~ BRIARSPLASH ~
very large & fluffy dilute gray tortie she-cat with goldish-green eyes; just a scratch
[ shadowclan enforcer | she-cat | 27 moons | abrasive, standoffish, loyal ]
~
[i requested a patrol extension but it's still due soon sfhjsk so coming back today. i believe the extension is until the 28th so you have time to make a last minute post]
There was nothing. Not a sound or a peep from her Clanmates. Grunting in annoyance, Briarsplash decided to try and hunt one more piece of prey while she was out to give them more time...
Slinking along the mud, the Enforcer eventually picked up on the scent of a lizard; good, she'd lost the last one. Tracking it for a minute, she fluffy she-cat eventually got it in sights, lowering herself to the ground and making her way...
[ Roll: 17 - success! ]
With practiced ease, Briarsplash launched herself into the air and slammed her paw down on the lizard to stun it, just a hair away from it fleeing from her grasp. She quickly nipped its neck to end the job before padding back to the meeting place. And, still... nothing.
Grumbling to herself, the she-cat flicked her fluffy tail. "If any of you can hear me, we need to head back now, or else we're late for the patrol. I'm leaving, so ya better come with and show your prey to Mistlewhisker if ya wanna keep your hide intact." Of course punishment wouldn't be that severe and it was more of a figurative way of saying 'hurry the heck up', but she was annoyed and covered in mud. So the sharper-tongued option it was.
Snatching up her prey and waiting another moment for anyone to join her who would, Briar then signaled with her tail and bounded off back towards the camp.
Sparrow
Outsider
he/him | 60 moons
[Gruff dark brown tabby tom with orange eyes and a lighter chest]
⋆˖⁺‧₊☽ The Emperor ☾₊‧⁺˖⋆
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[Freya - @taillow ] [Darkfall - @Dark ]
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He'd kill her. Or more accurately, she'd get herself killed and he wouldn't care. The girl had been bugging him for moons ever since he came across her, weak and frail, outside the Twoleg place he frequented for herbs when he found himself injured by a spat with loners. He'd been content to leave her there, not interested in taking a young cat under his proverbial wing. He left the clans because he couldn't stand having cats depend on him when all they did was ruin things in turn, and this kid seemed to be more trouble than she was worth.
But as troublesome as she was, she was twice was stubborn. She went by the name "Freya", which he could only imagine was something that Twolegs or Kittypets came up with. She'd revealed that she used to be a ShadowClan cat, but Sparrow had stopped her before she could go into her whole life's story because he really did not care. He was content living alone, and he didn't want this runt to get attached to him.
But great stars, she would not leave him alone. He had left her at this very border what... five or six times? Telling her to go home and to never bother him again. But each time she returned, boasting a smug smirk and claiming that she had tracked him to whatever outskirts hollow that was his current home. He'd tried telling her that life on the move was no place for a cat her age, but Freya didn't seem to care. Or listen.
She wasn't completely useless, though. She could hunt, she knew a few herbs--something about her mother being a medicine cat? Sparrow vaguely remembered the name Lostspark from his time in the clans, and he was admittedly a little curious as to why the daughter of a prominent clan figure wouldn't want to go home. But Freya had proven to be able to hunt for herself and had watched his back while they traveled, so Sparrow begrudgingly let her stay. Not like he could do much to dissuade her.
Returning from a scouting trip for his--their--ugh--next location and finding their hollow empty should have been a relief. Finally, the runt had had enough and returned home. She had revealed something about a wish her mother made when she was pregnant, something about her kits being born with defects and diseases in return for her eyesight being restored. Sparrow hadn't bothered to listen until that part was brought up. Well, it was no wonder she didn't want to return home. Until, one day, she did. Vengence, she claimed. Closure. Sparrow hadn't expected her to return.
But here he was, at the ShadowClan border, having tracked her scent here. Sparrow had stood there, staring into the swamp as if waiting for her to show her dark striped face. Why was he waiting for her? He'd wanted nothing to do with her this entire time, but now that she had seemingly returned home... Sparrow turned, fluffy tail lashing behind him. Whatever. It was better this way.
