A young squirrel was darting around the base of large pine trees, foraging, unaware of the predatory stalking it. Deep in the forest, a gigantic scarred tabby crouched low, expertly using the shadows and the knowledge of her territory to stay hidden. Dawnstar stared down at the squirrel completely focused, she lowered her powerful body to the earth until her belly fur brushed the ground, keeping her tail low and straight, and her tattered ears perked. Dawnstar took a small step towards the squirrel, then one more, quietly inching closer to unexpected prey. As soon as she was near enough she leaps, sinking her talons into the squirrel's back. The last thing the furry criter knew was her sharp teeth split through its skin. Breaking its backbone the squirrel dangled limply from Dawnstar's jaws.
Satisfied, the leader picked up the plump squirrel and padded back to camp. She made it to the gorge, silently descending the slope and entering the clearing. Dawnstar dropped her prey onto the measly pile and locked her amber glare onto a new face. Used to smelling the sharp almost bitter scent of pine and ShadowClan, news scent, scents that don't belong, stood out like flying hedgehog to her. Licking her muzzle to clean up any leftover blood, Dawnstar made her way over to the young kit sitting in her camp as if she belonged there.
"Now, who are you?"The threatening, commanding air that surrounded the immense she-cat remained as stopped in front of the kit. Dawnstar took a seat, lowering her scarred face and perking her ears as she observed the cat. Even though there was nothing but curiosity in her eyes, the gruff snarl could easily be mistaken for hostility, when in fact Dawnstar almost always sounded like she was pissed off at someone or something.
"You weren't here when I left the camp, which means someone brought you in without my permission." It would seem that she might need to make someone bleed.
Dawnstar swung her head in the direction of the cat that came up to her. She recognized the silver she-cat who immediately started babbling to her. Brightshadow, she's been gone for several moons now. Her excuse sounded foolish and unbelievable.
"So rogues are kidnapping clan cats now, huh." The snort of disbelief spoke loudly of her thoughts on Brightshadow's little story. "You wanna explain why a rogue kidnapped you? Or at least attempt to make your story a little more reasonable."Why the hell would a rogue kidnap her?
Dawnstar tended to ask every cat who came to join ShadowClan why they picked her clan. The leader wasn't looking for pointless flatter, Dawnstar was well aware that her clan was the 'best' as everyone so arrogantly assumed. What she was looking for was an honest reason for walking in the shadows instead of playing hypocrite with the other clans.
So excluding the opinion that ShadowClan was the strongest, the other clans simply didn't appeal to Thana, it wasn't an overly complicated answer but worked for Dawnstar. So long as the answer was earnest and truthful, Dawnstar didn't make a fuss about it. Thana's answer sounded practical more than anything else. The other clans simply didn't meet her standers, that didn't scream loyalty to Dawnstar, but seeing how much time and energy Thana put into making sure that Dawnstar would see that she was fit for ShadowClan, it seemed unlikely that she'd just up and walk away.
"Acceptable," The ShadowClan leader grunted seeming satisfied. "I'll take you into ShadowClan. Since you've already challenged and beat two clan cats, I'm going to assume that you don't need the extra training so unless proven otherwise, you'll be a warrior within my clan. From now on you'll be known as Owlstorm." Thana's pelt reminded Dawnstar of a stormcloud of sorts, but considering the leader had a preference for animal names, Owl was more fitting. "I'll take you and introduce you to the clan when things had settled down. Follow me, we have to go bury your skull somewhere, but I'll take the pelt to my den with me."
[Done, go ahead and submit her]
So Dawnstar's met a lot of snakes during her time within the clans, but this one felt more like a rat. He was entertaining in all the wrong ways, but Dawnstar had this doubt in the back of her mind about how dedicated he was, and his words did little to put that doubt in the back of her mind at ease. He didn't seem like the type to risk his life for someone else. With Grimhound, she felt like a sort of companionship, and they had that unspoken agreement. He remained loyal and steadfast to her and she'd let him get away with pretty much murder, the fact that she embraced his violent tendency also helped cement that relationship.
