Trailing Stars: Chapter 28

By Eagleflight, Lilybreeze, Mapledrift, and Ospreysplash, with Viperfrost as the voice of Viperfrost

edited by Eagleflight

illustrated by Mapledrift

It had been a long night, and several hours after the breaking of dawn, Eagleflight awoke. In her mind, it almost felt as though she had lay there an eternity, however one thought coursed through her brain, pulling her urgently from the bliss of sleep. It lay above all else at the heart of the web on which her thoughts were strung, overwhelming her senses and gripping her with a panic that flooded her bones: how to get home. 

Eagleflight had been there the previous night, in the camp. She had sat watching as first Viperfrost and then Cakestar had calmed her clanmates. The thought of abandoning her humanity – everything that made her herself  – shocked her now, and left her in disbelief and utter horror. Yet, last night her view had not been so clear. The temptation had been strong, the offer enticing, and for a moment she had let her voice join those of her clanmates and call out her discordance. How the memory made her insides squirm now. 

It seemed this wandering trail of thoughts had ended at the present and she sighed inwardly, brought back once more to the forefront of her mind. That constant pressing thought; they had to find a way to get home now. They had to. It wasn’t fair that they were stuck in the bodies of cats. This had gone on long enough. She missed the days spent absentmindedly chattering to Redblaze at school, and the hours in which she used to practise her viola. Then there was the thrill of seeing a new episode of a beloved TV series with her cat Honey curled up beside her, and of course the joy of going on the Blog. Her heart seemed to be filled with a cold and empty chasm where her life had been, and she longed to return to the world she had once known. 

Against her eyelids she could see the morning light, and despite the daily sense of terror she felt at inhabiting the body of a cat, she knew what she had to do. She forced her eyes to open, squinting at the glaring rays of sunlight that surrounded her. For a moment she was frazzled in the piercing beams before part of her brain latched onto something. That’s my desk. Blinking in order to clear the sleep from her eyes, she stared and there was no mistaking it. The very same wood with the three drawers on the left hand side. It can’t be. She leaped up with a start, expecting to land firmly on her four paws… and fell down sideways into a crumpled heap on the floor. 

“Ouch,” she groaned, stretching out her left forepaw. That was going to hurt so bad. Her eyes were screwed shut from the impact and she tentatively prepared to lick her probably now crumpled fur straight and regain her pride. 

“Urgh, that tastes like skin!”

Her eyebrows raised up a centimetre as another thought crossed her mind, wavering and slightly desperate, but she clung to it as it grew and crossed into the realms of possibility. It was now a very strong possibility, and one she could hardly dare to believe. 

“Can I… am I… human again?” 

The gasp had no sooner left her throat, that she then heard her voice truly, the waves ringing through her ears. The British sound waves of her human voice. 

“It can’t be!” Disbelief gave way to joy as she stood up on her own two human legs and she opened her eyes once more, staring at her hands. 

“I have fingers!!!” She started to flex them one by one as she marvelled at the return to her human self. Whilst paws had been useful for walking, they had been quite a let down in terms of picking up objects; a shudder ran through her mind at the memory of having to pick up prey in her own mouth.

Her brain felt weirdly sticky and slow, her thoughts all jumbled, and eyes bewildered. In the midst of the chaos that filled her mind, one thought extricated itself from the muddle and pushed its way into clarity. BlogClan. She had to talk to all her friends about what they had experienced. Dovestream, Blueheart, Snowbreeze, Coldheart, they would surely all be equally as fascinated as her.

But then her brain started to see reason. Of course this wasn’t real. It must have been a dream. It must have. No way she had actually been a cat and seen her BlogClan friends. That was a fantasy. Sure, the dream had been vivid, but that wasn’t exactly uncommon – dreams always felt real. Though she could feel her stomach begin to growl and the allure of breakfast grew stronger, for a reason she could not discern the pull to grab her laptop was victorious. In a manner that appeared foreign to her and seemed almost as though she was possessed, she flung open the screen and typed her password at a speed she had not felt possible. Gosh it was good to have hands again. She saw the familiar logo of google chrome – the tricolour doughnut of red, green, and yellow complete with an azure centre – and clicked.

