ThunderClan Leader's Den - Page 7

**iliri** · #61 July 28th, 2023, 02:44 PM

• Springpaw •
long-furred, oriental-shaped, gray-and-orange calico molly with blue eyes; torn right ear
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Standing in front of the leaders’ den was… awkward to say the least.

Springpaw was currently occupied in front of the den, silently eying thick, hanging lichen that plentifully hid the entrance from anyone’s point of view. The bright, scorching rays of sunlight eliminated off the plant, almost making the usually-shadowy area look more brighter than ever. It brought a more appeasing feeling to Springpaw herself against the constant nerve-wrecking anxiety that accompanied itself through her veins. That feeling felt more prominent than anything else at the given moment. Especially with the fact that she was standing in front of a den that she had mentally told herself that she would never go towards. Now, here she was. Standing right in front of the leader’s den with a small shrew dangling from her jaws. It was a small, rather simple gesture. A gesture that hopefully wouldn’t be taken in the wrong direction. Did Bumblestar even like shrews? What if it was something that she couldn’t eat? That final question left her mentally wondering if she should really be doing this in the first place. She should turn around. She should waltz herself right back into the medicine den and pretend like she didn’t even bother trying to go into the den.

Subconsciously, her white paws began to move along the ground, each step more hesitant than the last as her jaws became tight around the piece of prey that she held in her jaws. Her paws weren’t moving away from the den, rather towards it. For the love of StarClan above this already felt like this was going to be the end of her career if she entered her leader’s den without giving any sort of notice. Shoving a deep breath down her clogged throat, the calico peeked her face through the thick lichen; lapis hues dancing around the darker, cooler depths of the den. It must’ve been cool being able to obtain all this space by herself, especially with living inside of a fallen log herself. Not that it was a bad thing or anything, it just must’ve been cool to be able to sleep by yourself and not worry about the loud snores of other cats or any other possible ruckus. The thoughts of being inside of the den didn’t help dwindle her churning anxiety however, only just increasing it to a bare minimum and making her heart rate increase rapidly by the second. Her paw-pads felt like they were sweating and her long-fur felt like it was dragging her down by the second.

“Bumblestar?” she spoke, forcibly swallowing the tight lump in her throat in order to speak more, clearing her throat as she stood herself straighter. ”I… uh… brought you a shrew. I didn’t know what you liked, but I thought it would just be nice to give you a small snack to eat… you’ve been busy, afterall.” She continued, silently scraping at the dirt floor as she placed the small mound of flesh onto the floor, hoping that it didn’t have any puncture marks along the side from her increased pressure along its body. Stars, what would Bumblestar think of her then if she did that? That would just be something ridiculous of her. Maybe, if Bumblestar didn’t go off on her for bringing her something that she possibly disliked—that would be embarrassing—she could possibly see if her wounds were clearing up okay. They did look pretty gruesome from the aftermath of the ShadowClan battle, but hopefully it shouldn’t be much of a problem… hopefully.

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@dino. [ the lovely awaited interaction that you wanted ]

**dino.** · #62 July 28th, 2023, 09:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Starfall

Spiderthroat
@dino.

The Calico came into the den, he didn't announce his presence, nor did he truly care to. He was dirty, had mud on him, some blood, and he was sore. He was also carrying his catch, the other two carrying their collective catch.

Before anything, Spiderthroat leaned off to the side and let the fox slam onto the den ground. "The other two are bringing the other one to the fresh kill pile." he stated. He sat himself down, and began to attempt to clean what he could of his fur. Grimy.

"We found a waterfall further into the forest, it got way denser the further we went, up until that waterfall. Could only smell the two foxes, but that's about it...for now." he sniffed.

So apparently it was a theme with Spiderthroat to come traipsing into her den covered in dirt and blood. Bumblestar rose to her paws to give the tom a once-over with catbrows raised, mildly unimpressed with his state. At least until she saw the fox on his back that slid onto the den's floor. Holy crap.

