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Post by <Raintalon> on Dec 16, 2018 19:30:52 GMT -5
Warriors Gathering Storm Allegiances - RoseClan Allies: MoonClan Enemies: SageClan(?) Neutral: StreamClan, RaptorClan
Allegiances - MoonClan Allies: RoseClan Enemies: SageClan Neutral: StreamClan, RaptorClan
Allegiances - RaptorClan Allies: None Enemies: StreamClan Neutral: RoseClan, MoonClan, SageClan
Allegiances - StreamClan Allies: SageClan Enemies: RaptorClan Neutral: RoseClan, MoonClan
Allegiances - SageClan Allies: StreamClan Enemies: MoonClan Neutral: RoseClan, RaptorClan
Characters - RoseClan Leader: Blazestar - longhaired brown tabby she-cat with pale green eyes. Has stitch scars on her right hip, stomach, and the scruff of her neck
Deputy: ???
Medicine cat: Splashpelt - silver tabby tom with a stump tail and pale green eyes
Medicine cat apprentice: Spidernose - lanky black tom with yellow eyes
Warriors: Sootstreak - black tom with a white patch on his chest and light yellow eyes Firefly - tiny black she-cat with yellow-green eyes Rainfall - blue tabby tom with light hazel eyes Nightheart - black tom with blue eyes Lionstrike - brown tabby and white she-cat with green eyes Brackenstep - bony longhaired brown tabby tom with green-brown eyes Daisyleap - calico she-cat with yellow eyes
Scouts: Rabbitsong - hairless cat with light blue eyes Pigeonwing - snowshoe siamese she-cat with blue eyes
Elders: Adderleaf - orange classic tabby tom with dark orange eyes. Left side of his face is very scarred and missing the eye and ear Goosewhisker - gray tom with orange eyes ??? -
Characters - MoonClan Leader: Cloudstar - white she-cat with blue eyes Deputy: ??? Warriors: Medicine cat: ??? Medicine cat apprentice: Mothpaw - gray and white she-cat with yellow eyes
Characters - SageClan Leader: ??? Deputy: Leopardfall - black she-cat with barely visible black spots and pale yellow eyes Medicine cat: Oakfrost - silver spotted tabby tom with yellow eyes Medicine cat apprentice: ???
Characters - RaptorClan Leader: Deputy: ??? Warriors: Medicine cat: ??? Medicine cat apprentice:
Characters - StreamClan Leader: ??? Deputy: Warriors: Medicine cat: Medicine cat apprentice: ???
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Post by <Raintalon> on Dec 16, 2018 20:19:32 GMT -5
Cloudstar|3 years|Leader|Cloudstar is a petite, pure white she-cat with piercing blue eyes. She has short, plush-soft fur that seems to glow in the moonlight.|<Raintalon>|
Thornkit|6 moons|Kit|Thornkit is a very small black smoke tabby she-cat with pale, green-yellow eyes. She has shorter hair than her siblings, but its soft, fine texture points to her mother.|<Raintalon>|
Rainkit|6 moons|Kit|Rainkit is a tall, slender tom with sleek, medium length, silver tabby patterned fur. He has blue-green eyes.<Raintalon>|
Lynxkit|Unknown|Lynxkit is a lanky young tom who looks to be about six moons of age. He has pale orange eyes, and keeps the stump of his left front leg wrapped in a sturdy sling at all times. He’s an orange tabby with fairly short fur.|<Raintalon>|
Harepaw|Unknown|Harepaw is a small, willowy brown tabby she-cat with piercing green eyes. Her fur is short and would be coarse, if it didn’t lie so flat.|<Raintalon>|
Dogfur|Unknown|Dogfur is a very large, long-legged tom with long, brown tabby patterned fur and deep, rich copper eyes.|<Raintalon>|
Driftleap|Unknown|Driftleap is a tall, wiry tom with a long, wedge-shaped face and sharply pointed ears to match. He has light amber eyes that match his coat, and short, coarse fur.<Raintalon>|
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Dec 17, 2018 9:41:01 GMT -5
Nightkit|6 moons|Kit|Nightkit is a small, sturdy tom with medium length black fur that’s rougher than his siblings and dark blue eyes. |®Hawkpath®|
Thyme|Unknown|Leader|Thyme is a small, skinny Siamese kit with long legs and a very long tail. Her ears and paws look too big for the rest of her, and her big eyes are a sharp, clear icy blue. |®Hawkpath®|
Moonfur|Unknown|Moonfur is a large tom with short, coarse brown tabby fur. His paws and lower chin are white and the tip of his tail is black, and he’s missing his front claws. His eyes are olive green and a bit slanted. |®Hawkpath®|
Bluefall|Unknown|Bluefall is tall and built quite muscular, although he doesn’t look it. He has extremely soft, medium short calico fur that looks winged on the edges and shocking emerald green eyes. His paws are badly burned and the tip of his tail is furless.|®Hawkpath®|
Twigclaw|Unknown|Twig is a very thin tom with short black fur crisscrossed with countless small scars, some overlapping into others and making it impossible to work out how many there are. The right side of his face is badly scarred, his right eye is missing and his ear is shredded and hangs uselessly. His back left paw is white, and his remaining eye is pale yellow.|®Hawkpath®|
Swan|Unknown| a small silver tabby tom with curly fur and light silver eyes. |®Hawkpath®|
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Post by <Raintalon> on Dec 17, 2018 21:55:04 GMT -5
“She is recovering well enough that I dismissed her from the medicine den,” said Driftleap simply, flipping the tip of his tail in the direction of the den’s entrance. “Most likely, she’s now in the warriors’ den, so you may interact with her as you wish.”