Lil’s heart began to settle as she typed in the letters making up the name of a very familiar website, one she might even describe as a home. All over her mind hung a mist of bewilderment in which she was utterly lost; she needed a strand of familiarity to grasp onto. And she wanted answers! Had last night been a dream? Or had it been real? Or perhaps, could it even be something in between? 

Waking up in a state of confusion was something that Lilybreeze was incredibly used to. Dreams for her tended to veer on the wacky side, but last night’s was inordinately strange. It had simply felt so real. Like she’d genuinely been there – in camp – talking to and hanging out with the BlogClanners that she felt as though she’d known a lifetime. The clock said 6:30am, and she knew she’d gone to bed at 10 like always – basic facts she clung to in her dream-fogged state. So what had happened in those 8 hours? And why did it feel as though it had been 8 months? And why was her head filled and overwhelmed with so many memories – she felt certain that just by the sheer amount of them they couldn’t have possibly taken place overnight… not to mention in the body of a cat! Especially a green-eyed one that was incredibly reminiscent of her own BlogClan purrsona. She was officially puzzled, and honestly a little scared. She just wanted to be wrapped up in a warm and furry hug like she’d grown used to…

When she opened the Blog, she saw the colorful pages, and announcements of BitS, Birthdays, Articles, and so far – her heart twisted slightly in a twinge of disappointment – … no answers. Then again, maybe she was supposed to announce the answers in a Monthly? God, how long had it been since she’d written one of those? Or just typed in general? Her fingers felt awkward and clunky on the keyboard, and the way she sat in her bed as she typed seemed strangely foreign. This was… odd to her – and it shouldn’t be?

She slid her cursor over to the Tavern, deciding to start her search for an answer on one of the more… chaotic pages. Pinned to the top was a comment from Viperfrost – somecat, no, someone, she trusted. The comment was absolutely crazy, even by Viperfrost standards. It was an incredibly detailed (how many times could she use the word incredible to describe what was going on?) comment describing a dream that they’d had last night. The content of the dream wasn’t even what was crazy. It was the fact that Lil had had the same exact one. 

Reading it all made it suddenly feel all the more real. Like everything was clicking into place in an absolutely insane way. How had she had the same dream as Vip? And why did it feel so right that she had? And why did she already so desperately miss all the people that suddenly felt more familiar than her room? She missed familiar yowls, and the sense of adventure, and the comforting knowledge that even though it was new and terrifying, they were all there together. The realization suddenly descended upon her that she was now entirely separate and alone. It fell on her like a weight, knocking her wholly off balance, and the familiar names popping up on her screen weren’t enough to ground her. She stared around her room, feeling now, as she had not just moments before, entirely out-of-place. 

If what had happened was a dream, did it not matter as much as if it had been true? Did the connections formed, or the memories made, no longer mean anything? Was anything real? Any of the feelings or the thoughts? If she didn’t have BlogClan, right there and around her and real, where did she fit in? 

Lil recognized that she was spiraling, but that didn’t help much. So, she did the one thing that always had – she commented. She pulled up the Hug Page, a space that felt much quieter and safer than the Tavern, and began to type. 

Word after word flowed, and soon all of her thoughts and feelings were out on the metaphorical page, and she was pressing submit. Maybe she and her clanmates weren’t physically together anymore, but words still tied them together in the same way that they always had. She wouldn’t get furry hugs, but she’d still get hugs. She’d still have the same people she knew and loved to talk to. Lil was still home. 

She flipped back to the Tavern, rereading Vip’s comment, and realized that they were all in this together. The dream would be unforgettable – a moment that would bond everyone that had had it. The feelings she had were genuine and true, the friendships were, even if the physical environment where it had taken place… wasn’t.

