[Selkie]

Username: selkie
Cat Name: mistylake
Clan: emberclan
Rank: warrior

Gender: dfab
Age: 32 moons

Prompt: To get this caliby, tell me what bird the feather came from, how it's related to winter, and how they got it!

While some American Kestrels migrate to Central America, the great majority spend the winter in the southern United States, and they seem to enjoy picking on the miserable felines of EmberClan during that time.

wip!!

[Kazin]

Username: Kazin
Cat Name: Lily
Clan: Twilight Drift
Rank: Hunter

Gender: female
Age: 15 moons

Prompt:

There was never any snow, not where she came from. Her fur could stay warm, surrounded by the green grass and rays of sunlight. Lily never had to worry about being cold. Not until she found herself far away from home.

It all happened so fast, she wasn't even sure if it was a dream or reality. Something engulfed her, trapping her in darkness, the warmth from the sun completely wiped away. She struggled, but it was clear that she was wasting her energy, but she couldn't help it. In her panicked state, Lily yowled for someone, anyone, to help her from whatever fate had grabbed a hold of her, but no one came to her rescue.

She was very young when it happened, apprentice age at most, living in a small group with her family. She still remembers the feeling of the Twoleg monster beneath her, the way the floor vibrated, and the way the smell stung her nose, despite the fabric she was encased in. She can remember the fear like it was yesterday as she saw Twolegs dotting her vision once she was able to see again, and the metal cage she was released in. She spent many nights crying out for her family to find her, but her voice was lost in the cage walls, unable to reach the outside.

Lily waited for her chance to escape. She finally found an opening when a careless Twoleg forgot to close the door behind them, and she was off. But the world was different, somehow. It was colder, and nothing looked right at all. Shivering slightly, not completely because she was cold, Lily looked up when she heard a familiar sound.

The honk of a goose. They weren't due in her old home for another moon, but here they were. How far away was she? She stumbled along, following the sounds of the geese, until they grew faint in the distance, their sounds no longer perceptible. She had one thing to remember them by; a feather one had dropped. Gray, with a white tip. It reminded her of her home, of the winter she was about to miss out on.

Lily knew that the geese meant winter, and they escaped the frigid tundra of the north each year in migration. Her winter meant the arrival of these geese, at least the winter she remembered as a kit. Now, she had something to remember the warmth by, and she knew she would surely need it once the snow came along. The geese may be leaving, to go to her family, but she had a feather to keep with her.

[BugInTheWater]

Username: BugInTheWater
Cat Name: Owlsnow
Clan: Wolfclan
Rank: Warrior

Gender: Female
Age: 39 moons

Prompt: Before joining Wolfclan, Owlsnow had no real name. She was a nomadic loner, so she never had a need for one. Every day, she would follow the birds that flew past her, and she would rest once the moon would rise. Then she would get up again, and continue to follow the birds. Many times she was asked by cats who had seen her just what she was doing, and every cat would get her honest answer.

Every night she dreamed of birds, so many birds. Birds of many different sizes and kinds, all in a small forest where it was always snowing, but the snow on the ground would get no thicker. But, there was always one which caught her eye. An owl, who had snow white patches on its body, would always sit on an ancient tree, the tallest of the forest, and would seemingly tell birds to do something, and they would fly out of the forest. She saw this as a secret world, one that she knew she had a connection to. She believed that the owl she saw was the creator of the world, and the birds were its many children and messengers. She called it the Owl of Snow.

