⸙ Seasonal Surveys ⸙ Neverending Night ⸙ SPRING PROMPT

[Tilluels-Paradise]

Username + ID Tilluels-Paradise + 1108908
Sign-up Post Link here
Word Count 253
Prompt

In Iliosclan autumn is celebrated quietly, with large gatherings and praise shared when resources are plenty or soft reassurances and lessons when the coming winter will be tough. During autumn cats gather in their dens to huddle up with their loved ones and share their love. Cats cuddle in warmth and listen to elders' stories for long hours, others instead share stories upon stories with their kits to entertain them during the early dark. It is tradition to say everything you’ve held in during the year, your grievances, your affection, good and bad, so that when the winter comes and the chill sets in you don’t have to risk the regret of having held your tongue if they don't last through the winter. Some cats make small gifts to share within the clan, usually with rocks or twigs, materials not needed to be stored, to brighten the dreary days with joy and laughter. The gift givings are often random, whispers between kits and their mothers and left in caves when no one is around to see the smile it brings. Autumn is also spent preparing, warriors hunting and patrolling as much as they can, medics hoarding herbs and checking the clan extra thoroughly, Queens gather leaves and fur to make sure their kits will be warm. The cats keep everything they need for the winter conserved and stored away during fall, they don't dare risk taking more than they can afford later, the celebrations are small with as few resources used as possible.

[River Song]

Username + ID River Song 93964
Sign-up Post Link ✦
Word Count 250+
Prompt
Wyre flicks the tip of her tail, in what could only be called annoyance, before beginning to write.

No one in the city really seems to notice the seasons changing. I mean, sure, you go from some rain, to lots of rain, and then to sleet, but it's not like you get those brilliant fall colours or anything like that.

I guess there's a couple of parties. Celebrating abundance, all of that [here, a word is scribbled out. She must have decided it was improper.] I've never been the type - or had the money to blow it on a changing season. What I have seen, some of it is nice. Big gatherings, with fruits and drinks, that spill out onto the street from their respective venues - nothing's ever done to have measures in Neo Haleth, that's for sure.

At the equinox, I think, you get some kits making paper leaves - hanging them in banners to signal the coming changes. Of course, the paper gets soggy from the rain, you get a fine for littering, you grow out of that quickly. I heard kits used to actually go out, to find themselves candy at a kind stranger's door on Halloween. Of course, there aren't that many kind strangers left, and no one's going to give away what they could keep instead. And it would be unfathomably stupid, letting your kit wander the streets, specially when the veil is so thin. Maybe if you had a least favourite kit.... They say it messes with the tech, you know, makes cybernetics act up. Course, they say that about the full moon, and microwaves, and the tech itself, and we all know not to give too much salt to anyone's claims. Specially not when they're trying to sell you an upgrade.

Once, a girl invited me out for a Halloween proper, in one of the uptown houses. Real gauche. Of course, everyone has to throw on a mask, which isn't too unusual, but I showed up and not only do I not know anyone, I stand out like nobody else, and she was wearing a mask of a grey tabby and I felt like I was staring in a mirror. It made things... awkward. Felt more like a little trinket being brought along than anything friendly.

I ended up going home without her.

Wyre scrunches her face at the writing she's done. She seems unimpressed. Nevertheless, she diligently scoops up the survey, dropping it unceremoniously into the basket.

[BingoDingo03]

Username + ID || BingoDingo03 1113749
Sign-up Post Link || x
Word Count || 154
Prompt ||

For the farmyard-catfolk and the glenmoor-catfolk, it's a time of coming together as one to celebrate the season. They do not celebrate for one day, no, they cherish their time together for the whole season! During this time, tell gather to tell tales of the time of amber-fall. After the stories, they all come together to feast and socialize, furthering the bond between both groups. The main meals they hunt or gather are birds and green, red, and orange vegetables, marking the season's change. On some days, they plan out fun activities like "pin the feathers of the turkey" or "sing and swing" to name a few. Once its dark out, more stories are passed around, only this time it's about cautionary tales of the cats of old. When chill-blow comes around, they store all the prey they've worked together to get and share the stash throughout the season!

That's what I've seen anyways...

[MireyaDC]

Username + ID || MireyaDC + 1046878
Sign-up Post Link || LINK
Word Count || 290
Prompt ||

Since Fringilla's clan (tribe as they call themselves) lives in a evergreen forest, with a subtropical climate, the seasons operate differently from more seasonal territories. Summer is very hot and dry, while winter brings cooler, but not frizzing at all, more pleasant temperatures and the long-awaited rains.

The winds bring layers of low clouds (stratocumulus) that form the Sea of ​​Clouds. This is the main source of fresh water in the island, with horizontal rain watering the monteverde and laurel forests it envelops and discharging its rain onto the lands below.

