Deadmoon and Splashleap do....things (va)

[gs29513]

(Takes place whilst Deadmoon and Splashleap were both missing, around a year ago.)



The river was dead. Dead or dying, Splashleap didn't know, but nothing lived with in. It's banks were bare, and not a fish or frog dared touch it's depths. Splashleap, alas, was a fool. She had swum in the river hopefully, and emerged dripping in various substances that tasted bitter on her tongue as she cleaned herself. And this, this was most unfortunate. Not because she took ill after her swim, her skin and fur were too impermeable for that, not like those of wetland creatures, but she was far too dependent on those nonexistent fish and frogs for her own food. A Riverclan cat, she'd never needed to hunt land prey. And now, she was trapped in a horrid twolegplace woodspatch, with a dead river and unable to catch squirrels. She tried her best of course, chasing the mice and rats and squirrels and whatnot as best she could. But more often than not she was unsuccessful, and had less and less energy.

And then salvation arrived, in the form of a grumpy former Windclanner. Oddly enough she was quite successful in her pursuit of the rodents, despite being, well, a Windclanner. Splashleap had been under the impression that they focussed on rabbits, but she wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth. She was sort of reliant on the molly for her food, so she wasn't going to risk pissing the ever-irritable molly off. Until, finally, she felt like she had no choice but to ask. Can you teach me how to hunt land prey? she inquired, one morning, before Deadmoon could set out to hunt.

Somewhat predictably, the response she was received was less than courteous. What. Deadmoon grunted, tail lashing as she turned to face Splashleap. Oops. May have screwed up a bit there. But Splashleap was nothing if not a bit foolishly headstrong, so she pushed on. I mean, there's no point in you doing all the hunting. Show me, and I'll help. You know? Deadmoon considered this for a moment. Did she really want to deal with this ratty little Riverclanner for longer than necessary? Perhaps, if it meant she didn't have to do as much hunting. Then she could send the chipper little fish out instead of herself, at least if the weather was bad.

Fine. Try a hunting crouch. Deadmoon ordered, unable to restrain her laugh when it was predictably horrid. Get your paws in, your tail down, and stop arching your spine she explained, prodding the offending limbs and then maybe you'll have a chance of being able to move. Fortunately Splashleap was a quick enough learner, getting the hang of crouching around by midday. Confident that her pupil wouldn't scare every bit of prey away for the next moon, Deadmoon allowed her to sally forth and try it out on something alive. The first few attempts were predictable failures, but the Riverclan molly eventually brought down a mouse which they shared. Deadmoon could probably have done better on her own, but this did mean she only had to spend half of the next day hunting as Splashleap could find her own food.

The ice between them was cracked by this exchange, and they became a bit more companionable. Despite being irritating in every sense of the word, Splashleap's repeated failures at various, simple tasks were entertaining. For her part, Splashleap got some satisfaction from seeing the grouch that was Deadmoon lighten up a bit, and laugh. So they got along well enough, as the greenleaf became leaffall, and prey began to tunnel underground and hide away. It was still possible to find some of course, it couldn't all hide and some rodents were out foraging themselves, but it didn't promise good things when leafbare would rear its ugly head.