WindClan: Life Before 2023's Fire

[teddy.]

To say Puffinhop was... disappointed in himself was an understatement.
Long, thin tail lay behind the freckled tuxedo Tom's legs as he shifted through the entrance to the Windclan clearing. The feeling of shame, cowardnsss, regret sank deep into the bones of his body.
"T-Tw-Twilightstar?" He called out with a stutter, desperate to prove himself to the leader.

-- @Moonraven

[~RooRoo~]

Originally Posted by Moonraven

That's it, she couldn't do this anymore. These two were driving her nuts, neither one had their story straight, and neither one could answer her questions without changing the subject. They were both liars and although she'd like to pardon Goldkit considering her naive kit like nature, yet Twilightstar found her just as annoying as Whispertail. "Both of you, get out. I'll deal with you later. You're giving me a headache." Twilightstar snarled with a menacing glare. "Neither of you are allowed to leave camp if I catchword that you have you'll not be allowed back in."
@Goldwhisker @Echobreeze18

This could prove to be problematic for her in the near future. Twilightstar could easily pick up the minor tension in the air as the two had their little name-calling contest. It didn't seem that they'd be getting along for much. Twilightstar always assumed that her mother would get along with all kits, her Parasite must be the only expectation. Thinking of Parasite he seemed pretty mouthy as well. What was up with that? You know what, Twilightstar wasn't going to bother to intervene. They'd have to sort all of this out on their own.
Twilightstar bits her tongue to keep from growling at the kit as he commons again on her being lonely, he did know that it was impossible for her to be all that lonely when he was an unmovable tick in her fur right?
As Midnightstalker told Parasite to basically go fetch her food, she rolls her green eyes with a drawn-out sigh. However, it seemed her mother was more manipulative than Twilightstar had initially thought. Even though her headache was still throbbing, both the kit and her mother were proving to be a good distraction from the ache.
"If you're making him bring me food I would like a gopher or mouse," Twilightstar meows, assuming the kit would pick the smaller of the two. Wait...does he even knows what a gopher was? Whatever, Twilightstar figured her mother was sending the Parasite off for some reason considering the dark molly usually enjoyed going off to bring Twilightstar food. So she didn't bother with the normal chastising she'd give anyone else who tried to make her Parasite do their work. Only Twilightstar could that...and she supposed Midnightstalker occasionally.
@Arie @Undertaker

The thought of having a cat who's was in charge of keeping track of all of WindClan's tails...well suddenly being clan leader seemed like a breeze. Just the thought of keeping track of the tails, remember whose was whose, yowling at those idiots making a tail collection. The leader shuddered just thinking about it. Twilightstar glanced at her tail as it did it's own thing, even though half the crap her tail pulled was beyond annoying and she had more than once chased the damn thing in a circle trying to bite it when it got super frustrating, she still didn't want it to fall off.
"Since you're the one who got me stuck on this ludicrous idea, naturally, you'd be the one in charge of keeping track of everyone's tails." she hummed. Seriously, she'd never even bother thinking about this if it weren't for him.
"Yeah, no, that's super inconspicuous, why don't I oink like a pig while I'm up there." It was a shock she hadn't lost her eyes with how far she rolled them back in her head at the jest. As for the tailless, it takes her a few seconds for her to figure out what he was talking about.
"So we're calling all the dumbasses tailless, this is perfect now I can insult them with them being none the wiser." Twilightstar was utterly delighted with that. She could go run around calling cats Tailless, and yes she might get weird looks but that would be nothing new with her, the point was that she could call cats stupid without calling actually calling them stupid? It didn't make sense from a logical standpoint, but it was enjoyable and that's all that mattered.
"Since you're the one kidnapping me you really should have a plan of action... that actually you know works, you are the worse kidnapper ever." She scoffs, it seemed that she was going to have to figure out how to get herself kidnap without alerting the entire clan.
"Why don't we use an object instead of a sound or motion, a certain flower or something like that would probably work better." If she gave the object to someone to give to him or left it somewhere in front of her den that might a little less strange.
"You should also figure out how to get me out without being seen. I refuse to leave out of the entrance." She's never been kidnapped before if she was getting kidnapped Rushingmoor should at least do it properly. Walking out the entrance was no fun and lacked creativity.
"I'm so glad that you feel honored about that." Her sarcasm was so potent it could poison. "You should go to the middle of the clearing and yowl 'I'm stupid and I'm proud.' That I know just how honored you really are." Her smile turned mischievous at the very thought. Now that would be something to laugh about.
"I never said that I didn't like you and who said that I don't like the tailless." Her smile shifts to a small pout, Twilightstar found a lot of her clanmates beyond irritating, but she supposed she wouldn't be playing leader if she really disliked any of them. Interesting, yet a new revelation she's made about herself. It seemed that she was getting something out of this dumb conversation after all.
@Beau

