This takes place between Dusk and Nightfall, aprox. one moon after Dusk. If you have not read to ch 11ish in Nightfall or at least to the end of Dusk I suggest not reading this. Unless you like to be confused, lol. (it's part of an AU series and a lot has happened)
The characters Rustle, Matches, Bubbles, Bianca, and Moonlight belong to Jaydomination, Snowcrystal of Thunderclan, Flower (guest), Sierra (guest), and Snowfrost (guest), respectively.
Fae, Rami, and Lazuli belong to me.
I will not be accepting OCs for this story at this time. Thank you, and please enjoy. :)
Allegiances:
ThunderClan:
Leader: Tigerstar: large brown tabby tom with amber eyes
Deputy: Whitestorm: white tom with yellow eyes
Apprentice: Featherpaw
Medicine cat: Cinderpelt: dark gray she-cat
Warriors:
Darkstripe: dark gray tom with black stripes
Willowpelt: light gray she-cat with unusual blue eyes
Longtail: pale tabby tom with black stripes
Mousefur: small dusky brown she-cat
Runningwind: light brown tabby tom
Brackenfur: golden brown tabby tom
Apprenitce: Bramblepaw
Graystripe: long haired gray tom
Apprentice: Sorrelpaw
Dustpelt: dark brown tabby tom
Apprentice: Rainpaw
Cloudtail: long haired white tom
Ashfur: pale gray tom with darker flecks
Apprentice: Sootpaw
Brightheart: white she-cat with ginger patches
Swiftclaw: black and white tom
Snowfoot: white tom with blue eyes
Mistlewing: pale gray tabby she-cat with amber eyes
Apprentices:
Bramblepaw: dark brown tabby tom with amber eyes
Featherpaw: silver tabby she-cat with blue eyes
Sorrelpaw: tortoiseshell she-cat
Rainpaw: dark gray tom with blue eyes
Sootpaw: light gray tom with amber eyes
Queens:
Ferncloud (pregnant with Dustpelt's kits): pale gray she-cat with darker flecks
Sandstorm: pale ginger she-cat
Mother of Squirrelkit and Leafkit
Frostfur: beautiful white she-cat with blue eyes
Elders:
Dappletail: tortoiseshell she-cat
Speckletail: pale tabby she-cat
One-eye: pale gray she-cat with a missing eye
RiverClan:
Leader: Leopardstar: unusually spotted golden tabby she-cat
Deputy: Stonefur: gray tom with battle scarred ears
Medicine cat: Mudfur: long haired light brown tom
Warriors:
Whiteclaw: dark brown tom with one white paw
Mistyfoot: dark gray she-cat with blue eyes
Queens:
Mosspelt: tortoiseshell she-cat
Cats outside the Clans:
Sasha: tawny she-cat with darker tail and ears, blue eyes
Fae: ticked, light brown tabby tom with green eyes
Rustle: black she-cat with lighter paws, ears, and muzzle. Blue eyes.
Matches: beautiful tortoiseshell she-cat with amber eyes
Bubbles: pale gray dappled she-cat with light blue eyes
Rami: chocolate sokoke tom with pale green eyes
Lazuli: blue roan tom with one bright blue eyes, one missing eye, and white patches on his chest and forehead
Bianca: light, blue-gray she-cat with dark eyes
Moonlight: black she-cat with gray markings
Many Moons After
It was very dark. Sasha could feel her heart beating against her chest as she was flung from one wall to the next in a rough manner. She regained her posture and swallowed shakily. From the minimal glimpses of light that she was getting, she could see a bright, artificial light that she had once known all-too well.
From around her, she could hear the pained and angered wails of other cats. There were some familiar Twolegplace scents, some of forest that she had forgotten long ago, and some that smelled very faintly of cat. Angered hisses and various arguing could be heard, and Sasha wondered why the humans couldn't understand the cats' frustration.
Don't they understand that we're trapped? Her mind bulged as she unsheathed her claws, only to have them rake up against the dark plastic floor and catch on nothing.
Then the rattling stopped. Sasha froze for a moment, unable to comprehend if the human had really put her cage down. Then she was slid back, and suddenly, she could see.
She caught a very faint glimpse of the pale pink human who had carried her roughly to the car after she had been captured. But the human disappeared swiftly, almost looking ashamed to be seen hoarding the innocent cats. Sasha blinked away the harsh light and gasped.