Soft mounds of moss and leaves under his back had been replaced by the harsh cushioning of an old mattress when Maple awoke that morning, and for what felt like hours he remained in bed, staring at his hands. Marveling at the fact that they were no longer paws, xe hadn’t yet found the energy to pull xemself out of bed. The dream was too vivid and exciting to risk moving about xer day- what if the hustle and bustle of daily life lead to the memories slipping away like stars vanishing beneath a clouded sky, never gone but concealed from view. Ae recalled the soft grass beneath aer paws, and the sound of laughter from friends ae never thought ae’d see outside of a computer screen. It had been a joyful experience, and one that caused a swell of nostalgia. This was just like when he had first joined the blog, making excited comments about his first ever dream featuring one of his blog friends at the time- Brightwing. 

Perhaps this was a sign that he should log into the blog again, in the busyness of preparing for university, he hadn’t gone on in a few days. Opening up the blog, ot was baffled to see an enormous number of comments left in moderation. Had no one been moderating last night? Usually there weren’t so many by this time of the morning – that was strange. Yet as mae scrolled through the unmoderated comments a pattern began to emerge. Obviously there was the usual activity, comments on the pawsitivity page directed at another moderator which Maple left just in case that mod wanted to see it themselves, and a series of comments promoting someone’s freshly posted NTA. But more surprisingly, comment after comment mentioned a dream about the blog- a dream of turning into their purrsona and meeting the other members. The pattern didn’t spring out immediately but as fey saw more comments, fey realised that something was going on, everyone was talking about the dream. Had there been some elaborate prank planned? It wasn’t unlike the moderation team to start a joke (he thought back to Sol’s takeover of the blog last April Fools)- but if that was the case then why did he have the dream? 

Clicking off the moderation tab, Maple began to scroll through the blog, seeing even more comments than he had expected. Most of the comments on the tavern were filled with discussions of this dream, with long threads of everyone going into detail of what they remembered. It was just as vivid as he remembered, and everyone’s story lined up with exactly what he had experienced. Maple hadn’t seen Spidersong comment on the blog for months- and yet there was a comment there about a patrol that she had gone on, exactly the same patrol that he recalled. It was all lining up way too much for its liking, it had to get some sort of answers out of someone. Posting a comment on the Blog and waiting for responses would take too long- he wanted to talk to someone as soon as he could. 

Opening up discord, Maple scrolled through name after name, unsure who to message first. How do you even start that conversation? His hand hovered over the profiles of members he hadn’t spoken to in years… or maybe he had spoken to them just last night if that dream they shared was real. There had been BlogClanners new and old talking to him, a mixture of people he never thought he’d see again and some who he had only recently met. Xe sent a few messages to older BlogClanner’s accounts, knowing that Bramblefire would reply relatively quickly. As expected, tey did, confirming exactly the same as everyone else- tey had the same dream. Sending a few more messages to members, even those like Cheetahspark who he imagined he wouldn’t hear back from, xe was bouncing with anticipation of any responses. 

It was so strange- not all of the blog was asleep at the same time surely, but everyone had started to talk about the dream as if it had happened simultaneously for all of them. It had been terrifying at first, trapped in a world where your body didn’t look like how you expected it to. Min had tripped over mins own paws more times than min could count after waking up. Yet overtime, the daily routine of Clan life became comforting, and getting to spend days with mair friends from BlogClan had been an absolute dream. Honestly, it was the perfect escape from real life for a little bit, as long as he ignored the chill in his bones at night, and the creeping fear that perhaps it was forever. Now safely back in his own body (and a newfound appreciation for his opposable thumbs), Maple thought back fondly on the dream. 

He heard his parents call up from downstairs, and nearly jumped out of his skin, he had been so lost in thought. Quickly, xe sent a few more messages to his friends, going through almost all of the moderators and sending them each a message. Ae began to ramble out aer thoughts on the dream in a message to Osprey and then to Viper, talking about how vivid the dream had been, to the point that ae couldn’t tell if it had been real or not. Sending one final message to Rosesong, he wondered if even BlogClanners who hadn’t touched the website in years had had the dream- he’d certainly seen them in it but had they experienced it as well? 

