Moon Has Come Back Fully Grown

As a fully grown tom-cat Moon slipped out the Riverclan river and shook his long silver fur dry. Through the last battle he had disappeared, not on purpose but had wandered away from camp far enough that he didn't recognize anything....until one day his mother's Wisteriabloom's, scent hit his nose and all of his childhood memories came back. As he retraced his steps all of his instincts stood on end because the the way that he remembered Riverclan is that they would attack and ask questions later....hopefully after the last battle someone would recognize his scent and not attack him. As he came closer to the camp memories flooded into his brain and he remembered that he was part of a clan, Riverclan. His name was Moonpaw....although he had shortened it to Moon as not to be made fun of.
He flexed his well toned muscles and continued to slip through the reeds until he heard the warning call of the clan guard. His fur stood up on end but he forced it to lay flat as a cat confronted him. "Hello, I am Moon and I am a cat of Riverclan." he announced with a small smile as he lifted his head up high. It was nighttime and as he lifted his silver head the moon was behind him and gave him a mysterious aura around this old stranger.

Jaystar's heavy lids, unpleasantly sticky with the clutching grasp of drifting snowfall and perpetually lingering humidity, were freed from the lingering dredges of brewing exhaustion at the sudden interjection of voices rising above the quiet calamity offered up by the chilly dry afternoon air. There was never a dull moment, was there? The ever-lingering liminal understanding of his mother continued to creep upon the tired fathoms of his brain, drifting beyond the shaded reaches of his peripheral vision as he made to go investigate these newfound happenings.

There was only the faintest hiss of a catching sound to herald the quiet interception of Jaystar, silky dark fur dragging softly against wet and well-trodden rivulets of snow, characteristic poise hardly negating the rivulets of tension ever-topping his broad shoulders. A wide, unblinking gaze was fixed upon the unusual sighting of Moon speaking to the unfortunate RiverClanner who happened to catch him before all else, the faintest flashing of pale tongue and teeth implying a trickle of remembrance awaiting to be unleashed. There was an uncharacteristic detachedness evident in the fine muscles, an absence that bespoke to his not-quite-there quality, intrinsic bodily functions mechanic and innate.

"A cat of RiverClan, you say?" Jaystar suddenly began, heavy voice mild with the ever-familiar honeyed current of mild interest, dark gaze fixed upon the pale tom standing before him, "I did not happen to witness the beginning of your introduction- tell it to me." Familiarity lingered just beyond reach, itching at him like a sneeze.

Hollyleaf sat near the entrance of the camp, raising a paw to clean herself. Though, it was only then her whiskers twitched, sensing an unfamiliar scent. Her ears swiveled behind, curious— yet also cautious of who this cat was. As she stood, an oddly-familiar cat caught her attention, and she soon began to question. "As familiar as you look, I don't seem to recognize you.. What's your name? I don't think we've met before." The she-cat questioned.

"Hello, I am Moon and I am a cat of Riverclan."

Moon..? Then, another familiar figure appeared from behind her— Jaystar. With curiosity lingering in her senses, Hollyleaf waited for the unfamiliar, yet somewhat familiar tom's reply. He looked so much like.. a cat she knew, although briefly. Flicking an ear, she was sure probably another warrior or two would soon show up as well.

Moon smiled sadly as this was not the exact enterance that he had envisioned for himself. "I am Moonpaw of Riverclan and I went missing during the last battle, but as you can see I am back full grown now and ready to become a warrior of Riverclan." he said quite mildly. "My mother's name is Wisteriabloom and I'm assuming that she is still a queen here in the clan."

He tried to keep a calm aura around him, but it all vanished when he say Hollypaw his sister, now Hollyleaf. "Hollypaw!" he said waving his tail in greeting. "It's been such a long time since I have seen you, got your warrior name by now?" he asked smirking and then turning back to the clan leader. "My apoligzies, I tend to get distracted easiest, it was something my mother kept telling me to stop. He had missed his sister terribly even though they never really had anything in common other than a mother and a clan, still blood was blood and it was good seeing his sister in the clan again.

Moon turned his head back to Jaystar, "During the last battle I had chased a rogue to the border and farther and got lost. I only came back because I was chasing prey and ended up near the border. It struck a memory in my mind so I came into the camp figuring that I would be welcomed back into my home that I was birthed in?" he asked in a slightly mild manner. He didn't want to come off threatening, but it would be bad if he came off weak. He barely knew anyone in the clan now and there were many new faces looking at him that he didn't know, any one of them might challenge him, he had to be ready. Unconsiously he flexed his muscles that could be scene beneath his silver pelt.

