LEAFCLAN
(47 cats)
Birchstar - silver mackerel tabby tom with dark amber eyes
Squirrelfoot - thick-haired ginger mackerel tabby tom, plumed tail, with light green eyes
Mistpelt - gray she-cat with blue eyes
WARRIORS:
Patchedfang - white-and-black tom with green eyes
Whitefur - large white tom, scar running down left side of face, with green eyes
Cardinalheart - red classic tabby tom with dark amber eyes (apprentice is Cedarpaw)
Redfoot - red classic tabby she-cat with green eyes
Rookclaw - largetuxedo tom, mangled ears, with green eyes (apprentice is Briarpaw)
Spidertail - black she-cat with green eyes (apprentice is Pebblepaw)
Blacknose - black tom with green eyes (apprentice is Flamepaw)
Silverwhisker - silver mackerel tabby tom with green eyes (apprentice is Dawnpaw)
Stonestorm - silver mackerel tabby tom, white underbelly and neck, with dark amber eyes
Palecloud - cream-and-white she-cat with amber eyes
Honeyheart - cream she-cat with amber eyes (apprentice is Nightpaw)
Shadepelt - black tom with dark green eyes
Grayclaw - gray tom with green eyes (apprentice is Sandpaw)
Pikestream - brown mackerel tabby tom with dark brown eyes
Brackenstripe - brown mackerel tabby tom with green eyes (apprentice is Lionpaw)
Ashfang - gray-and-white tom with yellow eyes (apprentice is Starlingpaw)
Cinderfoot - gray-and-white she-cat with green eyes
Mousestep - gray-and-white tom with pale amber eyes
Littlefur - runt black she-cat, top of right ear cut off, with pale blue eyes
Darkwhisker - black tom with green eyes
Emberstorm - calico she-cat with blue eyes
Snowtail - white tom with green eyes
Furzeheart - ginger-and-white tom with green eyes
APPRENTICES:
Briarpaw - brown mackerel tabby tom with white muzzle and cross-eyed green eyes
Cedarpaw - handsomebrown mackerel tabby tom with dark brown eyes
Pebblepaw - brown-and-white mackerel tabby she-cat with light blue eyes
Dawnpaw - thick-haired cream mackerel tabby she-cat, white neck, paws, and underbelly, black splotch over nose, and plumed tail, with amber eyes
Flamepaw - thick-haired cream mackerel tabby tom, white underbelly, plumed tail, and white tailtip, with amber eyes
Sandpaw - thick-haired cream mackerel tabby tom, white paws and plumed tail, with light green eyes
Lionpaw - thick-haired cream mackerel tabby she-cat, plumed tail, with light green eyes
Nightpaw - black tom with green eyes
Starlingpaw - black she-cat with green eyes
QUEENS:
Troutflower - tortoiseshell she-cat with dark green eyes (kits are Toadkit, Maplekit, and Buzzardkit - father is Cardinalheart)
Smokestripe - silver mackerel tabby she-cat with dark amber eyes (kits are Rainkit, Stripedkit, and Beetlekit - father is Blacknose)
Blizzardstorm - thick-haired white she-cat, plumed tail, with green eyes (expecting - father is Rookclaw)
ELDERS:
Rabbitclaw - brown-and-white she-cat with green eyes
Poppypelt - ginger mackerel tabby she-cat with green eyes
Stormfang - long-haired gray mackerel tabby tom with amber eyes.
FIELDCLAN
(? cats)
Froststar - white she-cat with green eye and blue eye
Sparrowheart - brown classic tabby tom with brown eyes
Goosewhisker - long-haired white tom with green eyes
Goldenpaw - cream she-cat, white paws, with light blue eyes
BAYCLAN
(? cats)
Shellstar - long-haired gray tom with one green eye
Terntail - tuxedo she-cat with yellow eyes
Mudcloud - brown marbled tabby tom with green eyes
Ospreyflower - white-and-black she-cat with one brown eye and one green eye
CHAPTER+ONE;;
world's biggest trout
The feel of the cool waterfall spray on his pelt relaxed him, which might have been why he did better at fishing than anything else. And, even then, Briarpaw wasn't particularly good at it. He couldn't focus on where he was looking. He couldn't determine the distance of what he was hunting. He'd always had this subconscious feeling that he couldn't do much to help his Clan. That he was deadweight. This might have very well been true.
