ThunderClan: Life Before 2023's Sinkhole

[Captain]

Brightpaw [they/she/he]

➢ The late night meeting kept on going, but the slim tortie could hardly pay attention to what was happening anymore. As she sat next to her mentor in silence, everything around her seemed like a blurry mess with muffled sounds. Brightpaw stared down at the ground in front of her paws with her brows furrowed. They could feel Nectarflame looking at them, watching them with her green-hued eyes, before she finally turned away. The young apprentice did not turn to look at her, no, not even once. One of their short ears flicked at the bengal shecat’s mention of celebration, which made Brightpaw utter a low huff. Yes, all of Thunderclan was gonna have a big old party like everything is perfect and good and lovely! But at the end of the day, she would still be alone. She would still be treated like nothing by her own fellow apprentices. Hearing Nectarflame’s simple question, Brightpaw’s eyes closed and her ears went back. As the warrior rightfully expected, she was given no answer from them -- at least, not right away. After everything that happened, she hardly even deserve the tortoiseshell apprentice’s company right now.

As Nectarflame began to talk more, Brightpaw listened reluctantly. They did enjoy Shadowclan’s company when it was here. To be honest, if the bengal warrior did not summon her now, she would’ve already been walking to the borderline to try and join them. The plan wasn’t off the table, of course, but merely delayed for the moment. Brightpaw didn’t have to tell a damn soul about it either, especially Nectarflame. There was no secrecy about the fact that Dawnstar had been agreeing to training sessions with apprentices and even warriors in Thunderclan. She had wanted that. The Thunderclan apprentice had wanted that chance, but yet again, it slipped through her paws and she was left in the background, working her ass off trying to catch up with everyone. Perhaps they were selfish. Fine then. Brightpaw could live with being called selfish. It had been like this since she was born. Her own mother, Silentclover, had hardly paid attention to her. Hell, she didn’t even see her in the crowd when Dawnstar had named her a paw. All these thoughts were angering them again, but the slender feline knew they needed to stop all this before it got her in trouble. It wasn’t fair. None of this was fair. Sleethound’s haunting words echoed in Brightpaw’s head. “This is the life of a warrior.” He had said, before leaving her in the dirt, outside of camp walls, in a pool of her own blood. She would never forget that day.

Finally lifting their head, the silent tortie feline peered out at the crowd of her supposed clanmates, hearing her mentor mention that it was good to see them all alive and reactive again. That comment made Brightpaw actually start to want to speak -- but there were far too many things she wanted to say. “Did you know that my first experience outside the nursery was seeing you atop the Thunderwillow all those moons ago?” They said, their tone low, “I remember being so scared that day, but as I started to grow, I started to admire you. You looked so… strong. I was so… excited to be your apprentice.” Brightpaw paused to let that sink in and for the first time in what seemed like forever, the tortie turned to look up at the shecat warrior, “But don’t worry, I was able to get some help from some other warriors while you were busy elsewhere… they taught me what it was like to be strong.” The youth’s light green-hued eyes flicked down to the deep, nasty looking scar that ran down her right shoulder. “Are you proud of me yet?” She said, tone evident of mockery as she flashed a smile that was far from sincere. Brightpaw stared at the warrior molly, awaiting her answer and refusing now to look away.

[ @implimm repost, had to fix something whoops ]

[poppy]

[ @Jayvines @tulle @Lightningpelt @Slushie @/everyone else sobs ]

Threats at her mentor's life reverberated in Cloudypaw's ears. No. Not Cindersky. "You even TRY to kill her and I will shred you until there's nothing left of you to go to hell." She spat, claws unfurling into the ground. As he tried to leave, and everyone ran to block him, she crouched low, her still healing leg flopped against the ground painfully, but she ignored it. Leaping forward, she tried to claw at his face. "You hideous, disgusting creature!" She growled.

The molly felt the splint in her leg buckle, but Cloudypaw ignored it as she quickly changed tactics, instead diving underneath Lightningpelt and trying to claw at his underbelly. Her claws flashed in the direction of his throat for the killing blow, but she pulled away. No. Killing was not the answer. Starla was wrong. Killing was wrong. Gulping, lashing her tail, she again attempted to push off the ground and grab onto his scruff instead, and tried to yank him down briefly. He could, if he was actually an intelligent being, grab onto her broken leg, her only visible weakness, but knowing that the tomcat wasn't so bright, she wasn't too worried.

[corgigirl]

Birchheart frowned. “They can’t just expect us not to have a leader! That’s how the clans work!” With his fur ruffled he sat thinking.

