he had given eveningpaw the option to choose sure, but starting at shadowclan territory wasnt something they could avoid either way. at this pace they would take a while, probably too long, to get done so the former enforcer would have to pick up the pace when traversing between the different parts of the territory in the future. he didnt have much if anything to say about the part of the territory they were currently entering, thick evergreen forest closing around them, tall trees and the common shadowclan smell of moist soil and wood intermingling with the spicy-ness the trees with needle like leaves tended to carry.
as he awaited eveningpaws choice and readied himself to come up with a logical order working off of the apprentices choice, rookfire briefly thought about riverclans main territory. he could hardly remember his territory tour of any of the land belonging to riverclan, placed more so connected with memories and emotions of more relevant things than the trip with a random warrior he had taken once, still his point still stood, shadowclan territory, just as riverclan territory, didnt really have much if anything to address to a apprentice. "this is like the center piece 'a everythin'. most landmarks can be reached from this part we just call 'shadowclan territory' and don' require passin' through any other landmarks beforehand so yer free ta' choose whatever" he finally manged to come up with, offering some resemblance of knowledge at least. personally, he also didnt care where they started, he had his favourite parts of territory for sure, but that did little to effect his preferred order of this..apart from maybe wanting to avoid darkwater mire to avoid memories of lostspark..
[ sure hope youre okay w doing the territory tour like this :3 || @Starphobia ]
☽2 moons old || he/him ☾ large chocolate brown kit with darker brown markings and thick fluffy fur;
bright golden eyes and a single tooth that overlaps his bottom lip ꒰ #AcontiumFlowers /ᐠ - ˕ -マ ꒱
It felt like the walls were closing in on him. He took quick, short breaths; his legs trembling and his face beginning to grow numb. He couldn't - he couldn't breathe, oh why couldn't he breathe? Tiny claws sunk into the dirt, desperate to make all these feelies go, go away. He didn't like it1! This was supposed to be fun, quick and simple and NO ONE was gonna know. Why did his siblings have to ruiin it? Why did Mama have to come? He was just gonna be stuck in camp now. Never to know freedom,,
A sharp, loud-pitch squeal came from Houndkit once a big ol' shadow reached out and scooped him out from his safe hole. "Nn...nooo....... noooooo, " He whimpered sadly, hiccupping as fat tears rolled down his cheek. Found, captured. He felt too .... much to even try and fight back this time around. He hung loosely in her grip, sniffling as he tried to regain control of his breathing.
Houndkit hung his head lowly, ears flattened to his head as he avoided looking at Mama. He let out a few cracking rumbles as she licked at his face, moving close to her so he could try and hide his wet face into her fur. Made him feel less vulnerable in a way. He tried to take deeper breaths, prolonging them but his face was all numb and everything felt weird and oh he was just so tired now. It took a while for him to regain the feeling, breaths leveling out.
"Wuz.. cur - rious,,..... Ma.. Wuzn't gonna g,get int,to any t,t, trouble, I swear, jus.. " Houndkit hunched over, appearing as if he wanted to become very, very small in that moment. Like an ant. Skitter away, unable to be perceived. "Want - ted t- to bring ssss-somethin' back-k, like the pat - t..tt.." Houndkit trailed off, getting stuck at the t part of patrol; any more attempts proven futile. It was like a block. Instead, he huffed, letting Mama infer. Why were words so !!!!!
finally, he peeled back a part of the skin in an attempt to get a better grip on it before he held down the prey, yanking his head back where he held a edge of the pelt and separating it from the flesh with ever strong tug. by the time he was left with two separate pieces of prey he could see that his separation had not been as clear as he wouldve liked so he followed up the rougher first step with a careful few moment of picking remaining flesh off the skin, sandpaper tongue rasping along it to pick up even on the smallest bits. when he finally let off, satisfied with his work for now, he looked for a spot to let the pelt dry and, after rejoining with roachflare, sent him back with the rabbit carcass. next up, rook had a rook to find. even though he was still in possession of some leftover rook feathers, he wanted to catch a fresh one for mistlewhisker. or perhaps a crow. he didnt mind all that much. the feathers looked more or less the same anyway and it was more to let the deputy know about the origin of the gift rather than being its own aspect of his apology.
