[TheNyanCatMinecart]

(OPEN!)

~ WOLFFANG OF WINDCLAN ~

Large, muscular, dappled gray tom with light fluff on the front of his neck and chest; amber eyes.

After talking to Moorpaw and praying to StarClan that she wasn't mad at him, Wolffang caught up to the crowd and walked among his Clanmates. He wanted to find Leopardsong. Twilightstar told her to stay with the kits, he noted. The tom's remaining ear, huge and notched from many fights, pricked, straining for the sound of excited squeals. His nose also twitched. The warm scents of WindClan closed around him, but he detected a familiar, comforting fragrance amid it. His heartbeat picked up, and he felt oddly light-headed and excited. Leopardsong. He wove through the crowd, careful not to shove anyone too hard with his broad, well-muscled shoulders.

Before he reached her, Twilightstar - a small lilac-gray figure at the head of the party - stopped and introduced the place. Wolffang listened as he stepped forward and spotted a snowy-white pelt with distinctive brown spots like a leopard's. His heart did another funky flutter, and he stepped up beside her. He stayed silent as he absorbed Twilightstar's words, his amber gaze instinctively straying to the kits when his leader warned them about falling in. He was sure Leopardsong would handle them well. Wolffang wasn't good with kits, but he wouldn't let anything touch a hair on their pelts, even if it meant jumping into the pond. Wolffang suppressed a shudder and looked around him. The thundering falls assaulted his ear, and the glistening pond... Cats around him were murmuring about how beautiful it was, but all Wolffang could see was a particularly unpleasant place to drown.

There wasn't any prey around here, either, due to the falls' thundering. But there were herbs and moss. Good for apprentices and medicine cats. Not Wolffang. Of course, if he had to come here, he would, but... Otherwise, he was avoiding this place at all costs.

"Hello," he meowed to Leopardsong, looking around at the falls. Instinctively, he moved closer to the edge, blocking the kits from the foreboding pool. "Moorpaw - the cat I was going to talk to - didn't come, so I came to join you." Why did he feel so nervous? Why was his heart fluttering like a bird trapped in his ribcage? He had a feeling it wasn't because of the water, though that certainly made him antsy. His pelt twitched, as did his remaining ear and tail-tip. When Brightpaw, who had just become an apprentice, got close to the water, Wolffang nearly jumped on top of her. But Mousefern was there, so he restrained himself.

He looked back at Leopardsong. His previous worries bubbled to the surface, but he shoved them down. "Can we, um, if you're okay with it, perhaps..." Oh, StarClan, he sounded like a featherbrained fool. "The water. Can we... move away from it?" Wolffang's instincts were screaming at him to get away from the pond, but he forced his paws to stay rooted to the grass despite their twitching. "We. Don't want the kits to fall in. And..." He didn't want to sound dumb, but this was Leopardsong, and he knew he shouldn't be afraid to share anything with her, even if it meant endless teasing in the future. I don't want to lie or hide anything from her, either. That was a huge no. Openness and honesty were key in their friendship, and Wolffang knew better than to hide anything from her. He didn't want to hide anything.

But his other Clanmates were here, and StarClan help him if any cat overheard Wolffang's fears. They'd already witnessed his terror of the tunnels twice if they'd been around for the windstorm and the fire. He lowered his voice to a whisper, leaning close to Leopardsong's delicately tapered ear. Had he told her this already? He couldn't remember. "I almost drowned. Twice. I'd prefer not to add a third account to that record." Glancing at the roaring falls and the placid pond, which glimmered in the bright greenleaf sunshine, Wolffang felt his fur begin to stand on end. Uncomfortable chills skittered down his spine. No, he didn't like this place at all.

Suddenly, Fallownose yowled something, blasting Wolffang's remaining ear off. The former deputy blinked in confusion at the current deputy's words. What nonsense was he talking about? He sounded like an immature apprentice, not the runner-up for leader. Wolffang glanced toward the noise - and saw Fallownose splash into the pond, his tall, dark gray shape absorbing the sun's rays. Instinctive alarm and horror shot through Wolffang as the water ruffled and washed over the deputy's head. Two memories quickly flashed through his mind: first, the RiverClan warrior holding his head underwater, causing him to roll and flail in the river, and his half-sibling, Snowypaw, falling into the river, making Wolffang jump in after him. Both visions were accompanied by the horrible feeling of water rushing up his nose, stinging his eyes, the pressure of being unable to breathe-

Without a second thought, Wolffang sprang from Leopardsong's side, barely avoiding trampling Littlekit as he tore across the grass. "FALLOWNOSE!!!" he yowled, launching himself into the water with a humongous splash.

