Posts by Ashfeather

Palestorm realized while she had seen the young she-cat, she had never actually approached her to speak with her. She had gone to see her as a kit, but the tabby doubted that she remembered that. "I'm Palestorm," she mewed, dipping her head in greeting.

Palestorm eyed the tom knowingly. "He's cute." A loneliness and intense desire to have one of her close friends by her flared up as she watched Grimgrin eyeing the kit, but she suppressed the feeling. She shook her head, annoyed. It's not like I'll never see them again. "Where will you go? After the storm, I mean?"

OOC: It's interesting how those things happen, isn't it? All cats grow closer when facing danger... ;)

"We should head back together," Palestorm mewed, flicking the tired she-cat's ear with her tail. She thought she may want to get to know Skypaw some more.

OOC: If I'm slow to reply, it's because I'm doing homework. :(

Palestorm stared back, amber eyes unblinking. She felt a purr rising in her throat. "I'd like that." She playfully touched his ear with her tail. "You're an interesting cat." Then she looked around the tree, amusement in her eyes. "Maybe you could find a place here even," she joked. "After all, look at this lovely tree filled with rotting leaves! Who knows what other fascinating shelters you could find?" Secretly, she felt an attachment to the tree. It had brought three cold and wind-battered cats together, and had made them friends.

OOC: Talon, I just wanted to say that I love Jackie. She's always so fun to read about, because she's so unpredictable.

The tabby stared at him in surprise. She hadn't really expected him to consider the offer, but her tail twitched happily at the thought. She really had grown fond for the black tom and his young tag-along. The prospect of gaining another friend made Palestorm happy. She cuffed Lostkit on the ear playfully. "That's right! you have to be on your best behaviour to hunt with us. Got it?"

OOC: Erm...she had her last kit but hasn't said anything about us yet. xD

Palestorm got to her paws and stretched. "I think so. The storm's let up a little." She prodded Skypaw gently. "DO you want to come, or would you rather stay?"

OOC: yeah, I dunno. Should we teleport our characters elsewhere, or what?

OOC: Not sure. I kinda wante dhim to find Palestorm, but that poor tree's pretty crowded already. xD You have any ideas you want to implement?

The idea was good and obvious, and Palestorm was a little wistful that she had not thought of it first. "Good idea." Her eyes brightened as she nuzzled the little kit. Is this what it's like to have an apprentice? She wondered, marveling at the feeling of excitement that was welling inside her."You ready, Lostkit?"

OOC: Hey guys, I can only be on another 15 minutes. D;

OOC: Totally! If I can't get to it tomorrow, I apologize, but I'll try. School and all that. :)

Palestorm's whiskers twitched in amusement. "Oh, we'll be fine. My fur's thick. If it gets to be too bad, we'll head back."

She padded up the the tree entrance, and ran her tail across the top in a grand manner. "After you."
Once the she-cat ensured he had made it through, she squeezed through the roots to join him. She knew they couldn't go too far, lest they get lost and be unable to find their way back to the tree. "Right, well we should try and find a place where the snow drifts aren't so bad," Palestorm meowed. "Maybe some of the small mice and birds can walk on them, but it'll be hard for cats like us."

Her amber eyes surveyed the ever-changing area carefully, eyes lighting as she chose a direction that looked promising and nudged the kit toward it. She could have carried him, but didn't want to hurt his "kitly" pride. If she needed to, she would, but might as well let him have his fun while he could. ""That way looks good. Come on!"

OOC: ...And I have to go. Night all!

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Lostkit trotted across the freezing snow. His light weight made it easy for him to not fall through the drifts. His excitement gave him a sense of overconfidence and then... SWOOSH! Lostkit squealed out a pitiful meow and he was suddenly covered by snow. He had come across a deep, weak spot in the snow and was now frantically digging toward the top to get out.

"PALESTORM!!! Heeeeellp!!"

He felt a wash of embarrassment and vowed that if he got out of the snow, he would never show off again. At least not today.

Palestorm padded over, purring in amusement. The snow just barely went up to her neck as she trudged through it to get to the trapped kit. "Here," she meowed, plucking him out of the snow by the scruff. "Let me carry you until we find a decent spot." Trying to make him feel better about the situation, she added, "I won't be carrying you, I'll be escorting you. Like an honorary thing, so you don't get your paws as wet." Then the cream she-cat shook him gently. "But don't take unnecessary risks in this weather."

Hey, mind if I take Frostkit? I may not roleplay her right away, but anytime I need a kit, she'd be my go-to cat! ;)

Thanks! Good luck with the rest! ^^

Palestorm paused, considering how to answer him. But as the heartbeats stretched out, she realized she had no idea how to respond. Finally, she shook her slightly to clear her head and began to speak. "I think Grimgrin wants you to stay with him. And who knows--you may get to stay close! I'll come visit as often if I can, if that happens." She was fairly certain both things were true, but didn't want to make Grimgrin feel bound by her words should he decide the forest was not for him. As for taking in the kit, the bond between tom and kit was undeniable.

OOC: Oh geez, later reply, I got kind of stuck. o3o Hullo again!

The she-cat blinked, and realized he was right. A mouse! Gently, she set the kit back down. "Good," she mewed quietly. She tilted her head to the sky slightly, testing the wind. "When you're hunting, you need to always make sure that the wind won't blow your scent toward prey, or they'll know you're there. We're not, so that's good. Now, you need to get low to the ground, like this--" she demonstrated, careful not to break the fragile coat of snow she was on. "Then you slowly creep forward, and when you think you're in range, that's when you pounce." She turned to the small kit, unsure whether he had absorbed her words. "Got it? I can catch this one, if you want me to. But it was your spot, so you can try if you'd like."

