#irispaw

[willowclan-yt]

Irispaw Portrait

I figured it'd be nice if I made individual portraits for these cats, making them in the order of their deaths, so that makes Irispaw first!

I'm glad I got to draw her again and see how different she looks with how my style changed since Year 1.

Hope you enjoy!

[intothetwilightclan]

Moon 13

Sage my love you have strange taste

[okirayoshi]

Iris in Casual Clothing!!!! Hehehehehhe

[ruinclans-folly]

[tmd-clangen]

MOON -1 | BLOOD MOON

SOLITUDE | PART ONE

part one | part two | part three

“Stay right there.”

Poolgleam’s firmly cold voice commanded Leappaw into complacency. So it did for the others, as well; Serpentkit squeezed his way under Leappaw’s belly and stood there, shivering from both cold and fear. Irispaw wrapped his tail around Bushkit, who mewled a few faint words that Leappaw couldn’t precisely make out.

Poolgleam fixes them all with a stare, a hollow stare, that eats up Leappaw’s heart despite how many times he’s seen it so far. The five of them were stopped at the front of a very imposingly tall barrier made of some kind of gray, shiny material, something he’d never seen before. “Stay right there.”

Leappaw realized Poolgleam wanted a response. “Okay,” Leappaw meowed slowly, shifting his paws in the thin layer of new snow.

Poolgleam’s stare remained a few gaping moments longer before he turned, hooking his claws into the square gaps of the barrier and hoisting himself upward. Leappaw watched his ascent, closer and closer to the tips of the treetops and the bleeding red sky with every grunt and every kick of his legs. At last, he reached the top of the barrier; then Poolgleam jumped down, landing on the other side of the barrier with a slight wobble in his legs.

Leappaw continued to watch Poolgleam as he walked further away without another glance back. He walked into the open clearing of the bordered place, glancing around a few times. Mostly at the very large things that were present here- yet again things Leappaw had never seen, but at least heard of, this time. Monsters, he remembers them being called?

Leappaw turned his head over his shoulder to look at Irispaw. Irispaw is just staring at the ground. “Hey, Iris,” he prompted, “those are monsters, right?”

Irispaw blinks once, then looks up. The bags under his eyes are miserable. He followed Leappaw’s gaze back into the clearing full of giant things, and nodded slowly. “Yeah. Those are monsters.” A minute later, Irispaw added very quietly, “…poppa told me all ‘bout ‘em.”

Then he’s staring back at the ground again. Leappaw frowns. Irispaw looked like he’d aged moons in just a week. Leappaw, though he wanted to say he was any better, could share the same feeling. He was sure that Poolgleam did, too. And he could only hope that Serpentkit nor Bushkit felt that way. But, looking at them…

Serpentkit cried. There was more time that he was crying than he wasn’t. And though Bushkit still had the peppy energy he always did, Leappaw could painfully tell when it waned. They were both so young. They didn’t deserve to have to deal with this like he and Irispaw and Poolgleam did.

But neither did the three of them deserve it. None of them did.

A long, echoing shriek rips through the otherwise silent night. The beast doesn’t sound very close, but Leappaw subconsciously pressed himself closer to the strange barrier. So did Irispaw, and the kits moved with them, whimpering. “…scary. Scary. Scary,” Serpentkit kept whispering.

“It’s okay, Serp. I’m protecting you, remember?” Leappaw murmured back, sweeping his tail a little closer. “I have you. You’re fine.”

“Scary,” Serpentkit doesn’t respond otherwise.

Irispaw’s shoulders brushed against Leappaw’s flank before Irispaw laid down next to him, folding his legs in and wrapping his tail around Bushkit. Irispaw heaved a shaking sigh. Leappaw’s frown only grew deeper.

He looked back into the place past the barrier, still staring at all the monsters. Poolgleam was out of sight, but just when Leappaw’s heart was beginning to pound, he came back into the open clearing. And then Poolgleam dashed right into a big wound in one of the monsters, disappearing inside it. Leappaw watched him do this several times; in, out, in, out, in, out, checking all the different monsters. All of them different colors, most sharing a similar body shape and patterns.

