He would never admit it out loud of course, but Cloudjumper's large size made it a bit difficult to keep up with him. Beansprout was a bit small for his age, and that wasn't doing him much of a favor. He hid his breathlessness the best he could by covering it with the occasional cough or clearing of his throat. This was even better when the other cat started talking. "Skies above, I can't wait either. I'm tired of this cold, icky weather. Even snow is better than whatever this is," he chuckled. Beansprout hadn't been to Haven Springs in... well, had he ever? He had heard of the place, of course, but it really was pretty. Cloudjumper's question distracted him from his thoughts and he considered. "Well, we really don't wanna stay out in this weather too long, or else we'll bring herbs and sickness to Stonepaw. So yeah, let's split up and see what we can find!"
With a nod towards the larger cat, Beansprout picked a direction and headed that way. As the warrior walked toward the hot springs, he could feel a tempting warmth radiating toward him. There wasn't even much snow on the edge of the springs! Surely, this would be a good place to find marigold despite the winter weather. As the siamese sniffed around, he caught a familiar pungent aroma seconds before seeing a flash of yellow-orange. There! It wasn't much, but surely four flowers would do. Carefully, gently, Beansprout nipped the base of the stems, then proceeded to grab them and carry them in his mouth. With that, he trotted back to where he had split with Cloudjumper, hoping the other tom had perhaps had a bit more luck.
CLOUDJUMPER
Returning the nod to Beansprout, the young white-and-black tomcat swiftly headed off in another direction with a determined smile present on his maw. The mix of snow and raise still continued to pelt down onto the curly RiverClan warrior, but that didn’t slow him down, no, not for a single second. Thankfully, the steam and overall heat that radiated off the springs nearby helped ease the cold at least a tiny bit, not allowing any snow to build up in the surrounding proximity. Nosing his way through some lush foliage, putting his sniffer to the true test of power, Cloudjumper searched, and searched and searched until… Aha! A familiar bushel of orange and yellow hues caught his eye and he excitedly went closer to take a much better look. And sure enough, these were, in fact, marigold flowers.
Probably being amongst the firsts of the approaching season, Cloudjumper carefully bent down and turned his head, grabbing a bundle of flowers (about four, if we’re being specific) with his teeth. Once the herbs were swiftly yanked from the soil, the massive black-and-white tomcat stood back up and angled himself back towards the way he came from. To his relief, Beansprout was awaiting his return, appearing to have a few marigolds of his own. However, before officially walking on over, the young RiverClan warrior quickly made his way over to the hot springs and would pick out a smoothed rock that rested near one of the pools. It was a bit awkward to carry along with the flowers in his jaws, but he wanted to give Stonepaw a gift in return for the feather he'd given him awhile back. "This should be enough." Cloudjumper said to the other warrior, speech muffled slightly, "Shall we head back?" This patrol had been a success.
as the duo walk through the territory and over the broken down twoleg bridge, almondmilk seems to be in firs own land. clearly, they aren't entirely focused on the apprentice in front of them — looking both left and right, up and down to observe the nature. snow. birds that hadn't migrated. finally, as the apprentice and warrior reach the springs, glow turns glows attention to bouncepaw. only then does fir really notice the accessory that the apprentice is adorning, head tilting in slight confusion, but they stay silent about it. "fine by me, dude." fir reassures before crouching down just before the water, a pawstep or two away from the apprentice. they watch the young tom catch a fish, only giving a lazy smile at the performance. though, the smile was out of confusion and maybe a little entertainment.
"siiick, man. I've never seen anyone do it like that." almondmilk responds, amused, before shuffling their paws and scanning the water. not many fish are often found in the springs, but it seems it's a lucky day for the both of them because a fish slowly swims by. raising one paw, the tabby swoops the fish out of the water, looking as though they may shed a tear as they give the fish a killing bite. "man.." fir murmurs' "if we could eat herbs instead of prey, I'd probably do that...this ruins all the good vibes out here." fir adds on, though they don't seem to be saying this to bouncepaw - more like themselves.
"hey, lil' man, I'm gonna see if I can find some land prey - you dig that? I won't be far off, and you can continue fishin'." the warrior says, giving the young tom a few moments to answer before glow pads off about a tree length ahead, sniffing the air. another piece of prey with that fish, combined with whatever bouncepaw catches should be good enough.
