The Day the World Moved [November Gathering 2022]

Shrikestar was standing in the middle of the camp, looking over everything with a faint smile. Everything was so peaceful that day. He felt good, his mate and kits were doing well: things were going just fine. Then like a crack of thunder in the dark, it all changed. The ground began to shake, as if the entire world was being picked up and tossed around by a rabid badger. Shrikestar yelped as he was thrown off his paws, landing hard on the ground as the world turned upside down around him. "Stay where you are!" he yowled, forcing himself back onto his paws. He had to make sure his clanmates were safe, no matter what was going on.

As he stood there, with the entire world rocking beneath him, he saw something that made his throat go dry. The earth just beyond the camp began to splinter and crack. A huge crevasse that reminded him of the gorge appeared before him, splitting the territory practically in two. "What in StarClan's name..." His words were taken away by the loud rumbling, and then it was over. He just stood there like nothing had happened, but there was a big reminder just beyond the camp showing that something had happened. Something major had happened.

Brackenwing padded alongside Flutterpetal, a rabbit swinging from her jaws, when everything went sideways. Quite literally, sideways. A yowl of surprise escaped her as she was thrown off of her paws, dropping her catch in the process as the moorland itself seemed to move all around her. Struggling to her paws was proving to be futile as the ground rolled beneath her, as if it were trying to shake her off of it. Instinct pushed her to try anyways, the marbled tabby trying to seek safety somewhere where the ground wasn't moving out from under her. Only there was nowhere to go.

After what felt like forever the ground finally stopped moving. Brackenwing glanced around wildly for her patrolmate, taking in the state of the shifted, rolling moorland surrounding them in mute shock. Whatever this all was, it certainly couldn't be conducive to any cat's safety, with the violence with which she had been thrown from her paws. "Flutterp-" She began, only to cut herself off immediately, "What in the name of Starclan happened? Are you okay?" Not that far in front of her was a large rent in the earth, a wide, yawning span of moorland that had been ripped apart. Brackenwing, even though she wasn't particularly close to the edge, stumbled back in surprise, wide green eyes fixed on it.

She took a step, or tried to. A curse left her lips something her body had been trying to tell her finally caught up with her, pain shooting through one of her paws. "Foxdung. I-" She hissed, "We ought to get back to camp, make sure the others are safe."

Flutterpetal shook out his fur, sighing in contentment at the light breeze that followed him and Brackenwing home. The patrol had been nice and relaxing, and though he hadn't caught anything, his patrolmate had caught a rabbit. That was good enough. He closed his eyes for a moment, breathing in the fresh air, listening to the distant sound of the wind, and the... rumbling? Wait, what? Flutterpetal's eyes snapped open in panic as he felt the ground shaking beneath his paws. He managed to ride it out for a little while, balancing himself on the earth even as it began to tear itself to pieces. Beside him, he heard a thump as Brackenwing fell. Eventually, he collapsed too. The vibrations were too strong. He felt his heartbeat pounding loud in his ears. What was happening? What was happening? Why were the moors suddenly acting so strange?

Then, as suddenly as it had come, the quaking ceased. Flutterpetal tapped the ground experimentally, then stood up, turning to the she-cat next to him. The rabbit lay far away, forgotten. In front of them... the earth was torn open. A massive gash. Not like the Gorge, which had been slowly carved away by the water and time, but a sudden rip like claws through flesh. He shuddered. It looked... wrong. The territory had always been a safe place for him, a place to relax and feel peace from the threats of the world. But now....

Flutterpetal stopped staring into the abyss at a quiet hiss from Brackenwing. Her paw looked weird. Twisted, maybe? He sucked in a breath through his teeth, trying not to panic. "It will be okay," he said shakily, as much for his own benefit as for his Clanmate's. "Brackenwing, your paw doesn't look so good. Here-- lean on me. Let's go back." His throat tightened as he lent her a shoulder, trying to move as quickly as possible without leaving her behind. Was camp spared from the cracks in the ground? Was it torn open? ...Were Hazelpatch and Adderdawn okay?

Blazefang was in camp, having a discussion with Mudfern. The matter at paw was rather serious, but suddenly the conversation stopped as the moor shook. Blazefang and the brown tabby stood huddled together in a defensive position, claws digging into the ground. As quickly as the shaking started, it stopped. Blazefang wasted no time in reacting. “What the FOX was that? Is the Dark Forest back?”

Blazefang is flipping out. Also introducing Mudfern! He’s an NPC for a personal plotting thing. He’s irrelevant to this, just easing him in so it feels more natural to discuss him later.