roachflare had padded away from rookfire quietly when the two had split up, soon picking up on the scent he knew to be mouse. the tortoiseshell patterned warrior crouched down, moving towards the prey with precision that spoke of moons of experience. inhale, holding his breath, he pushed off, leaping at the mouse with success, mismatched paws closing around the mouses small body and holding it down as he delivered a killing bite. this was replicated a couple of time with another mouse and a vole. following his latest catch, he had decided to go check in with the medicine cat apprentice to make sure they werent out here together for no reason. safety and all that.
he was slowly starting to feel like a darn currier with how rookfire interacted with him sometimes, falsely interpreting his silence as consent or him agreeing. it was getting tiring. but it was fine. the older tom was a high rank and roachflare took respecting his higher ups serious in addition to rookfires behavior being more,, ignorant rather than ill meaning. it was fine. he padded back to camp, delivered the prey to be consumed soon and returned to where they had split which was luckily not that far.
while roachflare had left to deliver the rabbit, rookfire had taken to tracking down a crow, rook or raven. some black bird, he didnt care which one, just needed to be black. the rabbit pelt splayed out with the skin side up on top of a warm sunny rock, rook decided to stay as close as possible in case the blood and flesh scent attracted a predator looking to steal his nicely flayed pelt. if roachflare came back before he returned to the prey, rookfire hoped the younger tom would have enough sense to stay close and stand guard.
with his thoughts finally moving away from the rabbit pelt, he opened his mouth, letting air enter in deep breaths in order to pick up a scent amongst the many that crossed over one another around here. the first few he could make out were rabbits, mice or squirrels, all animals he wasnt interested in today or any day really (he wasnt a big fan of squirrels at least) but before long he did actually pick up his first bird scent, closely followed by that of a rook. perfect. this would make it even easier to ensure mistlewhisker understood who the gift was from once he left it in her nest.
the medicine cat apprentice dropped into a crouch, shoulder briefly shooting pain and tingles through his left foreleg he mentally cursed fadingsun for being a mousebrained idiot. the shoulder didnt cause him issues often but when it did, it wasnt something he enjoyed in any capacity, concerning crunching barely audible to his ears or stabbing pain when he moved wrong..no fun.
anyway, he spotted the rook and some smaller birds idly picking at what looked to be the remains of a mouse and slowly pushed closer, grey eyes darting back and forth between the prey and the ground a few steps before his paws.
finally padding out of camp, redpaw close behind the dark furred medicine cat apprentice shook his head, finally addressing the demoted warriors behaviour and the issue he took with it. "this is not for your enjoyment, at least pretend ta' be suffering while i allow ye to leave camp." he grumbled, continuing to look forward instead of honouring the older feline with a single glance. already halfway towards regretting this because he was accidentally rewarding her with work and time outside of the full clearing. lockdown was still in place, perhaps this had truly not been his smartest of decisions...he should probably make her walk back and forth until the enjoyment was fully sucked out of the situation but it was too late in the season cycle to do that without causing damage to the herb stocks outside which was.. what he was trying to avoid.
"i'll have ye switch out nests n help the elders with their ticks later if this is too enjoyable for ya" it wasnt anything personal, he just didnt like giving cats rewards they enjoyed for things he didnt like. honestly, it had more or less just been a threat at first, but now that he was thinking about it, he would probably actually make the warrior do just that. help by switching out nests in the nursery and elders den and take some poor apprentices job in picking ticks for their singular elder.. it had been only one last time he checked though.. it was sort of like cats appeared and disappeared at random, especially elders, but he didnt care about it that much as long as he could use them as punishment. "start searching for moss, dont try anythin' funny i'll follow ye"
while roachflare had left to deliver the rabbit, rookfire had taken to tracking down a crow, rook or raven. some black bird, he didnt care which one, just needed to be black. the rabbit pelt splayed out with the skin side up on top of a warm sunny rock, rook decided to stay as close as possible in case the blood and flesh scent attracted a predator looking to steal his nicely flayed pelt. if roachflare came back before he returned to the prey, rookfire hoped the younger tom would have enough sense to stay close and stand guard.
with his thoughts finally moving away from the rabbit pelt, he opened his mouth, letting air enter in deep breaths in order to pick up a scent amongst the many that crossed over one another around here. the first few he could make out were rabbits, mice or squirrels, all animals he wasnt interested in today or any day really (he wasnt a big fan of squirrels at least) but before long he did actually pick up his first bird scent, closely followed by that of a rook. perfect. this would make it even easier to ensure mistlewhisker understood who the gift was from once he left it in her nest.