Dawnstar didn't believe she could get that from OZ, however, Dawnstar's felt that she's never broken the trust cats put in her. It was always the other way around, Dawnstar didn't wear masks when it came to her clan. She was who she was and didn't make excuses for how she acted or led. So she never really understood why cats got so surprised or so disturbed by her orders or actions to the point of trying to kill or overthrow her. Betrayal was a bothersome topic for her. The glint OZ eyes made her rethink how trustworthy he'd be, even if he was irksome.
Snips, was that her name now? Considering Dawnstar kept giving withered, infuriating glares at the tom every time he said Snips, you'd think he'd catch on that she hated the nickname, but he was either very stupid or oblivious. Dawnstar refrained from snarling at him as he dipped into tidbits as to why he wanted to join.
"So to put it simply you are lonely and want to be a part of something bigger than yourself." Dawnstar huffed, slowly blinking her eyes as she readjusted her weight between her huge front paws. She's heard this from a few other loners, and in a way, she could understand it. As nice as it was living for no one but yourself, Dawnstar doubted she could handle that, living without any real purpose or contribution to something other than herself. It sounded like a sad life.
"Well, that's a bit different." Dawnstar chuckled at OZ's accusing words. "Considering that you are here, I'd assume that you either don't care for these 'clanners' and their 'lost faith' or decided to risk it." Did he forget that he was the one who came to her not the other way around, she didn't see the need to defend herself or the other clans about whether his supposed trust would be returned. But, she decided to humor the tom with an answer if nothing more than due to the fact that he managed to rub her fur wrong... again.
"Honorable? I don't recall saying anything about honorable, if you're looking for honor go play with WindClan. Honor doesn't keep my clan safe or fed." The leader rolled her broad shoulders and lifted her head to peer up at a passing squirrel within the pine trees.
"I'm not going to waste my breath reassuring you concerns about your trust. As far as I can see I have far more to lose than you do regarding loyalty. However, I will tell you that whatever you've heard from those filthy traitors and their lost faith, as far as I can see it has nothing to do with me."
Dawnstar has never been anything but herself, never tried making ShadowClan seem anything more than the dark heart of the forest as they've always meant to be. If those moron traitors didn't understand that it was their problem, she wasn't pretending to be some noble clan with a just cause, Dawnstar was as real as real was going to get. If the traitors had some delusional idea on how ShadowClan was supposed to be, well again their problem. It wasn't her fault that they built up some unrealistic ideas about the clans and say they 'lost faith' when the clan was anything but their ideal dream.
"I kill and throw away anyone or anything that doesn't prove it has worth to me. If you are useless or wrong me then I'll discard you." The leader lowered her eyes back to OZ after a moment. "You want trust, a home, pull your weight and earn it." Cause at the end of the day the tom needed to remember that he'd need ShadowClan more than ShadowClan needed him.
"Now, this has been an intriguing discussion, but I have better things to do today than chat with you all day. Though I'm still uncertain about you, I'll be gracious and give you chance to earn your place among my warrior, unless that is you still have any concerns."
[That's alright, Dawn's a bit all over the place here so if she's not making a lot of sense that's just her. We're probably be done with this by my next post, you got a warrior name in mind for OZ?]
Brightshadow actually had heard of this "ROUGE" before. He enjoyed...Well he enjoyed tourtuing clan cats... His name was, What was it? Darkbringer? Prehaps? She stared at Dawnstar. "Well-He actually enjoys touring clan cats, Hes-I think his name was Darkbringer?"
Name: Carnivore
Age: 23 moons
Gender: male
Rank Request: Warrior
New Name: Carnivore'claw
Reason for Joining: It is time for Carnivore to officially join a clan, he needs interaction and things to do.....but you know what I am talking about @Undertaker
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I will change my name later to Koi Belly
Hope yall have a great Christmas and a Happy New Years!
Fiercefire was walking back towards Shadowclan territory with his son, Lynxpaw. He knew what he had done was not right, but he had taken Lynxpaw with him and left clan territory for a few days, without asking Dawnstar. He wanted to spend some time with his son, away from their duties, and get to know Lynxpaw and learn what he'd been doing for a while. He did work on some training with him though so it wasn't a complete escape from duties.
Fiercefire was worried about how Dawnstar would react to him returning though. He hoped she didn't punish Lynxpaw, since he had just gone along with him.
