Surprise! 8D

[. s p o r e l e t t ♪]

Finchstep was getting tired by the time she and the other loners neared the WindClan camp. Carrying the wounded kit was getting extremely tiring, but she had only stopped to rest a couple times, just to rest her jaws for a moment and to check to make sure that the kit was okay. Looking back at the loners, she made sure that the white queen was still carrying the other kit. Since the white and tortoiseshell kitten seemed to be faring no worse than the other, Finchstep blinked relievedly as she waved her tail to beckon the other cats into camp. She was wary of allowing outsiders a view of WindClan's inner sanctum, but the safety of the two kits was more important right now. Padding through the gorse into the clearing, Finchstep set the fluffy grey kit down in the middle of camp and began licking its fur. "RUSSETFANG!" she bawled, probably startling the wits of any cat unwary enough to be sitting nearby. "Kit-kit," she cooed, bending back down to the little grey bundle. The small tabby simply continued to lick the kitten as she waited for the medicine cat to appear.

[hedgie]

Snowy padded into camp after Finchstep, keeping close to the tabby she-cat. Her eyes were wide, the pretty blue color filled with nervous fear. She hadn't been in any sort of Clan setting for so long. She held onto Tawnykit, thankful that the poor kit wouldn't be bounced around anymore.

She vaugely noticed the red splotch on her chest where the kit's face had hit her on every step, the red contrasting sharply against her snow white pelt. "C'mon.."she muttered throught the she-kit's fur. "I want to get out of here. Someone might recognize me....Oh no." She dipped her head and closed her eyes half-way, hoping no one would even faintly recognize her. This might not be the Clan she'd come from, but she'd gone to Gatherings and was a hard cat to forget.

[Ki]

Duskkit was, once again, nearly asleep. She was brought back to full conciousness by the licks and cooes of the WindClan she-cat. Duskkit opened her dark green eyes and stared out at the camp around her. It was protected from the wind, at least. It was beginning to make her cold. It seemed some of the deepest wounds had stopped bleeding as heavily. But there was still pain in her chest whenever she breathed too deeply. She closed her eyes again, exhausted. Had her Clan noticed they were missing? Were they worried? Were they looking for them? Was Tawnykit alright? Too many questions, not enough energy to make them form into words. Or listen to the answers, for that matter. All she knew was that she was safe. WindClan would take care of them.

Maybe I can sleep. she thought exhaustedly.

((*randomly throws in Smokepaw*))

Smokepaw had returned to camp a little early. He and Maplepaw had fun, but it was simply too hot to run around the territory. But they could always go to camp and sun bathe until their mentors took them out to train. He was laying in front of the apprentice den, licking his paws, when he heard a sharp yowl. Smokepaw felt a surprised jolt go through his body, his fur bristling. Once he recognized the yowl as Finchstep he relaxed. Until he smell kit blood and ShadowClan. Smokepaw jumped to his paws and padded over. He kept a good distance away, however, to give the kits some air. What were ShadowClan kits doing out here? Why were they hurt like this? Smokepaw looked at another cat, who seemed somewhat familiar. But where from?

[Kitty]

She might've not been supposed to come, but Flowersky had followed anyway, stalking along behind her mother and sulking at the fact that she'd had to cross a Clan border - WindClan's, even worse - but the WindClan se-cat seemed mentally unstable enough. And in all honesty, the young she-cat couldn't just leave her adoptive mother to a brother-stealing Clan. Some of the cats definitely weren't going to be happy about Snowy being there in their camp, and Flowersky hadn't wanted to make her go through that alone.

And besides, maybe she'd see Bracken (her mind informed her that he was Brackenpaw now, but she refused to listen) again. As much as she hated to admit it, she hoped that he'd recognize her. Then he could come join her out in the wild, living like a loner. He was a loner after all, just as much as she was. But of course, if she was going off of heritage, she was WindClan as much as he. But there was no way she was going to join these brother-stealing, kit-leaving, flea-ridden cats. Of course, the kit-leaving seemed to have changed in the twelve moons she'd been alive.

The calico cast anxious glances around her. Hopefully none of these cats recognized Snowy...that would be disastrous.

[☆ Y e l l o w ☆]

October followed behind Snowy, his wary blue gaze flying around wildly as he looked around the Clan camp. The scents of countless cats flooded him at once and he felt crowded in and pressured. He wasn't used to this. How could they live with so many always so close and no time to themselves? Maybe they all really were crazy. That would explain the WindClan she-cat.

