09.30.2019 → There has been some exciting changes on CD lately! We've added a new monarchy to the groups of cats on the islands, as well as restructured the boards a bit to allow for some space - thus, redrawing the map! We've also promoted Nifty to Global Mod! There are some auditions open right now for JungleClan Deputy as well as for all of the new Kingdom of Mokuhau high ranks - Artemis
09.12.2019 → Unfortunately Elaedria is stepping down as administrator due to life being too busy to keep up! The site will be going through some restructuring in high ranks as well due to this. Effective immediately, the word count is now 100 minimum. Some more changes will be coming in the future - members have been emailed a survey to help us figure out what to change and how to get better. Thanks for your patience! - Artemis
WEATHER
Year 55, Scorching Sands 09.05.2019 → The temperatures of the islands are a steady 98° F on land/ high 80s in water. There is almost no breeze, the sun is uncomfortably warm.
Prey during the day is pretty scarce due to the heat, however is quite active after the sun goes down.
Lost in the dense jungles of scattered islands, facing perils unimagined by their ancestors, are three warrior groups - The traditional JungleClan, descendants of the original clans carried aboard a twoleg contraption from their home long ago and breaking new ground on old beliefs. Second, the curious TidalClan, made up of kittypets who chose to abandon their long since passed twoleg civilization ways for those of true felines. Lastly, the mysterious Tribe of Twisted Roots, hidden in the mist from others with their strange ways and a deeper knowledge of the land around them. Together they must learn how to take their fate into their own paws if they wish to survive this land of erupting mountains and roaring waters.
Join our crew and dive into an island-based Warriors roleplay - a twist on the original series by Erin Hunter. We are a semi-literate site with a minimum of 100 words per post.
Taking a warrior to collect herbs ranked somewhat low in his priorities as a medicine cat. The quiet of venturing alone had sometimes outweighed the good sense and precaution of an accompanying warrior. But his mentor—and even Lightningclaw to a degree—always urged him to think outside himself, think about his safety first rather than his childish desire for independence. So, the first warrior to catch his eye he asked. Well, it wasn't so much a request as it was a perfunctory, reflexive demand. "Come with me." A statement so baldly said he didn't even wait to hear the silver tom's answer. If the deputy hadn't assigned him to a patrol of any kind, he was free, right?
The sun barely climbed above the horizon, but the heat sapped all the moon's cool and his energy. Anispine walked close to his accomplice Barracudabite—a youngish warrior who shared the same angular physique as he—throughout their trek despite himself, maybe a deep-seated dark part of him enjoying the company—but he couldn't tell otherwise. He stopped frequently, enough to be annoying, as herbs of all kinds caught his eye; he had looked through his stores, yes, but it was like he completely forgot about this herb or that. Specifically, how could he forget about chervil or even poppy? The latter was prickly, making it hard to harvest, but he persevered; the former was everywhere.
Once they reached the creek that separated mainland from the Rainbow Estuary, Anispine hesitated. That moment of hesitation, his mind flickered to his mentor—just for a moment—before he strode across the creek in meaningful steps. He did not think about his hesitation, just shooting a glance to his partner and saying, "watch your footing."
He had been eyeing a ginger plant by then, exhaustion finally catching up to him and his patience wearing thin. Digging up the plant was his best bet, but he hastily decided to bite at the stems and pull. "Here, can you hold these?" He meowed around the plants he already held in his mouth. He dropped them in front of the warrior and turned to the ginger plants. His plan yielded nothing but a mouthful of leaves. He hissed lowly at the plant, offended. That is, when he glanced at Barracudabite and his mind offered an idea.
"Can..." He couldn't just tell him to do it, do his serving, but he didn't want to waste anymore energy. "Can you help me dig this out?" He gestured a little wildly at the few sprouts of ginger behind him—head quirked and tail flicking toward it—hoping to get his mission across.
no opportunity necessary, no experience needed - Artemis
Serving his clan was of utmost importance to him, but he preferred to do it with tooth or claw, or sharp tongue. The silver tom had been lounging in camp after enjoying a vole, licking his whiskers clean after the meal. His blue eyes watched the medicine cat emerge from his den, the dark lithe tom moving so gracefully he almost seemed to be gliding. He couldn't help but akin the older tom to a panther in looks. He swiped his tongue over his muzzle for a final time, and watched the shape of the medicine cat get closer. Was he coming towards him? The silver tom hadn't interacted much with Anispine - and he wasn't terribly sure he had any want to, either.
