Do ducks like mud? [P]

[Minku]

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Quackpaw
THc apprentice. She/Her. 7 Moons
Sticky Pads, Lucky Duck

[ @Rani ]
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Post 5

Right, so Quackpaw may or may not have been poking her gaze around the warrior's den for a rather comical few minutes for a certain big, brown furred hornet. Not the prophecy one (You'd expect she'd be looking for her mentor for training but apparently not), the muddy one. Who isn't actually that muddy, but if they were it's not like Quackpaw would tell, you see. She'd been stalking the den for a moment she could jump into but all that she's seeing are Muddy-friends looking all sad over Wolfhive's death. So maybe now she could find a way to insert herself when Muddy isn't so quiet anymore. Unsurprisingly, Quackpaw was closer to the brown cat that wasn't her mentor. Being stuck in the same place for three moons helps.

"Muddyyyyyy, Muddy! Muddy! Muddy!" She called out, bouncing up and leaping to the older cat after she stared at them for long enough to see what they're thinking about. No, she doesn't know what they're thinking about and if Muddy managed to cast a quick glance at the den's exit even once they would've been able to catch Quackpaw staring rather intensely for like..what, he past two minutes? Quackpaw herself didn't even realize she had that much composer to stay in one place for that long without getting bored. Quackpaw didn't actually know why she was here or what she wanted to talk about other than- "I wanna know how to do that big scary expression you did!". But she was here now. It's been a bit since she last saw them talk; like actually talk. Got a problem with it? "And how did you know who the first ever medie-cat was?? Was it the elders?" Sheeee wasn't gonna tell them she alreayd forgot everything they talked about other than the one with rat bites since Muddy got bitten by one. Quackpaw's voice was regaining that volume she had back as a kit...wait a minute she was a kit when she was sick. Back as a healthy cat..like...before the plague. Yea she was salty about having to spend three moons in confinement. But seriously how did muddy know who that...that old blossom healer was. She doubted they were that old. And if Quackpaw made a new rank how would she go about that??????

[Rocket Quackpaw has been launched - destination: planet Muddy /silly]

[Rani]

Mudhound
Thunderclan Hornet | They/them | 40 Moons
Bilingual T3 | Flock Together T3 | Rapid Recovery | Killer Aptitude T3

Better was.... Well still rough but at least Mudhound was speaking after their friends had kind of triggered a much needed breakdown. They were healthy again, they were as stable as they were gonna be, they were able to do things. Now they just kinda needed the motive, which was another thing. Usually the tripod would initiate training sessions they loved to do at this point but with no apprentices and a lost feeling they hadnt.


Luckily Quackkit was a bold little thing and started things themself.


Jolting at first at the noise and staring at the kit wide eyed the tripod found themself cracking a small but weak smile, amused at least by the situation. "If Im Muddy youre Quacky. Heya Quacky. Whats sup?" What was up was curiosity and the hornet winced a bit, remembering that they'd indeed snarled at their clanmates in the heat of the moment, worried the clan would swarm and overwhelm their weak grieving sister. It wasnt something they usually did, or really wanted to but even now emotional regulation was... hard.


"Uh yeah that. That was a snarl, kinda like a battle expression and it says youre willing to be mean and fight so whoever youre snarling at shouldnt mess with you. Sorry if it scared you. Bumblestar is my sister and shes not doing well so Im feeling protective, but I shouldntve done it at clanmates."
It was just bad manners.
"I can teach you if you want? Usually cats learn it when they learn battle moves, have you not done that yet? You are old enough though I guess Brackenclaw might be busy. I can teach you sure."
The hornets were kinda pulling double duty to make up for Bumblestars grief right now and given their numbers were down already and Mudhound was kinda out for the count for a bit (half now still) it was taxing to say the least.



"As for the story... I dunno really where I heard it. Couldve been the elders or my Mom or Granny. Sorry I forgot but the elders do have good other stories to tell. You could bother Mudtrot." That grumpy old guy needed more socializing. Mudhound was aware it was a story and not true and really the tripod had been told it so long ago they'd forgotten all the little details and had to remake them, buuuuuut Mudhound also didnt know Quackkit thought it was real either sooooooooo.


