ShadowClan Life Before Destruction

[Madelaine]

| @|:|Shadowsight|:|; |
(Sorry this is late)

Shadyheart walked into the elders den, a mouse dangled in his jaws. The usual emotionless cat had a smile on his face. He loved the elders of the clan. They made him feel happy. When he was in camp he was expressionless, but in the elders den he was always happy. The large brownish black fluffy tom walked over to Shadeeye and dropped the mouse in front of the tom. "Good afternoon Shadeeye.", meowed Shadyheart.

[The Flying Pizza]

Originally Posted by Skeleton Bliss Girl

| @|:|Shadowsight|:|; |
(Sorry this is late)

Shadyheart walked into the elders den, a mouse dangled in his jaws. The usual emotionless cat had a smile on his face. He loved the elders of the clan. They made him feel happy. When he was in camp he was expressionless, but in the elders den he was always happy. The large brownish black fluffy tom walked over to Shadeeye and dropped the mouse in front of the tom. "Good afternoon Shadeeye.", meowed Shadyheart.

(It’s okay)

Shadeeye’s grumpy expression changed to a sly smile. “Good afternoon to you too, Shadyheart.”

[Moon Lily]

Originally Posted by Snail-paw

“Ok.” Boulderheart murmured, she sat back up licking her chest fur. She gazed up at the leaves that spun and twirled in the breeze, “isn’t it beautiful?” she said, admiring the beautiful colors.

Raventuft nodded. The leaves seemed to tell a story, their very own stoey, with every movement they made. He liked to think that each leaf represented a cat's spririt, and every fall their sins were redeemed. He knew it sounded a bit cryptic, but it was what he loved about Leaf-fall.
"The most beautiful time of the year." He agreed.

[WindsHowl]

Shade'Lurker had padded into the warriors' den quietly, he looked around at the other cats, tilting his head before padding to his bedding. He was tired, his back ached as usual. After a few days of no sleep, the tom curled up into his bed and rested his head on his large paws. Shade'Lurker slowly began to close his eyes.

[Mango]

Originally Posted by canine

Blue's brows rose in surprise at her outburst, but, at the same time, a smirk curled his maw. He hadn't expected that, and it struck him as humorous. He might have underestimated her anger, but why was she so angry? I'll find that out shortly, most likely. Living among loners and other unmentionable cats for a year had made him tactful, however, and he wasn't easily fazed.

"I'll take that as a yes, then." He placed himself a fox-length in front of her, neatly curling his orange-tinted tail around his paws. "You've probably already guessed, but I'm Jaywing, your new mentor." He swung a paw as he introduced himself, never taking his calculating gaze from her.

(Sorry. Writer’s block)
She narrowed her eyes at the tom and gave a grunt,” Figured.”. She continued to scowl at the tom. She proceeded to unsheathe her claws before resheathing them.

[The Flying Pizza]

|:| @Moonraven |:|

Greythrush sat in the clearing, clearly minding his own business. He hadn't rested in days. He was surprised he still had enough energy to move around. He heard paw steps behind him. He didn't look up.

[Moonraven]

Originally Posted by Lonestar23

Mistyeyes had always felt respect should be given to cats of higher rank than herself. More experienced warriors, elders, and yes, their leader, deputy, and medicine cat. As far as cats on the same level as herself, she believed they needed to earn her respect. Even so, she was more than willing to listen to Snowfrost's own views. "You must've respected the cat who taught you that, to hold that belief to this day." Usually, things like that were taught to cats as kits. Mistyeyes herself hadn't had strong role-models growing up; for blind cats, the Clan life was much different. She'd faced harsh comments, and although she couldn't see them, she knew she got pitying glances. She was treated as though she were a fragile kit, instead of the warrior treatment she preferred. Even her own name was a reminder of her disadvantage; yet, even so, she would've liked it to be used in conversation rather than others dancing around the fact that she was blind. She didn't ask for special treatment. Sure, she didn't want to be reminded of her weak spot every moment of her life, but that didn't mean she had to act like it didn't exist.

