
“Peace, Snowfur” Sunstar mewed. He gave a nod to Bluefur.
“The code says that no kit shall be neglected, and I think that all of us here agree that the kittypet life is neglect in a fashion” Bluefur spoke quickly but carefully, not breaking eye contact with Sunstar. If only I could tell him about Thistleclaw and how he whispers poisonous lies into our ears. She had to rely on his good sense and heart instead. “Thunderclan is rather small at the moment too, and another apprentice in the future can help. He gave a good account of himself against Tigerpaw, after all.” Bluefur held her breath, every muscle on her body tensing as Sunstar thought about the proposal with narrowed eyes. His head lowered to look at and sniff Tiny once more, the little black cat managing to stand at attention and look a little braver for a moment.
“That is an unusual plea for leniency. But the circumstances themselves are unusual, to have a kittypet kit driven into our camp instead of out. Very well, Bluefur! I’ve taken your suggestion into account and have decided it can do no harm. This cat has shown himself to be worthy in battle against a larger, stronger foe.” Tigerpaw’s tail shot straight up indignantly then. More than a few cats grumbled, but none dared to openly contradict Sunstar’s decision. Bluefur’s back practically sagged in relief, though she didn’t quite know why.
“I swear to follow you” Tiny managed to stammer out, at a loss for words despite his usually swift tongue. Sunstar purred in mild amusement for a brief second and then nodded his head.
“You are quite the small cat, but you have spirit. Your eyes remind me of the ice that comes in leafbare, so small yet eventually capping the whole forest.” Then he turned to the Clan and announced, “From this day forward, until he has earned his warrior name, this kit will be called Icekit, in honor of his ice-colored eyes. And furthermore, Bluefur shall now take charge of his training and education.”
Bluefur almost choked. She had not volunteered for that. However, as she looked around at the cats around them, she realized she was really the only option. No other cat could do this for Tiny. So, mustering her pride, Bluefur nodded vigorously.
“Yes, Sunstar I will insure he becomes a valuable part of this clan.” Bluefur wrapped her tail around Icekit and began to escort him off. The ceremony had been improvised on the spot, and cats were still unsure of how to react. The ceremony had been performed in the open air and had a cat assigned to the youngster, which made it similar to an apprentice ceremony. The name given had been a ‘kit however. Even if it had been a full apprentice ceremony, cats would have been at a loss whether or not to cheer, but in a situation as strange as this one, none at all did.
“Traitor.” Only one cat spoke out, and it was that word which came from their mouth. Bluefur flinched as though she’d been struck, the weight of that word feeling like it would crush her. The legacy of Thistleclaw’s death had been brought back to the surface again by daring to show sympathy for a kittypet; to those who believed the rumors, such an action must seem like yet more proof that she did not believe in Thunderclan.
“Why’d they say that?” Icekit murmured to Bluefur as Bluefur escorted him to the fresh kill pile, given a wide berth by the stunned clan.
“They have small minds” Bluefur murmured, grabbing a shrew and throwing it at Icekit. “Eat up. You need to start coming off that kittypet slop quickly if you’re to grow strong. How long have you been eating it?” Ideally Icekit would be only just past his weaning age, all the better to not have to deal with complaints of bad taste with. Icekit sniffed the shrew and took a tentative bite as Bluefur spoke, making a thoughtful face while his cheeks were stuffed.
“Hmm...five moons, I think.” Bluefur’s eye twitched in her socket as the meaning of those words sunk in. He looked small for that age, so she asked again, desperately hoping she had misheard.
“But...that means that you’re six moons old” Bluefur whispered in a sharp hiss next to his ear.
Icekit blinked his eyes and cocked his head to one side, “So what if I am?”
“That means you’re a ‘paw, not a kit!”
“Oh, right, Whitekit mentioned that. What’s it matter?”
“I told the clan you were a kit to get them to accept why I was saving you. I just lied to the whole clan” Bluefur explained, her ears going flat. Icekit froze mid-bite, eyes wide. Slowly, he finished swallowing and then whispered back.
“Then I guess we’d better not tell anyone that.” And Icekit went right back to eating.
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Post by briarfrost on Dec 24, 2018 10:54:21 GMT -5
*pumps fist* I was right, Tiny's joining the Clan! I see you tossed in an Into the Wild ref with his naming ceremony, lol. Iceclaw as his warrior name maybe, since he's such a good fighter? Maybe Ice-eyes, that'd be kinda cool...
but yeah, with BloodClan not being a problem in the future (or not as much a problem)...oh man, who knows who that'll turn out!
I loved that little scene of Bluefur, Snowfur, and Rosetail just talking. Friendship scenes are nice, as is characterization. Rosetail being a gossip is perfect!
Bluefur pushing Tiny to get in the Clan solely to spite Thistleclaw is great. But I also love that she can see the fear in his eyes and be compassionate. plz let her be his mentor. Also, I wonder who the one cat hissing 'traitor' was? I thought you'd reveal it was Snowfur for more ouch. But...yeah, it looks like her reputation is slowly getting worse.
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Post by vectoring34 on Jan 4, 2019 23:30:37 GMT -5
Chapter 6: Frostbite “Faster!” Bluefur yelled at her apprentice, swiping her paws with sheathed claws through the air at his ears. He ducked below her blow and then charged his head upwards, ramming it right into her neck. Bluefur sputtered, the air catching in her throat from the impact and making her fall onto her haunches.
“Got you again.”
“That’s not how a warrior fights” Bluefur scolded, massaging her throat and glaring at Icepaw. After waiting a quarter moon to avoid suspicion, she had announced Icepaw’s age to Sunstar and he had promptly apprenticed him to her. And of all apprentices, he might be the worst. It was not that his skills were lacking, and in fact he performed very well in spars despite his small size. Rather it was his incessant disrespect. Despite Whitekit at his side who constantly drilled him on the code, Icepaw always seemed to have a rather aloof attitude towards it. The headbutt to Bluefur’s throat was just the latest in a long series.
“I won the fight, didn’t I? Warriors defend their camp, and you said you were a Shadowclan warrior” Icepaw replied, with a mutinous edge in his gaze. It was difficult to imagine the cocky, smart-tongued upstart as being the same terrified kittypet Bluefur had saved less than a moon ago.
