WaterClan | Camp

The WaterClan camp is a small island in the middle of the river that goes though their territory. It has plenty of plants that shelter it from most of the worst weather. A large, strangely smoothed tree trunk lays across one side of the camp, while the other is made of large boulders.
Warriors and apprentices den: Two large hollows inside the boulder wall, with the ground made of hard packed dirt.
Leaders den: The hollow inside the Fallentree
Medicine Cat den: The other end of the rocky wall with a wide clearing inside. Plenty of small nooks and crannies keep the herbs off the ground, and a slightly deeper area hides the nests.
Elders den: the other end of the Fallentree, where the branches are intertwined into a hollow that keeps out the wind and rain.
Nursery: A large bush with thick leaves that keep it warm when leaf-bare comes. There is soft dirt inside and outside there is nice plants, soft grass, and soft dirt.

Turtlestar laid at the entrance of her den, surveying the cats around her. Seeing her Clanmates living out their lives, hauling fish around and sharing tongues with each other, gave her a spark of happiness. She scanned the crowd, considering her options for tonight's gathering. She wasn't sure why, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something was off.

Sharktooth padded into camp with his hunting patrol, setting two fat trout on the pile and stepping back as he noticed Turtlestar watching them. "Evening," he greeted her with a gentle purr as he padded over.

"Evening," she mewed, "Good hunting today by the looks of it?"

Autumnsky flicked her ears back, twitching her tail while her eyes followed the movements of the other cats. With a sigh, she rose to her paws, turning and padding back into the medicine den. She sorted through the stocked herbs carefully, nodding along to herself as she went through an internal checklist. 

Fogpaw trotted in alongside his mentor rather happily, flicking his tail about behind him with an air of arrogance surrounding him.

Sharktooth snorted. "If Fogpaw would learn to swim a little more elegantly it might have gone better," he nudged his apprentice slightly.

Lilyshadow walked into camp, head held high as she returns from a hunt. She had only decided to do a small hunt today, allowing time for the morning patrol, which she had joined.

Fogpaw snorted, loudly. "I swim just fine! You were splashing about so noisily," he retorted, tone giving away the lack of meaning behind the statement. He plopped down, curling his tail around his paws.

Turtlestar purred. "I'm sure you're both great swimmers," she mewed as though she were talking to her kits, "What did you catch Fogpaw?"

Fogpaw ducked his head, his ears heating with embarrassment. "I managed to catch a decent sized trout! Though I could've caught more if I hadn't messed up. They got away."

"Wow!" she mewed in an encouraging tone, "This early in leaffall? They usually arrive later, you must have gotten one of the quicker swimmers!"

Fogpaw dragged one of his paws against the ground, his ears heating up further. "Must have been. I was just lucky really." Normally the apprentice would've been bragging, but being acknowledged by the leader had him humbling.

Brindlestorm padded into camp not long after Sharktooth and his patrol. She had went out hunting by herself for a bit and was now carrying a nicely sized trout. She dropped it off at the pile and went to Turtlestar and her fellow deputy. She waved her tail in greeting, sitting down licking a few spots of fur on her chest.

Sharktooth purred at his apprentice, then looked back at the leader. “I know there’s a gathering tonight but we definitely need to take advantage of this prey while we can. I might send out an extra patrol tomorrow?”

Turtlestar nodded, "We need to fish at the ponds before they freeze over," she mewed.

Sunshadow limped into the medicine den, holding his paw up in pain. He winced at the feeling, looking up toward Autumnsky. "Autumnsky? Can you see if there's something in my paw? I fell off a rock and scratched my pad, and I think I got something stuck in there while I was walking back. It's hard to see."

Autumnsky looked up from the batch of tansy she'd been sorting through, blinking slowly at her apprentice. "Of course, Sunshadow," she purred, rising to small paws. She nudged him further into the medicine den, mewing, "Let me see."

Sunshadow whimpered in pain as he was nudged further, taking a seat down inside the shade of the cave and licking his paw again in frustration. "I hate being half-blind." His paw was bleeding lightly, some of it already scabbing over.

Thundersong yawned loudly, letting his mouth hang open. He raised a paw to his eyes to rub the sleepiness out of them as he continued to paw at and fix his bedding in the warrior den. He hissed. "Mouse-brained apprentices. Sticking thorns in my bedding," his hostility wasn't real though, as he continued to walk outside and glance over at the apprentice den as normal to make sure everything was okay.

