Wolfmist stood outside the leader’s den, tail twitching as he reran the events of his patrol through his head. Leaving the ravine be was the right decision, right? Perhaps a bit cowardly, but he thought it better to cut the losses and avoid potentially having to use up some herbs as a result. Besides, the area didn’t really stick out to him aside from its potential to be used as a place to practice rock climbing. “Hey, Bumblestar? I’m back from the territory patrol.” He decided it would be most polite to wait outside until actually being invited into the den - he wouldn’t want to accidentally interrupt the leader’s conversation with someone else.
You know, Bumblestar really couldn't decide if she liked cats just barging into her den whenever they wanted or cats who waited patiently outside more. The former was rarely surprising, she could hear whoever it was coming from a mile away if she really strained her ears, but it was also sometimes irritating; on the other paw, having a heads up was nice, but she didn't want to coax someone to step inside as if they were going to catch fire the second they pushed past the lichen.
She poked her head out through the current of vegetation to twitch her whiskers at Wolfmist. "Don't just stand out there, you doofus. C'mere, I don't wanna talk to you through a wall of leaves." Leaves. Lichen. Same thing, right? Whatever.
To be really honest Mudhound did not get that Bumblestar's second sentence was a kinda joke for a moment. The warrior just sat there, golden eyes wide and honestly distressed that they COULDVE KILLED THEIR SISTER!!!! OH STARCLAN NO THEY DIDNT MEAN- wait..... This was a joke wasnt it? Like kinda that sarcasm stuff that Mudhound never seemed to catch.
Ok so they wouldnt end up killing their sibling, that was a relief and the warrior let out a kinda weak chuckle "Hehehe yeah, uh whoops I guess?" Before shaking themselves off and moving on.
Bumble-sis did not seem to care about the murder- to be fair neither did they- so Mudhound skipped right over that and was about to get up and leave before their much smaller sibling spoke again.
Share the squirrel? Well the tripods ears definitely perked up with that, excited by squirrel but..... Well they'd brought the prey so Bumble-sis would eat more and it wouldnt really be more if Mudhounds big mouth consumed the food. But the molly was being nice and seemed kinda unsure about things, so this may be the plum branch (or whatever that was called) Houndsong had once spoke about. Did that mean Bumblestar also forgave the large bonehead's rock throwing accident? It'd only happened a day ago but maybe Bumble-sis had picked up that the guilt had been eating Mudhound alive whenever they were in the camp? Regardless, they werent gonna pass up the offer.
Bonding time! With one stipulation, delivered with narrowed eyes "You eat most. You're skinny and healing and stuff." Even if she was probably only skinny in comparison to the chunky large brick of Mudhound. The seriousness was gone fast however and the tripod happily flopped down, flexing out their stumped leg with a grunt and grinning fangily. "Soooooo? Den's nice? Seems kinda cold and lonely, I cant sleep without others nearby." More like 'cant sleep without being partially on top of others'. The warriors immediate denmates probably were fed up by the fact that Mudhound often overflowed their nest in their sleep and ended up kinda on top of them. Those raised with the warrior would tell them this was unavoidable and that it was best to sleep turn the tables and sleep on Mudhound to avoid the crushing weight.
Whatever, were any of these complainy denmates eating squirrel with the coolest Bumble ever? No. That fact alone was enough to make their tail thump on the ground.
"Second murder attempt on me in two days, huh?" Bumblestar attempted to joke, not forgetting about the pebble incident at the last meeting whatsoever. She wasn't upset about it now, especially since she had (fairly easily, given the way they had bolted) figured out that Mudhound was the culprit. Honestly, just water under the log--she wasn't hurt long-term, she didn't care.
At the condition Mudhound threw her way, she could only muster up a grunt in response as she settled back down. "Yeah, fine, whatever. 'M not skinny, you're just a literal giant compared to me," she muttered. Seriously, she was, quiet literally, half the size of her sibling. Mudhound could crush her if they really wanted to.
She was struck with the sudden realization that if her sibling really wanted to attempt murder for real, they could. Huh. A mildly terrifying thought.
Bumblestar ducked her head to take a small bite of the meal, her own tail flipping back and forth behind her, although hers was much more subtle than Mudhound's obvious elation. "Den's fine for me, really," she said with a shrug. "It's shaded, warm. I like having my own space, too. Was, uh... was kinda considering putting a skull out front for some sorta decoration. Might be cool?"
