A/N: I am accepting characters for PineClan, as well as LotusClan, DustClan, and HillClan.
There is a limit of five cats per person, per clan for the time being, that might change in the future.
I'm cursed, Lakemist thought to herself, as she stared down at her tiny sickly kit, I became mates with Hickorytail, and now I'm cursed.
She knew it was wrong, Hickorytail was her sister's mate, her leader's mate, and yet, she had a kit with him.
She couldn't help it, the way Hickorytail made her feel, it was unlike any feeling she'd ever felt before. When he looked at her, fire ignited in her pelt.
She looked down at her kit again, he was dark grey with a black tail, legs, and he had a black 'mask' around his eyes, as well as white paws, he looked nothing like the strong and sturdy dark brown Hickorytail.
Lakemist supposed she should be glad at he looked nothing like Hickorytail, she didn't want Olivestar to find out what she had done, it would ruin her.
"What are you going to name him?" Flowerbreeze asked, wrenching her tail out of Raspberrykit's grasp.
"Preykit," Lakemist meowed. She knew it wasn't the best of names, and it could be seen as cruel by a lot of the other cats, but she didn't think he would survive long, she supposed that StarClan would snatch him up as quickly as a good hunter snatches up prey. If he did survive however, Olivestar could probably think of a good warrior name for him.
The aforementioned cat lifted her head and let out a mrrow. She was currently in the nursery, with her own kits, Cedarkit, Deerkit, and Fawnkit, while Hickorytail took over leadership duties for the time being.
"It's not the best name, but I suppose it's better than the names Flowerbreeze gave her two litters."
"And what's wrong with the names I gave my kits?" Flowerbreeze demanded.
"They're too long, and they all end with the word berry, it's going to be hard to think of warrior names for then," Olivestar meowed.
"Well, just let Hickorytail pick the names for Blueberrypaw, Blackberrypaw, and Gooseberrypaw, you'll probably still be in the nursery when they receive their warrior names anyway."
"Like that will go over well, you know Hickorytail doesn't have much imagination," Olivestar snorted.
'Yes he does!' Lakemist wanted to yowl in defense of her mate, she held herself back though, remembering that her and Hickorytail were supposed to be a secret.
"So, who is the father of your kits? I haven't noticed you hanging out with any toms lately," Flowerbreeze meowed.
Lakemist's heart stopped in her chest, of course nosy Flowerbreeze would question her about who her kit's father was!
"I was also curious," Olivestar piped up.
Lakemist willed her fur not to fluff up, she couldn't let them know that she was on edge.
"I have to use the dirt pile, I'll let you know when I get back," she exclaimed, racing out of the nursery.
What could she do? She couldn't tell them the truth, but if she refused to tell them, then they'd think she was in a half-clan relationship or something.
She got her answer, when she spotted Snakefang dropping a blackbird into the fresh kill pile. He was black and white, her kit contained black and white, no one would question the fact that he was his father!
She raced over to him as fast as her paws would carry her.
"Snakefang, can I speak to you in private?" she hissed lowly, looking around, to make sure that no other cats were listening in.
"What is this about?" he asked with a sigh. His tone caused her pelt to prickle slightly with anticipation, maybe her plan wouldn't be as fool proof as she thought, Snakefang wasn't the nicest of cats.
"Um," Lakemist began, not knowing how to start. It seemed like such a good plan when she spotted him, but now, she couldn't get the words to come out, and the more she thought about it, the worse it seemed.
"Well, what is it?" Snakefang spat.
"I was wondering if you could tell everyone that you're the father of my kit," Lakemist blurted the words out before she could lose her nerve.
Snakefang's eyes widened with surprise.
"I was not expecting that."
He then shook his head.
"I'm not good with kits, why don't you ask Loudspark?"
"You won't have to help me take care of him, just say you're the father, so that no one finds out who his real father is, besides, everyone knows that Loudspark doesn't like she-cats."
"Who is the father?" Snakefang asked, narrowing his yellow eyes, "Is he from another clan?"
Lakemist shook her head.
"No, but I can't tell you who he is."
"Then I don't know why I should help you, I mean, if you can't even trust me enough to tell me who the real father is..." Snakefang trailed off.
"Fine, it's Hickorytail, but you can't tell anyone," Lakemist hissed, feeling shame burn through her, as she admitted it out loud to another cat.
At her admission, Snakefang balked and glared at her.