@Minku

[Minku]

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Quackpaw
THc apprentice. She/Her. 7 Moons
Sticky Pads, Lucky Duck

[ @Rani ]
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Post 7

Quacky, sure, Quacky, she was Quacky. "Quacky reporting for duty!" Quackpaw wasn't sure why she kept having a 'y' after a prefix for nicknames. Was it simpler to say or did it sound funnier? Homestly, might as well be both. but she liked it and she won't accept a 'no' for an answer. She wasn't sure why she was named Quackkit when she was born anyway but her parents must've had ducks in mind when she was born! But that name was fun. But what was she gonna be when she's older? What sounds cool with 'Quack'? Quackswoop? Quackspark? That was a question for her older self if she got a chance to choose her own suffix; but the names Bumbly gave to the new warriors last meeting was preeeetty interesting. She wanted something good for a name, something very cool.

Snarl? So that's it! Eh..eeeh? Muddy is Bumbly's sibling? "You are?? What's it like? What was your parents like? What are somethings you two went through as kits? Anything fun?" how did Quackpaw never realize this? No wonder that's how muddy looked so scary when Bumbly nearly fell off the stormcrest. If felt like a lightbulb's finally turned on. This whole time she was talking to the star's sibling? That..must be so cool to be family with the leader. "and I wanna learn how to be super scary too" the apprentice looked with starry eyes and an expectant look on her face when Muddy offered to teach her how to fight. "Course, I doo! So far Brackenclaw's only shown me the territory n' stuff. Not a lot yet; knowing the territory's as basic as it gets" Quackpaw was so ready to learn how to kick ass.

Well, she knew the elders always have something to say, be it bad or good. Quackpaw wasn't really one to hang out with grumpy elders though; she wished more of them were that fun and silly grandpa type. Mudtrot? Yeaa Quackpaw didn't know the guy well; The apprentice could swear some elders need a little push in the right sometimes and find a spark again. Mudtrot, Mudtrot, Mudtrot. Muuudtrot Hm..if the cat in front of them is Muddy then that guy in the elder's den is ancient Muddy. Maybe Quackpaw should ask him if the clan went through any interesting battles in the past that she should know about. "I'll consider the Ancient Muddy" she declared; unless she forgot

[Rani]

Mudhound
Thunderclan Hornet | They/them | 40 Moons
Bilingual T3 | Flock Together T3 | Rapid Recovery | Killer Aptitude T3

It was funny. Or, well not funny but nice, that Quackpaws mere presence really helped Mudhound forget about how life was right now. She was just so vibrant and enthusiastic that your attention was no allowed to split or drift, forcing Mudhound to live in the moment.


"I am I am hehe. I suppose its like having siblings? Its pretty normal sibling stuff, we squabble and talk and cuddle but it just means she can boss me around as leader even if shes smaller them me." Which was usually not how it worked. Even as kittens the hierarchy was dictated by who was the best wrestler, which was generally the biggest sibling.


"Uuuuh well my Mom was Dogspirit. She was once a shadowclan apprentice but left with my grandma Houndsong when she was an apprentice to live in thunderclan because its better here. I dunno who our dad is but Bumble-sis must look like him because everyone says I look just like my mom except her tail was short and she had all her legs of course. We had a lotta siblings, Houndspirit, Rainypaw, Ice, Grizzly and me! Its just me and Bumble-sis now though."
Ice and Grizzly just had never returned to thunderclan after Houndsong took them away and Houndspirit was dead, Rainypaw Mudhound knew from Bumblestar had just vanished one day. That was sad.

"As for stuff we went through... Well I didnt really grow up with Bumble-sis a ton. My Mom died young and grandma took Ice, Grizzly, and me away from thunderclan but for some reason missed the others. I came back after learning Bumble-sis was alive and we're close now though!


.... Do you have any siblings?"
Awkwardly Mudhound didnt really know anything about Quackpaw despite spending so much time around her during quarantine.


They could walk and talk as the hornet stood, indicating for Quackpaw to follow as they left camp for a better sparring spot that didnt risk clocking a clanmate with an errant paw. Mudhound... well hadnt planned to do a battle training session today but there were worse things to be doing, like the nothing they'd been on track to do earlier. And really, maybe this would be fun. Usually Mudhound loved training apprentices. So off they trot to a place for Quackpaw to 'learn to be scary'.