She glanced down at it and then right back up at Spiderthroat, ears focusing on his words for the time being. "Good to know. Nice catch, too. Catches, I guess. You, Sunthroat 'n Wildpaw did a hell of a job. Did you mark the new borders?"

**dino.** · #63 July 28th, 2023, 09:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ares

• Springpaw •
long-furred, oriental-shaped, gray-and-orange calico molly with blue eyes; torn right ear
_________________________________________________

Standing in front of the leaders’ den was… awkward to say the least.

Springpaw was currently occupied in front of the den, silently eying thick, hanging lichen that plentifully hid the entrance from anyone’s point of view. The bright, scorching rays of sunlight eliminated off the plant, almost making the usually-shadowy area look more brighter than ever. It brought a more appeasing feeling to Springpaw herself against the constant nerve-wrecking anxiety that accompanied itself through her veins. That feeling felt more prominent than anything else at the given moment. Especially with the fact that she was standing in front of a den that she had mentally told herself that she would never go towards. Now, here she was. Standing right in front of the leader’s den with a small shrew dangling from her jaws. It was a small, rather simple gesture. A gesture that hopefully wouldn’t be taken in the wrong direction. Did Bumblestar even like shrews? What if it was something that she couldn’t eat? That final question left her mentally wondering if she should really be doing this in the first place. She should turn around. She should waltz herself right back into the medicine den and pretend like she didn’t even bother trying to go into the den.

Unconsciously, her white paws began to move along the ground, each step more hesitant than the last as her jaws became tight around the piece of prey that she held in her jaws. Her paws weren’t moving away from the den, rather towards it. For the love of StarClan above this already felt like this was going to be the end of her career if she entered her leader’s den without giving any sort of notice. Shoving a deep breath down her clogged throat, the calico peeked her face through the thick lichen; lapis hues dancing around the darker, cooler depths of the den. It must’ve been cool being able to obtain all this space by herself, especially with living inside of a fallen log herself. Not that it was a bad thing or anything, it just must’ve been cool to be able to sleep by yourself and not worry about the loud snores of other cats or any other possible ruckus. The thoughts of being inside of the den didn’t help dwindle her churning anxiety however, only just increasing it to a bare minimum and making her heart rate increase rapidly by the second. Her paw-pads felt like they were sweating and her long-fur felt like it was dragging her down by the second.

“Bumblestar?” she spoke, forcibly swallowing the tight lump in her throat in order to speak more, clearing her throat as she stood herself straighter. ”I… uh… brought you a shrew. I didn’t know what you liked, but I thought it would just be nice to give you a small snack to eat… you’ve been busy, afterall.” She continued, silently scraping at the dirt floor as she placed the small mound of flesh onto the floor, hoping that it didn’t have any puncture marks along the side from her increased pressure along its body. Stars, what would Bumblestar think of her then if she did that? That would just be something ridiculous of her. Maybe, if Bumblestar didn’t go off on her for bringing her something that she possibly disliked—that would be embarrassing—she could possibly see if her wounds were clearing up okay. They did look pretty gruesome from the aftermath of the ShadowClan battle, but hopefully it shouldn’t be much of a problem… hopefully.

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@dino. [ the lovely awaited interaction that you wanted ]

Bumblestar could smell Springpaw before she could see her. Could hear her approaching pawsteps before anything else. She pretended to be preoccupied with picking dirt out of her claws, not wishing to shove her head through the lichen curtain to invite Springpaw inside and risk scaring the medicine cat apprentice off. Springpaw seemed skittish, and the last thing Bumblestar wanted to do was frighten her into bolting before she had the chance to hear something that might be important. So instead she busied herself by fidgeting with a dandelion she'd found in her nest a couple of days ago. (It kind of smelled like Violetfreckle. She elected to ignore that and the weird feelings it brought.)

She looked up as Springpaw entered, eyes flitting to the shrew and then back up again as she hid a grimace. Did cats really think food was a gift she wanted? She wasn't hungry, and it'd do better for someone else, in any case. "Hey, Springpaw. Uh, thanks. That wasn't really necessary." She reached out a paw to drag it toward her anyway, though she didn't make a move to eat it.

