by Cradily » Tue Oct 06, 2020 2:52 pm
(I'm back, let me know if I missed anything! Sorry for the long post, had a lot to catch up on lol)
OakClan
The hustle and bustle of clan life outside had awoken Riverstripe a little later than he would've liked. He had always been an early riser, but perhaps that had also been in part since he had often had a lot on his mind and consequently had trouble sleeping. For some reason, he'd slept better the past couple of moons--he was sure that was in part due to leaf-bare drawing to a close and newleaf settling in. Cold weather and lack of prey was enough to keep any cat up, after all. But two moons ago he had also received Falconpaw, one of Beestar's two sons, as his apprentice, and he wondered if perhaps that had something to do with it as well. Beestar had occupied more of his mind than he liked to admit, and he doubted he occupied as much of hers. But being given one of her two sons as an apprentice had boosted his confidence slightly, perhaps more than he'd realized. On top of that, Elmshade had been given Stormpaw as an apprentice, which meant that the two warriors got to spend more time together as they trained their apprentices together. Elmshade was a nice she-cat and Riverstripe had come to appreciate her quite a bit as a friend. She helped take his mind off of Beestar, and she was always pleasant to be around. Still, OakClan's leader was always there, in the back of the silver tabby's mind. It was her voice ringing throughout the clearing that made him wake up fully and hurry out of the den to find a place to sit to watch the ceremonies. Yes, that's right, it was an important day; Artemis, the kittypet who had joined OakClan six moons ago, was becoming a warrior, and Creamflower's kits would be becoming apprentices. He quickly spotted Elmshade and their apprentices amidst the crowd, and weaved his way through their clanmates to join them. "Sorry I'm late," he murmured quietly. "Did I miss much?" His eyes drifted to Beestar and Artemis. He hoped he hadn't missed the apprentice ceremonies of the three kits yet.
Tigerblaze's gaze was unreadable as it rested on the scene before him. His amber eyes were slightly slitted, but held the same seriousness that they always did, making it only as hard as normal to tell what he was thinking. He watched as Beestar leaped down from the High Branch and moved forward to meet Artemis, the kittypet who had helped saved Bearsong six moons ago--an impressive act for a kittypet, he'd admit, but one that would result in that same kittypet joining OakClan later on that very same day. Tigerblaze had never particularly liked her, much less the series of events that had led up to her joining the clan. Yes, she had saved Bearsong, but Bearsong wouldn't have needed saving if she hadn't been such a foolish apprentice, and she wouldn't have been such a foolish apprentice if Blizzardclaw had trained her better, or if she'd had another mentor entirely. Now, here they were, six moons later, with a former kittypet joining their ranks as a warrior. Tigerblaze didn't hate the she-cat, by any means, and she had surpassed his expectations; perhaps the only thing he and Beestar agreed on was that neither had expected the former kittypet to stick it out through those six moons without giving up. But still, if it had been Tigerblaze's decision, he never would've allowed it. A kittypet saving one of their own didn't grant that kittypet access to their territory or their way of life, as Artemis seemed to have thought it did when she wandered onto their territory moons ago, and allowing an outsider to join the clan was always risky. A soft she-cat like Artemis didn't pose a threat, but it was one more mouth they had to feed for a cat who most likely wouldn't be able to handle clan life in the end, resulting in a waste of time and energy spent on training the cat, not to mention food. Beestar was just lucky that Artemis had worked out. Now, as the apprentice was about to receive her warrior name, Tigerblaze's gaze drifted to his own former apprentice, Jackdawstrike, who was sitting with Splashfeather and Raccoontuft. The golden tabby couldn't help but feel a hint of pride when he looked at the tom he had trained. Jackdawstrike was a good warrior, strong in body as well as mind. Tigerblaze's training had paid off.
Sunflare could hardly suppress an amused purr at his kits' excitement, especially Poppykit's. The little white-and-ginger tom's energy had only increased the more he'd grown, and Sunflare was sure that whichever cat was chosen to mentor him would have their paws full. Dustkit, on the other paw, had yet to come out of her shell. Although not quite as shy as she used to be, she was still rather reserved, and tended to keep to herself. Sunflare often had to gently remind Poppykit not to talk over her, and he wasn't sure how the brother and sister had come to be such polar opposites despite being born and raised together. And then there was Fawnkit, the little tom-kit Tigerblaze had found and brought back to camp six moons ago. The senior warrior often went out to hunt by himself in the middle of the night or early in the morning when it was still dark out, something Sunflare also always thought a bit strange, but ever since it resulted in him finding Fawnkit, the long-furred tom was beyond grateful. The thought of the poor little kit being all alone in the forest at night, freezing to death or being picked up by an owl or some other vicious predator, was enough to make Sunflare's heart break a little, and he instinctively leaned down to give his adopted son a lick on the head. Fawnkit was as much his and Creamflower's kit as Poppykit and Dustkit were, no matter if they shared blood or not, and Sunflare couldn't imagine their family without him now. His attention was drawn back to Poppykit as the energetic little tom shifted restlessly from paw to paw before asking Creamflower if it was almost his turn. "Don't worry, your turn is coming," he assured Poppykit with a purr, ruffling the fur on the top of his son's head with a paw. He knew that his two sons could hardly wait to become warriors, much less apprentices, while Dustkit seemed more than willing to wait. She had been more than content to stay in the nursery that morning, only finally coming out when the rest of her family had. Sunflare assumed she was simply nervous and would get over it, but it was hard to tell at times. He was about to check on his daughter when she began speaking to her brothers, in a voice too quiet for Sunflare to hear, and decided to let her be for the time being. Turning to Creamflower, he brushed his muzzle against hers with a purr. "I'm so proud of our kits--and you. They wouldn't have gotten this far if it wasn't for you. It feels like just yesterday they were tiny little scraps of fur!"