"MOONPAW?" Wisteriabloom's shout echoed across camp, sending heads popping up everywhere. She had been laying by the stream that curved nose to Riverclan camp, and had just gotten up to stretch her legs and fetch some prey when she had heard the discussions happening at the entrance. Without a moment's hesitation, she rushed towards her son who had been missing for so long. Hollyleaf and Jaystar were interrogating the poor tom, the warrior too young to remember her clanmate and the leader... well she wasn't going to make excuses for him. "THAT'S MY SON!" She continued at her raised volume then, at the clear discomfort of those around her, dropped to a normal tone, "He's just as much Riverclan as any of you."

Turning to Moonpaw (she refused to call him Moon, that wasn't his name - he was a clan cat, through and through, no matter how long he had one without), "Don't you dare do that to me again. You were the last-" She tried to keep her tone scalding, but failed when tears overtook her. She had been so convinced that everyone had gone. That it was her fault she had managed to lose not one, but two kits in such a short space of time. She hadn't seen Katana since that meeting they'd had, and given her absence from gatherings, she could only hope her adopted daughter had moved on to brighter pastures. Whether literally or metaphorically, she didn't know, and wasn't sure if she wanted to.

"You'll always be welcome here, my son." Finally, Wisteriabloom had a family again.

Moon smiled warmly as his mother cam rushing towards him. "Mother I missed you and Hollypaw so much." he turned towards Hollypaw and stepped forward. "Sister, I take it that you have been taking care of our mother?" And then suddenly what his mothers said caught up to his brain, "Wait, what do you mean that I was the last? What happened to dad and my siblings? And if I was the last then who are you?" he asked swinging his head and narrowing his eyes towards the she-cat named 'holly'.
He was a bigger tom at this point and was confused as well as frusterated that the clan wasn't even remotely the same as when he had left. He stepped right up to Jaystar in his personal space and looked the leader directly in the eye. "What did you do with the rest of my family?" he growled. He drew his head up and stood at his full height, which was actually quite intimidating given that no one really knew him and what he would do. "Mother, get behind me. This tom that you call a leader did something to our family." growling, he turned to confront the tom once again. "Well Jaystar?" he spat out the name.

Tinypool was just returning from her last patrol of the day when she saw the conmotion. Her blue eyes widened in surprise at the crowd surrounding an unknown cat. An intruder, maybe? Whoever it was, it had to be important since Jaystar was there. Shyly and quietly, the curious she-cat approached the crowd to get a better look at the source of this chaos.

A rather muscular, gray tom was speaking in front of Jaystar, standing between the leader and Wisteriabloom. He is kind of good-looking for a mere rogue... Though the Riverclan elder said the stranger was her son, Tinypool did not recognize him. If he was truly a member of Riverclan, then he was an apprentice before she was even born.

Perchfall was taking a brief moment of rest in the warriors' den when she heard a loud commotion. Shouting, yelling-- the scent of a rogue? What? Has something happened? In one fluid motion, she leapt out of her nest and ran into the middle of camp, only to see a strange scene. The cat she smelled was a young-warrior aged tom, who bore a distinct resemblance to Wisteriabloom. The she-cat was clinging to his side like a leaf on fur. So, they were related? But the most important and worrying part was that the rogue tom was threatening Jaystar. While she was sure that the leader could handle himself, it was definitely her job to step in and do something.

The gray and white she-cat stepped smoothly between the two toms, gently pushing the rogue away in a non-threatening fashion. "I am Perchfall, the deputy of RiverClan. If you are who you say you are, then it is in your best interests to not threaten the cat who gets final say on whether you stay or leave." Her voice, as neutral-toned as ever, held a note of authority as she looked down with icy blue eyes. "I believe your story, at least that you are formerly from RiverClan, because Wisteriabloom can vouch for you. However, you need to understand that you have been gone for a while. Things have changed. If you wish to rejoin RiverClan, you will need to show respect to Jaystar." While she had no love for the leader, he was in charge, and the Code dictated that his word was law, and that she must protect him.

One could never underestimate Wisteriabloom's deeply veined streak for self-importance, so learning that her estranged offspring felt just as entitled was of little surprise.

