DuskClan | Camp

Larchmask purred and returned the nose to nose boop(heehee). "Of course, I'd always love to eat with you! How was your day?" He took a bite of his mouse, savoring the fallen-leaf tint to the flavor.

Daisypaw's stomach growled comically loud on cue, making her blush slightly. "Not yet. I was just talking with Sootpaw before he left." She spoke of her younger brother in a loving tone. "I hope he has a good time. If you haven't eaten, we could share a rabbit?"

Feather wrote:"I think we had the same first gathering," Kindleflame mewed, ears twitching. "I was too distracted by my littermates to pay much attention to anything else." She shrugged, chuckling.

Leopardspots wrote:"I basically clung to Scorchthicket's tail my first gathering," Ebonyrose snorted.

Riverswoop purred in amusement. "I'm sure she appreciated that," he winked to Ebonyrose, watching as Wisteriakit tried to hide her yawn.

Kindleflame chuckled and gently ushered Wisteriakit and Shimmerkit back towards the nursery. "Inside, girls. It's time for bed," she mewed, blue eyes soft.

Mistypad flicked her tail, a slight shrug to her shoulders. "Oh, the usual; napping, telling some stories to the little ones," She responded, although her gaze drooped disappointingly, "Although I haven't heard any good gossip lately. Too bad I couldn't hear some from the other clans' elders at the gathering!" 

Crowtail snorted light-heartedly as Daisypaw's stomach let out a loud growl. "I'm sure he will, gatherings were always exciting as an apprentice!" He replied, his eyes in a distant off place as he recalled his memories. The black-furred tom shook his head politely. "No thanks, I'm just finishing up with this mouse," He mewed, smiling, "Anymore and I'd be too slow to hunt any prey this leaf-bare!"

Firefall kept her ears open for anything beyond the entrance, watching Crowtail and Daisypaw. She felt a little jealousy at not having an apprentice but knew it was due to her short temper and not feeling ready for one herself.

Daisypaw nodded, resting her head on her mentor's shoulder and closing her eyes. She felt a bit of jealousy curl up in her stomach, that Sootpaw got to go and that she didn't, but she pushed it down and swallowed the stinging sensation in her throat. She sighed in happiness as she slowly started drifting off, slightly embarrassed but too tired to care.

Wisteriakit nodded, following her mother, but froze just as Riverswoop did the same.

A loud rumbling could be heard from the distance, and the ground jolted sharply beneath the paws of the Clan cats. 

Kindleflame was quick to bring her kits closer to her, while Dawnflower jumped up to protect the kits from the unseen force.

Firefall felt the ground shake underneath her paws and instinctively leapt over to Daisypaw and Crowtail. She forced herself to stick by the apprentice’s side, digging her claws in the ground and making sure Crowtail was next to her.

Larchmask froze, the conversation with Mistypad halted. "What's happening?" A bit of panic crept into his voice. He dug his claws into the ground and used his tail to pull the slightly younger elder close. He had never experienced something like this, even in his old age, and the new event filled him with a primal fear. He held in a yowl.

Ebonyrose stiffened in alarm. "Leafpaw?" she called, looking around for her apprentice. She rooted her paws into the crumbling earth to ensure she didn't fall as it trembled.

Crowtail tucked his paws under his chest, his muscles relaxing as he enjoyed the calm twilight air. He held in a mrow of amusement as Daisypaw practically dropped into a coma from her lack of energy. 
However, the peaceful evening didn't last long as a rumbling began, followed by the ground shaking. The warrior leapt to his paws, nudging Daisypaw. His eyes met with Firefall as she hurried over to them. Worry prickled at his skin, but he tried his best to stay calm. "Mouse-dung, the leader and deputies are still at the gathering...," He muttered under his breath,  looking around the camp at the other warriors, "What do we do? Should we move?" 

Mistypad's usual cheerful demeanor vanished as her eyes grew wide and her ears perked up in alert. She was too shocked to say anything, although she huddled closer to Larchmask as the ground shook and vibrated.

“We stay put mouse-brain.” Firefall snapped, not intending it on purpose. But her nerves were on edge now and she stayed covering Daisypaw. She didn’t take her eyes off Crowtail, needing to keep him in her sights.

Wisteriakit buried her face in her mother's fur, frightened. 

Heatherdawn glanced at Firefall. "No, we have to leave. If these walls come down nobody will survive." 
"I agree," Riverswoop managed to pad over.

