#OC: Leaflitter

[husknoises]

Profile art for my Night Elf Druid, Leaflitter!

[quiverpaw]

proof i Have Been drawing guys it's just. it' just all ocs

[mossmarsh]

just finished barkbeetle's lesbian sister and had her wife done with for a couple days now -- i'll post her soon as well!

i think i'll stick with this style for now -- the scribbly pen marks ig. also VERY proud of the colors in this one

[featheredmasque]

These guys are just a few of my own personal OCs. We've got Neon Sunset, Blueberry Jam, Strawberry Mash, Leaflitter and the angry pone at the end here is Sassy Pants. I can't get over how silly that picture is. XD She's so mad. lol! I don't have any cutiemark designs for anyone but Sassy sadly... I'll get to that eventually.

[bonefall]

Hey Bonefall! Got a wide and weird variety of Clanmew things to share/ask about! Spent some time translating a mix of straight OCs and also clangen cats, and thus I’ve got some names to show off and also a varied list of words I ran into a lack of.

Cherryclaw - Obeorussyskat

Cherry leaves who will unsheathe claws

Also known as Sookie, this is the warrior name I’ve given to my cat. Name is coming from cherry, making it specifically the leaves of the cherry tree since she’s a beautiful tortie, and then yskat from the term for unsheathing claws, as I wanted a more active term than just referring to the body part. If I’m getting how nicknames work right, I think a suitable nickname would be Obekat, but you might notice a better one.

This also turned up a word I think would be helpful - what would be the term for specifically leaves which have fallen to the ground in leaffall? Like, piles of rustling leaves on the ground. I think that’d fall a lot closer to what I was getting at.

Cranestar - Bwabwashai

Egret star / Cranelight / Egret who shines

Previously known as Bwabwashemi, this one is using the egret as a reasonably similar bird which had a word in the lexicon.

Oakbranch - Byochchobyrr

Oak tree branch

This one was a big chunk of time and turned up a decent chunk of words desired, as Oakbranch is a cleric and fathers a litter of kittens with Cranestar and thus I decided to dabble in dishonour names with him, though it would be given by a different leader likely.

I ended up wanting the general meaning of “tree branch dead from breaking a vow”, so using Babechok in place of the prefix and using a term for a broken vow as the suffix - ideally a term for specifically the cleric vow, but a general promise would work too. Thus, under this I was wondering what the words for promise/vow, honourable, broken vow, forbidden, and dishonourable would be. (Don’t worry I’m gonna add a bullet list at the end)

Nightfall - Mebwynfe

Vesper fall

Nickname attempt Mebfe? This is one of my oldest cats created, along with her sister following.

Moonamber - Shomaogi

Moon resin

Nickname attempt Shogi? She’s a cleric and sisters with Nightfall.

Batwing - Shi’poafafa

Noctule (biggest bat named) who fluttered

Nickname attempt Shifa? This one also turned up a word request- the Lexicon has a word for specifically a feathered wing, but not the skin wings of bats - what would that be? I’m actually really happy with what I ended up with, but it feels like a gap which should be considered.

Following are more rapid-fire clangen names, and then a list of words from above and this list which I couldn’t find.

Blizzardhare - Os’hauooyywaya - blizzard hare

Cressmark - Shushchafakonpen - stream plant patch fur patch

Fawnstripe - Myaaseek - baby deer long thick stripe

Ghostdazzle - Kooskepshayu - ghost lights source

Riversong - Ssbassoowamew - River lullaby

Spruceneedle - Fiffnyyp - Douglass fir pine needle

Streakstar - Seekshai - long thick stripe star

Swampdusk - Kolpfawmun - swamp dusk

Talonrump - Kachswash - claw tail

Beavertuft - Morfafaofa - general mustelids (otter) tuft of hair

Missing words which I think are plausible for the base region from this set - Watercress, Mark, Rump, Talon

Final List of Words I was Missing

A bat’s wing

Leaflitter / fallen leaves on the ground in fall

Honourable

Dishonourable

Vow / promise

Broken vow / promise

Watercress

Mark

Rump

Talon

Thanks for making up such an interesting conlang, I had a great time poking through the lexicon and naming cats.

