pafp under pressure + fishing

[turtlepaw]

come along with me​

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The ice that had plagued the clan's territory was finally starting to thaw. For a cat that was born in the harsh leafbare, when snow and ice piled high, it had been hard to even imagine doing anything in the river. The chill she had gotten from the brief moments of curiosity had almost turned her completely from swimming and the like. With the fresh warmth seeping back into the world, though, the clear waters surrounding her home and become more tantalizing. The tiny fish swimming there, strong against the light current, glinted in the sun and captivated the young apprentice's attention. A hard feat.

Turtlepaw sat watching these fish, paw poised above the water and a look of sheer determination on her still baby-fat face. She hoped if she sat here long enough, a larger fish would come by to eat the little ones. Patience was a hard skill for her. It seemed to be getting better the more she trained, but then all her training would crumble if a cool bug walked past. Today, she ignored the bugs. She wanted to catch a real fish. One she could show Snakeblink and have his praise. All she had caught so far in her apprenticeship were minnows and small shad. She wanted carp, salmon, catfish, bluegill. A fat, meaty fish all the kits could munch on and grow big and strong.

A shadow moves through the water, large and fast. It's spots shone in the light and Turtlepaw's eyes widened in disbelief at the trout's brazen dash. She squealed, threw her paw into the water, and felt claws catch flesh. Suddenly, she's pulled into the water with the trout. The cold shocked her briefly into the desire to gasp, but RiverClan instinct kicked in and she held her breath. She frantically clawed at its skin, holding it in place as it squirmed in her grasp. The apprentice shoved her head above water to gasp for air, still wrestling the fish. "Help!" she shrieked. She had realized that this battle could not be won by herself.

Please wait for @FOXTAIL to post first!

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‎‎┌── ooc ⋆⋅☾⋅⋆ info ──┐‎

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  speech color
  mentor tag: @Snakeblink
  

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• TURTLEPAW ✩ she/her/hers, apprentice of riverclan, 5 moons (ages every 1st)
  ⭃ stocky silver charcoal tabby. tail is a stub. energetic, naive, dim
  ⭃ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted / roughhousing and wrestling encouraged / underline and tag when attacking ↛ see battle info here
  ⭃ penned by muddly ↛ @/muddly on discord, feel free to dm for plots.
  

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[FOXTAIL]

Foxtail was so pleased to finally see the grass again. Foxtail disliked Leafbare for a multitude of reasons. He started his apprenticeship back when snow covered the earth. His exposure to the river wasn't all that grand either; the weather was especially cold that Leafbare, and even the main river froze. As he makes his way to the river now, he can remember how he eagerly followed after older apprentices, whom dared him to stand onto the ice covered river. He shivers at the thought, this isn't the time to think about that day. Not when StarClan has blessed with them Newleaf.

The temperature is getting warmer too, and the young warrior lets out a small sigh of relief. Setting aside his whole river issue, Leafbare has always been so cold. The ground freezes, the plants die, and the prey practically disappears. The natural sound of wildlife upon the arrival of Newleaf is music to his ears. His listens to the nature that surrounds him; he can hear the stream of the river. He can hear a robin singing off in the distance, he can hear.... wait a minute. His ears prick up, and the young warrior focuses on a particular sound... that doesn't exactly sound like nature to him. It... it sounds like someone is splashing around in the water. Foxtail might not be the biggest fan of swimming, but that does not sound like a leisurely enjoyment in the water. Despite focusing on the sound of splashing, Foxtail's fur still bristles for a moment when a loud shriek reaches his ears. "HELP!" The young voice of Turtlepaw reaches his ears, and before he can even think, he's running towards the sound of her voice.

When he arrives at the scene, he's honestly a tad surprised by what he's seeing. Turtlepaw's head is right above the water, claws sunk deep into a large trout, and it squirms beneath her grasp. Though if he stands here and watches for a minute longer, he isn't sure if the fish will still be underneath her grasp. Move already! He pushes himself forward, ignoring how his heart races as he jumps into the river. He swims over to the struggling apprentice & holds his breath as he dives underneath the surface. He opens his jaws and bites down on the trout's neck and lets go when the fish goes limp. Without a second to lose, the younger warrior breaks the surface with a gasp for air.

"Y-you alright there, Turtlepaw?" Foxtail asks with a shaky voice; while other cats could stay in the water all day, Foxtail couldn't get himself to stay in for very long. He helps lift the large trout as he exits the river, his once fuzzy fur soaked and dripping droplets onto the grass below. "...You picked quite the f-fight!" One day she'll be grown enough to swipe larger fish out of the water!​

𝐨𝐨𝐜 𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭

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  credit to skaicraft (via insta) for the artwork <3
  
• Foxtail

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  warrior
  warmhearted
  timid
  experience: trained
  backstory: tbd
  biography: [HYPERLINK]
  credit to rai for the mini & tropics for the icon <3
  

  cisgender male [he / him]
  eyes: green
  pelt: cinnamon/chocolate
  fur length: long
  parents: dawnflower and redfur (riverclan npcs)
  17 moons
  

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  ​

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[FERNGILL]

Lately, Ferngill had been taking to the waters relentlessly- the river was his element, truly. His warrior name was one that championed his skill in the water- sometimes he felt more at home in the depths than he did on land. Lately, it'd felt like some way of rememberance, too. Swimming was a skill his father had fashioned in him, through genes and training. He would never tire of the river's gentle respite.

