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Post by Brownie on Dec 25, 2017 1:50:28 GMT -5
[ Banner here ]
S u m m a r y
Destiny. Fate. There are some cats that can read its folds, that can see the path of the future. They can see the tiny strands of time that leads cats dancing from one moment to the next, pulled like puppets along cords of crimson. They call this the red string of fate and every cat wears it looped around their soul, ever pulling, ever tugging into the future. However destiny rarely leads in one simple direction. It can be folded, it can be stretched, it can be tangled, looped or knotted.
And sometimes it can be cut.
A u t h o r ' s N o t e s
Welcome to a short(ish) story about two cats trying desperately to change their fates. Both are shunned from their Clan, seeking redemption and acceptance with the others as they struggle to learn who they are and who they can be. It's a story of hope but also of fear, determination alongside broken hearts, of trust built and trust broken.
Mintfeather always wanted to be a medicine cat. That is, until his brother made sure he would be chosen instead, craving the title for the power it brought and leaving Mintfeather stranded as a warrior: a poor fighter, a clumsy hunter, a coward. The red string of fate pulled against him, giving him only one choice: speak out or stay silent.
It was spring when Leopardtuft kitted, far too early for the five lives in her belly. The only survivor was a small white tom with blue eyes. His name was Icekit and he could not hear. Around his small paws twisted that red string of fate, but as they would soon learn, it was he who pulled the strings.
N a v i g a t i o n
1. Summary
2. Fans, Characters
3. Chapter 1-5
4. Chapter 6-10
5. Chapter 11, 12
6. Fan Art, Reviews, Dedications |
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Post by Brownie on Dec 25, 2017 1:51:16 GMT -5
F a n s
. Swiftfalcon
. Thunderfire
. Maple C h a r a c t e r s
Mintfeather - White and grey patched tom with dark green eyes. Hawkstorm's brother. Main character.
Hawkstorm - Large grey tabby tom with dark green eyes. Mintfeather's brother. Medicine cat.
Snowkit - White tom with blue eyes. Deaf.
Leopardtuft - Ginger she-cat with white paws and yellow eyes. Snowkit's mother.
Ivystar - Tortoiseshell she-cat with grey eyes. Quite old. Leader of BlossomClan.
Ten - Black-and-white patched tom with green eyes. Polydactyl. Loner to the southwest of BlossomClan.
Mapleheart - White and ginger she-cat with large yellow eyes.
Jadepool - Black tom with orange eyes. Medicine cat. |
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Post by Brownie on Dec 25, 2017 1:52:05 GMT -5
# Prologue “Of all the foxdung in StarClan,” he swore, watching the leaves rustle as the mouse made its escape. He sighed and sat in the ferns, licking the dirt from between his claws until his paws were clean, wrinkling his nose against the bitter taste. The sun was already high in the sky and while he could scent wrens and mice and squirrels all around him, getting the prey under his paws was a different matter entirely and a challenge that was nigh impossible for the lithe tomcat to overcome.
He thought about giving it another shot --he could hear the sparrows calling in a bush not two tree lengths away. But what was the point? He couldn’t even catch a slow, summer-fat mouse and birds could fly. “Mintpaw!” The birds took wing in a flurry of calls and shivering of leaves. It felt silent in the forest without their racket.
Mintpaw saw a ginger-and-white she-cat weaving through the trees and stood, waving his tail. “Over here.”
He watched as she paused, scanning the treeline before spotting him and darting over. She was slightly out of breath but was smiling ear to ear. “I was hunting-- in a ravine-- caught--sorry, sorry.” She coughed, forced herself to breathe. “Okay. I caught a couple rabbits and could use the help getting them back to camp. If you don’t mind, of course,” she added hastily, yellow eyes wide.
“You know I don’t mind, Maplepaw. Lead the way.” I didn’t mention that helping take back prey may make it seem like I helped with catching some of it.
