#thunderpath

[snailstep-and-her-clan]

Thunderpath Thursday

"Morning, sweetness!" Softpetal woke to her father prodding her playfully in the side with a hefty paw. "what have you done to deserve sleeping in till sunhigh exactly?"

"Gerroff." Softpetal swiped halfheartedly at him. "I had a night watch. what do you want? go away and annoy someone who deserves it."

"now is that anyway to speak to ones sire?" Ermineclaw purred. "lets go hunting."

"a patrol?" Softpetal rolled onto her belly and peered up at him. Lizardstone was no where in the den so he must have gone on duty ages ago.

"no, just the two of us. I've seen nothing of you. what with patrols, watch, and now you're preoccupied with that hideous mate of yours, I feel rather ignored by you." his whiskers twitched. "you wouldn't begrudge me your company would you? not when I love and adore you as my favorite daughter-

"Alright, alright." Softpetal got up and butt him with her head, pushing him back a few steps. she couldn't keep a soft mrrow of amusement out of her voice. "you've convinced me. but help me wash would you? I'm probably scruffy and covered in moss."

****

"So... I do hope you don't plan on making me a grandfather too soon." Ermineclaw wrinkled his nose. "I think I'm a bit too young for the title."

"Aren't we supposed to be quiet when hunting?" Softpetal tasted the air for any trace of nearby prey. she wanted to deflect from the fact that she actually was, in fact, more than likely expecting Lizardstone's kits... but she wanted to tell her mate first.

"I am quiet." Ermineclaw shrugged.

"so did you just invite me out with you to interrogate me? I'm hurt." she put on a sad look. "I thought you wanted to spend time with me. was that favorite daughter spiel... a lie?"

"of course not!"

she dodged a swipe aimed at her ears, and snorted as he swatted her nose instead with his tail.

"Just don't tell your other sisters-”

"Hey, get down!" Softpetal signaled with her tail and Ermineclaw obediently dropped to his belly. Softpetal flicked her ears in the direction of a squirrel.

by some twist of fate, it hadn't noticed them- though maybe because it was chewing so loudly on a hard shell of a walnut.

slowly, she crept her way towards it, determined not to make a sound. she waggled her haunches, and leapt-

but she'd misjudged the distance.

The squirrel was off like a shot, nut forgotten as it sped in the direction the the thunderpath.

Softpetal cursed in frustration, but Ermineclaw was streaking ahead.

"I've got him!" he announced cheerfully. "watch the master at work!"

Softpetal sped after him. "in your dreams you old mangepelt!" she'd shot back good-naturedly.

She overtook him easily as the squirrel had reached the road.

***

The crack of the monster striking her father's skull was a splintering, ear-shattering sound.

He hadn't died instantly. he'd lay, gasping for maybe minutes as blood bubbled in his mouth and nostrils, but it had felt far too long, too excruciatingly long to watch.

she'd been too scared to move him, afraid of hurting him more. touching him had been frightening…

"Ermineclaw? come on... let's get you back to camp... you need to see the medicine cat." she'd babbled like a tiny kit. convincing herself the damage was fixable... that he could just get up and go home.

"Daddy... daddy I'm sorry... I should have caught the squirrel in the first place.. it's all my fault... please get up. we need to go home." she'd pleaded. her father's chest heaved in a last, painful spasm, before he'd gone still, and quiet.

(Calling this Thunderpath Thursday because it seems like everyone's Clangen characters were dying on the Thunderpath today shoutout @fallenclan and @ranchclan)

[magnuswuff]

Something I noticed about Cinderpelt

So, I'm working back through the Warriors books, I'm currently rereading Fire and Ice from arc 1. Fireheart and Graystripe have just gotten their apprentices, and Fireheart is gonna show Cinderpaw the territory. The first thing she says after Fireheart tells her what they're gonna do that day is "Will we see the thunderpath?" I see what you did there, Erin Hunter, and I hate it.