-- @Undertaker
Resting on top of a thick branch, exhaustion had hit the giant queen of shadows like a monster on a thunderpath. So while out patrolling the territory, Dawnstar found herself severely thrown off her game so as much as it irritated her she took to a tree, giving her the elevated height to watch over the outskirts border, and the element of surprise since most creatures don't look up towards the trees. She rested there for what felt like a few minutes until her tattered ears twitched which caused her eyelids to peel themselves openly.
It was the loud, noisy sound of paws stomping over the border that caught her ear's attention. She spotted the two brown and one tom's, though one had black marks. Dawnstar knew exactly who they were and by the time they made it to the border, the leader would be sitting there waiting.
"Fiercefire and Lynxpaw, what do you want?" From her cold tone, it's impossible to miss how irritated she was.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Frecklewing
Pineshade awkwardly trotted around ShadowClan territory. Okay, okay. Hopefully she wouldn’t be attacked. But dang it, how does someone get blamed for being kitnapped? It couldn’t have been her fault she wandered into Twolegplace—that was a lie, and she knew it. But it REALLY wasn’t her fault that some ugly Twoleg just picked her up with their weird spider paws and made her be a kittypet! Which wasn’t horrible—she was loyal, but dang, the tortoiseshell couldn’t blame kittypets. Never going hungry, always warm—NOOOOOPE, no way, ShadowClan for life, a true warrior rejects the soft life of a kittypet. But it would be fine. Surely she didn’t smell that much like kittypet food? She needed to stop procrastinating. The tortoiseshell inhaled, took a step into camp, and awkwardly meowed. “Hi. I’m back?”
@Undertaker
Seat atop the Shadowledge, sitting with her back straight and looking rather regal in an I-am-going-to-tear-your-eyes-out-if-you-look-at-me-wrong way. Her gleaming amber eyes swept across the cats in the clearing nonchalantly at least until the scent of kittypet assaulted her nose. Raising silently, her pupils shrunk themselves until they were mere slits. Dawnstar's head swung towards the entrance of the camp where a small golden-eyed tortie stood, stinking up the place. Hackles raised, Dawnstar leaped down from the ledge and padded straight over to Pineshade, muscles tensed with aggression.
"You reek like a kittypet," The leader hissed stopping in front of Pineshade. "Explain yourself."
"Four someones." Lark agreed sagely to the last statement, and then recalled Slytiger’s suggestion to throw her over the border when the patrol had first found her. She should probably hold back the names of the cats that had brought her here, for both her sake and theirs. Her amber gaze traveled upward, scanning Dawnstar from head to toe. The massive feline was definitely as large as she was rumored to be, and ten times scarier. Only a fool would not be scared. Thinking of this, Lark realized that if she said something wrong, she was dead, and dead more than one time over.
For a few moments, Lark stared up at the ShadowClan leader in comtemplative silence, thinking about what to say. Maybe she should start with her name, since Dawnstar had asked who she was. She could change her name. Leave her past behind and start afresh with a new life if this went through properly and Dawnstar accepted her into this place called ShadowClan. With an internal wince, Lark also realized that she barely knew a thing about this place. It was okay… Probably… Someone would teach her as long as she was willing to learn. But after a long moment of thinking, Lark realized that if there was one thing of the past that she wanted to hold close, it was her name. "I am Lark." She said, tipping her head to the side after a beat of silence.
Ears flickering as she caught the kit's words, huge claws slide out smoothly, and silently, puncturing the earth. So a whole patrol brought some weird kit into her camp and did not inform her of it. Ears would obviously need to be shredded. This was not how they do things here! How was Dawnstar supposed to watch over her clan when they just brought strangers into the heart of ShadowClan. Dawnstar didn't care for age or gender, if she hadn't approved it no outsider should be set paw within the camp, and certainly not without informing her first.
Dawnstar didn't understand what her warriors were thinking, or not thinking rather. They just left this little hairball out in the clearing expecting the leader to stumble upon it. How irksome. The hairball offering her name caught Dawnstar's attention pulling her out of rather violent thoughts. The leader continued to swing her tail around in wide, harsh arcs behind while observing the kit. There was no fear, no alarm, Lark seemed to be contemplating something, which although different from normal kits, was not the oddest thing she's ever seen.
