I will try to update this with every post. no promises, though.
LEADER:
Finchstar - An unusually spotted dark brown she-cat with golden eyes. Warrior Traits: Adventurous, Smart. MENTORING: GRAYPAW
DEPUTY:
Riverflight - A black and white she-cat with a pale blue eye and an emerald eye. Kit Trait: Sweet. Apprentice Trait: Thoughtful. Warrior Traits: Cold, Excellent Fighter. MENTORING: LARKPAW
MEDICINE CAT:
Speckleback - A long-furred dappled black tom with golden eyes. Medicine Cat Traits: Righteous, Fantastic Teacher
MEDICINE CAT APPRENTICE:
Boughpaw - A brown tabby and white she-cat with heather blue eyes. Kit Trait: Troublesome. Apprentice Trait: Careful. Has a bad eye!
WARRIORS:
Daisyshadow - A dorsal-striped cream she-cat with hazel eyes. Warrior Traits: Vengeful, Good Speaker. MENTORING: GOLDPAW
Lichentooth - A long-furred dorsal-striped brown she-cat with amber eyes. Apprentice Trait: Calm. Warrior Traits: Nervous, Extremely Smart. MENTORING: BATPAW
Hollyspike - A long-furred unusually dappled pale gray tom with amber eyes. Apprentice Trait: Strict. Warrior Traits: Fierce, Fantastic Hunter. MENTORING: BUZZARDPAW, TRICKLEPAW
Currentdash - An unusually spotted pale tom with copper eyes. Kit Trait: Inquisitive. Apprentice Trait: Playful. Warrior Trait: Careful, Excellent Speaker. MENTORING: BOGPAW, RINDLEPAW
APPRENTICES:
Goldpaw - a long-furred speckled brown tom with green-yellow eyes. Kit Trait: insecure. Apprentice Trait: Calm. MENTORED BY: DAISYSHADOW
Batpaw - A speckled silver tom with sage eyes. Kit Trait: Troublesome. Apprentice Trait: Vengeful. MENTORED BY: LICHENTOOTH
Larkpaw - A tortie she-cat with hazel eyes. Kit Trait: Charming. Apprentice Trait: Shameless. MENTORED BY: RIVERFLIGHT
Graypaw - A dorsal-striped gray tom with silver eyes. Kit Trait: Polite. Apprentice Trait: Lonesome. MENTORED BY: FINCHSTAR
Bogpaw - A dorsal-striped cream cat with bronze eyes. Kit Trait: Polite. Apprentice Trait: Loving. MENTORED BY: CURRENTDASH
Buzzardpaw - a dorsal-striped ginger tom with hazel eyes. Kit Trait: Insecure. Apprentice Trait: Loyal. MENTORED BY: HOLLYSPIKE
Tricklepaw - A red and black tortie she-cat with white paws and gray eyes. Kit Trait: Daring. Apprentice Trait: Fierce. MENTORED BY: HOLLYSPIKE.
Rindlekit - A pale ticked and white she-cat with bronze eyes. Kit Trait: Nervous. Apprentice Trait: Wise. MENTORED BY: CURRENTDASH
im officially putting a lot of projects on the backburner but i do want to continue this sometime! sorry guys for the biiiig delay but consider: sometimes boring moons are boring
The night crept on, sunset bleeding into twilight and then descending into darkness. Her stomach growled but she stayed stock still, except for her tail, which twitched impatiently. She had stayed still for longer than this and she had gone without food for even longer.
This was important.
She’d been careless. Sloppy. She should have known better. She wasn’t going to make that mistake again.
As the stars came out and the last dregs of warmth were sapped out of the ground, she saw him. He padded along the same scent trail she had followed to get here, humming idly to himself. Scorch slipped out from under the fallen long she had been waiting by and leapt up on it, raising her tail and glaring imperiously down at him.
“You’re far from home, aren’t you, Ghost?”
He stopped in his tracks, tail bristling as he rose up on his toes instinctively. When his eyes found hers, his jaw fell open.
