As you all may or may not know, I am Canadian. And we have Thanksgiving on a different day than most. So for me, today is Thanksgiving. All complaints are denied. Thank you.
-Falconface
Thanksgiving
"Listen you three." Growled Brambleclaw. "You are going to be warriors soon. That means you need to be mature. Got it? I want you to go through the whole long weekend without annoying me. Can you do it?"
"Yep." Hollypaw answered instantly with a false smile.
Jaypaw ignored his father and continued playing Halo.
Lionpaw mumbled something that sounded like cookies, and walked straight out the door.
Brambleclaw sighed, giving up on this whole thing. Of course he could delay their warrior ceremonies, but at this point in time, it would be totally pointless.
In the living room, Jaypaw's cellphone rang. "Yeah?" He answered. "Uh-huh. Sweet. Kay. Got it." He snapped it shut and turned off his Halo game, before marching outside.
Hollypaw was still sitting on the floor, and slowly soft sounds of sleep began to be heard around her. "Oi!" Snapped Brambleclaw. "Just because your sleep patterns were thrown off, doesn't mean you can just collapse on the floor! Get up!"
"Ein ni niji ga ikiru!" Shouted Squirrelflight diving around the corner and into the room. "Subete no jagaimo wa kangei sa rete iru!" Then she ran off laughing like a psycho.
Hollypaw fell over snoring. Her paws twitching. Brambleclaw sighed, ignoring his wife, and gently picked up his daughter, carrying her to her room. Carefully, he placed her on her bed, and pulled the covers up to her chin. Sighing to himself, he kissed her on the forehead and left the room.
Deciding this was a good time to get some work done, his went to his office to finish planning the patrols for the next moon. He was almost done, just a couple more days left to do.
Cheerfully, Brambleclaw opened the door and then froze, mid smile. On his desk where the papers should have been was a fuzzy, pink bunny, with wide oblivious blue eyes. It was rapidly chewing up the last paper, written on with Brambleclaw's messy handwriting that no one could read.
His paws formed into fists and he stormed back out, nabbing a glass of water on his way through the kitchen. Then he stormed into Hollypaw's room, dumped the glass on her head, and stormed back out, leaving her stunned and chocking.
He was having a really bad day.
...
In the Nursery...
...
"Umm... Hello?" Lionpaw called cautiously, as he entered into the dimly lit den. He expected there to just be Daisy, and maybe Ferncloud, but instead the den seemed packed.
Most of the she-cats in the clan seemed to be gathered, including but not limited to, Brightheart, Whitewing, Whitewind, Sorreltail, and Cinderpaw.
"What's up?" Asked Ferncloud, then she noticed him staring. "Oh, this is just a she-cat get together. What'd you need?"
"Um..." His voice grew quiet, and he cheeks flushed a deep red. He didn't know he'd have to ask this in front of so many cats. "Daisy, can you make some of you're cookies? I... I was..." He couldn't seem to finish his sentence.
"What's wrong?" Cinderpaw stepped forward, a hopeful look in her eye.
"I wanted to give cookies to this girl and..." He trailed off again.
Gasps filled the room and Sorreltail exclaimed, "Lionpaw's in love!" The den filled with shrieks of joy, and Lionpaw shrunk away, blushing furiously.
"Who is it?" Asked Cinderpaw, leaning in close. Her gaze was hopeful, almost pleading.
"J-Just this girl..." He mumbled, not looking at anyone.
There was more clamour, and a lot of comments about young love. "Of course I'll make them for you!" Daisy exclaimed. "It's love!"
"N-not really... I was just..." Lionpaw stumbled.
"No denying it now." Whitewind pointed out. "Back down and I'll spill your secret to everyone."
"Sis, you shouldn't be so mean." Whitewing, for the first time, was not on her Iphone. I know. Stunning.
"It's love!" Exclaimed Brightheart, a dangerous gleam in her eye. "And love has priority over everything. We must help this young tom, through the dangers and mysteries of love!"