[marc--chilton]

(wcau) after scrapping with a fox aiming to take his territory and deeming his injuries as non-life threatening, rather than stay in his lonely little den or accept help from plainsclan, he dragged his battered body all the way to wilson's yard, slip through the latticework under the deck, and bunker down. he was found the morning after, sniffed out by amber and only saved by her respect for her twolegs' property. wilson tries to convince house to let them take him to a vet but house talks him down.

there's not really anything to hunt there under the deck -- even if there was, house is too sore to try -- so wilson sneaks him food from his bowl. he'll take a mouthful (shovel bites), trot outside, and drop it between the wood planks for house. it's not very tasty but it's kind of a religious experience so it evens out.

but becomes clear that house comes down with an infection a few days later, his voice not as strong when it drifts up to grumble at wilson and his meal delivery, "not hungry." wilson never stopped worrying so he doesn't hesitate taking this into his own paws, meowing incessantly at his twolegs, pawing at their faces or legs, trotting to the pet door when they try to pet him and scratching the floorboards outside.

amber's barking and growling is one thing -- she's painfully territorial so she barks at anything -- but wilson, for his friendly, curious nature, is exceptionally normal and pleasant, so this behavior gets their attention quickly. they're animal lovers, and by now they're aware of house coming and going and have grown to like him ("he has so much character!") so they don't hesitate to help him when they see him curled up in the cold dirt surrounded by old, grimy kibble and cobwebs. luckily for them, house is too ill and exhausted to put up much of a fight (he still gets burrito'd tho)

the vet stay is short and passes in a blur. house wakes up, feeling better but still weak, inside. as in inside the house. in a closed room. and there's a warm body next to him.

"hey," wilson greets him, wary of an outburst, for house to push him away. they'd never touched before. he's loafed, soft and warm and unmoving, and house decides immediately that he is an excellent pillow. "before you get mad, if i didn't get you help you probably would've died."

he thinks about it for a second. they're in an office where one of the adults of the house sometimes works remotely from; a low traffic room relinquished solely for house to heal in, even moved wilson's cat bed in for him. and apparently they trusted their pretty kitty alone with a feral cat (in reality while house was still unconscious wilson made a huge fuss about keeping house company to the point his twolegs gave in, especially when he darted inside while they were giving house more water to make up for what dehydrated, flopped down right next to him, and refused to move)

then house flops back down, rolling onto his side and his cheek squished into wilson's side, grumbling, "if they cut my balls off while i was out, i'd rather have died."

if he's bickering, he must feel better, so wilson lets himself relax a little. "i wouldn't know. can you feel your balls?"

and house just leers back, his eyes still a little unfocused, "i can't feel much of anything thanks to whatever they gave me. you should check for me." wilson does not take up this offer but his whiskers twitch with contained amusement so house counts it as a win anyway

[fluffclan]

Dakarai, you mentioned that your two legs weren't nice. What did they do?

And then I died.

[lilicohirukoma]

warrior cats has earned its second moment i will be thinking abt forever

[feather-clangen]

Moon 5

[canon-notcanon-warriorcats]

what if

we pushed the ancients moving to the mountains by like a year

fallen leaves still died in the tunnels, but everyone saw that as a fluke/bad luck/"it's sad, but it happens" (and also he should've waited until after the rain but he was too impatient, it could've happened to anyone that wasn't paying attention to the weather or was too impatient to wait)

Jay's Wing has been getting bad feelings about the tunnels, and the territory in general ever since just before Fallen Leaves died because twolegs had been building a couple of nests in the territory. He keeps getting these strange feelings that the cats need to move and so has been trying to get the ancients to form an actual comprehensive group for moons and leave the territory, but no one really listens and brushes him off, except for his friend Half Moon who tries to help if she can, but also tries to chill Jay's Wing out so he doesn't seem entirely crazy to every other cat.

Lion's Roar, who even though he was barely an adult was considered one of the strongest cats of the group, barely survives his sharpclaw assessment in the tunnels because even though the weather was clear and it hadn't rained at all in a couple of days, the tunnels suddenly flooded.

