hunt?

[Shadewing]

[atrb=border,0,true][cs=7][bg=181717] the count;; 1111 make a wish the cat;; Shadestar the involved;; the notes;; sorry for not doing your last one, but i want to do this one so shadestar gets all paranoid and trip and stuff. he's going to have a ceremony and then take Drydusk hunting. Shadestar looked up at the night sky. Animal had run away a while ago.. and he raped Poppyclaw, so maybe if he killed Drydusk, he could blame it on Animal, and he could kill two birds with one swipe. Or two cats in this case. The terrible analogy made Shadestar shiver uncomfortably. He trusted Poppyclaw, so killing Animal wouldn't make him feel so guilty. He was in such a state of denial, and it never seemed like he had done anything before, and he was always the underdog.. but he'd much rather trust Poppyclaw's word over Animal's. Killing Drydusk was the problem. He posed issues, but nowhere near as much issues as the Dark Forest posed to himself. If he killed Drydusk, though Shadestar would need to live through a miserable eight lives, and probably never be accepted by StarClan.. nobody would be there to want Drydusk as leader, right? Shadestar wondered what Drydusk would have done if his brother was in his position. But he decided against asking since he had probably had a long time to think about it, what with him being on a good side with all the cats. I'm going to make Cherishpaw and Smokepaw warriors, and the six kits apprentices, and then I'll just take care of brother. Yesterday had been the first rain. Had his promise really made the Dark Forest do that? As long as I'm making some cat's life easier, I suppose. Shadestar scurried up the tree with the icicles hanging down from it, and yowled out to his Clan. He took in a deep breath, not wanting to seem nervous. No patrols had been organized, so there should have been cats in camp, or hunting around the camp. "All cats old enough to catch their own prey, gather 'round for a Clan meeting!" The six kits all ran out to the edge of the den,. and looked up at Shadestar. Shadestar nodded curtly at them, and they all ran out, into the crowd. They ignored Ravenfeather's calls to get their pelts groomed, and he could see them trying to hide in the crowd of cats from their mothers. Mink-kit was found, and he reluctantly was groomed by his mother. "First, I suppose we should share the Clan news. Dreambreaker, as you know, has died. I have accepted Ashenanarchy into the Clan, on a condition that's already been taken care of.." Shadestar couldn't hold back a growl at the old medicine cat. He then broke eye contact with the tom, and looked down at the crowd, scanning them. "Other toms have been punished for doing things to she-cats. I'll have you know that if anything like this happens to another ShadowClan female, I will give harsher punishments. And if you don't know what's worse than physically losing your ability to breed, trust me, I can think of things to add." Shadestar stared down coldly at them, and then continued on a happier subject. "We have two apprentices who have trained very hard to become great warriors. It is time to promote them to warriorship. Cherishpaw, Smokepaw, step forward." He watched as the two cats stepped forward. He looked at their skinny frame sadly, but continued. "Cherishpaw, do you promise to take the duties of a warrior, and protect your Clan, even at the cost of your own life?" Cherishpaw nodded, and Shadestar continued. "Cherishpaw, then I hereby promote you to a warrior. Your name will be Cherishpelt. I congratulate you on your warrior name. Next is Smokepaw. Smokepaw, do you promise to take the responcibilities of a warrior, and uphold the Code, even at the cost of your own life?" Smokepaw said yes, and Shadestar continued. "Good. Then I promote you to warrior. Your warrior name shall be Smokewind. Both of you must hold a silent vigil tonight, and guard the camp for dangers. I suggest you get a bite to eat, and then sleep." It felt so wrong saying all this stuff about StarClan, when it felt like the Dark Forest was right behind him. He almost didn't want to apprentice the cats. But he needed to do it. "Fogkit, Mink-kit, Deerkit, Dawnkit, Crowkit, and Russetkit, step forward to become apprentices." Mink-kit slowly made his way up, not wanting to lead the way, looking behind him at other cats. A very dirty and messy Deerkit ran forward, bounding below the branch. "Deerkit, since you're first, you may go first. Making the young apprentices show that ShadowClan is growing stronger, and stronger with each progressing day. Deerkit, Fogkit, Mink-kit, Crowkit, Dawnkit, and Russetkit, are you willing to train hard and make the commitment of being an apprentice?" All of them said yes in some way, and Shadestar jumped down from his branch, and stood beside them. Shadestar looked at Russetkit. "Russetkit, your newly bestowed name shall be Russetpaw. Leopardfang will mentor you." Shadestar took a deep breath, and continued, his tongue starting to get dry. "Fogkit, your name will be Fogpaw. Your mentor will be Mosspelt." He looked at Crowkit, already getting tired of this. "Crowkit, your name shall be Crowpaw. Crowpaw, your mentor will be Fireclaw." Shadestar went over to the next one in line. "Mink-kit, your new name will be Minkpaw. You will be mentored by Pinestep." Shadestar was running out of warriors and he knew it. I should give Drydusk an apprentice. If I don't people may suspect it was I who killed him! Shadestar looked down at Deerkit, trying to look relieved, but he somehow looked almost hesitant. He hoped that it wouldn't mess him up. "Deerkit, your new name shall be Deerpaw. Your mentor will be my brother Drydusk. He will train you well." He looked at the last kit. Having the second to last kit wasn't suspicious, right? "Dawnkit, your apprentice name will be Dawnpaw. Your mentor will Poppyclaw. She will provide a great start to your apprenticeship. When she gets too heavy with kits, we will pick another mentor." Finally. Done. "All cats are dismissed to their duties. I will be out on a hunt with my brother. Prey's still scarce, so please don't bother us." Well, he hoped Drydusk would agree. He'd need to make his more even minded brother agree.

