Review Responses
Guest Feathershade ~ You do have a fair point. Thank you for the reminder. I will try to fix my actions and figure out an alternative on what to do about the situation.
Sapphire's Group
Leader
Sapphire Sea - Grey she-cat with darker flecks
Surrogates
Ashen Sky - Grey and white molly with black legs
Lightning Blast - Black tabby tom with blue eyes
Menders
Falling Snow - White tom
Faint Lichen - Pale grey tabby tom
Smooth Stream - Brown tabby she-cat
Slight Drift - Grey and white tom
Providers
Flare Burst - Ginger tom with amber eyes
Berry Cluster - Brown and white patched tom
Eagle Feather - Cream and black she-cat
Pale Sun - Ginger tabby tom with yellow eyes
Smoke Paws - Grey tabby molly with paler paws
Broken Branch - Brown tabby tom
Mossy Stone - Dark tortoiseshell molly with cream features
Mouse Tail - Grey tom with white speckles
Pupils
Scorched Briar - Chocolate calico molly with pale yellow eyes
Quiet Splash - Blue-grey molly with green eyes
Sage Leaf - Brown tom with darker legs
Swirling Breeze - Black tom with yellow eyes
Kit-watchers
Fox's Howl - Dark ginger tortoiseshell molly (Mother to Lightning Blast's kits, Tiny Sapling - Black she-kit with white paws and Rising Moon - Dark ginger and white she-kit with green eyes)
Glistening Dew - Silver tabby she-cat with amber eyes
Silver Moon - Grey and white dappled molly (Mother to Broken Branch's kits, Dark grey tom, Starling's Cry - Brown tabby she-kit with a white tail, Scattered Fire - Brown and white tabby tom, and Cloudy Snout - Seal and white patched tom)
Seniors
Startled Mouse - Dark grey tom with green eyes
Scorched Briar sat with her fluffy tail neatly curled around her paws as she watched her denmates tussle around the bracken walls of the camp, with the black cat clearly outmatched against the brown one. The blue-grey molly beside her bristled as she saw her "lion-heart" get beaten by his opponent or, what the molly hated to admit, her brother. The calico she-cat couldn't resist rolling her eyes as her denmate caught her blue gaze then blushed and averted the pale blue gaze that glinted with irritation.
"Leaf, I will pull your tail right off!" The molly's ears flicked at a shrill meow that rung inside the den, which also seemed to make the observer next to her jump a little.
The brown tom that was tussling with his opponent got up and stuck his tongue out at the black cat. "Well sorry if I'm sooooooo great at fighting and can beat you to a pulp if I want to!"
The black tom snarled and pounced on Leaf, nipping at his ear. Scorched Briar's brow arched as the duo's friendly tussle started to turn into a battle of sorts. Her thoughts pestered her with the desire to cheer on one of the two, mostly the black one in her opinion, just to make the other one pissed and escalate the fight. But the pupil knew better than to get on anyone's nerves.
The blue-grey molly spoke up just as the black tom unsheathed his claws. "Swirling Breeze, don't you think you should stop?"
"Excuse me, I don't remember asking you to say anything about this!" The den seemed to go silent as Swirling's hiss came out of his mouth.
Hawk droppings! They stopped!
The dappled molly got up and walked out of the den with her head low. Scorched Briar was indeed bummed out because her denmates had the audacity to stop fighting just in the heat of battle, but there was something better she could do to make some good use of her time. As she was processing what to do now, her tail fur got caught in the thorny bush walls that made up her home, yanking her a bit back. Of course, her past moons of her traininghood have taught her that a swift pull from the wall would set her free from nature's traps.
Once more free from the bush and now in the bright sun of the Budding Season, the calico scanned the clearing for something to do. Her pale gaze caught a bracken hole in the bush, which also marked the nursery of this camp. Scorched Briar made her way over to the den, her paws stepping on the tiny green blades that made up the floor of her home. She stopped outside the den, crouching to peek inside.
"Sapling!" she whispered. A rustle sounded inside the den as a response to the pupil's call. A black figure zoomed right past her and fell headfirst.
The black figure recovered quickly after that little incident, though their fur was stuck out in all sorts of places. The cat spun around with their huge amber eyes locked on the calico. "Scorch! Just the cat I wanted to see!" The kit shook her fur to get the dust out of them. Sapling pushed the older molly into the nursery.