In summer, this layer of clouds is usually found at altitudes lower than the clan camp and rarely reaches them with any moisture for plants. These are dry times, hard on vegetation, and explorers must travel longer distances to find food. But in autumn, the clouds begin to gain height, filling everything with mist, mist that deposits drops on the leaves of plants, on the trunks and the ground, beginning to water the driest forests. And when winter arrives, they have clouds above them, cool shade, and rain. The times of greatest abundance of the year.

That's why they celebrate autumn arrival and the incoming winter wholeheartedly, because it means better temperatures, more drinking water, more plants, and with it, more animals to hunt. They celebrate for just three days, right on the equinox, usually with the mist spoiling the festivities a bit, but it doesn't matter too much. They usually collect many sticks and branches, make towers with them, decorate them, and have lots of torches or bonfires and dances.

They also stockpile dry wood in dry caves before the rains come, so that when they need a fire, they won't find themselves with nothing dry to burn.

[changeling.]

Username + ID || changeling. + 756856
Sign-up Post Link || here
Word Count || 377 words
Prompt ||
The chriin of Hsiin’al are creative creatures, and ones who enjoy celebrating often, especially when it comes to subjects related to the natural world. Thus, fall marks an important time for them. When the leaves begin to change color and fall, there’s a tradition where chriin gather as many as possible from the ground. With the group having many artistic chriin, they may select leaves for themselves for use in projects of sewing, crafting, painting, etc. When that’s done, the remaining leaves are burnt in a bonfire that’s also used to prepare food— some of which is eaten, and the rest of which is preserved and added to stores for the coming winter. This bonfire represents the change in seasons as well as the changes in life, burning away the past and allowing the sparks of it to join the Stars Above.

Relatedly, the most prominent religious belief among chriin of Hsiin’al is of the Before and the After, or the Stars Above and the Roots Below. The Before, or the Roots Below, represents the future and the chriin yet to be born, and are typically imagined as faceless, amorphous, chriin-shaped beings if characterized— after all, they don’t yet exist, so there’s no knowing who these beings will become. The After, or the Stars Above, represents the past and those who came before, and when characterized are portrayed as chriin from history or passed family/loved ones. This religious belief is very heavily tied to change and transitions, so it’s no surprise that it arises often during autumn traditions and celebrations. Most focus on ties to the upcoming future changes, but others may linger on the past and take this time to pay respects to their history and the person they used to be.

Because of its symbolism as a period of transition, autumn is usually considered by chriin to be the end of the previous year and the beginning of the next one. Serious decisions and life changes are considered around this time, as many hope that the coming year will see them becoming a different person for the better. Towards the end of fall, it’s not uncommon for families to form, bondings between partners to occur, or for children to be planned to be born then.

[jun10r]

Username + ID || jun10r + 1050173
Sign-up Post Link || here
Word Count || 290
Prompt ||

with shadeclan's territory consisting of a tall dense forest whose leaves protect the cats from the harsh greenleaf sun, when these leaves begin to fall shadeclan cats thank their ancestors for blessing them during greenleaf. this gratitude kicks off all the activities and celebrations associated with the new season. the grandest of them being in the middle of the season, the night of stars.
at the first sign of leaffall shadeclan hunters start to work overtime to ensure the freshkill pile is well stocked. this is done for two reasons, one the obvious with the colder season approaching prey will be harder to come by and the second, the grand feast.
the gardeners shift their focus towards picking flowers instead of tending to herbs. these flowers get collected to be paw-woven into different accessories, flower crows, necklaces, bracelets, and more.
moving closer to the night of stars, apprentices start pushing together leaves to create different sizes of leaf piles with random items hidden in them. the piles are used for a game called litter that's played by older kits, apprentices and warriors. a simple for fun game where the winner only receives bragging rights.
despite all the fun activities associated with the night of stars, the true meaning of the night can be a little melancholic. with the season bringing the death of flora and hiding of fauna, shadeclan cats use this season to celebrate life. mourning their ancestors is part of it but they do their best to focus on the present, who they have, what they have, the simple joys of life. it's a time for all cats no matter their age to get together and have fun. it's a reminder to appreciate everything they have around them.

[knickknacks]

Username + ID || knickknacks + 815546
Sign-up Post Link || xxx
Word Count || 264
Prompt ||

The seasons of salted stone vary greatly by region. In the mountains of Essemin, their warmest season is naught but a temporary reprieve from the snowcaps that otherwise bury them. In the forests of Akivya, the autumn and winter chills may as well not exist, for all the unchanging humidity of the jungles. Pidge's home is much more temperate, leaning to the colder side- nestled among the foothills that mark the transition from desert to mountains, she is used to the dry and cold, with the harvest months marking a time of transition indeed. There are those who stubbornly coax farms and crops where there should be none, and this season of scant abundance- nothing to the fertile damp of the southern regions beyond the desert, but all they have to gain- is marked by frenzied business. Pidge swears that sometimes even less is eaten, despite the proliferation of crops, as all efforts go to havesting, preparing, drying, storing- stocking up, so that if the winter is a hard one, they might be able to weather it. Some winters pass by mildly, and they then can enjoy the abundance without fear. But sometimes, storms from the north roll upon them without warning, and the dangers of being caught unprepared for such a season loom heavy over everyone's heads. Therefore, the autumn is marked by careful stewardship and a strict schedule- it is a season of plenty that cannot be touched, of things laid away for the future. Pidge prefers it to the cold, dark uncertainty of winter, but still it is not her favorite.

