[Warrior of Dawnclan] [Tom] [34 Moons] [Tagged: Littlepaw]xxxxxxxxxx
xxx[Rosewhisker]
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▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀xxxThe sounds and movement of his fellow clanmates was not the reason that Rosewhisker woke as many were still asleep. Nor was it terrible dreams that filled his sleep like most of the clan must be enduring as they slept. Really, it was the lack of dreams that made the sandy tom bolt upright suddenly. His ears laid back on his head and his dark ginger tail was puffed up as if he was scared of something but there was nothing to be afraid of. After a moment, he seemed to calm yet his tail fur was still wild. It must be the strange scent of this unfamiliar camp, he looked around the small space of the fallen tree where the clan was given shelter last night when they showed up.
xxxIt was very small for all of Dawnclan. Even with a few of its members gone, though he knew that some were simply not in the den others had been taken from them all too soon, there was still not much room for the ones still here. Rosewhisker shuddered.
Still here, still alive on this awful journey away from a dreadful and scorched home full of death, he morbidly thought,
why were we few the ones that made it? To any cat that saw him lay there, he must have looked truly depressed. The usually cheery tom had his head hung between his front paws and his puffed tail to the side of his body. Every so often the tip would flick to and fro to show his discomfort. His yellow-green eyes blinked slowly and held extreme sadness.
There wasn’t a lot that upset Rosewhisker. That’s why he always stayed so incredibly happy. But, this fire was the scariest and deadliest occurrence to ever happen in his lifetime. Not even the death of his brothers, Firepaw and Mothpaw, during their apprenticeship affected Rosewhisker like this.
xxxTheir deaths didn’t bother him at all. While Mothpaw teased him like the other three, Firepaw was a stuck up brat, worse than Mothpaw and Patchheart, that always thought he was better than everyone and flaunted his handsome fire-red pelt all over camp. It was his own fault that he died. Rosewhisker himself was on the patrol, Mothpaw and Patchheart, then Patchpaw, were on a separate patrol to introduce the four to the territory.
xxx“You’ll see Pinky!” Firepaw chirped, using the annoying nickname that Rosepaw always hated, “I’ll be so great at climbing, they’ll have to call me Firetail!” Rosepaw only rolled his eyes and stayed on the ground. Where it’s safe. This first look at the territory was going great until their mentors, Fallingfoot and Stormheart, decided to stop and let the two wander on their own for a bit. Rosepaw knew the two cats were following them silently since every so often he’d see a flash of white fur or grey tabby. There were even times that he thought he’d scent them. Now, Firepaw had challenged him to a climbing contest. He had started on a low hanging branch but sprang from the small tree to a much larger, taller one. “I still don’t think it’s a very good idea,” Rosepaw mumbled but hit deaf ears as Firepaw was now too far up the tree.
xxxRosepaw nervously padded around the tree in circles, “Firepaw, you need to get out of the tree right now!” The pale tom kept his voice steady and commanding and hoped that his brother would get it through his thick skull that he was being mouse brained. It looked to have worked for a moment as Firepaw stopped and looked down at Rosepaw. Then he began to laugh. “What?” Firepaw yowled down, “are you being Willowheart now, acting like a worried queen, you know cats always land on their feet, remember, I’m not a stupid dog!” He proudly puffed out his chest and began to leap to another branch. Before Firepaw could actually jump, a bird loudly screeched at him being too close to her nest, it startled him. Firepaw fell.
xxxRosepaw yowled loudly and out of the corner of his eyes, he saw a flash of grey. Stormheart tried desperately to climb the tree and grab Firepaw before he hit the ground; he wasn’t fast enough. Fallingfoot grabbed Rosepaw and pulled him into her white fur so he wouldn’t see his brother land. Shocked, Rosepaw buried his face into the fur and waited for the sound. It wasn’t pretty. Fallingfoot took Rosepaw back to camp, leaving Stormheart with Firepaw’s body, and reported what had just happened.xxxIt had been so sudden that Rosewhisker still didn’t know how to react. He had a feeling his brother would fall, but he thought that he would live. That he would just twist and land on his paws, but no, Firepaw had been too scared to react. It didn’t help that his last words were an insult, it just made Rosewhisker hate his brother more. A few moons after Firepaw’s death, Mothpaw joined him in Starclan. It was during a rather cold Leaf-bare and a bought of greencough affected the clan. At first it was just a small cough that he played off like he was fine, then whitecough, then finally greencough caught up with him and he couldn't escape the claws of death. Rosewhisker can’t remember when Mothpaw actually died, he knew it was from greencough, but the memories of Mothpaw and Firepaw are now faint. Now more recently, Patchheart had finally joined their brothers in Starclan.
