Chapter 33

Updated a few days early; Jaggedclaw's story flowed better than I thought it would, so I finished earlier than expected with the chapter. Which is good, because now I have some wriggle room for the next chapter. :p

@Mochihamster: Thank you! :)

@Shimmertail: Yaaay, I'm very glad that you liked it. I'll admit the scene kind of got away from me, it wasn't supposed to be so long (the chapter was like 8k or something, and 3/4s of it was the dream!) but I'm pleased with the result. Also, you earn ten points by mentioning the 'one paw in StarClan' bit, it's been awhile since I've brought that up. It's weird, a lot of people have remarked that they like Moonpaw more now, despite her not doing a whole lot...but I guess that's good. Now I know if I want a character to be liked, I just need to add some snow. :p Again, I'm really glad you liked it. <33

@TheCatOwl: I've never seen The Phantom of the Opera, actually. I tried reading the book once but I was in 5th grade and it didn't make much sense to me so I gave up after like the first chapter. I'd like to watch it some time. ^^

@Sara Darkotter: Join the masses of SootxChill fans. 8D

@Silverblossom: Poor Rainwind was doomed from the beginning of that battle, I'm afraid, but he was a good kitty, and, as Sootpaw said, StarClan is one of the most peaceful places imaginable, so he's prolly pretty happy. And yep, Chilly's a little Mr. Dapper. He's always been that way, even when I rped him foreverrr ago; he's a bit longwinded, the poor kid.

@TheLastClan: Aren't best friend romances the best kind? I love them myself, although I don't think Chilly makes good BFF material (sleepovers with him are pretty awkward!). As for Moonpaw, her disappearing/reappearing was intentional. That happens sometimes in dreams, you lose track of who's with you and who isn't, so she popped in and out. Remember that a big chunk of her is just Sooty's subconscious, so she's subject to the same sort of whimsy rules of existence. As for Rainy and Reed, they were pals, but I think we'll hear more about that later.

@Tangleflame: Ever since the battle, some people have wanted to strangle her and some want to give her a hug, which I think makes for a fun character! Sometimes it's nice to have a 'base breaker' thrown in the mix. :D

@Nightkill: Yup, I did NaNo! It's on my fictionpress account (same username) if you'd like to take a look. Thanks~

@Rainshimmer: Your lateness is forgiven, no worries; Christmas time is busy for errebody. If you're a Homestuck reader, right now Leopardpaw kind of has a kismesis thing goin' on with Spiderpaw. They do not like each other one bit, but Leopardpaw absolutely adores messing around with cats and pushing them just to see how far their temper extends. It's a bit of a curse, really, since as we're seeing it tends to backfire....

As for your dream theory, it's interesting, but of course it could just be coincidence. After all, where would the tension be if the pattern was as straightforward as that (if there's even a pattern at all)? And I do find your attempts to continue hating Swanpaw most amusing. 8D And I don't know what you mean; Blight is the kingpin of relationship advice, clearly. He gets allll the ladies. Granted it's by brainwashing and torturing them, but still, gotta give him props. ;)

@Zerala: Ooh, aspens would have been good for that scene. They always look pretty with snow, and they're usually slender enough to give a more sinister feel...mm. Nice. Thank you!

That's all for now, folks. Enjoy the update. <3

Merry Christmas, etc. etc.

So yes, enjoy your snowy update! I'm really wishing it would snow here (we haven't had a decent snow all year, and a few days ago it was 60 degrees outside! I'm thinking of writing a very angry letter to the weather gods a la Calvin and Hobbes) but I guess this is as close as we'll get!

Hope you all have merry Christmases/Happy Holidays/whatever you prefer~

@Tangleflame: Thank you!

@Sunspirit: Leopard's pretty kickass, yupyup. As for Destiny, Jaggedclaw will share some information about her when Spider spars again with Leopard (which might be in the next update, provided that Spider doesn't totally lose his temper....:p). Destiny was never mentioned in Shattered, but Jaggedclaw's first mate, Myrtle, was. And yes, Blacky has been a big girl lately, and yes Swanpaw is a very good fighter (pity that fighting skills don't correlate with niceness, though).

@The Last Clan: I smell cinnamon rolls, but I s'pose that's because my dad is making them right now. And Leopardpaw is Leopardpaw, silly! She's totally not hiding deepdarksecrets or anything like that. :3

@Silverblossom: Ooh, you used CMoA. Are you a troper? Fine people, tropers. And I'm glad that for once Spiderpaw wasn't a totally disappointing little brat like he usually is. As for Destiny, we'll see!

@Zera: I know I already replied in PM, but I'd just like to thank you again for your review. And for Novacaine. <3

@Miss Tangerineleaf: Bios are the little pictures & descriptions of characters that I post on the blog. They help the readers picture the characters a lil bit...and they are pretty fun to make. Good guesses for the warrior names, we'll have to see!

@Priceless: Thanks! She certainly has been changing a lot. As for Lawless, I'll take a glance when I have time. ^^

Guess that's all, folks. Hope you all get awesome presents and such. <3

Chapter 31~

GahthisislateandI'msorry. The last couple days have just been busy for me. |D

Mmm, I don't think I have much to say about this most recent chapter, though, hmm. So I guess we'll just hop over to the reviews. :p

@Hermytail: It's pretty catchy, no?

@Tangleflame: I like him too, but that doesn't really mean I'll keep him alive. We'll see. ^^

@Sara Darkotter: He has been kidnapped by leprechauns, I'm afraid. There's no saving him now...or is there? :o

@Insane: I know, it's a terrible name. PeakClan really sucks when it comes to naming their warriors. And yup! It looks like it's important somehow~

@Rainshimmer: Your reviews are so looong, it's awesome. Clearly Sooty and Chilly are in love and they are going to have adorable ghost babies as Shimmertail suggested a long time ago. And it will be awesome. As for Swan and Sage, I can't say, but Sage at least has her respect (which is more than most cats earn, sooo). RookxNightingale isn't really a thing (I mentioned it in an earlier entry, I think, but we'll see it in the story soon enough). I've never heard of MirrorMask, actually...what is it?

@Silverblossom: I think Moonpaw might be the single most terrifying character I've ever created, which surprises me, because she's not really supposed to be scary. It's interesting, though, and hopefully I'll be able to make use of it in future stories. I love kitties that can kick tail too, and I figured it was about time Swanpaw did something besides being an enormous bitch. :D And grr, you're right. Guess I have Nightshade on the brain for some reason.../hums innocently

@The Last Clan: I think you meant he, but the sentiment is appreciated anyway. And yay! Maybe Swanpaw will level up. :D

@Priceless: No worries, I've been busy too. ^^

Early Update: Chappy 30

Is 30 a milestone? It kinda feels like one...but I guess once we hit 50 chapters we'll get a real one.

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed the early update. My goal is to get another Spidy & Sooty chapter out before Christmas. We'll see how that goes. |D

@Hermytail: Glad to hear it. ^^

@Silverblossom: I sure did, thank you! This year's NaNo wasn't as fun as the last, but it was still pretty good. I agree, Pancho is ridiculously adorable in a very doggy way. :p And yeah, poor Jaggy's always a kind of ticking time bomb kind of a cat. It was there in Shattered, but he usually kept it under control; it hasn't really gotten bad until Chilled, methinks. As for Destiny, we'll see! Hopefully I'll have some time for Abrazame too, but we'll have to see. :p

@Sara Darkotter: Missed you too! And it certainly does. :3

@Rainshimmer: BlizzardxRobin was like the third most popular pairing on the poll I did a few months ago, which surprised me since Blizz and Robin have been pretty minor thus far. I guess a few teasy-hints here and there are good for that sort of kindling. As for Spider, you're right; he seems to get a lot of lectures, but whether they do any good is a mystery. He's the kinda cat that's slow to change (which is exactly what irks Jaggy xD). As awesome as Spidey becoming Dark Vader would be, I can't see it. He's fairly loyal to his Clan, even though he hates...certain cats (*cough*"ginger oppressors"*cough*). Darky and Firefire definitely didn't act honorably, though. The problem is that Firefire is blind when it comes to loyalty to his Clan, and Darky is just too much of a chicken to make many moves without someone else's approval. Oh noes, don't be mad at Silverstar! She's obviously not thinking clearly, dying of a terrible disease and all...although I'll agree she's not being a very good role model for Jaypaw right now. As for the orbs thing, I knowwww. I hardly ever use it (prolly what, twice, in all of Chilled? Maybe once in Shattered? xD). Usually it gets on my nerves (especially with humans, bleh) but sometimes if 'eyes' has already been used in the same sentence and it would be awkward to use again, I must resort to it. Although, I would say that cats' eyes are pretty orb-y. xD

Anyway, that's all for this chapter. Reviews are always appreciated. <3

GUYSGUYSGUYS IT'S DECEMBER

JUST IN CASE YOU HAVEN'T NOTICED ALREADY BY THE CHRISTMAS SONGS PERVADING THE AIRWAVES

Anyway, NaNo's over so we can all party again! Yaaay! I've got some spiffy chapters lined up (there are three that I'm hoping to get out before the end of Dec., we'll see how the actual writing goes) and I can't deny that I'm excited to hear from you all again. Hope you had great Thanksgivings and such. :D

Also, sorry this was late! It was supposed to be finished Dec. 1st, but I only got halfway through it because I had to go back and look at past chapters to kinda refresh my memory (it's amazing what you forget in a month). And then I was gonna finish it tomorrow buuut my dad was stuck at the airport so we had to go and get him and it's a few hours away so I didn't get home until fairly late which was terrible and annoying. But I had lots of free time today, so here you are~!

Now, let's get to those succulent, satisfying reviews, shall we? <3

They're italicized for convenience because some of them (*cough*Rainshimmer*cough*) are rather long.

@The Last Clan: I'm sure the wait was agonizing (prolly not really, but whatever xD) but here we are again with plenty of Spiderpaw! And you can guess about Chilly's sin if you like.


@Sharkfin: Her meeting them would be neat, but also difficult since they'll be reincarnated into their original Clans if they make it, like Cinderpelt/Cinderheart. Aaah, the tantalizing moss thief secrets. We'll get to that eventually, I promise!


