#hootpetal

[residents-of-the-darkforest]

Ideas for Alderstar's and Hootpetal's newest litter's names?

@ambitiousauthor @liberhoe

@elementaldeityoffood @wills-woodland-warriors @starfalcon555 @umbranoxs

[residences-of-the-darkforest]

Fleathistle, entering the den and finding his way through the maze thanks to one of the Dark Kits leading him: hey Myrtle sorry to interrupt but can you help with some medical--Myrtle??

Hootpetal, poking her head up from a pile of fur: oh hi Fleathistle, what's up?

Fleathistle: I'm...looking for Myrtlewing.

Grousemane, head popping up from the pile: Myrtlewing? Oh, Myrtlewing! Wake up!

Alderstar, stretching from the pile, only revealed after the other two moved: what's going on?

Fleathistle: I might need Myrtlewing's help with something if that's okay

Myrtlewing: *appears from the very bottom of the pile*

---

@wills-woodland-warriors

[residents-of-the-darkforest]

There's Someone In Your Nest (short story)

First: Sprouting Thorns - Magpiepaw and The Thorn-Tom (Magpie POV) - Wattpad

Previous: Sprouting Thorns - Thorn Den - Wattpad

============================

Thankfully, it wasn’t too long before Myrtlewing caught Alderstar’s scent on the wind, mingling with Hootpetal’s. Their voices danced with the breeze as they spoke together, growing as they neared the thorn-entrance. 

Hootpetal noticed Myrtlewing first, and she blinked at him in surprise. “Did you wait for us?” she asked. “Were we supposed to meet?”

“No,” Myrtlewing told her.

“Grousemane’s not keeping you up, is he?” Alderstar scratched at an itch behind his ear. “Or has he returned and snoring louder than a dog’s empty stomach?”

“She’s not snoring much.”

“Then why are you–” Alderstar stilled, brows furrowing and eyes narrowing in confusion. 

Hootpetal looked much the same. “‘She’?”

Myrtlewing nodded. “She.”

Alderstar cleared his throat. “I think five’s a bit of a crowd–”

“She’s an apprentice,” Myrtlewing explained, “probably a few moons older than a kit, if I had to guess. Stumppaw brought her.”

“An apprentice?” Hootpetal repeated, shocked. “Here? How? She must have gotten lost–”

“How could she become so lost that she wound up in the Dark Forest?” Alderstar questioned. “It wouldn’t be the first time an apprentice found themselves here,” he grunted, then looked to Myrtlewing. “Is she safe?”

Myrtlewing shrugged, “I didn’t lay a claw on her, if that’s what you’re asking. But you should know, she’s laying in your nest. Unless she decided to sneak off, that is.”

Alderstar shared an uncertain glance with Hootpetal. “What do we do? Just walk in and frighten the daylights out of her?”

Hootpetal shook her head. “Or the alternative–avoid our own nests because a young apprentice is sleeping in them?”

“One of them,” Myrtlewing pointed out, unsure why they were making such a huge deal out of this. “She already knows that you’re coming anyway. I’ll just tell her now.” He turned around and ducked inside, ignoring the ‘wait!’ and ‘Myrtlewing!’s called after him. 

Following the trail he had initially led Magpiepaw through, he entered the hollowed den, shaking out his pelt for no other reason than to make noise to tell her that he was there.

Though the noise was quiet, Magpiepaw jumped from the nest, twisting in the air, and scratched herself on one of the protruding thorns. She squealed in pain, rubbernecking to assess the damage.

“Great, bleed all over the floor,” Myrtlewing chuckled, amused. He padded toward her, looming over her head so that he could lick at the scratch on her back until the droplets stopped flowing. “There,” he said as he walked away, “now there won’t be a mess.” It wouldn’t bother him, but Alderstar would complain about it getting in his nest, Hootpetal would fill the space with fret after fret, and Grousemane–he’d probably be fine. The thought of the three reminded him of what he needed to tell the young cat, so he looked over his shoulder at her. “Alderstar and his mate are back. They’ll be coming in soon.”

Magpiepaw nodded quickly, curling in on herself. 