The cats surrounding her looked horrible. Close to her was a blue-gray she-cat who was pacing angrily. Her tail-tip was broken, her left eye scarred, and her pelt had multiple tufts of fur missing. A lithe brown tabby tom was next to her, baring his teeth at anyone who dared look his way. Housecats and streetcats alike were lined up in cages, ones Sasha had seen so many times in her life.
But one face stuck out. A young-looking she-cat was staring out of her cage fearfully. Her coat was well-kept, but she had no collar and she looked painfully starved. Even from her spot, Sasha could recognize the distinct, foresty smell. One she had not smelled in a long time. She reached to the back of her memory, groping for a name to match the pelt of the brownish she-cat. Then she recalled.
"Sandstorm!" she hollered, hoping her memory wasn't failing her. "Sandstorm, is that you?"
To her relief, the she-cat looked up from her paws and at Sasha. But there was no hope in her eyes, and in a fleeting moment of despair, Sasha realized that this cat was not Sandstorm. Her eyes were dull amber, not pale green, and upon further inspection, she was brown, not quite light ginger.
"How do you know Sandstorm?" the cat asked curiously. Her voice was drowned out by may other cats, and Sasha made it out the best she could. The cat sounded fairly young, and there was innocence in her voice as she spoke.
Sasha ruffled her fur in defense at the stranger across the narrow hallway. "How do you?"
To her surprise, the young cat purred. "Sandstorm is my mother," she revealed.
Suddenly Sasha was hit by memory. Oh! Sandstorm was nursing, of course!
"I met her, once," Sasha went on, getting almost too excited. Perhaps I will get out of here! "She was on a ThunderClan patrol, with Tigerst-"
Sasha stopped herself, but the young tabby had realized what she was saying.
"You know Tigerstar, too?" The she-cat wondered aloud. Sasha's gaze fell to her paws and her stomach suddenly dropped. She had wanted to forget - but how could she? How could she forget every moment, every heartbeat she spent wondering where her future was - with Tigerstar? But he had broken so many things about her. He had made her wonder if living, if loving, was ever worth it.
So yes, she knew him.
She did once.
"I used to," she muttered. Then her head lifted, and she met the she-cat's amber gaze evenly. "What's your name?"
"Leafpaw," the she-cat explained, straightening her shoulders proudly. "Medicine cat apprentice of ThunderClan."
Sasha's head tipped to the side. "Has something happened to Cinderpuff?"
Leafpaw let out a mrow of laughter. "Cinderpelt, you mean? No, she's fine. I mean, I think she is." Leafpaw's paws shuffled uncomfortably. "The Twolegs have been taking our cats, land, and food. If worst comes worse, we won't be here much longer."
Sasha didn't completely understand Leafpaw's words, but they sent a chill down her spine. My kits! She realized in horror.
"Are the other Clans suffering, too?" she asked desperately. Leafpaw nodded grimly.
"We're all suffering," she admitted darkly. Then she looked up with sudden interest, as if a thought had just occurred to her. "Hey, I never caught your name."
"That's beacuse I never told you," Sasha mused slyly, eyes narrowing to break the dark conversation. "I'm Sasha."
Leafpaw's eyes rounded. They did that a lot. Sasha watched her with careful interest before the medicine cat spoke again, this time to completely turn her world.
"Sasha!" she exclaimed. "You're Mothpaw and Hawkpaw's mother! I've found you!"
Many Moons Before
"I can't believe you caught a bird that big!"
"Well, it was me and Rustle. I can't take all the credit."
There was a light laugh from the garden below.
Sasha felt the breeze lift her fur as she strode across the fence, roaming the Twolegplace she had once called home. Her humans had abandoned her, in the not so distant past, but she honestly didn't care all that much. Yes, she loved and missed them. But it had been a while ago. And obviously, if they loved her, they would have come back. Right?
Sasha sat down, gazing down at her friends in pride. On the left was Fae, who she had practically known her whole life. He was a loner, but he didn't mind stopping by her garden to say hi. He had stopped visiting just before Sasha was abandoned, right around the time that he had joined the Quecil, a group of loners who had agreed to tag together just for the sake of basic survival. Fae had told Sasha plenty of times that it was nothing like a 'Clan' - whatever that was - but she had refused to join.