@Minku

[Minku]

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Quackpaw
THc apprentice. She/Her. 7 Moons
Sticky Pads, Lucky Duck

[ @Rani ]
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Post 9

Well- having siblings is like having siblings- duuuh. Thought the Quacker didn't have any herself, she'd usually poke around other cats' business. So of courseee she'd now! Haha, no she doesn't but she liked to pretend she does. Must be so fun to have someone to constantly play with; not fun however if one sibling gets sick and the other is completely healthy; now that's unfair. But Quackpaw hasn't actually realized the size difference between Bumbly and Muddy up until that meeting; maybe it's because the younger the cat the more likely they were to be smaller or that Bumbly was always in that big Stormcrest rock "Booo, that doesn't sound fun! Have you ever tried being more leader-y before??" Muddystar!!

"So you're not fully Thunderclan??" well- they might as well be by now. If Muddy's full name was Muddyhound, their grandmama was Houndsomg..their mom was Dogspirit.. their other sibling was Houndspirit. Oh dear, Quackpaw was doing name calculations in her head. It was too much for her little head. Hound-song..Dog-spirit..Mud-hound..Hound-spirit "If you have a kit will they be named...Dogsong?? Mud-dog? " y'know cause..cause uh..Hounds n' Dogs theme. It confuses her. She wasn't made for naming math. That was whole three generation of canine cats! "Bumbly looks waay different from you; maybeee the brown. I bet Grizzly was a brown cat too! And Houndspirit!" c'mon, of course a cat named 'grizzly' has to be brown, else that's just bad naming!

Ouf- so their mom was dead? Quackpaw herself wasn't sure exactly where her own parents are off goofin' around to but she never minded it, often taking company in the cats around her as a replacement. Maybe that's why she was talkative. Oh, boo, then that's not cool at all! "where did your grandma take you?? How was it there? Was it nice?? Did you meet or see anything interesting?" Quackpaw wanted to know what it was like; faaarrrr away from thunderclan. She would never EVER actually leave but let a gal be curious. It has to be a lot different from what life was like over here! "How did you manage to find your way back? Did you go all by yourself? And how did you hear about Bumbly being alive in the first place? Was there someone that told you? Someone from thunderclan that you met over there?" if the place was far, like really far then that would've taken a bit!

"I don't have any sibbies, I'm the one and only Quacky! But I wish I had some to play with as kits; having siblings must never get boring! My parents are also off dilly-dallying, I dunno if they're in the clan or not but if they're not then I'm truly the one and only" Quackpaw would've have more cats to bother! "I never felt tooo lonely without. There was a buncha cats in thunderclan I can go to! But the Quarantine still got boring easily" of course, someone as..Quackpaw wouldn't feel lonely if they were constantly poking around the clearing every waking moment to not let herself die of boredom. Plagueclan, however, had less chances for Quacky. That and the drained energy and you have something that could make three moons feel like thirty "Mom probably had ducks in mind when naming me! If I had siblings I wonder if they would've been named something like Howlkit or Honkkit or Meowkit" if so then Quackpaw definitely got the high end of the stick! She's never saw a duck before but she bets they're cool

"where're we off to, Muddy?" the apprentice asked with a excited smile as she followed next to them. Would Quackpaw win a fight against cats like Bumbly or even Muddy? Absolutely not but now she was here to learn how to

[Rani]

Mudhound
Thunderclan Hornet | They/them | 40 Moons
Bilingual T3 | Flock Together T3 | Rapid Recovery | Killer Aptitude T3

More leaderly? "I dont wanna be bossy its too much work. But I think I am 'fully thunderclan'. Each clan has so many outsiders or ex other clan or half clans that bloodline doesnt mean anything. If you think youre thunderclan and you act thunderclan and are loyal then youre fully thunderclan. No two ways around it." Bloodline meant nothing ever. Crowpaw or well Thrushkit had been a former leaders child and he was less thunderclan then the two shadowclan blood cats leading and helping the clan now. So many cats adopted, came and left, or had no clue at all that it just didnt bear thinking about.



"I do think Id name my kit Dog, yeah! They'd probably be brown too, youre right Grizzly and Houndspirit were brown, though Houndspirit had markings the same color as Bumble-sis." She only had brown siamese markings and Bumblestars sandy tan everything else.

Speaking of that sister.... "Actually Houndspirit lead me back. She'd passed first and thought to reconnect and told me about Bumble-sis being deputy and about thunderclan. I wanted to go back so she helped in starclan dreams~ It was nice to see her again." A good reminder that no one was ever truely gone. Not for clan cats at least. Mudhound shouldnt be so destroyed by grief when Redhawk and Wolfhive could visit them at any time.


