perish, foxes.

[alkaline]

Event [#event]

"Rainfall, Sparrowfur! Firestream! Violetfreckle! Mudhound! Leafpaw and Ghostpaw - with me!"

Alderstep's yowl cut through the clearing, eyes slanted in a permanent scowl, etching deep lines of cold anger into his features. He needed some cats to help drive those foxes out of the Hollow, and he hoped for these cats' sakes that they showed up. They seemed like roughly reliable cats, enough so that he could drag them along for the wondrous fox encounter that he most certainly wasn't looking forward to.

The deputy stayed posted just a few paw steps from the camp entrance, ready to leave and deal with this fox problem once and for all. If he erred on their more fortunate side, it shouldn't be a completely terrible ordeal. Those foxes couldn't be at their prime, not with the way they'd looked last time he'd spotted those mange-pelts.

@Caspian @roo! @The Doctor @Rani @Leafy @Starfinder @vellichor

next post in 48 hours- if your cat doesn't show up by then, they'll be replaced.

[Caspian]

Rainfall looked up from where he was intensely watching a bug die (quite entertaining to be honest) when he heard Aldersteps call. Rainfall immediately got to his paws and bounded towards the deputy. He dipped his head in respect. “Hello, Alderstep.” he said softly, trying his hardest to resist the urge to race away from him. Rainfall listed the other cats in his head. Sparrowfur, Firestream, Mudhound, Leafpaw, and Ghostpaw— wait, they were bringing apprentices? Hopefully they weren’t too young. Rainfall would never let Sleepypaw come along, she was far too young

@navarra -Alderstep @roo! -Sparrowpelt @The Doctor -Firestream @Rani -Mudhound @Leafy -Leafpaw @Starfinder -Ghostpaw

[Rani]

Mudhound hadnt been in the best state over the last few days. Not physically! Idiots dont get sick and despite a missing leg the warrior was, as always, in good shape. It was just..... There was a lot on their mind.


They'd promised to go after their nephews left alone in the twolegplace with cruel cats when they should be in thunderclan safe but was it really safe here? And even if it was as safe as possible so 'safe enough' things had kept happening! Mudhound was supposed to be there and back by now! Yet here they were! And they couldnt go now, with everything with Cracklepaw (kit now but what difference did it make, he was still dangerous!) they'd promised to protect some younger souls who were terrified of the monster in their midst. How could Mudhound leave them? But also how could they leave their kin, their sisters kits with the cats who'd killed her?

The thoughts were way too much and while the maine coon mix had been doing their duties it hadnt been with their normal vigor.

The call perked them back to focus though and the warrior quickly realized what it was for, only one thing at the moment required a patrol this large and the call for two apprentices too froze the warrior in place. They were taking apprentices to go after foxes?! This was a tight patrol to begin with, Mudhound didnt know how many were down there and Bumblestar hadnt said either but 'a ton'. A TON DID NOT MATCH FIVE WARRIORS AND TWO APPRENTICES!

Mudhound was up and over ungracefully but fast, whispering (which meant not whispering because Mudhound had no clue what volume control was) "Why are we taking apprentices? Ghostpaw fainted just last gathering, I dunno if she's had battle training, much less training on how to deal with a fox. Leafpaw was just six moons old. Im just really really really worried, do they have to come? Or can we take like more warriors to make sure they have someone? Please please please boss-man!" The warrior jolted, seeming to realize something and their golden eyes got really worried "If Bumble-sis has told you I can speak to dogs it doesnt apply to foxes, I cant talk them away like dogs (sometimes). Cant rely on that...." The worried warrior was obviously twitchy and due to their large size and total lack of personal space probably looming over Alderstep at the moment. But they just, didnt get whatever plan there had to be! Sure they'd go in without a plan but boss-man was super smart! He had to have one but to Mudhound it just seemed dangerous!



They had to be just not seeing all the facts, yeah that was it. Alderstep had a totally awesome plan that didnt put the apprentices in danger and would explain it cuz the tripod just didnt get it.
@navarra

[roo!]

