ShadowClan Leader's Den

[Undertaker]

Originally Posted by Hopeless

~ Owlfeather ~
@Undertaker

As her yellow amber eyes got used to the darkness she could pick up many things. First was the new scratch on her leader's cheek. She wasn't sure where it had come form, since no battles had happened recently enough, but she didn't dwell on it, it was very possible her leader would have sparred with someone with claws out. She also wasn't blind to Dawnstar's mild of her job with skinning wasn't perfect, but it had been a choice between cleaning her gifts more thurly, or letting Dawnstar wait.

Dipping her head at Dawnstar's command she began. "Rainburst and I were out hunting to fill up the fresh-kill pile a little more, and we manged to get a vole and a lizard and hide them to come and get them later when we were done, but Rainburst heard the sound of a fox, not only that, a kit as well, Lilykit if I remember correctly. I'm not sure if she tried to follow us or sneaked out by fault of her own stupidity, but the fox had found her before we did. The fox must have been weakened somehow, not notice wounds or anything, but it didn't kill the kit right away, for some reason. We got there in time to save her pitiful life," She nodded down at the pelt and skull. "And got the fox killed as well. Rainburst took the kit to Bunceberry, though I'm not quite sure if she'll survive."

She wasn't quite sure if the kit was even worth having around. A cat could be of use in many ways, but few were dump enough to go outside, after their leader had warned of both twolegs and foxes, and forbidden anyone, even warriors and apprentices to go out alone. Nettlepaw had also been not so bright as a kit, but even she had had the sensibility to listen to their leader when she spoke about dangerous like this.

She had yet to get the prey they had buried for later, since she had been busy reporting the events to Dawnstar, but she made a mental note to get them later, maybe bring her niece to show her about burring prey to save time.

Rainburst, another face in the crowd, well she was pleased to hear that her warriors were obeying her orders. Dawnstar hated repeating herself, and there would be some serious trouble if she found cats wandering outside her camp without a clanmate or a patrol. The way Ravenblaze had made it sound was that those twolegs were a whole new type of trouble, if those silverstones were really able to rip all of her remaining lives from her, she couldn't imagine what kind of trouble they'd cause her clan. As much as she hated twolegs, they were a threat that Dawnstar wouldn't challenge unless she had to for ShadowClan's sake. Most cats seemed to believe that she was some brainless musclehead who didn't give a dung about her clan or assumed she was pure evil, and she preferred it that way, let them believe what they'd like, Dawnstar knew what kind of leader she was.

Dawnstar cared for ShadowClan in her own way, just because she was willing to tear a few weeds out to make sure that ShadowClan flourished, the clans made her out to be the worst of the worst among the leaders, and Dawnstar had no interest in fixing that. Her amber eyes hardened and the corner of her lip peeled back to expose one large fang when she heard that there was a kit out, Lilykit. "So what you're telling me is that we're having our medicine cat waste herbs on a hairball that can't follow a simple order." Dawnstar hissed without a hint of sympathy. "You should have left her there. ShadowClan has enough imbeciles, losing one wouldn't have hurt." What some might call cruel, Dawnstar called rational. Lilykit obviously lacked any common sense if she was out after Dawnstar spoke about the twolegs and warned the entire clan at the last meeting.

Well, she supposes what's done is done, there was no point in complaining about it now. "ShadowClan is lucky to have a few bright warriors, such as yourself. Aside from not tossing the waste of space, a job well done, Owlfeather." It took Dawnstar a few seconds to realize why saying the cat's name irked her just a little. She had the same exact name as Dawnstar's late grandmother, Dawnstar admired her grandmother's tenacity, although, aside from that she was a pain in the ass. This Owlfeather, thankfully, didn't share Dawnstar's grandmother's softness. "I'll deal with Lilykit later, I appreciate the fox skull and pelt, they'll be put to good use." Dawnstar waved her tail, dismissing the she-cat unless she had anything else to add.

[Hopeless]

~ Owlfeather ~
@Undertaker (you don't have to respond unless Dawn has something to add)

Dawnstar's word were sensible, as a leader's words should, and Owlfeather nodded slightly in agreement about what was said about Lilykit. When she had been busy fighting the fox she had simply called to Rainburst to get the hairball out of the way, she hadn't been thinking about what to actually do with the kit, since she was busy with the fox. But that wasn't really an excuse to not think forward, now was it. She made a mental note to train thinking under more press more. She hadn't yet been called to the Darkforest to train, which meant she hadn't yet proven herself as good and useful enough, but she was sure that once that moment came she would be able to get trained better then any mentor here could have offered her during her apprenticeship.

