[nightshyne]

what is this apprentice running from? their responsibilities? or maybe a predator? the prompt is open to interpretation! you may only write for this comp, but there is no word limit. this will be judged based on the answer to the prompt, not necessarily the length of your form.
this comp ends at cs rollover on July 23.

this cat can grow on august 5

Code: Select all

[b]Username:[/b]
[b]Cat Name:[/b]
[b]Gender:[/b]
[b]Rank:[/b]
[b]Clan:[/b] (Please link)
[b]Age:[/b] (not over 1 year)
[b]Prompt:[/b]

x
Name:
Gender:
Rank:
Clan:
Description: red classic tabby with low white and green eyes
Age:
Edits:
[nr] expression
[c] minimum fur edit
Owner:

[coffee.berry]

Username: coffee.berry
Cat Name: Orchidpaw > Orchidbloom
Gender: Female
Rank: Apprentice > Warrior
Clan: PeaceClan
Age: 8 moons
Prompt:

Why should Orchidpaw be running?

Because she'd done something that no one could ever find out about.

Unless they'd followed her.

Orchidpaw had always wanted to check out the twoleg home that looked so nice from the outside.

So she did. She ran over there while hunting, and she jumped over the fence, right into the garden.

"Hewo kitty!" a twoleg kit came and sat down beside Orchidpaw.
Orchidpaw saw right inside the kit's soul; it didn't want to hurt her.

So Orchidpaw jumped on it's lap happily, and the kit gave her a fish.

Then, Orchidpaw noticed some glowy green eyes peering under a bush..

Orchidpaw had no time to waste; she had to run!

She ran, and ran, back to her clan.

But Elkfrost had gotten there before her.

"YOU BETRAYED THE WARRIOR CODE! YOU ARE NOT A CLAN MEMBER ANYMORE!" her leader, Orangestar shouted.

"WE SHALL TAKE HER LIFE!" the cats chorused.

So Orchidpaw ran, and ran, into the forest.

She ran, and ran, up a snowy mountain.

No one would find her there. No one.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

EXTRA! EXTRA

"Hi, cat!" she heard a soft voice whisper.

"Hello?" Orchidpaw said.

"I'm Saltwater. You look scared, what happened?" Saltwater asked.

Orchidpaw told her everything!

"I'm so sorry..." Saltwater mewed sadly. "Hey! I have an idea. I can show you to my clan, and maybe a cat will be your foster parent?"

"That would be great!" Orchidpaw purred.

So, they went to the clan, and the cats welcomed her happily.

"I say that we should make Saltwater her foster mother!" Silverstar, her new leader, said.

Ghostfeather, the deputy, looked happy and nodded in agreement, and Saltwater licked Orchidpaw's nose.

Orchidpaw had stopped running. She found her home.

[SushiFoxx]

Username: SushiFoxx
Cat Name: The sparkling Copper (copper)
Gender: She-cat
Rank: Tumbling stone
Clan: https://toyhou.se/Sushifox/characters/folder:2328470
Age: 8 moons
Prompt:

Coppers mind whirled, it felt like the world was against her, chasing her. It all felt dark, she panicked looking around frantically. Her thoughts raced as she ran, she yelled at herself as she kept going wondering if this would ever end. The on going darkness with her crazy thoughts made her mind whirl. Why did she think this way? it always lead her to darkness, always lead her to running. Running from her thoughts,her mind. Why didn't she tell anybody? because she didn't wanna seem helpless of course. What if they kicked her out? what if they hated her? So many what ifs ran through her mind. she put her paws over her ears and sobbed helplessly from her thoughts. It looked so easy for others to stay happy! why couldn't she? She whined looking around the cave, seeing no other cat she just kept sobbing trying to get herself under control again. She shook out her fur as she stood up, and cleared her mind. It always felt as thought she was always running, running from something that could always out run her.

[/nyx.]

