WindClan: Life Before 2023's Fire

[Doom]

Originally Posted by xeno

The increasingly agitated Mistyfern, who had yet to find anything but burrs in his fur, was just about to give up and return camp empty-handed. He was grudgingly heading back the way he came when what sounded like a faint mewl stopped him dead in his tracks. Starclans kits, he was too young to start hearing things! Maybe he really was going senile.. Wait, was that a paw? Coming out of a stump? The tom had to do a double take to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating. Nope, it was real. Since when did stumps grow legs? Hell, nothing surprised him anymore.. His curiosity piqued, Mistyfern peered into the hollowed out stump and once again had to blink a few times to make sure he hadn’t just eaten some bad freshkill. It wasn’t a stump with legs at all! It was a kit! ..Well of course it wasn’t! Great silverpelt he was losing it..

“Well, I’ll be a fox’s lunch..” Muttered the dumbfounded blue tom, leaning in to apprehensively sniff it’s scrawny little body. His chest tightened when the overpowering stench of sickness invaded his senses. He didn’t want to know how long it’d been just sitting here.. suffering. What kind of sick freak would just leave the little termite in a stump?! Someone he’d certainly like to meet so he could hand them a one way ticket in to Starclan- or whatever cruel afterlife was waiting for cats like them. It was a miracle the kid hadn’t already become a badger snack. “Hey. Move.” Mistyfern pressed his nose against the kit’s side and gave him a firm shake. It’d be an even bigger miracle if he even lasted the night. What was he supposed to do in a situation like this? Take him back to camp? He was the medicine cat. He couldn’t even tell dandelions apart from yellow flowers yet! How was he supposed to heal a dying child? “I said move.”

Hey. Move.

The kitten's eyes fluttered weakly, desperately trying to regain his vision. He did not recognize the voice, but hearing it over the lonely whorls of wind was like music to his ears. But his muscles were numb. He could barely feel the ground beneath him. Moving felt impossible...

I said move.

Fogging the air with a frustrated huff, the lynx-point kitten furrowed his brows as he attempted to move. His eyes finally opened, revealing two icy blue slits glowing fiercely in the dark hollow. His claws stretched to their maximum length as he reached out for the paws ahead of him, hoping to convince whoever found him that he is worth saving. But as the cold winds increased and swallowed his ribcage, the little kitten collapsed unconscious once again.

[tye]

After separating from Foxpudge and Tawnystep his body felt more lighter and pleased following with the horrid sight of cat bodies around Windclan and tiring burying (and tearing, ahem) that came to an end. Now it's on to feeding some clanmates so most of them won't die from starvation. He passed around a few chunks of meat to a few cats that hasn't eaten for a while. Carrying the next large scrap of meat he head inside the medicine den. Warblerpaw tossed the prey to the side, and sighed. He completely forgotten it was the new medicine cat, Mistyfern, who runs the joint now. The apprentice felt apprehensive of meeting the blue brute again after he embarrassed him in front of every cat. I'm sure he'll be apologizing once he see food that I have brought. Warblerpaw high stepped over humming as he took a spot on a empty nest, licking his chest fur down and tidying up his ears. "Mistyfern? Mistyfern! I don't have time to doddle in this herb trench. I have brought you food, should be grateful that I even did." He continued to groom, cleaning out debris from his plume tail to lifting his paws to inspect on his white claws. "Oh, and while I'm here I need something to keep my energy up. This burying thing is exhausting I'm telling you!"
@xeno

[lio]

[ @BILL. @vermin ]

Tawnystep nodded numbly. She seemed out of it as she helped to drag bodies back to camp, and when it came time to collect the final pieces, she felt completely empty. "I will take some to Twilightshine," she stated, leaning forward and tearing off a hearty piece of flesh. Her tail lay low against the ground as she turned and walked back to camp, swallowing the drool that threatened to fall as the taste of flesh covered her tongue. She'll never notice.

[lio]

[ @Moonraven ]

Stepping into camp, Tawnystep looked around for a specific feline. She had just returned from the body-seeking patrol, and now she had a mission after coming back. Foxpudge and Warblerpaw were doing the same thing, she would be fine. And it would help the hunger within the Clan. Her ears were flattened, her eyes blank as she looked over the clearing. Just give her the food.
She took a deep breath, spotting the deputy after many heartbeats and making her way over. Her claws sunk into the ground and she dropped the 'prey' in her mouth, looking toward Twilightshine with a thin, forced smile. "I... I felt bad about attacking you so, I brought back some food to make up for it. It's- uh- rabbit. I couldn't help but snack a little while I was out, so sorry it looks almost half-eaten... and that it's cold." Tawnystep chuckled nervously, looking off to the side before focusing her gaze forward once again.
"Will you accept my apology?"

[BEAR.]

Well..

After helping bring the bodies back, Foxpudge joined them in tearing a piece of Lightpath away, a decent chunk the size of a large rabbit haunch. A little cold, but.. he could always tell Brightstar they split up a rabbit for the Clan.

Disposing of the rest of his remains, he headed back to camp after the rest of the patrol.

[BEAR.]

"Brightstar!"