Not that she at all cared what Mudhound would think. Pfft. Crazy talk.
Oh, hooray, Alderstep was back. Bumblestar could practically hear him huffing and puffing outside of her den before he stepped inside. Her whiskers twitched as she sat up, regarding him with mild amusement. "Well, don't you sound just absolutely cheerful," she greeted him. "How'd everything go?"
Hopefully 'bad news' was... well, Alderstep's definition of 'bad', and not 'everyone died because the ground opened up and ate us alive again' bad.
Alderstep narrowed his eyes at Bumblestar. Leave it to his leader, of all cats, to find some mirth in his suffering. How ironic. Oh, there goes his self-control. Alderstep almost waved 'bye' to it, before remembering where he was. "Don't mind me as I bleed out all over your damn den floors I bet you love sooooo much," the russet cat snapped, being overall pretty dramatic. None of his wounds earned at Sunkissed reopened (as if they'd healed that much, to begin with), and the scratches he'd gotten were comparable to those kits doled out. Did it matter when Alderstep's mind had narrowed so much? Nah. The only true issue was that his snow-white paws were bloodied, and even then, that was minor.
But business was business; Alderstep had to do his lil' report. (also, acting like a petty 'paw to his leader wasn't going to solve his problems, he realized, though belatedly. oops.) "Bad news first. Echopaw got essentially mauled by a weasel; dunno if her eye's gonna work again. Tail had some nasty injuries, too," Alderstep informed, tail lashing as he seethed, though not toward Bumblestar. Toward the weasels; toward the unfairness of it all. Since when did children sustain gruesome injuries? Now, apparently. "Otherwise? You got yourself some creepy, dilapidated, abandoned, but stable camp." Maybe he could go back and explore what Pebbleshine had; see for himself the horrors of nature sometime. Alderstep paused, glancing away from Bumblestar for a fraction of a second, wondering if that was all he had to say and if it was acceptable if he just backed out of the den right then and there. Probably not, so he looked back at the scarred face of the one and only Bumblestar. "That was the good news, by the way."Stars, stop talking."In case you couldn't tell."Seriously, stop."For some reason." Great cats, finally. Time to bury himself in moss and forget the world until he managed to wade through his shame back into reality. Alderstep was going to scream if Bumblestar had any follow-up questions. His measly recounting of events would suffice, and he was not taking any complaints.
__________________
time is nothing when you've nothing to do, don't you know
Yeah, this all sounded great to him! Wolfpaw beamed up at his Bumba, unbothered by being slid off. He was just so excited!!! "Let's go!! Lesssgo!!" He bounced around her paws before he started to bounce for the exit. Boing boing boing!
"Second murder attempt on me in two days, huh?" Bumblestar attempted to joke, not forgetting about the pebble incident at the last meeting whatsoever. She wasn't upset about it now, especially since she had (fairly easily, given the way they had bolted) figured out that Mudhound was the culprit. Honestly, just water under the log--she wasn't hurt long-term, she didn't care.
At the condition Mudhound threw her way, she could only muster up a grunt in response as she settled back down. "Yeah, fine, whatever. 'M not skinny, you're just a literal giant compared to me," she muttered. Seriously, she was, quiet literally, half the size of her sibling. Mudhound could crush her if they really wanted to.
She was struck with the sudden realization that if her sibling really wanted to attempt murder for real, they could. Huh. A mildly terrifying thought.
Bumblestar ducked her head to take a small bite of the meal, her own tail flipping back and forth behind her, although hers was much more subtle than Mudhound's obvious elation. "Den's fine for me, really," she said with a shrug. "It's shaded, warm. I like having my own space, too. Was, uh... was kinda considering putting a skull out front for some sorta decoration. Might be cool?"
Not that she at all cared what Mudhound would think. Pfft. Crazy talk.
Congratulation Bumblestar. You were joking about Mudhound murdering you and now you get kicked puppy eyes. They're big and watery and so so sorry, couldnt you see your sibling was regretted it and didnt mean it and is being eaten alive by the guilt. You did this you monster, look their head is sagging now and theyre tucking their nose into their paws.