Username: /nyx.
Cat Name: Stratumpaw
Gender: male
Rank: Shansho Cadejo [exiled/traitor, fae incarnate]
Clan: CaladiumClan
Age: 10 moons
Prompt:

Who dares exile an apprentice? Someone who knew the truth, that’s who.

“Congratulations,” Condorstar had said, chasing him down after the banishment ceremony, away from the curious ears and eyes of their clanmates. “You lost.”

Stratumpaw had laughed, then. He’d laughed and replied, “I’ll try harder next time.”

His leader’s eyes hardened. “There won’t be a next time.”

[fact: in the Ferals, birds sing to attract mates; they chirp to warn of danger]

The day after, Stratumpaw ran. Ran far, far away, searching for a sign, the sign; searching for the Stars, his home.

And then he remembered: Calderapaw. Poor, poor Calderapaw; he’d sabotaged her work. (At least she didn’t (wouldn’t) get in trouble for it — he’d made sure of that, and Condorstar knew the truth.)

Stratumpaw laughed again. They were truly best friends, were they not? Him and Caldera; they were like bees and honey. Together forever, they promised as kits. Stratum had no doubt that Caldera would chase him down. Track him down, find him, and attack him for hurting her, for leaving her all alone.

He was running from Caldera. Running from Caldera, running towards the Stars.

Not the Stars that clancats praised, mind you. The Stars that fae all hated (hated, hated; utterly despised; sworn enemies... you get the point) — (and all his clan were the fae reincarnated, though it wasn’t as simple as that.)

That’s what Condorstar (the Eternal) knew: Stratumpaw was a traitor — had always been a traitor.

In the Before, he’d managed to earn the Crown, only to steal it and announce court secrets to the Stars. His parents were Stars, you know. Prior to that discovery, the Eternal assumed that exiled fae couldn’t give birth. Oh, how wrong he was. (You see? The Eternal isn’t infallible. All the villains were just doing things the wrong way.)

Stratumpaw is evil, and he is running from his fate.

From Calderapaw (his best friend).

From the truth (that he was never meant to be bad).

To the Stars (to the past).

His parents… they would be so disappointed in him. They wanted him to run, to love. To live peacefully on the ‘good’ side. (While they rotted, forever chained to their bad deeds? Able to repent, but never to return? Screw it — Stratum would run for them, but he’d never stop running. Never, never, never. Not until they were free. He would run from the Eternal, from Caldera, from happiness, from Space. From the broken, dead, disgusting junkyard his parents were forced to call home. From himself, from his fate, from his heart. From everything.)

Now he spirals, running in circles. But he can’t stop, can’t die, can’t stop.

Stopping would be saying “I give up.”

He can’t give up.

Stratum will (not will, must) find a way to right these wrongs. (There are so many of them; how is the entire world so flawed?)

Condorstar said, a long time ago, that Stratumpaw already lost.

The truth is: he hasn’t. Losing one battle doesn’t mean he’ll lose the war.

Stratum will win. He’ll race to the finish line (one that’s invisible to everyone else, but it’s position is clear as day to him.)

And the first step is to run… backwards.

The bush-leaves shake. He purrs, grins, smiles with his fangs.

He knew she’d come. She always, always runs with him.

“...Caldera?”

[miles.]

Username: zabimaru
Cat Name: orangepaw
Gender: male
Rank: apprentice
Clan: the drifting smoke express
Age: 7 moons
Prompt:
the future for any cat seems bleak, sprawling and scary; the future for an apprentice seems especially overwhelming, and orangepaw was frankly sick of dreading it. the idea of completing his apprentice training seemed as far away and distant as the moon was to the clan in the sky, and the expectations of being a carrier already weighed heavily on his shoulders. it was a lot of pressure to live up to, pressure he often doubts that he can live through and become a carrier that the clan could be proud of. making a mistake and being admonished was so easy, and being a noble carrier that completes deliveries with accuracy and timeliness was so hard.