Her smile was back, wider than ever. “Thanks, Mintpaw!” Maplepaw darted off the way she came, leaving Mintpaw rushing to try and keep up with the excitable she-cat. Two rabbits. He shook his head in disbelief. At least the Clan won’t starve, he thought, though he knew it was only he who had trouble catching prey in the middle of greenleaf.
Maplepaw was already digging the rabbits out from between the rocks she cached them when Mintpaw made it to the top of the ravine. He peered over the edge. The bottom was grassy and full of small bushes: mostly dark-leaved holly and prickly raspberry vines. But the sides to this ravine were steep, clustered here and there by fallen boulders and thin, sharp ledges of slate. Mintpaw picked his way down, carefully pressing his paws down on the rocks before giving them his full weight. The action was like second nature to him, and while he sent a few stones tumbling down the side, he made it to the sloping base without even a scraped pawpad.
Maplepaw was waiting at the bottom, the two rabbits laid out onto a rock and their ruffs dark with their own blood. Mintpaw was surprised to feel the grass give way as he jumped off the stones, the earth marshy and saturated with water. Of course the bottom of the ravine was much lower than the rest of the territory, but the pond- and marsh-filled ravines usually sat closer to ShadowClan territory and their many rivers. This one was south of BlossomClan’s camp, closer to FireClan’s forest, yet it felt more like ShadowClan’s marshes as he sloshed through the soggy grass.
He shook the water from his paws as he padded farther into the valley, curious. Maplepaw followed, bouncing between tufts of taller grass. “Never been down here before? I love it; it’s one of my favorite places in the entire world.”
“Out of all the ravines in BlossomClan, why this one?” Mintpaw asked. He flicked Maplepaw on the shoulder with his tail and turned with a smile. “You could have chosen one less wet.” She stopped and he took a few more steps before turning back, worried. Her eyes were on her paws. The white-and-grey tom mentally clawed himself as he padded back to where she was. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. It was a joke, this place is beautiful.”
Maplepaw looked up, yellow eyes wide as ever. “No! No, it’s not that.” She shook her head. “Can I show you something? You have to promise you won’t tell any cat, not ever.”
Mintpaw blinked, pulling his eyes from hers: pleading with him, tugging on him. “You don’t have to, I--I can--”
“Please. I need to show somecat.” She paused, shuffling her paws. “I found this place when I got lost my first day out of camp and ever since then I needed to talk to somecat about it, but every time I try I know they’re going to think I’m crazy so I can’t say anything at all. But I know you, Mintpaw, and you’ll get it, I know it! Even when we were kits you were always kind and understanding and--” she cut herself off. “Please, Mintpaw. I trust you.”
The desperation was clear on her face as any emotion was. She hadn’t changed either: since she was born any cat could read her at a glance, that's just the way she was. “Okay.”
Maplepaw’s ears perked. The smile started hesitantly but then grew across her muzzle. “Thank you! It won’t take long, I promise.” She shot off across the ravine, her paws kicking up water with every step. Mintpaw followed her path over the lush grass, following her pawsteps with their deep indents in the wet earth. A secret place in the heart of BlossomClan territory? He shook his head. He had never seen Maplepaw so serious about anything before. She was older than he was, being littermates for a pawful of days before she moved to the apprentices' den. There they had been apprentices together for a few moons, but other than chance training sessions then and scattered patrols together, he hadn’t really talked to the excitable white she-cat.
He wondered how she had come to trust him, then. He knew she had a sister, Cloudedpaw, that she was close with and she was a social butterfly: no doubt she had plenty of friends to turn to. He was just another warrior close to her age and in the same Clan. Nothing more than that. So why me? He wondered as he watched her jump through the sodden grass like a kit out to play.
Maplepaw waited for him to catch up at the other side of the ravine beside a cluster of fallen stones. They were larger boulders than those on the other side, more rounded and with fewer angles. The holly bushes grew thicker and Mintpaw was forced to duck under their leaves as he approached, pushing his way through and under the low hanging branches when they arched above the thin trail Maplepaw had created.
