How To Live (all in Stormclan)

[Rat]

Why did I take on all of this? Nezumi wonders, maybe for the hundredth time since he became leader of Stormclan. He had originally meant for this to be a means to an end, not an all-consuming job that eats away at all of his time until there's only a few hours after midnight left. The black tom wonders how long it will be before even those are gone.

He watches the snow pile around him indifferently, the cold doesn't worry him very much, he has gotten used to it. When he was a kit his mother had told him that every snowflake was made unlike any other, perfectly different. They're just to small for anyone to see. Nezumi snorts, the idea of snowflakes being anything special is ridiculous. Those 'beautiful' snowflakes melt and turn to watery mud, or turn yellow when needs be, or get trampled over by even the smallest animal. Who's naive enough to think you're special? He thinks, pressing his paw into the thick layer of snow that is covering the ground. This snow kills cats and kittens play in it all the time. The world certainly has a wonderful sense of humor.

The Stormclan leader gets to his paws, the suddenly movement cracking his bones slightly as they shift back into place. He is only a few fox-lengths away from the entrance to the camp but getting there feels like it takes miles. It's to bad he can't turn into a bear. When he gets to camp he realizes for the first time that Stormclan will be completely unprotected here. Those mouse-brained Windclan cats had preferred to sleep under the stars, though there are hardly any of them now. Some of his cats had constructed dens for themselves, though there is nothing that will serve as shelter for the entire clan. Suddenly he remembers the tunnels. Oh, the tunnels, a perfect place for a rat. There will certainly be room enough for them there and with the lake frozen over and all of the rain turned to snow they won't flood. Maybe the underground river will have frozen over too.

"Stormclan!" Nezumi barks, hardly needing the whole cumbersome call that the other clan leaders need in order to gather their warriors. He sits down on the small hill that serves as a kind of spot for the leader to sit on. Most of his clan already looks miserable and bedraggled. That's tough for them, if worst comes to worst they should just sleep together in a pile to drive off the cold. They shouldn't be so easily beaten by the weather. The clouds above him look angry, like mountains and castles, the type of stone buildings that only the most powerful twolegs sometimes have. He wonders if Starclan gets to live in the clouds, but maybe not. Cats like them would prefer the ground more than any cloud, grand-looking or not. They're said to live in the sky, though... Nezumi shakes his head in frustration. The other clans won't allow him at the Moonpond so he's never seen starclan. Sometimes he wonders if they even exist, and even if they do, which ones of them would consent to give him nine lives? It's all a bunch of rules made to keep the living at the mercy of the dead. He thinks, darkly. Those cats died for a reason, and we're alive. We've won, just by living, so why should we ask the losers for help? Nezumi shakes his head, focusing on thoughts like that won't help him at all. Who cares whether starclan is true or not? What he needs to do now is figure out how to get this bunch through the blizzard.

[Dai]

Lyric awoke to find that it was bitterly cold out. The wind was loud, and snow covered her. She shook the snow off her pelt and pushed her way out of the shrubs that she slept in. What she saw next surprised her quite a bit. Mountains of snow covered camp, and her clan mates were struggling to simply walk. There was no need to struggle for her, however. Lyric transformed into her eagle form and flew into the air. The winds were very rough, but an eagle's wings were perfect to fly in such weather, so she had very little trouble. With her eyesight enhanced, she was able to see clearly through the snow. She spotted Nezumi, and heard him call the clan. She swooped down to stand by his side. She transformed back into her cat form, and turned to him. "What will we do? This stupid territory makes it quite difficult to find shelter."

[Frosty]

Eclipse sprinted out of her den afraid. When she gets scared she tends to turn into a tiger so thats exactly what she did. Her tiger form is also small since it is also a kit but it is bigger then when she is a cat. She stumbles around and tries to get her head strait. Hearing nezumi call for the clan she walked in the general direction the call came from. Snow came down right on her eyes at that moment and she ran strait into lyric while in her tiger form. She had no mother to care for her now so she was afraid and had no one to run to when she was scared she just shrunk down and waited for lyric to adress her.