"My granny took me a lotta places. The twoleg place, farms, fields, broken twoleg homes, normal ones, mountains, and even the ocean! We mostly wandered and it helped me learn a lot."
Which always startled cats, for some reason. Maybe it was how much they rambled or how silly they usually were but cats never really seemed to think Mudhound knew stuff. But they did.




"Im sorry you dont have siblings, theyre pretty cool. Buuuuuut as I said blood doesnt mean much, you can decide someone is your sibling if you want! So if you find someone your age youre really good friends with then you can have siblings, even if they wont have cool names like Meowkit or Honkkit hehe~"
Talking to Quackpaw was too much fun, it made it real easy to forget they were sad in favor of chattering away. It was all fun topics too, the kids mind was too similar and silly to go into the sad.





"We're not going anywhere special, just a clearing, this clearing, so we have more space to learn to fight without bumping into anything.


Now copy me! But with like, all four legs so not perfect copy but similar. Legs wide like under your shoulders, bend them slightly so youre springy, tail tucked around your back leg, head low and ears pinned! Aaaaand finally snarl big and mean for a battle stance!"
Mudhound did as they described, though of course not having a back leg their leg was kinda more under their middle instead of off to the side so they didnt tip over. Aaaaand because Mudhound was a giant tank of a cat they were a bit more upright then crouched given they didnt really dodge as much as they stood through blows. But Quackpaw was little so they would not be doing that thank you.


@Minku (sorry this took so long I had to completely delete a reply and try again)

[Minku]

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Quackpaw
THc apprentice. She/Her. 8 Moons
Sticky Pads, Lucky Duck

[ @Rani ]
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Post 15

Too much work? "well, I'd wanna be a leader someday!" Quackstar! Quackstar! Quackstar! Let an apprentice dream. But she'd still have to wait soooo long for that to happen. And she gotta at least get hornet first! She doubted Bumbly would be giving her a title like that too soon after becoming a warrior; sooooo..warrior..then hornet..and then deputy..and THEN leader! "The clan is HUGE! Lotta cats. Are there any cats you know that're from another clan?? Like they joined from another clan at some point??" oh, Quackpaw could bother them in some intel on the other clans as well! Maybe this was a good reason on accepting other clan cats! Just think about the possibilities!

"I guess your dad was cream colored!" Same colored markings as Bumbly?! "Was she also as small as Bumbly? Or were your siblings just as huge as you?? Is being a big cat fun? You must be bigger than must other cats in the forest!!" Of course Quacky wanted other cats to cower in fear as she towers over them. Heheeeee. "I know my mentor is pretty similar to you! But he's always in this weird big bad intimidating look; it's no fun" and that also gets annoying to listen to at some point

"Oo! What did that look like? How did that work? Did she show you the path to Thunderclan in your dreams?" So cool. Quacker wanted to meet dead cats as well!!! "does that mean any Starclan cat could simply do whatever they please when it comes to dreaming? Would any dead cats come and visit their clanmates everyday?" speaking of dreams, what's stopping a dead cat from spilling clan secrets left right and center to their former clanmaters? Gr that's cheating!!!!!!! "Has there been any starclanners going around splling a clan's secret to their own??"

"Did you see any twolegs?? What are they like?? How big are they compared to us? I heard they're like..really tall! And what did their homes look like? Is it similar to ours? Or is it different? Their house must be waaay bigger than our's!!" really tall two-legged cats! "Brackenclaw also went to the mountains to find the cure! Did you ever meet any of those- those uh.. Atari cats? Even better— any cougars???" if Muddy was a big cat, then cougars must be GIGANTIC cats! "Brackenclaw said he looked like a kit compared to them! They must be like..really huge!! Did you see any??" and Quackpaw had never seen the ocean before! That must have a lotta water. Fish Riverclan must like places like those! "Did the ocean have any fish?? With that much water I bet there's dozens!! How big do you think is the ocean?? Did it look like enormous when you saw it?? How do you think fish navigate a place like that?" countless of places to go, countless!!!!!

"Does this mean I can claim a Muddy as a sibling??" disregarding that Muddy is probably old enough to be her parent or even grandparent; not similar in age whatsoever but shh. Quackpaw didn't have a canine name whatsoever but pretend ducks are related to hounds for a moment; it's a big stretch but with imagination nothing can go wrong



..uhhhh yea that's a clearing alright. Maybe it could be used as an arena to fight and spar. Clearings are weird now that she thinks about it; what d'ya mean, there's just a chunk of the forest that looks like it had all it's trees plucked out by some celestial creature.

