High Rank Announcement [#hrannouncement]

**iliri** · #**121** June 11th, 2024, 11:35 AM

Cormorantpaw arrived at the abandoned twoleg nest, out of breath after arriving.

[closed for now; posting just to get her here before the 12th]

***squidz*** · #**122** June 11th, 2024, 11:45 AM

— STAGHEART —

very large, muscular, & scarred light brown tabby tom with stark blue eyes and a torn ear; beefed up tier 2

[ riverclan warrior | tomcat | 51 moons | gruff & battle-hardened, yet thoughtful; loyal to a fault ]

—

Stagheart felt claws of grief and guilt seize his heart as Willowpaw's trembling words. "I-I'm sorry, Willowpaw. I was told to head here with the herbs Berrypaw needed to start healin', 'n..." He trailed off, knowing excuses would do no good and made no sense to her in this moment. So he traded them for a long sigh, shaking his head. "I know. You're right. I'm... I'm sorry this happened to you. To your family. I can't change that I wasn't there, nor what happened, but... I'll do what I can to help you along now, alright? I ain't leavin' you, 'specially not after all this... y'hear me? It's gonna be alright..." He tried his best to calm her, using his tail in another gesture of comfort, knowing his words often fell flat. But hopefully, they wouldn't this time.

He glanced at the very young kits as he spoke to Willowpaw, seeing that they looked perplexed and terrified, and Starrykit whispered something about milk... wait, were they even old enough to eat prey? Stagheart honestly didn't know the first thing about fatherhood. That much was certain. He hesitated before saying gently to the kits, "Well... looks like you two ain't so interested in prey. I'll try to see if I can find you a queen, alright?" Was there even a queen who could nurse right now? He didn't know. Everything was so uncertain... stars, his head was spinning.

When Cinderflare approached, Stagheart looked away for a moment, letting her curt words settle. Objectively, Cinder was right — there were so many things to do, so many cats to help. But the poor apprentice had just watched not only her mother die, but birth a few stillborn kits and carry her only alive sister here. She didn't seem to be in any shape to do anything else... although, a distraction might do her good. She had a point on that.

He hesitated, starting to murmur quietly to Cinderflare, "She just lost her mother..." But he didn't get too long into the explanation when Willowpaw cried out, defending her tears while looking to be on the brink of collapsing. He shuffled closer to his apprentice just in case she did, eyes softening. Stagheart wasn't one for much pity when it came to his Clanmates, but this... this grief was visceral, something he could practically feel emanating from the poor young cat. Still... Berrypaw and Mistyshard had a whole Clan to heal. They needed all paws on deck.

"Hey... it ain't your fault, alright? Nothin' about this was your fault. And... maybe gettin' your mind off it for a moment might help?" he suggested, his low drawl perhaps sounding a little funny as it tried to be hopeful and light for her sake. "We do need herbs, and I gotta watch these kits here... you'd be a big help for Berrypaw 'n the rest of us who need healin' if y'could..."

He wasn't trying to push Willowpaw off too much, but with needing to find a queen for these kits, and... oh, Great StarClan, he'd forgotten to give the unconscious Cobwebpaw a drink. Totally left his minds when these kits showed up. And he still hadn't gotten his own wounds checked out! Trying not to show the worry over all this in his face, he looked sympathetically down at Willowpaw, hoping his gentle words would encourage her forward.