[Twilight]

Crowpaw looked around excitedly, finding his mento, Fireclaw. He bounded up to him, and eagerly padding the ground. He was waiting for his uncle to touch noses with him and tell him what it was time to do. He swished around his tail as he meowed as loud as his near muteness would allow him. "Fireclaw! What are we gonna do first? Oh, this is so exciting!"

Poppyclaw's still thin and ragged frame stepped forward to her new apprentice. Her pink nose bent forward and touched the nose of Dawnpaw. She pulled back, her whiskers twitching at how excited the apprentice look. "Well! You sure look ready to learn. And just between you and me, Ashenanarchy says that there are no signs right now that I'm pregnant, but he said he'd keep an eye on me. So, you may not have to have two different mentors. But the thing i, Shadestar does not know that he checked me over, so hushhush, and don't tell." Her dark green eyes sparkled at her apprentice, her grandduaghter.

[Quick Fox]

Pinestep looked up proudly at his kits. They were apprentices! Yes, yes, they were apprentices! He felt happy, his pride and joy bursting through the grim reality. Shadowclan was slowely dying. He shivered, but shook it off. His kits were growing up; he should be happy. He was, but he had a feeling that Shadestar was wasting his breathe. Ever since what he'd heard from the gathering... was Starclan looking down on them? He shook his head sadly, then bounded over to Flameshade. "They're growing up! I can't believe it, love. It's so happy!" Then he looked around, then spotted Minkpaw. He touched noses with his apprentices, then looked to the sky. Is Starclan there?

Smokepaw stepped up to Shadestar. He seemed like such an angry cat... maybe not angry, but... not the best leader. He loved his name: Smokewind. He thought that it sounded just lovely. At least, it was better than Q. How he hated those Fireclanners, for stealing him away.

Russetpaw jumped up. Finally, he was an apprenice! He no longer needed to sit in the nursery, he could go out and hunt and train with Leopardfang. He was just glad that he would finally be able to get out of camp and help his clan. He scanned the camp for Leopardfang, and when he found her ran over to her.
"When do we get to start, Leopardfang?"

[Silky]

Crowstorm smiled as his neices and nephews were made into apprentices, and felt a little bit pained. He'd never be a father, but, Ravenfeather, Flameshade, Fireclaw and Dustfeather could all carry on the line of the great family of Crowstar. At least now he had Ashenanarchy back, or Ash as he now called himself. Another pair of paws was good for the young, ever-tired tom. More cats were becoming sick due to the lack of food in the territory. Maybe, just maybe, he could ask Orangestar or Twinestar for a bit of land - not like how Shadestar had done, nooo - peacefully, with dignity and not ambush.


Leaftail flicked her tail. Oh well, not like she wanted an apprentice. She glanced over at Shiverpaw. The tom seemed upset he'd been forgotten by Shadestar. Leaftail rolled her brown eyes, and her stomach growled rather angrily. Her eyes flicked over to the food pile; it was basically nothing, only a few bones and scraps. Maybe she should tell someone about that amazing meat she'd 'found' (or been given by a twoleg). So far, it hadn't made her sick, and had been keeping her alive for a few days. As she looked at her hungry clanmates, she thought maybe she should bring it back to the camp.


Shiverpaw huffed. He'd been forgotten, the poor little tom had. The tom sighed, and walked over to the new apprentices. "Finally, some newbies! I can show you the ropes if you guys'd like, and if it's okay with your mentors. Maybe we can practise fighting too, for when Shadestar asks us to fight for territory again, 'cause I sure am hungry!" He grinned, trying to put on happy face.

