ThunderClan: Life Before 2020's Fire

[Splash]

Originally Posted by InvaderNellie

"Did you even HEAR me?" Rosetail hissed, "It's the first time I've seen Bonefur in MOONS. And YOU just cast him away." Sorrelpad shook his head in disappointment.

"He's an intruder. Doesn't matter how long it's been since you saw him. Plus, you're the one who just told him to leave," Autumnwind pointed out calmly. They're not going to like me after this, she thought saddly.

[RedHead]

Breezepaw slipped into the clearing, his ears flicking back and forth as he slunk around the edges. His pale pelt stuck out in the shadows, something which the bengal cat deeply regretted. His blue eyes scanned the clearing for any sign of something to do. Extremely bored, the tom was ready to have a little bit of fun getting into some trouble. He knew his mother highly disapproved of it, but could Breezpaw help himself? No. Well... Yeah he could. But did he want to? Most definitely not.

The pale colored bengal ducked underneath a bush, but still a young apprentice, he didn't have the best stalking techniques at paw. His long, wiry tail stuck out of the bush, waving in the air as it always did when Breezepaw was scheming up something horrible. "Hmmm... Should I go bother the elders? Or do something hilarious with the senior warriors?" Breezepaw mumbled to himself, his brain whirring with constant thought. Or maybe I can even go as far as to prank the leader this time! But as soon as Breezepaw thought about it, his thought was downgraded by his own conscience. He may not care for others much, but he had enough heart to not prank a stressed female leader who had just had a full litter of kits.

So, Breezepaw continued to crouch under his bush, trying to think of some way he could have fun today. He hadn't seen his brother around today so far, who knows where Flashpaw was...

@Beau @Mystical

[dionysus]

Originally Posted by RedHead

Breezepaw slipped into the clearing, his ears flicking back and forth as he slunk around the edges. His pale pelt stuck out in the shadows, something which the bengal cat deeply regretted. His blue eyes scanned the clearing for any sign of something to do. Extremely bored, the tom was ready to have a little bit of fun getting into some trouble. He knew his mother highly disapproved of it, but could Breezpaw help himself? No. Well... Yeah he could. But did he want to? Most definitely not.

The pale colored bengal ducked underneath a bush, but still a young apprentice, he didn't have the best stalking techniques at paw. His long, wiry tail stuck out of the bush, waving in the air as it always did when Breezepaw was scheming up something horrible. "Hmmm... Should I go bother the elders? Or do something hilarious with the senior warriors?" Breezepaw mumbled to himself, his brain whirring with constant thought. Or maybe I can even go as far as to prank the leader this time! But as soon as Breezepaw thought about it, his thought was downgraded by his own conscience. He may not care for others much, but he had enough heart to not prank a stressed female leader who had just had a full litter of kits.

So, Breezepaw continued to crouch under his bush, trying to think of some way he could have fun today. He hadn't seen his brother around today so far, who knows where Flashpaw was...

@Beau @Mystical

Flashpaw lounged by the apprentices' den, golden eyes closed as he soaked up the sunshine. His tail tip flicking was the only indication that the tom was even awake. The warm rays of the sun reflected off of his sleek dark amber fur, making his tiger-like stripes stand out in contrast. A lazy yawn parted his jaws and he licked his chops, wondering if he should find something to eat or not. He didn't know where his friends were, but he figured they must be busy. Usually, the tight-knit friend group spent every spare moment together, but apprentice duties kept them all busy. All except for Aspenkit, who was a moon younger than the rest of them. Her apprentice ceremony was coming, though, and she'd have her seven friends to welcome her into the apprentice's den.


A buzzing by his ear made Flashpaw flick it and he opened a single sun-colored eye to cast a bored glance around the clearing. The bengal was about to close his eye once more, but he caught a shifting in the shadows. Lifting his head with interest, Flashpaw could make out the form of Breezepaw, recognizing the lighter marbled pelt of his brother. What's he up to? Flashpaw wondered, following the other apprentice with his eyes. A quiet purr of amusement rumbled in the young tom's chest as he watched Breezepaw duck under a bush, tail sticking out. It was just too tantalizing to resist. A smirk on his face, Flashpaw fluidly rose to his paws, slipping into the shadows around the edges of the camp. Like his brother, he had a tic that showed when he was up to something. Instead of waving his tail, however, he flicked the tip of it. Actually, the tic wasn't a very useful for determining what Flashpaw was up to, since he flicked his tail tip when he was doing just about anything.



The bengal prowled through the shadows, almost resembling his namesake. Being a new apprentice, his muscles were still on the smaller side, as was his technique. However, Flashpaw had a natural talent. This tended to make him lazy and get him into trouble during training, but it made sneaking up on his friends more fun. As Flashpaw neared the bush, he sank into a flawed but suitable hunting crouch. Mischief shone in his eyes as he sneaked forward and leapt! He was flying through the air, sheathed paws aimed at his brothers tail as it stuck out of the bush.