@Silverblossom: I love ship-to-ship combat, it's fun to hear about (and ship-teasing both side is fun too! Keeps you guessing :3). I don't think Chilly would be a girl, though. I don't want to get all metaphysical and such on you, so I'll try to keep it simple: the only reincarnation we have to go off of is Cinderpelt/heart, and she not only kept her gender and appearance but also some of her mannerisms and personality; thus in the Warriors world that seems to be part of the overall 'spirit' stuff. So if Chilly does get reincarnated, he'll basically just be baby!Chilly, which is both adorable and terrifying. And you're right about the tensions, the Dark Forest kitties are not at all happy with another (especially since none of them justify things with 'for the evulz' and therefore they see each other as being contemptible for their crimes...and their Clans were enemies). You were right about Sooty not asking about the other Clans, but for the moment she has more pressing issues like coming battles and such...and most of the DF cats scare the poop out of her. xD


@Ravenshade: Sooty's reaction should be...interesting. And I like Ratface, since his original prefix was Rat and all, ha. And you're welcome, I guess. :p


@Sara Darkotter: Hope your NaNo went well too!


@Purple Panda: S;sdkfpojrfnldsknfn such a long review. Kinda hurts my brain. I see what you mean about adverbs, kinda; I don't really pay attention to that much when reading other works, but I prolly should. I attempted to cut down on them this chappy - I'm not sure I could ever do away with them entirely, since I think sometimes they do help add to the tone of dialogue or something without being too wordy...like "he said solemnly" versus "he said in a solemn tone," because in my opinion the latter sounds a bit klunky). As for the phrase thingies, I'll admit it's been aaaaages (like three years now) since I've had a grammar lesson, so I'm a bit rusty. I kinda know what you're talking about, but my memories are a little vague; I tried grappling with them in this most recent chapter (not necessarily using less, but trying to use them properly) but I'm sure a few got away from me somewhere. I'll try harder. :c


@LightningstormZero: I didn't know about the Prin/Principle bit, but I did know about the Pardus! Prin Pardus comes from an older username of mine, which I tweaked to make it sound less kiddy (it was princessleopard). Princess became Prin, and leopard became Pardus, since the name for leopard is Panthera Pardus and all. Neat that you noticed. ^^


@Rainshimmerrrrrr: I missed you, it's great to see you again! I'm gonna have to be brief because there were so many (delicious) reviews from you, darling. <3


I think everyone's thinking that Moonpaw is evil by this point, which I think is amusing since she's basically an extension of Sootpaw's consciousness...but I'm very glad that you like Sooty and Spider and Chilly and stuffs. You're not the first person to theorize about Silvy being preggers, but unfortunately my lips are (temporarily) sealed on the matter.


You think Spiderpaw would be abusive in a relationship? That's kinda scary. I don't think he would be intentionally...but he does have a terrible temper, the little 'git.' As for the noticing, like I said on an earlier entry on the blog, most of the cats suspected Jaypaw was getting sick (and Bluepaw even knew he had a cough before) but since there was nothing they could do they chose to ignore it rather than investigate. Suspecting but not knowing something is sometimes better than knowing something you can do nothing about. As for the prophecies, it's an interesting thought. :3


I think everyone should be happy when Spidey gets his tail handed to him, because he almost always deserves it. :p As for Darkstorm, it's just a phobia. Some people are scared of spiders, some of snakes, some of clowns...Darky just happens to be afraid of tiny, adorable kittens.


I know everyone was looking forward to seeing Bella/Night's kits (two of 'em, anyway)! I love them too. Glad Swanny managed to trap you with her words; she's a master of pity-manipulation. If I could give you a potted snowberry plant, I would. :c


Don't worry, we ran full X-rays and blood tests to make sure that Shimmerfrost wasn't an alien. Blackpaw is really pathetic and sad...sometimes I want to punch her and sometimes I want to give her cuddles. As for Leopardpaw, we'll see!


Your obsessive paring of Chill with Soot is both disturbing and heartening. And Swanpaw isn't fat (although she is mean and you should hate her probably xD). I do agree that Sage is pretty cool, tho. Don't be scared of Minnow, she's a darling. :c


Hasn't Shimmer always been teh evulz, tho? I'm not sure Shimmer's corruptible anymore. Her soul is already filled with kit-eating blackness and wrath. :D

That would be an interesting story, although it almost wouldn't even be a fic since it has zero to do with Warriors until Amber and Cane pair up with AshClan. Still, food for thought. My next story might be of that sort of type, though, so it kinda works.

I see what you mean about Shimmer's description; it was kinda hurried and looking back it doesn't feel quite right, hmm. One more thing for me to hate. D:


Oh noes, I hope nothing happens to your farm. That would be terribbible. And it's interesting how the welfare of Soot and Spider seems to have an inverse relationship, I hadn't really thought of it that way before. As for the dream-ancestor kitties, we'll see. ^^


I think the only time I've heard the word 'lugubrious' is during Hercules when the pink fat demon thing calls Hades 'your lugubriousness'. I love that movie. Glad you enjoyed the scene, it was really fun to write. It was kind of a depressing chapter, but not necessarily in a bad way, I think.


Honesty is a big thing for me, so I like Swifty too (especially considering how his sister totes warped him) although I definitely won't pardon him for his crimes. I think he's interesting because he doesn't fall into the usual types of bad guys; he isn't in it 'for the evulz' or 'trying to do a good thing but using bad methods'. He's unique in that he doesn't have a goal at all and doesn't shirk from his crimes even though he doesn't enjoy them. 


@Nightkill: I finished kinda early too (and by that I mean reached 50k), and used a bit of that time to work on a one-shot, but then I continued working on my NaNo since there's still a lot to finish, plot-wise.

Welp, I think that's all. Thank you for the reviews, ducklings. It's great to be back~
You guys seem very, very split when it comes to Tubs, which is interesting.

Last chapter until Dec.~

Okay, so we've got a lot to talk about, I guess.

First, on Sootpaw's side we skipped about 1 1/2 days, which is kinda important because when we left off they were thinking about confronting Adder. They actually spent the half a day they had left (during which time Spiderpaw was in the Moss Clearing, spoke to Blizzardpaw in camp, etc.) to tend to Rook's leg. Sage and Bluepaw also went to look for some honey, since Nightingale's throat is almost always bothering her. Then they went to sleep, Sootpaw dreamed of nothing in particular, and so on. The next day (during which the Clan mourned Birchpool and Petalcloud and Spiderpaw had their lil chat at GreenRocks) Sage continued to tend Rook's leg while the rest of the group wheelded out information about Adder and the threat that he poses to their group. They decided that it was easier/safer to fight Adder rather than try to go around him, because Adder's territory is basically a long, horizontal strip that crosses the Thunderpath, and it would be nearly impossible to avoid. Everyone kind of took a short break to strengthen themselves. Sootpaw then went to sleep, and dreamed what we saw of this most recent chapter.

So, hopefully it's not too confusing. xD

Now, about Swiftshade. As I mentioned in the chapter & previously, when I was thinking up the Dark Forest cats and deciding who would be in the group, I decided to use a structuring system to create varied characters--in this case, the Seven Deadly Sins. Some of them are intepreted in strange or unusual ways, but that just makes it more fun~

Swiftshade's Sin is Sloth (say that three times fast). Sloth doesn't only mean laziness (although Swiftshade is pretty lazy). It can also mean a lack of motivation, values, or ambition. Swiftshade never truly desired anything out of life other than to be left to his own devices; he was perfectly content to just float through life without any conflicts or struggles. Unfortunately his sister was not so relaxed. Swiftshade allowed his sister's ambitions to overtake his own, and he did whatever she asked with little regard to the consequences of his actions. Because he lacked the moral strength or ambition  to oppose her, his sister took over the Clan with ease, and once she had everything she wanted, she disposed of him.

Now then:

@Ravenshade: Black is pretty wimpy. Hopelessly so, even. Leopard is definitely all of those things. Unfortunately, I won't voice my opinions on the pairings just yet. xD And yes, Birchy's death is a pity; Thistle won't be happy when he gets home. :(

@Insane: Thanks, I'm glad you liked it. Sorry about that mistake, though, sometimes my fingers and brain don't agree at all, derpderp. xD

@TheVioletGleek: I'm glad you liked it! And you're right that Forest and Bullet met. Originally Forest was looking for Thistle's father, but he couldn't find him so he decided to find Natasha and Mitch instead, as he got the idea of talking to Amber and Cane for help. Forest talked to Bullet, but he never asked him about/mentioned Thistle and Birchy. Bullet definitely knows about them, though; he left them, remember? Also, I'm glad that you don't totally hate Firefire. He's a stuck-up furball, certainly, but not a bad guy when the chips are down. He's got your back, yo~ And I can't wait to see your one-shot. :D

@Sara Darkotter: Hopefully. :D

@Nightkill: BlackxSpider? I don't know what you're talking about. /whistles

@Silverblossom: I know! I'm too much of a goofball to talk about Birchy's deal in a mature and responsible way outside of the fic, but it really and truly was a terrible thing that happened to her. As for Silverstar, as we'll see Shimmer has a habit of ducking out in the middle of the night, but she always returns with herbs, so Silver figures she's just relieving some stress. As for what Forestheart found....Also, the tasting thing made me giggle. It was more in a metaphorical experiencing-the-battle sort of thing, but now that I think about it that's really funny. xD

@CrystalSakura: I'm glad you like Rook and Nightingale. A oneshot chapter about her would be good practice for...something. *mysterious hints of mysteriousness* As for the rogue afterlife, I'm honestly not entirely sure. There are possibilities floating around, but since it won't be an issue in this story, I'd prefer to keep my possibilities open. And the reason that StarClan and the Starwalkers interact is because some members of StarClan have hopped over to the Starwalker side (like ex-FrozenClan cats that died and are now going to guide Tremor's group, since many of the cats in his group are from FrozenClan.)

@CrystalSakura (again :D): Yep, things were really pretty awful for Birchpool. But now she can chillax in StarClan and look at all the clouds she wants (maybe even shape a few). Plus, I'm fairly certain she has her memories back and everything, which is good, right? And gah, it looks like I was making mistakes all over the place. Pretend it was "strength, okay? :p

And yes, Nightshade had three kits, two of which are Sage and Swift. She did have a third, but Minnow had to leave it behind; it wasn't strong enough to make it very far.

Welp, I guess that's everything. Check out the allegiances if you like, all of the ancient journey members that have been introduced so far are on there now. Hopefully you guys will keep an eye on my NaNo, which will be on my fictionpress (fictionpress.com/~prinpardus). Until then, see you in December!

