Cattail Pond

[Badwolf]

[Antpaw]
Apprentice|6 moons|Thunderclan

· · ─────── ·· ─────── · ·

Antpaw glances behind himself to see if Sunflowerswirl was even paying attention to him. She hadn't said a word coming to Cattail Pond. Not that he didn't understand. Things were awkward between them, after all. But there was an unreasonable part of him that felt annoyed that she was just ignoring him.

[Antpaw rolls a 5]

No prey in sight. Antpaw grumbles and crawls deeper within the leaves and rocks, eyes sharp and alert for anything moving. He sniffs the air.

[Antpaw rolls a 13]

A faint, delicious smell. Antpaw isn't quite sure where it's coming from, but he crouches anyway. His eyes wobble desperately as he tries to find where the smell is coming from. The left? Right? On that pile of rocks?

Should he even try? No, there was nobody around right now. This wasn't time to be embarrassed and hold himself back. It would be more embarrassing if he brought back nothing. Antpaw steps forward, tensing, ready to pounce.

[Antpaw rolls a 13]

A failure. Antpaw jumps, causing a fluff of cattails to fly all over his body. His paws vaguely swish by some sort of prey, but he doesn't know what it is- he can't see. The entire rock is just a hill of fluff now. Antpaw desperately tries to get a hold on his prey, but there's a scrabbling noise, and nothing hits his paws. In the end he stops and coughs all the cattail out of his lungs.

"This place is horrible." Antpaw grouches to himself, spitting out the fluff. "So..." he coughs again, "Itchy. Why are we hunting here, of all places?"

Antpaw pads over to the edge of the water to attempt to wash some of the fluff off himself, rubbing his tail over the grass while he's at it. He makes sure to stand by a decent distance from the cattails and from Riverclan territory. He was not coughing again, no. Even while he's doing maintenance on himself, he's still looking around for signs of prey.

[Antpaw rolls a 11]

No sign of prey. Or at least, he thinks so. Antpaw's ears twitch. His eyes still felt a little itchy, so he blinks and focuses on his hearing instead of his sight. He can hear something. It sounds like... something hard and soft gliding through the rocks, through the grass. Something big, scaley, and... Antpaw's eyes widen.

[Antpaw rolls a 9]

"Snake!" He screeches, jumping away towards his clanmates, abandoning all pretense, "There's a snake!"

If Antpaw had any proper experience he would know the snake wasn't poisonous, and thus not actually all that harmful. And though it was decently sized, it wasn't enough to kill a cat. But Antpaw had heard stories about giant venomous behemoths swallowing a cat in one bite, and combined with all he heard about predators prowling about Thunderclan recently, he wasn't about to take any chances. No siree, he was going to leave this to the warriors.


Tags:
@TanghuluCat /Willowfrost
@Oliver /Sunflowerswirl

[vellichor]

•° Violetfreckle °•
Rapid Recovery • Collector • Master Scout

---

Cattail Pond, poppy seeds. Got it. She gave a short approving nod to Peachpaw, appreciative of his promptness. As Shadeclaw led the way, the tabby she-cat found herself with mixed feelings on Cattail Pond. It was always a bit odd to venture there, what with it being a long-time RiverClan landmark. It felt like a bit of her old life that clung to her pelt like a burr she just couldn't shake off. On the other paw, though, it was nice to experience a bit of nostalgia every once in awhile.

As they arrived at the pond, Violetfreckle spoke up once more. "Peachpaw, either stick with me or Shadeclaw. I don't want you going off on your own. Grab your poppy seeds and meet back here as soon as you can. We don't want any predator trouble." And with that, she headed off to find poppies.

It didn't take long for a decently-sized clump of poppies to catch her eye. The bright red petals stood out like fresh blood against the yellow-green grass. Getting the seeds themselves was a bit of a different story, though. Initially, she tried getting the seeds out of the flower heads one by one, though that proved to be inefficient and she ended up spilling several on the ground. Violetfreckle hissed, but ultimately decided it might be a good thing, as it would allow more poppies to grow from her mistake. Instead, she decided to nip off the entire head of the flower. While this would ultimately kill it, each head held a countless number of seeds. She would just have to be very careful.

While she knew she probably could carry more, Violetfreckle decided to go quality over quantity, as she wasn't sure how many seeds would loosen and spill out as she walked back. She ended up grabbing 4 poppy heads full of seeds and hoping to spill as few as possible. With that, she ended up back at the meeting place, waiting for her other patrolmates.