“Not by aiming for the throat with your teeth. Warriors do not need to kill to win a battle, nor should they.”
“I headbutted you, I didn’t bite you.”
“And I was fighting you with claws sheathed. I was thinking of using them, however, just like how you were thinking of biting my neck” Bluefur barked out, fluffing up her hackles as she glared down her apprentice. “There’s no place in the clans for that kind of behavior.” Icepaw went from calmly sitting to all fours in an instant, his own pelt fluffing up and his tail stcking out.
“No, please! I’m sorry, Bluefur, it won’t happen again!” he said, eyes wide. This was also par for course with Icepaw. He hardly cared about what Bluefur told him up until she mentioned that his behavior did not suit a clan cat, at which point it was as if he had seen an apparition from the Dark Forest, he would be so terrified. For that reason did Bluefur not make complaints to Sunstar about her difficult apprentice; something had clearly deeply disturbed him. Sighing, Bluefur stretched out and rubbed her throat a bit before nodding to him.
“Again then. Properly this time.” Bluefur squared up to her apprentice, hunching her back and baring her teeth as a Shadowclan cat would do. Icepaw perked back up so fast Bluefur had to wonder how much of his distress was real and how much was fake. Still, she could not deny that his stance was excellent for an apprentice.
“Hey, Bluefur! Mind if we borrow Icepaw for a moment?” Before the spar could start, Rosetail bounded up with Tigerpaw at her side. He gave a challenging look to Icepaw which the former kittypet returned in kind. However, Bluefur had to admit that Tigerpaw had held himself with far more dignity than she had expected of the brusque tom. While he was not friendly to Icepaw, he was not violent with him either. Perhaps there was a chance for him to be a great warrior after all, instead of following in the path of the likes of Thistleclaw. “Tigerpaw needs someone to practice fighting moves with, and Icepaw’s the only one who can keep up.”
“Can’t beat me until I’m already tired from training, huh, Tigerpaw?” Icepaw taunted, smirking widely.
“Even if I had just two paws, no eyes, and one tooth, I’d still win” Tigerpaw shot back, amber eyes glowing with anticipation.
“Enough” Bluefur cut the pair off. She looked to her apprentice, silently asking if he had the strength to go on. A quick nod from Icepaw and she had gotten her answer. “Alright, Rosetail. Let us see if Tigerpaw has matured since last time” she bantered good-naturedly, sitting down and flicking her tail as a signal to start. Immediately the pair of apprentices launched forward. Tigerpaw’s strength was in his stout body, as big as a full warrior already and able to charge forward to bull Icepaw across the turf. In contrast, Icepaw was as evasive as water and seemed to know Tigerpaw’s moves even before he made them so he could strike at the older tom’s legs.
“Tigerpaw’s very strong now. And we’ve been doing exercises to control his temper. I think it all has to do with that Pinestar” Rosetail said, keeping one eye on the fight and the other on Bluefur. “That was such a scandal. If only he had stayed…”
“Bah! Wrong from the beginning!” Goosefeather’s sharp meow cut Rosetail off as the grouchy medicine cat stalked past them, apparently having seen fit to wander to the training hollow in his madness. He’s right. Bluefur squirmed uncomfortably as a far deeper and growlier voice than even Goosefeather’s sunk into her mind.
“Crazy old tom. Don’t let him bother you. What a pain” Rosetail muttered, nudging Bluefur when she noticed her shudder. Bluefur murmured her assent and began to lick her paws. Goosefeather Bluefur could handle; Thistleclaw was a different matter entirely. Asking Goosefeather returned nonsense answers, but asking Thistleclaw returned terrifying, prophetic answers that made Bluefur want to close her eyes and never open them again.
“Got you!” Tigerpaw had finally gained the advantage in the apprentices’ spar, having backed Icepaw up against the barrier of the training area. The tabby licked his lips and then leaped forward. Icepaw dove to the side, managing to avoid the lunge and then countering with a heavy kick to Tigerpaw’s loin. Tigerpaw gasped but remained standing, managing to turn around with surprising agility and grasp Icepaw’s leg in his jaws. Icepaw hissed, his eyes narrowing down to tiny little slits as his ears flattened from being bitten.
“Good move, Tigerpaw!” Rosetail praised, unable to see what Bluefur could see in her apprentice. There was a dangerous look in his body language, and with the way he was cocking his front paws back it was as if he was preparing to rake Tigerpaw’s eyes. Where did he think of such a savage move? Bluefur’s every muscle tensed as she saw a glint of something sharp emerging from Icepaw’s pads. For some reason, he hesitated for a split second, and that was all the time Tigerpaw needed to press his advantage and ram his full body weight onto Icepaw to crush him into the ground. Icepaw’s limbs flailed from beneath the brown tabby’s mass, slapping against his sides but ultimately falling still. Tigerpaw snarled and then stepped off of Icepaw, letting him suck in air.
“Good match, kittypet.” Tigerpaw meowed, calm and entirely collected after the brawl. He was acting so oddly graceful in victory that Bluefur could almost mistake him for a senor warrior. Icepaw struggled slowly to his paws, a furious glare and a cringing whimper warring for dominance across his face. Tigerpaw was the picture of a young warrior, whereas Icepaw was holding himself with all the grace of a rogue as his unsheathed claws worked the ground.
“I-i am not a kittypet. I’m a wild cat, as much as you are!” Rosetail tensed now as well, the pair of she-cats expecting the worst from the newest apprentice. He represented an unpredictable force in the clan life, and though that uniqueness and brash style had endeared him to the apprentices and kits, Bluefur knew better what such an attitude could mean. Cockiness only served to inflict suffering in one way or another; Thistleclaw was prime proof of that. Icepaw thumped the ground, stalking up close to the older apprentice and baring his teeth. “I am not weak! I am-!” Icepaw’s rant was cut short by blur of blue slamming him to the dust. Icepaw’s stunned gaze was met by one filled with visions of Thunderpaths and blood as Bluefur held him down.
“I apologize for my apprentice’s behavior, Rosetail. He’s just…” Bluefur panted, turning to Rosetail with a pleading expression. To her dismay, Rosetail shuffled awkwardly and seemed to avert her eyes at the display.
