[.sins.]

Username: .sins.
Cat Name: Bearclaw
Gender: female
Rank: queen
Clan: Glacierclan
Age: 40 moons
Prompt:
"Mira! Mira!" The voice of her owner called out for her. Barely a whisper in the distance. The young molly was more focused on exploring the world around her. The various smells of pet dogs and cats, compared to strays, wild animals she didn't know, and of course the greasy human food in the trash. Before she knew it, the lights of the city were far behind her, a bright spot in the leaves of the forest that surrounded her home.

'One night in the wild can't hurt? I'll go straight home the next morning,' she thought to herself, stepping on a twig, causing a loud crack to echo through the woods. She didn't know how something could echo in a dense place, but it did. She froze in terror and her fur started to stand on end. A few moments later, and she finally started to move, this time slower, and looking at where she put her feet.

Maybe she was too focused on her feet, maybe she was exhausted, but she bumped into what seemed a large creature. Looking up, she was face to face with a wolverine. The black and white creature, drawing its face back in a snarl. snapping its jaws around her ear. She had moved just in time to miss her death, but not enough to get away from the angry animal, now attached to her by the ear. Its claws raked all over her pelt it seemed. The pain she felt was unreal, and every inch of her body burned in it.

When she came to, there was another cat standing over her, calling out for others' help. Ever since she has not gone home, for fear of her owners not wanting her back, and knowing she owes the clan cats everything

[/nyx.]

Username: bmkmb
Cat Name: Lycheeswirl
Gender: male
Rank: Nighthawk
Clan: CaladiumClan
Age: 40 moons
Prompt: [500 words (according to Google)]

“Hey, guys? Have you ever thought about how Lycheeswirl got his scars?” an excited voice whispered though it sounded more like a yell.

“Lycheeswirl?” another voice echoed, interest growing. “You mean Condorstar’s nighthawk?”

A third voice interrupted the conversation: “Well, duh? How’re you a flycatcher if you don’t know who Lycheeswirl is? You act so much like a kit it’s a miracle they let you rank up!”

“Hey!” the second voice cried out in indignation.

Mezereonpaw listened to the rumours carefully, eyes closed but ready to leap in case his denmates chose to bother him instead of finishing their silly debate. Lycheeswirl, scarred from top to bottom, member of the nighthawks. The tomcat probably earned those scars from something heroic—after all, playing bodyguard wasn’t boring one-hundred percent of the time.

“I heard he fought a fox!” Passionpaw declared dreamily.

“Nuh, uh! It was so much cooler!” Moltenpaw disagreed.

“He didn’t fight a fox; he killed a bear!” Glacialpaw sniped. “Picazuro, get it right.”

His thoughts drifted. While he wasn’t a sabrewing, Mezereonpaw was still the jackdaw. And Mezereonpaw was… too weak for that rank. Compared to his tutors—Condorstar, Marañonflicker; curse the stars, to his peers, even, he looked weak! And that wouldn’t do. Not when he would one day lead the clan.

Belatedly, he noticed that the yelling had stopped. The sun had set long ago, it seemed. He swore that he could hear someone snicker from his den, something about jackdaws and their incompetence. It hurt, but it sure wasn’t untrue.

“I’m not good enough,” the tomcat whispered into the silence.

He startled when the silence responded, “Very wrong. You are.”

Blue eyes met green, and Mezereonpaw stuttered, “Ly-lycheeswirl! Did Condorstar dismiss you?”

“Not quite, but we agreed that I have business to attend to.”

“Like?”

"Convincing jackdaws that they’re not worthless.”

Mezereonpaw felt his ears warm in embarrassment. “But you’re much stronger and braver than I.”

“Again, you’re wrong.” The marbled tabby prompted: “Mezereonpaw… would you like to know how I truly earned my scars?” Before the jackdaw could reply, Lycheeswirl disclosed, “I fell.”

Moments passed. “You… fell?” Mezereonpaw echoed, mind still lagging a bit behind.

“Yes,” Lycheeswirl confirmed, expression unreadable. “I fell.”

Bewilderment. “How did you get those from falling?!” the jackdaw whispered loudly as to not arouse anyone in the night.

A bitter chuckle escaped the nighthawk. He, too, lowered his voice and responded, “As a kit, I presumed that the world revolved around me and had the ego of fifteen leaders. So I ran from camp, made it two steps, tumbled down a ravine, nearly died, and learned a very important life lesson.

“I, Mezereonpaw, am a fool, no matter my current rank. You are a thousand times better than I ever was.” Something heavy weighed him down, then. “So you are not weak; you never shall be… unless you don’t get enough sleep. Scram, fledgling; don’t think too much.”

Mezereonpaw scrammed. He… maybe also sorta ignored that second order. Whatever.

[0Zero0]

I spent all day judging this lol. I'm so happy you all participated it was such a lovely read.

Miraphoenix your entry entertained me the most! I loved the story. TroutTail is yours

HM's will be awarded to .Lyrebird & bmkmb who were close choices to win.

[miraphoenix]

...Ah! Thank you so much!! I love him so much!