Sparrowfur nearly jumped at her name. She swiftly made her way over to the deputy with a sharp nod. She ran back the list in her head, 'paws? Surely they would only watch from the sidelines. She trusted Alderstep, he was smart. He wouldn't put apprentices lives at risk. Starclan knew Thunderclan was already at risk of losing warriors.
@navarra

[Eden]

leafpaw came over at the call of her name.
@navarra
(Poor post until I can get my internet back up)

[Morrigan]

Firestream
Thunderclan drama queen warrior

Firestream slowly padded up annoyance flashed in her dark blue gaze as she sat down what was all this about then-...wait...why are they talking about bringing apprentices along?...What were they doing that was so dangerous?...Oh no! Foxes!NO!NO! She had to get herself out of this quick!

Plumy tail bushed like a thistle now the pretty she-cat scrambled quickly towards Alderstep her ears flattened back "Alderstep you can't possibly expect me to go! It's too dangerous! I'm too beautiful to die!" she blurted out in a panic with a hint of desperation she was still young with so much to live for! And now she was doing this!?

@navarra

(Take her It's a good experience for my dramatic baby...though I don't know why Alderstep thought her to be reliable...)

[vellichor]

Violetfreckle

Yes, yes, yes. She had been itching to teach someone -- or something -- a lesson, and it seemed that these poor foxes would be the subject of Violetfreckle's pent up urge for violence. While she did feel a slight prick of disappointment that it was Alderstep leading the patrol and not a certain light-furred feline, her craving to knock heads quickly won over. As she approached and was about to speak up, a shrill, whiny voice pierced her ears. As she flattened her ears, Violetfreckle wore an annoyed snarl and found the source: a dark ginger she-cat, ears flattened and practically begging Alderstep to leave her behind for fear of death. With an odd noise -- somewhere between a hiss and an annoyed huff -- the lilac tabby spoke.

"If you're really weak enough that you think you're gonna die fighting a couple scrawny foxes in a patrol of -- one two three four five six seven cats, at least, then maybe you shouldn't tag along. Typical ThunderClan drama queen," she muttered that last part to herself. Although it seemed most of ThunderClan's cats were generally pretty... okay, Violetfreckle still hated incompetence, and refused to deal with it.

Turning to Alderstep, she gave a slight dip of her head and purred, "Personally, I'm more than ready to knock some sense into these foxes." She kneaded the ground in anticipation as she waited.

// @navarra @The Doctor (Firestream interaction) \\

[poppy]

Lotuspaw

The small apprentice skipped out of the den, considering a call for both her sister and her mentor also a call to summon Lotuspaw. How could it not- this was her family, and she didn't need to be sorry about intruding if it was family! (A flawed, somewhat idiotic mindset, but one that Lotus stuck by.)

Brilliant blue eyes widening and then narrowing as the deputy man called for her loved ones to go fight foxes, Lotuspaw was prancing over without a second thought. She wanted to come, too! She could fight! "Excuse me, Mr. Alderman, sir?" She chirped, shooting Mudhound and Leafpaw a toothy grin like 'look guys, i'm here too!' before moving swiftly along to continue her plea to the deputy.

"I was wonderin' if I could come too, please? I'm really fast and I could be really helpful, even if it's just like... as a bait-cat or I can even just stand off to the side and be ready to run home if ya need help, but I really want to help you guys out because I want to be able to help the Clan. Can I please come? Pretty please?" No one could say no to Lotus's patented 'pretty please', even Alderman!

