pafp What did yesterdgay bring? ❄ History Lesson

[Snowlark.]

[ ༻❄༺ ] Despite Betonyfrost being one of the few likable cats, due to her own actions of course, Snowpaw still approached the normally grumpy molly, keeping a calm look in his yellow gaze before pausing a few pawlengths before her, his stubby tail twitched slightly, while silence filled the area between them. Betonyfrost is the warrior they don't normally see himself going to first, but perhaps Betonyfrost was just... a sad cat within it all, and alone too so perhaps having company could be nice.

"You were here when the clans formed, right? What was the clans like before they were... clans?" he asked, tone rigid and awkward before settling down, keeping that slight space between the two of them, after all Betonyfrost didn't seemed to have a good record with Shadowclan's youth from what he recalled, and the other seemed to lash out quite openingly at others whenever she seemed to get the chance to, or even to just... spite others. Yet, perhaps beneath it all... Betonyfrost could be a good cat... after all, Shadowclan was full of socially awkward cats who didn't know how well to react with one another, or just grumpy and always seemingly tired.

‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎┌── You ve wasted your life , but thanks for applying ──┐‎

• 
  "speak""Thoughts"
  
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  Snowpaw ❄ He/Him, apprentice of Shadowclan, 9 moons.
  ⭃ Lithe long hair blue lynx sepia with high white, and yellow eyes. Stubby tail, permanent resting bitch face
  ⭃ Hailfreckle x Mudsplash
  ⭃ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted (ask first) / / underline and tag when attacking
  ↛ see battle info here
  ⭃ penned by Ryn ↛ @/Rynnaro on discord, feel free to dm for plots.
  

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@betonyfrost ! ))

 

[betonyfrost]

It is easy for Betonyfrost to imagine that her life is divided into a series of befores and afters—there are a dozen or so that she could choose from as defining moments. The marsh colony is doubtless a before to the after of ShadowClan. At the time, Betonyfrost hadn’t felt the significance in the shift, she had erroneously believed that the change was to be in name only. Being asked about it now—Betonyfrost frowns without feeling and imagines a world in which the change wasn’t the drastic thing it was in this world. It was something Snowpaw would never see and likely never understand.

“You make me sound old,” It isn’t said critically—instead empty words to fill the space while Betonyfrost collects her true thoughts, “Before ShadowClan… we simply were. There wasn’t any of this—warriors and apprentices and the like. Things weren’t delineated like that.” The warmth of the nursery, the humidity that follows Greenleaf’s tail: Betonyfrost could spend a lifetime back then, “And there were certainly less neighbors. It was just SkyClan—what SkyClan was before it was named such, and us here.”

Nostalgia is a terrible thing. Betonyfrost aches for those days, that simpler life. Her folded paws catch her eyes and, after a moment of deliberation, she uncrosses them. A little less careful, a little less proper—a little more her.

“There was a meeting after the Great Battle—the first gathering. I hadn’t gone, but whatever happened during… Briarstar came back, and she had called us ShadowClan, after. It wasn’t long after that she had gotten her own name and given all of us our own. I was among the first warriors of ShadowClan.” It is a strange thing to say—Betonyfrost speaks in a hush as if it a confession rather than an accomplishment. She hadn’t known what such a thing meant, at the time.
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shadowclan warrior | blue mackerel tabby | 32 moons | tags​

 

[Gigglepaw]

"What d'ya mean, before the Clans?" Gigglekit tumbled into the conversation with all her usual gusto, as skeptical as her tone was about the topic that Snowpaw had chosen to bring up with Betonyfrost. The she-kit didn't have much of an opinion on the older she-cat, but she did know that she could be prickly, and her cousins weren't exactly fond of her, so Gigglekit also kept her distance. But much more importantly, Snowpaw was asking silly questions! After all, ShadowClan was everything Gigglekit had ever known, so surely ShadowClan had always been.

Then Betonyfrost speaks, and changes practically everything that Gigglekit thought she knew about the Clan that she had been born into. No apprentices or warriors, just the concept of existing. Gigglekit wasn't sure if she believed it right away - but with the mention of the Great Battle tying in so seamlessly with Betonyfrost's story, she had to accept that there might be some truth to her statements. She might not have known about the before when it came to ShadowClan, but Gigglekit figured that you'd have to have your head in the dirt if you didn't know about the Great Battle.

"Hey, how come Briarstar decided to call us ShadowClan?" Gigglekit questioned as she calmed, sitting down so that she might have some answers to the questions that she had. "An' what kinda name did you have before? Did you not have a name?"

‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎OOC ᓚ₍ ^. .^₎ .ᐟ.ᐟ INFO ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎

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• GIGGLEKIT ✩ kit of shadowclan, three moons
  → blinks incessantly & uncontrollably.
  → peaceful and healing powerplay permitted.
  → penned by Archivist → .archivist on discord.
  