A fractional slitting of the pupil, lost within the frigid depths of a dark gaze that sized up Moon with little forgiveness was the only initial response to whatever futile allegation the tom felt like tossing out on the basis of... a not terribly reasonable connection; Jaystar's large figure unflinchingly still as Perchfall made to push the wanderer back a pace or two. The milliseconds that ensued, infinitely infinitesimal yet agonizingly long to those who were made to watch these unusual proceedings, were characterized by the abject irritation curdling within his blood, exceptionally finite patient already shot deep into the earth for a now permanent residence. He cared little for making those who looked on, whether they were those who directly interfered or those who happened to lay witness as one who offered little participation. All at once, where it felt as though entirely too many cats were speaking, the crowding of his consciousness cleared; slippery webbings of spider-like algae clinging to his neurons burning away like stubborn morning mist.

It was quite odd how, likely not even a full season ago, he would've simply drew upon the perpetually sleuthing of hate deep within his cold bones and made a show of going to war for such a baseless slighting. Yet, now he found himself with little energy for the tedium of picking upon fights like the secondary bones of a discarded fish. "I was unaware that asking for a name equated to denials of bloodties to the Clan, Wisteriabloom," Jaystar eventually drolled out, simple intoning exceptionally sharp with dryness, dark gaze fixing an unblinking, pointed stare. "Who would've thought that the simple act of exercising my basic obligation to inquiry after a name and story from the stranger within my camp would be so evidently offensive?"

There was little fanfare as Jaystar promptly fixed an alien, unflinching stare upon the unsightly spectacle of Moon, who's previous defensive posturing had gone to the wayside at the interruption of his Deputy. "Yes, yes. I am the sole vindicator of your entire bloodline and personally brought about the demise of every cat you share relation to- which, evidently, your mother has found to be worthy of so little offense that she has stayed within these walls and continued to share a home with me for moons on end." Handling such tediously irksome behaviors was eating into the time he often spent politicking and soothing over various happenings within the Clan; time spent expending exceedingly little energy within his bones on matters that genuinely brought positive benefit towards the entire collective.

At first, she was confused... Now, she was even more puzzled by what was happening.

Had she met 'Moon' before? No. No, she hasn't. If she did, she would've remembered who he was by now. And yet, not just assuming if they were acquaintances or friends, but... he had assumed her as his sister. Hollyleaf was baffled to the point of confusion. Suddenly, Wisteriabloom rushed to join in the crowd, instantly recognizing Moon as her kit. So he really wasn't lying. He mistook me for someone else, though..

Turns out, there just might've been another 'Holly' when Moon... Moonpaw(?) was still in RiverClan; she figured out by Wisteriabloom's and Moon's sentences. However, as soon as Wisteriabloom mentioned he was the last of his siblings, she noticed Moon might've already figured out the misunderstanding on his own. "I apologize, Moon.. but I don't remember you. I'm not who you're looking for, sorry." It was then Moon knew something wasn't right, and he growled at Jaystar. Hollyleaf widened her eyes, alerted by the sudden signs of aggression. Then came Tinypool and Perchfall, soon noticing the commotion building up.

Hollyleaf frowned, eyes now narrowing in suspicion at Moon. Perchfall was right. If he wanted to join the clan again— showing signs of untrustworthiness towards cats in his former clan was no way to get accepted back. Jaystar soon spoke, addressing the problem that was going on currently. Feeling she shouldn't say, nor interrupt more, the she-cat remained silent. Something inside her was curious of how Moon was going to reply back, anyway.

Wisteriabloom was swept up in the flurry of her son's return, and it took her a few seconds to process when the discussion began to turn south. "Moonpaw, Jaystar isn't to blame for any of this," she said, refusing to follow her son's instructions. "And may I remind you that I can fight my own battles. I might not be as young as I used to be, but I don't need you to protect me." As good as it was to see him again, the elder was slightly taken aback by how much he had forgotten of clan life. It had been a very long time though.

Despite her defending her leader, she held little positive feelings towards the tom. He may've been Ivystar's kin, but it would take a lot for him to be anywhere near as good a leader. They had participated in the mouse hunt together, which did show how much loyalty he had towards his clan, but loyalty alone wasn't enough. Even though she didn't know Perchfall very well, at times it seemed to her the deputy would do better in Jaystar's position. Sarcasm had no place in a situation like this.

Either way, she held her tongue embarrassed when the leader criticised her. Maybe she had been irrational. But all the same, without her input, they could've turned Moonpaw away at the entrance. However, she held his gaze, no trace of apology showing in her stare.

And then there was poor Hollyleaf, who seemed the most lost of everyone, and with good reason. A complete stranger had wandered into camp claiming to be her long lost brother. "Moon, your sister never made it to apprenticeship, let alone warriorhood." She apologised softly.

