Rise Summer Event: Dark Skies

[Neah]

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A long-standing peace between you and the rogues is about to be tested. Pasts shrouded in secrets start to come to the forefront, and old enemies make themselves known. Will you do as you are tasked by your ancestors or walk the path of your choosing?

There's a storm on the horizon.

ＷＲＩＴＩＮＧ ＰＲＯＭＰＴＳ

Each writing prompt you finish you will earn reputation points! For writing prompts to count they must answer the prompt in a relevant way and be between 400 and 600 words.

Completed writing prompt = 5 reputation points


ＤＲＡＷＩＮＧ ＰＲＯＭＰＴＳ

Drawing prompts are an extra way to earn reputation points. They are not necessary for participating in the event, but they're an extra challenge and something you are able to do throughout the whole event.

Finished, colored piece (fullbody) = 4 reputation points {X}
Finished piece PLUS partial background = 5 reputation points {X} (1-3 distint and unique objects.)
Finished piece PLUS full background = 7 reputation points {X} (4+ distint and unique objects.)

As per last year, objects will be counted in threes. Each extra cat will be counted as its own object. Don't abuse the 3 similar objects like 3 trees to boost your point count by making a background of only 12 trees. Detailed ground will be counted as its own object.

Just filling the space around the cat does not count as a background.

xx

[Neah]

1. All site and Rise rules apply during this event.
2. Once you choose a path you can't go back; choose wisely.
3. All prompt answers are to be submitted via their respective form on their respective thread.
4. Once a new writing prompt it opened up, you can't go back and answer a previous one. You can jump in on a current prompt even if you haven't participated in previous ones.
5. Art prompts are open for the entire event.
6. You may only answer each prompt once.
7. You aren't required to do both the art and writing prompts; do what you're able.

[Neah]

»»———— • ————««

You're startled rather dramatically out of your sleep by a rough shake to the shoulder. Huffing in annoyance you move to uncurl, blinking your eyes open in the heavy dark of your den. You feel muted surprise through your sleep hazy state at seeing Hecate looming in front of you. The tiny she-cat had, so far, stayed true to the agreement of staying out of each other's territory, so you're surprised to see her here in your den, much less, in your territory. The she-cat urgently flicks her tail at you to get you up, which you proceed to do begrudgingly, unhappy to have your sleep disturbed. It's only then that you see The Oracle hovering behind her, the frail old tom having managed to stay out of your sight before then, though how he managed to do so baffles you. Hecate hardly posed a formidable barrier. The pale tom behind her slunk forward when she gave him a reproachful look, clearly disgruntled at having to be there. You knew the feeling.

After a few long moments of you and Hecate staring expectantly at him, The Oracle makes an irritated noise and begins to speak. "Your ancestors have spoken to me once again. They warn of great danger that will befall both your clan and our own group."

You send a startled look to Hecate, whose hackles are slightly raised, almost impossible to catch in the dark of your den. After a few sluggish moments of processing, your brain finally registers the words. "What is he talking about? Our healers have heard no word of any danger." You're not awake enough for this, you decide, and don't appreciate these two crashing into your den at such an hour to drop this on you. The Oracle, at least, seems to be as unhappy about their presence here as you are, which makes you feel a bit better.

Hecate rolls her shoulders, clearly unhappy with your tone. "Your ancestors seldom speak to me. They offer me no more than the vaguest sense of what they are trying to say. Nothing nearly as detailed as they show him," she flicks an ear towards The Oracle who turns his nose away in response. "I don't know why they haven't approached you yet." She pauses, clearly debating her next words. "This is me paying you back for you letting my group live peacefully beside you even after the trouble I caused. Do you wish to hear the prophecy they gave us or debate the mechanisms behind it."

There's a snap of annoyance in her words, and you can so clearly see hints of the brash young she-cat that originally led her group into trouble, but it's just as obvious that she's trying to learn from the past. That young she-cat wouldn't be here offering you her help. You decide you should humor her, if not to get a scope of what you're facing, and figure out where to go from there. "Sure, what have they to say?"

»»———— • ————««

Prompt 1: Tell me what your leader expects this great danger to be, whether it be their own wild theories or a hunch based on current goings-on in their world, and how they feel about Hecate and her Oracle invading their den. Basically, a personalized reaction to your nighttime intruder.

Art Prompt 1: Draw your poor, tired leader getting woken up by the unwanted company.

Hecate | Oracle

»»———— • ————««

End Date: This writing prompt closes at 11:59 pm EST on the 4th. The art prompt does not close.

