[Insidious]

The news had not rattled him. When he stepped onto the Boulder Ledge, he was not plagued by unfamiliarity, nor did it feel like his presence was an intrusion, for as the next leader of NightClan, he would become accustomed to this spot over the moons. He had gotten the vague impression that Smokefur was unsure of StarClan's choice, and while it might have proved worthwhile to question her, to confront her, he was not bothered by the lack of support if, of course, his sharp eyes had not misread the signals. She would see soon enough, as they all would, that he was an obvious pick in this such a troubling time. The cold of leafbare bit him, but it did not frighten him. The shortage of prey was noted, but not cause for stress. He would symbolize stability for his clanmates. They would look at him, and in doing so, they would see that efficiency was exactly what they needed.

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the Boulder Ledge for a clan meeting." His white eyes did not fixate upon one cat for any longer than the next. If his standing atop the Boulder Ledge had not served as enough proof of what was to come, than those words, coming out of his mouth, would.

Once everyone had gathered, the statuesque tom continued. "Word has finally come from StarClan, and I will be the new leader of NightClan." It was not confidence with which he spoke so much as certitude. With him in charge, a lot was going to change - rather, a lot was going to shift towards what it was supposed to be. While not as openly hostile as the former leader, Ravenstar, when it came to those of non-NightClan blood, Dimgaze was contemptuous of them. He believed and trusted in their superiority, but did not flaunt it. He was an efficient, oriented cat, and would not allot nonsense. He waited for the information to sink in, and for the murmuring to settle, before making a final point. "A journey to the moon tree will be made as soon as the weather enables it to be made safely. Those who wish to be apart of the escort may speak up, but in the absence of volunteers, I will appoint."

Dimgaze stood with unnatural stillness, a certain set to his lithe shoulders that forbade any unnecessary argument. It could not be expected that everyone would approve of StarClan's choice: There would be the ambitious, and perhaps even the hateful, the jealous, who had a different cat more like themselves in mind. That, however, didn't mean that their ancestors' decision would by some twist of fate be revoked. He would lead them. He would protect them. He would make them prosper.

NightClan, with his guidance, would flourish in this the new era.

Date: January 20th, 2015.

[Fawn]

BLACKWOLF
55 Moons || Senior Warrior || NightClan

Blackwolf was a hard cat to impress. As the moons rolled by, he became more and more jaded, coming to expect very little from his Clanmates, favoring his own kin over anything or anyone else. When the announcement came and he saw the white-eyed (yet miraculously clear-seeing) gray tom standing confidently on top of the Boulder Ledge, he felt underwhelmed.

Ever since Ravenstar's untimely death, Slatenose's brief ascension and then rapid descent to the nursery, Blackwolf had grown almost bitter over NightClan's future. Would this tom change that? A speech hardly would have won him over, and Blackwolf knew many of his Clanmates would agree.
He's efficient, I'll give him that. Blackwolf almost snorted. This was a very no-nonsense kind of tom. Good. NightClan needed direct and decisive leadership. No more aimlessness. Blackwolf detested the feeling that they were no more than a band of fleabitten rogues, starving and fighting over what little scraps of food there were left.

He neglected to volunteer for Dimgaze's escort to the Moon Tree, more than happy to let some other poor sap trudge through the snow and ice so they could stand outside in more snow and ice, until Dimgaze woke up as Dimstar. Looking around to his family, Blackwolf saw Hollypaw sitting beside his former apprentice, Starlingcry, and he searched the larger she-cat's face for any signs of jealousy. He didn't care if she had her eye on the position of deputy, though he was loath to take orders from someone much younger than him. Hollypaw, however, looked aptly at Dimgaze, as if expecting him to start fixing NightClan right away.

She'd have to learn that new leadership didn't always mean immediate change. It would take time. They had to wait out this terrible winter, one day at a time. Brushing his pelt against his mate, he murmured in her ear so quietly that their kits or their Clanmates would not hear it. "Always thought he was creepy-looking, but maybe he'll make NightClan strong again." Blackwolf chuckled darkly. "Can't wait to see who he picks for deputy."

---

Word Count: 341 Words
Tags: Insidious , @ghostlight

[Phoenix]

BRIGHTFEATHER & RATFUR

The words that split the still air were the same, but the voice that had spoken them was not. Ravenstar’s death and the subsequent confusion around the matter of finding a successor had cast a blanket of uncertainty over the clan as thick as the layer of snow beneath their paws. In the absence of a leader, clan meetings had become few and far between; however, it appeared as though things were about to change.

Blue and gold eyes directed toward the gray tom atop Boulder Ledge, Brightfeather flicked her white tail lightly through the air as she padded over to join the congregating cats around the base of the stone. Dimgaze cut a striking figure, silhouetted against the sky with his head high and shoulders back, and though he had yet to formally announce what any smart cat would have already realized, she found herself considering his potential as leader. Was he what NightClan needed? Almost definitely. His machine-like efficiency and high standards had them occasionally whispering behind his back in the warriors den, and he certainly embodied the unflinching loyalty to one’s clan that was always highlighted in the tales the elders told kits. But would he be good for them? There, she was not quite as sure. Brightfeather could not claim to know the strange tom, but he had never struck her as the emotionally sensitive type. It was not necessarily that he was blunt and tactless – more that he was simply lacking. But then, she acknowledged, this leaf-bare left little room for sentiment to come into play. With prey practically nonexistent, they needed a leader who could make objective decisions and was skilled enough to guide them through this horrible season.

Idly he wondered if Dimgaze – Dimstar, he corrected himself, for he would be addressing the tom by that name soon enough – would have been mouse-brained enough to assign him Oakblaze as an apprentice. He didn’t think so, but then again, Ratfur hadn’t expected the late Ravenstar to make such an unintelligent decision either. Scrawny shoulders shivered in the cold as he mentally shrugged, dismissing the thoughts for the pointless musings they were. Sitting as he usually did in Blackwolf’s shadow, he pointedly ignored empty space left by the younger tom who had habitually started to sit in his shadow. If the wiry warrior wanted his former apprentice’s company, he knew where to find him – and, a part of his mind pointed out, Oakblaze would probably appreciate the company. Well, Ratfur had no desire to get infected by whatever illness had set up residence in the normally-energetic feline’s body, so he fully planned to stay far away from Smokefur’s den, thank you very much. Also on his plan for avoiding such an unfortunate occurrence was not volunteering for the patrol that would escort their new leader-to-be to the cave before freezing outside of said cave for however long it took for the gray cat to commune with StarClan. Why anyone would choose to do that instead of return to the relative warmth of their den was beyond him, but he had long since reconciled himself with the idea that, as long as Blackwolf and his ilk remained, he could never hope to understand every single mind in NightClan.

NIGHTCLAN | WARRIORS