Lynxkit followed Nightkit away from the two others, in a bit of a hurry to escape Rainkit’s burning gaze. Yeah, that cat definitely didn’t like him. “So, uh...she seems nice,” he said, once they were out of earshot. ‘Why doesn’t your sister talk’ seemed like an awkward way to start a conversation, and anyway, it was true. She’d seemed nice, in her own way.
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Dec 18, 2018 0:03:49 GMT -5
Hazelstreak nodded simply. “Thank you.” Then she turned and headed out into the open cave, where the rest of the cats seems to be making themselves at home. She could see her clanmates talking with their strange rescuers in small groups, and her eyes rested for a moment longer on Cowstar, but she turned away without saying anything and headed for what the den that most of the warrior age cats seemed to be hanging around. She really hoped this wasn’t an intruder pretending to be one of them as she stepped inside, blinking in the gloom.
Nightkit didn’t stop walking until they were far enough away for there to be no chance of being overheard before he turned. His expression seemed to have gotten a lot flatter after the shirt interaction, as did his tone. “She is nice. So is my brother. He’s just protecting her, that’s all.” The black kit hung his head, no longer meeting Lynxkit’s eyes. “I’m sorry. That was a dumb thing to do.”
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Post by <Raintalon> on Dec 20, 2018 19:52:44 GMT -5
“Hazel!?” Blazeclaw came limping from the far corner of the den as soon as Hazelstreak entered, making a beeline for her friend as quickly as her condition allowed. To someone who hadn’t seen her yet, she looked terrible. Much of her fur was gone, and grisly stitches crisscrossed the skin around her hind legs, tail, belly, chest, and one of her shoulders. She had the use of all of her legs, but her posture was stiff - between the surgeries and the recovery, she’d been in near constant pain for a while now. Not that she cared right now...she was just overjoyed that her childhood friend had survived.
Lynxkit sat down and narrowed his eyes, thoughtful. “I understand,” he said, crouching a little to try and continue meeting Nightkit’s eyes. Had he done something? He wasn’t sure why he was suddenly pulling away after having been so friendly. “I mean, she’s not well, right? He’s her brother, and I’m just some cat. It’s understandable he’d be suspicious.”
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Dec 21, 2018 11:54:57 GMT -5
Hazelstreak looked up, startled, as her name was shouted across the unfamiliar cave. Then, for the first time since she’d been an apprentice, her face broke into a huge smile and she broke into a run, closing the gap between them in a fraction of the time it would have taken Blazeclaw. Of course she saw the scars. She knew, now, whom Driftleap had been referring to, and a part of her cringed away in horror but it was a very small part. Relief flashed in her hazel eyes and pure elation was impossible to miss on her thin face. “You’re alive!” She shrieked, losing herself in the moment as she reached her best friend and shoved her entire body up against the her, her own soft fur pressed hard against the scarred, shaved, cold skin. One of them was trembling. Maybe Blaze was cold...? “You’re alive.” She whispered again, and her voice shook as emotions she hadn’t let herself feel flooded her like adrenaline, “Thank you for being alive. I...I thought maybe....”
Nightkit felt his body flinch at the well-meant words. Because, bluntly, they were true. She wasn’t well, and Rainkit, her brother, was just protecting her. Protecting her from idiot outsiders who shoved their big noses where they didn’t belong. He flinched away from his own accusations, and suddenly he longed to go back so badly it physically hurt, like someone had reached down his throat and sank needle-sharp claws into his gut. His blue eyes flashed with horrible, unbearable guilt as they met the pale orange ones searching them out, and he found he couldn’t look away. “Since the journey I don’t feel like I know them anymore.” He blurted our, unable to stop himself anymore from responding to the kind, innocent, puzzled face staring back at him. “I abandoned them, I haven’t seen them for months, and now...now he has every right to protect her from me. I don’t know what’s best for her anymore, obviously. I haven’t even been in the same den with them, or talked to her or stayed by her side or helped her calm down. I haven’t even told some idiot to shut up and stop scaring her because it’s me, I’m the noisy idiot now and I c-can’t...” He ran out of words. It didn’t matter, because his voice cracked and he couldn’t have said any more anyway. Why was he even dragging Lynxkit into this?
