#10percent

[fallowpaws]

A Mother's Claws - Chapter 2

CONTENT WARNINGS: Character Death, Gore, Blood, Heavy Angst

Everywhere Squirrelflight looked, she saw death.

Her clanmates were strewn about, tossed aside like fresh-kill. In every den, she found them, with every kind of wound she knew of, and some she hadn't. The blood seemed to go on and on, forever, until all she saw was red.

Though, perhaps that was partly due to the blood dripping down her face, trickling into her eye. She didn't know, and she didn't care.

How could she? Foxleap, her former apprentice, was dead at her paws. So were Graystripe, Briarlight, Purdy, Cherrypaw, and many more. Cats she had grown up with, cats she had watched grow up after her, and cats who hadn't had a chance to grow up yet.

She found her mother at the edge of the clearing, partly hidden by ferns. Pain gripped her once more at the sight of blood, of gore, but something leapt in her heart as she saw the faint rise and fall of her chest. Sandstorm was still alive.

"Mom!" She raced to her side, a paw on her shoulder, gentle despite her trembling. "Mom, I'm here."

Sandstorm's eyes flickered open; their usual bright green was dull, but she let out a weak purr as she saw her daughter. "Squirrel. You're alive."

"Shh, don't talk. It's okay. I'll get Jayfeather." Squirrelflight turned to do just that, but her mother reached out a paw, coughing.

"Don't. Let him care for the others. I'm-" Sandstorm wheezed, blood pooling in her neck fur; her throat had been torn open. "Just stay here. Please."

She didn't say she was going to die, or that she would be in StarClan before Jayfeather could help her, but Squirrelflight understood. She hadn't gotten to say goodbye to Firestar or Leafpool or Hollyleaf, but Sandstorm was here, and for a few precious moments, she was alive with her.

Crouching by her side, Squirrelflight began to groom her tabby pelt, matted as it was by blood. Sandstorm purred weakly again, then asked, "Your sister?"

Squirrelflight couldn't bear to tell her the whole truth. "She's with Jayfeather."

Sandstorm closed her eyes, but she was still breathing. "Good. Good. I know your father-" she broke off to cough for a moment. "I know your father is with StarClan. Did the Dark Forest- are they gone?"

There were shadows all throughout the camp, cloaking the dead with darkness, but none of them were in the shape of evil warriors past. "Yes. They're gone." Squirrelflight's voice was hollow. "We won."

This seemed to comfort Sandstorm. "I love you, Squirrel. Everything will be hard for a long while, and I'm so sorry. But I know you'll survive. For your clan."

"I will," Squirrelflight echoed, promising. "I will, Mom. I love you."

Sandstorm settled properly at last, her head resting on her paws; if not for the scent of blood, she would look almost as though she were asleep. Squirrelflight knew better. Still, she continued to groom her for a little longer, until Sandstorm stopped breathing, until her spirit left her body to join StarClan.

Her mother was dead. Her father was dead. Her sister was dead. They were gone, and she felt as though her heart had broken in two.

They were gone, but she knew at least two of her clanmates were still alive. Grief made Squirrelflight's body heavy, but she managed to stand, carefully dragging Sandstorm out into the clearing so she could be next to Firestar. She still needed to look for the others.

The dead outnumbered the living by far, but after searching the whole camp, Squirrelflight came up short. Lionblaze, Brambleclaw, Ivypool, and Mousewhisker were all missing. Had they escaped into the forest?

Hollyleaf was missing, too, but Squirrelflight knew her fate was already sealed. She hung her head low, remembering her death with another wave of grief. She'd seen her die at the paws of Hawkfrost earlier in the battle, but her body belonged here, at home, with the others. She didn't care if she had to carry her halfway around the lake; Squirrelflight knew she couldn't rest until her daughter was safe.

Tail dragging in the dust, Squirrelflight stepped into the medic's den. Jayfeather was crouched by Leafpool, who was now covered with lavender and rosemary to cover the scent of death. Lilykit was in the nest where Squirrelflight had left her, but her wounds were wrapped with cobwebs, and she seemed to be resting relatively peacefully. She was so young to have been through so much.

Jayfeather lifted his head when she entered the den, likely having heard her approach. "The others?"