Batsong was working on some things for prepping the camp for the winter to come as far as herbs went.  She hummed quietly as she worked on things.  She stood up to carry some herbs over and was immedietly smacked down face hitting the ground as the earth shook below her knocking her completely over.  She scrambled to her paws and her instinct was to glance around and see if anyone had noticed her embarassing fall.  She hadnt really processed yet that the earth was moving she thought she was just clumsy somehow.

But as the earth shook more and more her eyes went wide with fear, her previous mentor and leader Shrikestar called out that crakcs were forming and an apprentice she had not yet met very much soon after confirmed it.

No... NOO!!! she didnt think that their dream would come to reality so quickly! She thought she had more time, the med cats had agreed to get the leaders to meet up but that meeting had not happened yet, starclan gave them about as much warning time as for useless.  Starclan may as well have told her the same time Shrikestar yelled for everyone to be still.  Hissing she looked frantically around for her apprentice, Birchpaw,  she called out for him wanting to be ready with him if anyone was injured from the first shockwave of this.

The elders, and queens would need checking in on.

"Birchpaw, check the elders, Im going to make sure the kits are okay she told him quickly as she rushed to the nursery.  She saw whisperear here, ok good they seemed to be unharmed.  Coyotegrin and the kits must be here too,

She saw them and went to Coyote's side "are they alright?"

Stars please let them be alright...

Batsong is checking on the kits and is with Whisper, coyote and coyote's kits.



Daisy had been out hunting, but unlike Brackenwing and Flutterpetal, she was alone, something she was unfortunatly getting more and more used to.  She had isolated herself it felt like and few others really wanted anything to do with her.  She had managed to hurt everyone she cared about and after trying so hard to fix things it never was repaired to how it was.  She was a ways out from camp where she usually spent most of her time anyways.  She spotted a rabbit and grinned,  Oh good! maybe mom would be hungry from caring for all her young siblings.  She stalked towards it ready to try and chase it down.

Just as she tried to go for it however, the rabbit took off scared... she tilted her head confused... she hadnt been seen what in the world scared it.  Her eyes narrowed suspicious that a hawk had spooked it as she scanned the skys but saw nothing.  Then... it happened the ground below her shook and groaned.  She froze so confused.  A crack formed to her left and she looked at it in wonder... was something digging there? maybe a goffer or a groundhog or something? mhh maybe she could catch that instead.  Curious she approached the crack to see what tasty treat might be poking around down there...


That was a very very bad idea as she found out about 2 seconds later.  The crack widened and the whole ground below her buckled suddenly knocking her over to her side.  She felt panic rise in her as she struggled to get to her paws.  The crack widened more getting closer to her.  letting out a terrified yowl she managed to stand up and run from it.  She dared not look back but the sound was nightmare fuel as she heard what sounded like the whole land being split in two.  She ran and ran and ran until she felt she was finally safe from any immediate threats.  Stopping she panted heavily looking behind her.  There was a massive divide seperating her from the entire rest of the clan.  Starclan really liked their metaphors huh?

She breathed uneasily.  How was she gonna get home?  Did she have a home anymore?  her stomach went into knots, her mom, younger siblings her entire clan... were they okay?   she had no way of knowing right now and no way to get to them anytime soon as the masive split cut any way back to camp off.  She was stranded out here alone for now.  To make matters worse, she had no idea where her clan would try and go in a situation like this... would they go to the moonstone? that felt logical, but that was on the complete other side from where she was and she also had no way to get their either.

Fighting the urge to panic she tried to figure out a plan to get back but for now she was just glad she hadnt ended up falling down that thing to her probable death. It had been a very close call.  From a distance she tried to tell how far down the divide went but she wasnt about to get too close to it so her vantage point was not great at all but from what she could see it was very deep.  Could she jump the gap?? No not safely, she probably could but the risk was not worth it at all.  Staying here wasnt exactly great either, if the crack worsened she would very soon be out of options enterly as she was stuck between the gorge that seperated windclan and riverclan and the gap that had just opened.  So she did the only other option, she went away from camp for now, knowing that it was perhaps the only way to get back to her clan eventually.  She would have to try and risk navigating the gorge... The idea sounded terrifying but it was better than risking any more earth moving cracks especially if the ground was shifting below the moorlands.  

Daisybreeze is stranded out of camp and is trying to get to the gorge she will long term be trying to get to the moonstone since thats where she has guessed her clan to go... she just has to go the wrong direction a bit to try and get there

Exhausted and using his recovery instructions as a reason to rest, Smallbean laid quietly in his nest, not quite asleep but beginning to ease into unconsciousness. Of course, he'd only let himself rest after his duties were finished for the time being, but in all honestly his head had started to be a bother earlier in the day, it was a good idea to rest to prevent further injury.

