Table of Contents
Overview
Despite the outward appearance of harshness, ScorchedClan puts a lot of emphasis on romance. There are many traditions, rituals, and steps to courtship and mateship, and most cats go to great extents to make their romantic intentions clear. Though having a mate isn’t too important in the Clan, a mateship ceremony is celebrated by everyone as a special and momentous occasion. Some leeway is given to couples when it comes to their duties, though it’s generally expected that the cat will continue to work just as hard even as they attempt to go through the courtship process.
Picking a Partner
As breaking up a mateship is looked down upon, ScorchedClan cats have to put a lot of time and effort into deciding whether or not someone would be a good fit for them. On average, mates have similar sleep schedules, activity levels, and favorite pastimes. Those with hot temperaments who make snap judgments are better paired with someone who is calmer and more rational. It’s not unusual for medicine cats or close friends to be asked about the compatibility of two cats, and concerned friends and family might attempt to talk a cat out of courtship if they believe it’s unsuitable.
Beginning Courtship
If a cat wants to begin courting another, they typically seek out ghost flowers and collect enough to fill an entire nest before presenting them to their desired partner. If the feelings are reciprocated, the receiving cat will track down a hummingbird and bring it, still alive, back to their waiting future partner. Injuring the bird is seen as a sign of bad luck, as a relationship requires great care, and if the bird dies on the way back to camp, most cats will see it as a sign to try again next newleaf. Repeated failures will cause cats not to attempt to pair up again.
As ghost flowers only bloom during newleaf, most courtships will begin in early newleaf, and thus many ScorchedClan cats refer to newleaf as “the season of love.”
Moonlight Observation
Before courtship truly begins, both cats will take a confidant – usually a parent, littermate, or close friend – and they will discuss everything they like about their perspective partner. The confidant’s role is to bring up any flaws or incompatibilities, such as conflicting personalities or lack of time spent together. This lasts for an entire night, and the day afterward, the cats will sleep and mull over everything they discussed. Sometimes, the discussions will last for multiple nights in a row, though after the first day they are not permitted to sleep and must return to their duties.
Typically this observation occurs during a full moon for good luck, though sometimes cats will pick a night with significant meaning to them, such as what phase of the moon they were born under. Couples don’t have to observe on the same night, especially if confidant happens to be the same cat. On the rare occasion that a cat has no one they can comfortably turn to, they will ask a cat that’s in a seasoned relationship for help.
Courtship Trials
Once a pair begins to court, there are five tasks cats must undergo to demonstrate they are good mateship material. These are often called the Five Trials or the Courtship Trials, and the entire Clan will usually arrange to support the hopeful couples as they prove their dedication to each other. This stage of courtship is typically where romance falls apart, especially for young cats who aren’t prepared for the reality of a relationship.
Empathy
During the Empathy Stage, one cat will be assigned to work in the medicine den, while the other will be assigned to help in the nursery, swapping every day for half a moon. This stage is used to see how individual cats react in irritating or upsetting situations, with particular emphasis on how they treat other cats during these times. It helps highlight how a cat’s mate will treat them while sick or tending to kits, both of which are important and very real factors in a relationship. Hot-tempered cats typically “fail” this stage because their prospective mate is turned off by how they treat kits or those who are sick, though it’s encouraged to talk to a partner before breaking off the courtship entirely.
Thoughtfulness
After the Empathy Stage comes the Thoughtfulness Stage, which is typically considered the easiest. Cats will learn their partner’s likes, dislikes, and favorites and strive to provide them with anything they want. This often includes preparing a nest with their preferred pelts, bringing them their favorite prey, finding them pretty shells and flowers, or other simple tasks. Though on the surface, it just seems like a lot of gift-giving between couples, this stage actually exists so that cats outside of the courtship can observe how the lovers treat each other. They will look for superficiality and balance, especially if one cat is trying harder than the other.
Though this stage usually only lasts for a moon, most couples who pass this stage will continue bringing gifts and helping out their mate in order to build a better bond and, most usually, because they just like making their mate feel special. It isn’t uncommon for a cat to dedicate their early morning to finding something for their mate.
Independence
The Independence Stage helps prepare couples for the realities of Clan life, particularly the fact that they may only be able to see each other for an hour or so a day, depending on the season. In this stage, cats are always assigned to different patrols and will rarely see each other at all during the day. It’s also common for one cat to work during the day and one to work at night in order to stress the feeling of isolation. Cats must be able to be away from their partner and not lose their romantic spark, even when they’re too tired to do anything together. This stage is the longest, lasting two entire moons, and is often where cats who are more physically than emotionally drawn to each other part ways.
