#ik these past couple of chapters have been boring. but trust me. things are about to pick up

[signs-of-the-moon]

Moon Rise: Chapter 7

It was sunhigh by the time the apprentices were finished hunting. After a rocky start, the pair managed to get into a groove. By the end of their time in the Forest Patch they caught one warbler, a rabbit, and a mouse each. Chicorynose praised their skills and ordered them to dig up their prey. Together, Swiftpaw and Shadowpaw carried their kill while their mentors led the way home with prey of their own. When they returned back to camp, the patrol placed their prey on the fresh-kill pile.

"Well done, 'Paws," Chicorynose praised. "Deliver that rabbit you caught to the queens. You can bring some prey to the medicine cats if you want. After you're done, go ahead and have a bite to eat yourselves." she touched each of them on the shoulder with her tail tip then dragged the hare she had caught over to the elders den. Shadowpaw dipped his head and picked up the rabbit, dragging it to the nursery, leaving his nubby tailed companion alone in the middle of camp. Thrilled to be left on her own for the first time, Swiftpaw bounced on her paws. She carefully picked up the warbler she had caught and walked over to the medicine den. Cautiously she poked her head inside, pushing past the ivy tendrils that curtained over the the den's mouth to see Mistypaw alone, sitting by the den's back wall. It looked as if she was organizing some herbs. Swiftpaw invited herself in, placing the warbler down at her paws. The strong scent of the herbs made back reel back for a moment, her lips curling in distaste. It took a heartbeat for her senses to adjust enough for her to speak.

"Mistypaw?" She mewed softly, not wanting to startle the other she-cat. Mistypaw perked her ears and turned around, letting out a small "hm?" as she noticed her guest. Her face lit up as she saw the white and black patched molly standing nearby.

"Oh, hello!" she chirped, tilting her head. "Is something wrong? Are you hurt?" worried laced her voice as she took a step forward, sniffing in the other molly's direction.

Swiftpaw shook her head. "No, I'm fine. I just wanted to bring you something to eat. I thought you might be hungry." She pushed the warbler with her paw to present it. Mistypaw purred, rolling up the bundle of herbs she had been putting together before approaching the other molly. She looked down at the bird in front of her, moving it a bit with her paw as if she were examining it.

"Did you catch this?" she asked turning her gaze onto her visitor. Swiftpaw nodded, smiling proudly. "That's amazing! Cats here don't usually catch birds, even though they're pretty tasty. This is a rare treat, thank you!" Mistypaw smiled sweetly and Swiftpaw shuffled her paws bashfully, her own smile never wavering. "Would you like to share it with me? I can finish my work later. We could lay outside the den and share tongues while we eat."

Swiftpaw's gaze met the fluffy silver she-cat's. Share tongues? she echoed in her head. She twitched an ear, dismissing the thought for now. "I would love to." Mistypaw trilled giddily, bending down to pick up the black and white bird. The peppy she-cats padded through the ivy veil of the medicine den and over to a patch of sunlight a couple fox lengths away. They settled down, tearing open the warbler to share. Swiftpaw dug into their meal while Mistypaw plucked a couple of feathers from the dead bird. She expertly placed them on Swiftpaw's head with a soft giggle. She stared, admiring her work. "What pretty plumage you have. They should call you Swiftbird!"

Swiftpaw blinked, turning her eyes upward in an effort to see the feathers. Mistypaw's giggles quickly turned into a mrrow of laughter muffled by her paws over her mouth. Swiftpaw shook her head, sending the feathers gently parachuting to the ground. A tiny feather landed on the white and black patched she-cat's muzzle causing her nose to wrinkle up. She let out a tiny sneeze, sending the little feather on journey to the ground to join the others. Mistypaw leaned over to groom the top of her companion's ear, which startled Swiftpaw. She pulled her head back to look at Mistypaw, flustered.

"What?" She asked. "We're sharing tongues."

So sharing tongues is grooming and talking? Why didn't she just say that? Swiftpaw thought "S..sorry," she mumbled, leaning back towards the other molly. Her pelt burned hot with embarrassment, which she tried her best to hide. Mistypaw purred softly and continued to groom her. If she had noticed Swiftpaw's bashfulness she didn't show it.

"So what did you think sharing tongues was?" The sliver she-cat asked as if she had read Swiftpaw's mind. Were medicine cats able to do that?

"I guess I thought it was just hanging out and talking." She murmured with a shrug. "I still don't know much about clan life yet, it's only my first day." Mistypaw touched her nose to the side of Swiftpaw's ear supportively.

