SkyClan Journey DUST SETTLED ON THE FLOOR ʚɞ snowfall

[SWALLOWPAW]

it's the most color swallowpaw has seen in her life. the thickets of trees yawn into shades of deep greens, russet browns, ruby reds. leaf litter crunches underpaw, and it's a nice change from cold stone. but it's still bitterly cold, it nips at her fur and makes her nose sting. in the back of her mind, she questions hawkstar's validity to travel this late in the season. if her maw wasn't sore from carrying herbs day in day out, she'd be using it to complain. swallowpaw's been stuck in the back for most of the early portion of the trip, so she's unsure how those at the front are doing. most of her days consist of making sure the kits are quiet.

skyclan stops for the night under a canopy of spindly branches. wind whistles a jaunty tune, as if welcoming the aimless wanderers. the weather is overcast, making the makeshift camp a bit darker, colder, than usual. the girl sets down her bundle of herbs, rubbing a paw over the side of her jaw. swallowpaw trots around her clanmates on delicate, yet tired paws (this is med-cat like… right? awkwardly glancing at your clanmates– they'll speak up if they're bleeding profusely). while the clan settles for the night, the cold air shifts and little droplets of snow begin to fall. it floats down gently, like a butterfly. one lands on swallowpaw's nose, scrunching up from the sudden chill. she sneezes.

"agh— no wonder it was so cold today." she mews, fluffing her fur out. "hopefully it uhm, doesn't stick for long..." she suddenly thinks of the prey, and herb sources.

it's begun to snow! will this be a good, or make the trip uncomfortable? play to find out…

ʚɞ

 

[Hawkstar]

HAWKSTAR, 59 moons / SKYCLAN LEADER
A long-legged short-furred seal point tortie with one electric-blue eye; heavily scarred
Mentoring ROSEPAW ; mother of STARLITPATH
Prone to corporate attitudes, harsh words, hazing practices ; generally morally dubious
Tagging @starlitpath

---

Gentle flecks settle across her back and shoulders, blending where eggshell and frost mingled, melting along her spine. Hawkstar had the good grace to be mildly disturbed by the sudden unpleasantness... for all of minute. No mater how many times she saw snow, felt the snowflakes on her skin, or breathed in that winter air, a sort of kit-like wonder took over. It was like magic falling peacefully from the sky, every year, each snowflake microscopic and precious. She had never admitted her secret love affair with snow to anyone (who needed to know her great pleasures of life? that was for her to enjoy, purely and simply) but she had never done anything to hide the contentedness that spread across her scarred face, the corners of her ripped muzzle angling upwards as she surveyed the darkening sky.

"A huddle night..." she murmured after a moment, softly, much softer than her typically clipped doctrine. Her eye is flipped to her daughter, soft and pale and dimly outlined now that the sun was no longer peeking out from between the grey. "Come here, you've got twigs in your fur,"

 

[Cherrii]

CHERRY OF SKYCLAN

Paws pad quietly on the cold ground, a shudder moving through the she-cat as she gazed up at the sky. She was so used to going home during night time, curl up next to her two leg and sister and... Sleep... But... This no longer was the case. She choose the life of the clan, which meant also to sleep with the clan, outside. A breath was pulled in, feeling the cold of the air in her lungs as she closed her mismatched eyes for a second, taking in the chill of the wind that rustled through her fur. A shiver ran through her body once before she finally shook it off and started to look around the pack of cats that started to ease out, rest for the journey ahead. They had been walking quite some... Some of the paws seemed weary, but somewhat excited too? It caused a smile to touch her muzzle for a second as she watched Swallowpaw sneeze.

Oh...

Worried eyes lifted to the skies above, watching the soft white fluff move down, a cold touch to her nose caused her to flick her tail once before he started padding forward to join Swallowpaw and Hawkstar, who had shortly joined the young apprentice. She wondered what it would feel like, to be a medicine cat... Or the apprentice of one! It was a very important job, after all!

" Good eve, both of you. " Cherry gently mewed, ear twitching to the side once. " I guess, uhm... I guess it's going to be cold tonight, huh? " she asked, looking up to the sky for a second. Had there been cats that died because of a snowfall? Oh, oh she wished she actually knew this for certain... Should she fear for the life of the young ones? Were the kits and queens going to be okay?

" Uhm... Would you mind some company? " she questioned, sitting down.

THROUGH DIRT AND SHADOW I GROW ——･ﾟ✦​

･ﾟ✦ —— I'm reaching light through the struggle

 

[Campionpaw]

*+:｡.｡

It was illogical to think that the air grew colder specifically because they were growing farther away from home...but the thought persisted anyway. Cam stared nervously up at the sky, frightened by the potential omen that warned them of tragedy should they continue down this path. Was it too late to go back? He missed his cozy nest, the familiar trees scored by the claws of past Skyclanners. He wondered if their ancestors were following them on this journey, or had they abandoned Starclan along with Campionpaw's birthplace?
Ugh, he felt sick...

"

aa-CHOO!

" he inadvertently announces, concluding with a sniffle and an apology. He glances up just as he hears another, rather familiar, sneeze, and spots his sister right away. In an instant, the boy is trotting over to Swallowpaw's side, just as Cherryheart stresses a question they all instinctively know the answer to. Although panic paws at his heartstrings, the boy works up a bright smile and bumps his shoulder against Swallowpaw amiably "

Maybe it'll be a little on the colder side tonight, but we've got a whole clan to keep us all warm, we'll be okay

" he meows optimistically, trying not to think about who'll be subjected to the outer corner. He'll volunteer, if he must - he thinks, trying to muster the determination despite the cold nipping at his heels.

""

It's actually really pretty

" he mumbles, watching the little floating dust mites fall from the sky.

