#cavecatcher

With the lack of herbs and the severity of his wounds, the healers couldn’t do much for Cavecatcher (77).  Not even their earth magic could help him and he died from his mangled tail.  The Clan blames StumpyClan and negotiations go poorly at the Gathering.  Hopcurl (37) and Peatfeather (31) help bury Cavecatcher, as Cherviljumble’s (124) joints have been too sore to do much lately. As the war continues, Flailpaw (11) worries that he and his siblings are growing up too fast.  He’s been on the front lines pretty much his whole apprenticeship and he’s feeling worn down.  Meanwhile, his brother, Mistypaw (11) has been made a warrior with the name of Mistytooth in honor of his observance.  Hopcurl is proud of xer kit and knows that he’ll be able to make it through anything.  Mistytooth is less confident in himself.  Dawnstar (103) is proud of him, though, and wants to spend more time with him.  Nettlestripe (88) tried talking with Hopcurl about the war and was disappointed when all xey wanted to do was talk about how proud xey are of xer kits.  Boring.  Copperheart (35) and Hollowminnow (20) spend some time together, coming up with pranks.  Boulderflood (35) wishes the two of them would focus on using their minds for the war instead of silly antics.  Mitemask (20) agrees and the two of them bond over their annoying siblings. Aphidwhisker (16) and Hollowminnow spend some time talking with each other about how their apprentices are doing and find out that they have a lot in common.  Aphidwhisker shows off a bit of dark-cursed magic, draining a small plant and then regrowing it with her earth powers.  Hollowminnow is impressed.  Flailpaw tries to ask Aphidwhisker for some help, but she turns him away.  She’s far too busy showing off her magic.  Oh, and training Scorchpaw (11).  While Boulderflood might disagree, Burdockbeam (35) feels like her shenanigans lighten the mood in camp.  Dapplemuzzle can’t help but feel like the worst of the war is yet to come.  In the Dark Forest, Yuccawillow lashes her tail while thinking about Dawnstar.  He’s Primcrest’s son.  If he suffers, she may suffer in StarClan.

Healer’s den: Cherviljumble (joint pain)

FurledClan hasn’t struck back against ElementClan.  Directly.  But. . .an abnormally strong windstorm hit the caverns and blew away all of the herbs.  FurledClan is known for having powerful wind-blessed cats.  Bumble (95) and Pebbletuft (51) are. . .a little worried, to say the least, especially after Cinderblockpuddle (237) dies from head damage.  The Clan is a little shaken by his loss, but they knew he wouldn’t be around for long.  The healers are more worried about Cavecatcher (76), who’s infected tail is not looking great.  And they don’t have the herbs to treat it.  Bluestripe (93) knows that Flailpaw (10) is under a lot of pressure right now and comforts him while picking burrs out of his pelt.  She makes sure he understands that it’s important for him to keep up in his training, though.  Later, as they’re curled up in Bluestripe’s nest, Tanglechirp (65) tells her that he doesn’t think that Flailpaw is being completely honest about how hard he’s working.  While Croucheye (29) may not be a fan of Mistypaw (10), her apprentice, she’s glad that at least Minnowpaw (10) isn’t her apprentice.  The young cat’s constant fretting is annoying.  Dapplemuzzle (15) is impatient to get to fight in a battle and prove herself.  She’s jealous that Mitemask got to fight in a border skirmish when she didn’t.  Mitemask (19) notices that she’s upset and wants to talk with her.  Dapplemuzzle ignores her.

Flailpaw (7) seems to have been working himself too hard in the greenleaf heat and gets heat exhaustion.  With the tensions on ElementClan’s borders, he’s worried about how they will fare without him to fight.  Dawnstar’s (99) not worried though.  The Clan is strong.  And has plenty of dark-cursed cats.  They even have a couple of star-blessed cats, which is a little weird for them.  Dawnstar does like Burdockbeam (31), though, and surprises her with a day off from patrols.  More time for her to prank cats. . .Aphidwhisker (12) loves playing with the way the dark and light emanating off her pelt looks.  Cavecatcher (73) is jealous of her.  Tanglechirp (62) chats quietly about it with him while they’re on guard duty.  Even so, Aphidwhisker is closer to her dad than Dapplepaw (12) is and smiles at him whenever they meet.  Copperheart (31) has decided that making cats fight each other is her favorite brand of trouble to cause.  She starts a fight between Hatchswipe (60) and Pebbletuft (48) that leaves the healer fuming.  Pebbletuft also wishes that Mistypaw (7) would show more initiative in his training.  She’s disappointed in him (like she has any say in his training, at all).  She complains about him (and Hatchswipe) to Longpelt (29).  Longpelt is impressed by her insight into their fellow clanmates.  Cinderblockpuddle (234), despite being old and injured, wants to sneak out of camp with Flailpaw (who is also injured).  Pebbletuft catches them and scares them back to their nests.  Croucheye (26) doesn’t know if she’s ready for an apprentice.  She feels like she’s too jumpy.  An owl scared her last night.  An owl!  How embarrassing. Her apprentice, Mistypaw, knows that the warrior code says elders must be fed first, so he brings a hare to Cinderblockpuddle and Cherviljumble (120).

