let me show you how to be a dreamer || hunting

[ashpaw!]

There's a light in her eyes and a bounce in her step that hasn't been there in a long time. The circumstances are bleak for everybody — the clan once more rattled by Cicadastar's lost life, their hunting grounds ravaged by floodwaters — but Ashpaw's got hope bubbling up in her belly, and that feeling could carry her forward for days.

A week and a half since the fox attack, and she's all healed up — moved back into the apprentices' den, where she sleeps near Iciclepaw and her friends. It's been — uh — an adjustment, not being able to find her family in the night when she wakes up scared. (Ashpaw hadn't really known how to tell anybody that that's why the fox attack happened in the first place. That the relocation had hit her... harder, maybe, than other clanmates, a young mind already so wracked by trauma.)

She's tired. Really tired. And it feels like her paws are always wet and cold. And she misses the comfort of Willowroot and tiny wriggly kittens and milk-scent in the mornings. But — she fought off a fox on her own. And she's proud and she's hopeful and that matters more than anything, she thinks.

She's out on a hunting patrol now, following along with the warriors and other apprentices... she's just broken off to scamper after a rustle in the bushes, the familiar patter of mouse-steps. Green eyes wide, ears alert, she leaps —

And rises with fresh-kill in her jaws.

She turns back toward the patrol, eyes glimmering with pride, hoping someone had seen, maybe? — she's definitely gonna give this to the kits as soon as she's home. Well, assuming they haven't eaten yet. (Ashpaw's stomach turns, knowing it's a pretty fair assumption. Kits shouldn't have to be hungry when they're so little.)

She does a little dance when she rejoins the group, shifting from one paw to the other with unspent energy. "It's a big one," she says excitedly. "Maybe three or four kits could share it." Success feels ... nice. Especially when she knows the good it's gonna do.

"Where are we headed next?" she finds herself asking, because by now they've spent awhile in this area — they're close to camp and it's barely dawn, so they've plenty of ground left to cover. ​

—— " i found gold in the wreckage "

✦ ooc ✦ character information ✦ recent events

• @willowroot mentor tag!
  
  if anyone saw me post this on the wrong account. no u didn't
• - 8 month old orange tabby with green eyes
  - apprenticed to lead warrior willowroot
  - crushing hard on iciclepaw
  - happy-go-lucky, mischievous, hardworking
  - very friendly, but defensive of riverclan!
  - "speech"
• - haven't had the chance to update these. rip
  

​

 

[WASPRATTLE.]

"A good catch." Off to the side, he mews. Any catch was a welcome one in leaf-bare, he's come to learn. (His own frame stubbornly clings to his ribs, thin mimicry of the cat he'd arrived as. But he could not say it was hunger he hasn't felt before.) Trials aside, it is formidable. Shaping into a skilled hunter, from what he could tell, meanwhile he still fumbled at times, despite the moons he'd spent with his brother at his side. It will come with time, he supposes. His moons here had been less than that of an apprenticeship, after all.

He was hardly in a position to decide such a thing himself. To her question, he only glances to the other patrol members, brows pitched, inquisitive.

ooc translations

• –
  
• –
  

​

 

[BUCKGAIT.]

MY NAME IS BRUTUS AND MY NAME MEANS HEAVY ✧​

among the loss, there is growth. such is life. buck leads yet another patrol, desperate to feed those in the make-shift camp. leaf bares are hard, but this one was particularly rough. but the air is noticeably getting warmer, and the sun shines upon their coats a little more each day. hope for the blossoming life in new leaf, and the ease it will bring to the clan. the deputy watches ashpaw carefully, always attentive if an apprentice is not accompanied by her or their mentor. she knows how quick it is for something tragic to happen, and she's trying her best to prevent any more apprentices from getting hurt. they've been through enough.

along with wasprattle's praise, buck can't help but let some of her own spill from her maw. "keep a good eye on that ashpaw, and make sure to remind everyone who got such a plump mouse. good job." truly, it would be good for the kits and apprentices, perhaps a few choice warriors if they grab it first. when the little ginger apprentice questions where they'd be going next, the deputy stalls for a few heart beats. the flood would chase out a lot of remaining prey, and with their camp settled in the copse, she can see them gathering near the falls. they can't get too close, with some of the water slowly retreating the land, but it'd be good. there's some coverage, but open enough to spot movement.

"i think we can head to the falls. as long as we keep our wits." an answer finally surfaces, and she has to try and keep a neutral expression. the falls had once been her favorite area, always playing with lightningstone and trying to lure him into the waters. it never did work, but she lured him in other ways. the dappled deputy looks to her patrols members, gauging the reactions to her answer.
​