[ti]Open[/ti]The Sun Never Sets on the MothClan Empire

[KingHarry]

The swelting sun was not doing anything for MothClan's hairy leader. The rocky, open area that was the MothClan camp offered very little shelter and shade - exaggerating the already in play side effects that Mothstar felt whenever the weather decided to warm up. His fur was damp with sweat, parts of it even dripping every now and again. In all honesty, it was a wonder that he hadn't died of heat exhaustion at any point.

Ear twitching as a few flies buzzed around his head, Mothstar climbed to the top of his usual rock and called for the clan to meet. "May all cats old enough to fight their own battles gather for a clan meeting!

"This moon, there are many ceremonies to be had. This just shows how strong MothClan has become. No longer are we the small, pitiful clan that is made from the scraps of IvyClan and MistClan. We are an impressive force now; one that should - no, must - be both respected and feared. You should all be proud of this. Continue to be strong,  proud warriors, and encourage those around you to do the same - especially our newest amongst the warrior rank. Nettlepaw, Bristlepaw, Pricklepaw, Rosepaw, and Milkpaw - please step forward."

Mothstar watched with pride as his kits (and his apprentice) came to the front. They would be good warriors, and he was undoubtedly proud of them. "Milkpaw," the leader began, addressing his own apprentice first. "Under my paw you have proven yourself to be a fierce force to be reckoned with. Despite your loner heritage, you have proven yourself to be a true member of MothClan. From this point onwards, you will be known as Milkberry, as even the sweetest looking berry can be deadly."

He then turned his attention to the other apprentices due to receive their warrior name. "Nettlepaw, I am proud of your progress and believe that we will see great things from you in the future. In front of StarClan, I name you Nettlefire, for the flame of strength and passion that continuously burns inside you, and also as a reminder for others to not taunt the firey side of your personality. Bristlepaw, you too have shown talent. Brackenfall has taught you well - as I was certain he would. You will be named Bristleblaze. Your enemies will understand the name when you tear through them in battle."

Two more apprentices to go. "Prickepaw, just like your namesake you can be incredibly dangerous to an unsuspecting cat. Your name will be Prickleheart, for the loyalty that shines through you. Finally, Rosepaw, I name you Rosethistle. When others believe that you are only a pretty face, I have no doubt that you will show them the bloodthirsty thorns that every rose hides."

Mothstar paused to allow the clan to cheer the names of these new warriors before he continued. "We too have many new apprentices this month. Bunnykit, Robinkit, Houndkit, Daffodilkit, Heatherkit, Bumblekit, Fuzzykit, and Volekit - please come forward."

As the kits - many of them his own - rushed to the front to receive their names and mentors, Mothstar spared a moment to think about how much his clan had grown. Look at them; there were so many. MothClan had truly established itself now.

"Bunnykit, your mentor will be Rowanfrost. You are still a little naive about the nature of the world; it is my hope that, as your mentor, he will help you to learn only to trust when it is deserved. Robinkit, Eveningblaze will mentor you, hopefully teaching you to find confidence in yourself and your ability to succeed. Jaggedtooth will mentor Houndkit - teaching the skill that he, as a respected warrior, has learnt over the many moons that he has been alive. Daffodilkit, you will be mentored by Smokegaze. Hopefully he will teach you how to focus your abilities."

There was a brief cause as Mothstar shook his head, trying to chase away a few flies that were still bothering him. "Heatherkit, Thrustbelly will be your mentor. I hope that he will teach you how best to help your clan. Bumblekit will be mentored by Frogsong, leaning the skills a warrior needs as the two help each other to become better cats. Fuzzykit, I choose Shadowstorm as your mentor. I hear that you are known for trying hard, and that will serve you well when it comes to his high expectations. Finally, Volekit: Otterspark will be your mentor. I hope that the confidence she has in herself will prove to be warranted."