[break][break]Much to his dismay the tom was soon standing in front of him, requesting him to join him. Barracudabite flicked his ears back, flat against his head. The request seemed a lot more like a demand, but the tom was twenty moons his senior and respected in JungleClan as their medicine cat. It would be foolish to cause a scene or refuse, even if he had a sharp comment simmering below the cool look he gave the black tom. The silver tom got to his paws slowly, stretching his long legs slowly - relishing the few moments of wasted time. After straightening up, he gave the medicine cat a bored look. "Fine, I guess," He responded, disinterested.
[break][break]Anispine hadn't waited for his response, though. As if he knew the other tom wouldn't refuse, the medicine cat was already leaving the camp. It didn't take much for him to catch up, though. They were built pretty similarly, both of their long strides matching one another. Every time the other tom stopped, Barracudabite made sure to huff a breath of annoyance to express his displeasure. It seemed like the tom had to investigate very single root and leaf. Surely he knew where each herb grew by now? But beyond some audible grumbles, he didn't speak his mind.
[break][break]Gathering herbs wasn't high on his list of things that he felt like doing to serve the clan, but he supposed it was still an important duty. He couldn't imagine living a day in Anispine's life. Living mostly in solitude, collecting herbs and healing horrendous smelling infected wounds sounded like the worst possible way to live. He couldn't imagine giving up being a warrior. Fighting, defending and the thrill of hunting were some of the few things that Barracudabite found true pleasure in.
[break][break]The silver tom followed Anispine easily over the creek. "Yeah, yeah..." He grunted ungratefully in response to the tom telling him to watch his footing. He watched as the tom moved towards a particular plant. When Anispine asked him to hold the other herbs he had collected, Barracudabite gingerly picked up the pile that was dropped in front of him. He accidentally bit down on one of the stems as he retrieved the herbs, a bitter taste flooding his mouth as the juice dripped out. He wrinkled his nose up in disgust. He fought off the urge to spit out the plant in response to the terrible taste, eyeing the black tom.
[break][break]When the medicine hissed at the plant, Barracudabite wondered if the black tom spoke to the plants, too. He wouldn't put it past the tom. He knew what was coming next. Happy to have an excuse to spit the bitter plants out, he dropped the herbs he held for Anispine to the side and moved towards the sprouts of ginger that he was gesturing to with his tail. "When did your last servant die?" He snorted, but still he drew himself up to the sprouts somewhat obediently. He began digging gingerly around the roots until he had exposed one root of ginger. He reached into the hole in the earth he had created, and gripped the root with his teeth and pulled until it came loose. "This good?" He mumbled around the plant.
Barracudabite's joke quelled Anispine's restlessness and unease, his gaze dutifully following the tom as he begrudgingly stalked to him and the ginger. It punched a breathy huff out of him, a barely-there chuckle peculiar to him, and his mood lifted minutely. And, not readily witty, Anispine volleyed nothing back. His eyes hovered over the herbs Barracudabite set down on the ground, his mind offering nothing—just noting. He watched as the warrior dug at the earth, the ginger shoots quivering above both their heads at his assault. After a moment, Barracudabite offered just one cluster of ginger, the green shoot jutting ridiculously from one side of his mouth. Anispine stared at him, a scoff bubbling out of his throat.
"Uh-huh, yeah. Great job," he said but pointed his nose at the ground, "but you barely dug anything out."
He didn't mean to sound petulant, but how hard was it to dig out ginger? A voice in the back of his mind told him to piss off, that he should have done it himself instead of pushing it onto Barracudabite. But, the urge to show how it is done suddenly snatched the reigns. Gesturing again at the green shoots, he began, "ginger comes in groups or clusters, and it's better to dig as much around it as you can—as to not leave any behind. Oh, and the green plant-y part indicates how many bunches of ginger you might get."
