RiverClan Clearing

[BEAR.]

A small bird clamped firmly between his jaws, Peachfuzz stepped through the entrance of the camp and proceeded to deposit his catch on the fresh-kill pile. With Leaf-fall taking over the forest, prey was starting to become rarer, and he would not be surprised if they were in for a rough Leaf-bare.

Departing from the pile of food, Peachfuzz began to head towards the nursery out of habit, eager to see his darling mate Tinyfuzz. He had not seen her yet today -- it was uncommon for them to sleep together, and immediately upon waking he had been assigned to a patrol. The tom paused outside the den, noticing the forms of his younger sister and her kits. "Echoskip," he greeted the queen. "How are you and the kits?" One of her kits - it seemed to be one of her sons - had a shortened tail, and Peachfuzz found this odd. Unnerving, really. None of their other family members had bobbed tails, and the tom was sure the kit was abnormal. Probably because he shared the same father as his cousin.

He really could not understand why two of his sisters took the same mate. Did ShadowClan not have plenty of other toms? It was almost as bad as Honeythistle's crudeness. If only their parents were not blind to his siblings' disgracefulness. They had no respect for the sanctity of mate-ship.

@Rubinaito, @Aura, @Random Melody, @LelliNicole.zob

[lone]

Originally Posted by Aquarius

Darkzephyr nodded, preferring not to respond with words. He had always been a quiet cat, even when he was a naive apprentice, playful and joyful like the rest. Now his claws dug into the ground everytime someone mentioned Darkzephyr in his youth. The tom forced a smile back at her, like he had seen other cats do when a cat smiled at them. His tail flicked as he wondered where the conversation would go, and how soon he could advance it. Clearly, he knew it would take moons, but Darkzephyr was never one to be a patient cat when it came to matters involving himself. And certainly, he had gotten himself involved into this matter. He purred, glad the molly seemed like she was getting more comfortable talking to him.

Too comfortable, almost. What had happened, and what he had lost, always pierced something deep inside him like a shard of ice. His eye had been lost during his apprenticeship, and so had his innocence. Of course, it wasn't something he would willingly talk about. But when prompted, the night-pelted cat had no reason not to respond. Making sure his fur was lying flat, he shot a weak smile at Caracalfrost. "It's not too personal," he responded, although the lie felt sour on his tongue. He recalled his past, pain welling up in his stomach like an agony that never went away. No, not agony. An ache. "I was an apprentice during the Dark Era. Like every other apprentice, I wanted to be noble, respected like a warrior. So..." He swallowed hard. "I fought harder than I should have. Instead of listening to my leader, like I should have, I threw myself into battle. I was too young and naive to understand the consequences."

The story Darkzephyr had told was all true, not a word of it fiction. But, he did leave out perhaps the most important part of all - an eye for an eye was the saying, wasn't it? Even as an apprentice he had understood that moral, and he had upheld that. If anyone besides him knew of that, he didn't know, but most cats just assumed he had staggered away bleeding and that was it. "But the past is the past," he added quietly, trying to make it seem like he had moved on from that oh-so-tragic event. "It doesn't really affect me, anyways. I've become quite used to it, in fact." He wondered how the she-cat would react to his story, and he prayed that it wouldn't push her away. No, not because he would truly have emotion towards her, but because without her involvement, he would have to start anew.

"Oh..." Caracalfrost's voice trailed off and she seemed a little worried. So many younger cats lost their lives in battle over this, and she was wondering how it could have happened with Darkzephyr. Had he not made it out, this conversation never would have happened. And it was a conversation that the warrior dearly needed, what with all the changes happening. Everything was moving so fast it made her head spin. And not even just here - in all the other Clans as well! Everything was going too fast and Caracalfrost couldn't keep up with the times. A slight shudder went down her spine, but she continued to smile at the tom. "I'm glad you ended up being okay. I'd have a really hard time adjusting, so... I admire you for that." The golden-eyed warrior smiled at him, oblivious to the small signals that should have clicked in her mind that something was wrong.

Maybe she had needed this for too long. Maybe there was something going on but, whatever it was, the she cat pushed it away as nothing. Because she was... helpless. At the moment, that was truly how she felt - just absolutely helpless. Not the best feeling, and the warrior wondered if it was going to continue to last around the tom. There was something about him that was positively eerie, but the feline liked it at the same time. Here was a cat who seemed to have been misunderstood. At least, no one was paying much attention to him. They were kind of ignoring him. There were lots of those cats (Sorreltuft had never been one of them, of course, he was always Mr. Popular growing up) but Caracalfrost had and she remembered feeling annoyed about it. Maybe Darkzephyr was the same way.

