pafp what a two-faced snake| killing a snake

[Catfishleap]

✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ you are the dancing queen ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧

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Catfishpaw enjoyed a good patrol as much as any, they gave her a chance to think while also not isolating herself to only thinking. Today was one of those days however where even though she could stop thinking she choose not to. There had been something gnawing at her ever since she got flustered at Iciclefang, a feeling like something was wrong. She couldn't quite pin it down and in all honesty she tried to forgot the Iciclefang thing as much as possible, it gave her more questions than it ever answered. One thing thinking about it did do though was reinforce and idea that she wanted to be cooler. She wanted to be stronger and reliable.

There are some ways she has figured out how to do that. One was to remove the otter bite scar she bore, that one was not really practical. But, the other ideas were to dedicate herself to her apprenticeship even more, and to even try and train on her own more often. If Redpath couldn't take her training why shouldn't she just get Hazepaw or someone else to spar with her? She just wanted to be like the best cat.

Right now she was lagging behind the patrol ever so slightly and honestly it would take a yell of her name to break her out of this trance, or maybe some swift movement in a patch of grass would be enough. The green eyes snapped back to reality to see something fold over some grass. Her head tilted to the side as she tried to figure out if that could have been the wind or a mouse. If it was a mouse or vole, then maybe she could come back from patrol with a little fresh-kill, that would make her cool. So her eyes stayed trained on the grass next to the patrol.

No one else was behind her and the other cats on the patrol seemed to be focused on actually patrolling and not a possible mouse. So, when a movement just a little head occurred no one seemed to notice. The moving of grass happened right next to Fernpaw, the next cat "in line". Catfish couldn't quite see what might be folding the grass and sort of assumed Fernpaw would notice before he scared it away or something. But, instead Catfish watched as a black and white rope slithered out in front of the orange tom. Catfishpaw couldn't recall a time she had ever seen a snake, but the stories that had been told to her were enough for a little eep to escape her lips. "Fernpaw! Watch out!" she called the warning and then rushed ahead. Something in her honed in on the snake and although leaving it alone was the safer and better option she couldn't stop herself from administering a swift paw to the head of the snake. The bop landed the snakes head into the dust, and then it gave it's best attempt at retaliation, a swift open mouth darted towards Catfish. With the other paw she smacked it again into the dirt, and in a moment of questionable foresight she ducked her head down and clamped a jaw around the things "neck".

She hopped back as the snake wriggled in her jaw, she was trying to get away from it as much as it was trying to get away from her at this point. But, her jaw stayed clamped tight. Slowly the thrashing concluded and then Catfish was left there with it hanging out of her mouth. She tried to mumble something but the snake made it unintelligible, so it was spat on the ground "I got it." She said it rather sheepishly, knowing that the whole ordeal could have problem been avoided with her first shout, but when did she ever do something in a dull way.

/// @FERNPAW ​

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✧ ✧ ✧ young and sweet ✧ ✧ ✧
✧ "speech" ✧

 

[FERNGILL]

Fernpaw was prone to making himself look incompetent on patrols, and it appeared today was no exception. The scent of something stale and faraway had distracted him as he walked, ears pricked to attention while bright green eyes stared long into the distance. Somewhere- he was sure he could taste it in the air, there lurked prey of some kind. Land hunting was not his forte, to give an understatement... but, just as fishing had finally clicked, he was sure that one day he'd pounce on a mouse without it having heard him first.

Mind so far-away, it would be unsurprising that he would fail to notice something right under his nose- not when he was focused on a distant scent and an even more distant possibility. He heard the familiar voice of Catfishpaw call out, call for him, and no sooner had he turned his head than Catfishpaw was wrestling something in her maw. It looked like a great spotted tongue was flailing out of her maw- and then the realisation slammed into him like an attacking Windclanner. A snake.

"Wow, Catfishpaw!" he exclaimed, a certain breathlessness having taken to his tone. That was quite the feat, wasn't it? Spotting it and- there, it hung limply from her jaws, so she must have killed it too! Awe glimmered in his turquoise gaze with the light of Silverpelt itself. "That was amazing! You- thank you," Fernpaw breathed, a smile flickering over his maw.

A bit pathetic that an apprentice so many moons his junior had to save his life... but exhilaration forced him away from bitterness. ​

✦ penned by pin ✦​

 

[iciclefang]

Land prey is a different beast than fishing. Noise and clumsiness can turn the tide of success in an instant. Iciclefang finds herself annoyed -- initially when she notices two of the apprentices have lagged behind, and again when she hears Catfishpaw's shout. Her ears angle, earthbound. What is that she-cat's problem?! The vole she'd been tracking disappears into the cracks between two stones.

Her cause lost, Iciclefang goes to find Fernpaw and Catfishpaw, prepared to show them both the rough side of her tongue, when she sees the silvery tortoiseshell clinging to an adder.