[dreamshimmer]

Sky felt a tingling sensation as cold still air on her pelt. Suddenly a huge gust of chilling wind swooped into the clearing, shocking her so much she rolled over and stumbled to her feet, ears perked. She quickly realized it was wind and sighed in relief. She looked around in amazement.
The entire world, covered in a huge blanket of snow, several tail-legths deep. Its icy blue surface glittered under the sun.
I wonder how bad it is...
She quickly turned into a hawk and soared across the territory, surveying the storm. She gazed down in amazement, all four territories were completely covered! She'd never seen so much snow.
She heard a faint call from camp and then saw lyric fly towards camp. Must be a meeting. She quickly turned around glided back.

[Rat]

Nezumi looks around and decides that he can start now that most of his clan is here. Sion is still missing, though. That worries him, though he has told himself repeatedly that if the air-headed young cat can't keep himself safe then he isn't worth bothering over. He'll have to survive on his own for a little while, though once the clan is safe Nezumi supposes that he should at least look for him. Having to report the death of a perfectly healthy warrior at a gathering, if they ever get to go to one, would be bothersome.

He notes with satisfaction that the members of his clan that are presently here are more or less waiting attentively. "Don't worry, this storm isn't something that we need to worry about." He says quietly to Lyric before turning to the rest of the cats. "Are you all worried about the storm?" He asks, his voice very soft and slow, almost dangerous. Suddenly he purrs, wondering if he had tricked them into thinking that he was angry. "We are Stormclan, aren't we? Get that into your heads... please." He adds the 'please' as an afterthought. If he sounds to much like he's reprimanding them then they might just give up.

"I don't know if any of you remember, but Windclan used to use a set of tunnels to attack Thunderclan. The tunnels will be dry and safe from the snow. What I want you all to do is gather up the prey we've stored and the bedding, so we're not sleeping on rocks. We'll leave soon, so be ready." He nods, to signify that he's finished talking, and then pads towards his own den. It's hard to call it a den, really, because it's just a dip in the grass slightly overshadowed by heather and gorse. The tunnels seem like they will be pleasant, compared to this. He wonders why he hadn't thought to move the clan there earlier. Most of them won't like the tunnels, though, especially not the cats who like to spend their times as birds, carving their way through the winds and sky. He pushes the bedding, which is new, luckily enough, into a pile and carries it back to the center of the clearing so he can wait for the rest of his cats to get ready.

[Dai]

Lyric turned to Eclipse, her sharp gaze boring down onto the kit. "Careful, young kit." she shoved her into a clump of grass, where she would feel less cold and probably less snowy. Lyric returned to her position next to Nezumi, and nodded when he addressed her, "It's not that I'm worried. It's the rest of the clan that seems fretful." She stood next to Nezumi and listened to his plans. An excellent idea. She waited until Nezumi was done speaking before taking charge. "Which means we need to move quickly! Sky, (insert cat name here), and (insert other cat nam here) you gather the fresh kill! Eclipse," Lyric turned to the kit, having an idea to make her useful, "Go get all the moss. You can gather a few other cats if you need." She lept off the HighBoulder and began to round up all her clanmates.

[Frosty]

Eyes glowing when Lyric gave Eclipse something to do she jumped up when Lyric gave her a job "I will colect all the moss on the land." she said than ran to find some cats to help her. Once finding (insert name here) and one other cat she headed to gather the newest moss they could find. Bounding from sleeping place to sleeping place she decided to pick up some of the moss that wasnt as old as others. After collecting what looked like the worst effort in collecting moss ever she set the moss they had found down in a pile near a patch of grass so it wouldnt get as wet as if she left it in the open. She then followed the warriors a little way out of camp to collect some more moss. Once ariving where the moss was she began to carefully take some. Gosh I feel like a real apprentice right now helping my clan she though. Once gathering all the moss they could carry they bounded back in camp and added the new moss to the small pile and made it look like a much better effort. Then she sat down near the moss watching all the cats run around bumping into each other as the snow came down harder and harder. Her ears pricked so she didnt miss any further instructions she moved closer to the moss for protection from the snow and winds.

