Thunder Strikes (Official Windclan/Thunderclan RPG)

Ravenfall's ears perked at his name. He looked up from the last bit of thrush. "Patrol?" He tilted his head to the left for a brief moment, before nodding. "I'm up for a patrol. So hunting or border? Or are we gonna do a bit of both?" Both just means we get to catch prey around the borders... It's always nice chasing hares around the other Clans' borders and then cutting them off before they can cross it, he rambled on in his head, It's like a game for warriors, almost. The only thing different really is that you then have to catch and eat the hare. He took the last bite, chewing and swallowing once more but not bothering to lift his long-furred self up quite yet. He figured the patrol wasn't leaving quite then. He had at least little bit longer to stay seated, so why waste it? That was his logic, anyways, and he stuck to it.

~Nightslash and Tangleclaw, I added you guys to the roster, so you can jump in whenever! (:~


"A little bit of both," Lilacstar mewed to the fluffy gray tom after she contemplated Ravenfall's words for a few seconds, gingerly pulling out stalks of grass as she spoke.

"We might as well knock out as much as we can for the day." She added, her nose wrinkling at the thought of having to work hard. "Everyone will be exhausted from having to do so many patrols." Lilacstar mused, her tail flicking from side to side as she worried. "The last thing we need is for some cat to work themselves to hard and fall ill! We don't even have a medicine cat that could treat them if something like that happened." Lilacstar realized, looking over at the empty corner of the camp where the medicine cat's den was nestled into the brambles.

"Are the patrols almost ready to go?" Lilacstar asked after a few more moments of silence, glancing at her warriors as they finished up their meals. The sun was steadily creeping up the sky, basking all the cats in its heated glow as it burned the morning dew away.

"Yes ma'am." Nightslash answered as he finished his meal.
"We are ready to continue patrolling with you".

Milkycloud yawned as she awakened from her deep slumber and poked her head out from the warrior den. Wow. I overslept, didn't I? How did that happen? Milkycloud thought as she looked at the sunlight beaming through the trees, puzzled. It had only been a little while since Milkycloud had officially become a warrior. She felt a new sense of pride, yet still a bit unsure. She still had a lot to learn. Now that she wasn't an apprentice anymore, things were going to be different for her. She felt both eager and anxious.

A ping of hunger snapped her out of her daze. Im hungry...maybe I'll go find some of the other Thunderclan cats too. In sure they're all awake by now... She thought as she padded out from the entrance. She began to roam the territory to catch up with her other clan mates, hoping maybe they could get something to eat.

Ghostfur was deep in thought about who else to bring on the patrol when he noticed Milkycloud step out of the warrior's den. 'Well, I suppose this would be a good experience for our younger warriors too. And with Milkycloud it will round out my ideal patrol size.' Ghostfur thought before signaling the young warrior over to where he and the others were. "Hey Milkycloud, you up to going on the sunhigh patrol? If so then come on over and grab a bit to eat from the fresh-kill pile before we head out." Ghostfur called out to Milkycloud. Now with five cats including himself on the sunhigh patrol, Ghostfur was confident that they shouldn't have too much trouble even if they do run into a Windclan patrol. Even though they were weakened with hunger, Thunderclan still had the advantage of numbers over Windclan, and Ghostfur intended to make good use of that advantage. All Ghostfur was particularly worried about now other than possibly failing was how the cats in his patrol will react when he tells them the truth, but he'd handle that hurdle once they were well on their way to the Windclan border.
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Bluenose was trudging through the forest slowly, tired after the dawn patrol and hunting. And yet for all that effort the only pieces of prey between the whole dawn patrol was a scrawny mouse and the squirrel that Bluenose had chased almost halfway across the forest and up two trees. He knew that the clan was growing hungrier by the day, yet thanks to those twolegs Bluenose could do nothing about it but go about his regular duties. It was times like these that Bluenose missed his old rogue days with Ghostfur and all the others who had accompanied them, living in their lush valley hidden in the mountains with ample prey even in leaf-bare. But that was then and this is now, and Bluenose was just as determined as his brother to keep Thunderclan safe. "We're almost back to camp, be sure to rest once we arrive and drop off our fresh-kill." Bluenose told the other cats in his patrol as they gradually came closer to their camp.

