#drowning in fox fur

[southernhypnoshadow]

Breathtaking crystal fox!

[nimbusclan]

Moon 3, Part 1

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“Stop breathing on me.”

“I’m not anywhere near you, Fogpaw.”

“You are, because you’re close enough to be breathing on me.”

StarClan help her.

“What’s your problem?” Moonpaw asks, unable to keep claws of exasperation from sharpening her voice. She’s not anywhere near him. They’ve been walking side by side for ages, up this horrible, hot mountain to the highest edge of their territory, under the horrible, blazing sun, and only now he’s going to fuss that she’s been beside him this entire time?

“What’s your problem?” He mocks in a poor imitation of Moonpaw’s meow, sticking his tongue out at the end of his sentence. 

Moonpaw scoffs. The fur along her back is so warm it feels as though it’s been set aflame under the full force of the greenleaf sun, and her paws ache with the near-vertical climb up harsh ground. Short on patience, she lifts a paw and bats Fogpaw with it. He should consider himself lucky she kept her claws sheathed.

Fogpaw whirls on her, astonished and angry, and whaps her with a paw of his own. Her ears flatten and her fur bristles as she rears back, tail fluffed up to twice its size.

“Seriously, what is wrong with you?”

“You hit me first!”

“Because you’re being an idiot!”

“Well, if you would stop stepping all over me–”

“FINE!” Moonpaw screeches. A few songbirds lift from the sparse trees that cling to the cliffside, startled. “If I’m just so in your way, I’ll get out of your fur!”

“GOOD!” Fogpaw yowls back. “I’m going hunting by myself!”

Fogpaw stomps off and Moonpaw hisses at his retreating back, her own arched and angry. What is he being such a mouse-brain for? She whips around, intending to get her emotions out by sinking her claws into something, but her head is too cloudy with anger to focus on the scents surrounding her. It doesn’t help any that somebody had her training cut short because her mentor got buried under a pile of boulders.

Angry tears gathering in the corners of her eyes, she crouches down in defeat. She can’t do this. She can’t do this – pretending that everything is fine, walking in some random direction and hoping for a miracle. She’s walked every inch of this territory since her earliest apprentice days. The best place for a camp was drowned in rocks and rubble. They’re not going to find another one.

Despair sinks quick claws into her chest, overwhelms her with the thought, I wish StarClan had buried me, too.

A sharp blur of color speeds past her. Pupils dilating, her despair fades to the back of her mind as she hones in on a rabbit that’s sped by and settled several fox-lengths away, sniffing and nibbling at some grass that’s struggling to grow through the cracks in the rock.

She flexes her claws against the rough ground. Catching a juicy piece of fresh-kill is the best kind of therapy. 

Dropping into a hunter’s crouch, she drags her belly slowly over the mountain as she creeps up on the rabbit, closing the distance between them to a few tail-lengths. The wind is in her favor, and the rabbit hasn’t spotted her yet.

An ear-splitting yowl cuts through the air. The rabbit’s ears go up, eyes round and frightened, and it bounds away. Alarmed, Moonpaw’s ears also fly up, head swiveling in the direction of the noise.

Fogpaw.

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[chalkscrub]

chalkrub stuns in new oc-tober prompts

it's a text-heavy update...i love rambling

day 11: symbolism/themes/visual metaphor i.e my favourite things in the world - eng lit nerds make some noise!!!!!

goin back to day 11 with my favourite thing in the world: an unfinished sketchy concept. and also SYMBOLISM and themes and metaphor…and also dark green

so mika and heidi's story is haunted by one time they happened upon a drowned fox and pheasant in a disused canal, something which came at a weird time in their lives and which heidi made weirder by making cryptic suggestions about the whole thing, especially playing on mika’s (former) religious beliefs about spirit connections. Over time, it’s infected mika with budding paranoia in the form of nightmares, hallucinations and latent aquaphobia, all of which she begins seeing as premonitory

shan’t overexplain the symbolism even though my brain wants me to, but this was all inspired by seeing literally the exact same thing on a walk with my great aunt when I was like 6 or 7. the canal water was all covered in algae/pondweed so i’m guessing the fox chased the pheasant, they both mistook the canal for grass, then fell in and drowned together. even as a little kid I was like wrow this is so poignant and tragic and heavy with the potential for on-the-nose symbolism….. or alternatively it just looked cool as hell and felt kind of rare and special. either way, like 15 years later I was developing a new direction for a couple of initially completely unrelated ocs, i.e mika and heidi, and at some point in their story development, I was like now wait a second….this is just like that one time I saw those animals who chased each other into an early shared fate and drowned together…… and it fit them really well and also made everything click into place for the main story, it was kind of uncanny. Thank you nature for showing me cool things every day, and rip to the fox and pheasant you live in my mind forever and always

day 12: future

BEAS!!! beas i love you beas. initial beasley flavour on the left and future flavour on the right. his whole deal is he wants to start a cult, so he ventures to The Big City to make a name for himself. then he realises imps like him are a dime a dozen in the city and nobody cares about him, so he has to scrape by working a minimum wage job as a cashier in a tiny corner shop. he’s from a comic I (partially) made for uni, idk how his story goes exactly but I guess it probably ends with the typical sappy message of being yourself for yourself and not for fame or fortune or whatever. he gets up to hijincks, feels sad and depressed, and goes through the torment of living with his own mediocrity in a world that demands greatness. imps grow with power, not with age, so at the start of the story, even though he’s an adult, he’s still as small as when he was born/summoned/spawned/whatever. he’s got some shapeshifting prowess, so his future form is more an example of the kinds of feats he can pull off when his powers stabilise, and also his cool badass flaming eyes.

day 14: inspiration.

here's a convoluted block of text explaining the heretic's main inspiration, which isn't very apparent in the design at ALL but nevertheless: they’re kind of inspired by the concept of a closet costume. like how you can throw a bedsheet over yourself and cut out some eyeballs and voila. You’re a ghost. Or put a big furry coat and a mask on and you’re a werewolf now. almost all of their design links back to this in a roundabout way: the fur is meant to look like a rug/coat/furry thing draped over something. I used to have a sheepskin rug when I was a kid and I’d always hide under it and crawl about and pretend to be a monster lmao…this is what i looked like in my head maybe. The normal shoes poking out are the human element – like how halloween costumes will sometimes be mostly themed but the shoes are just practical, or you see shoes poking out beneath one of those two-man horse costumes. The face is meant to look mask-like – the glassy unfocused eyes, the fixed toothy grin, the simple cone shape. The black eyelids are meant to be like those Halloween masks that have eyeholes above/below the eyes, covered with that black fabric to make it less obvious there's eyeholes. And the ears are floppy to be like socks or something; they have those two black lines because they remind me of loose stitching. Also just some animal influences thrown in – possums, goats and bulls…..none of the closet costume stuff is meant to be noticeable or apparent in the design, so why did I put so much thought into it? who know… but this thing is one of my favourite designs I’ve made so maybe it was all worth it

[la2yn0va]