" 'm sorry Bumble-sis." The warrior whined, unable to look their 'little' sister in the eye "I didnt mean to throw it, it was tossed back to me bad and I biffed it. Well I meant to throw it, but it was just supposed to be a little toss to someone else. Shouldve listened to you, everyone was just having fun with it and I thought fun was good after the battle." The people started throwing it at eachother like they were trying to knock them out and Mudhound did not get why. Rocks to the head werent fun! A little toss game was fun! Did no one here know what a good game was or something?!?!? Maybe and this earned a low mutter "Shouldve just played with Lotus-buddy alone, she at least is fun and know how to play a proper game and not turn it mean." Lotey was a good apprentice.
At least the guilt faded a bit with the fact that the resident leader didnt seem that mad or upset and so the large warrior got right back into teasing. "Bumble-sis youre half my size! Youre half moms size! And grandma and every other sibling but Grizzly I think. An' I think Grizzly was the runt? It doesnt matter but its still confusing. I dunno how that even happens, you could use me as a nest if you wanted to." Wait.... Bumblestar could use them as a nest, that could be kinda cool! All the warrior would need to do was flop and their sister had a padded, warmed, vibrating (because Mudhound would not stop purring if that occured) nest on the go! They had to check this and the warrior briefly got up and walked over to the leaders nest and laid down beside it, giggling wildly as they matched it in size. That was so funny to the tripod for some reason, Muddy-nest and they flipped their head, still giggling, to grin at their kin at the realization. Kind of a 'see? I was right!' non verbally.
They moved back over to the squirrel after though, not walking this time but wiggling over lazily. Cocking their head at the statements about the den the nest was in, Mudhound took a bite of the squirrel as they looked around with considering eyes. "Weeeeeeell I'd put out flowers personally, make it all colorful an' stuff. Oh, or cool pebbles around the sides! But that might not be.... Intimidating(?) enough for a leader? I dunno. A skull sounds cool yeah, but you gotta think hard on what type of skull I think." The warrior took a moment to put their thoughts together but once they did it was obvious they were putting a lotta thought into it.
"Squirrel skulls are super cool, their teeth are orange and long but if any other leader saw or heard about it they'd tease you." So not smart. "Bird skulls might be cool but you'd need a lot to make it work. Scattered around the roof maybe in a stolen birds nest or two...." Lots of effort there but low risk. The size issue was there the same as any other prey animal. "Predators are risky but more cool. Lynx skulls are a bad idea, theyre smart, vengeful and can actually be nice so its just wrong plus they look too much like cats so you could seriously scare clanmates with one in your den." There was always- wait... Hmm now thats an idea "What about coyotes? If you can find and kill one. We histal- hostori- histarically?" the word they were looking for was historically. "In the past we had coyote troubles so its a sign of what we've survived and look cool. OOOOH! And if were at war with a clan you can put a skull of an animal that represents them besides the other skull, as a reminder!" Both that we're at war and that we'll overcome them too.
"A fish skull for riverclan, or a rabbit for windclan! Were not at fights with them though so for shadowclan.... hmm options. Grandma told me all about how life was for her and Mom in shadowclan so I have some ideas from prey she said are found in the territory. Frogs could work, theyre slimy gross and no one but shadowclan eats them. Snakes too, sneaky venomous and like back stabbing? They strike when not expected. Bats are an option, theyre night flyers and stuff. But if you wanna go large foxes are just like shadowclan, big, mean, sneaky, cheaty and more." The warrior shrugged after their big ramble, unsure what would be best themselves and more then happy to let Bumblestar decide before they frowned.
"Hey if you go on a predator hunt I better get to go to. Getting hurt just because you want a skull decoration is dumb so you better bring back up...." Bumble-sis was kinda fight happy Mudhound had noticed, it wasnt a bad thing just a risky thing.
