ShadowClan Life Before Destruction

[lone]

Originally Posted by Moonraven

Snowfrost nodded a bit but didn't bother revealing who had taught her those values of respect. That cat wasn't here anymore, but she still followed their teaching and small pieces of wisdom to this day. To her, it just made sense to do so since it was not like it was bad advice. Just as Icestar had very little of her own respect, she didn't expect the she-cat to respect her either. She was sure there was going to be a bit of hostility going back and forth between the two of them but considering there was nothing truely personal or anything that grudge like, Snowfrost figured everything would settle down soon enough. Or perhaps not with this war looming on the horizon. It made her antsy just thinking about it.

The russian blue didn't bother commenting on Mistyeyes' next words since they were debatable. Snowfrost wasn't expecting the leader to change at all. If she could think of something other then making Shadowclan, what Snwofrost assumed was going to put a target on their back, strong and feared, she'd be happy with that alone. Snowfrost doubted she'd ever see eye to eye with Icestar on the way she did things, and that would just be the way it was. It was hard for someone like Snowfrost, who stuck to her ideals and morals like they made the world go round, to think she could hope for the leader to change. But who knew, maybe Mistyeyes would be right. She's heard cats in their older age got nicer. She'd doubt that for the time being.

The topic change threw her for a loop, she had instigated it, yet wasn't expecting it to take such a turn as into her own appearance. She understood where the question had come from seeing as Mistyeyes had a lack of sight though hadn't been anticipating to be asked such a question. This brought her thoughts back to wondering what life was like blinded and how much Snowfrost could see was taken for granted. As she thought of how to answer Mistyeyes' question, it was a simple one and a difficult one for Snowfrost at the same time. She's never taken much care of her appearance, beyond making sure she had nothing in her pelt and that it was smooth down and clean, what she looked like never really took root in her head. The she-cat had to turn her head and look down at her paws and the crane her neck to look at her behind her at her fur. "Well, my pelt is completely gray and my eyes are blue." She meowed, there was a touch of uncertain in her voice that hadn't been there before. Snowfrost wasn't certain if she was answering Mistyeyes' question right, such as how much detail was she supposed to give about herself for the she-cat to obtain a vivid enough image of her in her mind's eye?

---

Maybe he should walk away first? Whiteshadow was internally debating on getting up and moving, but more because he was hungry than anything else. The fresh-kill pile wasn't that far away. Besides, the weirdly moody she-cat was not getting the hint. It was clear something about the white maine coon was bothering her, still, she remained. It wasn't even like Whiteshadow was trying to pick a fight with her anything like that. Maybe she was trying to pick a fight with him? Why? It made no sense. If he had been a little bit younger and before his words had ended up causing a clanmate pain, he might have been a little more willing to play this....very strange game that the she-cat was playing. But he wasn't and they had, so unless this conversation was going to go somewhere other then his apparent age he was going to fill his belly.

The fact that she thought he was old enough to just follow over dead in battle made the tom's ears fall back against his head. Did he really look that old!? Speaking of age, Forestpelt didn't look all that young to him. Shouldn't she be worrying about her own health before his? No! Wait, he was getting sucked into her words. The large tom took a deep breath through his nose, filling his broad chest with air, and let it out noiselessly. He gave his shoulders a light roll as he rose from where he sat to his immense height on all four paws. This talk was fun and all, but he was pretty sure it wasn't going to fill his belly. "You're weird." He told her and then began to walk away towards the pile of dead animals. Did he care if she followed him or not? It wasn't his concern so long as he got to eat. He was getting the feeling that she wasn't going to leave it alone, anyway.

---

A genuinely sweet smile that touched the eyes and the soul, blossomed on Elfinpaw's maw as she heard him greet her back. No one ever greets her back, she wasn't sure why and it wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that regardless of what was said or asked of her, she liked to greet said cat before speaking or say hello in the middle of a conversation. Cats didn't say hello enough to each other. Saying hello always left a nice feeling in her chest, being greeted back left an even nicer feeling though. She was rather delighted that Birchpaw had said it back to her. She's had too many cats who've just carry on with what they were saying and ignored the greeting altogether. Elfinpaw decided she would say hello more often to Birchpaw if she smelt him around.

She noticed the way he paused after learning she hadn't been born in the clan. She faintly remembered how he spoke about Crowtail being an outsider. Did he not like cats who weren't born in the clan? She wasn't the type who would be judgemental so she wasn't going to be now, she did hope that her not being born in the clan would not change whatever view he had of her. They were getting along so grand now. She waited for a heartbeat, settling nerves that she hadn't even known had been rattled when he merely went back to her name and not her background. Good, it seemed she had nothing to worry about there. "I'm pretty sure that it's because I was rather small as a kit, and am still somewhat small for an apprentice." She added, hearing the question in his tone although he couldn't tell if it was rhetorical or not. She was sure she'd be just a little smaller than the average-sized cat for the rest of her life. It didn't bother her at all.