Just because I used to rely on someone doesn't mean I always have to, Sasha had told him and herself multiple times.
Next to Fae was Rustle, a she-cat Sasha knew fairly well. She was a quiet cat, not one to argue, but at a time of peace among streetcats, Sasha didn't blame her.
"We're gonna bring this back to Lazuli," Rustle said. Her eyes lit up as she spoke, and Sasha leaned forward in interest. She had heard quite a few things about Lazuli, who had founded the Quecil. He was known to be quite the tactical thinker, though his missing, scarred right eye contradicted that. She had met him enough times that he knew her name, but not much else. And when she stared into his single, blazing blue eye, she was happy to keep it that way.
"You think Lazuli will be impressed?" Fae remarked, whiskers twitching playfully. "I've never seen him impressed by anything other than himself."
Rustle shoved him jokingly with her shoulder, and Sasha felt a painful spike she had felt too many times in her life.
Rustle and Fae were not mates. But he was mates with a beautiful she-cat named Bianca, who Sasha would hardly even remember meeting. Once, Sasha had wondered if she herself would become Fae's mate. But when it was evident that she wasn't leaving her housefolk - before they had left her - he had moved on. Fae had always thought that she didn't want to be with him, or didn't care for him, because she didn't want to leave. And that was a lie. Well, not a lie, exactly, because Sasha never told him. But he didn't know the truth, either. And now that he was going to be a father, he never would know.
She was not jealous of Bianca anymore. She was going to have kits. There was no reversing the past; no point. But she had been jealous, for many months.
"We should head back before one of the housecats tries to steal our meal," Fae explained, with a joking glimmer in his eyes at Sasha. "No offense."
Sasha smirked and flicked her tail. "None taken. I'm not a housecat," she pointed out.
"You coming, then?" Rustle asked, leaping up on the fence. Fae followed, large bird clamped in his maw. Her gaze was nothing but friendly, and Sasha felt her face melt to a smile.
"Nah," she declined politely, licking a paw and delicately drawing it over her ear.
"Why not?" Fae asked, eyes pleading. "Come on, Bianca will want to see you again. Besides, where else do you have to be?"
Sasha resisted the urge to scowl at Bianca's name, but Fae held a good point. She turned quickly, and the large, unknown forest caught her gaze. "I might go to the forest," she said jadedly.
Rustle's eyes rounded, and Fae looked taken aback. "The forest?" he echoed, eyes narrowing. "Like where the Clan cats live?"
Sasha's eyes bulged at the unfamiliar word. "I mean, I've been there a couple times, but I've never met any wild cats."
"You might," Rustle pointed out. "Come on, everyone in the Quecil likes you. I'm sure it'd be a nice surprise, along with this bird."
Sasha sighed as she saw Fae's eyes round above the bird. "Fine. But don't expect me to stay long."
"Right. You've got forest cat things to do," Fae joked, eyes twinkling. Sasha couldn't resist a smile.
The walk to the Quecil was a short one, and one that Sasha didn't much like. It was two houses down, still flanking the forest, in a house that was long abandoned. But the Quecil itself lived in the shed behind the house, which was more or less falling apart. Fae pushed open the flap-door, and it required both Rustle and Sasha to maneuver the bird so that it fit through. Sasha inhaled the scent of faded hay and wood, and the sunlight filtered through broken panels of what was once a roof. Immediately the cats were greeted by kind gestures and meows as the Quecil rose from their spots to greet them.
"That's the biggest bird I've ever seen!" a sleek tortoiseshell Sasha recognized as Matches exclaimed, trotting over to the trio. As she reached them, Matches's eyes rounded. "And is that Sasha I see?"
At her name, there was a resounding hello from the cats.
"Sasha!" Sasha hardly had time to register her name before a gray dappled she-cat ran up to her, tail on end excitedly. Bubbles bounced up to her with a purr before squeaking excitedly. "Where have you been? I haven't seen you in forever!"
"She's right," another tom named Rami added, not bothering to rise from his patch of sunlight with a she-cat named Moonlight. He opened one clear green eye and grinned. "What brings you to the Quecil, eh?"
Sasha was so overwhelmed that she didn't even find the time to answer before another cat cut off all the voices at once.
"Silence!"
A murmur followed before Matches and Bubbles shied away, and Fae padded forward with his prey. Sasha looked to the top rung of the shed, where one azure eye peered down at her curiously.