"You'll get the hang of things soon." The black and white patched molly smiled, tearing off another piece of warbler. The two young mollies sat and talked for a while longer after they had finished their meal, making jokes and telling tales about their kithood antics. Chicorynose approached them from the leader's den, where she had gone while the two apprentices were eating. She peered down at the two she-cats, curling up her tail in delight.

"Whitestar wants you to stay in camp the rest of today to learn some things from your new clanmates. Why don't you go visit the elders?" she suggested to Swiftpaw. "They 're the history keepers of the clan after all, you could learn a lot from them. And while you're at it, check their pelts for ticks." Checking the elders for ticks didn't sound like much of an enjoyable activity, but if it was a small price to pay to be better accepted in the clan, Swiftpaw was willing to do it. Mistypaw stood up and headed into her den without a word, leaving the other apprentice to wonder why. She turned her head, looking at the mouth of the den. A few heartbeats later, Mistypaw returned with a piece of moss soaked in a foul smelling substance. Swiftpaw's nose wrinkled in disgust, driving her to jump to her paws.

"You'll need this for the ticks," Mistypaw told her, placing the moss wad down. "After you're done you'll need to wash your paws. But don't get any in your mouth, or you'll be met with a nasty surprise." As the silver she-cat passed on the moss, a familiar cat approached her from the far side of camp. It was Snowfrost, who had returned with a huge bundle of fresh herbs in her jaws. Her fur seemed a bit ruffled, her face written with sternness. She looked as if she had something to say, but refused to put down her supply. The lynx point molly twitched her whiskers, flicked her ears twice, and waved her tail while looking at Mistypaw. Mistypaw's ears lowered slightly.

"I wasn't goofing off, Snowfrost, I swear. I was just eating with Swiftpaw," she mewed in reply, sounding a little guilty. She shot Swiftpaw a glance before turning her eyes back towards the older medicine cat. Again, Snowfrost moved her whiskers, tail, and ears in a strange manner, throwing a couple of paw movements into the mix. At one point she pointed at the herbs she was holding, which made Mistypaw nod. She muttered another soft apology to the older she-cat before turning to Swiftpaw.

"Let me know if you have any trouble with that mouse bile. I'll see you later." And with that, she disappeared into the medicine den again with Snowfrost hesitating just outside. She briefly shot a cold glare at Swiftpaw before following Mistypaw inside with one final lash of her tail. A shiver ran down Swiftpaw's spine and a sensation of something being wrong overcame her for a heartbeat. She shook out her pelt and picked up the bile soaked moss, dismissing the feeling in favor of visiting the elders. She dipped her head to Chicorynose and went on her way. Swiftpaw excused herself as she entered the elders den, in case any cat was busy with something else when she arrived. The eyes of those that were awake turned onto her. Meadowcall and Poppycloud smiled gently at her while another two of the elders gave her a cold stare. Tornface let out a snort, resting his head back into his nest where it was settled before Swiftpaw arrived.

"Ah, Swiftpaw. To what do we owe this visit?" Asked Meadowcall with interest, sitting up from her nest.

"I'm here to help you with ticks?" Swiftpaw replied, her words sounding more like a question than a proclamation. In all honesty, she wasn't exactly sure how mouse bile was supposed to help get rid of ticks, as nasty as it smelled. How was she supposed to do this? She never had to deal with things like fleas and ticks before, especially not on other cats. She was completely clueless about how to get rid of them, but was sure it wouldn't be difficult to figure out.

"Oh great! I've got a nasty bugger stuck between my shoulder blades, and it's driving me batty," a black furred tom groaned, sitting up. His eyes showed tiredness, and his muzzle was beginning to grey. His joints cracked as he stretched and crept out of his wool nest to get a bit closer to the young apprentice. The old tom turned around, showing his back to Swiftpaw. She hesitated for a moment, unsure of what to do. "Well? Are you just going to get this tick off of me, or just stand there like an old tree all day?" he growled, his voice gravely with age and impatience. He turned his head around to glare at the patched she-cat, his green gaze baring into her. Swiftpaw shuffled her paws in uncertainty, her fur bristled as she drew closer the tom with caution. Using her nose, she started to part the fur on black tom's shoulders to find a rather large tick embedded into his skin. It looked as if it just about had it's fill of the elder tom, and Swiftpaw didn't see much of a reason to try and use the mouse bile to get rid of it. Instead she reached a paw up, batting at the tick to try and force it to fall off.