Today though, it wasn't quite as peaceful. Even occupied with his own diving, Ferngill could hear downriver the tell-tale splashes of a commotion- a yowl for help. The waters weren't cold enough to freeze your bones anymore, but- maybe a drypaw had fallen in? The fiery tom swam swiftly, though when he arrived on the scene he was faced with the sight of Foxtail and Turtlepaw heaving themselve up to shore, a trout in tow. Foxtail murmured something about a fight, and Ferngill's ears pricked up to attention as he heaved himself out of the river, shaking glimmering droplets out of silken fur.

"Stars, that's a great catch," he exclaimed, awe glimmering in a single green eye. "I hope the trouble was worth it...?" He'd not been deaf to that shriek, or blind to the state that they were both in... ​

✦ penned by pin ✦​

 

[Snakeblink]

MAYBE I'D BE A SAINT IF I WEREN'T ————————————​

Being high-strung has some advantages: when Snakeblink hears a cry for help, all the tension in his body snaps like a spiderweb pulled to its breaking point, and he finds himself on the move before he’s so much as noticed that it’s his apprentice’s voice that let out the shout.

He wasn’t far, his back turned an instant to put his catch in a hole dug in the wet sand to keep the bugs off of it, but the distance seems interminable as he spins on his paws to dart towards the water’s edge. He bursts through the reeds just in time to watch Foxtail emerge from the waters, soaked to the bones and a large trout in tow. ”Good reflexes,” he says to the other tabby, a little faint as his heartbeat hammering in his ears. He stares at the fish — it’s about the size of his apprentice. He can picture the scene easily enough, and shakes his head in amazement: it’s nothing short of impressive that Turtlepaw didn’t let go of it considering he would have struggled to reel it in at his adult size.

”Most definitely worth it,” he tells Ferngill, ”With a fish this size, we might not even need to bring the nursery any other prey tonight. Turtlepaw, are you alright?”​

——————————————————————————————————— so god damn lonely ​

ooc. information.

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  — Snakeblink • he / him. 51 ☾, riverclan warrior
  — a sleek, skinny tabby with long ears and a scar over his right eye.
  — gay, not actually evil, penned by @Kangoo
  
  
  

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[valesight ➶]

⸙͎｡˚⋆ ⍋ ѧѦ ѧ⍋ ⸙͎｡˚⋆

It's a bad habit to loom around any corner like a banshee but where the river was concerned, Valepaw was especially wary. Whatever progress could've been made was doomed the moment he'd almost drowned when the ice had cracked under-paw and so when he watches Turtlepaw struggle with a beast-sized fish, he has consigned himself to the inevitability of her fate- death by fish.

Her cry for help only finds frozen paws from him and luckily, Foxtail is there and willing to take up the call to arms instead, rushing past to save her from the over-sized catch she wriggles to keep in her grasp. It's huge... and Ferngill and Snakeblink agree as they approach (he hadn't even realized they were nearby until just now). He ought to be more excited for Turtlepaw but any congratulations die in his mouth.

All he offers is a small frown- she was younger than him and had caught something like that already? Oh stars... he really was doomed to be the worst warrior ever. "Are they usually... that big," he asks, eyes wide with concern.​

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[turtlepaw]

come along with me​

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Have trout always been this slimy? Have they always squirmed this much when held with powerful muscles bucking against needle sharp claws? This was by far the biggest fish Turtlepaw had ever caught, and her inexperience was showing. With her broad head above water, the apprentice gasped for air after being dragged under momentarily by the trout under her grip. She caught a quick glimpse of white fur before the fish in her grasp stops squirming and hangs lifeless in her claws.

Turtlepaw felt the trout being dragged from the water, but did not release it. Foxtail, one of the fluffiest cats she knows of, stood there dripping wet with trout slime dotting his maw. Her face broke into a grin, interrupted by wet coughs. "I'm okay! I'm really really okay!" Her voice was shrill and excited despite the minimal water in her lungs.

Her ears pricked to Ferngill and Snakeblink and excitement shoved her from her prize. Turtlepaw bounced around her mentor, excitedly babbling about her catch. "Do you see it, Snakeblink? Do you see? That's the biggest fish I've ever seen in my life!" She was having a hard time containing herself as she sprinted from the pair of senior warriors to the fish and back again.

She flashed her grin to Valepaw at his arrival. "I sure hope so! I'm gonna catch one thousand fish just like this forever!" The idea of her clan sustaining off of her huge catch made her chest feel light with pride. Was this what every warrior felt when they caught prey? Boy, she hoped so!

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‎‎┌── ooc ⋆⋅☾⋅⋆ info ──┐‎

• 
  
  speech color
  
• TURTLEPAW ✩ she/her/hers, apprentice of riverclan, 5 moons (ages every 1st)
  ⭃ stocky silver charcoal tabby. tail is a stub. energetic, naive, dim
  ⭃ peaceful and healing powerplay permitted / roughhousing and wrestling encouraged / underline and tag when attacking ↛ see battle info here
  ⭃ penned by muddly ↛ @/muddly on discord, feel free to dm for plots.
  

​