(Oh right and 3/13 on the failure charge for not having a scarred leader)
CW: Blood, animal violence, suicidal ideation, child endangerment, PTSD?
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MOON 12
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Spring had sprung in ThrashClan, and for the first time in a while, an apprentice would earn her warrior name.
Bloomheart was thrilled to be a warrior, and the extra free time gave her more time to spend with Aldershine.
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Seeing his sister napping in the middle of camp peacefully, Nectarpaw shuffled his paws and made his way over to Badgersky.
He felt awkward about asking his mentor this after everything, but she was still his sister so... "Hey uhm, Badgersky.. do you think we could go on patrol with Fernstar and Ferretpaw..?"
He expected the sandy tom to flinch like he often did when she was mentioned, but he smiles instead. "Sounds like a nice idea."
Nectarpaw flattens his ears. "A..are you just saying that? I thought you were scared of her."
Badgersky goes quiet, peering over at Ferretpaw roll over and sun herself.
"No, I don't think so.. anymore. When you think about it, what happened to Turtlestar was more of an accident. I don't believe she thought things would get out of hand like that." He chuckles uncomfortably, "Neither did I when I helped carry her to camp... But she deserves another chance. She really seems like she's turned over a new leaf."
Nectarpaw nods nervously and Badgersky puts his tail on his shoulder. "That's what you want to do right? She's your sister after all."
Nectarpaw nods, and quietly adds, "I..I want to know what made her change her mind..."
"Then there's no better time to ask, hm?"
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Meanwhile Silver went on patrol with Frostmist again, who was already gossiping. "No, me and Lightning aren't going to have kits, asking about it more won't make it happen faster."
"Ooh~ But it will happen, hmm?"
Silver chuckles. "We'll see." Admittedly it was exciting to think about the possibility now that Ferretpaw had settled down.
While walking through and admiring some new blooms, Cloverpaw puts some flowers in Lostpaw's fur. The tortishell lets out a kitten sneeze.
Silver chuckles. "Oh dear, seems our little fighter has allergies-"
"O..or sickness?" Cloverpaw squeaks, eyes wide.
"I'm too tough for that!" Lostpaw exclaims, sneezing again.
"Come on, Cloverpaw, we'll take her to Aldershine, you'll see." Frostmist smiles reassuringly.
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Tornpaw was happy to join Lightning and Bloomheart on patrol at first, but Honeypaw's dour mood would soon dampen his spirits.
"I..I'm so glad nobody died at the last Thrash!" Tornpaw purrs.
"Whatever, it won't last." Honeypaw says.
"How could you say that? N..now you're going to jinx it to happen!"
"Jinx shminx." Honeypaw rolls his eyes. "Ferretpaw does whatever she feels like. You know how she is."
Tornpaw flattens his ears and looks to Lightning. "She's changed, don't you think?"
"H..how am I supposed to know?" Lightning huffs.
Bloomheart had been surprisingly quiet for the argument and flicks her ear. "Yeah, she's changed, for sure." Tornpaw looks mildly comforted by that.
Honeypaw raises a brow. To him she whispers, "How she's changed is an entirely different story."
As the patrol nears camp, Ferretpaw slinks by, pelt ruffled and streaked with blood.
"Told you..." Honeypaw mutters, stalking back himself.
"What happened?" Lightning and Bloomheart blurt out as the rest of Fernstar's patrol comes trailing after.
"Ah... there was a loner..." Badgersky murmurs.
"Emphasis on was." Nectarpaw adds, face pale. Fernstar shudders.
"I..I don't want to know..." Tornpaw whimpers Fernstar nods, ushering him and Lostpaw back to camp.
"What did the loner look like?" Lightning asks tersely.
Nectarpaw blinks. "O..Oh- er..." Nectarpaw fumbles back, not expecting that question. "Big ginger queen with.. green eyes? Real messy fur. Older than you guys but uhm..."
"Younger than me," Badgersky chimes.
"Yeah! And she kind of walked around like this..."
The tan apprentice takes some steps in a delicate, haughty way, apparently mimicking the loner.
Lightning relaxes. "Oh, okay. I didn't know her... that well."
Bloomheart raises a brow. "You know too many random cats, Lightning."