Myrtlewing, meanwhile, sat down calmly and observed her subtly. She seemed strange. There was a spark of fear–no, stronger–terror in her eyes that flared up at the very mention of more cats around her. As a young cat in the Place of No Stars, wariness and fright were to be expected, but Myrtlewing suspected something more. The terror began before her death, while she was still alive. He tilted his head. But not throughout her whole life. If it had been a long time, he thought, she wouldn’t be acting the way she was, like the situation she was in was unfamiliar and strange. Well it was, but–

Myrtlewing’s path of thoughts were cut off by the shuffling of branches. “We’re coming!” Alderstar called a warning a few heartbeats before he stepped out into the hollow, followed by a wide-eyed Hootpetal. 

Hootpetal was first to hurry to the young cat’s side, sniffing all along her pelt. “Are you okay, little one? Are you lost? Did you die? Are you hurt? Is there someone you want me to take you to?” Magpiepaw’s pelt visibly fluffed further at the onslaught of questions, but Hootpetal didn’t seem to notice. 

“I hear you’ve taken my nest,” Alderstar stated. It was clearly an attempt at jest to ease the air and calm the she-cat down, but the apprentice apparently took it as anger. 

To Alderstar’s surprise, to Hootpetal’s, to the surprise of everyone who might hear about this, to the surprise of every dead or living soul, and most of all, to the surprise of Myrtlewing, Magpiepaw ran across the den and to him, huddling in a ball and burying her face into his side. 

Unable to form a coherent thought for what was probably the third overall time in his entire life and death, Myrtlewing could do nothing but stare and blink, and then stare and blink at Alderstar and Hootpetal.

They blinked at each other for who knew how long before Grousemane made his entrance, stumbling slightly on his paws. He opened his mouth, lips quirked upward to likely crack a joke, when he noticed Alderstar and Hootpetal hadn’t moved their attention from Myrtlewing. He followed their gaze and saw the bundle of black fur pressed against him. “Uh..” He tilted his head, words slightly slurred. “Is Myrtlewing a dad now?”

===================

@ambitiousauthor @starfalcon555 @wills-woodland-warriors @liberhoe @umbranoxs @elementaldeityoffood @frightnightindustries

[residents-of-the-darkforest]

Broken Bundles (short story)

Previous: https://www.tumblr.com/residents-of-the-darkforest/731013518657191937/the-sick-kits?source=share

=========================

Magpieshine wondered how many times a heart could break before its shattered remains became too brittle to piece back together. As a ‘paw, she would have expected not often, maybe just once, yet now every time she so much as spared a glance in the direction of her youngest siblings, she felt her heart squish into cold shards that pierced her chest and throat, choking it and making her hold back sobs. 

She never got to meet her little brother, Lionkit. He was buried before she was able to return to the Eye-Out Thorns once she was told of the situation. Part of her was grateful for that–she would have likely only seen his skeletal remains. Still, it pained her that she did not have the chance to see him. He was buried in the main den of the family, where her parents, Grousemane, Hootpetal, Alderstar, and Myrtlewing sleep. Uncustomary for many, but the family wanted him as close to them as possible.

Magpieshine gazed around numbly at the faded-green plants in the den around her. The family had relocated briefly to Myrtlewing’s medicine den with the three still-living kits. 

The tiny bundles were incredibly thin, even when they were coaxed to eat–which often took a good part of the day to do. It was hard enough finding herbs in good enough condition to be of use, even harder still to actually have the kits swallow them down. 

Magpieshine shuddered, seeing every rib of Sunkit as he stretched beside Hootpetal, who lay curled in the nest with them, encouraging them to suckle. Alderstar and Grousemane stuck as close to the kits and Hootpetal as possible. Perchclaw and Stonefern, like Magpieshine, had hardly taken their eyes off of the little ones. It was only because Myrtlewing warned against raising their  temperature with too much body heat that they didn’t curl around the kits as well.

Magpieshine doubted she had ever seen Myrtlewing so attentive before. He rarely ever removed his eyes from the kits, his nose always close enough to sniff out any changes immediately, and when he did move, it was to check on Hootpetal. Hootpetal thankfully didn’t catch the sickness, but ever since they moved to the medicine den, she had completely refused to leave the nest. Her fur was ruffled and in clumps. Still, she wouldn’t move. Alderstar was at her head now, grooming the fur along the side of her neck and gazing sorrowfully at his kits.

Archwing, Willowcloud, Wolfpool, Scabdrip, Redmask, and pretty much everyone else in the family had occupied themselves with gathering anything that was needed. Archwing, Magpieshine’s nephew and Myrtlewing’s grandson and former apprentice, had taken after healing, and was the one to gather needed herbs while Myrtlewing stayed in the den. 

