ShadowClan Life Before Destruction

[Casual Scribbles]

Stormypaw stretched, yawning. She brushed through the leaves of the apprentice's den into the harsh leaf-bare light. Newleaf was coming soon, she could tell from the way the sun started to feel warmer, although there were still bitter days.

Stormypaw padded out into the clearing towards the fresh kill pile where she- no, that didn't sit right anymore- where he plucked a vole away from the rest of the kill. He padded away cautiously, allowing his mindset to shift into the new pronouns. It wasn't as if anyone knew how Stormypaw felt about himself. He kept quiet, but it was still better for his mental health if he just accepted himself. Feeling fully adjusted, Stormypaw sat and waited for one of his best friends, Darkpaw, to wake up and join him.

(Remember, Darkpaw should still use she/her pronouns on Stormy because he hasn't come out yet)

@Megan

[:blue:]

(( i regret waiting to get around to this, and i apologize ))

Goldenstar was still trying to recover from his wounds. Well, most of his physical wounds had been taken care of, it was the mental wound of losing a life. It had been an...experience, if you could call it that. The leader knew they hadn’t been victorious, but that wasn’t letting him move around. He still had to be leader, nothing could change that. Shakily walking up to the highbranch, he gave the normal call of “All cats old enough to gather their own prey, please gather under the highbranch!” he decided not to mention anything involving the battle, as he knew everyone was recovering in their own ways, smiling to the best of his ability.

”Sagekit, could you please step forward?” Goldenstar just wasn’t in the mood for filling in things that signified what he was going to say next. He could be unpredictable if he wanted to. He had a ceremony to do, and then everyone could get back to healing again. “You have reached the age of six moons, and that means you will be apprenticed,” He said, cracking a smile, something he hadn’t done in awhile, as it had hurt to see everyone around him trying to recover. This was all Golden’s fault, or more or less Blazingstar’s fault. No matter that now, there was a ceremony to do. “Sagekit, from this moment on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Sagepaw, and your mentor will be Forestpelt” he finished the ceremony, nodding down at the clan, before quickly ending the ceremony with a simple “The ceremony is now over,” jumping down from the highbranch quietly.

@julean @Lonestar23

[Captain]

Originally Posted by Casual Scribbles

Eclipsekit knew she should look up and show the apprentice she wasn't upset with Newtpaw, but couldn't tear her eyes off the ball of moss rolling between her paws out of embarrassment for her reaction. She only barely heard Newtpaw's apology and introduction and had just been murmuring, "Oh, you don't need to apologize.." when Newtpaw mentioned games.

Eclipsekit's head snapped up so fast it would have flown off of her body if it weren't attached to her neck. Her eyes were wide, though this time not with fear, but with excitement and delight. "I love games! Do you want to play mossball with me?" She squealed jumping to her paws and nearly crushing the mossball she had already prepared.

“I’d love to play mossball with you, little one.” Newtpaw said with a gentle purr rumbling in her throat. The young apprentice was glad that the awkward first encounter had passed and the delight of the mention of play brought the kitten such glee before her. Now that she thought about it, none of the kittens in the nursery that she grew up with really played with her, thinking she was weird because of her short legs and just avoiding her because of the rumors that went around about her mother who died after she was born. Shaking her head, the brown-furred munchin drew away from her own childhood and became more focused on spending time with her mentor’s kit. Standing up, Newtpaw walked a little bit aways from Eclipsekit and sat down, letting a space go between them as she smiled. “Toss the mossball to me and I’ll toss it back.” The apprentice mewed, realizing that this was her first time playing with a mossball.

[Casual Scribbles]

Originally Posted by Ryder

“I’d love to play mossball with you, little one.” Newtpaw said with a gentle purr rumbling in her throat. The young apprentice was glad that the awkward first encounter had passed and the delight of the mention of play brought the kitten such glee before her. Now that she thought about it, none of the kittens in the nursery that she grew up with really played with her, thinking she was weird because of her short legs and just avoiding her because of the rumors that went around about her mother who died after she was born. Shaking her head, the brown-furred munchin drew away from her own childhood and became more focused on spending time with her mentor’s kit. Standing up, Newtpaw walked a little bit aways from Eclipsekit and sat down, letting a space go between them as she smiled. “Toss the mossball to me and I’ll toss it back.” The apprentice mewed, realizing that this was her first time playing with a mossball.

Eclipsekit nodded, grinning. She was excited that someone was finally going to play with her! The small she-cat bounced the mossball up with her paw and batted it at Newtpaw.

