[razr]

birds :)
tell me about what makes this cat abnormal ! 500 words or 1 art piece (short comic is fine)

ends 1/31 at rollover (31 -> 2/1)

Code: Select all

[b]Username:[/b]
[b]Cat Name:[/b]
[b]Gender:[/b]
[b]Rank:[/b]
[b]Clan:[/b] (Please link)
[b]Age:[/b] (1 year or above)
[b]Prompt:[/b]

x
Name:
Gender:
Rank:
Clan:
Description: black-based agouti carnelian classic tabby mink point with high white
Age:
Edits:
[nr] expression, companions
[c] whiskers, min fur, eye shape, sclera color
Owner:

[feverrr]

Username: feverrr
Cat Name: sallowfeather
Gender: female
Rank: apprentice? kinda
Clan: the barrens
Age: 22 moons
Prompt: [466 words]

she is there, but she is not.

a pale, mottled shape flitting between ferns, slipping through camp like a sigh. the members of the salix veil do not see her, and when she speaks, her voice is swallowed whole by the wind. it does not matter if she whispers or wails; no ears will turn, and no heads will lift.

so she listens instead.

she perches beside elders sharing old stories, her paws curled neatly beneath her chest, nodding along to their tales. she presses close to queens as they soothe their mewling kits, purring lullabies in time with them. she watches the leader in their den, a shadow among shadows, as they mutter over decisions that will shape the colony's future. she hums approval or sighs dissent, as if it matters.

she tells herself she has friends. that they know she's there, somewhere deep inside, even if they never meet her gaze. she smiles as a warrior laughs, as though she's the one who told the joke he’s so amused by. she swishes her tail in playful exasperation as an apprentice grumbles about chores, chirping that she’ll come along to help. she trains alongside them, mimicking their movements, sinking her claws into phantom prey.

and always, the birds are there.

three cardinals, feathers white as frost, follow her wherever she goes. they land where she lingers, their eyes bright, chirping soft and cheerful. the other cats can see them. they whisper of this strange trio of birds; how they circle where no prey lies, how they chitter as if answering words that were never spoken. some believe the birds bring fortune, others misfortune.

there are days it aches.

days she watches colony members press their noses into each other’s fur, and imagines what it would be like to be held by them. days she follows patrols and wishes for a sign, any sign at all, that she belongs. days she wonders if she’s even real. days where the loneliness claws at her chest, tightening like invisible talons around her.

but she has the birds, at least.

she has the way they flutter onto her back, their tiny claws pressing just firmly enough to remind her she is solid. she has the way they trill, answering her words the clan cats will never hear. the way they wait where she lingers, take flight when she moves, and the way they never, ever leave.

perhaps she's a ghost.

perhaps she's a forgotten dream.

perhaps she's nothing at all.

but when the sun rises, she will drift through the camp once more, listening in on a world that will never know she is there. she'll smile to herself, basking in the quiet comfort of belonging in the only way she knows how to.

and the cardinals will follow.

[crexmii]

OH MY GOD MARK

[kaanekii]

AHHH markkk

[ripvanmarston]

the birds are so cute i can't

Username: ripvanmarston
Cat Name: Soft Feather
Gender: female
Rank: warrior
Clan: x
Age: 4 (50 moons)
Prompt: what it's like hunting with Soft Feather, feat Rose Thorn
silly kitty becomes friends with dinner

[Embergleam]

Username: Embergleam
Cat Name: Rosydawn
Gender: Female
Rank: Campkeeper
Clan: In The Wake Of Giants
Age: 3 years
Prompt:
Rosydawn is a prim, polite, slightly prissy island of normalcy adrift in a sea of absolute weirdness.

It's precisely that normalcy that makes her such an anomaly.

Her clanmates run the gamut from ' honest-to-the-stars alien' all the way to 'living embodiment of primordial fire'. One of them talks to dead people on a regular basis. (And should probably be concerned by how often said dead people reply.) Another refuses to die and stay dead... which would be fine if they didn't keep stealing bodies that aren't theirs to fix their whole 'being dead' problem.

Even the seemingly normal cats suffer from their own brand of incurable oddity. The clan's senior healer has all the doting bedside manner of a rabid badger, paired with a downright unsettling knowledge of poisons. Their premier scout only has one eye, but somehow manages to get into and out of trouble at an alarming rate. Even the Wake's beloved leader is a weirdo- she never intended to found a clan at all, and fought tooth and nail to ignore every sign Starclan sent her way. Once she finally caved and accepted the inevitable? It still took her literal moons to name her new home, even with Owlflight poking her at every opportunity.

Compared to all of that utter nonsense? A cat who sings to songbirds and scolds her clanmates for foul language starts to seem downright weird.

Don't worry, Rosydawn. You aren't the problem. The entire Wake is. You'll get used to it, promise.

we're all mad here

[ravenix]

Username: ravenix
Cat Name: Amberglow (Amber)
Gender: Female
Rank: Rogue
Clan: Fangclan
Age: 28 moons
Prompt:
Amber was always different from the other cats. Even when she was a kit, all of the other cats would come into the nursery to just look at her. During her time as a warrior apprentice, she often found herself being stared at by the other apprentices. They surrounded her with friends that didn’t really feel like friends. She wasn’t able to get away from them. She found herself alone in an entire clan of cats that loved her. As a warrior, things only got worse. When she stepped into a room, it was like the whole place would brighten. Wherever she went, she could hear the other cats whispering about the shininess of her coat, her gorgeous eyes, her soft fur. The longer this went on, the more miserable she became. One day, she gave up being kind to these horrid cats who could only pretend to care for her. She grew cold and cruel, but still the cats seemed drawn to her in a senseless sort of way. When she heard rumors of a rogue group of cats accepting refugees from other clans, she had to leave. On her way there, she found true friends for the first time in her life among the birds, who seemed drawn to her in a more subtle manner. She was happy for the first time in her life.

[RenSleep]

Mark? Omg I love her

[néktar]

<3

[Archaeopteryx.]

Username: Archaeopteryx.
Cat Name: Heartblaze
Gender: Female
Rank: N/A
Clan: Enurian
Age: tbd
Prompt:

Heartblaze had never been as bold as her brother.

Where he had survived kittenhood and into adolescence by throwing himself at every challenge that came his way, Heartblaze did so by sticking close to their parents. She hardly left the safe refuge of their soft belly fur. All while Falconcall went face to face with constructs and other such desert predators. And when it came time for them to leave the nest, Falconcall left moons early, vanishing into the night and never reappearing. While Heartblaze, on the other paw, stuck around with her parents for a few years longer.

It took her parents vanishing in the middle of the night for her to finally get the message.

Despite all this, Heartblaze has kept a bright-eyed and wondrous outlook on life, maybe even more so than the average cat. Often lost in fantastical projects, her current one is to create companions out of a combination of old Muralist tech and idus, a species of small white bird-like creatures.

word count; 167 words