that's life | first catch?? + injury

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LIVE AS IF YOU WERE TO DIE TOMORROW​


When Johnny returned from his hunt that afternoon, he was limping. More importantly though, his jaws were not empty. Held proudly between his teeth was a vole, and not even the pain radiating from his paw could dampen his mood against the fact that he'd made his first catch. The tom has been struggling with his hunting since before he'd even joined Skyclan, and he'd been worried for a while that the others would grow frustrated at his lack of contribution to the food intake, and so he made a point not to take their food, always eating in the mornings before he came and then again once he got home at the end of the night.

It seemed all his practice was paying off though, and he made his way over to the fresh kill pile to drop his catch atop the pile with the rest.

Only, Johnny had never actually seen a vole before. He didn't know what they were supposed to look like or what they acted like when you hunted them, and so it didn't occur to him that there was anything wrong with his. He didn't realize it was too scrawny or that the slowness with which it had reacted had been due to the fact that it was sick and maybe not even safe to eat. All he knew was that he'd finally managed to catch something for the clan.

OOC- if your cat would know better than Johnny, feel free to inform them their prey is no good and to call for Dawnglare since he's injured XD

- injury is just a really bad splinter in one of his pawpads that he got when he pounced on the vole.

 
Not having the pleasure nor the chance to meet this newcomer called Johnny had not presented itself until this moment. Thistleback had brought the torbie back here, to be apart of something bigger thsn himself. Johnny was learning, his hunting techniques growing more precise with each lesson. The barbed black tom was a formidable hunter and fighter, it's no wonder why he progressed so quickly. Auburnflame had just returned from taking a drink from the stream near the Elder's Den, quenching his desert dry throat after coming back from his own hunting patrol when he spots the newcomer limping towards the pile beneath the elderberry bush. Brows quirk together in confusion as he watches the Daylight Warrior, "Hey, Johnny—ain't it?" The calico calls, sauntering over towards him with his tail billowing seamlessly behind him. "Whatcha got there, my new friend?" His scarlet paw points to his limping one with a gentle smile, eyes of melted ice lingering upon him before sweeping down towards his injured paw. "Somethin' in your paw? I get 'em too. Sometimes bein' in the trees will surprise ya."
But, it didn't seem like Johnny had been partaking in tree climbing this time, for a half-starved vole settled a top the pile catches his attention. He cranes his neck down, taking a whiff before jolting back up slightly with a curled lip. Sick. It had already been dying when he caught it. Ivory whiskers twitch in thought, mulling over the correct words to say before facing the tom again. "You did really good! But, do you smell that? It—it was sick, I think. Voles are more plump—rounded off. Seems like this one hadn't eaten in awhile in New-Leaf which is more than strange." He diligently removes the rodent with a hooked claw, placing it gently between them.
[ SETTING FIRE TO THE SKY ]
 

Twitchbolt had been, of course, wary of Johnny- but only as wary as he ever was around a cat he did not know. New joiners often caught the frazzled tom's frenzied glances any time they walked through the threshold of camp- and he'd always look for a few moments, let his wide gaze settle and verify whether there was something off about them. Like- if a mask had slipped for a moment, when they thought no-one was looking. A routine check upon Johnny as he walked through camp with a vole in his jaws replaced what would have been fear with a sudden flinch of worry- a twitch that overtook an eye. Was he injured, while no-one was watching him? Thistleback would be mad, wouldn't he, if something bad happened...

Scrabbling over and taking rank beside Auburnflame, Twitchbolt's breaths heaved a little as he looked at the other. "Hey! Did you- did you fall, or something...?" He didn't seem to be staggering as if he'd broken anything, but adrenaline could numb you to pain, couldn't it? Maybe he hadn't noticed a fractured joint... in his fretting tunnel-vision, he hardly noticed that Auburnflame did not seem even slightly concerned.
penned by pin ✧
 
Kittypets. Of course the prey brought back would hardly be worthy of being called that. His clanmate is kinder about it removal, praising the effort, but disdain colors the pale tom's gaze. Had it escaped him that Johnny did not eat from their pile of prey? No. It simply didn't matter to him. Hadn't they had enough of kittypets pretending that they could be anything but? Blazestar allowed this, and he would follow the tom to his own grave if such things came to be, but StarClan's chosen doesn't have to always be right. In this, Lichenthroat will have to disagree– quite intensely, too. To him, their joy should be in rejecting the life of a kittypet. It was what had called him to SkyClan. That they chose this life, above any other. Not all of them had, of course. What other reason would Lichenthroat have to dislike them as much as he does?

"A meal we can't eat, and an injury to waste herbs on with it." Though his voice is as low and quiet as it ever is, there is no mistaking the irritation it carries. He doesn't even want to approach, but his paws have another idea entirely. They carry him right up to the gathered group, his long tail swishing behind him. "How bad is it? You didn't break anything, did you?" Maybe if he had, he would do better with a twoleg's care than Dawnglare's. He won't say as much out loud, just in case those who liked Johnny came up and smacked him 'round the head.
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  • ooc: IC OPINIONS I'M SORRY HE'S RUDE,,,,,
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    ──── lichenthroat, with lichen predating the clans, and -throat referring to his distinct marking. an adult, ages the 1st.
    ──── warrior of skyclan, and previous member of the pine group. dislikes (most) daylight warriors and kittypets on sight.
    ──── dmab. uses he - him or occasionally they - them pronouns. single; his sexuality is unknown and undiscussed.
    ──── i should note that all his opinions are in character. ^^;

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    a tall, deceptively sturdy long-haired tom with soft, curly white fur smattered by deep, watery blue around his chest. he has large, conical, slightly tufted ears, long legs, and a massive feathery tail.
  • "speech"
 
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LIVE AS IF YOU WERE TO DIE TOMORROW​


"Hey, Johnny- ain't it?"

