Every Mushroom Cloud Has a Silver Lining (closed)

The sun still felt warm as patches of it streamed through the leaves overhead, but a light bite to the air's edge warned of the coming of leaf-bare, the slightest tinge of changing colour in the canopy above showing the trees felt it, too. Minkstar deftly navigated the ground beneath, avoiding the first few fallen leaves of the season, a few of them with orange streaks brighter than his pelt. Still, the day was mild, and the borders quiet as he led the patrol.

Hopefully it would stay that way.

(sorry idk if this topic was meant for me or not but it was created not long after our chat in PMs)

Copper wondered around nervously as he was in unfamiliar surroundings. He did not mean to venture this far into the forest but realised that he probably wouldn't be able to find his way back. He winced slightly as he felt something sharp go into his paw when he stepped. He then glanced around and noticed that in the distance there was another cat. The small cat hid nervously behind some trees hoping the other cat wouldn't spot him. While hiding, he lifted up his paw to see it was bleeding and that there was a thorn stuck inside it. He tried to pull it out but it was in far. he decided to wait there a few minutes to see if the other cat would leave.

Wolfblaze followed Minkstar dutifully, simply enjoying the cooler air. Leaf-fall was here, the leaves were falling, so it was obvious! It made her want to collect the leaves and bring them into camp... oh that would be fun. Kits would love it! Not now though, she had to focus on patrolling. The breeze blew her long fur back, tugging at it gently. Yet along with that breeze came a scent... "Hey Minkstar, I think I scent a loner or someone. Might be nothing, could be something though." One rushed whisper later, she trotted quietly in the direction of the scent, wondering if it would be the trail of a loner... or one that had come too far onto their territory. No matter what it was, the patrol could handle it!

It was then that she passed the tree the kit hid behind, and Wolfblaze practically had to do a double-take. "Uh, hi there lil' guy!" The sharp scent of blood hit her, it wasn't strong, just surprising. "Oh... are you injured?" Turning her head back to the patrol, she yowled back to them. "It's a kit!" Crouching down to the kit's level, Wolfblaze looked at him. "Hi there, my name is Wolfblaze... probably should've said that first. What's yours?"

Copper took a few paw steps backwards as the unfamiliar cat spoke to him. He was a bit afraid because he had never met cats like this before. It had always just been him and his brother Ember, but now he wasn't sure how he wasn't sure where Ember was since Copper has wondered into the unfamiliar territory. He winced again as he felt the thorn poke his paw again. He hoped the bigger cat didn't see as he replied to her in a quiet voice
"I'm sorry I'm a bit lost. I wondered into this forest because the forest has always had me curious and today I couldn't hold back anymore so I came to explore. I don't know where I am. My brother calls me Copper by the way.". He hoped the bigger cats weren't going to hurt him more.

bump?

Minkstar followed after Wolfblaze, falling behind for a moment before catching up to find her talking to a kit. And from the scent, definitely not one of ThunderClan's - not one of the other Clans', either. He padded up to stand by Wolfblaze, listening to the ginger kit's - Copper's - explanation. "Lost, huh? Do you have any parents, any place to stay...?"

Copper shook his head, "Me and my brother both got taken away from our parents a while ago and I haven't seen my parents sense. I decided to explore the forest, but my brother didn't want to come with me. So now he is left back at the barn with some other cats, I'm assuming but I'm too far away now". He told the older cat.

"Well..." Wolfblaze drew out, "You've gotta be hungry right? Minkstar, would it be alright to bring Copper back to camp. Maybe then we can return him to his family at the barn? I'd hate to just release him back out on his own, that isn't right." The bulky molly looked over the much smaller kit, feeling a bit giant in comparison. Shaking out her fur, Wolfblaze crouched down in front of Copper. "Hey, the barn is a pretty long way away I think. You've gotta be tired. Here, climb up onto my back! We can get you some food, then even help you get back to your family. How's that sound?" Wolfblaze showed a toothy grin, speaking quickly. She did love kits, they were just such fun.

ooc: Just so you know the end goal of this is for Copper to be adopted/accepted into Thunderclan.

Copper's stomach growled at the sound of food reminding him that he has not eaten all day and the stinging on his paw reminded him that he still had something stuck in his paw. He nodded to the nice older cat letting her know that he accepted her offer and then he climbed onto her back. "Thank you I don't mean to be causing any trouble" He replied.

He smiled at Wolfblaze's enthusiasm, glancing back at the kit. "'Course. We can take care of you until you're ready to go, and send you with a couple warriors to make sure you get there." He walked beside the two as Copper scrambled onto Wolfblaze's back, a twinge of nostalgia aching distantly in the corner of his mind. Copper... Wonder if he ever met Aros. That made it easier to remember, at least - his tendency to forget names not able to overcome a memory marker that strong. The corner of his mouth twitching up in a lopsided smile, he reassured the young tom, "No trouble. We'll just split off from the others and take you back to Dovefrost. He'll deal with that paw."

So saying, he gestured to the rest of the patrol who were looking at the new arrival with interest, and they split off. "You ever heard of the Clans, Copper?" He asked, glancing sideways at him.

"Clans? One of the older cats at the barn mentioned something about cats in the forest but I don't think they ever mentioned clans." Copper replied to Minkstar.

"No trouble at all little guy! We'll get you all taken care of." Wolfblaze spent no time pathfinding their way back to the rest of the patrol. She didn't care about any stares that came her way, this kit was really all that mattered currently. Besides, it was the right thing to do, bringing a lost kit back to camp. Whether the stares were malicious or not, Wolfblaze really had no idea. She just took them as hostile, and did what she did best, impulsive decisions such as not speaking to the rest of the patrol.

Lumbering after Minkstar, Wolfblaze had to look straight ahead. She tried for a moment to turn her head to see Copper when she heard he didn't even know what a clan was, but to no avail. It wasn't as if she were an owl after all! "Well, a clan is basically a big family, we hunt for each other, fight for each other, we look out for our own! There are five clans though, and like families, we don't always get along. Sometimes we fight, but we all gather under the full moon in a place where fighting is forbidden. We're Thunderclan, and this is our territory." She had jumped into the conversation with ease, having no qualms technically interrupting her leader.

Copper listened to Wolfblaze's explanation of these 'clans' that Minkstar had asked him about. This got Copper curious as it sounded interesting to him. "What are the other clans then? Will the rest of your clan mind me coming back with you?"Copper asked.

Minkstar tilted his head. So the little guy hadn't heard of them. Probably why he hadn't run screaming when they'd appeared - he was vaguely aware that non-Clanners tended to exaggerate their ferocity. "Yep, we're ThunderClan," He affirmed, and then replied to Copperp- Copper's other questions, "The others are RiverClan, ShadowClan, SkyClan, and WindClan. RiverClan and SkyClan are right next to us - you're lucky you didn't turn up in SkyClan; they're practically xenophobes, unlike us. The others won't mind us taking in a kit for a while." He smiled, letting a teasing edge into his tone, waving his tail casually. "Unless you happened to secretly be a murderer."

Copper laughed a little at Minkstar's joke. "I can promise you I have no plans on killing anyone." Hearing about the names of the other clans made Copper even more interested in this "clan life" that these cats were living, leading him to say "well in that case I'm excited to meet the rest of your clan and see more of what it is like to be living out here". "Are we almost there?" He asked curiously.