[ @occultation @Wingnettle @Estelle ]

**burntToast** · #**123** June 11th, 2024, 12:42 PM

Aspenkit arrives with swanberry

Mudsmokes arrives with twigstep and immediately heads over to the healing area

(Short posts, will lengthen them eventually- /w\)

**MangoBearGoGrr** · #**124** June 11th, 2024, 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by squidz

— STAGHEART —

very large, muscular, & scarred light brown tabby tom with stark blue eyes and a torn ear; beefed up tier 2

[ riverclan warrior | tomcat | 51 moons | gruff & battle-hardened, yet thoughtful; loyal to a fault ]

—

Stagheart felt claws of grief and guilt seize his heart as Willowpaw's trembling words. "I-I'm sorry, Willowpaw. I was told to head here with the herbs Berrypaw needed to start healin', 'n..." He trailed off, knowing excuses would do no good and made no sense to her in this moment. So he traded them for a long sigh, shaking his head. "I know. You're right. I'm... I'm sorry this happened to you. To your family. I can't change that I wasn't there, nor what happened, but... I'll do what I can to help you along now, alright? I ain't leavin' you, 'specially not after all this... y'hear me? It's gonna be alright..." He tried his best to calm her, using his tail in another gesture of comfort, knowing his words often fell flat. But hopefully, they wouldn't this time.

He glanced at the very young kits as he spoke to Willowpaw, seeing that they looked perplexed and terrified, and Starrykit whispered something about milk... wait, were they even old enough to eat prey? Stagheart honestly didn't know the first thing about fatherhood. That much was certain. He hesitated before saying gently to the kits, "Well... looks like you two ain't so interested in prey. I'll try to see if I can find you a queen, alright?" Was there even a queen who could nurse right now? He didn't know. Everything was so uncertain... stars, his head was spinning.

When Cinderflare approached, Stagheart looked away for a moment, letting her curt words settle. Objectively, Cinder was right — there were so many things to do, so many cats to help. But the poor apprentice had just watched not only her mother die, but birth a few stillborn kits and carry her only alive sister here. She didn't seem to be in any shape to do anything else... although, a distraction might do her good. She had a point on that.

He hesitated, starting to murmur quietly to Cinderflare, "She just lost her mother..." But he didn't get too long into the explanation when Willowpaw cried out, defending her tears while looking to be on the brink of collapsing. He shuffled closer to his apprentice just in case she did, eyes softening. Stagheart wasn't one for much pity when it came to his Clanmates, but this... this grief was visceral, something he could practically feel emanating from the poor young cat. Still... Berrypaw and Mistyshard had a whole Clan to heal. They needed all paws on deck.

"Hey... it ain't your fault, alright? Nothin' about this was your fault. And... maybe gettin' your mind off it for a moment might help?" he suggested, his low drawl perhaps sounding a little funny as it tried to be hopeful and light for her sake. "We do need herbs, and I gotta watch these kits here... you'd be a big help for Berrypaw 'n the rest of us who need healin' if y'could..."

He wasn't trying to push Willowpaw off too much, but with needing to find a queen for these kits, and... oh, Great StarClan, he'd forgotten to give the unconscious Cobwebpaw a drink. Totally left his minds when these kits showed up. And he still hadn't gotten his own wounds checked out! Trying not to show the worry over all this in his face, he looked sympathetically down at Willowpaw, hoping his gentle words would encourage her forward.

[ @occultation @Wingnettle @Estelle ]

Willowpaw quivered. Her body felt light and her head felt heavy. Leaning into her mentor for comfort and stability she looked up at him as he spoke. Blankly nodding. "I.... I can... I can try" Willowpaw whispered after what seemed like a century. "The.. the kits" Willowpaw whispered, her eyes lightly filling back with color, she tried pushing the emotion of her mother to the back of her mind. In her attempt it just made it worse, the little feline had to sit down as she stared ahead. "There is a queen who can nurse them" Willowpaw whispered. "Sweetsap is over by the dead brambley looking thing over there. Shes Softkit's mother, she still has milk as Softkit is a moon awy from weening." Willowpaw meowed, her senses and determination to help her clan gently seeping back into her mind, Stagheart's words and apologise seemed to have calmed and reassured Willowpaw, the part that made her feel the saftest, was his vow to never leave her.