"Aye, it is."

Turning at the sound of his name, yellow eyes would land on blue, a meeting of sun and sky. He recognized the calico tomcat easily enough, had seen him when the Riverclan apprentice had come to their border and again during the trial of Kuiper, but they'd never actually spoken to one another before. Still, Auburnflame had always seemed friendly enough with the other Skyclanners, and even now his tone was nothing less than considerate as he went on to ask about his paw.

That alone was enough to keep Johnny from being entirely offended when a moment later they sniffed at the vole he'd brought in and curled their lip in disgust. "Whats wrong?" he asked, uncertain. And Auburnflame told him, commending him for his effort but informing him - rather kindly- that his catch was no good. His shoulders dropped an inch in disapointment upon hearing he hadn't actually improved in his hunting, but he seemed to be taking the information about voles and their size and smell seriously, even leaning in to give the vole another whiff so that he knew exactly what to avoid in the future.

But it seemed like Auburnflame wasn't the only cat whose attention his return had caught. Twitchbolt and another tom weren't far behind, and while he could see the traces of concern within one as they spoke, the other did little to contain the annoyance bleeding through their words.

"Nothings broken. And I don't need herbs" he replied, smile becoming a bit tighter at Lichenthroats words.

Johnny honestly tried his best to get along with any cat he met, even the ones that rubbed him the wrong way, but he was no pushover. He knew how some of these cats saw him; just a housepet playing wild-cat. They thought him inferior, thought him useless, and while it definitely pissed him off you could bet your ass he wasn't about to back down from the challenge of watching them eat their own words once he figured this whole clan thing out.

"It's just a thorn, no big deal. Once it's out I'll go back and find something better. Now that I know what to avoid it won't be problem next time." he explained, trying to keep his tone casual so that his own annoyance didn't start showing. He wasn't here to start fights. Besides, once he'd caught on to how things were done and was able to properly pull his weight there wouldn't be an issue anymore.

"The cats on the patrol said I should wait for Dawnglare before I pull it out, in case it won't stop bleedin'. Any of you know where I can find him?" At most he might have to replace a few cobwebs, but that would be easy enough. Replacing the prey on a sore paw? A little harder.

Good thing he liked a challenge.

OOC- No, your totally good! I love a good antagonist and it'll be good for Johnny to have someone who doubts him <3

 
He is no sore sight on the edges of camp. Teeth and shackles newly free from the beast that was Dandelion, he is both reluctant and eager to make his way from his barracks. Always needy, these few though. Clumsy lot, only to mutter amongst themselves at their expense. "Who needs them– me?" he asks, head spinning with squinted eyes to fix on the mouth that had spoke of him. This one is vaguely, vaguely familiar, he realizes. He is frozen for just a moment, pondering if he cared enough to investigate the who and how of it all. Eventually, he decides that he does, and he crawls his way over with a twitching tail tip.

"Hello," he greets, and he eyes the stranger like a skeleton stripped bare. Interesting as is, but, devoid of meat and thusly, useless in nature. The once-over is more than that, though. More than once. His gaze slips further into confusion the more he does it, before eventually, with eyes creased, he asks. "When did you... get... here?" Genuinely, for he did not know. Had they always been here??? A regard reserved for gnawed bone turns into that for a wayward spirit. "You're here to take from me." It's uttered like a statement, and yet, somehow, he still sounds puzzled.

Dawnglare looks askance. "The lady downstairs won't see you." His gaze drifts then to the mottled paw held in limp, cracks and fissures hidden behind the skin, or somesuch. "Show me," he commands.
 
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LIVE AS IF YOU WERE TO DIE TOMORROW​


"Who needs them– me?"

The voice that sounded from behind him was familiar in a way he couldn't place, however, it only took a turn of the head for Johnny to realize who was talking to him. Unlike Dawnglare, the patched tomcat had no trouble in recalling just where he knew this individual from, their encounter at his fenceline still enough to make the hair on the back of his neck stand on edge in surprise at seeing them again. Of course, Johnny had known they were here- the scent of Skyclan had clung to the strangers fur rather plainly that day- but the insinuation that this was the medic he was meant to find had him glancing toward Twitchbolt and Auburnflame to see if this was some sort of prank on the crazy cats part.

He saw no such indicication.

Sunbright eyes turned back to the nameless cat as they asked when he got there, and the bobtail shrugged his heebie-jeebies off to answer. "Not too long ago. Surprised we haven't run into each other, though." he replied, offering the tom a half-smile. Maybe they'd just gotten off on the wrong paw last time?

The statement 'our here to take from me' didn't exactly seem like that was the case though, and Johnny had no earthly idea who 'the woman downstairs' was. Still, he offered up his paw as the other ordered him to show them.

The underside of his paw was bloody, a nast little thorn imbedded in the soft pad of his foot. "It's not all that bad." he insisted, unsusre if he trusted this odd cat with his well-being. He was pretty sure they didn't even like Johnny to begin with, and the bobtail still wasn't convinced they weren't half-gone in the head. " The patrol told me I shouldn't yank it out on my own in case it wouldn't stop bleedin' though."
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