The clan cheered the names and the mentors met their apprentices before Mothstar continued. "Lastly, you will have all heard by now about how a trio of our apprentices recklessly rescued some IvyClan kits from the claws of the rogues that are currently plaguing the clans. To reward their brave actions, I have decided to award their warrior names early. Stormpaw, Aspenpaw, and Hailpaw - please come to the front.

Stormpaw, Silvertongue has informed me that your training has gone well and that he believes you will be a force to be reckoned with in the future. He has requested that you be named Stormwatcher in name of the skills he has taught you. Aspenpaw, I name you Aspenscar. May you be proud of your name whenever you see your own reflection, but may it also remind you of what can happen if you rush into battle without thinking first. Hailpaw, your name from this day onward will be Hailstrike as, once your wounds have healed, I have no doubt that you continue to strike down the enemies of the clan.

This reward does not come without a price, though. Your actions were without the permission of your leader, and you did not consider the consequence of them before you rushed off, eager to prove yourselves. As punishment, you will continue with your apprentice duties until you are 12 moons old. Should any other apprentices decide to follow in your footsteps, I warn them now - I will not be so forgiving next time. The next apprentice, or even warrior, that foolishly leaves our territory to fight anybody without permission will not be rewarded, no matter what they achieve. If you think it is wise to strike another group, bring it up with your leader first. If I agree, I will allow you to lead a patrol to do such a thing - both removing the inevitability of punishment, and providing experienced backup for you."

Warning and ceremonies now complete, Mothstar leapt back down from the rock with a flick of his tail - immediately making his way to the shade (but muggy air) of his den.

[mewmehh]

|| Milkpaw(berry) ||

The sleek, ash-pointed white tabby had pinned her blue gaze firmly to Mothstar as the furry leader took hold of his clan's attention, summoning the masses of cats to gather around him under the beating heat of the high sun. Milkpaw had been expecting this day for a while, knowing that as she reached her age of warriorhood, the naming ceremony of herself and her foster siblings would be occurring any day. She had simply believed that all the excitement surrounding the mishaps with the rogue had stolen away the clan's attention briefly. Still, as her mentor stood proudly ahead of all their clanmates, Milkpaw felt a strong swell of pride in her chest that the day had finally arrived.

Still, there were some surprises yet to be had. What the pale she-cat had not been ready for was the fact that she would be the one to kick off the ceremony. Then again, it kind of made sense. From what she had been told, it had been quite a bit since Mothstar had taken an apprentice- like not since receiving the 'star' to his name. Thus, it was a sort of symbol, in Milkpaw's mind, that the leader would name his own apprentice's warrior name first. The she-cat attempting to curb the smug look that tried to scrawl itself onto her face as she thought of her other denmates, those who were actually Mothstar's spawn.

Hearing her new name called proudly out along with her mentor's truest thoughts of her, the newly-named Milkberry raised her head proudly with her bright eyes gleaming in the sunlight. Her gaze traced from her leader to the rest of her clanmates as she beamed at their loud praise. Oh, how her heart thrummed at the sound!! She would make certain to do her best by them. These cats were her family.

Settling down to listen to the rest of the ceremony, Milkberry gleefully belted out the names of her clanmates as they, too, received their new names.

---

|| Frogsong ||

Frogsong had been sat in a poised position beside Bellfeather as the pair listened on with smiling expressions. Any new apprentices and warriors were named, it was a happy time for the clan, and Frogsong couldn't help but think back fondly to the time only a pawful of moons ago when he himself had earned his warrior name. Such was a day he would never be able to forget- he had worked extra hard to earn his name alongside his denmates despite having been made an apprentice a little older than the others.

Fond memories aside, the tom had been too focused on reminiscing and cheering the new warriors that he had almost missed the naming of the new apprentices who followed quickly after. At the sound of his own name, the fluffy tom's face snapped forward to stare incredulously at the wild-furred leader who stood at the forefront. His starry green eyes then moved to the creamy ginger and white tom who had been named his apprentice. My first apprentice!!

