Leaves crunched under his small paws, the oranges and reds of the overbrush were signs of the forthcoming months. Leafbare was on the horizon. His patrol wasn't too far back, so his steps were more hesitant. But nonetheless, he had caught a scent of prey and would wander off with a signal of his tail. An apprentice still chattered her teeth, her gossip and tongue familiar to the boy. Fortunately, the apprentices mentor would him a quiet sound of shh, and Shrewflight would venture further.
The small brown and black tabby would crouch lower, olive eyes trained on a squirrel, chirping and chittering as it searched acorns. He'd wait, not yet, he'd reminded himself. Sweetybee taught him patience, and with squirrels, they were finicky creatures just like him. Skittish, flighty. He'd wait-
Finally an acorn was just too much. It rotated it in its small paws, tried to scram- clearly struggling. And he'd take the advantage. His back legs tensed, before he'd leap forward. Small body tumbled with the squirrel, (it was funny, he wasn't much bigger than it.) and then the finishing bite, a pang of sympathy as he felt the bone crack in his jaws, the brown creature hanging limply.
His body would shake free of the dust and loose leaves, before turning off only to freeze. He froze often, but the freeze was different. His blood ran cold, and he stilled like a deer in headlights. He had been so focused, his capture still in his jaws, and green eyes widening.
Dog.
It's paws bounded towards him, feet hitting the leaves loud in his small ears. It's tongue lulled out, and it's teeth were big. And it was coming straight for him. His breaths quickened, but his paws felt like bricks, too heavy to move.
And for a moment, he imagined his clanmates at home. He imagined blazestar- he had been attacked by these beasts. Seeing the damage they did to such a large tom, he remembered the fear in his eyes. he saw dawnglares and mallowlarks body. He saw flowerclouds scars. Dogs were troubling beasts- and most wound up dead.
And he cursed a thought of anger, that his paws would not move.
MY WORLDS ON FIRE, HOW 'BOUT YOURS?
THAT'S THE WAY I LIKE IT AND I NEVER GET BORED."
Mornings had become a bittersweet thing to him in the wake of stepping down. While he still looked forward to heading to camp every day, there was no denying the tension that still lay between him and Sangriapaw. His apprentice had not taken his resignation well, and while she wasn’t quite giving him the cold shoulder, it was clear to the bobtail that he’d managed to ruin whatever bond they’d shared. The trust, the respect- it just wasn’t there like it was before.
It was maybe the one thing he regretted about his haste to search for Silversmoke, but given the chance to go back, they both knew he would have done things exactly the same.
”I’m thinking we’ll head down to the Sandy Ravine today for some sparring, see if we can work on a few last minute tune-ups before your assessment.” he suggested while looking out at the treeline of pines that sat beyond their fenceline. He was hoping the mention of her assessment would help boost her mood toward him a bit-- and if he planned to show her that his resignation had not softened him during their spar, well, that was just between the two of them.
Johnny was determined to win her respect back somehow, or to at least make her understand that he was still the same cat he’d been at the beginning of her apprenticeship. He wasn’t sure whether he should be hurt or not that his title had meant so much to her, but he’d be a liar if he said there wasn’t a frustration bubbling in him over it.
Sangria was supposed to be special. She was the first daylight warrior he’d ever make, the first one to carry his teachings and skills and beliefs into the clan and use them to represent the kittypets. And as someone who’d fought so long and so hard to have his kind seen as equals among the fulltime warriors here, there was a sting that came with knowing his apprentice would probably never think of him fondly or with pride ever again.
Just disappointment.
”There’s also a move Thistleback showed me when I first met him that I haven’t shown you yet, so if you want I can teach you–”
He stiffened, ears going straight as he caught sight of something big and dark in his peripheral trotting into view from a few yards down. A black and tan mutt with a tail not unlike his own was padding circles around it’s twoleg, who’d seemed to be doing some kind of yardwork along their own fence a few houses down. ”Big bastard.” Johnny muttered to his apprentice, fairly confident they weren’t in danger- the dog didn’t see them from their vantage point on the fence, and they were several houses down- not to mention they could bail into Johnnys yard if needed, where the dog certainly couldn’t follow.
He was more concerned with making sure his fellow daylight warriors didn’t acccientally run into the thing when they showed up that morning. They were due any minute now, and it wouldn’t do any good to have a dog trailing them into–
Movement along the treeline.
Oh no.
The unmistakably small figure . The scuffle and struggle as they pounced. Johnny saw it all, and with a sinking heart, he realised the dog had to.
”Shrewflight, run!” he yelled it as loud as he could, hoped the noise would turn the sprinting dog back, but it’s pace remained unbroken. And Shrewflight, looking up to see the dog baring down on him, froze like a cat on the thunderpath.
And for just a moment, he wasn’t a Skyclan warrior. There was no patrol to order to arms here, no time for plotting or planning. Out here, on the fenceline, he was just a normal cat about to watch another cat get torn apart- and it just wasn’t in his blood to do nothing.
He was off the fence and sprinting before a plan could formulate. He knew he couldn’t fight the thing and win, but maybe he could get it to chase him long enough for Sangria to get help.
In a matter of seconds he reached the treeline where the dog and Shrewflight were, and to his great relief the dog had not gone for the kill. It was barking it’s head off in excitement, stubbed tail wagging as it circled the small cat, darting in to roughly nip at their back and haunches and ripping out tufts of fur. In hindsight, Johnnyflame might recognize it for what it actually was– an overly-excited puppy with no manners towards cats– but in the moment all he saw was a Starclan given opportunity; the dog was not killing Shrewflight, which meant the bobtail had a chance.
With a furious yowl he shot toward the dog, leaping towards it’s face with a flurry of claws that sent it stumbling backwards in surprise. He stood his ground in front of Shrewflight, short fur on end and stubbed tail lashing invisibly behind him as he made his body as big as possible, prepared to bolt when the dog next lunged for him . Instead it began it’s barking again, so fucking loud that his ears felt like they were ringing, but Johnny could see it hesitating now, flinching backwards with each warning swipe in their direction.
It was afraid of him.
Something daring sparked to life in his chest, a familiar recklessness that went crashing through his veins like an old friend. Because he wasn’t just a Skyclan cat, living wild in the forest. He had two kingdoms, and he knew them both well. Well enough to know that not every dog was a fearless, bloodthirsty thing.
”GET BACK TO YOUR YARD, YA DAMN MUTT! YER NOT WELCOME IN THE WOODS, YA HEAR ME?!” he roared as he charged toward the thing, spitting and clawing like a badger.
Already uncertain of the angry cat trying to claw it’s face off, the dog nearly stumbled over itself trying to back away from the suddenly charging ball of sharpness and fur. It let out a startled yelp as Johnny got a bit too close for comfort, and then finally decided to listen to it’s master, who was shouting something at it that the bobtail couldn’t understand. Thankfully, the dog did, and a moment later was being locked back inside it’s yard by the twoleg, leaving a panting Johnny standing there, glad his his bluff had worked-- dog could have torn him apart if not, but he was pretty damn sure the thing would have just stayed with Shrewflight if he'd run off trying to incite a chase.
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