xxxThere was a great panic as smoke filled the dens; Rosewhisker woke quickly. He could hear yowling all around, scent the acrid scent of smoke, and could see the burning branches all around. Everything was spinning already, too many rushing cats and confusion. He followed everyone out of the den and into flames. His yellow-green orbs stared into the orange and faint outlines beckoned him to join. Firepaw. Mothpaw. Their orange pelts danced in the flames and called him closer it seemed. It was his mind playing tricks on him. Patchheart noticed his brother just sitting there on his haunches, staring in fear at the flames, and heard the deafening crack while Rosewhisker didn’t pay attention. The white and ginger tom barreled into Rosewhisker and under the fallen branch.xxxRosewhisker started suddenly. The memories flooding to him of the fire and making him remember that Patchheart had saved him. He shook his head quickly and sat up, Patchheart must not have been the cat that saved him. He hated him, didn’t he? It was all so confusing. Having woken up completely, Rosewhisker looked around curiously to see who was awake. Near the entrance of the den, he saw the shape of young Littlepaw. Rosewhisker got up, stretched, then made his way over to him in silence. He started to speak but realized there was a slight tickle in his throat so before he spoke, he cleared it then said a simple, “
good morning.”
xxx“
Rosewhisker! How nice of you to stop by!” The sandy tom heard Littlepaw exclaim a little too loudly after he greeted the small apprentice. The loudness of his voice made Rosewhisker's ears twitch and he felt himself agreeing with whoever shushed Littlepaw. Rosewhisker gave the apprentice a smile and sat next to him, as he looked a bit embarrased, and gave him a reassuring flick of his tail to continue the inevitable bombardment of questions. Rosewhisker stayed quiet to let Littlepaw ask question after question. Once he seemed done, Rosewhisker blinked and had to think a bit. “
Uh, well, I fine as I could after the journey here, my paws still ache even after sleep, but thank you for asking Littlepaw,” he mewed softly, “
I don’t know about the rest of those questions, but I hope that they let us hunt soon. I feel hungry enough to eat crowfood.” The statement was more of a joke, but on some levels it was true. Rosewhisker felt as though nothing was in his stomach and couldn’t remember when he last ate. What he’d give for a nice fat mouse right about now or a juicy squirrel. Oh those would be just delightful. Thinking of prey was just making him hungry too. He decided to get his mind off of his hunger by answering those questions Littlepaw had asked a moment ago.
xxx“
I don’t think we’re gonna join them,” he pronounced after a moment. A part of him hoped that was true too, he was a bit afraid of these strangers. “
No clan would want to split their territory with strangers, I wouldn’t want to anyway,” he meowed, “
it’d be less food for everyone, if there was an outbreak of, say, greencough, there would be less herbs to treat it as well…” His voice started trailing off as usual when he shared his opinion.
xxxSuddenly feeling anxious, Rosewhisker peered around Littlepaw so he could look out of the den entrance. He wanted to find out more about these Fogclan cats. It didn't look like many cats were awake yet, neither from their host clan nor their own. At first he didn’t see the leader and deputy of their clan, but after scanning the area once more, he noticed them standing in front of what must be the leader's den. Rosewhisker opened his mouth as if he was about to say anything then quickly shut it when he saw the leader and deputy of Fogclan emerge. A brown and white tom and a black and white she-cat. He hadn’t heard the names of either of them but suspected that the tom must be Grousestar. The black and white molly must be the deputy, though Rosewhisker didn’t think she looked creepy or evil, more calm and collected than evil. He then looked back at Littlepaw, “
have you heard them say anything?”