Of course, cats would sneer and scoff at this. Many cats did. One snowy morning, she woke up and didn’t have the will to continue on any longer. She watched many birds pass by, and she got up to follow none. She closed her eyes and started to doze off again, but was interrupted by something floating down and landing on her paw. She opened her eyes, and was completely in shock from what she saw. An owl feather, with white patches. Could it be? She picked it up and immediately got up. There it was, just a few fox-lengths in front of her. The Owl of Snow, sitting and staring at her. She got close to it, and it started to fly. She knew what it wanted, and she began to follow it, with its feather still with her.
It lead her up a plateau, and stopped near the top of it. It flew up on a boulder, and waited there. She waited too, for what almost felt like moons. Then a cat came up to her.
“Is there anything wrong?” he said. He was a beautiful cat with red paws, face, ears, and tail, blue eyes, and a moon-like scar on his thigh.
“Oh, no, nothing,” she had responded.
“Did you recently catch something?”
Realizing he saw the feather, she said, “Oh, no, I- I-”
“Hey. You can tell me anything. I won’t judge you.”
“Are… You sure?”
“Of course. My clan teaches tolerance.”
“W-well…” She then told him everything, from her dreams to the appearance of the Owl of Snow.
“Hey, don’t worry about that!” The tom smiled. “I said I wasn’t going to judge you, so I won’t. In fact, I think the Owl of Snow brought you here for a reason. My name is Wolfstar, and I recently formed Wolfclan. I formed it for my mother. She wasn’t my real mother, and she died when I was only 10 moons old, but she’s still here. She formed Moonclan, our afterlife. It has nothing to do with creation, though, so I think you can be loyal to both. Or, you can just be with the Owl of Snow. I don’t mind. Like I said, my clan teaches tolerance. Our camp isn’t too farWould you… Like to join? It’s still pretty small.”
“Uh…” She looked back at the boulder. The Owl of Snow was still there. She could swear the wind whispered a soft ‘yes’ in her ear. “Yes. I will.”
“Alright. What’s your name?”
She looked at him for a moment. “Uh… I have none.”
“Alright. We have our own system of names anyway. So… Does Owlsnow sound alright to you?”
“Yes, that would be wonderful!”

Ever since joining the clan, she refused to not have the Owl of Snow’s feather with her. And according to Wolfstar, she would be his first choice to be a chef, but the clan is still too small for that. She is content either way, and is thankful that the Owl of Snow brought her to her new home.

(The Owl of Snow is a Great Horned Owl with vitiligo)

[Sinful_Lies]

Username: Sinful_Lies
Cat Name: Tawnyfeather
Clan: Mudclan
Rank: Warrior

Gender: Female
Age: 26 Moons

Prompt:
Tawnyfeather is holding a Woodpeckers feather.

Mudclan cats sat around their camp, the tension in the air was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Through the tension you could hear the insistent pecking against a tree. Every time it would stop you could practically hear the clan sigh and then the noise would start again. Tawnypaw hated spending time in the clan camp because of the tension around, she wanted to be able to come back and relax, yet she couldn't. Tawnypaw glared at the forest, it was the first time a woodpecker had decided to nest near the clan.

Tawnypaw stepped out of the camp and began looking through the trees for the problem. While walking around she finally found it, the bird had nested in the tree above the Medicine Cat den. Tawnypaw decided then and there that she would get it, she would free the clan of this nuisance. Tawnypaw crouched down and leaped onto the tree, she used all of her strength and began to propel herself up the tree. She was going so fast it was like she wasn't even moving. Wait. Tawnypaw looked down to realize she wasn't moving, in fact she had slipped further down the tree.

"Dang." She thought to herself. "Climbing is a lot harder than it looks."

Tawnypaw spent many more sunrises teaching herself how to climb this tree while the Woodpecker payed her no mind. It didn't even see her as a threat. Tawnypaw was about to give up when she suddenly realized that she had actually made process, it wasn't much, but progress. Tawnypaw continued to make progress over the course of many more sunrises, until one day she was able to move up the tree at a decent pace.

Tawnypaw climbed up the tree as fast as she could and was on the bird before it could even realize what was happening. Tawnypaw caught the bird between her teeth, though it was able to get away, not before she got quite a few of the feathers between her teeth. She hopped down and brought the feather to show off to her clan. The clan was impressed, especially when the bird did not come back ever again. Even after receiving her warrior name she keeps the feather tucked into her nest to remind her to persevere and never give up.

[ataraxic_gone]

Username: dewly_noted
Cat Name: SorrelThorn
Clan: BeachClan
Rank: wave runner

Gender: female
Age: 14 moons

Prompt:
Winter was in full force, a thick layer of snow covering the world after blizzard the previous night had long since faded. The snow white winter wonderland was picturesque but deadly. Snow could give way to hidden tunnels, prey was impossible to find and the sky was a glowing blue blanket that made the moment seem like an eternity was flowing by in a moment alone.
As time ticked on that eternity outlived its welcome and SorrelThorn found herself growing restless waiting for the pin to drop and break the perfect landscape into life. The flutter of wings caught her attention and vivid red caught her eye. A cardianl sat in the tree quietly working away at the snow that sat on the branch it had chosen to perch.
A pang of hunger shot through SorrelThorn's stomach at the sight of the creature and she crept towards the base of the tree, claws unsheathing as she prepared to shoot up the trunk of the tree. As she got closer the features of the bird stood out to her and a name sprung to mind, Cardinal. One of the few birds that toughed it out through the winter. Despite how close she got the bird remained unphased, pecking away at the snow, watching with what seemed to be a great deal of mirth as the snow fell to the ground below.
As Sorrel's claws scraped against the bark of the pine tree the bird turned around and stared wide eyed at the cat sneaking up on them. SorrelThorn expected the bird to take flight and her chances to be ruined.