“It was after we had seen the borders.” It was a moment before Mintpaw realized she was continuing the story from earlier on, about how she had found this ravine in the first place. “I thought it would be fun to hide from Leafclaw. He was always so full of it, I just wanted to prove to him he wasn’t infallible,” Maplepaw said as she pulled a stone away from the wall, revealing a small dark space behind. She had to push her way through, scrabbling with her claws to fit her wide shoulders into the gap. “Don’t worry, it’s only a few steps inside.”
Mintpaw looked to the stones above him, the blue sky flickering through the leaves. His paws squelched in the grass. Crickets buzzed in the distance. He shook his fur. “Quit stalling,” he muttered to himself, steeling his courage as he crouched low to the ground and pulled himself into the darkness.
His nose bumped against something warm and he jumped, bashing his shoulders against the stone. Maplepaw laughed, echoing through the closed space. “It’s just me. Another bit and then you should be able to stand.” Mintpaw winced against the pain, but brushed his head against the top of the tunnel until he couldn’t feel the cold stone anymore. He carefully brought himself to his paws. “Mintpaw?”
“Yeah, I’m here.” The darkness was complete. Their voices echoed, making it difficult for him to pinpoint where Maplepaw’s call originated. She couldn’t have gone far. He pushed his paw in front of him until he felt it brush her fur, stepping away from the tunnel entrance towards her. A pale glow lit the ground beneath his paws and he felt the tension melt from his chest. They couldn’t lose the entrance even if it was only a faint smudge of grey in the blackness.
He turned his head but couldn’t see a thing. It was an interesting space to be sure, but what could be special about the complete dark?
“Look up,” Maplepaw whispered. He felt her tail on his chin and he tipped his head to the top of the cavern. There was a single dot, far, far above, glowing white and gold, expanding in and out of focus. “Isn’t it pretty? What do you think it is?”
“I don’t know.”
“I’ve been here a few times and it’s just. . . sitting there. Blinking. Do you think it’s a star?”
There was a whir and a buzz as the air vibrated around him. He felt his pelt flattened as though he was standing in the midst of a gale. A sharp sound rung through his ears. The little glowing dot expanded and suddenly there was a cat standing there, tiny from the distance, but definitely a cat. His eyes went wide.
It was him. The cat was glowing white and he couldn’t discern any patterns, but for some reason he knew without a doubt that cat was him.
Another sharp note, like claws run over stone. It made his fur stand on end, sent a shiver through his body. The dot flashed once, twice, three times. Faster. A trail of red spooled out from the top, folding and turning like a ribbon caught in the wind. It twisted around the glowing cat’s paws, his chest, his neck. And Mintpaw felt it. The red thread tangled and tightened. He could feel the pressure along his legs, around his stomach, pulling the breath from his lungs.
He pulled his eyes from above and looked to his own paws, lit with crimson light from the red thread as it pulled around him, twisting, tightening, digging into his flesh.
He screamed.
There was a red flash.
And then there was darkness.
# 1 It started in my paws.
A fuzzy feeling like I’m full of lightning and I’m caught between the earth and the sky.
I can feel it, I just know it: the ground doesn’t like me, it doesn’t like me.
It pushes me away and I keep coming back but that’s not my fault because I can’t fly like the crows or the robins can.
I tried explaining but it doesn’t understand me.
I’m frightened.
"Mintfeather!" He turned on his side, closing his eyes against the pale light reflecting off the sand. "Time for patrol." Emberleaf. Mintfeather heard her voice as if she were a mile away, his heart fluttering. Silver lines flickered in the darkness of his closed eyes. He grimaced, pushing towards the lights as desperation flared up inside him. It was there, right there!
And then it was gone, leaving only an emptiness inside him, a faint memory that there was something he had forgotten, something important. But like any dream, no matter how much he tried to remember it was always just a few whiskers away, taunting but never giving him the slightest glimmer of insight. "We're leaving," Emberleaf growled. "With or without you."
