pafp ˙ ˖ ✶ five breaths ┊ hunting patrol.

Drowsypaw's missing. Cherrypaw isn't sure how many, if any, have noticed yet. If she's honest with herself, she's surprised she noticed at all. Ever since she had returned from the mountains, Drowsypaw had faded from an awkward series of interactions to just Lupinepaw's brother. Neither of them seemed to have lugged their kithood quarrel into apprenticeship, something Cherrypaw finds herself faintly grateful for beneath the burden of the other kithood quarrels that had persisted. The smoke-furred boy is someone that fades into the background noise of her life, another crackle among the flames.

"I see something," she quietly hisses to her patrol-mates, and bounds past the nearest trees before any of them can say anything. The apprentice isn't a good tracker, not by a long shot, but her fleeting experiences with the boy clue her into where he might be. Beneath one of the few, scraggly thickets in SkyClan territory—no. In the crevice of a particularly cavernous pile of rocks—nope. In the gnarled roots of an old tree, the thickest of them wider than her torso—there he is.

Citrine eyes blink, bewildered, at the slumbering whorl of black amid the brown-gray gradient of melting snow and earth. Drowsypaw looks way too peaceful for someone who had been assigned to chase after birds and mice today. His slack jaws and fluttering whiskers only make her want to wake him up more. "Drowsypaw! Drowsypaw!" she seethes, reaching out with a paw to roughly shake his shoulder. Her narrowed stare is pitiless. "Hey, mouse-brain. What in the name of StarClan are you doing? Please tell me you just got, like, knocked out by a branch or something." The words are hushed, breathed through gritted teeth beneath furtive glances behind her. If he got caught not hunting, she would be caught not hunting, and there was no way she was going to risk bringing down the wrath of both of their black-pelted, orange-eyed mentors.

ooc: please wait for @DROWSYPAW to post!​
 
STILL DON'T KNOW MY NAME

he swears he doesn't even remember falling asleep. he was hunting, crouched down in wait as he waited for the little mouse that dodged under a root to come back out but he felt so sleepy. and the next thing he knew, he was dreaming. peacefully. curled up and serene, soft snores and even softer twitches of his ears before the sudden yell and nudge against him makes his eyes widen as they snap open.

"h-huh!? i wasn't sleeping!"

he exclaimed, forcing himself onto his slightly shaky paws, vigorously he shakes his head to try and clear the exhaustion. oh, of course cherrypaw had to find him! this was embarrassing! he didn't mean to fall asleep, he couldn't help that he just got so tired!

"i'm not a mousebrain! and i wasn't sleeping i was hunting! what are you doing? doesn't look like you're hunting."

he huffs, with a pin of his ears.

"... don't tell duskpool."

 
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The inky tom follows behind Cherrypaw. In the past he would've been padding beside her, but it is difficult these days not to miss the strange tension. He doesn't hate Cherrypaw or at least he doesn't think so. He hates what she's done or the lack of what has been done to be more precise. Wait, this was about hunting. Hunting was his worst skill at the moment and if only he could strangle (this is a joke) Silversmoke for avoiding it like the plague. However, despite his flaws he tries. He tries despite the fact that tracking prey is difficult. When he's among the trees it is much easier, yet land prey is something he has yet to nail. Speaking of which, he instinctively looks up when Cherrypaw seemingly finds something or maybe decides to run off. His paws give chase and he makes it in time to see Drowsypaw and Cherrypaw trying to wake his sleeping brother.

Thankfully Drowsypaw wakes quickly. It's times like these he wonders who he should side with. Drowsypaw is his brother, but they haven't been super close these days. Leagues better than Lupinepaw considering she is dead to him at this point. Cherrypaw is complicated. They were friends once, but nowadays they just slip past each other with little thought. Truth be told he doesn't hold that much love for either of them. One may argue that it is correct to stand up for Drowsypaw because once again they are kin. However, the urge to do so is very little. Crowpaw doesn't hiss or towards Cherrypaw nor does he show much emotion. "Don't call him mouse-brain." That is it for his friend? Former friend? Clanmate. Yes, that is much easier. Clanmates is more managable to whatever they have going on right now.

And then, back to his brother. "We are hunting. This is a hunting patrol. Cherrypaw saw, that's why we're here. I'm not going to tell Duskpool, but get up and join us. We're all hunting after all." A bit forceful. Okay, a lot forceful. Unlike Cherrypaw, the irritation slips into his words towards Drowsypaw. He doesn't hate him, but they were here to hunt not squabble over sleeping on the job. Let's just get to business already.
  • — crowpaw / skyclan apprentice / masculine pronouns / 9 moons
    — undecided / single / not looking / open to flirting and crushes
    — long haired black smoke with hazel eyes with polydactyly
    — may powerplay minor harm / can powerplay healing
    biography / @ on discord for plots
    — penned by velou
 
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Drowsypaw, predictably, gets up. His eyes snap open, and all the little lines redraw themselves taut across his face. "Sure," she meows, sarcasm lacing the syllable. Mismatched ears flatten back at him as he splutters a retort, one side of her lip curling in the age-old pattern of annoyance. Still, he pleads with her, quiet as it is, to not tell Duskpool, and it gives her pause.

Before she can open her mouth to assure him that she's no such snitch, Crowpaw arrives on her heels, an admonishment falling from stone tongue. She glances back towards him, derision and confusion shadowing her face. He doesn't talk to her for a moon, and now he's back to trotting at her heels like the dog he'd been? "He's acting like one right now," she huffs back with a lash of her tail. The insult is delivered freely, without malice, at least without as much as Cherrypaw is capable of. Drowsypaw is not a mouse-brain, but he's acting like one for some reason only the stars would know.

She turns back to him when Crowpaw turns, ear flicking at the force applied to his tone. Cherrypaw doesn't do much to lessen the impact of hers either. "Yeah, we're not gonna tell anyone. Who do you think we are?" She flicks the tom's black-brushed side with her tail. "We were all chasing after the same mouse, or something, and, like, bumped into each other," she meows decisively. "Don't fall asleep again," she adds as she strides back towards the patrol, as though he needed reminding at all. "We might not be here for you next time."