[Embergleam]

Username + ID || Embergleam #127087
Sign-up Post Link || Over here!
Word Count || 484 words
Prompt ||
Owlflight sat back on his haunches with a soft, "Hmmm." Given the current state of the sun- or, rather, the glaring lack thereof- he hadn't expected a question about seasonal celebrations. It made a certain kind of sense, though, in light of just who had called him here in the first place. Ceres and eir lot were apparently manifestations of the seasons. What else could they ask about?

Accepting the paper from The Assistant, Owlflight padded over to an appropriately out-of-the-way corner, dug a pencil out of his bag, and began to scribble a reply.

The cats of the Wake of Giants view autumn as a time of abundance, celebration, and preparation.

Abundance is likely self-explanatory; fall is when fruits ripen, nuts fall, and salmon run. Trying to individually gather such a bounty would be a nightmare, to say nothing of hideously boring. Instead the cats of the Wake turn it into a good-natured competition. Starting in the late summer cats form teams and devise strategies to gather the most in a single day. Then, the day after the first frost, the race is on! Teams are judged not only on the sheer amount of autumn's bounty they can collect, but on variety, quality, and rarity as well. A winning team is chosen for each category, awarded with a crown woven of autumn leaves and year-long bragging rights.

The most anticipated celebration is one shared with our otter and beaver allies. On the first full moon after the salmon run, cats, beavers, and otters alike gather on the riverbank for a grand feast to celebrate the end of the gathering season. Our amphibious allies provide all manner of fish, roots, tubers, and cooking apparati, while we provide all manner of fruits and nuts, as well as handling the actual cooking. The end result is a truly awe-inspiring mountain of food, each dish capturing a different flavor of the season.

(It goes without saying that everyone goes home with leftovers for days.)

The real 'celebrations' end with the Salmon Moon party, but the work certainly doesn't. The last moon or so of autumn is devoted to preparations for winter. Autumn's bounty is preserved- berries dried, salmon smoked, bark scraped and left to bleach in the sun, and so on. Beavers inspect the waterproofing on each den, patching any leaks with fresh branches and clay. Otters gather cattails in their hundreds. Not only are they an ideal food source for beavers, their fuzzy heads make ideal nest lining. By the time the storms of winter arrive in earnest, everyone is safely bedded down somewhere warm, safe, and dry to wait for spring.

That about summed it up. Owlflight gave his answer a last look-over, nodded approval, and rolled it into a scroll before depositing it in the indicated basket.

Hopefully that would be a good enough answer to satisfy the avatar of autumn!

[Kazin]

Username + ID || Kazin 3262
Sign-up Post Link || here
Word Count || 289 words
Prompt ||

TreeClan does not celebrate the coming of autumn, and they prefer to keep things subdued and low-key as seasons change. This is particularly due to the loss of the gardens that so many of TreeClan's gardeners and healers upkeep during the spring and summer, and it is the gardens that keep the clan healthy and provide the healers with necessary herbs for the cats in trouble. When the cold starts to decay the leaves and flowers of the gardens, all the cats feel a downturn of energy and they prefer to preserve what they can as the winter approaches.

Of course, that's not to say there aren't things the cats celebrate in autumn. Most of the cats in TreeClan regard autumn as the best season, despite the decay of the gardens, due to the changes. The colors of the various tree species that litter the forest are beautiful, giving the cats reason to thank the stars for their surroundings. The threat of drought decreases, something that the cats battle frequently throughout the dryer summers. And, as most agree, the heat starts to dissipate, leaving everyone feeling a lot better about being out in the forest or exploring new parts of the territory not covered by shade. So, while there is plenty that TreeClan chooses to mourn in autumn's approach and descent into winter, there are many who do celebrate quietly. A lot like the cover of night better than the bright sun, giving them better security and calmer attitudes. And, while it's not a good reason, there are those that quietly celebrate the retreat of the cats that still live with their humans, as they often leave sooner in the day to not be trapped by the night's darkness.

[feverrr]

Username + ID || feverrr + 412872
Sign-up Post Link || link
Word Count || 53 words
Prompt || autumn is a sacred time of balance and foresight. while the cats of the barrens honour the season’s final abundance, they must be careful not to squander it. rather than great feasts, the various groups hold rituals of gratitude and preparation, preserve what they can, and store supplies for the lean months ahead.