Elfinpaw didn't seem at all disappointed to hear where he had gotten his name. Another name chosen by appearance, she supposed that was the only way to pick a name in a clan if you were just born. She was sure Birchpaw's name fit him, even if she couldn't see him all that well. "Well, I think its a great name!" She exclaimed happily. He didn't seem all that happy with his name, but she liked it. "When I have kits I'm going to name them after the stuff I like." It was nice and all to be named after an appearance, but she felt it would mean more to a cat to be named after something special or well-liked by the parents. She wouldn't be able to see her kits by then anyway so naming them by what they looked like seemed dull to her.

---
@|:|Shadowsight|:|

A long yawn left the maw of the russet she-cat, her own light jaded eyes scanned the clearing for her troublesome twin but caught no sight of her. She didn't bother dwelling on it. Bitterblue slowly made her way over to warrior's den with every intention of napping unless called for, however, she found her paws pausing as she noticed the cat ahead of her. She's seen him around, yet has never chatted much with him. He looked like a pile of fox-dung. This was completely out of character of her, but he looked pretty miserable. "Hey? You okay?" She inquired, padding up from behind Greythrush to stand in front of him.

Mistyeyes hadn't been expecting Snowfrost to say anything else, half-thinking that their conversation might be over at this point, so she was pleasantly surprised when Snowfrost offered a description of her appearance. She'd asked for it, but she hadn't been so sure it would be offered, especially after the previous topic about Icestar's leadership. Gray pelt, blue eyes. It wasn't enough to paint a clear picture in Mistyeyes' mind; all she could see was a cat-shaped blob of gray with two blue dots. She'd been able to guess pelt-length from when she'd bumped into Snowfrost before; soft, probably not very long by the feel of it, but sort of.. comforting, Mistyeyes supposed. "Any scars? What about your build, like.. what does that look like?" She felt rude, asking so many questions, but Mistyeyes liked to at least get a sense of who she was talking to. It helped her to feel more normal, she supposed. She turned her head in Snowfrost's direction as if she could get a mental scan of the she-cat. So far, the other warrior had been kind and helpful to her; Mistyeyes was fairly confident that she wouldn't be pushed aside now. There was nothing wrong with asking for help, after all.

Once she was confident she would get some sort of an answer, she moved on to another conversation topic. After all, the topic of her sight was far from interesting, and she was pretty sure that Snowfrost would get bored quickly if she went into the logistics of how exactly her mind worked. Not to mention, the story of how she went blind. It was long, boring, and not her favorite story. "So, what do you usually do? When you're not conversing with your clanmates?" Mistyeyes wasn't sure how regular of an occurrence this was. Some cats weren't fans of talking to their clanmates regularly, while others hated going even a few moments without speaking to anyone. Both were understandable in their way, Mistyeyes supposed, although she preferred to keep close to a few good cats. As long as she liked them, there was nothing wrong with conversation.

She preferred to stay away from cats like Icestar most of the time, and while she had faith in the warrior's leadership (perhaps she wouldn't be perfect right from the start, but as she learned more, she should be a better leader), she doubted they would be close friends. That was okay. Mistyeyes didn't need everyone to like her, just a few cats that mattered. Right now, Icestar wasn't among those cats.

* * *

Oh, now he'd done it. Weird? She was weird? Regardless of whether the comment had been well-deserved or not, Forestpelt was furious. She hated being spoken to in that manner, and even if he'd apologized at this point, it wouldn't have mattered. She sat there and watched him walk away, momentarily stunned. That was before his insult came back to her, and she got to her paws, her frustration building. Whiteshadow may not have deserved this. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time; a place he was supposed to be, as all warriors were, but Forestpelt was upset and someone was going to have to pay for it. There was a small voice in the back of her head (a conscience she hadn't paid attention to in years) whispering that this was a bad idea, but she didn't listen. After all, why should she have?

"You have the nerve to call me weird?" So much for not causing a scene. The she-cat's voice raised to a new volume, angrier than before. She pinned her ears back against her head, her mind beginning to whisper louder that she was making a mistake. Forestpelt had caused scenes before. When she was younger, believe it or not, she'd been much worse. She'd been on everyone for every little thing, usually upset about something, with a personality that was near-impossible to like. Truth be told, Whiteshadow was taking this much better than most cats. Perhaps it was his age (not that Forestpelt was young herself, but unlike some cats, her temperament hadn't gotten better over the moons), or his personality had always been like that. She couldn't have known. She hadn't known him long ago.