the medicine cat apprentice dropped into a crouch, shoulder briefly shooting pain and tingles through his left foreleg he mentally cursed fadingsun for being a mousebrained idiot. the shoulder didnt cause him issues often but when it did, it wasnt something he enjoyed in any capacity, concerning crunching barely audible to his ears or stabbing pain when he moved wrong..no fun.
anyway, he spotted the rook and some smaller birds idly picking at what looked to be the remains of a mouse and slowly pushed closer, grey eyes darting back and forth between the prey and the ground a few steps before his paws.
rookfire pushed closer and closer, undergrowth moving out of his way upon soft impact with little quiet rustling, not enough to spook the birds but enough to make him suppress a upset hiss and still for a moment, grey eyes pushed shut in regret. once he was sure the coast was clear, he blinked open sharp eyes, the medicine cat apprentice continued on, choosing the path with the most bushes and brush to protect him from being detected prematurely without making a lot of noise, until he was about a leaps distance away. there was no getting closer now, not with the vibrations the words would be able to feel through the ground. muscles bunching up in preparation for the leap, rookfire held this tense position for a moment before using his hind legs to catapult himself into the air and quickly landing on the group of birds. large white paws closing around the bird he had been keeping his eye on, a decent sized, if a bit rough looking, rook. delivering a quick killing bite, rook (the cat one that is) only briefly noticed the smaller bird that appeared to have flown straight into him in its panic and was now desperately taking off, wings shaking as they propelled the small animal into the air. he exhaled a huff of a laugh, not amusing enough for any more than that, before taking a better look at the dead bird and splayed on on the ground by his paws.
rookfire pushed closer and closer, undergrowth moving out of his way upon soft impact with little quiet rustling, not enough to spook the birds but enough to make him suppress a upset hiss and still for a moment, grey eyes pushed shut in regret. once he was sure the coast was clear, he blinked open sharp eyes, the medicine cat apprentice continued on, choosing the path with the most bushes and brush to protect him from being detected prematurely without making a lot of noise, until he was about a leaps distance away. there was no getting closer now, not with the vibrations the words would be able to feel through the ground. muscles bunching up in preparation for the leap, rookfire held this tense position for a moment before using his hind legs to catapult himself into the air and quickly landing on the group of birds. large white paws closing around the bird he had been keeping his eye on, a decent sized, if a bit rough looking, rook. delivering a quick killing bite, rook (the cat one that is) only briefly noticed the smaller bird that appeared to have flown straight into him in its panic and was now desperately taking off, wings shaking as they propelled the small animal into the air. he exhaled a huff of a laugh, not amusing enough for any more than that, before taking a better look at the dead bird and splayed on on the ground by his paws.
rookfire would take the time to rip most of the feather out of the bird once he was close to camp, allowing some lucky fellow to waste less time when they ate the rook and earning rook (the cat) a whole bunch of feathers. given he was uninterested in actually eating the bird himself, rookfire picked it up and walked back to where the rabbits pelt had been drying in the sun and looked for a place in the shadows for himself and the prey someone would eat and shouldnt be heated up for no reason. finally sinking into a laying position, cool shade providing some escape from the blinding light, he shuddered at the cool soil briefly before attempting some relaxation while he awaited roachflares return.
roachflare on the other paw, had made his way back after delivering the rabbit a while ago and was now pushing closer and closer to a fiery red squirrel chewing on a nut at the base of a tree. with a swift leap, paws that tended to carry a almost sticky quality easily keept the prey in place, and roachflare delivered a killing bite quickly, sealing the fate of his first catch. after he scratched some soil over the squirrel, the young warrior held his head high, nose in the air to pick up another scent. his nose wrinkled as the strong scent of what could only be a plant wafted over to assault his senses. sour and bitter and somehow overwhelming enough for him to briefly forget what he was doing. with a shake of his head, air rushing in two toned ears at the motion, he focussed back on the task.
before long, bug picked up the scent of mouse and shuffled over quickly. with the air blowing faintly from behind, bug knew he had to be quick. so instead of waiting or moving closer, he leaped forward before taking a few more strides and catching the mouse as it ran for its life. finally, bug padded back to where rookfires scent lead him.
Re: ShadowClan Territory
