The Tribe of Winding Caves (Open)

Sun (in camp, with Lichen)

The tabby molly gave a smile to the kit-mother. She meowed with a purr in the end: "Of course! I swear that I will take too much of them" Sun realises that it could be a good train of her patience.

(tags: bluewonder)

Flight of the Black-Winged Beetle -- In the Mountains -- With Mountain, Little meow meow

    Looking back at Mountain, Flight seemed to track his frustration for the first time. Her face clouded with momentary concern. Why was he upset? To her, it wasn't complicated. It made perfect sense to her that they needed to assess the situation before they brought their concerns to Stoneteller, and she wasn't originally going to waste Mountain's time by doing so, until he seemed insistent on stopping her. She once more didn't realize that half of the information only lived inside her own head, a frightful lack of communication skills that had contributed to why many around the tribe questioned her role as heir. She opened her mouth to explain to Mountain, when at that exact moment, a huge shadow peaked over the mountain they were on, made larger by the object's closeness to where the two cats were hiding.

    Flying into view was a large and powerful eagle, its dark and white plumage bypassing the hidden cats as it soared deftly into the pile of twigs- as it was indeed a nest. Flight caught her breath- as dangerous as eagles were for the tribe cats, there was something undeniably beautiful about them. She watched as it gave a few landing flaps, then lighted gracefully into the nest below. At this moment, she realized the eagle had some extra twigs in her mouth. That also was expected to Flight, who had seen it do similarly before. Still whispering, Flight explained to Mountain. "I noticed the nest the other day while..." She trailed off, not wanting to admit that wandering on her own was a common practice for her. She continued speaking, hoping he wouldn't notice the absence of information. "...well, anyway, at first I thought it was just a regular nest, like perhaps a thrush or chickadee, so obviously I didn't say anything. I wouldn't bother Stoneteller over every nest that's built with the Time of Freed Water being just around the corner. But the next time I saw it, it had grown! The nest was far too big for the regular mountain songbirds. So I waited around, and... she came!" Her voice had risen with excitement for a moment, when suddenly she became quiet once more.

    She shifted her paws, obviously feeling uncomfortable with the information she divulged next. Her voice was once more a whisper, though the eagle was busy arranging the new twigs and paying no attention to the cats. "I was going to tell Stoneteller right away after that, but I knew with it being so cold lately especially not many cats were leaving the Karst... and she's been so busy building her nest... and she was just so interesting to watch... So... I just watched her for a day. And this morning I was going to tell him, honestly I was. But then I saw Storm and Mist leaving camp I realized... maybe the eagle also has a mate." She looked at Mountain, a hint of concern in her eyes. She knew how dangerous eagles were- every tribe cat heard stories from the moment they were kitted. But her youth and inexperience had kept her from putting together until that morning the rather obvious fact that the eagle was actively making a nest for her mate and herself, and what could only be their soon to be children. Flight flicked her tail back to the nest. "I was going to come back and watch for a little while, to see if I could spot the mate. I didn't want to tell Stoneteller without us knowing. I figured our tribe needed the full details of what we might be up against."

(HI. Sooooo originally, in trying to make Flight a lil ~quirky~, I was gonna have her watching an eagle's nest for fun. That was like... my main thought lol. But then I realized that that's like... watching a murderer's house, and even Flight wouldn't be chill with not warning her tribe, so I came up for a reason why she had waited... and wrote this. But now I'm realizing this may be too close to introducing a major plotline to have one and possibly two eagles so close, so if we need to retcon this whole post we can. I just didn't think about it til this moment. Also chill with the eagle being just a loner or something, or maybe really old and not a threat or something if you wanna do it that way, or I'm chill with the cats just ignoring this altogether. I had just written it and didn't want to undo it and her not have a legit reason for being out, and now I've complicated things. Sorry. )


Lichen that Creeps Across Cave Walls -- Nursery -- With Shift ; Bramble, Little meow meow ; Wind, blu ; and Sun, Shadowfire

    Lichen breathed a huge sigh of relief. Though the kits were still young enough to be nursing, they weren't completely helpless anymore, and she realized she might could start leaving them with sitters more often. "Thank you, Sun! I really appreciate it." Normally, a she-cat might would give an instruction or two about her litter- what to watch for, when their naps usually are, etc- but Lichen had no such reservations. She hopped to her paws, nodding for Wind to follow. She stopped just a moment to give a quick, "Be good now," command over her shoulder to her two little ones, before heading towards the deeper part of the camp cave. She paused as they came across their first set of tunnels, looking at her eldest child. "Before we go further, tell me where these tunnels lead." She quizzed. She may have shown her daughter these moons ago, but she wanted to make sure her memory was fresh. In a time of war or trouble, memory could be pushed aside by fear. She wanted to insure her trainee knew the tunnels inside and out, not knowing that Wind had been reviewing the tunnels mentally at night.