[Ian]

One moment it was calm, and the next chaos. The apprentices attacked Lightningpelt, not that she blamed them, and then Cindersky was there trying to drag him out. She bushed out her fur and unsheathed her claws. The molly was ready to help when Lightningpelt decided it was a good idea to threaten to kill his Clanmate.

Letting out a furious hiss her claws flashed out in an attempt to score them across his face and force him back towards Cindersky so she could drag him out. She gave no room for retaliation as she aimed swipe and furious swipe, doing her best to distract him from the apprentices by presenting herself as a bigger threat.

"Surrender you pathetic excuse for a cat. You are outnumbered and outmatched, don't make this more painful for you."

@Lightningpelt @tulle @Jayvines @poppy. @starry. @Slushie

[ConfusedCas]

(open! please @ me if interacting with Wheatblaze, otherwise I'll likely miss it)

While Rainpaw spoke so confidently in front of the clan, Wheatblaze couldn't help but feel impressed and... jealous. He always portrayed a false sense of confidence, but to actually take initiative like that scared him to no end.
He shuffled his paws anxiously as he listened to the mixed reception from his clanmates, most of which was unsupportive of Dawnstar. Am I the only one that appreciated having some sense of leadership? Of course, he didn't agree with everything the leader said, but he stood by her idea of strength. Plus, it's not so bad getting help from other clans. Because of how he was raised, Wheatblaze never had much hostility towards those outside of his own clan- in fact, he enjoyed making friends with them. He understood his clanmates frustration towards Dawnstar overstepping, but he felt that they were being too harsh. I should stay out of it... There was no point in saying anything now, so deciding to keep his mouth shut he made his way to the edge of the crowd and listened to what else may be said.

[bubble[error].]

Originally Posted by Belle

"Ummmmm can I talk to you guys? Im not very social and well I think I kinda need to so uuuh can I join you?"
Golden'paw was hitting the ground again with her paw. She was trying at least to make new friends like mother said 'You need friends to keep happy and they need to have your back like you need to have theirs.' she would also talk about very interesting things so I guess mother was the kind of cat to not take very seriously but this was an exception. (her mother is an NPC) ' @Firebender @Beetle'

Originally Posted by Beetle'

☆ Tree'Paw + They/He ☆

Tree turned with a small flinch he hadn't heard the cat creep up on them "Yeah! Im Tree'Paw and this is Sharp'paw" Tree said it like he'd know the cat awhile but then it hit how he said it "As you might tell we all just met today! So maybe get to know one another?" They flicked their tail and tilted their head with a polite/friendly smile

@Firebender

++ Sharppaw = 9 Moon ThunderClan Apprentice = He/Him/His ++

(so sorry for the late reply I had to do things in real life!)

Sharppaw nodded to the new cat. "Yes, my name is Sharppaw. What is your name?" His yellow eyes gleamed, his black fur moved in the gentle faint breeze that fit its way into the Apprentice's Den, wicked sharp claws sheathed.

[dino.]

Originally Posted by duskfire1

Oatkit

He was a bit disappointed when Buckbranch explained that ShadowClan was currently here, and has been for a while. But why?! He was about to protest when Buckbranch spoke again, explaining that he shouldn't be focusing on that now, and the focus should be on his absence. Yeah, just put the fact that we have stinky invaders aside! Yep! All good. He thought, letting out a huff. Trying to remember why he went missing, he instantly forgot about ShadowClan and suddenly got nervous. Shuffling his paws, he looked at Buckbranch with a guilty look. "W-well, I left. I HAVE A REASON! I, uh, I left because uhm, I didn't know I was going to be gone for so long!" He stated, stomping his paw on the ground in anger, flexing his claws. "I left because my home was getting scary! So much shouting! So much evil! Our deputy left us! I wasn't becoming and apprentice and I was already 6 moons! So, I thought maybe I should hunt something for my sister, because she got yelled at too! And I thought that maybe, I would be able to prove I'm a worthy cat, maybe I would be a apprentice, and maybe sister would feel better!" He meowed, speaking in a rather loud manner. He wasn't ashamed. He left because something that is promised to every kit wasn't given to him, and everyone was yelling, his leader died, there was crying, anger, gah! He couldn't stand any of it. His sister was extra sad, so that made him extra mad, and he wanted her to feel better. It wouldn't be such a bad thing if he had become an apprentice already!