Sharktooth nodded. "I'll discuss it with Brindlestorm next sunrise," he dipped his head, then turned to Fogpaw. "Take something to eat, the Gathering will be busy tonight I feel."

"We all have some type of weakness, Sunshadow," Autumnsky mewed, inspecting his paw for a good few moments before retreating to the herb storage. "It doesn't look like there's anything in it other than some blood. Marigold and sorrel are all that's needed." She plucked up a marigold and a softer leaf of sorrel. Chewing them into a poultice, she wrapped some cobwebs around her paw, then made her way back to Sunshadow. The poultice was spit onto a nearby leaf, and she gently applied it to his paw. "Sorry if it stings, but it'll help." Once the cobwebs were wrapped around his paw, she stepped back.

Fogpaw nodded and plucked up one of the smaller trout, darting off to eat by the apprentice den. His tail waved about happily behind him as he settled down to eat.

Brindlestorm, after having cleaned her fur a bit, wondered what to do for the time being. She didn’t have an apprentice to train right now, but needed to stretch her legs more than she did while hunting. She glanced over to her leader and fellow deputy, starting to think of who would go to the gathering tonight.

Lilyshadow looked up from where she was grooming her grey fur, smiling at Thundersong as he emerged from his den. “Afternoon, sleepyhead.” She mused, touching his shoulder with her nose in greeting.

Turtlestar nodded to Sharktooth and trotted to the freshkill pile, selecting a small carp from the pile and bringing it to a flat boulder near the apprentice's den, her favorite place to eat ever since she was young.

Thundersong grumbled happily in greeting, burying his face in the smaller cat's fur. "I feel so old. It's only mid-afternoon yet I'm so tired." He pulled his head away to look her in the eyes. "Maybe we should go hunting tomorrow, after the gathering."

Sunshadow scrunched up his face, but when she was done wrapping his paw, he could already tell it was getting better. His face lightened up. "Thanks Autumnsky!" he chirped. "Can I help sorting? It's really hot out in the sun."

Autumnsky gave an amused purr, but nodded to the tom. "We need to go out and collect more borage tomorrow," she mewed, curling her tail around her paws. "And catmint. We'll want as much of that as we can get before Leafbare hits us." She carefully stacked the tansy she'd been sorting before, sliding it back into place.

“Maybe if you got a better nights sleep that wouldn’t happen.” Lilyshadow started, eyes softening as she looks at the other cat. “That’d be a good idea, let’s just hope we don’t get put on patrols.”

Thundersong mumbled a happy "Yeah!" into her fur, nuzzling her because he liked the soft feeling of her fur. "How are you feeling about the gathering?"

Sunshadow nodded and started re-sorting the piles of herbs. "We might need to gather some more Coltsfoot before winter too. Kitten-cough is scary... I'm scared of the little ones suffering." he mumbled, setting the dwindling (but neat) stack of Coltsfoot leaves back where they belong. "I'm honestly just scared of leaf-bare in general."

Lilyshadow paused, her eyes seeking out Turtlestar. “I don’t know if I’ll even be going. I’m fine with that, I like taking care of apprentices and kits. But the gathering is very useful to talk to the other cats in the clans.” She muttered, smiling at Thundersong.

Sharktooth stretched, digging his claws into the ground to try and get rid of the ache in his shoulder, even now still sore from when he injured it in the Great Battle. Stupid rogues, he sighed, looking around and spotting Flowerbrook. "Hi," he purred gently at his littermate.

Flowerbrook perked her ears up, lifting her head from her paws and returning her brother's purr. "Hey. How was hunting?" She questioned softly, rising to her paws and padding closer to him.

Autumnsky nodded in agreement. "Seeing kits suffer is definitely not something I enjoy. Leafbare can be a scary time indeed, but we will manage," she mewed, stretching out and parting her jaws around a yawn.

"Pretty good. Fogpaw's getting better at not scaring away the fish," Sharktooth's whiskers twitched in amusement. "I might take him swimming on the reef before it gets too cold."

Mossybrook stretched out her paws, muttering to herself about having a nap on the day of the gathering. She walked up to Thundersong and Lilyshadow, greeting the two with a simple "Evening".

Thundersong smiled at Mossybrook before frowning at Lilyshadow. "I hate apprentices!! They're annoying and smelly." He scrunched up his nose, before looking up thoughtfully. "Actually kits are okay. I might want some of my own one day." He winked at her lightly. "I don't wanna go to the gathering if you can't come with meeee."