<333

Herp Derp

Sorry this is kind of late, I didn't have time to write it last night (my dad's trying to pull some restrictions again, so I had to get off...we'll see how long this lasts) but now I have time and everything will be wonderfullllll. :D

@The Last Clan: You definitely have a point about Swanpaw, but unfortunately thus far I've had little room to play with her. Every situation she's come up against thus far she's met with hostility, because that's just the sort of cat she is; she's cold and snarky and biting and not really all that nice. The only cats she treats with compassion would be her Clan, but as we've seen she's icy even with them; however, above all she loves her family, and we saw that when she volunteered to embark on a dangerous mission to both save her mother and ensure that what her sister endured will never happen again. She also seems to have clashing feelings about Sage; she hates rogues and their kind (whatever Sage is, since he doesn't really have a structured life, with Tremor's group just starting out and all) but at the same time he saved her life, and she has to respect him for that. I'd like to focus more on her in the future, but right now we haven't had the opportunity to view a situation wherein she would act with grace rather than malice.

@Dawnshine: Indeed he does. Thank you. ^^

@Lynxeye: Sootpaw's a bit too afraid to tell everyone about her dreams; keep in mind that no one (save perhaps Bluepaw) has communicated with their warrior ancestors before, and thus they know absolutely nothing about the original four Clans. Some, like Swanpaw, would love to mock Sootpaw for dreaming up four Clans that (they believe) never existed. As far as Sootpaw knows, even Bluepaw has never heard of the four Clans (plus SkyClan, I guess), since Bluepaw is still very young and new to the job, and if Bluepaw doesn't back her up then no one will believe Sootpaw. Nothing has happened so far to give Sootpaw solid proof of her dreams; all of the situations that have occurred have been different from what happened in her dreams (such as sixteen cats went on the first journey, while there are only eight in hers, and the sixteen cats were forbidden to return until they completed their mission, which was also different from the new journey's; Nightpaw drowned while Swanpaw did not; instead of it being one rogue and real adders, it's two rogues who warn them of the danger of one cat conveniently named Adder; there will be more differences as we go along). Sootpaw isn't yet sure of the purpose of her dreams; they could be warnings, but thus far none of the warnings have amounted to anything, since  everything that has happened would have happened whether she said anything or not. There's also the possibility that the dreams aren't a warning, but some sort of other message, perhaps concerning when the original journey ends up. I'm glad you like Rook and Nightingale thus far, but I'll just point something out: Nightingale doesn't love Rook, at least not how I think you're implying. They aren't a couple, but rather another one of my (seemingly infamous) sister/brother pairs. They're not related by blood, but by circumstance, and they harbor only platonic feelings for one another. :D

@Ravenshade: It's odd that you mention Swansong, I wasn't even really thinking of her. Rook is kind of like Deathy, though (I had actually considered him skulking around the trees and trying to intimidate the cats from above, but it reminded me too much of Deathy's first appearance xD).

@Anonymous: Wow, thank you! That was a long and delicious review. <3 I'm glad you've liked the plot and characters so far (and I see you've jumped on the Northy bandwagon, ha xD). Sootpaw asking them to join was probably surprising, since she is indeed wary of Rook, but she couldn't help but feel sorry for them. Keep in mind that Sootpaw was woken from her dream before she should have been, however; she doesn't know what ends up happening to Smoke. It's possible that she guessed Smoke joined the journeying cats, and decided that having Rook/Nightingale along for the ride was supposed to happen. Or maybe she just felt sorry for them, being the bleeding heart kinda gal she is.

As for why the patrol isn't avoiding Adder's Fangs, we'll find that out soon, but basically they cannot. Adder controls most of the territory on either side of the Thunderpath, so they can't avoid him without making a wide wide wide detour, which would waste a lot of time. There's more to it, but we'll get there. ^^

I don't have an account on the official forum; I've kind of glanced over the place before, but wasn't really intrigued. Posting my fics there would probably help them get more attention at such, but it would be a lot of work (I don't think I would be allowed to simply post a link to Shattered and Chilled, I'd have to actually post them...and since Shattered is loooong (right between the 4th and 5th Harry Potter books, for reference) it would be a lot of trouble. If you (and the rest of my readers, too xD) want to spread the word there it would be fine, but I can't really see myself trying to carry both stories to the forums myself. ^^;

@Nightkill: Glad you like him, he's an interesting little dude. My first posh kittypet, I think. :3

I think that's everyone now, phew. Stay tuned for the next exciting episode of Sootpaw Dreams About Lots of Weird Crap! :D

Chappie :D

I was gonna put a heart in the title and add a 3 for each review to make it bigger, but the site was freaking out on me, sad face. I guess if I can't put it in the title:

<333333333333333333

Thank you so much guys. ILYA (I love you all :p).

@Tangleflame: I'm sure Reedy would that too...as for making Spider not so much of a furball, I'm not sure if that is even possible, but Jaggy can try, right?

@Koraki: I enjoy a bit of dark humor mixed in with everything, so I guess stuff like that kinda pops out from time to time, ha. I'm glad you liked the chapter, and it always makes me smile to hear of various people's ships. Shipping is so fun, ta? I think it's interesting how divided the shipping is in this story (especially for Spider, omg you people ship him with everyone) compared to earlier stories, where there were fewer possibilities. Everything's an experiment, so I find this one to be very intriguing. :3

@Lynxeye: Aww, that stinks! Computers can be infuriating sometimes; mine really likes to give me lip sometimes. D:< As for the next training session, it should indeed be loads of fun. I'm excited, at least. And yes, this story does kinda have sub-plot overload. So many plot bunnies in my head. xD

@Stormy: Hey, lover! Thanks for the review, I really appreciate it (Dead Walking is rlly cool btw, I keep meaning to review but then I forget D:). If you could give me a reason for your dislike of SpiderxBlack (just outa curiosity) that would be lovely, but since even you aren't quite sure, that's okay. xD

@Silverblossom: Archeye? Eww, sounds painful. I'll agree that the Erins have made some crappy names lately (although really some first arc names were bad too; Runningnose comes to mind). Yes, Blackie's the moss-thief! What a dastardly villain, no one suspected her (at least, I don't think anyone did :p). She could definitely have a Jekyll and Hyde thing going on (how kewl would that be? 8D) but I s'pose we'll just have to see. Leopardpaw was in camp with everyone else--I guess I just forgot about her, derp. I'm making her suspicious on accident now, ha. She just didn't have much to add to the discussion; she's close to precious few cats, and none of them were on that patrol. Good of you to notice that, though. :3

@Ravenshade: Spider's such a furball, I'm beginning to lose hope for him. Not even the presence of multiple beeyewtiful laydays and a hardened rogue can force him to shape up, it would appear. Why they even bother, I dunno. Now, if Northy was the one training Spider, you bet things would be different...no one comes away from his sessions unscarred (isn't that right, Silverstar-darling? Of course it is, it's Northstar!). I'm also interested in your shipping views; why is SpiderxLeopard better than SpiderxBlack in your opinion, out of curiosity? As for the pleasing/breaking, I take delight in performing both of those at once; it's all part of my evil plan, to craft a lovely tale and then crush everyone by killing off all the kitties at the end. It's true, don't doubt it. :O

Northy would have to survive though, I s'pose, since I honestly shudder to think what would happen if he died. I'd be eaten alive by rabid fan(atics). @.@

@The Last Clan: I promise I know my its vs. it's! Sometimes I just get so caught up in the rush that I miss/add stuff that I shouldn't. Sorry for the jumpiness, too; this story seems a lot jumpier than some of my others, for some reason. I think it's the stress of keeping a linear timeline; I have to squeeze so much into every chapter to make sure that it's not too long, while still getting in all the key events...it's hard. I'll try harderer, though, promise. D:

@Nightkill: Babies make everything better. 8D

@Sara Darkotter: Sorry to hear about your computer, mine does the same alla time. So annoying. D: You bring up a good point, though, something I've been meaning to mention; I'll slip it into the next chapter's AN, I think, to make sure everyone sees it.

@Sunspirit: Long review, wow. Lovely. You might have mentioned that theory before, I'm not sure, but it's interesting. Considering that the SkyClan-journey is in 'ancient' times, it could work out, but I s'pose we'll have to see if that's what happens (and where the fourth Clan would go, since there was only MarshClan/BirchClan/ShellClan before FrozenClan was created). As for Tubs, that would be incredibly awesome, I agree. Tubs is technically a wild cat right now, although I'm assuming you're asking if he used to live in the forest. He might have at one point (honestly I'm not entirely sure, he's sort of a mystery). Maybe we'll find out? Also, I'm confused about your Bullet/Jaggedclaw question? Jaggedclaw and Bullet obviously had some sort of connection in the past, but they aren't the same cat, if that's what you're asking...? As for Soot's name, yes, it was intentionally linked with AshClan; that's partially how Eaglestrike thought of it; he was messing with the soot/ash left over from the fire that razed the forest, and compared them to her dapples and came up with her name. I'm not sure whether to be proud or concerned that you're starting to act like Spider; it's almost flattering, but then again he's a terrible role model. xD

@Nightkill: I used all of my adorability on that chapter. :D

@MansonNoob: Killing her would almost be merciful at this point (although I'm not really known for that, mm). And fanart always pleases me (I'll address this in the next AN, like I told Sara). :D

@Hermytail: Your views on the charries are definitely interesting. Points 1 and 3 are definitely valid, I can't really argue against those, but let's see if I can address the others:

2. I'm confused as to how training herself would help Sooty at all. Training herself to hunt would be good because that is a skill that can be learned through trial-and-error; teaching herself to fight on her own is impossible. As Jaggy says, an apprentice attacking a stump or tree or branch will do them no good; they have to face a living, breathing opponent in order to learn how to properly fight. She could attempt to teach herself some moves, but they'd be clumsy and unwieldy because she wouldn't know how to use them against an opponent that could dodge her attacks. Making Sootpaw a proficient fighter by training alone would be extremely unrealistic.

4. Actually, Spiderpaw shouted at Robinpaw, and kind of mocked her for being a cripple, which caused her to race out of camp. She got over it, but was still slightly rankled that Spiderpaw never apologized; Jaypaw is extremely protective of his sister, and in his mind Spiderpaw committed a terrible transgression by mocking Robinpaw and making her feel insecure about her disability.