Another more insistent call came from downstairs, and Maple rushed over to the mirror, tidying his short and messy ginger hair up a little. It was strange to see hazel eyes staring back at him instead of vivid blue ones, and a splatter of freckles and acne scars across his face instead of white spots. Maybe once he was back from the shops there would be some answers in his messages, but for now he was excited to get outside again. The dream had left thon yearning to go out into the forest, or walk across the fields out the back of thons house, so bug made a mental note to go for a wander after the shopping trip. Walking out of the house, xe smiled, content that xe had made some of the fondest memories with his friends- whether it was a dream or not, xe would be sure to treasure xer friend’s smiles and closeness forever.

Ospreysplash was trying to listen to her friend’s dream about meeting Six of Crows characters.

“Wylan was there, and he had his flute with him, and yes, in his dream, he did play the flute, and…”

Osprey could admit she was only half listening in to the conversation that everyone else around her seemed so immersed in. Truth be told, if she wasn’t feeling so shaken, she probably would have been listening intently into it as well. It was the first period on a lazy Monday morning, and Osprey’s history class were twittering about what happened on their weekends. It was a day that was extraordinarily ordinary, almost comfortingly, and Osprey was grateful for it. However, she was struck with an inability to shake off all thoughts of the dream she had had. It was a dream that felt so lifelike, almost tangible, and every time her brown tabby pelt had brushed past a thorn, she had felt it slide into her fur and gently prick her. She had thought about talking to her friends about her absurd dream, but she was unsure if anyone would understand it. Not only would it immediately confuse them and make them wonder for her sanity, but she wasn’t sure if they could truly appreciate what it had felt like for her to be this ‘Ospreysplash’ persona that she was only online, or what it had been like to take mice from the fresh-kill pile and share tongues, just like they did in the Warriors books. Or what it was like to meet these legendary StarClan cats, or witness Snowbreeze’s true fishy self. She could now happily say it was her favourite dream, and part of her felt sad it was gone, even though she had started missing her human life deeply. She’d gotten to know so many BlogClanners better. 

The teacher started attempting to take the roll over the clamour of the class. Each name was answered with a ‘yup,’ or ‘here sir,’ or ‘how was your weekend sir,’ perhaps in a bid to get the teacher talking about something incredibly random again. However, to one name, a silence followed, until one of Osprey’s friends nudged her. 

“He’s calling the roll.”

Confusedly, Osprey raised her hand without saying anything, trying to think of why she was doing it. By no measure did the teacher say her name…

Unless he did. 

That’s when Osprey remembered she actually had a human name. 

Was her dream really that real, that she would forget her own name and expect her teacher to call her ‘Ospreysplash,’ for StarClan’s sake? Even in her dream, Osprey had gotten too used to hearing cats yell “Osprey, Osp, Ospi, Wosprey ” at her from across the camp, to which she’d immediately bound over, albeit rather clumsily, and see what service of hers they required. Now, she would be called by her human name that she’d somehow managed to forget in favour of ‘Ospreysplash’. The thought alone made Osprey’s head spin with utter confusion, and she flexed her hands on the table to centre herself. 

“Are you ok?” The sound of her friend’s voice startled Osprey, and she turned slightly to her right, trying to make eye contact with her friend. 

“Yeah, I’m fine.” 

“You’re really pale.” Her friend’s green eyes were lit with deep concern. “Are you sick?” 

“Nah, I’m fine.” Osprey tried to make her voice not tremble. “Just a bit tired. I woke up at 4 and couldn’t get back to sleep. Nightmares, you know.” She attempted to add a twitter of laughter after her comment. Her friend replied with an unconvinced nod. 

“Well, let me know if you need anything.” 

“Yup, I will.” 

Osprey’s teacher stood up, grabbed a ruler, moved in front of the whiteboard. 