Finally, it seems that Poolgleam has finished checking all the monsters’ wounds, bounding back out of the last one and toward the barrier. Now, though, his attention landed on a twisting red tendril that on one end fixed itself to the top of the barrier, and on the other end to the bottom of the barrier, though more off to the side. He tugged at the bottom end of the tendril until it came loose from the barrier, then he started to move backward, still tugging hard at it.

Leappaw watched with complete fascination as, despite the apparent difficulty given Poolgleam’s struggle, the barrier slowly moved backward along with the tendril’s direction. Poolgleam only moved it back about a tail-length wide before he let go of the tendril, panting slightly. Then, he finally looked at them all, muttering out, “In.”

Leappaw led the way, making sure Serpentkit stayed under his belly as he slunk into the little space Poolgleam’s effort had created. Then Bushkit came after him, then Irispaw. The four of them looked at Poolgleam and his ever-hollow expression.

Poolgleam gave only a slight nod, before moving past them and toward the barrier. With his head now, he pushed it to close the gap. He took the bottom end of the tendril yet again and secured it as it had been before. When he was done with that, his eyes turned distantly to stare at one of the monsters, and he flicked his tail in an order to follow. The four of them followed as Poolgleam led them into the monster’s open wound.

Leappaw had heard before that monsters were weird, hollow, and soulless beings with no organs and guts, instead bearing a really odd internal structure- and what he was seeing now sure fit what he’d been told by the elders. Inside this monster, it was very empty, with a few heightened protrusions on its sides and similar parts above those protrusions that hung instead from the top of the monster’s insides. Some parts of its insides seemed to divide off into small caves. At the very rear of the monster’s inside, raised off the ground by thin, shiny legs, was a thick thing that looked like it had a soft texture, then something he recalled was probably a ladder, then yet another of the thick things suspended even higher up by the same shiny stick legs.

Poolgleam padded toward it, Leappaw and the others following after him. He gestured with a sharp tilt of his head, and the four of them sprang up onto the thick thing. It was in fact soft; perhaps even softer than moss. Much more loose than moss, though; its thin coat shifted with every little move of his paws. Bushkit discovered with a gasp that this thick thing’s pelt could be lifted up, but it didn’t bleed, only falling back into place once Bushkit let it go.

Irispaw took to curling up quickly on the thinpelt, followed by Serpentkit, who was still murmuring something nonsensical. And while Bushkit was just testing out how far up the thinpelt could be lifted, Leappaw looked down at Poolgleam. Poolgleam looked back up at him.

“Stay here. I’ll be back,” Poolgleam said.

Leappaw’s brows furrowed. “Where are you going?”

“I’ll be back,” Poolgleam didn’t elaborate. He turned around and left through the monster’s wound.

Leappaw stared after him for a while- even through a part of the monster that was strangely see-through. Poolgleam headed back toward the barrier. Then he began to climb it again. Is he leaving us? Why is he leaving?

“Poolgleam!” Leappaw shouted aloud, unintentionally. Irispaw startled.

“What—”

Leappaw whipped his head around to face Irispaw. “Poolgleam’s leaving!”

“What?!” Irispaw exclaimed with far more alarm this time, back on his paws in an instant. He streaked out of the monster’s wound and Leappaw followed him, barely able to hear the cries of Serpentkit and Bushkit as they left so suddenly.

But by the time Leappaw and Irispaw made it back to the barrier, all they could do was watch as Poolgleam disappeared into the darkness in the woods beyond.

[afalconfromalcyoneus]

Kieran cat. Thinkin' about what his WC name would be bc duh.

[verathena14]

tgaa cats this time! the second image has spoilers for TGAA2 (and the design explanations below also have spoilers for both games!)

Ryunosuke: Ryu is a dark brown color, and some of his markings are mirrored by Phoenix's (the heart shape on his chest, for example). He wears Kazuma's armband and his own arm guard. His warrior's name, Dawnheart, is both a reference to Phoenix's warrior name (Blazeheart) and also because he is associated with new beginnings (at least in my interpretation.)

