"Ugh." She hated this place. Dark and just so... So gloomy. "Whatever they're doing, as long as they're not all up in our business I'm content." She scented as they walked about the boarder, but... She spotted a big ol' frog. She did promise she'd catch plenty, after all...
Creeping up on the slippery little thing, she pounced and missed. DRAT!
Quickly, she leapt after it, snatching it up in her jaws with a happy purr. It may not have been as much as she wanted, but it would do.
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You've had to walk a dark and terrible path alone.
| Sprucejumper | 13 Moons - ThunderClan Warrior
Kitty Softpaws [T1] - Active | Ultimate Predator - Active | Agatha Kitty - Active | Not Skiddin' Around -Active
Oh no... Oh that was foul. Wretched even. What the hell had curled up and died around here?! You see, this is why despite his general lack of caring, he stuck around ThunderClan. Yes. Their leader might be a murder happy furball. Yes, they were all star worshiping weirdoes. But at least the air didn't smell like crap!
"Agreed..." Sprucejumper drawled, his gaze aloof as he wrinkled his nose with disgust, eyes upon the border.
From the corner of his eye, the chocolate point spotted the gray molly hunting down a warty, flat creature. A toad, if he was not mistaken. Or a frog. Frankly he didn't know and didn't quite care. Neither creature was worth it for his far more refined palate. And yet even as he convinced himself that prey was beneath him, a mild urge to find prey of his own compelled him to move forward. To seek out something to eat. Preferably not toad or frog related. As much as he would love to force feed Pokey the worst imaginable foods known to cat, he preferred to spend his energy on food he would actually enjoy eating, thank you very much. Without much preamble, he followed suit. With a twitch of his tail, he signaled his departure, heading for the trees. He was sure to find something much more pleasant up there.
With well practiced ease, Sprucejumper soon found an ash tree which still sported the brilliant vibrancy of summer in its leaves, fall not yet close enough to make his preferred hunting method a bit of a strain. The branches were sturdy, the leaves plentiful as he silently made his way through the tree's limbs, his dark coat blending in with the wood, eyes nothing more than emeralds leaves among the foliage. His hunt was quick today, and thank the heavens for that. With the rapidly spreading stench across the territory, the Havana Brown mix was not certain how much longer he would have been able to stand that smell. And yet it seemed that the very air had left the denizens of the trees complacent. Secure in the fact that the scent alone would be enough to keep predators away from them.
Or perhaps it was the fact that they were in their nest. Safe away from the eyes of those who would feast on them. Lesser carnivores, no doubt. Worse than him, but then... he had been trained by the best and taken his lessons to heart. How else was he to survive in this mad world of theirs?
Eyes narrowing momentarily, Sprucejumper studied the wood pigeon in the branch beneath him for a few seconds. Making sure he had not been detected. That there was no other wood pigeon waiting in the shadows to strike and foil his plans. Silence met his patience, and as the creature below preened its feathers he struck, fangs finding their mark in an instant, only a minute flapping of surprised wings attempting to take flight marking a change in his surroundings. With his usual laziness, the young tom let go of the pigeon after a quick glance below to ensure his prey wouldn't be stolen. It was always easier to carry it back to camp from the ground as opposed to attempting to climb down with it.
Turning around, about to leap down to join his prey, the ThunderClan warrior stopped, his interest piqued. Deadpanned eyes turned to face the nest his meal had been resting in, dark ears perked up as he saw not one but two eggs at its center. Hmmm... Getting those down from here would be a pain... but food was food. And anything was better than that toad. Besides, it would be a waste to leave them here.
Mind made up, the former house cat grabbed the nest delicately in his maw, balancing it with care as he slowly made his way down, the bird still awaiting his arrival once his paws touched the ground. Gently placing the nest on the ground, the tom grabbed at the wood pigeon, swinging it in a well practiced motion he'd learned from his mentor before grabbing the nest once more, eyes glinting despise their blank look. With the nest to take care of, Sprucejumper had more than enough reason to not speak during the trip back. This alone was more than enough to make the tom giddy with glee. But the fact that he was returning to his patrolmates with a full haul? That was always a feeling that just couldn't be beat. Now the question remained... how good did eggs taste? Guess there was only one way to find out. Too bad it would have to wait until they got back home.
Firepaw trotted happily behind Rookfire as the enforecer made his way to the Thunderclan border, the unfamilar smell of the other clan slowly filling Firepaw's nostrils, getting stronguer as they walked. It wasnt an unpleasant smell, but she definetly prefered Shadowclan's, scent the apprentice only paid attention to once it started growing fainter as they got closer to the Herondive Hollow, being slowly replaced by Thunderclan's. Firepaw smiled a bit to herself, it seemed her nose was getting accustomed to Shadowclan, so much so that its scent was starting to become "background noise" to it. A little step closer to making the clan her true home.