The young warrior seemed to have been caught a bit dumbstruck, and it was up to his former mentor to pull him back to reality as Bellfeather gave Frogsong an affection bump of his shoulder. Catching her bluey green eyes, Frogsong blinked at the she-cat.

"Well? Go greet your new apprentice."

"Ahh!! Right!" The husky tom hopped up immediately and trotted on nervous paws over to Bumblepaw, catching his soft amber eyes and felting a small, happy bubbling in his belly. The feel of the young cat was almost soothing to the warrior- nothing about him seemed to scream foolhardy or wild. He seemed like a calm and well-mannered cat, and Frogsong silently sent thanks to his leader for picking such a well-matched cat for his to teach. Perhaps this wouldn't be as worrying as he initially thought!

"H-hello there," the ginger and white tom meowed with a wobbly smile before dipping his head down to touch noses with his new apprentice.

---

|| Darkkit ||

"Bunnypaw!! Bunnypaw!! Bunnypaw!!" The shrill scram of a tom-kit practically washed out the sounds of everyone else's voices as Darkkit bounced from left to right with great vigor. How proud he was of his little (play) mate as the pretty silver kit finally earned the 'paw' to her name and made her way to greet Rowanfrost. Hopefully his lovely lady wouldn't fall for the grizzled tom who was now her new mentor.

[ladyspectral]

Every time Mothstar or Brackenfall made an announcement, Kit was there. In the back, listening intently for them to finally acknowledge her presence. The hard work she had been putting in for the clan. Her entire body ached that day, but she was still there as always, hoping.

Her heart jumped in her chest as she listened to the leader, hoping silently that she would be finally mentioned in some way. She could barely focus as he named the new warriors, pondering for a moment what her name might be in her future. She was sure it'd be something great, something powerful.

He went to the kits, and her breath froze in her chest. But he went past the kits as normal, on to the apprentices being named a few moons early. Her heart sunk like a stone in the water as he concluded the meeting, opening her mouths to protest as he jumped from the rocks.

She closed them instead. Maybe next time.

[gingersnapsdacat]

Ruststripe

Ruststripe had made sure to get a good spot among her clanmates, as this was a ceremony that she would not want to miss out on. There was a sneaking suspicion in her belly that her friend Milkpaw would be one of, if nit the very first, apprentices to earn their warrior name on this humid day. Despite her...complicated...relationship with the leader of MothClan, Ruststripe could not help but acknowledge the fact that MothStar was likely a fantastic mentor, and had taught young Milkpaw to be a proud young she-cat. With happiness, she cheered the names of her new denmates, putting a bit of extra emphasis on the name of a certain siamese she-cat.
"MILKBERRY!"
Ruststripe smiled as she tried to catch the eye of the sassy cat. She had to weave through many other cats, probably stepping on toes and tails, before she was able to get close to the white and ash-pointed feline. 
"Hey Milkberry," Ruststripe said, purring her friends new name. She teased her newly-named friend, nudging her soft shoulder.
 "I guess we are denmates now. You better not snore." 



Bunnykitpaw

The silver-furred she-cat sat near the base of the rock, smoothing down any stray furs. This was her moment. She was about to be an apprentice! From the day they opened their eyes, every young kitten had hopes and dreams of these special moments. 
"We too have many new apprentices this month. Bunnykit, Robinkit, Houndkit, Daffodilkit, Heatherkit, Bumblekit, Fuzzykit, and Volekit - please come forward."
Bunnykit eagerly bounded forward, taking her place in front of MothStar. How had she not noticed his size before? It would have stood to reason that he would seem huge when she was a tiny kitten, but even now that she was six moons old, she felt like a speck compared to the fluffy tomcat.
Maybe that's it, she thought, he is just super fluffy!
She made herself raise her head high and stare into his striking eyes. 
"Bunnykit, your mentor will be Rowanfrost. You are still a little naive about the nature of the world; it is my hope that, as your mentor, he will help you to learn only to trust when it is deserved."
At last, she dipped her head, and thrills of joy and confusion swept through her.
Naive? Am I really that naive? And if I am, how can Rowanfrost fix that?
She glanced around, trying to catch sight of the cat who would train her. Finding him, she made her way over, pausing to thank others for their mews of congratulations. 
"BUNNYPAW! BUNNYPAW!"
The voice of her friend was unmistakeable. It send a warm thrill of joy through her that her friend had been able to come out of the nursery and support her today. 
Finding both Rowanfrost and her mate, she smiled, hoping to make a good first impression on the older tomcat. 
"So um...I'm Bunnypaw. I'm your apprentice!...yay."