“Bluefur, you know that I don’t mince words” Rosetail finally mewed, very quietly and not even looking directly at her. “So don’t freak out when I ask a question about this whole mess, okay?” Bluefur’s tail shot up, absolutely indignant. At the same time, she felt like a hole had opened beneath her and was swallowing her up. Maybe this is what Icepaw felt like.
“I don’t freak out” Bluefur meowed back strainedly.
“Don’t you think that maybe he just can’t cut it?” A shocked gasp emanated from Icepaw, who had wriggled out from under Bluefur’s paws and was now vigorously shaking his head. Rosetail couldn’t look at him either. It was as if she was talking to some cat stuck in the ground. “I’m just saying, maybe you could pass him off to some other cat.”
“That’s hardly appropriate, Rosetail” Bluefur managed to speak in her defense, once again torn between the part of her that wanted to chastise her apprentice and the one that had to defend him.
“Cats say things, Bluefur. And who can blame them?”
“What do you mean?”
“You know what I mean.” Bluefur did indeed. All of this was happening for two reasons, and two reasons alone; that she had been with Thistleclaw when he died and that Icepaw was not a model apprentice. When Tigerpaw had misbehaved, none in the clan had batted an eye. When Icepaw misbehaved, every single time, Bluefur felt the weight of their judgement pressing down on her and him. The voice that called her a traitor still popped up, but she could never see which cat said it. Perhaps all of them did. Even Rosetail seemed to harbor her doubts. Bluefur felt her heart twist agonizingly.
“I am loyal to this clan!” Bluefur had not meant to raise her voice nor whip her tail, and yet she did. Rosetail swallowed loudly and managed to raise her head.
“Of course. Maybe it’s just Starclan really, really having it out for you” Rosetail joked. She purred and did look Bluefur in the eye, but something about it felt hollow to Bluefur. “I can’t be getting on your case about tough apprentices. He’s just...challenged.” Icepaw stiffened up like he’d been struck by lightning. “And sure bad luck just seems stuck on you like a really nasty tick and...I’m really just making this worse, aren’t I?”
“Yes” Bluefur meowed, her tail thrashing so much that she was throwing up a cloud of dust behind her. Rosetail nervously began licking her chest fur, leaving them stuck in a strange sort of stalemate. Thankfully, Tigerpaw came to the rescue.
“Rosetail. May we go eat now?” Tigerpaw asked, breaking through the tension. Rosetail perked up and gave a nod of assent.
“Right. Yes, let’s go do that. It was kind of you to remind me.” Tigerpaw nodded graciously and the pair of cats stalked off without looking back. Not even an apology? How dare they. Bluefur trembled with barely concealed outrage, and there was only one cat around to give vent to it. She whipped around in a savage motion, focusing a full intensity glare on her apprentice. Icepaw just stared back with downcast eyes, his tail wrapping around his paws miserably. On a good day, Bluefur might have held herself back upon seeing it. With the echoes of treachery still in her mind, however, she exploded.
“Wipe that fake look off your face, I know you just want to avoid punishment” Bluefur meowed, voice low and strained as it came between her gritted teeth.
“I-i’m not faking, I swear-”
“You swear many things, Icepaw. Loyalty to the warrior code among them, and loyalty to me.” Bluefur felt hot under her pelt, unable to resist the red surging in her vision. For a moment, Icepaw seemed to her to be that faceless cat who called her a traitor constantly. “So then why are you being so disobedient? What possessed you to try to rake Tigerpaw’s eyes? Don’t make excuses, I saw you! Did one of your old kittypet friends teach you that?” Bluefur loomed over him, pausing for only a moment before keeping up the verbal onslaught.
“It’s not like tha-!”
“Enough! We are done here, kittypet!” Bluefur panted as she sat down facing away from him. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut for a moment as she heard her own words. They swirled and twisted in her head in a maddening gyre, and as her anger smoldered, Bluefur could only think that finally she had been able to tell off the cat who had caused the clan to think she was a traitor again. Yes, the very same cat who she had spoken up for and felt such pity towards as well. Now her words seemed to be mockery rather than proud indictments, continuing their repetition in her mind until a familiar, growly voice spat them out close to her ear.
“You knew the path of blue was twisted.” And like that, she was back in the azure forest, staring into Thistleclaw’s amber eyes. “And yet you took in this kittypet out of spite for me. Who are you to lecture on the code, hypocrite?” Thistleclaw sneered, pacing back and forth with his tail lashing.
“Keep your lies to yourself, Thistleclaw” Bluefur replied testily, not even surprised to be dragged back to this other realm anymore. “That kittypet had done nothing then to show he would be Thunderclan’s bane. There was no reason to listen to you.”
“Hasn’t he now? What about attacking Tigerpaw’s eyes?” Thistleclaw countered smoothly. Thorn-sharp claws gouged the frozen earth beneath him to emphasize his point. Bluefur thought for a moment, knowing full well that he would say anything to manipulate her. And yet, she could not deny that Icepaw unsheathing his claws in such a matter was unbefitting of a warrior. It was a black mark upon whoever had taught him. “Tigerpaw was almost blinded!” Thistleclaw pressed on, jumping a mere mousetail’s length away from Bluefur’s snout. “And you deny your pet project’s danger!” Bluefur flinched back, pressing herself to the ground and staring up at him. When she touched the ground, little tendrils of frost curled up, sinking into her flesh and seeming to hold her down. In this blue forest, Thistleclaw’s eyes seemed to glow like small flames that would burn her to ashes if she dared to fight against the terrible cold. They’re just like Tigerpaw’s. However his voice, the way he spoke, it was all a reflection of her cruel words to her apprentice. The revelation of those similarities hit so hard that for a moment, Bluefur was launched back to his imperious, brusque insults to her on the day that he had been killed. Was she truly as terrible as he had been? I can't be.
“But…” Bluefur raised herself up from the ground in a sudden motion, slamming her head into Thistleclaw’s face and making the tom stagger backwards. Thistleclaw hissed, grabbing at his nose and wincing as he fell onto his haunches. Bluefur tore herself free of the frosty tendrils, renewed purpose fueling her as she spat down at the suddenly pitiful looking tom. “His eyes are still there. Icepaw did not take his eyes! He may have thought of it, but he stopped himself! It’s more restraint than you ever showed in life!” Thistleclaw was forced back with each word until the the ice had ensnared him instead, causing the gray tom to sink into the earth. And yet, he still struggled and dug his claws into the trunk of a tree to keep himself out of the slush. Breathing hard, he attempted to retaliate.