"You know, I'm glad I met you. I'm going to make your life a living hell." She snapped, ears pinned back against her head. No wonder it was hard to like her. Then again, she hadn't had a real friend in a long time - for good reason. Forestpelt scanned over him quickly; too bad he wasn't ugly as well. Perhaps her standards had gotten lower over the moons. Once Dawnstorm had left her (she'd been different back then, so it wasn't because of her rude personality), she'd kind of lost any interest in other warriors. So perhaps it was her mind that was going, instead of her standards. That was, after all, the most likely option.

* * *

Birchpaw was surprised at her delighted smile after he'd said hello back to her. Was this some sort of outsider thing? He'd never seen a Clan-born cat look so happy over something like that, but on the other hand, it was kind of cute. Clan-born apprentices could get boring, after a while. Outsiders (while not his favorite thing), were exciting. They brought new stories with them, new experiences, and so many other things that Birchpaw would've liked to hear about. "You've got a nice smile," He commented, with a friendly smile of his own. Might as well use whatever charm he had with her while he still could. He wouldn't seem as friendly forever; at least, that was according to cats who'd gotten tired of him after what seemed like a short time.

Birchpaw nodded as he listened to her explaining her name. That made sense; although the word was foreign, he could understand her being small. "Well, there's nothing wrong with being smaller than average. You'll have to be careful in battle, that's all." Smaller cats always seemed nicer, to him. Anyone who had anything that wasn't average was bound to be interesting. Despite the dirty looks they might get from cats who weren't quite as open-minded, Birchpaw would've liked to have something more interesting about himself. Right now, the only exciting things he'd done were related to training. Then again, he supposed he would be a warrior before long, and that would open up a new world of opportunities for him.

He grinned at her compliment on his name. It was nice to hear someone say that; usually, it was brushed off as a usual Clan name. There were a lot of cats with the prefix 'birch,' and in Birchpaw's opinion, not nearly enough with different names. Perhaps he would change his when he became a warrior if he felt inclined to do so. "Yeah? Like what?" He asked, ears pricking upwards as he awaited her answer. Maybe her ideas for kit-names would give him something interesting to think about. Unique was the best, although, in a place like ShadowClan, most parents couldn't think of something that hadn't been used before.

The next question that came to mind put them on a different topic altogether. "What was it like? Outside the Clans, was there.. is it much different from here?" He'd never been outside ShadowClan before. The closest he'd gotten was the borders, but he'd always wondered what it looked like out there. The Dusk Syndicate (though long gone now) was what he'd always imagined rogues as. Dark cats who crept around, threatening kits and apprentices, fighting warriors, even stealing kits and raising them as their own. He wondered if there was anything similar that Elfinpaw had seen. She was young, but perhaps she remembered something. He didn't think about how insensitive his question might've sounded; Birchpaw wasn't big on that type of thing.

[pidgeon]

Owlfeather was going into the medicine den early that morning to have Agaveheart check on the wound across her face. She trusted the old medicine cat's judgement, so although she had insisted on being treated last after the battle, she would listen to what the wise old cat wanted. She didn't want some other cat to go without treatment because one old bat needed a scratch looked at.

"Agaveheart, I've come for you to check in on my wound," she announced her presence as she pushed her way into the den from the clearing. It felt eerily quiet, which was unusual. She couldn't hear the steady, raspy breath that usually came from the older cat. And there was a scent hanging in the air. The scent of death. The tortoiseshell she-cat panicked, and dashed into the den. Had one of the younger patients passed away? She checked the empty nests near the pool of rainwater. No, there was nobody staying in the den at the moment. That could only mean one thing.

With heart thumping in her chest, Owlfeather padded carefully into the part of the den where the medicine cat made her nest. The scent of death grew stronger, and her worst fears were confirmed. Agaveheart had passed away. Helplessly, the senior warrior prodded the cat with a paw, as if she might just be asleep. As if she might lift her weary head and look at her. There was no such luck. With a pit in her stomach and tears forcing their way into her eyes, she forced herself to turn away from her trusted friend and make her way back out into the clearing. She soon disappeared into the Leader's den, to break the unfortunate news to Icestar.