"Uh... Aren't you suppose to help with the Thanksgiving feast?" Lionpaw muttered, trying to do anything to get out of this.
"Love has priority!" Brightheart repeated, gazing off into the distance.
"Who is it?" Cinderpaw asked again, shuffling her paws, her cheeks turning a soft pink.
"T-this girl... in RiverClan." He mumbled. "Willowpaw."
There were more shrieks of delight. "Forbidden love!" Brightheart swooned. "The best kind!"
Cinderpaw puffed out her cheeks, clearly annoyed. Without saying anything else, she stormed off, putting as much distance between him and her as she could. And as she went, a few tears fell from her eyes, landing on the broken dusty ground.
...
In the middle of camp...
...
"Why do I have to do this?" Graystripe mumbled, shifting uncomfortably in his turkey costume.
"Someone needs to be the bait." Answered Sandstorm, making a few adjustments to the outfit.
"Yeah, but why me?" He protested.
"You're fat. It'll help get the chubbier turkeys." She mumbled, holding pins in her mouth.
"And why must it be in the middle of camp?" He asked, embarrassment in his voice.
A growing crowd had gathered, most brining cameras. "So posting this on Facebook." Jaypaw said, taking another picture, his glasses snug against his nose. This had been worth leaving Halo for.
"Jaypaw!" He turned at the sound of his brother's voice.
"What is it?" He asked, still looking at Graystripe in the ridiculous turkey outfit.
"Um..." His brother hesitated, and Jaypaw could feel embarrassment coming off him in waves. "You're going to the Moon pool soon, right? Um... when you're there could you... give this to Willowpaw?" He held out a small wrapped package.
"You're in love." Jaypaw stated, unimpressed.
"Yeah, I guess you could say that. So could you?" Lionpaw was hopeful.
"What? No! You're the one in love. YOU give it to her." Jaypaw shot him down. Lionpaw's little parade was being stormed on, and nobody really cared.
"B-b-but! I can't! The gathering is half a moon away! I'll be so nervous I'll eat all the cookies by then!" Lionpaw protested.
"Then go take them to her right now!" Jaypaw yelled, attracting some attention.
"B-but she's in a different clan!" His voice dropped into a whisper. "And she's a medicine cat!"
"Who cares?" Leafpool wondered by them. "When I was your age, I fell in love with a tom in a different clan, and I'm a medicine cat. Would you like a needle?"
"And let's see how that turned out." Jaypaw muttered. "And no."
"It's okay." Firestar encouraged, walking up behind them. "I fell in love once too, when I first came to the clan. The medicine cats are always the cute ones."
Sandstorm suddenly stormed over to them (get it? Stormed, as in SandSTORM? Ha ha? No? Never mind.). Furious, she slapped Firestar hard over the side of the face. "Are you saying I'm not cute? Is that it? I'm not good enough for you?!"
She trudged away before anyone could answer, and sat depressed in a corner beside Cinderpaw.
"I fell in love with a cat from another clan." Graystripe offered. "It turned out okay until she died."
"What?!" Millie exclaimed. "I thought I was your first love! You're telling me you dated someone else, and then used me as a replacement?!"
"What? No!" Graystripe protested, as Millie began whacking him.
"My love turned out okay." Bluestart stated, hovering beside them. "I mean, my husband from another clan died, but at least 1 of my 3 kits is still alive. And she became leader!"
"Can we just assume that everyone's ignoring the code?" Jaypaw muttered.
"Says the person who's in love with a stick." Rock giggled from behind him.
"Shut up!" Jaypaw hissed through gritted teeth.
"Jaypaw's in love with a stick! Jaypaw's in love with a stick!" Rock taunted.
"I SAID SHUT UP!" Jaypaw pulled out a massive Halo gun, and opened fired on the blind, bald cat.
The camp shuttered as Rock was obliterated in a massive explosion. Then he burst out of the cloud of smoke, totally fine. "I am immortal! I am all knowing! And I know Jaypaw's in love with a stick!"