"Whatever."
Bloomheart shakes her head and nods to them encouragingly. "So what happened?"
Nectarpaw trembles. "W..well, I was trying to ask Ferretpaw about some stuff, but she didn't really wanna say... A..anyway- we ran into this loner and she was being pretty ornery, so we were gonna chase her off uhm... Ferretpaw went right at her and it was mostly them fighting. I..in a bad place..."
Badgersky puts his tail around Nectarpaw. "By the storm drain. With all the snow melt, the water was high... and well... it would have been too dangerous to swim after her."
"So she pushed her in?" Bloomheart asks.
Nectarpaw nods.
"Damn. Sucks for her." Lightning breathes.
Bloomheart shoves him a bit in annoyance.
"She was kind of a nightmare. Probably had it coming." The tom huffs.
Badgersky frowns. "I don't know about that..."
"Well if she had to go all attack dog on *someone* better her than someone who don't deserve it." Lightning shrugs, exiting before Bloomheart could chastise him again.
The three take a moment of silence before Badgersky hesitantly speaks up again. "The only thing is... Ferretpaw tried to jump in after before I stopped her."
Bloomheart blinks, not sure what to make of that.
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MOON 13
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(Next moon! 4/13 days without a scarred leader failure charge for hard mode!)
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The next moon Palepaw would begin his apprenticeship. Bloomheart felt the obvious choice to Fernstar, though mentor's bias or the fact he felt she'd be 100% on his side when it came to feelings for Ferretpaw remained unclear.
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Nectarpaw went to grab a bird from the freshkill pile, but his brother Honeypaw snatched it up first instead. Silver shook his head.
"You could have taken literally any other prey." The deputy sighs.
"Uh, we'll share." Honeypaw murmurs, voice muffled, but tone indicating he had no intention of doing so.
"I think you better share the whole thing and pick something else." Silver says, more stern this time.
"He could share with me!" Cloverpaw mews.
"Not the point, Cloverpaw..." Silver mutters under his breath.
Nectarpaw sneaks off with a small mouse to avoid the conflict.
Lightning twitches his tail, watching them. "What's with them?" He asks Badgersky.
The sandy tom was grooming his paw. "Oh mm... I feel like Honeypaw picks on his brother too much, so I asked Silver to step in."
Lightning rolls his eyes. "You could have asked me then, I'm his mentor."
"Ah right, my mistake..." Badgersky murmurs. He twitches his tail, reconsidering. "I kind of had a feeling you may be where he's getting it from is all."
"Unbelievable." Lightning grunts getting to his paws and stalking over. He snatches the bird from Honeypaw.
They gray apprentice's eyes widen.
"This is for me and Silver, buzz off."
"Rude!" Cloverpaw huffs, storming off.
Silver facepalms.
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"Forget the bird for now." Silver mews, glancing around for Lostpaw. "We might as well follow them for a patrol."
"Oh, okay," Lightning blinks.
Lostpaw trails behind a little, but once they catch up, they start to smooth things over.
It was hard to stay mad after what they found.
A little brown kitten stumbles her way into Lightning's foot.
A pale loner with dark paws and muzzle hastily snatches her back, but flattens his ears hesitantly at the patrol.
"You're ThrashClan, right?"
"That's right." Lightning replies.
The father sighs, placing his daughter with a second, tortishell one.
"My mate thought you all were a bit crazy... but she's not around anymore... Do you think you could take me and our daughters in?"
"I don't see why not." Silver smiles reassuringly.
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Coldpatch joins Fernstar and Badgersky for patrol after being caught up on clan life.
Nectarpaw awkwardly tries to make conversation with Ferretpaw by telling her his 'weird' interaction with Honeypaw and Silver. Ferretpaw shrugs and goes off on an unrelated tangent about catching a rabbit once.
Eventually Badgersky freezes at an all too familiar scent.
"Fox..." He murmurs. "Its probably come looking for somewhere to nest for spring."
"Could be kitting." Coldpatch adds.
Fernstar gulps, "We should have a closer look then... Figure out a way to drive it off."
Badgersky takes a deep breath and addresses the apprentices. "You two stay back and keep a look out. Run if the foxes come after you."