He cast a sideways glance at Flowersky, wondering what she was thinking. She had some kind of connection to WindClan, that much he knew. She appeared every bit as anxious and uneasy as he. October heard his mother's quiet voice and he looked at her. They were going to leave already? They might as well. Cats were already starting to appear and give them strange looks. An uneasy feeling came over him.

A hiss escaped the throat of the WindClan warrior as he witnessed Finchstep entering camp. Of course he wasn't hissing at his Clan mate, but at the cats with her. His keen nose picked up the scent of ShadowClan and a strange non-Clan scent that could only belong to a loner. Harewhisker stood up and stalked over to where Finchstep was crouched over a kit, curling his lip. "What's going on here? Why did you bring strangers here?" He probably should have known better than to question Finchstep, as it was unlikely she would give him an understandable response. He knew that by now. His light tabby fur bristling at the thought of her waltzing into camp with loners and ShadowClan cats with her, Harewhisker's eyes flicked to the three other cats, two she-cats and a young tom the age of an apprentice.

((Longflower's gonna be one that recognizes Snowy. Kay? Kay.))

Longflower poked her head from the warriors' den at the sound of sudden comotion in the clearing. Her eyes widened at the sight and she quickly took action, pulling herself fully out of the den and bounding over to where Harewhisker was confronting Finchstep. With one sniff she confirmed that the two kits were ShadowClan and were in bad shape by the blood-scent that clung to them. Looking concerned but not saying anything, she simply waited for someone to say something. But something about one of the cats took her notice. The white she-cat was very familiar. She had no Clan-scent on her but Longflower thought she had seen her before. Less than a few seasons ago. ...Snowstep?

Sandkit peeked out of the nursery and let out a high-pitched gasp. This was gonna be good! She squirmed back inside and made her voice an urgent whisper. "Hurry, come out! There are strange cats in camp!" she mewed to any of the kits who would care to come out with her. She wouldn't let something interesting like this pass. Sandkit wriggled out of the nursery and creeped closer, trying to get a good look at the newcomers but other cats were blocking the view. She stood up tall on the tips of her paws and tried to look.

[. s p o r e l e t t ♪]

Streamkit had been dreaming of a nice, fat rabbit when Sandkit's call cut through her thoughts. She watched with disappointment as the rabbit hopped away, though it wasn't as if she was big enough to catch it by herself yet. She wondered, as she blinked sleepily awake, if she would ever be big enough to catch rabbits. She knew she would grow eventually, but right now she just felt so small. Looking around, the little she-cat let Sandkit's words sink in. Strange cats in camp? That sure was strange. Her curiosity warred with her caution for a moment as she wondered whether it was safe to go outside and look, but after a glance at Shadowkit she decided that she would wait for now. They couldn't all go outside... and if Shadowkit decided that she didn't want to go, then Streamkit wouldn't go either.



At the sound of Sandkit's sharp meow, Spottedkit, who had been sleeping only lightly since it was so late in the morning, blinked rapidly awake and glanced around the nursery. "Strange what?" he mewed with surprise, and hopped to his paws to pursue his sister. Whatever was going on outside sounded interesting. Slipping out of the protective bramble walls and bounding over to where Sandkit was trying to see over the adult cats, he raised his head in an attempt to catch a glimpse of what was happening. "Something smells weird!" he blinked, sniffing the air. "Are the cats from another Clan, do you think?"

Crouching protectively over the dusky grey kit, Finchstep cast a suspicious glance at Harewhisker. "Back away," she hissed clearly. "A warriors can not Russetfang. Swamp kits have to Russetfang." Squinting distrustfully at all the cats who were gathering, and noticing that none of them were the medicine cat, Finchstep picked up the grey kit and scooted closer to the white loner in order to be closer to the other kit as well. Just because the cat had been willing to carry the kit back to camp didn't mean she trusted her not to do something sneaky.

Other cats... you can't trust them. You never know what they'll do.

Yes, yes, the voice had a point. Finchstep glared at any nearby warriors as she waited for Russetfang to finally arrive. She didn't trust him either, but she didn't know what to do for the kits. And kits were different, yes they were. Kits were innocent, uncorrupted. The small tabby wished that they could remain kits forever, so they never had to grow up and become sneaky, distrustful adult cats. Noting the kits who had crept out of the nursery to watch, she aimed her

(crazy)

stare at them and offered a

(crazy)

smile. Yes, kits were alright. Finchstep liked kits.

