#the hunt continues (threads - Crookedstar);

[wolfpackmuses-a]

Closed starter for @blxestar​

Crookedstar paced back and forth outside the nursery, glancing up at every sound and movement that occurred inside. He had been nervous all morning since Bluefur had begun to come down with kits just on the edge of the ThunderClan and RiverClan border and he cursed at himself for having had met her tonight, just for this to happen. He was annoyed, but he knew she was in good paws with Brambleberry and Mudfur, who was quickly becoming a very knowledgeable medicine cat, would help ease her pain and help with the kitting.

Brambleberry had basically been inside the nursery with Bluefur since she arrived with Crookedstar to RiverClan’s camp a few hours prior, with Mudfur running to and from the medicine cat den with herbs, sticks, and whatever else was needed. When Mudfur was busy, Crookedstar was more than happy to help, having gathered fresh moss and water for his mate, and of course better materials for her nest to make her more comfortable.

It had been a while since he had heard anything from inside the den and Mudfur had sent him away, so he could stop pacing back and forth worrying himself,

❝She’ll be fine, she’s in good paws, just trust me Crookedstar,❞ Mudfur had told him with a genuine smile,  ❝She’ll be fine, don’t worry.❞

And he had kept the medicine cat apprentice and Brambleberry to that. He had also kept to himself, trying to preoccupy himself with other things, meaning he had organized the dawn patrols, gotten the hunting parties together, and helped the mentors with what they should train their apprentices on for that day.

Cedarpelt had let him do so, knowing that Crookedstar wanted to keep busy, but the deputy padded up to Crookedstar after he was done, sitting beside him. He looked to the young leader, seeing his fur being spiked with worry, and a look of worry still plastered to his face.

Cedarpelt used his tail to smooth out his leader’s fur and to reassure his old apprentice,

❝Everything will be alright. . It’s green-leaf, she couldn’t have asked for a better time to have kits,❞ he whispered and Crookedstar nodded, giving a small sigh.

❝I know, I know, but after the other issues we’ve had, I j-❞ he was stopped mid-sentence by Cedarpelt, who had slapped his tail over Crookedstar’s muzzle,

❝She’ll. Be. Fine,❞ he said again, much more stern, to which Crookedstar nodded again, this time fully understanding. Cedarpelt dropped his tail and Crookedstar looked back across the clearing as Mudfur exited the nursery to fetch a bit more damp moss and quickly returned only a few minutes later into the den.

Crookedstar could only sit impatiently and wait. His nerves were getting the better of him and he was thinking of worse case scenarios the entire time. He didn’t know what to do or say, before a yowl broke his thoughts,

❝Crookedstar!❞ Brambleberry yowled from the nursery to him across the clearing.

Crookedstar scampered to his feet and sprinted across the clearing, being met by Brambleberry outside the nursery, Crookedstar giving her a worried look that quickly melted when he saw the prideful look on her face and the happiness that shone in her eyes,

❝Have a look,❞ she whispered to the leader,  ❝Two kits. One tom, one she-cat. I won’t spoil anything else, but Bluefur absolutely wants you to help name them.❞

Crookedstar smiled from one side of his crooked jaw to the other and dipped his head to Brambleberry, who returned the head dip with her own,

❝Thank you, Brambleberry,❞ he breathed and quickly moved his way into the den to meet his mate,

❝Well? How are they? What do they look lie? Are they already warriors?❞ Crookedstar asked excitedly as he moved over to his mate. He moved around the back side of her body, lying down, and then curling around her body with his own. He stuck his crooked right leg out, that still wasn’t healed fully, and looked at her with joy filling his heart and his body swimming with nervous feelings.

Mudfur looked on at the scene, giving a small purr of amusement,

❝I guess not even the strongest of leaders can hide their excitement about kits,❞ he commented with a chuckle, to which Crookedstar shot him a glance that was of slight annoyance with him, but it wasn’t mean spirited and Mudfur knew that.

❝Come on! I want to see them!❞ he breathed to Bluefur, excitement glittering in his eyes.

