Weaselshrike

History

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Kithood [0-6 moons] >

Weaselkit was born to two warriors, Cedarcrash and Columbinebreeze in a litter of three; Himself, Gopherkit, and Marmotkit just before the warming moons of New-leaf.

His first few moons were a little lost on Weaselkit, spending most of the first one or two curled up against his mother napping or playing with the other kits in the den.

He hadnt really known Lotusbreeze, but seeing the way the warriors sudden death saddened the others , he had very quickly learnt that he should be quiet and respectful toward the situation.

It seemed there would be little time for fooling around and having fun, as it wasnt long nto his kithood before the camp flooded, water rushing in all around and panicking cats running for saftey. at first, he had been safely clung to his fatehrs back, but when a heavyrush of water knocked the older cats legs out from under him, Weaselkit was thrown off into the swell, paws flailing. he'd come close to drowning, semi-concious he felt himself grabbed by the scrufff and dragged back up from the water, coughing as the caretaker fled with them in their jaws.

once the clan had settled in the two-leg cabin, he found that his sister hadn't made it out of the water, and Reedstar hadnt made it through the evacuation, either. He'd curled up under his greiving mother and beside his brother, listening to the murmurs of cats, Piketongue taking the role of leader and, lateron, selecting Thrushbriar as Deputy.

Returning home with his parents and brother, the clan rebuilt and safe once again, he heard talk of some kind of a quest... how exciting! if only he was old enough to go, too! the idea of going so far away from the camp , exploring, finding new things, it excited them greatly.

He found himself glad that he hadnt been old enough, in the end, as not even a moon later an earthquake ripped open the ground and shook the newly rebuilt camp up, cats scrambling left and right to escae the debris and rifts opening up. he'd lost his father and brother to that earthquake, his father had tried to drag the fear-frozen Gopherkit out of the way and both had been killed by a falling boulder.

He grew closer to his mother after this event, sticking to her side as his only relative and fearing she might be taken from her too, as within that same moon an unfortunate patrol was attacked by bees , one of which was killed by them. another unfortunate loss that Weaselkit learned to greive alongside his clanmates for. he was apprehensive toward his apprenticeship, so much had happened already, and he hadnt been certain about it as he stepped up to touch noses with his new mentor, Orchidsnap.

Adolescence [6-12 moons] >

His apprenticship with Orchidsnap had built his confidence first, the older cat noticing the way he stuck to his mothers side and seemed to not want to leave her side. he'd started learning to stand on his own four paws, alowly he learned to fight, to hunt, and , most importantly to him, to protect. He found himself wanting to learn to be less afraid, if not for himself for his mother so he could protect her.

a couple of moons into his apprenticship, there was a slight murmuring through the clan that Pikestar hadnt been given her second life, leaving the pprentice confused as to why Starclan would withold alife. Had Pikestar upset them? had she done something bad and they had decided to punish her? or was something wrong with the great star cats that made them unable?

he didnt spend much time mulling over it however, focusing on his training with Orchidsnap as he crept ever closer toward becoming a warrior. His confidence only continued to grow, and it showed, as his battle skills and hunting skills both seemed to excel. He motivated himself with the hope he would get to fight to keep the rest of his clan safe, Dewkit, his mom, the other kits, elders and apprentices younger than him... he wanted to make sure everyone made it to elderhood, so they could all get to lae around and be looked after some day, not be killed some horrible way.

Greenleaf came, and the questing cats returned not long before his warriorhood ceremony, only a few moons before in fact, and he eagerly greeted them with bright eyes and all the curiosity of their kithood, asking for stories, asking if they brought trinkets or anything fun they might be able to keep as a keepsake.

Weaselpaw had been filled with confident pride when he was called up to accept his warrior name, standing 'tall' with his head held high as he allowed his gaze to fall on his mother, bright eyes and eager. He was ready, he could finally be a cat she could depend on, one the whole clan could depend on!!

He stepped forward to accept his new name; Weaselshrike, for his skill in battle and hunting.

Adulthood [12 - present moons] >

The first couple of moons of Weaselshrikes warriorhood had been somewhat uneventful, and he spent this time geting to know the other warriors, training, and joining every single patrol or hunting party he could to both learn from older cats and to explore around the territory some more.

He would usually come back with trinkets, things like feathers or pretty rocks, or funnily shaped sticks that he took back to his mother from the patrols she didnt join, eager to make sure she didnt miss out on all the cool things they found!

It was after a couple of moons that an older warrior he had been told about by others , Shadowfeather, sacrificed himself to "fix starclan," the question he had wondered as an apprentice finally answered as Starclan returned to normal with the older toms presence. He hadnt been sure if he was supposed to greive or celebrate, and so simply followed suit with the rest of his clanmates in their vigils and thanks.

another few moons spent idle, hunting, patrolling, taking care of elders and occasionally visiting the kits to tell stories and taking them trinkets and bugs to play with. he spent every apprentiship ceremony hoping for ne of his own, a little disappointed as each passed by without, and yet still he smiled and congratulated each of his warrior friends on their new apprentices.

He had just started to settle into this calm life when disaster struck the clan again in the form of a badger attack crashing through the clan, killing an apprentice in its rampage, endangering the apprentices as it was soon surrounded by the other warriors, while Weaselshrike focused on keeping as many of the kits and apprentices away from it as he could. he had watched on wide eyed as the beast was taken down by Foxfire, the tall, lanky black cat only a couple of moons older than he, he hadnt spoken much to the other, not wanting to intrude on what had seemed to be a tight circle, but that moment had solidified his respect for the older warrior, fuelling admiration for his strength.