[Dewdrop]

Fogpaw nodded calmly as he received his new name. He sat still for a second, considering his next action. After he'd thought it through for a few minutes, he decided that going to find his mentor would be the best course of action. He got to his feet and shook himself. He gave his fur a quick lick then started looking for his mentor. He spotted her quickly and made his way over to her. "Hello," he said, looking at Mosspelt. He touched noses with her and smiled a bit. "So, what are we doing first?"

Dawnpaw trembled with excitement. She was so excited that she had barely realized that she had to say anything in the ceremony and didn't even notice she was saying it when the time came. She barely even heard the rest of the ceremony; it just seemed a blur to her. She didn't register who the other new apprentices' mentors were and only just managed to catch who her mentor was. Poppyclaw!

Her main thought was simply Yay! as she liked Poppyclaw a lot. She was a bit upset that she might have to have two different mentors but then Poppyclaw told her she might not be pregnant so she was happy. "Can we go hunting first pleeease? I practise my crouch everyday!" she burst out, dropping into a lopsided crouch.

[sandfire]

Drydusk was just in the middle of cleaning muck from his paws from his hunting by one of the small streams which had just broken up into water again. Newleaf was coming... just slowly. His paws were muddy and full of frozen snow- but so was the rest of his fur. He huffed, pricking his ears up and padded over to listen to his brother share news and start making 'paws into warriors, and kits into 'paws themselves and sat down with wide, bright blue eyes.

This used to warm his heart, to watch kits bounce around and try their hardest to settle their nervous, excited pelts as they felt not just ShadowClan, but also StarClan, watching them on their first real step to Warrior-hood. Now, it only brought back memories of a peaceful time, and of his mentor, Nightshade. He sighed softly.

Suddenly, of the kits, Deerkit- now Deerpaw- had been given to him. He stood up from where he had gathered, his tail whisking from one side to another. He trot over to the dirty Deerpaw, and gave him a slight sniff before poking his nose against Deerpaw's. He felt a pang in heart remembering his last and only previous apprentice. Dustpaw...

"Make your clan proud, little warrior," he murmered softly, running a tongue over the tom's ear once before lifting his head to look at his brother again. "I would get starting on training right away... However..." He shook his head. "I have to hunt with my brother. Seems Shadestar wants it to be a private matter."

Drydusk flicked his grey ears and looked down at the kit. "So... for now. If you could go see if the elders--... Sandfire. If you could go see if Sandfire needs anything." He put a smile on his maw before padding over to Shadestar and whisking his tail in a motion towards the clan entrance. "Should we head off, then?"

[Shadewing]

[atrb=border,0,true][cs=7][bg=181717] the count;; the cat;; Shadestar, Deerpaw. the involved;; Drydusk the notes;; Deerpaw looked back at Shadestar, and then at his mentor, disappointed. He was silent for a few moments, his tail drooping, but then he raised his ears a little bit and decided to finally speak up. "Hi Drydusk! I can't wait to train once you get back! I would say something to Shadestar, but now I'm kinda at the bottom of the Clan and food's too important.. so I'll see you soon enough." Deerpaw bowed his head to Drydusk, and then picked it up. He stood still for a moment, and then bounded off in Sandfire's direction. He really couldn't be too happy to see an elder instead of his mentor on his first day, but whatever. Drydusk would probably be better than all of his sibling's and cousin's mentors. Plus, Sandfire could tell him all about Drydusk. It can't be that bad! He knows what he's talking about, I'm sure! Shadestar had zoned out at the apprentice, hoping he didn't crush the young life's heart when his mentor winded up.. dead.. "Right.. yeah.. let's get going, to ThunderClan. Nobody's scent marked there in a while, so we don't know what ThunderClan cats have been challenging the borders." As Shadestar spoke, he trotted out of camp, expecting his brother to follow right behind him. He didn't want to kill his brother, he really didn't. But he was scared of what the Dark Forest would do. After all, if it wasn't his blood on Shadestar's paws, then the both of them would end up dead.. and Redeyes would throw them all into disarray. Drydusk was a lot like Dustpaw, except he wouldn't get to whine about it later, how he wished he had died to save lives.. Stop it. Dustpaw, or feather, is gone now. Nobody but WindClan really cares. And Drydusk, perhaps Poppyclaw. But that's it. I doubt she has any more friends in WindClan than she did in ShadowClan. And when she comes crying back, I'll cuff her over the ear a few times for never dropping her naivety, Shadestar tried to let out all of his angry thoughts, but he knew that he couldn't clear out his mind, to decide what to do.. he could blame Animal, who still hadn't returned, but how could he actually kill his own sibling?