[mewmehh]

Milkberry arched a dusty brow as she watched Ruststripe saunter over, chuckling softly to herself as she heard the occasion gripe or grumble from where the red she-cat had tread on a tail or two in order to reach her. The siamese cat snickered as Ruststripe spoke with a teasing tone, reaching her side. As the ruddy tabby reached her, Milkberry affectionately headbutt the older warrior and chirped,"i can assure you, I'm above snoring. I'll just have to make sure my nest is far from yours- I'd hate if you kicked me in your sleep."

From the warm banter shared between the two, one could easily see how happy the two friends were, beaming with glee and pride. The pale warrior had wondered how different she would have ended up if she hadn't had Ruststripe around for her, especially when Fattail had passed and left her alone- or so she had thought. Now thinking about it, Milkberry always had someone around her. Be it a the problematic, but fun Ruststripe, the gruff, yet dedicated Mothstar, or the bubbly Honeydrop who managed to snatch her heart from all the other cute she-cat Milkberry had been fond of. It warmed her heart and made her send a soft prayer to young tom cat up in Starclan for being the first one to crack her shell, allowing her to open up to all these others along the way.

[foggy]

♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚♚

Hailpaw had both been incredibly excited and terrified for this, but she'd be dammed if she let anyone see that. The blue tabby was her usual ruffled self, the hot weather making her fur a pain to groom even when she felt like doing so, not that she minded too much anyway. If anybody did think she seemed a bit frazzled, Hailpaw could always blame it on the heat, so she wasn't too worried about that, just what her father would say. In actuality, the names and ceremonies of all the new warriors and apprentices almost flew passed her head, only vaguely reminding herself that most of them were related to her. She remembered back when she was still a kit and just meeting her father's new litter, strange to think they were becoming apprentices today.

Her injuries from the rouge attack had mostly faded, only a stiff shoulder and torn ear remained. They still acted up ocassionally, but Hailpaw had been told that it was to be expected and that it would settle in time. She had hoped that her shoulder would heal completely, but it looked like it would always be a temperamental limb. Luckily, it didn't seem to be too bad, it was manageable, at least, and she'd rather have a stiff shoulder than her life lost.

Suddenly her name was called and she was summoned forward, along with her sister and Aspenpaw. So, this was it, her fluffy tail almost lashed in anticipation, but she held it still, ears pricked for the leader's words.

Her sister was named first, as was expected, as Stormwatcher. It sounded wise and cunning, it suited her soft-toned littermate well, barely anything escaped her notice. Then it was Aspenpaw's turn, she briefly wondered how his littermates were feeling about his early ceremony, she'd never sensed the sort of closeness that Stormpaw and her had between them. He'd been named Aspenscar, in... honour? of his scar. In a way, she felt bad for him, she had also had her ear half torn off during the battle, but nobody had really mentioned that particular injury. Still, he knew what he was getting into, so she didn't feel too bad.

Then it was Hailpaw's turn, her name was changed permanently to Hailstrike. It was a fierce name, and it occurred to her that her name was very weather-orientated. She hoped she could live up to it, weather was mostly unpredictable and yet they depended on its mercy. In the back of her mind, she remembered that Mothclan had once had a deputy named the same, and although the blue tabby wasn't superstitious enough to think it a form of foreshadowing, she decided to consider it an honour to be named after someone who had once held such a degree of power.