Grunting, he dug his claws into the ground, then gathered as much memories as he could, trying to piece together the day he left. "Then when I was hunting, I heard a noise, and tracked it down. It was a fox! It didn't see me, but being the awesome hero I was, I charged at it! Nothing was going to hurt my hurting clan! But then it beat me up. That wasn't fun. It didn't return, at least, I think. WAS THERE A FOX THAT CAME BACK AND I MISSED IT?!" He asked, getting up, suddenly concerned. Oh I hope it tore those filthy ShadowClan maggots to pieces! He thought excitedly, then instantly felt guilty about wishing death upon others. "I left before it could do much damage though. I just got this to remember it," He meowed, lifting a paw to point to a small nick in his ear. Beaming with pride, he cursed that rotten fox with every naughty word he knew in his head. Nothing is taking him down! Not ever!

"When I ran away, I got lost. I fed myself and ate some berries! Some made me puke really bad though, didn't eat those again. They are red, and have spiky, flat, dark green leaves. Don't eat them! I called them BBB, Bad Belly Berries! Anyways, I caught two mice! But that was it. I'm not the best hunter... But I found some weird stuff in this weird thing with a hollow and it had brown cube things in it, and they were surprisingly decent! I'd eat them again, if I was starving. But I'd choose a mouse or some sparrow any day if I had the choice! But I just ate off of that, stopped the berry shenanigans, and those mice were so good! I should have saved one for Foxpaw, er, the clan. Sorry, I know it's against the code to eat before your clanmates, at least, I think?" He meowed, furrowing his brow, deep in thought.

Wowzers! Someone listening to a story of mine! This is great! And the story isn't made up for once! He thought, tail held high in pride for himself. "I was able to come home after I explored the place with houses! That's where the weird poop food came from. Anyway, I saw a house I was familiar with, and I knew how to get home from there! It was great! I learned so much! Like, don't eat weird berries, and don't wander off until I'm more experienced!" He exclaimed, his face falling as he realized that he mentioned Ivy's house. Uh oh. Better hope Buckbranch doesn't ask about that! He licked his chest, shaking out his pelt, he looked at Buckbranch, wondering if there were any exiting stories that lied in him.

@Slushie //

>Buckbranch<

One ear swiveled to the side with Oatkit's shifty-looking outburst. Mmm. Most cats had a reason; it was rare to hear ones that didn't count as excuses. But as the kit carried on, his expression began to fall again, guilt etching itself into the tired lines of his face. Another young cat who'd left because they hadn't cared enough and left their youth to feel unloved and unappreciated. Buckbranch would never be able to forgive himself for falling so short.

Then it turned into a story about a fox. Buckbranch blanched as Oatkit mentioned actually charging the beast and he immediately bent down to examine the kit. He seemed to be relatively unharmed, save for the nick in his ear, which Buckbranch gingerly sniffed at as the kit gestured to it. "Er, no, there wasn't a fox; are you-" he tried to start, but Oatkit seemed intent on carrying on, and Buckbranch leaned back, expression becoming increasingly baffled as the story went on. Hunting, bad berries, wandering into a Twoleg den, new experiences... Buckbranch waited a moment or two before speaking, just in case Oatkit tried to cut in again. When it seemed the coast was clear, he cleared his throat.

"I... completely understand your leaving," he began. 'Things have certainly been scary and uncertain, and I admire you wanting to provide for your sister, but going out by yourself was incredibly dangerous." He gestured at the nick in Oatkit's ear, brows furrowed. "You could have gotten seriously hurt, or even killed, and it's a wonder that you only got away from that fox with just a nick!" He was half-inclined to question the validity of most of this story—a kit taking on a fox and returning to tell the tale was practically unheard of and he wouldn't be surprised if Oatkit was simply trying to paint himself in a more impressive light.

"I'm very glad you got home safe, even if it is during the current circumstances, but I want you to listen to me very closely." Buckbranch bent down so that he was eye-level with Oatkit, gaze filled with nothing but concern. "If I say you can come back, you have to promise me to go get looked at by Sundust and Rosepaw, our medicine cats, and you also must promise to never do something that stupid ever again. Do you understand me?"

Originally Posted by Rainquail

Dimhazel couldn't help the way they tensed when Buckbranch appeared from the bushes, despite how sure they were there wasn't any danger. They lowered their head as they thought of how to put what happened into words. They supposed they deserved the bluntness of his response, it's been moons.....
"To put a long story short.... I'd been at the edges of the territory alone. I don't remember why I'd gone alone. Before I could come back, a pack of dogs managed to sneak up on me."
They paused, trying to remember how many there were, the sizes of the dogs.... and reminded themself it was a rather unimportant detail, really.