silly idea but can you do something with having feixiao scolding s/o but while doing so her ears are just flopping around and their not paying attention to anything she says

~~~

“What were you thinking!! Running into enemy territory without backup OR informing me!!?” Feixiao yelled at m/n. Who was forced to sit on a chair as frozen as a statue and endure his generals/lovers rants.

M/n leaned against the chair, almost drifting off to sleep out of boredom. But he was slapped awake by his worried and now angered general “Your not escaping your scolding!!” “Owww!! That was uncalled for—!” “UNCALLED FOR!!?” “…ahh shit”

Now feixiao was glaring holes into him while yelling loud enough to scary away any cloud knight in the building or in a 25 mile radius zone. M/n held her shoulders and begged her to quiet down, luckily she did, but she continued her glares.

M/n sighed before being pushed back onto the chair and watching/listening to her scolding. But his eyes were distracted somewhere else. Her ears, her fluffy fox ears that were flopping around all worried like.

It was adorable, so adorable he managed to drown out her voice and focus on the flopping fox ears. The soft looking white fur hypnotized him into leaning up and rubbing her head.

Feixiao blinked, stopping her rant and feeling his hand petting her head. “W-what’re you doing..” she asked, trying to contain herself and keep up her angered expression.

“So soft” M/n said, before softly scratching the back of her ears. Feixiao crumbled immediately, damn near purring at the action “T-this doesn’t change… mmmm—~” she caught herself, stopping the sound from coming out and grabbing his hand.

“S-Stop! You’re not—!” He quickly attacked her other ear with his other free hand, causing her to release his hand from the surprise and making him use both of his hands to play with both of her ears, completely destroying any resistance she had left.

Feixiao leaned against him, sitting on his lap and cuddling happily into his embrace as m/n smiled happily, managing to escape his scolding and get to play with Feixiao’s soft ears.

“Mmmm~ Don’t think you’ve escaped~” “Ah… of course not fei” “Mmm…~ just… let’s enjoy this, okay? Mmm~ A little to the left”

—The End—

[bunchofrandomfandomsandbands]

Random KISS Facts

(That nobody asked for)

Gene

The first time Gene spit fire, he caught his hair on fire

Back in the beginning of KISS, Gene would do a trick with flash paper, but one night his aim was off and the paper blew up in a kid’s face

Paul

During the Hotter Than Hell photoshoot, Paul got so drunk, that Gene had to lock him in the station wagon to keep Paul from hurting himself

Ace

Ace punched Tommy Thayer in the face when he (Tommy) was manager, over Ace having his girlfriend in the dressing room

Ace Frehley almost drowned twice. Once in a hotel bathtub and another time in a pool. Gene saved him both times

A day before the Hotter Than Hell photo shoot, Ace got in a bad car accident and split one side of his face open so. Because of this, Ace couldn’t wear that side of his makeup, so all the shots were profiles

Around 2000, Ace Frehley missed a flight to a concert in Los Angeles and the band got manager Tommy Thayer ready to fill in for Frehley, in costume and makeup. Frehley made it to the show at the last minute via helicopter ride from LAX to the venue

Peter

Peter Criss hardly played during the Reunion/Farewell tour, so they put an amplifier on his drums to make it sound like he was actually playing. That’s why a lot of the crew members would say “don’t sneeze around Peter’s drum set”

Eric C.

After the Dynasty tour was over, Peter Criss left the band. So, after KISS announced his departure, they held auditions for a new drummer and selected Paul Carvello, later renamed Eric Carr

When Eric Carr had to sing “Beth” he called Peter to make sure he (Peter) was ok with him singing his song

When Eric Carr recorded his vocal for the re-recording of “Beth” in 1988, he sat on the same drum stool that Peter Criss used during the original recording of the song in 1976

KISS’s late drummer Eric Carr’s collar on his 1980 “fox” costume was made out of real fox fur

In Paul’s book Face the Music he says that “When the tour stopped in Manhattan for two gigs at the Ritz, Eric Carr came to one of the shows and sat in the balcony with his head resting on the railing through the entire show. Afterwards he came backstage, and out of left field, turned to Eric Singer, and said, ‘You’re going to replace me.’ ‘What are you talking about?’ I spoke. ‘He’s going to replace me in KISS,’ said Eric Carr, nodding at Eric Singer. ‘Listen, Eric, you’re the drummer in KISS, and he’s the drummer of my solo band.’” But as fate would have it, Eric Singer was the perfect fit

Tommy

March 11, 2000, through April 13, 2001, was the Reunion/Farewell Tour with Ace and Peter. Tommy Thayer was KISS’ tour manager at the time, and he had to retrain Ace and Peter all their parts, because they hadn’t played in years. It proved to be difficult, and Tommy almost gave up. But with the reassurance of Paul, he managed to reteach Ace and Peter all their parts

Album/Song Facts

Cannons were recorded and mixed into KISS Alive! to mimic the pyrotechnics that didn’t come through the microphones correctly

Alive! was recorded in multiple different cities with crowd audio combined to make the crowd sound bigger. Alive! was mainly recorded in Detroit

At one point KISS almost went under because Neil Bogart (KISS’ manager) had maxed out his credit card. With the combination of the special effects, levitating drum set (that seldom ever worked), the exploding drumsticks, and Neil’s gambling issue, the band almost went under, but when Alive! went Platinum, it saved the group

On Dynasty Anton Fig played on the tracks except for “Dirty Livin’,” written, and played by Criss even though he wasn’t involved in its production, Peter was still credited on drums, which left Anton Fig uncredited

Psycho Circus was the first album to involve all four original members (though Ace Frehley and Peter Criss only appeared on a select few tracks). "You Wanted the Best" is the only KISS song in which lead vocals are shared by the entire lineup

The radio news announcer at the start of “Detroit Rock City” is KISS’ producer Bob Ezrin. The main news report featured a fatal car accident, and is the backstory of the song, which was based on a reportedly true event that happened to a teen on his way to Detroit KISS concert in 1975

Paul’s yodeling at the beginning of “Heaven’s on Fire” is him warning up. He didn’t realize the camera was rolling, but they decided to keep it in the video

A number of songs from Crazy Nights were performed live during its supporting tour, but during and especially immediately following the tour, most of those songs were dropped and were never performed again

The famous song “Rock and Roll All Nite” was inspired by Slade’s “Mama Weer All Crazee Now”

Towards the end of the Reunion/Farewell tour, fans were shocked to see Eric Singer in full Catman costume and makeup, meaning Peter left the band again for the final time

During the music video for “Heaven’s on Fire” Eric Carr pops up behind Paul, and Paul looks at him for a split second before looking back at the camera. Eric did that randomly. It wasn’t planned. Paul’s reaction was genuine

In the demo for “Baby Driver” Gene is singing

Other

Neil Bogart came up with Peter’s levitating drum set and his exploding drumsticks

The KISS logo is altered in Germany because of the similarities to the Nazi S

Early in KISS’ career, Larry Harris worked an endorsement deal with Gibson guitars, and they provided free guitars that Paul could smash. In exchange, KISS put Gibson on the back of their album covers

Peter “Moose” Oreckinto, a KISS roadie in the early days, was loading Peter Criss’ exploding drumsticks, when one went off, causing a hole in his hand, his chin and his stomach. This accident almost caused Moose to lose his hand, but doctors were able to save it

KISS was nominated for a Grammy in 1999 for Best Hard Rock Performance for their song “Psycho Circus.” (It lost to “Most High” by Page and Plant of Led Zeppelin fame)

Despite the band’s massive 1970s success and again in the late 1990s, Rolling Stone magazine refused to put KISS on its cover until the band’s 40th anniversary in 2013

KISS refused to play shows in their early days without their trademark giant lighted logo. In some venues, its size required it to be stood up on the side of the stage instead of hanging above it

KISS has had ten members during its 50-year existence. Paul Stanley is reportedly the only member to have participated in every song released

The KISS Army started in Indiana when a local radio station refused to play any KISS songs in the early ‘70s. Protesting fans marched outside of the radio station forcing the radio station to play KISS

Facts are continually added

Tagging: @genesstankycodpiece, @solfihelpmi, @ericsingerisababycat, @foxykissworld, @spacefoxy, @sillyamyy, @ericcarrsworshipper, @2000-man1, @tanookikiss, @sluttery-withoutshame, & @daddycatcriss

[lttawnymadison]

TGCF Thai Edition Foreword by MXTX (2018 novel version)

Ghosts and demons have a long history in Chinese culture. Literary works themed around occult records that were popular during the Wei, Jin, and the Northern and Southern dynasties such as “In Search of the Supernatural” still remain as entertaining today as they once were. At the same time, “Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio” from the Qing dynasty gave the ability to love to all things inhuman, from ghost ladies, to fox demons, to a flower spirit who falls in love with a young scholar and comes to visit him in abandoned temples and houses at night. They were far more lovesick than actual flesh and blood humans.

In 1989, the movie “A Chinese Ghost Story” was born, and became a perennial classic in the decade to follow. A little girl who hated reading watched this movie, back then, and fell in love with the story of the incredibly beautiful ghost lady with her grievances, exorcism arts that call forth a spectacle of lightning and thunder, great martial artists who soar through the sky and dive through the earth, and last but not least, the myriad ghosts and monsters who like to peel skin, pull apart limbs and tear out hearts and lungs...that little girl fell head over heels for it, indeed.

Still...all this combined still can’t fully explain where my fondness for mysterious supernatural things came from.

One problem has always been sticking in my mind, though: why is it always ‘gorgeous ghost ladies crazy with love’? Why not ‘gorgeous ghost men crazy with love?’

Problems always have solutions. Luckily for me, this is a problem I can find a solution to by myself. And thus Hua Cheng was born.

Red garments. Skin as white as snow. Moves around without a trace. Magic unfettered.

Maybe it’s because I cut out the whole thing about a ghost’s aura of grudges, but sometimes I feel that he’s more like a fox demon. While the ascetic gege is meditating, he’ll be sitting there lazily sunbathing on a rock, red fluffy tail shining in the light and caressing the back of the ascetic gege’s hand. He’ll quickly pull his tail back to his chest and sit there behaving himself while his gege sits there meditating. He’ll sit there just to be that person’s company, but also constantly shows off his fur in the most noble and regal of manners... (okay I’m getting sidetracked).

The period while I was writing Tian Guan Ci Fu was not an easy period for me. To tell you the truth, I was in a very bad place mentally back then, always drowning in stress and pain that I couldn’t get myself out of. Yet every time I got to a Hualian scene, I’d feel like I was making some delicious sweets for myself, and even if this may sound like I’m tooting my own horn, if a single piece of sweets can reach your hand and you feel that it’s delicious, too, I’ll be ten times as happy.

Let me bless my readers in Thailand with that spell: May heaven’s officials bless you, and no paths be bound (Tianguancifu, baiwujinji)!

———————————————

Translation source: https://x.com/faelicy/status/1428555536635731973

[quillpokebiology]

Delphox Facts

(Art by kisa (kisa-kisa5900) on Danbooru)

-The scientific name for Delphox is "Vulpes Mystica" which translates to "Magic Fox"

-Delphox are vulpines, and their closest relatives are Ninetales and Thievul