[sandfire]

Unlike his brother, Drydusk had no hint of the blood to be shed. For him, it was a matter of looking up to the sky and wishing that they didn't get seen by a Thunderclan patrol. "Alright," he mewed as he padded just behind his leader's heels. Although he could still feel Shadestar's uneasiness and stress, he didn't know the source. Maybe it was still from that dream... Or, it could be from his clan. What Drydusk hoped Shadestar wasn't trying to do... was get him alone to talk about Dustfeather. He wanted the she-cat out of his mind, instead of making his head fuzzy as if bees swarmed there, and making his paws go from so light to heavy to light again. He wished his body would stop swooning so much over something he couldn't control... From a she-cat he was forbidden from seeing until the kits came. Still, it was safer this way... It was safer to have his queen nestled away in the far reaches of WindClan.

It was around then that the bees clear enough for him to notice the bristle in his brother's fur. "Shadestar, what's ruffling your fur?" He asked, quickly scenting the air as he looked around for a good place to slink into the shadows... But no other cat scent was fresh around here... So it must have been his thoughts, whatever they may be. Drydusk came to his side, brushing pelts with his litter-mate. Being a leader must have been so hard, with starving cats and FireClan and... He wondered how his brother could stand it. He also wondered how he would have handled these problems himself, but he could barely remember how it started. His paws felt heavy with the thought of fighting off FireClan like he would have done, the cat blood on his claws, the thought of his clan dying... Only to suffer through a miserable Leafbare... Would he have been a better leader?

[Shadewing]

[atrb=border,0,true][cs=7][bg=181717] the count;; 269 the cat;; Shadestar the involved;; Drydusk the notes;; Shadestar was silent for a few moments. He didn't want to answer his question. One, he wasn't completely sure what to say. Two, if he engaged in conversation he'd want to kill his brother even less. Shadestar sighed, and eyed his brother weakly. "I've just been so worried about everything! I know I should calm down, but I have the hardest time watching my cats just starve in front of me. I can't take it, and I can't wait until leaf-bare." There. Said it. Maybe now he won't talk anymore. I pray to StarClan... He looked at his brother, and then looked ahead, at the green pines, coated with thin layers of snow, and the slightly powdery snow. He stopped, and hung his mouth open, drinking in the scent. The newest scent in this area was a mouse from a sun or so ago. Its tracks were still slightly in the snow, thanks to the little amount of wind. "I'll try to catch this mouse. Find something of your own to catch, and meet back here if you don't find anything. I'm not positive if this mouse is even still alive or anything, so yeah.. just follow your footprints back." Shadestar, without really caring for any sort of approval or argument from his brother, followed the mouse tracks in a light step, knowing the mouse may be more than a little walk away. It was a longshot, finding a mouse with a day old scent, but Shadestar needed to try to catch something, no matter what the chances.

[sandfire]

Drydusk's blue eyes couldn't match his own brother's for too long as he answered, his gaze turning to his paws. He himself couldn't handle watching his clanmates starve- rather- he couldn't stand starving and having the rest of his clan fall apart around their very own bones. He hated the feeling of his muscles being held together only by his fur, no meat cushioning his bones... Maybe it was just him, but he felt even the muscles starting to decay as his body took further feast in the remaining strength he had.

"Newleaf will come soon," he encouraged softly, barely believing it himself. He felt almost as if he would wither away in the snow, before it melt and he could see the leaves on the trees... And then he remembered his kits, and he pushed away these thoughts. His brother already following the trail, Drydusk flicked his tail and headed the other way. "May the prey fall into your paws, Shadestar," he meowed as a farewell for now, keeping his senses alert as he searched for the barest of scents.

His ear pricked at the sound of a crow. It was a bird, food at least... There was a reason why crowfood was called crowfood though, he thought dully. Still, he would eat crowfood of a twoleg right now. His whiskers twitched as he hunted down the source of the caw. When he found the black bird, it was high up in a tree, out of reach. Mocking him... His ears flicked down in disappointment, and after more searching without finding any bit of prey, he followed his pawsteps back to where he and his brother had split up. "Useless," he huffed to himself, sitting down where his brother's pawsteps began to follow the mouse.