“Really, Bluefur? Is simple lack of action enough to exonerate for you, eh? That’s out of character for you” Thistleclaw mewed, muscles bulging in his shoulders as he pulled himself out of the mire. Bluefur watched and waited, the weird sight almost normal to her. He had clashed with her countless times, the last time causing the river itself to become a giant beast that chased her. Every time, it ended in a shouting match. Never before had she ever thought she would be here after acting like him, however.
“I can change my character. I’m adaptable.” It was a promise more than a statement, as Bluefur denied the very concept of the cat before her that seemed to have seeped into her own words. She had to stop herself before she was like him.
“Heh!” Thistleclaw scoffed, slowing his passage from the slush. “Fine. But how did your little pet learn it then? Perhaps he has alliances on the other side…” Bluefur blinked. The way Thistleclaw had spoken of the “other side” had an odd intonation to it. She quickly ignored those feelings and focused her mind on any alternative. She scoured her memories, and knew that each second she did, Thistleclaw drew himself further out of the ground. His paws crunched down on the white snow that caked the turf of the realm, and she recalled an event from a few days ago. She had seen Whitekit and Icepaw clumsily playing with each other, and batting at each other’s faces with sheathed claws. She had assumed then that they were sloppy blows to the ears. Might Icepaw have been enough of a prodigy to connect those mistakes with a dangerous battle move? Bluefur took a leap of faith.
“Scratching the eyes is not an innovative technique, Thistleclaw. Only a brutal one, fit for rogues and brutes. My apprentice must have figured it out himself. A fault of his talent, not his morals.” Thistleclaw slipped from the trunk, the fight leaving him in an instant. With pleased expression, he fell back into the ground.
“You have all the answers, don’t you, Bluefur?” The tom sneered as he sank into the ice, shaking his head from side to side slightly. “All of those arguments, those excellently stated points…” Bluefur shifted uncomfortably as she saw him freeze, eyes still holding their flame as they vanished into the snow. “But you weren’t thinking of that before, were you? Oh Bluefur...the blue path is still your doom.” With an earsplitting crack that shattered both land and air, the blue forest vanished and Bluefur’s eyes opened to the light of the training hollow.
Bluefur had to blink rapidly to readjust her eyes to the sudden change in light, rubbing a paw over them to help the process along. Thistleclaw had come to her in broad daylight, and it seemed that despite the vision’s length, in the waking world she had only been gone a few breaths of time given the sun’s position. Bluefur shook her limbs, seeing that the ice that had covered them was gone now. However, it had not disposed of the icy guilt that pumped in her veins. I was acting like Thistleclaw. How could I be so mouse-brained? Bluefur swiped the ground, biting her lip. What kind of apology could she give to her apprentice? ‘Sorry, but I spoke to my arch enemy and I realized that I was the same as he was’ was not an apology to roll off the tongue easily. Still, it was her responsibility as a mentor and to herself too.
“Icepaw, I need to speak to you” Bluefur meowed. She turned around, expecting to see him waiting there; she was certain she had not been gone long. However, when she gazed about, she saw no one. Bluefur frowned and then opened her mouth to taste the air. She snapped her jaws shut so fast she almost bit off her tongue as she realized where the scents went. Icepaw had left the camp. Rather, given how he had done it without her permission, he had fled.
“What have I done?” Again, sorry for the delay but it was vacation time and I was off with family and friends instead of writing. Hopefully future chapters come out a little more consistently, but if not, I hope this tides you readers over like a belated holiday gift. Please offer comments so I may improve, as I feel I was a bit shaky in some parts with the conflict Bluefur, Thistleclaw, and Icepaw are undergoing.
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Post by briarfrost on Jan 15, 2019 13:11:06 GMT -5
Nice chapter! Rosetail definitely seems to be a good influence on Tigerpaw ("anger management training"? I love it), and Icepaw...is not adjusting to Clan life, haha. He seems to want to stick around because it's better than going back. Can't say I blame him, but I hope he takes to the code and doesn't end up...y'know, Scourge.
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Post by vectoring34 on Jan 21, 2019 0:56:32 GMT -5
Chapter 7: Blizzard
Bluefur shot back to the camp clearing with all the speed her legs would grant her, mouth open to taste the air for any sign of her apprentice’s scent. It had crossed her mind that perhaps Icepaw had simply raced back to camp to soothe his battered pride by telling tall tales to the kits and other apprentices, so perhaps checking there first was wise. If he was not there, then she could ask around for clues to his disappearance e. She would gladly thrust her pride aside if it meant she could take back the harsh words she had said to the young tom.
“Icepaw? Are you here?” she called out, ignoring the judgemental expressions of her clanmates as she peered into the nursery and apprentices’ den and found no sign of her apprentice. The only thing she got out of that venture was Tigerpaw shaking his head and saying “It’s probably better this way. He never had the stomach for a warrior life”. Could Icepaw have held the same doubts? Bluefur herself had held them, she realized with a twist in her gut. She backed out of the apprentices’ den with a brisk thank you and bounded to the cat who had helped Icepaw settle in the most.
“You’re early. Where’s Icepaw? He promised he’d bring me a really big mouse” Whitekit chirped as his aunt approached him.
“Why are you taking favors from him, Whitekit? It’s not good behavior” Snowfur lightly chided her kit, opening one sapphire eye from where she was sunning herself to keep an eye on him. Her gaze turned to Bluefur, and with great intuition, the pale she-cat opened both eyes and got to her paws with a loud meow. “I take it this isn’t about his behavior, is it?”
“It doesn’t matter, Snowfur” Bluefur answered with more sharpness than she intended. The echoes of her words to Icepaw pummeled her heart every second that passed, and she shifted her paws anxiously as she turned back to Whitekit. “Whitekit, did you see Icepaw lately?”
“I see Icepaw all the time, Bluefur…”
“Today!” Bluefur snapped, hackles rising slightly. Whitekit blinked in confusion, and from the corner of her eye, Bluefur could spot Snowfur cocking her head to one side too.