The bird stayed, letting out a few shrill songs before turning to continue clearing the snow from it's branch. So much trust was placed in the paws of SorrelThorn to be peaceful but it was cold and SorrelThorn was hungry. There was nothing more than a shocked chirp from the bird as SorrelThorn swooped it up.

A tail feather fell to the ground and SorrelThorn watched it fall. Hoping down from the branch to the snow below Sorrel placed the bird down and stared at it for a moment. She looked from the bird that had trusted her to the feather and with a shrill sense realised;

she wasn't hungry anymore.

[leafless willow]

Username: ieiis
Cat Name: birdchirp | se'chi | serendipity
Clan: hiraeth
Rank: ancient archiver [historian/painter]

Gender: female
Age: 48 moons

Prompt:

Winter was beautiful, that much, nobody could deny.

Birdchirp knew this more than most. She adored every season, for each one brought flocks of new birds, and the chirping song of the wilds began anew, with a unique tune that never repeated. Oh, how she adored every tune! Her job was to paint the stories of Hiraeth upon cave walls - to record them, in the colors of smashed berry, herb, and rarely, with the black of charcoal. This, Birdchirp loved to do, but what she loved to do more than anything, is to paint birds, or how she pictured their tune - in color version! But truly, no season compared to Winter. During no other season, did the chirps and songs bring more warmth to her heart. Fellowship, and love, turned to tune, and trickling from the skies above to her while she sat in soft snow.

She found herself on a journey; climbing the mountain aside Hiraeth, ignoring the chill brushing through her short fur. This winter moon, she had a new goal. She was going to find a land where the songbirds sung loudest, and potentially befriend them. Since she was a kit, she'd adored watching them flutter above the camp. It was time to find their camp, and bring her ears to them! After she'd scaled half-way up the mountain, she hears a distant chatter. A chirp, and the quietest rustle of a bush. To her right! Birdchirp hops to action, bounding through the endless white snow to find these fellow chirps!

In a grove of trees, at last, she finds her friends. A small group of White-breasted Nuthatches perched above her, hopping along the length of the branch and scattering snow atop her head. Birdchirp finds herself smiling, as she attempts the gentle art of chirping, paws neatly pressed into the snow. The birds heads tilt, before responding in tune, brightly chirping - almost like a carole.

And thus, the next day, she found herself going back, this time with a mouth full of leaves - berries wrapped within. Back to the grove she'd been within before, she places her present, unwrapping it carefully to reveal the berries. They were almost a stark red, small, and fit for the Nuthatches bills. Birdchirp had seen this kind of bird around each winter - specifically so, they came no other time of moon - feeding on these very berries. While she loved to paint with this red, befriending them was her top priority, and she had many to spare. The Blossom Breeder's were never inefficient when it came to these bushes, after-all. With a flourish and a swoop, they accept her berries, and gift her a feather each for the generosity.

Birdchirp blinks, tilting her head at the small feathers. "Are these for me?" She attempts to chirp to them, but finds she'd long lost their attention. Quieting, she settles to listen to the tune of today, ears perking and flicking to hear fully.

Melodious, and merry, she mulls in her mind, missing their departure. With this, she's left with two feathers from friends - a gift she held tight until next Winter, when she rejoins and rejoices. Each winter she gave a gift of berries, and is given a gift of two feathers, pristine and pretty.
Birdchirp held no tradition more dear, for nothing held her love like the birds.