"Im afraid so.." she mewed, a slight growl edging her voice when Dawnstar talked about Bounceberry wasting things on the kit. "It's a miracle if the flea survives... but I'll stop by out dear medicine cat to see if I can get him any herbs to refill his stock." It was partly her fault the kit was brought back, so it was only reasonable she would help fix up things afterwards. She could always get Nettlepaw with her as not to breke the rules Dawnstar had set in place about no one being allowed to go out alone.

Dipping her head in respect she backed out of the den. "I have nothing more to report, so if that's everything I won't waste any more of your time."

[Pitou]

@Undertaker

**Elmshadow**

The large pelt was growing heavy by the time Elmshadow carried it through the camp entrance. The long trek home from the border gave him ample opportunity to replay the encounter in his mind. What had that cat been thinking? He'd clearly been out of his element crossing through Shadowclan territory. His pelt smelled mostly of the forest but there'd been a faint but unmistakable scent of kittypet clinging to it. And despite the tom's massive size, he hadn't put up much of a fight at all against Elmshadow, so clearly he hadn't spent too long on his own. And yet he'd bolstered such a confident and defiant front. It was a pity, really, that such a cat should be born as a kittypet. He otherwise likely would've made a strong warrior.

Elmshadow shrugged off the introspection. Regardless of what the massive tabby tom could've been, he was now nothing but a thick pelt to present to Dawnstar. He'd taken care to groom out the blood and the tang of twoleg rubbish clinging to the long grey fur that had been on the tom's chest. In the end, he was proud of the pelt, even if it had been relatively easily won; the scratches along his back stung but they weren't likely to scar, it was a light price to pay. The size and thickness of this pelt seemed likely to comfortably accommodate the large leader.

Elmshadow held his head high for the last stretch, pushing against the ache in his neck. He approached Dawnstar's den with a pointed clearing of his throat to announce his approach, not wanting to drop the groomed pelt on the ground. Then he stood to await her invitation.

[WhitesilverQueen]

"Dawnstar?" Was this a good idea? Dawnstar would punish her, no doubt. But Lilykit had managed to catch a mouse. A scrawny one. She hadn't even joined Shadowclan when kits were told they couldn't leave camp. She had only just learned that today. She limped on her bleeding leg. And she stared at a wall.
@Undertaker

[Quasar]

Addersnow | she/her | @Undertaker the pelt is from rosebriar!

The dakr ginger pelt that hing from the torties jaws was certainly a liability. It slowed her down a surprising amount, and the way it dragged on the ground was nothing short of annoying. Dawnsrar better not get used to this from her, because addersnow wasn't sure she was going to go out of her way to do this more than a couple times. Maybe she should just get someone else to do it for her. Still, Grimhound said that the leader had a little collection of pelts that cats had given her, so there was no reason just to let a perfectly good pelt go to waste.

The loner who she had killed was already pretty heavily scarred, but it seemed those scars weren't actually a sign of their fighting skills. Insteaf, it was pitifully one-sided and boring. The only wound she even inflicted was a deep gash in the chest, where it was obvious that a chunk of flesh had been torn out in the process. That was all it had taken to kill her... to say it had left a sour taste in her mouth would be an understatement. In fact, it only left her feeling even more hungry for a decent fight than she had been before.

As Addersnow entered Dawnstars den, she took a moment just to take it all in. There were countless pelts scattered around, with a couple skulls to liven up the place. It was...certainly impressive, but she had to wonder how many of these had been taken by the leader herself. That would certainly make it a lot more impressive. "Here, Grimhound told me you liked these." she nonchalantly mewed, tossing the pelt at the leaders paws. She may not recognize it, but Dawnstar just might. The dark ginger base was pretty common, but the cream stripe that ran down the back was pretty noticeable and unique.

[Witchy Madelaine]

-->Ebonyfang<--

Oh good she didn't have anything of a snake. He was hoping she hadn't. She'd have more purpose for it than him. Others would most likely think its cool and take it if he had it in the warriors den. Nobody would think to steal it from her unless they enjoyed having their throat ripped out.

