#fiercestripe

Summer rolls across the valley territories with a vengeance. The sparse mountain territory of Loudclan offers little reprieve from the ever present sun that beats down on the cats. While most patrols rush back to camp to take shelter in the caves during the midday hours, young warriors itch for a chance to prove themselves, and evidence of trespassers provides just that for Fiercestripe's patrol.

A fight breaks out between the patrol and the farm cats. Though the clan-cats are highly trained fighters, save for Fiercestripe they are untested in battle, and are outnumbered more than 2:1. There will certainly be losses.

[clangen: *takes everyone's favorite characters, throws them in a blender, and sets it to liquefy* me: *twirls my little metaphorical evil mustache* ahh, yes, just as I planned... For real though, I am so glad to finally get this moon (half of it at least) out to you guys! It is definitely the biggest and most time and skill intensive moon so far and I had a ton of fun drawing it! Unfortunately, that means that the second part is going to take a similarly long while to finish, but I hope that the quality of them makes up for the wait! I hope you guys all enjoy! If you're a little lost as to who the farm cats are check out this pmv and this family tree]

Edit: It's been pointed out to me that Rosehiptree's age is wrong here. That's my bad, this was a HUGE project and while I did my best to not make any mistakes it slipped past me. She's 14 moons old, the same as Dogwoodmoth, but it would be more trouble than it's worth to change it, given the size of the moon not allowing me to upload images on mobile, so lets all just do me a favor and pretend it says 14 instead of 13. Thanks!

First Moon

this was really fun

in order

Cherryclaw and Cavespider from @clangenthriftclan

2. Ravenstar and Finchbeak from @fallenclan

3. Otto and Sunnystep from @ranchclan

4. Oilstar and Carnationspeckle from @rippleclan

5. Fiercestripe and Wildfirecry from @loudclan-clangen

6. Mossleaf and Sunmane from @whispering-clan

Back in camp, the warm weather gives the healers a chance to relax, and puts Wildfirecry in a particularly good mood, reminding him of his former home in Forestclan, far to the south.

Wildfirecry takes Songpaw out to look for Fiercestripe's patrol. Along the way they discuss what's really been on Songpaw's mind.

The scent of blood sits heavy in the still air. With Songpaw sent back to camp for help, Wildfirecry steels his nerves and rushes ahead, prepared to join the battle against whomever had made the mistake of tresspassing onto Loudclan's territory. As he neared the Loudclan border, though, it became clear that the battle was long finished.

Fiercestripe, Chumtail, Dogwoodmoth, and Dashpaw were killed in the rogue attack, taking 4 of their attackers with them. Rosehiptree managed to survive by staying hidden in the bushes, but she is by no means unscathed. Loudclan is devastated by this event, and will need time to mourn, but on the other side of the valley, three trespassers thank the stars for whatever might have delayed their pursuers.

[...so ... how are we feeling about this one, folks? bad? yeah, I feel bad. full disclosure, if Eklutna dying was the moon that I decided I wanted to keep playing Loudclan, this was the moon that almost made me quit. I was and continue to be DEVASTATED by losing these guys, Fierce, Dogwood, and Chum were some of my all time favorites as I played and I fell in love all over again writing their stories here. (Sorry Dash, you just weren't around long enough for me to get attached.) In game technically Fiercestripe died of heatstroke, but since it was the same moon as the rogue attack this felt like a much more fitting way for her to go. Anyway, I think one more part should wrap up this moon, and my deepest apologies to you all.]

First Moon

The clan receives the news of Eklutna's death in the early hours of the morning. Owlstar asks his mate Siltsplash to take a walk out of camp with him.

Siltsplash breaks up with Owlstar, unable to reckon with his betrayal, but they take his kittens as their own, naming them Songkit, a sweet tom, Dashkit, a quiet tom, and Dancekit, an inquisitive tom. Owlstar is only allowed to visit when Siltsplash is out of the nursery.

[We're back baby! Yay! Owlstar is the baby-daddy! Not yay! This event was the singular thing that made me decide to stick with Loudclan. I needed to know where this shit-show ended up. Owlstar gets to see his kits plenty, don't worry about him, he's just trying to whine his way back into Siltsplash's good graces but Fiercestripe and Weed aren't going to stand for that. Eklutna did manage to make Owlstar the only member of the clan more hated than her, so that's something! Also the "ghost" is not really a ghost it's a hallucination for Siltsplash. You can tell because Eklutna's ghost would not have stayed silent for that long. She has THOUGHTS about Siltsplash raising her kits and those thoughts are "ABSOLUTELY FUCKING NOT!" Guys I messed up, Dancekit is inquisitive, not quiet, my bad.]

First Moon

Wildfirecry and Fiercestripe’s kits have reached 6 moons old and are apprenticed. Dogwood paw is apprenticed to Jaggedtail due to her playful nature while Rosehippaw is apprenticed to her mother, Fiercestripe, so that her training can be altered to not aggravate her illness, which has followed her into apprenticeship despite the best efforts of the healers.

Despite not being able to have a “normal” apprenticeship, Rosehippaw is determined not to be left behind, and Fiercestripe vows to do whatever she can to help her.

[I don’t know about you guys but I needed something short and sweet before the EVENT that is coming up next moon. Speaking of, it will probably either take a while or be split into two parts… or both. Anyway, until then enjoy everybody’s favorite mom and my favorite bratty child. They’re still figuring out where “mom” ends and “mentor” begins but until then: training cuddles! Jaggedtail definitely had to grovel a bit to get Dogwoodpaw as an apprentice, but between him and Juneaucliff he was obviously the better match personality wise. And don’t worry, Dogwoodpaw keeps Rosehippaw up to date on EVERYTHING she sees on border patrol, along with sneaking out at night to teach her battle and hunting moves that Fiercestripe thinks are too arduous.]

First Moon

An abandoned kit named Cavekit is brought back to camp. He is a 2 moon old noisy tom. Weed decides to adopt him as her own.

Eklutna announces that she’s expecting kits!

[Yay? I mean, more babies is always good but… ya know… the possibly dying part isn’t really ideal. Oh well, guess we’ll just have to wait to see who’s right. Apologies for being slow with asks, really struggling with drawing right now. Don’t worry, I’ll get through them at some point! Before anyone sends in an ask about it: “unknown parents” are turned on, so the father isn’t definitively someone in the clan, but it also isn’t someone definitively outside of the clan either as “affairs” are always on. Also “pregnancy ignores biology” is turned off if that helps to narrow it down for those who suspect an in-clan father.]

First Moon

Mothpaw has earned her warrior name! She is now Mothtree.

First Moon

Fiercestripe gives birth to her and Wildfirecry’s 1st litter: Dogwoodkit, a bouncy female, and Rosehipkit, an attention-seeking female.

[Yay! They’re here! The babies! Hope you guys enjoy! I tried chopping up the long panel to see if that would help with the image quality. Let me know if it helps! Because they are less common/regionally specific words: a rosehip is a small, tomato like bulb that grows before wild roses bloom, and dogwood is a shrub covered with bunches of small (usually white) flowers.]

First Moon