ShadowClan Clearing

[Morrigan]

Darkcloud and Harekit sat quietly.

[alkaline]

Her mind was quiet, stifled like the sun behind those clouds above, almost as if she'd grabbed those very clouds and stuffed them into her ears, filling her thoughts with fluff and nothingness. She wouldn't quite call this day a lazy one, but she was near it. The fog in her head weighed her paws down; every step took a particular drive to make it happen. Even so, she didn't find herself bothered. Many days have come and gone like this, and many more will continue to do so. It was just a fact of leaf-bare, where the days waned on like sap down the side of a pine: slowly, slowly.

The mindless wandering that took her from her den, resting off late-night endeavors, didn't take long, not more than a minute, but it felt like it'd taken moons. Bitterbane shuddered off the chill clinging to her pelt with humidity and quietly observed the open area. She could see the condensation running mistily down the tree root walls if she stared hard enough. The conclusion that it'd previously rained at some point before she woke came to her mind, gently. Blinking steadily, she tore her gaze from the camp walls and the fringe of shrubs, then hazily studied the figure of an apprentice.

Palepaw, if she recalled her calico clanmate's name correctly. As she worked her way through her waking conscience, she noticed the apprentice's mentor wasn't nearby. Small details filtered through the clouds, on their own time. Sorely, Bitterbane missed the days of her not-so-far youth when she could jump awake, alert without a delay; however, she was content to stumble through the day aimlessly until she eventually remembered her intentions. It wouldn't take long, she was sure, nor were they pressing matters, if her shoddy half-memory served her well (enough).

When the warrior shuffled past Palepaw, she paused and greeted her, quietly to fit the overcast weather. "Good afternoon. How goes?" Bitterbane canted her pale head slightly left in interest, black ears fluttering at the tips as some stirring breeze disturbed them. It didn't ever hurt her to stop once in a while to say hello to ShadowClan's hard-working apprentices; she knew all too well how easy it was to overlook and disregard them. Besides, Bitterbane wouldn't want to become one of the haggard warriors who sneered at the next generation.

@celeste

[starry]

Palepaw
shadowclan apprentice | she/her

A slow shudder ran across the young apprentice's spine as her eyes blinked open. The cold humidity of leafbare was slowly draining her energy, and the usually extremely enthusiastic Palepaw had a quite dull look in her blue eyes, the cold getting to her slowly. There were a few things that really affected her attitude, but cold was one of them, as her short fur wasn't the best at keeping the winds at bay. It smelled like rain, and it felt like it could rain again any moment.

She wrapped her thin tail around herself, still managing to keep herself from shuddering. What she really needed was distraction or movement, but honestly, getting up was the last thing on her agenda right now. An annoyed groan escaped from her maw before she could stop it. I hate weatherrr! Her blue eyes were settled on some camp wall, her gaze becoming a blur as she squinted her eyes, trying to concentrate on something else.

Palepaw let her eyes close and re-open for a few moments, and almost jumped up when a voice popped up from close to her. Her ears pricked and she looked at the cat who had talked to her. A warrior.. what was her name? Something with B.. Bloombane? Wait, no, it was Bitterbane. She forced herself to her paws, now eager to do something, maybe talk, distract herself, perhaps also something that involved movement?

But first, answer the warrior's question. She greeted with a friendly nod, a smile making its way onto her maw. "Hey. Bitterbane, isn't it? Er.. it's going pretty well."

She paused for a little moment before moving on to her plea. "Please can we do something? Like, move, go outside, collect moss or something? It's really cold and I need movement," she mewed, staring up at the big cat with wide azure eyes. Palepaw noticed how pretty Bitterbane's pelt was, a beautiful white except for the tail, paws and ears. It was quite unique, at least for the calico molly - she'd never seen any markings like that around camp before. It drew a little grin to her face. With the distraction, the cold had almost disappeared from her mind, her body still responding with a slight shiver.

[ @poet. ]

[alkaline]

She shuffled a half-step back from the apprentice to provide an adequate space between them as the younger cat got to her paws. A wry smile crossed Bitterbane's face and she nodded to confirm that, yes, she was called that name. She momentarily marveled at the awkwardness packed into that pause. At least she knew that this apprentice was doing alright, though she could always be lying to cover up something, like a perceived weakness or dark secret... But the longer she questioned it, the more Bitterbane realized she shouldn't be so critical. She ought to be more casual; she had no reason to believe that Palepaw would lie over something so simple.

After all, Palepaw was quick to move on from the greeting. Taken aback, Bitterbane abashedly smiled at the earnest questioning (or begging) from the apprentice. It took her mind a moment to catch up and consider what Palepaw was asking of her, but when it finally registered, Bitterbane resolutely nodded. "Yeah, we could," she responded. "The weather's made all my moss soddy anyway," Bitterbane added, a note of sorrow touching her tone. She didn't quite enjoy arranging her nest with new moss, but she'd rather wake up next time less groggily. Besides, she doubted she could resist those big eyes. They could melt even the iciest of hearts, and Bitterbane was willing to bet her spot in the den on that claim.

She admired the...volition, was it? or responsibility of the apprentice. Perhaps it was the cold state of being cooped up with little much to do that motivated Palepaw to do chores. She would do the same and has done the same, if she were an apprentice.

