I'VE GOT TO BE CAUTIOUS - trying fish

[STORMWHISKER]

He had been here for a few days now. The way things worked around here was so strange. He watches as cats come and go, dropping prey on top of a pile. 'You're free to take some' someone had told him the day he had arrived 'but you'll be expected to contribute yourself soon' he wasn't looking forward to that part. How could he be expected to feed cats who were not his family? Not even really his friends. They were total strangers. Where he had come from had fewer rules and less organization. It was everyone for themselves unless you were a kit.

He notices that most of the prey being brought back is fish, and he is not too keen on trying it. He scrunches his nose up at it whenever he gets near, choosing instead to take a squirrel or a mouse instead. Today though he would have no such luck. The patrols all day had only been bringing back fish. He paws through the pile for something more familiar, something he knows but he comes up empty. He frowns at the pile as if his disappointment can magically make a mouse appear. He could just skip out on dinner tonight, but his growling stomach won't allow it. He's starving.

Reluctantly, he takes a minnow from the pile, choosing the smallest fish on purpose. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad? He takes his prey to a corner of the camp, laying down with it. Instead of eating it, though, he stares down at it forlornly, trying to work up the courage to try it. The fish stares back at him, its bug eyes staring into his soul and unsettling him.​

 

[LIGHTNINGSTONE]

Admittedly, Lightningstone has maintained some distance from his newfound brother. He still can't believe Brook was mouse-brained enough to go back to their homeland for someone who was a stranger. Kin, but a stranger. He stares at him now, his usual bored expression glazed across smoky features. After several heartbeats of watching Storm do nothing but stare dejectedly at his meal, the warrior finally gets to his paws and stalks over, against his better judgment. He comes to a halt behind the young tom's shoulder, eyes sweeping over the minnow before he mutters, "It's different from mouse, but it's good." He had wanted to say something far harsher, but perhaps he holds some sort of familial care for the kid. He watches, waiting to see if he'll take a bite.​

 

[COAST]

He watches, he always does, observing through unblinking eyes. The new kid, Stormy- Tornado... Storm? Shoulders shrug up as he rises to his paws, an amused grin painted across a black maw. The kids practically burning a hole in to the little pathetic thing, hardly worth eating, but if one has never had anything other than land food... He supposes its not that bad.

"Ya' look like you're trying to will the thing alive. Keep staring and it might come back and bite ya for taking it," he hums out lightheartedly, eyes staying on Lightning for just a second. He doesn't offer much encouragement, but its in Lightnings nature and Coast just so happens to think he sounds encouraging, so obviously he'd be the best for the job. "You just eat those tiny things in one bite, if you don't like the taste just swallow. Gotta get some food in ya, kiddo."
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"speech"​

 

[HOUNDSTRIDE.]

( ᴛᴀɢs. )  ❝  The first time he'd tried some of that himself– Hound could hardly remember it. It'd been during the worst'f the chaos, when tensions were high. He wandered off this way, spent his hours contemplating the water, teaching himself to fish. For all that those in the marshes had been starving, tryin' something new was remarkably hard. He'd been a drypaw too, long before RiverClan'd come up with the word. It's strange to think of such things. A life before RiverClan. They'd all had one, had they not? Well– 'side from the lucky few. Looking at the past like that, what'd been a half-mean laugh in Hound's throat dies right down. He's lounging nearby, a fish between his own paws 's'well, though his at least is half-eaten. Minnows were a poor choice for a first bite, he'd say. Too small to really think on, without teaching any of those skills they so needed.

But, well. Autonomy and all that. "Should've gone with somethin' bigger than that," he laughs, though not unkindly. "Easier to pawn off if you're not all that hungry." He nudges his own fish as if making a point.

†  ooc notes information †

• 
  ooc: —
• ──── houndsnarl. trans male, he/him pronouns.
  ──── approximately 30 moons old, or 2.5 years.
  ──── bisexual with firm male preference; single.
  
  ──── a chocolate tabby with ( stylized ) low white and intense lime eyes. lean and lanky,  with whiplike musculature and a long, quick stride. hound's notable features include his impressive height, the long scar across the left side of his face from nose to jaw, his very deep, dense fur, and the confident manner with which he conducts himself.
• "speech"

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[ICESPARKLE]

The tricoloured molly stood aside, her eyes unfocused as she was lost in her thoughts. She wasn't ruminating on anything in particular and so it took only a few blinks and a shake of her head for the voices of her clanmates to reach her. It seemed like one of the younger cats - a newer member of the clan - was contemplating whether or not he should take a bite of the small fish in front of him while the others tried to encourage him (or joke that he should have gotten a bigger piece). Not one to be left out of a conversation, Icesparkle turned towards the group with a chuckle. "Hey, don't think about it too much. You'll get used to the taste in no time," she meowed kindly, a twinkle in her eye.
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[Frostdrop.]

GOT A HEAD FULL OF SPIDERS​

---

Having grown up within the wetlands, fish had been the main source of food for the young she-cat, something that she had grown accustomed to and could not imagine living without the fatty little things, though she could understand that...not everyone who comes to riverclan the first time, or well, accustomed to something else be quite willing to try something so new, and yet here Storm was, attempting to try a minnow while Houndsnarl, Coast, Lightningstone, and Icesparkle all threw their own forms of encouragements and thoughts on the taste of fish and Frostpaw smiled as she made her approach with a warm look in her bi-colored eyes and nodded softly towards Storm. "I say, as Houndsnarl is right, try something bigger, minnows are a bit...lacking" she said, the warrior already having encouraged the apprentice-aged tom to try the half of his already eaten fish.​

"speak""Thoughts"​