“Scorch?” he asked dumbly.
She narrowed her eyes and crouched low over the tree trunk to hiss, “Surprised? Imagine how I feel.”
Ghost squared his shoulders and squinted back at her. “I wouldn’t have expected you to stay so close to the city.”
“No, you wouldn’t have, would you?” she sneered. “But you never were very bright so don’t be too hard on yourself.” She nearly grinned as he scowled. It felt good to use her tongue as a weapon again.
“What do you want?” he glowered, tail starting to lash.
“I want you to go home and never come back,” she spat. “This Clan is mine,” and as she said it she arched her back and raised her bottlebrush tail, “and if you had any sense you would stay as far away from your beloved Smokyrose as you can.” She scoffed as the mediator’s name fell from her lips, laying the disdain on thick. Ghost’s teeth flashed under the moonless sky as she did.
“So that’s where you’ve been! You joined this RisingClan and what? Are you planning to bring your savage warriors back to the city? Or… or what?”
Scorch felt her own blood boil at that remark. “You idiot!” she snapped. “I want nothing to do with Razor and his city anymore, that’s my point! If you keep coming around here you’re going to draw their attention and he will stain these fields with their blood.” Ghost’s face darkened and she continued. “Surely, you’re smart enough to have seen that? Or do you just not care? I suppose that would make it easier for you to forget about your most recent conquest.” She scoffed again, tail lashing, and sat up straight to look down her nose at him again. She still couldn’t believe it, Smokyrose and Him - well, she could. Smokyrose was entirely too trusting and sweet. She would have had no defenses against Ghost and his tricks. Perhaps she had just expected more of him although she wasn’t sure why.
Ghost, to his credit, surprised her when he growled, “Don’t pretend you know how I feel about her. I’m really considering being there for her and the kits this time.”
Scorch scoffed again and he bristled. “Then you really are stupid. If you really love her, you’ll leave and never come back. Even if Razor spares her, she’ll never forgive you if you bring him down on her Clanmates and you know it.” Ghost looked over his shoulder, back towards the camp where Smokyrose was surely settling in for the night. Scorch narrowed her eyes and jumped down to shove her muzzle in his face and get his attention again.
“Think this through,” she whispered fiercely. “She’ll be fine without you. They always are. But if you keep coming back here, or if you disappear suddenly, cats will come looking. And if they find this place they will take it and they will slaughter anyone who stands in their way. Trust me.” They stood there, nose to nose for a tense moment, before he looked away darkly.
“Fine,” he said. “You won’t see me again.”
“Good,” she purred, planting an intimate lick on his cheek. He stiffened underneath it and it almost felt like she had fallen into a moment from a different time. She savored it and the power she held there - their bodies close, their breath mingling in the cool of night - and whispered in his ear, “because if I do see you again, I’ll kill you myself.” And with that she slid past him and started back toward the camp. She didn’t look back to gauge his reaction. She only hoped with every desperate white knuckled hope inside her that he listened.
“We’re running low on borage and sage,” grumbled Sagetooth, looking at the herb stores. “The best harvesting spots are on opposite sides of the territory, so we’ll have to get one today and the other tomorrow.”
Oddstripe, sitting nearby, piped up brightly, “Oh, that’s alright! Why don’t we split up instead? I’ll get one and you can get the other.”
She shifted to find a more comfortable position that still allowed Barleykit, who had taken to sitting with her during her studying time, to cling meekly to her foreleg. Sagetooth narrowed her eyes with a frown - not at Barleykit’s presence, she’d largely taken to ignoring the kit, but at Oddstripe’s claim. Oddstripe had grown used to her teacher’s lack of trust when it came to competence. Every skill was checked and rechecked before she was allowed to perform it on her own, every piece of knowledge quizzed constantly to keep her sharp.
“Are you sure you remember where the patches are?” Sagetooth asked.