"Yeah it took me a while to eventually find one. It had made a hole in the territory.", he meowed. Yep it was right under the snow where nobody could see it. Luckily cats had good sense of smell or one might end up breaking their leg when finding it or best yet bitten off.

Ebonyfang knew she'd think there was something odd for him to bringing her something. Most cats wanted to try to get her on their good side. He just thought it was better here than with him. "Heard that many cats were skinning things and wanted to see what its all about. I also didn't want to keep it in the warriors den for the taking. You'd have better use for it.", he responded. He was telling the truth. He knew what lying would do to him and he wasn't like any of the others. How boring that would be.

// @Undertaker; \\

[littlelove]

Oh dear Starclan. Prayers were the only thing clinging Maplepaw to calmness right now. Not that she was a particularly pious cat -
not many were in Shadowclan - but any private meeting with the leader had at least a 50% chance at getting a cat turned into a nice fur rug. The torbie assumed the leader was less than pleased with her circumstances; 19 moons and having blown through 5 mentors meant that her lag was less of a coincidence and more of a pattern.

Stepping into Dawnstar's den, any anxiety that had crossed her face was easily masked in mere moments. Her face stayed aloof as she began speaking. "You wanted to see me." Less of a question, more of a statement - she knew what she was in here for.

@Undertaker

[Undertaker]

Originally Posted by Ravensong

@Undertaker

**Elmshadow**

The large pelt was growing heavy by the time Elmshadow carried it through the camp entrance. The long trek home from the border gave him ample opportunity to replay the encounter in his mind. What had that cat been thinking? He'd clearly been out of his element crossing through Shadowclan territory. His pelt smelled mostly of the forest but there'd been a faint but unmistakable scent of kittypet clinging to it. And despite the tom's massive size, he hadn't put up much of a fight at all against Elmshadow, so clearly he hadn't spent too long on his own. And yet he'd bolstered such a confident and defiant front. It was a pity, really, that such a cat should be born as a kittypet. He otherwise likely would've made a strong warrior.

Elmshadow shrugged off the introspection. Regardless of what the massive tabby tom could've been, he was now nothing but a thick pelt to present to Dawnstar. He'd taken care to groom out the blood and the tang of twoleg rubbish clinging to the long grey fur that had been on the tom's chest. In the end, he was proud of the pelt, even if it had been relatively easily won; the scratches along his back stung but they weren't likely to scar, it was a light price to pay. The size and thickness of this pelt seemed likely to comfortably accommodate the large leader.

Elmshadow held his head high for the last stretch, pushing against the ache in his neck. He approached Dawnstar's den with a pointed clearing of his throat to announce his approach, not wanting to drop the groomed pelt on the ground. Then he stood to await her invitation.

Dawnstar unsheathed her claws digging them into an old ragged pelt that had long since lost its use. She'd be taking it to the WindClan border, new pelts needed to be lined by the border and the old ones would need to be removed and tossed in the outskirts. The ones that reeked of the leader's scent would enforce the scent marks at the border. Tossing the old pelt to the side, the dark tabby didn't look up from her work as she heard the incoming paw steps. She tossed another pelt out of her possessions and then finally glanced up at the cat at the opening of the den.

She looked up at the gray and black tom who was carrying quite a large pelt. Strangely enough, it didn't look like the usual pelts she obtained from her clanmates. Through the thick pine sap that clung to every ShadowClan member, Dawnstar caught the sour almost bitter scent that made her hackles rise. Kittypet. It's not the first time a cat had brought her a kittypet pelt, but it is the first time she had one so smelly. Despite the scent, it looked cleaner the ones she usually got. She could get rid of the scent without much trouble, and even she could see the slight twinkle of pride in the Elmshadow's eyes.

"Next time, try draping it across your back, you'll save your jaw and neck some ache. You could brush the pelt across the tree trunks or claw the pine tree to gather some of the sap and brush the pelt into it to get rid of the nasty kittypet stench." Dawnstar advise, padding over to grab the pelt from her warrior's maw and hauling it the rest of the way in. She was a little shocked at the weight, it was far thicker than she had initially thought. She dropped the pelt with the rest of her collection near or on her nest. "It's a lovely pelt, despite the fact that it came to a kittypet, big too." She mused, eyes darted back over to look Elmshadow over for any noticeable wounds. She didn't think he'd have any problems with someone like a kittypet. "Good work, where'd you find the kittypet?" Dawnstar assumed that they had been trespassing that or Elmshadow liked hunting kittypets.