Huh, where's he been the past several days? Twilightstar sat up quickly as her nose picked up the aggressive scent clinging to the tom's pelt. It seemed like he was in a foul mood, was this her fault? Here she thought he'd feel a little better with his unexpected free time while his clanmates laid in pain. She huffs out a sigh, hackles slightly raised due to his anger, but other than that she played very nicely and was pretty patient as he went on his little explosive rant. She wasn't going to lie, it was more the things he said about himself over her that touched a few nerves. She would have never thought Coyotesnarl would be the one have some sort of god complex.
"You done?" The leader questions, tail swaying back and forth in large furious waves. After a pregnant pause, she carried on.
"Where do I even start?" she muttered to herself before deciding to just go down the list. "I don't recall ever say anything about being a strong leader," maybe she did maybe it didn't really matter to her. It didn't sound like her, she wasn't big on preaching about strength.
"I had no clue that killing one insane cat, helping out clanmates in a crisis as an authority figure when their leader's lost a life, and organizing a get together was all that qualified you to be a clan leader." He made it sound like he carried the whole world on his shoulders which she felt was a little unfair here. Everyone had their burdens why was his sudden the largest. He made it sound like he was this once in a lifetime amazing medicine cat that no one could do without. This was great, she was glad that he had pride in himself, but as far as she could tell he was being pretty selfish at the moment.
"If we're making jabs at the past, then I would like to know why you out of all the cats had to lead the healthy warriors, queens, and kits to the ThunderClan. You couldn't give the duty to another warrior? While your clanmates sat wounded and bleeding they had to count on ShadowClan's medicine cat instead of their own to take care of them." That was one thing she never understood, Coyotesnarl was truly the only cat who had been capable to lead the half of WindClan to ThunderClan. They had no senior warriors or anyone who could have helped take charge? She hadn't been around to deal with the matter so she couldn't put too much venom in her words.
"Beyond my lack of socializing, which I might add is not in my job description, can you tell me how else I've been a terrible clan leader?" Twilightstar clocks her head to the side, honestly curious about that. She was working on her lack of socializing little by little, it wasn't like she could change her antisocial nature...or rather slothfulness overnight. Leaders came in all different types of shapes, sizes, personalities. Some were evil dictators and others were inspirational nut jobs, and some cats saw them as great leaders. Why was it that because she wasn't big on hanging out and talking with cats that made her such a horrible cat? Was it really that bad?
"If I recall correctly, I thanks RiverClan more then once, first after I came back to life, which I might add was rather painful, dealt with Icestar, and watched as our former clanmates turned their backs on us in our time of need. I ran around with bruised ribs, bloody paws, all the way over to RiverClan to ask for help, I'm pretty sure I thanked him then and then I did it again publically at the Gathering that I went to after I ran all the way back to ShadowClan to gather our injured and bring them all the way back to WindClan." A mild snarl curled from the back of her throat. Just remembering going through all of that made her want to fall straight back to sleep again. The Coyote attack had not been her finest moment, but WindClan had survived and that's all that matter.
"I've told you before and I suppose I'll tell you again. If you want to leave, you're free to go. Don't let WindClan hold you back from getting all the respect and admiration you want in RiverClan." Twilightstar let out a vicious hiss with a sneer on her lips. Seriously, it seemed to her he had no sense of duty or loyalty, she knew that he had never wanted to be a healer same as she never wanted to be a leader or so she believed. She had good days and she had bad days, some times terrible, days where she regretted ever taking leadership from Brightstar. As much as she wanted to walk away from everything, she felt a tether to this Clan. Buried somewhere super deep in, one could say it was a black hole, she knew that she held some sort of affection for this clan that kept her tied to it and her stupid clanmates.
"Don't let me hold you back either. I'd suffer for a little bit, but I'll endure." This wouldn't be the first time she's had to watch others turn their back on her and WindClan for a better life for themselves. She wishes she could be so selfish.
"You keep talking to me like you are someone irreplaceable. Is this why you haven't found an apprentice, do you enjoy holding the fact that you're the only medicine cat WindClan has over me, over your clan?" Did he enjoy being needed that much that he was willing to put WindClan's health over it? "I don't need you, this won't be the first time a clan has had to find a replacement medicine cat who's had no training. It doesn't mean that I don't want you here. You have been a great medicine cat and losing you would be a huge blow to WindClan. However, if you really feel nothing for those you heal here, then I don't want to keep you here. Go to RiverClan, find peace, use your tolerable skills for them." Her temper cooled with these words.
"You've attacked an apprentice for whatever reason, you refused to heal him after attacking him, and when you leave for several days to sulk or whatever it was you're doing. Then you return to lecture me about being a bad leader, yet you believe your this great medicine cat when you have patients who've been waiting for days on end to be healed." If this wasn't abusing his power and rank then she didn't know what was. "It doesn't seem like you care for WindClan in the slightest. Go, I'm serious, leave if that's what you want. I'm not going to allow you to hold your rank over WindClan, I'll find a new medicine cat, hopefully, one that actually cares about what happens to the cats in it whether they get the praise and recognition they deserve or not." Twilightstar took in a breath and let it out in a slow manner, slowly coming to the realization that she'd have more problems on her paws by releasing Coyotesnarl. If he didn't want to be here she wasn't going to make him stay because of some misguided sense of loyalty, duty, whatever it was he felt for her. Twilightstar wanted him here because he wanted to be here.
"If you want to stay here, I expect you to find an apprentice by the next moon," her tone of voice held the qualities of the rank she had, powerful, stern, commanding. "Or I will choose one for you. You have three choices, what do you want to do?"