“Oh, yes,” purred Oddstripe, eager for the chance to handle her new duties without supervision. “For the sage and borage at least!”
Sagetooth didn’t seem convinced, sitting back on her haunches to look Oddstripe up and down. “And you remember what I taught you about preserving the plants for later?”
“Mhm! I’ll make sure to leave plenty for next time. Seriously, Sagetooth, I’m ready! You can trust me.” She grinned with what she hoped was her most trustworthy smile. Barleykit squeezed her leg tightly.
After a moment of humming dubiously, the noise in Sagetooth’s throat turned into the words, “Alright. Take Branchbark with you, he’s a good assistant gatherer.”
“Yes!” Oddstripe cried, startling Barleykit who squeaked. She winced and curled her tail around the kit as she added, “Thank you, Sagetooth, you won’t regret this.”
“Mm,” the older cat heaved herself to her feet. “I’ll get the borage, you collect the sage.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Oddstripe bobbed her head excitedly as Sagetooth passed, then turned to her daughter and said gently, “Okay, sweetie, time to let go. Mama has work to do.” She tried to smile, but her discomfort with parenting clearly shone through, she could tell. She just hoped Barleykit didn’t notice.
The little kit looked up at her, still clinging to her leg, and mumbled into her fur, “I wanna go with you.”
“I know,” sighed Oddstripe, “but I have to leave the camp and it's not safe for kittens out there. Besides, I bet the boys would get lonely without you.”
“No they won’t,” Barleykit looked down. “They don’t like me.”
“That’s not true!” Oddstripe cooed, heart breaking for her kit, “They love you!”
“No they don’t, they think I’m boring,” pouted Barleykit.
“Oh, they just like to play rowdy games,” said Oddstripe, giving Barleykit a few good licks around the ears. “But you know what? I bet Ospreymask knows some games you can all play. Doesn’t that sound fun?” Barleykit shrugged, unable to hold Oddstripe’s gaze.
“Let’s go see, yeah?” she continued, standing and disentangling her foreleg from Barleykit’s grasp. Barleykit nodded shyly and Oddstripe purred in response. “Yeah, let’s go see.” She led Barleykit out into the sunshine, squinting her sensitive eyes against the light, and looked around to try and find Ospreymask, hoping dearly that she didn’t have to disappoint her daughter. Poking her head into the warriors’ den, she sighed in relief at the sight of her favorite kitsitter curled up next to Branchbark, their heads laid next to each other as they dozed. Oddstripe almost felt bad interrupting them but knew that she had to.
“Excuse me,” she said gently, causing Branchbark’s ear to twitch and his eyes to open, “I need to go herb gathering and I was hoping Ospreymask might be able to watch the kits for a little while.” Branchbark grunted sleepily and blew air in Ospreymask’s face to wake her. She flinched and shook her whiskers, glaring at him a bit.
“What was that for?” she huffed but when he gestured to Oddstripe with his nose her gaze softened. “Oh! Hey, did you need me to watch the kits?”
“Yeah,” Oddstripe winced in embarrassment. “If it’s not too much trouble.”
Ospreymask rolled to her feet and smiled widely, “Not at all!” She noticed Barleykit, hiding under Oddstripe’s belly, and leaned down to speak to her directly. “Hey, sweet thing, how’re you doin?”
Barleykit looked at her with big wide eyes and mumbled. “I’m okay.”
“I’m glad to hear it!” Ospreymask purred, “Let’s go see what your brothers are doing, yeah?”
Barleykit didn’t respond and Oddstripe felt the need to add, “She’s worried they’ll want to play rowdy games, I was thinking you might have something more her speed.”
“Oh, for sure!” grinned Ospreymask, “I’ve got some great games. Have you ever played StarClan Says?” Barleykit shook her head mutely and Ospreymask said, “Oh, I bet you’ll be so good at it! Let’s go find the boys and I’ll teach you how to play.” Barleykit gave Oddstripe one more look, searching for some sort of encouragement. Oddstripe nodded and pushed her forward gently with her back paw. Carefully, Barleykit slipped over to follow closely beside Ospreymask as they headed out.