Oh my god you even made a list organizing all your requests I love you so much you have no idea

I need to update Yet Another masterpost (And we just got the Lexicon up to date!) so let me hook you up to all the terms you need;

Types of Wings

There are a LOT of words for specific types of wing in Clanmew, related to the fact Clanmew is a language of obligate carnivores and active hunters. There isn't just "Flying," there are a LOT of types of "flight" and each wing produces a very different kind of rapid movement.

Someday I will also expand on the types of Beof, feathered wings.

Bat wing, has a bit of a "tragic" connotation if not used in the context of a living bat, as dead "songbirds" are a very sad thing to Clan cats = Pafr

Hard, outside wing of some insects, such as beetles, "Shield" = Bakbur

Clear, iridescent flight wing of insects, "Elytra" = Kaskr

Beautiful, patterned wing of a butterfly or moth, "painted" by StarClan. Has a holy connotation = Wesk

Pectoral fin of a fish, NOT the tail-fin, the "arm" wing = Sseo

Values

Here's honor-related terms, in order of least insulting to most insulting.

Honor = Kurruar To say something is honorable (good thing), the suffix -wang is appended. Kurruarwang. Honorness. To negate, the prefix Nyar is applied. Nyarkurruarwang, Not-Honor-Ness. You can come back from dishonor, it's the politest way to phrase that someone has not been acting in line with the value of Honor.

Beastliness, gauchness, lacking in good taste = Ragywar This is usually applied to taste, meaning a cat who will eat raw meat or bite through their tunnelbuns, but it could also be used in a context meaning that the cat acts like an "animal." Driven by lesser instincts.

Cannibalism/Eats its own young/Acting in extreme self-interest = Mwyrgna This is the lowest kind of NATURAL evil... but still natural. It's the evil of cuckoo birds, frightened animals that eat their own young, killing out of self-interest. VERY serious insult.

Unnatural Evil/Cruelty/Sadism = Yaonyyw This is not something that cuckoo birds are even capable of. It's unnatural evil. It's pleasure at seeing another thing suffer, for no other reason than to see it in pain. It's what Clan cats think humans do when they cut the claws off their kittypets. It's unspeakable, but rare.

And on vows,

Promise = Minki NOT a holy vow. Just one you make between people. Also can be used to mean "reliable," "Capable of keeping promises."

Vow/Oath = Shemiyyo A sacred promise, one you make on authority of your holy name. VERY few things are vows of this level-- the most common vow to make is the one you do during your Warrior Name Ceremony, making an oath to uphold the code.

ONES I HAVE ON-HAND

I answered this ask a while back which includes the word for "talon," Chuag, the unretractable claw of a non-feline animal.

I also answered this one for beavers after you'd already sent this, beavers are actually England-compliant, surprisingly

Fallenleaf's name is over here, step-by-step walking through its etymology even! Her name in Clanmew, Wowaruss is basically "Leaf Litter," but literally "Beneathleaf," the fallen layer of leaves in a forest.

CRESS

THREE types of Cress. As a treat. Any of these can translate to cress if you'd like, or the alternate translations I'm including.

Watercress (Nasturtium officinale) = Qwerru From Duck + Leaf, because this is a favorite fodder of ducks and geese. VERY unhealthy for cats, doesn't cause instant poisoning but WILL lead to kidney stones if eaten a lot. Thankfully, it also tastes Bad.

Stune (Cardamine hirsuta) = Berrsha Also called "Hairy Bittercress" in English, used as a medicinal herb. Widespread, very common, and seen in early Spring which can make it very useful for Clerics running low on other medicines. "Stune" comes from Old English btw. it's an archaic name for this plant but I do what i want. Language is an illusion and so are pants.

Rocket (Barbarea vulgaris) = Eberr Called "Bitter Wintercress" or "Yellow Rocket" in English, a much better version of stune. Pops up in abundant, cheerful flowers, hence the English name. NOT EATEN; used as a poultice for treating wounds.

Everything Else

Just a couple more things of assorted flavors;

Mark = Neb A scent marker, DOESN'T JUST APPLY TO SPRAYING but, yes, that is also a neb. A kitty "kiss" is also a mark being applied.

Anointed/Anointing/Will Anoint = Kembaneb/Kembane/Kemban To intentionally leave a mark, usually of a substance that smells nice, on a living thing. Has a spiritual connotation, used in some rituals. Can be used for a metaphorical kitty kiss, if your feelings are being returned, you're being brought into a family, etc. When Frostfur taught Cloudtail how to apply makeup to his dull, white pelt, teaching him how to look 'beautiful' as if she was officially accepting him as her son-in-law, THAT can also be considered an Anointing.