Susato: Susato's design has a lot of flower-shaped patches as she is associated with sakura blossoms. Her ears are folded over in order to emulate the shape of her hair loops. Her name, Feathersong, is a reference to the fact that one of the kanji in her name means feather and another means harp (at least according to Reddit, I don't speak/read Japanese ;v;). Even though she is 16, and I would typically give her a suffix of "paw" because of this, I feel that Susato being a verified judicial assistant (and actually getting a defendant acquitted in court) would be reason enough for her to have a suffix. One could speculate that she acquired this suffix shortly before the events of the game.

Herlock: Herlock's design was designed to be very expressive, as shown by the large ears. He has a dark mask on his face, both to reference his goggles as well as his relation to Iris (though that is mostly a coincidence in a Watsonian explanation, like convergent evolution. A Doylist explanation is that it provides reasonable doubt that they are related since Iris's parentage is a mystery to most of the characters.) His paw's markings are meant to resemble his fingerless gloves. His name, Haresight, is a reference to the fact that his mascot is a hare and that he is a very keen observer (though he rarely shows it).

Iris Wilson: Iris's design is designed to make her look youthful but intelligent; her large ears are a reference both to this and her hair loops. Her dark face mask is a reference to her van Zieks heritage. Her name, Irispaw, is simply a reference to her name Iris. At 10 years old, she would typically have a suffix of "kit" but like Susato, her achievements are much above those her age, so her suffix is one rank higher.

Kazuma: Kazuma's design is fairly straightforward, but he does have some traits that are similar to the von Karmas since the von Karmas apparently got their last name from the sword Karuma (for a while I was under the impression that they were a branch family of the Asogi clan but it was just that one of the Asogi's apprentices took the last name but wHATEVER-) like the tall ears and colorpoint-esque coloration. Kazuma has a nick in his ear as well; it has no canon basis. I just thought it would look cool lol. Kazuma's name, Duskfang, is both because he is a counterpoint to Ryunosuke and because to me, "fang" makes me think of snakes, and Kazuma is associated with snakes. (It's a stretch but LET ME HAVE MY FUN-)

Barok: Barok's design was intended mostly to share Iris's facial markings in order to highlight their relation as uncle and niece, and his body markings mostly took inspiration from his outfit; the dark cape on his back was meant to resemble his actual cape; the "socks" on his front paws were based on his gloves and the "socks" on his back paws were based on his knee-high boots. He has small curls in his fur to again highlight his relation to Iris.

Genshin: Genshin's design is similar to Kazuma's, and the nick in his right ear mirrors Kazuma's in his left ear. His name, Corvidomen, is a reference to his dark coloration, his connection to Barok (Crowcall), and the fact that for a decade he was blamed for the Professor killings that he didn't do (this connection was partially influenced by the Pokemon Absol).

Klint: Klint's coloration takes elements from both Iris and Barok's designs, and his palette is more warm-tinted than Barok's. His fur shapes resemble Barok's, but he still has the curly bits of fur like Iris. His name, Houndclaw, is a reference to him being the Professor.

Stronghart: Stronghart is a silver tabby, and his stripes are that of a classic (swirly) tabby pattern, to symbolize his name pun of Maelstrom. The darker stripe on his face is a reference to his face being constantly shrouded in shadow. He has a very thin tail and fluffy scruff as a reference to unicorns. His name, Stormfire, is a reference again to his name pun of Maelstrom, and to the fiery scales of justice in the Old Bailey.

Jigoku: Jigoku is very large and stocky. Like the other Japanese cats, his pelt is two-toned. His fur shapes are meant to evoke the general idea of his beard shape. His name, Adderheart, is a reference to his betrayal of Kazuma (since venomous snakes are symbols of betrayal and adders are the only venomous snakes native to Britain), as well as to the Warriors insult of calling someone a "snake-heart," meaning cowardly or deceitful.