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Post by <Raintalon> on Dec 21, 2018 19:05:29 GMT -5
Lynxkit’s eyes widened as Nightkit started to talk, and didn’t stop. He went on and on, spilling out all the worries and fears and heartache he must have experienced on the journey, and at first, he didn’t know what he could possibly say to fix it all. He glanced back at Rainkit and Thornkit, frowning in thought. “She doesn’t seem scared, though,” he pointed out at last, picking and choosing his words as if he were stepping through a snake den. “I mean, look at her. She’s not crying, and her ears aren’t flat. And Rainkit...well...” He turned back to Nightkit, determined to finish his thought. “Maybe you’re not the only one feeling guilty? He’s your brother as much as you’re his. Maybe he feels like he abandoned you.”
“Well, I’m fine,” she said with a purr, head butting Hazel as she pressed up against her. “Maybe lost an organ or two along the way, but hey, what can you do?” She let out an amused trill at her own words, and flipped her tail. She was really glad to see Hazelstreak up and about again. When she’d first arrived, the resident medicine cat had told her that recovery was far from certain. She’d been suffering from shock and hypothermia, and truthfully, she’d wondered if the smaller cat had enough fight left to pull though. She’d seemed in rough shape. “Bramblestep would be so happy,” she added, with a touch more sentiment than before. “You saved two of her kits.”
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Dec 21, 2018 21:11:02 GMT -5
Nightkit studied the ground as Lynxkit tentatively tried to answer, his own thoughts swirling too much for him to notice what the other kit was saying at first. Then he began to listen, and glance quickly back at his siblings. They still sat toegether, obviously not talking, but together, and for a moment his heart clenched painfully. Then he tried to look at it from the angle offered to him by Lynxkit. He was right...she wasn’t scared, she didn’t even look particularly worried to find herself in a completely new environment, surrounded by hundreds of strange sounds and smells. She looked...okay, actually. All right, thin, but okay. And so did Rainkit. Nightkit’s gut twisted as he took a good look at his brother for the first time in months. He looked older, his face sharper and his eyes a little shadowed, as though they’d seen more than when he’d last looked in them. He was thin too but it was harder to tell with her longer fur, and the muscles he’d managed to hang on to, so he looked overall fairly healthy. “I doubt it.” Nightkit replied, very, very quietly. He looked away, back at his paws. “He would have known I’d have told him to go with her. So she wasn’t alone. We had one job: protect Thorn no matter what. I failed and he didn’t, that’s all.”
Hazelstreak pulled back at last, giving her friend a full inspection now that she’d made certain she was real. “You lost an organ?” She interrupted in alarm, then shut her mouth quickly and swallowed the questions that came with the remark for later. There was no need to pry, whatever it was looked... Like the kind of thing you had to bring up yourself. She looked away for a second as her friend continued, but anyone who knew her could tell that she was touched rather than embarrassed. “I thought we’d failed when we got here.” She admitted. “I thought Rainkit had died while I was carrying him. Talon had to make me put him down...he might have died otherwise. I might have killed him, for fear he was already dead.”
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Post by <Raintalon> on Dec 23, 2018 18:05:03 GMT -5
“Yeah, well, hesitation always was your biggest problem as a warrior,” said Blazeclaw, knowing the words would seem harsh to anyone but Hazel. “But, y’know, everybody’s fine. And you got ‘em all the way up here, so I’d say you did more than enough. No cat would blame you for freezing up when you were literally freezing up.” She paused, and her whiskers gave a playful twitch as her friend mentioned Talon. “Mm-hmm. He’s pretty cool, isn’t he? I mean, I had my doubts about him when we first met, but...” She blinked, then glanced over at Hazel. “So? What do you think about him?” Hint, hint.
“RoseClan cats,” said Cowstar loudly, from the entrance to the medicine den. It came out quieter than she’d intended - she was rusty at speaking as a leader. So she cleared her throat, and began again, trying to fall back into her old patterns. “I would like to make a few announcements. Would all warriors please join me in the medicine den?”
Talon poked his head out of the warriors’ den, looking uncertain. Then he spotted cats he knew - Hazel, Blaze, and Adder - and loosened up a little, starting forward.
“Talon. May I speak with you for a moment?”
He turned around, eyes falling on his own leader for only the second time since they’d arrived. Hastily, he flicked his ears back and stood up straight, trying to convey respect. Then, with one last, almost regretful glance back at the gathering remnants of RoseClan, he followed her, fixing his eyes steadily forward as he tried to work out what she might want to say to him.
