camp kvartandi [🌧️] intro

THUNDERSONG

war mother
Feb 19, 2024
10
2
3
🌧️ When she was a little girl, she had been Inga. In her community, she been titled many things - mother, bear-woman, warrior - but always in conjunction of the name her mother gave her at birth: Inga. When she had traveled down from the mountains to find community with the newly christened clans and their budding ways, she had never expected to find herself nameless. Thundersong, the cat named Sootstar had deemed her. It was not a title. Not a by-name. It was meant to be a replacement for her first gift in the world. And Thundersong they all called her, and it was expected that she refer to them by their own new names in turn.

She had not known it then, but the erasure of her name became the gateway to many things she would come to regret.

But she had weathered it all. Unable to return to her previous life - the mountains were too far for her old bones - and unwillingly to follow Sootstar's crazed intentions a second longer, she was now expected to bend to Sunstar and all his new name did or did not entale. At least she could tell that he and his mate were of a similar stone and ice that ran through her own sluggish veins - cats like that eased her worried mind in the aftermath of madness.

Still, an eased mind did not translate to eased joints and a weary sigh escaping from between the bearish woman's maw as she lumbered back into camp, a scraggly hare hanging from her jaws. It was nothing compared to the catches the younger, quicker, smaller cats could have brought in, she had surmised. Of all the clans, Inga found that she was probably the least suited for WindClan's ranks. If she had known that year and a half ago that cats her size were more abundant in other places, perhaps she would've skipped past the small resurrecting tyrant towards the climbers and their ilk.

But no. It was Sootstar that had taken her in five seasons ago and Sootstar she served until the tyrant had been ended. And now that she served a new leader and a new code, she could not even enjoy her measly catch by herself.

"Are the new kittens awake yet?" she mused to the nearest cat, her small ears tilting towards the scoop of the nursery. speech is in #825f87
 

It could be difficult to see beyond what was directly in front of somebody. Looking forward had not provided as much difficulty to the tom as looking back, comprehending that there were many lives before WindClan, comprehending that there were those among them had known a world that would be preferable to the one they lived in now. He hadn't avoided the older generation for that reason alone, rather, he had learned not to get comfortable around them when they had been the first to die under his mother's reign. It made sense to him to cast them out when their use had faded like the fur on their muzzles, and it took some quiet gawking toward Thundersong to make him realise that she was not yet at an age where she was a drain on WindClan's resources - close, but not quite there yet. Tentatively, he shifted through the shadows of camp to join a small group near her, a smile creeping upon his muzzle. Company spent with clanmates could be... complicated, for that reason alone, he was light on his paws as he reclined on his haunches. An eye settled on the hare, then, onto the warrior that spoke to them.

"I am sure they will emerge before you leave to greet StarClan," teeth appeared as he quipped with a grin, his impudence deceptively innocent. Those kittens should have been the final straw for Snakehiss, proof he intended to make a cushy life under Sootstar and would have stuck with her had he not seen the numbers against him, proof he did not change, only masked. His hypocrisy was venom, but it only worked on the same species as himself, the same manner of beast who sought to remove the competition. "Their arrival was not a pleasant one, I do not know much about kittens, but a mother told me they will wake up when they are ready."



 
AS HE RAISED HIS FIST BEFORE HE SPOKE — Rarely, Rattleheart would think about the name that was bestowed upon him at birth, many moons before Windclan had ever been a vague concept in his mind. Silas, they had declared him as soon as he emerged into the world, tiny and helpless and screeching for the support of his mother. It was technically a masculine name - odd, considering at the time none of them had known about his gender identity - but it had seemed fitting to the pair of them all the same. It was meant to say one thing definitively, a meaning fitting for a child born in a badger's den in the middle of the forest. Of the woods. In a way he supposed it was a good thing that he hadn't been allowed to keep it when he had joined after Scorchstreak, considering such a moniker would be far more fitting in a place like Thunderclan, or Skyclan. Not for a tunneler that would eventually end up navigating the wide expanse of open moors and the cramped tunnels down beneath them.

Yet still, there were times that he missed it. Missed being called Silas by his littermates as they had shoved and tussled around when they were just kits. Missed it when he thought of journeying around before they had all reached Windclan. He had never regretted his decision to join Windclan - even through Sootstar's tyrannical reign - or his decision to let that name be snatched away from him, but he had to admit he hadn't loved his new designation at first. Rattle had made him feel so weak in those first few moons, named for the way his body and words alike quaked and shook like rattling howls in the gales that made the moors their home. It had taken time for him to warm up to it, and to see the positives of the name that had been presented to him, even if he now condemned the leader that had assigned it to him.