Oddstripe glanced over at Branchbark, who was stretching with a yawn, and said, “I’m so sorry to bother you some more, but Sagetooth said I should take you with me to gather the herbs. Would that be alright?”
Branchbark nodded and stood. “Sure thing, I wouldn’t mind getting out of camp for a while. What are we gathering?”
“Sage,” said Oddstripe, turning to pad with him out of the camp.
“Sounds good,” purred the warrior.
“I’m sorry for interrupting your nap,” Oddstripe said again, tail swishing. She hated imposing on him like that. Despite the guilt she was feeling, Branchbark smiled and shrugged as they walked.
“That’s alright,” he said, “I’m always happy to help the healers uh…” he paused, searching for an alliterative word, “hunt for herbs.” He accentuated the h sound on herbs and Oddstripe laughed.
“Well, I appreciate it,” she purred, “and I appreciate Ospreymask’s help with the kits. I have no idea how I would manage being a healer and raising them at the same time without her.”
“I guess that’s why healers aren’t supposed to have kits,” Branchbark nodded. Oddstripe felt another pang of guilt. Sagetooth had assured her that she wasn’t in trouble, that she hadn’t broken any rules because she was pregnant before she swore to be a healer, but she still felt bad. To her it just felt like another reason she wasn’t a proper Clan cat.
“Y-yeah, I suppose so,” she tried to laugh it off but Branchbark winced.
“Oh. Sorry, I didn’t mean to-”
“No, no, it’s okay,” she assured him. “I know what you meant.”
“Alright,” he frowned sympathetically. “I’m sure it’ll get easier once the kits are apprentices. Then they’ll have their mentors to take care of them too.”
“Yeah,” Oddstripe nodded. “That does sound nice. Sometimes I wish I were their father instead so I could still raise them without so much of the responsibility.” She blushed, tail starting to swish idly.
“Yeah?” asked Branchbark, tilting his head. “I mean you could be if you wanted.”
Oddstripe laughed, then realized he wasn’t joking. “Oh, I’m sorry, what?”
“You could just be their dad,” he said, as if it were that simple.
“But… I’m not,” she frowned. “She-cats are mothers not fathers.”
Branchbark shrugged again. “I guess, but you don’t have to be a she-cat, you know.”
Oddstripe stopped in place, tilting her head in confusion. “Huh? I- I’m sorry, I feel like I’m missing something.” Sure, she thought, it would be wonderful if she could just change like that, but it wasn’t possible. Although… Perhaps StarClan had powerful magic that could grant wishes or something. That was an exciting thought.
What Branchbark said was a lot less grand. “You can just decide you’re a tom. Cats do it all the time.”
“Really?” she asked in disbelief.
“Yeah,” he smiled, straightening up. “She-cats decide they’re toms, toms decide they’re she-cats. Some cats even decide they feel somewhere in between.”
Oddstripe couldn’t wrap her head around the concept. “And then…? How do they become a tom once they decide?”
“They just are,” he said warmly. “If you say you’re a tom, cats will believe you. There you go.” He shrugged again, and Oddstripe was again baffled by how simple it seemed.
“So it's not magic?” she said, ears wilting.
“No, it's just…” he hesitated before suddenly grinning as he caught a metaphor in his teeth, “it’s like a ceremony. There’s nothing that changes about a cat when they become a warrior except for the fact that everyone agrees they are one. It’s words. It’s courtesy. Does that make sense?”
Oddstripe hummed and licked her whiskers. “I suppose.” She wasn’t sure she fully understood but it was an intriguing idea.
“It’s alright, I know I’m not the best explainer,” laughed Branchbark.
“Oh, don’t worry about it,” smiled Oddstripe, propelling herself forward again. “We should probably hurry though. I’m sure Sagetooth will be upset if we spend all day talking instead of harvesting sage.”