Dustkit watched the warrior ceremony taking place ahead of them with wide eyes. Anticipation wormed nervously in her stomach and crawled like ants beneath her pelt, and she willed the ceremony to go on a little longer, if only to put off her own for a few more moments. She just didn't feel ready. She didn't know many of the warriors that well, and the thought of her messing something up and making her mentor mad at her was enough to make her want to hide her face in her mother's fur. But, of course, she couldn't do that anymore, so instead she turned to her brothers, her only source of comfort aside from their parents. Although Fawnkit wasn't her brother by blood, the tom-kit had been brought into her family at such a young age that she could hardly remember a time without him. "I don't know about this," she murmured, in a voice almost too quiet to be heard. "What if we're not ready?" She looked from Poppykit to Fawnkit, hoping to catch a glimpse of the same worry she felt in their eyes. She thought she could detect some nervousness in them as well, but it seemed overshadowed by excitement. Dustkit had been too nervous to even take a bite of food before the ceremony began, and the mixture of anxiety and hunger pangs made for a rather unpleasant feeling in her stomach, but there was no way she could force herself to eat, even if it meant she'd be weak from hunger later on.
Splashfeather's muscles relaxed as they settled into a sunny patch to watch the ceremony. She waved her tail in greeting to Raccoontuft when the she-cat joined her and Jackdawstrike, and rolled her eyes at the tom's remark of how he hoped the queens would have more kits soon. "Maybe you should find a she-cat and do your part, then," she joked, flicking her tail across her friend's muzzle before turning her attention back to the ceremony in front of them. She was proud of Artemis; she had always been grateful to the she-cat for saving Bearsong all those moons ago, and although she'd initially had some doubts as to whether the then-kittypet could handle clan life, Artemis had quickly done away with those doubts. Now her six moons of hard work and training had finally paid off, and she would be recognized as an official warrior of OakClan. "She seems like a Sparrowheart to me," she murmured when her denmates were discussing what their new denmate's name would be. "Or maybe...an Alderstorm?"
EagleClan
Southstar watched the ceremony from his den, wincing at the pain in his shoulder as he tried to straighten up. He had been attacked by a hawk several days earlier, and although he hadn't been anywhere near losing a life, he had been left with some nasty wounds, especially on his shoulder, which had been wrenched out of place on top of being struck by the hawk's thorn-sharp talons. He was only grateful it hadn't been worse; greencough had already claimed one of his lives six moons ago as well as the lives of several of his clanmates. He still remembered with sadness the deaths of Reedwhisker, Silverstream, and their kits not long after they had become apprentices. Southstar attributed Russetswirl's recovery to a miracle by StarClan; he figured they must have had mercy on him for having served them all those moons as a medicine cat, and knew it wouldn't be fair to take him right when he got the chance to have a family of his own and choose his own path. Daydream, too, had either been extremely lucky or extremely blessed by StarClan to have never caught the illness despite being in contact with so many sick cats. But as grateful as Southstar was to have not lost his medicine cat, the thought of Daydream made his pelt prickle slightly, as it had been since the birth of Foxcloud's kits. Ever since it had been made known that Deertail wasn't the father, Southstar noticed Daydream growing increasingly closer with Foxcloud and her kits, practically taking up the role of a father figure and even going as far as to allow the kits to call him such. He couldn't blame Daydream for wanting a family, especially when he saw his former mentor, the only cat who had ever been able to relate to that aspect of his life, starting a family of his own. But tensions were already high between Foxcloud and Deertail, as well as between Deertail and nearly every other tom in the clan, and Southstar didn't want them growing any higher. Southstar knew that Daydream wasn't the father, but nobody else knew that, and one might as well assume he was based on the way he acted. It would be bad enough if rumors circulated within the clan, but even worse if they reached OakClan's ears. Southstar had let it slide the past couple of moons, but now that the kits were out of the nursery, he knew he would have to have a word with Daydream about distancing himself from the kits--and from Foxcloud. Southstar still felt anger towards the she-cat for having lied to him all those moons ago, and while he could never regret the birth of their kits, he didn't want another tom falling into the ginger she-cat's trap, especially not his medicine cat. Besides, it wasn't fair for her to have cheated on and lied to her mate, only to receive love and support from another tom while Deertail was left depressed and alone. Guilt still pricked at Southstar's heart