 

[SPIKEPAW]

Man, he was tired! His dogs were barking! Spikepaw has never used his paws so much in his life, even with all of the grueling training and working out and beefing up that he's done in his apprenticeship thus far. Oh, his feet... The black tabby reclines in a seated position, stretching a cavernous yawn before finally clicking his jaws shut and smacking his lips.

However, a peculiar sight momentarily rouses Spikepaw from his drowsy state — flecks of white cascading from the skies! None of his clanmates seemed to be outright panicking about it. In fact, they stop and stare and comment on the beauty of the falling flakes ( or grumble about how cold they are ). "The heck is this stuff?" The black tabby mrrows in confusion, as he was too young to know the telltale arrival of leafbare.

He bats curiously at a snowflake, twitching his whiskers at the cool sensation that touched his pads upon doing so. A couple of them stick to his shoulder; upon licking them away and tasting them on his tongue, Spikepaw sputters, "Plegh!" It tastes like... nothing? It was almost... water-like. Huh.

A group of Spikepaw's clanmates were clustering nearby, including Hawkstar herself along with his mentor and Swallowpaw. The black tabby tom pads forth, green eyes instantly locking onto the fawn-hued molly. Campionpaw bumps against the she-cat, spurring a sense of envy within the brown tabby as he knew that Hawkstar and Tigerfoot would probably have his head if he were to be as openly affectionate with the recently-named medicine cat apprentice. Maybe it was different since they were kin, but still.

Campionpaw mentions that the clan would help keep each other warm, which inspires a thought in the blockheaded skull of his. Spikepaw flashes a dumb, lovestruck grin toward Swallowpaw as he meows, "Are you cold, Swallowpaw? Because I think I'm pretty warm, y'know." He glances down at his short tabby pelt, which in reality was nothing too spectacular. "Not that my fur is long or pretty like—" Spikepaw holds his tongue for once. Hawkstar and Starlitpath are right there! Play it cool... "—pretty, uh, thick like yours. But I have muscle to make up for it." Spikepaw boasts, rolling his broad shoulders and not-so-subtly flexing his biceps.

"So. You know. If you want a sleeping buddy to keep warm against this..." The boy trails off, furrowing faux brows and letting his gaze drift upward toward the flurry of white specks once more. "What exactly is this stuff, again?"

𝐁𝐔𝐓 𝐈 𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐓 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐃 ✹ . + ˚ · 𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐈𝐓 𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐍𝐎𝐖

• 

• 

  — spikepaw / 9 moons / he/him pronouns
  — apprentice of skyclan
  — sh black tabby w/ low white and green eyes, small scar across right brow
  — click for tags

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​

 

[SWALLOWPAW]

swallowpaw swipes her paw across a sniffling nose, quietly grumbling to herself. an ear flicks when the dappled form of cherry strides over, one of the few daylight warriors to shake their paws clean of twolegs. she thinks it's a noble decision, but she wonders if cherry will regret it at all… she's safer tucked away in a twoleg home than in the woods. "um, sure." she nods.

her tense posture loosens up when her brother bumps against her shoulder. a mrrow hums through her muzzle, and the girl leans into campionpaw's shoulder, giving him warmth that he lacks due to sleek fur. spikepaw makes his entrance known, which isn't difficult for a tom that's always flamboyant in personality. she listens to his proposal, but the true meaning behind it flies over her head, still thinking about her brother's words seconds before. "oh! maybe we can uhm, get all of the apprentices together! it's been really um, boring and irritating having to sleep with the caretakers and the kits… i've missed being around people my age."

ʚɞ

 

[starlitpath]

(˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗) snow settles across the feline's shoulders like a thin blanket, melting into creamy fur as the warrior halts in their tracks, ocean-bright gaze tilted upwards to the vast pale sky. "it's lovely," they murmur to themself, a small chill running up their spine. they have inherited their mother's love for the winter months - cold though it is, the starkness of the trees and the bareness of the sky leave them breathless. swallowpaw's young voice cuts through the quiet, and starlitpath peers over at her. "we'll make the best of it," they console, a quirk of a smile lifting the feline's cheeks. hawkstar breathes quietly and murmurs in agreement, before her eye swivels to starl. the feline blinks slowly at his mother, padding close until he can allow the leader to gently groom his head. "thanks, momstar," he purrs, swiping a lick across the woman's shoulder in turn.

a sneeze rings through the air, heralding the arrival of campionpaw. the boy huddles up next to his medic's apprentice sister, and is soon joined by a figure starlitpath knows much better. spikepaw stumbles over his words, as normal, when talking to swallowpaw, and an amused smile will play on the point's lips. "good idea, spikepaw. you all should move your nests together. it's better to sleep warm than cold." bright eyes wink at the boy, not discouraging, but perhaps signaling him to be a bit more discreet. "this is snow, bud. it's like rain, but frozen, i guess. usually it covers the whole landscape in leaf-bare."

the sky queen's child can remember her first interaction with snow. an early new-leaf baby herself, she hadn't seen it until apprentice-hood. her confusion had been much like spikepaw's. now she knows its danger, but still harbors an adoration for the stuff. settling back into the quiet, the multi-hued femme hums a soft melody as she presses against her mother.

LIKE CONSTELLATIONS ˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗ IMPLODING IN THE NIGHT

• // " #dcccf0"
• 
• STARLITPATH, HE / SHE / THEY, SKYCLAN WARRIOR. 19 MOONS, PENNED BY LAVS
  
  
  a shorthaired dilute calico point with low white and aqua eyes. short, thick fur decorates her frame, cream hued, swooping into a cowlick on her head. their face, paws, and tail are dappled with fawn and slate gray, broken through by speckles of white. a star shaped white splotch on their forehead offers them their namesake. eyes like ocean water, a deep aqua blue, pierce out of almond shaped sockets.