“Ok guys, we’re going to start by looking at the Malleus Maleficarum like we did last lesson – pull that up on your computers and continue your research on the chapter you chose. If you’re done with that, I’ll give you more work, because there’s an orientation group coming around and I want it to look like we’re doing work for this lesson. No, Lucas, you may not do a witch role-play this lesson, we aren’t drama for crying out loud. Drama is such a useless class. Wait no one here takes drama right? No? Good. It’s like be a tree to get an A, be a tree blowing in the wind to get an A+…”*

Osprey started to tune out of her teacher’s drama based rant, and opened up her computer. She’d barely opened Chrome when a loud ping sounded, and in an embarrassed hurry, she slammed the mute button on, looking around to see if anyone was staring at her. Luckily, everyone was either talking amongst themselves or listening to the teacher complain about drama. Pausing for a bit longer to see if anyone was still looking at her, Osprey opened up Discord quickly so she could silence any more messages. However, a message from Maple caught her attention. She clicked on the conversation. 

The message that she saw was the last thing she could’ve expected. 

Maple also had a dream where mae was mair purrsona, and they also met with other BlogClanners. Xe documented their dream in astounding detail, telling of every single patrol and conversation that he and Osprey had, and every single heartfelt moment or argument that happened. More remarkably, Osprey recalled every detail that Maple told her about. 

Was it possible that they had…

Shared a dream? 

In a stunned state, Osprey opened up the DM conversation with the person directly beneath Maple, Aquila, and typed out a quick message to her.

“Weird question, but did you have a dream about being your BlogClan purrsona and being in a Clan with all the other BlogClanners? Like Cakestar was the leader and Copper and Dawn were the deputy and medicine cat. We also went on a patrol and I tripped over a large stick and face planted if you remember that lol 😛 Map also had this dream, so I just wanna know if you had it too. If you did, what do you think happened? Ignore this if it’s like I’m talking absolute rubbish ahaha.”

Osprey, sensing someone was looking over her shoulder, closed Discord and opened up the Malleus Maleficarum, but her mind wasn’t on this book on witchcraft written by a German guy in 1487, it was on the absurd dream she’d had that night that others may have shared. 

Eagleflight’s desk had an almost comforting feel to it as she rested her feet on top of its wooden surface. She was leaning back in her chair, slouched, with her legs outstretched, and heels against the edge of the laptop in her bedroom: to her, the most relaxing way to sit in the world. Her fingers fiddled with the edge of her phone case – sunshine yellow silicone clutched tightly in her hands – as she scrolled through the apps on her phone. Instagram. A scattering of cat videos among the posts of people from her school which dominated her feed. WhatsApp. 9 unread chats. I’ll deal with those later, she told herself, knowing full well that she most likely wouldn’t. Discord. Her thumb tapped the familiar blue icon and she was met with her server folders, coloured in a rainbow. Looking slightly upwards, she saw her DMs at the top of the screen, including one from an icon she recognised as that of Ospreysplash. Her curiosity must’ve got the better of her, for in an instant she had opened it and was staring at the contents. 

She skimmed through the message, catching the general gist before returning to the top and carrying out a more meticulous reread. The subject of Osprey’s DM was clear: the dream. That, Eagleflight could understand, empathise, and reply to – after all, she’d experienced it as well. It was filled with Osp’s usual lighthearted and fun tone and for a second it made her grin. However, she hesitated, caught out from immediately replying by the other part of the message – the question. Why did she think this had happened? And what had even happened, really? Eagleflight was someone who liked questions, liked posing them even to herself and then forcing herself to find the answers: a puzzle of her own construction. She had spent time earlier this morning deliberating over the dream, but yet still she was confuzzled. Her heart sank slightly at the realisation of this defeat. She didn’t have an answer, for herself or for Osprey, and she hadn’t solved the puzzle; in a way, she had completely and utterly failed. And Eagleflight didn’t like failure.

Leaving Ospreysplash’s message on read, she returned to the slightly mindless scrolling through her phone, knowing full well she was helpless to come up with any rational, carefully-considered or intelligent answers. She reopened Instagram, and began to flick through the stories of her friends. A picture of some girls from her English class at the shopping center, her Australian friend Feathersplash’s new glasses. Then something unexpected popped up: a solid white background with a simple cartoon of a telephone, and large, clear, words underneath reading ‘STUCK? PHONE A FRIEND’. She figured it must have been from a revision account she’d forgotten to unfollow after finishing her school exams. However, something about the message resonated with Eagleflight, and an old memory sprang forward from the depths of her brain. If you feel like you’re unsure of something, DM me and I’ll take care of it… Don’t consider it asking for help… We can probably resolve any issue easily… Suddenly, her brain filled with an idea of what she needed to do next. With a renewed purpose, she closed the app and opened Discord once more. Her fingers flew to her messages, seeking out one person in particular, then they were opening the chat and beginning to type. 