The feeling was so elating that her punishment almost slipped right passed her, almost. To be fair, she considered it a rather easy consequence compared to something they could've been given, like dirt-place duties. Four had gone on a risky battle and only three had returned, it could've easily been two. Yet it was a cruel reminder that there had still not been a sign of Curlymoss, she had mixed feelings about the well-intentioned tom: on one paw, they had manipulated him for their own purposes, and on the other, he had abandoned them, three apprentices, to fight a bunch of rouges alone. Regardless, she hoped he wasn't lost to them forever.

---

Jaggedtooth wasn't expecting anything too dramatic, but he was hoping for a little bit of friction between those troublesome apprentice who had returned. He was surprised that they weren't dead, going head to head against a bunch of rouges like that. He almost scoffed, but secretly he was glad that the camp had had something to talk about for a bit.

His ears twitched slightly as his name rang around the camp, and the rounded tom-cat padded forward to receive an apprentice. He took a few moments, while performing the official ceremony of touching noses, to take a good hard look at the young'un he'd be training for the next six moons. Houndpaw had already been noted as having longer claws than usual and, while most automatically assumed that he would be a good fighter, Jaggedtooth wondered if he could mould a good climber from the cream tabby. Mothclan didn't have too many notable climbers. "Alright, young'un, you'll do. Don't think you're getting it easy just because of your wacky claws or leader's blood," he chuckled, a gruff sound but not at all threatening, unless Houndkit was a scaredy-cat. That would be amusing, the kit with lion claws running scared. The image had him chuckling a little longer than acceptable, but Jaggedtooth returned to his seat in time for the ceremonies to continue.

[silverfang218]

Invisible to all the gathered cats, an extra warrior, one with starry fur and pretty aqua eyes, sits at the back of the crowd. He rears up on his hindlegs to see over the heads of his taller clanmates, sweeping his thick-furred tail back and forth to easily maintain his balance; his eyes twinkle as a dear friend of his steps up to receive her new name. He can’t help but wonder if she remembers him. He wouldn’t be surprised if he has mostly faded from memory, as he had died when she was but a kit. Even if that’s the case, his eyes glow with pride as Mothstar bestows upon her a new name. Milkberry. It’s beautiful.

His heart lifts further and he can’t help a big grin from splitting his face as Milkberry turns to look at her cheering clanmates. She looks… so at home. His little kit friend has grown up, and she fits far better than Fattail himself ever did. She had come to this clan a loner, lost and alone, but already she’s found herself a family and a home. And friends, he smiles as he watches Milkberry make her way towards Ruststripe. He could not be more proud of her. He recalls telling Rustpaw, back when she was apprentice and his death had been fresh on Milkkit's mind, to take care of his young friend. Ruststripe had become the friend that Milk had needed, even when Fatty couldn't be there for the little white cat. He'll have to give Rust a heartfelt thank you when he sees her again.

The starry tom takes a moment to tilt his head back and yowl out her name, unheard by anyone, to the stars. He only came to see this moment, and after a few seconds, he allows the chants of MothClan’s warriors, along with Milkberry's little prayer to him, to carry him back up to StarClan.

((Don't mind him, he just had to be here for Milk's ceremony. No one respond to him, shhh no one knows he's here XD))

[Ringtail]

"MILKBERRY, MILKBERRY!" Chimed a voice so sweet as honey, Honeydrop happily joining in with the ceremonies. Finally, her friend would be in the warriors' den! Her eyes shone with excitement, hoping the milky cat would decide to put their nest beside hers. Oh the fun they would have! She continued to chant her friend's name, along with the others. But her eyes told a different story. Her sight focused only on that milk like pelt, dreamingly walking over to the newly named warrior. "Hey Milkberry, congradulations! I couldn't wait for you to become a warrior! Oh my Starclan, Milkberry! I love the name! Mothstar did an amazing job on deciding your warrior name!" Her tone was full of joy and excitement, her ears perked up high.