5. Normally I'd say that a cat who doesn't really stand for either side is probably a coward, but in this case I think not. Now, if either side was clearly wrong, I'd agree, but the problem is that in this conflict both sides are wrong. Spider and Fire are both arrogant, cocky furballs. Neither of them are in the right; neither of them are blameless. Blizzardpaw can't really support either of them, because he knows they're both wrong. The only cat he truly allies with is Robinpaw. At the same time, he doesn't want to make anyone angry, so he simply tries to be friendly to both sides. In some ways, he's better than both sides; he tempers Fireblaze's anger (such as when he suggested they steal the moss, rather than put a thorn in it; a thorn could hurt Spiderpaw very badly, whereas stealing is rather harmless) and helps calm Spiderpaw too (as we see when Blizz, Robin, and Spider all hunt together; Spider feels calmer and apologizes to Jaggedclaw for his behavior).

That being said, if someone that Blizzardpaw was really close to (i.e. Robinpaw) was honestly threatened beyond mere insults, Blizzardpaw would have absolutely no problem smacking them down. He just usually tries peaceful means rather than violence to solve his problems.

6. Leopardpaw proved herself when she first met the Clan, by saving Sootpaw and Spiderpaw back when they were kits; saving helpless kits that weren't her own or related to her suggests some measure of compassion. Forcing her out of the Clan afterwards would be rather heartless of Eaglestrike, especially since they're his kits. Also, keep in mind that the Clan is suffering from sickness; they need every able-bodied cat they can get, and despite her chilly demeanor, Leopardpaw's an excellent hunter; she'll be extremely valuable during the cold leaf-bare months.

@Sharkfin: Another LeopardxFire shipper, I see? Interesting. I'm glad you like the story. :D

@Hermytail (again :p): Rabbitleap is definitely a favorite of mine; Bluepaw is kinda almost like her clone, although they do differ in some ways. I think the weird thing in this story is that the only available love-interest with an 'F' is Fireblaze, and he doesn't have green eyes...hmm, maybe FirexSpider....:p

<...3

Another early update. Things were just sort of flowing, I guess. It was a fairly heavy chapter...kind of depressing to write. But the good kind of depressing; the cathartic kind. I don't know, I've been feeling kind of down for a while now, and writing some bonding scenes really helps me feel better.

Anyway. I suppose the question-answering will be brief for this chapter.

I think it's interesting how the opinions are divided about Tubs; some like him, some hate him, and some just think he's odd; all three of those are sort of how I feel about him. He's kind of an odd dude, like some fat, lazy bum/Santa Claus figure. It's weird, in a weird way. I guess he's just one of those characters that not even the writer can get a handle on.

@Ravenshade: TremorxMinnow kind of surprised me too; I knew when I was writing the first chapter that Minnow and Rumble would hit it off pretty well, but I didn't think that she and Tremor would get along quite as nicely. They did, though, which I guess is good, because they're better parents than Nightshade or Blight could ever be. Hopefully the Bullet-finding will be as interesting as you think it will; I'm looking forward to it too.

@Silverblossom: It seems that all the Twolegplace cats are rather secretive, especially since not all of them (especially Natasha and Mitch) approve of the new regime. We'll have to see what Carmelo & Flicka's exact partnership is, but I'm fairly certain it won't be good for the Clanners. Sorry it's agonizing. I could throw spoilers at you if you want, but I'm sure it wouldn't be as much fun at the end for either of us.

@PurplePanda: I see what you mean. semicolons have sort of become the new comma for me (I used to, throw in commas, where they didn't exactly belong, sometimes where it really, made no sense for me, to do so, which is probably why, my teacher, called me comma-happy xD), meaning that I overuse them and they just sort of pop out and explode everywhere. Plus I've been writing very flowish-ly, and it all comes out so fast that it's hard to ponder whether or not a semicolon belongs there or not. It's definitely a problem spot. However I do have a question: In one example you put the phrase as "She tried to resist for a moment, before simply relaxing; allowing the force to pull her further into the pine forest." I don't think a semicolon would actually work there, since "allowing the force to pull her further into the pine forest" can't stand alone by itself (I think it's a dependent clause) and I don't think semicolons are allowed to link a dependent clause to something else. Maybe I'm wrong, though; it's hard when I look at my own work. If it's not mine, I can pick the mistakes apart really easily (I got a 36 and 35 on the two English parts of the ACT, last time I took it, and those are pretty much all about grammar) but if it's mine I get all confused and foggy and messy.

@Priceless: We were talking about sumos as an occupation in my AP Gov class today, actually. Interesting. And it's not a problem, I understand that you're busy. I'm just happy you reviewed. :)

I suppose that's all.

Chapter~

Another chappy a few days early for you guys. I actually finished this one on the fifth, but I decided to wait before posting it. Anyway~

@Sara Darkotter: Heh, maybe. Blackie's question was more friendship-based, but I'm not allowed to talk about pairings. *zips lips*

@Sunspirit: Glad you're enjoying them. ^^ Spider does indeed seem to attract the ladies, with Robin, Blacky, Blue, and sort-of Leopard tagging along behind him. He's just /such/ a charming fellow. xD Shimmer and Leopard meeting is like Spider's worst nightmare, since he's kind of scared of them both. Forest would indeed be a good mentor for Soot; then again, he'd be a good mentor for a lot of cats, since he's just a well-rounded, nice dude. And you're right about the sibling bit; it crossed my mind, but I was writing really quickly and by the time I stopped to fix my mistakes, I'd already forgotten about it. Derp. xD

@PurplePanda: It's practically a law for sneaky rogues to be evil, ta? We need a catchy title for it. Whether she's working with anyone shady or not actually has no reflection on whether or not she is evil; Minnow from Shattered (which you haven't read, so I'll cut you some slack there) hung out with a rather nasty crowd, first in Twolegplace and then in the forest, but she's a sweet lil darling. As for your lil spiel on my style, I understand that feeling; there are a lot of fics that just need a little tweaking/polishing to really become spiffy. I'm wondering if you could give me some examples of the stuff in my writing that you don't like? I think that would be very helpful. ^^

Also! I think in a past review you mentioned Nightshade and Northy's names, and I kind of forgot to answer. For Nightshade, I understand where you're coming from, but Nightshade is not a warrior name. She was named for the actual plant, deadly nightshade, by Blight after he corrupted her (which, again, you haven't read Shattered so it's okay that you didn't know). Blight really hates the warrior system, so he would never give his loyalist lil minion a warrior-style name. As for Northy...well. He is my guilty pleasure. You're right about his name being a real thingy; that's actually where I got the idea for his character like...four years ago, I guess. Almost exactly four years, actually. Anyway, I really liked the combination and built his character around that and then he became one of my most favoritest characters in the whooole world...I actually considered changing it for Shattered (there's an old blog post here somewhere, maybe back in May, where I compared some of the new names and the old names) but changing his name just felt wrong on a personal level, since it would kind of change who he was...or something. I don't know. If I saw his name in someone else's fic, I would prolly be skeptical or critical, but he's sort of...special to me. Crappy explanation, yay~

@Silverblossom: Yep. It was originally supposed to be very smooth and lovely, but Spider kinda got outa hand; he's one of those characters that you can't really force to do anything, and when you do he rebels and bites your hands off. It's rather unpleasant, but interesting. I hope to see more of Leopard too (definitely Leoaprd) and hopefully Shimmers if we have some time. They're both tricky little minxes, preferring to stay hidden, but I'll force them out of their hidey-holes if it's the last thing I do. And I hope you read it on FictionPress, that would be super amazing. 8D

@Midnight Thorn: Thanks! Jaggy is one of my favorites (I say that about everyone, though, so make of it what you will xD) and I enjoy having him pop in now and again. I always seem to love those hard-on-the-outside-soft(ish kinda sorta)-on-the-inside types...they just have so much potential. :D

@Crystal Sakura: Even with all his lady fans, Spider does seem to take issue with shipping (at least in the flushed quadrants...Homestuck reference FTW). As for Leopard, I will refer to the rule above, about sneaky rogues and the like. xD I sometimes have trouble with original works too (mostly because I'm so out of practice, with all these fics in my face) but hopefully this NaNo will go smoothly.

@Nightkill: Oh noes, don't yell at Jaggy . *shields* He's had a hard time, poor guy...what with his first mate dying and being crippled and pushing Reedy away and all. And all the delicious backstory nonsense that we don't know yet. :3 Glad you liked Blackie's question, and I'll agree that Spider's personality is a major issue. xD

NaNo 2011!

Yessir, this is what I mentioned in my latest AN! I am going to be joining this year's NaNo, just like I did last year, for those who don't remember. For those who don't know, NaNo's full title is NaNoWriMo, which stands for National Novel-Writing Month. Basically, you join the site (nanowrimo.org) and take their challenge, to write a 50,000 word novel during the month in November. You keep track of how much you write each day and stuff, and its really fun!

This will be my fourth year (and hopefully my fourth time winning, although for some reason the site says I didn't win last year; I think I forgot to submit my final score, or something). Last year I posted my NaNo on fictionpress as I finished each chapter, and I will be doing the same this year, so I really hope you guys check it out! My username on FictionPress is the same as it is here (www.fictionpress.com/~prinpardus) and there you can read my NaNo as I post each chapter. Fun stuff!

Now, this does mean that I won't be working on my fics, at least not for November! NaNoing is serious bizznizz, and takes up a lot of my time (especially since my personal goal for this year is 75k rather than 50k). So Chilled and the One-Shots and my PMD fic (which I promise I'm working on, it's just slow goin' xD) will all be put on the backburner to make room for my NaNo. I did the same thing last year, and it worked out great, so don't be scared that I'll completely forget about Chilled once December rolls around.

However (and I really hate to mention this, but I remember having trouble with this issue last year) don't think that just because I'm leaving Chilled for a month means that I don't need reviews. If you've ever stopped a project and then come back a long time later to finish it, you know that sometimes it's hard to get back into the swing of things. And that's when reviews really, really count; just knowing that you guys have stayed dedicated to the fic and reviewed even without expecting an update really, really makes me feel good, and when I feel good I can write like the wind (my fingers might even catch on fire, guys, seriously :O).

But since it's only October, I guess it's a little early to be talking about that. ANYWAY.

The real thing I wanted to ask was if you guys will help me out. I'm going to need some background characters for my NaNo, and I find it really hard to just poof up characters without creating intricate backstories and junk for the lot of them, even when it's not necessary. So I need you guys to make the background characters for me, so I don't feel those weird compulsions to make each and every character super important.

Obviously you can't make characters without knowing the basics of the story, so here you go:

It's about dogs. Yes, dogs. As you might have guessed from all my Warriors-related fics, I can write animals very well and very easily...but people are harder for me, mostly because I hate having to fuss about dumb stuff like what the character is wearing and what social group they fit into and all that. People are boring to write about. But after writing so much stuff about cats, I figured some change would be good, and I adore doglets. Plus, I already had a teeny tiny thing worked up that I did a couple years ago for a Creative Writing class. And thus this grand plot was born.

