The Sun Will Always Rise (OPEN)

[Wolfie]

All was calm past the willow stem woven willow roots. All was almost dark, beside the dawn light that shined through the entry way to the leader’s den. As the light hit the nest and face of beige and black striped Bengal, the creature opened its eyes. One was yellow, while the other was foggy blue color and sightless. The cat was larger than most, but lean and well built. The tom cat stood from his nest and stretched out his tight muscles from sleep, before grooming the bits of moss, feathers, and twigs from is pelt. The tom was not any normal warrior, but Riverclan leader, Wolfstar.

As the tom pushed himself out of his den he made his way into the clearing. His head and tail held high. His one good eye scanned for any other early morning raisers like himself. He smiled to himself as he sat just outside is den, his beige/cream and black striped tail wrapped delicately across one of his paws, while the other was busy cleaning his face and whiskers. Once he was sure his was well groomed for the morning he headed towards the freshkill pile.

Upon reaching the pile he examined the remainder food choices from last night’s hunt. He quickly picked out the water vole. His and his old decreased mentor’s favorite. He took it to a nice shady spot. He placed the vole between his two front paws as he began to eat his morning meal. His mind drifted to his younger days and smiled at those thoughts. They were bad days when he was an apprentice at the beginning, but Hawkclaw made it easier. He smiled gently at the thought of mentor. He was a patient, kind tom and would have made a great leader.

[Cinder]

regular, speech, thoughts, other(s) The apprentice woke early and sat up in her nest. She was a small thing, thin and short, but strong for her size. Her body was solid muscle, on a sompact frame. Her fur was the color of smoke as she sat in the darkness of the den, but when she stepped into the morning light she knew that it would turn to a briliant silver sheen. Bright eyes blinked in the darkness as she cleaned the sleep from her pelt and whiskers in preperation for the dawning day. Riverpaw pulled herself to her feet and padded out of the den, careful not to wake the other apprentices that still slept around her. She ducked out of the den and into the light that dappled the clearing with shafts of gold and pink light. It took her eyes a moment to adjust to the new light, but when they did, her lips twitched up in a small smile at the beauty of it. Morning and dusk were her favorite times of day. As the young cat looked around the clearing, she spotted Wolfstar looking over the fresh kill pile and making his selection. Carefully, she ducked into the shadows beside the den and waited for him to take his place to dine on his meal. When he did choose a spot it was with his broad back to her, just upwind. Riverpaw laid crouched in silence, for a long time watching the leaders tail twitch against the ground. But she could only stand temptation for so long... Riverpaw dropped even lower into a hunting crouch and crept forward on the pads of her feet. Her bottom wiggled in the air for a moment before she leapt, and landed with the tip of her leader's tail firmly between her front paws.

[Wolfie]

As Wolfstar finished up his meal he felt like something was watching him, but shook off the feeling. Then, suddenly he felt something trap his tail, the same moment his nose caught the scent of Riverpaw. He quickly ripped his tail out of her grasp and turned towards her, his blind side facing her. He gently butted her in the side with his head, hard enough to knock her down, but not hard enough to hurt her. He place one paw on her flank and leaned down and smirked at her, “You may have caught my tail, but I think I caught something a little bigger.” He lifted his paw off her and sat down as he brought a reddish beige colored paw to his face. He cleared is whiskers and maw of all trace of his meal he just ate. He turned around and buried the bones of his meal in the ground. “How are you doing this morning, Riverpaw? I can tell you got energy. I don’t normally see the younger cat up at dawn unless their mentors force them,” He purred. His one good eye watched the younger cat with amusement. Of course he loved to see the younger cat active and ready to move before their mentors. Speaking Action Thinking

[Tiny]

Basilstream

Fear was all around, it was chasing her and trying to consume her. The guilt came down upon her like rain, cascading off her fur and leaving droplets behind. It was her fault that it had happened, she had done it. No matter what her siblings said it was her fault. No one could erase the pain, the doubt, the guilt from her mind. She felt like a shell, hollow and abandoned. All she wanted was that reassuring smile her mother seemed to give her at every glance, whenever she saw her youngest kit down. The smile was beginning to fade from her memory now. It had been moons since she had last seen it. Just before her mother had passed away, she smiled that smile one last time. That time it had been weak, like her mother’s body. Seeing her mother so ill was the last memory the she-cat had. It haunted her dreams much like it was doing now. Orbs of green/yellow soon blinked as the she-cat snapped herself out of the dream that occurred every night. It would be nice for just one night not to have that dream, to have a normal dream…whatever normal was.