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[shadowkit]

( ☁︎ ) "obviously 'cause shadow is the best name!" a lilac tabby she-kit pads after gigglekit, little tail stuck straight up in the air as she proclaims her truth. "i should know." one paw comes to her chest and she straightens her spine, tossing her head. this movement causes her paws to stumble and she trips over herself, landing on her side. shadowkit will sniff, pick herself back up, and rasp a pink tongue down her flank. she's used to falling. periwinkle optics find the venom green ones of betonyfrost as shadowkit sits down beside gigglekit. "why do we have two-part names now? 'cause wasn't briarstar just briar before? that's what my mother told me." she nods, the expectation that her mother is always right forefront in her mind.

she quiets after she asks her questions, expectant and respectful in her listening. she's been taught since an early age that older cats are better than her, and learning her history is the most important thing. of course she'll revere betonyfrost's words (even if they do come from a grumpy molly) because it's the truth about her past. she finds snowpaw's ghostly figure and offers him a smile too. she doesn't know the young tom well- he was graduating to the apprentices' den when she was born, but he's a steady presence, and she'll always respect those working hard for their clan.

MY HOUSE OF STONE ☁︎ YOUR IVY GROWS

• // "#C9A9A6"
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• SHADOWKIT ☁︎ SHE / HER, KIT OF SHADOWCLAN. VIOLETFROST x STAGHAWK, SIBLING TO PITCHKIT, WASPKIT, OWLKIT, LYNXKIT. 3 MOONS OLD, PENNED BY LAVS
  
  
  a lilac tabby with low white and blue eyes. lanky and sleek, posture straight and poised, this girl seems to be the very definition of dignity. she holds herself with grace not seen in the way she walks, for despite outer appearances, a well groomed exterior, she remains clumsy. long legs cause her to trip often, tumbling with little grace, although she hardly minds.
  

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[MIREPURR]

One's first few moons of life are so fleeting; ignorant to time passing by, ignorant to how easy it is to loose memories... kittens are truly envy-inducing when they are full of innocence. Time takes all of that, too, a thief that you only notice long after its absence.

Mirepurr had been born at the perfect time, though they suspect their mother does not think that way, knowing what was to follow shortly after. Her life had been uprooted... whereas Mirepurr simply grew into their ever-growing limbs in much the same as ShadowClan grew into its new culture. It's difficult to imagine Clans before their unison, back when there were little to no rules to follow and enforce.

They peer at Betonyfrost with no disdain for the first time in a moon. She speaks of being old like it's something bad — despite the lack of any heat to her words —, when it really is a fact to respect. Mirepurr could whack their brain to remember something forgotten, or to recall further detail on a memory shrouded in kit-made haze, but none of that would grow equal to what Betonyfrost has lived through. Older, more experienced, more present.

"Being one of ShadowClan's first is an honor," they say, an olive branch of offering. Betonyfrost might be pricklier than a thorn bush sometimes, but she is a Clanmate nevertheless. It would be most atypical of Mirepurr to hold grudges forever.

The moment is short-lived. They do not dare to overstep, to take more than Betonyfrost can offer, and force the two of them back to square one. So they turn to the kits, each and every one of them born deep into ShadowClan's legacy by now. "I'm pretty sure we were named after the marshes. But you're right, it is the best name." How could it not be? One's own shadow always follow close behind.
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[Starlingheart]

Starlingheart had been among the first born into the new era of her marshland home, one of the few back then who could claim that they had been born with the -kit detonation tacked onto the end of their names. She had had many of the same questions. Why were they called ShadowClan rather than MarshClan? Why was her mother Briarstar and who had she been before? There are many more that she wishes she had asked still, questions she would never have answers to now that the spiky furred molly was gone and had been since before she had even become an apprentice. "Have you-have you seen the way sunlight dances in the shadows here?" she asks, voice soft and a gentle smile pulling up the corners of her blackened lips. "The pines provide shade like-like no other. It is quite bea-beautiful. In certain times of the day. And at night is when- is when our territory really comes alive." The fireflies gentle glow as they drifted through the marshes, the frogs chorus that they sung whenever the sun dipped below the horizon, there are many reasons to love her home. She remembers her mother pointing all of these things out to her when she was little, remembers the wonder that made her heart flutter the first time she had actually stopped to listen to the sounds of the forest around them. She hopes that the kits of their clan today can experience that same wonder, that same love for their home that she felt.

She cannot answer why they have two part names now, on that she had never quite been clear but she had never really asked. Briar had been Briarstar already when she had been born, Pitch had been renamed Pitchsun and so forth. It was only her father who still held on to the one word name, cut down before he could meet his unborn children and receive the name of a warrior. For this answer, her lone gaze shifts to Betonyfrost. Perhaps the older molly knew.