“You’re probably right,” the warrior laughed. “Come on, I’ll race you.” He dropped into a crouch and waggled his hips tauntingly. “Oh!” Oddstripe brightened. Sagetooth probably wouldn’t approve, but Branchbark’s energy was infectious. “Okay, ready, set, go!” She bunched her legs beneath her and waggled her hips as she spoke. On the final word, they both shot forward, sprinting through the grass in a heart pounding bit of horseplay that Oddstripe couldn’t help but lose herself in. Something about Branchbark made everything so simple. Simple and exciting. As they ran, Oddstripe felt like the whole world was stretched out in front of her paws. His paws? The thought was fleeting and Oddstripe let herself forget it in favor of focusing on not letting Branchbark completely embarrass her in the race.
I don't know if this'll be helpful to all the folks who want to see dead cats' relationships, but there is a way of keeping that information that I use all the time. It only works if a cat has just died, though. So:
Step 0: Before you start doing things in Clangen, keep your data directory open in the background. This is accessed from the main menu by going to "setting + info" and then in the bottom left corner "open data directory." You can access your saves in the "saves" folder. Just keep this tab open in the background as you play.
Step 1: Oh no! You have JUST gotten the message that a cat has died, either on moon change or patrol. But remember! None of these changes are retained until you save. As long as you don't save, that cat's relationship info is still acessible! Do NOT close out of Clangen, and do NOT save.
Simply open that tab from earlier with the data directory. In your "saves" folder, you will see folders for all of your clans. Open the folder for the Clan you're playing right now.
Step 2: There should be a file in this folder called "clan_cats.json." Open it. If it asks how you want to open it, Notepad is perfectly fine to use and everybody's got it. This file is where information like your cat's appearance and traits are kept, but we're looking for something a lot more simple here.
Step 3: Look for the cat that just died and write down/remember its ID. You can cntrl+F a cat's prefix or suffix on its own to find them easier, but you will not find them if you cntrl+F their full name because prefix and suffix are on separate lines. Once you've found the dead cat's name, you will see a line above the prefix and the suffix listing its ID. This number is important because it is what identifies the cat in relationship files.
Step 4: Close out of "clan_cats.json" (and of it asks if you want to save changes, say no; we're not looking to make changes here, but maybe you accidentally pressed a key while searching for your cat, it happens; so just don't save when you close out), OR minimize it/keep it in the background.
Then, still within the "saves" folder for your clan, go into the "relationships" folder and look for the json file with the ID of the cat that just died-- the number you recorded/recall from the previous step. For example, if the ID for your dead cat is 913, the file you want is "913_relations.json"
You can either open this file right now or copy and paste it somewhere else so you can access it later. I prefer to copy/paste it to a separate folder on my flashdrive where I store all of the Clangen notes I take.
This file is basically all of the information on your dead cat's relationships, just laid out less prettily than in-game Clangen. It even keeps a log of moon change interactions this cat has had. But everything here is laid out using cats' IDs instead of their names. You can sometimes see who is who by taking note of any moon change interactions in the log, but some of the time if you want to understand which cats the info is for, you'll have to go back to your "clan_cats.json" from earlier and reference the IDs listed. Every cat, dead or alive, can be found in "clan_cats.json" but when a cats dies and you save your game, its corresponding ID_relations.json is deleted.
I would highly recommend against keeping copies of dead cat relations.json files long term. It is a lot of bloat that can add up fast, and it can get hard to find the particular file you want if you keep building a bigger and bigger pile of files. I personally prefer to keep this file copied in a separate folder until I'm ready to write any major notes on what's been happening in my Clan. Then, I open it up as well as "clan_cats.json", and I write down any final notes on that dead cat's relationships, tabbing over to clan_cats.json to cntrl+F any IDs I need to match up with names. When I've written down all the info I need, I finally delete the copy of the dead cat's relations.json. But regardless...