All she wanted to do was curl up in her own ball of self-pity and ignore everything else. Unfortunately that was not happening, her siblings would be in here soon to drag her out, whether she wanted to or not. Deciding to end the self-pity for now, the torbie she-cat took a deep breath before padding out of the den and into the clearing. Sitting down just outside she first examined the cats in the clearing. Everyone that was up was seemingly enjoying themselves. Why couldn’t she go back to that? Sure she did well putting on a good façade for her siblings, so they wouldn’t worry. But deep down how could she end the grief?

Basilstream had been on a late-night patrol, and yet was still one of the first cats up. That was typical for her. Ever since the nightmare had become more and more frequent she found herself unable to fall back asleep once it had occurred. She tried not to let it affect her appearance. But her coat was just not as shiny as it had been before, it was as if she no longer cared. She was exhausted from the nightmare, and the lack of sleep in the past few moons but nothing worked. If she didn’t go on a patrol and just sit in camp, she would feel the pain and the grief. But for those moments she was out in the forest, patrolling and getting her mind off of everything….she was somewhat happy. She found energy that she didn’t know she could muster up.

After examining the cats that were awake, her eyes drifted to the nursery. Her time as a kit had been so much simpler and less stressful. A small smile formed as she thought of the time her bigger siblings had challenged her to dart into the warriors den when her mother had not been looking. She had gotten in so much trouble, but not as much as her siblings. Basilstream sighed as she looked from the nursery to the exit of camp. Once her body allowed her, she would find a way to go on a patrol. She needed to, just to escape the pain.


Word Count: 565
Tags: None

[Cinder]

regular, speech, thoughts, other(s) "OOF!” Riverpaw didn't anticipate the weight that knocked her over, and she laid on her side stunned for a moment as the bigger cat pinned her to the ground with a paw on her flank. Her face was blank and her eyes were large with fear as she looked up at the older cat, this had not been a good idea. It only took a moment however for the fear to dissipate as she looked at his face. He was not mad as she had expected, but his eyes held humor. Riverpaw grinned up at him innocently, showing her sharp small teeth. After he let her up, she pulled herself to her feet and began to clean the dust from her pelt and whiskers; trying to wipe away some of the embarrassment that she felt. He small pink tongue rasped down her chest and started to wash a paw before she looked up again. This time more subdued. "I am good, it is a beautiful morning, how are you Wolfstar?" Riverpaw looked past the leader and focused on the cat that had just emerged from the den behind him. Basilstream padded out of the den and sat down in front of it. She did not look like she had rested at all, and the sheen of her coat was slightly dull. Riverpaw got to her feet and padded toward the other cat, shen she reached her, she sat a few feet away and looked into her face. "How are you this morning Basilstream, is everything alright?"

[distressedmoon]

  Out of the open clearing and out of sight, a cat lied hidden in the tall reeds of the camp. The tom prefer to watch the clan without sparking curiosity form his clan mates, it was just his way. This tom was in charge of the health of RiverClan, the medicine cat Pondmint. From Pondmint's tranquil spying on the clan, he could see all cats were waking to a new day and preparing to do all their daily tasks. Everything seemed.. normal on this day within RiverClan's camp.

  To Pondmint's slight surprise, today wasn't going to be as 'normal' as he thought. The she-cat Basilstream had stumbled into his view, anxiety masking her face. The shaken sight of her wasn't the only thing that told Pondmint of her disturbance, it was also the overwhelming fear-scent wafted to his nose.

  Pondmint arose to his paws, his hollow eyes intensified to watch Basilstream closer. He rose a paw close to his chest, readying himself to spring off to his den and fetch juniper berries and maybe some heather nectar to sooth the she-cat. Even though Pondmint had a solution figured out medically, he had a dreaded feeling that Basilstream's worry needed something deeper then simple herbs. Pondmint can't handle those kind of problems, and often says the wrong things during his attempts to comfort. 
 