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Dec 23, 2018 18:30:28 GMT -5
Blazeclaw was right. No hurt flashed through Hazelstreak’s gaze as she nodded her agreement to the observation, because it was correct and she knew it. And knowing it made it that much easier to anticipate and work on. She tilted her head very, very slightly as Blazeclaw continued, and her eyes narrowed suspiciously at the playful note she picked out of her friend’s tone. So that’s how it was now, was it? “I had my own doubts about him, but I doubt he’s a MoonClan spy.” She answered, feigning innocence with an airy, off-hand tone and a serious look in her eye. “He seems to have proved himself, don’t you think?” Cowstar’s call interrupted them, and Hazelstreak pricked her ears and stood with a quick smile at her friend. “Finally. Maybe we’ll actually figure out what the whole idea of heading to the mountains in the first place was about.” The bony warrior half-turned as Talon moved in the corner of her eye, but when she looked, he was gone.
The medicine den? Splashpelt trotted forwards, his eyes and ears pointed at the den, as he tried to read Cowstar’s expression. It was hard, he found he didn’t know his leader very well anymore. He did, however, feel another pair of eyes on him. Pausing, he turned and noticed the small silhouette of the other leader, watching them file into the medicine den. Her face was in shadow but.... Splashpelt shivered and hurried forward and out of sight.
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Post by <Raintalon> on Jan 3, 2019 18:11:03 GMT -5
(and then everybody gathered in the medicine den but I’m literally so lazy)
Cowstar sat at the back of the medicine den, facing the tiny group that had gathered. Seeing them all in one room really drove home how many hadn’t made it - what RoseClan had been reduced to - and she had to swallow back her emotions so that she could actually speak. She was talking to children. There wasn’t a cat past a year old left in the whole clan. “RoseClan,” she began, stiffening her spine a little so she sat up straight. “...I know it’s been an impossibly difficult time since we lost our home. Even before. Not all of us are here, as I’m sure everyone has noticed. Among those confirmed dead...” She took a deep breath, steadying herself. “Nala, Dewsong, and...Mintheart.” She paused again, allowing the news to sink in, then continued. “We might be battered, and tired, and grieving, but we can’t give up now. RoseClan will not die. We will find a territory of our own, and we will rebuild. And so...in the spirit of rebuilding, today, we are going to have both a new deputy, and two new warriors.”
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Jan 3, 2019 18:30:29 GMT -5
Hazelstreak’s stared at Cowstar as the words forced themselves past her ears and into her brain, even though she didn’t want to hear them. Of course she’ known. She’d known that a lot of them hadn’t made it, she’d seen how bad it was. But now, to have Cowstar sitting right there, calmly informing them of the deaths of three warriors...including the deputy.... She swallowed, and shuddered, unable to keep the horror out of her tone as she spoke up. “No. More cats are dead, probably most of the ones who aren’t sitting in this cave right now. I saw...I know Sparrow is.” Her hazel eyes rested on Cowstar. She thought of the dream she had in this den only a few hours ago, and she almost looked away, but she didn’t. “How did they die?”
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Post by <Raintalon> on Jan 4, 2019 18:16:40 GMT -5
“Nala and Dewleaf appeared to have died from exposure,” said Cowstar, not too keen on revealing that she’d been the one to see them. Still, the clan needed closure. “And, on Adderleaf’s testimony, Mintheart...” She stopped, suddenly wondering if she should, after all, tell them about the strange cat. She hadn’t planned to...but was that alright? Lying to her clan? Still..she didn’t want to cause a panic. Especially since their relationship with this strange clan was already tenuous. And they seemed friendly enough...it was possible that the cat outside had been unrelated. She wished she could ask Mintheart...but that was kind of unfortunate, considering that she’d be consulting him on how to break the news of his own death. “Mintheart was killed by another cat near here,” she said at last, putting her doubts aside. Clans with lies buried in their veins died out. Or were eventually destroyed. That was just the truth. It was up to them to decide what happened, and what to do about it, to an extent. “We don’t know the perpetrator, but I will be working with the leader of this clan to investigate.”
Blazeclaw sat quite still, absorbing the information but not immediately reacting to it. Mostly, because she didn’t know what to think. She didn’t like it, though. “I wish Adder was hearing this,” she whispered to Hazel, flicking her tail. “I don’t like that he’s missing it all.”
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Jan 4, 2019 18:42:33 GMT -5
Hazelstreak stiffened, staring at Cowstar, as the leader’s meaning sunk in. Mintheart has been killed. Nearby. And they had no idea who had done it. They were too high up for it to be a simple loner, who had learned to kill first and ask questions later. Her eyes narrowed and her expression went cold as she she stared, how could Cowstar believe it wasn’t a member of this Clan? “Me neither.” She agreed in a mutter, unable to drag her eyes away from her leader. She did turn her head towards Blazeclaw though. “He should be here to tell us what happened, if he saw it. Maybe he can identify who it was....”
“Are you saying Mintheart’s killer is up here with us, maybe even in this den?” Splashpelt blurted out, disbelief ringing through his tone and twisting his face as he glanced around the few cats left of the Clan. He swallowed...and turned back to his leader, his wide eyes giving him an owlish look in the dim light. “Where...what happened to the body?”
