#darkpetal

The Clan can’t seem to escape loss.  After slowly fading for many moons, the elder Darkpetal (160) was found dead in his nest.  Bushmask (131) and Brightfalcon (164) are saddened by the loss of their friend so soon after the loss of their children.  Tremors wrack Brightfalcon’s body as she dwells on how Darkpetal won’t see another morning.  Bushmask goes over the best moments he shared with Darkpetal in his mind, again and again, until he’s certain he’ll remember Darkpetal forever.  Airclaw (63) misses her father and wonders how she’ll move on without him.  Cressfreckle (37) and Yellowcreek (48) comfort her.  In light of their losses, ElementClan and FurledClan have decided to end the war.  It had devolved into a stalemate and both sides were able to find common ground.  Despite the end of the war, Chervilcry (100) is busy.  She pulls Midgepurr (18) aside and asks him quietly about his crush.  He looks at her confused.  What crush?  He doesn’t have one.  Peakspots (90) has been worried that Cressfreckle is spending so much time with his mate instead of going on patrols.  This leads to a fight between them that Chervilcry has to break up, and Yellowcreek starts complaining about him behind his back.  Although not all is well in their romance.  Cressfreckle wants kits, but Airclaw isn’t quite ready yet.  She wants to see how their relationship progresses before taking the step into parenthood.  Chervilcry also helps them work through it. The final member of the quadrangle, Graysong (34), has noticed that his mother is having a hard time and surprises her with some of her favorite herbs that he grew.   Sadly, while on a patrol, Pythonrush (18) is killed by a thunderpath.  Flinttooth (22) is a little shaken that she couldn’t save him, but isn’t that torn up.  She wasn’t super close to him.  However, instead of shrinking this moon, the Clan actually grows.  A tom named Luckstripe (58) and his newborn kits have joined the Clan. He and one of his kits, Mothkit (0), are fire-blessed.  Chervilcry has to put out a small fire Mothkit starts in the nursery.  But the other two. . .are star-blessed.  And one of them, Flightkit (0), is so powerful that she almost blinded Caterpillarmallow (71) when she inspected the kits.  The other, Lilykit (0), is slightly less powerful, but still pretty strong.  Yuccastar (100) is intimidated.

It seems that the young cats in the Clan aren’t finding romance with each other (all the drama’s with the older generation).  Instead, they’re looking outside the Clan.  Airclaw (25) was recently seen touching noses with a rogue.  Meanwhile, Yellowpaw (10) has been spending time with the elders and enjoys how nonjudgemental they seem compared to some of his other clanmates.  It’s nice for him to find a safe space.  He always does whatever Yuccastar (62) says, even if he doesn’t want to (e.g. swapping his great piece of prey for her bad one) because he doesn’t want to give her reason to mistrust him.  However, not all is perfect in the elders’ den.  Sunflower (147) was annoyed with Darkpetal (122) for hogging all the good bedding, and Darkpetal overheard him complaining.

Meta: So, I'd been mediating Judaschaser and Yuccastar to hate each other, and both their dislike bars were completely full. With Judaschaser being an elder, I was worried she would die of natural causes before Yuccastar killed her, and I didn't want to wait too long and lose that story thread. So I manually killed Judaschaser and decided that Yuccastar had killed her. And that Yellowcreek, with his horrible luck, had seen it again. For story reasons.

In a surprisingly selfless act, Rindlefish (83) saves Sunjaw (24) from a large dog, but she breaks her leg in the process.  This only drives home Sunjaw’s feelings of worthlessness.  She can’t even use being powerless as an excuse! And besides, even her father seems to think she’s a burden.  She overheard Darkpetal (121) complaining about her behind her back! Bushmask (92) is still trying to bond with Antlersky (39), this time sharing the gossip that Rosemaryquake (39) was seen at the border with a ChaffinchClan cat.  Antlersky has no idea why he thought dirt on her sister would improve their relationship.  Yellowpaw (9) finally earned a compliment from Yuccastar (61) after getting a complex battle move right that combines water and fire magic.  Challenging, but effective.  Chervilcry (61) doesn’t share her mate’s trust of Yellowpaw.  She’s been sharpening her claws near him so he knows that she could hurt him if she wanted.

