recount this halcyon age - intro

H

honeypaw

Guest

a particularly beautiful afternoon graced riverclan with it's presence. despite leaf-bare approaching, the air was unseasonably warm on this day. lovely weather was always appreciated by honeypaw. the cold brought nothing but hunger and sickness. plus, when the river inevitably froze over, collecting the treasures it housed would become increasingly difficult. so, honey figured she would take advantage of this starclan granted warm day and wade through the shallow parts of the river in search of pretty things.

the golden apprentice took slow steps into the river, a chill running down her spine as she did. despite the air's warmth, the river had apparently not gotten the memo. the water was cold, not unbearably so but it was definitely not pleasant.

she kept her head low as she gracefully moved, the water occasionally splashing up onto her nose. the molly wasn't having much luck. everything looked dull and boring. that was until a sparkle caught her eye. overwhelmed with excitement, honeypaw moved quickly, not caring where her paws landed.

almost there, happiness bubbled up inside of her. this would fit perfectly in with her collection! her mind was entrapped by the sparkle as she ran carelessly. she was almost there, when her paws landed on a slimy rock and flew out from underneath her. the next thing she knew, all but her head was covered in water as she landed on her side with a splash. dumbfounded, the apprentice took a moment to shake her head, blue eyes wide. however honeypaw was drawn out of her momentary shock when she saw the shimmer once again, and this time right between her paws. with an entusiastic smile, she submerged her head and picked up the object carefully with her teeth.

"gotcha!" she exclaimed once she raised her head, promptly carrying herself back to land and shaking loose droplets from her fur. when she placed it down to examine it, she found it was something strange. unlike she had ever seen. it felt like a rock, but it was unlike any rock she had ever seen. it was silver and reflective, peering down into it she could see herself clear as day. her brow furrowed quizzically. it was also jagged around the edges, much unlike the smoothed river rocks she was used to. honeypaw was in complete awe with the object and looked around for anyone nearby who could help her pinpoint what it was. "hey! come see what i just found!" she called out to a fellow riverclanner she saw not far away, a huge smile on her face.
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[ ONE HAZY PANOPLY ]​
 

Leaf-bare now looms in the back of Fishface's mind, fostering ideas of austerity and overall unpleasantness within the tom whenever his thoughts wander to the weather. His fur is short, his build is spindly, and he has never had a lot of meat on his bones - owing to these factors, the coming season always struck hard and harshly. If only StarClan had blessed him with the same pelt as Clayfur, or perhaps that of Cicadastar's. If such were the case, at least he wouldn't harbour thoughts about his own demise when the first snowflakes came down from above.

Today, however, feels uncharacteristically mellow for mid Leaf-fall. The sun hung high and cast its warmth directly onto his hide, warming up not only his body, but his psyche as well. Gone were the nagging considerations regarding the cold. He finds himself relaxing, delighting in the gentle roll of the river, when an excited young voice calls him over. It belongs to an apprentice, Honeypaw, and by the sounds of it, she'd just unearthed something worthy of his attention. He rises to all fours, has a biiiig stretch, and saunters towards the fluffy she-cat to determine what's up.

"What have you got- oh!" mews Fishface as he draws near, halting himself mid-sentence when he glimpses her visage reflected from a solid object on the ground. Like the younger cat, he hasn't seen anything like this in his day. A grin stretches across his face, completely enraptured by this discovery. "Sure looks sharp, Honeypaw!" he says, padding closer. It differentiated vastly from the mirrored image of himself whenever he looked into the waves. There were no ripples or waves, just a clear likeness of his appearance. Was his nose really that long? "Did you find this in the water? How d'you think it got there?"​

 

A fellow collector, Fernpaw had spotted Honeypaw's hoard in the apprentice den... and he was dead-set on ensuring his was bigger. Every night he made sure it was the exact same, made sure she wasn't stealing anything he had, because he knew that insatiable envy- knew how easy it would be. Not yet had he any reason to be suspicious of her, though- until something of his went missing, and then he would know the first place to look.

Unfounded suspicions aside, Fernpaw settled his bulging eyes upon his fellow apprentice when he heard her exclaim that she had located something, and his kitten-sized ears pinned back against his tiny head. He'd found nothing but rocks today, boring ones that were far outclassed by what was already in his possession, and she'd found something cool enough to show someone else? Was it his lacklustre tracking that was contributing to his misfortune in finding anything good, recently?

Curiosity perpetually got the better of him, though- the undersized apprentice toddled over to the group, head tilted in blatant curiosity. "It's a rock," he insisted upon a glance, confident- though at a closer look... the edges were not as eroded, and it was silver rather than grey. "... funny looking one, though." Doubt began to set in- but what else could it be? Too big to be a fish scale, too solid to be a feather...​
( penned by pin )​
 

"isn't it pretty?" honeypaw mused as fishface approached, practically beaming. she just couldn't wait to see how this new piece would look amongst the other things she has gathered. "i saw it shining in the water! it looked like a star, maybe it fell from the sky last night?" she added, trying to rationalize the reflective piece at her paws. she had never seen a star up close, but if she had honey could imagine it would look like this. she had never heard of stars falling from the sky. maybe starclan had given her a gift!

she drew her eyes away from the object to watch fernpaw make his way over. the tabby gave him a smile as a greeting, but it quickly faltered when he demanded that her new prized possession was just a rock. the former loner had seen many rocks before, everything inside of her pointed at this being some a different object. however, she had noticed fernpaw's sizable hoard in the den they shared, so maybe he was right.

"i've never seen any rocks like this, where do you think it came from?" she inquired to the two that had gathered, blue eyes full of hope at the thought of seeing more of these. her fluffy tail twitched with excitement as she pondered the possibility that there was a riverbank full of the shiny rocks. the idea made her want to up and go find them that instant.
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[ ONE HAZY PANOPLY ]​
 

Clayfur arrives on the scene just a bit later than both Fishface and Fernpaw, having mostly ignored them in favor of lounging in the sun—until one of them mentions an interesting rock. Okay, now that’s got his full attention. The scruffy-looking tom, now disheveled a tad more than usual due to the way he’d been lying on it. He pads over to join the trio, a bright smile on his face even before he spies what they’re looking at.

When he sees it, Clayfur squints at the object, tilting his head to one side curiously. "Oh, that’s a pretty rock," he chimes in, bouncing lightly on his paws. "Do you think it’s safe to eat? Or at least to chew on?" Honeypaw probably won’t let him just take her fancy rock, but if he finds a cool rock of his own, he’ll have a nice chewing stone!
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[ WHAT'S MY AGE AGAIN? ]​
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