“Well, first he told me about how he was going to go training with you today. He said that you were usually a bit of a know-it-all, but in a really funny way…”
“Hmph!” Snowfur snorted, rolling her eyes so much they almost fell out of her head. “And that, Whitekit, is why I tell you to be careful with him!”
“I know, mama, I’m always careful.”
“What happened next?” Bluefur pressed, tail flicking from side to side as she wished that Snowfur could stop commenting some vapid little snipe with anything regarding Icepaw. She’d have told her so, but that would just slow things further.
“He said stuff about how he was going to be practicing battle moves with you, and he said since he had a bit of spare time, he could train me a little bit. He knows I have potential.” Whitekit stuck his fluffy chest out proudly whereas Bluefur winced. Icepaw should know better than to roughhouse with a kit, even if it seemed that Whitekit was unharmed. Bluefur expected another snipe from Snowfur, but instead she purred a little and nodded when Whitekit spoke of his potential.
“And then?” Bluefur meowed urgently.
“I beat him!” Whitekit crowed, slashing his claws through the air. “ I used a...oops, sorry, mama. I won’t tell her…” Bluefur was utterly baffled. What wasn’t Whitekit allowed to tell her? How could he have defeated Icepaw? It was possible Icepaw could have lost on purpose, but why the arrogant tom would do so was unfathomable. And the thought that he had lost outright was absurd, there was no code-abiding move that would allow a kit to take on an apprentice.
“It’s alright dear. It’s not a secret for family” Snowfur mewed reassuringly after waiting a few moments and noticing Bluefur’s bewilderment. “He went for the eyes” Snowfur mewed ever so casually to Bluefur. Bluefur felt the world spin, a thousand questions smashing through her mind. Why did Whitekit know about raking the eyes? Why was Snowfur being so casual with such information? Had Icepaw learned the move from Whitekit? “Close your mouth, you’ll catch flies” Snowfur joked and Bluefur snapped her jaws shut once more with a click of teeth.
“Snowfur, what in the world are you teaching your kit!? The code says…!”
“The code says to defend our borders and not to kill an enemy. A good scratch to the eyes does neither. It’s for his defense.” Snowfur was so calm when she said that that for a moment, Bluefur almost assumed she was joking. The thought of gentle Snowfur advocating for rogue moves like that was practically the punchline to one of Rosetail’s cracks. If it was a joke, then there was no purr following it. Bluefur shook her head violently. She could handle this later. Snowfur’s kit rearing methods had no doubt been tainted by some kind of outside influence, perhaps even the voice of Thistleclaw. However, it was not a pressing concern compared to her apprentice.
“Nevermind. Did you see Icepaw after that?” Bluefur said quickly, shutting her eyes to center herself back on that matter.
“He passed by just a while ago. He said some stuff about how he wanted to take some prey, but reminded him about the code rule on apprentices eating later. He purred and said ‘Right. I guess I forgot’ and said he was happy to have met up with me, then he left.” Whitekit was growing edgy now, pacing back and forth with his little tail at a constant twitch.
“Get to the point. Why do you need kits to keep an eye on your apprentice?” Snowfur mewed sharply, getting between her anxious kit and Bluefur with a quick step. Bluefur stared at the ground, barely able to mumble out her reply.
“He...he ran off. I said some things and they were...less than wise. Not befitting a mentor.”
“You’ve gotta find him!” Whitekit burst out, trying to get out from behind Snowfur. He was shushed with her tail coming over his mouth, all while Snowfur just curled her lip and let out a hissing breath.
“That’s what this is all about? The kittypet scampering off?” Snowfur meowed, putting her tail around her paws as she sat back on her haunches. “I know your project didn’t work out like you wanted it, but you had to expect it. He was a kittypet first, never a clan cat.” Bluefur felt hot under her pelt. Snowfur had had the grace to not remind her of her initial protests at Icepaw’s induction to the clan, but Bluefur remembered them fine anyway.
“He was learning. The fault was mine” Bluefur explained testily, staring down Snowfur. “He would have been a strong addition to the clan. You cannot blame me for my being generous and taking pity on him.” Snowfur rolled her eyes and scoffed loudly.
“You say that, but do you really understand it?” Snowfur challenged. Bluefur blinked in confusion. “You act responsible, but really you’re just faking at it!” Snowfur continued, stamping the ground with her paws. Without pausing to draw a breath, the pale she-cat gritted her teeth and got mouse-whisker from Bluefur’s muzzle. “I know you think you’re being noble, that you’re the hero that’s saving each and every cat, but you’re not!”
“Don’t be a mouse brain. That isn’t what this is ab-”
“Let me finish for once, Bluefur! I’m saying this because even if you think I’m against you, I’m not!” Snowfur yowled, an almost pleading look in her eyes. “If you see a problem in the world, you jump to fixing it. But you always think your way is right, as if this is some tale for kits. Taking in the kittypet was a mistake to begin with, why can’t you accept that?” Snowfur panted after her outburst. However, as flames feed upon flames in a conflagration, her declaration did anything but cool Bluefur’s passions. Rather, the blue she-cat felt them inflamed and snarled in turn to her sister. Being lectured by someone like her at a time like this, unbelievable.
“Because it wasn’t a mistake. Because my heart felt like it was tearing in half when I saw that poor, scared little scrap in the middle of the clearing begging to become a warrior. How could you ever understand that? You don’t think about these things.” Bluefur felt the icy words erupt from her mouth before she could stop them and they practically hit Snowfur like a paw swipe. “Now step aside. I’m going to go find my apprentice.”
Bluefur ignored yet another wound on her heart, knowing that she had just frayed the slowly mending relationship with her littermate to a state worse than when Thistleclaw had died. She heard Whitekit saying something to his mother, saw him tugging on her tail as he begged, but it made no impression on her as she bounded for the wood. The brambles around the camp were a long forgotten memory now, her mind sharply focused on sniffing out Icepaw’s trail. Thinking of anything else would remind her of the burdens the world placed on her, and crush her as if she was supporting the world.