Border-Marked/Border-Marking/Will Border Mark = Ssognassa/Ssognass/Ssogna There's no way to get around this. This is spraying. It is urine. They are Cats. This is specifically when you are setting a scent mark, such as that for a border.

Glyph/Written Word/Character = Karm Like a letter! It's something written down. See the Glyphs.

And... rump. Honestly I'm always super confused by this one when I see it in Clangen? Like... My brain's always trying to place what that means.

Is it like, a tuft on the lower spine? Is it the "butt button" that makes a kitty stretch their booty up when you scratch it? Is it the flank of the upper leg? Does it just mean butt cheek?? Who wants to be named BUTTCHEEK?

SO HERE. HERE'S EVERY ONE OF THOSE THINGS, YOU PICK

Spine (the entire back) = Chabak

Rump-tuft, could also apply to "pantaloon" tufts as seen on some longhaired breeds = Chaofa

Rump/Butt Zone/sensitive spot on the lower back of a cat = Chawka (Also used to describe something they have a "soft spot" or passion for)

Belly Zone/Spot that cats don't like having touched on their belly = Bowka (Also used to describe "weak point")

Upper leg/Haunch = Pwaio Sometimes translated as the "foot" suffix. When used in a name, means quick to spring or a good runner, usually outside of WindClan.

Buttcheek = Soopen Also the present-tense of "Sitting." The butt, the thing you use to sit down with.

[mycatissupertiny]

My favourite colour is desaturated brown sorry for being boring @sootslash​

Template can be found here

[dsabian]

The Face In The Teeth

I saw a picture... somewhere. Of teeth around a woman's face. And while I can't find it again, my brain sparked off and I wrote a story. Short story Horror OCs Hurt/No comfort Panic Attack Also posted on AO3 ___

Every once in a while, at a certain spot in the woods, I can hear crying.

The place isn’t easy to get to. You have to know what you’re doing in the woods; which plants to avoid, what animals are around, and it isn’t anywhere near the normal trails. I only found it the first time by following wounded game. In fact, there are so many barriers, I have to wonder if it isn’t that way on purpose. Like someone has been here before and has made it this way for a reason. But the brambles and firethorn are clearly old, and I can’t for the life of me think of why this area would warrant special attention. As I get close, I can hear the crying again. For the first time in my life, I answer it.

“Hello?”

The crying stops, abruptly, and I listen for anything further. There’s silence for long enough, I wonder if I’ve gone dotty, if there was ever any crying at all, but then there’s a quiet little hiccupping sort of sob.

“Hello?” I ask again, walking toward the sound. My feet crunch on the leaflitter, my usual practice of walking quietly forgotten in the face of my curiosity.

“No, no! Stop!” The voice, a girl’s voice, I think, sounds so panicked that I stop automatically, one foot in the air. I’m all of two paces away from a little grove. Tall trees, old and white like birch rise up in a ring in the midst of the usual pine and larch. I lower my foot and try to peer through a gap in between their pale trunks. I can see dappled sunlight, and deep leaflitter, tree roots and a few sharp looking stones, but I can’t see the owner of the voice.

“Where are you?” I ask.

There’s another pause, and I’m almost ready to start walking forward again, when there’s another sound. At first I think she’s crying again, but the sound builds until I can make out a wet, broken sort of laughter.

“I don’t know.” Her voice is a broken as the laughter. Lost and desperate and hurt. “I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know…” It turns back into proper crying again, great heaving sobs, and I step through the trees to see if I can help.

There is a girl. Or at least, a girl’s face. She looks around my age, maybe a little older, with deep brown hair and deep brown eyes, very like my mother’s. Her face is surrounded by teeth. Great, big, sharp and pointy teeth, the biggest ones either sides of her ears, trailing off to smaller ones that meet above her head and below her chin. The mass of it sticks out from a tree, roughly a foot above my head. A sideways mouth with puckered bark for lips. The teeth glisten slightly in the dappled light.

I can’t see anything of the rest of her. My first thought is she’s climbed in a hollow and gotten herself stuck, except… I can’t see how she can fit. I can’t see any hollow, other than the one her face sticks out from, not on any side of the tree, and the whole thing’s only as wide as my waist the whole way round.