-Delphox have the second longest lifespan of any foxmon, being able to live for hundreds of years. The first ones for that spot is Ninetales and Hisuian Zoroark, who are able to live for 1,000 years

-In the wild, Delphox can be found in Kalosian forests, deserts, and chapparals. They make their homes in large caves or dens

-Delphox have a large personality shift from Braixen, becoming more calm and collected instead of temperamental and moody

-While all vulpines are intelligent, Delphox's use of sticks for magic may show that they're the smartest amongst the vulpines

-Delphox can go up to a week without water (give them water regularly though, it's still not pleasant for them)

-Delphox's large ears help them regulate their body temperature and give off excess heat. It also makes them doubly perceptive, enhancing their psychic abilities

-While Delphox are solitary, they sometimes come in groups to practice their psychic abilities and meet with other Delphox and Braixen

-Delphox are monogamous and most often lay up to 1-6 eggs in a liter

-The thick black markings around their eyes help reflect away their fires glare, which makes it easier to focus on hunting and visions

-In 1600s-1700s, people with a Braixen/Delphox were thought to be witches. Since they were said to have immunity to fire, these people were drowned or hung instead of burned

-In old Kalosian legends, they eye of a Delphox is said to grant psychic powers and ward off evil spirits

-Delphox are known to be quite particular about their fur, spending a lot of time grooming it. If a Delphox's fur is matted, it is often a sign that they are sick

-They are Crepsculular, meaning they are awake through the evening and night

-Delphox will set torches around their territory as a warning sign for other pokemon and so they can see. This often backfires with humans, however, with many mistaking the torches showing a man-made path

If you're curious, here are Fennekin and Braixen facts!

[myymi]

if im not too late with the drabbles;

tails has a really bad nightmare about westside (parent abandonment or another traumatic incident) and he goes to his big bro sonic for some emotional support and cuddles

feel free to ignore this if they arent open :)

word count-1369

ao3

--------------------

He’s tired of running.

He’s tired of being chased.

But he doesn’t want to get hurt, so he keeps running despite how out of breath he was.

That is, until a figure steps out in front of him, causing him to skid to a stop.

Their head was a blurry mess, which he assumes is because of the tears in his eyes.

Somewhere in his mind he knows the real reason, but he doesn’t get much chance to think on it when more blurry figures surround him.

The forest scenery he’d been running through started morphing into other things. The village, the beach, other clearings around the island, until everything went black.

Everything but those damn figures.

They approached him, causing him to shrink down. He couldn’t do anything. They were blocking any chance of running, and everyone knows he’s far too weak to fight back.

His breathing quickened even more as he curled into him, biting down sobs as he prayed to some God out there to protect him despite knowing nobody would do anything for him.

He was a deformed freak. Why would someone save him?

One of the figures grabbed him, and then everything disappeared.

He was trapped in an endless void as voices bounced around the air, insults worse than anything you could think of thrown at him from every angle.

He just had to take it.

Covering his ears did nothing to drown it out.

A few voices were more prominent than the others. He recognized them.

How could he not, when they were laughing about how much better their life was now that he was no longer a part of it?

The voices eventually merged into one, the sentence being repeated over and over.

It started as some random one he’d heard years ago, then morphed into those of his ex-family’s. His older brother, mother, hell even his father despite the fact he hadn’t heard his voice since he was one year old.

It didn’t stop changing.

It eventually morphed into his new family.

First, Shadow.

Next, Rouge.

Vector, Cream, Silver, Espio, Charmy.

Amy then Knuckles. Until, finally..

It was Sonic.

“Why would anyone want a freak like you in their family?”

–

Tails’ eyes shot open, breathing uneven and he felt his fur sticking to his skin in the most uncomfortable ways possible due to all the sweat.

His quick breaths slowed as he looked around, recognizing his bedroom.

He was fine.

No one was chasing him.

With a groan, the fox pushed himself into a sitting position. He brought a hand up to rub at his eyes, pausing when he felt the trail of tears on his muzzle.

He swallowed dryly, suddenly feeling very dehydrated. He glanced at his digital clock as he pulled his blanket off to the side, not caring about neatening it. He had to wash it and his sheets anyway because of all the sweat.

3:37 AM.

Tails wiped away his tears as he exited his room, socked feet taking careful steps on instinct to avoid all the creaky planks.

He hated the noise they made. He really needed to fix it.

The kit used the wall for support as he descended down the stairs. He took a deep breath as he made his way to the kitchen.

He stopped in the living room.

Sonic was on his couch, sprawled out in a way that could not be comfortable in any way. Drool spilled from the corner of the hedgehog’s mouth, snores louder than most of the fox’s machinery filled the air.

Tails wanted to roll his eyes at the scene. It wasn’t unusual for Sonic to crash at his place unexpectedly–he did have a key–but did he always have to use the couch? He had a bedroom of his own for this specific reason.

But the fox’s breath felt caught in his throat at the sight of the older, his nightmare flooding his brain full force.

“Why would anyone want a freak like you in their family?”

His ears pressed against his head as new tears piled in the corner of his eyes. He swiped at them, but more immediately took their place.

His breathing started picking up pace and, before he knew it, he was in front of Sonic, his ungloved paw hovering above the hedgehog’s shoulder.

He forced his body to freeze, biting his inner cheek.

Tails is 8 years old now. He shouldn’t be running to his big brother because of a bad dream. He’s old enough to deal with these on his own.

But no matter how hard his mind begs his body to leave the teen be, it’s a losing battle.

His hand makes contact with the hedgehog’s shoulder, shaking it as softly as he can to tell the other he’s not a threat.

“Why would anyone want a freak like you in their family?”

With a grunt, Sonic’s eyes slowly opened as he looked up to see who woke him. Tails immediately regrets it, the teen looks exhausted.

That exhaustion seemed to disappear when Sonic saw the tears welled up in the younger’s eyes.

“You okay?” His voice was groggy, still catching up to the rest of his body being awake. The little fox shook his head as the teen sat up.

“C’mere, kid.” Sonic gave him a sympathetic smile as he opened his arms, inviting the kit to lay on him. Tears finally spilled over as Tails crawled into his hero’s arms.

Sonic shushed the younger, his left hand petting the kit’s head as his right held him close. The kid buried his head into the older’s neck, hiding his tears.

“D’ya have a bad dream, bud?” The teen asked quietly, his head leaning against the fox’s as he gently rocked them.Tails’ head bobbed ever so slightly, hands gripping the hedgehog with a strength you wouldn’t expect an eight year old to possess.

Sonic hummed, letting the kit know he heard him as he continued the slow rocks and gentle pets. He kept it up until the sobs quieted, the death grip on his back easing as the younger pulled away.

The hedgehog frowned at the sight of his brother’s face. It was obvious he had been crying even before waking the teen up, his eyes were too red and his fur was a complete mess.

“Wanna talk?” The older asked, using the hand that was petting the fox to wipe away his tears.

“I-It–” Tails shook his head and leaned into the touch, “It was just.. Bad memories. Westside.” The kit tried not to talk too much, his throat feeling scratchy. He needed some water, but he didn’t want to get up.

“Again?” Sonic frowned. The fox had been having a lot of nightmares about Westside recently.

“I-I know, I’m sorry.” The boy bit his lip, suddenly thinking that this was a terrible idea.

“No, don’t apologize, li’l bro. Not your fault.” The teen pulled the younger into another hug, feeling how much he was shaking.

“Still. I-It’s childish to run to you every time.” Tails grumbled, but he didn’t pull away from the hug. He cuddled into his hero, his namesakes providing them warmth as they curled around.

“Nothin’ wrong with being childish. Or needing help.” Sonic shook his head. He had to break the kit free from that thought process, but he just couldn’t figure out how to do it.

The fox didn’t respond, just closed his eyes as he worked on evening out his breath.

The teen hummed as he moved to lay back down, pulling the cover over the two of them without releasing his hold on his little brother.

“Get some sleep, buddy.” Sonic whispered as he scratched the spot behind Tails’ ears to help ease him. “We can deal with it in the morning.”

The fox nodded as he shifted slightly to be more comfortable, mumbling a quiet goodnight to the older.

The hug paired with the gentle petting made it easy for the kid to fall asleep. He was out within a few seconds.

Sonic sighed, pressing his forehead against the younger’s.

He just wishes there was something he could do to make the nightmares leave his little brother alone.

[bonefall]

May I ask for some idioms and cliches in Clanmew?

"King's Ransom" = E'woo-en-oowe [Tax-o'-King]

A reference to the heavy cost of the First Battle, when Clear Sky stole away King Arc's prince. The original, and longer, phrase referred to the price of a King's right paw, but has been shortened over the generations.

The word for "king" is archaic, EXCEPT for this phrase. The same way we don't use "wreak" anymore unless you're wreaking havoc.

"Peace in three languages I beg of you" = Warl-en-myyao afehao yoayaa [3-quarters-of-words peace I-begging]

When the First Battle broke out, Bumble was caught in the middle of the chaos. Just a translator and totally unable to fight, she desperately tried to push out of the crowd while crying for peace in the three languages she knew.

The phrase is used in exasperation, it's similar to the English "For pete's sake, calm down."

"I have to do everything myself!!" = Arrl ul-arra grryrr wrah [Commanded one-whole-amount i-contain mine]

Another expression of exasperation. Implies you have to be everything at once.

"When in water, the rabbit swims; when on land, the frog hops." = WeeUrr'rr slof pbum weeShishi, WeeUrr'rr por roeg weePipi. [It-feel pool the rabbit it-will-treadwater, it-feel ground the frog it-will-hop]

In English, we say "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." In Spanish, you might say, "En donde fueres, haz lo que vieres." In Clanmew, this is the equivalent phrase.

It's about modifying your behavior to accomplish a goal, or to survive. If the rabbit did not swim, it would drown. If the frog did not hop, it would be caught. You would hear this phrase as wisdom from a Cleric to a Leader to adjust their methods, or from a mentor to an apprentice to mind the importance of learning many skills.

"The waves not in your mouth is the flesh of the river." = Wur'ree mawa lalm winyar, ssbass urrgryyr gawi wi [In mouth waves they-not, river he(clanmate)-owns flesh it.]

A phrase heavily associated with RiverClan; note how they treat the river as a living animal. It is an entity with a mind of its own to be respected, not controlled. They don't need to "own" the river as they own territory, the river simply gives itself to them as they need it.

And they can be sadistic as well, reminding the other cats of this. The river is THEIR ally, other Clans SHOULD fear the water just as much as the fear a boar even when they don't see its tusks.

They phrase river-related things very differently than their neighbors, as well.

Compare to the version that other Clans tend to use;

"The drops that aren't in your mouth is rain for the world." = "Wur'ree mawa pwiq winyar, arrkoor-en-papa wi."

And lastly, my absolute favorites, fox-phrases.