Icepaw had taken clever paths, she realized as she sniffed about for a trace of him. He had learned her lessons too well. Twice now she had doubled back on false trails and found herself only confusing the scent further. Thrice had she been forced to come to a halt thanks to finding his path going through thorn bushes too dense for a large cat like herself to cross. And now for a fourth time had she found berry juice smeared on the forest floor to confuse her nose further. Bluefur’s pace quickened, frustration spurring her forward. She stopped tasting the air at all, crashing through greenery and leaving chunks of her pelt behind as she ran forward. Her paw caught on a root and she crashed to the ground, a wave of pain overcoming her.
She lay there, all the energy draining from her body. She’d failed utterly and completely. It was unfair, she shouldn’t have to keep moving. So she wouldn’t. She’d just lay here until the ground swallowed her up. Bluefur put her paw over her face to keep it from the sun and went entirely still. What point was there in trying to save an apprentice who no doubt hated her now? What point lay in returning to a clan where they thought her traitorous and they were right? Why speak when her own kin scorned her?
“Bluefur? Are you alright?”
“Leave me alone.” Bluefur continued to stare at nothing for a moment or two before deigning to give the one who interrupted her reverie her eyes. “Snowfur...you were right. Is what you want to hear? I am broken now by my mistakes, and may Starclan judge me as they see fit. It’s the punishment that fits a ‘traitor’ isn’t it?”
Rather than triumph, Snowfur’s face was dominated by sadness. She almost cringed at seeing Bluefur’s sordid state. Bluefur had to wonder then why Snowfur had followed her if not to gloat. A tail put itself over her shoulders comfortingly and Snowfur answered her unspoken question.
“You’re definitely wrong. But I know how you feel, and I can’t watch another cat feel like I did when Thistleclaw died.” Bluefur slowly raised her head to meet Snowfur’s sympathetic gaze. “That apprentice really was important to you. He’s more than just a project for you, isn’t he?” Bluefur nodded numbly in response. Snowfur sighed and leaned down, bumping Bluefur’s side.
“What are you doing?” Bluefur complained. “It’s all over...”
“I won’t let you say that about someone you care about so much” Snowfur mewed fiercely, butting her head under Bluefur’s chest and physically lifting her onto her paws. With Bluefur now standing, her sister stood in front of her and gripped her cheeks. “Listen to me; I don’t understand why you and Whitekit give that snotty little kittypet the time of day. But without him here, you’re miserable. You care about him deep in here.” Snowfur pressed a paw to Bluefur’s chest. She purred lightly, giving a small nuzzle to her sibling.
“But-” Snowfur cut off Bluefur with a thwack to her ears. “Ow! What was that for?”
“I find it works best to scare the doubt out of a cat” Snowfur mewed, looking rather smug now. “By the way, your apprentice’s trail, I found it while I was out looking for you. He was heading for the Twolegplace. Go out and get him.” Bluefur sucked in a breath, looking in the direction Snowfur had indicated. Tiny sparks of hope rekindled inside of her, giving her enough energy to put one paw in front of the other.
“Snowfur...could you please help me?”
“That’s all I wanted to hear.” The relationship between Bluefur and Snowfur is very, very complex. These two will vary between friend and foe throughout the story and sometimes both at the same time.
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Post by briarfrost on Jan 27, 2019 0:05:03 GMT -5
I was kinda hoping to find Icepaw this chapter, but seeing more of the relationship between Bluefur and Snowfur definitely trumps it. Very complex, you're right, and very interesting. Bounces between heartwarming and heartbreaking.
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Post by vectoring34 on Jan 27, 2019 0:43:31 GMT -5
I was kinda hoping to find Icepaw this chapter, but seeing more of the relationship between Bluefur and Snowfur definitely trumps it. Very complex, you're right, and very interesting. Bounces between heartwarming and heartbreaking. Icepaw comes up in the next chapter. He's gotta stay lost for at least one chapter, naturally.
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Post by vectoring34 on Mar 8, 2019 21:08:11 GMT -5
Posting some art for this story made by a friend of mine and also updating on this story's status. No, story's not dead. That is all.
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Post by phantomstar57 on Mar 14, 2019 13:10:15 GMT -5
I fi ally got a chance to start reading this. Bluefur/star has always been one of my fav characters. Interesting alternate history! How one change can alter so much, and I am eager to know just how much. Do fan me!
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Post by mintedstar/fur🦇 on Mar 15, 2019 13:24:51 GMT -5
Ooooo! It's a story that's an AU. I've been summoned. o.o
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Post by vectoring34 on Mar 19, 2019 8:45:16 GMT -5
Chapter 8: Rotten Ice Sharp teeth dribbled blood in the darkness, staining the foul earth below ragged paws. Their victim staggered away, yowling in pain and shock. He spared a glance for his wounded shoulder and then turned back to gets his eyes on the fight, but it was too late. Tortoiseshell fur filled up his vision and he was thrown to the ground so hard that he saw stars.
"And that, Shredtail, is why you never hesitate. You soft, cowardly wretch!" A savage kick, and the dark brown tabby was sent rolling towards a fungus covered tree. He scurried off, keeping a baleful glance on the she-cat who had so dishonorably mauled his shoulder. He had offered her a speck of ground, and she'd taken a whole forest for it. Shredtail was no weakling, but the she-cat was utterly insane and not worth the trouble of handling. He'd keep battered pride over being wounded. Bad wounds in the Dark Forest were practically a death sentence. Even if you won the fight, you'd be ambushed by some ambitious whippersnapper off in the shadows.
"Keep your training sessions then, Mapleshade. But know this; I don't like these plans of yours. Recruiting Crookedjaw is a bad move, I tell you. He doesn't have the stomach for this sort of thing..." Shredtail hissed, throwing out a few last words as he melted into the mists and left Mapleshade behind. The deranged she-cat merely scoffed, flicking bits of Shredtail's fur out of her mouth.