OoC// *Hides all her kits* Just... just you keep away, Finchstep... You weirdo...

[froststream]

Tawnykit smelled a Clan, that much she knew. As she painfully inhaled, she could identify it as Thunder - No, wait - WindClan. Of course, she should've known. She buried herself into Snowy's fur, trembling a little. She couldn't really see, as her vision was fogged and hazy, and everything she could make out was in grayscale. She heard cats gasping, sensed them approaching. She gazed her unseeing pale blue eyes pleadingly at them, and then started to get so tired, and so cold... If this was death, she'd take it. But if this was sleep she'd welcome it.

Maplepaw bounded in after Smokepaw, the fur on her chin still damp from her drink. She flickered her green gaze at the Camp, then, satisfied all was well, sat down in the shade of the apprentice den. She wanted a nap badly, but knew better than to be lazy. So she sort of sat in a half-conscious state, until she heard it.

Funny, that was, how she heard the loners before seeing or scenting them. But once she heard footsteps, her senses kicked in and she smelled several cats. Two were kits, and they smelled like blood and fear. Others seemed to be loners, and she saw them soon. Two were young, maybe around her age, and the white one was older, and seemed vaguely familiair. She couldn't place her, though, and turned her attention to the kits. All that escaped her mouth was a muffled "Oh!"

Brackenpaw was bringing in his prey. His broad body under his dark brown fur shone as he quicly dropped a pale grey rabbit into the pile. He glanced at Smokepaw and Maplepaw. He remembered her when she was a scrappy, sickly newborn. He also remembered Smokepaw, from the comforting nursery. He was three moons old when Graysong died. He remembered being sad, as he had loved her as a Clan-Member, but he hadn't gotten to know her that much and felt very guilty, as she had seemed like a very nice cat and spoke to him kindly.

His thoughst snapped back into reality as he sensed the intruders. Whipping his powerful head around, he narrowed his eyes at some strange, mysterious loners. He felt a yowl and hiss rising, his lip curling into a snarl. He started, but when he saw the kits his jaw nearly dropped. What were these weird loners doing with bloody kits? And why was crazy old Finchstep carrying one? He knew she was a bit... Out there, but he didn't think she was crazy enough to hurt a kit. And she seemed genuinely concerned. At first he thought she might've killed one and forgotten, but that was a stretch, even for Finchstep.

His gaze flickered at the loners again, and his gaze fell on a young, beautiful calico she cat. His breath stopped, then resumed. Where did he know her from... Her beauty was something he remembered, and her eyes seemed to bring back memories.. He shook his head, took his mind back from the clouds, and trotted towards them, pelt bristling.

[Ki]

Duskkit's mind was hazy. She was somewhere between being awake and being asleep. She knew that they were in WindClan now. But her sense seemed to be ebbing away. Now instead of real thoughts her mind was just randomly throwing in fuzzy words that had no real meaning to her. Like: I should be home. or StarClan helped us. She wasn't really thinking them. They just...happened. She heard yowling for a cat name Russetfang. The leader? No...he'd be Russetstar then. Medicine cat? Whatever. That thought roused meaning, however. She moved her bad leg accidentally, sending a sharp spasm of pain through her body. It shocked into awakeness a bit, at least. All she knew now was that she wanted three cats: Paleflower, Tawnykit, and Feathercloud. Duskkit didn't trust any other medicine cat but ShadowClan's. The she-cat had been there when they were kitted and was always very nice to them. She was also very gentle whenever the rare occurence of an injury or sickness popped up in either herself or her sister.

Duskkit felt herself be picked up again and moved slightly. Tawnykit smelled closer now, at least. She mewed tentaively to see if she could get a response from her sister. She was, after all, the only cat she knew and trusted in this strange place.

Smokepaw saw the look in Finchsteps eye and quickly backed away. The she-cat was crazy. He didn't doubt that. At all. He brushed his fur against Maplepaw's briefly, wondering what was going on. He looked to her, then to Brackenpaw. He was a few moons older than him, and was probably going to become a warrior very soon. He nodded briefly to the tom, but didn't say anything. Smokepaw, like his mother before him, was always very quiet. Unless he was talking to Maplepaw of course. He looked at one of the loners. She was older than the others, who were about his own age.