Bumblestar briefly recalled Gentledoe's gruesome injury that both Springpaw and Drizzlecloud had been involved in looking at, and she shifted into a loaf in her nest, eyes softening as they looked Springpaw over. "How're you holding up? Everything good? Lotsa... herby learning stuff happening?"

***Rani*** · #64 July 29th, 2023, 08:23 PM

To be really honest Mudhound did not get that Bumblestar's second sentence was a kinda joke for a moment. The warrior just sat there, golden eyes wide and honestly distressed that they COULDVE KILLED THEIR SISTER!!!! OH STARCLAN NO THEY DIDNT MEAN- wait..... This was a joke wasnt it? Like kinda that sarcasm stuff that Mudhound never seemed to catch.
Ok so they wouldnt end up killing their sibling, that was a relief and the warrior let out a kinda weak chuckle "Hehehe yeah, uh whoops I guess?" Before shaking themselves off and moving on.

Bumble-sis did not seem to care about the murder- to be fair neither did they- so Mudhound skipped right over that and was about to get up and leave before their much smaller sibling spoke again.
Share the squirrel? Well the tripods ears definitely perked up with that, excited by squirrel but..... Well they'd brought the prey so Bumble-sis would eat more and it wouldnt really be more if Mudhounds big mouth consumed the food. But the molly was being nice and seemed kinda unsure about things, so this may be the plum branch (or whatever that was called) Houndsong had once spoke about. Did that mean Bumblestar also forgave the large bonehead's rock throwing accident? It'd only happened a day ago but maybe Bumble-sis had picked up that the guilt had been eating Mudhound alive whenever they were in the camp? Regardless, they werent gonna pass up the offer.

Bonding time! With one stipulation, delivered with narrowed eyes "You eat most. You're skinny and healing and stuff." Even if she was probably only skinny in comparison to the chunky large brick of Mudhound. The seriousness was gone fast however and the tripod happily flopped down, flexing out their stumped leg with a grunt and grinning fangily. "Soooooo? Den's nice? Seems kinda cold and lonely, I cant sleep without others nearby." More like 'cant sleep without being partially on top of others'. The warriors immediate denmates probably were fed up by the fact that Mudhound often overflowed their nest in their sleep and ended up kinda on top of them. Those raised with the warrior would tell them this was unavoidable and that it was best to sleep turn the tables and sleep on Mudhound to avoid the crushing weight.

Whatever, were any of these complainy denmates eating squirrel with the coolest Bumble ever? No. That fact alone was enough to make their tail thump on the ground.

**iliri** · #65 July 29th, 2023, 09:20 PM

• Springpaw •
long-furred, oriental-shaped, gray-and-orange calico molly with blue eyes; torn right ear
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Springpaw had to mentally fight off the crippling disappointment that crept itself over her shoulders as she heard the leader’s response to her offer. Well, at least she tried, that was something. However, it didn’t seem to be that Bumblestar was ticked off by the fact that she was given something that wasn’t entirely necessary for her—and that was a good thing—so that was something that Springpaw could take into consideration. Even if Bumblestar wasn’t hungry, she could still save it for later if she wanted. Nonetheless, Springpaw didn’t really mind much for whatever Bumblestar was going to do with the piece of prey. It was just food that was waiting to be eaten. So, with a quick, side-ways smile, the calico merely just responded with, “Oh, well, it’s the least I could do. It’s just only some prey, after all.” Jeez, did she sound too corny saying that? Hopefilly not. If so, she desperately hoped that Bumblestar wouldn’t make some sort of comment about it. That would make her feel weird and just mildly embarrassed out of her mind.

