by Cradily » Thu Apr 02, 2020 3:53 pm
OakClan
Dustkit squeaked in surprise as Poppykit jumped on top of her and sent them both to the ground. She pawed at his face playfully, but stopped when yet another unfamiliar cat entered the den and dropped the prey on the ground. To her relief, the tom left almost as soon as he'd come in.
"Well..." Sunflare had barely had a chance to respond before Riverstripe entered the den with two fish and a sparrow hanging from his mouth, and moved aside to make room for the warrior. He waited until the silver tabby had given the prey to the queens and left, rather hurriedly he thought, before turning back to Cedartail with a shrug. "There's Dappleleaf--she's only a moon younger than you, after all--but she seems pretty close with Weaselstripe. I've caught Elmshade admiring Lostnight more than once, and Cinnamonpelt...Well, she's pretty protective, so I'm sure she'd make a good mother one day. But a mother to whose kits, I'm not quite sure." He looked Cedartail up and down, then slowly let his gaze travel to Lynxfoot. "Now, you and Lynxfoot...Yes, I can kind of see it!"
Riverstripe barely had time to process everything Beestar had said before she'd rushed off to find Dawntrail. He wasn't entirely keen on the idea of Beestar leaving camp--she was a queen, after all. Shouldn't she stay with her kits? But there was no time to argue. Besides, she was the leader, so who was he to say what she should or shouldn't do. Hearing Stormkit's words behind him, he suddenly realized that he couldn't leave the kits alone in the den without their mother, and padded over to them. "I'll try to find a bird for you," he told Stormkit, "if you two head over to the nursery and promise to stay with Creamflower, okay? I'll meet you there." He didn't expect the kits to be too uncooperative, as it had sounded like they wanted to play with Creamflower's kits anyway. Exiting the den, he hurried to the fresh-kill pile and nosed through it until he found a small sparrow. Picking up that and two of the fish he'd just brought back, he carried them to the nursery, surprised to find it a bit crowded, and squeezed past the three warriors that were in there to get to the queens. "Hello, Creamflower, Snowfur," he mewed politely, setting the prey down in front of them. "These are for you," he nudged one fish towards each queen. "And this sparrow is for Beestar's kits. Could you keep an eye on them, make sure they stay in here with you? Beestar and I will be back soon." Thanking them in advance, he excused himself as he once again slipped past the warriors and out of the nursery. He barely had a chance to catch his breath as he caught up to Beestar. "I'm ready."
Tigerblaze stood still as the apprentice nuzzled into him, slightly caught off guard by her...affection. She'd be happy to see a badger if it came to rescue her. His gaze narrowed as she explained why she'd run off, ignoring anything she'd said after that. "And what exactly made you think trying to fight a fox by yourself was a good idea in the first place? You know apprentices aren't even supposed to leave camp without a warrior, much less run off after foxes. Not even warriors take on predators alone." He went on. "Do you even realize the trouble you put everyone through? You've had your mentor and friends," he gestured to Splashfeather and Jackdawpaw with his tail, "sick with worry, and practically the entire Clan out searching for you. We can't afford to waste time looking for runaway apprentices at any time, but especially not during leaf-bare, when we need to be focused on hunting and conserving our energy. And what if something had happened to you? Blizzardclaw would never forgive himself. What you did was selfish and foolish, and if you were my apprentice, you'd be on tick duty for the next moon. In fact, if you were my apprentice--" He was cut off by a sharp hiss from Splashfeather.
"That's enough, Tigerblaze!" Splashfeather interrupted the senior warrior with a hiss. As soon as the words had left her mouth, Tigerblaze turned his stone-cold gaze on her and she stiffened, wondering if she should have remained silent. She hadn't even thought about it, the words had just come out, but now that she had said them she couldn't back down. She held his gaze as she went on, more calmly this time. "Hasn't she been through enough already? Look, she's clearly injured. I'm sure she's learned her lesson and won't do it again." For a moment, Tigerblaze said nothing, and Splashfeather thought she had silenced the golden tabby; but she inwardly sighed when she realized he had to have the last word. "If she were my apprentice, she wouldn't have done it even once," was the last thing Tigerblaze said before turning back to Bearpaw and the three-legged she-cat that stood behind her. "Thank you for saving Bearpaw," he said to Artemis with a dip of his head. "I'm sorry for any trouble she's caused you. We'll be taking her home now. Come on, Bearpaw." Waving his tail for the apprentice to follow, he started to head away.
EagleClan
Southstar's ears lay flat against his head. "I want to see them," he stated at last. He had known the couple since they were kits and he only a young apprentice. If they were to join StarClan soon, he wanted to be there to say goodbye. The den seemed darker than usual as he padded into it, past Daydream, and towards the back where the family was lying in nests. Their breathing was slow and ragged, and for a moment he wasn't even sure if Silversnow was breathing; the rise and fall of her chest was so subtle, with such a long pause in between, that it was hardly noticeable. Her normally smooth, well-groomed pelt was now matted and dirty-looking, and her mate wasn't looking much better. It hurt to see them like this. Not wanting to disturb them, he simply sat by their nests, his gaze pensive and sorrowful, as if he were deep in thought.
"Why not?" Nightwish challenged. "You don't have to talk about it. It's clear how you feel about him, and I'm sure he feels the same way. But you know, he was a medicine cat, and then an elder. He might not know how to ask a she-cat to be his mate, since he never had the chance to. What if he's waiting for you to ask him? What if neither of you ask, and then you miss your chance?" Her tone had grown more serious, almost urgent, as she went on. "You never know how much time left you have with someone. And besides..." She looked away. "Not every cat is as lucky as you are. There's nothing stopping you from asking the cat you like to be your mate."
Littleflower tilted her head. "Why would she be sad?" She didn't think there was anything wrong with asking. If anything, it would probably help Mistflower--and perhaps Swiftbadger, too--to get her feelings out in the open, rather than to bottle them up. "Swiftbadger is my best friend, and Mistflower is yours, right? If we both talked to them and got them to open up a little, then maybe we could give them a little nudge in the right direction. We won't force anything of course, but it can't hurt to talk about it, right?"
