"That's... It? That's all you did today? No hunting, no patrols... Nothing?"
Was it a tad frustrating? Yes. It didn't seem right that the she-cat was obviously physically fit but not doing anything to help out the clan. Sure, there were many capable and strong warriors. But that didn't mean that some cats were just free to laze around. He doesn't voice that opinion of his, though. For now.
Firestream glared at Yarrowcrest annoyed was he judging her? "Well I tried hunting at Sunkissed Creek but some cat scared me and I fell into the water" she retorted with hidden ferocity if there was one thing she didn't like it was being judged and she would not take that.
Firestream glared at Yarrowcrest annoyed was he judging her? "Well I tried hunting at Sunkissed Creek but some cat scared me and I fell into the water" she retorted with hidden ferocity if there was one thing she didn't like it was being judged and she would not take that.
yarrowcrest // he/him // 16 moons
---
There were a lot of things he wanted to say but he holds his tongue. If he tried to argue it would definitely turn into some kind of conflict and it just wasn't worth it to him. He takes a moment to decide how best to ease the tension... Sigh.
"Sorry. That sounds like it was awful. Getting wet is never pleasant."
There were a lot of things he wanted to say but he holds his tongue. If he tried to argue it would definitely turn into some kind of conflict and it just wasn't worth it to him. He takes a moment to decide how best to ease the tension... Sigh.
"Sorry. That sounds like it was awful. Getting wet is never pleasant."
The single word was enough to draw a watery face fully from under tented front paws and (head now on eye level with Sprucepaw despite being mostly flattened to the ground) the warrior choked out a hopefully "Really?" If the kiddo said Mudhound was alright then he probably wasnt too mad, Muddy wasnt in trouble yet!
Popping to their paws the warrior beamed, like suddenly nothing was wrong and the near watery whimpering didnt even occur, all sunshine smiles once more. "Awesome opossum kid! Oooooh this is gonna be great! I know some super cool hunting tricks for like, less common prey then the normal mice, voles, small birds, ect which most cats dont know! Then you can impress cat with new cool stuff on the fresh kill pile and we can have fun learning!" The warriors tail was a blur behind them, wagging wildly and Mudhound got so excited they even started rearing up a bit. Wiggling and bouncing in place like they couldnt sit still they wobbled a bit when on their singular back leg but eventually managed to calm with all legs on the ground. Time to refocus, not dance.
"Ahem. Any-whos, what do you know so far anyways? We need a bit of basic hunting stuff to do this and I dont mind teaching you that at all!"
(No fuss but muddy is NB AFAB and their pronouns are they/them.) @Alchemist Kitsune
__________________
Crowtooth is Deputy of Windclan, If he's needed mention me at any time~
Have a kittypet/outsider who needs healing? Vm me!
There was a fine policy to being a Thundercat that entailed climbing, which was fair enough. They were squirrels for a reason: tree life was the life to live, at least in their clan. None of the other clans had suitable trees to claw their way up. Alderstep supposed that being a) named after a tree and b) being raised climbing influenced him into enjoying his time in the canopies, leaping branch to branch like an overgrown chipmunk. But sometimes he liked to think that no matter what, he'd have enjoyed trees.
Today, however, was not a good day to enjoy trees. Perhaps ignoring the way his old injuries had started throbbing in this unbearable seizing pain the second he woke up was the cause of that, because if Alderstep hadn't been feeling like someone had dropped a whole sycamore on top of him, perhaps he wouldn't've lost his footing up in this massive aspen he had been climbing experimentally. Who knows? He was just lucky he didn't hit any branches (aspen trees were cool like that) on his way down, and he had landed on his pretty white paws. After that incident, Alderstep had decided it was nigh time to catch something and go back to camp and try to sleep off his miserableness.
