ʟᴏsᴛ ᴀɴᴅ ᴡᴀɴᴅᴇʀ [An interactive story]

Sorry but I am DEFINITELY not having this conversation here.

Swiftleap is Nonbinary and that is canon. They are indeed sad, confused, insecure, and lack self-esteem but it's inaccurate to say that they are a tom. Like I said, readers can apply whatever pronouns they see fit to Swiftleap but they will remain canonically non-binary, a fact that will be accepted without question within the narrative.

As far as I'm concerned, Swiftleap's chromosones/biology will have little to no effect on the story so I'm not going to delve into that.

I deeply appreciate the interest you've shown in my story and for your participation, as I am grateful for everyone who has helped this silly story grow, but I'm going to respectfully ask that we drop this conversation.

...N... No! Foxtail taught you better than that! You can't really tell if this is going to be a boring gathering! Anything could happen! All four clans could suddenly declare war on each other! You have to be present for that!

You will SIT HERE like a GOOD WARRIOR and OBEY the unspoken rules of the gathering!

oh man you really want to follow her

You are following her!

You trail a bit behind her as she crosses the clearing and disappears behind the foliage that surrounds the clearing. None of the other cats pay you any mind as you two make your quick escape.

"I'll be honest," Leopardheart says over her shoulder, "I thought you were going to be too much of a wimp to sneak out. Good to know I was wrong."

You consider thanking her but the more you think it over, none of that was a compliment!

"You know, you actually seem kind of familiar, where have I seen you before..."

"Oh! I remember now! You were that apprentice who tried to climb the high rock!"

Eugh. It's been a long time since you thought about that particular incident.

You quietly mumble that yeah maybe that was you...

"That was such a long time ago! All of us apprentices were gathered around to watch you!" She laughs and you struggle not to bury your head in the dirt beneath you. "I saw your mentor dart across the clearing and yank you down. He lectured you so bad in front of everyone!!"

Haha yeah that sure did happen!!!!

You explain to her that when you were both first apprenticed and going to your first gathering, Flamestep convinced you that every apprentice had to climb the high rock in order to prove they were worthy enough to attend. He even said he'd be right behind you. You weren't the smartest kit around so of course, you trusted him implicitly.

When you got back to camp, Galestar punished you by not letting you go to any gatherings for three moons.

Leopardheart just purrs in amusement. "Ah, that's cute. Flamestep is that ginger cat, right?"

Yeah, you say, that's him. He's a pretty strong warrior so Galestar usually brings him to gatherings.

"What's wrong, you don't like your Thunderclan mascot?"

You tell her that you don't like Flamestep at all! He has nothing good to say to you, he's always telling you how worthless you are. He even says that if he's ever made the leader, he'll kick you out of the clan and chase you out of the territory!!

"What'd you do to make him hate you that bad?"

If you knew that, you would have apologized for it a long time ago! As far as you know, he hates you just for existing!

"I guess there's no helping it, then. If you want him to leave you alone, you should just give him a good beating."

You sigh. No, you say that you know you wouldn't last ten seconds in a fight with him. To begin with, you haven't fought anyone before. You're sure you'd just panic the whole time. He's a lot stronger and faster than you too.

You begrudgingly admit that, no matter how you look at it, Flamestep's right. You are weak and useless.

"Maybe that's only true because you believe it's true."

"Our thoughts have a lot more control over us than we know."

"The more you think that you're weak and useless, the less motivated you are to try and get stronger." She stares down at you with a cool, neutral expression. "If you've already decided that you'd rather give up before trying one more time, you don't have any right to be mad at Flamestep for pointing out the facts."

...

You think that she makes a lot of sense, but you aren't smart enough to know if any of that is true.

You mention that she was made a warrior pre-maturely. You ask how that happened.

"Wavestar realized that I could do more for the clan as a warrior than an apprentice, despite my age," she explains. "Few were happy about it, but nobody could disagree with the results."

Oh. So then, Leopardheart was born naturally strong?

"Hmm... not exactly. I'd call it an innate talent. Just a little bit can carry you pretty far." She glances over at you and lifts her chin up a bit. "I had some help, though."

You ask her what helped. Maybe it can help you become strong too!

"That's my secret."

Oh...

"Don't worry. I'm sure it'll be enough for you if you just practice what you already know. Then when you're strong enough, kick the crap out of Flamestep."

You laugh.

"But you know, I think I kind of like the cat you are right now. You're a little whiney and feeble, but I like you."

O-oh. Why?

"I'm not sure. You feel different from others, I suppose."

You silently hope that's a good thing.

"If you come to the next gathering and see me, don't be afraid to come sit next to me. We can sneak off together again."

Y-yeah... you tell her that you'll look for her at the next gathering.

Your name is Swiftleap and you've made your first friend in a very long time.

Alright, alright, you're up. Looks like the sun is still rising.

Most of the other warriors are already up, it seems, aside from a few.

You can hear Cricketwing's voice from the clearing. Assigning cats to patrols, most likely. You think after yesterday, she won't be too eager to put you on any patrols at all, but you suppose you should go see if there's something you can do.

You see the dawn patrol leave. Hopefully nothing bad happens.

Cricketwing spots you and calls you over.

"Morning, you sleep well?" She greets you with a friendly gaze.

You tell her that you slept alright.

"Good, I have a couple things you can do for me today. I'll let you pick."

"The elders want to go sunbathing out in the territory today. Once the dawn patrol comes back and gives us the go-ahead, I'll send a small escort out with the elders," she explains. "It should be pretty easy, you just need to keep an eye on them."

Hm. The elders are kind of a pain, they'll take any opportunity to lecture you and how they were better warriors back in their day. Some of the elderly queens are nice enough, though. Either way, it'll probably be a quick jaunt.

"Silverleaf needs a warrior to escort him," she pauses briefly. "Well, he didn't ask for one, but he'll be going into Windclan territory to collect some herbs. Galestar doesn't feel comfortable sending him alone, so we need at least one cat to go with him."

That sounds a bit harder. You mean, you like Silverleaf and all, and helping him pick herbs is fun but you don't really want another tirade about your happiness or whatever! Still, maybe you should go and help him.

"Last thing on the docket is fixing up the dens. I've got the apprentices working on that but they're going to need some help. I'd like them to be done before sunset."

Still a bit of work, but not work you're unused to.

You've got your pick of the litter. Time to get the sleep out of your eyes and get to work for the day!

What would you like to do?