as a tiny voice told him, This is your fault, too, but he pushed it away. He knew he'd had a part to play in all of this as well, but if only Foxcloud had been honest with him, it never would've gotten this far...right? But memories of Honey resurfaced and made him question himself. Honey hadn't had a mate--that he'd known of, anyway--but his relations with her had still been forbidden at worst and unwise at best. And yet, as with Foxcloud, and more recently Stagleap, he couldn't regret anything that gave birth to the kits he had now. Even if he couldn't raise them, even if he could only ever watch them from a distance, and even if he often felt guilty looking at them, knowing that nobody else knew how many kits in the clan were his, he could never wish them out of existence. That very day, five of those kits would be becoming apprentices; four from Foxcloud, one from Honey. Whereas the thought of Foxcloud simply irked Southstar, the thought of Honey made him feel sick to his stomach. He'd known on some level that the last night he'd seen her would be the last, but he'd always hoped it wouldn't be. Occasionally he still passed by her home, hoping to catch a glimpse of her just one last time, if only to assure him that she was alive and well. But he never did. He knew something had happened to the she-cat, and he knew that she had known something was going to happen to her that night--but the fact that he didn't know what made his pelt prickle uncomfortably every time he thought about it. But he shook the thoughts away. Today was a new day, a good day. Today was the day his kits became apprentices, and whatever had happened with or to the kits' mothers, he was still as proud as he could be. His only regret was not being able to handle their ceremonies himself due to his injury, but he had discussed the arrangements with Streamspot prior to that day, and he trusted her to handle everything just fine.
Littleflower beamed when her name was called. She had been wanting an apprentice for a while, and although she'd tried not to get her hopes up too much in case she wasn't chosen, she had been observing the kits in the nursery from afar and trying to get to know them here and there in the hopes that she would be assigned one when it was time for them to become apprentices. Swiftbadger was chosen to mentor Redpaw as well, which worried her somewhat. She didn't want him to feel pressured to train their apprentices together just because they were siblings, but she decided to push the worry out of her mind for now. She was too excited to finally have her own apprentice to focus on that. She bounded up to meet Brightpaw, who looked equally excited as she bounded up to meet her halfway, and gently touched noses with the calico. "Hi, Brightpaw," she purred. "We're going to get along great."
Nightwish had a hard time focusing on the apprentices' ceremony. She'd had a hard time focusing on most things lately. The death of her first apprentice, Gingerpaw, had hit her hard, and although it was six moons ago by now, she still wasn't entirely over it. As if that wasn't enough, around that same time it had been revealed that Deertail's kits weren't actually Deertail's, and ever since then Daydream had stepped up to take the place of the kits' father, which meant not only spending more time and growing closer with them, but with Foxcloud as well. It made Nightwish very uncomfortable, to say the least, and distressed her on multiple levels. It kept her up at night more than she would ever admit, and a few bad dreams had even woken her up on several occasions. What was she supposed to think? None of the kits particularly resembled Daydream, but who was to know for sure? No other tom seemed to be very close to Foxcloud or visit the nursery nearly as much as Daydream did. And when she thought about it, Nightwish had noticed a few times prior to the kits' birth that Daydream and Foxcloud seemed to be rather close friends. It had bothered her slightly then, but far more now. Even if Daydream wasn't the kits' father--the thought of him being so made her sick to her stomach--he must have known how it looked to others, the implications it would have. He was the medicine cat, for StarClan's sake, and he was allowing these kits to call him their father! Even if he wasn't their biological father, didn't that still break the code somehow? He might as well have adopted them, and as far as she knew, medicine cats weren't allowed to adopt kits any more than they were allowed to have them themselves. How could Southstar allow this? But she knew, deep down, that it wasn't whether or not Daydream broke the medicine cat code that truly bothered her; it was how close he was to Foxcloud, to her kits, and the possibility that he could actually be the father. The more she thought about it, the more sick it made her feel--so she tried not to think about it. She tried to distract herself as much as she could, going on as many patrols as she was allowed, or until she was too tired to go on any more. Hearing that Messfur was being sent to lead a patrol, Nightwish immediately rose to her paws and bounded over to him. "Morning, Messfur," she mewed politely, dipping her head to him. "Is it okay if I join you?"