Magpieshine frowned, thinking about her kin. The last time she had seen him, he had been panting, appearing as if he were about to drop. It was in the den and right back out with him. She didn’t think he had taken a single break from gathering herbs since the kits had been born prematurely. His littermates realized this too and chose to help, but without his experience, they weren’t always successful. 

Redmask and Scabdrip busied themselves with catching minnows or convincing–perhaps with teeth–StarClan cats to give them food to give to Hootpetal to strengthen her and her milk.

Willowcloud, Spottedtooth, Buzzardblaze, and Aspenlight would take turns collecting moss for water, while Wolfpool, Dusksong, Falleniris, and Waspbeak would search for it to change the bedding. Myrtlewing had told them that it was important to change the nest of a sick cat frequently, as it may hold some of the illness. It made sense, Magpieshine thought, seeing how much the kits’ tiny noses and mouths dripped with phlegm, though in the back of her mind she was admittedly surprised to know that Myrtlewing could actually be quite the knowledgeable, attentive, and caring medicine cat after all his murders. Then again, these kits were his as well–even if they were only Hootpetal and Alderstar’s biologically. Magpieshine herself hadn’t even been any of theirs until she was six–seven? moons old.

They are good parents. She felt that shattering again, the crackling and splintering of her heart. They don’t deserve this. The kits don’t deserve this.

She didn’t remove her head, but scented Archwing return again. She watched as he passed some yellow-orange berries to Myrtlewing. Myrtlewing still kept his eyes fixed on the kits as he chewed and Archeyes left again. He was already lowered on the ground. Coating a claw in the poultice, he gently opened Marigoldkit’s jaw. Magpieshine’s heart–shattering still–sank to the pit of her stomach as she saw that her sister didn’t protest, didn’t so much as lift a paw against him as Myrtlewing tried to get her to suckle his claw and gulp the medicine down.

It was a long time before he was able to manage it, and it was really only because the herbs got stuck on her tongue that Marigoldkit could do it at all. Myrtlewing looked like he was about to collapse with exhaustion, but he moved on right to Peonykit and then to Sunkit.

Yet even then, Myrtlewing didn’t shut his eyes. Magpieshine could see the dark lines beneath them, so clear she was surprised his face didn’t droop with their heaviness. Rising to her paws, she padded to his side and nudged him. “You need to rest.”

“I can’t afford it,” he told her simply, and it sounded like he was attempting to overpower a yawn.

“You can’t afford working yourself to death either. What good would you be to the kits if you’re too tired to focus on anything?”

“I can rest later.”

“She’s right,” Alderstar spoke up, his voice soft as Hootpetal began to snore beside him. “They need you at your best.”

Magpieshine frowned. Alderstar’s eyes looked so red, even where his sharp pupils didn’t touch. “I can watch them,” she offered. “While dad’s sleeping.”

Alderstar gave her a small smile. “Are you sure, dear? You may not know what to look for.”

“Any changes,” Magpieshine decided, thinking back to watching her father work. “Raising or lowering temperatures, struggling to breathe, struggling with anything more than usual.” She looked to Myrtlewing. “I will help them as best as I can, but if they really need you, then I will wake you. Swear it.”

Myrtlewing seemed hesitant. He frowned, grumbling. “Alright, fine. But you wake me if there’s anything at all, okay? If they’re fussy, if they’re too quiet, if they so much as sneeze, you wake me, got it? I can lose sleep but I cannot lose another kit.”

Magpieshine had to shut her eyes for a moment, willing the tears not to fall. She needed to be focused now, not emotional. She could cry later when her siblings didn’t need her. Opening them again, she met her father’s eyes. “Deal.”

================

Taglist: @ambitiousauthor @wills-woodland-warriors @starfalcon555 @frightnightindustries @liberhoe @umbranoxs

@elementaldeityoffood

[residents-of-the-darkforest]

Deputies in a Dark Reign

Little bit more blurry, and this time by m-o-u-r-i

Again, this is NOT to scale of one another.

- - - -

--Hoot, Snow, and Rosebranch are she-cats, Goldengaze and Frogstreak are toms.