"And who is our visitor today?" Lazuli rumbled, leaning from the shadows to inspect Sasha. His lean muscles appeared sleekly in the light. Instinctively, the she-cat ducked behind Rustle.
"You haven't forgotten Sasha, have you?" Bubbles asked teasingly, oblivious to the dark atmosphere. Lazuli scoffed before bounding to the dusty windowsill to the ground in two neat motions.
"I don't forget anyone," he replied sharply, single eye darting to Bubbles. Bubbles huffed, annoyed at his dismissal of her, and stepped back as Lazuli leaned down to sniff the bird. "You caught this?" he asked, raising his head to look at Fae.
Fae jerked his head to the left. "Rustle and I did a couple houses over."
Azuli nodded his approval. Then he raised his head, and still no one spoke. He blinked, swinging his head around, and still silence. "Oh, bloody hell." he rolled his eye dramatically. "I said silence for one second and you're all acting like someone died. I just wanted to greet our visitors," he said, shifting his blue gaze to Sasha politely. "Welcome back, Sasha."
Sahsa blinked. "Thank you. I won't be staying long."
"You at least have to say hello to Bianca and Moth," Fae pressed, turning towards her eagerly.
"Moth?" Sasha blinked, unable to recall the name. "Has someone new joined?"
"Well… in a sense, yes," Fae explained slowly, breaking out in a grin. "Come on, they're in the loft."
"We keep nursing mollies up there, so they're safe," Matches added helpfully. Her voice seemed to give out, like it was hoarser than usual. "Take the window up."
Sasha did as instructed, following Fae up the same, windowsill loft trip that Lazuli had taken down. When she saw Bianca laying sprawled out on a bed of hay, Sasha stifled a gasp.
"Bianca," Fae said softly, approaching carefully. "I've brought someone to visit."
"If it isn't something I can eat, I don't care," came the raspy voice of Fae's mate. Fae purred heartily.
"She's cranky," Fae apologized. "It happens, after a she-cat gives birth."
Bianca sniffed, curling herself around her kit. "I can speak for myself, you know," she said, looking at her mate with a sour look. But there was admiration in her eyes, and in Fae's as well, and suddenly Sasha felt the familiar spark of betrayal as she laid eyes on the kit.
Fae's kit.
"And this is… Moth?" she guessed, pointing her thin tail at the kit. Bianca nodded, and Fae blinked warmly.
"We named her after her fur. Look how soft it is - like a moth's wing," he pointed out, extending a paw lightly brush his daughter's head. Her fur was soft - it was long and elegant, so much like Bianca's. Sasha stifled a dejected sigh. Her kit would never look as beautiful as this one - not that she would ever have any.
"My mother had long fur like that," Fae added unnecessarily. A silence passed, and Moth began to knead at Bianca's belly. The queen groomed her kit lovingly and Fae leaned towards his old friend suddenly. He looked at Sasha hastily. "Do you like her?"
Sasha laughed roughly. "Why do you need my opinion on your kit?" she asked. When the ticked tabby fell silent, she realized that he did need it, more than she would ever know. "I think she is beautiful," she admitted honestly, glancing at Bianca. She felt an icy trickle of jealousy pulse in her veins as she saw Fae's loving gaze towards his family. It's not my family, Sasha reminded herself.
"She is my world," he said quietly. Sasha felt another jab of pain but hid it beneath a forced smile.
"I'm so proud of you," she managed. "I must be going soon."
"Alone?" a voice from below echoed up to her. "Nonsense! I need to stretch my legs before they fall off. Let me come with you."
Sasha grinned and peered down to see the friendly tabby she knew as Rami.
"How could I say no to you?" she purred, leaping down elegantly without so much as a goodbye to Fae.
"If it's alright, I'm sure Matches will want to come, too," Rami warned. "She's been aching to go outside lately."
Sasha's whiskers twitched. "What's stopping her?"
Rami shrugged as the tortoiseshell stretched, gaping her jaws in a wide yawn. "Laziness. Hey Match! Wanna go for a walk?"
The tortoiseshell rolled over on her other side, back facing the two cats. Her flank rumbled in a raspy cough, and her voice sound hoarse. "N'thanks," came the muttered reply. "I was hunting all morning, 'n I caught this huge squirrel..."