@wren - don't feel bad, Twi often dishes as much as she takes. +

How? We were telling the truth. Goldkit shuffled her paws feeling bad.

[Confuzzled.Lynx]

Originally Posted by Zesty Mango

Basilpaw was caught off guard and was easily knocked down but while falling she extended her legs trying to shove Eaglepaw off.

Eaglepaw was shoved off and he quickly turned so his belly wouldn't be vulnerable. He watched the she-cat, eyeing her every move.

[Mango]

Originally Posted by Lynxpaw

Eaglepaw was shoved off and he quickly turned so his belly wouldn't be vulnerable. He watched the she-cat, eyeing her every move.

Basilpaw quickly tried to slam her paw down on Eaglepaw to pin him as she went for a fake death kill bite on his neck.

[Confuzzled.Lynx]

Originally Posted by Moon Lily

Littlewish grinned sheepishly at the mistake. It wasn't right to assume. He could have just kept his mouth shut- but no, he had to blabber on with his loud tongue and face of his. He allowed the self-annoyance sting for a little while before shoving it away. There was no use being angry at himself for such a silly mistake.
"Oh...I see." So maybe he didn't arrive with the rogue family, as he'd thought. Perhaps he was adopted in? There were quite a few cases of that happening. As he listened further to his story, his eyebrows curved sympathetically.
"I'm sorry. That must have been hard."

Eaglepaw nodded. He had missed his two legs, but he was certain he had made the right choice of coming here."I was wandering around outside of two leg place. I bumped into a rouge and he asked what happened so I told him. He told me about the Clans and taught me how to defend myself, in case I ran into any hostile cats" the tom continued. Wow. That was a lot of talking.