[Shadewing]

Shadestar tracked the mouse for probably thirty minutes or so, and then found a little scrawny mouse. Good enough. Shadestar got down, and tried to walk as lightly as possible towards the mouse. He was just a pouncing distance away, and as he began to arrange himself for a jump, his back paw slipped on the icy snow from last night's rain. Mousedung, shot through his mind, as the mouse turned and scurried away. Shadestar got up, and chased after it. It easily outran him, and to make matters worse, a jay, bright blue, flew above him. Shadestar scoffed at himself, and then followed his light pawsteps back to Drydusk, who seemed rather empty pawed himself.

Shadestar sniffed the air. Nobody was around. Now all he needed to do was kill his brother.. but could he really do it?

He thought he could see one gleaming blue eye, a mask of innocence over a core of malice. Shadestar decided to walk around where the eye seemed to go, and right towards his brother. Everything seemed so pointless. The Dark Forest had him in a spot: The fate of the forest pretty much laid in Shadestar's paws. He could try killing Redeyes.. but StarClan knew how they'd retaliate.. and refusing to do their actions would result in certain death.

Shadestar found his brother. "I found a mouse, and spotted a jay. Didn't catch either." Do it now, get it out of the way.. He felt like an apprentice, the first time he climbed a tree, where he knew that he just needed to summon up all of his courage and might to do it. But.. this wasn't an innocent situation, like climbing a simple tree. This was killing your kin to save yourself, and others. It seemed like the less selfish move, but it still seemed selfish at the same time.

Shadestar unsheathed his claws. If I'm fast enough, I'll kill him, and he'll go to StarClan, and maybe he'll never know who actually killed him. He won't feel anything if I knock him over, and then slit his neck really quickly, right? But.. he'd be locked in the Dark Forest forever if I did that... I need to do it. Maybe its best he isn't around for ShadowClan a few leaves from now.

[sandfire]

Drydusk's ear twitched and turned to meet the sound of his brother coming back with his report. Unfortunately it wasn't the greatest news... but when was it ever? For a fleeting moment, he wondered how the prey was running in Windclan. He pulled himself back into the 'now' to answer his brother solemnly, "all I found was a sniff of a crow." His whiskers twitched as he dropped his muzzle down slightly towards his paws, his tail tip flicking. "It didn't exactly end up in my paws."

He sighed and stood up. "Are we heading back then, or...?" He turned his head away to look towards the ThunderClan's invisible boarder. "Or what? Since we haven't caught anything..." He inhaled lightly, searching for ThunderClan scent. Maybe the reason for the lack of prey was because they had been ignoring the clan boundaries. His pelt prickled at the thought. He wondered if they would dare mess with ShadowClan... He didn't want another fight though... He really, really didn't. He was a father now, or at least soon. He couldn't get hurt, or worse yet, killed... He needed to be able to bring his kit...or kits, home.

And he wanted that home to be safe, too. With the extreme lack of prey, he was really worried about being able to keep the Queen that took care of his kit fed. Oh, this was all so worrisome... Why did this Leafbare have to be so hard? They should have never left the Forest... He blinked, realizing how distracted he was getting.

[Shadewing]

"We should just hunt by the twoleg path and scent-mark our borders, it hasn't been done yet today." It actually hadn't been scent marked in a while, with Redeyes not organizing patrols, and ever cat out hunting instead of establishing borders.

Shadestar sheathed his claws, and then decided to go forward, to lead the way. I'm not going to kill him, I just can't do it, Dark Forest spare my life, he's my brother. If he really turns to a threat then I can just kill him then..

He's just tell those cats that. And then maybe they'd cut him some slack, or bother another Clan altogether. I'm sure some other significant Clan cat has close kin who walks with the dark forest..

[sandfire]

Drydusk nodded, although he was so distracted by his thoughts that he barely noticed what was going on around him- except the stale, empty scent of Leafbare... He followed his brother with his swift paws, feeling hungry. He was glad that he had eaten a scrap of a mouse this morning, otherwise he would be feeling like curling up and letting StarClan take him now. What a horrible thought...

He shuttered. Think of the kits, Drydusk, think of your kits. It felt like that was the only thing that honestly kept him moving. Sometimes it was a great, boundless source of energy, but for now it was only enough to get him to follow his brother. FireClan had raped the territory free of prey, hadn't they... If they followed the Warrior Code and brought prey back, it wouldn't be so hard on them. Sure, some of the toms did- that one cat, Whisper- did sometimes.. But.

"I really can't wait for Newleaf..." He murmured softly, inhaling for scents of ThunderClan cats. He really didn't want to meet up with a boarder patrol, not like this. Especially if they were ignoring the boarder... or the lack of one, judging by the fact ShadowClan had been doing mainly hunting, not really patrolling...