"All dead," Squirrelflight croaked. "Sandstorm was alive, but she joined StarClan. Lionblaze, Brambleclaw, Ivypool, and Mousewhisker are missing."

Her son pressed his muzzle into Leafpool's fur for a moment, and Squirrelflight didn't interrupt. Sitting next to Lilykit, she took a few shaky breaths. How could all of this happen? How could her clan be gone?

She still felt a little dizzy from being hit on the head, so she wasn't sure how long she zoned out before she realized Jayfeather was approaching with leaves in his jaws. "I need to check you over. I heard you limping."

"It's not so bad," Squirrelflight said, but she laid down on her side and let him inspect her injuries. He cleaned and dressed her wounds with a level of precision that reminded her of Leafpool. Leafpool, who was dead, just a few pawsteps away. Stars, it hurt, more than any wound the Dark Forest could have ever given her.

"I want to move her," she told Jayfeather, after her wounds had been addressed. "To be with Firestar and Sandstorm."

Jayfeather was quiet for a long moment, still messing with some herbs in the corner. At her insistence, he'd put some on the scratches over his eye. "Alright. But after that, we need to rest."

"Rest?" she lashed her tail. "When our clan is in tatters? When our clanmates are dead or missing?"

Jayfeather turned to face her. "No matter how much fighting we've done tonight, this is perhaps the worst battle the clans have ever faced. All three of us need to lay down and rest so that we can recover; we'll be no use otherwise. We can get to work when the sun rises."

He had a point. She couldn't imagine sleeping just now, but she could mourn her clan in peace. "Fine."

Neither of them spoke after that. Squirrelflight didn't ask for his help in moving Leafpool into the clearing, and Jayfeather didn't offer, but when she began to drag her sister out of the den, her son joined her. They were each mourning someone different: a lifelong kinship with a mental connection, and a birth mother that had given up everything. But that grief was shared between them, and Squirrelflight could only hope it would make that burden just a little easier to bear.

[vintagechic86]

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[king-finesse-1]

Regrann from @worldstar - #WSHH #Premiere @Glokk9afnf “10 Percent” #LiveNow #GlokkNine #10Percent dir- @drewfilmedit#1LOVE#23GG

[90percent90s]

[fy-baekpo-blog]

@TOP_100PERCENT: [#백퍼센트] 성대한 PTA가 끝났습니다. 와주신 모든 분들 감사드려요~ 백퍼센트는 이 기운 받아서 더 열심히 힘차게 달릴게요 다시 한 번 고마워요!!♡

[secularbynature-blog]

#church #atheism #christian #atheist #tithing #10percent #free #freethinker #secular #churchstateseparation #SecularByNature #godless #heathen #Dawkins #Hitchens #indoctrination #religion #religioushumor #atheisthumor #dudebro #bruh #god #jesus #taxthechurch

[dinomelt-blog]

“Only a few things left...”

WHERE is the game? The latest ‘release date’ was “late January”, which is kind of gone, so it may be good to stop estimates for a while. Turns out, starting February, I can announce that, after heavily focused weeks, the game at last is on a 'COMPLETELY PLAYABLE' (/beatable) state! 

The game is done in most aspects of production, the whole world map, dialogs, sound effects, credits, secondary animations, enemies, debugging, typography... even a set of working “achievements”! (prepared to work as ‘Medals’ on Newgrounds), most of those details, which compose the elusive and rarely accurate 'LAST 10%’ of work (this last stage has taken around 2-3 busy months so it may aswell be as big as a 25% of the whole work-time). (picture related)

The only aspect which is still on production phase is the music, which will take a bit longer considering the final volume of music needed for the game. While it’s reeeeally tempting to release it at last, as the music gets done it will be a good time to test and polish the latest details hoping for a good web release, looking for a good week when I’ll finally announce a real release date. In the meantime, here’s a little peek at Fruwz, one of the most heavily clay-morphed areas of the cavern.

[fallowpaws]

A Mother's Claws - Chapter 1

CONTENT WARNINGS: Character Death, Descriptions of Corpses, Mild Gore, Heavy Angst, Brief Mention of Suicidal Ideation

Squirrelflight knew two things. One, that the long-awaited battle with the Dark Forest warriors was over. And two, her family was dead.