he's scared, is the problem - he's terrified. he knows he can't do this, no matter how encouraging and patient his mentor was with him, no matter how much everyone claimed they believed in him; he's just not strong enough. he's only seven moons old, and he knows far too well the reality of the future and what would happen if he just... failed. orangepaw knows he's nowhere near strong enough to cope with what happens if he just completely bombs his apprentice work, fails his mentor and his leader, or even worse if he becomes a carrier who just fails delivery after delivery. it's the scariest thing he can think of, actually, and he'll do anything to avoid that happening - even if that means running from the future his whole life.

even if he can't run from a clan built around running and drifting, he can stall out the future as long as possible. that way, even mediocre results are results that will neither disappoint or delight his clannmates.

[Moths.]

Username:.pigeon.
Cat Name:Sage, former sagepaw
Gender:she/her
Rank:former apprentice, rank unknown
Clan: moonclan there i actually remembered the link now
Age: 11 moons and three days
Prompt: Sage never felt safe. Not in her clan, not in her home, not even in the embrace of her mother. Except for with Cloudless, the daughter of the flower shop owner. Her sister nettle was also very nice, and Cloudless and Sage had ran away from their apprenticeships multiple times, blushing and laughing. But when Sage would get home, she would recieve injury, well hidden from the rest of the world just like her feelings inside. Sage tried to keep in her tears every time, but they still came, every time. And so she ran. ran as fast as she could, faster than her ancestors before her, faster than the streaks across the sky on the clearest nights. Running away from her past and nearing her future with Cloudless. They traveled together, hunting together, running side by side, bound by their love. Then one day, settled in a cave well hidden behind a waterfall, Sage woke up with no Cloudless to snuggle into.

[SilentMelody]

Username:
Cat Name: Raspberrypaw
Gender: female
Rank: apprentice
Clan: Shoreclan
Age: 6 moons

Raspberrypaw didn't believe anyone when they warned her about the black bears. It just happened that one lives next to a berry bush. She was walking through the forest with Blueberrynose, a fellow berry-lover. The two often traveled and picked berries, although they usually ate half of their stock right then.

They had just arrived at a blackberry bush when it suddenly started rustling. Raspberrypaw glanced at the warrior with worried eyes, and her ears flattened against her head. The stench of the animal was horrendous and disgusting, almost choking her.

"Run!" Blueberrynose screeched and took off. The apprentice was still in shock, confused as to what was going on. She had never smelled an animal like this. Finally, the bushes parted and the creature came out. It was completely black with a wet snout and a gaping maw. When it saw her, it huffed and the stench of its breath overwhelmed her. Raspberrypaw wheezed.

It roared wildly at her, and she finally came to her senses. She leaped into the air and turned in the direction that Blueberrynose had went, racing after her.

The bear was tramping after her, huffing and grunting loudly. Her muscles were beginning to ache, and she didn't know where the warrior had gone. Suddenly, a keening voice called out to her. "Raspberrypaw, up here!" Blueberrynose shouted from her position in one of the sycamore trees not far away.

Raspberrypaw leaped for the tree and clung on with her claws, scampering up the trunk. She made it to a branch in the middle, a little bit lower than Blueberrynose. The bear hurtled itself into a halt and stared up at the two cats, roaring again. It seemed to give up, and it turned away. Most likely to protect its blackberry bush again. Now the two knew that they could never go back to that bush again -- at least, until leaf-bare, if there were any berries left.

Raspberrypaw let out a big sigh and rested her head on her paws.

[nightshyne]

by request, this comp will be extended until july 25 at 00:00 cs time (rollover)

[nightshyne]

congrats on the winner; nyx.! i really enjoyed how you explained the prompt, and it hurt my heart a bit

Username: /nyx.
Cat Name: Stratumpaw
Gender: male
Rank: Shansho Cadejo [exiled/traitor, fae incarnate]
Clan: CaladiumClan
Age: 10 moons
Prompt:
-snip for length-

[coffee.berry]

Congrats! You have a wonderful cat!