Togetherness
Directly after the Independence Stage comes the Togetherness Stage. As the name suggests, the prospective couple will spend an entire moon side by side, working, eating, and sleeping together. This is where they learn all of their partner’s habits, quirks, and minutiae that make them unique. Frustration tends to build up quickly in this scenario, especially for cats who haven’t built up good communication or who have rushed into a relationship without knowing that much about their partner. Unlike the Thoughtfulness Stage, this stage truly reveals all of the little things about a cat’s partner that they would have never thought to ask about. It also gives a cat the opportunity to discover what they can and can’t compromise on when it comes to behavior.
Honesty
The shortest stage is the Honesty Stage. It lasts for only one day and one night, and it consists of both cats baring their souls to one another and divulging their deepest thoughts and feelings to each other. This stage is what usually makes or breaks a couple, as they will also reveal what they do and don’t like about their partner, and it’s a crucial step in strengthening communication. Most cats will take this time to talk about their differences and try to come up with a solution to any problems that they foresee.
During this stage, neither cat leaves their isolated spot of discussion, and other cats will usually bring them food or water.
Ritual Song and Dance
If cats manage to make it through the Five Trials, they will begin to prepare for their Mateship Ceremony. This preparation usually lasts for an entire moon, during which the couple will design a unique “dance” that they will use to prove they are in sync. This elaborate dance usually involves bowing, moving in step, and sometimes small leaps and flips. It’s common for cats to incorporate the dance moves of their parents or mentors, usually as a tribute to their loved ones.
Those who cannot perform the physically taxing dances will instead sing quiet four-part songs to one another, usually emulating their favorite songbirds. It’s not unusual to hear couples humming these songs while sharing tongues with one another, and each melody carries a meaning that only the couples know about. Unlike the dance, which typically incorporates other couples’ dances and complex movements, the song is completely unique. Each of the four sections has a special meaning to one of the cats, usually representing occasions such as their first meeting or when they fell in love. Even cats who perform dances will create songs for one another, though it’s typically rare less refined.
As cats get older, they will sometimes improve their dance to better incorporate their strengths and weaknesses into them. Cats who have been mates for several seasons will have far more elaborate moves than a new couple. Elderly couples typically don’t do any fancy moves and will simply spend the days together, usually singing their song to one another.
Mateship Ceremony
Under the light of the full moon, the Clan will usually gather to honor a new couple as they become mates in a ceremony officiated by the leader. Other cats will bring something white – usually pelts, feathers, stones, flowers, or shells – and decorate the camp clearing with them. Brightly colored flowers – usually blue or pink – are placed in a circle in the center of the camp where the couple will stand to give vows. Each cat says a small speech in front of the gathered Clan – usually some variation of promises to love their mate forever – and the leader will announce they are officially mates. A feast is typically held afterward, with the best bits of prey going to the new couple. Traditionally, a large bird of prey, most commonly a hawk, is provided as a meal to the new couple for good luck, though sometimes they request their favored foods or even prickly pears instead.
Beginning a Family
Having kits is not something ScorchedClan takes for granted. Careful deliberation is made between the couple for a long time, usually at least a few moons, before they come to the conclusion that they really do want kits. When the couple finally agrees, they will usually find bird eggs to eat for good luck and start collecting the feathers of three different birds – eagle, roadrunner, and owl – to build their nest with. Each feather is said to pass its traits down to the kits who are raised on them. The eagle represents strength, the roadrunner speed, and the owl wisdom. It’s common for friends and family to also give other feathers as gifts, and each of these has its own meaning (see below).
When a couple becomes pregnant with their first litter, they will begin to create a special lullaby for their kits. They will tweak and change the lullaby until the day the kits are born, usually incorporating the song that one or both parents were sung as kits. This baby lullaby is often sung when the kits are nursing and repeated throughout their lives, usually when the parent is comforting their child over something, and can be passed down for generations.
Each couple has a different parenting style, which is agreed upon far before they even start trying for kits. Though most couples will raise kits side by side, sometimes only one partner will tend to the kits alongside others in the nursery. On rare occasions, neither parent will raise the kits and instead let another cat adopt them, though this is typically only done when kits are needed in the Clan, and the couple has agreed to be surrogate parents.
Nesting Feathers
Dove – Peace
Eagle – Strength
Finch – Loyalty
Flycatcher – Passion
Hawk – Love
Jay – Patience
Kestrel – Persistance
Kingfisher – Honor
Owl – Wisdom
Quail – Kindness
Raven – Sincerity
Roadrunner – Speed
Shrike – Ferocity
Sparrow – Energy
Swan – Grace
Verdin – Luck
Warbler – Happiness
Woodpecker – Tenacity