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Post by <Raintalon> on Jan 4, 2019 19:06:12 GMT -5
“He was killed outside, at the bottom of the cliff,” said Cowstar, surprising herself with how calm she felt in the face of all this. Maybe after everything, she was just too stressed to feel it? “And since the storm hasn’t let up, we haven’t been able to safely recover his body. Splashpelt, I...I know this is hard, and it casts doubt on how safe we are here. And I’m sorry about that. But until the storm dies down, and we’re back on our feet a little, going outside is much more dangerous.” She paused, giving him a chance to speak before she continued with the meeting.
Driftleap, meanwhile, sat at the entrance to the medicine den, one ear angled backwards as he listened in with a mixture of idle curiosity, concern, and boredom. This couldn’t possibly end well. But their leader had clearly made her choice, and he wasn’t about to start something with her.
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Jan 4, 2019 20:44:21 GMT -5
Splashpelt listened quietly, breathing in a little as Cowstar addressed his outburst with a calm, quiet authority he didn’t recognize in her. She was older, he realized with a bit of a shock. He’d always thought of her as a new leader, inexperienced but filled with potential and the best of intentions, someone who would grow into themselves before they could grow into their role. He’d never really realized he’d thought of her like that before, But now, somewhere along the way here, she had grown into herself, and she knew who she was. Now, he knew, from the look in her eye, she was a leader. So he dropped his gaze first and blinked down at his paws. “I understand. I...I would like to help the investigation in any way I can.”
But why did you send us up the mountain in the first place? Hazelstreak narrowed her eyes, studying Cowstar as though the answer was written on the older she-cat’s forehead. She looked sideways at Blaze, what did her friend think of all this?
“Hear anything interesting?” Twigclaw had padded up behind Driftleap and sat down, his remaining ear flicking around towards the other cats in the cave. “Have they made any big decisions yet?”
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Post by <Raintalon> on Jan 6, 2019 18:16:38 GMT -5
“Oh, nothing terribly interesting,” said Driftleap, with a bored shrug. “They appear to be recapping the losses they suffered on their way here.” He was going to tell Thyme about their little speculations later, but he didn’t want to go spilling his guts to any random cat. He barely knew them, after all. He didn’t know who would take it well, and who would panic and start taking ill-advised action.
Blazeclaw wasn’t paying attention to Hazel anymore. For some reason, her attention seemed to have drifted from her surroundings - she was laser-focused on Cowstar, eyes slightly glazed as if she was somewhere very far away.
Cowstar nodded, internally breathing a sigh of relief as Splashpelt relented. “Thank you. I’ll make sure to keep you - keep you all - informed.” Moving on, she turned to address everyone once again. “And so, now...though it is on a sad note, the time has come to name a deputy. We do not do this to replace Mintheart prematurely, but to carry on his legacy, and to ensure that RoseClan can carry on when I’m gone. I understand it might be difficult for you all to accept so soon after our losses, but it’s our tradition to name a new deputy before the moon sets in the sky after our previous deputy’s death, and it is for a reason. We cannot linger in a state of limbo and shock - we have to keep moving forward.” She paused, closing her eyes briefly. Yes. That sounded right. With a pang, she realized there was no longer anyone left to remember that the words she’d just said had been said before - by the leader who had made her deputy in the wake of Moonwhisker’s loss. No one here even remembered Moonwhisker, or Reedstar, or... No. This ceremony was for moving forward, and she had to do the same. She was not alone, no matter how she might feel it. History had been lost, but new history would be made. She could survive this. “And so, in the name of those who have come before us, I name Blazeclaw as my deputy, and as the future leader of RoseClan, with all the privilege and responsibility that the position affords.”
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Jan 7, 2019 12:12:10 GMT -5
“Oh yeah, their deputy died.” Twigclaw said without thinking, as his brief conversation with Cowstar jumped back to the front of his mind. “Their leader seemed pretty upset about it too, I wonder how long it’ll take for her to pick a new one?” He paused, and glanced over his shoulder at the kit den, before speaking again. “Hey, did you see that kit they brought?”
Hazel gazed at her friend for a long moment. Oh yeah. There was another thing about Mintheart’s death that she hadn’t considered until she saw the look in Blaze’s eye... She looked back at Cowstar in time to see the flash of emotion in the leader’s bright eyes, and she set her jaw, swallowing her own mixed feelings as best she could so that her gaze was clear and fiercely pleased when she looked back at the new deputy and grinned.
Splashpelt caught his breath, realizing what was happening about a half second before the words left Cowstar’s mouth. He glanced at her, but he wasn’t sure what to say. He was truly happy for her, but at the same time...who would want that responsibility now? With a possible murderer on the loose, with the loss of there home, they were barely even a Clan anymore.... He couldn’t help remembering when they’d played together as kits. He’d always known he would train to be a medicine cat, of course, and everyone had expected Blaze to lead one day, but that was supposed to be back home, with a full Clan, trained by Mintstar. I guess I never thought we’d really become the corners of RoseClan.