Our main character is a loyal doggy named Pancho. He was adopted as a wee puppy by the Sanchez family, and he loves them all dearly, but there is one person that he loves the most out of everyone in the whole world, and that is his 'Girl,' Bunny. When he joined the family, Bunny was like twelve or so, but now she's sixteen. And as such she's going through some scary changes and rearranging her life and thinking about - dear God - COLLEGE.

A few years back (like one. Or maybe two.) the neighbors son, Tim, moved away to college, leaving his dog, Jake, absolutely distraught. One of the 'warning signs' that Jake mentioned to Pancho at this time was Tim no longer riding the 'big-yellow-full-of-children-thing' (school bus) to wherever People went during the day, but rather his own car. So when Bunny turns sixteen and leaves one morning in her car rather than the bus, Pancho becomes a bit...distressed. He's terrified that Bunny will leave him too, and so he concocts a brilliant plan: he will follow her to wherever it is that she goes, and make sure she never ever disappears like Tim.

Unfortunately, Pancho is a dog. The dogs in this story will be anthropomorphized to some extent, but not nearly as much as the cats in the Warriors series, so unfortunately his thought process is a little...limited. Long story short, once Pancho actually manages to escape from his cozy home, he becomes incredibly, hopelessly, lost.

And then he is carried away into a wonderful (yet also terrifying) land of pack rivalries and bloodshed (much like Warriors, yay, everyone wins).

SO. There are three main packs in the series, the 'SS' pack (those are just the initials, the name is kinda long), the GG pack, and the RR pack. The SS pack is the main one, and the one that recruits Pancho (i.e. tries to help him get home but ultimately fails miserably because understanding  People is HARD). They are allied with the GG pack. The RR pack is the 'evil' pack, and rather mysteriously so; not a whole lot is known about them.

I've got the SS pack full of amazing doggies, but I need more background-y characters for the GG & RR packs. They won't have a whole lot of lines or be of grave importance, but having them there to make the packs seem bigger would be really really helpful.

So. Your mission (should you choose to accept it) is to create some GG and RR characters for me. It's a very simple process. Simply fill out this form below, and PM it to my FFN account. I repeat, don't stick it in a review or anything, just PM it to me. If you don't have an FFN account, then you can leave it in a comment here, I guess. Or just make an FFN account, since it's really easy. xD

A few things:

* Submissions are ONLY for the GG and RR packs.
*Submit as many charries as you like for either pack, but keep in mind there's no guarantee I'll use all of 'em.
*Packs accept all breeds, sizes, etc. of dogs.
*No pure-breds allowed, since it's very unlikely that they would appear on the streets. Half-breeds and pure mutts are fine.
* Packs are usually led by a First and a Second (alpha and beta). Sometimes there will be two Firsts (the alpha pair), however in this story there will not be. Coyle is the First of the GG pack, and Djoser is the Second. The positions for the RR pack are unknown, but I assure you they are already taken. So please don't submit any First/Seconds to either pack.
*The positions in the pack are a bit weird. There are three main 'duties' in the pack; there are Soliders (usually large and powerful dogs, these are the ones that fight for the pack in battle), Scouts (usually thinner, more agile dogs, these conduct patrols around the territory and deliver messages to other packs), and Sentries (usually very small, very loud dogs, these sleep all day but stay up all night to keep guard. They bark very loudly/annoyingly if they smell intruders; it is their job to alert everyone to danger). So, choose a position that best fits your character when you submit him/her. Keep in mind that female Soldiers are a little rare, since female dogs are usually weaker than males.
*The GG pack are generally seen as being good. They're a little haughty and vain, but they openly oppose the RR pack. Their leader, Coyle, is kind of a shady dude, but their Second, Djoser, is a very warm, kind dog. GG dogs are usually a bit disdainful of others, but still very loyal.
*The RR pack is another matter entirely. No one knows for sure who leads it; the only thing that is known is that they are very violent and brutal, and have been known to wipe out entire packs to gain territory and power. They are almost universally reviled. Many of the RR pack are mentally/emotionally unstable, and most of them are also badly scarred because of almost constant battle (including quite a bit of infighting).

Now, for the form:

Name:
Gender:
Pack: (Just put GG or RR)
Duty: (Sentry/Soldier/Scout)
Appearance: (You can just list their breed here, like Husky mix, or you can go into detail, either is fine)
Personality: (Be as detailed as you like)
Other: (Misc. stuff, like kin or relationships or whatever)

That was all probably really scary and complex, and if so I'm sorry! Explaining stuff is hard. Still, I hope you got the gist of it, and I really look forward to your submissions, and I reaaally hope you read & review my NaNo during November.

Love you guys. <33

Crazy she-cats all over the place :O

Yay, update! This one was less chipper than I'd intended. Originally Blackpaw and Spiderpaw were going to bond and be all adorable (I was listening to some really relaxing music at the time) but it didn't quite work out (mostly because my brother came in and Dragon Ball Z'd up the whole place and it was awful and I was cranky and Spider kind of took matters into his own paws there). Oh well, got to see some Leopard/Shimmer acktionz, which is always nice.

Anyway! I'm in a really good mood now, so hopefully I can work a lot on the next chapter today and everything will be super-fantastico~!

@Silence: Aww, thank you! And we will most definitely see Chillpaw's reasons for choosing Sootpaw. It will be amazingly dramatic and everyone will gasp and I'll cackle a bit, and it'll be great! :D More seriously, Chilly has a couple different reasons, all of which are very carefully thought out (cuz he's a ponderer, that one).

@Sara Darkotter: Oh man, I know! I don't always mean for them to do so but they just love to hear themselves talk. If I ever do revisions of Chilled, I'll probably snip quite a bit of the inner chitchat right out. But for now, it all gets to stay. :

@Tangleflame: Aww, thank you! As for pairings, my lips are sealed. Usually. ^^

@Anonymous: Thanks to you, I can spell Anonymous without having to use spell-check! It is quite an accomplishment, I think. And I will definitely agree in that comparison; the only different is that Birchy's is the result of severe trauma, which is (hopefully) not what caused Luna's. xD As for your theory, care to share? I love reading fan theories. :3

@Lynxeye: Moonpaw loves giving everyone a chance, but it's true that she helps out the DF kitties quite a bit. I really hope I can deliver the awesomeness for the DF kitties' stories, but we'll have to see. As for pairings....*whistles* And I am sorry you're confused, but hopefully everything will become clear eventually. :3

@Insane: Thank you! I do have a thing for parallels. I'm kind of symmetry freak, I guess.

@Silverblossom: Ah, interesting you pointed out the ocean thing. Most of the cats that use the word (Northstar and Silverstar have prolly done so on occasion) call it that because that's what their Clans called it; it only seems natural that after living near it for so many years they would come up with a word for it (especially since the sun doesn't always go down in the ocean; it depends on which coast the cats are near. For all we know, the sun could rise on this coast.) that is slightly more sophisticated. Sootpaw would have gotten the word from hearing her mother describe it in the stories that Ravenwing told her when she was a kit. Basically, to the cats that live by the ocean, it's not such a big deal; the ocean should be little more than a giant lake to them, so they would come up with a simple word, like 'ocean,' to describe it. Also, it seems like a lot of people are calling SootxSage, which I find to be very interesting (it is because I mentioned that love-interests-have-green-eyes-thing, I wonder?). Blight knows he has kits, but he's not interested in them (mostly because they were raised by Minnow, who was too strong for him to break, and were always taught that Blight was all evil and stuffs; Sage and Swift don't feel too kindly towards him).

@The Last Clan: I've been trying to update as regularly as I can, glad you appreciate it. That would be an interesting outcome for the whole Moonpaw thingy, I agree. We'll have to see. ^^

@TheVioletGleek: Such long delicious reviews...lovely~ As I mentioned last time, Shimmer's lover isn't someone we've met yet (although all bets are off for the future, if she moves on to someone else....). And I'm glad you like Spiderpaw! I'm fond of him too, even if he is just a cranky furball. It's not so much that I enjoy killing main characters, but I just really really love writing death scenes, for some reason (delicious delicious tragedy!) and it just so happens that some of the very best death scenes to write star main characters (although minor charries are good too...like Cricketsong's death, for example. I really liked his). As for Ravenwing, it's interesting that you're thinking of her, because she hasn't done much so far. Right now, she's just hoping (very very) anxiously that Sootpaw will come home with Northy and that everything will be great. We know that's not the case, and it'll be interesting to see how she reacts when she finds Jay instead of Soot, but for now she's trying to be hopeful. And I would totally love to read your one-shot! Fan theories are the best theories. :3

@TheVioletGleekx2: Remember, Chilly is a very impartial judge; he tells it like it is, and most of the time emotions don't get in his way. If he says Shimmer is violent, then she definitely is; we've seen it a few times in the past, although she generally cloaks her behavior. Before Chilly's behavior, she really did enjoy her job and everything, but in more recent times she's starting to walk a darker path....

@Midnight Thorn: Thank you! And Chilly definitely has. It's kind of hard for me to remember sometimes that he's technically a full-grown cat, even though I still picture him as being kind of small and apprentice-y. xD

@Nightkill: I believe you're leaving out the most important pairing: SagexChill. Kidding aside, believe me when I tell you that the pairings will probably get worse from here. But we'll just have to wait and see.

@Dawnshine: Thank you!

@Your Worst Nightmare: I guess I love you too. :D

@Priceless: It's okay, I understand! Real life gets in the way of everything. As for writing a book, I am planning on writing my NaNo this November!

Speaking of which....

I WASN'T LATE, YAY! HUGS FOR EVERYONE~

I actually managed to update in a timely manner! *pats self on back*

So much uproar over Shimmer's shenanigans, gasp (hehehe I knew there would be 8D). Let's get down to business~!