She wasn't quite sure how to change the subject after such a personal piece of information, but she felt like she owed him something, and so she would continue speaking. "I, um... I was thinking that, uh, if there was anything you wanted to know in particular about me, I could - well, whatever it is, I'll be happy to... to answer it," That was the she cat's subtle comment on telling him she was waiting for a request before she dove into something personal. It was a little awkward to do that, but not so much as awkward as what she had just done. Then again - subtlety was not the feline's specialty. No... it definitely was not. Which made this only more awkward both for her, and for the poor tom sitting next to her.

[russet]

Originally Posted by SparkleDemon

Tallstep walked out of the warriors den, getting ready to go hunting in the territory. The tom hadn't much minded that the shadowclan cats had come to their camp and he had eventually made some of them his friends.

@itsyaboirussetbird

(They will eventually get longer)

Gingerflight bumped into the tom's rear, the extremely small cat having not seen it. "Ah! Sorry man." They huffed.

[Doodle]

Originally Posted by Chameleon

Honeypaw nodded," Yeah..."

Lilypaw let out a small yawn, noting with surprise that it was getting dark out. "Well, I should probably check in with my mentor before I head off to bed. Thanks so much for chatting with me; I had a great time! I'll see you around." The molly gave a cheerful smile and wave of the tail before getting to her paws, calling one last farewell over her shoulder before setting off to find her mentor.

[red_inactive]

( XD Tempestjay is such a player. He has so many mates.)

Echoskip was in the midst of smoothing down Harekit's fur on top of his head when she caught sight of her older brother, walking in from his hunting patrol with a bird caught in his mouth- an impressive catch in Echoskip's opinion. She hated hunting birds as an apprentice. Her yellow eyes focused on Peachfuzz as he walked up, smiling as he stopped in front of them.

"Peachfuzz," Echoskip purred happily, her tail flicking back and forth as she looked up at her older brother. "We're doing fine! How are you and Tinyfuzz?" The molly inquired, blinking up at him curiously. Seeing that he was looking at Harekit with an almost disgusted expression, she wrapped her tail around him and pulled him closer slightly, nuzzling him gently before looking over at Cricketkit and Stormkit, watching them carefully for a moment. Echoskip could almost predict what her brother was thinking- her 'mate', who shared a nest with her sister as well, was the reason for Harekit's tail. Either that, or he was disapproving of Tempestjay and Echoskip's 'relationship' because Tempestjay was with multiple other cats as well. Either way, it didn't matter to Echoskip- if Peachfuzz found out that her true mate was Moonsplash, she'd be shunned by the rest of her family, and to Echoskip that was a fate worse than death.

Echoskip loved them. It wasn't debatable- they were her family, the cats who had grown up with her, protected her, guided her through life. She was willing to hide everything from them if it meant that they loved her. Flicking her ears, Echoskip stopped thinking about the subject and focused her attention back on her older brother.

@Mad King @Random Melody @LelliNicole.zob @Aura

[russet]

Originally Posted by Aquarius

@itsyaboirussetbird


Cloverpath padded into the clearing, her bright green eyes shimmering. Her black and white pelt was slightly dirty and she huffed, padding over to the shade of some reeds in the corner of the clearing. She certainly didn't like sharing her camp with the foreign ShadowClan cats. All they did was steal the prey from the RiverClan warriors, and then complain about it! The molly almost rolled her eyes to herself, but she held her temper back and dragged her tongue across her paw, swiping it across her ear to clear some of the dirt from her fur. She hated the reek of the strange cats, but she refrained from complaining so she wouldn't seem rude. Afterall, they were all in the same situation. And not to mention the Queens and Elders that had been affected...
The molly looked around, wondering if she could spot any of her Clanmates who had come back from the morning patrol. The leaf-fall chill was finally beginning to set in, and Cloverpath purred at the comfortable weather.

Gingerflight calmly padded into camp, and calm was strange for the cat. They usually were hyped up or angry about one thing or the other. They quickly spotted Cloverpath and bounded over to her as fast as he could manage. He smelt the strange reek of the ShadowClan cats and snarled to themself. Couldn't they have found any other camp to stay in? They usually agreed with Russetstar's decisions but found many faults in this one.
They looked up at Cloverpath. They hated the fact that all of his Clanmates were a fair bit taller than them, but had learned to accept it to a point. "Hello, Cloverpath!" They purred, forcing themself to look happy, as they tried to everyday, as they had a fair case of resting fox-dung face. They sat down and swished their tail around their paws, kicking up a little dust.

[vellichor]

@Rubinaito @Mad King @Random Melody @LelliNicole.zob

Harekit was snuggling against Echoskip's side, purring. His mother's coat felt warm and soft against his pink nose. His tiny ears were flattened, and he was caught in that blissful moment. A sweet scent filled his nostrils, most likely the scent of milk. All that existed in that moment were him and his mother. The rest didn't matter.