Jay's Wing and Half Moon do some snooping and they find out twolegs have been taking water from the lake, using it for something that neither of the cats could comprehend, but it had something to do with giant monsters that had shown up in the forest, and then later twolegs dumped water, which leaked into the tunnels and caused the sudden flooding.

There had been more monsters than ever before on the thunderpath and now they weren't just on the thunderpath, they were in the forest! And a bunch of twolegs with them, even setting up camps and marking a chunk of territory out with weird sticks, rocks, and vines.

On the far side of the territory, where the forest thinned into moorland, there were even more twolegs and monsters and more thunderpaths were being made. The twolegs had also been cutting down the trees that dotted the area, marking an even larger chunk of territory with their borders, and building a few more nests.

When Jay's Wing and Half Moon told the cats this, Furled Bracken brushes them off saying that there's plenty of territory and they can simply stay closer to the lake and avoid those areas. This infuriates Lion's Roar, saying that the twolegs dumping their water nearly got him killed. Not to mention his brother and sister had been killed before they could even become sharpclaws because of the monsters in the forest, and his other brother had been captured by the twolegs. Dove's Wing brings up how her and Jay's Wing's mother had been killed by a monster moons before, when monsters were just starting to become more common, and now things had become even worse.

Lion's Roar allies himself with Jay's Wing and Half Moon and he quickly becomes closer with them. A few days later the three cats go to where there were giant monsters in the forest, bringing Furled Bracken and Stone Song to show them the severity of what was happening. They find that the situation had become even worse, and that the twolegs and monsters had torn up the terrain and were now using monsters with massive jaws and teeth to dig into the rock and earth itself.

The cats are appalled by the destruction, but Furled Bracken insists that even though the noise and disruption had driven all of the possible prey, they simply must avoid the area. Stone Song asks what would happen if the twolegs and monsters never stopped and just continued doing this to every part of the territory. Furled Bracken replies that there was no proof that that would happen.

Lion's Roar is infuriated at the leader's passiveness and decides to take matters into his own paws. If the twolegs were taking over and the monsters were going to eat at their territory, but the group wouldn't leave to find a new home, then that meant that they would need to fight for their territory! Lion's Roar was the biggest cat in the group and one of the best fighters, he would protect his kin, his friends, and his home!

The other cats try to stop Lion's Roar, but the young sharpclaw pushes past them, letting out a fierce yowl as he charges into the clearing. Twolegs turn their heads toward the cat as he faces one of the monsters with giant teeth, its neck stretching up to take a bite out of the rocks above it. The twolegs start shouting as Lion's Roar pounces at the monster's paw and bites it, but reeling back at the acrid taste, as well as from the pain of trying to bite and grip onto the strange, hard material.

The twolegs start running towards the cat, but Lion's Roar has no time to figure out his next move, because as soon as he leaps off of the monster's paw, a shower of dirt and rocks comes crumbling down on him. The cats, and the twolegs, can do nothing but watch in horror.

When the cats return to the rest of the group, shaken and grieving, they tell the rest of the cats what happened, how Lion's Roar tried to fight to reclaim their territory from the monsters and twolegs. That night is when the group of grieving cats cast their stones, voting to leave the lake.

[the-item-protocol-clangen]

MOON 1

Previous Moon || Next Moon

[katiefratie]

"A river but gray" oh that's so a street fucking humans!!! Fucking everything up!!!

[cowboycatss]

9 year old me is alive and she is shaking and seething anytime tigerclaw speaks

[oflgtfol]

"Why do you visit us alone, Turtlestar?"

Turtlestar recognizes the she-cat in front of her from the last time she had visited the Moonstream. On that fateful night, only twelve moons ago, the river had been blazing with the light of the waning gibbous as it gleamed off the current. Silversong had greeted her with stars sparkling in her eyes and moonlight weaving through her fur. Now, tonight, the moon is just a thin crescent setting on the horizon, and the Moonstream is dark. Silversong is but a pale apparition floating over the water.