(Just to ensure that no one can get confused, Bluenose's patrol is comprised of nameless placeholder cats, since Thunderclan is supposed to be a bigger clan)

Roguestar shifted to a sitting position, having already eaten most of the sparrow. She had seen the other warriors walk out of the den and listened to who all would be joining the patrol. Of course, Ghostfur would be going, as would Silverstream and Nightpaw. Then, Hazelshade would join them and maybe Milkycloud. It would be a nice patrol size, considering that it was going to be the first to trespass into WindClan territory. She dug her claws into the ground once more, dirt collecting between her claws. All she really had to wait for was the sunrise patrols. Then, she could call the meeting announcing the new border. Of course, she could call it right then, but she wanted the other warriors to know before they ended up on a patrol. She tore away a bit more of the sparrow, leaving only a little bit of meat clinging together on the frail creature. Her eyes landed at the Clan entrance. As soon as the patrol got back, she would make her announcement.

"Alright, Nightslash you can join our patrol as well." Lilacstar stated, her tone slightly impatient as her warriors were dawdling, as she looked over at the dark tom as he finished his meal as well. Normally the clan would of finished their early morning meal by now but apparently today they all decided to stall and enjoy as much of the warm sun as they could.

"Come on Frostbite, Ravenfall. I don't want to waste anymore time!" Lilacstar called, moving towards the thick, thorn-filled brambles that guarded the camp entrance. After a particularly hard freeze mid Leaf-Bare, all the brambles had died and become quite puny. So when the first stalks of new grass had bloomed, Lilacstar and Stormfrost had given several warriors the task of repairing the barrier and it had clearly paid off.

"Nightslash will be joining us as well." She meowed, flicking her dark tail towards the awaiting tom. Turning back around, Lilacstar pushed her way through the brambles and out into the lush, thick moorland grass. A particularly strong gust of wind swept the grass onto its side for several moments as several small, wispy clouds were blown across the blue sky. Lilacstar inhaled through her nose deeply, enjoying the scent of new grass and blooming flowers as she waited for the rest of her patrol to join her.

"Right!" Frostbite called to her leader, quickly trotting afterwards. She sighed as the fresh scent of the moorland hit her nose. "Smells great out here! I love the fresh air!" She wrinkled her noes and batted at a fly that was buzzing away. She glanced at Lilacstar. "So what are we going to do first, Lilacstar?" 


~Short post is short...~

Ravenfall pushed himself to all fours, not in too big of a hurry until his leader stated that she didn't want to waste any more time. He trotted beside the she-cat, glancing at the brambles on his way out. He remembered having set the walls back up after they shriveled up and died the Leaf-Bare before. He was particularly proud of the rather large ones he had found that lined the barrier behind the nursery. He knew that he was thinking like an apprentice about the brambles, but he didn't care. Thoughts were never his specialization anyway as much as he was able to trail off with them.

Ravenfall let out a soft purr as he strode out into the wind, letting it ruffle his long, gray fur. His eyes pierced the moorland, green gaze searching for prey as their scents danced around his nose. He smiled at it all as he had always enjoyed being out of camp with everything happening around him. His thoughts were cleared by a butterfly briefly landing on his ear and flying away. Having noticed that he had fallen behind the she-cat by a tail-length or two as well as was passed by another one of his fellow warriors,  the tom took a few more steps to catch up with Lilacstar and Frostbite to await the remainder of the patrol.

Lilacstar chuckled at the two younger warriors antics as they batted and watched the insects with wide eyes. She was grateful the patrol was in a good mood, warriors who were in good moods tended to do better in their routine duties and always got along better with the clan.

"We're going to check the borders, then we can hunt." Lilacstar meowed after thinking over Frostbite's words. The cream colored she-cat began to walk again, brushing through the soft grass as she absently followed one of the many paths that had been worn into the surface of the moor.

"I also want to check that badgers den though. I want to make sure that the brute hasn't come back!" Lilacstar mewed, her ears twitching at the thought of the grumpy old badger whom had made her home on the moor during Leaf-Bare. The cranky beast had caused many problems and had actually injured several warriors before they could drive it out. "We don't need that pesky badger to come back now, Windclan is already dealing with enemies outside the territory and having to deal with one inside the territory might be too much. She mused, her paws carrying her towards the abandoned den as the rest of the patrol followed.

Lilacaster's words echoed in Nightslash's mind."Cranky badgers?"Nightslash stood still."Hmm I never heard of them or Leaf-Bare." The words sounded odd to Nightslash because he was somewhat new to the clan" "Will someone explain what happened at the Leaf-Bare so I can be better informed about the event that happened that day?"

Moorstrike wasn't too happy about being left in the camp, but he would survive. Someone had to protect their inner sanctum, and he and Stormfrost could manage it. He started pacing in circles around the camp, paws scuffing on the ground and ears perked up so as to hear if anything happened. He tried to look on the bright side- the patrols could handle themselves, but he did worry for Lilacstar (even if she protected him more than the other way around).