• Springpaw •
long-furred, oriental-shaped, gray-and-orange calico molly with blue eyes; torn right ear
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Springpaw had to mentally fight off the crippling disappointment that crept itself over her shoulders as she heard the leader’s response to her offer. Well, at least she tried, that was something. However, it didn’t seem to be that Bumblestar was ticked off by the fact that she was given something that wasn’t entirely necessary for her—and that was a good thing—so that was something that Springpaw could take into consideration. Even if Bumblestar wasn’t hungry, she could still save it for later if she wanted. Nonetheless, Springpaw didn’t really mind much for whatever Bumblestar was going to do with the piece of prey. It was just food that was waiting to be eaten. So, with a quick, side-ways smile, the calico merely just responded with, “Oh, well, it’s the least I could do. It’s just only some prey, after all.” Jeez, did she sound too corny saying that? Hopefilly not. If so, she desperately hoped that Bumblestar wouldn’t make some sort of comment about it. That would make her feel weird and just mildly embarrassed out of her mind.
The calico went quiet after that, silently watching as Bumblestar dragged the shrew over towards herself and shifting herself into a loaf position. Well, it seemed that Springpaw was practically given the ‘okay’ to sit within the den, as Bumblestar seemed perfectly comfortable with the medicine cat apprentice in her den. With a silent huff, the calico shifted herself into her own position, laying herself down on the cool, dirt surface below as she made herself comfortable. She made sure not to make herself too comfortable though, in case the leader desired to be in her own space, which was something that Springpaw herself could respect. Springpaw liked her own space as well… whenever she got the chance, that is. The calico was almost half-tempted to make a comment about how the leader probably liked living in her own space judging from how homey the den felt, only for herself to be suddenly found having to answer the sudden questions that Bumblestar fed off to her. Blinking incessantly, the calico began to search the depths of her mind for the proper words to answer each of those questions, almost merely coming up with questions for herself to answer.
Was Springpaw doing okay? Was she holding up well after the grave incidents at the battle and from other recent events? Her throat felt clogged from the amount of words that gradually began climbing themselves up her throat pipe, almost making it difficult for the calico herself to properly process the answers that Bumblestar desired. Gentledoe’s condition was something that was gruesome, and the calico herself wasn’t even completely sure if she would properly grow adjusted to living her life with one single eye. Then there was the gathering and the sudden upcoming war coming up between ShadowClan and ThunderClan… and stars that was something that Springpaw was trying to mentally prepare herself for. It was something that she didn’t even properly expect to come across as an apprentice. Yes, sure, there were going to be battles, but not full-on wars. Springpaw mentally shivered at the thought as she tried to think about some of the… other things that happened here lately. Oh, yes, right, there was Sorreldust rushing into the den with half of her face bleeding out from her getting gravely attacked by a dog. Great StatClan there was a lot to think about with answering the leader’s questions.
Blinking once more, Springpaw focused merely up towards the leader again as she swallowed down the rather painful lump in her throat, her brain fighting itself as she struggled to give out the right words to respond to her questions. “I’ve… I’ve been holding up fine,” she states, silently drawing a forepaw across her front leg, “it’s been difficult to witness all of the grave wounds that I’ve been seeing on cats here lately. Specifically Gentledoe’s, at least. Her eye… doesn’t look like it’s going to heal fully. Or… rather ever.” she spoke slowly, pouring as much effort into her words as she could as she explained the situation. “Drizzlecloud and I are hoping that she’ll have a fine recovery afterwards, but we don’t think that she’ll be able to properly recover from the traumatic events of her injury from the battle. We hope that she’ll be able to speak with us during her recovery though, as it could possibly help her out during this hard time.” she concluded, eying Bumblestar carefully as she studied how the leader was going to think of this news. Did she know Gentledoe personally? Possibly, it could probably relate to why she asked her how she was holding up from the aftermath of the battle… and maybe from all of the sudden upcoming events of the war between ShadowClan and ThunderClan, but that’ll be something that she’ll think about later, perhaps.
The next question felt like something that was easier to answer, and Springpaw felt like she could answer this one more quickly than she did with the other two. With an uplifting expression, a smile drew itself across Springpaw’s lips as she gradually nodded in agreement. “I’ve been receiving a lot of training here lately, actually. I’ve met with a StarClan medicine cat in my dreams named Coldamber and she taught me a lot of different herbs and their benefits. Including, she taught me different techniques for how to keep herbs alive during the leaf-bare and even how to collect honey safely without getting stung by bees. She also met with Drizzlecloud as well, but she taught her more complex methods for being a medicine cat than what she taught me: like how to help a queen give birth. Nonetheless, I hope that I see her again. She’s been extremely helpful throughout the time that I’ve been a medicine cat apprentice, and going the same for Drizzlecloud… except she’s a full medicine cat, not an apprentice like me.” she explained, lightly tapping her paws against the dirt floor as she smiled. She could go on for hours and hours about what Coldamber taught her and from what she’s seen. The young molly seemed thrilled with what she had been doing for the last few months, and she surely was and that wasn’t going to change anytime here soon.
