Rag-Tag Hunting Party, For Falcon, Minnow, Poppy and Mouse!

[PickeBicke]

Falconwing glanced about him as he slipped from the undergrowth, feeling uncomfortable as he padded out to the edge of the half-bridge. He hoped that by coming out further from camp they might be able to find much more edible prey. Though the lake was too deep to fish in, perhaps they could hook some crawdads or crabs in the shallows. Even a small minnow would be a delight right now, he grumbled, peering over to see his reflection in the water.

"If we split up we can cover more ground," the spotted tom meowed to the group. Flicking his ear, he turned to look at them. "But Mousepaw needs someone to stay with her until she knows the territory better."

Poppyblossom lifted her tail. "I'll go with her," she purred. "After all she's my apprentice. I can't have her fall behind on her training. Soon she'll be able to show you a thing or two about fishing, Falconwing! Come on Mousepaw, let's take that side of the lake!" Giving Falconwing a parting nudge, the calico padded off along the sandy beach.

The tom opened his mouth to retort, then thought better of it. "We'll see," he said and glanced at Minnowstream. Raising his voice a bit to make sure she heard, the tom meowed, "would you like to join me, then?"

[Aeria Gloris]

Mousepaw thought she'd feel excited when she was finally exploring her Clan's territory. All she felt was loneliness. Maybe they could've waited for Flamepaw, or Ravenpaw...

"Sure, Poppyblossom..." Without much enthusiasm, Mousepaw followed her mentor onto the sands. She was surprised to feel how soft it was, compared to the sand littering the camp. But she found it clung to her paws like burrs. "Ugh..."

Minnowstream nodded to Falconwing, agreeing to join him. She gazed after her adopted sibling, her heart aching for the apprentice. "I can't stand seeing them like this. Mousepaw, Flamepaw, or Ravenpaw. And mother...I've never seen her completely break down like that."

She began to walk in the opposite direction, searching for something edible that did not smell poisonous. Letting out a short chuckle, she meowed, "At least you have Poppyblossom, now. Snow and I don't have to watch you stay alone your whole life."

[PickeBicke]

Poppyblossom chuckled apologetically. "Sorry Mousepaw," she meowed. Motioning with her tail, the calico indicated the grasses on the edge of the sand. "I know it takes a little getting used to for an apprentice to walk on this fine sand. You can stay on the grass if you like and help me look for land prey. I don't think we'll be able to catch much in the lake itself."

Poor thing, she looks so lonely. I should have invited her siblings to come along.I would have been bett- Catching herself, the she-cat shook her head. No, she needs to learn to work on her own. She has learn the skills to deal with such a loss, because this won't be the last one she or her family suffer through!

"We don't often eat crabs or crawdads but they aren't too bad. Look for any that might have been washed up on shore."

Back at the halfbridge, Falconwing followed his sister as she led him away. His whiskers drooped when she mentioned Tawnypaw and Cricketpaw. "Dad took the loss hard, too. I still can't believe it. They were younger than us, for StarClan's sake!"

Caught in his musings, he almost didn't notice the crawdad scuttling in the shallows until it was too late. Spotting the movement out of the corner of his eye, Falconwing put on a burst of speed and hooked it out onto shore. Quickly, he snapped it's back by putting all his weight onto the paws holding it down. It wasn't quite dead, but it would be easy to carry and eat without it snapping at everyone.

His ears flicked back to Minnowstream as she continued. "At least you have Poppyblossom, now. Snow and I don't have to watch you stay alone your whole life."

The spotted tom became acutely aware of how hot and itchy his pelt felt under the morning sun.

"What?!" Flattening his ears, the tom scuffed earth over his catch to avoid answering right away. "What...I mean, no, I...whoever gave you that...? Ur, um..." He sighed. Ever the eloquent tom, aren't you Flaconwing? Great.

"...am I that obvious?"

[Aeria Gloris]

The brown she-cat wrinkled her nose with distaste. "They sound disgusting. And I don't really mind the sand..." She looked around for any of the creatures Poppyblossom described, trying to sniff them out like she'd seen her parents do.

Mousepaw saw something scuttle out of the sand, as though emerging from the water. "Found one!" Bunching her muscles, the apprentice leapt towards the crab.

"Got it!" Mousepaw held it between her paws, her heart whirling with the realization that this was her first prey. "I got it! I got it!"

And then it snapped at her paw with its miniscule claw.

"OW!" She flung it away, breathing hard as her paw burned with the stinging pain. Mousepaw tried to hide the moistness in her eyes by licking her paw, relieved that the hurt was going away though it still throbbed.