Originally Posted by Silverspot11

"Dawnstar?" Was this a good idea? Dawnstar would punish her, no doubt. But Lilykit had managed to catch a mouse. A scrawny one. She hadn't even joined Shadowclan when kits were told they couldn't leave camp. She had only just learned that today. She limped on her bleeding leg. And she stared at a wall.
@Undertaker

[So I don't recall Dawn accepting Lilykit as an outsider, so she should have been born in the clan, even if she wasn't. There is no way she wouldn't have been taught about kits not being allowed to leave the camp. Either by other kits in the clan or queens, there's not an excuse for her to use about ignoring this rule]

"Lilykit," Dawnstar hissed, nose twitching as she scents the faint bloody scent clinging to the young cat. The leader's gaze remained unflinching and icy as she stared at the kit. "I have half a mind to toss you out of the clan and to the foxes for leaving the camp. I don't care what your excuse is, you know that kits aren't allowed out of camp." She spat the furball furiously. "You better thank Owlfeather, the only reason you still have a place in this clan is because of her."

Originally Posted by Jackpot

Addersnow | she/her | @Undertaker the pelt is from rosebriar!

The dakr ginger pelt that hing from the torties jaws was certainly a liability. It slowed her down a surprising amount, and the way it dragged on the ground was nothing short of annoying. Dawnsrar better not get used to this from her, because addersnow wasn't sure she was going to go out of her way to do this more than a couple times. Maybe she should just get someone else to do it for her. Still, Grimhound said that the leader had a little collection of pelts that cats had given her, so there was no reason just to let a perfectly good pelt go to waste.

The loner who she had killed was already pretty heavily scarred, but it seemed those scars weren't actually a sign of their fighting skills. Insteaf, it was pitifully one-sided and boring. The only wound she even inflicted was a deep gash in the chest, where it was obvious that a chunk of flesh had been torn out in the process. That was all it had taken to kill her... to say it had left a sour taste in her mouth would be an understatement. In fact, it only left her feeling even more hungry for a decent fight than she had been before.

As Addersnow entered Dawnstars den, she took a moment just to take it all in. There were countless pelts scattered around, with a couple skulls to liven up the place. It was...certainly impressive, but she had to wonder how many of these had been taken by the leader herself. That would certainly make it a lot more impressive. "Here, Grimhound told me you liked these." she nonchalantly mewed, tossing the pelt at the leaders paws. She may not recognize it, but Dawnstar just might. The dark ginger base was pretty common, but the cream stripe that ran down the back was pretty noticeable and unique.

The dark tabby finished grooming some ruffled fur along her shoulder blade and twisted herself to start licking over the fur along her back when she stopped and rotated her head. Her bright amber eyes were void of any readable emotions as a new cat entered her den. Her bushy tail swayed to and fro, expelling her annoyance at not being asked to enter before just barging in. However, she was slowly teaching herself to settle down on snapping at every cat who made her cross.

The tortie she-cat with blue eyes dropped a somewhat pine needled infested pelt at her paws. She was going to have to teach some of her cats how to carry pelts, dragging them across a pine forest wasn't the brightest. A mere whiff indicated the foreign scent of an outsider. The pelt, like many of those that came from fighters, seemed to be missing patches of fur here and there. It wasn't the prettiest pelt she's ever been gifted, but unless it was disgusting and mangled, rarely if ever had Dawnstar turned away a gift. "Thanks, I guess," She meowed in the same nonchalant tone as the warrior.

"Where'd you get it?" Dawnstar inquired as she took in the pelts coloring and patterned, it seemed familar. Not that most pelts didn't seem familiar to her, so many warriors have fallen to the claws of her clan. The scent didn't have any hint or remanence of a clan on it. It didn't mean that it hadn't belonged to a clan cat at one point in time.

Originally Posted by Angelique

-->Ebonyfang<--

Oh good she didn't have anything of a snake. He was hoping she hadn't. She'd have more purpose for it than him. Others would most likely think its cool and take it if he had it in the warriors den. Nobody would think to steal it from her unless they enjoyed having their throat ripped out.

"Yeah it took me a while to eventually find one. It had made a hole in the territory.", he meowed. Yep it was right under the snow where nobody could see it. Luckily cats had good sense of smell or one might end up breaking their leg when finding it or best yet bitten off.