“No! Don’t look! Don’t stay!” she yells. My eyes flit back to hers.

“Run, move! Blink!”

I try. I have no plans to leave her here, but she sounds so scared that I try. And find that I can’t. I can’t move.

“I’m so, I’m so, sorry,” she hiccups out. “I really did try to be quiet.”

I can’t respond to her. I can’t blink.

“The last one called to me, and I promised myself I wouldn’t do the same, that I’d try to warn whoever…” The girl’s face is doing something odd now. Squirming, almost, if faces could squirm.

“You should try not to watch, once you’re… if you can. It’s… God. Oh God, I’m so sorry!” Her nose is getting shorter. It’s getting crooked in the middle, like she’s broken it at some point, like I did when I was six. The flesh almost looks like it melts as it reforms.

“I’m awful, I’m evil! But I’m so glad you’re here. So glad.” Her hair is getting shorter too. Going from long chocolate brown locks to a short, almost scraggly cut the colour of muddy straw. I’d put my hand to my head if I could, to check, to try to shake the doubt, the disbelief. The fear. Because she’s starting to look familiar. But I can’t move my arm and the fear is getting bigger.

I’m barely listening to what she’s saying anymore, my mind whirring as I try to figure out something, anything, to do. “I don’t know where we go when another comes to take our place, but I’m so glad. Anything’s better than this. So glad…anything…”

Her voice is fading. So is my vision, blurring in and out. I stare into her eyes, but they shift too, going from the deep brown of my mother’s to pale blue. Like mine. My best feature stares back at me, my own horror reflected and magnified.

I blink. Sharp hope floods through me like lightning. But blinking is as far as I get, and the fear that comes in the wake of the hope is all the more painful, all the more primal for the brief reprieve.

The girl is gone. My own image is gone. Instead, I’m looking down from slightly higher than I’ve ever stood. Before me, running out from me on either side, is a ring of pale trees. I refuse to look more closely at the glistening shapes in my peripheral vision. I have the strange sensation of my heart speeding up and yet… not being there at all. I can’t… I don’t… this can’t be real.

There’s something on the ground at my feet. I know what it is at the same time as I desperately, heartbreakingly, terrifyingly, do not want to know what it is. The dappled light falls softly into the grove, illuminating a body. A body with my hair. Wearing my clothes. My knife, a gift from my father, hangs from the belt. Pale blue eyes glitter in a shaft of sunlight, unblinking, staring up into the very tops of the trees.

“No, no, no, no, no…” I don’t know when I started crying, but tears and snot run down my face and I panic even more as I realise I can’t wipe them away. “No, no, no, no, no, no, no!” My voice is high, loud, wavery, but I can’t do anything more about that than I can about anything else.

My mind is ordering the rest of me to thrash, to push, to claw, to do anything. But I can’t feel anything beyond the slight breeze on my face and a pressure at the back of my head. I don’t think about teeth. About the things that usually accompany teeth. I don’t think about a tongue. A throat. A gullet. The pressure must be from where I’m lying in the leaflitter. I’ve fallen and hit my head and everything else is a fever dream. An out of body experience that isn’t even real. Can’t be real.

I lose time in my panic. A static of heaving breaths in a chest I can’t feel, wet face and frozen limbs, heart beating so fast I’m blind and numb and mindless.

A crunching sound brings me back. I look down, furiously blinking tears from my eyes. My panic has left me drained, my assertion that this can’t be real running on a loop in my head.

It takes such a long time to realise what I’m seeing. And once I do, I clench my eyes shut, a scream bubbling from me, this latest horror too much. I want to block my ears, but I can’t. I want to thrash and run and be home already, but I’m stuck. Stuck fast with no choice but to listen. As the deep leaflitter shifts. As roots that aren’t roots rise, and grip, and rend. As a ring of stones that aren’t stones, previously hidden by the leaflitter, shift into view to glisten in the afternoon light. Teeth, a giant mimicry of those around my head, open, close. Chew.

And as the noise goes on and on, I remember what the girl had said, about “when another comes to take our place…”

I remember all the thorns, the thickets surrounding this little ring of birch, off all the known tails, deep in the woods.

I wish I’d asked how long she’d been here.

[husknoises]

Some sketches I did at work of my belfsona, Elias Leaflitter, who lives in the woods and is a recluse and has War Anxiety