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Post by <Raintalon> on Jan 7, 2019 15:30:08 GMT -5
“Which one?” asked Driftleap, flicking his tail irritably at the vagueness of the statement. “You did notice that there are three of them, right?”
Blazeclaw didn’t move for a moment - it was as if she was frozen to the ground, unable to pick up her paws. Then, slowly, she stood up and walked towards Cowstar, stopping and giving her a respectful dip of the head as she turned to sit next to her. She kind of thought she should be feeling something, since she’d been dreaming of this her whole life. But right now, she just felt numb. Numb and disconnected, like all of this was playing out in front of her instead of really happening to her. “Thank you very much,” she said, her voice not sounding like her own in her ears. “I will do my best.”
(vroom vroom timeskip the kits are in the den now)
“And so, with no further hesitation, you two will, from now on, be known as Nightpaw and Rainpaw.” A pause. Rainkit stood still, alternating between glancing at Thornkit and back at Cowstar. It was difficult to tell what he was thinking, but as the seconds passed, and she didn’t name Thornkit, his ears began to flatten, and he looked on the verge of saying something. “And...two more items before this meeting is adjourned. Number one...I would also like to welcome Thornkit into apprenticeship.” She dipped her head at the young she-cat, who continued to walk in circles, counting her paw prints. “So, you will now be known as Thornpaw.” A pause. “You may be wondering who will take you on as apprentices, seeing as there is no one but myself old enough to take on the responsibility. For now...instead of assigning individual mentors, you are all under the mentorship of RoseClan and our guests. Please use your time, during the day, to take on a more active role in learning and aiding us in our time of need - in doing this, you will all become strong warriors in time.”
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Jan 8, 2019 18:06:10 GMT -5
The first thing he noticed was how cold the air felt in his lungs. The second thing was that he was breathing. Crowfur opened his eyes. And immediately closed them again as a rush of confusion flooded him. He felt disoriented and sick, like how you feel when you’re sick and you’ve been sleeping all day, except much worse. His heart raced in his chest, an alarming and unfamiliar rhythm that he found both distracting and exhilarating, and he swayed on his short legs and sat down to stop himself from falling. What happened? The thought ran numbly through his mind, with no one to answer it. Where am I? I can’t feel Adderpaw anymore, I...I can’t feel anything. Slowly, very slowly, he opened his eyes again, this time only a little bit, to let the world in again. It greeted him with its sounds and sights and smells. His head was spinning too much for him to look at any of the individual faces surrounding him but he sensed that there were quite a few bodies near his.... Body. His body. Crowfur blinked, stunned, as he stared down at his own tiny paws. In and out, he slid his claws, and they obeyed his command perfectly, ten tiny swords that he controlled. He didn’t know how, or why, or where he was. But he had won.
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Post by <Raintalon> on Jan 11, 2019 17:30:29 GMT -5
(everything’s normal and fine we’re not missing any posts what are you talking about)
Talon had been sitting alone ever since the meeting, frowning in the direction of the cave entrance. He was thinking about a lot of things. His meeting with Mintheart, his integration into the clan, and now...the fact that he was going to leave. He didn’t know how he felt about that - he wasn’t unhappy, exactly, but how did they expect to make a clan of just the two of them? Or, well, three. But he wasn’t getting his hopes up. He wasn’t sure she even liked him as a friend, much less... Well. No time like the present. “Hey, Haz - “
His sentence was interrupted as a shriek ripped through the air, shattering the peaceful afternoon quiet. Cats were backing away from the entrance to the cave, bristling, and it seemed that something had just been thrown inside, landing with a thud a few feet from the entrance. Driftleap, who had been in the warriors’ den, sprinted out, narrowing his eyes and making a beeline for the location. “What happened?” he asked sharply, trying to get anyone’s attention.
On the ground lay a dead cat, not stiff and frozen, but limp and warm. He had only one injury - a claw drawn across his throat.
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Jan 11, 2019 21:39:51 GMT -5
Hazelstreak glanced but, but she barely had a moment to glance at Talon before the shriek split the air and she jumped up, ears flat. “What was that?” She hissed, alarmed, but cats were running everywhere now and she couldn’t see what it was. She glanced at Talon. “Did You seems what happened?”
Bluefall had been walking near the entrance as the body had been thrown in, and he’d been directly in its path. He stared down at it, unable to look away from the twisted face gazing up at him through glassy eyes. It was touching him...a pad of one of it’s front paws was touching his leg, and he couldn’t pull away. “Driftleap....” The calico managed to speak at last, but he still didn’t move. It felt like he’d been frozen.
Thyme shoved her way to the front, then stopped dead, staring in obvious horror at the body on the floor of her cave. Then she moved forward slowly, her hackles raised, until she was standing close enough to look at its face and see if it was one of hers.