Step 5: Whatever you've decided to do with your recently deceased cat's relations.json file, whether you've taken any notes you need to take already or saved a copy for later, now is when you can finally go back to playing Clangen and officially save your game.
Remember! Once you save your game, the relations.json of your newly dead cat will be deleted from your Clan's save file! So once again: make sure you've written down any info you'd like from that file or made a copy before you save.
This was probably way too long-winded, but I wanted to make it as easy as possible to follow along! Hope it helped somebody!
Posting for y'all to have as reference!! Very smart, I hadn't thought of that myself
sorry for the quiet (still working on trying to get a bigger buffer before i post again) but
this account didn't get hit by the new layout troubles.
my MAIN did. so i have the unique privilege of being able to say 'yeah the old layout was better to fit with the dropdowns and also is not a twitter knockoff'
The heat this moon had been heavy, even lingering into the night on some days. For Smokyrose, this had meant her gentleman acquaintance had come to visit less often, which was both a relief and a sorrow. She missed him in his absence, and yet, while she knew things were changing, that Goldenstar had said passers through were welcome, she worried what would happen if someone caught him lingering near the stream where they met. She was glad that the patrols didn’t bother to cross the Thunderpath that often.
But tonight, she found him waiting.
“My Ghost,” she purred, slinking over the waning stream into the shadow of the log where he sat. “I’ve missed you.” She butted her forehead firmly against his, letting the purr rumble out from her body and into him. He responded in kind, bestowing gentle licks upon her brow and over her ears.
“I’ve missed you too, sweet Miss,” he rumbled in such a charming way it made her blush. “I’m so glad you stopped by tonight.” Smokyrose settled down next to him and began to groom the back of his neck warmly. He closed his eyes to enjoy the feeling, still purring.
Between licks, she said, “Same. I hope you’ve been staying safe.”
“Don’t worry,” Ghost assured her, “I’ve mostly been hiding under cars and otherwise staying out of the heat. It’s been terrible lately.”
“I know!” she cried, “I haven’t gone out in the sun all week, I spend my days in the den.”
“That sounds terribly lonely,” he said, looking down at her. “Maybe I’ll stick around and keep you company this time.” His tail brushed over her haunches and she chuckled, ducking her face away shyly.
“It’s really not so bad,” she said, “I have Songdust to keep me company.”
“Songdust,” he hummed darkly. “You’ve mentioned her before, right?”
Smokyrose leaned against his shoulder and sighed contentedly. “Yes, she’s an old friend. Nothing you need to worry about.” She chuckled and swiped playfully at his nose and he laughed, a low deep laugh that sat in the back of his throat - stars, that laugh made her dizzy!
“That’s good,” he said, and they fell into silence as he laid his head over hers. She closed her eyes and sat there in his embrace for a good long while, trying to press every feeling into her memory like a paw in mud.
After a while, as her thoughts began to wander, she spoke up. “You know, maybe you should stick around and keep me company anyway.”
“Oh?” He sat up, his ears perking excitedly. “Really?”
“Yes!” she sat up too, feeding off his excitement, “You should stick around for good! My Clan has been making a lot of changes lately to be more welcoming to strangers. You should ask to join! You wouldn’t even have to change your name or take on any duties unless you wanted to, you would just sit with me and Songdust in the elders den and advise the younger cats. Wouldn’t that be lovely?”
Ghost smiled lopsidedly and said, “That does sound lovely, but I can’t, I’m afraid.” Smokyrose frowned.
“Why not?” she asked, ears folding back.
“I’ve got cats waiting for me back in town,” he sighed, pressing a gentle lick to her forehead. She closed her eyes and leaned into his touch, feeling as if she would never see him again, as if this was goodbye. “I can’t just run off, even with a pretty dame like yourself.”
“They can come too,” she said, “We’re short pawed after the plague, we’d be more than happy to take in a few new warriors.”
“No,” he said firmly and suddenly. The sharpness of it made her jump. Was he afraid?