Then her scent enveloped him again, and Sparrow turned to see Freya smirking at him from the other side of the border, her paws muddy. The former warrior scowled in her direction, tattered ears pinned back. "Dunno why I bother with you." He muttered, then turned to head back to the hollow.
That was when another scent came forward and the blundering pawsteps of an idiot sent dry leaves scattering. Sparrow glanced over his shoulder at the newcomer, noting immediately the similarities in form and color between the ShadowClan warrior and Freya. He looked distraught, and for a moment Sparrow's orange gaze shifted to the young molly a little ways away. The coppery tang of blood was infused with both of their scents. Sparrow listened to the warrior sputter something about mom, Larkfire, Mirepaw... Mirepaw. Right, that was her clan name. Tch. This must be her father. And the blood... Sparrow looked fully at Freya, then at the ShadowClan tom. Oh. Had she gone and done it? Sparrow had been under the impression she just wanted answers. Well, good for her. Sparrow waited, intelligent eyes taking in movements and expressions as the standoff began. Freya could answer for herself, he wasn't going to help her.
Quote:
Originally Posted by taillow
Freya - Outsider
Tilting her head in response to Sparrow's grumpy face - and even grumpier words - Freya's smirk only grew. "Yeah, yeah. Heard it before, but yet you're still here," she chided, flicking his shoulder with the tip of her tail as she flanked him. She was ready to return back to the hollow they stayed in for now, having gotten what she needed here.
...Except that it seemed here wasn't quite done with her yet.
Paws stopped dead in their tracks at the familiar voice, blood turning to ice in her veins. That name... she hadn't heard in quite some time. A quiet snarl started in her throat and she glanced over, meeting Sparrow's gaze. She had told him about her deranged family back in the Clans, about why they were here and why she wanted to see her m- Lostspark one last time. She hadn't said much about her fa- Darkfall though, mostly because her memories of him were little to none.
"That's not my name anymore." Dragging her gaze away from Sparrow, Freya looked back over her shoulder at Darkfall and blinked. Well, didn't he look pathetic. His voice was shot, tears made his blue eyes glisten in the light. His dark fur was disheveled and his paws were bloody - much like hers were. Damp, muddy water slicked his fur back and it made Freya snort to see how much he had struggled to find Lostspark among the dark water.
"Oh, you mean Lostspark? 'Cause last I checked, a mom puts her kits before her own fox-hearted wishes," she yawned, irritation sparking briefly in her gaze. Did neither of them think their kits would figure it out? Hear rumors about the dark wish she had made in exchange for her eyesight - at the sake of her kits? Freya had been lucky - or perhaps it had been her bleeding heart that had been her defect. But her siblings...
Standing now to fully face the tom before her, she eyed him up and down. What happened? He wanted to know what happened? Freya could go into detail and recount the experience, but she simply shrugged as the anger dissolved into indifference. "Drowned." Well, sort of. "Two cats were there with her - don't their names and don't really care to. She got the death she deserved; whatever creature was in that swamp made sure of it." Lifting a bloodied claw, Freya inspected it as she smirked once more. "Surprised you went through so much trouble to look for her," Freya continued as she glanced back at his soggy frame, placing her paw back down onto the ground. "Didn't seem like she cared for you all that much. I mean, how could she when she wished her own eye sight back at the sake of her kids?"
Yeah. She wanted that one to sting. Maybe Darkfall knew, maybe he didn't. Either way, Freya wasn't going to conceal it any more. Part of her wondered if her siblings had figured it out, too, or if they were still being fed the lies of one big, happy family. But Freya knew the truth, and that was all she needed. Perhaps that's why her sister had fled all those moons ago - she had known, too.
Turning around and looking now to Sparrow, she briefly wondered what he thought about all of this. "We can go now," she stated, starting to head out. The quicker they got out of this swamp, the better.