Smokepaw felt his fur bristle. Had this loner harmed the kits somehow? No, he quickly dismissed that theory. Why would they bring them into camp? Had Finchstep hurt them? Well...she wasn't quite that insane. He looked to Maplepaw, concern in his eyes. "Poor mites." The apprentice looked over towards the nursery. The kits were wriggling out of the nursery, one by one. He deemed it inapprioate for them to see the tattered kits in this state. Smokepaw pressed his nose to his crush's shoulder, signaling he'd like a little help keeping them at bay. He wasn't the first cat they'd think to obey.

Smokepaw padded over to the kits. He looked at Sandkit, as she'd been the first out. "Erm...go back inside." StarClan help him if he became a father. The words were rather passive, even in his own ears. Blinking in embarassment, he nudged both of the kits lightly.

[Amber]

Shadowkit's ears perked up at the sound of her sister yelling. Were they all determined to not let her fall asleep? She noticed Streamkit was already up and grinned wide. She was happy for some reason, the little black kit didn't know why, but she just was. She wished she could have tackled Sandkit for waking her up, but her interest was somewhat peaked at the mentioning of strange cats in camp. She had always been known as the skittish kit, but she really was interested in what they meant by strange cats. "I kinda want to see these cats, is that weird?" she quiered Streamkit getting onto her paws. "But I just don't want to get too close." Maybe if by taking little baby steps like this she would be able to overcome her fears.

[nightstorm]

//Russetfang to the rescue!!! xD//

Russetfang poked his head out of the leader's den, his eyes wide with concern. With the way Finchstep was yowling, he expected a fox to have eaten a warrior or something.

His nostrils flared as he scented blood, and the medicine cat rushed over, shouldering aside cats in his haste. His green gaze softened as he spotted the two kits, and he immediately began sniffing at them. "What happened?" he asked sharply, his gaze darting up to Finchstep, and the loner beside her. He gently nosed the gray kit first, checking for mortal injuries, his eyes flooding with pity as he saw her wounds. He then turned to the other kit, and began checking her as well.

He purred soothingly to the kits. "You're safe now, little ones," he told them softly. "We'll patch you up and get you back home to your mother soon..." Looking up again, he meowed, "Let's get these two into my den." He went to the second kit, and picked her up gently, careful not to jolt her. He looked back for the dark grey kit, and motioned with his tail for another cat to bring her to his den as well.

[. s p o r e l e t t ♪]

OoC// Guys, not that I don't think anyone should recognize Snowy, but your apprentices are like "have I seen her before?" and the answer is no, no they haven't, because she was gone way before they became apprentices.

[Yoko]

Stormkit was surpised when his siblings funneled out of the nursery and into view. He wondered what was going on. Then he saw two adult cats he did not recogize and they were carrying scraps of fur in their mouths. Kits? With a glance at Silverkit, Stormkit padded forward to Spottedkit's side. He wrinkled his nose, the cats did smell funny.

"I think so. Or else they're loners," Stormkit mewed, immensely greatful to not have to discuss what he had learned with his brother at the moment.

He glanced at Silverkit, wondering if she wanted to tell now.

Bristlepaw was walking as if he was preparing to jump onto the moon. He had a grin stretching from ear to ear, but suddenly, he noticed something strange in the air. Those she-cats! Who were they?

He felt his neckfur rise. Intruders! But then...Russetfang was going to help them? Then he noticed the limp kits. What had happened? he wondered.

[Kitty]

FLowersky's gaze travelled over the WindClan cats. One, a she-cat, seemed to recognize one of them - Snowy, October, or herself. THe calico couldn't tell, because they were all standing so close together. It was very possible it was her - she did hunt near their territory sometimes, never on it though. But it could also be Snowy. She lived in another Clan before, Flowersky knew. Which one was it again? Th...ThunderClan? Yes, that was it. But October? She had no clue where this she-cat might've seen him.

And then Flowersky saw him, the one tom she'd be trying to avoid, afraid of coming to WindClan for fear he would recognize her. Bracken (her mind informed her that it was Brackenpaw now once again, although she still stubbornly refused to believe it). It was bad enough that he was looking at them - no, at her, she realized. He'd singled her out. But, anyway, it was bad enough that he was looking at her, but now he was coming towards them, and she crouched in a defensive position in front of ehr younger adoptive brother. Her teeth bared in a snarl, daring him to try anything to her or October. Snowy wcould take care of herself. After all, if she was once a Clan cat, she knew how to fight.