"You mean, Olivestar's mate, your sister's mate, Hickorytail?"
Lakemist nodded.
"You can save your lectures about how wrong it is, and how horrible I am, I already know that."
"And you want me to tell everyone that I fathered your kit, so you don't have to face up to the fact that you and Hickorytail went behind Olivestar's back?" he asked with his voice rising.
Lakemist slapped her tail over his mouth.
"Can you keep your voice down?" she hissed, noticing Spottedfoot glancing over at them, how much had she heard? Lakemist hoped she didn't know what was going on, the last thing she needed was for more cats to know of her betrayal.
"This is wrong," Snakefang grumbled.
"I know, but do you really want my kit growing up being hated by Olivestar because of who his father is? If I know my sister's that's what will happen if she finds out that Hickorytail is his father, she'll hate every part of me, and every part of him, expect for maybe her kits, but do you really want to take that chance?"
Lakemist knew that guilt tripping him was wrong, but she was desperate.
"Fine, after all, it isn't the kit's fault that his mother would exchange her loyalty for a mouse tail," Snakefang hissed. Lakemist tried not to wince, his words stung a bit, but she knew he was right. She wasn't loyal.
"Thank you, if there's ever anything you need me to do, just ask."
"I don't want anything from you, I just want you to leave me alone, you can tell everyone that I'm the father of your kit, and if they ask, I'll agree, but I don't want you to ever talk to me again," Snakefang hissed.
"But we're in the same clan, we'll have to talk to each other, and won't the other cats start asking questions if we seem to hate each other?"
"We will talk to each other about clan related things, that's it."
"But what about the other cats noticing the tension between us?" Lakemist asked. She knew she should be happy that Snakefang even agreed to help her, but she didn't want to have a bad reputation within the clan, and she also didn't want the other cats thinking poorly of Snakefang. They would think that he left her, right after she had his kit, which wasn't the truth, but they didn't know that.
"Do you really want the other cats thinking you're a bad cat, they will you know, they will think you left me right after I had my kit," she added.
"I don't care what the other cats think of me, I'm already not into this whole scheme, it's wrong, Olivestar is my friend," Snakefang meowed lowly with anger blazing in his eyes.
"And imagine how hurt she'll be when she finds out about me and Hickorytail, do you really want that?" Lakemist hissed.
"Is everything alright over here?"
Lakemist willed her fur to lay flat, and she turned to look at Spottedfoot, who was making her way over to them.
"You're not being mean to Lakemist are you?" she nudged Snakefang, "she just had kits you know, we can't be mean to her until at least a moon from now."
She could tell by the sparkle in the she-cat's yellow eyes, that she was just teasing her. It also didn't seem like she had heard what she and Snakefang were talking about, if she had, she would probably be clawing her fur off right now.
"I had one kit, a tom-kit," Lakemist meowed.
"Oh really? Who's the father?" Spottedfoot asked. Lakemist suppressed a sigh, why did everyone have to ask her that? Why were they so nosy? What did it matter who the father was?
"I am," Snakefang meowed. Lakemist blinked at him gratefully, feeling a bit surprised, she hadn't expected him to stick to his promise to help her, especially not after their argument.
"You?"
Spottedfoot let out a small hiss of surprise.
"You mean, you and Lakemist were together this whole time, and you didn't tell me?"
"Well, um, we weren't exactly together, it was more of a one time sort of thing," Snakefang meowed uneasily, shuffling his paws.
Oh great, Lakemist thought bitterly, make me sound like a cat who only cares about short flings.
"Oh well, at least PineClan got another kit out of the deal," Spottedfoot purred affectionately.
"Yeah, we're going to need more kits, our apprentices are useless," Snakefang snorted, glancing over at the practice stump. Lakemist followed his gaze, and saw that Gooseberrypaw kept trying to jump up onto the stump, only to fall short, and run into it, before repeating the same sequence and and over.
"At least he's persistent," Spottedfoot meowed, after Gooseberrypaw did this about five more times.
"His persistence is going to damage his skull," Snakefang grumbled.
"I better go and stop my apprentice before he hurts himself," he then sighed.
"So, do you still like Snakefang? I know he said it was just a one time thing, but how do you feel?" Spottedfoot asked once Snakefang was out of earshot.
"He's really handsome, but he's a bit too prickly for me," Lakemist answered honestly.
