SuburbClanNumber of Cats: 16 | Next Rainbow Bridge Visit: Next post (appearance) | Pebbles: 50 | Mod: Hazilnut | Mod Notes: No deaths yet please! And instead of death rolls, when the time comes, roll for things like "owners move away" and "became an indoor only cat" please. Cats marked with a "✪" will be immune to leaving rolls. Cats marked with a "Ø" have been spayed/neutered.{
Proof of winning Phantomstep}
Squirrelcall lay in her nest, replaying the events of the Gathering in her head over and over again. She'd met a handsome tom, Kash. The two had hit it off, and left the Gathering for some privacy and... ugh! It felt so right at the time, and Squirrelcall had been absolutely smitten with Kash. But then they had to leave with their respective Clans, and she had no idea where to find him again. She had broken the Warrior Code, and now she was left with the consequences. Consequences that would take a life of their own all too soon.
"Hey Squirrelcall, are you awake? We've already eaten, and we're ready to go." Liontuft peered over the side of the nest, concern on his face.
"I'm fine, I'll eat when we get to camp." She stood up and quickly trotted to the cat door leading outside. Her family followed her, and while the three of them spent the trip to camp chatting idly with each other Squirrelcall was still wrapped up in her thoughts.
I have to tell Angelstar. They'll find out eventually, and there's no tom in Clan who could feasibly be the father.When the quad arrived at camp, Squirrelcall ignored the fresh-kill pile and headed straight to the leader's den, where Angelstar was lying on their side, grooming themself. "Angelstar, I need to tell you something."
Angelstar sat up straight and made room for Squirrelcall to sit down next to them. "Sit down, make yourself comfortable! What's going on?"
Squirrelcall sat down awkwardly, put off by Angelstar's friendliness. "I'm... pregnant. And the father is from another Clan." She looked away shamefully.
Angelstar tilted their head in confusion. "That's all? Well congratulations! Er, wait, that might have been rude if you didn't want to have kits. You do want to have kits, right?"
"Well, yes, I want kits, but I shouldn't have broken the Warrior Code like that," she mewed, baffled.
"Who cares?!" Angelstar exclaimed. "That's a dumb rule. I wasn't planning on announcing it like this, but I'm expecting kits too, and the sire's not from SuburbClan. And Spookythorn got an outsider molly pregnant, and she's gonna bring the kits over here when they're born. We're planning on raising our kits together."
Squirrelcall looked on in stunned silence. Angelstar wasn't finished.
"So we're going to be staying in the nursery together! Nursery buddies!" Angelstar quickly composed themself. "Anyway, I'll let you tell the Clan however you want about your pregnancy. You're free to go, you're not in trouble at all."
Stumbling out of the leader's den, Squirrelcall was greeted by the faces of her family.
"You've been acting strange all day," mewed Bloomwhisker.
"Whatever's happened, you can tell us too," Liontuft added.
"Follow me to somewhere more private." Squirrelcall led the three to a secluded corner of camp. "I'm pregnant," she whispered.
"More cousins!" Featherpaw exclaimed, then he whispered, "Do you know how many yet?"
Squirrelcall shook her head, suppressing laughter. "I don't think I'll know until they're born."
Liontuft shifted uncomfortably. "Be careful, I don't want to lose you too. Make sure you eat enough - don't think I didn't notice you took nothing from the fresh-kill pile."
Nodding seriously, Squirrelcall replied, "I promise I'll take good care of myself." She turned to look at Bloomwhisker, who hadn't said anything yet. "Bloomwhisker, I want you to know that I will never love you any less than this litter. You will always be my firstborn, even though I didn't give birth to you."
Bloomwhisker burst into laughter. "I was never worried about any of that! I just... I'm gonna be a big sister!" She darted over and nuzzled Squirrelcall's belly. "Do you hear me little siblings? I'm your big sister Bloomwhisker and I'm gonna be the cool one when our mom is too strict!"
Too relieved to reprimand her, Squirrelcall collapsed into a laughing fit. Everything was going to be fine - her family was happy, her leader was on her side. If only Kash was here, she could tell him how well everything was going with his first litter.