"Do you happen to know the names of these four someones that brought you in?" Dawnstar asked, staring at the kit wondering what she'd say. You see, there was a way things were handled in clans, and Dawnstar wanted to see how quickly the young cat caught on. Although annoyed, the leader's displeasure wasn't directed at Lark... yet.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Willie Warf
Rumble sighed as she realized the large cat's words. "Alright. I'll take my leave, but I will be back, and I'll have my bloodlust under control." She said, turning around to quickly leave. However, at the edge of the territory, she turned around. "If by chance some other cat finds me, could I have your name so I may request to speak with you?" She wanted to know the name of the cat that would be her leader. Because she would be accepted into this clan. Eventually.
Dawnstar laughed softly at the molly's words. So many outsiders gave up after first training to join ShadowClan and leave. Few tried to change what Dawnstar found was wrong with them and return. Perhaps there was some hope for this cat after all. "My name is Dawnstar." She replied as her amusement faded as quickly as it came. "If you return, and fail my approval, don't expect another chance. I don't like wasting my time." The leader offered those parting words before she got up and walked away.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Levi 99
Step by step shadefrost made his way through the forest. His ungroomed pelt was matted with blood, but he didn't care. All he wanted to do was make it out of this nightmare as fast as possible. It was bad enough that he had been trapped for shadow knows how long, but now he had to worry about clan cats attacking him whenever he stopped to rest. His stomach gave a painful cry of hunger, it had been days since he last ate, though it was only crow food and he hadn’t been able to rest his sapphire blue eyes much in the last few days either. He had tried hunting something multiple times, but in the end he was too hungry and weak to catch even one whisker. How long had it been since he'd curled up in a mossy bed or hunted with any of his fellow clanmates or even ran through his clan's territory with the wind against his face. He closed his eyes, half reminiscing and half sleep, letting his paws carry him. He knew where he wanted to go and thanks to Riverclan’s scent he knew where he was, now all he had to do was make it and he’d be safe. For a little while at least. So step by step Shadefrost made his way through the forest, every hair standing on end at the knowledge that a cat could jump out of the ferns at any moment and sink their claws into him. And step by step he made his way through the forest, knowing that if he could just make it a little further he might be able to escape this nightmare. And so, step by step he made his way through the forest and finally the beautiful, wonderful, welcoming scent of Shadowclan filled his nose. He would’ve leapt for joy, but his bones ached and all he wanted to do was immediately drop to the ground and sleep. A second later he had dropped to the ground and was now sleeping with a little ease in his heart.
Sorry for not being on for a while, had some stuff to take care of. Just to be clear does my cats story have to be able to be backed up by another thread or something like that
[If the story has something to do with the clans then yes, but anything outside the clans like twolegs, or dogs, and so on then no. It's unlikely Dawn will dig into stories unless they don't make sense or cause problems for the clan or her.]
She tensed her muscles as she lifted her ears up on her head, she kept her tail low though didn't allow it to touch the ground as focused on the small vibration of tiny paws hitting the ground. Her tail quivered with excitement and she prowled ever so silently towards the innocent bird that had chirped. She held her tail low to the ground, careful not to let it stick out of the undergrowth she was relying on to veil her presence. Her ears lie flat to her head as she swiveled through her surroundings expertly.
Her muscles tensed as she closed her eyes timing the moment perfectly. All of her senses were alert when she heard the quiet flutter of bird wings. Her heart skipped a beat as she hoped it hadn't flown off, but with relief, she could still feel the vibrations in the earth of its clawed feet as they hopped around on the ground. She dropped back to the ground and hastily sprung into the air with a graceful leap, letting the friction of the breeze billow through her fur, creating an illuminating scene.
She landed squarely over the bird and it squawked in terror, but her body shrouded over it allowing no escape. Her fangs instinctively plunged into its flesh she pulled her head back and swallowed the small thing to lay limp between her paws. Dawnstar picked up the bird by its wing and began walking her way back to camp. However, she had to stop and set the prey down when she found a bloody black tom passed out on the path back home.