[mallowstep]

That reblog reminds me, did you ever end up thinking more thoughts about how a religious education in the RiverClan nursery goes down?

so yes and no see i did but i ended up thinking about the broader process of socialization and then instead of writing it in any meaningful sense i just kept writing domestic fluff so here, a bunch of words that hopefully mean something.

in sum, what do kits have to learn to be members of riverclan? not, like, skills such as hunting, but -- what cultural knowledge needs to be built?

well, a lot, as in any society, but i think. i always do this better when i think things through from a...thought of it as a process, which is why i actually was writing domestic fluff. well no. i just like domestic fluff.

anyway.

alright little kits r born what are they learning. well as newborns basically nothing but as they get older, there's. well. i don't think anyone wants me to do a step by step. i don't want to say, "through how apprentices and other warriors interact with queens, they learn that that is a valued position," like. c'mon that stuff is obvious. i think.

so i think the first interesting thing they learn is that the weather is important. because what stories riverclan tells -- and how they tell them -- is tied to the weather. (and the seasons, but they won't know that yet.) the origin of riverclan is a different story on a rainy day. well. it's the same story but it skips over all of the origin stuff to explore what happens after river dies.

but i digress; they're also learning about social roles and family structure. like i said, that's not terribly interesting except kind of it is because this is the kind of thing that starts to drill the importance of passing-on-a-legacy into kits' heads. the ideal family structure as well.

but let's back up to the weather, because. when kits r little and confined to the nursery, they know the other queens/kits, and the keeper. whether or not the keeper is presently raising kits, they're going to be visiting often. oh, sure, others visit, but for little little kits? queens are pretty protective.

by about a moon, they're starting to investigate camp. at which point they're making stronger connections. still mostly w local mom squad, of course, but. like. the keeper is involved.

y'know uhh okay timeline time. this is why i made nice timeline. okay. primrosekit is like 4.5 moons old when crookedstar dies. featherkit and stormkit are like a moon old. so even though leopardstar's kits won't be born for another moon, stonefur is still going to be...not a primary caregiver, but like. involved in their lives.

and that's how kits start to learn that this is a Special Person. they learn the leader and seer are special people too, of course. but the keeper isn't generally. well the seer smells and acts different, and cats treat the leader different, but they have to be old enough to see the keeper doing their Job beyond just helping w kits.

right like. take ur kid to work day except you accidentally stumble into couple's therapy or something.

uh did that joke make sense.

moving on.

and it is through that that they get the reinforcement of the idea of being descended from the divine.

as they get older, they start to learn about death, which prompts a whole new set of questions. stories continue.

frankly i think my thing is like. religion and culture are so deeply integrated it's hard to separate them. and i'm p sure we don't want a walk through of how-to-raise-a-kit.

look ur gonna get stupid many words of how-to-raise-a-kit soon. (you, general.) at least a quarter of ioth is how-to-raise-kits-for-beginners.

uh. i lost my thread. very much so.

the main elements of religious education that aren't covered in general life are shrines and the concept of carrying the divine. well. shrines -- i mean more than that but it's shorthand.

so how do kits learn about those things?

well, they'll learn about starclan slowly, mostly through other stories. the concept of shrines is well integrated into riverclan's general culture. however, a kit isn't going to like. have experience with that directly.

so it's kind of built up to.

most won't have a great sense of it until they're apprentices, because they can't leave camp, but exceptions exist, and there is the shrine (as in, The shrine) which can be visited by older kits under certain circumstances.

either way, their introduction is with reminders to bring offerings, etc., etiquette, all that stuff.

as for the divine, this is also deeply woven into stories, but to be a little clear, the specificity of who the leader, etc., are is demonstrated in storms. other circumstances as well, but that's the big one.

okay i think i am going to get increasingly less coherent so here take this

[wolfpackmuses-a]

@fledercanons​ continued from x

It was not lost on Crookedjaw the words to other one told him. Crookedjaw was usually one who took people at their word, but events had started to change his views and he was now not nearly as trusting as he had been in the past. The matter of just having found a cat on patrol was one that he didn’t come across often, at least not many loners or rogues. It might have been some clan cats every now and again, but rarely did he find anyone else.

Crookedjaw flicked his tail, looking at Lark, thinking over what he said, before he came to a decision on what to say next,

❝I ask only because of some experiences I’ve had in the past,❞ he responded,  ❝Usually if there are cats found on the territory, it’s usually not ones who are unaware of the clans. I feel you don’t pose a threat, so I won’t bother with that. However,❞ he paused and looked Lark over,  ❝I am curious to know how you got here. It’s not exactly an easy trek over the rocks by the river.❞

[wolfpackmuses-a]

Storm listened to the two mongooses speak to him and explain their situation. To be quite frank, it was somewhat hard for him to wrap his brain around something like that, as it didn’t seem to be something he was too familiar with.

Or. . Was he somewhat familiar with this? While it didn’t seem that either of the two mongooses were animals that you would find in StarClan, he couldn’t help but wonder if this was something like Storm had seen in his short time in the clans.

Maybe thinking it over, he could tie it back to himself in a way, because of what had occurred when his name had been changed. He wouldn’t be caged physically, but he did feel as if his new name had kept him from becoming a true warrior, to actually be able to change anything for his future.