--Aside from Hoot, all designs are taken from @ambitiousauthor who wrote their descriptions in Gorsedaisy's Nightmare (also seen in Rainstar's Burden). Rose was listed as a calico, so I decided to be creative with it. I also added a scar to Snowpad.

--Snowpad had to stay in the medicine den for a long time after she received her injury, and many were skeptical that she would have survived. She has problems with memory and concentration, though thankfully is better at planning (which can also be affected if injured in the area that she was).

After her injury, Snowpad's personality changed. She became more impulsive, and less able to hold back bursts of emotion. In spite of this, she proved herself and became the deputy, later leader. Her own deputy was a friend and former apprentice of hers that helped her figure out methods to aid her memory and concentration.

Gatherings are tough for her due to the impulsivity and bursts of emotions bit, but with effort and hard work, she works around it--it is not completely gone, she cannot magically make it go away when she needs it to, but she can better direct it in a way that is not as harmful as it could be.

It's kind of hard to see, but Snowpad is all white with lighter paws!

--After Rainstar, Rosebranch was the first to become leader.

--Frogstreak was leader for seven moons before he passed. He was still young and wanted to prove himself, so when senior warriors and elders voiced their doubts, he lead the Clan into battle (likely for Sunningrocks, as it was the old territories).

Edit:

What if the senior warriors and/or elders that talked badly about Frogstar's leadership were friends of his late father and he wanted to impress them, wanted to make them proud, and in doing so it got him killed

There were injuries, but nothing beyond scars. That is, until the fourth fight in, when Frogstreak's throat was slashed in a wound too big to come back from.

--Goldengaze is very serious all the time. A huge buzzkill.

--Hoot :3

==============

Individual:

@starfalcon555 @wills-woodland-warriors @frightnightindustries

@elementaldeityoffood @umbranoxs

[residents-of-the-darkforest]

Dark Forest voices

Here comes another interesting headcanon! What if everyone in the Dark Forest had their own, deeply disturbing sound when they talked?

Alderstar--his regular voice, mixed with the fading-echo like sound cats hear when their life drains away and the world around them becomes blurred.

Bonus: his voice claim is Arthur from BBC’s Merlin (newer seasons for older--aka current--age).

-

Angelpaw--his normal voice (a monotone and unexpectedly deep voice), underlaid with the yowls and hisses of his now dead father.

-

Avery--his regular voice, with the dull clang of a live-trap door closing.

-

Batear--his regular voice, along with the screech of bars in the night.

-

Birchflight--their voice + the sound of a BMX bike's wheels scraping on gravel.

-

Bluedaisy--regular voice along with the rushing sound of air as you fall.

-

Claudrat--his regular voice, overlaid with soft whispers that give the feeling of different messages, to not trust him, to follow him, and rarely, of how much fun they will have.

-

Darkbrush--their regular voice (an annoying British-tinged voice), the squawk of fresh-kill travels beside it.

-

Emberdawn--Her regular voice, with the rush of a river during a heavy, dangerous storm.

Bonus: Her voice claim is Effy (is that how you spell it?) from Murdoch Mysteries (newer seasons for older--aka current--age).

-

Fallenfire--her regular voice, mixed with the hoarse rasp of a dying cat.

-

Ferndoe--her regular voice, mixed with the tune of a low, painful wail.

Bonus: her voice claim is Olivia from Haunting of Hill House.

-

Foxfire-- his normal voice mixed with the bubbling of water streaming into a sewer.

-

Froglight--his voice mixed with a growling squeak.

-

Gorseheart--his regular voice along with the sound of skin ripping in the heat of battle.

Bonus: his voice claim is George from Murdoch Mysteries (newer seasons for older--aka current--age).

-

Grousemane--his normal voice. That’s it, because he came from Starclan.

Bonus: his voice claim is Gwaine from BBC’s Merlin (newer seasons for older--aka current--age).

-

Hootpetal--her normal voice, with a touch of splintering teeth, the cracking bone along with the trinkling blood of the nerve.

Bonus: her voice claim is Gwen from BBC’s Merlin (newer seasons for older--aka current--age).

-

Jackdawfoot--his normal voice, mixed with the thump of a Twoleg on a small Thunderpath (sidewalk).

-

Kindlepaw--regular voice, mixed with the crackling of flames too close.

-

Loonfur--her regular voice, mixed with the sound of blood roaring in your ears when your heart races and you feel afraid.