"It's only her first day as leader. I'm sure she'll grow and change as we all do, and perhaps then you'll give her your respect." Most cats changed over time. Mistyeyes knew cats who had disliked her in the past were more comfortable with her now, and vice versa. It was odd to catch a former friends' scent, but not hear their voice; or hear their voice close by, but know they weren't speaking to her. Even so, change wasn't the worst thing that could happen. She was well-aware it was nothing but a part of life.

The subject change caught her off-guard, but Mistyeyes guessed she should be grateful. She liked Snowfrost, and didn't want to cause any argument over their different views on respect. To her, it was important to hear different views every once in a while. It would keep you from growing too involved in yourself. She thought Icestar was sort of a nice change; she wasn't a coward (Mistyeyes had thought Windystar was nice, but he hadn't been their best leader), and although she wasn't sure what it would mean for her and cats like her, Icestar seemed to be stricter. Perhaps she'd have to work harder to prove herself. Perhaps she would end up being pushed aside altogether. Either way, Mistyeyes was sure she would win over their new leader eventually.

"Fair enough," She mewed in response, giving the she-cat a friendly smile. She had no way of knowing if Snowfrost was looking at her; even so, her smile came naturally. "Can you tell me what you look like?" She hadn't been born blind. She remembered some colors, and sometimes in her dreams, she could see them again. They looked odd and fuzzy, but Mistyeyes liked them anyways. It felt almost like she was a normal warrior, although she'd lost her sight as a young apprentice.

* * *

Forestpelt hated walking away from anything. She had a drive to win, to be the best, or at least, better than the other cat. Although Whiteshadow had done nothing wrong (he'd barely spoken to her, and in her mind, she knew he was supposed to be here) she felt the need to do something. His very presence was bothering her; even so, she didn't want to walk away. Scowling at his response, Forestpelt pinned her ears back against her head. "Then it's high time you retired." Honestly, what was he fighting back for? She didn't like challenges as much as she used to. She preferred an easy win, and then later, she'd subtly flaunt her victory. Still, perhaps it was time for her to be kinder. She wasn't getting younger, and the last friendly encounter she'd had had been.. almost thirty moons ago. It wasn't her fault her ex-mate was such a fox-heart. She'd never seen him again, and it was undoubtedly for the best. Who wanted to be friends with an old gross tom like him, anyways? She couldn't believe she'd actually thought about joining WindClan. The very mention of it sent shivers down her spine, even now. Oh well. Everyone had their secrets, she supposed. Even this weirdly calm, elder-looking tom.

"You know what? It doesn't matter. Retire or die after your body shuts down in the middle of a battle." She'd heard of that happening before. Older warriors who weren't able to move as well were easy to kill, and part of her mind tended to warn her of that every time a battle came around. Forestpelt, as much as it disgusted her, wasn't as young as she used to be. She had no friends, and few friendly encounters (that wasn't as irritating), and most cats in the Clan thought her time would come any day now. She wanted to stay alive partly out of spite. She'd show them; she wasn't old, she was young and prepared to work to stay alive.

* * *

Elfin. Such an unusual prefix, one that Birchpaw had never heard before. He thought it was pretty; it seemed to suit her pretty well. There were a lot of pretty she-cats in ShadowClan, but few had interesting names like that. Something like that caught Birchpaw's attention; especially if the cat attached to the name was as interesting. Elfinpaw, so far, was proving up to the task. "It's nice to meet you as well, Elfinpaw." Even saying it made it sound pretty and unique. It almost sent shivers down Birchpaw's spine.

When she mentioned a cat named Whiteshadow finding her, Birchpaw stopped. An outsider? He was purebred ShadowClan, born and raised here, with two purebred ShadowClan parents, and as far back as he could remember, it had been that way. Outsiders were odd to him; still, joining the Clan at a young age was understandable. It was hard to survive on your own as a young cat. Even now, Birchpaw was fairly certain he would've ended up dead by the time he could have done anything about it. It wasn't his fault.
"Small and delicate, huh?" Didn't sound like something he'd like. Still, he decided to give her the benefit of the doubt; for a little while, anyways. She seemed nice enough. Didn't she deserve some kindness?