‪❝No, it wasn’t for a golden mouse,❞‬ he replied and shook his head, ‪❝But I guess they might make a better explanation. I’m trying to avoid going home, to see any of the cats that were a part of my old clan. I broke my jaw when I was young and my mother forced a new name on me.❞‬

A sigh came from him and he shook his head a bit and looked back out to the surrounding grasslands that he was sure made up WindClan territory.

‪❝My clan was trying to keep me from doing anything, to leave helpless in a way. My own mother even considered giving me to another clan, so she wouldn’t have to see. . ❞‬ he snarled, ‪❝This!❞‬ he motioned to his jaw to explain that a bit better, ‪❝My clan didn’t want me. My own mother was rejecting me. I saw no point in staying in a place I didn’t want to be, so I left. To make a life of my own.❞‬

(wolfpackmuses):

Storm looked between the two of them and he said nothing for a few moments. He was thinking about what they were saying and the situation the two of them were also currently in. While it seemed that the two of them also had some issues, it was as if all of them had some issues with running away from something.

Storm didn’t know what that was for the two mongooses, but perhaps that was something he was going to find out as well.

Or at least he would find out with time.

❝Well. It’s good to see that I’m in good company I guess,❞‬ he replied to the two of them and sat down, his tail curling over his paws, ‪❝Would probably be my first time of hearing anyone having to deal with a threat from a few centuries ago.❞‬

Storm seemed to be somewhat interested in this as well and he wanted to find out more info if he could about what they were going through. Maybe they could all find a way to help each other.

‪❝What exactly would you be running away from? It doesn’t seem there would be anything out here that would want to hurt you as far as I could tell,❞‬ he said and shrugged, ‪❝But I guess I’m the same way. You wouldn’t guess cats might be out trying to find someone like me.❞‬

◈━◈━◈━◈━◈

"Well, you probably wouldn't believe," Gef puffed out his chest, only to brush it down with his paws. "But I'm, well — sort of a freak. An angel, if you will. Very clever! But the other angels do not like my cleverness... They want to take me back and cage me. But I am not a creature to be caged. I am meant to be free."

"We were ejected," Rikki added, seeming baffled at the concept himself. "Taken right out of the marshes. I didn't even know where we were when we got here. Gef says only that we must be on the run with tricks, so that he is not taken. That we may be ejected again."

The yellow mongoose nodded, half-grimly yet still mischievous. He looked the tom cat up and down. He'd certainly not missed the broken jaw, as it stuck out like a sore paw to place bluntly.

"What's your story? On the run for stealing a golden mouse?" Gef tilted his head.

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[wolfpackmuses-a]

Crookedstar listened to his words carefully and began to review his options for something like this. He wasn’t sure if there would be any hostilities, so he assumed it would be fine, so long as the clan understood that Lark wasn’t here for any bad reasons.

‪❝It’s a shame to hear that it could cause so much damage in a short amount of time,❞‬ he replied with a nod as they walked towards camp, ‪❝And there shouldn’t be any issues with you staying in camp. We’ve had some relatively peaceful times around the territories recently, so the biggest issue may be the disease itself.❞‬

Crookedstar was sure the biggest issue would rely solely on the disease Lark had described. As they got closer to camp, Crookedstar eyed the border, just to ensure there wasn’t anyone already sick trying to cross the border.

‪❝I can only hope that this disease doesn’t affect us just yet. I’ve enjoyed the peace and I know the clans have as well,❞‬ he said softly, ‪❝But I guess only time will be able to tell.❞‬

@wolfpackmuses​ (x)

Keep reading

[wolfpackmuses-a]

The light brown tabby narrowed his eyes at the mongoose that stood in front of him, what had been a fresh rabbit was now gone right before his eyes. While Storm, also formerly known as Crookedkit, was not happy about losing such prey while out on a hunt, he was more annoyed by the way the mongoose was boasting about it right in front of him.

❝I would it would be wise not to boast about taking someone's kill when they're right in front of you,❞ he responded with a huff, ❝Especially when you seem to be smaller than even some of the cats I've seen roaming around here.❞

While it was clear that he didn't have any ill intentions, he still did want to use his larger size as an advantage, likely more as a scare tactic than anything else.

❝I don't think I've actually seen anything like you before,❞ he said lowly and took a step forward to get a better look at the mongoose, ❝What exactly are you and why did you intend on wanting my prey so badly?❞

OPEN. UNLIMITED REPLIES.

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There the yellow mongoose sat, having helped himself rather shamelessly to a meal that wasn’t his to take. Gef flexed his claws about the snack, tongue swiping over his muzzle almost smugly as he looked to the stranger he’d stolen from,

“Sorry, were you going to eat that?”

Off to the distance, obscured in hiding, another mongoose peered out, expression in clear frustration and disapproval of his partner.

