by Cradily » Mon Feb 24, 2020 7:22 am
Whitetail was sat outside the warriors' den, giving himself his usual morning grooming. Out the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Creamflower, and his mate, Spottedstorm, exiting the nursery, but didn't look up from his grooming. His relationship with Spottedstorm had been...strained, lately, to say the least. He wasn't exactly sure why, but the love the two had once had for each other seemed to fade more the older their kits got. When he was a young tom, he had wanted nothing more than to have a mate, start a family, raise a litter of kits...but now that they had, he wasn't sure what to do. Do it all over again? That seemed like what Spottedstorm wanted, but it seemed boring to him. The adventure, the excitement, was all gone now, and his kits were practically grown up. True, he was proud of them, and would be even prouder when they became warriors, but once they had been apprenticed, things were never quite the same. Sighing, he shook his head. I should just be focusing on my warrior duties, not on kits and mates. The whole clan is my family, after all.
Silverpaw eyed his prey carefully, keeping his pawsteps light as he stalked closer and closer to it. Once he stopped, when he saw it move, but continued inching towards it when he felt it was safe. His ears lay flat against his head and his tail just barely brushed the soft earth beneath. You may have gotten away before, but you're mine this time! Bunching his muscles, he waited for just the right moment before letting out a yowl and springing onto his brother Weaselpaw's back. "Gotcha!"
Peacockpaw barely acknowledged his sister and denmate as he padded past them, out of the apprentices' den and straight towards his mentor, Rockrose. "Good morning, Rockrose," he meowed politely, dipping his head to the tom. He cast a glance at their leader, who was busy talking to Pantherstrike and Harpytalon. "I suppose patrols haven't been sent out yet, have they?" he presumed.
Fishbelly padded out of the warriors' den with a yawn, only to nearly bump into Crescentclaw as he did so. "Oh, pardon me, Crescentclaw," he meowed to the she-cat, dipping his head apologetically. "How are you?"
Rainfall's whiskers twitched with amusement. "It was a joke," she mewed, lying down and rolling onto her back. "Anyway, none of us can do anything or go anywhere until those two," she nodded at Jaguarstar and Anacondafang, "send out patrols. So you might as well make the best of it."
"Oh, of course," Anacondafang laughed. "When he wants to be, which isn't usually around me. But maybe around a pretty she-cat like you..." He nudged her flank with his own.
Pythontail had just rolled his eyes at Piranhatail before he'd stalked off. Now he was digging into his snake, licking the scales from his jaw. He cast a side-glance at Cobrastorm and her father and nodded a small greeting to them--or rather, her, since Slothnose had his eyes closed--before continuing his meal.
Cacaopaw lay in her nest, awake, but not feeling entirely there. She could hear the hustle and bustle of her denmates, and quickly figured out it must have been dawn--which only made her curl up tighter in her nest. Why couldn't the night just last forever? She flattened her ears a bit at the sound of Canopypaw's and Toucanpaw's chattering, and felt a prickle of annoyance for Canopypaw in particular. Why did the she-cat always have to be so loud and energetic, especially when there were other cats sleeping--or at least, seemingly sleeping--in the same den? Even Kinkajoupaw with all her energy and Macawpaw with her trouble sleeping managed to be quieter. Draping her tail over her nose, she refused to open her eyes, as if keeping them closed would somehow make the world around her stop moving.