Kindleflame glanced worriedly towards her kits, licking between Wisteriakit's ears. "Where should we go? The medicine cats are gone, we don't have a deputy or the leader to take us anywhere."

Dawnflower paced in a circle, trying to avoid the parts of the ground that appeared weaker. "We don't have the time to stick around and wait for them. Kits are at risk."

Daisypaw looked up at his mentor in fright. "The Gathering! My brother! Are they going to be alright?!" She yipped, jealousy completely dissolved and replaced by fear for her brother and father. "What's going on?!"

Ebonyrose flinched at the sound of crumbling rock and the distant, high pitched grind of stone.

“Fine then we leave.” Firefall mentioned, hopping off Daisypaw and nudging her to move. She looked at Crowtail and gave him a nudge as well, but stayed close to the apprentice.

Daisypaw hopped to her feet. "I'm going to help get the kittens out of the nursery. Firefall, come with me." Her stomach dropped as a large stone fell beside her paw.

Firefall glanced to Crowtail, hopefully for not a last time, as more of the camp began to crumble around them. She growled and leapt away towards the nursery, grabbing the kit closest to her and waiting for Daisypaw.

Daisypaw grabbed one kitten, and led another to the middle of camp. She padded into the elder's den, staring at Larchmask and Mistypad. "Come outside. We're leaving."

Ebonyrose looked up in terror as one of the boulders along the top of the cliff came lose and toppled towards the camp. "Everyone run!" she cried.

Kindleflame scooped up Wisteriakit, while Dawnflower snatched Kitekit, and then the she-cats were darting out of camp as fast as they could. The queen silently thanked SoulClan that the rest of the clan were still returning from the gathering.

Ebonyrose darted out the entrance of camp, ears flattened against her head at the sound of stones crashing and grinding against each other, digging her claws into the earth.

Jasmineivy saw everyone running towards the entrance of  camp, so she decided to follow, assuming there was some form of danger

Leafpaw quickly darted out of camp, his fur on end

Riverswoop followed his mate, but not after checking the camp. He watched as Heatherdawn shoved Daisypaw and Basilpaw out of the camp entrance, but his eyes widened as he realised she wouldn't make it. "Run!"
Heatherdawn scrambled to follow but the cloud of dust enveloped her, and Riverswoop barely managed to leave himself. "No, no no no!"

Firefall bolted out as fast as she could, still carrying the kit in her jaws as more debris came crashing down around her. She couldn’t see much with all the dust in the air, but knew she was out of the entrance when she felt some clearer air. She became worried for Crowtail and slight panic was settling over here as she passed the kit over to another warrior. She debated on going back to check on him and the others, and a moment later she was now back in camp rushing for an elder.

Crowtail stumbled, nearly missing a flying piece of rock on his head by a whisker-length. Only taking a second to get over the shock, his heart thumping a million miles per second in his chest, he darted off out the camp entrance. 

Mistypad nodded to Daisypaw, slowly making her way out across the clearing, lingering behind to make sure the older elder, Larchmask, was able to follow.

Emberpaw pressed his ears against his head, sprinting out of camp as a cloud of dust followed in his tracks. He sneezed multiple times before making it to where his Clanmates had stopped, and winced at the sound of grinding rocks. He squinted through the dust and padded through the debris, looking for his siblings. "Fallowpaw? Willowpaw?" he shouted groggily. 

Adderfang helped push a few kits out of camp, whimpering under his breath. He nearly jumped out of his fur at Riverswoop's grieving voice near him. Glancing back, he watched as Heatherdawn, a fellow Clanmate, was enveloped in a cloud of dust. He gasped, instinctively running to Riverswoop. "Hey, its going to be ok!" he managed to spit out, trying to convince himself just as much as the other tom. "We just have to keep moving."

Ebonyrose flattened herself to the ground as the sound of crumbling continued. The quaking from within the earth had stopped, but the stones and earth coming loose caused the soil to tremble.

Larchmask pushed himself to his paws and followed Mistypad, staying against her side. Still shaken from the quake, he stumbled but didn't fall. "I hope the other clans are okay..." he murmured, concern overtaking his emotions.

Scorchthicket lead the gathering patrol up to the camp, struggling to keep his balance. At the sight of the rest of his clan outside of camp, his ears flattened. He counted the heads of the cats, and his stomach dropped. "What's happened?" The dust kicked up by the falling rocks made him cough, and he turned his head away, squeezing his eyes shut. 