"Are we ready to go now?" Hazelshade looked at Ghostfur curiously. He looked particularly troubled today. The scarcity of prey was a big problem, big enough to warrant Ghostfur's anxious pensiveness, but he looked like he was trying to figure out how to conquer IceClan. She hoped that wasn't the case. I like where all my limbs are now, thank you very much, she thought. "We probably shouldn't wait for the dawn patrol to get back," Hazelshade added, after a moment of silence. "They might have taken longer than usual to find prey."

Lilacstar looked back at Nightslash, her whiskers twitching slightly. "Hm. One of these days I should have an older warrior explain all of the clan traditions to Nightslash." Lilacstar thought, stopping to allow the rest of the patrol to catch up as they arrived at the abandoned badgers den.

"Leaf-Bare is our word for the cold moons. Some kitty-pets, loners, and the barn strays who live near by call it 'Winter'." Lilacstar explained, beckoning Nightslash closer with her tail as she sat down near the gaping hole in the earth. The scent of badger was stale, and there were no other scents around the den except for some fairly fresh rabbit.

"During 'winter'," Lilacstar mewed, the foreign word feeling strange on her tongue, "a badger moved into this old den. It was a very mean old thing, and often stole what little prey we had. It also attacked several patrols." She mewed, trying her hardest to explain to the younger tom. Looking down the hillside, Lilacstar drew in a deep breath and the musky scent of the Thunderclan border hit her.

"I can explain the entire story when we get back to camp if you'd like, Nightslash. But we still need to check the Thunderclan border, then hunt before I can tell you the story." Lilacstar chuckled, slightly dreading the oncoming work of the day.

Finally, though well after when they were supposed to return, Bluenose led the dawn patrol back into camp. Looking around he noticed Ghostfur was surrounded by several other warriors, probably getting the next patrol ready, but Bluenose could tell his brother was bothered by something. Dropping off his squirrel at the fresh-kill pile, Bluenose dismissed the patrol and walked over to report to Ghostfur, and maybe find out what had him so concerned. "We're back, all was quiet on the borders and we even managed to catch a bit of fresh-kill." Bluenose said as he walked up and joined his brother and the other cats. "And it goes without saying, but still no sign of the prey returning any time soon." he added, used to the lack of improvement after the twolegs had scared away or hunted most of the other forest creatures.
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Ghostfur had been about to agree with Hazelshade when he noticed Bluenose and his patrol return. "Well, your timing is certainly impeccable." Ghostfur said to Bluenose in a joking tone. "Well, now that you're back go ahead and get some rest, you and the others were out for a while so I'm sure that you're all tired." Ghostfur added to his brother. Looking back over the warriors he had put on the sunhigh patrol with him, Ghostfur felt they were finally ready to leave. "Now that that's all settled, we're ready to go. Everyone finish up you're fresh-kill and we'll leave momentarily." Ghostfur said to the cats gathered around him. Looking back over where Roguestar was, Ghostfur wondered if she was going to announce their invasion before he left, and decided to hold a moment to see if she did.

Roguestar's eyes hadn't left the opening of the clearing until she caught sight of Bluenose's patrol. With a light purr in the back of her throat, she stood and turned to leap atop the Highledge. She began questioning herself for a brief moment. Of course she wouldn't go back on her decision, but it would be important to weigh the pros and cons. Was she certain that this would be the best option? Only time can tell. Was she certain that it would keep her Clan from war? Not at all; in fact, it is possible that it will cause a quarrel with WindClan... She did know that it would, however, be exactly what the Clan needed. Limited on food, the moors had plenty of prey and, considering the amount of cats who live there, certainly had enough to share. Besides, if a battle does come, ThunderClan has numbers as well as strength, given enough time for the weakened to recover.

Wrapping up her thoughts as she gazed over her Clan, the leader called for a meeting, "All cats old enough to catch their own prey, gather under the Highledge for a Clan meeting!"

"oh." Nightslash started walking again. "Hmmm....are you sure to want to look into the badgers den,what if you disturb them what would we do then?"

Frostbite tilted her head in consideration. "I don't think the badger's coming back anytime soon. The scent is more than a few moons old now. I think the badger was only using this for a temporary shelter, maybe to raise some of their pups or something? Cause, I mean, you know how bad leaf-bare can get sometimes...." She bounced around. "I wanna hunt soon! My paws are itching to catch some tasty rabbit!" She hopped around even more. "Man, I feel so full of energy today! I wonder why. Maybe it was the prey I ate? Wow, the sun's really bright. It kinda hurts my eyes. Hm, I wonder if anything interesting's gonna happen today. I'm bored, so something interesting better happen." She said this all in one breath, grinning while doing so.


Edit: Oh. Oops. Wrong account...