"Ah, well that's not as interesting of a story." He would've liked some background behind his name, but.. the long version was that it was because of his pelt color. The short? His parents had liked it. Combining them made it a little more interesting, but not enough that Birchpaw would've liked it himself. At least he was more interesting than his name; otherwise, he would've gotten bored of his own company much quicker. "My parents liked it, and I guess they thought it fit my appearance."

Snowfrost nodded a bit but didn't bother revealing who had taught her those values of respect. That cat wasn't here anymore, but she still followed their teaching and small pieces of wisdom to this day. To her, it just made sense to do so since it was not like it was bad advice. Just as Icestar had very little of her own respect, she didn't expect the she-cat to respect her either. She was sure there was going to be a bit of hostility going back and forth between the two of them but considering there was nothing truely personal or anything that grudge like, Snowfrost figured everything would settle down soon enough. Or perhaps not with this war looming on the horizon. It made her antsy just thinking about it.

The russian blue didn't bother commenting on Mistyeyes' next words since they were debatable. Snowfrost wasn't expecting the leader to change at all. If she could think of something other then making Shadowclan, what Snwofrost assumed was going to put a target on their back, strong and feared, she'd be happy with that alone. Snowfrost doubted she'd ever see eye to eye with Icestar on the way she did things, and that would just be the way it was. It was hard for someone like Snowfrost, who stuck to her ideals and morals like they made the world go round, to think she could hope for the leader to change. But who knew, maybe Mistyeyes would be right. She's heard cats in their older age got nicer. She'd doubt that for the time being.

The topic change threw her for a loop, she had instigated it, yet wasn't expecting it to take such a turn as into her own appearance. She understood where the question had come from seeing as Mistyeyes had a lack of sight though hadn't been anticipating to be asked such a question. This brought her thoughts back to wondering what life was like blinded and how much Snowfrost could see was taken for granted. As she thought of how to answer Mistyeyes' question, it was a simple one and a difficult one for Snowfrost at the same time. She's never taken much care of her appearance, beyond making sure she had nothing in her pelt and that it was smooth down and clean, what she looked like never really took root in her head. The she-cat had to turn her head and look down at her paws and the crane her neck to look at her behind her at her fur. "Well, my pelt is completely gray and my eyes are blue." She meowed, there was a touch of uncertain in her voice that hadn't been there before. Snowfrost wasn't certain if she was answering Mistyeyes' question right, such as how much detail was she supposed to give about herself for the she-cat to obtain a vivid enough image of her in her mind's eye?

---

Maybe he should walk away first? Whiteshadow was internally debating on getting up and moving, but more because he was hungry than anything else. The fresh-kill pile wasn't that far away. Besides, the weirdly moody she-cat was not getting the hint. It was clear something about the white maine coon was bothering her, still, she remained. It wasn't even like Whiteshadow was trying to pick a fight with her anything like that. Maybe she was trying to pick a fight with him? Why? It made no sense. If he had been a little bit younger and before his words had ended up causing a clanmate pain, he might have been a little more willing to play this....very strange game that the she-cat was playing. But he wasn't and they had, so unless this conversation was going to go somewhere other then his apparent age he was going to fill his belly.

The fact that she thought he was old enough to just follow over dead in battle made the tom's ears fall back against his head. Did he really look that old!? Speaking of age, Forestpelt didn't look all that young to him. Shouldn't she be worrying about her own health before his? No! Wait, he was getting sucked into her words. The large tom took a deep breath through his nose, filling his broad chest with air, and let it out noiselessly. He gave his shoulders a light roll as he rose from where he sat to his immense height on all four paws. This talk was fun and all, but he was pretty sure it wasn't going to fill his belly. "You're weird." He told her and then began to walk away towards the pile of dead animals. Did he care if she followed him or not? It wasn't his concern so long as he got to eat. He was getting the feeling that she wasn't going to leave it alone, anyway.

