This is Trouble [closed]

The thick swath of gorse that carefully concealed the vulnerable contents of WindClan's camp was heavily laden with fresh growth, bright flowers and buds weighting down each of the spindly tendrils that curled skyward in a menacing gesture of strength. The entirety of the camp was dusted in a soft coating of brilliant yellows and greens, the dry grounds revived by the gentle kiss of warmer weathers. Bursting forward through the narrow tunnel with enough force to send down a shower of enticingly sweet petals, Shrikepaw could feel the faint prickle of the hooked gorse thorns scoring lightly through the wild mane of his coat.

It had been raining for nearly two full days, and this sunrise had finally dawned clean and clear- and thankfully just in time, because if he had to spend anymore time with his mother or littermate, he would've likely said something that would've gotten him a lifetime exile from StarClan.

Shaking away his dusting of overly sweet smelling little flowers and growths, the lanky tom turned to eagerly await the entrance of his companion. Rimefang often assisted in overseeing his training whenever Heronfeather got caught up cleaning up after his mother's shenanigans, so it was hardly a surprise that the tom was stuck attending to his training for the day. "Hurry up!" Shrikepaw called, entirely too eager at the prospect of finally being able to stretch his legs.

Rimefang padded out of the entrance of the camp, shaking the pollen from his coat and suppressing a sneeze. "If you want me to hurry, then you oughta know what you're signing up for," the tom replied, voice threatening a challenge. He continued with his leisurely saunter until he came within a few fox-lengths of the impatient apprentice before bunching his hind-legs and absolutely sprinting for the open moor, pushing his long legs and stiff muscles to their absolute limits just to see if the young apprentice could even begin to catch up with him.

His icy blue eyes caught sight of flash of white ahead of him, his wild sprint alerting the rabbit to his presence early. A wicked grin curled his lips as he pushed himself even harder chasing the fluffy white rabbit, catching its tail within his teeth. He barreled in a stop in order to maintain his grip, rapidly delivering a killing blow to the struggling animal. He caught sight of Shrikepaw from further down the moors, huffed a laugh, and flopped over on his back, panting. When he heard the apprentice approach, he laughed again, having mostly caught his breath. "I wanted to stretch my legs but I didn't know I could actually catch up to a rabbit," he admitted to the younger cat.

The member 'Asher' has done the following action : Roll Dice

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'Hunting Dice' : 6

A day off, finally. Not that she did have to do much, but she had been given the day to do whatever she wanted, rather than speak about the relations with other clans or deal with small disputes between clanmates. So she'd taken off early in the morning, rubbing against every new blooming sprig of heather and picking her way through the field of flowers that would begin to bloom like no other in due time. It had been so nice to envelop herself in the scents and sights of a very long overdue Newleaf, and by StarClan was she glad that there was no rain today.

On her way back to camp - she figured she could squeeze in a quick nap before a hunting patrol was necessary - she watched as Rimefang sprinted across the moorland after a white blur of a rabbit and catching it with what looked to be minimal effort. Impressive catch, Heronfeather mused, and as she continued toward camp, the familiar form of Shrikepaw caught up to Rimefang. Guilt pricked her paws for a moment, she had definitely not spent nearly enough time with the tom due to her deputyship, but of all cats she was sure he'd understand. After all, it was his mother she served under. He'd know her better than any cat. Guilt was replaced with gratitude as she realised Rimefang had been taking him out and mentoring him in her absence, and before she knew it, she was padding over to the duo.

"Nice catch!" she purred, waving her tail in greeting so they'd recognise her as a friendly - not a rogue. "Mind if I join you both?" Heronfeather asked with a smile, figuring she could contribute to the fresh kill pile now, rather than later.

Carelessly brushing beneath a heavy bushel of overly fragrant heather, Shrikepaw found himself following a winding trail whose direction ran opposite of the path that Rimefang was currently racing along. There was a slight pinprick of heat evident in his muscles as his pace gradually began to increase from a steady lope into something with a bit more insistence, the newfound stiffness resonating within his joints evidently a protest on behalf of his days spent in leisure during the rain. The overwhelming stench of damp earth and blossoming grasses overwhelmed his nose, leaving him entirely unaware as he was sent careening into the path of a grazing rabbit. The little creature could only blink in surprise, evidently just as surprised to see Shrikepaw- but thankfully, the young tom's reactionary time was a bit more advanced. Although the refinement in dispatching the stunned rabbit was woefully lacking on account of his surprise, thankfully it was relatively clean

"Careful with all that wheezing, wouldn't want you run yourself right into the grave!" Shrikepaw called, playfully dry words muffled by the rabbit that was tightly clamped within his jaws, hurriedly approaching the sprawled out Warrior. He was partially tempted to keep testing and teasing the older tom, curious as to whether or not testing the resilience of the boundary would result in anything more than an irate eye-roll, but thankfully Rimefang was spared any further comments on the timely arrival of Heronfeather. Opening his jaws so that the limp rabbit plummeted to the ground with an unappealing thud, he gave a little shrug in response to his mentor's inquiry.