[Cosmo]

@Beau @RedHead

A soft pink tongue gently rasped itself over a beautiful patterned pelt. The pelt and tongue belonged to, you guessed it, Aspenkit! She happened to care a lot about how she looked. Oh, and in case you weren't aware, a lot means a lot. She cares a lot about the ways she looks. If I don't groom myself well enough, I won't be ready for my warrior ceremony! And if I'm not ready for that... Aspenkit's thoughts whirled around in her head. Making it difficult for her to groom herself at the precise manner she always did. "Curse my thoughts!" she growled out loud, shaking herself with such intensity her mind cleared. Now she could focus on one thing. She could focus on grooming. The thing she should be doing at the moment. Obviously! The molly couldn't understand why cats didn't take time grooming. It was important to look your best! Everyone should! Even as a kit, when kits didn't protest if their fur was licked the wrong way, Aspenkit had. She had thrashed around like crazy, trying to get away from the very annoying thing that kept moving her fur the wrong way. It had been very annoying. At least now she could groom herself so no one else had to do it for her. Oh, and then there was another thought. Apprentices got very dirty didn't they? That was bad! What if she got too dirty? That was terrible!

But then, you could always look on the bright side. Her friends, Breezepaw, Pumpkinpaw, Shellpaw, Featherpaw, Flashpaw, and Wolfpaw had been her friends through kithood. But since she was a moon younger than them, she had been separated kind of. Of course in only a moon she would be with them, which was very fun. All the trouble they would cause... playing together like old times! It would be old times.. but in the new times.. if that made sense. It did kind of to Aspenkit, as she was the one who was thinking about it. Swinging her gaze around as she thought, her foresty hues caught on to familiar figures. Breezepaw and Flashpaw. She had been thinking about them, and there they were!

By the looks of it causing trouble to. Great! she instantly stopped grooming. To Aspenkit, troublemaking was better than grooming. Yes, better. Of course you needed to be clean to stir up trouble, but she had half groomed herself and that was perfectly fine for her. She was bubbling with excitment. Seeing Flashpaw pounce, Aspenkit smirked. In a second she was behind him, and was leaping on top of the tom.

[mvoxhu]

@Beau @RedHead @Mystical @SpiralWhirl [think that's it ! ]

The familiar, agile build of Pumpkinpaw could be seen basking in the warm pools of daylight just in the central area of the clearing. Her fiery-orange pelt was illuminated to that of a bright amber underneath the golden rays, which made the she-cat stand out more than she particularly wished for. Her eyes were shut, or even closed partly, merely to avoid the sheer brilliance of the sunny day, with thick lashes almost covering the entirety of her view. She was extremely relaxed, as evident by the slight smile upon her face, and her calm and collected demeanour. Not a single muscle on her body was poised, with auds flicking lazily, and her banner fluctuating across the loose soil below it.

Shallow breaths climbed out from her frame, all following each other out like it was a game of 'follow the leader'. With this, a frequent rising and falling of her chest could be viewed, and a faint rumbling of purrs played out from her vocal chords. The female was, quite simply, enjoying her small sunbathing session.
However short it lasted.

Taking a hesitant inhale of crisp, fresh air, Pumpkinpaw forced her lids to part. Stormy green pools observed what remnants of clan-life there was before her. The usual mewling of kits as they tumbled about around the paws of older, more experienced felines. Soft raspings of tongues against fur, and quiet, yet heart-felt chuckles. These were only a few things that she could view, just before the movements of other cats swamped her attention.

Ahh, the crew seemed to be at it again. Breezepaw and Flashpaw were obviously up to no good, with Aspenkit joining in on the fun a couple of moments after. No one else seemed to catch the ginger she-cat's sight, and so, she raised herself onto all-fours and swayed over towards the trio. A heavy sigh emitted from her lips, whilst her immediate reaction was to ensconce herself onto the grit-like terrain once more. Which, in fact, did happen. She then continued to watch her friends, whilst adding a few giggles here and there in reaction.

[wolfie]

@Beau @mompaws @RedHead @Mystical

The young apprentice prowled through the shadows, only seeing his bright golden eyes. If it hadn't been his eyes, you couldn't really see him. Wolfpaw, the apprentice name watched his friends with little interest. He hang with the crew or Webpaw, the only thing he share in common was tricks. How were they even friends? Who knew.

Coming out of a shadows, he scan the camp. Locking on any that could be a trick, but took little interest. He sigh in disappointment, closing his eyes for a brief moment. Opening them, Wolfpaw stretched. It's nothing to do, nothing fun at least. He was the largest in the group, even with being close to their age or even their age. He stuck to his name, but that was what he feared.