@Ravenshade: It's true, unfortunately Spider seems keen on making as many enemies/getting himself into as much trouble as possible. He'll prolly have broken all of my previous love interest/enemy records, he's got so much going on. Poor kitty, I could definitely never handle so much myself. xD

@Rowanshade: You are not completely shocked by Shimmer's reckless antics? What if I told you the tom...is her FATHER? *gasp*

He's dead of course, and happily married (mated?) but it could happen. xD

@Shimmertail: Quit making me laugh at your reviews. I smile too much as it is (xD). I'll admit, I'm fond of Leopardpaw. I've always wanted a Leopard-something to call my own (comes with the username, I'm afraid) but I've never actually made a Leopard-whatever in my four or five years of role-play...so now that I've got one, she had better be awesome, darnnit. I like Birchy too. She's sort of background-y (as she was in role-play) but she's nice and sweet and adorably spacey, which sometimes my stories need because they have a tendency to get a lil heavy. :p

@Tangleflame: Glad you do! I wouldn't worry too much about his identity, though. ^^

@Moving To Mars: I am minding so hard right now. You had better review every since chapter forever or I will kill Sootpaw off and tell everyone it's your fault. :O Seriously though, I'm glad I've inspired you and helped you out! I'm the same way, I tend to make quite a few mistakes when I'm jotting stuff down, but I'm really good at picking them out otherwise. Good luck with your own stories, and if you need help, don't hesitate to ask~

@Silverblossom: Glad you like Birchy and Leopard! As I said above, I really like them too (although I'm fond of pretty much all my characters, sigh...even Dapplefern, a tiny bit. That doesn't mean I won't hesitate to kill 'em off, though!). Listen to your detective senses, since you all usually have very good guesses! I'm always impressed by my reviewers' insights. ^^

@Lynxeye: It's always good to be suspicious of the POV, but in this case I don't think it could be mistaken for anything else. And I'm glad you like the bios! If there are any others you'd like to see, please suggest them. As for Brightstar, yes, in TR a kitty named Brightstar led ThunderClan; she and Brightstar actually looked a like (same ginger/white pelt and they both shared blue eyes, although new!Brightstar only has one blue eye and the other is gold). Originally I was gonna make Chilled!Brightstar in ThunderClan too, but I realized it would prolly be really confusing so I traded her for Nettlefrost in WindClan. xD

@Sunspirit: Shimmer is a pretty odd gal, but she's pretty, so that makes up for her flaws (in some toms' minds, anyway xD) and she's very, ah, passionate when she wants to be (whether she actually feels anything for her lover remains to be seen). Also, your Blackpaw scene is awesome. I demand you write a fic depicting it (just kidding, but that would be cool if you did xD). And you're welcome, I'm glad you liked the bios! 

Bios

Okay, bios are up now. That took a really really long time, so sorry about that. Anyway, they're up and beautiful so go look at them.

If there are more cats you guys want to see, just holla~

New chapter yeaaaaah~

New chapter, yay, etc. etc.  xD

Sorry for the time between updates, like I said I've been really busy. I'm in like four different community service club thingies now and they're such time-wasters. D:

However, I've had time to dabble in a few things, namely making more character-picture-things. I'll put them in with the others (Sootpaw, Spiderpaw, Leopardpaw, and Chillpaw; scroll down and I think you'll find them) after I finish this post. The bios basically just help you picture the characters and maybe get insights from them, I guess. Also I like making pictures, so yeah. xD

@Sara Darkotter: It is a mystery~ :O

@CrystalSakura: Yes, Leaf/Frozen/North had a lovely time dragging the bodies of their friends and Clanmates to a secret place in the middle of the mountains. Sometimes they would have picnics and reminiscence about the old times before Northy was born and Frozen was crazy. Like a happy family. :D I'll agree with B/N/M's name, it's a puzzler for what to call her when I'm chatting about her, since she's had so many (three names might be a record, actually, since the kit/paw/whatever name-changes don't count. xD

@Nightkill: I was thrilled that everyone loved Northy as much as I did in Shattered. He was always one of my favorite charries to rp, so I'm glad I was able to do him justice.

@Lynxeye: In my kitties' defenses, the original Clans bury their dead too (they have a special ceremony with the elders, I think?) and I'm sure they mark them in some way (so that an old body isn't dug up when a new one is being buried, since that would be uber-gross xD). I think kitties riding on flaming wheels (because Northy would be that crazy-awesome) would be pretty cool. We'll see what Tremor decides to do about his journey. And yes, he knows Rumble is dead; Feather told him, because she chats up StarClan all the time~

@Sunspirit: Sage and Swift both know who their real mother is; Minnow's made sure to tell them all about her, both the good and the bad. Sage has a bit of an odd position, we'll get to more of him later. Reedrush's mother was Cinderstream, Silverstar's secret sister (and the mother of Shimmer and Chill later on in her life). We don't see much of Reedy's childhood, it's mostly mentioned in passing. Under the plants Frozenstar and Brackenheart are buried, but the third plant is a mystery~

@PurplePanda: First, darling, don't berate yourself for criticism! I actually enjoy it, it gets my brain moving. Let me see if I can address everything:

• Bullets are hard to work with on this blog thingy, bleh. Bear with me here.
• The forest-sickness (let's call it FS, since I'll be saying it a lot) and chilling disease (CD) are very similar in that they both stem from the same place and both have the same initial symptoms; a fever, cough, tired feeling, lack of appetite, etc. They can also take more than one life; StarClan alone cannot cure them. It's only as the diseases progress further that the differences become more apparent. FS moves faster than CD, and with FS the fever climbs higher and higher as fluid seeps into the cats lungs; essentially they are being baked alive while also drowning. CD, on the other paw, is rather slow-moving; in Silverstar's case, it took nearly two moons to kill her. This is prolly because she has some immunity to it, since her body attacked it like it would FS and managed to stall it. PeakClan cats are not so lucky. Swanpaw, the PeakClan apprentice who died of CD, died in only a moon's time because PeakClan cats have little/no immunity to the disease. As CD progresses, its behavior changes. The cough stays, but it is a dry cough, unlike FS. The fever begins to lower the farther CD goes; eventually it reaches a point where the cat's temperature is almost normal. Unfortunately, CD eventually pushes the cat's temperature down even further and further as the cat grows weaker and weaker. Generally the cats hallucinate in this stage, as Silverstar and Swanpaw did; they will think they're on fire and thrash around and make lots of noise and junk. Swanpaw was feeling this when she died. Silverstar, on the other hand, passed more peacefully; the disease took longer with her and her temperature eventually became very very low, so she just sort of slipped away (I think Bluepaw described it as just being a sigh). Right now, NO ONE from AshClan or PeakClan has FS. Some of Tremor's cats have it (mostly the rogues from his group + any of Cane's cats that joined him, since they have not encountered FS before). Some of Tremor's cats also have CD (mostly ex-Clan cats, who are the ones that gave it to AshClan and PeakClan in the first place during the battle). The iceleaf/snowberry plant definitely cures FS, but its effects on CD are currently unknown, since it's never been used on CD before.
• As for Leopardpaw, keep in mind that many members of the Clan are rogues. Very little is known about Jaggedclaw's past, for example, since he hates talking about it. Jaggedclaw proved himself by helping Reedrush. In Eaglestrike's eyes, Leopardpaw proved herself by saving his kits (both of them, since Spider was about to jump into the water after Soot when Leopardpaw appeared). Eaglestrike is obviously still wary of her, and he does try to keep an eye on her, but the whole Silver-dying-thing has kind of captured his attention as of late. Also, even if he had interrogated her about her past, she could have easily lied and he couldn't verify it, so it would be kinda pointless. If she is evil, she wouldn't say 'Hey so I was raised by Slaughter himself as his ebil second daughter just in case Toxin died so that I could kill everyone :D'.
• I can see what you mean about the kitty names, but as I said before, Thistlethorn isn't really redundant since a thistle is a plant, not a pokey thorn. His name refers to the thorn of the thistle plant. I use -thorn for strong cats that are a bit hot-headed/prickly, which fits him to a T (Thistlethorn, T, geddit? I'm going to punch myself in the face now). As for Fireblaze, I don't personally view -blaze as a noun. I use it as a verb. Thus in his case his name brings the imagery of a blazing fire (compared to a feeble candle or something xD) which is indicative of his blazing nature. I also love Thistleclaw, but unfortunately it's been taken by the Erins, and the canon Thistleclaw is actually alive right now (since this is about the same time as BP) so two Thistleclaws in the same world at the same time would be weird. xD
• I concede to you about the ocean. My cursed descriptional weakness has struck again. I will give her something prettier to look at and describe it like I have never described anything before! (I'm thinking a bunch of shooting stars on a clear night during a fireworks show while there is magically a rainbow above their heads: thoughts?)
• Like I said, you're not making me feel bad at all! I enjoy critique, it helps me think. ^^

@Silverblossom: We'll hear more about the Tremor/Minnow stuff later, I promise. And we'll see more Northy in future chapters, just from Spider's perspective instead of Soot's. ^^

@Shimmertail: Yay, you reviewed! I was starting to miss you. The third grave isn't Birdpaw's, since she was only a lowly apprentice and would therefore be buried further away from the center (if it had been Northy's choice she would have been closer, but she died under Frozen's reign). As for Sage's eyes, if both Bella and Blight had a parent with green eyes, it would work. :D

@Priceless: No problem, I understand. :D

Anywho, I'll update the bios soon, so please scroll down and take a look at them eventually~

I'm the map, I'm the map, I'm the map, I'm the map, I'm the maaaap~

Look, I made a thing:

 

Sorry for any eye-burning this might have caused (it's awful, I know). But I was thinking it over a few weeks ago and realized that some of the territory and stuff was prolly confusing, and it'll only get worse as the journey continues, soooo I made you this beautiful monstrosity. Pretty much NOTHING in this picture is to scale (except for the ridiculously giant car, obviouslyyy xD), it's just to help you guys with the PLACEMENT of objects in the territory. And the trail of the journeying cats is pink because pink is awesome and kicks other colors in the face. :D

It will probably show up really small, so just click on it and it'll get bigger. :)

Chapter 20~

Updated a few days early for you darlings; the last three days flowed really well for me, writing the Sootpaw chapter was really easy and delicious. It helps that there was plenty of Northy, I suppose.

Also, I guess this post is a bit late, since I updated last night, but right after I did so I had to take a shower and junk so I didn't have time to work on this blog until I came home.