Now, it was her turn to ask Bumblestar any questions. That is, if the leader would be okay with her asking any sort of question. Springpaw silently eyed the leader as she glanced over towards the spot where she could notice the small bits of cobwebs and poultice from where Drizzlecloud patched the leader up. She did a pretty good job, from what the calico suspected. “How about you? How are you holding up, Bumblestar? Are your wounds healing okay? I was thinking about possibly bringing any marigold or cobwebs along with me in case your wounds were going to start bleeding again, but I didn’t think that it would be necessary.” she explained, once more carefully eying the leader to see how she was going to respond to the news that the nine moon molly had explained. To be quite honest, it felt nice speaking to the leader like this. It felt like she could get to know her better by speaking with her and knowing anything new about her instead of just knowing that she was just the leader of ThunderClan.
As Springpaw settled down, Bumblestar shifted a little to the side to give the younger she-cat more room if she needed it. The den wasn't exactly small, but it definitely wasn't the biggest thing in the world, either. The last thing she wanted was to crowd Springpaw. Ever so subtly, though, she nudged the shrew an inch closer to the medicine cat apprentice, hoping she'd take the hint and take a bite for herself. Again, not that Bumblestar didn't appreciate the offer - it just wasn't what she was looking for in the moment.
Her torn ear shifted at an angle as Springpaw answered her questions. It wasn't difficult to catch the discomfort, and she felt a pang of regret, and maybe guilt along with it. She didn't want Springpaw stressed, or scared, or whatever it was. Anything negative at all wasn't something she wanted to see from her. Made her feel bad.
Hearing about Gentledoe made her swallow, but at least it was somewhat good news. "Well, that's something, at least," she responded quietly. "Uh, keep me updated on her, please? I wanna know how she's doing."
At least her next question seemed to warrant a far more positive answer. Bumblestar's tail tapped against the ground as she tilted her head. "Oh, good. That's really great to hear, actually. If you 'n Drizzlecloud ever need any help around the den, feel free to drag me along. Happy to assist wherever my paws are needed, yeah?"
Her turn to have questions thrown her way. At the mention of her wounds, she shrugged half-heartedly, electing to brush past the typical "how are you doing?" query. "Injuries are almost good as new, thanks to Drizzlecloud," she responded, rolling her shoulders. "Pretty sure there'll be some scarring, but it's fine otherwise. Don't waste your herbs on me, 'm sure there's others that need 'em more than I do."
After a heartbeat of silence, Bumblestar abandoned subtlety to push the shrew towards Springpaw. "You eat this. 'M worried about you, you seem like you could use the pick-me-up. So. Yeah."
Great job, Bumblestar. Way to be awkward about it.
Alderstep narrowed his eyes at Bumblestar. Leave it to his leader, of all cats, to find some mirth in his suffering. How ironic. Oh, there goes his self-control. Alderstep almost waved 'bye' to it, before remembering where he was. "Don't mind me as I bleed out all over your damn den floors I bet you love sooooo much," the russet cat snapped, being overall pretty dramatic. None of his wounds earned at Sunkissed reopened (as if they'd healed that much, to begin with), and the scratches he'd gotten were comparable to those kits doled out. Did it matter when Alderstep's mind had narrowed so much? Nah. The only true issue was that his snow-white paws were bloodied, and even then, that was minor.