A vixen is wise, not for her smell, but because she contains many seasons." = Bwaayr usihu mwrrgrryrr kurr kifew mwrr mwrrgrryrr, kurr qim winyar. [Vixen wrinkle she(rogue)-contains because old she(rogue), because essence it(harmless)-not.]

Wisdom in Clanmew is the same word as "wrinkle," usihu. This isn't wrinkles as in the furrows on a human face, but the texture of an old animal's fur. The thick, coarse packing and duller shine, on skin that is losing its elasticity.

The phrase reminds you that a vixen isn't so dangerous just because she is a fox, she's dangerous because she's old and wise. In some contexts, it even tries to invoke that nothing is born malicious, and that advanced evil is taught.

But there's a follow-up that some cats are VERY fond of;

"Every single todd is a vixen's son!" = Arr'arra-ul ka'ak bwaayr-en-nia'u mwrr! [Every-all todd vixen's-child it!]

Todds are troublemakers. Not as dangerous as a vixen... but this is a reminder that all todds come from a vixen, somewhere.

In some contexts, a cat will use this to stress that there IS something inherently evil about some things. All todds come from vixens. Others use the phrase in the sense of bad parenting, sympathetically. A low-stakes troublemaker comes from a bad nest or a bad mentor.

The two phrases are very versatile and used often, for lots of different reasons.

Funfact it's also adapted from the Spanish idiom, "Más sabe el diablo por viejo que por diablo" which has fascinated me for months now. "The devil isn't wise because he's evil, he's wise because he's old." What a cool phrase!

[midzukishino]

I didn't mean to make it highly conceptual, so it's just my very first ideas about these prompts with my warrior-cats-related characters. 1) Scorched Fox - fading. I thought his name suits this prompt somehow. I slightly redesigned his hairstyle btw, his neck fur reminds me of Gortash's armor now, lol 2) Wave Crash and Jaeger - surface. This one is simple, Crash is just afraid of the sea since he's almost drowned twice, Jaeger is helping 3) Hawk Feather, Falcon's body, Ghost, Yellow and Robin in the background - weight. It's about Falcon's funeral 4) Hawk Feather and Goldfish - crack. Hawk being creepy and flirty at the same time is the first thing I remembered. RIP Goldfish, again 5) Yew Heart - decay. It was simple to think about because it's completely her thing, but I didn't enjoy drawing it much 6) Black Lotus - noise. I didn't know what to draw so now Lotus has chronic migraines. 7) Cliffside - haunted. Cliff and ghosts, that's it 8) Hawk Feather - stone. It has some context, but I won't tell :p Prompts

[willtheweaver]

OC deep dive tag

TY for the tag @kaylinalexanderbooks @inkednotebook

Let’s do Leif for this one:

What uncommon fears/ phobias do they have- He does not have any fears out of the ordinary, probably the biggest is drowning.

Do they have any pet peeves- tardiness and not being punctual

What are three items you can find in their bedroom- A bow and quiver of arrows, a pan flute, a pack full of his hunting gear

What do they notice first in people- Body language, posture, and whether or not the person is a stranger or someone known.

What is their pain tolerance on a scale from 1 to 10- Would-be torturers note: he will die before he breaks. A solid 9

Do they go into fight or flight mode under pressure- Depends. He is level headed under pressure, but exert enough of it, and adrenaline takes over.

Do they come from a big family/ are they a family person- He comes from a fairly good sized family, but he cannot be described as a ‘people person’ as he spends time away from the village and as a result spends little time interacting with others.

What animal represents them best- Trick question, as Leif is a red fox.

What is a smell they dislike- Burning horn or hair

Have they broken any bones- Quite a few actually.

How would a stranger describe them- A stranger would say that Leif is well proportioned, fur coloration being quite typical. His face is serious, with eyes and a mouth that rarely reveal a smile. His movements are deliberate, and done with a hunter’s grace.

Are they a night owl or a morning bird- Both, depends on what is needed

What is a flavor they hate and a flavor they love- Leif loves savory and has a dislike for anything extremely sour.

Do they have any hobbies- Lawn bowling, darts, archery

Boom! Surprise birthday party! How do they react to surprises- As someone who is good at sniffing things out, he will be impressed if anyone can actually surprise him.

Do they like to wear jewelry- No

Do they have neat or messy handwriting- It’s legible most of the time

What are two emotions they feel the most- Determination, satisfaction

Do they have a favorite fabric- No

What kind of accent do they have- It would best be described as a Yooper with strong Scandinavian roots.

Tagging @an-indecisive-nerd @theaistired @cowboybrunch @mk-writes-stuff @lychhiker-writes

@roselinbooks @touloserlautrec @autism-purgatory @theink-stainedfolk @indecentpause and open tag

[chizue-witchery]

⚜️. *. ⋆ Fandom: Sonic (Live Action Universe)

⚜️. *. ⋆ Rating: Teens And Up Audiences

⚜️. *. ⋆ Archive Warnings: General Audiences

⚜️. *. ⋆ Pairing/s: Knuckles the Echidna & Miles "Tails" Prower & Sonic the Hedgehog & Maddie Wachowski & Tom Wachowski

⚜️. *. ⋆ Character/s: Sonic the Hedgehog, Knuckles the Echidna, Miles "Tails" Prower, Maddie Wachowski, Tom Wachowski, Longclaw (mentioned)

⚜️. *. ⋆ Summary: Sonic tries not to think about the lonely decade he had during the family movie night, but he fails when the protagonist of the movie reminds Sonic of himself back then.

⚜️. *. ⋆ Word Count: 2,851

⚜️. *. ⋆ Tags/Warnings: Post-Sonic the Hedgehog Movie 2, Past Character Death, Loneliness, Isolation, Insecurity, Anxiety Attack, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Angst

⚜️. *. ⋆ Prompts/Squares Filled: Loneliness || @whumptober 2024 day 11 • Hurt/Comfort || @mfbingo

Whumptober 2024 Masterlist || MFBingo Masterlist

AO3

It is another movie night at the Wachowski Family, and it is Tails' turn to pick a movie for them to watch. He chose a sci-fi movie he had been talking about to Sonic and Knuckles the entire week, his twin tails swishing in delight that the brothers could not bring themselves to interrupt his rambling. So now, the family is watching it in their living room.

It has been a few months since the recent addition of mobians is added in their family. From having none to one blue hedgehog to an amber twin-tailed fox to a red echidna. The newest additions to the Wachowski Family settled in quicker than Sonic ever did, already referring to Tom and Maddie as their parents while he took almost an entire year and a near-death experience before acknowledging it. The thought gives him an unsettling feeling in his stomach, making him struggle to pay attention to the movie. 

Sonic looks at his newly acquired brothers and parents. Knuckles is sitting on the carpet with Ozzie lying down on his side while there's a blanket covering them. There's a bowl of grapes on Knuckles' lap, which he occasionally grabs to snack on. Tails is sitting between Tom and Maddie on the couch, the latter fluffing up his twin tails with a brush. Sonic, on the other hand, is lying on the other side of the couch, with his head on Tom's lap. His body is facing towards the side where the TV screen is, the bright screen reflecting on him through the darkness of the room.

Sonic feels Tom's hands combing through his fur while being careful about the relaxed quills. A part of his hand brushes over his ears, making them twitch instinctively. Tom repeats the motion in a relaxing manner, helping him relax and easily fall asleep, but Sonic tries to keep himself awake. Movie night is one of the few days where he gets to stay up later than his curfew, so he wants to stay awake as long as he possibly can.

Sonic feels a lump stuck in his throat the longer he watches the movie and finds more parallels and similarities between him and the main protagonist. He turns his head away from the screen, hiding his face on Tom's shirt when the protagonist is taken away from their loved one.

He is reminded of the day when he lost Longclaw and his home at a young age.

The dialogue in the movie drowns out as he is thrown back to the day when he had to flee from home. The first of the few when he wasn't fast enough. Not fast enough to go through the ring portal before it disappeared, along with Longclaw on the other side with the echidnas.

He remembered falling to the ground, the bag of rings spilling. He stayed in the same position for a long time, the mud and dirt sticking to his fur when it started raining that night.

He was dazed. His memories were vague but also vivid.

He remembered picking up the stray feather he found on the ground next to him. He must have cried at that moment because he remembered his eyes stinging and little droplets of water falling to the ground.

He stood up afterward while picking up the fallen rings, putting them back in the bag Longclaw gave to him.

The little mobian never went to Earth before, so he had no idea where he was supposed to be. All he knew was that he had to find shelter quickly because the rain was getting stronger. He ran until he found a cave covered in moss and vines.

He remembered curling into a ball after finding shelter and staying in the same position until the rain had stopped. He was cold and shivering in his bones the entire time.

When it was finally silent, void of the rain dripping down the surface, he had uncurled himself. He held onto the feather and bag of rings, in fear of losing it.

He had looked around the cave, noticing it being larger than he remembered when he first stumbled upon it. He thought about Longclaw's words to him and promised to remain hidden so no one would take advantage of the powers he had.

And he stayed in that cave for over a decade.

He learned how to survive and live by himself.

He learned what he can and cannot eat. Something he learned the hard way when he ate something that made him sick for an entire week. He remembered the pain in his stomach and achingly tried to look for any herbs that could help him feel better even though he didn't know what would cure him.

He planned what planets he'd go to when Earth was not deemed safe for him anymore. He carried a backpack he stole borrowed with essentials that he believed he could use to travel to different planets. It took him almost an entire month of visiting several plants before he decided for Mushroom Planet to be his next destination when he had to run away.

He learned how to speak the same way as the humans did by listening to their conversations. He learned how to read and write like them, although with a lot of struggles. He learned their human customs and traditions.

The day he learned about humans was also the same year when he found out where he was. He was living in a forest near a small town in Montana known as 'Green Hills'.

The humans in the small town were eccentric and strange, just like him. He remembered finding himself watching them do their daily human activities for hours at a time before remembering he needed to supply more food so he would survive during the winter or rainy days.

A few months after learning about them, he found two people who would soon be his parents and his favorite humans in the entire galaxy: Tom Wachowski and Maddie Wachowski. Or as he liked to call them: Donut Lord and Pretzel Lady.

He watched them the most. Others would call it stalking, but he liked to say that he was 'observing' them. He watched them for many hours, engaging in the human activities they were also doing. He watched movies with them, talked with them as though they could also hear him, and whispered a 'goodnight' to them before leaving to go sleep in his cave.

He had already referred to them as his family, even when they didn't know he existed back then.

There were a lot of days when he was energetic and in high spirits, excited to always play a prank on Crazy Carl. He was the only human who knew he existed, so interacting with him always gave him a thrill of danger yet enjoyment. Crazy Carl's traps never did work on him since he's a fast hedgehog.

But when the holidays came, and he saw families spending time together, he was always left with heartache and a sting of loneliness.

