@ranchclan Get Over Here So I Can Make Fun Of Your Cats, Too

Moon 2

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“Moonpaw, wake up. We have to keep moving. Moonpaw.” 

Moonpaw mrrps in sleepy protest as she's jostled awake by her brother's paw digging insistently into her shoulder. She cracks one bleary eye open, momentarily disoriented by her surroundings. 

Right. They’re not at home. They don't have a home.

She stands, stiff from sleeping on bark, her muscles protesting as she arches her back and stretches her legs. The sun that slots into their log from an opening at the top paints the inside in streaks of rich reds and browns, so different from the cool, smooth stone she’s used to waking up to. She misses her moss nest fiercely in that moment, the weight of her grief threatening to overwhelm her, but she forces the feeling away with a shake of her head. There is no comfortable, warm nest for her to return to. Not now, not ever, and she needs to move on.

“Coming,” she mumbles sleepily, rubbing a paw against her eyes as Fogpaw turns and ducks out of the log. “How'd you sleep?” She stumbles out into the sunlight and shivers in the weak, earling morning newleaf air.

“I've certainly slept better,” Fogpaw mews, licking a paw and drawing it over one of his ears. “Best not to dwell on it. Breakfast first.”

Moonpaw nods, padding after Fogpaw as he weaves through the sparse mountain pines. She opens her mouth, scenting for prey, and sets her ears on a swivel to better hone in on the skittering of small paws through the bed of fallen pine needles that soften the cats' footfalls.

The breeze drifts the scent of mouse towards Moonpaw and her tail flicks up in excitement. She shoots a look Fogpaw's way and he nods and veers off in another direction, allowing her this hunt to chase his own prey.

Creeping forward, the words of her former mentor rings in her ears. Keep your paws light. Even so much as a scattered pebble will alert your catch to your presence. She never was able to complete her training and earn her warrior name, she thinks with a pang, but files that sadness away for later. She has enough information to know how to hunt, and she and Fogpaw will have plenty of time to practice now.

The mouse she's stalking shows itself, leaping onto the root of a tree, little whiskers twitching. Moonpaw waggles her haunches, preparing to launch herself at it, but as she leaps she slips on the loose pine needles underfoot and falls short of her catch. The mouse darts away and she lunges forward, hoping to snag it with a claw as it escapes, but it's too far from her outstretched paws and disappears into a hole in the ground.

“Star-damned trees,” Moonpaw growls to herself and sits back with a huff, her tail tip twitching. “Hunting on the mountain was so much easier.”

Prey continues to evade her for the rest of the afternoon. Squirrels run up trees, voles dive for cover under the leaf litter, and one particularly annoying chase after a songbird ends with Moonpaw landing in a puddle of mud.

She screeches with disgust, the bird long gone, and drags herself out of the mud to shake her fur. Her nose wrinkles in disgust at the state of her pelt. This is going to take ages to clean out of her white fur. Hopefully, Fogpaw is faring better with his hunt.

She follows her brother's scent trail to find him laden with mice, pawfuls of them at his feet. As he glances up and makes eye contact with her, the corner of his muzzle ticks up in amusement. “Rough hunt?”

“Do. Not,” Moonpaw huffs, eyeing his sleek, clean coat enviously. She drops herself next to him in a patch of sunlight and begins to groom her coat. Between mouthfuls of fur, she says, “we need to find someplace else on the territory to stay. This is no place for a mountain cat to settle.” She darts a pointed look at his small mountain of prey. “Except for you, maybe.”

Fogpaw mrrps a laugh and pushes a mouse towards her. “You can have some. I caught plenty.” He settles onto his paws and helps Moonpaw clear the mud from her fur. “I agree, though. I think we should look around the rockier places of our territory until we find a place that could work as a new camp.”

“A whole camp?” Moonpaw says doubtfully, tongue paused in her grooming. “I could settle for a couple of safe hollows in a rock. What do we need a whole camp for?”

“Rebuilding NimbusClan, of course.”