// @nyme @Badwolf \\

[nyme]

HE'S GOT A TEMPERATURE OF
NEGATIVE DEGREES AGAIN

── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✪ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──

PEACHPAW . 5 MOONS . HE/HIM . THUNDERCLAN

I don't want you going off on your own.

Don't need to tell him twice. Peachpaw's been hanging off of these two older cats like a tick, peering at the forest around them like it might grow a big old mouth to bite him with if he doesn't keep an eye out. Not...not cowardly, just...cautious. Especially given the recent restrictions and everything that had incited them. You're not gonna catch Peachpaw getting torn apart by hungry badgercoyotefoxes—though you might catch him snapping a twig on accident and nearly jumping out of his own fur.

He sticks to Shadeclaw as Violetfreckle heads off to collect. A split-second debate over which cat would be best to shadow causes him to hesitate and that hesitation picks for him. Peachpw sniffs and fixes Shadeclaw with an imperious look: "If you find it, I'll carry it."

He feels so slick for coming up with that little work-around for the fact that he has no clue what to even look for.

@Badwolf ; SHADECLAW
@vellichor ; VIOLETFRECKLE

[korok]

After a moment of rest to let her flank scar stop hurting, the she-cat was determined to make one more catch. There was no need to act like she was incapable. If anything, quite the opposite. After being away so long, she needed to prove her worth to the Clan now more than ever.

( Willowfrost rolled an 18 )

Out of the corner of her eye, the warrior saw yet another small body moving in between the reeds. 'Another water vole?...No, a mouse! My lucky day!' She licked her lips as she dropped into a crouch, dragging herself slowly along the ground until she was within pouncing distance. With a strong leap she smashed her paws down on the mouse as it let out a terrified squeak, quickly nipping it in the neck to deliver the killing bite as it went limp. As she buried her catch with her other two small morsels, she jumped as Antpaw screeched.

The she-cat sniffed as she saw the snake. It wasn't even that big. Regardless, stood in front of the apprentice and hissed at the creature, causing it to hiss back but also back off a bit. "For StarClan's sake, where is your mentor? Isn't she supposed to be watching you?" She hissed, throwing a glare in Antpaw's direction. She let her hackles lie flat. It wasn't Antpaw's fault. Willowfrost sighed. "I'm sorry, but seriously- where is Sunflowerswirl? I'm starting to think she didn't even follow us out here. Have you seen her and she just disappeared or something?"

( @Badwolf )

[Badwolf]

[Antpaw]
Apprentice|6 moons|Thunderclan

· · ─────── ·· ─────── · ·

Antpaw takes a few moments to answer. He had just been preoccupied with getting away from the snake, and he used all the energy in his body to run to Willowfrost, so he didn't have the any spare thought to respond. Right now, the only emotion he feels is relief that Willowfrost was able to handle it, along with regret that he isn't able to chase the snake off by himself. In the future, maybe. Though Antpaw regrets not being stronger and capable, he doesn't regret running away- he isn't stupid enough to play hero with venomous snakes. Yes, Antpaw still firmly believes the snake must be venomous.

Speaking of which, Willowfrost was right. Where was his mentor? As the snake backs off noticeably and Willowfrost sighs, Antpaw shrugs. "She went... somewhere." He meows briefly, still eyeing the snake, hoping it won't come closer, "I don't know, I didn't see her. Maybe she's still out doing something?"

Like lazing around on a tree stump and taking a nap, he thinks sourly, though he doesn't say it out loud. Did they have to look for her? He hoped they didn't have to look for her. She was a warrior, she was probably fine. And he would feel much more comfortable padding back separately to camp. Antpaw sniffs the air, but Sunflowerswirl's scent is nearly gone, too. Must be the wind. It really was as if she had just... disappeared.

Tags: @TanghuluCat

[korok]

Willowfrost snorted at Antpaw's response. "Can't even stick around to train her apprentice? Incredible." The she-cat scowled, but still managed to shoot Antpaw a briefly sympathetic look. "It doesn't look like you caught anything, but you can't be blamed. Next time, I'll take you for some real training if you'd like." She offered, sweeping her tail gently over the apprentice's ears as a show of her genuine word, but quickly went back to being...well, grouchy to say in the least. "Come now, we need to report back to Wolfhive and take this prey with us. You can carry the mouse."