[ adding this because i feel terrible about this post: freya's thoughts do not reflect my own! i'm really sorry for her somewhat abrupt change in personality since her departure from shadowclan. i know you guys had a specific image in mind of the family. again apologies for her and this post ;w; <3 ]
How many times had he heard those words? Not from Mirepaw, or whatever she called herself now, but from her mother? His former mate’s insistence on bearing that stars-forsaken name had been a scourge on their relationship during the last couple of moons they were together. Hell, it even soured things a bit after their split. He hated that she called herself Lostspark, he hated that she even allowed the name change to occur in the first place. The name itself had been a memento of her lost vigor when it came to her duties, but that didn’t mean she had to use it. She merely had to reclaim the fire that once burned brightly within her if she felt she no longer lived up to the name that her adopted mother had given her.
Unable to hide the pain in his expression, he looked at his daughter with sadness in his eyes. He missed her, as he did with all of his missing and deceased children. When he had been told the news of her disappearance, it was heartbreaking. Twolegs who had once brutally murdered his mentor, had taken his daughter. And now here she was. She was… different. Colder. Where was the smiling little she-cat who did her best to keep a positive outlook on the world? Where was the young apprentice that he helped lead to the new camp while they were displaced? It was an odd thing to see her this way. He remembered how small she was when she was first born, along with the rest of her siblings. He remembered her playing with the other kits, and being joined at the hip with Heronpaw. This cat in front of him wasn’t her – at least not in the sense that she bore any emotional resemblance to her previous state. He had failed. He failed her, he failed Larkfire, he failed them all. He was unable to protect her innocence, unable to keep her out of harm’s way, unable to prevent this. Just what had happened to her that led to things ending up this way? What had she experienced?
For a moment, his eyes flashed with momentary panic when the cat in front of him defamed her mother. They hadn’t told the kits about the wish, so how did she know? Who was it that had told her? Looking back on it now, it might not have been a great idea to withhold the information from them, but… it had seemed to be such in the moment. He was planning to ask Lostspark about potentially telling them when they were a little older – perhaps after they became warriors, but he never did. He never got that chance, nor would he ever have the opportunity. The wish, while selfish had not been out of spite for the kits, nor had it been made with malicious intent. It was a simple case of carelessness, and not acknowledging that the potential risks vastly outweighed the rewards.
The onslaught of words continued as his daughter, or what was left of her, discussed the death of the former enforcer. Larkfire drowned. There were two more cats with her, as he suspected, but no details on whether or not there had been a fight. He was well aware that his former mate had been a relatively strong swimmer, so he had a hard time believing that there wasn’t any foul play within her death.
”She got the death she deserved.”
These words angered the massive tom. What fur wasn’t slicked back by mud and water bristled for a brief moment before flattening down again. She did not deserve to die in such a way. She deserved to rekindle her relationship with their living offspring, and once again find happiness and hopefully live a long life. Honestly, he couldn’t imagine Larkfire dying in any other way than old age, or fighting for her clan. That’s just the kind of cat she was. She was the type who would charge into every battle headfirst. Dying by drowning just seemed… wrong.
Not-Mirepaw’s next words sent an icy chill throughout him. “Whatever creature” was what she said. There was something within the mire? He hadn’t noticed anything during his search, but that also implied that it had either finished the job, or taken the bodies of the three cats somewhere. That meant… No. He refused to believe it. Larkfire’s body was somewhere out there, and he would recover it and give her a proper burial. He owed that to her. For everything they had experienced together, whether that be the good, the bad, or the ugly, for being the mother of the majority of his kits, and for allowing him a spot in her life, he owed her this much at the very least.
”That’s not–” He began to say as the former ShadowClanner turned to walk away. That hurt. A lot. Larkfire had cared for him… right? Wait. That’s not what was important. The wish had not been made with the intent on harming the kits and he wanted her to know that, but she was already walking away…
”I don’t know what you call yourself now, but that changes nothing. You are my daughter, and both your mother and I love you very much. That wish… she didn’t mean to hurt any of you – she didn’t know it would turn out that way. If… If you want to talk about it at any time, or if you find yourself in need or just want to come back… You know where to find me. I love you, Mirepaw. Please be safe.” He called to her as she walked away. He initially intended to ask her to stay, to not leave as she once did but he resisted. He wasn’t sure about her relationship with the older tom, but if push came to shove, he was sure that he would protect her. If not… Well, he’d hunt that tom down and kill him himself. He knew better than to try and force someone to try and stay when they clearly didn’t want to – both her and her mother (as well as most of the other kits) were similar in that regard.