Looking up to Stagheart, Willowpaw knew he wasn't one for affection, but if he'd care for Willowpaw he'd best learn a tolerance. Willowpaw rested her head on his shoulder, whispered. "Thank you... i'm sorry I snapped at you.... thank you so much" Willowpaw whispered. Her eyes soft, still sad but now filled with appreciation which mingled with the greif of it all. "I'll... try and go with them... but if I get to overwhelemed... I don't know.. I don't want to snap at them again"

Willowpaw looked at Sweetsap and beckoned the snowy white queen with her tail, touching muzzles breifly she mewed. "These kits need milk. Are you willing to have them warm up to you so they can eat?" Willowpaw asled, hearing the shy queens gently purr she nodded, her stare was a bit stale but kind as she looked at the queen. Only when turning back to Stagheart, Willowpaw's eyes softened completly. Looking around her mentors pelt she gently licked his shoulder, "You should finish helping Cobwebpaw, Sweetsap can handle the kits.... and I'll...... try to finish this patrol for Berrypaw." Willowpaw meowed. Willowpaw had to hide her annoyance, the only thing showing it was a swift flick of her tail as Stagheart kept mentioning Berrypaw and there need of help. "We all need help!! It sounds like he only cares about Berrypaw..." Willowpaw thought. Shaking her fur out and wincing as she shook a small scratch on her shoulder.

Sweetsap looked down at the terrfied kits, her soft, white tail gently went around her paws as her soothing and motherly voice mewed. "Hello little ones. I'm Sweetsap... I heard you were hungry, I know everything is big and scary, but Mr. Stagheart and I. As well as the rest of the clan, will keep you safe and warm and full fed ok? Why don't you come over here to rest? It'll all be fine once you calm down and have something to eat. If you don't want to move that's perfectly fine, I'm fine staying here until your ready." Sweetsap purred gently. Sweetsap looked at Willowpaw with a gentle nod. "Go along, greiving over your mother will do your brain no good, it does your heart wonders but you needd our brain right now. I'm sure Stagheart will listen to you weep all night." Sweetsap purred, giving a teasing look to Stagheart before nodding to Willowpaw and turning back to the kits, Sweetsap sat down, her paws a bit more in front of her so the scent of her milk got to the kits, hoepfully coaxing them to at least move or eat.
@occultation @Wingnettle @Estelle

**Idiotic.Bean101** · #**125** June 11th, 2024, 01:00 PM

Nameless-She/Her

————————

Nameless listened carefully as Dusklion instructed her to go fetch cobwebs.
“Alright, I can do that.” She said, before awkwardly looking at Rowanmane, unsure if he would be alright going with her, his face looked about as rough as her’s did a moon ago.

@taillow - just for Dusklion mention
@Rowan - Rowanmane

**Goopysharkboi** · #**126** June 11th, 2024, 01:50 PM

Skyfall stared out into the horizon, almost as if reminiscing something. Suddenly, a voice piped up beyond the cat who had been lost in thought.
"Skyfall, are you alright? You seemed lost in thought..." Crowglow, the large black tom with green eyes and a clearly worried expression padded over to his friend.
"I-I'm fine... No need to worry about me, Crowglow. Just go look after Grimpaw. He needs to recover, after all." Skyfall replied gently. But Crowglow could tell something was off. He then gently looked towards Moonpaw, who was busy cleaning a small area where she could make some temporary nests for the other apprentices by piling up grass.
"...Cut the act, Skyfall. Tell me whats wrong." Crowglow's voice darkened in an annoyed way. "You know I hate when you lie to me."
Skyfall flinched at the anger of his friend before he turned to look at Crowglow.
"Appleberry's exile... something was off. I think he had something to do with this, but... I killed him after he returned and I started reminiscing.." Skyfall gently replied before padding off. Crowglow looked irritated and just sat down in an agitated huff.
[THIS POST IS OPEN, PLEASE INTERACT WITH CROWGLOW.]