Turtlestar bows her head. “I come before StarClan tonight to ask that… that you may rescind my nine lives, and give them to my deputy, Fawnspot. Name them Fawnstar in my stead.”

A moment of tense silence, and then, “Why should we do that?”

“I'm not fit to be SpruceClan's leader," Turtlestar replies. "It is… destroying me, and I’m afraid that it may destroy my Clan in the process."

A murmur rises up before her. She lifts her head to see more spirits have joined them, staring at her from behind Silversong. In the darkness, their forms blend together, faces bleeding into more faces until they're unrecognizable. She can't make out any eyes, but she can feel the weight of their stares, their disapproval heavy on her exhausted shoulders. She feels pinned down, small, cowering there alone on the river stone.

“It is not every day that a cat receives eight additional lives from StarClan,” Silversong says. “Do you doubt the gifts we gave you?”

“No, I just — I’m not worthy of them,” Turtlestar chokes out. She hangs her head in defeat. “Please. I’m trying to do what’s best for my Clan. And what’s best for my Clan is not me.”

Her pelt burns: with shame, with guilt, with humiliation. Only twelve moons, and she has come crawling back, knelt down and begging to be relieved of the duty that any other cat would be honored to have. As painful as this is, she knows that withstanding a single more day of this burden would be more than she could bear.

"Very well," Silversong says. She looks down at Turtlestar, eyes glinting like ice. "Let the ceremony commence."

A new cat emerges from the formless mass of ghosts. Rainstar, the leader of SpruceClan before her, steps towards Turtlestar and dips his head. Her mentor, her friend, and her predecessor — he had believed in her when even she herself didn't. His eyes are downturned and somber as he says, "There is no coming back from this. Are you sure you would like to begin, Turtlestar?"

She nods wordlessly, and he sighs. "For your ninth life, I gave you the gift of judgment. Now, I will revoke it.”

Rainstar leans forward and touches his nose to her forehead, and a terrible hollowing sensation pangs through her chest. It feels like the life is being sucked out of her, leaving her empty, shaking and weak. She feels a piece of herself missing, somewhere nestled next to her heart, where now nothing but a small, gaping hole resides, and she knows that hole will only get punched bigger and bigger over the course of the night. He pulls away and watches her, green eyes shadowed in the darkness, before he melts back into the crowd.

The press of the water-slick stone beneath her paws is grounding, now. She digs her claws in and pants, chest heaving, as she regains her bearings, head spinning and heart racing. The ghostly mass of StarClan cats hovers over the water, silent and watchful. Like the loss of her ninth life was an actual death, and this is her final judgment. But she still has seven more lives to lose tonight, and seven more final judgments to endure.

Another cat approaches. Sageleaf, a former SpruceClan medicine cat who had died when Turtlestar was still a kit, too young to remember them, but old enough to hear their stories. The cat eyes her flatly, face too stoic to betray any emotions. “I gave you your eighth life in honor of making difficult choices. I see it has been put to good use. Now, I will remove it.”

The cats come and go, and matter less and less each time. In between the terrible, bone-deep ache of each life lost, their words somehow still reach her, penetrating through the fog.

“I gave you your seventh life for loyalty.”

“Your sixth life was given for integrity.”

“Forgiveness.”

“Duty.”

“Confidence.”

Finally, as Turtlestar stands hunched over and trembling with exhaustion, Silversong steps to the front once more. She eyes Turtlestar coldly. “For your second life, I had given you perseverance. Now, I will take it back." She presses her nose to Turtlestar's forehead, hard, unforgiving, and it feels as though the warmth is leaving her limbs.

Silversong pulls back, but doesn’t retreat. “You will remain known as Turtlestar, as a reminder of the lives you once had. You may not be leader of SpruceClan any longer, but may your experiences forever remain in your memories and guide you for the rest of your days.” Now, she steps back. “Have a good life, Turtlestar.”

