pafp DOWN HERE LOW [ ✩ ] LAND HUNTING; PROMPT

[Cricketchirp]

( ✩ )　 Starlightpaw won't say anything bad about Lichentail, she's fine enough. Smokestar chose her for deputy, which must mean she has some kind of merit. Though, her strange fascination with feathered things seems far from fitting. Land training, she's dragged them all out here for. It's not much like RiverClan at all, far too close to the cats across the border. He'd much prefer to stick to fish.

(Maybe it's good to learn. The thought of getting in the water makes Starlightpaw's throat close up. She spent so long away, and now any time she gets near the currents all she can think about is the rogue's head held beneath the surface until it stopped moving. She shutters that part of her mind off.)

They need to provide for the clan somehow, but this isn't the right way to do it, isn't the proper way. He won't speak against the deputy, but Starlightpaw's pelt keeps prickling, and when another apprentice comes back with a bird in their jaws (while his are still empty), his lip curls into a sneer. "What are we, SkyClan?" She grumbles. Her claws scratch at the sand. She doesn't care to wait for a reaction, instead barreling on, mutterings growing to a crooning crescendo.

"It's not right, having to hunt birds -- we should be fishing, like a proper RiverClanner. What, next will we be climbing trees and -- and making friends with kittypets?" It's humiliating. Is this what he's supposed to do? Is this what he'll be condemned to if he doesn't get it together and start swimming again? At least he won't be alone -- for the coming leafbare at least. "Stars, I hope this cold passes quick, I can't be stuck eating these things for a whole season." He's gone without fish before and he's not sure he'll survive it again.

LATELY I'M FEELING LIKE ✩ A BIG BANG ! 【 12.12.23 】

• // Prompt: Lichentail overhears a cat denouncing the value of birds, saying that no true RiverClan cat would choose to hunt them over other prey. Does she respond?
  
  please wait for @lichentail ! after that, feel free to play the apprentice who starry got unreasonably mad abt <3
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• "SPEECH"

• ✩ 　⁺　₊ 　⋆　STARLIGHTPAW.　APPRENTICE OF RIVERCLAN.　HE / SHE / THEY.
  6 MOONS & AGES ON THE 12TH.　PENNED BY SATURNID.
  
  

  

  ✩ — A WIRY, CURLY-FURRED BLACK SMOKE WITH CLOUDED BLUE EYES.
  

  
  SMOKETHROAT xx CICADASTAR. LITTERMATE TO BEEPAW & CICADAPAW.
  
  MENTORED BY PETALNOSE.​

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[lichenstar]

⋆ ✧　 　 · 　 ✧ ⋆ ✧　 　 · 　 ✧ ⋆ ✧　 　 · 　 ✧ ⋆ ​

Smokestar was no weak-willed or spineless cat... did not throw temper tantrums over inconvenience. If it were as simple as plucking the best traits from either parent though, all kittens might yet be saints and it seems, unfortunately, that the shudderingly named "Starlight" of the clan had inherited her dead father's snappish tongue rather than his brains. Perhaps it was her own bias that stemmed from a time spent hunting and surviving without the clans but this new age of whining about what food filled their bellies was proving to realllyyyyyy get under her skin. If these little rats had been around to live through the colonies, they would know that the Marsh Colony had fed itself off lizards, frogs... far more disgusting creatures than the avian variety she preferred. But being a spoiled brat was innate to the structure of the clans... and while specializing did give them strengths, it would be stupid to ignore a wellspring of prey in the winter in favor of 'traditions' that had only just begun to form.

She has to remember, constantly, that these children do not know anything but this. They cannot pull from experiences of a much crueler, disorganized world... but her patience was so very thin. Her fear of the winter's chilling grasp and its very real threats make it almost impossible to spare the energy to choose thoughtful words and explanation. At least when Brookpaw had been a kit, she'd only critiqued the size of the prey, not the contents itself.

"You're welcome to fish as soon as there is not a layer of ice coating the river," she replies, voice dry of any empathy to the dark furred child's frustrations. "Like it or not, birds line your nest to keep you warm this winter. They fill our bellies when the fish hide in deep waters and when voles and squirrels tuck away for the cold months. Without them, you'd very likely starve." It is unfortunately, their reality, whether that is 'proper' to RiverClan or not. Besides... who made up that idea anyways?

If neither she, nor Smokestar, nor even Cicadastar had ever admonished the catching of other prey, where did a bunch of kids get off proclaiming it as 'unnatural'? "Seems to me like someone might be making excuses for their empty paws. Come on then, lets see your crouch... it is different from fishing stance."

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WELL IF YOU WANT MY BLOOD I'LL MAKE SO MUCH BLOOD

THAT YOU'RE GONNA FUCKING DROWN​

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[Petalnose]

Petalnose couldn't help but agree with Starlightpaw, however birds were her a form of meal her mother brought upon them when leafbare was cruel and her littermates were beginning to bare teeth. It was one of the first she was introduced to. Petalnose hated it but she ate it otherwise. No food could be wasted then. Tiny scrawny and shivering figures had to grow, they had to be warm. It was more agony to be hungry at that age and season. Petalnose even prickled at the talk down despite being weirded out by Lichentails fascination as well. The riverclan deputy seemed to speak before her which had made her prickle more, irritation seeping into her glare to warn she may be overstepping.Neutrality she found with Lichentail but towards anyone but her fathers stepping forth with her apprentices she saw it a form of disrespect. "You could be in my position, born in leafbare, it was a form of food introduced whether you liked it or not. This season will pass, you want to keep your paws right? Good. Then we have to stick with what we have. It's temporary." It was the same words her mother bitterly spat at her when she had complained the same. Then she returned her gaze to Lichentail, "You may attend her assessment when it comes time, but I believe this isn't your responsibility and you have a lot to handle. I thought you would know I could handle this myself." She bluntly pointed as neutral as she could, however the tip of her tongue hinted her growing frustration and her tail twitched in irritation. Did Lichentail believe she couldn't handle her own apprentice? Or was she merely offended by the point of interest? Petalnose wondered, however, making it clear she didn't appreciate it. The talk wasn't minded but the command to perform action was much in her eyes. Lichentail had a lot to handle especially with kits on the brink and her own two apprentices. It was as if she were handling her own youthful self, however, Starlightpaw was more mellowed out in her eyes. She wasn't one to let a youth walk all over her. "I would like to see you catch a bird, Starlightpaw. Even if you can't bare to eat it, it will bring good use to a warrior."

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