"I'll kill him some day." Mapleshade said the words quietly, without fanfare. The brambles coating her body and pelt pulsed and a new tendril of fog began to emanate from her breast. With a furious hiss, Mapleshade clenched her teeth and closed her eyes in a kind of hateful meditation. Slowly, the mist stilled and vanished from the scorched air before her, baring her bloody, broad breast to the world once more. “You weak shadows!” Mapleshade’s hate-filled eyes rolled as she stared at the endless waste surrounding her. “I’m not done yet. My name is still spoken by fat, slow queens in their dens while they suckle their ever precious kits. I still have time…”
The ever growing mass of darkness in the Place of No Stars did not reply save for the usual shrieks of those cats who had already faded and become the foundation to this monument of sin and isolation. That was the true curse of this imaginary space; no matter how great one’s anger, they were eventually subsumed by the shade and the damp. Eventually had not come to Mapleshade yet, however. With a disdainful snort, she began to walk through the tangled undergrowth of the Dark Forest. With any luck, she might actually run into another of her mind one more time today. Isolation was the natural state of the Dark Forest, but every now and then and with enough effort, a cat could find someone else here. Mapleshade walked a mile in a single footstep, crossed a mouse tail-thin river of sludge after an hour, the limits of space and time being nonsensical concepts when applied to this eldritch dimension. The only thing one could expect to stay consistent here was the inevitability of suffering opening a portal to it. And that was just what she found.
A grin split Mapleshade’s grotesque visage. Another offering to the clamoring maw of the Place of No Stars then. With a deep breath, the brambles in her fur hid themselves and the dull garnet of her eyes became muted. A few muttered words later, and she was ever the image of a caring, motherly cat.
“Ah, little one. You are a very, very special young cat” Mapleshade purred as she approached the small, black cat that she’d had an eye on for a while. The one with eyes of blue who, if his heart froze, could be such a useful pawn. Icepaw’s head was buried between his paws, looking for all the world like he wanted to become a stone and never move again. His ears barely twitched in reply to Mapleshade. The she-cat waited, and as she expected, the emotionally exhausted apprentice burst out all of his woes a moment later.
“I’m not! I tell everyone I am, and I believe it sometimes, but that’s just a story. I’m just…” Icepaw went still and quiet as Mapleshade’s large tail swept over his shoulders. He looked up at the she-cat, blinking a few times. Mapleshade smiled and ran her tail down his back. “Who are you?” he mewed.
“There, there. Starclan has its eyes on you.” Mapleshade’s comforting shape appeared to fill up the vault of the dark, starless sky, nothing but absolute generosity showing itself in her gaze.
“Starclan? But I thought you were-”
“Only a story?” Mapleshade crooned with mirth, placing a paw on Icepaw’s shoulder and jerking him so he rested on her side. However, rather than fall into her embrace, Icepaw squirmed uncomfortably. Mapleshade eased the pressure a little bit. It was best to be gentle with younglings, after all.
“No. I just thought you were only for medicine cats. Oh, and I figured that Starclan was a lot less..dinky than this” Icepaw murmured, looking at the surroundings of toxic mists and monster trees. Mapleshade’s jaws audibly clicked as she closed them, a loud purr echoing from them afterwards all the same.
“Such a clever apprentice! Those are the normal rules, yes, but the rules can bend for special occasions. Such as, say, a powerful apprentice dropping into our hunting grounds.”
“Powerful?”
“Why yes. Haven’t you seen the potential you could wield? The eyes of Starclan can see it, but I suppose it is different for those with their living eyes.” The apprentice’s eyes lit up, and Mapleshade saw in them a spark of a certain something. She licked her lips. Oh, this one has potential indeed. “Just because you erred a few times doesn’t mean you can’t go back, Icepaw. I am certain that Bluefur would take you back with open arms, hm? After all, you are her special project.” Mapleshade pretended to not look at at Icepaw as she said so, but she would have had to be blind to not notice the flick in his tail and brief rising of his neck fur. “Her kittypet project…”
“I am not” he growled back, swiping the ground with long claws unsheathed. He may think he thinks that, but the seed of doubt is planted. Mapleshade stretched out her spine, giving nothing away as she slunk back around to face him with a toothy grin.
“In any case, you have potential. But you must hone it for the sake of your clan. You must have ice in your veins, Icepaw, in order to find the power that you so desire. You must be willing to do whatever it takes, perform any move even if the code says otherwise. You already know that, however. I saw that strike for Bluefur’s throat.”
“I was never going to bite her…I don’t want to break the code, that’s too much trouble.” Icepaw protested, appearing more than a little bewildered by the behavior of the she-cat. Perhaps it was due to his rough introduction to clan life, but he was not accepting Mapleshade’s words as well as he had hoped. If honeyed words did not draw him enough nor doubting ones, then perhaps guilt would be the avenue to freezing his heart.
“And yet you wanted to rake Tigerpaw’s eyes.” She cut off his response his time by brushing her huge, bushy tail over Icepaw’s mouth. “Shh, shh. I do not judge why. That cat is a brute who hurts and insults you without reason, isn’t he? He deserves it.” Icepaw kept his gaze on her for a moment more, gaze quivering more than a leaf in a hurricane. And then he looked down, and Mapleshade knew she had won. Whether he wanted to or not, the Place of No Stars would call to his soul in sleep. Once the contract was made in one’s heart, it could not easily be broken. Her tail moved away from his face and when she offered her embrace, this time he pushed up against her breast and let out agonized caterwauls of suppressed fury.
“I don’t understand it. They all say he’s such a model apprentice, just because he acts nice now.” Icepaw’s voice was shaking, the fur all over his body standing on end. Mapleshade gently rubbed her new protege’s back, head nodding understandingly while her heart cried out with glee. A single meeting and he was already at her paws? Soft fool! “Didn’t they see him attack me in the first place? The way he was looking at me? Those evil amber eyes wanting to kill me?!” He stopped staring at the ground now and turned to Mapleshade, lips peeled back in a snarl. “Didn’t you see them, Starclan?!” Mapleshade’s whole body froze. The question was not strange at all, given the context of their conversation. Logically, she knew that. However, that fact did not stop an image of amber eyes from emblazoning itself across her vision.
Wide, tabby shoulders were before her and shaking with fury and she was as helpless as a mouse before the terrible rage of her leader’s claws once more. His deep voice boomed, “You are no longer a warrior of Thunderclan!” and Mapleshade knew what it was to be on the receiving end of the fury of that line once more.
“Ow, ow, you’re hurting me!” Mapleshade was shaken from her vision by the yelp from Icepaw as he scurried back from her and lapped at his scratched back. Mapleshade blinked and then scowled at her claws as if they were her most hated enemies. Curse my claws for being so willing to destroy the line of Oakstar that simply mentioning their famous eyes made them clench into tender meat! Mapleshade shook her claws off and approached him, channeling every scrap of motherly instinct that remained in this hollow, darkness-filled husk of a body. Still, no matter how loudly she purred, her every step forward made Icepaw step backwards.
