Empty nests in empty dens [Open]

ooc: Let Badger, Jade Wings and the cats who came on patrol with Ivystar post first.

There was no triumphant feeling in her as she entered her clan, her fur drenched with water as she had to swim harder with Flickerpaw in her jaws. The apprentice hadn't resisted her, but also hadn't helped her. She was probably just as water-logged as her, if not worse as her coat lacked the fish oils they all had in her clan. Plopping her in the centre of the clearing, she shook off the worst of the water as she yowled for all to hear. "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey, gather in the clearing for a clan meeting!"

Flickerpaw shook out her fur for a bit and then sat up. She couldn't help but look around at the camp. She'd get used to it eventually. But for now, it was all new and interesting to her. It was scary, to see all the faces around her of cats her Clan had battled. These would be the cats surrounding her for the rest of her life. A twist in her gut reminded her that these were also the cats mourning the losses of several cats.
~*~
Spotpaw stood beside the smaller apprentice, Flickerpaw, partially to guard her and partially hoping she'd talk. He hadn't heard her normal voice. Just a yell out to protect her brother from taking the blame, and a small defeated voice as she told Ivystar to punish her however the leader wished. It's a shame. Lionspark seemed pretty nice, though Thunderclan needs her as much as we need our warriors.

During the trip back, the silvery she-cat didn't stop watching the apprentice who murdered her sister. The she-cat didn't trust her at all. For her, she was a murderer and a danger for every cat, that's why Silverfang watched if she was planning to attack Ivystar.

When they arrived and the leader called for a clan meeting, the young warrior sat down close to the ThunderClanner and kept an intimidating glare on her back. Although she was glad about her punishment, the she-cat knew that she would never forgive for what she did and for her, Flickerpaw would never be more than a prisoner who is paying the costs of her sins.

"...The problem is that you don't even use Sunningrocks right! Its the perfect place for sunning - its all in the name but all you seem to care about is the prey!"

Lionspark blinked as she stared at the rather vocal brown she-cat, her lips curled in a sight smile as she shook her head. The while two she-cats had been slightly bickering about the war between their Clans about Sunningrocks, there was no venom in either of their words as the ThunderClan warrior shrugged her shoulders. "I don't see what is exactly wrong about the fact that we want it to feed ourselves but...Well, I suppose I can see why you do like the rocks for sunning. I'll keep that in mind, Amberpelt."

The RiverClan warrior titled her head, blinking a few times in honest surprise before she straightened up with a huff. "Well...You better. I mean, we do use it to hunt as well but I prefer to use it as a spot to sun and...Oh, Ivystar and the patrol is back," Amberpelt's gaze shifted away as the leader came storming into the camp - a ThunderClan apprentice held in her jaws before she released the young she-cat to call the Clan. Amberpelt's eyes narrowed, her ears folding back. She had known why Ivystar had left the camp - she knew what ThunderClan had done but had elected to distract Lionspark from what was transpiring until it was all over...And well, it seemed it was over.

Lionspark turned her head with a flicker of surprise, but it quickly turned to horror at the sight of the apprentice. She was on her paws, her fur standing on edge as a name screeched from her lungs. "Flickerkit?" She stared at her great-grandkit with pure horror at why she would be here. She...She supposed that Flickerkit was now Flickerpaw - the kit had just been under six moons old when Lionspark had been taken hostage...She spun to look at Amberpelt, her fur on edge as she bared her fangs. "What is she doing here? I-I'm suppose to be the only hostage! I'm remaining here to keep the peace! Why..."

Amberpelt took a step forward, her eyes narrowed but she kept a calm air around her as she shook her head. "Two of our cats were killed by your Clanmates, Lionspark. Ivystar went to speak to Blizzardstar about getting vengeance for the crimes and..." her gaze shifted over to the apprentice, her shoulders hunching. It didn't seem right to be taking an apprentice - how did this rat-tail apprentice manage to kill one of their warriors? She had to have killed one of their cats if she was here...Right? She shook her head, pressing close to Lionspark as she lead the warrior to where the other cats were gathering. "How...Familiar are you with...Flickerkit."

"I suppose she is Flickerpaw now and..." she whispered in a low tone, swallowing bitterly. "She is my great-grandkit."

"...Oh. Well...Lets see what Ivystar is going to say."