Moon looked taken aback at the way that Perchfall came up to him. "I'm sorry Perchfall, I didn't mean to offend anyone. Although perhaps some others should learn to hold their tongues better than others." he said nodding his head in Jaystar's direction. He didn't mean to be disrepectful, it's just that this tom of a leader wasn't very good in Moon's opinion. He didn't handle things the way that things should be handled. He turned his attention towards Jaystar. "I personally wouldn't brag about killing an entire bloodline off the face of the clan, but personally that is just me. I would want to be known as a clan leader who led with strength and grace, not a clan leader that killed kits and only spared a she-queen out of pity."
He saw Tinypool come into the camp and gave her a little wink and a twitch of his tail, kinda flirting with her. She was pretty cute with her mouse ears and her blue eyes.
As Hollyleaf started talking, Moon turned to look towards her, "I'm sorry, I thought that you were my sister." he said as he bobbed his head in apology.

Moon was a bit confused on what was happening, but he needed to stand his ground so that the new leader of the clan couldn't bully him. He had respect for Perchfall because of how she handled the situation and calmed things down. He however, did not have any respect for Jaystar. After he had 'threatened' Jaystar, the leader turned around and threatened his mother....something no good cat would do. A good cat would fight from cat to cat and not drag a queen into the situation.

The small warrior felt out of place from the discussion ensuing. Clearly, she wasn't one to make an opinion regarding the future of this tom named Moon. That was up to Perchfall and Jaystar to decide. On the other side, she didn't know him like Wisteriabloom. Thus, all she could do was watch and hope this wouldn't end in a fight.

Tinypool could feel Jaystar's annoyance at the newcomer and she feared the worst. The Riverclan leader was intimidating and though she hadn't seen him personally in action... the young molly had no doubt he could take a life swiftly. She stepped back a little nervous about what Moon's answer could cause. To her surprise, the former Riverclan apprentice remained calm and decided to stand his ground defiantly, despite the threats that Jaystar hold in his speech.

When the tom suddenly looked at her, she blinked twice, a bit surprised. Why did he change her focus to her? Heat rose up to her face when he blinked and her mouth opened slightly to let a bashful gasp escape. Was that.... flirting?! Am I just imagining things? Tinypool looked down at her paws, blushing. Now she truly hoped Moon could stay in Riverclan....

Moon smirked as he saw Tinypool blush and look at the ground. He really wanted to go over and talk to the pretty she-cat, but he had to wait until this leader of these was done throwing his temper tantrum...actually, he wouldn't. He looked Jaystar in the eye and smiled. "I thank you for welcoming me into your clan and I hope that I can make a real difference here in Riverclan. I know that things have changed but I will do my best to serve the clan."
The silver tom twitched his tail and then walked towards Tinypool. "Would you like to show me around the clan and the territory? Obviously I am new and I haven't been here in quite a while." he said with his most dashing smile. He loved his mother of course, but he didn't really want her showing him around the territory because....well, he didn't know why but he wanted to get to know this she-cat with a very pretty face and round ears in front of him.

Yet again, the mysterious tom surprised the young warrior with his next course of action. The molly could feel her cheeks getting hotter and hotter as he approached her. Her blue eyes widened as she looked up at him. He wants... my help? Tinypool's eyes darted between Moon, her leader and her mentor, Perchfall. Deep inside, the dark-furred warrior wanted to get to know more about Moon. Surely he had a lot of stories of his time living outside the clan and the curious she-cat wanted to hear all about them. However, she was a warrior and she had to follow her leader's words.

After a few seconds of debating what to do, Tinypool fixed her gaze on Moon and mewed with a low voice. "I would love to. But... let me talk to Perchfall and Jaystar first. Wait right here." She gave him a quick nod to apologize and trotted to meet with the deputy and leader. Though the dark molly felt comfortable around Perchfall, Jaystar was a whole other story. The feeling of his piercing eyes made her muscles tense and she feared she could get in trouble for this but... she had to try. Gathering all the courage she could, Tinypool lifted her head to meet Jaystar's eyes. "I-I'm sorry to intervene. I know this doesn't concern me since I don't know him but... I don't think Moon means any harm. He is Wisteriabloom's son and sure... he might not follow our customs regarding our rank system yet but he can learn." The small she-cat turned her head for a second to look back at Moon and smiled shyly at him. "Mallowpaw is almost a warrior. I can offer to train him myself to become a proper warrior of Riverclan. This clan is his family... and he's back for a reason. I'm certain that he is being truthful when he says he wants to serve his clan."