The fighting had been brutal, and towards the end it had been difficult to tell who was still fighting and who wasn't; she hadn't even been sure who she was up against. Firestar had told them, gravely, that they would have to fight like rogues to survive, and he'd been right.

None of the living warriors had stopped fighting, not until the very last Dark Forest warrior was dead. Squirrelflight had seen so many cats fall on both sides that she'd barely had a chance to mourn her clanmates before another cat attacked her. She had to become something awful, twisting herself into a monster so the monsters couldn't kill her. A whirl of teeth and claws and spit, of shredded coats and the stickiness of drying blood.

She'd stayed in camp, defending her home as best she could, but there were too many enemies, and they'd swarmed them. Even after Tigerstar fell, the warriors kept coming and coming... they were a sea of blood and shadows, snarling vengeance. And, though they were now dead, they'd gotten it.

The first thing Squirrelflight was aware of was a throbbing pain in her head. She tried to sit up, but, dazed, she slumped back to the ground. Her ear stung where a warrior had clawed it, and she was pretty sure it was torn. One of her front paws hurt, and a scratch on her forehead was leaking blood towards her eye, forcing her to keep it tightly shut.

The camp was silent.

If not for the pain, she would have thought she were dead. Bodies were strewn about the dark, matted and torn. The sight of one in particular, in the very center of camp, hurt so much to look at that Squirrelflight had to look away.

Firestar had slain Tigerstar, but had collapsed as soon as the dark tabby had disappeared. Her father was dead.

Squirrelflight knew he was one of many. Her head still hurt--a warrior had thrown her to the ground so hard that she'd lost consciousness--but if the battle was truly over, as she believed it was, she had to help her surviving clanmates.

Gradually, she got to her paws, wincing when she put pressure on the one a warrior had bitten. Still, she thanked StarClan for letting her off easy. She wasn't sure what had happened after she'd been knocked out, but perhaps the warrior who'd attacked her had assumed she was dead.

Her clanmates, Squirrelflight was beginning to realize, hadn't been so lucky.

She felt as though claws were clutching at her heart as she gazed around the clearing with her good eye. Firestar's ginger pelt stood out the most, but there were many others. Icecloud's white pelt seemed to glow next to Whitewing's outside the elders' den. Not far away, Dustpelt was laying on his side, lips bared in a final snarl, but his eyes were glassy, as were Ferncloud's; she was just beside him. Mousefur, her thin body twisted beyond repair, looked frighteningly small near the camp entrance. There was a pile of bodies outside of the queens' den, each having fought to the last to defend the kits: Sorreltail, Brackenfur, Daisy, Cloudtail...

The kits. Squirrelflight felt as though she might be sick as she turned her gaze to the maw of the den, torn open by furious claws. Were any of them still alive?

Step by step, she made her way across the clearing, limping carefully around the bodies of her clanmates. She could tell on sight when a warrior was dead: there was no mistaking their torn throats and bellies, their stiff legs and limp tails. She only paused twice: once by Poppyfrost, and again by Bumblestripe, as their injuries weren't so obvious to the naked eye. Swallowing back her fear, she pressed her ears to their chests, listening for a heartbeat, but she found none.

She was trembling with horror, with exertion, with grief and pain, but she managed to get into the queens' den in one piece. Kits were the heart of every clan, and though every urge in her body told her to look for her kin, her duty as a warrior drew her further into the shadows.

Brightheart was the only queen inside, and she was dead. Ferocity gleamed in her good eye, and her pelt seemed mostly clean of wounds, but there was a bite on her neck that Squirrelflight knew no cat could survive. She was still as stone.

Beneath her, hidden at her belly, were the kits. There had been two litters in the nursery at the time of the battle, Brightheart's and Sorreltail's, the former with three kits and the latter with two.

Snowkit, Amberkit, and Dewkit were still; Squirrelflight hoped to the stars that Brightheart hadn't had to see them die. Seedkit, too, was stiff and cold. But as she nosed at Sorreltail's other daughter, she nearly leapt back, startled, as she was met with a small mew. Lilykit was still alive.

There was a scratch on the bridge of her nose, and her tail was shredded, but she was alive. Relief shook Squirrelflight's body; she wasn't the only survivor. This tiny kit, barely a few days old, was here too.