Several stray droplets of frigid river water slid from Splashwillow's glossy fur as she slipped after Ivystar and the rest of the patrol, leaving behind a small trail of puddles in her wake. Quietly padding into camp after her Clanmates, the calico's confident steps did not betray the internal restlessness that was twisting within her belly. Specklefang would soon be rotting within the earth and now they held Flickerpaw within the walls of their camp, but the whispering voice in her head unsettled her greatly. If ThunderClan's mindless savagery in their camp had shown anything, it was clear that those spineless fools would try to spill blood once more.

Shaking herself, Splashwillow settled down a short distance away from Silverfang and Flickerpaw, her gaze warily settling upon the young ThunderClanner. Now that they actually held control of Flickerpaw, she was quite interested to see how their fellow Clanmates would react to the idea of sharing their camp with the young cat. Admittedly, it wasn't the most pleasant sounding situation. Resting her chin heavily on her forelegs, Splashwillow's gaze drifted to Ivystar as she listened to the tabby summon the Clan.

Duckpuddle tried to hold back the sigh that was threatening to escape. Sure, RiverClan had found out the murderers, but watching complete chaos break out between both Clans was sickening. Family was mourning over the loss of family, cats were arguing, screaming, begging, and a cat had even died. The she-cat that had died seemed like she hadn't been sorry about killing Rowanpaw, but the brown she-cat had no idea if the warrior truly deserved to die. She shot Flickerpaw a quick glance. That was the apprentice that most of the other apprentices seemed to be crying over. Duckpuddle didn't have a family, so she didn't fully understand why.

Trying to push that thought to the back of her mind, the RiverClan cat padded over to listen to what Ivystar had to say. Sharing a camp with a ThunderClan apprentice was the exact opposite of what she wanted to do, but if her leader commanded it, then so be it. She shouldn't feel sympathy for the young Flickerpaw, right? Should she just shoot her a nasty glance and leave her alone? To make a decision, Duckpuddle decided just not to look at the apprentice anymore until the little gathering was over.

Water still trickling in little rivulets off his thick pelt, Scorchpaw padded into camp on the tails of the other cats. The events that had just occurred in the ThunderClan camp had hardly been pleasant. The price for Rowanpaw's and Fawnsong's deaths was the death of another cat and an apprentice being torn from her family forever. The emotional scene had been uncomfortable for the tabby tom, and he had been glad to leave it all behind. Being back in RiverClan camp caused him to feel safer, but he could not shake the feeling that the situation would be resolved just like that. He wordlessly stalked over to stand beside Flickerpaw, only giving the she-cat a frosty glance. To be honest, he did not approve of the Thunderclanner's staying in RiverClan camp, it was dangerous, keeping a murderer within their camp; but it was Ivystar's orders, so there was nothing he could do about it. He waited quietly to watch how things would unfold

OOC: i know, it's a bad post. Sorry for being late. Real life and all that.

There was a yowl from outside the nursery and Darkkit woke immediately. Her ears perked up and her eyes snapped open. Immediately, all thoughts of sleep melted away. Something was happening. The kit wanted to see what it was. She stopped, however, as the leader clarified it was for cats old enough to catch their prey. Darkkit wasn't old enough to catch her prey, was she? The little split-faced calico had recently pounced on a fish that had been brought back to the den. That counted right? Confusion filled her for a moment and she tilted her head. Curiosity won out this time.

As she picked her way out of the nursery and into the snow, which seemed to engulf half her body, her eyes landed on Ivystar. It was the big, warm cat, who she had later learned was the clan's leader. All of her longed to go over and snuggled up next to the silver she-cat. But, she had another cat with her, one the Riverclan cat had never seen before. When she saw Silverfang, her mother, Darkkit decided to work her way through the fallen flakes and toward her instead. An innocent smile lit up her maw and she stared up at the warrior. While she had grown quite a bit recently, the long-furred kit still stood a head shorter than her mother and looked up at her. Softly, not wanting to interrupt, she meowed, "What's happening?"

ooc: Open to RC to join now!

Minnowslip approached where Ivystar was standing, her pelt was covered in dirt from burying their dead. It was a grim duty, but she was more than willing to do it so her clanmates were spared from the agony of having to keep looking at their dead. The pain of grief stung too many of them lately, and the last thing they needed was this reminder in camp.