He plunged into the pond. His amber eyes shut against the splash, but once they opened, panic wormed its way into his heart. Sunlight refracted in the water, and StarClan, no... It was drowning all over again. Water soaked his thick, medium-length fur, making Wolffang feel heavy as a badger as it billowed around him; he spotted bits of the ragged, light cream-gray fluff covering the front of his neck and chest. His eyes burned, water painfully flowed into his nostrils, he couldn't breathe, he couldn't breathe-

Wolffang flailed violently, his jaws open in a yowl of terror no one would hear. Bubbles rose to the surface, and unbeknownst to him, his legs and tail flashed above the water and created a great deal of splashing. His mind flashed to Fallownose. Is he okay?! Wolffang desperately tried to right himself, panicking, praying to StarClan he wouldn't drown, and-

His paw painfully hit the hard, rocky bottom, and Wolffang propelled himself upward, his limbs still flashing viciously. His broad head broke the surface, and he let out a choking gasp. Relief flowed through him, but also worry. Where's Fallownose? Hacking up water, his heart pounding a mile a minute, and his legs flailing with enough force to punt a pawful of apprentices to the moon and back just to keep himself afloat, Wolffang's head whipped around violently. Cool liquid dripped into his amber eyes, and he blinked, searching, and-

Fallownose was treading water nearby with a tranquil look. Well, tranquil with a hint of mischief. And he was talking about naming the place... Twilight Falls? After Twilightstar? Casually calling their leader the "most amazing and awesome leader ever"? Wolffang stared at him like he'd grown a second head. Shouldn't he be panicking? He'd jumped into the pond! No normal cat jumped into a pond! And the way he was talking!

Wolffang, cold, scared, angry, and highly confused, swam awkwardly to the surface with jerky movements that could hardly be called swimming. He ignored his other Clanmates as he scrambled to the surface, coughed up some water, and shook his pelt, not caring who he sprayed. Then he lifted his head and glared at Fallownose, tipless tail lashing behind him. At the moment, he didn't care that the other tom was deputy now.

"Fallownose, what in StarClan's name are you doing?! You - you could've drowned! Twilightstar herself said not to jump in that pond! And what are you even talking about? What will the kits and apprentices think? They - they can't think it's okay to jump into deep water like that! They could drown!" Wolffang was shaking, but not from cold. The greenleaf sun was pleasantly warm, actually, but that was the last thing on his mind.

"Don't..." he began, his voice dying off. His mind still spun - why the deputy had jumped into the pond was a complete mystery, and the way he'd been talking... He'd sounded like an apprentice or even a kit. Fallownose was usually so calm, collected, and mature, albeit a little silly with Twilightstar. What had gotten into him? But, despite this outrageous display, he was the deputy. And Wolffang wasn't. Not anymore. Still! he thought furiously, but his fear and anger were dying away. Fallownose was paddling calmly in the pond, a silly look on his face, and here was Wolffang, who had dived into the water thinking he was about to save a drowning deputy. I had every right to be concerned, he asserted silently. But he realized how awkward it was, the comparison between the two of them, and he didn't want to seem like he was challenging an authority figure, especially one who had been in authority for far longer than him. Yes, what Fallownose had done was absurdly hare-brained, but...

And everyone was probably looking at him. Great. Feeling awkward, flustered, greatly confused, and still a bit mad, the large warrior took a couple steps back. "Don't..." he started again, about to tell Fallownose not to do something like that again. But he was the deputy, and, despite the common sense involved, Wolffang didn't want to give the second-in-command a direct order. He certainly didn't want it to sound like he was challenging Fallownose's authority. Frustration rose within him, but he pushed it down, the loyal warrior within him winning as he stepped back.

"Erm. Twilight Falls is a good name to commemorate a great leader," he mumbled before quickly scampering back to where Leopardsong was. He took a seat beside her, exhausted from his misadventure in the water. His face and ear burned with embarrassment, and he kept his head down, studying his broad gray paws. StarClan, that was awkward. And embarrassing. But he couldn't have let Fallownose drown! Even though he'd swum perfectly fine, and the pond hadn't been that deep... Wolffang hadn't known at the time! I couldn't have let him die, he thought stubbornly. But for StarClan's sake, what had gotten into the deputy?

@Moonraven (Leopardsong and Twilightstar, since the leader's nearby) @Leafie (Littlekit) @Lillian (Fallownose) (I had a ton of fun writing this one!)