private GOT TO LOSE TO KNOW HOW TO WIN

[STORMFEATHER]

Because there were no kits or elders with them, anything she could catch would be hers. It was a simple thought, she realized, that the warrior code meant little outside of the boundaries of the Clans. Who was here to enforce it? She could still see the stars above her so she knew StarClan could watch—but the leaders were not here. And if one wanted to be technical, Orangeblossom and Smogmaw were the highest ranking among them as deputies. For her entire life Stormpaw had thrived on Clan life. She had grown under powerful leaders and was taught to respect the warrior code and their traditions. Most recent, however, was the idea that ThunderClan was the chosen Clan to protect the others.

And so what does that make me? I'm of ThunderClan but—her haunches moved close to the ground, eyeing the mouse she was hunting—ThunderClan is not of me.

Stormpaw pounced and her paws landed on empty space. "Fox dung!" She spat, lashing her tail as she whipped her head around to try to catch where the rodent had run off to.

@Mosspaw

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[Mosspool]

Mosspaw was on the hunt. She had already caught a scent, and had been tracking it for a while now. Stalking slowly forward, she parted her jaws to scent the air as she approached a bush. From what she could tell, her quarry must be on the other side. She tensed. It might come into sight any moment know.

A cry from the other side of the bush broke her concentration. She froze, uncertain, before the mouse she had been tracking leapt out of the bush in front of her, heading straight toward her.

Her surprise did not make her hesitate. The mouse let out a tiny squeak as she sunk her claws into it, killing it instantly. She blinked at the ease of her catch. Picking up her prey in her jaws, she stepped through the bush before her to see who had startled the mouse into her paws. Her curiosity was met by the familiar face of another apprentice. One of the Thunderclanners, she quickly realized.

It dawned upon Mosspaw that without her, her catch would not have been so easy. She might not have gotten it at all, in fact. It was a strange feeling. Even if it had been a mistake, it had helped her tremendously. Mosspaw decided she did not want to owe anything to a Thunderclanner. So she stepped forward and dropped the prey between the other apprentice's paws. "I think you lost this." There was a haughty satisfaction to her tone. She would find another catch, one no one could say was anything but her own. Besides, the thought that this Thunderclanner might have to admit that she had needed a Riverclanner's help to secure her prey delighted her.​

 

[STORMFEATHER]

Stormpaw's frustration melted away into surprise at once when she heard the death-squeak of her prey only moments after her failed hunt. The tricolor apprentice glanced up with a bewildered look on her face until the culprit revealed herself.

The fur along Stormpaw's spine rose defensively, seeing the very mouse she had been stalking clutched in the apprentice's jaws. It was one thing to lose a hunt, but it was a whole other thing to be shown up by another cat, and especially a cat of a different Clan.

"Hey." She grimaced, feeling shame flush through her pelt instantly when the prey was dropped at her paws. "Listen, I do not need to have my prey caught by RiverClan cats." She sputtered defensively, lashing her tail against the ground. She stalled, refusing to pick up the mouse. Anything to keep her from biting her pride down. "I thought you only hunted fish anyway."

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[Mosspool]

"Hello." Mosspaw met the other apprentice's grimace with her own smile. Her satisfaction blossomed even further to see her flush with shame, but a twinge of sympathy came with it. They both felt the exact same way. Mosspaw did not want to pick up prey that had been driven right into her paws by a Thunderclanner anymore than she wanted to pick up prey that had been caught by a Riverclanner. For a moment, her sympathy was almost enough to make her say as much. Almost. "Then you should not have let it get away from you." She stated simply.

Stormpaw's suggestion that Riverclanner's only hunted fish made her scoff, what a ridiculous idea. "Hardly. We hunt just as well on the land as we do in the water." Mosspaw declared firmly, puffing up her chest in pride. That was one of the many things that made Riverclan the best of all the clans, they were more versatile than the rest.​

 

[STORMFEATHER]

She eyed the darker she-cat but struggled to read her true intentions. No words of sympathy were spoken nor indication given, but Stormpaw could feel a begrudging respect for the way the RiverClan cat carried herself. Mosspaw's firm and stubborn nature echoed her own and so Stormpaw fluffed out her fur in indignation. She would not have wanted to be pitied anyway.

"Every cat makes mistakes." She reasons. "Even you, I assume." Pointedly does her blue gaze thrust itself over to Mosspaw's own face, challenging her silently.

"Alright then." The caution sloughs off Stormpaw for a moment as she watches the swell of Mosspaw's chest. "Let's see it then—you and me, a little competition to see who can catch the first prey, without any help." She grins.

☾₊ ⊹ sing for the laughter, sing for the tear

•  
• STORMPAW of THUNDERCLAN — LH FEMALE TORBIE WITH HIGH WHITE (CARRYING DILUTE) a small and slight creature with patches of black tabby and red tabby fur and bright blue eyes. her facial features are round, obscured by a heavy feathering of fur around her cheeks. smells of oak wood and basil, her voice has a rough, raspy edge to it that sometimes peaks into higher pitches, and her gait is described as firm and solid.
  
  — born to flycatcher and flamewhisker and raised alongside her brother falconpaw, stormpaw was always hyper-aware of an expectation of excellence hanging over her. she fails to excel at hunting, the skill her parents are most known for, and struggles with a severe identity crisis revolving around her obsession with thunderclan as the savior of the clans. she finds herself lost without meaning when she tries to detach herself from thunderclan as a whole, and uses a religious fervor in starclan to distract herself from her mental crisis.

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[Mosspool]

The Thunderclanner's reasoning was sound, so Mosspaw did not object to the statement. If she were speaking to a clanmate, she would have even agreed, and perhaps discussed the lesson she had taken from her past mistakes. Stormpaw, however, was as far from a clanmate as she could possible be, so she said nothing at all.

Then she offered a competition to prove her words true. The ego that had been building subtly inside her liked the sound of that. Better still, she would be competing not only for her self, but the pride of her clan. A more worthy cause she had never known. It was a productive endeavor too, she reassured herself. The competition would help them bring back more prey for everyone, no matter the outcome. "A wonderful idea." Mosspaw declared. "I accept your challenge."​