She suddenly struck the sand with her good paw, frustrated and upset. "Stupid crab! I hate them!"

The light brown tabby she-cat purred softly as she pricked her good ear up to hear the prey. "Oh, you're about as obvious as a fox stampeding through Flowingstar's den. Trust me, brother. I know the looks you two give each other."

Minnowstream's ear flattened back as she caught sight of something. She continued softly, "You start spending more time with them, and have the best conversations...You grow closer when all of a sudden, you find that you love the feel of their pelt touching yours...Or the way their eyes seem to shine when they see you. Eventually..."

She suddenly sped towards a small pile of stones and leapt over it, landing in a crouch. She straightened, a water vole in her jaws. Placing it next to her brother's prey, Minnowstream continued, "It's all over for the both of you and you have to admit you're in love. Don't worry, that vole smells clean."


((FALCONWING, YOU ARE TWITTERPATED.))

[PickeBicke]

"Oh, are you alright?"

Poppyblossom trotted over to Mousepaw's side, nosing at the pinched limb. No broken skin. That's good! "Sorry, I forgot to mention they have claws of their own! Guess I'm not so good at this mentor thing..." She gave a sheepish grin. "Guess we both have some things to learn from each other, huh?"

Reaching out a paw, the calico she-cat placed it squarely on top of the escaping crabs shell. "See, you want to put your paw where it can't reach you. Only the front two legs have claws on them, so it's pretty easy. Then you can try to break them off. That's the hard part, and most likely you'll get pinched in the process."

Darting her head like a snake, Poppyblossom bit down on one of the crab's claws and crunched, effectively disabling it. Quick as she could she pulled her face back and grinned as the creature missed her whiskers. "Do you want to try breaking the other one? It'll be easier now that it only has the one."

Back on the other side of the lake, Falconwing scuffed the ground in embarrassment. What Minnowstream said already described what he felt like around the calico warrior. Is this…how she felt about Gustpelt? he wondered. “I see…that’s how you felt? About him, I mean?”

His emerald eyes, for once, held no condemnation or judgment. Just curiosity. “But what do I say to her? I feel weird…whenever I try to put my feelings into words.”

[Aeria Gloris]

Mousepaw tried to imitate what her mentor did, but kept hesitating. Come on...You can do this! She steeled herself for a possible pinch on the face or, StarClan forbid, in the eye.

Finally, she snapped at the crab's remaining limb, feeling satisfaction when she heard a crunch.

"I did it!"

Meanwhile, Minnowstream was remembering those precious moments she spent with her mate when their love was still forbidden. She was surprised to hear no trace of malice in Falconwing's voice when he asked about their relationship. "Yes...Nothing's changed, really. So much has happened to make us realize how much we love each other."

When he asked what he could do to tell Poppyblossom, she replied, "Well...What I did was just tell Gustpelt that I loved him. We couldn't really hide our feelings, anyway. Maybe Poppyblossom already has a sense of it?

"And you can ask Father how he admitted it to Mother. I know they used to hate each other!"

[PickeBicke]

The calico warrior beamed at the young apprentice. Mousepaw had hesitated, but not let fear stop her from trying. "Well done! Now you just bury it until we can come back for it." Poppyblossom glanced back towards the forest. This one crab wouldn't be enough for the clan. "If we find any I can teach you to hunt mice and water voles. When the river is clean again, we can go fishing! For now, try to see what else you can find."

--

Falconwing shrugged, still a bit uncomfortable. "Maybe," he meowed. "Though I can't imagine dad would have anything else to say that isn't what you've already told me." Pricking his ears, he honed in to where ripples were forming in the lake but soon shook his head. Just a group of tadpoles. "Also, I don't want to put pressure on her. You're lucky, you know. You and Gustpelt both knew you liked each other. I'm not sure if she feels the same way...about me. What if she doesn't? What if she just...wants to stay friends?"

His broad shoulders sagged. "I can understand and respect that," the spotted tom continued. "But I hate the thought of putting myself out there and just getting hurt in the end."

[Aeria Gloris]

"Okay." Mousepaw dug a deep enough hole for her first prey and dropped it in, feeling slightly proud. She thought about Cricketpaw and Tawnypaw, wondering if they could see her now.

As she followed Poppyblossom, Mousepaw mewed softly, "I wish they could've been here with us..."