The calico went quiet after that, silently watching as Bumblestar dragged the shrew over towards herself and shifting herself into a loaf position. Well, it seemed that Springpaw was practically given the ‘okay’ to sit within the den, as Bumblestar seemed perfectly comfortable with the medicine cat apprentice in her den. With a silent huff, the calico shifted herself into her own position, laying herself down on the cool, dirt surface below as she made herself comfortable. She made sure not to make herself too comfortable though, in case the leader desired to be in her own space, which was something that Springpaw herself could respect. Springpaw liked her own space as well… whenever she got the chance, that is. The calico was almost half-tempted to make a comment about how the leader probably liked living in her own space judging from how homey the den felt, only for herself to be suddenly found having to answer the sudden questions that Bumblestar fed off to her. Blinking incessantly, the calico began to search the depths of her mind for the proper words to answer each of those questions, almost merely coming up with questions for herself to answer.

Was Springpaw doing okay? Was she holding up well after the grave incidents at the battle and from other recent events? Her throat felt clogged from the amount of words that gradually began climbing themselves up her throat pipe, almost making it difficult for the calico herself to properly process the answers that Bumblestar desired. Gentledoe’s condition was something that was gruesome, and the calico herself wasn’t even completely sure if she would properly grow adjusted to living her life with one single eye. Then there was the gathering and the sudden upcoming war coming up between ShadowClan and ThunderClan… and stars that was something that Springpaw was trying to mentally prepare herself for. It was something that she didn’t even properly expect to come across as an apprentice. Yes, sure, there were going to be battles, but not full-on wars. Springpaw mentally shivered at the thought as she tried to think about some of the… other things that happened here lately. Oh, yes, right, there was Sorreldust rushing into the den with half of her face bleeding out from her getting gravely attacked by a dog. Great StatClan there was a lot to think about with answering the leader’s questions.

Blinking once more, Springpaw focused merely up towards the leader again as she swallowed down the rather painful lump in her throat, her brain fighting itself as she struggled to give out the right words to respond to her questions. “I’ve… I’ve been holding up fine,” she states, silently drawing a forepaw across her front leg, “it’s been difficult to witness all of the grave wounds that I’ve been seeing on cats here lately. Specifically Gentledoe’s, at least. Her eye… doesn’t look like it’s going to heal fully. Or… rather ever.” she spoke slowly, pouring as much effort into her words as she could as she explained the situation. “Drizzlecloud and I are hoping that she’ll have a fine recovery afterwards, but we don’t think that she’ll be able to properly recover from the traumatic events of her injury from the battle. We hope that she’ll be able to speak with us during her recovery though, as it could possibly help her out during this hard time.” she concluded, eying Bumblestar carefully as she studied how the leader was going to think of this news. Did she know Gentledoe personally? Possibly, it could probably relate to why she asked her how she was holding up from the aftermath of the battle… and maybe from all of the sudden upcoming events of the war between ShadowClan and ThunderClan, but that’ll be something that she’ll think about later, perhaps.

The next question felt like something that was easier to answer, and Springpaw felt like she could answer this one more quickly than she did with the other two. With an uplifting expression, a smile drew itself across Springpaw’s lips as she gradually nodded in agreement. “I’ve been receiving a lot of training here lately, actually. I’ve met with a StarClan medicine cat in my dreams named Coldamber and she taught me a lot of different herbs and their benefits. Including, she taught me different techniques for how to keep herbs alive during the leaf-bare and even how to collect honey safely without getting stung by bees. She also met with Drizzlecloud as well, but she taught her more complex methods for being a medicine cat than what she taught me: like how to help a queen give birth. Nonetheless, I hope that I see her again. She’s been extremely helpful throughout the time that I’ve been a medicine cat apprentice, and going the same for Drizzlecloud… except she’s a full medicine cat, not an apprentice like me.” she explained, lightly tapping her paws against the dirt floor as she smiled. She could go on for hours and hours about what Coldamber taught her and from what she’s seen. The young molly seemed thrilled with what she had been doing for the last few months, and she surely was and that wasn’t going to change anytime here soon.