Turtlestar watches as the thin crescent moon finally slips below the horizon, and StarClan fades away. She is left standing alone on the stepping stones, a shivering wreck in the darkness with only the rushing of water for company.

[waffultaim]

Childjoy nostalgia.

[spiribia]

my warriors oc named Jaywalk. she discovered an innovative tactic where you can chase prey animals into the thunderpath and let monsters kill them for you, then go onto the thunderpath and retrieve the fresh-kill. how she died will probably not shock you

[vespidclan]

Mother’s Return

To be mended you must be condemned.

After many weeks of tinkering and drawing and editing, I did it! It’s finished!!! I’m so thrilled to finally see the finished outcome :)

The story and explanation will be under the cut

Way back then in Pineclan, Moththorn had a young kit, Snakekit, who she loved deeply. But around this time, horrible thoughts and visions festered in her head that put her down, so she’d often isolate herself from the clan. Snakekit spent the rest of her kithood with her mother absent and wondering why she no longer smiles at her or plays with her. Even in Vespidclan she wonders why her mom ‘left’ her family so abruptly… It is why Snakevalley decided to become the mother she wished for. She fostered an abandoned kit, Fallenkit. (now grown and named Fallenfox) And has now taken two more under her care, Vinekit and Stonekit.

Something terrible would happen to her sister, Heartflicker, the only Vespidclan healer, which left her injured and unable to work. In need of a cat to quickly take over her duties, Heartflicker picks Stonekit as her apprentice to take her role. This was fine, Stonekit had been taught about some herbs and remedies prior… but Stonekit was only 4 moons old. It made Snakevalley furious, and much more on the next moon, she’d have to see her young daughter become so stressed with her new duties. She tried to reason with Heartflicker. And she’d argue with the leader, Iciclestar, her other sister, to put a stop to it. But neither of them agreed to follow through. Snakevalley ran off in a fit of anger.

She was still crossed, but she realized that she can’t do anything to stop it. The only thing she can do was to be there for Stonepaw through and through. After all, she can’t abandon Stonepaw on this. Not like Moththorn did. Before she returned to camp, she heard a loud crash, coming from the thunderpath. A cat had been crushed by a monster, and he was still breathing! She rushed over to rescue him- and was stopped by some force. Suddenly, the world changed around her. Like she was in a completely different area.

And then she saw it. A strange, flat version of… herself. It didn’t move. It wasn’t alive. But it was definitely her. It felt like she shouldn’t have seen this, and she really shouldn’t have. But she made sure that she did. And she made sure that Snakevalley will not recover from the things she learned and saw from that experience.

Snakevalley awoke back in her clan… Broken. After everything she’s worked for, everything she’s put her faith in, doing what she can to have the best life she always wanted… It didn’t matter. It wasn’t real. She wasn’t real. She was just a flat object. All these thoughts made her go into isolation, and no one understood why. Even though they wanted to, it felt too awkward and tense for her family to check on her. They thought leaving her alone would give her some peace.

It gave her the exact opposite.

404 wanted her mentality to dwindle to no return, just like hers did. It wasn’t just because Snakevalley was an obstacle- Snakevalley had everything she wanted. She was blessed with kits. She was blessed with a clan who respected her. Blessed with love. It was everything she wanted to have. And seeing a cat so close to her have all of these things, seeing her dazzle and shine, it was a disgrace to everything she went through. It was indignation. She hated Snakevalley. It was hatred. And she was plagued by these malicious voices of hate, she gave into them. 404 made her decision and she was keen on fulfilling it.

And fulfilled it she did. 404 was relentless to her. She made sure the negative thoughts never ceased. And once the time arrived, when she saw that Snakevalley was at her most vulnerability… she gave Snakevalley death berries. She wanted her to eat them. But watching Snakevalley gaze upon her dark predicament made 404 feel… remorseful. A ‘human’ feeling, finally, after all this agony of anger. But not a good one. She saw herself in Snakevalley, yes. How she hated seeing that memory. But behind that reflection, from the cracked mirror, there was the daughter she left behind. The one who believed she hated her in kithood. The one who was put into the same anguish she experienced. In the same situation, as the two both held the same plant in their paw… But 404 made her decision and Snakevalley made hers.