---
Liontuft paced in front of the cat door. Ashglow said this was the den where "that weirdo who cares too much about plants" lived. Apparently he was new to twolegplace, and knew about herbs.
A wrinkled, furless face poked out of the flap. "Do you mind pacing somewhere else?" he growled. "You're getting on my nerves."
"Oh!" Liontuft jumped up, startled. "I was waiting for you to come out, actually. My name's Liontuft, I come from SuburbClan. I've been told you know about medicinal herbs, is this true?"
The hairless tom's expression shifted. For a moment, he almost seemed wistful. "A Clan huh. So what if I know about herbs? I'm not leaving my housefolk, if that's what you were going to ask."
Shaking his head, Liontuft replied, "No, no. SuburbClan cats meet during the day, and return to our housefolk at night. If that lifestyle is to your taste though, could you please join? We desperately need a medicine cat." Not giving the hairless tom a chance to speak, Liontuft continued. "My sister and our leader are both expecting kits, and if something goes wrong the cutter won't be there to help them. You could be the one to save their lives. So please, please! Join our Clan!"
Rolling his eyes, the other tom replied, "Fine, fine. But I'm not joining for you, or your kin, or your leader. Name's Hatshepsut, by the way. Nice of you to ask.
---
"Angelstar!" came Ashglow's sing-songy voice from camp.
"She's late," Squirrelcall remarked dryly.
"Spookythorn can handle it. He's in charge for now, she should know that." Angelstar shifted around in their nest, trying to get more comfortable. The moss was a bit too dry, and they made a mental note to tell Spookythorn to take Featherpaw moss gathering.
As if on cue, Spookythorn entered the nursery. "Ashglow
insists on talking to you personally," he sighed. "It's not bad, but she's just being a pain in the tail. Do you mind helping me out here?"
They shook their head. "Not at all." Angelstar followed Spookythorn out of the nursery, and saw Ashglow standing near camp entrance, with three cats they didn't recognize. A grey/cream caliby, a white cat, and a brown tabby. The white and brown cats were making paw, ear, and tail motions that Angelstar couldn't follow, while the caliby was looking around anxiously.
"Angelstar, honey! So glad you could make time for me. I've brought three new Clanmates!" Ashglow beamed with pride, but Angelstar knew there was something self-serving about this whole situation.
"Ashglow, I don't need you to recruit for me. That's normally my job, and right now it's Spookythorn's job." Angelstar spoke calmly, but firmly.
"But Liontuft recruited Hatshepsutshine! How was that different?" Ashglow snapped. "I was just trying to help."
"Liontuft found something we overlooked, and found us a medicine cat," Spookythorn interjected. "And I had a talk with him about coming to us first with his concerns. Please meet me in the leader's den after we greet the newcomers, I need you to understand where I'm coming from."
Ashglow stormed away to the leader's den, and Angelstar turned their attention to the newcomers.
"Sorry about that, rough first impression. I'm Angelstar, the leader, and this is the deputy Spookythorn, who's currently in charge while I'm expecting my first litter. Might I have your names?"
Nervous as she was, the caliby spoke first. "I'm Patch," she mumbled. "This is Willow, and this is Snowy," she added, gesturing to the brown molly and white tom respectively. "They don't speak - Snowy is deaf, and both are mute. They can sign to each other, but I can't understand it." The two stopped signing and flicked their tails in greeting before resuming their conversation.
Angelstar let Spookythorn make sure they were aware of what Clan life was like, and that they'd have to take on new names.
"I'd like to be Patchbird, please."
Willow signed back and forth with Snowy for a bit, and then walked over to Spookythorn. She put a paw over her chest, and then over a root. "Willowroot?" he asked, and she nodded. She then pointed her paw at Snowy, and kicked up a small cloud of dust. "And Snowydust?" She nodded again, and walked back over to Snowydust, resuming signing with him.
"I think everything's settled here," Angelstar told Spookythorn. "I'm going to return to the nursery. Oh! And next time you take Featherpaw out, do you mind gathering some moss? My nest is getting dried out."