Rookclaw watched him intently from a few tail-lengths back. The tom had done much in the ways of mentoring his apprentice; he had faith in Briarpaw. Briarpaw was attentive. Briarpaw was determined. And even better, Briarpaw listened. He'd do what Rookclaw told him. But however many times Briarpaw adjusted his crouches and moves to Rookclaw's will, it still wouldn't help that Briarpaw couldn't see right.
A flash of brown scales below the surface of water and Briarpaw shot forward, thinking in the back of his mind that it was farther than what he saw, and moved accordingly, even though he felt like he'd sink his paws into the muddy bottom of the river. A sliver of joy nearly raised the fur along his pelt as he felt his claws penetrate the fish. Underwater, it writhed. With an uncanny grace Briarpaw twisted the fish onto the bank, keeping a tight grip to it, and then snapped its head awkwardly to the side with his strong jaws.
"I did it, Rookclaw! I did it! I caught the fish!" He hadn't been this elated since his apprenticeship.
"Wonderful, Briarpaw. You did swimmingly," his mentor meowed, though Briarpaw was too consumed with his success that the pun flew right past him. Briarpaw turned to look at his mentor, but Rookclaw stayed planted where he was. If he approached Briarpaw from the front, the tom might jerk backward into the water. That'd be a pretty cold surprise, and Rookclaw didn't want to ruin the tom's happiness.
"Can we go back to camp? Can we? I want to tell Emberstorm and Pikestream! Please, Rookclaw?" Before Rookclaw could speak, Briarpaw lifted his green eyes to the sky above; it was past sunhigh, nearing dusk. They'd been training since a little after dawn.
"It's almost sundown, anyway!"
Rookclaw had been going to say yes, anyway. Even if Briarpaw hadn't caught that fish he'd been planning on taking them back to camp. It was the best thing to do, since a visit with Toadkit always cheered Briarpaw up after a failed training session.
"Sure. Get your catch and let's go."
They headed back to camp. Briarpaw was so jittery he stumbled like he'd lost a paw, tripping over jutted roots and bumping his flank into the sides of trees. Briarpaw was still too cheery to let a little bump here-and-there to ruin what he'd done, what he'd worked so hard to do for moons, what he'd gotten weeks and weeks after all the other apprentices had it down-pat.
Back at camp, Briarpaw teetered in the clearing, wondering if he should put his prey in the fresh-kill pile or just waltz right up to wherever his parents were and drop it at their paws like an offering to a deity. He nearly tripped over his paws and lost his grip on the fish as he suddenly changed his course to the pile and dropped it, snapping his head up to look around the clearing once more, nostrils flared as he tried to pick their scents out of his other clanmates.
The tabby's eyes spotted his parents sharing tongues under the shade of a willow. He shivered with excitement and nearly shot down after them. But, like any other cat with at least a morsel of understanding for their defect, he knew his. And just as any child he knew with a sharp pang of sadness that his mother was embarrassed. Embarrassed of her cross-eyed son.
Forcing himself to put a leash on his emotions, Briarpaw carefully paced up to them, praying to StarClan that he didn't take a tumble. Pikestream looked up from licking down the fur between Emberstorm's ears when he heard his son, taking deliberate and careful steps up to them. The sparkle in the apprentice's eyes was glaring like the sun, so Pikestream pulled away from his mate and sat up, cocking his head everso slightly to the side.
"What's the matter, Briar-"
Making himself walk instead of catapault across the clearing was the extent of his self-control. He interrupted his father, kneading at the ground with his paws.
"I caught a fish! I caught a fish!" Though, it sounded more like: 'IcaughtafishIcaughtafish!' His eyes flickered from his brown tabby dad to his calico mom, craving acceptance and praise more than he did actual success.