[☆ Y e l l o w ☆]

Sandkit looked over at Spottedkit and Stormkit as they joined her. "I don't know, she said, looking at the strangers. "They might be. Let's ask them." The other cats may be cautious talking to outsiders but the naive little she-cat was fearless. Her thoughts were distracted when Smokepaw came over. "But we want to see who the cats are!" she protested, not about to take orders from an apprentice. She moved away from him as he nudged her and took a step closer to the crowd.

There goes Russetfang, she thought as she watched the medicine cat rush over. When she glimpsed at him again he was holding a kit. "Those kits look like they're our age! They have to be Clan cats." she exclaimed as she got a first look at the kits. She felt sorry for them and wondered how they got so far out of their own territory. Even when she and her siblings sneaked out of camp yesterday, they didn't leave WindClan territory.

Longflower was relieved when Russetfang appeared. She knew he would be able to help the kits recover. And once they were better they could take the two back to ShadowClan. She bent down to pick up the gray kit, pausing for a moment as the strong scent of blood and fear hit her. The poor things. She grasped the scruff of the she-kit and lifted her up, gently carrying her as she followed Russetfang.

October stepped back as an older tom came over and started to inspect the kits. In confusion, he just watched and observed, not speaking. He had no idea why this cat in particular was taking the kits away; maybe it was a job or something. The Clans had strange hierarchies and ways they acted toward each other. He watched impartially as the kits were taken into another den. He didn't know about Snowy and Flowersky, but he would be ready to leave whenever they said they could. But he wouldn't just leave without them. He would wait until they all left.

[. s p o r e l e t t ♪]

OoC// Finchstep is freaking out. Methinks the schizophrenia has kicked into overdrive.

Finchstep felt grudging relief when Russetfang appeared and began looking over the kits. Quite a sizable crowd had gathered around them now, but for once the brown she-cat was more concerned with the safety of the little kits than with her own paranoia. She sat back so that the medicine cat could inspect both kits, and then got to her paws when he carefully picked up Tawnykit to take her to his den. She was startled when Longflower moved closer to her and bent her head to pick up the dark grey kit. Hissing and flattening her ears defensively, Finchstep swatted the other warrior on the side of the head. "Help!" she screeched, and growled menacingly at the tawny she-cat. What was she trying to do to the kit? It needed Russetfang's care!

Some cats like kits for their own pleasures. What do you think happened to these kits?

Finchstep yowled with outrage. "Awfulness!" How could any cat do deliberate harm to a kit? How could her own Clan mate do such a thing? Narrowing her eyes at Longflower, the tiny she-cat felt her pelt bristle with horror and rage. She would die before she let a kit be stolen right from under her and harmed in any way!

Spottedkit stood up on his hind legs for a moment before losing his balance and returning hurriedly to all four paws. It was nearly impossible to see what was going on with all the cats gathering around, but he did catch a few glimpses of a couple she-kits that were around their age. "Could we really ask them? Russetfang probably wouldn't want us to bother them. They look in pretty bad shape." Looking up at Smokepaw, Spottedkit considered whether or not to ignore him and sneak closer to see what was going on. He figured that he could probably worm through the crowd if he was quick enough. But the sound of screeching from inside the ring of spectators was enough to pique his curiosity. He had to see what was going on! Flicking a quick glance at Smokepaw, the little tom made a dash for the crowd and scooted in between two larger warriors. Within moments he was close enough to see clearly what was going on. Spottedkit just widened his eyes and stared. What is Finchstep doing?

Streamkit smiled gleefully at her sister. "Maybe we can peek out the nursery entrance," she suggested, waving her plumed tail to the hole in the brambles that guarded the nursery from weather and attack. "No cat can be angry at us if we don't leave the nursery... and we might be able to see what's going on." Padding closer to the entrance of the nursery, Streamkit poked her head outside and glanced around the clearing. There sure was a lot going on outside! She couldn't see much from here though. Mostly what she noticed was a lot of cats clustering around something in the middle of the clearing. Then a frantic screeching and yowling started from somewhere in the middle of the clump, and after a moment the young she-cat recognized the voice of Finchstep. What was going on over there?