"What are you doing?" the tom snapped. "Are you mouse-brained? Use the bile, that's what you brought it for! Unless it's just a tasty little snack for a hungry little kittypet." The old tom's words were spat out like venom, stinging Swiftpaw with the harshness of his tone. Her tail wiggled in annoyance, and anger flared inside if her. But before she could snap at the elder, Poppycloud stood up and hissed at him.

"That's no way to treat the cat who is trying to help you, Smokesnout!" She snarled, ears folding back and fur bristling. She was acting like a queen defending her kit. For a moment Swiftpaw could see the warrior spirit shining inside this now old, frail queen. A wave of inspiration washed her, making her suppress a purr. Smokesnout's long tail lashed violently as he turned his hard green stare onto Poppycloud. Though he seemed angry, a tiny twinge of surprise could be read on his face. Perhaps being so quick to fight was not usually in the old she-cat's nature. The two held each other's gaze for a few tense heartbeats, the air in the den thick with tension. That is until Swiftpaw spoke up.

"No, it's ok. I am being a mouse-brain. I don't know what I'm doing. But I'm at least trying to figure it out. So please, be patient while I try to get the tick off. Or I will leave you to take care of last." She picked up the bile with a claw, wondering what to do. Perhaps the awful scent of the stuff would be enough to force the tick to release its hold on Smokesnout. Firmly, she pressed the moss onto his shoulder blades, pulling it away a short while later to see the tick wiggling with disgust. Swiftpaw took the opportunity to scrape the fat bug off with a claw and squashed it once it fell to the ground. Smokesnout sighed with relief, standing to shake out his pelt. His tail swatted Swiftpaw in the face who let out a hiss in response. Smokesnout let out a soft chuckle, and the young molly wondered if he'd done that intentionally. With a snort, she stood and took the mouse bile over to the next elder, Poppycloud. She checked and cleaned the old she-cat of her ticks then took a moment to groom her with gratitude.

"Thank you," she whispered. Poppycloud purred, touching her nose to Swiftpaw's ear.

"No matter where you come from, or who your kin are, you are one of us now. You are a part of Grassclan and you must not allow anyone to discourage you from believing that." The white and black patched molly nodded and licked the elder queen's shoulder respectfully. After, she moved on to the rest of the elders. Swiftpaw found herself spending the rest of the day with them, sharing tongues and listening to stories. Poppycloud took special care in telling tales of the clan's history while Meadowcall joined her by telling the apprentice about the other modern day clans. Another of the elders, Boulderfall, told funny tales about some of the clan's warriors and how they behaved when they were apprentices. He even recalled a time before Whitestar was leader. Swiftpaw felt like a kit again, listening to tales and having to be told about the world around her. But she was grateful, she didn't feel like much of an outsider anymore. By mid evening, Snowfrost, Goldensong, and Quailpaw came into the den. Snowfrost was rolling a giant ball of wool while carrying some herbs in her jaws. She put her collection down to replace the elders bedding. Goldensong held a shrew in her mouth, delivering it to Poppycloud. Earlier the old golden she-cat had told Swiftpaw that she was Goldensong-and a warrior named Waspwing's-mother. Poppycloud thanked her daughter, licking her on the cheek. The pale golden medicine cat sat talking with her for a moment, worried about how she was feeling. But Poppycloud assured she was feeling fine aside for some aching joints, predicting a coming rainstorm. Snowfrost gave Goldensong some of her herbs to feed to her mother while she went to check on the rest of the old warriors. Swiftpaw noticed that she kept glancing back at Poppycloud and Goldensong as they both ate from the shrew, Poppycloud having more of the share. Quailpaw dragged a huge hare into the center of the den, dropping it in front of the elders with a pant. Hungrily they surrounded it, digging into their dinner while Snowfrost checked them over. Quailpaw then turned to Swiftpaw and reminded her of the time. The white and black patched she-cat rose to her paws and thanked the elders for everything before heading out. She made a quick trip to the medicine den to grab some wet moss to wash her paws and to say goodnight to Mistypaw before she finally went to the apprentice's den. Swiftpaw settled into her nest with legs tucked under herself. She closed her eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep. But before she did, she made a promise to herself that tomorrow she would hunt for Poppycloud.