Pikestream's eyes widened, and Emberstorm looked up, mildly interested. "You did? Oh, wow, Briarpaw! Good job!" His dad meowed, stepping forward slowly (though Briarpaw still twitched as he neared) and rubbed his head against the side of Briarpaw's face, a deep purr rumbling in his throat.
Like all fathers, Pikestream understood that Emberstorm had trouble accepting her son.
He turned to her. "Isn't that wonderful, Emberstorm? Briarpaw's first big fish catch!"
Briarpaw watched Emberstorm closely, feeling as though spiders were crawling into his fur, legs scratching at his skin.
"That is. Good job."
Warmth flooded through Briarpaw, heating his ears and heart. He couldn't help to purr like his dad.
"What do you say we eat with Briarpaw, hmm?" Pikestream flicked his brown eyes to the calico warrior, and she nodded (or, that's what Briarpaw wanted to think - it was more as though she shrugged). Briarpaw stepped from one paw to the other, purring contentedly, feeling like he ruled the world as he settled down with his parents. Pikestream had suggested to Emberstorm that they share the fish that Briarpaw had caught.
Briarpaw himself settled for a little shrew. He was too thrilled to feel like he could eat a lot, and he didn't want to waste LeafClan's prey - it was nearing leafbare and they wanted to preserve as much as they could. Though prey didn't preserve past a day or two (and two was risking it).
It was nighttime now, and Pikestream was grooming Briarpaw's pelt. Emberstorm was dozing off. A small black she-cat padded up to them, whiskers twitching, clearing her pelt when the two warriors didn't look up at her right away.
"Pikestream, Emberstorm," Littlefur addressed, "you two are joining my moonrise border patrol."
Briarpaw felt a little letdown at the thought of his parents leaving. The kit in him had wanted to curl up with the two and fall asleep. They were warriors, though. They had things to take care of.
Pikestream gave his son one last lick on the side of the face and then stood up, Emberstorm following suit. "Sleep well, Briarpaw," his dad meowed as he usually did just before Briarpaw went to sleep. Briarpaw nodded at his father, watching as Littlefur led them to the rest of her patrol. They headed out and Briarpaw was still sitting where his parents had left him.
"Briarpaw! Briarpaw!" Just as Littlefur's patrol stepped out of camp, another one squeezed in. Briarpaw looked up, heart thumping as a flash of cream fur settled into his memory - but it was his sister's voice. Pebblepaw scrambled across the camp, galloping toward Briarpaw who instinctively turned his head to the side and stared at the ground as she bounded up to his side, purring delightedly.
"Hey, Pebblepaw," he purred right back, rubbing heads with his sister.
"Pikestream said you'd caught something big! What did you catch?"
"Something gigantic," Briarpaw corrected, puffing out his chest boastfully, "I think it was a trout."
"A trout? Wow, Briarpaw! You're going to be the best fisher in LeafClan before you know it!"
She meant for it to be a compliment, but it stung Briarpaw. He knew he'd never be good at hunting or fighting. He brushed it off, though. No need to be hypersensitive. It'd just put more of a burden on his clanmates, and he definitely didn't want that.
"And you know what?" He meowed, eyes gleaming, "Pikestream and Emberstorm shared it together."
"It must've been pretty great, then!" Pebblepaw mewed, just as jubilant as her brother. She started to lick him on the muzzle when she lurched, a realization sparking through her pale blue eyes. "Oh, mousedung. I forgot Spidertail told me to help the elders with their ticks once I got into camp. I'll see you tomorrow, Briarpaw."
She leaned forward and licked him on the muzzle like she had been intending to, and then turned and ran off to the elders' den, tail lashing behind her. Briarpaw turned around, wondering dimly if Cedarpaw knew that he'd caught his first "big" fish. He shook the thought off. He didn't like to think about his brother.
In his dreams, he caught a mountain of carps, basses, and salmon, the Clan appointed him leader, and StarClan gave him as many lives as there were stars in Silverpelt.
woo-hoo, i'm able to write again, and about something i enjoy! i'm currently working on chapter four.
anyways, i hope you guys enjoy this. read&review, please. (:
and wow there's a shitload of cats in leafclan. i guess that's pretty normal for cats.
erin's not that great at portraying what cats do, now is she? lol;;