[coppercanary]

Username: Canary22
Cat Name: Driftspark
Clan: Dawnclan
Rank: Furcatcher

Gender: She-cat
Age: 54 moons

Prompt:

“Do you see that, Spark?” Willow mewed to her only surviving kit. “That great white bird with black wingtips, up there in the sky? That’s an albatross. They’re the mightiest of the birds. They fly incredibly long distances in search of food for their chicks, usually over the great oceans. I have told you about the oceans, yes?” Spark nodded. She wanted her mother to keep talking, to keep spinning tales about the albatrosses. “Good. They’re excellent fishers and rarely leave the great expanses of the seas. We’re lucky to see one here today.” The albatross wheeled above them, intently focused on something the pair of she-cats would not see. “The one thing you must always remember about an albatross is that they are greater than us, more powerful. You must never draw your claws against one of them.”
“Of course, mama. I would never dream of hurting one of the bird kings or queens.”

*

The moons went past faster than Spark could keep track of them. Seasons came and went. She left her mother, moving away to her own territory. She made the journey to the sea, just like her mother always said she should, and admired the blue-green waves that crashed upon the shores. The decision to stay by the sea was made and more seasons rolled past in the constant passage of time. The days blended together until Spark could barely tell the days apart or separate her dreams of the future from her memories of the past.

Not once did she see another albatross.

* *

Another day. The same as yesterday, the same as tomorrow. Spark got out of her nest and began her usual rounds, clearly marking her territory as separate from the other local cats’ territories. Nothing out of the ordinary was found, no unusual sightings of rogue cats or friendly neighbours meeting her on the border between their hunting grounds.

She wasn’t sure what it was that made her look at the sky, but Spark could have sworn that it wasn’t her own doing that drew her attention to the shape floating aimlessly along the coast. Is that an albatross? No, it can’t be. That’s impossible, they’re incredibly rare. But the huge wingspan and unusual placement of black feathers clearly showed it to be one of the mighty albatross. Ah well. It’s not as if the albatross will do anything to me. A vague memory stirred in her mind, one of a promise to her mother, the shadow of the albatross dancing around them. She shook her head and followed the path of the albatross to the crags, a piece of land which jutted out from the mainland.

It had landed when she arrived. Was that... a nest? No. It couldn’t be a nest. It was more impossible than the albatross being there in the first place. They always nested in large groups, she remembered that. Yet there it was, the adult and an almost fledged chick. She had no idea where the bird’s partner was- they did live in pairs, didn’t they? This one was alone, just the adult and the chick. A plan began to form in her mind. She tucked herself behind a rock, patiently waiting for the adult to leave the chick alone once again.

Unknown to her, the faint form of a cat shimmered behind her, an immeasurably sad look on her face.

Eventually the adult left once more. Spark crept forward, making sure she made almost no sound at all. A perfectly executed leap, a calculated bite to the chick’s neck. It fought back, but ultimately the cat won. The chick lay still, its feathers scattered around the nest, the nest itself in ruins. There was no sadness as Spark looked down at her kill.

“What happened to my little baby girl?” Willow whispered, her slight form shimmering against the darkness of the evening.
Spark didn’t look surprised, almost as though she had expected this. “I grew up,” she muttered. “I don’t need your fairy tales any more, ma. Leave me alone.”
“You promised me,” she whispered. “You promised me that you’d never draw your claws against the kings or queens of the birds.”
“It’s a good meal,” Spark snapped. “I’m more concerned about my existence than that of a mere bird, king or no. I don’t want your stories, your riddles, your lies, so just give up already.”
Willow narrowed her eyes. “What if I told you that the albatross whose chick you just murdered lost his mate less than half a moon ago and was struggling to keep the chick alive on his own? A fine young male whose only other chick from last breeding season also died. They did not know to return to their home nesting grounds so they nested here, a fatal error both this season and last season. That chick was almost an adult. Another moon and he would have joined his father in the sky. He could have had a mate, been a father, seen his chicks grow up into mighty birds too. But you just took all that away from the chick and wounded his father once again. Can you live with that? Can you really?”
“Y-you’re being s-soft,” Spark said. It was impossible for her to keep the shake from her voice.
“No, I am being a good, honest hunter. Like how you should be.”
“I need to eat! Prey is scarce around here and this meal could last me days.”
“You broke your promise to me. It is not I who lied, but you.”
“I didn’t lie!”
“Then why is there a dead albatross chick at your paws?”