The musty scent of dust and milk flooded the pupil's nose, bringing back memories of playing in the dirt, sleeping against her brother's fur and little games that filled the nursery with chaos, muck, and most importantly, learning that cats didn't know that when they lost, they lost. Oh, how the chocolate-patched she-cat loved it when others whined about losing and excuses of "But he's older than me!" Sure, it was annoying, but it was a very entertaining thing to watch as yet another kit got beat by their denmate.
"Scorcho? Hey, are you listening to me?" the kit beside her asked, which was the one thing Scorched Briar heard.
"Oh, yes? What is it, Tiny?" Scorch responded.
The kit gasped. "No, you call me Sapling." Oh here we go again. The pupil dreaded it when her friend went on long (and pointless) rants about the littlest of things.
"You can call me Sap," Sapling continued. "By the Specters, you can just say Tiny Sapling if you're mad at me! But never, ever, ever, ever, ever, call me Tiny! That is very sizest and I will not stand by and be called Tiny when I'm clearly not- ow!"
Scorched Briar saw a pair of jaws grab Tiny Sapling by her scruff and yank her away. Looking up, a dark tortoiseshell began to scold the kit.
"Silver Moon just had her kits!" the queen hissed at the kit, who crouched in fear. Silver had her kits? Fun.
The pupil gazed at the bundles of fur next to a grey and white queen. Other greyish blue and white one, dark grey one, brown tabby one - Scorch noticed the stumpy white tail next to that particular kit as she was observing the kits - with a white tail, and brown and white regular tabby. As if there weren't a hundred tabbies around the territory already.
The chocolate calico's ears pricked when she heard a low hiss. "If you can't stay quiet like your sister for one heartbeat, how can you expect to be the best hunter in Sapphire's group?" Sapling's amber eyes blazed when she stared at the queen, but continued to stay in the position she was in. "If you can't keep your mouth shut like your sister for just today, then you won't sleep in the nursery until the night there's no moon! Got it?"
"Yes, mother," the kit mumbled.
The tortoiseshell nodded. "Good. I'll be taking a nap then." The black she-kit looked down at her white paws with her ears flattened. Tiny Sapling stalked back over to the calico and flicked her tail for the pupil to follow here outside the nursery. Scorched Briar blinked, but followed the kit regardless. They walked over to a patch of tall plants in a particular spot of the camp, passing by their campmates who were busy discussing matters and the amount of prey that was around their territory. The usual, Scorch guessed with a roll of her eyes.
"What was that all about?" the pupil meowed.
"Oh, nothing much." The black molly's claws unsheathed as she spoke. "Just my mother comparing me to my oh-so-perfect sister again. For the fourth time. Today. And the sun isn't even at its peak."
"Well, Fox's Yowl-" Tiny Sapling cut off her friend.
"Don't you get compared to Sage Leaf a lot?"
That made Scorch let out a bark of laughter. "Me? Get compared to my brother?" The chocolate calico chuckled again. "You're funny. It happens all the time, Sap! We are training to be providers after all! The providers measure our progress by doing that!"
The black kit looked like she wanted to smack the molly with her tail. "What? No, I meant, by your parents."
"Oh." Scorched Briar softened. "Ohhh. Ohhhhhh. Ohhhhhhhhhhh-"
"Shut up and tell me about your parents!" Sapling hissed.
"Fine. Once upon a time, Berry Cluster and Mossy Stone had two kits named Sage Leaf and Scorched Briar. The end."
"Not that! Do they compare you with your brother?"
"Nah. At least, they try to avoid comparing us two. It happens when Mama's mad at us and say 'Be more like your sister!' or 'Be more like your brother!' And me and my littermate are basically nothing alike."
Tiny Sapling cocked her head. "Then why does Fox's Yowl compare me to Dawn all the time?"
"Briar! Saphie wants you to go on a hunting party!"
The calico stood up to go leave by one of the providers' command, but not before answering, "Because you're clearly superior to your sister and Fox is trying to put you two on equal ground." As Scorched Briar walked out of camp with her campmates by her side, a small squeal of surprise lifted the patched she-cat's spirits.
Heeeeey. This chapter is basically an intro chapter to give you some depth about one of our protagonists - Scorch!
also I'm already done with writing out Scorched Briar in full. heh heh