"So I ran. I eventually put enough distance between myself and them I climbed a tree and waited for them to leave, but while I was climbing down, my paws slipped while I was still pretty high up and when I landed, my hind leg caught the brunt of my fall and it broke."
It was going to occur to them any moment now that they were probably being too specific and lengthy with their response, but for the now they continued on.

"I wasn't anywhere I recognized and I couldn't tell how far home was, so I.... waited. I stayed until my leg healed up. I didn't think I could make the trip without causing permanent damage. I– as is, I don't think it'll be quite the same. But I made the trip, so it's not the worst situation."
They'd managed to hunt for themself even with the broken leg, and now the leg is usable, regardless of how many strange clicks it made and the stiffness and swelling wasn't going to kill them. They might need a decent rest period before completely jumping back into warrior duties, but they could still be useful.
"I want to come home, if this is still a place I could call that."

(As a note, Dim exclusively uses they/them <3) @Slushie

[ i apologize!! not entirely sure where she/her came from, i've edited my post ]

>Buckbranch<

Buckbranch straightened up, pulled the fallen mouse closer to him again as Dimhazel replied. A wince crossed his features; dogs were never fun to deal with. His gaze ran carefully over their form, lingering on the leg they mentioned.

"Well, I'm very glad you managed to make it out," he said. "Dogs are nasty and ruthless and I'm happy to see you standing here alive today. You can certainly come back, but there have been... changes. Most are not very happy with them, but they are changes nonetheless, and if you return, we would be more than happy to have you; you'd just have to be willing to put up with these changes while they last. I'm sure someone will give you an explanation, and I'd be glad to do it myself, but I want you to head to the medicine den and get that leg of yours looked at, just in case."

He bent to pick up his mouse and inclined his head in the camp's direction with a small smile. "If you'll follow me?"

[ Dimhazel has been reaccepted! Please submit them to the allegiances and you may begin roleplaying them within the Clan immediately ]

[Starfall]

Spiderthroat
@sid @nevvy @Rockfall @BirdieChirp @SoldierRise @x ghostie

Guarding duty, that was new. Not frowned upon, it was something he could use his claws for, which would definitely help his headache.

Just as the Calico made his way to the group he stopped, looking at the Apprentice who spoke up. Oh no, that was his idiot apprentice. "Maybe you should restart from the basics. Listenin that is. Who around here is sad that Dawnstar is mad. Feel free to point the Cats out." he said in disbelief. Where in the name of StarClan did they think that?

"Don't start problems that don't need startin." than came the ball drop. Lotuspaw chipped in. "ENOUGH." he barked. Dissapointment evident in his voice. "Go sit by the entrance or so help me." he snapped, voice holding a twinge of annoyance. "No one is sad Dawnstar left, fix your ears. You're just causing a bigger ruckus that ThunderClan doesn't need."

[Abyssopelagic]

Dimhazel was rather disappointed they'd gotten to the Clan meetings so late. They hadn't even been in camp at the time, they'd been trying to get some gentler exercise for their leg in the hope it'd stop being so stiff. They noticed something was up when there wasn't any of the usual activity when they trotted back in, amd had immediately looked to the Thunderwillow, getting the hunch that's where everyone was.
They slid on over to the back of the gathered cats and hoped they could catch even a snippet of what they'd missed. If nothing else, they could ask someone.... About all they caught was Spiderthroat saying something about Dawnstar, ears, a ruckus..... and quite frankly the picture their mind was forming made little sense, so they watched and listened.

[Poprock]

@nevvy @x ghostie @littlelove @Starfall @sid
---
Echosong was feeling... conflicted. A sea of thoughts raged within her head resulting in a splitting headache. On top of that, she hadn't slept good the past couple of nights. Ever since the apprentices... field trip... she had been too worried to get a good rest. Instead, she chose to stand guard at night and take naps during the day. NOT your greatest idea. She thought bitterly to herself.

And of COURSE everything seemed to happen in the past couple of hours. The apprentices returned from the gathering with more news than she could handle. Dawnstar and Shadowclan were leaving, Kestrelstar was dead, Firebird tried to attack some apprentices and now needed guarding, Rainpaw and Cinderpaw were calling the shots... man her head HURT.

Still, she followed Cinderpaw's orders without question. She could process everything later. Standing in front of the traitorous warrior, Echosong smiled down tiredly at Lotuspaw. These apprentices are the future... I suppose I can let this one be rowdy for tonight.