"Thundersong, what will you do when you're a mentor?" Mossybrook asked, with a hint of a purr

Thundersong scrunched up his face again. "I'll pawn it back off to Turtlestar and probably get Spiderleap to deal with it. He's a weird one."

Flowerbrook purred and nodded, licking her paw and rasping it over her ear. "That's a good idea. Any practice helps, after all." She glanced over towards Fogpaw, who was happily munching on the fish he'd picked out. "Seems he worked up quite the appetite."

Snailnose padded from the nursery to look for Perchcloud, hoping to pawn off babysitting duty to her mate so she could eat her dinner in peace.

Lilyshadow nudged Thundersong with her nose. “I saw that, Thundersong.” She said, before smiling. “I’d love an apprentice! Imagine, guiding that little soul until it becomes a warrior!”
She paused, her eyes seeking out the nursery. Her eyes seemed to grow thoughtful as she looked at the nursery. “I’d love kits one day, Thundersong, however, not so close to leaf-bare. Having kits near leaf-bare will be a disaster.” She pauses again, before nudging him. “And stop being so silly! If I’m not going to the gathering, you are still going if Turtlestar wants you to.”

Thundersong pouted lightly, squinting and running a paw down his face. "SoulClan help me if you abandon me," he groaned, laying down and resting his head on his paws. "The gathering's gonna be weird with the new leaders. I wonder what's gonna happen."

Sunshadow looked up at Autumnsky thoughtfully, before looking outside of the den. "Turtlestar should be calling a meeting soon."

Mossybrook just stood there in absolute confusion, "Is he okay?" she questioned to Lilyshadow, flicking her tail

Lilyshadow smiled at Mossybrook, before touching her nose to Thundersong. “I won’t abandon you for an apprentice. But always remember, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.” She muttered, before smiling. “I can’t wait to see the new leaders!”

Turtlestar finished her meal then trotted to the Fallentree, clambering up the roots and standing at its highest point so she could see all her Clanmates.
"Let all cats old enough to swim the Deep Swamp gathering beneath the Fallentree for a Clan meeting!" she called.

Mossybrook flicked her tail "I hope we get to go" she purred, slightly nervous

Lilyshadow paused, nudging Thundersong towards Turtlestar as she stood. “Come on you two!” She said, including Mossybrook into the conversation.

Willowstreak stood, walking towards her mother.

Flowerbrook parted from her brother with an affectionate nudge, sitting beside Lilythroat and curling her tail around her paws. 

Autumnsky blinked slowly, gesturing for Sunshadow to follow as she padded out of the medicine den, sitting slightly closer to the Fallentree.

Fogpaw gulped down the rest of his trout and hurried over to the gathering cats, sitting down and going quiet.

Sharktooth's ears pricked, and he gently flicked his sister's shoulder as he padded past, walking up to sit beside Brindlestorm. 

Perchcloud padded into camp just in time, pelt wet from the river but shaking herself off in the corner before putting her prey down and padding over too.

Sunshadow's ears perked at the call, padding out of the medicine den without putting his weight on his injured paw. He sat down next to Autumnsky, smiling.

Thundersong laughed and sat down next to Lilyshadow.

Spiderleap was already sitting next to the Fallentree.

Brindlestorm went to sit under Turtlestar, curling her tail over her paws as Sharktooth sat beside her. She looked out to her fellow clanmates, awaiting her leader’s words.

"As you all should know, the gathering is tonight," Turtlestar called, eyes scanning the clearing. "Sharktooth, Brindlestorm, Autumnsky, Sunshadow, Perchcloud, Lilyshadow, Willowstreak, Spiderleap, Mossybrook, Turtletail, and Fogpaw will be attending with me. The rest of you will keep watch over camp. Everyone attending, make sure you eat and are well rested! If you would prefer to stay home tell me before we leave."

Sunshadow in excitement. He blinked to Autumnsky with happiness lacing his tone. "Yess! Autumnsky! My first gathering as a senior medicine-cat apprentice!" he whispered eagarly, tail flicking back and fourth.

Spiderleap stared up at Turtlestar, smiling lightly.

Thundersong smiled at Lilyshadow. "A gathering, huh? Terrorize some FrostClan cats for me, will ya?" he joked lightly, gently placing his large paw on top of hers. "Let's eat something before you guys leave."