"Only if you don't mind having to listen to this Elder huffing and puffing." Shrikepaw mewed, pronounced fangs reddened by the blood of his freshly-caught prize.

The member 'Seer' has done the following action : Roll Dice

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'Hunting Dice' : 2

"Oh yeah? If I'm an elder, I wanna see you do better," Rimefang challenged as he got to his feet. "You tripped right over that rabbit." He smiled warmly at the arrival of Heronfeather, glad to not be dealing with her unruly apprentice by himself. "I don't mind you joining us as long as you can deal with this sardonic kit," he replied to the she-cat. His patience was definitely being tested, and he was doing his best to be reasonably sarcastic with Shrikepaw despite his instinct of downright meanness.

The warrior bumped his shoulder against Heronfeather's in greeting, legitimately happy to see her. Specifically her. When did that happen? he thought to himself, curious at his affinity for his deputy. "Finally done running the Clan for Brindlestar?" Rimefang meowed playfully, flicking his ear as he stretched his legs after sprinting so hard.

A laugh bubbled on her lips at the relationship her apprentice had built up with the other warrior, very casually teasing each other with barbed quips - all in good jest, or so she hoped. "I'm sure I can manage a wheezing elder and my own apprentice," Heronfeather's whiskers twitched as she gazed from one cat to another, pleased at the catches they'd managed and feeling her thoughts drift back to worrying about whether everyone would be well fed tonight. Annoyance at her nagging thoughts lead to a gentle sigh in response to Rimefang's joke, but a smile reappeared before long at the friendly gesture he'd shown. "So you've noticed!" The mottled she-cat purred in response, turning away to hopefully catch a glimpse of a rabbit herself. "I enjoy it, I do, I just miss getting out and stretching my legs with my clanmates. It's all worry, worry, worry, which yes - my strong suit, but I'm also a little sick of it," her laugh was a little forced and tinged with apathy, but a friendly gleam still remained in olive eyes, especially since she was saying this in front of her apprentice and Brindlestar's son.

Finally her eyes caught sight of a gray lump unsuccessfully disguised against the green folds that signified WindClan territory. Excitement worked its way through her body and she took off without hesitation, desperate to feel the wind through her fur and her paws connecting with solid, warm ground instead of peaty slush that was often found in Leafbare. Within heartbeats she had closed the distance between her and the unsuspecting hare, and in the last tail-length it had finally noticed her arrival all too late. With one last push off the earth beneath, her front paws bowled the hare over and her teeth met in it's throat, and a thoroughly delighted purr escaped from deep within her chest. Oh how she had missed this!

As she debated on whether to cover the prey with what little undergrowth existed on the moor, Heronfeather noticed with a jolt that it genuinely was not much smaller than the she-cat, and she felt a wave of embarrassment for the fact a hare almost outgrew the deputy. Dragging it over to a gorse bush nearby, the molly was careful to completely cover the hare so that no rogue or wandering predator would claim it, and she trotted back over the toms, happy to feel she wasn't wheezing in the same manner as Rimefang. "I'll collect it on the way back, although some help would be appreciated," she blinked slightly pleadingly at the other warrior - hoping Shrikepaw wouldn't be too cruel for this one.

The member 'oryx' has done the following action : Roll Dice

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'Hunting Dice' : 1

Dark eyes flashing with a blatantly infuriating display of sordid triumph, Shrikepaw merely stuck his tongue out in response to Rimefang’s obvious short-temper. Now that Heronfeather was here, he wouldn’t be able to fully continue with his tyrannical attempts at giving the older tom a few extra grey hairs- ah well, maybe later this evening.

”Don’t worry,” Shrikepaw spoke after a heartbeat of reprise and half-heartedly observing the oddly moony conversation between the two older warriors, pausing to scrub away the rapidly congealing droplets of blood that misted his muzzle, ”knowing my mother, she’ll have caused some new problem or another in the absence of supervision. It wouldn’t be unlike her to have figured out a way to get blighted off the face of the earth.” He loved his mother, he really did, but it was no secret that the commonality in their bloodline was the fact that they were all idiots most of the time.

Remaining seated among the thick swathes of fresh heather and sweet grasses, the lithe tom simply watched as his mentor went about attempting to stash away a piece of prey that was practically of equal size. Shrikepaw’s cheeks drew inward as he pressed his tongue against his elongated teeth, fixing Rimefang with a pointed stare that very clearly emanated well-you-better-help-her-old-man. ”Do we head back to camp now, or keep hunting?