[Confuzzled.Lynx]

Originally Posted by Zesty Mango

Basilpaw quickly tried to slam her paw down on Eaglepaw to pin him as she went for a fake death kill bite on his neck.

Eaglepaw rolled as Basilpaw's paw came down just next to him. He quickly used his hind legs to try and push her up, aiming to throw her off balance.

[Mango]

Originally Posted by Lynxpaw

Eaglepaw rolled as Basilpaw's paw came down just next to him. He quickly used his hind legs to try and push her up, aiming to throw her off balance.

Basilpaw staggered slightly before striking out a paw towards Eaglepaw.

[Confuzzled.Lynx]

Originally Posted by Zesty Mango

Basilpaw staggered slightly before striking out a paw towards Eaglepaw.

Eaglepaw tried to block the strike. Basilpaw hit him and Eaglepaw lashed out at her, aiming for some good blows at her head, making sure he didn't hit her too hard and his claws were sheathed.

[Maplefur]

(Open!)

Chestnutstalk laid alone on the side of the clearing in one of the few shady spots. Perhaps he chose this place to be more unnoticed, or maybe because the heat in the air was too much for the fluffier tom to handle. Likely a mix of both, if he was being honest to himself. The tom was quite known to be a watcher, so much so that it'd been made part of his warrior name. And he was living up to it now, staring down a group of cats as they conversed, observing their behavior closely. What he'd do with the information he observed by watching them, no one knew. Likely he'd only keep it to himself, and find more reasons not to trust each cat standing there.

There was always a reason not to trust someone, as far as Chestnutstalk was concerned. He just had to look long enough to find it. Within the clan, he trusted all of three cats: Twilightstar, Brindlejar, and Coyotesnarl. And the only reason he really trusted them was because he had enough respect for them not to observe them so closely, so he had no chance to find reason not to. Everyone else, though? Not to be trusted. His tail thrashed for a heartbeat behind him, enthusing his thoughts as he kept a straight face, continuing to stare down his clanmates.

[Spiderfrost]

Originally Posted by Arie

Weaselskip sighed and twitched her tail. This session was not going all too well as she'd thought but well, she hoped that the little pretty flower was at least learning something about Windclan techniques. "Control my body you say? Have you seen these lanky pretty great legs? They are... not controllable unless you're running. Aint gonna go trip over them again, happened too much during my apprenticehood." She nodded at Lilypaw's own legs that were shorter than hers, despite being larger. "You have got an advantage when it comes to fighting. However, when it comes to chasing you're... lacking." She let out a smile at that and twitched her tail once again. "I think its time we establish YOUR groundwork. Such as... a hunting trip." Weaselskip was done with the fighting. Now she well and truly wanted to show off and show this apprentice how to hunt properly. And move properly. Windclan groundwork.

[ lilytraining ]
Lilypaw did look. Her head tilted as she gave Weaselskips legs an oblivious once over. Her light green eyes blinked in confusion as she looked back up at the Windclan warriors face.

"You have perfectly acceptable legs. I may think everything about me is a mess, but if there is one thing I understand just as well, its fighting." she said, completely serious; her face an expression of thoughtfulness. The calico got up on her paws to walk up to Weaselskip with a sincere smile.

"If...If speed makes you feel in control and graceful...H-have you tried fighting using your speed to confuse an enemy and hit weaker attacks in a localized area?" She suggested, unsure if the warrior would particularly want her own advice when the grey molly was suppose to be helping her.

But at the swift change in topics, Lilypaw let it go and nodded in agreement. She really did need this. For all her superior fighting capabilities compared to Weaselskip, the other warrior could run circles around her and probably stay in a fight longer with their better stamina.

"I'll admit...even in the forest I am a hunter of average skill. It will definately take me some time to build up the stamina you have for running after prey...please don't make me ch-chase a rabbit right now..." she mumbled the last bit with a quiet nervousness in her voice.