Hi Viper, she began, you’re probably wondering why I’m writing this. I’ve come to take you up on your offer. I… – this was hard for her to write, hard to admit – need help. I’m stuck. I’m so very confused, and I’m hoping that you’ll have a better idea and answer than I do.

She glanced over the serious tone and then frowned at the punctuation – what had possibly being a cat for 8 months done to her typing? – before pressing send. 

Wait, this looked too grave, far too serious in tone. If she received a message like that, she knew she’d be instantly alarmed and begin to panic.
She started typing again, also I know you, and your sleep schedule – it’s 10:39 am here so 5:39 am for you, but I bet you’re not asleep! 😛

That was better. Now for the wait of a reply.

Eagleflight decided that she needed a break – staring at a screen obviously wasn’t going to help her. Putting her phone in her pocket, she went downstairs and put the kettle on to boil with the intent of making a coffee. Coffee made everything better in her opinion. She perched on a chair at the kitchen table and took her phone out to look at whilst the water heated up. Unlocking her phone, which still had discord open on it, she glanced at Viperfrost’s profile picture – their purrsona drawn by Moonbreeze – and saw that the little circle in the corner was red: Viper was online. Then, looking down, she noticed the words ‘Viperfrost is typing…’

Hi!! Viperfrost began. it’s only 6 AM so I haven’t actually gone to sleep yet C: I’m sorry to hear you’re struggling; what’s up? we can work it out!

Eagleflight stared at the message, wondering how to even begin to reply – it was just so hard to explain, and confiding in anyone even about the most trivial matters made her feel incredibly vulnerable. It’s about the dream, she wrote, a feeling of discontentment building within her as she thought of it again, I want to, no I need to know what it was. I’ve tried and I’ve tried, I’ve thought so hard but it just doesn’t make sense at all! I don’t even know what happened, let alone why, and it makes me so frustrated that I can’t figure it out. I feel like I should be able to do it, but I just… can’t.
She sighed slightly as she read her message back, realising how defeated she sounded. Well, at least, she supposed, her message sounded genuine. 

Noticing the kettle had finished boiling, she grabbed a mug from the cupboard and filled it ⅘ of the way up with water. Next, she stirred in two teaspoons of instant coffee and added some milk. Returning her attention to her phone, she saw had received another message.

I’m so sorry, Viperfrost had replied. It’s understandable to be disappointed when there’s no clear answer in a situation like this. don’t be frustrated for not knowing. while you’re very clever, the burden is not on you alone to figure out what happened. ❤️ just remember that in the end, it brought people together. it allowed us to hang out and bond in a way we couldn’t before, even if the exact reasons remain a mystery. C: I hope that helped a little. 🫂 you’re doing great!!

Eagleflight read through the message and let it sink into her mind. She knew deep down that Viperfrost was right, yet it was still a little hard to accept just like that, that she’d never know the true answer.

That makes sense – thank you for your reply! 🙂 she typed, I know you’re right, it’s just still a little irritating I can’t figure it out 😛 But I’ll get over it I guess! Do you have any idea what the dream could be??? I know you said it’s a mystery but I kind of want to know your thoughts!

She took a sip of her drink, noting that this was a particularly nice cup of coffee – for her, nothing could beat a good cup of coffee so this was immensely pleasing and satisfying – whilst she watched the little words at the bottom of the chat read ‘Viperfrost is typing…’

aww ❤️ it’s gonna be okay! Viperfrost wrote. to be honest, i’m always a little frustrated when I can’t figure something out as well. I’ll be thinking about this for years! but sometimes in life, there are events that we don’t understand and will never understand. not because of a lack of trying, but because we simply don’t have the capacity or ability to understand. We can still appreciate them anyway, and we can still find meaning in them. In a way, the question isn’t “how did this happen?” or “why did this happen?” It’s “how do I feel about what happened?” what meaning did you take from it, and how might that impact you going forward? that sense of closure can only come from within. ❤️

Then it clicked. Viperfrost was so right. The words raced through her mind, pushing past the jumble of thoughts and overwhelming frustration that had enveloped her, twisting around all the hundreds of ideas that were constantly swimming in a sort of brain soup, and culminating in one big large ‘OH’. 

