I'm so confused right now.

Has the earthquake already happened? Or are we supposed to write about it? Some people are completely ignoring it. Others are writing about it. And others, still, are pretending it happened long ago!

And, uh, At Random Person:

On your charrie sheet for Night, you mention she's kin of Moon. Is that like my charrie Moon, or is that someone else entirely? Cause Moon has never had any kits... if it's the same Moon, then maybe they're lost siblings? I dunno.

~Starseeker 

I FINALLY HAVE SOME FREE TIME!

I'll write a section. Most people seem to be writing in 3rd person, but can I write in 1st person? It's just a habit I've developed.

Moon

I prance away from that stupid tom, Wolftail. It's his fault that prey escaped. I may have... encouraged it a little, but what can I say? I'm a loner. I can do what I want.

The undergrowth next to me quivers a little, and I drop into my hunting crouch. I haven't eaten in a while. That's normal for me; I just don't eat much. I often go for days on end without eating. Another cat, Winnow, thinks that's weird and unnatural. To me, it's just me being me.

The undergrowth quivers a little more, and I lick my snout, preparing for the sensation of warm mouse. Or perhaps it could be a nice, tasty rabbit...

What jumps out of the undergrowth is nothing like what I imagined. It's a small blue-grey striped tom, only a little bigger than a kit. It latches onto my back and yowls, "Stay away from my prey!"

My instincts kick in. I whip my paw back, catch his scruff, and slam him to the ground. He yowls again as I dig my claws furmly into his scruff to hold him down. I glare at him. "What," I hiss, Are you doing?"

I'm suddenly knocked aside by a powerful force. I roll around on the ground with a brown-and-grey she-cat, hissing and spitting. The small cat from before clings to the ground in terror as he watches us fight.

"Stop!" the small cat mewls, flinging himself into the fight. It's an uneven fight now: the two of them against the one of me. As good as I am, I'm struggling to win.

A new cat joins the fight, this time one I regonize: Winnow. She tosses the small blue-grey cat aside easily, then faces off with me against the larger brown and grey cat. The brown and grey cat glares at us, then wheels around and runs over to the kit. She nips his ear lightly.

"Are you crazy?" she mews.  "You could have been killed!"

The greyish blue cat slumps down. "I wanted to do something good for our Clan. It feels like I'm always in the way!"

The brown cat's eyes soften, and she licks the smaller cat gently. "Alright, Eaglepaw. Just don't do it again. Now run on back to camp, and if you get there before me, I won't report you to Mnnowstar. Get on with you!"

The small cat takes one last look at us and flees, fluffy tail streaming behind him.

When he's disappeared into the undergrowth, the brown cat turns back to us. "You're good fighters. If you ever want to join a Clan, come find us by the river and say Blossomwing sent you." Then she disappeared into the undergrowth.

I wheel towards Winnow. "I could have handled that on my own!"

She shrugs. "Maybe, and you also could have ended up dead!"

I shiver. "I know. That was too close. Those tree-huggers are starting to infringe farther and farther onto our territory. Let's go make sure they haven't discovered our camp."