[Medicine Cat Apprentice of Fogclan] [She-Cat] [8 Moons] [Tagged: Cloudcatcher]xxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxx[Smokepaw]
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▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀xxxOn a normal night, Smokepaw would usually be dead asleep when the sun went down. She really likes her sleep and doesn’t like to miss her sleeping time. Last night, however, was not a normal night for Smokepaw and the whole of Fogclan. A mysterious group of cats, Dawnclan they called themselves, had entered their territory last night and were currently in their camp. And as always the smoke tabby was full of questions. Mostly pestering Nettlepaw and seeing what he thought of them. Then when she tried to speak to any cat of Dawnclan last night but was ushered away.xxxIt drove her senseless. For a few minutes before she actually went to sleep, Smokepaw paced around her nest. Her twisted leg often getting snagged in her nest without her realizing, however, when she stopped she realized the moss in her nest was bothered. She remembered how her ears twitched in annoyance before fixing it quickly. There were so many questions buzzing through her head as she curled up to sleep it was like her brain was a beehive! Where had they come from? Why’d they leave? Were they going to stay or leave? xxxDreams came to her slowly; she didn’t even realize they were dreams at first.xxxSmokepaw woke up in the medicine cat den as something called her from outside. She jumped up quickly, wondering if she had overslept somehow and Cloudcatcher was calling her. But when she got outside, it was dark, stormy, and the scent of that new clan from before was nowhere to be found. A familiar scent found its way to her and yet it was like a distant memory. The scent led her to the nursery. A peek inside showed her the sleeping forms of queens, their kits close to them. Near the back of the den, a dark queen with her two kits slept. Smokepaw smiled at the sight of her mother, Crowpelt, along with her and her brother's young forms and decided she would keep watch outside. No enemies would ever attack her dream self or her name wasn’t Smokepaw! She sat in front of the den’s opening with her head held high and a wide grin. xxxSuddenly, the sky seemed to break open in lightning. The whole camp was bathed in an oddly beautiful blue-white light. Hardly a moment past before the inevitable thunder struck. It caused Smokepaw’s fur to stand on end in fright. The small kits in the den squealed loudly in their own panic which caused her to swivel her head to see inside again. All of the kits woke from the scary loud noise, crying for their mothers and their mothers in turn trying their best to sooth the poor scraps. Smokekit, however, sat up beside her mother in wonderment and confusion. “Mother... Crowpelt what was that?” She asked as she tried hard to clamber onto Crowpelt’s back, “was it a monster? You said those were loud and scary, but I see no colorful, shiny-pelted beast, is it a cousin of the monster?” xxxCrowpelt laughed softly and grabbed Smokekit by the scruff of the neck. She placed the kit between her front paws and licked her between the ears. “That was thunder, and no, it was not a monster. Remember those only travel on thunderpaths.” She answered Smokekit’s questions slowly and with a gentle tone.xxx”Oh,” Smokekit breathed, “well, they must be related. If monster’s travel on the thunder’s path, right?”xxxThis innocence only made Crowpelt laugh more. “No, Smokekit,” she meowed, “they have no relation to each other, it’s just a loud noise that storms make.” Crowpelt flicked her thick-furred tail towards the opening of the den. For a moment, the current Smokepaw thought she was looking at her, but remembered this moment in her life and felt the rain on her pelt that her mother was gesturing towards. Crowpelt continued speaking, “lightning and thunder usually come with the rain. It’s loud and frightening but it is a natural occurrence in our world.”xxxSmokepaw smiled and turned away from the den. This was the night where she really started to question everything in their world. She left Fogclan’s camp and wandered the dream world. As she walked, everything seemed to blurr together until the world changed, now it was no longer storming at night but warm and light filtered through the fog of the morning. She happened upon a small clearing where her mother stood, facing a younger Smokepaw. It was the day she left. Crowpelt gave her a nuzzle and apologized in advance then turned and left both Smokepaws alone in the clearing. Smokepaw didn’t dwell there long. Just long enough to watch her mother fade into the trees then she too left the clearing. It wasn’t long till the usual fog parted.xxxIt was then that Smokepaw felt herself shift in her bedding. Not too long after that, the smoke tabby felt herself wake into consciousness. She groaned, sleep still gripping her, as she sat up in her nest. Her nest, she realized, was more messed up and scattered than last night. It made her ears flick in annoyance. I’ll deal with it later, she mused and shambled out of the den. Automatically, she saw Cloudcatcher. As much as Smokepaw would like to go investigate Dawnclan, it would be better to speak to her mentor first.xxx”Good morning, Cloudcatcher!”
Smokepaw purred as she sat next to the white she-cat, “
you look like you’re deep in thought, is it about that Dawnclan? Do you know anything about them, you’d tell me wouldn’t you?”
Her millions of questions already started even in the early morning. She looked at Cloudcatcher with a tilted head then yawned and continued to ask, “
What do you even think about em’?”