Nectarpaw nods shakily and hides, watching carefully. Ferretpaw doesn't bother and sits with her back turned, staring blankly.
Fernstar sticks his head in the fox hole, and the fox inside snaps at him before he can tell if its the only occupant. He does this several times before the fox angrily burst from the hole.
"Run, run, run!" Badgersky squeaks. Nectarpaw quickly races after him.
"Come on." Coldpatch grunts, pulling on Ferretpaw's scruff when she doesn't immediately follow.
Fernstar bats the fox in the muzzle once to distract it, but it nearly catches him before he launches up a tree.
The fox barks and yips at him, but can't find a way up.
Ferretpaw follows Coldpatch in a daze, before the fox can spot them.
Eventually the yips die down and Fernstar regroups with the rest of the patrol. "I..it went back to its burrow..." He explains. "We'll have to try again later."
Badgersky sighs, "At least no one was hurt. And its on the edge of our territory, so it may not bother us as much as the last one would have."
Fernstar nods. He was satisfied with that assessment.
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Bloomheart ended up talking Palepaw on patrol with Tornpaw and Frostmist.
She liked the older warrior's sense of humor quite a bit, and so did Palepaw. They swapped pranking tips and giggled, much to Tornpaw's dismay.
"And when he woke up, he was licking blue berry juice out of his fur for hours!" Frostmist laughs.
"Lightning really fell for that?" Palepaw giggles.
"Reminds me of the time we convinced Tornpaw he was shrinking. All we had to do was add extra moss to all the apprentice's nests." Bloomheart snorts.
"T..that's not funny! N..nobody wants to be the size of a mouse!" Tornpaw squeaks.
"How about a squirrel?" Frostmist pokes him.
"N..no!" He squeaks again.
"Don't worry, bud- cat sizes only go one way and you've gotten plenty bigger since then." Bloomheart mews.
Tornpaw seems relieved, but Palepaw giggles some more.
"What?"
"Oh nothing. Just thinking."
"Bloomheart, tell him to stop."
"Sorry, I'm supposed to be grabbing some herbs for Aldershine." Bloomheart chuckles, splitting off from the group.
Palepaw follows her.
"Can I help?"
"Oh, sure!" Bloomheart squints, trying to think of how to describe what they needed. "There's this wide fuzzy leaf with blue flowers. Borage leaves. Just put your paw on it and you'll be able to tell. And I think she said there'd be some that way."
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Palepaw nods, scampering in the direction Bloomheart points. It was exciting to be doing medicine cat stuff and warrior stuff all in one. He felt lucky to have Bloomheart as his mentor when she was such good friends with Aldershine.
He hums to himself, touching plants occasionally as he went to feel the texture. Just as his mentor had said, there was a plant with a fuzzy texture and he lets out a pleased gasp when he finds it.
I wonder if I could use it for a prank somehow, too! The ginger tabby grins to himself.
He tugs on the leaves, a surprisingly more difficult task removing them than he'd expected.
"Need some help?"
An unfamiliar meow comes from behind him.
"Oh, sure-" Palepaw answers absentmindedly, and turns towards the voice. Whoever was behind it slams him on the back of the head before he sees them.
"Ah-!" Palepaw cries out. The stranger shoves his face against the ground, pinning him there.
"First, you help me..." The cats says.
"H..help!" Palepaw screams.
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"Palepaw!" Bloomheart gasps, dropping her herbs and running to his aid.
"Stop! Take another step and I'll tear his sweet little head off." The rouge growls, tearing at Palepaw's ear with his claw.
Palepaw cries in pain. "W..why..?" He whimpers.
Bloomheart bristles, hesitating. "Don't hurt him. What do you want?" She growls.
"Fetch me a rabbit, then we'll talk." The rouge says. He was a spidery old tom covered in scars.
Bloomheart swishes her tail, wondering if she should try and find the others for help. What kind of careless mentor would let this happen to their apprentice? No, she had to fix this herself.
"Absolutely not." Bloomheart snarls, lunging at the tom. He yowls in surprise and is bowled over easily. He wrestles enough from momentum to roll away, but not before the dark warrior slashes him across the bridge of his nose.
"Gah-! Dot my dose!" The rouge stumbles back.