Foxpudge called her name through the piece of meat in his mouth, the bodies recovered by his patrol placed near the center of camp. "We're back!"
@Fuzzy

[Jesse]

Originally Posted by vermin

After separating from Foxpudge and Tawnystep his body felt more lighter and pleased following with the horrid sight of cat bodies around Windclan and tiring burying (and tearing, ahem) that came to an end. Now it's on to feeding some clanmates so most of them won't die from starvation. He passed around a few chunks of meat to a few cats that hasn't eaten for a while. Carrying the next large scrap of meat he head inside the medicine den. Warblerpaw tossed the prey to the side, and sighed. He completely forgotten it was the new medicine cat, Mistyfern, who runs the joint now. The apprentice felt apprehensive of meeting the blue brute again after he embarrassed him in front of every cat. I'm sure he'll be apologizing once he see food that I have brought. Warblerpaw high stepped over humming as he took a spot on a empty nest, licking his chest fur down and tidying up his ears. "Mistyfern? Mistyfern! I don't have time to doddle in this herb trench. I have brought you food, should be grateful that I even did." He continued to groom, cleaning out debris from his plume tail to lifting his paws to inspect on his white claws. "Oh, and while I'm here I need something to keep my energy up. This burying thing is exhausting I'm telling you!"
@xeno

Mistyfern was just returning from his most recent herb outing, which was mostly an excuse he began using just to escape the dullness of day-to-day life as a medicine cat without looking lazy. Today he’d managed to find something that looked vaguely useful; some weird blue berries he’d plucked off a tree. Now he’d just have to find some idiot unsuspecting enough to let him feed it to them and then if they died, just claim they stole the herbs while his back was turned. The greying blue tom limped into his den and began stowing away his findings, completely unaware of the apprentice sitting in the far corner of the den. It was only when Warblerpaw spoke that he realized he wasn’t alone. He recognized that voice.. Mistyfern shot him a scathing side-long glare. Without saying a word, he picked out a random herb and carried it over to the apprentice, dropping it at his paws and grunting.

“If it wasn’t my responsibility to keep you alive I’d have slipped deathberries in those herbs.. Oh, right. I almost forgot to mention; let me know if you start to feel like you’re dying.” There was some truth to his words. He had absolutely no idea what the herb he had just given him did- or if it was even edible. But he figured this was a perfect opportunity to find out. His gaze trailed over to the hunk of flesh Warblerpaw had dumped off into the corner and felt himself physically recoil in disgust.

“Starclan’s whiskers, what is that?! It smells like foxdung and looks even worse!” Mistyfern exclaimed, prodding it apprehensively as though he thought it might come back to life. It smelled horribly familiar, too. But.. it couldn’t be? Could it? He leaned down to sniff it and nearly gagged. Dear Starclan.. He whipped around to face the apprentice, eyes wild with rage. “Where did you find this?” Before Warblerpaw even had the chance to respond, Mistyfern was flying toward him. His paws slammed into the apprentice’s shoulder and forcefully threw him into the ground. “WHERE DID YOU FIND THIS?! DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS IS?! HOW MANY CATS HAVE YOU FED THIS TO? OPEN YOUR MOUTH, BOY! OPEN IT!” The grizzled blue tom roared in Warblerpaw’s face, preparing to pry his jaw apart with with brute strength if he refused.

[Jesse]

Originally Posted by Alaska

Hey. Move.

The kitten's eyes fluttered weakly, desperately trying to regain his vision. He did not recognize the voice, but hearing it over the lonely whorls of wind was like music to his ears. But his muscles were numb. He could barely feel the ground beneath him. Moving felt impossible...

I said move.

Fogging the air with a frustrated huff, the lynx-point kitten furrowed his brows as he attempted to move. His eyes finally opened, revealing two icy blue slits glowing fiercely in the dark hollow. His claws stretched to their maximum length as he reached out for the paws ahead of him, hoping to convince whoever found him that he is worth saving. But as the cold winds increased and swallowed his ribcage, the little kitten collapsed unconscious once again.

Mistyfern, in a panic, quickly reached reached forward to snatch the kitten up by the nape of its neck before it collapsed again, gently lifting it out of the rotting stump. This was.. the first time he’d ever touched a kit. Was he doing it right? Didn’t this hurt? He’d seen queens doing it with their little rats but.. Well, he wasn’t a queen; he was a grown male twice most of their size who could probably crush this little brat underpaw on accident. “Hey now, don’t you dare go dying on me.” Oh for starclan’s sake.. He sounded like a worried mother. “O-Or else I’ll look like one heck of a lousy medcat..” He quickly added, as though anyone was around to judge him. What was he going to do? What could he do? Bring it home? And what? Let it die there? He glanced down at the kit’s shivering little body and sighed. Home it was.. Hopefully all it needed was a little bit of thawing out. “Alright, fine. Let’s.. Get you somewhere warmer, huh?” Grunted Mistyfern as he began hurrying off in the direction he came, trying to keep this kit close so that his body heat would warm it.

[Silhouettes]

@SilentLamb

The fluffy kit couldn’t seem to take the hint. Heck, the molly wasn’t even sure why she didn’t give Lambkit up entirely to another queen! At least she didn’t step in any dirt, but Cypressflare didn’t want to any chances. Why was the nursery in shambles? Could any cat be so clueless? “Well, some cats went insane and ate some kits dear. Luckily it wasn’t you.” She replied sharply. Gossipy had gone around that some cat snuck into the nursery and went on a rampage. The lucky queen probably got condolences and all the pity in the world. Taken aback by Lambkit cuddling in her fur, it took all her power to to jerk away. But only because it was cold outside, and the molly supposed she needed some extra warmth too. But the disdain in her eyes were clear as she looked down at her kit, using all the effort in the world not to push her away.

[Leucos]

@Silhouettes

Tilting her head at what her mother said, her brow raised "what's insane mean?....And eaten? ...you ..you don't think they're still like that do you?..." she somewhat whimpered . ok...that's pretty scary .. then she let her paranoia get the best of her when a bit of the dens dirt had fallen from the ceiling . Hearing it fall Lambkit jolted and perked her ears up "I don't wanna be eaten!!!" she started to bawl only to shake a bit. Any kit would be like this.