@Nightkill: Yes, Spiderpaw is kind of freaky to Darkstorm because he's so teeny tiny. Darky is pretty easy to freak out, though. xD

@Artemis: Blackpaw can indeed be sneaky when she wants to be (or at least when it helps her friends ^^). As for what Spiderpaw plans for Fireblaze...well, I'll allow myself a brief 'bwahahaha.' And yes, Leopardpaw hasn't really been a focal point; she's only been mentioned a few times, and most of the time she is 'skulking,' as Spiderpaw loves to say. She'll be more important next chapter. And thank you. ^^

@Sara Darkotter: Aw, thanks! Out of curiosity, why exactly do you love me? :O

@PurplePanda: Ha, that's a lovely theory. It further supports my belief that Spiderpaw will end up with an entire harem of she-kitty devotees. He seems to attract them like flies, for some reason. And it's interesting that you pointed out the whole SandxFirexSpotted comparison, I hadn't been thinking about it. Of course, Bluepaw could also be like Cinderpelt in CinderxFirexSand. :O As for juiciness, hopefully his next chapter will be more to your tastes. :3 And that's another remarkable theory with the Jaypaw thingy! The only problem is that the chilling disease, while being closely related to the forest-sickness, doesn't really do the whole filling-up-the-lungs junk. If Jaypaw was sick with the normal forest-sickness stuff, that theory would work, but unfortunately he is not. Sneaky thinking, though, I like that. ^^

@Ravenshade: Blackpaw and Robinpaw are very close, so they're always sort of giggling about something (especially toms. Robinpaw is very fond of talking about toms...which is how Blackpaw began to work the conversation towards Spiderpaw in the first place). As Robinpaw said, she was already getting tired of the whole pretending-to-be-mad-at-Spiderpaw-because-he's-an-arrogant-unapologetic-furball thing. Robinpaw's a cat that forgives very easily, but Jaypaw does not. Jaypaw's a pretty relaxed guy most of the time, but as we've seen he's very protective of his sister. With Jaypaw around, Robinpaw couldn't talk to Spiderpaw because he would still be angry; with Jaypaw's influence gone, Robinpaw is more willing to forgive Spiderpaw, even if she doesn't hear the apology from him. And Blackpaw's fairly persuasive, when she finds the courage to speak her mind.

@Silence: Yay! Glad I didn't have any goof-ups this time. Sorry that Sootpaw is causing your brain distress. The pairings in this story are more complex than Shattered, methinks. It's kind of a good thing, though. What do you mean about the riddles, incidentally? I don't think we've had very many thus far.

@Lynxeye: Thanks! If Spider is a little Northy now...just imagine what he can accomplish later. How exciting. ^^

@TheVioletGleek: Excellent point! Silverstar is too much of a small fish for Spiderpaw. Clearly he's going to start badgering someone more important, like Thunderstar. Good plan, Spiderpaw, good plan. xD And I'm sorry you're confused! Let's see if I can help:

Silverstar and Cinderstream are sisters (although they didn't know it until much later). Cinderstream gave birth to Reedrush and Toxin. She took Reedrush with her when she fled to the lake. There she fell in love with Ashstir, and gave birth to Chill and Shimmer. Thus, Silverstar is Shimmer's aunt (and Chill's too, obviously). Frostfeather had kits with Brightfire; she had Jaypaw and Robinpaw. Ravenwing is Frostfeather's sister and had Spiderpaw and Sootpaw, so thus Spider&Soot are cousins to Jay&Robin.

@CrystalSakura: Ha, I'm glad you asked. Frost and Darky have a very odd relationship. They are mates, but not in the traditional sense; they have never 'sealed' their relationship by actually physically mating with one another. They are involved romantically. We saw the beginnings of this in the Shattered epilogue, during Darkstorm's little piece; Frosty was showing him some affection (such as licking his muzzle 'long and slow') and they had a feelings-sharing session and it was lovely. Since this story started five moons after all that, we didn't really see their relationship completely develop, but they definitely love each other. Darkstorm obviously never wants to be the father of actual kits, so he and Frostfeather have never mated, as the risk would be too great. This is obviously pretty difficult for Frosty, who had her way with oodles of toms in her youth, but she loves Darky enough to put her own feelings aside. ^^

Anywho, I think that's all for the questions. Next post will have my super amazing (i.e. super crappy) map thingy. :D

Chapter 19~

New chapter, yay. This one was still late but not as late as the last, which I guess is some pathetic progress. Yaay. D:

@Shimmertail: Yes, Soot and Spider are very different from one another, which I did on purpose because it makes them so much more refreshing! The only problem is that when I get halfway through a chapter I'm usually thinking longing thoughts about the other POV, sigh. As for Northy growling at Bracken, that's kind of his tone with everyone, except possible Rabbit and Rose (but they kind of forced their way into his heart without his permission xD). Northy loves Bracken and Bird, of course, but sometimes he feels uncomfortable around them, partially because Bracken looks a ton like Brackenheart and also because Bracken and Bird are reminders of all the crap Rose had to go through before they hooked up, and that makes him kinda sad.

@Ilex-Chan: The group has noticed it (as we'll see) but there's nothing they can do about it, so they're kind of preferring to ignore it in a sort of 'saying it out loud makes it real' way. So long as they don't voice their concerns, it's like Jaypaw isn't really sick.

@TheVioletGleek: The best part about Soot is that everyone seems to ship everyone with her, because she doesn't have any clear love interests. Which makes things fun/amusing for me. ^^ I really love your summary of the pairing, though, I love it when readers dissect relationships. Also, traveling-cat-sacrifice would be really cool, except that Chilly couldn't really contact any of them the way he can Soot.

@CrystalSakura: One of the best things about journeys is that they narrow the number of characters available, which makes each character infinitely more important! Such as, if there was no journey then we would probably never ever pay attention to Thistlethorn, because he doesn't stand out from the pack. But on the journey, he acquires new importance, which is lovely. It's pretty much confirmed by now that Jay is sick, so good job guessing on that. As for the Carvings, the tunnels are made of a softer rock than most of the mountain (hence how the stream carved them out in the first place; they're like veins of softer rock within the harder rock that makes up most of the mountains). However, don't think it was easy for them! Many FrozenClan cats had to scrape until their claws bled to leave their marks on the rocks. It was worth it, of course, since the tunnels were infinitely helpful for the cats. But yeah, it took a lot of work. ^^

@Sara Darkotter: Aww, thanks! Although it's not really hard to know more about cats than the Erins, since they've created like five tortie toms. :p

@RadiantDawn: Yay, glad that you're taking their kinship into consideration (for some reason a lot of people are forgetting it?). Really, everyone knows that Bluepaw is a ditz, they just won't say it to her face...although Sootpaw doesn't think that's necessarily a bad thing, since Bluepaw is always happy and doesn't seem to mind. Also, I'm really fond of Snatched as well. I'm not sure why; it just has a different atmosphere from Shattered, and I always become very nostalgic when I read it over (although sometimes I also cringe at the mistakes and things that I spot).

@Nightkill: I'm in the habit of calling him Deathy as well, so don't feel bad. xD

@Silverblossom: I think the amount of love Bluepaw has is congruent to the amount of hate that Swanpaw has recieved. It's very interesting to play with the readers' perspectives of characters, and I'm really looking forward to messing with Swanpaw (and maybe Bluepaw too). Northstar being Soot's mentor would be amazing, but then I'm afraid she would develop into a Destroyer of Worlds because Northy is just too awesome. :O Also, Northy leaves before the others because he is only there to get FrozenClan's cure for the regular forest-sickness, in hopes that it can help treat the new chilling-sickness, in order to buy the journeying group more time. Thus he has to leave sooner to get the forest-sickness plants back to the Clans and help 'em out. :)

@Priceless: Yay, I'm glad you don't hate me for being so late. I've been grappling with some serious block. I like Jaypaw too, and he and Soot would definitely be good friends if they had more time together. ^^

Ummmmmmmm so I think that's it. I made you guys a really spiffy (i.e. terrible) map that helps with the placement of some stuff, but I don't think I'll post it until next chapter because it's a tad bit spoilery (not really, it just looks terrible and I am ashamed of it).

So yeah, until next time~

Late chapter is late :(

Again, I shower my apologies upon you lovely ducklings. Feel free to badger me on how terrible I am. D:

@Shimmertail: Oh noes, sorry you got in trouble (although I hope you were squeeing, rather than "squeezing" xD)! Also glad you liked your birthday present (apparently I was entirely correct when I said I prolly wouldn't update before Friday; dear lawd this chapter took me forever). As for the city kitties, I'm planning on us seeing them eventually, but it might not be for awhile (and might not be who you expect).

@Tangleflame: Glad I could make you smile! :D

@Koraki: Ha, don't worry about it. Lots of people get my charries' names mixed up...and you did bring an interesting new pairing (SootxBlue) to light. I'm kind of waiting for the masses to begin clamoring for them now. xD

@Crowstorm: Spider can be cunning when he wants to be, although most of the time this doesn't really show through because of his big head/temper. He's really good at capitalizing on others' tempers too, though, which is what makes him a very good fighter. ^^

@PianoGirl: Thanks!

@CrystalSakura: Yes, he probably would; Jaggy isn't one for nicknames (I doubt even Reedrush could avoid getting smacked, however gently, for calling him that xD). Blackpaw might be an elder by the time she becomes a warrior, but at least she'll have her warrior name, right?

@Silverblossom: I do love opposites attracting, but we'll just have to wait and see how things work out...one of the best bonuses of SpiderxBlack would definitely be Fire's conniption, though. Also, I am quite surprised how many people support LeopardxFire. It's very...interesting. Shimmer has definitely changed a lot, in ways that we haven't yet seen; I actually sort of considered her keeping her weird speech thing, but it didn't really seem to fit since she's a lot more mature here than she was in role-play (in role-play her speech never changed, but that was a long time ago). And no, I don't want you to die, so clearly I absolutely must make sure everything turns out exactly as you said. :O

@Nightkill: Redpaw is definitely a stupid furball; maybe he'll get some character development (but I kinda doubt it xD). He actually wasn't meant to become the way he is, but we already had two pretty chill, normal toms (Jay and Blizzard) that adding a third felt redundant. And thus thug!Redpaw was born. :p

@PurplePanda: I'll admit, I was proud of that paragraph, although there was a little piece near the end that kinda bugged me, but I'm too lazy to fix it. This most recent chapter was much less descriptionily-delicious, sadly. I get your comment about the dirt, but my viewpoint of those sorts of words is that if the word is in third-person commentary, outside of any cats' thoughts or speech, it's used as it would be normally; if it had been Spiderpaw saying or thinking "dirt," then it would have been poopie. I feel that I use earth/ground too often, and other synonyms like soil/dust wouldn't have worked in that context. As for the herbs, it's true that leaf-bare is coming and they'll prolly be disappearing, but Shimmer always has a pretty vast store; not only that, but a lot of his pain was coming from stiffness/disuse, so once he starts moving around more it should help lessen the pain. I always thought Darkstripe needed a good cuddle, so many Redpaw will get one too. Also, wow, it sounds like your addiction is much worse than mine, you poor thing! I can't even remember the last time I cried over anything. I'm not much of a crier; didn't even cry at Marley and Me, if you can believe that. :O