Rami rolled his eyes, and Sasha giggled. "Dog turds. She's so slow that the squirrel's smell is gone before she gets there."
They exited the Quecil's hideout, and Sasha waved everyone goodbye (she got a particularly hearty one from Bubbles) before they were gone.
Sasha wasn't quite sure where she and Rami were going, but wherever it was, she didn't mind. She followed him over the painted white fence and watched as the brick Twolegplace faded to trees, where birds chirped softly and the sunlight was hazy through the treetops.
"So... Bianca and Moth, huh?" Sasha brought up casually. "How long has it been?"
"Since she was born?" Rami tipped his head back and forth in thought. "Uh, a week maybe? Couple weeks?"
Sasha's heart sank. It's like he doesn't tell me anything anymore.
"Oh," was all she could say.
Rami looked at her with sudden caring generosity in his eyes. "Hey, are you alright? Last time you came here you seemed really eager to see us all. Today you just... wanted to leave."
"Save for you," Sasha pointed out modestly. "But yeah, things have changed. The last time I visited, for example, Fae didn't have a mate or kits."
Rami's eyes softened. "I forgot about Fae. Weren't you and him a thing at one point?"
"No." Bitter hollowness clouded Sasha's voice. "Sometimes I wish we had been."
"I think we all used to wish that," Rami promised. "It was such a surprise when he said he and Bianca were mates. I think Fae even shocked Lazuli, which is hard to do. I mean, she's a nice cat and all, but sometimes she can be a little..."
"Stuck up?" Sasha suggested. "Rude?"
"I was going for sharp-tongued," Rami said warily. "Their whole relationship just came out of nowhere."
"Glad I'm not the only one who feels that way," Sasha muttered. She and Rami fell back into silence, but this one she was comfortable with.
"Are you scared of the forest?" Rami asked suddenly, glancing up at the towering branches in wonder.
"No," Sasha retorted, hopping atop a large boulder, "why would I be?"
"The Clan cats," Rami replied doubtfully, opening his mouth slightly to taste the air. "Can't you smell their markers?"
"If we live on our own, just like them, what makes them so special?" she insisted, shrugging. "I wouldn't worry about them. Besides, has anyone actually ever seen them?"
"I haven't, but this housecat that I used to talk to - her name was Princess or something - she said her brother went into the forest and joined a Clan. He was fine at first, but then he turned into this evil, twisted cat."
"I'm not joining the Clans," Sasha pointed out. "I'm just looking for an easy meal. Besides-"
"Ha! I told you they were hunting!"
Sasha and Rami both froze at the voice.
"Run," Rami whispered, petrified.
"You're not running anywhere," a she-cat announced triumphantly, sliding out from the underbrush. Next to her was a small, dark gray tom who had made the first statement. he was beaming proudly. Two more cats emerged from either side, but Sasha was too frozen to even turn her head in the slightest.
"What are you doing on ThunderClan territory?" announced a deep voice. Sasha mustered the courage to look at the tom that spoke, and felt her fur lift with unease as she saw the biggest tom she'd ever seen broaden his shoulders and pad towards the cats.
"I told you already!" piped up the gray tom, looking no more than a kitten. "She said they were hunting!"
"Sootpaw, be quiet," hissed a speckled gray tom on Rami's right side.
Sootpaw? Sasha wondered if she had heard him right. Is that... is that his name?
"Hunting, eh? In our territory?" the large brown tabby growled, fixing his amber gaze from Rami to Sasha. When it landed on Sasha, something flickered in his eyes, just for a moment. But in that same moment it was gone. A growl rumbled in his throat, but it caught. "Consider this a warning. Don't pass this border again."
"Tigerstar, that... that's it?" the light ginger she-cat stuttered. "We're not going to fight them?"
"Sheathe your claws, Sandstorm," the gray-flecked tom instructed, answering for the dark tabby. "You want to start a battle, and yet you have kits to nurse at home."
"Ashfur is right," the tom - Tigerstar - added with a nod of approval. Sasha ran the names through her head - Ashfur and Sandstorm - both of which were equally weird. But Tigerstar, though unnatural, didn't sound all that bad. In fact, she kind of liked the ring to it. "I will see these rogues to the border myself, where they will not return," Tigerstar added with a warning glare at Rami and Sasha. "The three of you, go home."