"I'm up," Mintfeather replied with a sigh, stretching his paws in front of him. The red she-cat prowled back outside, tail snapping low to the ground. Mintfeather shook his fur as he stood, resisting a shiver. He was chilled already and there was little hope that the world outside would be any warmer if the muted grey outside was any indicator.
# 2 This layout is kinda. . . forceful? Lots of activity makes it hard to focus on the words. Might make the borders darker and that should help as well as the large headers this thing will have. # 3 This layout is kinda. . . forceful? Lots of activity makes it hard to focus on the words. Might make the borders darker and that should help as well as the large headers this thing will have. # 4 This layout is kinda. . . forceful? Lots of activity makes it hard to focus on the words. Might make the borders darker and that should help as well as the large headers this thing will have. |
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Post by Brownie on Dec 25, 2017 1:52:18 GMT -5
6-10
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Post by Brownie on Dec 25, 2017 1:52:37 GMT -5
# 1 1 This layout is kinda. . . forceful? Lots of activity makes it hard to focus on the words. Might make the borders darker and that should help as well as the large headers this thing will have. # 1 2 This layout is kinda. . . forceful? Lots of activity makes it hard to focus on the words. Might make the borders darker and that should help as well as the large headers this thing will have. T h e E n d . This layout is kinda. . . forceful? Lots of activity makes it hard to focus on the words. Might make the borders darker and that should help as well as the large headers this thing will have. |
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Post by Brownie on Dec 25, 2017 1:54:40 GMT -5
Re v i e w s
Nothing here yet. Give a review and it'll go here. F a n A r t
Nothing here yet. Make some art and it'll go here. D e d i c a t i o n s
To my sister, whose fascination with learning sign language has inspired us all.
To all the oldies on here who've been here every step of the way. You know who you are.
And to Katie. You've always been a Ten in my mind. |
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Post by Brownie on Dec 25, 2017 1:55:04 GMT -5
free to post
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Post by Brownie on Dec 25, 2017 3:38:05 GMT -5
half way done but I need to sleep so it'll be polished tomorrow (also thinking about trying something with the bg but it's kinda sorta really ambitious so eek)
also for the poll: I can see happiness as almost all those colors depending on the circumstances, but usually being "happy" to me is a light, cotton candy blue.
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Post by ѕωιƒтƒαℓcση on Dec 25, 2017 10:42:01 GMT -5
I'm just going to hang out here
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Post by Brownie on Dec 25, 2017 12:02:55 GMT -5
there most the stuff is done I might even add some drop shadow to the boxes so they're not so. . . flat and gross. and I'm going to try and do a pixel perfect background so that everything looks fab. that'll be tonight because I need a better computer/program to try something that crazy. ѕωιƒтƒαℓcσηwelcome to the party ;D I'd be here but there's no wifi. Good thing gdocs has offline comparability. |
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Post by » ѕнαdσω ⚔️ on Dec 25, 2017 13:49:14 GMT -5
THIS TRULY IS CHRISTMAS
This story sounds amazing! I love the concept soooooooooooooo much.
I'll be anxiously waiting for the first chapter.
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Post by Brownie on Dec 25, 2017 15:03:41 GMT -5
I'm so excited too. Its nice since i know its nothing long so hopefully i can pull an eph and get it done in a few weeks.
And surprised so many picked yellow though that is the usual happy color.
Once i get somthing up the poll will be relivant i promise. This i was just curious
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Post by Brownie on Dec 26, 2017 15:26:05 GMT -5
I've put my goals today at finishing this chapter before I can do anything else. I can use any extra time between now and 9 to game or whatever I want to do (it was supposed to be 6 but I literally just woke up at 3 because I was watching stranger things SO GOOD until like 5am). Then I need to start lining christmas/new years/holiday cards for friends because if I can't afford gifts this year I need to do something and hand-drawing/scrapping cards is the way I choose to do that since we're all getting together on new years so I can hand them out.