He looked at
Almondmilk as
they caught a
fish, looking
the same way
he felt. “Same
here… this place-“
he paused,
lifting his head
before continuing “It’s beautiful.”
he seemed almost
breathless as he
watched the springs.
He watched in silence
as fir walked away,
saying they were
going out hunting
land-prey. He gave
a small smile,
at least he tried.
He looked back
towards the springs,
wishing he knew how
to hunt land-prey.
He decided to say
he hadn’t found
any more fish.
He sank into
the hot springs,
glad to be out
of that dreadfully
chilly weather.
The stocky deputy gave a nod, confirming the apprentice's scenting of the bird. That was correct. Though she could have easily avoided saying she didn't actually, he didn't see why she'd do that, thus rather going with the wherein she really did get it right. This thought passed through his mind, and not seconds later did it begin to pour rain down onto them. Ick. He hated this. The rain could hardly penetrate his thick fur, still, it was a hassle to dry and overall annoying (he didn't like the smell, either). The tabby grumbled a little, silently cursing the overall bad weather, before turning to see what Mintpaw preferred to do; it was a hunting lesson after all, and they'd caught only one thing.
Decision made, he huffed a little, but gave a nod. Without a word he got up - leaving the apprentice's catch for herself to carry - and slowly but surely proceeded to camp in the heavy rain. That is, until Mintpaw suddenly stopped in her tracks for before camp. He quirked a brief brow, looking down at the apprentice for a moment before hearing the distinctive sound of a frog. "..You'll need your claws. They're slippery things, you'll have to dig your claws in to catch them. Don't really have a neck either, so go just around the head."
Since Almondmilk left
Bouncepaw, reluctantly
sucked up his guilt and
caught two more fish.
One was long and
skinny, while the
other was short and
plump. He cleared
his throat. “Almondmilk,
come on! We have
enough prey to head
back now!” he
called, keeping the
four fish underneath
him. The tom waited
for the warrior to
come to him so they
could put their catch’s
into the prey pile and
report to Gingerfrost.
He sighed. What would
it be like when Gingerfrost
was leader? How’d he lead?
He shook the thought with
a reassuring; Pikestars not
Going to die. and returned
to waiting for Gingerfrost. Of
course, Gingerfrost would
be an amazing leader,
but the thought of
Pikestar dying was absolutely
terrifying. He scanned
the springs, waiting for
Almondmilk so that
they could go.
having caught the scent of a bird, almondmilk tracks it. their eyes land on a plump finch not too far, and they promptly crouch down and begin to stalk towards the prey. fir shifts their weight before leaping onto the bird, quickly killing the bird. ooouh, man. this feels worse than the fish, the warrior thinks with a small sigh. the thought leaves their mind at bouncepaw calling their name, and they grab the bird and begin to head back to the apprentice. glow snatches up the fish glow had caught earlier, nodding happily at the amount that the duo had managed to pile up. "okayyy, lil man, let's go." they say, words muffled. then, it's back to riverclan.
having caught the scent of a bird, almondmilk tracks it. their eyes land on a plump finch not too far, and they promptly crouch down and begin to stalk towards the prey. fir shifts their weight before leaping onto the bird, quickly killing the bird. ooouh, man. this feels worse than the fish, the warrior thinks with a small sigh. the thought leaves their mind at bouncepaw calling their name, and they grab the bird and begin to head back to the apprentice. glow snatches up the fish glow had caught earlier, nodding happily at the amount that the duo had managed to pile up. "okayyy, lil man, let's go." they say, words muffled. then, it's back to riverclan.
Bouncepaw nodded. “Lead the way.”
he said, gesturing to
the direction of camp.
He flicked his ear and
sighed annoyance. He
was gonna look silly
carrying his prey. He
Put two in his mouth,
the two only fitting
barely. He picked
up the third one and
tucked it under his
chin. He followed
Almondmilk to camp,
wishing his mouth were
bigger.
(Let’s deposit this at the prey pile and I’ll mention you at the Riverclan patrol place to report to Gingerfrost)
The stocky deputy gave a nod, confirming the apprentice's scenting of the bird. That was correct. Though she could have easily avoided saying she didn't actually, he didn't see why she'd do that, thus rather going with the wherein she really did get it right. This thought passed through his mind, and not seconds later did it begin to pour rain down onto them. Ick. He hated this. The rain could hardly penetrate his thick fur, still, it was a hassle to dry and overall annoying (he didn't like the smell, either). The tabby grumbled a little, silently cursing the overall bad weather, before turning to see what Mintpaw preferred to do; it was a hunting lesson after all, and they'd caught only one thing.