“Oh, Fogpaw–”

“No, Moon, seriously. I don't want to spend the rest of our days as rogues. I want–” he falters, eyeing her hesitantly before continuing. “I've always wanted a family, one like ours. Mom and Dad and us, it just… made me so happy, you know? I want that for myself one day.” He casts his eyes away from her, his shoulders hiking up around his ears, and Moonpaw knows he’s fighting back tears.

Moonpaw smiles gently at Fogpaw, her own eyes misting a little. “It made me happy too, Fogpaw. Makes me happy. They're watching over us in StarClan, I'm sure of it.” She curls her tail reassuringly over his back. 

“I'm sure they are,” He murmurs, resting his head against hers. “I miss them.”

“I miss them, too.”

They sit that way for a while, purring softly with each other as the newleaf breeze plays over their fur. Eventually, they tuck into the mice Fogpaw caught, and then curl together to take a nap in the sunshine.

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---

(Okay so yes I know moons are months and so far the timeline of the fic portions doesn’t exactly line up with that, but bear with me for the sake of storytelling purposes)

Refs for the recently introduced StarClan cats!

Pitchstar (dead): Tom, senior, bronze eyes, rosette pattern, short fur. Leader, formerly apprenticed Fogpaw. Charismatic, good speaker, clever. 147m (in life).

Frostcrest (dead): She-cat, adult, copper eyes, sokoke coat, short fur. Warrior, loyal, good kitsitter. Mother of Moonpaw and Fogpaw. 70m (in life).

moon 16 part 1.

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Moon 3 - Part 3

you take a load off, annie (and you put the load right on me)

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Moon 8

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Halfway around the world lies the one thing that you want

Buried in the ground, hundreds of miles down

Fogfreckle hasn’t stopped shuffling around since sundown. Moonstar may not have her eyes open, nose tucked firmly into her tail, but she can tell that he hasn’t stopped moving because the constant shff shff sound of him shifting around in his nest is driving her to madness. 

Willing sleep to come just a little bit faster, Moonstar flattens her ears as close to her head as she can get them and fluffs her tail up against her face. 

Shff, shff.

Fed up, Moonstar uncurls her tail from her face and sits bolt upright, mouth open to shout at her brother to just lay still already, but Fogfreckle cuts her off by springing quite suddenly to his paws. Having not seen him do much more than curl in a ball for two entire moons, the sight shocks Moonstar into stillness. 

“I can’t,” he meows into the darkness. “I can’t do it. I’m not going to suffocate in this– this– cave for another heartbeat. I’m going hunting.”

Moonstar’s annoyance flees from her immediately, like a mouse slipping from her claws. “Wait–” She scrambles to her paws, panic overtaking her as Fogfreckle reaches around to grab the edge of his cobweb wrappings in his teeth. “Wait, don’t! You can’t– what if your wounds open back up–”

With a wild tug, Fogfreckle rips at his cobwebs, pulling the sticky strands away from his fur. He keeps going, yanking at them, agitation and annoyance etched in the sharp lines of his thin limbs. Moonstar reaches for him, attempts to get him to stop, and Fogfreckle spins around with his hackles fluffed out and swipes at her. Narrowly dodging the reach of his claws, Moonstar gasps, retreating.

For a heartbeat, both cats stare at each other, tension thick in the air between them.

“Stop treating me like I’m a helpless kit,” Fogfreckle spits, torn cobwebs hanging from his jaws. They lay tattered against his white fur in shredded strands. “I’m fine! I don’t need you to– to play medicine cat at me! Don’t tell me what I can and can’t do!”

His words sweep against Moonstar like a cliffside gust, the hurt they bring almost physically pushing her back. “I… I…” Several emotions cycle through her in the space of a single heartbeat, until it finally settles into a pulsing anger that crackles over her pelt like lightning. “I’m only trying to help! I’m looking out for you– we only have each other, in case you’ve forgotten,” she snaps, voice nasty, horrible satisfaction welling within her as the words strike her brother and he recoils. “We left the rest of our family behind, buried under a landslide!”

“As if I could forget!” Fogfreckle explodes. His reflective eyes are almost as sharp as the claws he’s sinking into the earth. “I can’t– I was useless to help them, and I’ve been useless for moons to help you, letting you go out on your own every day, when I’m the only one left who can keep you safe!” 