[Brightstorm]

Sion stumbled in the snow as it fell out from underneath him. It didn't help that its color was identical to his pelt, so he had trouble catching the other cats' attention with his sore throat. How Sion loathed the cold! At least when he lived in ShadowClan, it was warm. He shook some of the snow off of his pelt before studying his surroundings. He had opened a large hole, and the rims were high and out of reach, he concluded, as he attempted to leap up once. A snowflake landed on Sion's nose. Well, he thought. It is pretty. With all of the strength he could muster, he pounced on top of one of the snow drifts, barely keeping his balance as he slid across the hard snow- nearly ice- and into Nezumi.

"Nezumi," he croaked. At this he shook the snow off of his pelt, shivering. "What can I do?"

He expected the normal answer of 'trying to stay out of the way' rather than getting a job, but he wanted to help his clan.

[dreamshimmer]

Sky flew in to camp and quickly turned back into a cat as the meeting begun. Once over, she stood up and shook off the snow that had fallen onto her during the meeting. But she was quickly called by Lyric and decided to get to work.

She and a few other cats quickly padded over to the freshkill pile. She grabbed a few mice and ducked into the tunnels. She quickly found a small cavern with many tunnels branching out of it. She saw a lot of cats there so she assumed it was the new camp. She found a short tunnel, more like a dent in the wall, that only went a tail-legth before coming to a dead end. She plopped the fresh kill there and ran out for more. She didn't like the tunnels, the feel of it was so wrong. The air was so stale and still in there, like it was trapped, never to be free.

[Rat]

Nezumi drops his bedding onto the driest patch of ground he can find and sits down, wrapping his exceptionally long black tail around his paws. He watches all of the cats work, feeling a little bit of smugness that they at least listen to him when this kind of thing happens.

After a few moments he scents Sion and when the white cat nearly slides into him he only just manages to get out of the way in time. He holds out a way and easily catches him as he goes by, though Sion has sent a flurry of snowflakes into the air so he has to blink several times before he can see properly.

Nezumi sighs and sits down again. Only Sion would make such a clumsy entrance. Still... he feels better now that the white cat has turned up again. That surprises him, he had thought that he didn't care whether Sion was here or now, he hadn't wanted to care. His long white whiskers twitch slightly but otherwise he pushes those thoughts to the back of his mind.

"You look frozen." He says, noting how rough Sion's voice sounds. That's rare, actually, most of the time Sion has a warm, soft voice. "You won't be any help in your present condition, so why don't you sit besides me? We'll be leaving for the tunnels soon."

He lifts his eyes to the mass of swirling grey clouds that he can see through the near-blinding rain of snow.
"I taste a breath of winter,
The rose is dead, the leaves are slain,
The branches gnarled and bitter,
The shadows cast, are long and dark." He quotes, muttering to himself.

[NeverMore]

Riddle watched from a distance as the cats of StormClan dart around the clearing, trying to get ready for the temporary move to the tunnels. The Gamma sat stone still, not even moving to help, her icy eyes were seemingly stuck on the sky with unflinching stillness. There were no breaks in the clouds just one big mass of grey similar to unbreakable stone. Riddle could feel in her unmoving veins that this was going to be a nasty storm, that maybe even Stormclan wasn't ready for. All the cream hairs lining her body were puffed out against the cold, but since her beast form was cold blooded, Riddle really was useless. Even with the norm liquid ice in her veins had a deathly chill to it that turned her muscles to stiff death cold branches. The she cat raised one paw, agony scorching through her veins like fire. refusing to show weakness the she cat forced herself to her paws and staggered to where Nezumi sat waiting for the clan.

Riddle snagged a small rabbit as she passed the fresh kill pile, hoping no one would question her on her inactivity. Missing the honey that would warm her veins in her other form, the she cat paused a few steps away from Nezumi and Sion, which was a mouse lengths away from Eclipse. The russet-tinted she cat nodded at the young cat and murmured "Good work." under her breath in her usual cold voice.

((OOC: If you didn't catch that, Riddle is rathe inactive because her beast form is cold blooded which slows her down quite a bit.))