But business was business; Alderstep had to do his lil' report. (also, acting like a petty 'paw to his leader wasn't going to solve his problems, he realized, though belatedly. oops.) "Bad news first. Echopaw got essentially mauled by a weasel; dunno if her eye's gonna work again. Tail had some nasty injuries, too," Alderstep informed, tail lashing as he seethed, though not toward Bumblestar. Toward the weasels; toward the unfairness of it all. Since when did children sustain gruesome injuries? Now, apparently. "Otherwise? You got yourself some creepy, dilapidated, abandoned, but stable camp." Maybe he could go back and explore what Pebbleshine had; see for himself the horrors of nature sometime. Alderstep paused, glancing away from Bumblestar for a fraction of a second, wondering if that was all he had to say and if it was acceptable if he just backed out of the den right then and there. Probably not, so he looked back at the scarred face of the one and only Bumblestar. "That was the good news, by the way."Stars, stop talking."In case you couldn't tell."Seriously, stop."For some reason." Great cats, finally. Time to bury himself in moss and forget the world until he managed to wade through his shame back into reality. Alderstep was going to scream if Bumblestar had any follow-up questions. His measly recounting of events would suffice, and he was not taking any complaints.
It was genuinely unfair how often Bumblestar had to resist reaching out and bapping her deputy on the head or nose. He was just asking for it, look at that face! She scrunched her muzzle out him. Grumpy. Although she understood why. With a tired sigh, she dug her claws into the bark of the den floor. "'Least Echopaw's alive. That's what matters." Weasels, ugh. No longer an issue, though, which was definitely a good thing in her book.
"As long as it's safe to be around, that's fine. We can clean it up, turn it into something better. I'm sure it'll make a decent hunting spot, if nothing else." The old dens - what was left of them, anyway - would need to be torn down to ensure no predators tried making a home out of it, but that was all she could think of that needed to be done.
"If it's cleared out, you're free to start sending patrols that way," she said. "Apprentices are fine to go too, so long as they're careful. If that's all, go get Drizzlecloud and Springpaw to look at you. Would hate for you to bleed out in my den, that'd be a mess to clean up." She was messing with him. Mostly. She really didn't want to have to clean blood out of her den.
Congratulation Bumblestar. You were joking about Mudhound murdering you and now you get kicked puppy eyes. They're big and watery and so so sorry, couldnt you see your sibling was regretted it and didnt mean it and is being eaten alive by the guilt. You did this you monster, look their head is sagging now and theyre tucking their nose into their paws.
" 'm sorry Bumble-sis." The warrior whined, unable to look their 'little' sister in the eye "I didnt mean to throw it, it was tossed back to me bad and I biffed it. Well I meant to throw it, but it was just supposed to be a little toss to someone else. Shouldve listened to you, everyone was just having fun with it and I thought fun was good after the battle." The people started throwing it at eachother like they were trying to knock them out and Mudhound did not get why. Rocks to the head werent fun! A little toss game was fun! Did no one here know what a good game was or something?!?!? Maybe and this earned a low mutter "Shouldve just played with Lotus-buddy alone, she at least is fun and know how to play a proper game and not turn it mean." Lotey was a good apprentice.
At least the guilt faded a bit with the fact that the resident leader didnt seem that mad or upset and so the large warrior got right back into teasing. "Bumble-sis youre half my size! Youre half moms size! And grandma and every other sibling but Grizzly I think. An' I think Grizzly was the runt? It doesnt matter but its still confusing. I dunno how that even happens, you could use me as a nest if you wanted to." Wait.... Bumblestar could use them as a nest, that could be kinda cool! All the warrior would need to do was flop and their sister had a padded, warmed, vibrating (because Mudhound would not stop purring if that occured) nest on the go! They had to check this and the warrior briefly got up and walked over to the leaders nest and laid down beside it, giggling wildly as they matched it in size. That was so funny to the tripod for some reason, Muddy-nest and they flipped their head, still giggling, to grin at their kin at the realization. Kind of a 'see? I was right!' non verbally.
They moved back over to the squirrel after though, not walking this time but wiggling over lazily. Cocking their head at the statements about the den the nest was in, Mudhound took a bite of the squirrel as they looked around with considering eyes. "Weeeeeeell I'd put out flowers personally, make it all colorful an' stuff. Oh, or cool pebbles around the sides! But that might not be.... Intimidating(?) enough for a leader? I dunno. A skull sounds cool yeah, but you gotta think hard on what type of skull I think." The warrior took a moment to put their thoughts together but once they did it was obvious they were putting a lotta thought into it.