Which would've been a lovely plan and all, except he'd felt like he was dying too much to even focus on catching something. Embarrassing. And it'd been a pain trying to fall asleep when it felt like he was on fire, too. So that had been Alderstep's terrible, horrible day, no good, very bad day. The problem was, he didn't stay down for long. No matter what, he needed to do something, and if that meant dragging his sorry ass out of his nest to try hunting again, so be it.
Or so he'd thought he'd try to do. He hadn't though, because Springpaw, of all cats, apprehended him and promptly dragged him out here. Life really was proving it was full of surprises, wasn't it? And he'd been here before, though that was obvious because every ThunderClan cat ended up here at some point in their life. But he hadn't been to the cove in a while. He didn't know why he avoided this place like white-cough. (he did. it was the sore memory of a pretty cat to whom he'd told sunsets were pretty, whose smile he was forgetting.)
After a long-suffering sigh, Alderstep turned to the little herb cat. "So why'm I here?" he asked, sounding every bit like the bone-tired cat that he was. Springpaw might've told him; he didn't remember. He probably had been too busy zoning out to notice. Besides, it wouldn't exactly kill her to repeat herself, if she were. Alderstep flicked his pinning gaze away, skimming the flower-filled meadows before settling on the offing. The sun was slowly creeping down to dip into the sea as if it were some rambunctious apprentice daring to stick their paw over the border. He held back his scoff of distaste. Of course, of all the times he came back here, it was during sunset. Unbelievable. On second thought, he really should stop being such a bitter-bones all the time.
Songsoot was skipping along taking deep breathes while surveying the horizen to make sure no threats were on it but he was mainly just happy Pikekit was having a good time
Pikekit was rebounding with each step, 'Alderstep couldnt keep me down any longer now was his time to go up' he thought while scurring up a rock, A screech from the sky could be heard before a sound of a thud hit something, it was Pikekit who was now in the talons of a hawk "AAAAAAAAAAAAH" Pikekit screamed as
the talons of the hawk dug into his left hind leg and right shoulder/chest crunching could be heard as the hawk tightened its grip, Pikekit looked below him as red water poured down it was his blood and he was up high
"HELPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP, OWIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE" he screamed still tears falling down
Songsoot hearing this jumped into action, by sprinting and jumping at the hawk as it tried to ascend more upwards, Manging to get the tail feathers he slashed his claws at those which distracted the hawk, Pikekit did the one thing he did best and headbutted the hawks leg which loosened it up enough to bite down on it which made it let Pikekit go,
Pikekit was now falling from 10 feet in the air, time slowed for a minute and he saw him............THUD as pikekit hit the ground also giving a quick snap as it seemed a bone was broken likely a rib most likely more
Pikekit layed there motionless not sure what to do and after a few seconds a scream could be heard but despite what he had learned and everything about her he could only yell one thing "MAMA, MAMA, MAMA"
Songsoot with the speed of a windclan cat rushed to Pikekit "Hang on kid ill get you out of this" he said before picking up Pikekit by the scruff which made Pikekit scream louder he didnt like off the ground very much anymore, Songsoot then yelled "Back to camp" before bolting with Pikekit to the medicine cat den
White paws thrummed through the territory with all the enthusiasm of a kit set loose in the clearing, and Mistheart hadn't stopped chittering about her lovely hobby since the moment she'd left camp with Mudhound hopefully following close behind her.
"--I found a pretty purple shell once with Cindersky, and white shells are the most common to find, but that doesn't make them any less pretty!" she stated before finally taking a breath as they broke through the underbrush and into the sandy clearing of the cove.
Grey eyes widened and the small grey molly quickly glanced around at the familiar spot with glee. She was finally going to rebuild her collection! Finally!!! Hopping forward into the sand, Mistheart quickly began sniffing around and scraping at the soft ground.
"The best shells are usually... closer to the water, but if you find any shiny pebbles that's also cool! Me and my brother once had a pebble-hunting contest when we were kits and I tooootally won that!"