Spark couldn’t answer that. She didn’t move. Why did you come, ma? Everything was fine before you showed up.
“Spark. Look at me.” She looked up at her mother reluctantly. “You say you’ve grown up, but I still see the youth in you. You’re the same cat you were when we lived together all those moons ago, no matter how different you seem on the outside.” Spark couldn’t bear to keep eye contact any longer and turned her gaze back towards the bird, knowing that Willow’s burning gaze continued to be trained on her. “You’ve done what you did. You broke your promise to me. You killed a bird who is greater than any feline, more noble than any of us ever will be. But the least you can do is leave him here, so his father knows what happened. Do it for me, if not for him.”
Spark nodded numbly. She couldn’t believe what she’d done, looking back on it. How had she been so foolish? “I’ll do that for you. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” She turned around, unable to bear the weight of what she’d done. It wasn’t bad in her eyes; it was more the effect which it had had on her mother which bothered her. “Wait, I’ve got to do something first.” She turned back and carefully took one of the feathers, a delicately patterned feather from the wing of the chick. “It’s... it’s so I don’t forget. Without it I know that something like this will happen again, one way or another. And it’s not just for the albatross. It’s for you, ma. It’s for you.”

She turned her back on the scene behind her and walked away, refusing to even glance at the scene behind her. That was the past, this was the future.

For once, tomorrow looked ever so slightly different to today.

[opti-mism]

Username: opti-mism
Cat Name: Frosteyes
Clan: SaltClan
Rank: Warrior

Gender: dfab she-cat
Age: 24 moons

Prompt: Note: starlings are a severely invasive species in America:

The starlings only grew worse during the winter. The flocks descended upon the trees, stripping them of all nutrients and starving the other prey, only to leave the struggling Saltclan to starve. The water was too cold to fish in, most days, and the harsh ocean spray froze on their fur, crippling them if they got sick.

But Frosteyes wasn't going to have it. She would catch some of these elusive birds if she could, before she was too weak to walk. The fast, ferocious scavengers, sensing weakness, descended on the she-cat in a swarm as soon as her legs gave out from under her.

But of course, she had a plan.

She rolled on her back, and while unfortunately exposing her stomach, she unsheathed her claws and lashed out, catching three of the birds off guard and crashing them to the ground. Quick as a deer she lept upon them, pinning them so she could take them back to the clan. They were bound to feed at least some of the clan members.

6 more times she did this, until the swarm moved on to their next hunting grounds. Each time, Frosteyes came back with more gashes, focused on her face and stomach, but no kit, elder, or warrior starved. Not a single soul went hungry, and she was to thank for that.

From then on out, she wore the feather of one of the starlings behind her ear. It was a mark of her strength, when the scavengers came through their land. Thanks to the salt in her blood and the stone in her stance, they would prevail through the tough winter.

[Oceanfosh]

Username: dewly_noted
Cat Name: SorrelThorn
Clan: BeachClan
Rank: wave runner

Gender: female
Age: 14 moons

Prompt:
Winter was in full force, a thick layer of snow covering the world after blizzard the previous night had long since faded. The snow white winter wonderland was picturesque but deadly. Snow could give way to hidden tunnels, prey was impossible to find and the sky was a glowing blue blanket that made the moment seem like an eternity was flowing by in a moment alone.
As time ticked on that eternity outlived its welcome and SorrelThorn found herself growing restless waiting for the pin to drop and break the perfect landscape into life. The flutter of wings caught her attention and vivid red caught her eye. A cardianl sat in the tree quietly working away at the snow that sat on the branch it had chosen to perch.
A pang of hunger shot through SorrelThorn's stomach at the sight of the creature and she crept towards the base of the tree, claws unsheathing as she prepared to shoot up the trunk of the tree. As she got closer the features of the bird stood out to her and a name sprung to mind, Cardinal. One of the few birds that toughed it out through the winter. Despite how close she got the bird remained unphased, pecking away at the snow, watching with what seemed to be a great deal of mirth as the snow fell to the ground below.
As Sorrel's claws scraped against the bark of the pine tree the bird turned around and stared wide eyed at the cat sneaking up on them. SorrelThorn expected the bird to take flight and her chances to be ruined.

The bird stayed, letting out a few shrill songs before turning to continue clearing the snow from it's branch. So much trust was placed in the paws of SorrelThorn to be peaceful but it was cold and SorrelThorn was hungry. There was nothing more than a shocked chirp from the bird as SorrelThorn swooped it up.

A tail feather fell to the ground and SorrelThorn watched it fall. Hoping down from the branch to the snow below Sorrel placed the bird down and stared at it for a moment. She looked from the bird that had trusted her to the feather and with a shrill sense realised;

she wasn't hungry anymore.

Congrats!