Despite having joined the Elders several moons ago, Darkpetal has only now turned 120.

After moons of serving the Clan, Darkpetal (117) has decided to retire to the elders’ den.  Sunflower  (142) is happy to have a companion.  And Darkpetal is happy not to have to go on patrol anymore.  The onset of leaf-fall has brought on a surge in disease.  Rindlefish (79)  got greencough, and then the Healer who was caring for her, Rosemaryquake (35), also came down with it.  Joy.  What a good omen for leaf bare.  Yellowkit (5), who has recovered from heat exhaustion, is enjoying his first leaf-fall.  He’s dashing in and out of the leaves that fall into the grotto.  Seeing him act like such a normal kit makes other cats almost forget what he is.  Almost.  Sometimes the leaves swirl unnaturally into the air, or bursts of excited fire incinerate them.  Other times, living leaves fall into camp.  Yellowkit quickly kills those.  Bushmask (88) sees that and is very intimidated.  Yuccastar (57) wishes that there were more kits in the Clan, but Rosemaryquake is glad that there aren’t, as they would be born in leaf-bare and they would likely be her half-siblings.  Yuccastar has been preoccupied with Yellowkit lately, and Peakspots (46) has been taking on more responsibilities.  He just wants a break.  How did his mom do it?

While gazing up into silverpelt one day, Stonefreckle (57) realizes that his grief has begun to lessen.  He can’t forever be hung up on what could have been.  He needs to focus on what is, with Chervilcry (53).  In other news, Peakspots (42) came out as a trans male!  Sunflower (138) and Darkpetal (113) welcome him (and jokingly invite him to join their gang).  Peakspots feels happier than he has in a long time.  However, the same can’t be said for Yuccastar (53) Once more, despite having a literal shining pelt, Yuccastar wishes she were prettier and shinier.  Even Airclaw (16) has a silkier pelt than she does!  Her crush on Bushmask (84) has also kept growing.  She just can’t seem to get through her mind why he likes the low-powered Healer more than her!  Chervilcry is looking out for her deputy reminding Peakspots to grab some prey.   Judaschaser (95) feels like Yuccastar doesn’t value Peakspots enough and gets in a fight with the leader.  Not great when the Clan’s two star-blessed cats are fighting.

Caterpillarpaw (16) has finally become a full Healer, with the name Caterpillarmallow, honoring her boundless energy and courage.  Meanwhile, Brightfalcon (109) has been developing a bit of a crush on Darkpetal (105).  She even left a little petal in his nest.  Antlersky (23) and Rosemaryquake (23) have also been spending more time together, and take some time to share tongues after eating.  Bird (95) has been getting to know Sunpaw (8) and has taken her under his wing, as he knows what it’s like to be powerless in a Clan full of powerful cats.  Yuccastar (45) is glad that things are going smoothly so far in her reign.  She only hopes that they continue to do so as leaf-bare approaches.  However, a bit of tension is brewing between Peakspots (34) and Bushmask (76).  He’s not thrilled about such a young warrior being made deputy, and she’s worried that he isn’t listening to her when she organizes patrols.  While on a patrol, Rindlefish (67), Antlersky, and Darkpetal come across a cat. . .who’s glowing.   It’s a star-blessed kittypet!  Who wants to join the Clan??  And is very powerful???   This is rare.  Very rare.  Her name is Judaschaser (87), and she is excited to be there after her twolegs abandoned her.  She’s thrilled to meet other cats with magic, especially another cat who has light magic, but is a little confused by how weak Yuccastar’s glow is.  For her part, Yuccastar is worried about the stability of her place as leader and feels a bit. . .outshone.  Peakspots wonders if Judaschaser will become deputy instead of her.  Maybe she’d be better at it?