[dreamshimmer]

Sky quickly paced back and forth from the fresh kill piles, moving prey as quickly as she could. As she did she kept switching between facing the piercing cold of outside and the suffocating walls of inside.
While she did, she noticed riddle was moving very slowly and looked pained. Everyone else seemed too busy with themselves too notice. She walked very to her and sat next to her. " Riddle, are you OK? You don't seem too good." She asked, concern in her voice.

-----_-----------------

Shadow creeped into camp and ignored whatever the leader was blabbering about. He was surprised most cats chose to listen to him, what made him so good? Why did he get to be leader? He dug his claws into the ground as a ripple of jelosy went trough him. He took a deep breath. One day, he'd be leader, he'd make sure of it, but untill, then, he just had to deal with it. He creeped into a crevice in the wall of the hollow and sleepily watched everyone moving around, following orders. He yawned. He had been hunting all night. He scooched further back into the crevice and hoped not to get noticed.

[Dai]

Lyric watched the clan work, making sure that every cat was okay. She noticed Riddle was moving quite slowly, so she quickly swept towards her, "Riddle, you don't look so good. Go to the tunnels immediately, you'll do more bad than good if you stay out in the snow." Lyric nodded approvingly to Sky before moving on, orderng cats to either go to the tunnels or help move moss and prey. When she noticed Shadow, neglecting to do anything but go to sleep, she stalked over to him, her fur bristling. "Shadow!" she mewed sharply, irritation and anger in her voice, "You're part fo this clan, so you'd better act like it and help out! Go help Eclipse collect moss, then head down to the tunnels, now!" she flicked her tail dismissivly and whipped around, walking up to Nezumi and Sion, "Sion, you'r back." she nodded to him before turning to Nezumi, "Nezumi, I've sent Riddle to the tunnels already, she seems really sick. It must be because of her beast form. Sion, you might want to head over too."

[dreamshimmer]

Sky glanced at the freshkill pile and saw it was almost all moved. She stood up and leaned against riddle in attempt to warm her up a bit. " Come on riddle, I'll help you to the tunnels. There's a new nests all ready set up there, and its a lot warmer." She said sincerely.

---_--------------

Shadow eyelids grew heavy and rumble of conversations dimmed to a distant hum. He played his head down and enjoyed the warmth of the den until...
He leaped up in shock at lyrics harsh screech. He tensly padded out of his crevice and gritted his teeth as she scolded him. How dare she! He was way stronger than her. He should just take her out now... sadly the world wasn't so simple. With a frown he accepted lyric was one he'd have to obey... for now.
He walked up right in front of her and gazed down at her with a scowl, being much taller. " hmph." He said as he turned and walked out of camp, deliberately stepping on her paw as he did.

[NeverMore]

The cream she cat started when Sky suddenly sat beside her. She tilted her ears in the she cat;s direction and gave her a stiff nod. "Thank you for your concern, Sky. Its just my beast form is not very good with cold weather. It is usually never a concern but I guess this extreme weather is a bit too much. It will pass soon enough." She assured the flier, dragging a paw over her frost bitten ears with hopes to get some feeling back in them.

Riddle looked up as Lyric addressed her. She gave the other she cat a nod with her head in thanks and staggered to her paws. As Sky offered her service, the Gamma shook her head."No need to worry about me, Sky. Just go ahead and help the rest of the clan. I will go ahead to the tunnels with Sion." She meowed, looking over to the white tom if he wished to join her. As the Gamma she wanted to make sure all the cats got to the tunnels safely and that there would be a plan to ration food in case they were stuck in the tunnels for a long time. She glanced at the rabbit that she had placed on the ground in front of her when Sky first approached her and picked up in her jaws once again.

"Tell everyone to bring the food to me once in the tunnels, I will sort it and ration it in case we are stuck in the tunnels for a few days." She ordered Sky, hoping to give the she cat something to do. Moving was worse than it was before; having given her muscles the chance to freeze once more. Riddle walked painfully to the camp entrance but made sure to keep her head held high despite the pain. She paused at the entrance of the camp, giving Sion a chance to catch up if he wished before sweeping out of the camp.