( ‧₊˚❀༉‧₊˚. ) fly me up on a silver wing

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  STARLINGHEART SHADOWCLAN MEDICINE CAT; SHE / HER ; SISTER TO PITCHSTAR, CHITTERTONGUE, NIGHTSWARM, SKUNKTAIL, AND LILACFUR. MOTHER TO NETTLEPAW, FLINTPAW AND GHOSTPAW.
  

  A skinny she cat with short black and white fur littered with scars and one singular green eye.

  ✦ Easy in battle + has little to no formal battle training
  

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[betonyfrost]

"An honor," Betonyfrost shakes her head as she speaks; quiet disagreement. It hadn't felt like an honor at the time; it didn't feel like an honor now. Betonyfrost had been born at the correct time, or she had been born at the incorrect time. Perhaps her life would be easier for her to swallow had ShadowClan been the only life she had known. "If it is an honor then it is an honor shared with every marshborn cat here that is about my age and older."

There is something that could be pleasant about this, had Betonyfrost allowed herself such a small enjoyment. It makes her feel—valuable? useful?—to hear a question and know with minimal thought the answer. For every question answered, it feels as though two more follow. Why ShadowClan, why the names—Betonyfrost shifts minutely backwards, the sway of grass away from wind. Overwhelmed in a way that doesn't feel so terrible.

"StarClan named Briarstar and the rest of the leaders, but she had been Briar before that. She named the warriors all after, giving us additions to our names to...I suppose to honor some part of us. Briarstar said something about my independence at the time," It hadn't been a good feeling to be renamed before her clan, but it hadn't been a change she rejected, "Kits are raised now with the expectation that they'll someday have a complete name but I hadn't known that my name was ever incomplete until that meeting."

"It was different, then," Betonyfrost reiterates. It is the marsh that remains unchanged, despite the shift in the inhabitants, "My mother named me Betony. I was never Betonykit or Betonypaw... I didn't have any reason to think I would be anything but Betony for the rest of my life." There is a simplicity—always a simplicity—to her former name that Betonyfrost appreciates. It had meaning enough without the addition.

Her tail moves at the tip—in thought, in a memory.

"Starlingheart is right," Betonyfrost nods to her in acknowledgement rather than appreciation, "Our pelts, our home," She overturns one of her paws and spreads her toes, showing the thin webbing inbetween to the gathered kits, "The marsh changes us more than we can ever hope to change it—it can only make sense that our name would honor such a place."

shadowclan warrior | blue mackerel tabby | 32 moons | tags​

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[Snowlark.]

[ ༻❄༺ ] Would seem that Snowpaw's approach and question about the past went welcome onto Betonyfrost which made Snowpaw relax slightly, having expected much harsher words than what had been said. Ears perked forward while he listened to the words of the older warrior, explaining how before the clans there had been nothing, explaining that Briarstar had just... simply came back from the great battle and deemed them as Shadowclan, it was just.. a sudden change.

Soon Gigglekit squeeze her way through, asking her own questions to Betonyfrost about the past, her inquries settling in while realizing, how young they were. Snowpaw only heard tales of the great battle, of how the clans were form but that happened many moons before he was even born, and yet to think that many from that time were still around, still knowing how things were like before they were known as Shadowclan had a bewildering thought to it.

Shadowkit came next stating "Shadow" was the best name which earned a sofr hum of amusement from him before Mirepurr came around, expressing it to he an honor to be named one of the first warriors of Shadowclan, and then that made him wonder. Did apprentices at the time considered it an honor to be name one of the first apprentices of Shadowclan?

Starlingheart came next, expressint why they had been named Shadowclan and he smiled slightly before watching the shadows casted by the sun, perfectly named and yet his fur deemed him to be out of place due to him not being able to blend in so well. Yet again Betonyfrost spoke, giving more information for the kits, even going as far as agreeing with their medicine cat which yellow gaze fixated on the group that had formed

"How was it like... before the clans? And... would you of gone back?" he asked gently, after all there was no need to further explain the questions the kits gave to betonyfrost when others have answered the inquiries, yet maybe another could help the kits to have more understanding of Shadowclan's history too.

‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎┌── You ve wasted your life , but thanks for applying ──┐‎

• 
  "speak""Thoughts"
  
• 
  Snowpaw ❄ He/Him, apprentice of Shadowclan, 9 moons.
  ⭃ Lithe long hair blue lynx sepia with high white, and yellow eyes. Stubby tail, permanent resting bitch face
  ⭃ Hailfreckle x Mudsplash
  ⭃ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted (ask first) / / underline and tag when attacking
  ↛ see battle info here
  ⭃ penned by Ryn ↛ @/Rynnaro on discord, feel free to dm for plots.
  

​