It Cold Outside [open]

With every moonrise the air grew colder, more crisp and prey more scarce. Wanting her Clan to wake up to a fresh meal was her only reason to be out the comfort of her warm den.

Firestar had caught a single tiny frog weakened by the cold. Perhaps she should have requested more eyes and paws to help?

"Come on, come on..." a small voice came from not too far away. Small pawsteps followed, splashing in the water as the apprentice stepped awkwardly through the territory. "I didnt know hunting was this hard," Bramblepaw continued to whisper to himself, not even realizing how close he had gotten to the Shadowclan leader.

"Oh, Bramblepaw! Are you out hunting t--" The orange she-cat was cut off as an unseen force slammed into her, knocking the wind out of her.

She struggled to stand as the sticky marsh mud tried sucking her back down. But once she was on her paws, she towered over the muddy ball of fur that had knocked her over. She didn't have to ask who this was.

"Frogmilk." Firestar grumbled.

At the sound of Firestar's voice, the apprentice yelped with surprise only to turn as soon as Frogmilk barreled into the leader. A gasp left the small tom as he rushed over to the clamor but stopped short when both cats got up with some trouble. He had opened his mouth to speak but he couldnt find his voice and instead ended up standing there with a fearful look on his face, ears flat.

Mud clung to one side of the annoyed She-Cat, even as she gave it a good shake. Her precious fur... dirtied... this would take some time to clean.

Her yellow gaze flicked from Frogmilk to Bramblepaw, taking in his fearful gaze and deciding to not let lose on this cheery warrior tonight. "It seems more than just time has slipped away from you today." It took everything she had not to bop this She-Cat upside the head. "Thanks to you, I'm sure the prey won't return for days..."

Speaking of prey... It seemed like the frog Firestar had just killed was lost to the newly upturned mud. A burst of anger flooded her features before quickly subsiding at the look of tiny tom not far away. "Here's an idea. Since the two of you have decided to burden me with your presence, how about a little training session? Your task for tonight is to find me four frogs... including the one you've lost for me in this mud."

Seeing Frogmilk's happy and confident demeanor mixed with Firestar relaxing somewhat, Bramblepaw perked back up, listening intently to the two older cats. Well, until for a moment until the Shadowclan leader brought up the idea of hunting. He wanted to complain as he hadn't done much hunting, but he wasnt about to tell the leader that he hadn't been practicing like he should. "I can do it, Firestar!" He said trying to sound confident but it only came out as shaky.

Frogmilk paused for a long moment, looking around as if trying to flat out eyeball their surroundings in hopes of spotting prey. Upon spotting... exactly nothing, she turned back to her leader and nodded.

"Alright, Firestar. C'mon Bramblepaw, there's gotta be at least something around here."

Firestar shook her heavy, muddied fur before leaping onto the trunk of a fallen tree. "I'll be right here watching. Do your best; you have till sunrise." She glanced up at the slowly sinking moon between the pine needles and then back to Bramblepaw. "This counts toward your ceremony."

She wasn't trying to be mean or put pressure on the poor Tom but... what was the fun in not being mean?

Bramblepaw wasnt so sure if hearing it would count towards his ceremony was a good or a bad thing. "Okay!" He said to both Frogmilk and Firestar. Following behind the warrior, he wondered how he was even going to start this challenge. "So I uh, I... i dont... i dont know how..." Every time he tried to tell the she-cat that he didnt know how to hunt, he trailed off. Obviously he should have learned how to hunt by now. What was she going to say?

Firestar looked down on Bramblepaw from her perch on the fallen log. "You don't... know how? Bramblepaw remind me again who your mentor is?" Even though she was the one who assigned someone to him, she couldn't for the life of her remember.

Her yellow eyes flickered to Frogmilk.

A bitterly cold wind blew through Stormeye's ruffled fur. She scowled, fluffing it up against the harsh leaf-bare air. She wondered how anything had driven her to go for a walk in the forest so late at night, but she needed some air to breath and space to walk. She padded on over the peaty ground, avoiding deep puddles and thick undergrowth. The moon shone through the needles, dotting the ground with spots of light. A few fox lengths ahead, mews sounded through the bushes. Curious, she padded closer. Was that Firestar? Why would she be out so late at night? Stormeye rounded the undergrowth, coming out in a little clearing where Frogmilk and Bramblepaw stood beside Firestar. The orange she-cat stood on a fallen log. "Oh! I'm sorry for interrupting, I was just going for a walk."

Uh oh. Firestar wasnt supposed to hear that... "Um..." he stammered. "It-it's Frogmilk, Firestar." Suddenly he perked up at the sound of Stormeye walking in, taking a quick sigh of relief as the (self-made) tension broke. The last thing he wanted to do was make Firestar or Frogmilk upset.

"Oh! Hello Frogmilk, Bramblepaw." She glanced sheepishly at Firestar. "Sorry again if I disturbed your talk. I might go hunt while I'm out here, my stomach's been growling for ages."