“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said, looking down at her paws. “I didn’t mean to-”
His tone was much more gentle as he stretched a paw out to comfort her. “No, no, no, I didn’t mean it like that,” he said, snuffling at her cheek in worry. “I’m sorry, Miss Smoke, I would never-” He cut himself off and sighed and she looked up to meet his eyes, scooting closer.
“These cats aren’t the kind I’d want you to meet,” he continued solemnly. “It’s better they don’t know about you.” That only served to make her worry more. What kind of cats were waiting for him that frightened him so?
“It’s alright,” she said. “You don’t have to stay… although I wish you would.” He smiled at that, a gentle, melancholy smile.
“I would if I could,” he murmured. “It does sound lovely, living with you.”
She blushed. “Well, you could always come visit me. Goldenstar announced that cats are welcome to come and go as they please.”
“Maybe…” he said carefully. “I’ll think it over.”
“Please, do,” she purred, smiling at him again. Hope fluttered in her chest. Maybe things would work out after all and she could finally be free of the guilt she felt sneaking around all the time. Until then, she contented herself in falling back into his side and closing her eyes to listen as the crickets started to come out to serenade them.
Lichentooth glanced up from her mouse to Hollyspike. Near Hollyspike was his apprentices, Tricklepaw and Buzzardpaw. She glanced back down to her mouse, sighing. It was that time, wasn't it?
She leaned down and took one last bite, savoring the meat between her jaws. She got to her paws and nodded. "Lead the way."
"Are you really going to leave that mouse like that?" Tricklepaw asked, padding over to the remains of the mouse.
"We have to do the patrol first. Can't leave the border unmarked." Buzzardpaw meowed, dark ginger tail twisting.
Tricklepaw stared down at the mostly boney remains of the mouse, then sighed with a shrug. "Fineee."
"Thanks, Buzzardpaw." Hollyspike meowed, placing a tail on the tom's back. Buzzardpaw stiffened a little bit, nodding rapidly.
Tricklepaw walked back to the little group, and they departed out of the camp.
As they wandered towards the Rattleclan border, Tricklepaw scented something and broke off. Hollyspike's pelt bristled and he shouted at her to focus on getting to the border. Lichentooth stood in place, tail swishing nervously on the forest floor. Buzzardpaw stood by them, eyes narrowing but tail swishing like Lichentooth's.
Tricklepaw returned, with a mouse in her jaws and a gleeful light to her eyes. She dropped it, head held high. Buzzardpaw gasped, but he was smiling.
Hollyspike sighed, but they buried Tricklepaw's catch and continued on towards the border.
When the trees thinned out and the grassy plains came into view, there was another group there. Galetuft lifted her head up, and Floodpaw nervously pulled into the deputy's side. Meadowpaw and Swanshine were there too, and their chatter had stopped to glance at the new scents.
Lichentooth bowed her head. Hollyspike briefly nodded. "Let's just get on with this, then."
Galetuft snorted, but she was smiling. She pushed against Floodpaw to get them to start moving, and the Rattleclan patrol followed. Lichentooth waved a tail and watched them go. Hollyspike pulled ahead to start marking, and Lichentooth followed suit.
Events Referenced:
Lichentooth is recruited by Hollyspike to help with the border patrol with Tricklepaw and Buzzardpaw. They meet with Rattleclan and just continue marking the border.
Currentdash padded out into the forest, tail waving behind him.
Bogpaw was to his right, and Rindlepaw was to his left. Rindlepaw had just gotten the hang of some basic hunting practices, so it was time to set them out into the forest for some solo hunting, with some supervision from himself.
He brushed past a bush, past their training hollow, and paused at the sight in front of him.
Bogpaw noticed it first, since they were to his right. Their ears perked up. "What's that?"
Currentdash lifted his head up. A... porcupine. They weren't around much. He glanced over to Rindlepaw, who had caught up and was staring at it curiously.