Darkclaw was still feeling groggy, even though he'd been awake for quite a while now. He'd only been half-focusing on the ceremonies that had taken place, and, if he was honest, he wasn't entirely interested in them anyway. It was incredibly unlikely that he'd be chosen as a mentor, something he didn't even want to be, and he couldn't exactly share their excitement at becoming apprentices either. He'd be lying if he said his apprenticeship had been bad--it hadn't been. Deertail had trained him well, as much as he didn't want to see it at times. But the fact of the matter was that he hadn't been on the greatest terms with his mentor, and Darkclaw knew that was partly, if not entirely, his own fault. Deertail had been a fine mentor, but Darkclaw hadn't been satisfied with that, and that had caused tension between the two for the remainder of his apprenticeship. Towards the end had been especially hard, as that had been when Deertail discovered that his mate had cheated on him and his kits were not his own. It had made Darkclaw feel worse than he'd ever let on or expected to. 'I should have just let him be happy while he still could.' Even if Darkclaw already had a pessimistic view on families, he had never truly expected Foxcloud to do such a thing to Deertail. But she had, and it had practically ruined Deertail. If there had ever been a time for the dark-furred tom to gloat, to rub it in his then-mentor's face about how families always let you down, about how one was better off alone, to say that Deertail should've spent more time with him....then that was the time. And yet Darkclaw couldn't bring himself to. All of his anger towards Deertail had evaporated in that moment and was replaced with pangs of guilt and pity that Darkclaw had never expected to feel, and it had made the last two moons of his apprenticeship the hardest yet, far harder than any before, as his mentor had been suffering the whole time. He'd wanted to comfort him, to say he was sorry, but he could never find the words; and now that Darkclaw was a warrior and no longer Deertail's apprentice, he felt he had lost his chance. He was never good at talking, but even worse at reconciling. On top of that, he'd been feeling...weird, lately. Every now and then, when he looked at certain cats, he got strange inklings or feelings about them, but for what reason he didn't know. It was as if he was forgetting something--or as if he was supposed to know something, but didn't quite know what yet. It was a strange, inexplicable feeling that he had no idea how to describe to others, and so he didn't. But still it bothered him. It was the sound of Deertail's name being called by Streamspot that pulled Darkclaw out of his thoughts, and he blinked in surprise, wondering if he'd heard right. Deertail? Mentor Eveningpaw, the kit of the cat who had cheated on him? Was Southstar, or Streamspot, or whoever had made that decision insane? That would drive Deertail mad! As Darkclaw watched his former mentor walk up to briefly touch noses with his new apprentice, his fur bristled slightly, but he forced it to lie flat. Why was he angry? Was it on Deertail's behalf, out of jealousy, or a mixture of both? Darkclaw couldn't be sure, but it didn't matter. He was nothing to Deertail now, just another clanmate. The two didn't have any sort of relationship. Suppressing a sigh as the meeting came to an end, Darkclaw rose to his paws and was prepared to go hunt by himself when he spotted Quiverheart not far off. He hesitated at first. The two weren't close; Darkclaw wasn't close with anyone, but in that moment he wasn't sure if he wanted to be alone either. Finally, he padded up to her and mewed a small greeting. "Hey, Quiverheart. You, uh, want to go hunting?" His tail tip twitched awkwardly behind him.
Eveningpaw had been waiting with bated breath since the moment the meeting started to hear who her mentor would be, so when it was announced that it would be Deertail, the breath caught in her throat. She didn't know Deertail very well, but she knew that he didn't like her, her siblings, or her mother, and she knew on some level why. No one had ever fully explained it to her, but she'd picked up on bits and pieces of things her clanmates said here and there and pieced them together as best she could. Was it some mistake? As Deertail padded up to meet her, she stood rooted to the ground, her tail tucked between her legs. She barely reacted as he touched noses with her--she barely had a chance to, for the touch had lasted only a second before the tom had turned tail and stalked away. She wasn't sure if she should be hurt or relieved that he'd left so quickly. As the meeting came to an end, Eveningpaw looked around, wondering if she should talk to someone about this, either her family or the deputy herself. But she had barely risen to her paws when Deertail reappeared at her side and growled for her to follow him, not even bothering to cast a glance in her direction. Instinctively she padded after him, afraid he'd snap at her if she didn't. She remained silent the whole time, her gaze on her paws.
Throughout all of his littermates' shenanigans that morning, Emberkit had stuck to his mother's side, trying to catch a few more minutes of sleep despite the ruckus his siblings were making. He knew Acornspots liked to know where he was at all times anyway, and besides, he wasn't as rambunctious as Pinekit or Applekit. But when the warmth of his mother disappeared and Willowkit's urgent mew hit his ears, his eyes finally fluttered open and he scrambled to his paws. "It's okay," he attempted to comfort his sisters as he followed them out of the den with a yawn. "I'm sure everyone is close by..."