Ebonyfang knew she'd think there was something odd for him to bringing her something. Most cats wanted to try to get her on their good side. He just thought it was better here than with him. "Heard that many cats were skinning things and wanted to see what its all about. I also didn't want to keep it in the warriors den for the taking. You'd have better use for it.", he responded. He was telling the truth. He knew what lying would do to him and he wasn't like any of the others. How boring that would be.

// @Undertaker; \\

Dawnstar poked at the skull of the snake with a claw tip as Ebonyfang explained where he had acquired the snake. So it was pure luck that he had found it. Dawnstar couldn't tell what kind of snake it was by the bones alone, not that it mattered. After she carefully arranged it within the den, she sat down and tipped her head to admire the bones. She knew that she was going to be moving it around a few times because she was fussy like that, but for now, she quite liked it where it was.

"Grimhound skinned one dead warrior and now he got nearly the whole clan doing it," Dawnstar commented offhandedly after she finished fidgeting with the skeleton. "Not that I'm complaining, as you can see the clan has taken to gifting me with pelts and skulls if they find any. No one has given me a full skeleton though, I shall have to start a collection for them." Who knew this, this might start another new trend among the clan. "If you find any more snakes bones, I'll happily take them." Dawnstar purred quietly, tail swiping out to brush the tip of her cousin's ear in appreciation. She allowed him to depart if he had nothing more to tell her.

Originally Posted by littlelove

Oh dear Starclan. Prayers were the only thing clinging Maplepaw to calmness right now. Not that she was a particularly pious cat -
not many were in Shadowclan - but any private meeting with the leader had at least a 50% chance at getting a cat turned into a nice fur rug. The torbie assumed the leader was less than pleased with her circumstances; 19 moons and having blown through 5 mentors meant that her lag was less of a coincidence and more of a pattern.

Stepping into Dawnstar's den, any anxiety that had crossed her face was easily masked in mere moments. Her face stayed aloof as she began speaking. "You wanted to see me." Less of a question, more of a statement - she knew what she was in here for.

@Undertaker

Dawnstar had reared up, not to her full height, but enough to place her forepaws on the nearest wall of her den. With her claws unsheathed, she dragged them down the stone leaving small indents in the stone as she did. She had wanted to go out and drag her claws across some pine trees to keep them sharp, but then remembered that she had called Maplepaw to her den so she waited for the young cat. She lifted her ears, dropping down onto all fours, and turned to face the entrance as the she-cat walked into her den.

The molly was well over the age of what Dawnstar considered acceptable to be within the apprentice den. Dawnstar's never had many problems with Maplepaw, but her inability to finish training was starting to grow on the leader's nerves. "I'm not going to go into the number of mentors that you have lost, those are out of your control. Your training, however, is not. You should be a warrior by now, if your mentors aren't going to take your training seriously, there is a whole clan of warriors who you could ask for training. Instead, it seems that you've been sitting around stewing and doing absolutely nothing about training. I don't see the point in allowing you to remain in ShadowClan if you aren't going to take any initiation, Maplepaw." The clan leader stopped there allowing Maplepaw to say her piece if she wanted.

[Pitou]

@Undertaker

**Elmshadow**

Elmshadow blinked once thoughtfully. Draping it over his back would've made the carrying easier but the thought of draping the kittypet scent over himself made his pelt crawl; though brushing the scent out with sap or pine bark would've solved all of the issues, including the disgusting tang sitting on his tongue from trying to groom it out and carry it back.

The broad tom dipped his head slightly as his leader took the pelt from him and complimented it, as far as a kittypet pelt could be complimented. He recognized it wasn't much of a trophy as an accomplishment but really most pelts weren't. Rogues could be tough but they mostly lacked proper battle training. There were warriors worth the pride to defeat in battle but, any more it seemed, even those were sorely lacking. Kittypets had no redeeming battle prowess, he simply had the luck to be the one to stumble upon one large enough to be worth the inconvenience. "He'd crossed over the border near the Thunderclan side, claiming he just wanted to pass through. That was not an option but he refused to take the warning. He tried to put up a good fight...for a kittypet."

[WhitesilverQueen]

Lilykit stared at the ground. "Why don't you just kill me then?" she said quietly as she rolled the little mouse under her paw.
@Undertaker