My goals for today. If I don't get the chapter up by 6-7 EST yell at me please. Four hours should be plenty of time to write an introductory chapter as long as I'm, ya know, actually working.
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Post by Brownie on Dec 26, 2017 21:11:29 GMT -5
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Post by ѕωιƒтƒαℓcση on Dec 26, 2017 21:21:27 GMT -5
TENSION. CLIFFHANGER. FUN STAR CATS MADE OF YOU.
Excellent.
Fan me, please
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Post by Brownie on Dec 26, 2017 21:57:47 GMT -5
Light fantasy aspects to make real life seem even worse yay!
will do
and updated some characters
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Post by Dusklight of ShadowClan on Dec 26, 2017 23:53:41 GMT -5
Neato. This fanfic's layout is a e s t h e t i c and easy to read.( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Never did believe in fate myself tho
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Post by EthanTheAnnus on Dec 27, 2017 1:00:12 GMT -5
Fan me, this is awesome!
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Post by Brownie on Dec 27, 2017 1:47:26 GMT -5
Dusklight of ShadowClan ahhh thankies <33 Means a lot cuz I spent way too much time on the layout and I was hoping it wasn't too blocky/square. I haven't coded in over a year and it shows eek and I'd reply to that but I don't want to drop hints because that's seriously the whole point of this heh it's going to be a short one so you should get your answer soon. also welcome to the forums! Glad to see some new faces around here <3 EthanTheAnnus will do. and danke hopefully it'll get even more awesome when we meet mc #2
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Post by Brownie on Dec 28, 2017 13:54:22 GMT -5
Ahhhhh I've been working on the banner during times my tablet wants to work and tbh this color scheme is great.
my concepts? not so much
but the colors look pretty
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Post by Brownie on Dec 29, 2017 14:10:14 GMT -5
okay layout edited for mobile viewing
non-story posts have fatter textboxes but same width as always for the aesthetic of it
story posts both have fatter textboxes and increased width for easy viewing on both platforms
sorry for those of you that had to struggle through mobile code
I didn't check it and I should have.
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Post by Brownie on Dec 30, 2017 23:58:24 GMT -5
yo yo yo kids time to write
also chapter two and there's already deleted scenes (that I wrote but cut because it's just too slow to include them)
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Post by Brownie on Jan 2, 2018 19:13:01 GMT -5
2/3 scenes yo
still sleeping off new year's party
speaking of which, happy new year y'all!
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Post by Brownie on Jan 4, 2018 20:23:02 GMT -5
slow because messing with pacing again
this feels like a chapter one that other thing is more prologue-y
this is where plot starts
gah
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Post by mintedstar/fur on Jan 5, 2018 3:23:30 GMT -5
As for your poll, I sort of think a really deep, pink-red, like the background for this:  Just my two cents. Have a nice night! |
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Post by Brownie on Jan 5, 2018 17:01:17 GMT -5
a happy pink cx
pink has been 'open' to me
usually emotionally, but sometimes in personality or just plain kind
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Post by mintedstar/fur on Jan 5, 2018 17:28:49 GMT -5
That's one of my fav avatars just because of the colors (and the characters, because the hair matches.)
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Post by Brownie on Jan 5, 2018 17:39:34 GMT -5
haha yeah I thought you had it for an avatar at some point.
I like the comp too so much personality
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Post by mintedstar/fur on Jan 5, 2018 17:48:33 GMT -5
Yep! That's Zange, both his past and future incarnation. I RP him in the Paradox House, so I often have my avatar be my main (latest main) RP character. Currently that's Rutile.
The color pallet was always so nice. I always thought of red as a sort of angry color, but red-pink holds a special place in my heart.
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Post by Maplestone360 on Jan 6, 2018 15:40:33 GMT -5
I'm intrigued! Fan me please! I can't wait for the next chapter!  And, for the poll, I think of happiness as a mixture of light blues and purples, like this: |
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