OOC: I'm not sure Mondays can be happy, but thanks! *tired* Okay, I'm DEFINITELY not a hunting expert. Sorry if I'm wrong about anything. xD But I have to go to bed now. 'Night, hopefully talk to you tomorrow!

The she-cat bounded over. "Don't yowl like that when you pounce. Prey can still run while you're in the air," she mewed dryly, touching his ear with her tail. "I wouldn't be surprised if the whole forest heard you!" Her voice softened. "But it wasn't bad for your first time. Let's see if we can find something else, and I'll show you."

Palestorm picked him up and crept across the snow, not wanting to scare anything else that may be lurking nearby. A little ways along, she spotted another mouse. Palestorm set Lostkit down. "Watch."

Crouching low to the ground, Palestorm began creeping towards it across the fine white powder on the ground. One wrong pawstep, and she knew she would fall through the drifts and scare away the mouse. The process was tedious, but she was determined. Her eyes were fixed on the mouse, watching for any signs that it had been alert to her presence. When she got close enough, she instinctively crouched lower, ready to pounce--

But the snow gave way beneath her paws and she fell into the flimsy snow below. The tabby's fur felt hot as she emerged, shaking snow from her head. The mouse was gone. "Well, that was my fault because I misjudged how much of my weight the snow could carry. But you get the idea. If you catch it, make sure to kill it fast--before it gets away." Abashed, she jumped out of the hole and went back to the kit. "See anything else?"

OOC: Ha, another twist! (Kind of?)

musicalkitten wrote:

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Lostkit knew that they needed to find food, but he couldn't help by mrrowh in good humor. "At least I'm not the only crummy hunter!" He teased.

Just then, his ears perked to something rustling in a nearby frozen bush. He crouched and stalked like Palestorm had shown him, slowly approaching the source of the sound. Quietly.... quietly... he pounced!

The sheer thrill of feeling the mouse under his paws nearly knocked him off his game. He did as Palestorm had said and gave the mouse a quick and merciful bite, making it his first every freshkill. He didn't expect the blood, and it made him slightly woosy, but he proudly tottered over to where Palestorm sat watching.

"Did I do okay? Wait til I show Grimgrin!"

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"You did brilliantly," Palestorm purred, proud welling inside of her as if the kit had been her own apprentice. "Normally, you'd bury your prey and come back for it when you're done hunting, but that may be hard with the snowfall. Hold on to it while I try and find something decent, okay?" She put her tail on his shoulder. "Then we'll head back so Grimgrin can see what a lovely mouse you caught."

The kit seemed pleased by her praise. Rising to her paws, the tabby scanned the remaining land and her eyes found a small speck of black that had turned mostly gray from a thin veil of snow As she studied it hard, she saw it move and flap wings. A bird! The creature must have been caught unawares when the storm hit, and its wings were too wet to fly.

Palestorm instinctively crouched down and began to inch towards it, testing each pawstep carefully, determined not to make the same mistake again. When she was a few tail-lengths away, the cream cat paused, pressed ehrself slightly closer to the ground, and pounced.

The bird flapped feebly and tried to get away, but Palestorm doubted it could have flown far if it had escaped her. She swiftly bit its neck and trotted back to where Lostkit was waiting. "Shall we?" She meowed around a mouthful of icy feathers. I hope this thing thaws out in the tree. She gently nudged him in the direction where their paws had left slight dents in the snow.

So I've recently gotten into cat genetics and I think I'm starting to get the hang of it. There are still two things I'm unsure of, though.

The first is on gender-linked traits. I am aware that coat color (chocolate, black, red, etc.) are gender-linked, but are any of the other ones gender-linked also (like gloving, dilution, agouti, tabby marks, points, and so on)?

The second thing deals with trait crossings. Do badged members cross all possible genotypes for a phenotype? So, say there's a black she-cat being crossed with a ginger male. Obviously the male will have the genotype XoY. But the female can can have the genotypes XBXB, XBXb, and XBXbl, correct? Are you supposed to cross all for the possible colors? Another part of my problem, I think, is the Dilution trait. A non-diluted cat can be DD or Dd, but are you supposed to use both for the cross or only one? I keep testing myself on crosses already done here, but I end up getting too many colors.

I'm not sure if any of this makes sense, but I thank anyone who tries to help!

The moon reflected in Palestorm’s amber eyes as she stared up at it, thinking hard. Though it had been about one-quarter moon since the blizzard, layer of the stuff still blanketed the quiet ThunderClan camp, and the she-cat was beginning to tire of it. As she sat alone at the entrance to the warrior;s den, her thoughts traveled back to the storm.

Palestorm had stayed with the cats until the storm had, with unusual abruptness, calmed. She had stalled her good-byes to her newly-befriended loners, but she knew some of her clanmates would be missing her, and so she had found her way back to camp.

And now she couldn’t sleep. She had decided not to bother her sleeping friends or clanmates, but she was beginning to get bored. Maybe a walk would do more some good.

Silently making her way to the edge of the camp, she slipped through the gorse tunnel and blinked, eyes adjusting to the different surroundings. The she-cat wondered where to go, but only had to think for a moment before she glanced at the snow and smiled. I wonder if Grimgrin and Lostkit are still awake. Tail twitching excitedly, Palestorm set off in the direction of the hollow tree.

OOC: Yeah, I kind of guessed on time of day and stuff, so sorry if it wasn't what you intended...xD