Unfortunately, the sound of heavy paw steps made his eyelids fly open. The moment shattered, and he fixed his yellow gaze on the cat who had approached them. The cat was considerably bigger than Harekit, which made him a bit nervous. He looked to his mother, then back at the stranger. The cats gaze was focused on him - no, not him. His tail. He quickly shuffled into a position where his tail wouldn't be seen. He eyed the stranger warily, fur bristling subconsciously.

"Who are you?" he asked, curiousity thick in his high-pitched voice.

[Mango]

Originally Posted by Doodle

Lilypaw let out a small yawn, noting with surprise that it was getting dark out. "Well, I should probably check in with my mentor before I head off to bed. Thanks so much for chatting with me; I had a great time! I'll see you around." The molly gave a cheerful smile and wave of the tail before getting to her paws, calling one last farewell over her shoulder before setting off to find her mentor.

Honeypaw waved goodbye to her friend. (Do we want to do another with them hunting or something or not?)

[MaskedBandits]

Originally Posted by BluBunny

The caramel she-cat chuckled to herself, "Shush now you'll scare the mouse away." She joked. Tigerpaw became tense once more as she readied herself for a pounce, the muscles in her hind legs bunched up as she decided how far she needed to jump in order to catch the rock-mouse. The she-cat then pounced into the air, the leap wasn't very large nor was it impressive but this lesson wasn't about how to be impressive it was about teaching Mulberrykit the proper way to hunt. She landed on the rock with her front paws, and winced a bit as the hard surface of the rock slid against her soft pads. She kept almost all her weight on the rock, like it was struggling. She bent her head and pretended to nip the neck of the rock-mouse then turned to the smaller she cat. "Before you pounce, make sure you prepare the muscles and estimate how far you will need to jump. You have to be patient but don't take up too much time or the prey will move. After you have pounced on the animal keep your weight on it, mice might not struggle much but birds, squirrels and rabbits do. With smaller prey all it takes in a nip at the back of the neck to kill them, but stronger animals may need a blow to the neck instead." She finished.

Mulberrykit tried to take all of the new information in. So... I have to take my time when I prepare my leap, but I can't take very long? And I have to kill it? It's just a rock! She tried to get past that simple fact, that she'd be pouncing on a hard,
slippery rock, but the metaphor wouldn't stick. She could stalk up to the mouse-rock, but pouncing on it was a different story. Of course, she didn't want to look like a mouse-brain in front of Tigerpaw, so she merely nodded and went with it. I guess I'm improvising again. So what exactly did she do....?

Once the rock was back on the ground, Mulberrykit resumed her crouching position. The rock was a couple of tail lengths away, but she didn't think that'd be a problem. It's fine; warriors probably jump twice that! Being truthful, the distance wasn't great, but it seemed bigger to the kit. Nonetheless, she kept her eyes on the fake mouse, preparing herself for a leap she didn't really understand how to do. So I just jump? Right at it? That's all? Surely there had to be more. Some kind of technique or process to it all, but as far as she could tell, there really wasn't one. Unsure of what to do next, the kit decided there was no better option than to wing it, and without judging the distance, timing, or power of her leap, she found herself flying through the air.

Mulberrykit, to put it simply, completely under-jumped the rock. She landed before it, paws spayed and tail stick straight, but her momentum sent her rolling, rolling, rolling... right into the rock-mouse. It hit her head hard - though not hard enough to do any actual damage - but it left her dazed and winded. I'm not so sure that was right. She gradually sat up, a slight throb to her head and a few scraped legs, but overall, she'd suffered minimal damage. "I-I think I'm fine," She managed to get out before Tigerpaw had a chance to ask. "But that didn't seem right at all." Despite her shortcomings, the kit didn't regret asking to be taught to pounce. Yeah, she'd gotten hurt a bit, but in a way, it was worth it. Now, when I become an apprentice, I'll already know what not to do!

[wren]

@Blue Wishes

Tallwhisker lay on his side. The wind buffering his black and white fur. Halfgaze had replaced goldeneye as deputy while the deputy became somthing much more than what he used to be. He had yet to come around and ask him how it felt to leave the rest of us behind. The Tom gently licked his law and nuzzled his forepaws with his muzzle before settling into a comfortable position. He felt so old now, his kits where nearing apprentice age and echoskip nor moonsplash even told him anymore. There was other things he had to care for not count each passing moon to ensure he knew when his offsprings cermonys where. He was barely even a part of their lives. This troubled the tom very much but there was considerably nothing he could do about it. He secretly wished he hadn't fathered the kits for echoskip. They looked like him and it kinda scared him, but still he wasn't a part of their well being. He was himself. He had no mate. No life to chase. While others seemed to move along happily as if everything was ok. Their lives got better while his was mellow. Sleep, hunting patrol, come back, eat, border patrol, eat, share tongues, sleep, repeat. The toms eyes clouded angrily. He didn't have the chance to find love and become mates or even have kits he could call his own. At this the toms eyes brimmed with tears and tall whisker buried his face in his oaws to hide it.