Decision made, he huffed a little, but gave a nod. Without a word he got up - leaving the apprentice's catch for herself to carry - and slowly but surely proceeded to camp in the heavy rain. That is, until Mintpaw suddenly stopped in her tracks for before camp. He quirked a brief brow, looking down at the apprentice for a moment before hearing the distinctive sound of a frog. "..You'll need your claws. They're slippery things, you'll have to dig your claws in to catch them. Don't really have a neck either, so go just around the head."
┌────────── ∘・❄︎・∘ ──────────┐
Mintpaw (she/her)
Riverclan White and gray siamese with blue eyes
└───────── ・∘ ❄︎ ∘・ ─────────┘
Mintpaw watched curiously the shiny, green thing that croaked in a so peculiar way. It seemed so peaceful. Isn't it scared of us? Can't she hear us? The strange-looking frog had huge eyes and seemed to lack both ears and a nose. She left her prey down carefully and lowered herself to the ground, knowing that the rain would cover the noise of her steps so she didn't have to make too much effort for that.
She leaped at the weird creature, but before her claws could sink into it, the frog had already made a long jump ahead of her! She leaped again, and the frog made the same thing another time. Mintpaw frowned with disappointment and run after it until... the frog made a huge leap into a pool of water.
Mintpaw followed in without thinking, but when she landed she realized she was actually fallen into a swamp. A small lake. Now, her pelt was plastered to her thin body, but the rain at least didn't bother her anymore.
Without noticing where Gingerfrost was, she turned and sprang up again as she saw a dark shape under the surface of the water.
The white siamese dived underwater and, after a few moments, came back with her mouth full of a very slimy and icky frog. As soon as she was out of the water she spat it out and went to a clear pool of water to rinse her poor mouth. "...Eww. Disgusting." She let finally out the comment that she'd wanted to burst out with since her teeth had sunken into the frog's flesh.
She decided that she would later collect the first prey and casually leave the frog for the deputy to bring home. She swore to herself never to taste frog again on her tongue.
Gingerfrost panicked a little when, through the sound of the rain thundering on his ears, he heard the familiar splash of someone jumping (or this time falling) into the water. Concerned, although expression unchanged, he rushed forward until he saw Mintpaw emerge - then jump back under all over again? This time he didn't move, as it was of her own volition, and instead carefully kept his eyes on the water. Swimming in swaps was a lot more difficult in his opinion, due to the murky water. But soon enough Mintpaw emerged again, dropping the fallen frog at his paws. The apprentice wasted no time rinsing her mouth, and in the meantime Gingerfrost had picked up the frog, leaving the other piece for Mintpaw. "Let's head back."
He meowed, gesturing with his head back to camp. He'd rather the apprentice not catch a cold, soaked to the bone like that in cold weather, so he accelerated his pace. "Warm up."
He'd mutter once they reached camp.
┌────────── ∘・❄︎・∘ ──────────┐
Mintpaw (she/her)
Riverclan ❍ 11 moons White and gray siamese with blue eyes
└───────── ・∘ ❄︎ ∘・ ─────────┘
Mintpaw appreciated Gingerfrost's practical manners. Some warriors, he recalled, loved to chat endlessly while working. That wasn't her case.
The white siamese shook the water off his fur, trying not to notice she was starting to quiver as the breeze hit her wet pelt. She nodded at the deputy's instructions and picked up the remaining prey, trotting silently behind the ginger-colored tom.
She followed him to the fresh-kill pile and left her catch on it, wondering if she should take some to the elders or the queens. She would've gladly brought some to Slatestripe, but the tom had surely eaten already and she wasn't sure he would be glad to be fed by an apprentice, even if it was his.
As Gingerfrost began to pad away, she dipped her head in dismiss and quietly returned to the apprentices' den, impatient to cover herself in moss and feathers and get a good rest. What a pity to have no one to share the nest with. The warmth of her mother or her mentor would have certainly done her good, but she wouldn't sneak into the warriors' den to take a nap.
Re: Haven Springs
Re: Haven Springs
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