He examined Barracudabite's work, absently adding, "you'd be surprised how much you can find, especially now in this Starclan-forsaken heat."
Paws dug around the already exposed roots, around the plant, and around any sign of dirty ivory roots. Anispine became so absorbed in the task, he did not notice how he pushed the other tom out of the way, butting into his space thoughtlessly. Once he uncovered more ginger, he cocked his head at his work, a satisfied smile stretching his face.
"See?" With a bite closer to the shoot and a few tentative wiggles, Anispine yanked out a larger root than Barracudabite's. He snorted this time, parroting the tom's words around his grander prize, "this good?"
no opportunity necessary, no experience needed - Artemis
A sound that might have been described as a soft chuckle escaped Anispine's maw briefly, but the moment passed so quickly he wasn't even entirely sure if it actually happened or not. The tom felt the medicine cat's eyes on him as he dug at the ginger. After extracting some of the herb, the black tom merely regarded him with a look he could only name as exasperation. He couldn't help but pick up a bit of sarcasm in the comment that he had done a great job.
[break][break]Barracudabite rolled his eyes, dropping the mouthful of ginger he had dug out for the other tom. Despite the slight annoyance he felt bubbling up that the other tom had asked him to do a job even though he was capable of doing it himself, and then wasn't happy with the quality of his work - he was still interested in what Anispine had to teach. While herbs were not on his list of responsibilities as a warrior, he liked to obtain any shred of knowledge that was offered to him. The black tom explained how ginger grew, and the best way to extract the spicy herb.
[break][break]The silver tom watched as the other began digging around the roots that he had already exposed, working for a few minutes until more of the pale roots came to the surface. The medicine cat practically stuck his entire head in the hole, biting the root much closer to the shoot than he had. The next words out of Anispine's mouth made Barracudabite snort. "I see what you've done there. Great job." He mrrowed, rolling his eyes as the last words were delivered with just enough sarcasm to get his point across.
[break][break]The tom examined the root of ginger thoughtfully. Looking at Anispine, the tom tilted his head. "So now that we have the ginger - what do you use it for, anyway?" He asked, genuinely interested. He pawed at the smaller sprouts that he had pulled out. Hopefully his collection paired with the medicine cat's would be enough for the tom's herb stores. "Was that enough Ginger? Do you need to collect any other herbs today?" He asked, not waiting for the answer to his first question.
Anispine hummed smugly at Barracudabite's shared snide, a wide smirk rushing across his face before he could stop it. He replied a muffled "yes, thank you" to his clanmate's comment. Following the other tom's gaze to the exposed earth and the rattled shoots of the ginger, he wondered what crossed his mind as a lull of silence filled the space between them. But Barracudabite quickly glanced back and asked a truthful yet curious question. He was momentarily stunned, though he quickly offered an answer, "oh, I usually use ginger for--"
That is, until Barracudebite quickly jumped into his next set of concerns. Anispine flung his gaze around, looked the small pile of collected ginger and the other pile the tom set down earlier. He rounded the stack, counting between them and mentally racking his brain for any missing herbs. He could look for more ginger, or even rarer commodities, but he guessed the list had been completed. A part of him almost dreaded the march back to camp, the climb to his den into another tiring or boring day. His trips into the territory were infrequent, and though he enjoyed the frank tranquility of his lonely den, once he tasted fresh air it was hard to travel back to camp. He could lie, say he need one more herb or the other, which is precisely what he would do. "Yes, enough ginger, I think. But, I wanted to look around for a bit more..."
Trailing off, he spotted movement in his periphery, head darting to the side in effect. A bird he couldn't name fluttered its wings, picked at the ground, and opened its beak in a squawk he couldn't quite catch. His stomach whined in hunger, and he remembered his forgotten meal at the foot of his den.
"Uh, actually," he glanced tentatively at the tom, "do you mind if we hunt?"
no opportunity necessary, no experience needed - Artemis