Confusion, that was what had struck him when he found out that Dewpaw had come back to life, incredulous over the fact. what in starclans name... well, he couldnt worry about it now, all that mattered was that the clan survived without any real deaths, those injured would heal and the clan was still strong as ever.

The decision for thrushbriar to step down from their position as deputy was one that Weaselshrike both could, and couldnt understand,in one paw, he understoood that being deputy was probably difficult, all the responsibilites, supporting the leaser, making sure the clan was running smoothly in areas their leader didnt quite have the time for, but in the other... well... They thought that Thrushbriar would have been an amazin leader.

Ah well, Gullwatcher was just as capable, from the breif times Weaselshrike ahd seen them around the clan he knew that things would continue to run well. The very next moon, Pikestar finally got her 2nd life after such a long wait, it seemed all was right again in Starclan with Shadowfeather acting as guardian.

the addition of Singepaw to the herbalist den was something that Weaselshrike had been .... skeptical of, considering the fact Singepaw had been the reason Thrasherbelly had lost a paw.. though, he knew better than to judge a cat based off their kithood recklessness, and so he joined the rest in cheering the young cat on.

It was right around new-leaf when the deers were spotted, and in more abundance thn ever, too, the large creatures cropping up all over the place, even they had spotted one breifly, the flicker of a spotted brown pelt darting past the patrol he had been on. maybe he shouldve taken the sighting as a warning, because , to them, it seemed everything just begun to take a nosedive. into a swamp. full of snappy turtles.

he'd been to enough gatherings by this point for it to be nothing of much interest to him, honestly he had nearly stayed back in the clan, a weird feeling crawling under his fur that had him looking over his shoulder every few minutes. His unease, apparently, was warrented when a large male deer stampeded into the clearing, sending cats of all clans scattering and panicking. He'd been amongst the warriors who ran straight to the corner of the gathering teh deer had attacked, which, to everyones misfortune, had been where most of the apprentices had been gathered.

he took his own fair share of panicked paws to the face, as he hurried to move everyone he could from the situation, eventually returning hiome exhausted, battered and bruised and just wanting to curl up in his nest. Alas, no rest for the wicked as he set paw back into the camp, staring around at the damage... cats injured, dead, herb stores destroyed, among the bodies was the fawn pelt of his mother, laid almost peacfully on her side. He darted over to the older she-cat with a heartbroken wail, pushed into pale fur the claggy scents of Hailclan and Cloudclan loitering in his sences. how could they... during a gathering, during a peacful time?!

During his time spent between mourning, and helping the rest of the clan pick up the pieces, Weaselshrike found himself befriending the tall dark furred tom Foxfire, a shared silent understanding of their respective losses, it wasnt ever something that was forced upon either cat. Weaselshrike enjoyed Foxfires presence a lot, happily sticking by the others side for time to come, even despite his mood swings and attitude, he simply... didn allow it. if FOxfire was going to have a crappy attitude, or is weaselshrike noticed him getting snappy, he simply stood up, strolled away, and kicked a mossball or stripped a slab of bark off a tree for him to maul his feelings away. he didnt let the mood be directed at themself, opting to give the other methods of self regulation, or simply just... blanking out the attitude until Foxfire calme and realised Weaselshrike wasnt going to entertain it.

Greenleaf would begin with Poplarpounce leaving the clan, They had been a little confused at the choice, but to them, as long as Poplarpounce was content, it wasnt really any of his buisness. It wasnt long later, only a moon or so, before flaredawn and Lilacpaw returned to the clan with claims of being held captaive by rouges, along with other cats that wer still trapped there, too. it was all very... concerning.

not long after their return, The decision was made to send aid to Hailclan to rescue kits and gather information...he'd opted to stay behind, ensure the clan was safe and keep watch over their own in case of attack by any cats that might have felt bold enough to attack while they had warriors out of camp. As far as he knew, it had gone.... pretty south, in respectful vigil for the fallen, silently wondering how much more death and despair these cats would spread... it was starting to feel unfair. the while moon just seemed ... full of death, Even with the hopeful choosing of Isopodpaw to be Singeflickers apprentice... Weaselshrike could only hope the young apprentice would learn well in Singeflickers capable paes. even despite this, The deaths of many of Foxfires family and friends hung over the camp as they were taken to starclan almost one after the other, and he watched as each one ate away a little more at the scarred tom. it... truely was heartbreaking to watch, and know there wasnt anything he could do. Rosemaryoak, newtspring, cranewatcher... each one that was taken pulled Foxfire that little bit further away, and he was helpless.

perhaps the only inkling of... entertainment? that would show itself was the ruckus in the herbalist den between Timberwolf, Singeflicker and Isopodpaw, resulting in Timberwolf veing rather unceremoniously voted/kicked out of the den by Singeflicker... well, the snarky thing deserved it, from ehat Weaselshrike had heard of the situation anyway... It wasnt long after this that Rillrose too went to starclan, get another familiar face , yet another invisible wound adding to the many that Foxfire suffered, yet another silent vigil held. it wasnt fair . how could it be fair. it wouldnt be long after this, either, that Isopodpaw would be removed from the role of herbalist apprentice and given a warrior mentor... Weaselshrike could only hope the young cat would be happier this way.