Willowpaw darted over to Emberpaw when she heard him, letting out a sob. "Emberpaw, you're okay! What happened?" She cried, amber eyes wide and her colorful fur on end. 

Dawnflower set Kitekit down beside Kindleflame, who was staring at where Heatherdawn had been in horror. The queen wanted to move to comfort her mate, but she found herself just curling around Kitekit and Wisteriakit, sniffling as she tried to protect them from the dust.

Whispermist stared at the scene in horror, gathering Coalpaw close to him and keeping him close. “Oh my SoulClan...”

Tigerstorm stared around, before turning and looking at the leader in horror.

Emberpaw wrapped his tail around Willowpaw and sighed shakily. "I don't know, everyone starting running out of camp and it was so dusty, I couldn't see a thing." he explained to the best of his ability, perking his ears at the sound of Scorchthicket's voice. He lowered his head and picked at the soil beneath his paws, too horrified to speak up.

Robinstar ran into camp after she nearly collapsed on the way. Once she saw the cliff falling, her home collapsing, she ran as fast as she could. That wasn’t very fast and she wasn’t very good at running, so she ran out of air multiple times, but she was here now. “What happened?” she called, eyes wide as she caught the end of Emberpaw’s sentence. “Oh, SoulClan, is anybody still in there?” Without waiting for a reply, she ran in to try and make sure everybody was out.

Adderfang looked up as Robinstar stumbled in front of him and offered one last sympathetic glance to Riverswoop before padding to his leader and dipping his head respectfully. "We lost Heatherdawn," he meowed softly, flattening his ears to his head. "I think she's the only one."

Riverswoop nodded, his eyes squeezed shut. "She...she saved her kits," he mewed weakly.

Firefall had spotted no one near her to save, dust coming into her view and blocking her vision temporarily. She hadn’t had a chance to notice what happened to Heatherdawn, nor the pieces of rubble flying down on the camp. A few pieces of rocks, bigger than normal, came flying down at her. They hit her in her side, and on her head, knocking her unconscious and now laying in the dirt cloud.

Fallowpaw spotted her siblings and rushed to join them, winding around and purring. "Thank SoulClan you're all okay!" she cried.

"We need to get away from the camp," Coldfoot mewed to Tulipsnow, his voice wheezy, "The more dust we breath in the more sick cats will get."

Tulipsnow's eyes were wide. "But the herbs...everything...." she stared at the destruction.

Sootpaw padded up with his father, shaking slightly.

Tigerstorm stared towards camp, seeing Firefall collapse under the rocks. Energy pushing him forwards, he raced towards her. He managed to get to Firefall, grabbing her pelt and dragging her to the entrance of camp to get her out. He placed her on the ground, feeling a sting of pain over his eye. He ignored it in favour of checking Firefall over. "Coldfoot!"
He yelled, calling over the medicine cat, before feeling his shoulder start throbbing. He looked at it, seeing blood cover it, however, he ignored it.

"We can always get new herbs," he mewed, voice hoarse, looking towards Tigerstorm. He stumbled towards the deputy, struggling to see through the clouds of dust.

Tigerstorm coughed because of the dust, his eyes watering and closing as he couldn't see. "Firefall is injured. Rocks hit her..." He paused, having a coughing fit. "Head... I think." He said, shaking. His shoulder is throbbing as well as his eye, however he decided to ignore it for the more important injury.

"We need to get away from the rockslide before I can treat her." he mewed decisively.

Tigerstorm nodded, coughing harshly as he tried to drag her again, away from camp, however, he dropped her with a yell as he put pressure on his leg and shoulder. "Mouse-brain..." He told himself, looking towards his shoulder.

Robinstar looked around, eyes wide. She was walking through the camp, trying to see if anybody else was injured when she noticed a few rocks falling where she was. With a slight yelp she ran out of the way, and in the moment she relaxed and stopped a smaller rock came flying and hit her on the head, somehow killing her instantly. Guess that’s another one.

Coldfoot awkwardly hoisted Firefall onto his shoulder, struggling under her weight, and walked toward the exit of camp.

Tigerstorm immediately felt bad for the medicine cat having to hold Firefall. He moved towards the medicine cat, standing and helping hold some weight on his non sore shoulder. He still felt the shoulder burn in pain.

Riverswoop shook himself out of his shock, padding over to his mate and kits and helping them move.