Sandstorm grumbled something under her breath, but her claws sheathed obediently. They listen to him with such respect! Sasha realized. Tigerstar must be a leader of some sort. Tigerstar waited for Sootpaw, Ashfur, and Sandstorm to disappear before flicking an ear and strolling towards the border.
"Are you leader of those cats?" Sasha wondered aloud. She couldn't help it; she had so many questions about the Clan cats she hardly knew existed. To her surprise, Tigerstar nodded.
"I am leader of ThunderClan," he announced. His title held authority, and Rami seemed to recognize the Clan.
"You must know Princess's kit and brother!" he exclaimed in thrill. "I know her."
Tigerstar nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah. Her son is missing an eye now and her brother, who caused her son to lose an eye, tried to take over the Clans and got mauled to death partially by said son, but yeah, they're pretty fantastic warriors."
Sasha couldn't help a snicker at the hint of sarcasm in his voice, and Tigerstar caught it. Rami, on the other paw, looked horrified.
"I see by your expression that Prinches probably doesn't know about her kin," Tigerstar went on. He paused before adding, "sorry about that."
"I have a lot to tell Princess," Rami corrected, voice hollow.
"I don't know if she wants to hear it," Sasha muttered, imagining whatever gory scene Tigerstar had just described. Tigerstar looked at her with amusement tinging his eyes, and Sasha returned it.
"You both seem pretty nice," Tigerstar observed as they neared the border. "I would say I'd like to see you both again, but as leader of ThunderClan I couldn't do that without giving you a nick on the ear." He shrugged. "Alas."
"I would like to see you again, too, provided we don't get caught by a fierce kitten," Sasha teased, Sootpaw's image flashing in her mind. Rami laughed nervously. "And I would like to say goodbye, if you allow us to leave."
"That I can do," Tigerstar replied, sweeping his tail to gesture them to cross the border. "Safe travels! Please never come here again."
Sasha waved goodbye with her tail, well aware that Tigerstar was watching she and Rami travel carefully until she leapt onto the fence and over.
"Thatwasterrifying," Rami said, all in one, held in breath. His eyes were wild and he was hunched over. "We almost died!"
"Oh, please," Sasha scoffed, cuffing his over the ear gently. "We were fine. Besides, they didn't seem all bad."
"Yeah, besides the ones who wanted to kill us," the brown tom muttered, sitting back on his haunches. Sasha laughed lightly.
"But we're alive, right?" she pointed out. "And besides, now we have a story to tell."
Rami smirked. "I have a feeling that you'll have a lot of stories to tell if you keep trespassing like that."
Sasha flicked her tail. "Maybe I will," she mused, glancing up at the trees that lingered just over the fence. Past them, she could practically imaging the sharp amber eyes of Tigerstar.
And she purred.
So yeah, this is chapter one! Sorry if it seems really slow but I had to introduce the characters (since they are mainly OCs) and get Tigerstar and Sasha warmed up. I don't know how many chapters this will be but it's looking like about three right now. Again, I have none of this planned out that much so we'll see how it rolls! Thank you again for everyone who submitted an OC, it's so refreshing to write new characters even if they aren't mine.
Since I got so many submissions I decided to have them all be loners, just part of this part-time club type thing, which is the Quecil. I also added a few characters of my own, like Fae, Rami, and Lazuli, who are all toms because I only got she-cat submissions! That's why the allegiances are so long lol.
If some cats didn't appear much this chapter then they will in the next one or two, I promise! Some will have bigger roles than others but they will all have an impact. And if you feel like I slandered your character too much, please tell me but don't expect me to write them exactly as you have them. For plot's sake and relevance, Sasha can't be best friends with all of them, and at the same time, they can't all be 'shifty, shady and mysterious' because that's... boring. If you feel really strongly and like I did your character really wrong, though, please don't hesitate to review or PM!
Some fun facts!
- Lazuli is part of the official name for lapis (the gemstone: lapis lazuli), which is a blue gemstone, (hint Lazuli's blue eye/fur colors). However I got the name from the lazuli bunting which is a blue-coated bird because yes I love birds and I didn't know it was part of lapis until i did some research. Also Lazuli includes the word azul, which is blue in spanish (thank u dora). So yes, there's a lot of blue stemming from Lazuli's name.
- Quecil is an anagram for clique. Because that's what they are lmao, and 'clan' was too short for an anagram without it being painfully obvious.