-

Milkdud--their regular voice (higher pitched but demanding tone), the drips of blood upon leaves lurks beneath it

-

Myrtlewing--his normal voice, mixed with the disorienting sounds when caught between wakefulness and sleep, nightmares spilling into real life.

Bonus: his voice claim is Merlin from BBC’s Merlin (newer seasons for older--aka current--age).

-

Perchclaw-- his normal voice, with the warning hiss of an adder about to strike.

-

Pigeonfang--his normal voice in addition to the growling of a stomach that hasn't felt food in many moons.

-

Poppyhill--her regular voice mixed with the sound of a low whistle on the moor during a cold, windy night.

Bonus: her voice claim is Poppy Hill from Haunting of Hill House.

-

Riverrush--his regular voice (a playful and upbeat tone), mixed with the sound of a dangerous river, rushing water certain to drown an unfortunate soul.

-

Rosefrost--her regular voice, mixed with the ominous shattering of ice just before a cat falls into icy water.

-

Sharkstar--his regular voice, mixed with the rumbling thunder of a storm that would make kits wail.

-

Skullmoon--their regular voice, along with the crackling of mouse bones under one’s foot.

-

Snailstar--regular voice + the sound of sand trickling out of an open paw

-

Snipvoice--their regular voice, along with the sound of footsteps crunching along the snow, alternating between walking and running.

-

Snowwing--his regular voice, with the sound of a paws following in the undergrowth, heard but unseen.

-

Stickpaw--regular voice, only strained and tired, along with a screeching when loud noises are made.

-

Stonefern--his normal voice, mixed with the distant barking of angry dogs.

-

Treatpaw--her regular voice (a small yet friendly voice that can quickly turn horrifying), tainted by her sister’s dying yowls

-

Trickpaw--her regular voice (a large and boisterous voice that can be sweet as catmint), the dying sobs and cries of her sister can be heard alongside it.

-

Webstripe--his normal voice mixed with the sound of waves getting stirred up by a boat.

-

Whispkit--their regular voice (whispery and quiet voice, everchanging), the wails of other kits speak beneath it, speaking of debts unpaid.

======================

In addition, it’s possible that the longer one is a resident for, the more their voice resembles the sounds over how they actually sounded in life. It’s very gradual, so much so that it is very hard to notice.

-------------------------------

It’s something the Dark Forest cast would become used to, but would absolutely frighten anyone else. The fading echo of Alder’s voice might even disorient them!

Btw Jackdaw killed kittypets, which is why his voice resembles that.

Myrtle’s was inspired by a time I was having a nightmare while half-awake, which made it feel more real and WAY more frightening than a normal nightmare. I of course had to give it to my favourite boy.

More TBA, feel free to add yours!

[residents-of-the-darkforest]

SPROUTING THORNS TIMELINE

I haven't been paying full attention to the seasons and moon-paces of the chapters when I first started, but now the story is more important to me than the simple "background thing" it was before, so here is the official time + some edits that I had to make!

SEASON:

Greenleaf [Chapters Quiet Here--Clanmates] (Two moons, making the months most likely July--August, or possibly August--September)

Leaf-Fall [Chapters Clanmates--??]

BREAKS IN TIME:

After Myrtlewing meets Nightfly, half a moon passes and they meet again at the gathering. This is where Myrtlewing's plan starts its formation.

Another half-moon passes when the Half-moon meeting takes place, and Myrtlewing goes to WindClan to speak with Nightfly. This is also the same time Alder starts bonding with Hootpetal.

Another half-moon passes between this and when Myrtlewing kills Fleetsong.

Another half-moon passes after Alder discovers Myrtlewing's murders and commits his own. He has been avoiding him for this time before deciding that he had to see it for himself to stop his spiraling thoughts--when Maplefall interrupts them by giving birth.

There! That's the part I had to fix--Maple got pregnant just before Myrtle met Nightfly, and I realized that she gave birth too early, so I created longer gaps and one gap where there wasn't one before (but it still reads fine).

[Cats are pregnant for about two moons, and this is half+half+half+half=two full].

----

Alder "finding out" / thinking that Myrtle likes him romantically and also him realizing his own feelings occurs in the last half-moon.

[residences-of-the-darkforest]

Eye-Out poly!

I like how they are all different ranks (which wasn’t intentional)

Alder was previously seen as a kit, apprentice, warrior, deputy, leader, rogue, and DF resident!

Individual: