CLOSED Passing This Way (Questers)

Garnetheart turned to his mate with smug contempt. "You see? He WAS useful after all."
"Why dont you ask him for his REAL name, instead of always calling him 'bird'?" Pigeonwing replied. She turned to Rook. "So, what do they call you?"
Bird, Rook thought with amusement. "Squawk!" He pointed to a nearby crow.
"Crow?"
"Caw! R... roo..."
"Rooster?"
"Caw caw!"
"Rook?"
Rook nodded his head energetically.
"Rook! What an interesting name!" Pigeonwing meowed.
It WAS Crowflight, Rook thought to himself, remembering the day his family had chased him from his flock.

Hollypaw gaped at the litter of squirming kits.

Redkit leaped up into the air, yowling "Yahoo!" to cheer for Brambleleaf's kits.

Purring errupted from Brambleleaf's throat, she was happy to have three healthy kits. She looked at the biggest kit, and she meowed, "That will be Eaglekit," She then turned her head to the second born kit, "Dreamkit," Then she turned to the youngest, "and Nightkit."

Joyless mewed to Sparrowhawk, "Tell your friends to get some rest."
"We best be moving off tomorrow."
"What!?" He spat, "But the kits were just born?"
"Their healthy, they can settle. The faster we sort this mess out the
faster we can come home. And if your not properly rested, then you'll
slow down the fox', badgers, hawks and_"
"Whatever!" Sparrowhawk spat frustrated, he turned away, "At least
give us two days?"
"Why? Are you to weak to carry on?" The tom's fur bristled.
"I'm leaving and going ahead if your leaving it for two days... I won't stay and be slowed by foresters."
"I don't care," Hissed Sparrowhawk, "Would anybody care?"
He stared into her emotionless eyes and just felt frustration wash over again.
She turned away, "You have a point," and padded off.

Sparrowhawk spat in disgust and turned to Sinewpaw and the kits of Pigeonwing and
Garnetheart. "Let Brambleleaf rest," He ordered, "As the rest of us should, I guess..."

Sinewpaw thought it was a good idea and so plodded off and found a nice bit of grass to lye in, he wondered
if Mosspaw would join him.

OOC: Look I'm back in the RP!

IC: Hollypaw looked at Brambleleaf's three cute little kits. Eaglekit, Nightkit, Dreamkit, the names were so nice. The little ones were suckling at their mother's belly. She glared blue fire at Joyless. These kits were just born for Starclan's sake! Oh wait, you don't care about Starclan! She kept those words in her head to avoid trouble. Hollypaw wondered if these kits would survive the journey. She curled up near Brambleleaf and closed her eyes, slowly drifting to sleep.

Redkit ran in a circle before dropping into a ball near Garnetheart. "Dad, can you tell me a bedtime story?" he asked, eyes widening into green moons. "Please, please, please?" he begged. A leaf spiraled above Redkit's head. He pretended it was prey, and batted at it playfully, eventually tripping over his paws and landing on his face. "Ouch..."

((Welcome back))
Brambleleaf closed her eyes, sleep threatened to wash over her like the wave of joy she had for her kits. I don't want to slow down the group... I hope my kits will survive the travel.