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Post by <Raintalon> on Jan 11, 2019 22:02:35 GMT -5
Driftleap stopped in his tracks, throat seizing up at the sight of his previous apprentice lying still on the cave floor. He vaguely registered Bluefall’s words, and his throat seized up, unsure of what he was feeling. He knew what she was thinking though, and he couldn’t stand her eyes boring into him. Wordlessly, he turned and left, stalking quickly away down the nearest corridor.
It was, in fact, one of theirs. Two weeks ago, a tom named Fernwhisker had set out to try to negotiate peace between the outsiders and the cave-dwellers. He hadn’t come back...until now.
Cowstar pushed her way to the front of the crowd, and stared silently at the body, taking in the scene. Mintheart was her first thought, and her first emotion was...perhaps guiltily...relief. If a murder of one of their own had just taken place, that meant that the killers was most likely an enemy of the group, not an insider. That was much, much safer.
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Jan 13, 2019 15:09:57 GMT -5
Thyme stared down at the still-warm body, her expression frozen and unreadable as though her skin was a mask. Then she reached forward and gently closed the dead cat’s glassy eyes. So this is what the outsiders thought of peace. This was their answer. It was recent. She turned away, scanning the anxious crowd. That’s the part she was having trouble fitting into the rest, the two weeks in between Fernwhisker walking out of this cave and Fernwhisker being dumped back in like fresh-kill. Had they talked? Had the outsiders disagreed amongst themselves about what should be done? Or had it just taken this long for the young tom to find them, and they’d killed him on sight? Her pale eyes found Cowstar in the crowd and narrowed. She didn’t like having variables here during a crisis like this, it offered far too much that could go wrong. And the other leader looked almost pleased to see the body,,.. “Senior warriors, to me.” She said finally in a tense, flat tone, and stalked towards the cave where they’d held their previous meetings.
Hazelstreak caught sight of the body and inhaled, her eyes widening. “lol.” She said, softly, to Talon. “One of theirs.” Oh right, he hadn’t been in the medicine den earlier. “Mintheart was killed, too.”
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Post by <Raintalon> on Jan 13, 2019 17:35:07 GMT -5
Cowstar caught the glance, and quickly looked away, returning her gaze to her own cats. The other leader’s expression confirmed her fears - they weren’t wanted here. As much as she wanted to stay, it was looking more and more like they should leave as soon as possible.
“Oh...” Talon swallowed hard, caught off guard by the news. The warrior who had likely saved his life...who hadn’t let his heritage get in the way of that...and the cat who had left his whole clan to die in the name of dedication to that heritage. “I, uh...I’m sorry. He deserved better,” he said shortly, deciding that he was mostly feeling sadness. He had been a good warrior. One flawed decision didn’t change that. Then, knowing the other wouldn’t mind the bluntness, he added, “Did you guys choose a new deputy yet?”
(in the meeting cave)
Dogfur filed solemnly into the small space, and took his usual spot near the entrance, expression muted and solemn. He watched Thyme as she took her usual seat, feeling a stab of sympathy for the young leader. She wasn’t as young as she looked, but she was far from experienced, this was a difficult situation for even the most seasoned leader. He knew this was the day they decided what to do about the outsiders. There was no mistaking it...Fernwhisker’s death had been a declaration of war.
Driftleap showed up a few minutes late and sat down in the darkened back corner, eyes narrowed and ears angled firmly back, an expression of carefully contained grief. He would have plenty of time to come to terms with his apprentice’s loss at a later time. For now...things had to be done.
Harepaw slinked into the den, posture low and cautious, as she wasn’t entirely sure she counted as a senior warrior. She felt painfully spotlighted as she took steps towards her seat, and wondered if Thyme would ask her to leave. Sure, she wasn’t actually apprentice age anymore, but her suffix still spoke to inexperience.
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Jan 13, 2019 18:05:43 GMT -5
Thyme sat still, watching her companions slowly file in after her and take their seats. Most of her cats counted as senior warriors, at this point. A few didn’t, but those ones were obvious, like Lynxkit and Twigclaw. She watched as Moonfur entered behind Driftleap, his tail resting on Bluefall’s shoulder as though the other tom was blind. Then she looked at Driftleap, her expression searching. Fernwhisker has been his apprentice after all...and she knew how close they’d been. She recognized the look in his eye immediately and gave him a small, respectful nod, acknowledging his pain without calling attention to it. “Whatever ideas of a peaceful resolution anyone had, it’s time to abandon them.” The young leader began as the last cat sat down. “That chance is dead. They killed him. Even if they came to our cave right now, begging for peace, I would refuse them.” She paused, eyes hard and narrowed. “The only question that remains is how we strike back. Strategy will be everything. They may assume their bold move has scared us, in which case we have the element of surprise on our side if we move quickly.” She looked from face to face as she continued in the same cold, measured tone. “The problems are obvious: where is their camp? How many of them are there? And obviously, how will our guests react to this? They’re variables in this war, and we can no longer afford those.” She fell silent, ears pricked expectantly.