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[wolfpackmuses-a]

Stonepaw and Whitestorm came back later that afternoon, both going by the fresh kill pile to grab some food before the gathering. Stonepaw had a bit of an issue getting a mouse off the ground, as it had gotten stuck due to the cold weather, but he was able to get it eventually.

Seeing his apprentice struggle like that made Whitestorm know leaf-bare was almost upon them. The two ate, talking a bit about the gathering and Whitestorm just happened to catch a glance of Bluefur out of the corner of his eye.

He thought she looked a bit nervous, but he wasn’t entirely sure what. She seemed brave, as she always did, but Whitestorm knew there must be something up. So after letting Stonepaw eat with the other two apprentices, he got up to meet her.

‪❝Bluefur? Something wrong? You seem a bit. . Nervous about something,❞‬ he whispered to the deputy as he looked at her.

————————

Piketooth nodded to her response about him being somewhat similar to Crookedstarbin that way and he chuckled ever so softly,

‪❝I guess I am a bit like him in that regard. But the difference between him and I is that he’s a leader now and I’m not!❞‬ he paused a moment to think about how to respond to her question, ‪❝He had been with the ThunderClan deputy, or at least sitting by her. The two had been apprenticed around the same time and Crookedstar had just been talking to her that night.❞‬

He glanced outside the den to look at Crookedstar as he ventured into his den to maybe get a bit of rest tonight before the gathering,

‪❝Oakheart’s comment didn’t stop him from talking to her every now and again, though. That’s the good thing about gatherings, you can talk to other cats from other clans without any big fret of being attacked. It’s the one night most of the clans are calmer,❞‬ he explained.

—————————

When Crookedstar ventured into his den to rest, he picked up a very familiar scent as well. One that he knew right away, being that it was Mapleshade. A growl came from him as he glanced around but felt his fur stand on end as he not only saw her faint outline. . But Thistleclaw’s too.

‪❝What do you two want?!❞‬ he hissed softly, but neither cat responded. Both just stared at him, unblinking, but seeming to smirk ever so slightly.

He growled as he climbed into his nest and got comfortable in it, wrapping his tail around him and glancing towards the opposite side of the den where the entrance was, as the two faint outlines seemed to be there now as well, just watching, waiting.

He had a bad feeling about it, but he didn’t know why, even if the two weren’t actually doing much of anything. But he knew to be on alert tonight, just in case something happened with them seeming to be around.

blxestar​:

Bluefur paused, and then nodded. “You’re right, actually, Whitestorm.” She looked at Stonepaw. “You should probably train a bit more before patrolling.”

She jumped back up on the side of the slope. “I’ll let you and Whitestorm keep training. I should go, anyway.”

…

Mistypaw nodded as they all got back to camp. She looked at her father, wondering what he was talking to Cedarpelt about. Probably leader/deputy stuff.

The apprentice kept her distance, but still listened a little. She couldn’t hear anything, really, so she moved on and slipped into the apprentices’ den.

Stonepaw seemed to frown more at that, but the apprentice nodded understanding the reasons as to why before he looked up to Whitestorm who smiled at his apprentice. He knew that eager look, all too well, because he at one point had that look as well. It was disappointing, he knew, but the hard work would pay off in the end, he knew that.

❝We’ll see you before the gathering tonight, Bluefur,❞ Whitestorm responded with a small nod,  ❝We’ll make sure to get some more good training in before we go, I promise.❞

With that, the two went back to discussing different hunting tactics, what kind of areas the animals lived in that they hunted, and so on. Stonepaw listened intently and nodded as the two walked off into the forest, away from the training area, just to get some practice in before tonight.

————-

Silverpaw was not in the apprentice den when Mistypaw entered, but she was followed in by Piketooth, who stopped at the entrance and gave his apprentice a smile.

❝Excited for the gathering tonight?❞ he asked with a small head tilt, ❝Because I know I certainly was. I remember at my first gathering I had a cat from each clan ask me what my name was, not just to be friendly, but because of the teeth! It seemed that a lot of people were pretty good at guessing my name back then,❞ he purred softly.

Piketooth knew full well that Mistypaw and Silverpaw both were very excited for tonight and he couldn’t blame them. Gatherings may have become a common occurence for almost every warrior in the clans, but most of the warriors never forgot the first gathering they went to. If it had been an exciting one, one where StarClan covered the moon, or just a boring one that discussed prey, every warrior had a story.

❝Did Crookedstar ever tell you what happened to him at his first gathering?❞ he asked,  ❝I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t have, because he got quite embarrassed by it. He had been speaking to a ThunderClan apprentice that night and the two had just started training around the same time. So, Oakheart went up to him after the leaders had spoken and asked him, very loudly, if he liked the ThunderClan cat. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a cat get as flustered and embarrassed as he did that night.❞