OOC: LONG POST ALERT!
IC: Garnethart purred, Redkit had been quiet since yesterday for some strange, inexplicable (not really inexplicable but yeah...) reason.
"I have an interesting story for you." he looked at Pigeonwing, Rook and the kits. "In fact, you can all hear it!" He nodded to Brambleleaf. "I'll let you hear it too, you must be exhausted."
"I would know." Pigeonwing added. "Imagine four kits. FOUR, instead of three!"
Rook could make out some of Garnetheart's words, but the rest was alien language to him.
"Once, there was a time when cats were bigger and more powerful. We called them the Long-fangs (saber-toothed tigers), because their fangs stuck out of their mouths. They lived during the time of the brown-giants, giants creatures with dangly snouts (mastodons) and brown fur. It was a time of eternal ice (Ice Age), and the Long-fangs fought to survive in ice. Can you imagine a world where everything is ice?"
'I can!" Silverkit piped up.
"I can too! I bet i can imagine way better than Silverkit!" Frostkit growled.
"I bet YOU can imagine yourself being attacked right now!" Silverkit pounced on her sister.
"GET OFF!" Pigeonwing snapped.
The two kits stopped, getting up slowly, and walked back to their spots.
"I tell you, those kits are bundles of trouble." Pigeonwing grumbled.
"Then one day, the ice was gone. It melted, and like us the Long-fangs and Brown-giants had to shed their winter coat. But it was too quick for them, and they all disappeared."
"Where'd they go?" Whisperkit said softly, the first time she'd spoken since she yelled, 'Bird Invasion!'
"They died."
"Why?"
"It was too hot. Think of it as your winter coat still on when it's greenleaf."
"I can imagi-" Frostkit started, but Pigenwing glared at her and she stopped.
"That IS hot!" Silverkit commented.
"So they died out. But they didn't go altogether. A new group of big cats came, the stripey, ginger tigers, fearsome maned lions, and the silent watchers, the panthers."
"I like the panthers more." Whisperkit said.
"Why do you want to watch when you can be fierce?" Silverkit asked, though not rudely. "I want to be the lion!"
"And I'll be the tiger!" Frostkit squeaked.
"Okay kits, that's enough story for today." Garnetheart curled up, and Pigeonwing huddled next to him. "Sweet dreams. I'm taking a nap."

Redkit widened his eyes. "Wow, that must be really hot, they must've been on fire!" he mewed. He said, "I'm the lion! I'll be fierce, and I'll protect my clan from a whole army of Long-Fangs!" he puffed out his chest proudly. When his father went to sleep, Redkit smiled, and curled up into a ball, sleep washing over him like a tsunami wave. He started dreaming about lions, panthers and tigers fighting the clans.

Brambleleaf was still partially awake as the story about the warriors of Lionclan, Tigerclan and Pantherclan ((???)) was mentioned, her mind began to drift off, her dreams consisting of these great cats.

OOC: No clans here. Just talking about different big cats.
IC: Rook hopped off Garnetheart's shoulders as he fell asleep, and cawed softly. Flame descended, his bright eyes inquisitive.
"Rook, I want some answers." the kestrel said. "Why do you want to go with these birds anyway?"
"Because now, I feel truly a part of a group again."
This answer left Flame speechless.
"It used to be just about us." Flame murmured. "You and me and the big world."
"Things change." Rook said firmly, though not rudely. "You will change, too."

((OK, sorry.))
Brambleleaf was dreaming, she was padding around the forest, it appeared to be new leaf, the trees were full of leaves, and a warmth on her pelt told her the sun was shining brightly.

Redkit bounded across a forest, the stars shining brilliantly in the ebony sky. The trees shook, and leaves blew around with the wind. A Long-Fang approached Redkit. He growled, then let loose a roar as he charged at it.

Hollypaw found herself gazing lovingly at her family, alive and well. "Momma! Daddy! Rock!" she ran at them, ready to leap onto her brother. Suddenly, they morphed into a group of badgers, their claws stretched out to meet her. The Dewclan apprentice screamed in horror.

Brambleleaf scented the air, there was no prey scents that she could find, the scent she could smell instead was a smell she had never smelt before. Following the stench, Brambleleaf padded gently, it lead her deeper into the forest, the warmth was soon gone as the tree tops blocked out the sun.

OOC: Cool, dreams. Lemme do one too. Sad history alert!
IC: Rook was thrust back in time, to that horrible day.
"Crowflight." Nightsight's voice boomed. "You have dishonored our flock, contaminating our pure blood when you inbred with your sister Starfeather."
"Sick! Sick!" The chicks chorused. "You are a sick bird!"
"Oh, my son," Chiselpeck cooed in a desperate voice. "How could you?"
"And with the authority of our ancestors, and Tigerwing, we must banish you from the flock."
"Banish him!" Tigerwing squawked. "Be done with it then, son!"
Nightsight dipped his writing brush in a container until it was dripping with red blood. He then used the brush to smear a design across Rook's chest. Rook, or Crowflight in his dream, bowed his head in shame and fear.
"You have been marked with the blood of your brother, Darksky, leader of our flock." Nightsight said. "And with that, BEGONE!"
Rook snapped awake, knocking into Flame who was sleeping with his wing tucked in, the sleeping posture for all birds.
"No point remembering that." Rook said softly. "I miss you, Rooksky. There isn't a single day I forget why I changed my name; to remember you."