-

"It's a risk you'll have to take if you really mean it," Minnowstream meowed. She peered into the water, noticing the tadopoles. "Ugh...We might have to learn how to eat frogs..."

Shaking her head with distaste, the warrior added, "Love hurts, even if she does return your feelings. It hurts when you see them in pain. When they're away from you. When they're angry at you...I think it's what Dad's feeling right now."

[PickeBicke]

Falconwing nodded sadly. He recalled the forlorn look in his father's eyes that morning when he left him beside the graves. "They're both suffering. I just hope they realize they shouldn't be fighting each other before it's too late."

Abandoning the shoreline in favor of the undergrowth, the spotted tom moved forward with his belly low to the ground. It looked like any hope of more water prey would be foolish. A few minutes later he spotted a robin pecking between the roots of a tree. Pupils narrowed, he slowly crept towards it, leaping when he saw it begin to take flight.

"Frog-brains and fish-guts!" he snarled when the bird slipped through his grasp and flew up into the branches. Lashing his tail, Falconwing glared up with a look of pure loathing on his face. "You're lucky you only got away with ruffled feathers! How in StarClan's name do those ThunderClan idiots catch these things? Give me a good trout any day."

Back with Mousepaw, Poppyblossom felt her whisker's droop at the apprentice's soft admission. She pressed her pelt gently against the young she-cat's, gazing out into the water. "They are with you Mousepaw," she meowed. "You might not be able to see, hear or smell them, but they're there. When we die we never truly leave. Our bodies become the earth, and our spirit lives on in StarClan. Your sisters live on in the stars...and I'm sure they're watching you now, cheering for your first catch!"

Whisking her tail back and forth the calico warrior looked up at the pale morning sky. "You know...I lost my family when I was still very young. Both of my littermates died shortly after birth to kitten cough. I managed to survive, but I was sickly for a long time. My parents went to fight BoneClan when I was only four moons old and...neither of them came back." She could still remember the warriors dragging Fawnfoot and Barkstripe's bodies home, blood oozing from the gashes in their pelts down onto the sandy ground.

"I miss them every day. But sometimes...just sometimes...I'm lucky enough to see them in my dreams, and I know they're still watching me."

(( I gave Poppyblossom a back-story? Say whaaat? XD ))

[Aeria Gloris]

Glancing up at the sky, Mousepaw meowed to her mentor, "It's so much easier when you're asleep. Last night, I could swear I saw them...along with Silverkit, our other brother." She refrained from mentioning Haze, Stripe, and Spot.

-

"I'm sick of eating birds and mice...Look at our pelts! If we didn't know any better, we'd think we're ThunderClan! I miss carp..." Minnowstream sighed, remembering the taste of her favorite prey. "And salmon. That was always the best..."

Gently nudging her littermate on the shoulder, the warrior meowed, "Why don't we go join Mousepaw and Poppyblossom? We can always come back later, and maybe they caught something. Mousepaw's always been a quick learner."

[PickeBicke]

Falconwing nodded, resisting the urge to try climbing up the trunk and give that bird a lesson. He'd just get stuck and make even more of a fool of himself. "Alright," he agreed, "Come on." Heading back towards her he bent to dig up his crawdad and grabbed it in his jaws. Swishing his tail lightly as he walked, Falconwing began to trot back towards the half-bridge.

Within a few minutes he came upon Poppyblossom and Mousepaw sitting close, a soft but sad expression on their faces. Worried, he cleared his throat to get their attention. "Is...everything okay? You're not hurt are you?"

The calico she-cat gasped in surprise and turned to see Falconwing walking up to them. "Falconwing! No, everything's fine. Just...reminiscing." Her smile didn't quite reach her eyes. "Are we ready to head back?"

The tom nodded, not convinced but understanding that he shouldn't push the issue. "Yes. Did you catch anything?"

Poppyblossom nodded. "Mousepaw got a crab. It was a bit difficult but she managed it. I don't think we'll find much else."

"Then let's go back," he meowed. "I can give this to Owltalon and Flowingstar to share. Perhaps it will get them talking again..."

[Aeria Gloris]

Nodding in agreement with Poppyblossom and Falconwing, Minnowstream added her vole to their catch. "Good going, Mousepaw! Don't worry, I don't like crabs much either. Especially when they pinch."

Mousepaw smiled up at her sister, but heard what Falconwing had said about their parents. "What are you talking about? Are they fighting?"

Minnowstream softly meowed, "No, they're just...disagreeing on some things. Remember, they're not just mates. They're leader and deputy. They can't agree on things all the time."


((To the camp!))