[dionysus]

Originally Posted by Constellation

Dandelionpaw kept her ears opened, nodding occasionally at Halfgaze as she demonstrated each movement with a precise of perfection. The apprentice tilted her head to the side and the mewed, “...unbalance them?” She answered, once again hestitate once she watched Halfgaze execute a move that twisted her movements. Just the way Dandelionpaw was observing her, she caught on that Halfgaze’s intentions were to unbalance her opponent. Dandelionpaw has dropped back into a battle crouch, ready to thrust forward and copy Halfgaze’s movement, but she stopped. She was a bit unsure of her abilities, and wanted to wait it out to try so she gave her attention back to her mentor. By then, Halfgaze was showing her other battle moves. Dandelionpaw had sat down on her haunches, flinging up a paw and unsheathing her claws to see how sharp they were. She haven’t sharpened them in a while, plus she had broke one while tugging at a hardened thorn in her pawpad once. As Halfgaze was showing these moves, Dandelionpaw notes that she looked so confident! Something that she wanted to be, but knew she was longed from. It would had been ashame if she let her mentor down...Dandelionpaw didn’t question the lessons, despite her scrambled thoughts. Instead, she mustered the best smile she could give and she nodded brightly at her mentor. “Okay, Halfgaze! I think - “ Dandelionpaw paused, shaking her head vigorously. “I know I can do this.” Her voice held pride, dripping with faint hesitation. “As long as it isn’t the expert moves you were doing...” she quickly added on, a flicked back of her ears. “Yeah, I’m ready!” Dandelionpaw blinked, then quickly added, “Wait!” She exclaimed. Dandelionpaw began a little stretching procedure where she reached out each of her paws. Then, she flopped onto her belly, and stretched her paws to the sky. When she rolled over, she bounced back into all fours and bent her front half down to flex her back. After finishing up, she flicked her tail towards Halfgaze. “Now, I am ready.” She giggled lightly. “You must always warm up before battle practice, right?” The question was a playful rhetorical one. Dandelionpaw, on instinct got back into a more accurate battle crouch, waiting for Halfgaze’s next directions.

Halfgaze gave Dandelionpaw an approving nod as the younger cat answered her question correctly, "Correct. Good job, Dandelionpaw." Next, Halfgaze demonstrated the other moves that the crouch could be used for. In between movements, she took note of Dandelionpaw's attention rate. The apprentice's attention span left something to be decided and Halfgaze had to stop herself from becoming irritated. She'd known from the very first lesson that Dandelionpaw would be a hard one to train because of her attention span. The deputy wasn't well equipped to empathize with that. During training, her attention had been focused solely on her mentor and the task at paw. She had loved battle lessons and had payed such close attention that each move was nearly perfect the first time she had tried due to her incredible observation skills. Everything she saw was processed in her brain to form an accurate picture that she could copy. Even with that natural ability, Halfgaze had practiced alone every chance she got in order to excel. Now, she had an apprentice who barely paid attention at all. The worst part was that Dandelionpaw wasn't doing it on purpose so Halfgaze couldn't even be angry or strict with her. Shaking the thoughts and memories from her mind, Halfgaze returned to the lesson and asked Dandelionpaw if she was ready. She watched her apprentice stretch with amusement and nodded with a calm laugh at the cheeky question. Halfgaze was almost always a strictly business kind of cat. She didn't mix work with fun, and mentoring was part of her work. However, Dandelionpaw was one of the few cats who could free Halfgaze's fun side even during something as important as a battle lesson. The tortoiseshell nodded approvingly at Dandelionpaw's battle stance and called out, "Now, pretend a large warrior is in front of you. I'm not around and you have to hold him off by yourself until a larger and more experienced cat can help. You decide to try a simply leap, but his height makes it difficult. Show me how high you can leap. Pretend you are jumping onto his back, out of reach of his claws."

[Captain]

Originally Posted by Casual Scribbles

Eclipsekit nodded, grinning. She was excited that someone was finally going to play with her! The small she-cat bounced the mossball up with her paw and batted it at Newtpaw.

For many moons now, the hardworking apprentice had done nothing but eat, train and sleep in that order for countless days on end. Her mentor did not enforce this routine on her and she knew that, nobody made her do these things but herself. Ever since Lionpaw had disappeared from her life, she found herself growing more restless and emotional, since he had been her only companion in all of Shadowclan that didn’t see her as strange or a nuisance. With him gone, she hardly had friends to spend time with. Sure, she was good friends with Ferretpaw from Windclan, but she hardly saw him because they were from different clans. This was why she overworked herself, to distract herself from this loneliness that she felt each day, but now, it was like she could finally relax and play - like she was a kitten again. Eclipsekit was actually excited to play with her and didn’t bombard her with questions about why she looked different from other cats. It was strange, really, when she thought about it. Sitting with Raspberrybubble and her kitten in the nursery, she felt like she was apart of a family, like a normal cat. Her mother died and her father was unknown, rumored to be a rogue, so she had never known this feeling of having family. It was nice. However, Newtpaw decided to stop thinking so deeply about this when her attention should be put on the mossball that she was sharing with the younger shekit. Seeing Eclipsekit toss up the mossball into the air and bat it towards her with a tiny paw, the small shecat smiled and lifted a paw, aiming to bat it back towards the kitten once it came close enough. “I bet you’ll be a great apprentice someday. Are you excited for your ceremony in the future?” The brown-furred munchkin asked, deciding to spark up a somewhat friendly conversation as they batted the ball of green moss back and forth between them.