Now, it was her turn to ask Bumblestar any questions. That is, if the leader would be okay with her asking any sort of question. Springpaw silently eyed the leader as she glanced over towards the spot where she could notice the small bits of cobwebs and poultice from where Drizzlecloud patched the leader up. She did a pretty good job, from what the calico suspected. “How about you? How are you holding up, Bumblestar? Are your wounds healing okay? I was thinking about possibly bringing any marigold or cobwebs along with me in case your wounds were going to start bleeding again, but I didn’t think that it would be necessary.” she explained, once more carefully eying the leader to see how she was going to respond to the news that the nine moon molly had explained. To be quite honest, it felt nice speaking to the leader like this. It felt like she could get to know her better by speaking with her and knowing anything new about her instead of just knowing that she was just the leader of ThunderClan.

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@dino.

**Starfall** · #66 July 30th, 2023, 02:17 AM

Spiderthrorat
@dino.

He paid no mind to the leader standing up, nor did he notice her quirk of the brow. Simply doing his best to wash the mud he got on himself off as best he could. Considering he slid face first onto wet ground, it was safe to say he was rather dirty. He could be mistaken for a brown calico at this point.

At Bumblestars words the tom's ears perked, but he kept his attention on the gross tasting mud. Taking a second to look up at the molly. "They really weakened the second one, but no. We did not, I had an apprentice who almost got killed because they froze, and I didn't want to stick around to see if they had friends with the equivalent of me, an apprentice and a kit helpin." he sniffed, taking a moment to poke at the fox.

**beau** · #67 July 30th, 2023, 11:05 PM

Wolfmist stood outside the leader’s den, tail twitching as he reran the events of his patrol through his head. Leaving the ravine be was the right decision, right? Perhaps a bit cowardly, but he thought it better to cut the losses and avoid potentially having to use up some herbs as a result. Besides, the area didn’t really stick out to him aside from its potential to be used as a place to practice rock climbing. “Hey, Bumblestar? I’m back from the territory patrol.” He decided it would be most polite to wait outside until actually being invited into the den - he wouldn’t want to accidentally interrupt the leader’s conversation with someone else.

[ @dino. ]

**val** · #68 July 31st, 2023, 10:34 PM

StarClan better count their days, because Alderstep was oh-so done with the hand they'd dealt him. He didn't even care if they had any role in his stars-awful luck, somebody had to take the blame, and he didn't exactly have the energy to blame himself right now. The russet cat ground his teeth together, scrambling to shove his anger away into the far corners of his mind. He doubted Bumblestar would appreciate him showing up in her den a raging mess of frustration. Alderstep cast a distrustful glance at the lichen covering the entrance and carefully took a couple of deep breaths. If somebody saw him now, and that somebody was annoying (very likely), they'd probably say something like, "Think of the positives!" and then Alderstep would promptly beat them into oblivion.

He has gotta find an outlet for everything because his mind corners were pretty stuffed. Alderstep twitched his whiskers with a sigh. Later, he false-promised himself. And after that unassured thought, Alderstep poked his nose into the leader's den with a grating, "Bumblestar?" Once again, his claws itched to rip the lichen to shreds. "Good news and bad news," he called, less roughly and more tiredly. There! He sounded perfectly amiable and definitely not like some angry badger. Rabbit would be proud.

@dino.

**dino.** · #69 August 4th, 2023, 01:00 AM

A mildly irritated twitch of an ear. "Yeah, probably smart not to stick around," Bumblestar muttered, somewhat to herself. "I'll make sure a patrol is sent out that way to get the borders marked. Or maybe I can just take the whole Clan along, ensure they get a look at the place. Somethin' or other." She kind of didn't want to bother thinking about that right now. Whatever. "Is everyone alright for the most part, at least?"

**dino.** · #70 August 4th, 2023, 01:04 AM

Oh, hooray, Alderstep was back. Bumblestar could practically hear him huffing and puffing outside of her den before he stepped inside. Her whiskers twitched as she sat up, regarding him with mild amusement. "Well, don't you sound just absolutely cheerful," she greeted him. "How'd everything go?"

Hopefully 'bad news' was... well, Alderstep's definition of 'bad', and not 'everyone died because the ground opened up and ate us alive again' bad.