"What's going on here?" Frostmist runs to meet them with Tornpaw following behind nervously.
Palepaw whimpers and trembles into a ball. Bloomheart stands over him protectively. "Taking care of some trash." She hisses and curls her lip.
Frostmist glares and steps forward. "...Is that you Coal? Get out of here you old creep, we have you out numbered!"
"Baredly..." Coal mutters. He hisses at Tornpaw, who ducks behind Bloomheart. He scuttles back when Frostmist swipes at him.
"Alright, alright, I'm goibing... But I'll be back!" He runs off, tripping over a root and hitting his head on a few branches as he leaves.
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Palepaw sniffles and buries his face in Bloomheart's pelt. "C..can't bee.. lieve ghk... Happened. *Again*." He hiccups and sobs almost unintelligible. Bloomheart's heart aches for him and she licks his head gently.
"A..are you okay..?" Tornpaw asks dumbly.
"Oh honey... he's gone now..." Frostmist flattens her ears and speaks to the apprentice in a reassuring tone.
"N..no!" Palepaw cries out, backing away suddenly and shaking his head.
He blinks and looks up at Bloomheart with wide shaky eyes.
"Deep breaths, Palepaw, you're safe now..." She murmurs, keeping her voice steady.
Palepaw does take some breaths. He sniffles and shakes his head some more. "I..I won't be safe... B..being this *weak*." He chokes out.
Bloomheart shakes her head. "You're not weak Palepaw... You are so brave. You even got your first scar." She mews and grooms his bloody ear.
Palepaw's sniffling starts to quiet down, relaxing slightly more with each lick. He takes in a deep breath.
"That old stinker is the weak one!" Frostmist huffs, "He always goes after cats littler than him, or when they're alone."
Palepaw shuffles his paws. "I..I think.. I think I need to challenge Ferretpaw."
Bloomheart and Tornpaw freeze at that.
"Don't push yourself so soon..." Bloomheart mews. "You've got plenty of time to try that when you're bigger."
Palepaw shuffles his paws. "Y..you're right... M..maybe I'll try Lostpaw first. A..and then Ferretpaw when I'm ready."
"Lostpaw's pretty tough!" Frostmist purrs encouragingly, oblivious to the history with the other Thrashes. "She beat Ferretpaw, you know, so if you beat her, it'll be like you beat both of em!"
"Y..yeah..." Palepaw smiles sheepishly.
"Let's get you home already. Aldershine can look at your cut." Bloomheart says, wrapping her tail around him.
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When they returned to camp and talked the situation over with Aldershine, she let him know that in situations like this, newly scarred warriors were allowed to make Thrash challenges.
"Will you accept my challenge..?" Palepaw asks Lostpaw.
She'd been a bit gloomy all day but brightens at the request. "Of course I will! I..I mean- I am basically the champ right now. I won't go easy just coz you're new!"
"T..that's fine." Palepaw smiles.
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THRASH TIME! Vote "Orange Heart" to cheer for Palepaw to win or vote "Map" to cheer for Lostpaw to win!
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Fernstar seemed a bit nervous about letting his daughter fight again, but not nearly as nervous as he'd been about Lostpaw fighting Ferretpaw.
Lostpaw stretched out her paws and hurtled herself at Palepaw.
"Go, Lostpaw, go!" Fernstar yowls.
"This should be easy!" Cloverpaw chimes in.
The ginger apprentice jumps back and swats her over the head.
"Nice one, Palepaw!" Bloomheart purrs.
Frostmist was a little torn between which apprentice to cheer for and calls out general words of encouragement that could apply to either side. Tornpaw and Badgersky also cheer for Palepaw.
All in all the fighting didn't get too vicious, more like a regular apprentice's training session. Ultimately Lostpaw rather underestimated her opponent. "Oof!" The calico gasps when he pins her down. "O..okay. I'm beat!" Palepaw smiles, purring as cats cheer in congratulations.
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5/13 on the failure charge for no scarred leader (hard mode)
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MOON 13 ALLEGIANCES
THRASHCLAN
LEADER
FERNSTAR - Golden tabby tom with dark blue eyes. Altruistic. Formerly a loner.