Very carefully, Squirrelflight picked up Lilykit by her scruff and carried her from the den. Lilykit's eyes were tightly closed, mercifully, so she missed the sight of her parents just outside. Squirrelflight felt as though she couldn't take any more pain in her heart, but she bowed her head slightly to the bodies of Sorreltail and Brackenfur. "I'll look after her," she promised, soft, voice raw with grief. Then she moved on.

The area outside Leafpool's den seemed relatively unscathed. Squirrelflight knew her own injuries weren't urgent, but Lilykit was young and her wounds would need to be cleaned and treated properly.

Stepping inside, she carried Lilykit to the area where she knew Leafpool kept fresh nests for her patients, intending to set Lilykit there and give her a quick wash before searching for Leafpool. Instead, she was met with a small, dark shape, curled up in the moss and bracken as though they were sleeping. It was her sister.

Squirrelflight staggered, gasping, nearly dropping Lilykit in her panic. She quickly set her down in a clean nest a safe few pawsteps away before bolting to her sister's side. "No. Leafpool... Leafpool, please wake up..."

It was no use. Like the others, she was dead. Dead, dead, dead. Everyone was dead except herself and Lilykit. For a heartbeat, she wished they were with the others, on their way to StarClan, ready to reunite with everyone they'd ever loved.

Swallowed with grief, she buried her face in her sister's cold fur. It was too late to save her. Her sister was gone.

Distantly, a sound pulled her away from Leafpool's body; could it be that someone was calling her name? Was it her sister, come to take her to StarClan?

"Squirrelflight? Is that you? Is the battle over?"

Jayfeather. Jayfeather! He was alive! Stumbling to her paws, she followed the sound of his voice. "It's me. It's over. Jayfeather, where are you? Are you hurt?"

"I'll live." Her son's voice seemed to echo in the medic's den, and suddenly she saw him, squirming free from a crack in the back of the cave. "A warrior broke in, and Leafpool shoved me into the stores. He tried to get in, but he couldn't fit."

Squirrelflight was so heartbroken that she couldn't muster up a purr, but she leapt for Jayfeather immediately, covering his face with licks. He had sharp scratch marks over one eye, but as he'd said, he had no fatal injuries. "Oh, Jayfeather. Thank StarClan you're alive. I don't know what I'd-" Her voice broke. "I couldn't lose you, too."

Typically, Jayfeather could be quite standoffish, even antisocial at times, but now he accepted his mother's affection without complaint, even butting his head under her chin. He stopped, though, at her last few words, body rigid. "It's Leafpool, isn't it?"

Hearing the pain in his voice nearly broke her again, but she forced herself to steady. She had to be strong for her son, no matter whether she was his birth mother or not. "Yes. I'm so sorry."

Jayfeather's voice was very quiet, lacking its usual bite. "Show me. Please."

Tail on his shoulder, she led him to Leafpool's body. Jayfeather collapsed, much like she had, at the medic's side, and Squirrelflight crouched beside him as he grieved. There was so much she could have said: she could have offered verbal comfort or reassurance, or asked him if he needed any herbs for the wound on his face. But there was nothing she knew of that could fix this. Not even Leafpool had known of an herb to heal a broken heart.

After a few long moments, Jayfeather sat up again. His voice was back to normal, but she recognized the change in his demeanor for what it was. He'd gotten like this after Hollyleaf had disappeared into the tunnels: he'd buried his pain in his work. "Who else is alive?"

"Lilykit is here." Squirrelflight turned to check on her, relieved that she seemed stable. "Her tail's badly torn."

Jayfeather turned away, poking his head into the herb stores to start grabbing his supplies. "I'll treat her. You go look for other survivors, but don't go far. I know you're hurt, too."

She was beginning to doubt there were others, but she bowed her head. "Of course." Pausing at the entrance to the den, she turned to look back at her son, already checking over Lilykit. He'd just lost his birth mother, and here he was, still alive, caring for the injured. Leafpool would have been so proud.

"I love you," she told Jayfeather, wishing with all her heart that she'd said the same to Leafpool before the battle began.

Her son's voice was raw with grief, but there was no hostility in it. She knew he had been angry with her and Leafpool for lying about their birth. Perhaps, with all the horror that had occurred this night, he had pushed that anger aside. "I love you too. Go check on the others."