It's been a long time since Zemo had so much open territory to hunt in. The last few moons have been rough, to say the least. His mate and younger kits drowned in the icy river, and after a year moving around in the twolegplace, the rogues claimed the shelter he and his daughter had as their own. Food wasn't easy to come by in the twolegplace. There was no such thing as borders in the twolegplace; if you saw a mouse, you had to make sure you catch it before someone else does. Even if you successfully hunt, that doesn't even mean the caught prey is absolutely yours. The rogues who were bothering SkyClan and the twolegplace made the hunting situation even worse, especially considering prey is less abundant during leaf-bare. He can't remember the last time he or Ekatrina had a fresh meal— most of the time they had to scavenge and eat scraps, and hope that they didn't eat crowfood by mistake.
Zemo had been occupying a patrol earlier, it was best if the dappled tom began to memorize SkyClan's territory. As the patrol was heading back, he spotted a mouse scurrying around— right out in the open. Perhaps he should've stayed with the patrol until they got back to camp, but the dappled tom was fairly confident he could find his way back from where he was now. He found himself crouching low to the ground, his eyes locked on his target. Not wasting a minute to spare, the patchwork feline pounces, and quickly bites the mouse in the neck, killing it instantly.
The mouse is only in his jaws for a few seconds, and his mouth already erupts with flavor. It's been so long since he had fresh mouse, he almost forgot what they tasted like. He sits down on the ground, dropping the dead mouse onto the snow. His belly rumbles with hunger; he caught it, so it should be his to eat— right? He crouches down, and is about to take a bite into the mouse, when his ears prick at the sound of pawsteps crunching beneath the snow. Pawsteps that are heading toward him.
HE SAID, "WELL MY NAME'S JOHNNY, AND IT MIGHT BE A SIN
BUT I'LL TAKE YOUR BET, AND YOU'RE GONNA REGRET, CUZ IM THE BEST THERE'S EVER BEEN."
The patrol had been a fairly uneventful one, and for once the led warrior was glad for the calm. Normally the the energetic bobtail would welcome a bit of action to get his blood pumping, but not even he could argue that they'd seen enough of that recently. The clan needed time to recover from everything, and whether he'd like to admit it or not, so did Johnnyflame. The return of the rogues alone had been enough to bring up old feelings to sort out considering they had killed one of his apprentices the last time they'd been in the territory, but this time they'd taken Blazestar as well, and a part of the foundation that Johnnyflame had been built upon was now gone.
The tom who had trusted enough in him to give him the rank of Lead Warrior, who'd given him the very name that made him more than just a housepet, was dead.
Johnnyflame walked toward the back of the patrol, his stocky frame still sporting the partially healed cuts and bruises from driving out the rogues. The limp from a nasty bite to his shoulder was gone, but he expected there'd be a nice scar there for the rogues efforts. Despite his aches though, the bobtail was as alert as ever, and so when he spotted Zemo stalking off the path after a mouse, Johnny paused and watched. He didn't know Zemo beyond name and pelt in the clan, but he was aware of the tom being a newer face that was still learning the ropes. To Johnnys approval it at least seemed like the torbie could hunt, but the lead quickly found himself frowning when the successful kill wasn't followed by Zemo picking his prey up and heading toward camp.
Instead, they sat down and seemed to make themselves comfortable with the mouse.
Not about to stand there and watch a clanmate feed themselves before even checking to see what the preypile was looking like, the torbie quickly made his way over to interrupt their little solo dining experience.
"Nice catch." he called to them, purposefully a bit loud in hopes of startling them out of their skin. "You can take it to the nursery and give it to Fantastream- I'm sure she'll be grateful for a fresh piece of prey, aye?"
While the words were ones of praise and friendly question, accompanied by a a typical toothy grin, the tone held a firmness to it and the sun-gold eyes that met Zemos were unflinchingly hard, daring them to argue. Johnny didn't like to assume the worst of cats and -like now- was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt that they just might not know what the rules were. And fair enough, if such were the case. But at the end of the day no cat put themselves above another, and anyone who tried wouldn't have a place in the clan for long.
"Skyclan warriors always make sure to feed those who can't hunt for themselves first. Only after do they feed themselves- and never in the middle of a patrol." he informed them evenly, watchful for a reaction. Any cat that couldn't handle the base concepts wouldn't make it here, and Johnny knew that. Many made the mistake of thinking him soft due to his daylight warrior status, but after the things he'd seen and lived through out in the pine forest the lead warrior was all too aware that it took a certain type of a cat to make it in a clan environment. Things like softness or selfishness could cost lives, and Johnnyflame wasn't interested in losing any more cats.
Zemo was a new face around the clan and that's not a bad thing. Everyone starts off being new, young or old. When he first joined as Stormy yes he was able to fight and hunt a bit already, but if he could go back and punch himself for thinking it would be a piece of cake he would! Even though he didn't much training compared to others, the most difficult part came the rules. As a former rogue the idea of not eating what you caught was absurd. Even more so to give it up to someone else and hope there was enough food left over for yourself. If he was still a rogue and you asked him to feed a younger cat first he would call you insane and if the kit really wanted it, then they should try to pry it out of his claws!
The blue tabby has a squirrel hanging limp in his jaws as he approaches the pair. He had gone off in a different direction from the two toms, but it seems like there's a problem of some sort? Amber eyes glance towards Johnnyflame, questioning whether or not something has happened. When Johnnyflame explains one of their rules he tilts his head in confusion. Huh? I know, oh shit, did Zemo try eating? Slowly he turns his attention to the black and orange cat, noting how suspiciously close he was to that mouse there. A thud indicates he dropped his own catch in order to add, "Yep, yep! Johhnyflame's right! We're not allowed to eat until everyone else is fed."
It should be noted that Beetleback says this with gusto, that it doesn't feel like a reprimand whatsoever. It very much feels like he's not taking this serious when the reality is, he's just trying not to make Zemo feel cornered in this situation. Pulling away some pressure might make Zemo relieved and they could all continue with the patrol. Come on, you better not make a fuss. We'll catch something so you can eat.
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skyclanner, former lonercisgender male [he / him]