@Priceless: I'd like to get something of mine published, but I guess we'll just have to see. Thanks. ^^

@TheVioletGleek: Shimmer is very, very bitter, that much is definitely true; what's more, she's holding onto this bitterness, rather than Silver, who's starting to let her sadness go. Shimmer is very, very angry with StarClan - she blames them for her brother's actions - as well as herself, because she feels responsible for Chilly as well, since she helped him get into the Clan in the first place. There are very few cats that Shimmer cares about, and Chilly was the cause of both her mother's death as well as Silver's. Most of her anger/spitefulness is derived from these inner feelings...and then she's generally irritated at apprentices for doing stupid apprentice things (xD). As for Blackpaw, she did sort of want to become a medicine apprentice when she was younger; however, at the time Shimmer was already holding that position, and it wasn't until after Blackpaw became a normal apprentice that Rumble died and the position became open. Shimmer wasn't taking any apprentices for a few moons, so Blackpaw couldn't switch over, and when she decided to take on Bluepaw it was too late for Blackpaw. Blackpaw isn't bitter or anything over it, though; she trusts that StarClan helped Shimmer make the right decision. And it would be amazing if Blackie totally snapped on her brother...although I think tigers only live in Asia. xD

@Sara Darkotter: Spider's thoughts exactly! :D


@Silence: I do have a pairing (or two...or three) in mind for Soot, yes. Prolly not Fire, though, since it's going to be a good long while before they see each other again. ^^

School = Crack

Okay, so remember how the other day I said I would update the blog the next day? And it totally didn't happen?

Of course you do, it was yesterday. Honestly, why am I asking such silly questions.

I'm really sorry about not doing this yesterday, but you see, the thing you need to understand is that I have recently started school. No, I'm not going to say what you expect (that I am too busy now to update the blog and stuffs). Actually, that's not it at all. The real problem is this:

My body thinks school is crack.

Or, perhaps more correctly, my body things being around people is crack. Seriously, for at least the first week or two at school, I am nothing but a useless giggling mess. Seeing all the people I haven't seen in months and telling them new stories and jokes and everything just makes me feel extremely high, for lack of a better term. And it's great and bubbly and wonderful and onmygodsomuchfun.

There's only one problem. When I come home, suddenly the people are GONE. And I'm just sitting by myself or with my brother staring at a computer scene. And my brain kinda goes 'Oh, the people are gone? That's good, we were running out of happy-make-Prin-do-stuff-juice anyway" and kinda shuts off and then I just like vegetate until I go to bed. Seriously, not making this up.

So please please please bear with me for these next few days, because things WILL get better. I just have to adjust to seeing my friends on a regular basis again.

Also, if you don't believe me, then I think you should also know that I was thinking about doing this blog update for like three hours before I actually summoned up the energy to do it. So.

Anyway, reviews and all that stuff I normally do:

For all the people who went 'Aw Reedrush is mean why? D:":

See, this is another case of author-sees-stuff-that-we-don't. What you readers don't know is that Thistlethorn and Swanpaw spent basically the whole day sniping at each other and bickering. Northy didn't care, Jay is pretty chill, Blue is a total ditz, and Bracken wanted to stay out of the whole thing, which left Rainwind and Reed playing the peace-makers; Reed's generally a pretty understanding and sweet gal, but dealing with stoopid lil Swanpaw all day really burned her bacon, so to speak. Then there's the fact that she's still feeling bad over fighting with Jagged, she's tired from walking all day without stopping to rest or eat, she's worried about her aunty Silver, and she's concerned with her own private motives (such as the reason she wanted to go to the Twolegplace). All of this is putting a lot of stress on her, so when Sootpaw (who, remember, was supposed to be Reedrush's next apprentice but Blackpaw wasn't warriorized, which Reedrush blames herself for) shows up, it's pretty much the last sequence of events in an already-terrible day. At that point, Reed kinda snapped inside and basically told Soot to shove off because she really couldn't deal with anything else. In this, Reedy was showing that's she's only human. Or only a cat. Whatever~

@Crowstorm: As fun as that would be, it would be pretty unrealistic, since she's only had a few hunting lessons and is in general really clumsy and stuff, and thus the odds of her teaching herself to hunt is pretty slim. Someone else like, say, Spiderpaw could prolly do it, but that's because he's a really intelligent lil boy. Sooty isn't stupid, exactly, but she's not as smart as him.

@TheVioletGleek: About Reedy leaving Blackpaw behind: at this point there is very little she can do with Blackpaw. She honestly doesn't know how to teach Blackpaw any better than she already has been; heck, Eaglestrike, the DEPUTY isn't even having much luck with poor Blackie. Reedrush leaving her isn't really a big deal (besides the emotional toll for Blackie, i guess) since there was nothing more she could do for her anyway.

@Nightkill: Yeppers, that's the Bleach guy's name. Sorry your family looked at you weirdly. :p

@Lynxeye: Bleh, don't even get me started on Crowfeather's issues, ha. I find it interesting that you're considering him turning on his allies rather than Sootpaw. It's a neat theory~

@Artemis: At first, when Blue and Rabbit met I was afraid there would be a cutesplosion, but thankfully that didn't happen and our world is still intact. As for Chilly, I really love him too; I think I've used him in four different places now, because he's really grown on me as a character, ha. The Soot-sacrifice thing makes me think of them all dancing around and chanting around a fire, or something....xD

@Nightfrost: It'll be a looong time before Soot and Fire meet up again...but maybe he's harboring some intense passion for her that even I don't know about. All kidding aside, I'm actually kinda surprised how many people have mentioned SootxFire. But, I was sort of surprised when people mentioned SpiderxBlue after her very first appearance, so I guess I should be used to it by now.

@Silverblossom: Be careful, I don't want your parents shipping you off to the loony bin because you're giggling to your computer! I'd feel so guilty. And sure, make all the mind-Northy plushies you like...I don't think I could stop you anyway. xD

@Shenzi: Out of curiosity, what would I write about Black/Northstar? Both of their stories are sort of already complete, in a way. Blackstar is supposed to die sometime in the fourth series, I think, and as for Northy...well. There won't be a lot for him to do after Chilled, I don't think.

@PurplePanda: Wow, that was a deliciously long review (and a funny one, too)! Thank you very much for that! Sorry you don't like the tongue-yawn thing. See, the thing about that is every cat I've ever seen yawn does the tongue-curl thing, but most dogs don't (one of mine does, but the other two I've had in the past never did). So that's always been a cat thing for me. And I definitely know about the jumping-off-the-page sentence thing you're talking about; that happens to me all the time (although usually it's just words/phrases and I describe them as being delicious xD). As for Swanpaw, she musta inherited it from her mother, since Iceblossom's the same way. Swanpaw's been going on like that alllll day, but Rainwind is a really laid-back dude, so he didn't say more than that, and Swanpaw only stopped to consider her next insult; she doesn't go over-board like Spiderpaw does, most of the time. The Moonpaw-eye twitch thing really made me laugh. And I totally get what you're saying about the thesaurus (dinosaurs rock), I try to use synonyms but Open Office really sucks at providing them and looking them up is so much worrrrk. Kidding aside, I am trying to improve. As for the apprentices, they just sort of popped in during Shattered; Reedrush had Blizzardpaw at the very beginning when we first met her, Frostfeather was preggers during the beginning of Shattered and had Jay/Robin, Raven was preggers with Spider/Soot at the end of Shattered, Red/Blue came from Twolegplace (semi-adopted, I guess), and then Fire/Black came from a group of rogues, several of which joined AshClan at the end of Shattered. There's a lot of them, but that's necessary because obviously not all of them will survive the story and AshClan needs a strong second generation to make sure that the Clan doesn't end up all teeny-tiny. As for the paragraph-spacing, I don't think FFN does that, since when I'm writing that's just how my paragraphs format. I need spaaaace (I have mild claustrophobia, maybe that's why I space out my paragraphs xD).

@ShadowedRadiance: YOUSHOULDBESOASHAMEDIAMSOMAD--Kidding, of course. I won't hate you if you don't review every chapter, or whatever. That's fine, although I definitely appreciate the reviews I recieve. For Spiderpaw's temperament, that's just sort of the way he is; I'm sure you know people like that, who are all sarcastic and snippy /all/ the time (I certainly do). Most of his anti-friendship prickliness is driven by the belief that cats have to be strong to be respected, and respect is all that matters; that's just sort of what was somehow driven into his thick lil skull. There's not any real reason you could point at that directly leads to his viewpoint, it's just sort of how he developed growing up. I'm also a lover of underdogs, so I totes get what you mean about Sooty. C:

I've got to go now (volunteering at a church pantry thingy) but hopefully when I get back I won't be school-crack-deprived or whatever; sometimes leaving the computer for awhile helps, I guess. We'll see.

Anyway, love you guys and your reviews, as always. <33

Mini-Vacation

Like I said in my AN, I'm gonna be gone for awhile, and school starts soon, so updates might be a bit spotty. Bear with me. D:

@Nightkill: Blackpaw does seem like an airhead in this chappy, but it's mostly because she's scared stiff of Spider. He does have a bit of a reputation for being a growly jerk, after all.

@Koraki: I don't mind repetitiveness (and I do love long-winded spiels flattering me xD) but if you have any critique or specific ideas to give, don't hesitate! I won't hate you even if you don't review. :)

@Ravenshade: Every night. Yay. :D I like "newborn mouse" too; I seem to be coming up with some odd phrases for this story, ha. And yes, it was pretty obvious. Spider doesn't know how to hide his feelings very well. xD

@Lynxeye: Yep, Spider seems to push all his ladies away. Maybe he could just go for the harem solution, and make them all his mates, just so they don't each have to have too much time with him...clearly this is the best option. :D

@Silverblossom: Love blinds a momma to her children, sometimes, I'm afraid. Fireblaze is always sweet around her, too, cuz he luffs her so much. As for Fire's past crush, it (obviously) never amounted to anything, so maybe we sees it, maybe we don't~ And no, Spider/Black are not related at all (Black and Fire's biological parents are a mystery, actually, since they were adopted by Petalcloud and Swansong).

@Emberspark: I don't think I'll be working on my parody any time soon; I'm too busy and comically
 uninspired. :(

@Nightfrost: A good guess, as good as any. ^^