Oh, wait she knew this guy. "Shadefrost, wake up." She huffed ruefully while padding a circle around the tom to inspect his body for wounds. If cats were dead it was rare for Dawnstar to be alarmed by much. "What happened to you?" Despite her gruff tone, her large paws move gingerly across his body while she debated on carrying him back to camp as he was or if she needed to collect some cobwebs first.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Swiftheart <3
Brightshadow actually had heard of this "ROUGE" before. He enjoyed...Well he enjoyed tourtuing clan cats... His name was, What was it? Darkbringer? Prehaps? She stared at Dawnstar. "Well-He actually enjoys touring clan cats, Hes-I think his name was Darkbringer?"
Darkbringer? What a ridiculous name. She almost laughed but held it in as she shook her head still clearly unwilling to believe Brightshadow. "It's a pity that I don't believe you at all." Dawnstar retorted with an eye roll. Rogues don't kidnap clan cats or at least there haven't been any consistent reports of anyone by that stupid name. "Whether it's true or not, you bring me no proof, if you're going to tell such a story evidence would have been nice. I'm exiling you for a half moon, and this is me being kind. Perhaps so extra time on your own will wisen you a bit. Return here in a moons time and we'll talk." Dawnstar told her, waving her tail towards the outskirts.
[You can try and rejoin Bright any time after August 21]
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rapid
Name: Carnivore
Age: 23 moons
Gender: male
Rank Request: Warrior
New Name: Carnivore'claw
Reason for Joining: It is time for Carnivore to officially join a clan, he needs interaction and things to do.....but you know what I am talking about @Undertaker
[Go ahead and post a starter, but Dawn will not let him keep the name Carnivore, jsyk]
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siggy art by redshiftreign
Dawnstar is the leader of ShadowClan and will shred you if you enter her den. She has a semi-closed den policy. ShadowClan Resources ||| Dawnstar ||| ||| Kit Curriculum Finder
Lark stared mutely up at the leader, brown-ish grey fur quivering slightly with unpronounced fear. It was an effort to smooth down her fur again, but she managed it eventually. She wasn’t sure whether suppressing and hiding the fear was smart or complete suicide.
Now, thinking Dawnstar's question over, Lark realized that technically, she did not know any of the names of the cats who'd brought her here, since they hadn't directly told her. Technically, she was just an idiotic, measly, terrified kit who would have been too panicked to actually listen to the cats in the patrol talking. But it would not do to lie to her future leader, if that was who Dawnstar was going to be. And besides, Lark did not want to seem pathetic or too weak to this fearsome cat. She wanted to be able to hold her own, even if her close-minded actions possibly got her killed.
So, after biting her tongue with worry for a few moments, the lithe she-kit spoke. "I know a few... of their names." She said, and then hesitated a moment. Dawnstar hadn't asked for the names, she'd just asked if Lark knew the names. But then again, being cheeky would probably get her murdered on the spot. "One of them told me to wait for you and talk to you when you came. To see if you’d kick me out or take me in.” Her amber gaze flitted briefly around the camp clearing again, and then Lark was looking back at the leader, lips thinning into a straight line. “I would readily supply their names, really, but perhaps if I got them punished, they’d have it out for me ‘till I get punished as well. I wouldn’t want to start my time in your Clan with enemies.” The kitten meowed, bowing her head to hide the indecision in her eyes. “I know my place, Dawnstar. You are undoubtedly in power here. You have the upper hand(paw?). And I fully respect that. But there is a reason why I am here.” She lifted her head rather abruptly, expression shifting briefly to raw uncertainty for her future before it was covered up again. “I want to ask you for a home, to start here with a clean slate. Somewhere I can put my trust and not have it broken again. I am a kit, and will probably not be the most skilled or helpful addition to your Clan, but…” Lark trailed off, gaze turning distant as she tried to think of a way to convince Dawnstar to let her into ShadowClan. Because for once in her life, she felt like maybe there was a real purpose to… living. Sure, Lark had never expected much from life, even if her life had only consisted of about five moons, but being here, surrounded by all these cats milling about, it made her realize how many loners were missing out. So instead of attempting to convince Dawnstar, Lark merely bowed her head again and completed what she’d been about to say. “...But in the end, it is your decision.”