Together, we bound into the undergrowth, in the opposite direction of the two cats. Neither of us notice the menacing eyes staring out of the bushes...

~~~

I'll post more later! From the other character's points of view!

@Mei and Kestrel:
Hope I didn't control Blossomwing and Winnow too much! And, Kestrel, I made it seem like they (Winnow and Moon) were living near each other, kind of like a tiny Clan. Is that okay?

~Starseeker 

Also, if you haven't noticed, I've been making up a bunch of cats to make the clans seem a bit bigger. 

Nightthorn~

Nightthorn looks warily at the cat, feeling guilt clenched in his stomach. He knows he could have fended off the cat, but he was just...

Nightthorn clawed at the ground, angry with himself. He knew he had to get over it soon. The clan still needed him... nevertheless.

"Nightthorn? Are you alright? I heard voices," Dawnblaze pads into view, looking at Nightthorn with a mixture of pity and cautiousness.

"Just the rogue from before. I chased them off, though, " Nightthorn lied.

"Oh, alright. I'll get back to hunting," Dawnblaze starts to walk away when they hear a soft frantic voice.

"Nightthorn! Dawnblaze!" Willowpaw runs out of the bushes, her eyes wide in fear. "Emberstar is in danger!"

Nightthorn looked at her in shock. Emberstar? What happened? Nightthorn and Dawnblaze exchanged fearful glances before racing after Willowpaw. 

They soon came upon the scene of the crime. Emberstar was in the middle of the clearing, breathing slowly and haggardly. Whitepelt was in front of her, her eyes concentrated on the wound.

"What happened?" Nightthorn asked Whitepelt urgently. 

"She was attacked. By a loner, it seems, from the smell and the mark," Whitepelt muttered, never lifting her eyes once from Emberstar. "She might not survive."

"But--Her lives?" Nightthorn exclaimed. Whitepelt sighed.

"She has been with us for too long now. Her time is up," Whitepelt stopped for a second, then shook her head and continued with more urgency. "Look for clues. We might be able to find the culprit before they escape."

Nightthorn nods, opening his jaw to the air. Finding the smell, he chases after it.

Pushing through bushes and over logs, he finally finds the cat.

The cat stares at Nightthorn with cunning orange eyes. He has a black pelt, except for his front paws and tail. He looks afraid, nervous, and tries to run away from Nightthorn.

But Nightthorn's ready. He pounces immediately, grabbing onto the cat's fur and pulling him into the ground. They are soon a yowling mess, with claws gripping and scratching at every surface.

Nightthorn pins the cat to the ground, but he slips out and quickly turns himself right side up.

"Why did you do this?" Nightthorn cried, grabbing onto him once more and pinning him down.

"What are you talking about?" the cat frantically scratches at Nightthorn.

"What I'm talking about? You killed our leader!" Nightthorn bites into his back.

"I didn't even know that happened!" The cat tries to pull out of this grip.

"Lies! I saw your scent around the scene! Who else could have your exact scent?"

"I don't know! Really, I promise!" Nightthorn glares at the cat. How could he lie when the truth is obvious? 

The cat finally slips out of this grip. Nightthorn jumps at him but the loner escapes into the bushes.

Nightthorn curses, spitting into the bushes where the cat escaped. 

* * *

That's wolftail, obviously. Sorry If I'm controlling plot, we don't have to do this if you guys don't want to.  

Night ~

I pad through the underbrush, sniffing the air. I caught a whiff of a cat. I honestly hope it isn't that clan cat again. I drop into a fighting crouch and start prowling around. I finally pinpoint the cat. I waggle my haunches, ready to pounce, when the cat comes bursting out of the ferns, straight into me. 'Mrrrow!" I yowl. "Who are you?" I growl. "Wolftail," he pants, "look, there's a crazy clan cat behind me so let me get through." "Uh, have you left your nose somewhere? Or maybe your ears? There is no clan cat around!" I say. "Oh," he says. I dart out and snag a mouse. "Well, get out of my territory," I growl. He scampers away.

Whitepelt ~

I stand over Emberstar's body. "She was a wonderful cat," I say my final vigil words and pad away. I go back to sorting herbs with a notch in my heart. Nightthorn's Nightstar now. He'll be stricter than ever about medicine cat rules. At least I get to see him while accompanying him to the Moonpool. He'll get his nine lives. I look up at the stars. "Starclan, please help me," I whisper. Cloudpaw and Greenpaw roll into the medicine den, playfighting. "Greenpaw, behave!" I yowl as he unsheaths his claws, "If you misbehave, I'll have Nightstar name you Greencough!" She looks up at me, eyes wide. 

~~~

I made the apprentices background charries. 

Note #1: Since Star wrote about Blossomwing before the quake happened, I’m including it in my piece.

Note #2: I’m making up random cats that no one’s writing about, so that the Clans have a reasonable number of cats.

Note #3: Blossomwing is good at hunting, but not fighting. :)

~Blossomwing~

“You’re good fighters,” I tell the two she-cats. “If you ever want to join a Clan, come find us by the river and say Blossomwing sent you.” I turn to follow Eaglepaw back to camp.

Night fell over RiverClan. I'm content, as Eaglepaw has finally mastered a new fishing tactic. The rogues and loners are active, as usual, but still possess no threat. I recall my invitation for them to join RiverClan. I don't think Minnowstar would mind, as she knows that that's something I’d do, but I do feel sorry for them. How would it feel to not be in a community? To fight alone? To be lonely? Everyone is sharing tongues, and it is peaceful.

I was thinking this when the earth began to shake.

“EARTHQUAKE!” Eaglepaw yowled, running out of the apprentice den.

What happened next was a blur.

My “helping others” instinct kicked in immediately. I rushed to the nursery, where rocks were fallig from the roof.

“Whitefur! Splashkit, Daisykit, Stonekit!” I called to the queen and her kits.

“Blossomwing! Oh, help! Daisykit’s hurt!”

I helped them out and brought them to where everyone was gathering, outside the camp, in a relatively clear place.

“Darksnow, Daisykit was hit by a rock!” I brought her by the scruff to the medicine cat. She was bleeding from where it hit her, the head.

“Is everyone alright?” Minnowstar ran over. “Is everyone here?” She stopped when she saw Daisykit. “Oh, no . . .

Darksnow’s eyes were full of sadness. “By the time I can find my medicine supplies, it’ll be too late.” He shook his head. “I’m sorry.”

Oh, the joy of RPing, finally!

Whitepelt ~

Tonight is the Moonstone meeting. Nightstar finally gets his nine lives. I grab to sets of traveling herbs and pad outside. "Willowpaw!" I call. "Yes?" she looks up. "Moonstone," I say. She grabs her own herbs and comes. "I'm going to give the second set to Darkstar," I tell her. She nods. Nightstar comes over and I plop the herbs in front of him. "Eat," I order. He makes a face at the sour tang of the herbs. "Believe me, you'll be glad of them once we're going," I say. He nods in acknowledgment.

We arrive and the Mothermouth and I courteously nod to Nightstar. He goes in first. When we finally reach the Moonstone, it's already shining in all its glory. Darksnow and Featherpool cive me a curt nod. I motion for Nightstar and Willowpaw to touch their noses to the Moonstone. I feel the cold wash over me and I drift into Starclan.

~~~

I'm going to let Nightthorn (now Nightstar) act out his own nine lives ceremony. Emberstar should give a life for loyalty. Hint, love hurts. Daisykit should do love. She's only a background charrie but . . . whatever.