With that, she went and dug up her two water voles and tossed the mouse in Antpaw's direction before trotting off back towards camp.

( @Badwolf )

[Badwolf]

[Antpaw]
Apprentice|7 moons|Thunderclan

· · ─────── ·· ─────── · ·

Antpaw agrees with Willowfrost, though he doesn't show it. He's already starting to like the older cat and her no-nonsense way of doing things, and she seemed pretty cool. Willowfrost was right- it wasn't his fault if he couldn't catch anything. It was because Sunflowerswirl had disappeared, and they needed to report it, and so they were rushing back to camp. And because she wasn't a good mentor. It wasn't because he was a bad apprentice. The thought makes Antpaw feel a lot better.

"Thank you." He meows at the offer of training. Antpaw follows Willowfrost and trots after her back to camp.

@TanghuluCat /Willowfrost

[Badwolf]

[Shadeclaw]
Warrior|14 moons|Thunderclan

· · ─────── ·· ─────── · ·

Shadeclaw doesn't respond. Peachpaw's words were fine with him. He continues into the rocks, searching for any patches of red within the territory.

[Shadeclaw rolls an 18]

Right next to the rocks by the water's edge, Shadeclaw sees the scattered stalks of plants with pods filled with seeds. Any red flowers have wilted and faded away in the intense heat, and because of the season, the plants are normally hard to find amongst the dense overgrowth. Only their strong, tall, green leaves stand out against the flat rocks, the petals smushed into the dirt.

Shadeclaw feels he is lucky- he's barely able to spot some fallen red petals on the ground to guess the nature of the plants they're under. He paws one of the poppy seed pods. It's nearly fully dried, ready to pop and burst.

Shadeclaw points to the pods with his tail and meows clearly to the Peachpaw, "We found the poppies. Let's bring them back."

He leans down and nips the pods off. Ignoring the ones that had already fully dried and popped, Shadeclaw takes only the pods that haven't popped yet. Two are a tad unripe, but Shadeclaw can't tell the difference, and so he carries them anyway, doing his best not to accidentally swallow any seeds. He waits for Peachpaw to do the same, mouth full with 2 unusable, unripe poppy heads and 3 useable poppy heads filled with seeds.

(He doesn't have herbal knowledge, so he failed to get a perfect harvest, lol.)

Tags:
@vellichor /Violetfreckle
@nyme /Peachpaw

[BEAR.]

Originally Posted by kittycatburmise

Mallowpaw
102/100

Wolfhive seemed pleased enough with her attempts, but Mallowpaw's spirits fell at his next words. How are you feeling so far, Mallowpaw? She knew he was trying to help her, to look after her. But she hadn't done anything strenuous; just some battle moves. She hadn't even sparred. Yes, she had once collapsed after stalking, but that was moons ago. She had gotten older, stronger. She was warrior aged now; she shouldn't need to be asked how she was feeling after practising battle moves. But he would always see her as weak. How could he not, when she hadn't done anything to prove otherwise?

Trying to push away the thoughts lest they overwhelm her, Mallowpaw gave Wolfhive a small smile. "Good, thanks." She wouldn't let her feelings show on her face. He was just trying to help her, after all. Even if it felt like the opposite.

"Great, then what I want to do is give you a more real taste of implementing some of these in a fight. We're going to spar; I'll attack first, and I want you to ward me off with the techniques we've gone over." He could do a reminder to keep things clean, but decided against it.

Wolfhive dropped to a crouch and used his backlegs to kick himself forward, lunging toward her.

[BEAR.]

[ continuing the patrol so it's done in a timely manner! @TanghuluCat @Spider. ]

It didn't take long to reach Cattail Pond, and with ideally two cats in tow Wolfhive was comfortable with fanning out. "Risingstorm, Willowfrost, stick together and look around for any disturbances. Scuffed ground, fur, blood... her scent. She left with the patrol, so she has to have go e somewhere between camp n here." They hadn't seen anything on the way here, which to Wolfhive implied she'd gone off track a little. Perhaps she started to hunt... who knew.

"I'm gonna find the snake 'n get rid of it so it doesn't try to hurt anyone else. I'll catch up with you two to look for clues." Then he was off, tracking the fading scent of Antpaw to determine the snake's last location - cat scent was a bit overpowering against the scent of the reptile.

[ For Sunflower, they can find the scent of an outsider (nonspecific) and it'll eventually lead to signs of a struggle. The trail leads toward the Twolegplace. ]