Mikotoba: Mikotoba's colors are very similar to Susato's, but his patterns are more like a tuxedo pattern. The small dark markings on his muzzle are meant to resemble his moustache, and the dark patch on his tail is vaguely petal-shaped, to tie his design to Susato's. One of his ears is folded over, again to represent his relation to Susato. His name, Badgerpetal, is a reference to his coloration and his status as a doctor of medicine, since flowers/petals are used as medicinal herbs in Warriors canon.

[desert-of-secrets-warriorsfanfic]

Welcome to our little au! This fic takes place in the future, long after Firestar, Squirrelstar, and even Nightheart have all long since made their journey to StarClan.

Because we are co-writing this, the nature of the formatting is a little different. We each have decided to take on one of the two main pov’s each. I, @silversunshine2022 will be writing anything taking place in the “desert clans” as those were my idea and most of those are my characters (minus our rebellious tom named Palepaw, and a few other minor characters). Because of this, my main pov is going to be one of our main characters, a spunky she-cat named Irispaw. @blogofcass is writing everything that happens in the pov that takes place in the canon clans as those are mostly her characters and her story ideas, minus a few minor characters. She will be writing the pov of our male main character, the anxious and not-yet-confident apprentice, Branchpaw.

We both are having a lot of fun planning this fic and hope you all enjoy reading it!!

If you would like to be tagged in the chapters we post as we post them, please reblog this and say “Tag Me!” and we will! :)

[t4tdanvis]

MILKWEEDPAW IS A GIRL NOW GUYS we're down to 2 toms in the entire clan

beedust "went on a long, moonlit stroll the other night". with who mf, u have no bitches 😂

[rainy-wc]

back at it with another waca oc, this is Sunshimmer, one of RainClan's medicine cats and Irisdapple's/Irispaw's mentor. she became the clan's primary medicine cat at a very young age due to her own mentor's mental decline. she has a very strong connection with StarClan and is often plagued by bits and pieces of visions, prophecies, and omens.

[basinclan]

Can irispaw hit the griddy

ya know what sure

is this the griddy. did i do it right.

[willowclan-yt]

Irispaw's Death (TW: Blood and Death)

During a routine patrol, Irispaw and her mentor encountered a coyote, and unfortunately, the apprentice was left a victim its teeth...

[intothetwilightclan]

Moon 18

Cold.

[fallenclan]

Salmonpaw is different. She's gray and ginger (at the same time) and has olive green eyes. She can't swim, she just sinks.

Mosspaw is different, in a good way. She's already at the skill level of Moosepaw and Wasppaw and she's two moons younger than them. All the warriors gossip about how fresh of a talent she is, how Maplestar would have to give her her name early.

Nobody ever mentions anything like that to Salmonpaw unless she's being compared to her littermate. You should try harder, Salmonpaw. Pay attention, Salmonpaw. You would be just as good as Mosspaw if you would try harder.

She gets it. Really, she does. Mosspaw is Lightningtail's brilliant daughter, and Salmonpaw still tosses rocks off of the cliff when she's upset.

Moosepaw gets it. Not really, but he listens. And that's what matters to her.

--

Salmonpaw knows nothing about her father.

That's the first thing she realized as soon as she was talking to another apprentice. Her name was Irispaw, and she mentioned that her father looked a lot like her.

"Do you look more like your mom or your dad?" Irispaw asked.

Salmonpaw shrugs, because she doesn't have a dad. It's always just been mom, Lionpaw, and Mosspaw. And you're not supposed to give out secrets about the clan.

Maybe her heritage was just a secret. Maybe her father was dead, and Lightningtail never mentioned him because it hurt her too much.

Salmonpaw is nothing if not straightforward.

"Mom, who's my dad?"

Lightningtail stiffens, and her eyes widen. "What's brought all this on?"

"Some cat at the gathering mentioned her dad, so I wanna know about mine," Salmonpaw briskly says, falling into pace next to Lightningtail.

She looks a little like her mother. Similar eyes and nose shape, spiky untameable fur, and the perpetual need to act first and think later.