“Come on then, dear, won’t you just listen to me?” Mapleshade’s voice strained, pressing down on the ground as though she was truly contrite.
“What kind of cat are you?” Icepaw mewed, and in his eyes flickered the doubt that Mapleshade had implanted. Perfect. Mapleshade held out a reconciling paw, and she saw Icepaw’s own begin to rise to meet it. She blinked, and then there was nothing but an azure field surrounding her and keeping her from Icepaw. Mapleshade exploded into action, reaching out to hold back Icepaw with wild abandon.
“No! Stay!” she caterwauled, but his image was already distorting and warping away from her vision. Mapleshade’s paws reached out and could only grab at empty air. Screeching and yowling non-stop, she tore at the blue field, but she might as well have tried to claw her way out of the Place of No Stars for all the good it did. With a final meow of frustration, she sat back on her haunches and spat at the blue. “Cursed be your kin!” Mapleshade’s fury boiled for a long time, but in that fury was the beginnings of an idea. Any who had the strength of will to retrieve one from the Dark Forest were certainly of great character. Great character that could be bent to benefit her own ends.
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Icepaw got up swinging, panic filling his small frame as paws were on his shoulders once more. I knew it, she wants to hurt me too!
“Ow!” mewed a voice from a cat that he couldn’t make out through his bleary, sleep-slowed eyes.
“You know, when I agreed to help, I expected a thanks from him. Not...this” rumbled another cat. Slowly, vision swam back and Icepaw’s heart stopped as he stared upon Snowfur and Bluefur. Bluefur was wincing as she held her bleeding ear while Snowfur just shook her head and flexed her claws on the ground. Icepaw opened and closed his mouth a few times without making a noise, struggling to parse what had just happened. He had found a place under the ferns to hide and fallen asleep, and then the rest of those crazy events in the dark forest happened. Wait, I ran away. Why are they out here looking for me? His eyes fell upon Bluefur’s bleeding ear, and the question was doubled up in his mind. Clearly, the warrior life wasn’t for him. So he should just cut and run, before they decided to throw him into the river like Ruby had said. Snowfur certainly seemed ready.
“It’s fine, Snowfur. I deserved it. Shaking a sleeping cat awake does that.” Bluefur mewed, taking her paw away from her ear with a wince and approaching her apprentice. Snowfur just blinked and sheathed her claws. She passed by her sibling and briefly nudged her flank.
“Bluefur...take care.”
“Thank you.” With an odd but familiar glance exchanged between the pair, Snowfur bounded off and left the mentor and apprentice pair to themselves. Birds chirped in the trees above them, rustling leaves as they searched for materials to line their hollows. No meows broke the forest’s ambient noise as the pair stared at each other. Bluefur’s form was familiar, almost welcoming to Icepaw’s tired self. In a way, it was more frightening than if she had been furious at him. What if she really only did view him as a fun distraction that was not worth her anger?
“Was all of this really just a game?”
But it hadn’t been Icepaw to ask that question. Instead, it was his mentor, her ears pinned and her shoulders sagging. The query was so striking, so bizarre that Icepaw just gawked. He had never seen Bluefur like this, so vulnerable as she agonizingly shifted in place while keeping a morose gaze upon him. It was fascinating.
“Icepaw...I...I haven’t mentored you well, have I? I never tried to understand you, and I...I had no plan for what to do with you.” The she-cat’s ears twitched, as though the memory of the words that had shaken her to this point were still being spoken. “Icepaw; I’m sorry. The way I have treated you is a disgrace to all mentors. But never think that you don’t have a home in Thunderclan. Please, return with me.” Icepaw sniffed the air, pricked his ears, and focused his eyes for any sign of this whole thing being some odd dream, but despite how surreal it all seemed, it was very much real. He didn’t know what to do now. Should he apologize to her as he had planned earlier? That seemed a bit absurd now that she apologized to him.
“Bluefur” he began, scrunching up his face as he thought long and hard of what to say. “I was...I was never trying to run away. I was just out hunting a bit too long. I hope you can forgive me of that.” He spoke emotionlessly, shielding his true feelings away. No matter what, Bluefur must never know how he had felt. Not after she had felt so horrible on behalf of his own mistakes. I’m such a bad apprentice, lying to my mentor like this. But I would rather be a bad apprentice than let her think that I thought she didn’t care. Besides, it’s an obvious lie, so it’s not really a lie, right?
The air between them grew thick, two pairs of blue eyes studying each other intensely for a sign of how to proceed. Icepaw’s tail curled around his front paws and he chewed at his lip, and Bluefur mirrored his actions.
“Oh. Well then, did you find anything out here, Icepaw?”
“Nothing. Maybe I need more practice in hunting.”
“I could teach you about it.”
“Really? Well, it might be fun one time. But I think that I can figure out some warrior stuff on my own.” Icepaw began to slowly walk past Bluefur and a moment later, she was at his side. Whatever grand emotions had possessed her seemed gone now, and she was back to the usual stern, proud Bluefur that he was familiar with. Perhaps therein lay the secret to being a warrior; hiding one’s emotions.
“Icepaw, you will tell the camp about your hunting excursion, I suppose.” Icepaw froze mid-step. Then he kept walking.
“Of course. I want to clear up any doubts about that.”
“I see. Well, I hope you have a good story to tell.”
“Yes, one that’s for the clan. One about a giant eagle that almost caught me while I was hunting.” Bluefur stared at him for a moment before letting out a soft purr. Icepaw couldn’t help but return the noise, and by the time they were back to camp, they had buried all of the sadness and anger deep underneath a layer of it. Best to leave such things unearthed, it would seem. And after forever, another chapter, this time switching up the perspectives. The last part might be a little confusing, but I hope it gets across the point of the flaws in failing to confront emotions.
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Post by briarfrost on Mar 22, 2019 12:08:58 GMT -5
Ooooooof. Bringing Mapleshade into the story just doubles the threat level. Thank goodness Icepaw seemed wary of her at the end; I'm curious what that blue wall was. A metaphor for Bluefur, maybe? Speaking of, her reunion with Icepaw was sweet. Glad they can both learn from this!
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