camp HE USED TO MEET ME ON THE EAST SIDE - story time



Back when she had been a kit, her mother had told stories of all the great clans to her. LionClan, TigerClan, LeopardClan. All the names are ingrained in her memories as clearly as her own mothers face. Her fathers too, at one point, but she finds as time goes on his features are more and more distorted. She finds herself envious of her brother sometimes, of her mother, for having the ability to see him again if they wanted to but she would never dare let that jealousy infect her relationship with them. Little Wolf is very much a cat who loves her family.

Like she had told her previous litter about the three great clans, she plans on telling the tales from her childhood to her kits as well and she knows Howling Wind must plan on the same. She is glad to have this opportunity though, and she settles in front of the nursery with a warm, excited smile lifting the corners of her mouth. "Come here kits! Gather around if you want to hear a story about the great LionClan and where snakes come from!" it was one of her favorites when she was younger, and she is glad her kits would get the chance to know it too.

// open to anyone not just kits!!
 
Story-time! This had become her new favorite activity after the dog attack. Stormkit trotted over with noticeable pep in her step. She planted her haunches right on the ground in front of Little Wolf and tilted her head up so high to look up. "LionClan?" She echoed, eyes growing wide. Had her mother told her about that one? She was not sure.

Stormkit's tail wrapped over her paws. She had never seen a snake, but she knew that she ought to not touch them. They were just as dangerous to a cat as a fox was. She quivered in excitement. "I always wondered why they had no legs...!" She giggled.

 
BORN TO FIND THAT GREAT UNKNOWN ⋆⁺₊⋆
Stories. It was a touchy subject for her. Her mother had never told her or her siblings adventurous tales like the clan cats did. Each day their main focus had been on surviving. They had gotten to play a few times, but during one of their games was when her siblings had been caught by the twoleg traps.

Her pelt twitched uncomfortably as she recalled that day. It was the last time she ever saw her siblings. Her mother had scooped her up just before she had been caught too. If she hadn't of found me, I wouldn't be here today. Some days she wondered where her siblings were, but whenever she imagined them as lazy, plump kitty pets she pushed the thought away. That wasn't a life for cats...

She heard Little Wolf's call for a story, and she padded over curiously. A sliver of jealousy prickled in her belly, but she swallowed it down. She had tried to tell her kits stories before, but she was not a good story teller. Little Wolf always seemed to know what to say, and her stories almost seemed real. "Great Lionclan? There's another clan?" she hadn't originally meant to ask the question aloud, but it sorta just happened. The red tabby licked her chest fur embarrassedly, then took a seat next to Stormkit. Last she had known, it was just the five clans and Starclan. Was there really another?
 
Even before Little Wolf explains what she's called them over for Skykit is there, trotting over with her head and tail held aloft and her green eyes bright with curiosity. Just about the only thing that can separate her from her sister or uncle is her mother - and with the promise of a story, Skykit would have had to be very upset to miss out on an opportunity like this. She plops down heavily, purring, leaning against Little Wolf as Stormkit and Flamewhisker join them. Ooh, LionClan? She knew of the five Clans, and StarClan watching over them, but the mythical LionClan was always a treat to behold.

The second part of Little Wolf's promise, however, stops Skykit's purring in its tracks. Orange-tipped ears fold back, and the kitten looks up at her mother with wide green eyes.

"Snakes are real?" She asks her mother, suitably horrified.

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  • 24_02_skykit_lines_by_ridraw.png
    skykit. tags.
    — she/her, thunderclan kitten.
    — under little wolf's care.
    — attack in #54ACD2. entirely unexperienced.
    — penned by mercibun; @ me in any official tabbytales discord for plots. :]
    — lines by ridraw :]

 


Little Wolf is happy with the small gathering of cats that sits before her now, summoned by curiosity about the stories her mother used to tell her. She does have to say that she taken a little bit aback by the fact that Flamewhisker didn’t know about the Great Clans but she supposed not everyone had the childhood she did and she was not unkind enough to judge the fiery she cat for it. "Lion Clan is one of the three Great Clans which some say is where we descended from. They lived in the forest a long long time ago." she explains, her green eyes sweeping over the cats listening to her before going on "LionClan were big golden cats with flowing manes like the rays of the sun. LeopardClan were swift and had black spots on their pelts like racing paw prints and TigerClan were flame-colored night hunters, with black stripes like shadows flickering across their fur and the darkness of night in their souls." she remembers always liking LionClan the most when she was a kit.

"There once lived a brave LionClan warrior called Sunpelt. Sunpelt had heard stories of the giant snake called Mouthclaw, who lived in a dark cave by Snakerocks. She was the only snake in the entire forest. She had killed many great warriors from all the Clans. Her sharp-fanged jaws could swallow a living cat whole, and she spat deadly venom.

Cats from all Clans were forbidden to go to Snakerocks. The leaders were afraid to lose any more warriors to Mouthclaw. But Sunpelt wanted to prove what a great warrior he was. He thought that by killing Mouthclaw, he would earn the respect of the forest.

One morning he left the camp before sunup and journeyed to Snakerocks. He stood outside Mouthclaw's cave and called, "Come out and fight!" Then he angered her further by kicking stones into her cave with his back legs.

Mouthclaw slithered out of her cave, her tongue flickering like lightning. She was ten fox-lengths long and as thick as a badger with a bellyful of cubs. Her eyes were evil red slits, and her scales glittered in the dawn light.

She bared her fangs with pleasure, for LionClan warriors were one of her favourite meals. And then she lunged. But the young warrior was too quick. He leaped from rock to rock, while Mouthclaw spat poison and threw up clouds of dust with her lashing tail. The fight went on all day, but she could never get close enough for the kill.

Finally Mouthclaw could fight no more.

"I have been living in these rocks for a thousand moons," she hissed. "Spare my life, and I shall grant you one wish."

The brave warrior thought for a moment. Then he roared, "I wish that you would shrink to the length of a cat's tail. If you were that small, then I would allow you to remain living at Snakerocks."

"And that is all you ask of me?" hissed Mouthclaw with an evil glint in her eyes.

"That is all," said Sunpelt. He knew that a tiny snake would be no danger to the giant cats of the forest. He would be a hero.

Mouthclaw began to writhe and slither, back and forth. A great cloud of dust rose up, and when it settled, Sunpelt leaped backward in horror.

A thousand snakes, each the length of a cat's tail, covered the ground, spitting poison. Now instead of one giant snake at Snakerocks, there were many, each of them deadly and fierce.

Sunpelt could not believe what he had done. Horrified and guilt-stricken, he raced back to camp and confessed all to his leader.

At first Goldenstar, the leader of LionClan, was angry. "This was a dangerous thing you did," he growled. "You should know better than to bargain with snakes. They are cunning and will outwit us every time."

"I know," Sunpelt admitted, hanging his head.

"However," Goldenstar meowed, "you have done a great service for the forest. These smaller snakes may be dangerous, but none can be as dangerous as Mouthclaw. Now no warrior has to fear being swalowed or bitten by her deadly fangs."

"That is true," Sunpelt meowed, his spirit rising.

Goldenstar forgave his brave warrior. After all, Sunpelt was not the first cat--or the last--to be tricked by a snake in the grass."


And that was the end! Little Wolf settles back on her haunches after finding herself leaning forward, getting into doing the voices and really playing the characters. Story time has and always will be a favorite of hers.

// story from the warrior cats wiki!