He hoped he would see her again. He missed her so much, but right now he had other things to attend to. He had to report his findings to Dawnstar and then break the news to what was left of his family… This… sucked…
Taking a deep breath, he shook his head sadly, casting one last look in the direction that the two cats went in, and then turned to head back to camp.
[ @/taillow no need to apologize or feel terrible silly! We get it <3 @/Mica @Rose so you can see what you've caused.]
__________________
Little Disclaimer: I live in EST (UTC-5) and my sleep schedule is completely messed up, so posts may be erratic My Characters
Ew, this was utterly disgusting! Nightpaw held his frog just above the mud his fur was soaked in. It would take a moon to get all this out! As he heard Briarsplash asking what he'd caught, Nightpaw realised he'd been standing there mentally complaining about the mud for so long that he didn't even try to catch something else. He decided to pretend he hadn’t heard her, maybe that would give him time to catch another. Right, what could he catch? And it had to be quickly.
Ah! He managed to get a frog once! He could surely do it again! Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted another, so he put the other frog down somewhere he'd remember it, then went after the other. Like before, he'd try to get close enough to it, and then…
[Nightpaw rolls a 20!]
…Yes! He pounced when close enough, and killed the frog quickly after getting a good grip on it with his claws. He couldn’t wait to tell Sleepysunrise about this! Two perfect kills in a row! But wait…oh no! He’d left the other frog right out in the open! Anger filled his eyes as a bird swooped down to claim his kill. No, he couldn’t allow this! Placing the other frog down close enough to him that he could defend it, he slowly stalked towards the bird, trying not to make a sound as he approached it.
[Nightpaw rolls a 13!]
Just as the bird landed, Nightpaw pounced, and for the first time felt feathers on his claws. He wasn’t going to let this thing just fly away with his frog, so he slashed at it over and over with his claws, until the bird slipped away and took off. Unfortunately he wasn’t able to catch it, but the frog was still here, albeit a little damaged. Collecting his other frog again, Nightpaw heard Briarsplash call again with one last warning to hurry up. He made his way over at her call, and emerged covered in mud but with something to bring back at least.
"Sorry I took so long, I'm here." He said as he followed Briarsplash out of Darkwater Mire.
@squidz @Blaaze @ophelia [Sorry this took so long! I’ve been busy with my other projects so I’ve not been very active on WCO as of late]
__________________
"You'll take the high road and I'll take the low road
And I'll be in Scotland before ye
Where me and my true love shall never meet again
On the bonnie bonnie banks of Loch Lomond!"
Tilting her head in response to Sparrow's grumpy face - and even grumpier words - Freya's smirk only grew. "Yeah, yeah. Heard it before, but yet you're still here," she chided, flicking his shoulder with the tip of her tail as she flanked him. She was ready to return back to the hollow they stayed in for now, having gotten what she needed here.
...Except that it seemed here wasn't quite done with her yet.
Paws stopped dead in their tracks at the familiar voice, blood turning to ice in her veins. That name... she hadn't heard in quite some time. A quiet snarl started in her throat and she glanced over, meeting Sparrow's gaze. She had told him about her deranged family back in the Clans, about why they were here and why she wanted to see her m- Lostspark one last time. She hadn't said much about her fa- Darkfall though, mostly because her memories of him were little to none.
"That's not my name anymore." Dragging her gaze away from Sparrow, Freya looked back over her shoulder at Darkfall and blinked. Well, didn't he look pathetic. His voice was shot, tears made his blue eyes glisten in the light. His dark fur was disheveled and his paws were bloody - much like hers were. Damp, muddy water slicked his fur back and it made Freya snort to see how much he had struggled to find Lostspark among the dark water.