A scuffling sound arounsed Brambleleaf from her dream. She blinked open her eyes to see that the noise was just the pair of birds that followed them. Eaglekit, Dreamkit and Nightkit were sound asleep, cuddled up with each other near her stomach. Brambleleaf curcled around them to add warmth.

Hollypaw screamed in horror, before everything melted into darkness. She shot up from her sleep, her ginger fur wild and her eyes wide with fear. She flattened her fur and tried to calm herself down. "So...scary..." she panted. Hollypaw looked back and saw the two birds that followed them. Desperate to talk to someone, she padded over to them.

Brambleleaf wasn't entirely asleep. She couldn't go back to sleep, her ears twitched with annoyance, but every sound made her heart race, and she felt a surge of needing to protect her kits.

Joyless awoke. A raindrop had stirred her sleep and not only that.
She hissed angry, "Clan cat!" She hissed to Hollypaw. She charged
at the two birds her ears back and teeth bared. A hawk near kits!?
Why don't they just throw their kits away?

Hollypaw jumped at Joyless' hiss. "Sorry if I woke you." she meowed apologetically. Wow, she's more fierce than a pack of wolves combined! But that was expected from an Abyssclan cat. Her name suited her quite well.

Joyless spat, "Get them two birds away from here, Their liable to wake the kits."

"Uh, Rook?" Flame said.
"What?" Rook snapped
"I think, i think we should, uh... Run now?"
Rook turned and saw the cat staring at them. " You idiot! You dont run! You FLY!" He took flight, and Flame followed.

Blackfire, who had been keeping watch, glared up at the birds. Without a sound, he chased after the birds as they took off. He leaped towards one of them, lashing his claws out at tail feathers.

Snowfeather woke up abruptly, glancing over at Hollypaw. She surpressed a hiss of distaste - she'd been having a pleasant dream about a nice-looking tom. He'd been standing next to her, twining his tail with her's and purring sweet nothings into her ears... And now she had been rudely woken. Snowfeather saw Blackfire take off after the birds and wondered why.
"What's going on," she mewed, somewhat alert as a warrior should be.

Jazz spotted Blackfire chasing the birds and joined in, making a running leap off a small rock, jaws open.

Brambleleaf watched with wide eyes as the cats pursued the birds, she noticed her kits were stirring, and tried to pur to them to settle them down.

OOC: Woah, woah, the odds are getting a lil' uneven here.
IC: Rook and Flame banked sharply to the left as the cats attacked them.
"Stupid furballs!"Rook squawked as loudly as he could. "Chasing us, for what? Tell me? Did we steal your kits? Did we snatch your prey? Quit that! You're all useless furballs!"
Flame, as usual, was the quiet, cowardly character.
"Rook, please don't make them angrier."he pleaded, rising quickly to dodge a blow.
"I don't care! We are HONORABLE birds, we don't run when we've done nothing wrong!"
"But we're not running. We're flying."
"Whatever it is!" Rook shrieked angrily. "That's it! We're going! No more cats for us!"

Victory blazed In Joyless' eyes as they began to depart. She looked to Garnetheart, "You can't be friends with a bird! Thats being a traitor to your own nature, Did your mother ever tell you not play with your food?" She rolled her head back and flexed her sharp claws, Turning away with disgust and mewed boredly, "I'm going for a quick hunt."

Sparrowhawk flattened his ears, "Lets hope the fox's are out tonight."

Joyless laughed sarcastically, although she felt bad for being so harsh, it wasn't her true nature. Truthfully she didn't want this mission, she wanted to be with the other servants. Why? She hissed to her self.