"I would rather not discuss it," Lightningtail says, and she walks faster and easily falls into conversation with Sorrelstem.

"What's all that about?" Lionpaw asks.

"What do you know about dad?" Salmonpaw immediately asks.

"Literally nothing," he scoffs. "I asked about half the clan. Nobody knows who our father is, and if they did they won't tell me jack."

--

Salmonpaw stares at the water. Her green-yellow eyes stare back at her.

Mossfrog is a warrior. She's a real talent, and she's smart and a good fighter and she brought back a whole eagle once.

Salmonpaw is an apprentice. She barely slips through her training, and she's an awful swimmer and she still can't catch birds.

--

She's standing by the border. A patrol passes by, and the leader of it has gray fur and green eyes that are the exact same shade as Mossfrog's.

--

Moosefall vanishes for three days.

She knows this, because she waited for three days so they could go hunting and he just didn't show up. Because she was a warrior now, and she could go out unsupervised if she felt like it.

He returns at sundown when it's pouring rain, makes a beeline for his nest, and just sighs.

"Hey," Salmonskip says.

Moosefall makes some noise that sounds somewhat similar to a "hi."

A silence passes. Rain trickles down the cliff face.

"You look like shit."

"Real flattering," Moosefall grumbles.

"I didn't mean it like that!" She backtracks. "I mean, like, are you okay?"

"I still don't know who my father is," Moosefall mumbles. "I spent three days looking. Asking. Not a trace. Best I got was some house-cat-"

"House cat?"

"Kittypet, house cat, same thing," Moosefall snaps, then blinks at his paws. "Sorry. But anyway, she said there was a tom who looked a little like me in the valley a bit ago, but she hadn't seen him for moons."

"That's rough."

"Yeah."

They sit there, in silence.

"I don't know my dad either, if it makes you feel better," Salmonskip offers. "I asked like, once, and mom instantly shut me down."

"Funny, Sorrelstem did the same thing," Moosefall says, then his head flops into her nest and he stops responding.

-

"What's up with you?" Mossfrog asks. Ospreykit, for once, isn't trailing behind her.

"Why do you care?" Salmonskip snaps.

"Because I'm your sister?" Mossfrog asks, like it's common sense, in that sarcastic and belittling tone she tends to use when talking to Salmonskip.

"Don't you have bigger priorities?" Salmonskip says. "Like, I dunno, chasing the deputyship?"

"The hell are you talking about?"

"Come on," she snorts. "We all know you want it. When Hailcrash retires, it's yours, we all know it."

"I have literally no idea what you're talking about," Mossfrog says.

"Can you stop doing that?" Salmonskip snaps.

"Doing what?"

Mossfrog sounds agitated. She always does.

"That thing! Where you act so humble when we all know you're that much better than everyone else!" Salmonskip wheels on her sister, trembling. "We all know you're that much better than everyone."

Mossfrog's eye twitches. "Are you kidding? You think this is easy?"

"You're perfect at everything, everything's easy for you!"

"I don't want to be deputy!" Mossfrog shouts. Her voice echoes around the empty mountain.

"You.." Salmonskip pauses. "You.. huh?"

"I don't want to be deputy. Stars, you think this is simple? Everyone's always looking at me like I know everything since I graduated a couple moons early! Everyone thinks I'm really smart or talented and I don't even know why!"

Salmonskip stops. Her claws dig into the rock.

"Yeah, sure, I'm a good warrior, but that's literally all I am!" Mossfrog's voice raises to a wail, her green eyes glistening. "I don't even know what my favorite prey is! I've spent my whole life trying to be a decent warrior, but now I'm a decent warrior and I don't know what to do with myself."

Salmonskip remains silent.

"You don't get it! You have a favorite prey, you like hawk legs. You have a favorite color, you like blue! And you have a favorite person!"

"Mossfrog?" Salmonskip finally asks.

"I don't know who I am anymore," Mossfrog says. "If I'm not a warrior, what am I?"

Salmonskip doesn't say anything.