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[b]Writing Prompt![/b]
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Clan Thread:
Prompt Writing:

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[b]Art Prompt![/b]
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Clan Thread:
Prompt Art:

[EchoIre]

Writing Prompt!
Username: EchoIre
Clan Thread: SunClan
Prompt Writing:

Lark blinked, processing in what Hecate had told her. How did she even manage to get in here? I never thought Batwhisker would let her through, regardless of what she said. Maybe he snuck off to be with Tawnybird. The old Tom had told her he preferred to sleep during the day, and as such Lark had assigned him to watch over the clan during the night. Recently, however, Zane has found that the gruff Tom has been abandoning his post to allay down next to Tawnybird - a warrior of similar age. But, that was a matter for later.

"Tell me all about it." She mewed, turning her golden gaze back to Hecate and The Oracle. Distantly, she was annoyed and somewhat frightened that they had decided to tell her now, and that they had come into her den to do so. Couldn't they have waited until morning? Or, at least, gotten a clanmate to wake her and wait outside in camp? It was almost like they were hiding something...

No. No, Lark trusted Hecate, even if her senior warriors and deputy were wary to. Hecate was in the same place Lark found herself in only a few moons ago, and she could understand the young molly acting the way she had. But, they had worked out their differences before, and there had been a strange - yet comfortable - peace since then.

Lark should have known at the peace would not last. Really and truly, she hoped it would, however naïve that hope may be. She sighed through her nose, swishing her tail through the sand as she awaited The Oracle's answer. A flash of light illuminated the den, making the cats' shadows dance. A roar of thunder soon followed, sending a cold chill up Lark's spine, though she had been expecting in.

Perhaps that was it - the great danger that StarClan had spoken to Hecate and The Oracle about - maybe it was a cold chill? Leafbare was newly over, and the first signs of Newleaf were beginning to show. None too soon, of course; SunClan had much difficulty finding the herbs and prey they needed to get by during Leafbare, and often had roc go without. She would be none too surprised if Hecate's group faced the same fate during the frigid moons. She suspected both groups desperately needed the bounty of Newleaf to last much longer, and an incoming cold chill would certainly warrant a warning from StarClan. Or at the very least, Lark thought so. But what could they do about that? The dens could be rebuilt to be warmer, sure, but what about the prey, the herbs? What could they do about a cold chill, what could StarClan possibly gain by warning them?

Suddenly, rain began to pour from the dark night clouds, heralded by another ear-splitting peel of thunder. Maybe StarClan hoped to warm them of a storm; warmer weather meant that the snow in the meadows and mountains to flood, which Lark suspected would make Ripplesong Creek flood. The creek, while relatively small, ran through the middle of the Sunfields, which was the majority of SunClan territory. To Lark, flooding had been merely an afterthought; a dim 'what if' in the face of the blooming Newleaf. She knew that the creek would flood, but doubted that it would be anything more than mildly troublesome with the current amount of snow. But, if perhaps a heavy storm were to come, then flooding could be a problem for both SunClan and Hecate's group of rogues.

[593 words]

[CloudedDiamond]

Writing Prompt!
Username: DiamondDogg Caverns
Clan Thread: SilverClan
Prompt Writing: [598 words]

Silverstar was beyond tired when the two outsiders had woken her. Who let them in, especially to her den? She'd have a word with Wolfthorn and Smokestep later. She listened to them talk, her mind whirling with ideas, thoughts, and what she should have for breakfast. She needed food, and quick. Her stomach growled once. Now twice. She slipped past them as they were in mid-sentence, and grabbed a small rabbit off the prey pile. She went back in her den in the tree trunk and told them to continue talking. Hecate and The Oracle looked at her for a moment, confused, but continued talking. After a while of talking, Silverstar called Fallenleaves in, asking if the she-cat had recently had any signs from StarClan. Fallenleaves denied, saying StarClan had been silent since that prophecy all those moons ago.

"What danger is coming?" Silverstar questioned.
"We don't know, Silverstar. You know StarClan, they like to be vague." Hecate replied, sighing.
"Just be prepared, Silverstar. We don't know what's coming, but be ready. Understand?" The Oracle stated.
Silverstar nodded, "I will. You may leave, now. I must speak to my senior warriors." As the two left, Silverstar went into the clearing. She felt like the two knew more than they were saying, but wasn't sure