He stayed in the cave during those days. He tried to entertain himself several times, but it never worked. These were those days when he lay down in the worn-down bean bag he used to sleep. He stayed there for hours until deciding to 'get over it' and continue to do his usual routine like it never happened.

On the anniversary of his arrival to Green Hill and the loss of Longclaw, his thoughts went haywire. He held the feather to his chest, the closest he could get to hugging Longclaw.

It had been many years since he lost Longclaw, and his memories of her were vague by now. He still remembered what she loved, but her voice and appearance were becoming nothing to him. When he tries to remember her, she turns to blur in his memories. What color were her eyes? Was she as tall as he remembered, or was he taller than her now? How did her voice sound like? Was it as soft as how a mother comforts her child or rough from all the battles she went through in the past?

When he saw her again as a projection years later, his eyes teared up. He focused on her voice and appearance. Her eyes were as gentle as he remembered, still soft despite what she was telling him. She was still taller than him, but a part of him wondered if she could still carry him just like back when he was still a hoglet. He committed this memory of her to his head, unsure if he'd ever see another projection of Longclaw next time.

It was these days when he was reminded of how quiet and big the cave is even with all the new stuff he got.

The day when he found this cave is in his memories, reminding him of what he lost. He grieved for her and his loss of a home.

After that day, he does not remember the last time he cried because of something that devastated him. Instead, he curls himself into a ball, hiding away from everyone when he becomes too vulnerable and he's not able to keep himself from hiding it because of how strong they are.

"—Sonic?"

Sonic blinks and he is thrust back to the couch, his quills rising higher than he'd like. The hand combing through his quills is gone, and he feels eyes watching him.

Sonic flattens his spine, not wanting to hurt anyone with his quills. He turns his head up at Tom, noticing the worrying pool in his eyes while his brows are furrowed.

"Are you okay, Sonic?" asked Tom again, his hand hovering over the quills, unsure whether it was safe to touch them or not.

Sonic turns his gaze towards the TV, noticing that the movie has been paused. He sees Knuckles looking at him, his lips downward while Tails has his twin tails wrapped around each other. He fiddles with the gloves while he looks at Sonic as he bites on his lip. Maddie has the same expression, but her gaze seems to wander around Sonic, as though to make sure he isn't hurt or hiding any injuries.

"Yeah." His voice croaks, sounding like he's on the verge of tears. Sonic clears his throat. "Yeah, I'm fine." This time, his voice sounds more controlled, but there's still a barely noticeable strain to it that would have gone unnoticed if the people and mobians he is talking to didn't know him.

"The hedgehog is lying, Mother." Knuckles looks at Maddie, his lips pressed together.

Sonic defends himself immediately, sitting up to properly look at Knuckles while his quills bristle. "I am not!"

Knuckles turns towards Sonic and he has that disappointed expression he sees from Knuckles whenever he does or says something wrong in Knuckles' eyes. It reminds Sonic of 'the disappointed older sibling' gaze his friends at school talk about during their lunch break.

"Brother." Knuckles' voice softens by a miniscule.

Sonic's quills bristle. "I'm fine." It sounds hysterical to his ears. He doesn't know whether he's trying to convince his family he's fine or himself.

Himself.

He feels someone grab his glove, and he turns to see Tails by his side. The twin tail fox—his brother is worried about him. He turns his head to his parents and they too look worried.

Everyone is worried about him.

And it makes him feel worse.

He wants to curl into a ball and hide away from everyone, but that will make everyone be even more worried about him.

He doesn't like opening up or being vulnerable about his feelings.

It makes him feel insecure.

He doesn't want to acknowledge the feelings.

He breathes heavily, controlling the surge of blue electricity surrounding him because of his emotions. He knows he's worrying his family the longer he stays silent, but he can't help it.

Acknowledging it means opening up about his decade-long isolation and loneliness.

Acknowledging it means telling them all of his insecurities.

Acknowledging it means thinking about the day he lost his home.

The day he lost Longclaw.

He feels another grab on his glove, but it feels bigger and rougher.

Sonic opens his eyes which he didn't realize had stayed closed for who knows how long and meets his brother's deep worried gaze. His amethyst eyes seem to shine brighter around the blue electricity surrounding them.

"Breathe, brother." His voice is deep but soothing as he murmurs those words to him. "Breathe."

And Sonic breathes.

He follows his older brother's breathing pattern, feeling himself relax and the surrounding power slowly dissipating. He feels his younger brother squeeze his other glove and his quills relax, finally allowing Tails to move closer until their bodies are pressed together. He feels his younger brother's twin tails curl around him.

Tails doesn't say a word to him, or maybe he did when he zoned out. Tails moves his head under Sonic's chin while wrapping his arms around his torso.

They stay like that for a few more minutes. Knuckles helps him keep his breathing even to control his unstable power while Tails keeps him grounded back to reality instead of going back to his mind where he thinks of who he was before he met them. Before he found a new family. Before he found a reason to stay instead of running away.

By the time Sonic feels like he can breathe evenly and properly again, he feels a blanket surrounding him and his brothers. He looks up, and he meets Tom's gaze. There's a notable relief in them and he feels bad for making them worry about him.

Maddie goes to Tom's side while she holds a tray with enough mugs for them all. "I made hot chocolate," she said while handing them out. The number of marshmallows (or lack of them) that they want is there.

Tail unwraps his arms around Sonic to grab his mug while Knuckles holds them cautiously because of his strength.

Sonic is careful when he holds the mug, a trail of steam still appearing. "Thank you, Pre—Mom," he corrected himself. He is still getting used to calling them 'Mom' and 'Dad', and their patience for it gives him comfort. Especially when he receives a smile in return.

He feels himself slowly being dragged down by Tom until he's seated on the carpet. Tom makes Sonic's head lean on his shoulder and Sonic feels a hand on top of his head.

"You know we're always going to be right here for you, right, buddy?"

"Yeah, D—" he hesitates— "Dad. I know." He's heard it plenty of times from both Tom and Maddie. "The Wachowski's stick together."

Tom nods, his fatherly gaze still set on Sonic. "The Wachowski's stick together." His fingers brush through Sonic's quills, his hand brushing against the ears. "Don't you forget that."

"Yeah!" Tails chimed in. He makes a circular motion with the mug to cool it down before drinking it slowly. "And if you ever forget about it, we'll remind you."

"You helped us." Sonic turns to Knuckles when the older one speaks. "Now it's our turn to help you."

Sonic looks at his mug, the little marshmallows floating on top. Then he drinks it. He swallows the lump of feeling in his throat as he looks at his brothers. "Thanks." His voice croaks and he cringes.

Maddie sits down between Tails and Knuckles, but not before hugging Sonic. Her arms wrap around him, giving him a little squeeze before letting go. "Are you feeling any better, sweetheart?"

"Yeah." He nods. Then he looks down, his face burning in shame. "'M sorry for ruining movie night… Especially when you were looking forward to it all week, Tails."

"It's okay, Sonic!" His brother is as cheerful as ever, his twin tails swishing behind him before settling around him. "We can still continue watching the movie."

Tom and Maddie met each other's gaze, having a silent conversation between them before turning to look at Tails. It is Tom who says, "Since it's the weekend tomorrow, we'll allow it." Before the brothers could cheer, Tom adds, "But you will need to complete all your homework this weekend."

Sonic groans dramatically, taking a sip at his mug while nonsensically grumbling nonsense of him not wanting to do his homework.

But as he watches when the movie is resumed, continuing where they left off before Sonic interrupted the family movie night, he is filled with love and comfort. The heat from the mug brings him a sense of comfort and a reminder he is not in the cold, lonely cave he stayed at for a decade.

He is with his family watching a movie Tails has been dying to see.

He is with love, safety, and comfort.

As he smiles while taking another sip of the mug, he knows he will experience the lonely decade and isolation all over again if he gets to be with the Wachowskis by the end of it.

A/N: here's my entry for whumptober 2024 day 11! this was supposed to be posted after i release whumptober day 10, but i messed up a little on the scheduling for the tumblr post so...

now i can confidently say that this the first time i wrote sonic! i struggled a lot but writing movie sonic would is easier compared to his game counterpart.

[everybody-loves-purdy]

An Analysis of Bumble’s death scene

Ok so on my reread I have just read probably the most controversial scene in the entire dotc arc, Bumble’s death, and I just want to have a look at it an approach it from two angles

Trying to piece together what exactly happened to Bumble

Gray Wing’s reaction to the whole thing

I want to do this because, on tumblr especially, I see a lot of people swearing by clear sky murdering her, and how Gray Wing is awful for his defence of his brother in this scene. And I just want to explore, with full context, is what actually happened any different to what the fandom perceives?

What exactly happened to Bumble?

When the group first find Bumble there are wounds covering her entire body, Gray Wing believes that no particular wound is causing her to die, it’s a cumulation of blood loss from all of the various wounds on her body. These wounds are described as “slits down her belly and sides” as well as other injuries all over her body. When the group gets close to Bumble the “reek of fox was overwhelming and drowning all other scents”. Clear Sky’s scent is then detected on Bumble’s fur by Gray Wing, underneath the fox scent it is quite hard to detect but it is definitely there.

Before Clear Sky’s scent is detected , Gray Wing tries asking Bumble what happened but she cannot reply.

Wind Runner finds signs of a fight due to the trampled grass on the ground. Gorse Fur then presents the idea of Clear Sky being the culprit. Turtle Tail vocally agrees and says “Which cat has been determined to expand his territory, never mind who gets hurt? Clear Sky! And now he’s attacked poor Bumble”

At this point Bumble tries to speak again and succeeds she says

“This was my fault… I was so hungry… I couldn’t think straight. It was stupid. I never should have hunted here… The cat was only -“

At that point Clear Sky appears and interrupts and says “ I was only warning her”.

At that point Gray Wing and Wind Runner confront him, asking what happened to Bumble, and what happened to Misty’s kits (more on that in a second).

Clear Sky’s eyes show “mingling guilt and horror” as he looks at Bumble before answering. He then tells them that Petal is caring for Misty’s kits (which is the truth).

One argument between the cats present later (more of that soon) Clear Sky gives his side of what happened… the only account we ever get of what happened to Bumble. He claims that he found Bumble trespassing, cuffed her around the ear, she fainted from being so weak and he left her because he saw her paw twitching so knew she would come around. While he was walking away he heard a fox bark, came back and says he was “too late” and claims he was going for help when the group arrived. And that’s basically it, that is all the facts of the case. That is all the books ever really give us iirc about how Bumble died.

So what exactly happened?