Mossfrog is right, in a way. She's always thrown herself into being such a great warrior. She has so many expectations on her shoulders.

Salmonskip is wrong. Mossfrog isn't high and mighty. She isn't on par with the stars and the sky.

Mossfrog is her sister. The same sister who made her moss balls when hers broke, the same sister who helped her finally learn to catch birds. The same sister who saved her hawk leg as an apprentice because she knew it was her favorite. The same sister who used to complain she wasn't feeling good so Salmonskip could get on the same patrol as Moosefall.

They don't say anything.

"So, dad," Mossfrog says. Her voice is shaky and hoarse. "What do you know about him?"

"Nothing," Salmonskip snorts. "Zero idea who he is."

"Is he even really our dad?" Mossfrog asks. "He's never been here for us. Lightningtail and Sorrelstem did everything."

"I guess not," Salmonskip shrugs.

Mossfrog pauses. "I like the morning sky. Like, when it's blue and stuff and the sun is all bright. It hurts Lionsong's eyes but I think it's pretty."

"I like the river," Salmonskip says. "I can't swim, but Moosefall likes to dive in and get me lilies from the other side. It's cute."

"Oh? Moosefall?" Mossfrog leans in. "Moosefall, known for his interest in shiny pebbles, with my sister, who throws rocks off cliffs?"

Salmonskip shoots her a look of mocking offense. Mossfrog waves her tail, the universal sign of surrender. They stare at eachother, unblinking, until finally bursting into laughter.

--

Mossfrog is the calm, star speckled blue water of the lake. Salmonskip is the bright, burning sun that fades into a coursing river.

They are different, but they're also the same.

-🍭 (mossfrog if being a burnt out gifted kid was a career 💵💵💵💵💵💵💵💵)

(a/n: hope i did a good job at illustrating the animosity btwn salmon and moss,, i really wanted to capture that feeling of being the sibling of a 'perfect child' and how that pressure to live up to them affects you)

OHHHHH MY GOD IM LOSING MY MIND THIS IS SO FUCKING GOOD???? HOLY SHIT I LOVE THIS IM GOING INSANE RAHHHHH YOU ARE MAKING ME HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS!!!!!!!!!!!! lollipop this is so well written im biting im tearing im chewing aughghghghg

[phantom-chirp]

Gonna ramble a bit about a few of my general ideas for my Persona Warrior Cats AU I’ve been spinning in my head for a while. Here is a link to characters names in the AU as well so I don’t have to clarify in the post

The general concept surrounding the worldbuilding is that the velvet room and stuff related to it would be represented by StarClan, and then the stuff related to shadows and personas and all that would be represented by the Dark Forest. The Dark Forest is slowly encroaching on the real world and there are cats who have the potential to save the clans through the ability to see and interact with the in-between world this is creating. StarClan has chosen specific cats who have a stronger connection to this in-between world to more directly guide with saving the clans, being the protags 

Irispaw and Poppypaw were both originally kittypets who stumble across a few CrescentClan cats after wandering away from their home one night, and after a few of the cats seem insistent on both of them joining the clan they do

Wolfpaw was originally a loner, his mother being from MurkClan before she left. Wolfpaw finds himself on his own at some point though, and ends up finding his way to the clans and joins MurkClan after running into his uncle

For Wrenpaw though, he was actually born and raised in ShineClan, but was exiled after he “attacked” one of the warriors in the clan. Afterwards, he eventually finds a few loners and rogues living a bit away from the clans but still fairly close and decides to stick around them, so his set up is a bit different than the other three, since his impact on ShineClan is from the outside over the course of the plot

[tmd-clangen]

MOON 0 | SMILING MOON

As Poolgleam evaluated the herbstores within the strangenooks of the monster, he hummed thoughtfully. His count of most things was at least semi-favorable; he had the bare essentials, if anything, and that brought an air of peace to his mind. But he felt… burdock was important, and he wasn’t currently in possession of it. His brows furrowed. That should change.