"Oh, you mean Lostspark? 'Cause last I checked, a mom puts her kits before her own fox-hearted wishes," she yawned, irritation sparking briefly in her gaze. Did neither of them think their kits would figure it out? Hear rumors about the dark wish she had made in exchange for her eyesight - at the sake of her kits? Freya had been lucky - or perhaps it had been her bleeding heart that had been her defect. But her siblings...
Standing now to fully face the tom before her, she eyed him up and down. What happened? He wanted to know what happened? Freya could go into detail and recount the experience, but she simply shrugged as the anger dissolved into indifference. "Drowned." Well, sort of. "Two cats were there with her - don't their names and don't really care to. She got the death she deserved; whatever creature was in that swamp made sure of it." Lifting a bloodied claw, Freya inspected it as she smirked once more. "Surprised you went through so much trouble to look for her," Freya continued as she glanced back at his soggy frame, placing her paw back down onto the ground. "Didn't seem like she cared for you all that much. I mean, how could she when she wished her own eye sight back at the sake of her kids?"
Yeah. She wanted that one to sting. Maybe Darkfall knew, maybe he didn't. Either way, Freya wasn't going to conceal it any more. Part of her wondered if her siblings had figured it out, too, or if they were still being fed the lies of one big, happy family. But Freya knew the truth, and that was all she needed. Perhaps that's why her sister had fled all those moons ago - she had known, too.
Turning around and looking now to Sparrow, she briefly wondered what he thought about all of this. "We can go now," she stated, starting to head out. The quicker they got out of this swamp, the better.
[ adding this because i feel terrible about this post: freya's thoughts do not reflect my own! i'm really sorry for her somewhat abrupt change in personality since her departure from shadowclan. i know you guys had a specific image in mind of the family. again apologies for her and this post ;w; <3 ]
How many times had he heard those words? Not from Mirepaw, or whatever she called herself now, but from her mother? His former mate’s insistence on bearing that stars-forsaken name had been a scourge on their relationship during the last couple of moons they were together. Hell, it even soured things a bit after their split. He hated that she called herself Lostspark, he hated that she even allowed the name change to occur in the first place. The name itself had been a memento of her lost vigor when it came to her duties, but that didn’t mean she had to use it. She merely had to reclaim the fire that once burned brightly within her if she felt she no longer lived up to the name that her adopted mother had given her.
Unable to hide the pain in his expression, he looked at his daughter with sadness in his eyes. He missed her, as he did with all of his missing and deceased children. When he had been told the news of her disappearance, it was heartbreaking. Twolegs who had once brutally murdered his mentor, had taken his daughter. And now here she was. She was… different. Colder. Where was the smiling little she-cat who did her best to keep a positive outlook on the world? Where was the young apprentice that he helped lead to the new camp while they were displaced? It was an odd thing to see her this way. He remembered how small she was when she was first born, along with the rest of her siblings. He remembered her playing with the other kits, and being joined at the hip with Heronpaw. This cat in front of him wasn’t her – at least not in the sense that she bore any emotional resemblance to her previous state. He had failed. He failed her, he failed Larkfire, he failed them all. He was unable to protect her innocence, unable to keep her out of harm’s way, unable to prevent this. Just what had happened to her that led to things ending up this way? What had she experienced?
For a moment, his eyes flashed with momentary panic when the cat in front of him defamed her mother. They hadn’t told the kits about the wish, so how did she know? Who was it that had told her? Looking back on it now, it might not have been a great idea to withhold the information from them, but… it had seemed to be such in the moment. He was planning to ask Lostspark about potentially telling them when they were a little older – perhaps after they became warriors, but he never did. He never got that chance, nor would he ever have the opportunity. The wish, while selfish had not been out of spite for the kits, nor had it been made with malicious intent. It was a simple case of carelessness, and not acknowledging that the potential risks vastly outweighed the rewards.
The onslaught of words continued as his daughter, or what was left of her, discussed the death of the former enforcer. Larkfire drowned. There were two more cats with her, as he suspected, but no details on whether or not there had been a fight. He was well aware that his former mate had been a relatively strong swimmer, so he had a hard time believing that there wasn’t any foul play within her death.