OH MY GOSH YOU’RE SO RIGHT!!!! she exclaimed, thank you SO much, you’ve just made it make so much more sense to me and you have no idea how great that feeling is! Thank you thank you thank you!! 😀 

of coures!! C: Viperfrost responded, the effects of being awake at 6 AM perhaps finally getting to her.

Eagleflight watched Viperfrost’s discord circle turn to grey as Viper finally went to sleep.
GOOD NIGHT OR GOOD MORNING OR GOOD SLEEP she added, knowing Viperfrost would see it in the afternoon (when she woke up), and thank you once more!!

For a moment, Eagleflight turned her attention to her thoughts. In her mind, she was back in the dream, in the body of a golden tabby cat with a white chest. The sounds of camp filled her head, and she caught sight of a group of cats chattering, who she thought were Loudstorm, Emeraldclaw, Polarecho, Pollenpaw, Crowpaw, Amberpaw, Stripepaw, Sunheart, Starrypaw, Magnoliapaw, and Icemeadow. One glance at the BlogClanners made her want to purr – they seemed so content and wholly at peace. As she watched the cats chattering in her vision, the realisation of Viperfrost’s words, and what within them that had struck a chord with her, began to roll through her mind like a cool breeze on a crisp autumn morning. She felt so grateful that she had had the dream, and perhaps maybe, she thought, the reason they’d all experienced it could have been something to do with the fact that in a way, BlogClan was like one large interconnected family. BlogClan certainly felt like her second online family. As the daydream began to fade, and she was brought back into the real world, one thought crossed her mind: that was the meaning of the dream. It might not be rationally and logically explainable, yet for her, what she’d take from it would be the sense of community and above all else, the memories of pure joy and fun that she knew she’d remember for a long long time.

Returning to Ospreysplash’s message, she began to type her reply. Hey Osp!!! Yes, yes I did! I think so many people have – in fact I’m not sure anyone hasn’t! :O It’s so crazy I can’t believe it! And YES I remember that oh my gosh!! I’m so sorry I laughed but I can’t lie, you falling flat on your face was prettyyyy funny! Do you remember the squirrel I caught? I was so proud, I chased it half way up the tree and I’m scared of heights too!! (okay maybe the tree was only about 5 meters tall but STILL everything looks way bigger when you’re a cat!) 
I don’t know why we all dreamed this, but one thing I know for sure – I’m never ever going to forget it I promiseeee! Maybe I don’t understand it completely or anything but nonetheless I am so so utterly grateful I got to meet you and everyone, even if we were all cats haha

Eagleflight closed discord with the hint of a smile spreading over her face and a sense of satisfaction in her heart. As she opened safari and began to type in ‘BlogClan’, the only feeling on her mind was one of contentment. On the tavern, Viperfrost’s message was still pinned to the top of the page, yet as she scrolled down, she saw the topic of the comments had begun to deviate from discussion of the dream; BlogClan was moving on. Scorchpaw and Silverdusk’s lighthearted comments on a vast array of topics filled the majority of the page. Bluebellsponge, in his usual impressive manner, had managed to reply to every single one, and Eagleflight caught sight of quite a few replies from her apprentice, Fawnpaw, too. Turning back a page, she saw the familiar names of Riverspirit, Shadeleap, Skyshimmer, and Solarpaw, whose cheerful and joy-filled comments spread the smile on her face further. There was no mention of the dream at all – aside from the first few comment pages of the day where it had been all anyone could talk about, the excitement seemed to have died down and the discussion around it had been exhausted. 