**Snowyfeathr** · #**127** June 11th, 2024, 01:52 PM

@leopardheart00

Featherkit looked up at Brokenstream. "Oh . . . okay . . ." and she shuttered when Brokenstream mentioned her mother. "I- I don't know . . . She disappeared m- moons ago . . ." she mewed softly.

(Alr!)

**gs29513** · #**128** June 11th, 2024, 02:32 PM

Splashleap's world, so solitary for so long, suddenly exploded with noise and movement. And scent. The scent was the strangest thing, the most surprising thing. It was the scent of RIVERCLAN. The scent of HOME. And blood. Lots of blood, lots of fear, lots of panic. Some of it was from her. It was a trail of scent, droplets of blood along it, and Splashleap had basically no choice but to follow it. The former Riverclan deputy picked up the pace, wincing slightly as her paws protested. They were still raw from the twolegplace's hard surfaces. But this, this was far more important than any pain her paws might be feeling.

The overwhelming nature of the scent didn't decrease as the sound increased, until she could see all of Riverclan, as well as a few cats that smelled of the Outskirts, clustered together and all around one molly, who she did not recognize at all. Perhaps she was the leader now? Stars she had been gone a long time. The molly was yowling orders, calling for cats to bring cobwebs or prey. For Outsiders (she supposed that was what she was now) to be helpful, to do something good for Riverclan. Why was Riverclan even here? That hadn't crossed her mind, but this was not Riverclan camp. Not Riverclan territory. They had headed AWAY from Riverclan territory. Had they been driven out?

Splashleap had too many questions whirling around in her head to actually come to any real conclusions (she wasn't the cleverest), so she decided it was probably a good idea to just....obey. Find prey. She could actually hunt land prey now, and once she'd made her way a bit out of the area filled with cats it was a simple matter to catch a pair of mice and drag them back with her to the crowd of cats. It wasn't going to feed the clan, but....wait, was that a child? There was a small kit following the trail of of blood and scent, stumbling along on short legs.

She smelled like Riverclan. Splashleap assumed that meant it was time to give her a bit of a lift. She was small already so she doubted she would look overly threatening, but just in case she tried to make her voice soothing as she approached the kit. She was sort of a strange cat after all. Hey kiddo. Do you want a ride back to everyone else? Hopefully there wouldn't be any big arguments, she could always just scoop the kit up, but it was nicer to ask. And it would be easier if she could get the kit on her back so she could still carry the mice. @CloudlessEve

**Fritter** · #**129** June 11th, 2024, 04:45 PM

Garlic Feather
Purrks; Just a scratch| Beefed up tier 3|
He-Him { River Clan } Warrior

GarlicFeather’s movements were sluggish as he reached the crowd of his fellow clanmates, all gathered together, GarlicFeather felt like he should have some huge wave of feelings and distress over him, but none such came. Instead he found himself simply seating himself somewhere and trying to make sense of it all, was it really only a few dozen moments and a claw strike or two ago that he’d been getting himself ready to rest, admiring the blanket of stars above them all? He couldn’t help but glance down at his blood streaked claws and wrinkled his nose, he was battle-crazy and absolutely not squeamish. But he still felt sick to his stomach about the whole thing. And he’d lost only because the fight was out balanced and he’d had to flee, hardly fair. But a reasonable loss or not that sickness swirled and bucked at him, from what he knew his injuries were more sores where he’d been bucked and tossed over a few times than actual tears in the flesh, so what he should have been doing is marching right up to the nearest cat that needed help and aid them best he could. That’s certainly what he would have done had he not felt anchored to his position, heavy and tired. He’d basically been running off fear and anger for the whole thing, and he hadn’t gotten further than readying himself to sleep. Pain burned from his ears, already tattered enough but still proving annoying to be injured. Couldn’t cats target anywhere but the ears? With an audible groan GarlicFeather rubbed a paw over his face and shoved himself to his paws, he hoped he didn’t have to mourn anyone today. He was in a horrible mood as it was.