Two grown adult kits, tromping through the territory yammering insistently. Because this was Mudhound, any amount of talking would be met with joy and chattering in turn. They did not care if their voices overlapped, it was the thought that counted. "Ooooh purple! That's pretty, Ive never seen a purple shell before! Ive heard good things about Cindersky though, wish I couldve met her! And yeah! White shells are pretty too! Sometimes you find just a perfect one thats kinda shiny and its like a gem! I found what I thought was a gem once when I was a rogue, it was pretty and shiny and smooth but turns out it was glass and I hurt my mouth picking it up! But generally you find like shiny twoleg junk that looks super cool!" Eventually through the incredible amounts of talking they made it to the cove however.
As the large tripod had done, every time they found sand since coming to the clans, they bounded into the area, giggling when the sand sprayed up around them. Sand, in their mind, was more fun to dig in then most any other thing despite how much it tended to fill in any holes dug. Sooooooo digging it was!
"Mmmmm no water for me thanks! Wet is bad. Buuuuut I love digging holes so Ill dig kinda close to the water? If that makes sense." The warrior trotted over closer to the waves, stopping a fair distance away where they couldnt be splashed and set up the digging spot. Butt in the air, head down, sand spraying everywhere. Yeaaaaaaah that's good digging. During the digging Muddy yammered, uncaring of the sand that got into their mouth on occasion. "Pebble hunting sounds fun! I wish I did something like that with all my sibbies! But we were kinda separated sooooo no but maybe I can convince Bumble-sis to do something like that with me soon! Tell me how it went please!" Oooh a pebble! This one was kinda white with black speckles? It was granite, little did Mudhound know, worn smooth by the waves and the warrior held it up, showing Mistheart. "Like is this a good pebble in pebble hunting?"
__________________
Crowtooth is Deputy of Windclan, If he's needed mention me at any time~
Have a kittypet/outsider who needs healing? Vm me!
• Springpaw •
long-furred, oriental-shaped, gray-and-orange calico molly with blue eyes; torn right ear
Purrks: Herbal Knowledge - Tier 1 | The Collector [active] | Mind Reader [active]
_________________________________________________
To be completely honest, Springpaw never truly went to Firefly Cove before. She only knew the place by mention and from hearing Coldamber mention a few herbs that grew around the place. It was one of the few places in the territory that barely had any trees to decorate the green-filled landscape; the only thing decorating the vast meadow were clusters of random flowers—both big and small. Most of the flowers were quick to be familiarized by their appearances as Springpaw had seen them before in her dream with Coldamber, only when the star-furred molly had been teaching her different types of herbs and what their usages were and how much effect that they took when being used. Other than that, the calico molly was quick to recall the starry molly mentioning what type of locations each herb would be mainly located at. Which, if Springpaw recalled, Firefly Cove would most likely bear a good minimum of herbs there: such as chamomile, daisies, dandelion… possibly a couple others that the young calico could name, but that wasn’t what should be on the young feline’s mind at the given moment. What she had in mind was to get away from camp for a few minutes—or longer—so she could get some of the recent occurring events as of late off her mind. Of course, it wasn’t like she wasn’t the only one who was there, afterall.
Alongside her was the deputy himself, Alderstep, who the young ten moon old calico molly had kindly dragged asked to come along with her. Of course, the usually grumpy tom had agreed to come along with her, which was already more than enough to make her day much easier for her to handle. Of course, she didn’t really bother to tell much about what they would be doing at the cove—as that hadn’t really been a concurring thought for her—while they were trekking their way up towards the vast meadow. Another thing that had been seemingly brought to her attention was how extremely late the day was getting. The sky was already turning into a fiery-orange color as the sun began to creep its way around the edge of the earth, ready to descend away from the horizon and be done for the day with it’s duty. The air was a light, cool crisp breeze that effortlessly flowed through her thick, tricolored coat, making her fur wave through the breeze without a single care in the world. Craning her head over her shoulder, the calico molly occasionally checked up on Alderstep to see if he was still following close behind her—which he was, but it never hurt to really check to see if he was, didn’t it? Then again, Springpaw’s concurrent fear of abandonment irked at that single thought, so it somewhat explained why she kept checking up on the tom from time to time.