"Yeah, I can understand that, so, tell me about your kit, what's his name? Is he healthy?"
Lakemist let out a sigh of relief, glad that Spottedfoot wasn't asking anymore questions about her and Snakefang.
"His name is Preykit, and he seems a bit sickly, I'm a little worried to be honest," Lakemist meowed softly, looking down at her paws.
"Hmm, Preykit, that is a unique and interesting name, I just hope it doesn't cause him any problems in the future."
"If he does have a future," Lakemist muttered.
"Don't talk like that," Spottedfoot meowed, flicking her with her tail, "Preykit will be fine, and he will grow up to be big and strong just like his mother, and if we have any luck, he won't get his father's personality."
Lakemist let out a forced mrrow. She wanted her kit to have the personality of his father, his real father, Hickorytail, who was brave, caring, and one of the nicest cats she'd ever met.
A loud yowl suddenly rang out from the apprentice training area. When Lakemist snapped her head over in that direction, she saw that Blueberrypaw was holding Blackberrypaw down.
"Get off me you fat slug!" the black pelted tom yowled.
"No! Not until you admit that I'm the best apprentice in PineClan!"
"But you're not the best apprentice," he grumbled, kicking Blueberrypaw in the stomach with his back feet, she didn't even budge.
"Say it!" she hissed, seeming unaffected by the kicks her brother kept delivering to her stomach.
"Aren't you going to do anything?" Lakemist asked Spottedfoot, noticing the she-cat was just sitting there watching the two apprentices fight. She figured that she should do something, after all, Blackberrypaw was her apprentice.
She shook her head.
"This is good practice for them."
She licked her paw, and swiped it over her ear, as she continued to watch the two apprentices fight.
Lilycreek, Blueberrypaw's mentor, must have had other ideas though, because she padded up to her apprentice, and pulled her off of her brother.
"You need to learn how to sort out your problems with words rather than claws, now what seems to be the issue?" she meowed in such a soft tone, that Lakemist had to strain her ears to hear.
"Blackberrypaw took the last squirrel, everyone knows squirrels are my favorite," Blueberrypaw meowed.
"Like you need anymore squirrels," Blackberrypaw hissed.
Blueberrypaw let out a yowl, and pounced on her brother again, only to have Lilycreek pull her back by her scruff.
"You two can go clear the ticks off the elders, and change their bedding, no arguments!"
"Yes Lilycreek," the apprentices sighed, hanging their heads. Lakemist knew that even though Lilycreek was quiet, she was a force to be reckoned with when she got angry enough.
"Well, I better go back to the nursery," Lakemist meowed, figuring that Preykit was probably hungry, and that Olivestar and Flowerbreeze were probably wondering where she was.
As she padded back to the nursery, she sent a silent prayer to StarClan, that her kit would survive, and that no cat would ever find out what she had done.
Leader: Olivestar - black she-cat with olive green eyes
Deputy: Hickorytail - long haired dark brown tom with amber eyes
Medicine Cat: Desertwind - light brown tom with a white underside and green eyes
Warriors:
Bluegrass - blue-grey tom with green eyes
Loudspark - golden tom with blue eyes
Lilycreek - white she-cat with green eyes
(apprentice: Blueberrypaw)
Spottedfoot - white she-cat with black flecks on her paws and yellow eyes
(apprentice: Blackberrypaw)
Snakefang - black and white tom with yellow eyes
(apprentice: Gooseberrypaw)
Apprentices:
Blueberrypaw - blue-grey she-cat with blue eyes
Blackberrypaw - black tom with blue eyes
Gooseberrypaw - white tom with green eyes
Queens :
Flowerbreeze - calico she-cat with blue eyes (mother of Bluegrass' kits, Raspberrykit and Strawberrykit)
Olivestar - black she-cat with olive green eyes (mother of Hickorytail's kits, Cedarkit, Deerkit, and Fawnkit)
Lakemist - grey she-cat with blue eyes (mother of Hickorytail's kit, Preykit)
Elders :
Finchtail - golden tom with amber eyes and a short tail
Kits:
Raspberrykit - orange she-kit with green eyes
Strawberrykit - orange tom-kit with green eyes
Cedarkit - dark brown she-kit
Deerkit - light brown tom-kit with a white underside and legs
Fawnkit - long haired dark brown she-kit
Preykit - weak dark grey tom-kit with black points and white paws