Username: All Along Watchtower
Cat Name: Marblefrost
Gender: Molly
Rank: Messenger
Clan: Clan of the Sea BreezeAge: 45 moons
Kitty trying out for: #950Prompt: It is a messenger's duty to travel. Sometimes this meant carrying messages from patrols back to camp, but Heatherstar's main intent had always been for them to establish communication with other clans, other cats. Messengers, when they could be spared, were sent out into the world, a beacon to bear the light and knowledge of their clan. Their travels may take them far from their home, but always,
always, they return.
This, Marblefrost knows. Perched in the mountains, high above the world, she knows it. But home now feels further away than it ever has.
She runs through the directions in her head. North, south, east, west. The sun rises in the east, sets in the west. The sun overhead is still rising and slightly in the east, which gives her a bit of direction at least. The island was south.
But even as she travels dead south, she wonders: what would she do if the island wasn't directly south?
It's taken days, weeks of travel for her to come as far as she has. Haywing knew how to ride the rails, where they all went, and so she'd thought to give it a try - but now she's hopelessly knotted up, and has no idea where she is. The island could be miles to the east or west, and she'd be none the wiser. Even if she traveled dead south to the coast (for surely she'd reach the coast sometime), what then? Which way should she turn, and what would she do if she was much further down the coast than she'd expected?
Halfway down the mountain, she hatches a plan - or, at least the inklings of one. Perhaps, since she'd ridden the rails here, she could simply ride her way back retrace her steps?
It was a horrible plan, but the best idea she had. Days later, she finally admits defeat as she staggers out of a stopped car, somewhere on the coast but definitely not at her home station. She wanders to the cliffsides at the coast, lays her head at the ledge, and miserably wonders if her clan will send Haywing to find her, or if they'll give her up for lost. She has failed. She has failed as a messenger-
Wait.
A thought hits her suddenly, making her almost giddy, and she races back to the town. It doesn't take long to find the local strays and start gossiping. "Yes," mews one, "There's been some talk of a weird group of cats who settled on an island, oh, a ways down the coast."
"Which way?" Marblefrost asks, near vibrating out of her pelt. The old cat she'd been talking to shrugs.
"Thataway, I guess, to the east, but - hey now! That could be over a week's journey away!"
But Marblefrost doesn't care. A week to a normal cat could be days to a messenger, and right now, the only thing that's important is getting
home.Username: All Along Watchtower
Cat Name: Soren
Gender: NB (he/they)
Rank: Factory Cat
Clan: The FactoryAge: ~5 years
Kitty trying out for: #842Prompt: Soren's best friend is actually his family's pet dog! Despite the usual language barriers, the two learned to understand each other, and while they weren't always the best match behavior-wise, they were still the best friends they could be. There's probably countless pictures on his human's computer (taken from digital camera, never those silly new phone cameras) of the two sleeping side by side in the same bed, eating from the same food dish, the dog trying to climb Soren's cat tree or Soren playing with the dog's toys. There's even pictures of Soren grooming the dog!
Unfortunately, liking Soren did not mean that their best friend was cat-friendly in general - leaving Soren with a dilemma as they try to help the Factory cats. They want their best friend to still be around when the humans return, but... how can they do that while keeping the other cats safe?
Username: All Along Watchtower
Cat Name: Leafbrush
Gender: NB (they/them)
Rank: Hunter
Clan: Clan of the Sea BreezeAge: 32 moons
Kitty trying out for: #843Prompt: The compass glimmers golden in the light, black face with gold lines and lettering. Leafbrush doesn't understand it, doesn't know what it's for - but they found it, ages ago, when they were a kit. They don't know why they kept it then, but they do say that, every time they've had to make a decision in their life, it seems the arrow always points them in the right direction.
Not everyone in the clan is unfamiliar with compasses. A few recognize it for what it is, and those that do are somewhat confused by Leafbrush's insistence that it led them to the Clan of the Sea Breeze.
After all, compasses only ever point north. The clan is in the south.
Username: All Along Watchtower
Cat Name: Precious
Gender: Molly
Rank: Factory Cat
Clan: The FactoryAge: 26 moons
Kitty trying out for: #823Prompt:The silence is deafening.
You can try to avoid it all you wish. You can try to make your own noise to fill the void, but deep down - you always know when it is too quiet.
When a Presence has disappeared.
Precious knows her humans' morning routine. They never wake before 9AM, unless they're preparing for a trip or the phone rings early with one of the little jingles that tells them it's work. They have not been preparing for a trip. There has been no call.
There is silence in their bedroom. Not even breathing.
The day wears on. They don't wake up. They don't join her. They don't make breakfast, they don't feed her, they don't fill the home with their laughter and humming and
noise.
Precious forgets that she has no way out until her stomach starts rumbling, late in the evening. The thought that she could very well starve now is not what haunts and scares her throughout the day.
It is the being alone.
Username: All Along Watchtower
Cat Name: Pinepaw
Gender: Trans Tom
Rank: Apprentice
Clan: Clan of the Sea BreezeAge: 7 moons
Kitty trying out for: #795bPrompt:The first apprentice aged cat to the clan, and the apprentice of the clan's informal (though likely soon to be formal) deputy, Ternfeather, Pinepaw feels an enormous pressure on his back to be something
good. Which is why, any time he notices a clanmate is down, he'll do whatever he can to cheer them up! His tactics for the
how varies from clanmate to clanmate, and he takes note of preference - some ultimately prefer to be left alone, while others just want a comforting presence to snuggle up to them. Some like to have him tell jokes, or do goofy antics to catch their attention and distract them. Some just want someone to talk to, some about their problem and others about something that will take their mind off it. Some cats brighten up just watching him race around trying to help.
"A sweet kitten," they all think. "Let us all hope he does not burn himself out."
Username: All Along Watchtower
Cat Name: Rippleshade
Gender: Tom
Rank: Hunter
Clan: Clan of the Sea BreezeAge: (1 year or above)
Kitty trying out for: #820Prompt: Rippleshade's favorite green thing isn't so much one specific thing as it is - the entirety of the island's forest. He loves it there, the luscious blend of greens interspersed with other colors, the cool shade, the tropical plants, the carpeting of plant matter beneath his paws. It is the place that, more than anywhere else on the island, truly makes him feel like a
wild cat, and it's his favorite place to go on hunting patrols whenever possible.