It wasn’t hard to tell that the tom right behind her was clearly injured. Well, not exactly injured, but the keen feline was quick to sense that he was in some sort of pain. Springpaw could see it from the way his gait looked while he walked and from how shrunken his posture seemed to portray… huh. Was this why she was chosen to become the medicine cat apprentice? Due to her keen eyesight and perception to notice any possible changes in the appearances of her clan-mates or practically any other cat? She wasn’t fully sure of it, but the question was enough to hang around over her mind like a nagging fly that wouldn’t go away. Speaking of insects, a small flash of light was quick to catch the young molly’s eye when Springpaw had been looking in the russet tom’s direction, a quiet, audible gasp silently escaping her throat. The tiny bug slowly flew around the meadow as it occasionally lit up brightly against the darkening atmosphere, quickly grabbing hold of Springpaw’s attention. Of course, it was a lightning bug—or a firefly in more simplistic terms—and it was coming around due to the darkening day that was coming around. It simply meant that Springpaw had just more than a reason to be here and hang around in the beautiful meadow that firefly cove carried.
The sound of Alderstep’s voice broke through her thoughts as the russet tabby questioned why he was there, making the calico twist her head to face the direction of the deputy himself as he turned to face her direction. Right, she hadn’t bothered to fully tell him why she had wanted to take him to the cove of all places within the territory. It was reasonable for him to ask why he was there, so Springpaw couldn’t necessarily complain about it. “Well, the reason you are here is for the obvious: I wouldn’t be able to go around here without an adult figure around and I surely can’t simply go wander out on my own to go collect some things for the medicine den so…” she trailed off, silently scraping a paw across the dirt floor as her brain churned away to think about what else she could possibly say. Another flicker of light caught Springpaw’s eye and the calico was almost quick to get an even better idea than what she had originally planned, a smile growing up across her face and partaking half of her cheeks. “Well… I was thinking that maybe we could pick some flowers and try to collect some fireflies? It’s a simple little activity that could help us keep all the current events that are happening at camp off our minds, y’know? Not only that, but I can collect some chamomile and dandelions here to add to the herb storage while we are here.”
Her smile was practically beaming with excitement as she rambled out her ideas, the apprentice happily going around the darkening meadow and gradually out random flowers by her jaws, essentially giving herself a mouthful of flowers that were in an messy arrangement of sorts. Pleased with her work, the tricolored feline trekked her way back towards the deputy and eagerly showed him the random assortment of flowers that she had randomly plucked from the ground below. “See? Now all you gotta do is join me, and we’ll see who has the most flowers by the time we are done picking. Maybe we’ll be able to see if one of us has managed to collect a possible herb for the medicine den! Then, afterwards, we can catch some fireflies and see who has the prettiest and brightest!” giddiness was practically rummaging itself through her system as she placed herself onto her haunches, eyes closed as her cheek-sore smile remained smeared on her face. I mean, c’mon. Who would say no to her? She’s just an innocent child after all who is trying to have some sort of fun with the deputy of the clan who just so happens to be her uncle. How can he possibly say no?
━━━━━━━━┛ ✠ ┗━━━━━━━━ “You're either living or you're not. You ain't little, you ain't a girl, you ain't a boy; you ain't strong or smart. You're alive.”
⊱ my carrd ◦ future roleplay tracker ◦ future character bio ⊰
━━━━━━━━┓ ✠ ┏━━━━━━━━
alderstep
russet tabby with white paws, green eyes
active purrks; kitty softpaws [ @ares ]
With the drowning sun came the namesake of his apprentice: fireflies. Alderstep had been confused at first, wondering why the hell the herb cat was gasping while looking at him until he turned to look and caught sight of the flickering insect. Faintly amused, the russet turned back to Springpaw to notice how captivated she was by the bug. She was such a kit sometimes, and it surprised him when he least expected it. Alderstep wondered how long it'd take for her to grow up and lose this shiny naivety. If she ever would. Some cats never lost their fascination with the world. He stared at the young cat, contemplating what sort of cat she'd have become at her naming ceremony. If she ever made it that far. Annoyance made Alderstep look away from the calico. Nothing like morbidly remembering the limits of life and mortality. Day thoroughly ruined, the russet drifted away from Springpaw, assured he could keep an eye on her in the open meadow.