By all means, I should still be able to find some. The tall plant was hardy even through leafbare, so he reasoned it was likely still possible to find it around. The sooner he did, the better. He looped his tail under the handle of his small wicker basket- unfortunately the only one he’d been able to make so far, too busy otherwise- and held it up to carry, paws carrying a dull tap tap tap against the monster’s insides as he exited through its open wound.

He drew in a breath of the chilly air, blinking rapidly at a snowflake that landed on his nose. Then, hearing laughter, Poolgleam looked back up and saw all four of the little cats playing in the snow, seeming to be having a great time. Leappaw and Irispaw appeared to be sparring, kicking piles of snow at each other and fighting totally unfairly, while it looked like Bushkit and Serpentkit were trying to build their own pile of snow as big as they could. The pile was already taller than them, and Poolgleam chuckled.

As he padded over to them through the paw-deep snow, he meowed, “I’m going to go out to gather some herbs, okay? Don’t go anywhere while I’m gone.”

Leappaw stopped frolicking for a moment to look over at him, his tail held high and a cheerful smile remaining on his face. “Yeah, yeah, of course! We’re having too much fun anyw–OOOUF!” A clump of snow was thrown directly into his face by Irispaw, who cackled with glee and stuck his tongue out.

“Goodness, you kids are wild,” Poolgleam huffed with amusement. “I shouldn’t be gone long.”

“Okay!” Bushkit squealed from over by the big snow pile while Leappaw gave an exaggerated yell and barreled right into Irispaw.

Poolgleam nodded to himself then walked past the young cats. Not much more than a fox-length away, though, he turned his head back over his shoulder. “Hey– hey, all of you, please don’t stay out here too long, okay?” he meowed worriedly. “It’s going to get very cold soon with all this snow and I don’t want any of you freezing and miserable.”

“Sure, we’ll go in soon!” Irispaw called this time. He went down seconds later to Leappaw’s batting at his face, and retorted with a shriek and kick of his legs.

A somewhat relieved smile crossed Poolgleam’s face. He knew out of any of them that Irispaw would be the one to really make them all take shelter in the monster when they needed to. With that fret taken care of, he slipped through the hole in the shiningfence and made his way out.

Leaving the kids alone was still something he was always anxious about. Several times he’d nearly clawed himself awake at night to check on them, just in case, even when the secure part of him knew they were safe as long as they stayed within the boundaries of the shiningfence. And even more safe with the Smiling Moon shining in the deep dark sky above. No beasts would be around to threaten any of them… he could have been resting easy all this time, but his mind still found itself wandering lost in the realm of the past moon’s horror.

His jaw clenched tightly. He had to cope with this, all of this. It was just the five of them out here now… he had to make it work. Thinking about this wasn’t going to help with his search right now, anyhow. His recollection, helpful as ever, pointed out the most likely growing spot for the burdock would be near the thunderpaths he’d scouted out several days ago. But while he could remember the thunderpaths at least, he couldn’t remember whether he’d actually seen any burdock plants there.

Poolgleam attributed it to his muddled mind at that time… in the still-red sky, he’d been trying to scour the entirety of the nearby area to make note of its landmarks while also avoiding all the beasts crawling about. His searches had been hasty and only half-thought through, so while he could remember the key lays of the land at the very least, no specific details about them were recalled. Now that it was safer… he was probably going to have to do another big comb-through of the territory.

Puffs of fog trailed from his mouth as he kept it open to catch the scent of the thunderpath, first and foremost. After wandering around for an amount of time that was a bit too long for him to be pleased with, it wasn’t hard for its acrid feeling to catch and he followed the trail. Evergreen trees towered around him until they grew sparser and sparser just over the span of half an hour. 

Again, much too long for his comfort. At least he finally found the slick black thunderpath, gazing down its trail. Large metal trees with hanging glowing boxes were interspersed regularly along it to light its way. The Smiling Moon was making its way closer to the horizon, now, a little over halfway through the sky. He looked far out, gazing past the rolling landscapes below the nearby cliff and at the distant ocean. Nearby the ocean and its long-spanning beach were settlements that looked like they’d once belonged to twolegs… a very colorful looking gathering of twoleg dens on the section of the beach directly in front of his gaze, and to the further southeast an incredibly long and large bridge that was surrounded by countless other twoleg dens.