[synaps]

I did not see this 5 years ago, though apparently I did

Hi there! So, in the light of the recent Ao no Exorcist chapters and Katou having a solid grasp on her timeline after all, my brain shocked itself enough to produce some serotonin and I decided I’m gonna diverge from my own principles and post this. Brain producing serotonin should be encouraged. Buckle up, everyone bothering to read: this timeline breakdown/fan theory emerged in 2012, when a bored AnE-fan pieced together a few of the plot reveals we’re starting to see now.

Spoiler warning for The End of the Beginning! Though strictly speaking they’re a timeline framework I developed in order to write TEotB, which means they’re gonna drop very soon via the flashback! So it probably isn’t as mind-blowing as it was to me... BUT I DON’T CARE I’ve been waiting 6 years for the content we’re getting right now, 6 years I’ve been on the edge of my seat for this misfit clone dork to finally tell his story and AAAAAH

This is basically a full-body search of the Kyoto arc chapters, 'cause that was the only bit of the past we had back when I started writing. To this day that’s the part of the manga I have the best grasp on. x’D But all those hours paid off, good gods they paid off! This is long. Bear with me, ‘kay? Old-time AnE-fans remember that it was commonly thought the twins were born on Blue Night, much due to the anime: Kyoto Arc said it wasn’t. If you looked carefully, you could figure out that Blue Night was in fact the time of the twins’ conception, not their birth. Though to be absolutely sure, I plotted out the timeline three times and dug up records from a weather station in Kyoto to see if there would have been snow at that time of year in the early to mid 90′s because that’s how goddamn obsessed I am. And if you did figure out that the twins were conceived on Blue Night, you were inevitably sucked into an even more obsessive downward spiral into crazy fan madness because that meant Fujimoto Shiro was sent to steal Kurikara to “kill some kids” before those kids existed even on an embryonic stage.

My original estimate was that the stage had taken 24 years to set up, based on the info in Kyoto Arc, but with Mephisto’s recent director’s cut of how he ghost wrote history that number bumps up to 36 years or potentially even longer.

For reference, the timeline I put together for TEotB plus the fresh dates from the flashback arc: 1977: Mephisto pressures Shiro into promising him a free wish because extorting a kid that’s struggling for his life is an ok move 1984: Satan fails possession for the first time because whoa so many limbs at once 1989: the Myou Dha is struck by disease 1993: Satan figures out how to properly possess someone, that’s Rin’s unrelenting never-give-up attitude right there 1994: after a nine year learning curve on just staying in a body Satan has three PhD’s and ditches school after one year of education - guess possessing a body really is a difficult thing to pull off huh 1995: Shiro unwillingly becoming the caretaker of orphans: part I 1996: not yet confirmed but Saburota’s first meeting with Lucifer/Asylum is probably now Also 1996: Satan returns to Section 13 with a reclamation claim on that crap body they sold him 1996-1997 (somewhere around New Year’s, I estimate): Shiro, who was an Upper First Class exorcist at the time, cures Myou Dha and oh is that a sword in your pocket or are you just happy to return to your boss after a successful mission? 1997 (probably mid-to-late March): Blue Night sucked for everyone, but at least Shiro and Tatsuma got promotions - yay 1997: Shiro unwillingly becoming the caretaker of orphans: part II 2003: when you’re a cursed, massacred and financially broke sect like Myou Dha, there’s few options but to join the Order of the True Cross to stay afloat 2005: Saburota recruits Mamushi to spy by raising suspicions against Mephisto ‘cause really, that ain’t hard 2013: a giant pile of shit appears in Kyoto and unleashes destruction on its surroundings and for once it isn’t Mephisto

The manga and the timeline are pretty self-explanatory so what I wanna stress here is what happened 24 years ago, in 1989, ‘cause that’s something Katou hasn’t touched upon yet and it’s really fun except for those involved. In 1989, a disease starts plaguing Myou Dha and the symptoms are identical to what you get from exposure to the miasma from the Impure King’s Eyes. It seems to be a very local problem, as we don’t hear of any epidemic in the rest of Kyoto. Did the seal on the Right Eye spring a leak? Nope. Because the Eye wasn’t there.