Shifting Ground from Tunnels Below -- In Nursery -- With Lichen ; Sun, Shadowfire ; and Bramble, Little meow meow

    Shift furrowed his brow at his brother's remark. "No it wouldn't!" He exclaimed angrily. He was bigger than a beetle! He huffed, unable to think of a good come-back. "You take that back, or... or I'll tell mom!" He flipped his head around, already eager to tattle on his brother, when he saw his mother slinking away. The fire instantly died from his eyes. "Mom...?" He called, somewhat bewildered by her sudden disappearance, but she didn't seem to hear him. He looked over at Bramble, confused, then noticed Sun. "Where did Lichen go?" He asked.

(So what's going on so far?)

((For the most part, the tribe is still in a bit of a warmup period, people settling in and starting roleplays

The body brought back will be that of the older Heir, though. Ya know, since I like to cause problems on purpose and man it sure is cosmic irony its basically another 'deputy' adjacent character but really thats just to logic the fact our leader here is over a hundred moons and his only heir is a baby LOL))

Sun (in nursery, with Swift and Bramble)

The bright-ginger cat looked at the kittens and understood. Examinating them, the she-cat what a terrible mother she would be. Breathing in and out, the prey-hunter picked a feather out of the nest and asked: "Wanna play?"

Mist (with Storm, mountains) Little meow meow
With her pelt brushing against Storms’ as she walked beside him, the two cats started to make their way around to the southern side of the mountain. As they picked their way down the slope, rocky shingle gave way to short grass which carpeted the ground and made travel easier under paw, and eventually small shrubs began to appear. Blocked by the plants around them, the howling of the wind died down and Mist could speak to her mate with greater ease, ‘That was so much fun,’ she purred as she gave the tom a lick on the cheek, ‘I felt like I was back in my to-be days.’ Of course, the she-cat hadn’t been anywhere near that carefree when she was younger, struggling with the loss of her parents and the feelings of loneliness that came with that. It was only since becoming close with Storm that she’d been able to have the fun she’d missed out on as a younger cat.
Coming to a small stream, the she cat lifted her nose to the air and breathed in the scent of rock and wind and earth. The cold, clean air filled her nose as she tried to make out any scent of something living. After a few moments she caught the faint earthy scent of mole. She turned to Storm, ‘Should we split off here?’ she asked him innocently, trying to hide the fact she’d already found something to pursue, ‘We can meet back here at sun-high.’

Wind (with Lichen, entrance to tunnels) bluewonder 
Wind trailed after her mother as she headed towards the tunnel entrances, giddy with nervous excitement at what lay ahead of them and hoping desperately that she wouldn’t disappoint her mentor somehow. At Lichen’s query, the young she-cat quickly piped up ‘the tunnels head towards the moorland, the first left branch heading towards the east and the first right branch heading towards south where the lavender fields are. If you continue straight ahead the tunnel winds around and heads back into the mountains.’ These were the very basics of her training and she’d been through them countless times, so had no trouble remembering. 

(Sorry I haven't really been active this week, I was camping and the internet was bad)

Pebble(with Lightning, heading to training area)

In response to his apprentice's question Pebble meowed' I was thinking we would brush up on some defense tactics that you already know, make sure you have them right and see where we can improve from there.' Pebble could tell how tired his apprentice was from yesterday's training session and wanted to make today's training a bit more light for him. 'Plus, it will be good for him to brush up on some of his previous knowledge' he thought. Motioning for Lightning to follow, he lead the way out of camp to the training area.