  "Why, why do I have to help cats in that way?" He grumbled. Pondmint wished that he could just be the cat who heals wounds and sickness. He didn't even know much about Basilstream ether. Sadly, his previous mentor, Tinyvoice didn't really tell him much about the cats in the clan, or maybe it was just that Pondmint didn't care to listen.

   Pondmint was just about to do the enviable and ask her 'what's wrong', but little Riverpaw beat him to it. Perhaps the more appealing apprentice can help Basilstream in her time of need. Still, the medicine cat kept the she-cat in his amber gaze, in case something goes awry.

Word Count: 331

[Wolfie]

Wolfstar chuckled at the apprentice face as she thought she was in trouble. He let out a purr, “Well I am happy to hear you are doing well, Riverpaw. I am doing fine as well. How can I not, the clan is doing well and at peace with the other clans, how I cannot be well,” He mewed happily. Then, watched as the apprentice run over to Basilstream.

Wolfstar pushed himself off his paws and padded over to the two she-cats. He looked up at his best friend and smiled. She had helped him a lot when they were apprentices. He knew she was going through a hard time and planned being there for her as she was for him, even if she didn’t speak her concerns. He sat down next to Basilstream and gave her a friendly lick on the ear. “Good morning, Basilstream. How are you feeling this morning?”

His one good eye shifted as he spotted another cat and smiled at Pondmist. He nodded his head respectfully to the medicine cat. He knew she was a grouchy cat, much like he was as an apprentice, but he did not mind it. He smiled at him. The tom was just as important to the clan as he was. “Good morning to you as well, Pondmist, how do you fare this morning?” He asked friendly.

[Tiny]

Basilstream

Casting her eyes on the ground seemed like the safest bet for the she-cat to do. Especially so interacting with cats was really not her forte, well other than her best friend and siblings. She enjoyed just doing what she needed to get done, then getting out of the way. No socialization was necessary then. With a slight sigh she almost wished her siblings were around, but they were probably still snoozing away. Shaking her head she wished she could be like that, sleep for more than a few seconds without waking up and trembling. She hated going to that dark place in her mind.

Basilstream felt like her body was just moving on its own accord. She barely remembered waking up and walking out of the den at this point. She hadn’t even heard someone approaching her, until she heard a voice. Now she felt awful. She hadn’t even noticed someone approaching her. What kind of warrior was she? She just simply nodded. ”I’m fine, thank you for asking Riverpaw. How are you, how is your training going along?”

She could feel eyes on her, she knew they were, she always had this feeling. Now the question was, was she right or was it just her dream trying to shake her again? Maybe it was just best if she kept the thought to herself. She was probably imagining it anyway.

This time, she was actually someone more alert, and instead of being surprised by pawsteps, she heard them coming. Casting her gaze up she saw her best friend, who just so happened to be the leader of the clan. When they were younger, never would she have thought he would have been the leader, but now she couldn’t imagine anyone else to lead the clan other that Wolfstar. She managed a small smile as she felt the familiar warmth of his fur near her own and the simple gesture he gave was enough to soothe the she-cat. ”I’m making it, just need to do something to get my mind off of everything. Anything I can do? Please say there is.” Basilstream replied to her best friend, she didn’t want him to have to worry about her, he had plenty of other things to worry about. And she really did need a distraction, anything would do at this point. She was desperate to escape from herself. She didn’t care if her body was tired, there was no way she could sleep anyway. It wasn’t like she pushed through the tiredness anyway. She had done that plenty of times.

Word Count: 430
Tags: All RC

[Cinder]

regular, speech, thoughts, other(s) "It's going great! We are working on hunting and..." Riverpaw prattled on for a few moments about random things and stopped when their Leader walked up. She sat and listened to the conversation that the other cats had with eyes wide open. She always had been one to listen in to see what was going on. After hearing Basilstream's request for something to do, the apprentice jumpped to her feet and grinned. "Why don't we all go and help Pondmintfind some of the herbs that he needs?! That will help the clan, and it is something to do!" Riverpaw's eyes flicked from Basilstream, to Wolfstar, and finally to Pondmint. She stood still, the tip of her tail twitching slightly at the end in anticipation, as she waited for an answer.