Rainwhisker was standing in his den's entrance but ran to Silverstar's side when she came out of her den.
"What did Hecate and The Oracle want?" Rainwhisker said, clearly concerned for his clan's safety.
"So you let them into the camp? Was that sensible, letting some rogues who already live nearby peacefully into the heart of our camp?" Silverstar said, her voice level but had a hint of disappointment.
Rainwhisker dipped his head, "I figured that it would be fine. They said it was urgent."
Silverstar licked his ear. "It's okay, Rainwhisker, you did what you thought was best. Now, where are Clawpelt and Smokestep? I need you three, and Fallenleaves."
"Clawpelt is leading a hunting patrol with Wolfthorn by Training Trees, and Smokestep is doing border patrol over by the river."
"Alright. Fallenleaves!" Silverstar called for the medicine cat, who came out of her den.
"Who needs me?" Fallenleaves said, rushing out of her den. "Oh, Silverstar. What is it?"
Silverstar laughed for a moment at her friend's reaction. "I need you to go to Training Trees, get Clawpelt, and send him back here. Not Wolfthorn, he can continue hunting. Then go towards the river and find Smokestep. I need them, and you when you return."

When Fallenleaves, Smokestep, and Clawpelt entered the camp, Rainwhisker and Silverstar ushered them into the medicine den. She explained everything in decent detail. She told them to keep an eye out for anything and report back whatever seemed off or suspicious. She dismissed them and told Clawpelt to help Wolfthorn bring back the prey, and fill him in.

As the sun began to set and Silverstar lay in the nursery, her kits asleep next to her, she began wondering what could happen. Surely not Fish or Hecate were going to attack? Maybe a flood, but their camp was far from it. And their hunting shouldn't be too affected by a flood, right? A tree falling? No, that would have happened in the last strong storm. Hunger? No, surely not. Prey was always available, even in the dead center of leaf-bare. While scarce, enough for the clan to eat one piece of prey in the morning and one piece of prey between two cats at night. Silverstar's mind whirled, wondering what could happen until she finally fell asleep.

[SpaghettiOhs]

Writing Prompt!
Username: SpaghettiOhs
Clan Thread: JuniperClan (link in sig)
Prompt Writing:
Sagestar blinked sleepily, trying to clear her head. None of this made sense. Who were these cats? What were they doing in JuniperClan camp... in her den?

"Who are you?" she demanded. "How did you get in here?"

"That doesn't matter," insisted the she-cat. "We're not enemies. I knew Eaglestar. We had a peaceful relationship with JuniperClan while he was leader. I hope that can continue now with you."

Sagestar frowned. Why hadn't she heard about this "friendly" group of rogues before? She would need to ask Cougarstrike about it in the morning.

"The warrior code says that I should have you chased off our territory," Sagestar said. "I'm not convinced that I should trust you."

Hecate rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. If I wanted to do you harm, would I have come into the leader's den and woken you up?"

"Well... I guess not..."

"Right. I'm just here because the Oracle has heard from your ancestors, and we thought you'd like to know. But if you'd rather 'chase us off,' then by all means, do so." There was a challenge in the she-cat's tone.

StarClan. Why had they spoken to these strange cats instead of to Thistletail, or even Chickadeepaw? They had given messages and warnings directly to the JuniperClan medicine cats in the past, so why not now?

Sagestar felt like there was a pit in her stomach. What if it was because of her?

Maybe StarClan thought they made a mistake in making her the new leader after Eaglestar and his deputy both died in the fire. She knew that many of the JuniperClan cats felt that way.

Anxiously, she thought back to when the ancestors had appeared and given her the responsibility of leading and restoring JuniperClan. They had urged her to "return to the Code," saying that the fate of the Clan depended on it.

Sagestar had worked tirelessly to try and follow that vague command. It had been difficult, especially as a cat who had not grown up in a Clan and had never really learned the Code. She knew she fell short in many ways.

She didn't want to let her new clanmates down. She trained hard with her deputy to become better at hunting and fighting. She consulted with her medicine cat, anxious to learn all there was to know about the clan's traditions, the ways of StarClan, and the demands of the Warrior Code.

She made mistakes, though. She wasn't a great hunter or fighter, and many of the JuniperClan cats didn't respect her as the leader. She was pretty sure there were some who still called her "kittypet" behind her back.

Was StarClan just as disappointed in her as JuniperClan was? The great fire had come because Eaglestar hadn't listened to StarClan. What if this was something like that? Were StarClan so upset with Sagestar that they would destroy JuniperClan once and for all?

(484 words)

[Trickz]

Writing Prompt!
Username: ThunderCry04
Clan Thread: TideClan
Prompt Writing: 403 Words, found here!

[Wet Bread]

Writing Prompt!
Username: Wet Bread
Clan Thread: Brightclan
Prompt Writing:
Duststar just couldn't wrap his brain around it. What danger could they possibly be facing? Prey was plentiful so there was no fear of the clan starving. The weather had been almost perfectly balanced in recent moons, no droughts and no flooding either. Twolegs had been frequenting around the lake, but they left the forest well enough alone. Even that rogues had been avoiding their borders recently.