Personally I am inclined to believe that Clear Sky’s account is mostly accurate, but I think he roughed her up much worse than he claims to have. I don’t believe she would just faint from an ear cuff, nor would Clear Sky do such a feeble move to drive off an intruder. I think what happened was Clear Sky injured her, saw her collapse and decide she learned her lesson, left, and then a fox smelt the blood and attacked Bumble where Clear Sky left her. I don’t know where the fox would have gone but it is undeniable one was there, and even though Clsar Sky is ruthless, I doubt he would injure Bumble to the extent she is. And even though there are signs of a scuffle, there is no injury noted on Clear Sky, surely if he spent that much time and effort slashing open Bumble all over her body then there would be at least signs of her fighting back? My best guess is that the fox fled when the group started to approach, or if Bumble fought back and and it just thought she wasn’t worth it’s time. I think the guilt and horror reflected in Clear Sky’s eyes is over causing the situation and not intending her to actually get that hurt. Bumble herself seems to start on at least some kind of defence against Clear Sky, we don’t know what that is but she says “The cat was only-“ I feel like if he just completely pummelled her to the point of near death she wouldn’t have said this.

So essentially yes, I believe Clear Sky is directly responsible for Bumble’s death based on the evidence, but he didn’t ruthlessly murder her like many make out. I do believe Clear Sky left her injured and defenceless and a fox then finished her off.

What about Gray Wing?

So Gray Wing’s reaction and defence of Clear Sky in this chapter is one of the things I see fairly often to explain why some believe Gray Wing is one of the most morally bankrupt characters in warrior cats.

I just want to add some full context here.

What Gray Wing knows so far about what Clear Sky has done is as follows

He kicked out Jagged Peak for breaking his leg (Gray Wing has physically fought Clear Sky over this already)

He rejected Thunder and then manipulated him into rejoining the group later on.

He left an injured Moon Shadow behind in the moor camp.

He kicked out Frost for having an injury that won’t heal.

Clear Sky and his cats will fight to maintain and expand boundaries. But so far, as far as Gray Wing knows, no death has resulted from this although there is an accusation (see below).

Wind Runner claims she found the bloodied body of Misty with Clear Sky’s and Thunder’s scent marks in the area, and now Misty’s kits are missing.

So far then, as far as it goes with Clear Sky, he has been a generally shitty person but that’s as far as it has gone. The situation with Misty’s death is currently just speculation by Wind Runner and Gorse Fur. We as the audience know, yes, Clear Sky did ruthlessly kill her, but no one beyond Clear Sky, Thunder, and Petal actually know that.

During Bumble’s death chapter, Gray Wing is “desperate to believe his brother could be innocent”. He brings up the fox scent but is dismissed by Turtle Tail.

At this point after Bumble says that it’s her fault and Clear Sky interrupts her. And here’s a point of contention I have seen. Where Gray Wing now thinks to himself

“Even with Bumble dying beside him, Gray Wing couldn’t help but admiring his brother’s bravery. What other cat would leap in the midst of a hostile group?”

And this is something I’ve seen to claim that Gray Wing is an awful person for admiring his brother while Bumble is dying but I just don’t agree with this at all? It is a flash of admiration of Clear Sky confronting a hostile group. Gray Wing thinks that he “couldn’t help” but admire Clear Sky’s courage. It is possible to admire an aspect of a person in this way without absolving them of the bad they’ve done. I can’t think of any examples but I swear things like this do happen in warrior cats where the hero will feel a glimmer of respect for a certain aspect of an antagonist. I just don’t think this is at all revealing of Gray Wing’s moral character. Immediately after this thought Gray Wing confronts Clear Sky and demands to know if he knows what happened and directly accuses Clear Sky of doing it in the process.

Gray Wing clearly doesn’t want this to be true but he isn’t hiding from the possibility.

After explaining that Misty’s kits are safe (in response to Wind Runner’s question immediately after Gray Wing’s before Clear Sky could answer), Clear Sky asks Gray Wing if he thinks he’s capable of doing this to Bumble and Gray Wing says no.

This is another thing I see people say is why Gray Wing is a massive POS but, at this point, Gray Wing has no reason to believe that Clear Sky is capable of this level of violence except the description of the scene of where Misty’s body was found. A scene which he hasn’t seen that Wind Runner also implies Thunder shares the guilt of. That is it. Of course he’s not going to want to believe his littermate committed this act, nor does he have any real reason to actually believe Clear Sky is capable of such a thing. As far as he knows Clear Sky is a major manipulative asshole who will push others around, but there is a huge step between that and just covering Bumble’s body in so many injuries she’s bleeding out and dying. And as mentioned, there is strong evidence a fox was involved in this incident anyway, it’s not like it’s just Clear Sky’s scent, the fox scent is by far the strongest scent at the scene.

After this point arguments ensue with Turtle Tail reiterating how she believes Clear Sky did this, ending with Wind Runner asking Gray Wing about what should be done next.

Gray Wing does have some doubts about Clear Sky but doesn’t want show it, and does ask Clear Sky directly who could have done this if he didn’t. He wants Clear Sky to be innocent but he isn’t shielding away from the potential truth, he is confronting Clear Sky about this. He isn’t trying to cover for Clear Sky, he obviously wants Clear Sky to present another option but isn’t helping him do it and he isn’t verbally trying to excuse Clear Sky at this point other than saying that he doesn’t believe Clear Sky is capable of such a thing, which again is reasonable for Gray Wing to believe in this scenario.

After Clear Sky gives his side of what happened, Gray Wing even refuses to speak in his defence.

Surely if he was such a Clear Sky bootlicker in this scene like is often made out, he would have said something right?

And that’s about all I’ve got to say. I haven’t moved onto the first battle yet so I’ll probably have something to say about Gray Wing in that. But I just think interpreting this scene to make Gray Wing out to be completely supporting and defensive of Clear Sky is just in bad faith imo. This is his brother he was raised with, I really don’t think he should be penalised for not immediately assuming his brother is the awful scumbag he is at this point in time. Like I mentioned, as far as Gray Wing knows now is that Clear Sky is an ableist manipulative ass, but that is a far cry from being a killer. I don’t think Gray Wing has given him enough shit for that, but I truly don’t think Gray Wing believing his brother is capable of such a thing at this point is that reasonable.

Rip Bumble, it is messed up the torment the Erins put you through.

[kwainofhearts]

He ran from his heart until his paws hurt

It was one of those nights. He sat on his balcony, meditating. The sun had set an hour ago. The crisp autumn air stung on his skin, as he thought about his crush. And how would he tell him how he felt. He could use some help, but he didn't want to be a wimp… He wanted to do it himself. But there was a problem.

He took a deep breath in when he heard the balcony door open. He turned to look there, seeing the familiar face of his younger brother.  ''Aren't you cold out here?'' He scoffed playfully, holding a duvet in his hands.  ''No, not really.'' The older brother said.  ''Well, I brought you a blanket anyway.'' He said.  ''Thanks Nour.'' He took the duvet and wrapped it around his shoulders. The softness of the purple and black bat duvet felt good on his hands. 

They fell into silence. The older brother looked at the starry sky through the glass windows of the balcony that were shut. But soon, Nour broke the silence.  ''Deus, you should just let him know.'' He said in a soft and gentle, but stern voice.  ''I know… But I am afraid. How would he think of me if he finds out I am not just a fox, but…'' He went quiet, feeling his twin tails starting to form.  ''He will accept you. You know how he is.'' Nour sighed. ''You know him better than anyone else here. Hell, you know him best of our whole group!''  Deus fell in silence. He could feel his snout, ears… Paws. Fur. 

''Open the window for me.'' He said. ''I want to go for a run.''  ''Don't try to run over the Atlantic again, okay?'' Nour chuckled, opening the window for him. ''You know the night won't allow you.''  ''I know,'' Deus said, biting back a growl, as he leaned forward. It wouldn't be his first waltz with the fox he called Revo, but it was the first time he would hop from his balcony.  ''Be careful.'' Nour said.  Deus nodded, as he turned into a black, twin-tailed fox on the balcony. He was bigger than an ordinary fox, and his tails sparked with green and pink fire, as it lit his fur in beautiful aurora greens, pinks, and purples. He hopped a few steps, before backing away to the back wall of the balcony, taking a few jumps, his fur sparkled with a white wave, then getting the beautiful aurora shade. He ran in the air and with the woosh of his tail, he painted the skies with auroras more beautiful than ever before. But those auroras held deep sorrow. 

He could hear the people's voices from below.  ''Wow! Look at that!'' ''How?! There are no reports of Sun storms!'' ''Stop looking at your phone and look up!'' 

Deus felt everything at once. He felt deep sorrow. He felt deep happiness. He felt anger, embarrassment… He wanted to cry, to scream, to shout. So he screeched. Screamed. It sounded like a human… His scream echoed to the skies. His anger felt burning, his sadness clouded his eyes. He screamed again. He screeched again and again and again in frustration. He ran towards the full moon that shone in the sky. He screamed again, this time at the moon while he jumped from cloud to cloud. From wish to wish. He wanted to run so much further. He wanted to run away from these feelings. He never had a chance to feel them, other than as Revo. To scream at the moon. To scream in the skies because nowhere else was it ''appropriable'' to scream in pure emotion. He wanted to scream. He wanted to cry. He wanted to weep. Instead, he hopped higher and higher, until it felt like he could touch the moon… He stopped running, feeling the gravity taking hold of him and he began falling. Down back to earth. Back to the dark autumn night of Finnish skies. 

He reached for the moon, growling as he spun around, continuing to run and color the skies with his tail. He painted in beautiful healing green, strengthening magenta, and bright wisteria purple, but the strong colors correlated differently in him. The mix of green and purple was a cry for help. The Magenta was his romantic, drowned feelings. He wasn't in the end afraid of what his crush would say. He was fearful of what he might do if he had a chance. How toxic would he be again? How would he behave? How would he destroy yet another… 

He let out a scream. He needed to work out these emotions. He would need to talk about them, journal about them, and do some inner work… Before he could even think about telling about his feelings. He needed to sort himself out first. He kept his head high, tears running down from his eyes. His heart ached from the thought, so he screamed again. He wanted so badly, but couldn't get it. For one… It would be so far away. His crush lived in America… He lived in Europe. He had too high hopes. Or so it felt. He wanted to just run across the Atlantic, to get to… But he couldn't. The night didn't allow him. He could try to run within the night, but it wouldn't be a fast trip… It would take hours. He would take the chance if he had the energy, but right now he could be in this form, as Revo, running in the skies for 7 hours. It wouldn't be enough on any level, even though it was further from his half an hour which he started with. 