Bitterbane arched her spine and stretched out her sores. "Let's get a move on, then," she encouraged as she, ironically, walked leisurely to the path out of the camp. Likely unfortunately for Palepaw, the warrior wasn't raring for something to do, not nearly as much. Still. "Might be lucky to find some moss that isn't soggy." A surprise yawn cut off Bitterbane's explanation. Internally groaning, she made her paws pick up the pace and glanced over at Palepaw, sure that the apprentice would be following along eagerly, considering that this was her suggestion. With hope laced in her words, the warrior remarked, "But we can try anyways." It didn't hurt to try, did it?

She just hoped that the weather didn't get any colder because she couldn't bring herself to have some apprentice running about after her with her teeth chattering and tail shaking. The weather should be getting warmer anytime now, or so she thought, but today seemed especially miserable. Bitterbane sniffed sympathetically and fixed her eyes on Palepaw, keen eyes watching for any sign of freezing despite their walking.

@celeste - was thinking your next post would be somewhere in the territory - your pick (:

[Undertaker]

@Rose @Dark @SuspiciousMindz
Dawnstar grits her teeth as Darkfall attempts to explain what is going on. Two dead bodies? One Starrywisp but he didn't recognize the other one? Did he even know which border he went to? The ravine? Oh, lovely ThunderClan again. She couldn't even get upset with him as he was now. And he had no clue where Larkfire was...

Dawnstar dug her claws deeper into the ground as she took a sharp breath to calm her near-boiling rage. She could already imagine what had happened since it was ThunderClan. Those wretched rodents just didn't know when to quit. If she lost another medicine cat and daughter because of them, she was breaking ThunderClan's.

She ignored Darkfall's pleas to go and find her daughter, Dawnstar wasn't letting him out anywhere at least not alone. She also wanted to know more about the other body. Her amber eyes flickered over to Hawkbite ready to tell him to go organize a patrol and track down Larkfire's scent before it got too stale. However, she didn't need to say anything as she spotted the familiar pelt of a she-cat walking into camp and settling in the shadows silently.

There was a smidge of relief in her golden orbs, but it came and went in a heartbeat as Larkfire made her way over and announced her presence. The anger that had rooted her in place dissolved into curiosity and cold concern. The leader moved slowly towards the molly, like a ticking time bomb, and circled the newly blind feline without saying a word for a long moment.

Her ear twitched in Hawkbite's question as she paused in front of the medicine cat, scowl still firmly in place. A loud frustrated hiss left the Queen of Mean's maw as she shook her head. "They're going to regret this, I swear those damn rodents." Dawnstar spat to herself. Her tone was eerily icy as she fully unsheathed her large claws. She let them off too easily.

[Goopysharkboi]

[Taking place after the fire caused by Dickens at Sunkissed Creek] Wolftooth and Brokentalon practically darted in, panicked. "Dawnstar," wolftooth shouted. "Brokentalon and whiteheart were just ambushed by some loners at Sunkissed creek, the loners had started a fire and one of them seems to have killed Whiteheart but his body's been swept away by the creek!" Wolftooth yowled. @GhostlyStarfinder @Undertaker

[Wingnettle]

Lynxshade
Shadowclan
28 moons old | she/her
Shadow Fiend | Primal Instincts | Beefed Up (T1) | Bilingual (T1)

---

Sunkissed Creek. The beloved, peaceful place where she'd taught her clanmates how to swim in shallow waters had been... burnt away?
She bounced in front of the two warriors before Dawnstar could notice them, anxious to get more information about who had infiltrated in their own territory.
"Where are they? The loners. We must immediately send there a patrol to chase them away and assess the severity of the damages the fire caused." She spurted to Wolftooth, who had been talking first.
Where are Dawnstar and Vulturefang? They must immediately be warned. She glanced around and pointed her gaze toward the leader's den, where a shadow was making its way out of the darkness.

---

@Cubeisdagoat @Undertaker @GhostlyStarfinder

[Goopysharkboi]

Originally Posted by Wingnettle

Lynxshade
Shadowclan
28 moons old | she/her
Shadow Fiend | Primal Instincts | Beefed Up (T1) | Bilingual (T1)

---

Sunkissed Creek. The beloved, peaceful place where she'd taught her clanmates how to swim in shallow waters had been... burnt away?
She bounced in front of the two warriors before Dawnstar could notice them, anxious to get more information about who had infiltrated in their own territory.
"Where are they? The loners. We must immediately send there a patrol to chase them away and assess the severity of the damages the fire caused." She spurted to Wolftooth, who had been talking first.
Where are Dawnstar and Vulturefang? They must immediately be warned. She glanced around and pointed her gaze toward the leader's den, where a shadow was making its way out of the darkness.

---

@Cubeisdagoat @Undertaker @GhostlyStarfinder

"Sunkissed Creek; the loners caught us by surprise during an attempt to patrol."

[Rose]

Sweetbriar
She/Her | The Siren
Wendigo's Song & Bilingual (T1) Purrk

Sweetbriar hovered.

[Ragwort]

Raggedfang
A brown she-cat with a flat face and piercing yellow eyes…


The Brown She-cat Looked About with distressed emotions conflicting in her heart… she didn’t want to be here… she didn’t want to live here… but she had nowhere else to go… she was too afraid of leaving her current life, to live in another place where she’d have to go through more torment just because she was different from everyone else…

The She-cat had Problems… many problems… from the constant feeling of dread, to the constant feeling of not being good enough… and always trying not to cry her heart out because the fact was she was indeed very lonely…

"I'M SORRY!!!!!!!!! " She wailed when she bumped into some one...

(open)