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. ^^