As he drifted off to sleep, he felt a strange sensation move his body. At first he thought it was just the falling sensation that often plagued him as he went to sleep. When he realized that it was actually the ground that was shaking and that calls of distress could be heard from the middle of camp, he sat upright, sprinting from the nest before his eyes even had time to adjust from being nearly asleep.

Smallbean didn't make it too far out into camp before he skidded and slipped, unable to keep his balance. He landed awkwardly on his side, able to purposely land on his shoulder and not his head. A deafening crack rung through the air, a sound that found it's way down to his stomach and stirred, giving him a horrible anxious feeling. One that made him sick. What was that. Struggling to his paws [and struggling to stay on them], he looked around wildly for Shrikestar, rushing to the tom once he'd spotted him. "Shrikestar! What's g-" He stopped himself, following the leaders eyes. A large crack, one that reminded him of the gorge, had torn the land in half. It was so off-putting, there was no way that a change that big had just occured that quickly. Was he dreaming? Had he actually fallen asleep?  "Shrikestar, what do we do?" His breathing quickly intensified, sending him down a spiral of possible reasons for this. The worst one was the possible return of the Righteous few, or the Dark Forest cats. He sat down, unable to stay on his paws. "They aren't back, are they? Do we leave? What do we do? Should I go see if everyone's okay? What about the cats who aren't at camp?" He of all cats was aware of who was currently patrolling, but he didn't want to go against Shrikestar's orders.

Smallbean is currently Freaking Out at Shrikestar

"Alright-" She reluctantly allowed herself to lean on Flutterpetal as they walked, grateful for the assistance and grimacing at the pain that shot through her paw as she moved. The rabbit had been well and truly forgotten in the turmoil of the angry, writhing earth and her subsequent injury. "Stars... Tonight was a full moon, right? Of course this sort of chaos would happen on a full moon." She muttered, staring at the chasm that had opened up in front of them. They'd been lucky to not get caught up in that. "Do you know if anyone else was caught out in this?" Hopefully not, and hopefully camp would have fared better... Silverwing, Owlshade, Whisperear... Batsong. Hopefully they were all okay.

With the ground no longer moving, Shrikestar found himself on steadier paws. He didn't have time to panic, as the rest of his clan needed his guidance. He looked down at Ravenpaw, who had come to him telling him of the crack in the territory. "Yes, this is... most troubling," he finally decided on, unsure of how to truly describe what had happened. He had never seen anything like it. "Make sure you do not leave camp, Ravenpaw. Stay with the other apprentices. We need to make sure who's here." Then his attention turned to Smallbean. "Keep calm, Smallbean. I do not believe that any 'one' has returned. I... admit I do not know what this is," he admitted, gesturing with a nod towards the fissure. "We need to make sure everyone is alright, though." With that, he ran for the Tallrock, leaping onto it and thanking StarClan that it hadn't collapsed with the rest of the territory. "All cats gather beneath the Tallrock!" he yowled, changing his words slightly. Even the kits would need to be there to make sure they were all accounted for. "Please, we need to figure out who is not here. We may need to send out a rescue party."

Blazefang obediently sat down in clear sight, Mudfern not far away. Her heart raced as she looked around, trying to make her own mental note of who might be missing. Two absences caught her attention immediately: Silverwing and Daisybreeze. Her apprentice and friend, and the vicious warrior who had attacked her other friend. She tried to tell herself it was okay. Maybe they were in camp and just out of her immediate line of sight.

Coyotegrin had decided to move the kits to the nursery from Shrikestar's den. It was just getting to small in there as the kits grew bigger. She was settling in the kits, in the empty den aside from herself, when the ground beneath her shook. Her heart raced, not only from the shock but the fear her kits were in danger. She bunched them all together, standing above them the best she could with her tail covering around them. She had no idea what's going on, but she'd die to protect them from it. Whisperear nearly got a flurry of claws to the face as they poked their head in; Coyotegrin's instincts on edge and luckily over ridden by the quick recognition of her adopted child and former apprentice. Soon, Batsong popped her head in as well and she took a deep, shaky breath. "Whisperear, Batsong. I think we're okay. What was that?" Sleepykit, ever the little mother, spoke up for her bundle as well, and she sighed a relief that her kits seemed to be okay. Shrikestar's voice rose clearly into the den and she glanced to where it came from. "Is it safe for us to go out? I don't want the kits hurt." It wasn't that she didn't trust Shrikestar to only call if it was safe- but she still couldn't see the danger so it was everywhere until proven otherwise.