It was a small victory, a silly one even, but a victory nontheless, and she would gladly take it.
But she had to focus, now she was travelling across Shadowclan's borders, an even bigger victory towards getting to fit in in her clan, and not a silly one at all, remembering where this was and what to do in case something strange happened could be extremelly important if Thunderclan decided to start a conflict with Shadowclan or the other way around. When Rookfire had approached her about joining a border patrol, she barely took half a second to agree to go, so much so that she now wondered if her enthusiasm was maybe too aparent, but she couldnt blame her past self, this was just too good of an oportunity to waste! Getting to know her clans borders and get to be with one of the clan's elites? It was an honor! So she made sure to make use of this opportunity and pay attention to her sorroundings and memorice every single tree and rock she walked past, slowly filling the Shadowclan map she was forming in her mind.
When Rookfire spoke, Firepaw quickened her pace a bit to be more or less by his side."No, I havent! This is the first time I've been so close to the borders since I joined...". She responded, her walk gradually becoming slower to match Rookfire's, and eventually stopping in front of the creek that marked the end of Shadowclan's territory. Firepaw nodded at Rookfire's explanation about the Hollow not being a really good place to do anything besides gather a few herbs. Now that he said it, it was true that while comming here she had barely picked up any prey scent, not even from heron's, this place's name sake, so it seemed her nose wasnt tricking her. This lack of anything was provably caused by the dryness in this part of the territory, she guessed, dryness which her paws couldnt help but notice while they made their way there, small bits of dust annoyingly clinging to her paw pads. Whatever lived there before provably left due to this lack of humidity, and the creek may be the last trace of what this place once was. She couldnt blame the prey honestly, she wouldnt like to live here either.
Firepaw followed Rookfire as they continued walking along the creek, following its stream. When the enforcer mentioned two other unfamiliar territories, the Evergreen grotto and the Dawning woods, Firepaws eyes widened a bit, just by their names they sounded so exciting!! The grotto sounded like a lush place filled with various healing herbs and prey, and the Dawning woods... Well, she wasnt sure what the "Dawning" part of the name would imply about the woods, but it did match Dawnstars name, so she just thought that coincidence was cool. She silently hoped those two were close to the border so she could take a peek at them, but she stayed quiet and let Rookfire speak, slowly absorving the information the enforcer was giving her. She looked over to the other side of the border, no Thunderclan cats could be seen nor smelled, so that part of the border patrol routine could be checked off. "Dont worry, I'l be sure to bring someone with me if I have to check out the borders, I dont plan on getting killed by enemy cats so soon!". She knew that that was provably exagerating, but there was a hint of genuiness behind the joking statement. Thunderclan cats were pretty much tied with Shadowclan for physical strength (according to her mother's stories anyway), and she wasnt at all prepared to face one off in combat yet, nor any other cat really, so she still wouldnt dare to come here alone and risk trying to fend off an intruder without backup.
At the mention of the deputy, Firepaw's ears twitched in curiosity. She hadnt had the pleasure of meeting them yet, though she had heard that they were less ruthless than Dawnstar (fact for which she silently was gratefull for), but she would like to meet them one day, maybe in one of those "official patrols" Rookfire spoke about. I see... So usually only report back if something weird happened, got it!" She gave the air a brief sniff before continuing "In that case it seems we wont have to bother the deputy for now, i dont smell any Thunderclan cats in our side of the border."
"hmm" rookfire hummed, "you arent allowed out alone until you earn your warrior name anyway, just want you to keep an eye on whatever warrior is with you so you dont get lost or worse he explained, apperantly having overestimated the amount of information the apprentice had already gotten from another cat. it felt a bit silly to be telling apprentices to keep close to warriors since he himself had done anything but that during the vast majority of his apprenticehood. memories of leaving camp alone to explore or taking a random warrior, (his favourite had been jayfrost because he never really complained,) and leaving them somewhere along the way to continue alone without having to worry about being caught alone, floated around his head briefly before focussing on the border once again. "yeah, if we were done now you wouldnt have to tell mistlewhisker anything."
they had reached the end of this side of the territory so rookfire paused once more to mark the border, since they had started in the middle of the stretch of land they had declared a border, this side being completed didnt mean they were done just yet. "this is where this side ends, we'll do the other side now" the enforcer turned to walk back towards where they had started, eyes, ears and nose still on high alert, he preferred this technique instead of starting on one side and walking the border only once, this way they would go over each side twice before returning to the very place they had started at to return to camp. "has anyone told you about thunderclan yet?"
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"i wish things were different, but it werent us who changed."
Re: Herondive Hollow