We haven’t seen the shrivelled up bit of IK cause any trouble - not saying it couldn’t, but it seemed like that one hadn’t been active much for the past 150 years and it had been constantly monitored by the High Priest. I cross-referenced with the dates given in the new flashbacks but the outbreak doesn’t coincide with any boost of demonic activity related to Satan’s progress. So? The disease in Kyoto is its own separate disaster, and it’s most likely engineered. Let’s work our way back from the present to see how Mephisto set up this stage~ Mephisto knew of Saburota’s plan to unleash IK, and was all cool with that ‘cause hey, good opportunity to test Rin’s flame, build some team spirit, power up Bon, etc. For that reason he decided to move the Right Eye from his own keep to Myou Dha’s: if Saburota had been able to steal both of them from True Cross he wouldn’t have needed the pit stop at the Kyoto Office. He would have revived IK straight away, and even Mephisto couldn’t have motivated sending a bunch of kids into that chaos. So, move the Eye to a secret strategic location in Kyoto and force Saburota into jumping through a couple of extra hoops to get it. The Eye was moved in 2003 or thereabouts: this coincides with Myou Dha joining the Order, and makes perfect sense. The relic has ties to their sect, and it’s kinda fair to give them something back since Meph indefinitely borrowed their main relic, and now that they’re part of the Order and all - yada yada, smoke screens. Mephisto gave them the relic to set Saburota up, but not until he had the means to also give Saburota a trail to follow. Our fav Uncle Goat approached Mamushi, his student, in 2005 and recruited her to get the Right Eye. He probably thought he was cleverly working around Mephisto’s attempt to prevent theft, but if we think about it: who gave Saburota the opportunity to manipulate her in the first place? It is much easier to get your hands on an impressionable young Myou Dha kid if the Myou Dha kids attend the school where Saburota teaches. But why would they? When their families are very competent exorcists on their own and they’re used to keeping to themselves and...

Keeping to yourself is only an option so long as you can survive by yourself, and from 1989 on Myou Dha couldn’t. But Granpa Suguro, being as stubborn as he is, has refused any modern/outside help for 7 bloody years. This disease is weird for several reasons. Its localised spread, for one; its similarity with the Eye mashou when there is no Eye present; the way it vanishes and is never heard of again after Shiro’s visit; the suspiciously good timing. We now know Mephisto is aware of the future to a certain extent - we saw that confirmed when he set Shiro up with that promise. That was the last doubt removed from my theory about the Kyoto disease, so here we are. Satan hadn’t even manifested with a consciousness yet but Mephisto had his sights on Kurikara and Myou Dha’s cooperation in 1989. He is a man of sophistication, so he takes the “if the mountain won’t come to Muhammad, Muhammad must come to the mountain“ approach: he used the Eyes to orchestrate an outbreak that would force the sect to reach out to True Cross - the biggest, most knowledgeable exorcist organisation around - for aid. Because the alternative would be to smash in there and outright steal the sword and nobody would send their kids to your organisation after that. But it didn‘t work. Granpa Suguro refused to follow script and so the years went by, Satan gained consciousness, grew intelligent, grew bored, oops there goes the Asylum ceiling, jfc Suguro how many more have to die before you just play along like a good boy...? In the end Mephisto had to deploy Plan B: screw it, theft it is. If Muhammad won’t go to the goddamn mountain I’m gonna drop the mountain right on Muhammad’s stubborn head.

Of course this means fucking things up for Shiro, ‘cause that’s just how these things go when you’re running a tight deadline getting the Antichrist(s) a birthday present. Also it’s fun.

This frame says everything, really. xD Come now, how would you expect these people to trust you, and develop a friendly attitude to the Order, if you barge in there on your black-ops mission like a humanoid battleship, grab their relic and ditch the scene? Bad PR, very bad PR. Buuut if you’re injured enough that you can’t make that immediate escape, and you just happen to know how to cure this very specific disease that never flares up again, which you can contract from only 2 items in the world, of which both are owned by the snake-tongued sass ball you are enslaved by work for...? What a fortunate coincidence, what a golden opportunity to create some debt gratitude and-

Nevermind... 

I headcanon that if Granpa Suguro hadn’t died on Blue Night, Mephisto would have set him on fire personally for being such a roadblock to his plans. After Blue Night Myou Dha was decimated, bankrupt, thought by the population to be cursed - what is a poor sect to do? Who could possibly help? Oh wait wasn‘t there some guy a while back, y’know, that exorcist dude who came crashing in and saved the lives of our families and friends? He seemed to know what he was doing, think we could ask him? So the take-away from this is If not for that disease, if not for Mephisto’s misinformation and Shiro’s break-in, Myou Dha would never have joined True Cross. The Right Eye would never have been kept in Kyoto, there had been no Myou Dha kids at the Academy for Saburota to recruit, and the cram school kids would never have been in Kyoto to fight the Impure King. And also that Mephisto is a fabulous bastard and a pure joy to write! ☆