He didn't have to wait long for the answer to his question. It'd be odd if he did. And the answer was obvious, something Alderstep could've figured out on his own if he'd bothered to be logical for barely a second. Of course, Springpaw needed a warrior to supervise her, otherwise, she couldn't do her duties. Obviously. His logical thinking skills seemed to have been booted off the highest cliff, perhaps by the petty pain he was still somehow experiencing. How bothersome. Alderstep opted to ignore Springpaw's first statement, not knowing what sort of correct reply he was going to formulate anyway without further embarrassment. Stars forbid that Springpaw think lowly of him, not that he necessarily cared. It was more about reassurance that her deputy was not, in fact, a bumbling bee-brain.
There was nothing more frightening than a child smiling as if they'd just found a stash of shiny objects. Alderstep's spine tingled as the fur there lifted, truly unnerved. What sort of trouble did Springpaw have planned? He knew that kind of smile- it was one of mischievousness. ...Or not. Flower-picking and fly-catching, while honestly useless and a waste of time, was way better than what Alderstep had been picturing. Again, logic was dead at the bottom of a cliff. Still, Alderstep sighed (he seemed to be doing that a lot; must be really annoying to the other cats). "You should be devoting your time primarily to your responsibilities," the russet admonished, fixing Springpaw with a stern look.
Too bad the herb cat was already walking away, picking flowers as she went. Alderstep sighed yet again, this time more softly as he sat carefully down, subconsciously doing his best not to squish any pretty flowers. Or bugs. He ought to yell at Springpaw or something, tell her to come back and do her work instead of mucking about for fun. He didn't want to, for some reason. Kidding, this reason he knew the origin of. It was because Springpaw was so ridiculously tiny that she looked like she belonged in the nursery. Alderstep didn't doubt that he could walk right up to her, scruff her, and carry her back to camp. Tiredly, Alderstep averted his mind to a nearby firefly. He languidly watched it as it buzzed about the meadow, blinking its light on and off.
Ah, here she comes back now. Alderstep straightened his posture as he looked away from the bug, eyebrows raising at her display of flowers. Did she expect him to comment on them? He wasn't really great at this sort of thing. He didn't necessarily want to be great at it. Complimenting flowers was the most useless skill if Alderstep ever saw one. The russet passively flicked his ear, staring at Springpaw with narrowed eyes. This was confusing. "So you dragged me out here because you wanted to...pick flowers?" he asked skeptically. "Me, the guy who most definitely does not pick flowers. Y'know, you could've picked a more willing cat." Stars, Springpaw could've taken Drizzlecloud or...or Dovefluff or Morningcall or practically any other cat. Alderstep's eyebrows furrowed with suspicion. Why him?
This is why he hated children. They just got away with everything. Alderstep despised their lack of accountability. Who was going to tell them that being super manipulative with their dumb facial expressions was morally wrong? Inner turmoil turned Alderstep's insides nauseatingly (that could just be the pain) as he considered saying no. What was he, a monster? The deputy worked his claws frustratedly, stabbing them into the dirt as if that would make him feel better. It didn't; tensing his muscles was a living hell. His resolve broke. "Fine." He didn't mean to snap his capitulation so harshly, but he had. He scrambled to correct his tone, adding, "I'll do it. Just this once." So technically, Springpaw couldn't go running and tell the clan that he was some monstrous kit-eater because see? He was picking flowers. How not scary of him.
__________________
time is nothing when you've nothing to do, don't you know