”She got the death she deserved.”
These words angered the massive tom. What fur wasn’t slicked back by mud and water bristled for a brief moment before flattening down again. She did not deserve to die in such a way. She deserved to rekindle her relationship with their living offspring, and once again find happiness and hopefully live a long life. Honestly, he couldn’t imagine Larkfire dying in any other way than old age, or fighting for her clan. That’s just the kind of cat she was. She was the type who would charge into every battle headfirst. Dying by drowning just seemed… wrong.
Not-Mirepaw’s next words sent an icy chill throughout him. “Whatever creature” was what she said. There was something within the mire? He hadn’t noticed anything during his search, but that also implied that it had either finished the job, or taken the bodies of the three cats somewhere. That meant… No. He refused to believe it. Larkfire’s body was somewhere out there, and he would recover it and give her a proper burial. He owed that to her. For everything they had experienced together, whether that be the good, the bad, or the ugly, for being the mother of the majority of his kits, and for allowing him a spot in her life, he owed her this much at the very least.
”That’s not–” He began to say as the former ShadowClanner turned to walk away. That hurt. A lot. Larkfire had cared for him… right? Wait. That’s not what was important. The wish had not been made with the intent on harming the kits and he wanted her to know that, but she was already walking away…
”I don’t know what you call yourself now, but that changes nothing. You are my daughter, and both your mother and I love you very much. That wish… she didn’t mean to hurt any of you – she didn’t know it would turn out that way. If… If you want to talk about it at any time, or if you find yourself in need or just want to come back… You know where to find me. I love you, Mirepaw. Please be safe.” He called to her as she walked away. He initially intended to ask her to stay, to not leave as she once did but he resisted. He wasn’t sure about her relationship with the older tom, but if push came to shove, he was sure that he would protect her. If not… Well, he’d hunt that tom down and kill him himself. He knew better than to try and force someone to try and stay when they clearly didn’t want to – both her and her mother (as well as most of the other kits) were similar in that regard.
He hoped he would see her again. He missed her so much, but right now he had other things to attend to. He had to report his findings to Dawnstar and then break the news to what was left of his family… This… sucked…
Taking a deep breath, he shook his head sadly, casting one last look in the direction that the two cats went in, and then turned to head back to camp.
[ @/taillow no need to apologize or feel terrible silly! We get it <3 @/Mica @Rose so you can see what you've caused.]
Sparrow
Outsider
he/him | 40 moons
[Gruff dark brown tabby tom with orange eyes and a lighter chest]
⋆˖⁺‧₊☽ The Emperor ☾₊‧⁺˖⋆
· · ────────────── · ·
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The tension was palpable as Freya and her supposed father faced off, Sparrow off to the side wishing more than anything this would be over so he could go back to the hollow. He did not care about familial drama. Having no family of his own--having abandoned his best friend--Sparrow was more than willing to let any and all attachments go. Freya seemed inclined to do the same, but Sparrow didn't miss the glint of sadistic pleasure in her eyes as her words hit their mark.
So Freya's mother had drowned, dragged by some creature into the depths of the mire. Unfortunate, but that's what happened when you weren't careful. From everything Freya had forcibly told Sparrow (often during storms when they were stuck together in whatever den they had made for the night), this molly had been strong-willed and stubborn. Drowning was such a pathetic way to go for a cat like that. Then again, Sparrow supposed that his RiverClan background made him biased against weak swimmers.
Then the tom on the other side of the border launched into a speech about how much he loved Freya, and Sparrow's eye twitched. At least he wasn't forcing her to stay, so Sparrow would give him that. Though, maybe Sparrow could foist her off on her father once and for all... But after all the moons he and Freya spent together, Sparrow had seen her grow into a cat that would no longer fit into the clans. She was too headstrong, too independent to follow under rules set by another. She'd either flee within a half-moon or be executed.
So Sparrow jerked his head, turning away from ShadowClan's territory and taking a few pawsteps back into the outskirts behind Freya.