Neither can undo what’s been done.

Snakevalley believed that her family hated her. She thought that she didn’t deserve to live alongside them, knowing what their true existence is. Snakevalley… believed that she was better off dying with this knowledge. She didn’t want to die. And yet, 404’s influence had done enough.

Snakevalley ate the death berries. 404 hoped that perhaps a part of Snakevalley recognized her during her final moments… That was wishful thinking. Nonetheless, Snakevalley died. Her plan worked. And she would have to join her in Out Of Bounds just like the others.

…But this time, 404 has other intentions for her.

She needed to fix her.

And 404 remembered… why mercy was not worth pursuing.

The corruption festers.

I had such a blast working on this. I’m very happy to draw my beloved Snakevalley again. Maybe I could do something like this again in the future, but for now I’ll resume the comics! Once again I hope you all liked what the video offered and the thorough explanation I gave for the events :’)

[yeloenk]

WACA x UTMV Design Concepts

Batch 1

honestly have been going through a massive double fixations with utmv and warrior cats... and soo... i've come up with some designs mhehehe

i have some lore for ink, and honestly im thinking of writing some sort of crossover fanfic w/ this cause i think that would be fun!! ^_^

design notes/commentary under the cut!

DESIGN NOTES

Quick disclaimer: these designs are purely conceptual! They may change in the future :-)

HOLLOWSPARK (Ink!Sans)

With Ink's design, I really wanted to include important shapes/motifs in Ink's original design! So triangles, rectangles, etc.

I decided to make them a calico, since the splatters of colors on top of a white base correlated the closest to his OG design. Since male calicos are extremely rare, I decided to make him a trans tom, who goes by he/they!

He's also a Japanese Bobtail, since I believe the shapes & such work best with their character. Hollowspark has strong hind legs with a short tail. He is considered short compared to other average-sized cats.

They have some scars from a past encounter with a monster on the Thunderpath—this will later be explained in his backstory.

ECHOSTORM (Error!Sans)

With Echostorm, I wanted to incorporate strong square shape language. He has scruffy fur, a stocky build, and a short muzzle. He doesn't have a specific breed, but for sure has British Longhair genes!

He's a dark-grey tabby and black cat chimera—the black patches in his fur are meant to represent the errors/glitches in his OG design!

He has a cataract eye; he is blind in it. I thought this was a neat way to translate his white-pupiled squinty eye! His other eye is yellow.

Echostorm has wobbly cat syndrome, to further translate his glitchiness.

DAWNSTAR (Dream)

Dawnstar (formerly Dawnheart) is a tall, lanky oriental longhair. I decided to make his shapes more wispy/softer than his twin brother's, Nightstar! He is a golden tabby.

His eyes are the same shade as blue as Nightstar's. He is meant to embody positivity, calmness, and collectiveness.

The star on his forehead is the mark of a leader! It is not in his design before he is appointed.

NIGHTSTAR (Nightmare)

Nightstar (formerly Nightfall) is a very dark grey tabby oriental longhair. He is much more sharp and angular compared to his twin brother, Dawnstar. I wanted him to come off as villanous.

Half of his face was mauled off, replicating his gooped-over eye in his OG design! He is missing his eye, his ear, and some of his nose.

Unlike Dawnstar, Nightstar does not bore the mark of a leader. He is not a true leader, and never received his nine lives from StarClan. No cat can tell, though, because they believe it's simply disfigured by the scar.

WOO okay i'm done rambling... for now :3 lmk what y'all think of these designs !!! they were very fun to make, and more are to come! any ideas/suggestions are welcome!

[charl0ttan]

you got your balls cut off ... the thing that made rusty run away and become firepaw in the first book of the warrior cats series

i have to go fight a bunch of wild cats now. farewell everyone. next you see me ill be but a pulp on the thunderpath