Bluestripe (88) takes some time to get to know her younger Clanmates better.  She’s always been a bit of a loner so she doesn’t know them very well.  She wants to get out of her shell more now that she’s deputy.  She has a deep discussion with Peatfeather (25) and finds that they have a lot in common.  Both of them are used to being ignored in favor of their siblings, and they’ve both lost most (if not all) of those siblings. Bluestripe doesn’t like Longpelt (27) though.  She doesn’t feel like Longpelt ever does anything useful.  Or anything at all, for that matter. Longpelt does, in fact, do stuff on occasion.  This moon, she grooms a hard-to-reach place for Cavecatcher (71).  See-useful! Being an elder now, Cherviljumble (118) spends some time watching over the kits and is impressed with Flailkit’s (5) understanding of what his powers mean, especially considering the tensions the Clan has been having with FurledClan lately.  He’s worried that he’s going to let the Clan down by not fighting hard enough.  Flailkit also overhears Tanglechirp (60) talking about how hard he works to take care of his and Bluestripe’s kits.  Flailkit knows he’s lying.  Dapplepaw (10) has complained to him about how she doesn’t feel like her father understands her very well.  Aphidpaw (10) is continuing to prank other cats, and this time, pranks Copperheart (29) using some of the advice she overheard her giving to Dapplepaw.  She respects that and laughs off the prank.

ElementClan is feeling the tension with the other Clans.  Burdockbeam (27) knows that, if there’s a battle, it’ll be her first chance to show that she’s a skilled fighter.  However, she ends up training too hard with Hollowpaw (12) and sprains her paw.  Meanwhile, Dawnstar (95) decides that one of the apprentices is ready for her warrior name.  He gives Mitepaw (12) the name of Mitemask, in honor of her enthusiasm.  He has to call her name a couple of times though before she pays attention.  She’s too busy watching a fluttering leaf that seems to vanish before her eyes.  Cavecatcher (69) is proud of Mitemask.  He’s also one of the Clan’s most experienced warriors and Croucheye (22) is impressed with how well he fights.  Kestrelcreek (100) is also proud of Mitemask and is starting to recover from losing her mates.  She enjoys spending time with Nettlestripe (80) and discussing Clan news with him.  Nettlestripe also complains that Hollowpaw never does anything helpful.  While Kestrelcreek is a little offended at his criticism of her son, she does understand it.  He always seems to be getting into trouble.  Mitemask seems a little jumpy lately and keeps startling at things no one else can see while on a patrol.  Despite him being completely unhelpful in raising their kits, Bluestripe (86) still loves Tanglechirp (58).  She purrs for a long time at one of his dad jokes.  Their kits definitely have differing personalities though.  Where Aphidpaw (8) is a little annoying with how much the older cats in the Clan seem to like her, Dapplepaw (8) is much more reserved.  She is surprised when Aries (77) spends some time with her instead of her sister and thanks her earnestly when she grooms a hard to reach spot for her.  Pebbletuft (44) and Bumble (88) are struggling to get along without Lakepelt there.  Pebbletuft is frustrated with the way the senior medicine cat does things and gets in a fight with him.  Peatfeather (23) and Embershell (29) have a bit of a history of not getting along.  They have one good day but then Embershell messes it up by mentioning that she feels like the kits in camp are annoying.  Peatfeather quite likes them.  Pebbletuft also senses war on the horizon (or maybe she’s excited for it) and talks with Dawnstar and Bluestripe about how the Clan could utilize their dark-cursed members to fight.  Minnowkit (3) and Flailkit (3) are proving to be closer to each other than they are their other siblings.  Minnowkit is worried about being an apprentice because she’s afraid of disappointing the Clan. Flailkit is listening to her, but jumps when he hears a croaking frog, creating a big wave that drenches his siblings, most of the other cats in camp, and washes the frog away. Meanwhile,  Scorchkit (3) is listening to Kestrelcreek tell stories about Clan history and wonders about the unknown.  Why did Yuccawillow turn out the way she did?  Do dark-cursed cats really have a connection to the Dark Forest?  Why can’t powerless cats be leader? Kestrelcreek doesn’t have answers for her.

Healer’s den: Cherviljumble (broken bone), Copperheart (claw wound), Burdockbeam (sprain)

Creekstar (124) is still feeling a little bit testy.  She got in a fight with Cavecatcher (28) over a pretty feather and ended up incinerating it.  But Rubbleheart (66) still looks up to her.  He turns to her when he needs some help with practicing wind magic with another cat. Now that her grandkits aren’t apprentices, Hopedawn (59)  is getting along well with the remaining ones.  She heckles RaccoonClan at a gathering with Treepaw (10), and Stonepaw (9) thinks that’s she’s not so bad after all.  However, Downgaze (51) feels like Hollypaw (9) should be doing more to help his mother through her grief and gets in a heated argument with him, saying some hurtful things about how he’s not powerful enough, or how he would be more help if he were star-blessed like his brother.  Downgaze might not be dealing with Vaxxstreak’s death as well as he thought.  Hollypaw brings up the stuff that Downgaze mentioned to Stonepaw and the two work through it. Archdapple (45) also wonders how Hollypaw is doing.  She remembers how differently she was treated because she’s star-blessed and how her sisters dealt with it. She hopes that Hollypaw’s alright, even with Stonepaw getting a lot of attention. Stonepaw’s training continues and, while on patrol, Archdapple shows Stonepaw how to use a bright flash of light to scare prey into another cat’s paws. Whorlstorm (15) seems to be becoming friends with the fearsome foursome.  She hangs out with Brightmouse (45) and Bluestripe  (45) while Archdapple picks burrs out of Brightmouse’s fur.  When the topic of mates is brought up, Greenrapid (26) thinks instantly of Skipneedle.  Meanwhile, Skipneedle (45) feels only friendship towards her. 

Healer’s Den: Downgaze (mangled tail), Almondback (torn pelt), Creekstar (grief stricken), Hollypaw (running nose)

Archdapple; Age 29 moons; Star-blessed she-cat with a power level of 92 (very high); Playful and a good climber

Archdapple returned to the Clan after being lost for 22 moons!