He cried in the sky, running faster and faster, so fast his paws hurt… Yet he didn't stop for a second. He kept painting the skies, and as he finally stopped to rest on the roof of a high building he noticed it. The tens of thousands of hearts floating in the skies, some already slightly fading. He wanted to cry more… Because he didn't feel worth it. 

He returned home… Hopping to the balcony, where Nour was still sitting with a cup of hot chocolate… 

[slimeberry]

The stabbing pain in her head worsened significantly as hot tears ran down from yellowing eyes. The swelling noise inside her mind was too much to bear.

She couldn't contain the baneful fox's malice any longer. Repressed, drowned emotions welled and boiled up to the surface, burning with such intensity that her scars violently split open. Lacerations forming on her furred thighs and arms, sending another brutal wave of pain through her transforming body as raging hate began to tear her flesh apart.

Her pleas going unheard once more, the fox silently cursed the dragons above as a smirk crawled up her increasingly inhuman face.

----------

Curses are not known for striking at the most convenient of times.

Wonderful art by Twitter@YaoiNek0

[kiskivmiske]

Spec-evo-esque warriors AU, far into the future. Humans have apparently driven themselves to extinction, and cats, landlocked on Bri'ish islands, eventually took over the ecosystem as cats are an invasive species.  After taking warm spots of native species, they evolved and adapted to different environment, replacing:

ThunderClan: bobcats, foxes, badgers.

RiverClan: beavers, otters, seals

WindClan: deer, pigs, foxes

SkyClan: owls, hawks 

ShadowClan: mustelids

Tribe of Rushing Water: whereabouts unknown (yet) 

The Sisters: whereabouts unknown (yet) 

Contains mentions of nuclear war. 

          _____________________________________

Prologue

         The morning was chill and misty. White plumes  stretched across the meadow, from the Ruins all the way to Highstones. A couple of hawkfinches, quarreling over a piece of prey filled the air with constant clicking. 

        Reedpaw shifted in her nest made of rye stalks and stretched her front paws forward, flexing her long sickle claws. A rush of cold wind flew over her head, blowing away a clump of gray storm clouds. She noted to herself, that the past few moons rains have poured more and more often. On one paw, it promised a rich harvest of catapples and barley, on the other paw, wet soil made it harder to hunt. Not without her hooves sinking in it. RiverClan were probably thrilled, though. Their main waterway flooded and more fish went inland from the Sun-Drown-Place.

        But WindClan wasn't all that happy, being forced to build temporary shelters. Unlike RiverClan, who naturally possessed broad webbed paws to traverse mud and sludge, WindClan had thin slender legs and narrow paws with three hooves and a big hooked claw on each one. They were born to run on a solid surface. At one point, their leader suggested they stop being nomadic and build a camp on the outskirts of the Ruins, on the elevation, but the elders were concerned about food running out. Traveling all the way around Highstones in leafbare weather was proven to be difficult. Although hooves allowed to climb steep slopes of Highstones, slippery snow threatened to throw anyone down the chasm at any given moment. 

       Reedpaw stood up, looking around. She noticed her sisters, Goldenfrost and Appleleaf sharing a moleworm at the edge of the apple forest. A strange structure made of rocks towered above them providing shelter from the wind.

"Hey!" Goldenfrost waved her short white tail. "We have some freshkill reserved for you!"

       Reedpaw found moleworms disgusting, with their long hairless bodies and large yellow teeth on eyeless faces. She was more of a mushroom type. A catapple would be rather nice, too. Or a hare. But they haven't seen a hare herd in a long time, so they had to resort to whatever the soil gives them: bugs, moleworms, groundsparrows, wheat, barley, nuts, and, of course, catapples, their favorite treat that is always abundant.

       Reedpaw wrinkled her nose, thinking of the way to reject the hairless treat politely. 

   ��    "No, thanks, I'm not hungry yet," Reedpaw shook her head, nodding at the woods. "I was just about to take a walk through the forest."

        "Make sure not to run into one of those creatures who build those nests!" Appleleaf whispered. "Shrikebeak said they are still out there!"

         "Shrikebeak is a compulsive liar, and we all know that. Warbringers had destroyed themselves moons and moons ago."

         "Warwho?" a small gray kit rolled out of the nursery tent. While apprentices and hunters did sleep under the sky, kits had to be contained in tents, in case a murder of crows decides to pay a visit. 

         "Warbringers, Daffodilkit, " Appleleaf repeated patiently. "They are creatures from ancient times. With no fur, walking on two legs and paws with opposing thumbs much like SkyClan's. They tamed creatures made of metal and built nests so high they reached the sky. Long ago, more moons than we can count, they dominated the world. They brought our ancestors here with them. But their reign didn't last long. Way too ambitious for their own good, they tried to get more and more land for themselves. But there's only so much land in this world you can have. They started to fight each other. Using their technology, they crafted a weapon that sowed mushroom clouds all over the world. For years this land was shroud in darkness. And when the clouds dissipated, warbringers were no more. Our ancestors survived. Five clans: Thunder, Sky, Wind, Shadow and River. Before the Lasting Snowfall they fought each other for every piece of prey. But after it, they decided to make peace, unless they wanted to go extinct, too."

         "Why are we called that, then?" Daffodilkit tilted his head to the side. 

         "We are called WindClan, because we are light and swift like wind. ThunderClan are huge, with strong paws that make the ground shake as they walk. SkyClan live in treetops and soar from one tree to another like birds. ShadowClan are accustomed to the darkness of a long cave system they live in. And  RiverClan is pretty self explanatory. They hunt in rivers and lakes."

         "I haven't seen any of them, really."

          "That's because our island is way too big. We are divided by a larger distance than before. You know what? Legends say, long ago this place was the home of our ancestors. Where we live now was the cradle of all WindClan. The Ruins belonged to ThunderClan and ShadowClan. And the Stone Forest," Appleleaf gestured at tall structures resembling trees without bark or branches, "was RiverClan's land. But as Warbringers went extinct, we took their territories, adapting to them in our own ways. The only reminder of those twoleg creatures are statues of them."

          "That's so cool!" Daffodilkit shouted in awe. "I would like to see the Ruins myself! I want to see the statues, too!"

          "I can show you," Reedpaw nodded. "But not right now. You're way too small! We don't want you to be snatched by a dog, do we?"

          "What's that?!"

          "Large vicious beasts. Long ago, they were loyal servants to Warbringers. Now, they survive on the remains of their masters' civilization."

          "Awh," Daffodilkit dipped his head in disappointment. "But if I become an apprentice?"

          "Then, I guess, you can come with us," Reedpaw smiled, nudging the kit with her nose. "Don't be that sad about it. Ruins are pretty boring, actually."

           Reedpaw froze, her large years perked up. Something was moving behind them in the underbrush. Something big and heavy, at least twice an average WindClan hunter. Ferns rustled and a massive creature with broad frame and massive paws went into the sunlight. 

         "A dog!" Daffodilkit shrieked. "Everyone run!”

Chapter 1 "Expedition"

    "Spongepaw!"

     Anemonepaw jolted upwards, hearing the commotion outside. She stepped out of her den on the side of a tall cliff. Majority of RiverClan hunters and crafters were just stirring awake, gathering their spears and tying off floating platforms from posts. Warbringers left a lot of trash behind, which barely decomposed. But it was surprisingly useful for making flotation devices for prolonged hunting campaigns. Crafters tied those weirdly shaped bubbles together with ropes. These platforms were also used as a base for nests, in case the sea level rises. Anemonepaw and her mentor, Waverun, also had one in their herb storage. 

       Young apprentice carefully made her way down the granite cliff and onto the beach. Her brother, Spongepaw, was arguing with two hunters: his mentor Sharkbite and his friend Squidspots.

        "What was your assignment, Spongepaw?" Squidspots hissed, lashing his spotted tail resembling a gray octopus tentacle. 

        "Catching fish," sandy yellow apprentice with faint brown spots responded. 

        "And what did you bring here?" Pale gray Sharkbite continued, his blue eyes now two narrow slits. 

        "I brought fish!"

        Squidspots pulled out a transparent clump of  jelatinous substance out of freshkill pile. 

        "Jellyfish. Is. Not. A. Fish, " he said slowly, accentuating every word. 

      "But it has "fish" in it!" Spongepaw objected. 

      "But it's not a fish."

      "Is starfish a fish?"

      "No!" Sharkbite shouted. 

       "Stop yelling at him, he's trying his best!" Anemonepaw's older brother, Kelpfur stood between Squidspots, Sharkbite and Spongepaw, putting his big paw on Squidspots' head, pushing him away. "Sharkbite, you're his mentor. How is he supposed to learn if all you do is yelling at him?!"

      "Fine!" Sharkbite scoffed. "Look, Spongepaw. Take everything that ends with "fish", but doesn't have fins out of the pile and toss it back into water."

     Apprentice nodded and started picking small orange starfish out of his basket. Then, he threw out something big and brown. 

    "What did you do?! You foambrain!" Squidspots yowled. 

    "You said throw out everything that ends with fish. So I threw out crayfish."

   "You can keep crayfish! Now go get it back!"

    "I'll help him," Anemonepaw meowed shortly, walking past two hunters. 

    She jumped off a sandy shallow into the darker crevice, using an empty shell to push crayfish away from its burrow, while Spongepaw crawled from behind, trapping it into a basket. 

    "Good job," Kelpfur put his tail on Spongepaw's shoulder as he climbed back on a shallow. 

     "I wish I could train with Anemonepaw," the apprentice complained. "She knows how to stand up for herself."

      "Squidspots and Sharkbite are just being obnoxious because they finished their apprenticeship earlier. I'll talk to Eelnose and hopefully she'll remind them who our leader is," Kelpfur finished his sentence by sitting down to lick his webs. It usually meant that he's done talking. 

    Two siblings continued on their way along the shoreline, looking for any crabs to catch. Sun was already high enough, and Anemonepaw's white pelt was glowing, probably bright enough to see from the camp. The only dark spot on her body was her red nose and slightly brighter golden area around it. It was unusual for RiverClan, where the majority had dull brown, gray or dusty colors. Apart from that, she was absolutely normal, with typical sturdy paws, long body, big head with arched nose and a powerful square jaw with protruding fangs. 

    "So, what's the plan for today?"

    "Waverun told me to wait for her to finish sorting herbs. When Pipersong comes back, she's going to take me inland, to a neighbouring RiverClan colony," Anemonepaw stopped for a second to press her tail against left side, away from the sun. Her thick strong tail was almost furless, just like anyone else's, but her lighter color meant a bigger risk of sunburn. 

    Spongepaw froze, wrinkling his nose. With a loud caw, a big black bird landed on the beach. It held a rather large crab, breaking its shell with a thick hooked beak. 

    "Do you think it's edible?" he whispered. 

    "Maybe, but I'm not sure if we can take it down. Perhaps, we should stay hidden," Anemonepaw responded, pushing her brother into the reeds. 

    "Yeah, maybe you're right."

    Everyone in RiverClan was big and sturdy, but had second shortest legs of all five Clans. They could leap from platform to platform, even if they were far apart, but ultimately lacked agility for vertical jumps. If attacked from air, they would have a very hard time defending themselves. 