Speaking of, how did these two get into Brightclan camp without an uproar? Duststar didn't mind them being around since they had minded their territory recently, but he knew that if Silverpeak, Vervainstrike, or Raventuft saw them in Brightclan camp, they would throw a fit. They must somehow have all been sleeping for once.

Duststar considered briefly whether one of his own cats was the possible danger. He couldn't really picture it. Plumefrost, Polliwog, and Skimmerwing were far too gentle. Vervainstrike, Bravefern, Dragonfly, and Raventuft were all incredibly loyal. Duststar just couldn't picture Applefall, Mothdust, or Sunnywish purposely causing any trouble. Though any one of those three could easily inadvertently cause problems. But once again, they'd had nothing but peace lately. Duststar was just thinking himself in circles now.

There was one small thing he had noticed recently, something he had hoped was nothing though. Skimmerwing had suffered slight illness after eating prey that was hunted on the far side of the territory last week. The illness had been brief and not all that serious but what did set off alarms was when Bravefern investigated the rest of the prey from that particular hunting patrol. In the stomach of all the moles, she discovered a plant that was known to be somewhat toxic to cats. She was unsure whether the plant wasn't toxic to the moles or if they had been sick. Either way, it was somewhat unusual for Brightclan to even see moles that frequently so Duststar had simply banned Brightclan from hunting them, at least for the time being. Bravefern was far too busy right now to investigate further unless it was a matter of dire importance, so it was pushed aside for now. Could this possibly be the danger? Or was it really nothing of concern?

Duststar wasn't sure what to think of it but he wanted to prevent any danger from harming Brightclan or their friends. Hecate and her friends might have caused some trouble in the past, but they had a peace between them now, and Duststar would hate to see any cat come to harm. It seemed like the two groups would have to work closer together to solve whatever this problem may be.

Word Count: 437

[ajax.]

Writing Prompt!
Username: AJ.
Clan Thread: ThistleClan
Prompt Writing: 478 words

AdderStar sat up straight, his thick fur ruffled and unkempt as he tried to will himself into better alertness. He squinted and poked his head out of his den, where Hecate and the Oracle were sitting, waiting for him to come out. He closed his eyes, if only he could get a few more minutes of sleep, why were they the ones that had to awaken him? There were plenty of cats awake right now, and no doubt wandering the camp, did they just let these two just waltz in with little explanation
After a brief moment to groom his fur, trying to get some tufts to lie flat and stay in their place, he crawled out of the den. His eyes immediately squinted from the sun, this was why he was nocturnal.
His den was meant for himself and his advisors when he wasn't sleeping, and he was sleeping, and these two weren't his advisors. He swallowed, stretching once he left the confines of his den before sitting down in front of his guests.
"In case you weren't aware." He started, his mouth feeling dry as he licked his lips. "ThistleClan has just come out of a great dangerous time from war amongst the bordering clans." He continued, lifting a leg to scratch his chin. He didn't care if he was sharing information outsiders shouldn't know, maybe they'd lay off him a bit. "I can possibly assume your message was recieved late." He continued, but the concerned look on Hecate's face told him otherwise.
AdderStar huffed, he didn't want to deal with this at this hour. He was tempted to tell them to come back later when He was actually more aware of his surroundings.
Where were his advisors? He watched around the camp before SmokeWater approached, dipping her head in greeting before giving a cautious eye to the visitors.
"Give me a moment." He mumbled before going up to his successor, sitting down with the chocolate tortie, his stature much softer with his first trainee.
"What do you think it might be?" The she-cat asked, her blue/green eyes alight with bewilderment. AdderStar could only shrug.
"These cats follow every order the ancestors give them, I'm not sure but I think we should trust that what they say is true enough." He explained. "We just got out of a war, if this new danger is threatening my clan, I can only hope it's not something that can entirely wipe us out." He said gravely.
"When will you tell them?"
Later, AdderStar thought. He still wore a frown, he just wanted to sleep at the moment. If this danger wasn't planned to be here by sundown, he could at least catch up on his energy. "Later, but speak with the advisors and tell them what's happening." He told his second-in-command, to which the she-cat nodded and darted off.

Art Prompt!
Username: AJ.
Clan Thread: ThistleClan
Prompt Art: xXx

[Ravendarus]

Writing Prompt!
Username: Ravendarus
Clan Thread: Echoclan
Prompt Writing:
Rude Awakening