[pidgeon]

"May all cats old enough to catch their own prey, gather beneath the highbranch for a clan meeting!" The thundering voice of the powerful black she-cat rang out across the clearing as she leapt up onto the branch above her den. Icestar's mother, Owlfeather, had just brought her the most unfortunate news. News that would cripple the already struggling clan.
Although the news should have been sad for one reason, Icestar couldn't help but feel enraged that StarClan would continue to jeopardize her clan, after they had been through so much. Could ShadowClan just not catch a break? There was no way they would be able to challenge RiverClan to reclaim their stolen territory, not anytime soon, and especially not if things like this continued to happen. What kind of message were their ancestors trying to send?

The anger and discomfort in the leader's eyes was wholly apparent as she surveyed the cats gathering the clearing. It was evident that something was clearly bothering her, as she looked more upset than her usual negative attitude. Her tail swayed back and forth slowly behind her as she waited impatiently for the clan, wanting to get this over with so that she could address the matter at hand.

[Moonraven]

@CasperCreates
Dawnstripe turned her head towards the highbranch as she heard her mother's voice ring out. She got up from where she had been sitting and padded over to place herself at the front of the crowd. She had no clue what it was another meeting was being called for, whatever it was it seemed to be causing Icestar some distress. She seemed rather mad about something, Dawnstripe tried to remember if she could recall anything that would cause the leader any trouble. However, nothing came to mind at once. So she sat and waited for her to speak, no point in irritating the she-cat further with questions.

[lone]

Appleblossom was bored. It wasn't like she was dying to go out, but some conversation might've been nice. For the most part, she was trying to avoid their new leader. Icestar seemed like a terrible cat. Not to mention, she didn't even look like she took care of herself very well, which was a huge problem in Appleblossom's opinion. How was Icestar supposed to lead a Clan if she couldn't control her own pelt? At the moment, Appleblossom herself was cleaning her fur. She'd settled into a natural rhythm, finding it almost soothing, the licks beginning to melt away, becoming nothing but background noise. Her mind felt almost empty, which was a welcome change from the loud thoughts she usually heard. Mm... peaceful.
@Skeleton Bliss Girl

[marshy]

@Moonraven
Mosskit walked over to Silentkit, wanting to explore, or play, or do anything to get rid of how bored he was. "Hey Silentkit! Want to go hunting?" Mosskit knew he was breaking the rules by asking that, but he didn't care. He needed something to do. "Or we could go ask for a story from the elders, or see what everyone is doing outside. Or..." Mosskit was running out of idea's, he realized that he had just asked if Silentkit three things! He decided to let Silentkit answer before he talked anymore.

[Snail-paw]

Originally Posted by Lilyfur2

Raventuft smiled, placing his tail on her shoulder reassuringly. He felt a tiny bit guilty at pointing that out, considering how bad she felt now. He swallowed his guilt, and leaned forward to answer her question.
"I agree. We should get more time to prepare for leaf-bare, and Leaf-fall is just so much better..." He mewed wistfully, smiling grimly at the thought.

Boulderheart nodded her agreement. She always felt afraid they would not have enough food for leaf-bare. She turned to raventuft swishing her tail ”do you want to go hunting sometime soon?” She always went hunting more during leaf-fall to try and fell she did enough for her clan.

[Doom]

@CasperCreates

Badgerpaw still wasn't used to her mentor being the new leader. Jumping in startlement at Icestar's call for a meeting, the young apprentice quickly sprung over to the Highbranch and took her seat upfront. As she laid eyes on the dark she-cat, Badgerpaw couldn't help but think she looked a bit...off? Was that even possible? It felt like her heart skipped a beat. Oh no, was something wrong? It cant be good if Icestar seemed effected by it. The small apprentice swallowed hard, feeling faint.

She sat there waiting for the announcement. Stiff. Intrigued. Worried.

[Vessel]

Shadestripe stepped into the clearing, holding back a yawn. He had been out hunting for what seemed like just a second ago, and he wasn't quite ready to wake up yet. He glanced around and found a spot near the leader's... what is that thing called again? He thought to himself. Oh, well. I'm too tired to care. He walked over and settled down, gazing up at Icestar with bleary eyes.
@CasperCreates

[sunflowers.]

Originally Posted by Undertaker

Beastspark raised his head with surprise when he heard his name called for battle training, but it wasn't the training that confused him it was the fact that he was picked for as the leader. He's never been picked as a leader before. He glanced over at Cascadespirit as he padded up with a friendly smile on his maw, and waited somewhat impatiently for the rest of the cats to gather.
@canine @Nebby @TheCozmos

@canine @TheCozmos @Undertaker
"We going to leave soon, Beastspark?" Cascadespirit asked, sitting down and his tail flicking restlessly. "I don't want to get on Icestar's bad side if we don't get our tails moving."