Wolfpaw shivered at the thought, putting on a fake smile and discarding any emotion in his eyes, padding to the fresh-kill. He grabbed a vole, chewing slowly and watched his friends. He'll join in sooner or later, mostly out of his boredom. Unsheathing his claws, he dug them into the earth and brought dirt up. His bushy tail lashed, almost floating away from the world and into thoughts.

I wonder when training, hopefully Flashpaw got some good tricks this time. Guess I'll be stuck with ticks and bedding, I mean I don't like it but I don't exactly dislike it. The stories are good, as long they aren't too boring or I already heard them.

He soon was back in the world, blinking to see a warrior looking at him. Had he did something wrong. Seeing he had flung some dirt at a warrior while he was thinking, Wolfpaw dipped his head in respect. " Sorry, I zoomed out and didn't mean to fling any dirt at you," He said. The warrior nodded before walking away.

[doghouse]

Originally Posted by Charmer

"Alright then," Cherrypaw said with a nod, glad to see Ravelledkit didn't seem upset at all. The shecat held out her white paw with the pad up and flexed her toes. "You see that gap between my pad and my toes? That's where I hide the pebble. Cherrypaw nudged the pebble in front of her so that the kit would have a good view. "When I bring my paw down, I flex my toes like this to make that space bigger, "she explained as she slowly lowered it down until the tiny stone was trapped between her paw and the clearing floor. "Then, when I stop flexing," she went on, letting her paw relax, "that space gets small again. She lifted her paw to show the pebble trapped there. She flexed and let the pebble clatter on the ground. "So the first thing you have to learn to do the trick is to pick up the pebble like that. Once you get good at doing that, and can do it really fast, it'll look like it just disappears when you hit it with your paw."

(Think I'll go ahead and call it a night. Those z's aren't going to catch themselves. But I'll be sure to respond in the morning if you add more.)

Rav watched her closely, not once blinking as she demonstrated, and as soon as Cherrypaw finished, Ravelledkit attempted to copy her, but either his paw was too tiny or the pebble was too big, or a combination of both, but he found that he couldn't get the stone to stay, and it always plopped back on to the ground. Finally, Ravelledkit shook his head in frustration and looked around for a smaller pebble. Once locating one, he tried again, and... success! A wide grin spread across his maw, and then the stone fell. Instantly, a slight hiss of disappointment left his lips, but was followed by a purr of triumph, and Rav just shrugged it off, looking up expectantly at Cherrypaw, his eyes wide, waiting for her reaction. He was pleased that he had at least mostly got it, and he was too determined to settle for anything less, though whether that was good or bad was a bit of a mystery to him, not that he dwelled on it much, and soon had pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind, waiting.

[Charmer]

Originally Posted by Bad Wolf

Rav watched her closely, not once blinking as she demonstrated, and as soon as Cherrypaw finished, Ravelledkit attempted to copy her, but either his paw was too tiny or the pebble was too big, or a combination of both, but he found that he couldn't get the stone to stay, and it always plopped back on to the ground. Finally, Ravelledkit shook his head in frustration and looked around for a smaller pebble. Once locating one, he tried again, and... success! A wide grin spread across his maw, and then the stone fell. Instantly, a slight hiss of disappointment left his lips, but was followed by a purr of triumph, and Rav just shrugged it off, looking up expectantly at Cherrypaw, his eyes wide, waiting for her reaction. He was pleased that he had at least mostly got it, and he was too determined to settle for anything less, though whether that was good or bad was a bit of a mystery to him, not that he dwelled on it much, and soon had pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind, waiting.

Cherrypaw watched silently as the little kit tried to copy the motions of the trick with some success. "You're doing really good. It took me a while to get it, and to be honest, growing bigger paws helped," she said with a smile, showing her creamy-white paw. "The trick is starting out with small enough stones, and practice. Then once you've got that, it's more about distraction. If I just tap the pebble, it's easier to watch what happened," as she spoke, she slowly and deliberately picked up the peddle with her paw, and lifted it so that Ravelledkit could see it wedged in the webbing. Slowly, she brought her paw back down. "But if I do it fast," she said suddenly, swatting the ground with her paw, "you don't have time to really think about my paw, because you're focused on the pebble." Cherrypaw sat up and glanced around the clearing. "Let's see here... ah!" she exclaimed, and reached to her side, nudging an empty acorn cap in front of her. "This should work better for you. It's lighter and has a nifty top part to grab on to," she explained.