Now here's the fun part!!! Sooo...step one..legs wide! The apprentice looked back and forth from Muddy's leg positiong to her own (albeit she kinda had to tilt her head up every single time). Okay, bending the legs a bit to be more springy. Boing. Tail around the back leg, head low? How low? Looking at Muddy, she tried placing her head in a similar way Muddy did when they did their own stance. And ears pinned! Easy! And she bared her teeth for a big mean snarl! She was a cat who wasn't easy to take seriously, but you can bet Quacky thought she was being cool and scary right now

[you're good ]

[Rani]

Mudhound
Thunderclan Hornet | They/them | 40 Moons
Bilingual T3 | Flock Together T3 | Rapid Recovery | Killer Aptitude T3

Mudhound giggled at the idea of Quackstar, nodding supportivly never one to quash a dream. "Uhhh well Violetfreckle, Bumble-sis' mate, used to be from riverclan. She likes it here better and teaches swimming and fishing lessons if you wanna pick up another skill!" Mudhound hated bodies of water despite loving rain and mud so that was a NOPE from them though.



The tripod shrugged at the idea of their father, admitting "I dunno my dad, never met him and dunno if hes even out there. A lotta queens do that, they dont have or want a mate but want kittens so have kids without the dad being involved." That seemed fair and reasonable to Mudhound, specifically if the tom was straight asked if they were ok with fathering kittens but not being involved.

"Being big is fun! And I am bigger then most cats but there are bigger like Dawnstar and some shadowclan cats~ And Im sorry Brackenclaw isnt fun, how about I talk to him and see if we can sort that out?" If Brackenclaw couldnt manage it Mudhound would happily take Quackpaw off his paws.


"It was very sparkly. Like one thousand thousand fireflies and shiny stones and the stars made up every blade of grass and tree and my sister too!" It was rather odd and dreamlike but also it was a dream so that made sense. And given Starclan was in the silverpelt it made sense it looked like the stars. "And she just told me hehe but youre right any dead cat could visit anytime but I dont think they do. Dunno why sadly, maybe Wolfhawk and Hollowpaw would know." Medicine cats contacted the stars more then little ol Mudhound after all.
"The stars have told secrets before yeah! Awhile back windclan was being poisoned like we were and an old leader Cindersky told us and how to help them so they'd forgive us for being naughty at the border."
That mess was a disaster Mudhound was glad was over. Windclan took the cure but they were NOT happy.


"Twolegs are HUUUUUUUGE, the size of that tree!" Mudhound pointed at a mid sized tree, still young but larger then the cats by far. "They walk on two legs and are pink and only have fur on their head! They instead put stuff on their skin to keep warm because they have no fur, its weird poor things. They live in dens made of trees that are giant, I cant explain it well." The tripod giggled, head cocking at the idea of a cougar. "Never met the atari or a cougar, the moutains were too far but I met a bobcat/lynx! Theyre a cat whos twice the size of me and talk different but I learned how to speak with them THEYRE RATHER GRUMPY" The tripod rumbled in the weird bobcat speak most cats didnt understand.
"The ocean goes on forever and it has fish! Dunno how to catch them though, swimming in the ocean seemed dangerous."


"Hehehe if you wanna be my siblings you can be Quackpaw! But I can also be an aunty if you wanna or just a friend~ Think on it but for now no more questions, training time!"


---


Quackpaws stance and snarl was all good, though Mudhound did a couple of nudges of limbs to make things more comfy and easier to move.

"Ooooook! Most important part of battle is dodging. Nope it aint attacking, dodging! You cant fight if youre hurt bad so you wanna not get hit as much as possible always~



Its pretty easy, just move away but you can make it easier by knowing some tips. Watch where your enemy is looking, they tend to attack where theyre looking, and the attacking leg out mouth will often twitch before moving and body lean. Use that to predict whats gonna happen and get moving faster because they'll also attack fast.


Now Imma do some gentle attacks so do your best to dodge~"
It wasnt anything complex a swipe gently aimed at Quackpaws head, a nip at her shoulder, a paw aimed to knock at Quackpaws paws, ect.


@Minku