He could wear it with pride, regardless of her influence.

Though he had never really known Thundersong as anything but Thundersong, he respected the senior warrior greatly regardless of her title. She had been around longer than practically any of them - partially due to the ruthless policies enacted by Sootstar once upon a time. At least she had made it out alive, a familiar face that Rattleheart was glad for. Even if he wasn't truly sure how she felt about Sunstar's recent ascension. Either way, he grinned easily in her direction as he approached, sparing Sootspot nothing more than a flick of his tail to acknowledge his presence for the moment. "Thankfully they didn't sit out in the cold for too long, or I'm sure we'd be worrying about much more than just when they would wake up. I'm sure Gorsepetal has been trying to rouse them so they can start to meet everyone." Although meet may have been a strong word, considering how tiny they still were just yet.


  • 75034712_8183RsjuzqJmQXv.png
    longhaired black and white tom with pale green eyes
    48 moons old; ages the 1st every month
    afab; uses he/she/they pronouns
    homosexual homoromantic; mated to venomstrike
    sibling to scorchstreak, lizardbounce, and rabbitclaw
    currently mentoring downypaw
    somewhat difficult to befriend; wary but kind
    "speech", thoughts, attacking
    peaceful powerplay allowed
    all opinions are ic
 
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Her own name had been a gift from her parents. A well-though name, derived from what she was told her grandmother's loud nature. It was almost a running joke, that Rivepaw followed in her grandmother's footsteps in that regard. Loud, reckless. Brash. She felt a warmth in her stomach when she regarded her name. Sunstar and Wolfsong had to have thought of them for moons, to understand what they were going to be as they grew older.

Owl eyes blinked as Thundersong asked a question aloud. Her ears twitched, vision shifting towards the nursery. The new kits- the ones found at Snakehiss's muzzle when he re-entered camp that day. A soft sigh left her as she stretched her paws out, the scar on her stomach still tugging as she moved. Rivepaw reckoned softly to herself that she'd have to learn to adjust to that, and quickly so. "They're still just babies." Rivepaw meowed, her vision shifting towards them.

"Have their eyes even opened yet?" Rivepaw actually had no clue if they had or not, given the disposition of not being in the nursery lately.

"text"
thoughts
 
🌧️ "It is the Gorsepetal I worry for." The large woman confessed to her companions, a frown pulling her bearish features into something severe and stormy. "I have seen it at times, where an orphaned barn will reject the new mother and will not nurse. I have had it happen to me, with my smallest. I had to lure her with a dab of honey and the scent of lavender, makes the small ones sleepy and all barn suckle in their sleep."

She chuckled at the memory, a slow, rumbling sort of laugh that made her entire body shake with her joy. "I do not miss it, being at the beck and call of hungry little kittens. I prefer company that can speak freely and do not tug at the belly. It is good you two have grown so fast, it is good to see you become strong like those little ones will be soon." She tipped her head to Sootspot and Rivepaw in turn. "You are all just babies compared to my long teeth." speech is in #825f87
 
AS HE RAISED HIS FIST BEFORE HE SPOKE — Thundersong's explanation gave him pause, a brief expression of anxiety tugging at his dark features. He hadn't even considered that the kits could end up rejecting their new foster mother, and the thought sent worries burrowing deep into his mind. What if my kits reject me one day? Such a thought felt pointless and silly, especially considering he wasn't even pregnant yet. Still, he already knew such a concern would be laying dormant in his mind until the moment he could feel little ones squirming at his side.

He tried to force himself into relaxing once more, shaking out his pelt and chuckling softly along when he heard the older warrior's rumbling laughter. "I think... I think things should be fine. I'm sure that if any of the little ones were giving Gorsepetal trouble, Wolfsong would step in to help." Hopefully their medicine cat possessed the same knowledge as Thundersong - though she could always help out herself if not. "Honestly, I feel like nothing but a kitten compared to you. You must have so many stories to tell..." It was odd, technically being considered one of the older warriors in Windclan while still being ages younger than the molly before him. He felt like nothing more than a youngling when he was around her, even as other cats looked to him for guidance.


  • 75034712_8183RsjuzqJmQXv.png
    longhaired black and white tom with pale green eyes
    48 moons old; ages the 1st every month
    afab; uses he/she/they pronouns
    homosexual homoromantic; mated to venomstrike
    sibling to scorchstreak, lizardbounce, and rabbitclaw
    currently mentoring downypaw
    somewhat difficult to befriend; wary but kind
    "speech", thoughts, attacking
    peaceful powerplay allowed
    all opinions are ic