However, it seemed Ivystar had brought them something new. A ThunderClan apprentice walked amongst them. What?

-

Otterleap looked on in confusion with the rest of the clan at the sight of the apprentice. Another hostage? No, Blizzardstar wasn't that much of a pushover, despite what many seemed to think in RiverClan. It made no sense.

Heronpaw padded out of the apprentice den to see Ivystar and her patrol return...with a ThunderClan apprentice!? What happened!? But the tom stayed quiet, waiting for Ivystar to explain herself.

Smokewish popped her head out from inside the warrior den at the scent of ThunderClan. Her fur bristled defensively, until she saw the patrol. So they had returned. And with an apprentice of their enemy Clan, at that. It was only an apprentice, right? Well, hadn’t a squirrel-munching apprentice killed Fawnsong? A young warrior, with her warrior ceremony held so close to hers. No cat was safe. It didn’t matter the age. This one, however, looked utterly defeated, and with a pang of pity, Smokewish realised it must have been heartbroken to be torn away from it’s Clan, it’s family, it’s home. She didn’t question anything as she walked over to where more and more RiverClan cats were gathering.

Since the leader and some of the warriors left, Jaystream was left guarding the camp and making sure that everything was fine while Ivystar was away. But, even if he managed to keep everything in order, the tom was concerned about the results of the meeting between his mother and the Thunderclan's leader.

When she finally arrived, the warrior rushed to her to ask how everything went but he stopped in the moment he saw a young Thunderclan she-cat with her. His green looked at her, confused before he could manage to reach the leader's side and sat next to her. Without words, Jaystream glanced at her like he was asking what was going on? Why was this Thunderclan cat standing in Riverclan's camp?

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Silverfang distracted herself from the Thunderclan apprentice when her adopted daughter reached her side. She licked her head as a greeting and lowered her head a bit so she could whisper some words in her ears. "The ThunderClanners that murdered my sister and Rowanpaw are now paying the costs of their crimes. Ivystar is going to give us an important announce so stay close to me and don't approach that Thunderclan apprentice." She mewed, giving Flickerpaw another hateful glare. The warrior won't let her harm any other member of her family again.

Petalpaw approached the gathering of cats, and when she saw that her mother had returned from the Thunderclan camp the white apprentice hurried to her side. After greeting her little sister Darkkit with a warm smile, Petalpaw turned to Silverfang. "So? How did it go, mother? Did it go well?" She asked, eager to know the latest news.

Flickerpaw was filled with fear. A grey and white she-cat warrior was giving her a stare that bored into her sorry soul, and it didn't help that her eyes were different colors. The apprentice standing by her, seemingly guarding her- or guarding Riverclan from her- was spotted and she did notice him looking at her even if his head was turned towards his leader. She tried to make herself as small and compact as possible, which wasn't hard seeing as she was quite a small she-cat, not much bigger than a newly-named apprentice, so she looked younger than she was. She was supposed to be a warrior in a few sunrises. She was so close, and then one little(well, not that little) mishap ripped everything away from her. Everything but her life. Her family, friends, Clan, everything she had worked for had dissolved.
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Spotpaw heard his little sister talking to his mother behind him and looked back to them. Petalpaw was... different than most cats. She seemed firey but mischevious. There were still parts of him that were filled with anxiety and sorrow. Those parts of him felt pity for the Thunderclan apprentice Flickerpaw. What would he do in her situation? How would he feel to lose his whole family, or rather, what was left of it? Tigerfur, Silverfang, Reedclaw, Frostpaw, Petalpaw, and his friends, Wolfsong, Heronpaw, Sweetheart, Nutfur, and what else? He'd be alone. But he didn't have to worry about that, because he'd never kill anyone. Would he? What if they died? Raccoonpaw, Darkpaw, and Brightpaw was enough... What about when the others died? Could Silverfang ever manage losing another of his siblings?

The medicine cat sat just inside his den, watching the patrol return from ThunderClan. His dark eyes were narrowed as he watched the unfamiliar ThunderClan apprentice be practically dragged in. Another hostage? Silent, he remained shrouded in shadow and did not emerge despite Ivystar's call; he could hear her just fine. Was this apprentice truly the cat that killed Fawnsong and Rowanpaw? A cat so tiny and pitiful? He had his doubts, but held his tongue.