"Dude!" Shouted Fallen Leaves. "Get back to the tunnels! You're not suppose to leave them! We have a card game to finish bro!" Then he noticed Hollypaw, who'd come out to watch the chaos. "Oh! Hey there little lady. If you ever want to visit or call, here's my number and address." He handed her a slip of paper, winking.
Hollypaw blushed deeply, and quickly turned and scooted off. "Eww!" Jaypaw exclaimed. "You're like, a thousand moons older than her! Don't date my sister, you creepy old man."
"Says the person who's in love with a stick." Rock commented, suppressing another fit of laughter without success.
"I am so done with you're people." Jaypaw fled the scene, going back inside to play Halo.
"Jaypaw loves a stick... not me?" Half Moon joined Sandstorm, Cinderpaw, and Millie, sitting depressed in the corner.
"Hey guys! I got a turkey!" Brackenfur came running in, dragging a massive bird behind him.
"That's my apprentice." Graystripe stated proudly. "See? It's all thanks to my great mentoring."
"What are you talking about?" Brackenfur stared at him. "I never thought of you as my mentor. Firestar was the one who actually paid attention to me, and bothered to train me. I respect him three times as much as I respect you."
Someone new was just added to the depressed corner.
"Oh." Mumbled Sandstorm. "I guess we didn't need the turkey outfit."
...
Later that day, the Thanksgiving feast had finally been prepared. There was cranberries, potatoes, carrots, turkey, stuffing, gravy, bread, and anything else you could possibly want. Surprisingly, most of it was made by Dustpelt, who admitted to being a better cook then he let on.
That night everyone, sang, drank, ate and laughed at each others mistakes. Cinderpaw planned her revenge, Millie continued hitting Graystripe, and Brackenfur was congratulated for catching the turkey. Graystripe stuffed himself full, until he was even fatter than you could think possible.
"Hey, Jaypaw, do you know where Lionpaw went?" Hollypaw asked, glancing at Fluffy, who was sitting on the table, rapidly eating everyone's napkins.
"Huh?" Jaypaw stopped, halfway through wolfing down a bun. "I think he went to RiverClan, to give some cookies to Willowpaw."
Beside him, Cinderpaw just got really depressed. "He doesn't love me..." She kept mumbling.
"Hey guys." A tired voice made them all turn. Lionpaw was trudging up to them, a bright red pawmark on his face.
"Got rejected?" Jaypaw asked, without sympathy.
"Yeah..." Lionpaw trailed off, watching the pink bunny steal some cat's fork.
"That's the second time, shouldn't you give up on her?" Hollypaw asked, taking a swig of milk.
"Maybe..." He mumbled, sitting down. "There is this other girl I kinda like."
"Who?" Hope flared in Cinderpaw's eyes.
"Splash When Fish Leaps. She's from the Tribe of Rushing Water." He let out a longing sigh. "She was so cute... and kind... Maybe I should give her cookies..."
"Are you sure you want to move on that fast?" Jaypaw asked, glancing at Cinderpaw, who'd returned to her depressed corner.
"Yep!" Lionpaw answered instantly, diving into a plate of turkey.
Suddenly, the doorbell at the entrance of camp rang, and everyone stopped feasting, looking confused. Everyone waited as Brambleclaw got up, and trotted over to the entrance, before peeking through a hole in the door. "I don't recognize him, and he's not from any clan." Brambleclaw mumbled.
"Let him in!" Firestar responded instantly. "Everyone's welcome!"
Everyone knew Firestar could make really bad decisions, yet everyone listened to him. And that might have been a fatal mistake.
The Deputy opened the door, and a tom walked in, gazing around with knowing eyes. Jaypaw sucked in a breath. Why did his dreams always have to come true?
"Excuse me," Brambleclaw said, with more caution that Firestar." But who're you?"
The stranger grinned, and looked over then all. "My name is Sol."
Thanks for reading, and I don't have that much to say on this chapter.
The next one will be posted on Halloween.
Please review!