KITS: LOSTPAW, PALEKIT
DEPUTY
SILVER - Silver speckled tom with amber eyes. Confident. Formerly a loner. APPRENTICES: CLOVERPAW, LOSTPAW
MEDICINE CAT
ALDERSHINE - Amber eyed tortishell molly. Altruistic. Excellent fighter.
WARRIORS
BADGERSKY - Plump, longhair tom with cream colored fur and golden eyes. Compassionate, very smart. APPRENTICE: NECTARPAW
LIGHTNING - Golden and white tom with hazel eyes. Confident. Formerly a loner. APPRENTICE: HONEYPAW
FROSTMIST - Light silver-blue molly with pale green eyes. Playful. Formerly a loner.
BLOOMHEART - Black molly with furless patches on her muzzle and paws, golden eyes. Strange. Great speaker. APPRENTICE: PALEPAW
LOUDPATCH - Pale tom with chocolate point markings on his muzzle and legs. Yellow eyes. Cold. Formerly a loner.
KITS: NIGHTKIT, LILYKIT
APPRENTICES
HONEYPAW - Pale gray longhair tom with a lighter muzzle and amber eyes. Responsible. MENTOR: LIGHTNING
NECTARPAW - Cream tom with dark blue eyes. Bold. MENTOR: BADGERSKY
FERRETPAW - Pale gray molly with hazel eyes. Fierce. MENTOR: FERNSTAR
CLOVERPAW - Black and white molly with ginger tabby patches and green eyes. Clever. MENTOR: SILVER
TORNPAW - Cream tom with a black nose and green eyes. Careful. MENTOR: UNDECIDED
LOSTPAW - Tortishell molly with dark blue eyes. Fierce. MENTOR: SILVER
PALEPAW - Ginger tabby tom with a pale muzzle and pale green eyes. Shameless. MENTOR: BLOOMHEART
KITS
PALEKIT - Snowy white tom with a brown 'mask' marking and striped tail. Green eyes. Daring.
NIGHTKIT - Chocolate tortishell molly with green eyes. Insecure.
LILYKIT - Chocolate and white molly with amber eyes. Sweet.
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STARCLAN
STARCLAN GUIDE
IVYGORSE - (I never made note of their appearance unfortunately.)
DIED IN MOON 1
ASHSTAR - Lean, pale gray molly with furless patches on her snout and paws. Golden eyes. Bloodthirsty, fantastic teacher. Thrashed by Hickorystar. (Bled out)
HAREFUR - Shorthair white tom with a red nose, a brown patch on one ear, and dark blue eyes. Troublesome, strong connection to StarClan. Thrashed by Hickorystar. (Neck wound)
DIED IN MOON 3
FLOWERPATCH - Plump calico molly with green eyes and a brown tail. Compassionate, great storyteller. Died of old age. 181 moons.
CLOVERBLINK - Eldery tom with dark gray, almost black fur, furless patches on his face and paws, and green eyes. Fierce, excellent hunter. Died of old age. 197 moons.
DIED IN MOON 5
SNIPKIT - White molly with ginger tipped ears and tail. Dark blue eyes. Insecure. Died of contagious disease.
BRIGHTMOON - Shorthair cream molly with hazel eyes. Strange. Formerly a loner. Died of contagious disease.
DIED IN MOON 7
BUZZARDFUR - Pale gray molly with a lighter muzzle, notch in her ear, and dark blue eyes. Cold. Formerly a loner. Unexplained death.
DIED IN MOON 9
HICKORYSTAR - Large gray furred molly with white speckles, green eyes, and a sizable scar across her back, and a fresher one across her face. Lonesome, smart. Thrashed by Ferretpaw. (Drowned)
DIED IN MOON 10
TURTLESTAR - White she cat with bright blue eyes and ginger tabby patches. Empathetic, excellent fighter. Thrashed by Ferretpaw. (Hit by car)
DIED IN MOON 11
MUMBLELEAF - Light brown tabby with green eyes and white chest and paws. Died of an accident. (Ate contaminated piece of prey)
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CATS OUTSIDE THE CLAN
ROUGES
COAL - Scarred, spidery tom.
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Original Vote Counts
Palepaw VS Lostpaw
3 : 2 - Coinflip = Lostpaw is Spared