---

A genuinely sweet smile that touched the eyes and the soul, blossomed on Elfinpaw's maw as she heard him greet her back. No one ever greets her back, she wasn't sure why and it wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that regardless of what was said or asked of her, she liked to greet said cat before speaking or say hello in the middle of a conversation. Cats didn't say hello enough to each other. Saying hello always left a nice feeling in her chest, being greeted back left an even nicer feeling though. She was rather delighted that Birchpaw had said it back to her. She's had too many cats who've just carry on with what they were saying and ignored the greeting altogether. Elfinpaw decided she would say hello more often to Birchpaw if she smelt him around.

She noticed the way he paused after learning she hadn't been born in the clan. She faintly remembered how he spoke about Crowtail being an outsider. Did he not like cats who weren't born in the clan? She wasn't the type who would be judgemental so she wasn't going to be now, she did hope that her not being born in the clan would not change whatever view he had of her. They were getting along so grand now. She waited for a heartbeat, settling nerves that she hadn't even known had been rattled when he merely went back to her name and not her background. Good, it seemed she had nothing to worry about there. "I'm pretty sure that it's because I was rather small as a kit, and am still somewhat small for an apprentice." She added, hearing the question in his tone although he couldn't tell if it was rhetorical or not. She was sure she'd be just a little smaller than the average-sized cat for the rest of her life. It didn't bother her at all.

Elfinpaw didn't seem at all disappointed to hear where he had gotten his name. Another name chosen by appearance, she supposed that was the only way to pick a name in a clan if you were just born. She was sure Birchpaw's name fit him, even if she couldn't see him all that well. "Well, I think its a great name!" She exclaimed happily. He didn't seem all that happy with his name, but she liked it. "When I have kits I'm going to name them after the stuff I like." It was nice and all to be named after an appearance, but she felt it would mean more to a cat to be named after something special or well-liked by the parents. She wouldn't be able to see her kits by then anyway so naming them by what they looked like seemed dull to her.

---
@|:|Shadowsight|:|

A long yawn left the maw of the russet she-cat, her own light jaded eyes scanned the clearing for her troublesome twin but caught no sight of her. She didn't bother dwelling on it. Bitterblue slowly made her way over to warrior's den with every intention of napping unless called for, however, she found her paws pausing as she noticed the cat ahead of her. She's seen him around, yet has never chatted much with him. He looked like a pile of fox-dung. This was completely out of character of her, but he looked pretty miserable. "Hey? You okay?" She inquired, padding up from behind Greythrush to stand in front of him.

[Madelaine]

Originally Posted by |:|Shadowsight|:|

(It’s okay)

Shadeeye’s grumpy expression changed to a sly smile. “Good afternoon to you too, Shadyheart.”

Shadyheart shoved the mouse towards the elder. "I brought you something. I caught it not that long ago.", he meowed. The warrior puffed out his chest with his head held high.

[Snail-paw]

Originally Posted by Lilyfur2

Raventuft nodded. The leaves seemed to tell a story, their very own stoey, with every movement they made. He liked to think that each leaf represented a cat's spririt, and every fall their sins were redeemed. He knew it sounded a bit cryptic, but it was what he loved about Leaf-fall.
"The most beautiful time of the year." He agreed.

Boulderheart nodded grabbing a leaf out of the air i her claws. She looked at it closely the base was orange that faded into the prettiest shade of red. She let it go with the wind watching it twirl and blow away. She turned back to raventuft “what’s your favorite thing about leaf-fall? Mines the colors.”

[The Flying Pizza]

Originally Posted by Skeleton Bliss Girl

Shadyheart shoved the mouse towards the elder. "I brought you something. I caught it not that long ago.", he meowed. The warrior puffed out his chest with his head held high.

Shadeeye was impressed. “Your doing great. Since I took you in...” the sleek dark black and white tortoiseshell recalled. It felt like a life ago, but it was, in a way.