"Did you at least get answers to your questions?" He grunted once they were out of earshot. "Or was all of that for nothing."
discomfort swirled in rookfires stomach as he left camp with a goal in mind he wouldve rather continued to avoid. if only he had no plans. plans that required the visit to the one place he had not been able to face since lostsparks death, fear of finding blood or even catching her scent nearly paralysing every time he considered it. but now, it felt right, not his presence in itself, he was still afraid of what lurked beneath the waters surface and the possibility of finding..anything. that might send him spiralling. but he was a high rank. and stars above he was a adult if nothing else, he could face a little water and his memories. there was no need to be making such a deal out of this. caught up in thoughts, rookfire hardly noticed that he had already made his way through a vast majority of the territory until he stepped into a puddle. hardpacked forest floor slowly melting into softer, watery soil whilst the air grew cooler as if mocking his fear, but rookfire continued on mostly unshaken. by the time he stepped over the border between shadowclan territory and the dawning woods he had accepted whatever he may find wouldnt be able to do anything to him. lostspark was dead and even if he had conflicting feelings about coming here, the water was hardly going to reach beyond its limits to grab and drown him. everything was fine. pushing on, rookfire let his jaws open to take in more scents, the familiarity of shadowclan cats wandering this place was almost faded it had been so long since the last time anyone had been around here and the medicine cat apprentice hesitantly took a detour to mark the borders. it took a while, and managed to get his mind focussed on something besides the knowledge that lostsparks body should theoretically be somewhere in one of the bodies of water around.
somehow, he had eventually managed to log this as a normal day, a normal patrol, with nothing out of the ordinary, by the time he returned to letting scents brush past his smell receptors, the faint breeze gently ruffling his dark fur. it took a while until he managed to catch a scent, the area wasnt depraved of prey overall, but amongst the thick woody wet scent of bark and wet soil in combination with him still not being able to focus fully on the task at hand, he had trouble to pinpoint one particular one at a time. identifying the animal was the next problematic part of the process, he had something very specific in mind, the problem was: he had absolutely no clue how that animal smelled and he wanted to catch two ideally so he could mess up one and still have one look nice..
over the course of the next few moments he paced the area, thick blades of grass rustling as he passed through and the soil giving off wet squelching sounds beneath the pressure of his paws, he picked up the scents of squirrel, various birds and even a rabbit. none of which were what he wanted to catch. finally, another vaguely familiar yet unknown scent hit him sideways and his angular head instinctively turned as if it were a actual prey item instead of its smell. the dark furred medicine cat apprentice, paws wet to his mid leg from mud and undergrowth alone, made sure he would not get close to the water this time. he still shuddered at the mere thought of being submerged in these unknown waters to the neck without a care in the world just a few moons ago. sick, it made him feel bloody sick.
with a brief headshake, he finally got back on topic and focussed forward.
the scent grew stronger as he continued along the water until the former enforcer was finally able to lay eyes on the small animal almost hesitantly picking at some plant rookfire didnt have the energy to try and identify right now. it was small, a even nice pale, almost greyish, brown colour with few lighter and darker touches. arguably, and objectively a nice looking animal and he was grateful that it wasnt something ugly he would have to somehow make work as a gift. steps light in order to not spook the prey, he moved closer, pausing every few steps to make sure he hadnt been detected and take a clearer and clearer look at the small, soft looking animal. stars he hoped this was for one the correct animal (he had never actually seen one before and only knew what it looked like from description) and wouldnt seem like a cruel gift or even a threat in the end.
impatience and nerves got to rook and he darted out of the undergrowth earlier and faster than he wouldve needed, slapping the small animal square from the side and knowing it to the ground, twitching and trying to get up before he delivered a well aimed killing bite. the commotion didnt cause anything but a bit of dust and mud getting stuck on it so rookfire decided against catching a second one in order to leave this part of the territory at a speed and urgency that could almost be described as fleeing. once camp appeared over the horizon, he slowed down, only now realising he had been running the whole time, and dropped the thing to...process it. he didnt need the whole thing but would provide its flesh to feed the clan once he was done.
Re: Darkwater Mire
Berryshine is RiverClan's medicine cat! 