(I'm back baby! )

Wind (with Lichen; Tunnels) bluewonder
With Lichen's barely registrable nod of approval, the older cat turned and plunged into the darkness of the tunnels. Wind took a second to steady herself before following her mentor into the shadows, breathing a sigh of relief as her field of view shrunk down and the earthy scent of cave walls filled her nose. It was a common trait of a whisper-seeker to feel at ease in the tight spaces of the tunnels rather than in the open air of the mountains - and Wind was no different. It was one of the few time's she felt truly safe and at peace with herself.
Following close behind her mentor so as not to lose sight of her in the darkness, Wind felt the tunnel narrow considerably on either side of her. Having been down the Narrowing a few times already, she was able to take a bearing of their location in the tunnels. Expecting to continue straight on, Wind was surprised when Lichen suddenly turned left into a passage of which the she-cat had never taken notice before. She'd been expecting to turn into one of the steeper passages up ahead, which Lichen had told her led closer to the Galeclan camp, and her brow furrowed with confusion at this unexpected turn from the usual. Pushing aside her surprise, the she-cat tried to commit the location of the turn to memory... a left turn 20 steps from the start of the Narrowing.
After a tight bend in the tunnel, the To-be could begin to make out a shimmer of light up ahead and realised they were nearing the opening of the cave even before her mentor alerted her to it. At Lichen's example, Wind rubbed her pelt against the earthy walls and prepared herself for the exit she knew was coming. Her excitement was growing by the second, but once again she forced herself to push it down, knowing that her work required a clear head unmuddied by emotion.
After Lichen had made her way out of the cave, Wind narrowed her eyes against the brightness of the light she knew was impending and carefully raised her head out into the open air. She took a deep breath and assessed her surroundings - the direction of the wind, any scents of other cats, and the vegetation around them. Happy that the coast was clear, she slunk out of the cave and to her mother's side. With eyes still adjusting to the light, she waited for her further instructions.

(Yeah super happy to do a rewind! Are you read up on what the Galeclan patrol did when they found the bodies? I didn't manage to catch up on that so happy for you to take the lead rp wise)
(Also! thought it would be fun to give some names to sections of the cave system so we can begin to make a map)


Mist (with Storm, hunting) Little meow meow
Mist rolled her eyes in amusement at Storm's melodramatic acting. 'It'll only be for a short while my dear,' she purred as she gave the Tom a final lick on the cheek, 'I promise we will be reunited soon.' With the plan finalised, Mist turned to walk delicately into the brush, casting a final glance back at her mate before disappearing from view.
Knowing Storm, she knew he probably hadn't picked up on her excitement at having a lead to follow, and so pressed on with newfound determination to win at least one of the games they played today. Head angled towards the ground, the grey she-cat slunk through the sparsh brush in search of the mole she had scented earlier. The grass underfoot muffled her pawsteps, and she made sure that her tail and long pelt didn't brush against the dry branches of shrubs as she neared the source of her trail.

Slowing down, she sunk to the floor and settled in for the wait. In the mountains, hunting tended to be more of a waiting game than anything else, and cats that could stay alert and focused on their prey for long periods of time were often the most succesful - and that was something Mist could undoubtedly do.
Time passed and still she remained motionless. The wind picked up and died back down. The sun crept slowly up the dome of the sky. Nothing moved. Everything was silent.
Eyes snapping to a small mound of earth underneath a thorn bush, the mole had finally made it's appearence. The animal was careful in it's movements, its little nose smelling the air for a long time before it dared to come out from under the bush. All the while, Mist's eyes remained fixed on the shape and her muscles prepared for the pounce she knew she'd land if the animal came into the open. Her patience was rewarded. As the mole skittered into the open, Mist rushed out from where she'd been waiting and landed squarely on the fast-moving animal, killing it in one swift bite. The mole had had no chance.
Looking into the sky, she was surprised to see the sun had already arrived at it's highest point. It was time to head back to meet Storm.

Lightning (with Pebble, training) 🐦silvermoon2🐦
Lightning remained silent as he considered Pebble's suggestion. It would be an easy day at least, he thought to himself as the two made their way towards the training area, and maybe he'd be able to spend the afternoon lounging around after all if all they were doing was going through old techniques. Not really in the mood for another long day, Lightning mewed his assent, 'Sounds good to me!' he replied with a tone of voice more commanding than it probably should have been for a To-be recieving instruction from his mentor. 

                                                          Pebble
                                           Training, with Lightning blu

Pebble gave his apprentice a look of disapproval at his tone, Lightning must learn to be more respectful, he thought. When they reached the area, Pebble meowed' First we will work on some evasion tactics.' 'I will come at you and then you respond with one of the evasion tactics that I have taught you.' He instructed his apprentice.