[Previous] [Start] [Next]
Cold wind whistles through the rocks Moonstar and Fogfreckle are hunched under, bringing the crisp scents of first leaf-fall. With a shiver, Moonstar presses closer to Fogfreckle for warmth, but startles back as he lets out a pained hiss. She rests her gaze on her brother for a moment, eyeing the bristled, spiky fur of his pelt that sticks up around the cobwebs she did her best to wrap him with, stiff with dried blood.
The talon marks that are sunk into his back worry Moonstar. She wishes she had listened better when she was an apprentice, when their old medicine cat, Loudtalon, had been rambling on about herbs. She doesn’t want to try mixing a poultice for her brother in case she gets it wrong; she wouldn't even know where to begin. The most she can do is change his cobwebs when the blood starts to soak through and pray to StarClan that infection doesn’t set in.
She’s been doing her best to keep his wounds clean, but he’ll need new cobwebs soon. With a heavy sigh, she rises to her paws as much as the rocks crushing in around them will allow, her shoulders brushing the ceiling. Her ears have been pinned to her head for so long now that she thinks they may get stuck that way.
Moonstar moves towards Fogfreckle to give his ear an affectionate lick before she leaves, but he ducks away from her, wincing at the movement.
Moonstar halts and pulls back, chin wobbling.
Puffing her fur against the biting wind, unseasonable for this early in leaf-fall, she squeezes her way out of their makeshift den in search of three thing: cobwebs for her brother, fresh-kill for the both of them, and someplace they can finally call home.
With Fogfreckle injured, her search is limited.
Moonstar pads across the mountain, eyes sharp for the movement of prey but mind elsewhere. Before Fogfreckle was confined to his nest to heal from the eagle attack, they were constantly on the move. So far, they haven’t found anywhere that would make for a good camp. They’ve slept in abandoned dens, up in the branches of trees, tucked under scrubbly, thorny bushes – but a place big enough for two cats to sleep is nowhere near large enough for a camp.
They will rebuild NimbusClan. StarClan decreed it – StarClan chose her as leader. It has to be for something, she has to have something, some trait or destiny or something that StarClan can see that she can’t, or they wouldn’t have chosen her. Her stomach churns uncomfortably at the thought.
Her mind strays to worse thoughts, the sharp glide of golden wings slicing through the air a constant in her mind this past moon. She can’t shake how odd it was – sure, it’s not strange that a mother would want to protect her eggs – but the way it shifted its beady black glare from Moonstar to her brother seemed tainted with something more than just a mother’s protection.
With effort, she shakes the subject from her mind and sets to canvassing this section of mountain. She doesn’t want to stray too far from where Fogfreckle is, so she’s been going out in a different direction each day in the hopes she’ll find something suitable. Today, she pokes her head into a shaded clearing of pine trees, only to be met with the blinking eyes of several racoons peering through the needles – sniffs around the opening of a fox den that smells very clearly occupied (hurrying away as quickly and silently as her paws with allow) – and shrinks back into the shadows of a leafy bush when a pair of twolegs turn a corner onto a twolegtrail, speaking loudly in their foreign tongue and likely scaring away all the prey in the area.
She only manages to catch one meager mouse – but that’s fine, because it’s Fogfreckle’s favorite, and with a cobweb-coated twig cradled carefully between her teeth, she doesn’t think she’d be able to carry more than one piece of fresh-kill at the same time, anyways.
Fogfreckle stirs as she presses back into their den, her head angled awkwardly so she can get through with the stick clamped in her jaws. He glances at her as she pushes the mouse towards him, and then looks down at his paws as she sets to working clearing the old cobwebs from his fur. She tries to be gentle, but she’s no good at this medicine cat stuff. Fogfreckle grimaces the entire time and lets his mouse go cold, not sharing a single word with his sister as she rasps a tongue over his wounds, cleaning the dried blood from his fur.
Moonstar goes to sleep when she’s done, stomach rumbling, and tries not to cry.
[Previous] [Start] [Next]
Refs for our starter kitties!
Moonpaw: A pale tabby she-cat, eyes of sunlit ice, medium fur length. Nervous, picky nest-builder. 8m old.
Fogpaw: A white, unusually spotted (rosette) pale gray tom, cobalt eyes, medium fur length. Daring, quick to make peace, picky nest-builder. 8m old.
Skykestrel! And poor Clove, they did not ask for this…
Wonder what Brackenleaf wants to warn Oakspider about.
Moon 0
Prev Moon | Next Moon
I ended up busier than I expected and have been occupied with family for the holiday, but I'm itching to get the next update out soon!
I also downloaded a new art program to play around with the text boxes a little bit, so that'll be exciting to figure out 👀
🌙 for Magpiepaw! (from talesofcloverclan)
@talesofcloverclan hi thank you for the ask! 🧡
✍️ What inspired you to make your clangen
comic/ other media?
*twirls hair* haha so actually nimbus you were one of my big big inspirations for starting Ranchclan, we started posting around the same time and just I’ve always been a fan of your work and think you’re super cool 🧡
Otherwise of course @/fallenclan, @/rippleclan, @/loudclan-clangen, @/splinterclan (jfc that most recent update moonpaw and Bess my poor girl), @/direclan (! Hi friend), @/sporeclan, @/circusclan, and so many more there’s so many good ones.
I’ve been absolutely loving @/astray-clangen, @/canaryclan, @/forestclan-clangen (HIGHLY SUGGEST), @/smoke-clan, @/midsummerclan, @/hillclan-ruins
But I think the real truth is I got really inspired by @/crypitdclaws clangen from like a million years ago, Meowymanstar lives permanently in my brain. Their work with Bignose is super cute to me as a borzoi lover
Prologue p1 || Prologue p3 {TBA}
🦋 ✧ • ~-------------------------------~ • ✧ 🦋
Fun fact ingame Bugclan and Pondclan were called Lowclan and Brindleclam, but that gave me like nothing to work with so i based them on their icons instead. In general I tried to work with what the game gave me as much as I could
Who is your favorite sibling duo? Mine is Mink and Dawn!
GRAHH this is such a difficult question!!! I love all their dynamics so much :'D If I have to choose I think I'd have to go with Petunia and Oscypek, just because I've been thinking lots about them recently and I am admittedly real partial to a good ol tragedy lol
But that makes me curious what everyone else thinks too! So here, have this poll!:
HEY IF NIMBUSCLAN WAS A MUSEUM WHAT WOULD BE IN THE GIFT SHOP 🧡🧡✨
hi friend
HIIII RANCH!! 🧡
What would be in NimbusClan's gift shop...
Suncatchers, for sure!
^These things. Also, definitely plushie versions of both Moonstar and Fogfreckle! There'd also be stuff for viewing the sky, like those kiddo binoculars that hang on a string around your neck, cloud formation charts, and star charts.
[Previous] [Start] [Next]
“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.
[Previous] [Start] [Next]
---
(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)
A Clangen blog! Follow siblings Moonstar and Fogfreckle on their adventures :3c
193 posts