Did he? Hazelstreak wondered. She wondered whether the cat who had knowingly left an entire clan to their deaths to save his own did deserve better than the same fate he’d left MoonClan to. She wondered whether Talon really believed that, and then she reminded herself that of all the things she could no longer trust, Talon’s word was enough for her. “Blazeclaw.” She replied, transferring easily into the new, less painful subject. “It was never a question, really. Everyone knew she would be deputy one day, but...well. Under different circumstances.”
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Post by <Raintalon> on Jan 13, 2019 18:32:56 GMT -5
“Oh...yeah. Makes sense,” said Talon, flicking his tail. “She’s tough. Kinda reminds me of my mom.” He glanced again at the body, which was now being dragged away by several cats. Well, there was no time like the present. It was never going to be a good time. So he glanced at Hazel, flicking an ear towards the warriors’ den. “Hey, I...so, I need to talk to you about something.”
—Meeting—
Everyone was silent for a long moment, the shock and confusion making it hard for anyone to want to make the first suggestion.
“I’ve spent some time with the newcomers,” said Dogfur at last, speaking slowly as he thought out what he wanted to say. “And they seem like good cats. I think at this point, we owe them the knowledge that they’ve stumbled into the middle of a war that’s just gone from cold to bloody. Cowstar may want to evacuate.”
“D...do you think the outsiders will leave living cats alone?” asked Hazelpaw, shifting her paws as her stomach twisted from the sight of the clan’s eyes suddenly turned towards her. “Cause if they won’t...it would be murder to let them leave without explaining, wouldn’t it?”
“They are not part of this war at this time, but if they wish to continue living here, with us, I think they will need to fight with us,” said Driftleap, tone sharp and defined by its lack of visible emotion. A conscious choice - it was either that or completely fall apart for him, right now. “As you said, we do not have the resources or the space for extraneous cats.”
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Jan 13, 2019 19:02:30 GMT -5
Hazel glanced at him, a bit surprised to hear him mention his family. He didn’t usually talk about them. She blinked as he continued, even more caught off guard by his suddenly tentative voice. Was something wrong? Aside from the body? Okay.” She agreed, moving to follow him.
—Meeting—
Thyme let the others slowly begin to talk, patiently waiting for their input. She needed everyone on the same page for this, if she could. The more unified of a front they could make, the better chance they stood, against both the outsiders and the guests. “No.” She answered Harepaw first. The time for tact was well past by now. “I don’t think the outsiders will leave anyone alone, not now. Fernwhisker was asking for peace, they didn’t need to kill him to make their point.” The first tremor of emotion she’d shown slipped into her voice and she paused to force it back down her throat, almost choking on it. “I agree that they seem like good cats, and I don’t want to hurt them if I can help it, but how will we explain the cause of this war? They’re alive. They’ll want to know what this is about.” She fell silent thinking. Driftleap made a good point; maybe just by living here they were now a part of this war. They would have died without help, didn’t they owe her and her cats help in return? No. Saving them had been her choice, not theirs, so they couldn’t owe anything in return. “I think we should explain the situation. At least, the relevant parts.” She said finally, watching her claws. “I don’t know how they’ll react, but Cowstar seems reasonable. I doubt she’ll help us, but it could make her leave without us having to force her.”
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Post by <Raintalon> on Jan 14, 2019 11:36:51 GMT -5
Once they were out of earshot of the others, Talon turned and sat down, facing her. His heart was racing, which was ridiculous - he’d faced death and come out less nervous than this, so he should really be able to just relax. It wasn’t like life itself was hinging on this thing he couldn’t stop thinking about. “So here’s the deal,” he said, after taking a long, deep breath. “I...well...I like you. A lot. Like, as more than a friend, I guess. I don’t think you feel the same way so I’m not saying it with any expectations, it just needs to be out there. We don’t keep secrets from each other, right, and I want that to continue if...anyway.” He coughed, wondering why his words were coming so fast. His whiskers were pinned back with what he knew was visible embarrassment, but he kept going anyway, determined to finish now that he was here. “Anyway. I’m leaving...tomorrow. With Cloudstar, yknow, to try and pick up the pieces of what used to be my Clan. It’s just gonna be us for a while, and I’d...well, I’d really appreciate your company. If you wanted to come.”
—Meeting—
“But you just said they’d die if they left,” said Harepaw, surprised by her own boldness. “Living cats aren’t a match for us or them, so we can’t just send them away, right?”
“That would be Cowstar’s decision to make,” said Dogfur. “I agree, it would be murder to send them out without knowing the situation...I don’t think we can do that. But we can tell them how strong our enemies are, and give them options.”
“Stay and fight, or leave,” said Driftleap. “That would be a sensible option. These cats are going to have to choose a side.”
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