---
All four of the new recruits were settling in nicely. While Hatshepsutshine mostly kept to himself, he'd made sure to check up regularly on Angelstar and Squirrelcall, and had already stocked up on kitting herbs. Patchbird was coming out of her shell, proving to be almost as much as a chatterbox as Ashglow. And though Willowroot and Snowydust did not speak feline, they were getting along quite well with their new Clanmates despite the language barrier - and the language barrier was already beginning to collapse, as Willowroot had already begun teaching the Clan some basic signs.
As Spookythorn led his patrol along the border, he caught sight of a tom whose ribs jutted out through his brown tabby pelt. "Excuse me, are you alright?" he called out.
The tom looked at the patrol, startled. "Uh, no, not particularly."
Spookythorn gestured for the tom to come closer. "You look like you could use a good meal. Follow me." To the rest of the patrol, he said, "Go on without me."
Confusion in his eyes, the young tom obeyed, and Spookythorn led him to SuburbClan camp. The stranger wolfed down an entire squirrel, then said, "Name's Sundae, by the way."
"Sundae? That's a kittypet name. What happened to your housefolk?" By now other cats had started slowly meandering into camp to see what was going on, but Spookythorn kept his attention on Sundae.
"I... I left them. I hated how they treated me. They always made me wear stupid pelts, and they'd pick me up and carry me around the den like a mother with her kit. I thought I could make it as a loner, but..." He looked away.
"Well, you're welcome to stay with us as long as you like. Just keep in mind we're only here during the day, so at night you'll be alone," said Spookythorn.
Sundae tilted his head. "Where do you go at night?"
"Home, to our housefolk. We're both kittypets and warriors." Quickly, Spookythorn explained SuburbClan to Sundae.
"I want to join! Can I be Sundaewhisker?" the skinny tom exclaimed.
Spookythorn chuckled. "Of course. Are you going to return to your housefolk?"
Sundaewhisker shrugged. "I miss them terribly, to be quite honest. But I don't like how they treat me."
"You've got to stand up for yourself!" Tigerstrike butted into the conversation. "Growl, hiss - even scratch them!"
"That's... not bad advice." Spookythorn couldn't bring himself to punish the tom for his enthusiasm and compassion. "Have you tried doing that before?"
"No, I never dreamed of hurting my housefolk, but maybe that's what it'll take to get them to understand."
"Tonight, go home. I'm sure your housefolk have been worried sick about you. And in the morning, tell us how it went."
Sundaewhisker nodded, and went to fetch more food from the fresh-kill pile.
---
Phantom sat on her porch, and waited. For a couple moons now, she'd watched the Clan cats travel to and from their camp, and eavesdropped on their conversations. Tonight she was finally going to make her move.
Down the thunderpath, she could see the coming pair of cats, a black one and a white one. They were chatting merrily, though they weren't yet close enough for Phantom to make out the words.
I'm gonna do it, she thought.
No hesitation, just go! She ran from her porch and skidded to a stop in front of the duo. "HicanIjoinyourClan?" she blurted out before panic overtook her. "I'm sorry, I should go..." She turned to leave before the white cat spoke.
"No, no! It's fine, of course you can join! What's your name?" They spoke very soothingly, and Phantom felt a bit more at ease.
"My name's Phantom. I know you're Angelstar and Spookythorn. I... listen to you guys talk every day when you pass through here," she confessed.
Spookythorn laughed dryly. "A little spy! Quite fitting of your name."
Angelstar glared at Spookythorn. "Quiet, don't mock her!" To Phantom, they asked, "How much do you know of Clan life?"
The three cats spoke at length, Angelstar and Spookythorn telling Phantom the things she hadn't managed to figure out from eavesdropping.
"I'd like to be Phantomstep," the black and white molly mewed decisively.
"Excellent! We'll come pick you up tomorrow morning and take you to camp," Angelstar replied.
SuburbClan eats 2 wet food (4 servings)
Liontuft, Bloomwhisker, Phantomstep, Snowydust, Willowroot, and Patchbird go hunting
Ashglow, Tigerstrike, Tuxleap, Biscuitstripe, and Sundaewhisker patrol the borders
Hatshepsutshine gathers herbs
Spookythorn trains Featherpaw
Squirrelcall is due in 2 moons
Angelstar is due in 2 moons
Boudicca is due in 2 moons 