"Squirrel skulls are super cool, their teeth are orange and long but if any other leader saw or heard about it they'd tease you." So not smart. "Bird skulls might be cool but you'd need a lot to make it work. Scattered around the roof maybe in a stolen birds nest or two...." Lots of effort there but low risk. The size issue was there the same as any other prey animal. "Predators are risky but more cool. Lynx skulls are a bad idea, theyre smart, vengeful and can actually be nice so its just wrong plus they look too much like cats so you could seriously scare clanmates with one in your den." There was always- wait... Hmm now thats an idea "What about coyotes? If you can find and kill one. We histal- hostori- histarically?" the word they were looking for was historically. "In the past we had coyote troubles so its a sign of what we've survived and look cool. OOOOH! And if were at war with a clan you can put a skull of an animal that represents them besides the other skull, as a reminder!" Both that we're at war and that we'll overcome them too.
"A fish skull for riverclan, or a rabbit for windclan! Were not at fights with them though so for shadowclan.... hmm options. Grandma told me all about how life was for her and Mom in shadowclan so I have some ideas from prey she said are found in the territory. Frogs could work, theyre slimy gross and no one but shadowclan eats them. Snakes too, sneaky venomous and like back stabbing? They strike when not expected. Bats are an option, theyre night flyers and stuff. But if you wanna go large foxes are just like shadowclan, big, mean, sneaky, cheaty and more." The warrior shrugged after their big ramble, unsure what would be best themselves and more then happy to let Bumblestar decide before they frowned.
"Hey if you go on a predator hunt I better get to go to. Getting hurt just because you want a skull decoration is dumb so you better bring back up...." Bumble-sis was kinda fight happy Mudhound had noticed, it wasnt a bad thing just a risky thing.
"Stars, Mud, relax, I'm messin' with you." Bumblestar leaned over to nudge Mudhound in the shoulder with a forepaw. "Don't beat yourself up over it, yeah? I know it was an accident, you can chill. Not gonna bite you over it." She'd been tempted before. Now she wasn't, not really. That'd be mean, and she was really trying hard not to be mean to her sibling.
And then they went on to poke at her size, and she had the urge to bite them again. Playfully this time, of course, no bad intentions whatsoever, but the urge was still there. Maybe just a nibble. "No freakin' clue how I apparently ended up with the short end of the stick for height," she snorted. "Apparently the rest of you are massive 'n somehow I got the shrimp status? So not fair." Again, she reached out to nudge Mudhound. "You better share if you figure out how. 'N maybe I'll take you up on that nest offer sometime." Maybe during leaf-bare, or maybe when she just needed the comfort, which was bound to happen one of these days.
Oh, cool, Mudhound wasn't opposed to talking skulls!! Bumblestar perked up visibly as her sibling started listing off suggestions, and she tossed them a grin. "If I go predator hunting, I promise you'll be the first to know. Coyotes or foxes would be badass. Bird skulls would be cool, but I definitely want something big 'n flashy, y'know?"
A sudden question sprang to her mind, and she tilted her head at Mudhound. "Hey, uh. When we first talked, when you first joined, I think you mentioned something about our... mom? Grandmother, maybe? I don't quite remember, but you said someone was from ShadowClan. Is that- how true is that? 'N who?"
Not that it mattered. She was just curious, that was all.
It was genuinely unfair how often Bumblestar had to resist reaching out and bapping her deputy on the head or nose. He was just asking for it, look at that face! She scrunched her muzzle out him. Grumpy. Although she understood why. With a tired sigh, she dug her claws into the bark of the den floor. "'Least Echopaw's alive. That's what matters." Weasels, ugh. No longer an issue, though, which was definitely a good thing in her book.
"As long as it's safe to be around, that's fine. We can clean it up, turn it into something better. I'm sure it'll make a decent hunting spot, if nothing else." The old dens - what was left of them, anyway - would need to be torn down to ensure no predators tried making a home out of it, but that was all she could think of that needed to be done.
"If it's cleared out, you're free to start sending patrols that way," she said. "Apprentices are fine to go too, so long as they're careful. If that's all, go get Drizzlecloud and Springpaw to look at you. Would hate for you to bleed out in my den, that'd be a mess to clean up." She was messing with him. Mostly. She really didn't want to have to clean blood out of her den.