Poolgleam shivered slightly and decided he’d spent long enough with his eyes on the landscape rather than in the ground where he’d find what he needed. He sniffed at the air and kept his jaws parted again, pressing his head a little lower to the ground. Of course, he didn’t want to dip his nose into the snow, so he didn’t actually get all that close…

He was at this for what felt like, and unfortunately was, a very long time. Gazing up at the moon once again and determining his time, he’d been out here walking down the trail of the thunderpath for far too long. And still no sign of the burdock… was his sense of smell really failing him right now?!

If it’s fruitless out here, I should really get back to camp… make sure they’re all safe… Another tight shiver ran through Poolgleam’s body and he shook his head. “No, no, they’ll all make sure of that th-themselves,” he murmured aloud, trying to reassure himself that they would be just fine until he returned. He really needed to find this burdock…

The snow fell harder and continued to blanket the land heavier, coating his fur with cold white flecks that sent chills through his bones. But he wouldn’t give up just yet. They needed burdock. His pace grew more hurried. “By all the stars!” he cried, throwing his head up with frustration. “Where is this damn heeeer–”

His gaze leveled again and suddenly he was staring right at the towering plant. Poolgleam berated himself in his head for ever thinking to swear on them and instead exclaimed “Oh thank the Cosmos, finally.”

He unsheathed his claws and got to digging through the snow. Getting past the white layer was the easy part, but when it left behind the chilled earth below, that’s when things got hard. He gritted his teeth as he sank his claws into the cold hard dirt and tried to dig. Huffs of exertion left his jaws and with that only more and more puffs of cold foggy breath. 

Poolgleam was shivering more and more as he went. The biting freeze in the air and in the ground was leaching into his body, slowly but gravely surely. But he couldn’t give up yet… He was so… At long last, he saw the long black roots of the burdock streaking through the cold soil and gave a gasp of relief. The roots looked like they trailed underneath the thunderpath as well, far too anchored to even try to dig those parts out.

He reached his paws towards the roots and leaned forward–

Then Poolgleam gasped again, this time from the sheer cold, catching himself just barely before he fell over. The roots were right there but he knew the signs. His body was demanding he go home and he had to obey it. He let out a breath that quickly ascended into a frustrated growl. How foolish he was to spend such a long time out here even without result! He was incredibly lucky he hadn’t already succumbed to the cold. But now he needed to get back to camp fast.

Poolgleam wasn’t sure how quickly he could.

-----

But, just barely fortunately for him, it didn’t take long with the newfound urgency in his steps. In the heavy snowfall and the moon headed even further toward the horizon, now the young cats were nowhere to be seen; likely having turned in an hour ago when it was really getting bad. More lethargically now, he slunk through the hole in the shiningfence once again and gave himself a groan of effort.

Just another minute of trotting through the snow and he made his way back through the open wound of the monster and into the cleric’s den. With the chills in his body making him absolutely miserable and leaving him drained of energy, he didn’t even feel like jumping into his proper nest on top of the softbody. He instead slunk into the thinpelt nest underneath the metal frame that held up the softbody.

Poolgleam began to lick at his pelt the wrong way, hoping to dissipate the chills enough that he’d be able to rest well for some time. The burning up would cease… If he could just handle that, he could handle eating feverfew in the morning to help soothe it further. But right now, he just needed to sleep… he was so tired.

He found it funny how he’d been the one warning the kids about staying out of the cold, lest they get chills, as he drifted off into unconsciousness.

“As the snows of leafbare blow around camp, Poolgleam eyes the herb stores and decides he should still be able to dig up burdock. He heads out to replenish their stocks. However, he doesn’t manage to sniff any out in a timely manner and by the time he does, he spends too long trying to dig up the roots that he is inflicted with shivering. Arriving back at camp, he’s just miserable and cold and desperate to rest.”