Eagleflight was curious, and she decided to peer around the Blog – something she didn’t do much at all anymore since becoming a mod. It took her right back to the old days where as a 13 year old in online school, she had spent hours scouring the pages of the Blog and chatting to friends on there. On the Hug Page, Meadowpaw, Mountainstorm, Rainpaw, and Bloodmoon spread words of comfort to their clanmates, and as Eagleflight scrolled and was met by Lilybreeze’s comment, she was pleased to notice kind and supportive replies from Morningpaw, Mojoflight and Breezeflame, to name a few. Over to the Pawsitivity Page, and Fawnsplash, Lilypaw, Lilykit, Lilykit, (both Lilykits Eagleflight remarked!) Cheetahflame, Willowdawn, and Hazypaw led the way with shoutouts, and the introduction page was full of welcoming comments from members including Sandpaw, Darkkit, Briarpaw, Dawnpaw, Pantherpaw, and Hazelpaw. Eagleflight noticed that on the Fanfiction Organisation Page, Amberleaf, Dusklight, Skypaw, Shadedpaw, Wolfpaw, and Lionpaw were already discussing a possible fanfic related to the dream, and Leafpaw, Mistpaw, Shiverpaw, and Reedpaw all had commented asking whether they could join. Frogstorm’s rotation on the Games Page was themed around BlogClanners as Clan cats, and Monkeyfur, Silverkit, Flamepaw, Mothpaw, Mintpaw, Bluebat, Sunflight, Nightwind, Blackpaw, Sunpaw, Mothfrost, Brackentuft, Owlkit, Skywing, Rosepaw, Tinyfrost, Flickerflame, Rowanpaw, Northfeather, Turtledapple, Goldenpaw, Blazestrike, Brambleheart, Dawnpaw, Swansprinkle, Pigeonheart, Adderpaw, Lynxpaw, Mosspaw, and Emberpaw had already joined it – to say the least, it was very popular. Whitewhiskers and Birchfoot discussed History on the Training Hollow whilst Olivepaw, Spiritpaw, Honeydawn, Sheeppaw, Flamecloud, Swiftpaw, Sparrowstrike, Cherrypaw, Spiritflight, and Honeybeam spoke about Maths and Sandbreeze, Feathersplash, Violetpaw, Echowillow, Flameblaze, Magicstar, Honeyfrost, Hollymist, Pepperskip, Emberfang, and Tansybranch shared writing tips. Emberdawn narrowly avoided being turned to soup on The Apprentice Army by some of the apprentices, including Sparkpaw, Havenpaw, Cherrypaw, Rosepaw, Clownpaw, Wattlepaw, Saffronpaw, and Frogpaw. Finally, she made her way over to the Art Page, upon which some of BlogClan’s many talented artists – including Flamedove, Eggsnake, Nettlespring, Marblerose, Swiftfeather, Echoheart, Falconstorm, and Scorchmist – had already begun to create works inspired by what they had experienced.

She felt at ease now, and utterly calm. Her whistle-stop tour around the Blog had, in a way, reminded her of the beauty of the site: how every member could fit in and be themselves, in a small corner of a large internet. As she clicked on her dashboard and saw the most recent comments from Rainbowpaw, Flakepatch, Irisflower, Blossomrose, and Nightpaw, she let her smile flood through her face until she was sat there, staring at her phone and grinning so hard she almost laughed. Everything would be okay. The dream was a wonderful thing in a way – it had given them all so many memories and a connection that made their existing Blog-friendships even stronger-forged. With a happy sigh, Eagleflight closed her phone, placed it on her desk and stepped over to the window. She leaned her forearms on the ivory-coloured wood and gazed out at the rows of houses clustered under a brilliant blue sky – almost as radiant as she felt inside. The sun cast a warm glow over the road beneath, and Eagleflight could see her cat, Honey, lying on the pavement, joyfully rolling in the rays of light. With not a single sign of rain in the British landscape, all in all, it was shaping up to be a very nice day ahead. 

*A note from Osprey: this comment is not made to offend any people who do enjoy drama. This conversation was one that was carried out in my ancient history class, and these are the exact words of my teacher, and they do not reflect my own opinions.