Hazelshade looked up as Roguestar announced the Clan meeting. Cats were beginning to gather, but she didn't know whether she was suppose to join them. Now? she thought, disappointed. I wanted to go out on this patrol. She turned to Ghostfur curiously. "Are we going to stay for the meeting? It's practically sunhigh already."

Ghostfur nodded to himself when Roguestar called the meeting, well aware that it could only be about their decision to take some territory from Windclan. Looking over his patrol again, Ghostfur wondered how they will react once they hear Roguestar's news. "We'll leave once this meeting is over. What Roguestar has to say is very important, there's no way you'd want to miss it." Ghostfur said in response to Hazelshade's question. With that said, Ghostfur got up and went over to the traditional spot for the deputy to sit just beneath the highledge.
_____

Bluenose started a little when he heard Roguestar call a meeting. 'It's pretty unusual for a meeting to be called right as a patrol is about to head out. I wonder what's going on.' Bluenose though right as a realization struck him. Taking a quick glance at Ghostfur, he wondered if this had anything to do with why Ghostfur was more on edge than usual. Figuring that if that was the case that it must be pretty big news, Bluenose was quick to go and sit for the gathering. And whatever the news may be, Bluenose planned to punish his brother after the sunhigh patrol for leaving him in the dark about whatever is going on.

Silverstream finished up the few bites of fresh kill and followed after Hazelshade as their clan mates began congregating in the middle of the camp. Something didn't sit well with her today. Ghostfur was acting far more nervous than normal and the size of their patrol was more than she thought necessary for a simple border patrol. Her heart sank and her throat grew hot when she realized what was likely going on. I don't like this at all...

Lilacstar chuckled at Frostbite's enthusiasm, her whiskers twitching as she laughed at the fluffy white she-cat.

"If we see any prey on the way to the Thunderclan border, we can definitely hunt it." Lilacstar mewed, nodding at the she-cat who was bursting with energy. Suddenly, the fresh, musky scent of prey filled her nostrils and her belly instinctively growled.

"Speaking of hunting, I smell rabbit." Lilacstar meowed, craning her head to follow the fresh scent as her claws  instinctively unsheathed themselves. Energy filled her paws at the thought of catching a fat, juicy rabbit.

"Would you two like to go after the rabbit?" Lilacstar asked,  looking over at the other cats inhabiting the patrol.

sorry this post is so small, I'm on mobile /:

(Sorry, I'll try to catch up all in one post)

Milkycloud's fur bristled with excitement. Of course Milkycloud would want to tag along with the other cats on a patrol. For her, she saw it as an opportunity, both for experience and to help her ease into becoming a strong warrior. She snatched up the last jaw-full of fresh kill and scarfed it down, almost a little too quickly. She watched as Bluenose and his patrol returned and he rejoiced with his brother. I certainly can't wait to begin our patrol! Milkycloud thought, barely being able to contain her excitement. She wanted to jump around in circles, but kept reminding herself that she was a warrior now, not an apprentice. Milkycloud snapped out of thought when she heard their leader, Roguestar call for a meeting. This is an unusual time for a meeting... She thought. I wonder what's going on... Milkycloud trotted over to where the other cats were gathering and sat. A wave of uneasiness suddenly stirred in the air that made her fur stand up as she immediately picked up on it. Somethings going to happen... She though as she listened intently for Roguestar's announcement.

"As you all know, the forest is running low on prey," Roguestar started as soon as everyone gathered, "After a few days of thought as to what we should do about this predicament, I have come to the decision that we need more territory. To be more clear, we will be pushing the WindClan border back."

With slight pause, the leader surveyed the clearing. Some questioning faces mixed with the crowd, but the others who understood balanced it out. Then, there was also the patrol in the crowd. They would be gone longer than usual due to the border push...

"That is all," she finished, not wanting to hold them up much longer. She lingered by her den for a moment as conversations started. She didn't really listen to them, catching only bits and pieces about the decision, maybe something about the twolegs or a piece of prey on the pile. Some conversations were even going on like nothing was even said, maybe talking about weather or moments as apprentices. She turned away from her den, taking a seat closer to the gathered cats and soon partaking in conversion with one of the nearby warriors.

Hazelshade gaped at Roguestar in surprise. Then, snapping her jaw shut, she spun around to face Ghostfur. "So that's what this patrol is for!" she exclaimed. "Isn't it? We're the ones changing the border with WindClan." Honestly, Hazelshade didn't know how she felt about this. From a logical point of view, it was perfectly reasonable ─ ThunderClan needed prey, and WindClan had prey. But it also felt wrong. She knew cats from WindClan, and respected them. Around her, she could hear equally mixed sentiments. Some of her Clanmates loudly proclaimed their support for Roguestar's choice, while others sounded more doubtful.