[Casual Scribbles]

Originally Posted by Ryder

For many moons now, the hardworking apprentice had done nothing but eat, train and sleep in that order for countless days on end. Her mentor did not enforce this routine on her and she knew that, nobody made her do these things but herself. Ever since Lionpaw had disappeared from her life, she found herself growing more restless and emotional, since he had been her only companion in all of Shadowclan that didn’t see her as strange or a nuisance. With him gone, she hardly had friends to spend time with. Sure, she was good friends with Ferretpaw from Windclan, but she hardly saw him because they were from different clans. This was why she overworked herself, to distract herself from this loneliness that she felt each day, but now, it was like she could finally relax and play - like she was a kitten again. Eclipsekit was actually excited to play with her and didn’t bombard her with questions about why she looked different from other cats. It was strange, really, when she thought about it. Sitting with Raspberrybubble and her kitten in the nursery, she felt like she was apart of a family, like a normal cat. Her mother died and her father was unknown, rumored to be a rogue, so she had never known this feeling of having family. It was nice. However, Newtpaw decided to stop thinking so deeply about this when her attention should be put on the mossball that she was sharing with the younger shekit. Seeing Eclipsekit toss up the mossball into the air and bat it towards her with a tiny paw, the small shecat smiled and lifted a paw, aiming to bat it back towards the kitten once it came close enough. “I bet you’ll be a great apprentice someday. Are you excited for your ceremony in the future?” The brown-furred munchkin asked, deciding to spark up a somewhat friendly conversation as they batted the ball of green moss back and forth between them.

Eclipsekit watched the small apprentice bat at the ball with her paw. Newtpaw looked different, she supposed, but not a bad different. More of just a... different different. Eclipsekit didn't look too standard herself. Her sloping forehead and long muzzle looked nothing like Momma, and the undercurve of her chin gave her a regal profile... or at least it would when people stopped viewing her as a kit. The she-kit's long, thin legs weren't a common feature among ShadowClan cats, nor was her sleek, shimmering fur. She batted the mossball back to Newtpaw. "Yes! I'm very excited!" she squealed. "I wonder who my mentor will be?"

[|+sari+|]

Originally Posted by FadingEchoes

"I'm glad to hear it." He meowed happily, "As for how I am... Well, I always seem to be in a good mood, so I'm not sure how much it means when I say I'm feeling well. But allow me to express that I feel finer than ever before!" He exclaimed, bringing his tail to wrap around his rather large paws. The tom then leaned slightly closer his whiskers quivering in interest as he spoke, "Are you sure you're well?" He asked with concern, it brought great sadness to TigerBlaze to think anyone may be having rough times.

TwistedFang watched TigerBlaze's expression with slight amusement as the talkative tom babbled on. Surely no cat could possibly be this cheerful? He swiped his tongue over his maw to get dirt off his whiskers.
At the other tom's concerned inquiry, the black tom gazed at TigerBlaze a moment before replying guardedly, ''I am okay. Please don't worry about me. Now why don't we go share some Fresh kill? My belly is begging for a meal.''

The black tom got to his paws and padded towards the piteously small Fresh kill Pile, waving his tail in a sweeping motion as a gesture for TigerBlaze to follow him.

As he reached the pile, he took a crow into his jaws and settled down, taking the bird in between his forepaws. He waited for TigerBlaze to join him.

[aleka!]

Frostedbelly glanced around the clearing, her dark gaze slightly slitted. Whew is he? She hissed inwardly, her thick tail starting to lash slowly. Of course, the one day the molly actually wanted to talk to Goldenstar, the leader was nowhere to be seen. Of course he just happened to be somewhere else on this particular time, and this particular day.?her luck was just like that. The brown and white queen hissed, sitting down with a huff.

@.:Blue Wishes:.

[FadingEchoes]

Originally Posted by RosePelt145

TwistedFang watched TigerBlaze's expression with slight amusement as the talkative tom babbled on. Surely no cat could possibly be this cheerful? He swiped his tongue over his maw to get dirt off his whiskers.
At the other tom's concerned inquiry, the black tom gazed at TigerBlaze a moment before replying guardedly, ''I am okay. Please don't worry about me. Now why don't we go share some Fresh kill? My belly is begging for a meal.''

The black tom got to his paws and padded towards the piteously small Fresh kill Pile, waving his tail in a sweeping motion as a gesture for TigerBlaze to follow him.

As he reached the pile, he took a crow into his jaws and settled down, taking the bird in between his forepaws. He waited for TigerBlaze to join him.

TigerBlaze purred happily, following the black tom to the Fresh-Kill Pile and picking a squirrel for himself, a personal favorite. The striped tom then settled down next to TwistedFang, sinking his long claws into the squirrel to hold it steady as he ate. His whiskers quivered happily as he ate in silence with the tom whom he was beginning to consider his friend.
(Reaaaally bad writer's block.)