Shaking out his paws his gaze slid over those gathered, half looking for someone and half seeking out anycat that might need help, he suppressed a snarl at the sight of all the outsiders sneaking about and winding their way into the clan to help. Of course- help was good but these were outsiders. Not riverclan cats, filthy mangy outsiders that were clueless to the code. Claws curling and tearing at the ground in frustration GarlicFeather let out a drawn out hiss. They we’re basically rouges now. Exiles. The garlicfeather an exile, and the worst part was that he’d left all of his rocks back there. Some rocks he’d found more moons ago then he could count. What was he meant to do- find more? There were no good rocks here, just bad- weird disgusting loner exile rocks that’d remind him how far he was from home, true home. How long would they be gone? He hadn’t caught it if it had been mentioned.

(Tad bit rushed

)

**occultation** · #**130** June 11th, 2024, 04:48 PM

High Rank Announcement [#hrannouncement]

With Russethowl, Spiraltail, and Frostgnash's aid, Fadingstar was able to find his way to where the rest of his Clan were congregating. The scent of RiverClan all around him brought a little bit of peace to his heart. Now, if he could just find Dusklion, Eaglepaw, and his children, all would be well.

Of course, doing that would be rather difficult given that he was still unable to see. He was quite the sight for anyone who saw him; his eyes were squeezed shut at this point, blood still pouring from the gash on his head. His entire face was bloody, with streaks of blood running through his neck and chest fur. It certainly looked a lot worse than it was; he was no stranger to how badly face wounds could bleed.

The leader stumbled into the area, nearly conking his head on part of the den. He carefully set Dovekit down. "You're safe now," he told her. "Go join the other kits, and stay with them. Listen to the queens, and don't be afraid."

Mustering up as much of his remaining strength as he could, he yowled, "RiverClan! I've arrived, and I've brought cats with me. I know the scent of ThunderClan and WindClan is nothing short of alarming for everyone right now, but these cats come in peace. They saved mine and Dovekit's lives from a fox; without their help, we'd both be dead. They've expressed an interest in leaving their current Clans and joining RiverClan; I'm going to allow for it. Before anyone cries to me about how it might be a trap, they had plenty of opportunity to kill me if they wanted, and instead they defended me and helped me find my way to you all. I do not want them attacked; if you still value your place in this Clan, you'll do as I say and leave them be."

Turning to where he thought Russethowl, Spiraltail, and Frostgnash were, he said, "I want the three of you to go out and gather some more cobwebs; I don't know the situation with the medicine cats right now, but I imagine we certainly need all the cobweb we can get." There was a silent message behind his order: If you want these cats to trust you, you'll need to do whatever you can to earn it.

After that, he tried to find his way to Dusklion. He prayed to the stars that he'd pick her scent up among all of the others around him. He found it rather quickly; it was interesting to him how quickly his nose was stepping up to fill the void his eyes were currently leaving. He could get that issue tended to as soon as he was certain she was okay.

Approaching her, he felt nothing but relief. He swore to the stars that after this, he'd do what he could to patch up their relationship; he was done with the tension and distance. They wouldn't agree on everything, and he was certain they'd have conflict again in the future. But perhaps they could avoid returning to the level of strain they'd been facing between them over the past couple of moons. "I'm happy you're safe," he purred. Hopefully she wasn't too beat up; he could smell blood coming from her, but he wasn't sure how much of it was hers. "Is there anything I need to know right away?"

Just a reminder since the whole Clan is being tagged: All cats, regardless of rank, need to post on this thread before 11:59 PM Eastern on June 12- which is tomorrow! Any cats who haven't shown up at the den by then will be marked missing and will need to either be jail-broken or do a rejoining. There are still quite a few cats who haven't shown up here, so please get your posts in ASAP! The only cats who are excluded are those who belong to an rper on hiatus or those that have had JB3 used on them. Any questions, concerns, or hiatus announcements should be directed to a high rank as soon as possible!