"Pshhh," Alderstep chuffed. "Yeah, 'cause your greatest concern is the blood in your den," he grumbled. Still, important things to consider. "Right, I'll take some there when I send out patrols." As for seeing the herb duo...nah. His scratches were nothing a good night's worth of sleep couldn't fix. Without even a farewell, Alderstep turned and left the den, barely containing his hiss of displeasure as he passed under the lichen, try as he might to avoid it.
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time is nothing when you've nothing to do, don't you know
"Stars, Mud, relax, I'm messin' with you." Bumblestar leaned over to nudge Mudhound in the shoulder with a forepaw. "Don't beat yourself up over it, yeah? I know it was an accident, you can chill. Not gonna bite you over it." She'd been tempted before. Now she wasn't, not really. That'd be mean, and she was really trying hard not to be mean to her sibling.
And then they went on to poke at her size, and she had the urge to bite them again. Playfully this time, of course, no bad intentions whatsoever, but the urge was still there. Maybe just a nibble. "No freakin' clue how I apparently ended up with the short end of the stick for height," she snorted. "Apparently the rest of you are massive 'n somehow I got the shrimp status? So not fair." Again, she reached out to nudge Mudhound. "You better share if you figure out how. 'N maybe I'll take you up on that nest offer sometime." Maybe during leaf-bare, or maybe when she just needed the comfort, which was bound to happen one of these days.
Oh, cool, Mudhound wasn't opposed to talking skulls!! Bumblestar perked up visibly as her sibling started listing off suggestions, and she tossed them a grin. "If I go predator hunting, I promise you'll be the first to know. Coyotes or foxes would be badass. Bird skulls would be cool, but I definitely want something big 'n flashy, y'know?"
A sudden question sprang to her mind, and she tilted her head at Mudhound. "Hey, uh. When we first talked, when you first joined, I think you mentioned something about our... mom? Grandmother, maybe? I don't quite remember, but you said someone was from ShadowClan. Is that- how true is that? 'N who?"
Not that it mattered. She was just curious, that was all.
Well it was nice Bumblestar could have a little mercy for the poor kicked puppy at least so Mudhound happily forgot and moved on. Dwelling wasnt their thing anyway.
The continued jabs got some poking right back, though it was intentional on Mudhounds end, the fluff for brains did not have the.... Zest? To be really pointedly sassy. Thats why the ditz's response was only sassy on accident "Thats why I want you to eat the squirrel! I think its an eating thing! Grandma always said I never stopped eating as a kit and grew like a weed so I think you didnt eat as much and stayed little! The trick is you gotta eat until your belly is super full even if youre not hungry! If you do Im sure you'll grow bigger and not be just under Dawnstars belly!" Not how it works Mudhound also an unintentional oof? Like it wasnt meant to be harmful but that was like cuttingly sassy especially when you know it was honest and meant to be advice?
It'd also explain why Mudhound, despite joining moons ago and upkeeping a rigorous warrior lifestyle kept a fair amount of pudge on their cheeks and belly. Like they werent fat or out of shape, just carrying some chub from an outsider life that obviously fed well.
"Also, whatsa shrimp? Is that what the call your" The warrior nodded to their entire body "deal thing?" Mudhound meant transgender, not knowing the word but that too could be taken as unintentionally sassy and not just brainlessly honest. Foot meet mouth but it was probably a very good thing the subject was changed.
The big and flashy comment got a giggle but the question on family got the tripod to full on perk up, eyes suddenly brighter. "You dont know Bumble-sis? Our entire family was from shadowclan, our siblings are the only ones to be born out of there in like three generations? Mom, Grandma, Grandpa, and our great grands were all born in shadowclan but like most ended up leaving later in life. Mom left as Dogpaw and became Dogspirit in thunderclan, Grandma Houndspirit or Houndsong left before even then but joined thunderclan with mom. Grandpa Bumblebelly (youre named after him) left and joined riverclan but Grandma said she didnt mind that. The great grands were bad so they dont matter."
Hornetstings 'deal had been explained to the tripod but honestly they didnt think he really mattered, he was dead and a jerk, let him be forgotten.
"I can explain more if you wanna know, its kinda interesting."
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Crowtooth is Deputy of Windclan, If he's needed mention me at any time~
Have a kittypet/outsider who needs healing? Vm me!
Re: ThunderClan Leader's Den