All of the anger rushes out of Moonstar, fast as a roaring river, as she stares at her brother, heart shattering. 

“I’m just–” he continues, yowls bouncing off of the boulders around them. “Sitting around in this dark hole, doing nothing from sunrise to sunset, wasting time we could be using to find a new camp and you– if something happened– I could lose you, too– Moonstar, I wouldn’t even know–” Fogfreckle breaks off on a hiccuping sob, voice losing its volume as it takes on a shaky quality and he ducks his head, hiding his pained expression from his sister.

Moonstar stares at her brother’s shaking shoulders. Guilt claws at her insides for the words she spat at her brother, the memory of her lost Clanmates sitting like a stone in her throat.

“Fogfreckle… I can handle myself,” Moonstar mews quietly. “I can handle both of us! Look at me,” she says, gesturing to herself with a sweep of her tail. “I’m here, aren’t I? I’m fine! I’ve been hunting for us for moons and I’m fine. You’re the one that’s hurting, and I’m– you need to let me take care of you sometimes, too.”

After a heartbeat of silence, Fogfreckle mews with a wet, broken voice, “you’re an awful excuse for a hunter. But,” he adds, flicking his eyes towards her, “you’re a pretty good sister.”

A bubble of incredulous laughter escapes Moonstar before she can stop it. She can’t even be mad about the hunting bit – he’s right. She hopes he’s right about the sister part, too. She butts her head against her brother’s with a purr.

“I’m supposed to protect you,” Fogfreckle whispers.

“Where did you get that from? We protect each other. I’m sorry for fussing over you so much, just–” Moonstar releases a huff of breath and sits back heavily on her haunches. Her tail swishes the ground. She waits until Fogfreckle sits across from her with a shaky sigh. “I worry about you, too. It doesn’t make you any less brave to need help. I worry about you because I care about you– not because I think you can’t deal with it on your own. Not because I think you’re weak.” Fogfreckle’s mouth twists into a grimace as he casts his eyes to the side, avoiding Moonstar’s gaze. A weak smile lifts the corner of her muzzle. She’ll never get her brother to admit out loud how much stress he puts on himself trying to stay responsible for the both of them, but she knows now. She knows.

She pushes herself to her paws and gestures at Fogfreckle with her tail. “Well, we’re not getting any sleep now. You’re seriously up for hunting?”

Clearly relieved at being rescued from having to talk about his feelings in any further detail, Fogfreckle twists around to pull the remaining shreds of cobwebbing from his back. He licks his fur into place, carefully covering the freshly healed pink marks of where the eagle had sunk its talons into him. “I can hunt. It doesn’t even look that bad anymore, see?”

Moonstar smiles. Thank StarClan she doesn’t have to do a botch job wrapping him with fresh cobwebs anymore; she’s really not cut out for it. 

With a stretch, she pads from under the boulders, pleased beyond relief that they won’t have to spend another night under these suffocating press of rocks. “Let’s go hunting, then.”

///

Don't ever forget, We haven't lost it all, yet.

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Moon 26 teaser, drawn on stream today <3

Aaaaa, he looks so adorable in your style!! Thank you so much for drawing my boy, he's BEAUTIFUL ✨✨✨

thanks for the suggestions, sry I couldn't get all of them!! it was fun (and needed) to flex my drawing muscles a bit with very different kinds of characters. The characters are

Wingstep from @splinterclan

Clownwish from @circus-clangen

Sparrowtuft from @featherclan

Bugstar from @cricketclangen

Fogfreckle from @nimbusclan

Coldpaw from @ranchclan

A Discord for the ClanGen Community!

Hiya friends! @boughclan-clangen, @direclan, @ranchclan and I got together and, with a lot of love and brainstorming, created the ✨CLANGEN CREATOR COMMUNITY DISCORD!✨

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There's no barrier to entry - anyone who loves ClanGen blogs can join! We hope to see all of your twitching whiskers and waving tails over there. :3

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dang it tide

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✨ What is their relationship with StarClan like? For Fogfreckle! <3

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