[ @navarra @Leafy @Rani || done with permission from nav ofc ]

[Caspian]

Rainfall
Agatha Kitty

Rainfall chuckled awkwardly at the amount of cats and stepped a few paces backwards, his social awkwardness not helping the situation. He took a breath and calmed down. “Maybe instead of complaining..” he shot a sharp glance at Firestream. Rainfall looked at the other cats. “Maybe we could get a move on? Those foxes could be killing our prey or another cat right now. Their too problematic to keep on the territory any longer.” he continued, not trying to do Aldersteps job for him, but just trying to calm everyone down and get to the point. If he was being quite honest.. he really wanted to knock some sense into those foxes. He looked at Lotuspaw, finally having noticed her, flicked an ear to acknowledge her presence. She didn’t look too young on first glance.. “I agree with her. Lotuspaw would be a good cat to see if we needed help. Plus the younger apprentices can go with her. She could fend off any foxes any protect them.” Rainfall suggested to Alderstep, making sure it was only a suggestion, not a command

@poppy. @navarra @vellichor @The Doctor @Leafy @roo! @Rani

[alkaline]

Event [#event]

Alderstep briefly nodded at Rainfall, returning the respect. Quiet guy, though. Harsh contrast from the sharp, stifling appearance of the large Mudhound, towering over him and practically drowning him in their anxiety. He turned his gaze from Rainfall with surprise, shuffling back instinctively. "Ghostpaw may be young, but she's - wait she fainted-?" Alderstep blinked, ears twitching back as confusion and the fast words overwhelmed him. "Talking to dogs??"

Oh, there's Sparrowfur and Leafpaw.

And also Firestream. He called her, right? Yeah. "Uh, sorry-" he excused himself, side-stepping from Mudhound to peer at Firestream. His tail lashed once in irritation, but Violetfreckle snapped at the cat before he could. One eye roll later, Alderstep nodded at the once-RiverClanner, thankful for her determination.

Whiskers twitched as the voice of Lotuspaw came to him. Alderstep turned to look at the apprentice, his eyebrow raised at the honorific. He looked over the gathered cats and noted that Ghostpaw had not shown up. Alright, so that's fine. He wrinkled his snout with contempt for Lotuspaw's pleading words, but relented to her request with a small nod and a grumbled "you're in."

Rainfall was talking, taking the words right from his mouth. Alderstep sighed and drew himself up, flicking his tail to curl by his side. "Firestream, you can go waste away in your nest or something if you don't wanna come along - that goes for all of you," he said, voice raised.

He let his gaze travel over everybody before continuing. "I'm gonna tell y'all what you need to know now, 'cause I'm not gonna let you out there and get overexcited about foxes and then not listen when you need to. First of all, we have to cross the tree bridge to get to the foxes. Obviously, that's gonna be a problem, yeah? So the plan is that two cats cross together first, preferably strong fighters who are also fast. They're gonna draw the foxes away from the bridge so everyone else can cross. None of us should be too far behind, those two cats cannot be on their own for more than, say, 60 breaths."

Alderstep paused, a frown crossing his face. "Those foxes are weak - they've already been driven around, and they've had limited resources. Some of them are pups. I counted at most ten, and that was at a distance. Of those, maybe three were kits. They're scared and tired, and that's why there's so few of us. It's a waste of resources to take anymore. Those mange-pelts are more like an easily startled flock of birds than ferocious predators at this point, but they're gonna be savage with hunger too." He tilted his head back to scratch at his cheek with a hind paw, eyes closing up to escape his claws. As he did so, he went over his thoughts, sifting through for more information to share.

"We're driving them up that ridge, and then toward the outskirts border. That way," Alderstep pointed out, jolting his head in the vague direction of the place he was speaking of.

"For now, let's get moving. Ask any questions on the way."

With that, the tabby led the way out of camp, eyes trained forward and shoulders set determinedly.

"Oh, and also: any volunteers to be the first two? Don't put yourself up for the glory, do it if you're capable," Alderstep forewarned, tossing his words over his shoulder.

@Caspian @vellichor @Rani @Leafy @poppy. @The Doctor @roo!

next post moving this forward in 24/48 hours (depending on how fast replies get out), but I will be making some before then answering questions/addressing issues/accepting volunteers/taking suggestions, from then on the time between posts pushing the event forward will be quicker. again, if your reply doesn't make it by then, it will be assumed the character went home or something and the event will move on without.