"All well and good, but we can't exactly eat that," she says dryly. Fernpaw's words are slow to register -- he thanks Catfishpaw with reverence. Understanding dawns on Iciclefang, and she casts a more interested eye on Catfishpaw. "You saved him from that?" One could almost -- mistakenly, of course -- say she was impressed.​

[ PENNED BY MARQUETTE ]​

​

 

[lichenstar]

It wasn't normal to have a head pointed at the clouds when residing in RiverClan. If anything, that was the complete opposite of their strengths... the river was below even the earth they plodded along really. Nose aimed skyward as pale eyes scoured the sky for signs of an avian appetizer, Lichentail couldn't count the amount of times she'd run into trees or other cats during her moments of unwavering focus. Iciclefang was nearly a victim of being trampled too (much to the young warrior's dismay, that too would've ruined her hunt for the local vole) when an alarmed shouting told the entire nearby tree line that hunters were nearby.

Several... several agonizing sounds of wingbeats joined the sky, signaling the loss of any hope for catching a bird for breakfast. Her shoulders sagged in disappointment near immediately before the tortie beside her storms off in the direction of the hollering. Well... time to go play babysitter again. Turning on her heels, the molly rushed after the huffing girl as they intercepted quite the scene.

A snake hung from Catfishpaw's mouth and soon laid dead on the ground, a small triumphant statement decreeing her success. Glancing at Iciclefang with a smug smile, she could tell the other was struggling to hold onto her sour frustrations over the lost prey before.

"Nicely done Catfishpaw... Now if you two could pay half as much attention to land prey instead of land enemies we might be able to feed someone today."​

 

[Catfishleap]

✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ you are the dancing queen ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧

---

There was a heat that started climbing the molly's face. While being the center of attention never was an issue for her, being thanked and such certainly wasn't though. She nodded in acknowledgement to his thanks, unsure of what else you are supposed to say after doing something like that. Especially since there hadn't been thought put into the actions, her body just decided that she was going to attack it instead of just pushing Fernpaw out of the way or something. She looked down at the now dead snake, it was funny to think it could actually hurt a full sized cat like Fernpaw, it seemed like small fishes next to a fox or hawk.

Other cats now came to the scene of the kill, with first annoyance and then a pause. First Iciclefang comes with a dry dismissing of the adder, Catfish was a little thankful for that reaction, really they didn't have to dwell on it, it wasn't that importan- nevermind she then asks if she saved the tom from it "Well, like, I don't know. It's not a big deal or anything, I doubt it would have even done anything." her white paws pushed at the dirt next to the snake as she rambled out some sort of explanation. Lichentail seemed to understand that it really wasn't that big of a deal, understood that time could be spent better. So Catfish nodded another affirmative to the older warrior. She intended to bound over the dead snake and keep going, but as she started to walk past it something pulled her eyes back to it. It felt like a shame to just leave it there, right? ​

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✧ ✧ ✧ young and sweet ✧ ✧ ✧
✧ "speech" ✧

 

[CLAYFUR]

The tom stumbled upon his clanmates just in time to hear that Catfishpaw rescued Fern from a snake. Iciclefang, of course, doesn’t seem too impressed, but her uncle certainly is. He’s just about to praise the silvery apprentice for her kill when Catfishpaw brushes off the compliment, seeming disinterested in the idea.

Lichentail’s words stun Clay into silence for a moment, because why are they being negative about such a cool thing? The blue-pointed warrior points out that catching prey would be a better use of time—but why isn’t a snake prey? He’s eaten lizards before, and a snake is just a lizard with less legs. "Hey! Who says you can’t eat a snake? We can’t be wasteful, Lichen," he says, and it’s all forced cheer in his voice. His smile doesn’t quite reach his eyes, but that’s… that’s okay, isn’t it? He’s just a guy, and someone’s guys have hard days. But what matters is that Fernpaw isn’t dead or dying, writhing in the healers’ den, recovering from an injury that could have been prevented.

The clan has lost so many good cats lately. He doesn’t want to think of losing another.
​

[ YOU ARE THE STARS TO ME ]​

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[SMOKESTAR]

"Careful of the head." Far as he cared, a snake was just as suitable prey as a frog was even if some cats might argue otherwise. RiverClan often had the luxury of being picky but he remembers the gnawing hunger pains of leafbare and finds that he dislikes the idea of wasting even something a small and lacking in meat as the slender reptile. He was late to arrive on the scene, having heard the commotion and only picking up the tell-tale end of the discussion; Catfishpaw had killed a snake that might have bitten Fernpaw. Imagine what a tragedy that might have been, he was to be made a warrior next moon with his siblings after all, and even as it stood the orange tom was far from the most intolerable of the apprentices; he was a good kid and the clan would have mourned heavily for his loss. It wouldn't do to linger on the topic and unsettling nerves, so he only wanders forward alongside Iciclefang to offer her a sharp shoulder bump that, if unprepared for, might have knocked her over; his own little way of greeting that was both a test and a hello.
"Clayfur is right-" Stars, stop making him say that, "-might as well add it to the pile once we've removed the bad part." A white-dipped paw waved in a gesture to the limp coil near the pale apprentice's paws, the mouth that still tried to open and close as if attempting to attack even in death.
Smokethroat had the passing thought that he'd like to also be as resilient even when dying, to take your foe with you. Sadly, it might just be a snake thing. He'd have to ask Snakeblink to be sure. He might have added something more, asking them if they intended to practice snake killing at some point or if this was what they considered training nowadays but the blue molly had already made a similar quip and he found himself at a loss for what to add. Was he losing his job as the clan's most ornery and disciplinary cat? That wouldn't do. Suppose he needed to go ruin some apprentices days to make up for it.
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