(Gah, sorry for writing this much, I got carried away)
Edit: I just realized, would this be in the past-? Since they're in camp and camp is being evacuated rn? Or does Joining/Rejoining have nothing to do with current-time Roleplay?
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❝ Leaving them feeling betrayed.
Breaking the bonds that you've made. ❞
Hoo boy. How do I explain this? “Okay, okay. I was out for a midnight stroll, and I walked onto some twolegs sitting on some wooden thing. I tried to run away, but one caught me. And I was a kittypet for…a while. But I’m back! They were stupid enough to open their weird door thing and I was out like a light!” That is not how that expression is used, ah, why are you still talking idiot! “So, uh. As I was forced to be a kittypet and didn’t really abandon my clan, can I…rejoin?” Please say yes. The tortoiseshell shook out all the thoughts. She’ll say yes, I know it.
He walked back onto the territory, fresh scar running from the bottom of his muzzle to his hind leg. "Dawnstar? Cinderblaze?" He asked around. "I'm back in action." he looked at his scar. "It was a training trip, i wanted to make sure i met your standards, dawnstar, and i went out to train."
He walked back onto the territory, fresh scar running from the bottom of his muzzle to his hind leg. "Dawnstar? Cinderblaze?" He asked around. "I'm back in action." he looked at his scar. "It was a training trip, i wanted to make sure i met your standards, dawnstar, and i went out to train."
Cinderblaze was on his way to go hunting when he encountered an odd scent, but it was definitely familiar. Jaypaw wasn't it? Narrowing his amber eyes, the deputy moved towards Jaypaw, forcing himself not to laugh at the pathetic explanation of the youngster's absence. "...A training trip? And what for? We have plenty of warriors and enforcers capable of training you if you ask for it. What you've done won't impress Dawnstar, it will disappoint her."
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Mistyshard is RiverClan’s current Medicine Cat. She has a semi-closed den policy. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to VM or DM me!
He looked at Cinderblaze. "Sorry, I just decided to take my time is all. I was going to come back and show you what i've learned. Oh, and i wanted to show you what I found on the edge of the territory!" He ran into a bush and dragged out a pile of rats. "They were nesting in a stump." he said. "I just wanted to be as strong as you and dawnstar is all. Dawnstar is so cool and strong! she has so many scars and she is awesome! I would die for her and the clan!" He announced. The apprentice's eyes gleamed with respect.
@starry.
Cinderblaze raised his eyebrows. That explanation didn't make anything better, but if he was going to be honest? ShadowClan was in dire need of apprentices. Maybe he would accept Jaypaw back just for that, but he'd have to think about it. Leaving the clan to train was not acceptable, and the deputy needed to make that clear. Depending on Jaypaw's response, he would decide if he'd accept the tomcat back or not. "If you'd die for ShadowClan and Dawnstar, why did you leave? This doesn't make sense to me. Leaving your clan brought you nothing but trouble, and do tell me why you thought it was a good idea. No one will be impressed, your actions weren't brave, they just show that you're disloyal. I'm not sure if I should accept you back into ShadowClan or not."
Cinderblaze raised his eyebrows. That explanation didn't make anything better, but if he was going to be honest? ShadowClan was in dire need of apprentices. Maybe he would accept Jaypaw back just for that, but he'd have to think about it. Leaving the clan to train was not acceptable, and the deputy needed to make that clear. Depending on Jaypaw's response, he would decide if he'd accept the tomcat back or not. "If you'd die for ShadowClan and Dawnstar, why did you leave? This doesn't make sense to me. Leaving your clan brought you nothing but trouble, and do tell me why you thought it was a good idea. No one will be impressed, your actions weren't brave, they just show that you're disloyal. I'm not sure if I should accept you back into ShadowClan or not."
The young apprentice perked his ears. "I'm eleven moons now. If you were to let me back, I could prove my loyalty again!" He said. "I'm sorry." He pinned back his ears. "I'll do anything to get back into shadowclan! I want to help with the twolegs! I want to help! I'll do anything to get back into shadowclan. its my home."
Re: ShadowClan Joining & Rejoining