     The bird hopped along the water, looking around for prey. Then, suddenly, Spongepaw felt wind on his pelt and a massive black shadow swooped over him. He shrieked, covering his head, but the shadow ran over him, colliding with an enormous bird of prey, sinking teeth deep into its throat. It was a big feline, much larger than any RiverClan, with long but sturdy legs, big round head and long fluffy tail. Fur was dark brown with thick black stripes. 

    "Ah, it was yours?" the stranger dropped her prey, meowing apologetically. 

    "No, we were just hiding from it. You aren't going to hurt us?" Spongepaw blurted out. 

     "Of course not. If I wanted to, I'd aim for two tasty apprentices rather than this old corvid. I'm Dillpaw, ThunderClan's herbalist's apprentice."

      Anemonepaw had never seen a ThunderClan, but assumed they aren't much bigger than the others. Looks like she was wrong. Dillpaw, being an apprentice, was gigantic even compared to their leader, Eelnose. She had thick fur, in some places as hard as pine needles. Whoever tried to bite them, probably had to suffer from sores all over their snout and palate. 

     "I'm also a herbalist's apprentice! I'm Anemonepaw, and this is my brother, Spongepaw."

     "What's that?" Dillpaw tilted her head to the side. 

     "What exactly?"

     "Things you were named after."

     "They are..." Anemonepaw paused for a moment.

      "They are sea creatures, " Spongepaw continued for her. "Anemone looks like a plant, and sponge is like a... a morel mushroom or a squishy rock with holes, but Kelpfur said they're actually animals, like worms. And dill is that fluffy plant, right? By the way, are you looking for plants?"

     "Not really, just wanted to collect some spiderwebs."

     "You aren't from far away, are you?"

     "No, ThunderClan lands start after that column," Dillpaw nodded at a piece of ruins on the edge of the cliff. "This is the only piece of land where we have an opening to the sea, because it floods the swamp. And you, RiverClan, as far as I know, hate swamps."

     "True!" Spongepaw nodded. "We hate stagnant water."

     "And we like mushrooms that grow in this humid environment."

      Anemonepaw wrinkled her nose. How could anyone eat mushrooms? They're slimy, stain paws and have a disgusting smell! But, as she knew, ThunderClan weren't fans of a meat only diet. Their thick fur and skin even protected them during raids on wild bee hives. Honey would make any other Clan violently nauseous, but for them, it seems, it was a nice treat. 

     "You need spiderwebs, huh?" Spongepaw shifted his attention for a second to reach out and grab a big crab. "Waverun usually travels across the Highstones to fill her storage."

     He put his prey between his powerful jaws and cracked the shell. Then pushed it towards his sister. 

     "Here, have something to eat. I don't remember you taking anything out of the pile. Regarding the spiders, I think she mentioned the underground ruins."

     "I think I remember that place. You mean the old Warbringer hideout? With a broken door?"

     "She said something about a cracked rock at the entrance, I assume that's it."

      Anemonepaw nodded at her left side. Waverun was approaching the three with four empty baskets dangling at her side. 

     "Here, you'll carry these," she took off two baskets and pushed them towards Spongepaw. "Sharkbite told me to take you with us. I'll teach you how to fish in rivers."

      Waverun used to be a hunter before. After partially losing her sight, she decided to join old herbalist Pipersong in his den. Their colony was rather large, and one healer wasn't enough for them. Waverun considered taking another apprentice from Finsplash's litter when they are old enough, just so she could make even bigger expeditions without the fear of a sudden epidemic. 

     "Are you going with us?" Anemonepaw asked, noticing that Dillpaw got up. 

     "Yes, I really need as much webs as possible. Don't worry, I've got," she pointed at a dry purple plant in her fur, "enough thyme on me. Hillsnow has three assistants in his den.”

     "Before we go into the woods, remember: always look down. Snakes blend well with fallen leaves. And do not attempt to eat berries without my approval," silver tabby waved her white tipped black tail, leading the group. "There are two kinds of yew bushes. One is called deathberries. Only one of them can kill an adult hunter. Only the red part is relatively safe to consume. The other kind is called flameberries. They were cultivated by ThunderClan healers and have smaller, wrinkled seeds. They must be consumed whole in order to kill off parasites in your guts, if any other herb is ineffective. It's also poisonous, but only if you eat a dozen at the time."

     "Why are they called flameberries?"

     "Because, when you use a dirtplace after them, your lower intestines feel like they're burning," Waverun pointed at a small bush, growing in a long shady hollow, stretching along their path.  "Look at these berries," she said. 

     "These would be flameberries? Right?" Spongepaw moved closer to look at wrinkled seeds. 

    "No, there are dry berries from last year. Flameberry bushes usually don't have leftover seeds, because snowtreaders peck them out. Birds are immune to their burning component. To distinguish them, you'll have to break one of their berries between two rocks. If its smell makes you cry, that's flameberries. If not, deathberries."

    "The more you know," Spongepaw pushed the branch away from his face, as if the bush could attempt to forcefully part his jaws and feed him poisonous seeds. 

    The forest changed to two steep gray cliffs with a waving path between them. The healer put one paw on a boulder and looked up. 

    "Thank you for letting us through your land. May your spirits find peace," she whispered, before turning towards three apprentices. "A great tragedy took hold over this place before the Lasting Snowfall. Warbringers launched a weapon, targeting their colony on the other side. But, due to some mistake, it struck Highstones. There were not only our Clans, but also the Tribe. And this is the place where they used to live."

    "You mean-  they exploded?" Spongepaw whispered. 

   "Exactly. Either that or they went deep into the cave system and were buried alive."

    Spongepaw shivered, wrapping his tail around legs. 

    "Each time we pass through Highstones, we must pay respect  to the deceased," Waverun continued. 

   "May your spirits find peace," Dillpaw, Anemonepaw and Spongepaw said in unison. 

   "Watch your step and don't try to look down the path," the healer instructed. "You will feel dizzy and fall."

     Jagged peaks of Highstones towered above a narrow dusty path. Very few grasses and bushes chose cracked gray cliffs as their home. Several yellow spots of rockfoils dotted the mountain on the other side of a gorge. As the group went around a cliff, Anemonepaw saw a massive pit in the ground. Highstones were levelled in an almost perfect round shape. The hollow, surrounded by mountains, was covered in lush vegetation, with one blue dot of a lake in the center of it. 

     "Long ago you could get sick by being there," Waverun said. "But now it's harmless. This lake produces mud that can ease joint pain. And its water can kill some skin infections. But you can't drink it."

     "Is it still poisonous?"

     "No, but it's very salty. All five clans visit this place in the newleaf to rest and chat."

     "Can we go there now?" Spongepaw asked. 

    "It is forbidden, unless you're a healer. You see, this hollow is swarming with small animals. Mice, birds, squirrels, frogs, lizards, hares..."

     Anemonepaw narrowed her eyes. In the golden light of the setting sun she could see dark splotches moving around the lake. Hare herds! So dense they covered the landscape. 

    "We let all the animals live here in peace, so we don't overhunt them," Dillpaw finished. "Especially hares and bushgoats."

     Anemonepaw could feel her mouth watering at the mention of small ungulates inhabiting mountains. But she brushed it off, intently looking at the path beneath her paws. Three gray birds with leftover white fuzz on their chest ran on a slope above them, but she didn't want to risk falling down for a couple of snowtreaders. 

      "Look, you guys! A turtle!" Spongepaw lifted his claw, pointing at a rock-like creature grazing on a patch of foliage. Spongepaw dropped in a hunting crouch and slowly moved towards prey.

       "That's a tortoise, not a turtle," Waverun shouted. "And you're not supposed to hunt it!"

      "Why?" Spongepaw turned around to look at their healer before he heard an angry hiss. Tortoise straightened its wrinkled neck and clicked big pointy beak. The next moment, it charged at Spongepaw. Apprentice rolled back just in time. Tortoise snapped the air in the exact same spot were Spongepaw's throat was a moment ago. 

      "Because they're omnivorous!" Waverun replied. 

      Spongepaw rolled away and jumped up, breathing heavily. Anemonepaw circled around the distracted reptile, grabbed its exposed neck and broke it using her strong jaw. The animal went limp, its legs sliding in the dust from underneath its body into a laying position. 

      "Prey's on!" she huffed, breaking the carapace. 

      "I think it's enough adventuring for one day," Waverun breathed out in relief. "Eat up and let's find a place to rest."

      The group got away from the path just in time. With a loud clap a flashes of white light up the mountain. Rain, a slight drizzle at first, soon turned into a strong torrent, capable of washing anyone off the cliff, coupled with a freezing wind. 

      As soon as Dillpaw finished her share of prey, she dropped on her belly at the entrance. Spongepaw was spinning in circles, shaping a pile of dry plants into a more comfortable nest, while Anemonepaw and Waverun examined plants lining up the wall. 

      "I've never seen this vine," Waverun admitted. "Remind me to get some on our way back."

      Anemonepaw reached out to touch the plant, but hesitated, looking at it with distrust. A new flash of lightning made it easier to see thick vines which resembled dried goat veins. Wrinkling her nose in disgust, she backed away, sitting on the nest next to her brother. Tired, both of them quickly drifted to sleep. 

       Spongepaw shivered, waking up. It was still dark, but Anemonepaw and the others were nowhere to be seen. The air felt cold, and the smell reminded him of damp earth. The rain was still falling. There was no way anyone could go out in this weather! Spongepaw's gaze stopped on a tree growing just outside the cave entrance, which was particularly odd. He didn't remember seeing any trees since they left the shore. Spongepaw got up and slowly, carefully, approached the tree. How is it growing on a hard rock?! Where do its roots go?  Then he realized: the tree had to roots at all. Just a cut log with branches, standing upwards on the edge. Before Spongepaw tried to touch it, another boom of thunder shook the air, knocking him off balance. The tree shook, too. Spongepaw froze, expecting it to fall on him, but the trunk rocked away from him, plummeting into the void below. He could hear a faint splash below as it fell. 

      He woke up, feeling Anemonepaw's tail poking his side. 

     "The rain's over. We need to move, carefully," she whispered. 

     "Isn't the path too slippery?"

     "That's why we must be careful," Anemonepaw nudged her brother. "C'mon, Waverun said we must move!"

     Spongepaw slipped out of the cave, following slowly walking Waverun and Dillpaw. He sunk his claws deeper, trying to get a better grip. Thankfully, because of strong wind, this side of the path was protected from rain, going around an overhanging cliff. Waverun looked tense, as if something scared her enough to make her leave the safety of their cave in the middle of the night. Her head was hanging low, back arched, tail tucked between her legs. 

      "Can you at least tell us what's happening?" Anemonepaw pleaded. 

      Waverun stopped to point at the overgrown crater. In the middle of it, just by the lake, there was a small flickering orange light.

     "Fire. I know only one creature who can wield fire," the healer said, her face as dark as the stormcloud above them. "Warbringers