"That is a porcupine." He remembered seeing it, being told about the spines. He cleared his throat. "They are creatures that have been blessed with our claws-"
"Those are not claws." Bogpaw interrupted. They held up their paw, unsheathing their claws. "These are claws."
"Well..."
Rindlepaw interrupted Currentdash. "It's more like fur claws than actual claws, then." Rindlepaw's ears twitched as she leaned forward to look at the porcupine a bit closer.
Currentdash's tail fluffed up and he reached out a paw and scooched Rindlepaw back. "Those fur claws can cause some real damage, you know. They can hurt!"
Bogpaw crept forward, tilting their head. "Has it happened to you?"
"Well, no, but-"
Currentdash did not get to send them out for supervised training that day.
Events Referenced:
Currentdash takes both of his apprentices, Bogpaw and Rindlepaw, out training. They spot a porcupine, and Currentdash tries to spin a story about the spines, but Rindlepaw does not let him even try to start the story. Bogpaw follows suit, and Currentdash's lesson plans are wasted.
Larkpaw, Goldpaw, and Graypaw gathered near the training hollow, trying to hold their heads up high. Riverflight and Finchstar stared out into the forest, observing.
Larkpaw was panting, hunched over. Goldpaw was trying to stand up tall, but it was clear his breathing was heavier than normal. Graypaw was trying to shake out his fur, doing anything to get the heat off of him.
Riverflight was grinning and bearing it. Finchstar stared at her.
This would've been a excellent time to go hunting. But the heat bore down on them, oppressive, curling into their skin.
"I think," Riverflight eventually spoke, "We should wait for another time."
Finchstar's eyes widened, but only slightly. The leader smiled, tilting her head. "... The heat is too much for us and our apprentices. It could be dangerous."
Riverflight rolled her eyes, but she nodded. "It is dangerous. We'll go when the heat dies down." She turned to the apprentices. "You hear that?"
Graypaw lifted his head up. "Yeah, I heard!"
"Don't have to go hunting, thank stars." Larkpaw mumbled, and Goldpaw huffed.
He sighed. "... Yeah, I don't have to hunt."
Larkpaw turned to him. "Why are you disappointed? It's way too hot out here for anything fancy, anyway."
Goldpaw narrowed his eyes, but he turned back towards camp. "Nothing important."
Graypaw's tail perked up, and he followed after Goldpaw. Larkpaw followed, after a few moments.
Riverflight sighed. Finchstar brushed against her deputy, and the deputy brushed back, still staring off.
"... I feel like we should have kept going." Riverflight meowed. "Was that a wise move?"
Finchstar nodded. "You made a call based on the environment around us, and the forest wasn't being very nice. No point in hunting if nobody can focus."
Riverflight was quiet. After a few more moments, she nodded. "Yeah, I... threat assessment." Riverflight got to her paws. "We should go suffer back at camp."
Finchstar laughed, but she got to her own paws and followed after her deputy.
Events Referenced:
Larkpaw, Goldpaw, and Graypaw are taken hunting by Riverflight and Finchstar. The only thing its... it's hot. The patrol heads back.
Heyyyyyyyy, Just wanted to say that I love reading about needleclan and wanted to ask if there's any news about Bogpaw??
I hope you're doing well and remember DON'T STRESS!! We can wait! 🫶🤌
aaaa thank you!!
the next moon stuff i have to write is boring and i think it's killing the motivation a little BUT i'll try to get all caught up and stuff! ... at my own pace!
as for Bogpaw news... i love them and the new update having their moon interactions means i can actually view things more clearly!
i'm not sure if you guys knew this but i think it's pretty clear. I like goldpaw and bogpaw. they're very cute!!!
Thought I'd draw my Warrior Cats OCs, Scorchplume and Goldenstar, for Pride since fans have been shipping them in my tags for a while now.
If you haven't already, check out my sideblog, @clangenrising, where I post about the lives of my warrior ocs in real time with the Clangen save file I've been playing.
And if you're coming from my Clangen blog, Hi! You should follow me over here for more general content too!