[lone]

Originally Posted by AbsurdJinx

Pufftuft. What a unique name. ``Of course I am!`` Flareheart claimed cockily, a bright grin stretching across his face. He rolled his shoulders as he improved his posture, raising his head high proudly. He looked down at Hawkfeather, hoping to receive a positive reaction for his silly joke. A laugh or even a small smile would be enough for the multi-colored tomcat. Lowering his head and relaxing his taut muscles, Flareheart spoke again, ``In all seriousness, though, I'd really like to hear that accent.`` He couldn't wipe the excited grin off his face, his amber eyes sparkling with the emotion.

``And personally, I think you are the cutest of them all, and don't you dare tell me you think I'm cuter. Yeah, that's right - I have you all figured out,`` Flareheart started seriously, even casting Hawkfeather a gentle warning look, but as he began the second sentence, he found himself using a teasing tone. He was purring softly, raising a paw off the ground to nudge Hawkfeather in a friendly, playful manner.

He didn't know why anyone would dare be cruel to Hawkfeather. She was such a happy, innocent feline, and Flareheart couldn't see why anyone would want to corrupt that. After all, there was so little genuine innocence in the world. Shouldn't it be preserved rather than destroyed? Perhaps the she-cat's kit-like innocence is why Flareheart admired her so much. She was ignorant - in a good way, in the blissful way. Hawkfeather was the small hopeful flame in a dark world.

"Aww, look at you! You have the best posture Flarey, you're going to have to give me posture lessons! I need them. Mine is really bad, you're like, a genius at this kind of thing! Who taught you?" She only stopped for a minute to think before continuing onwards, a smile on her maw and a cheerful look glimmering in her blue optics. There was always one, but this one somehow seemed more amplified or... something. "And you're funny, too! Adorable, and a posture king when you want to be, and funny! It's like, you could be famous or something!" The tabby smiled, her blue optics sparking with excitement and her expression happy. It only became more excited when he admitted that he would like to meet her friend. How exciting would that be? Two of her funniest friends meeting each other. It would be the coolest thing if they decided to swap jokes and stuff like that, that would just be the absolute best.

"Maybe you can someday! It's like this crazy type of voice and - I would show you, but I can't do it. I have no idea how Puff-Puff does it!" Puff-Puff. Hawkfeather's assigned nickname for the tom, and she looked excited when she spoke it. It seemed her idea of nicknames was to make everyone sound as adorable as possible. And she had certainly worked some miracles, but that one - that one had been easy. It was easy for Hawkfeather anyways, the names just seemed to come to her naturally, and she was always thrilled when they did. After all, didn't everyone deserve a nickname? Everyone wanted one, didn't they? See, Hawkfeather's innocent little mind hadn't put the pieces together that some cats didn't really want to have nicknames. She had always thought that everyone would. Because everyone was just that fun, right? It was fun to have something of your very own, something someone else had given you, and why shouldn't that thing be a nickname? The tabby listened to his compliment and her tail twitched, showing her pleasure.

"Oh wow, for real? Thanks Flarey, you're so sweet! I'm so lucky to have found you without a bunch of friends, because I'm sure there's like, dozens of cats who want to meet you but they're all too shy - isn't that sad? They shouldn't be shy! You're the best!"

The tabby gave him a playful, affectionate nuzzle - as though he were a brother, or already a close friend of hers. And maybe, he was. Life was short, Hawkfeather had discovered - and there was no reason to waste time on messing around. Give everyone all the compliments that they could use. Build everyone up. Be a friend to everyone you could and someday, someday someone would come along and be the shining light in your life. Someday you would find your own sunshine - even though for Hawkfeather, she might be still looking. Or had she found it? There was only one way to tell... and that was through time.

[bobtail]

@Beau @mompaws @RedHead @Mystical @SpiralWhirl

A dark, blue-grey shape slipped into the camp, green eyes narrowed and tail tip twitching. They turned their head and scanned the clearing, amused to see Flashpaw and Breezepaw messing around with Aspenkit. Pumpkinpaw seemed to be watching them. This blue-grey cat, Bluepaw, named for his rare coat colour, looked around for his other friends.

He noticed Wolfpaw nearby and frowned thoughtfully. He could go join in the tussle with Flashpaw, Breezepaw and Aspenkit; go and watch with Pumpkinpaw; or go up to Wolfpaw. Bluepaw had just come back from a failed hunting mission and didn't feel much like talking to or fighting with anyone, even if it was just play. Still sour about the fat mouse that had just barely evaded his claws, the apprentice began to pad across the clearing to his friends.

He settled down beside Pumpkinpaw, wrapping his silver-tipped tail his paws, green eyes narrowing slightly against the gentle breeze flowing through the camp. He glanced over at his friend and meowed, "Have they been at it for long?" The sturdy tom's calm emerald eyes followed his clanmates as they tussled, apprentices and kit. He allowed himself a small smile as he remembered just why his loved his Clan.