I'm Twice Your Age, But Don't Worry [closed]

The Greenleaf sun always felt better later in the day- early evening was one of the few times during the day where the heat wasn't stifling. Brindlewhisker allowed her eyes to fall shut as she stretched out in the evening sunshine, attempting to enjoy her short little break the best she could.  For the first time in moons, it had seemed like she finally had more to do than just the tedious task of sorting patrols- but now that Ashstar had returned to attending to her duties and Dawnlight and Goldenflame had become Warriors, she found herself back to her regular duties.

After a few moments of futile attempts to relax, Brindlewhisker found herself growing too restless to simply lounge about like she had been attempting to do. Opening her eyes irritably, she found herself mindlessly watching several of her Clanmates who were also milling about in the camp, wondering if any would approach her.

Dewtuft raced into camp with his fur a mess, and his paws caked in dust. Behind him, he left a trail of feathers in his wake as the roughed up pheasant and pigeon in his mouth shed from his speedy sprinting. The birds looked a little worse for wear, but perfectly edible. He dropped the smaller pigeon on the pile, before dragging the pheasant over to Brindlewhisker, who seemed to be napping nearby a gorse bush.

He didn't really know what he was going for, but she looked tired like she could do with a pick-me-up. So he plopped the bird in front of her, before collapsing down beside it. "Wanna share?"

Brindlewhisker's ear twitched as she watched Dewtuft enter camp, although she hardly paid any mind to the tom's actions until he started heading her way.

She raised her head fully as Dewtuft approached and subsequently dropped the pheasant by her outstretched forelegs, a soft 'mrrow' of amusement escaping her mouth as she was able to fully take in the bedraggled state of both the pheasant and Dewtuft. His words somewhat surprised her, but it was more of a pleasant surprise- most of her younger kin hardly interacted with her like this. "That'd be nice." Brindlewhisker agreed.

Reaching out with a forepaw, she pulled the tattered piece of fresh-kill towards her so that she could take a proper bite of the bird, chewing quickly before pushing the pheasant back towards Dewtuft. "Did those birds give you trouble?" She asked lightly, eyes fixated on his dust-coated fur.

Some may have felt shame at their appearance, but to Dewtuft, this was something to be proud of. He's fought those damn birds and won, so he puffed up his chest as explained the harrowing tale of his hunt today to Brindlewhisker. "Oh they tried. I wounded the pleasant's wing, so it couldn't take flight when I pounced on it, so it tumbled into one of the tunnels to hide. The others in the patrol said to give up on it, but I ignored those mouse-hearted suggestions. I crawled into that dark space and BAM! Got it out in one piece." He was explaining so animatedly, he nearly hit Brindlewhisker with his paw movements but he didn't notice. Too caught up in his lively tale. "Then on the way back, I saw a pigeon and I knew I had to get it, Gustpuddle had a litter recently. Can't have her kits go hungry. So I snuck up on that sucker and caught it."

"What about you? Doing cool deputy stuff?" In his youth, he was a little hostile to the deputy, mostly out of misguided hero worship of his father, but he'd grown to accept Brindlewhisker with time. It helped that his father was a distance figure these days. And despite how much Dewtuft loved his father, he could never forgive the tom to his fling with Goat-dung. His mother deserved better.

Brindlewhisker watched as Dewtuft launched into the surprising story of his eventful day and the exciting chase of pheasant, amusement particularly evident in her eyes as he mentioned the daring expedition of the tunnels. "How brave of you- I rarely step foot into the tunnels." She mewed, feeling her fur prickle slightly at the thought of the tight, overwhelming darkness of the tunnels.  Her head jerked back slightly as she did her best to avoid his flailing forepaws, eyes widening slightly as she did so, but she continued to listen to the tom without interrupting him. "That was very thoughtful of you." She finally commented, whiskers twitching with laughter as she watched Dewtuft finish his story.

At his question, Brindlewhisker's head cocked slightly as she processed his words, one of her paws reaching out to paw softly at a stray pheasant feather before her. "Oh yes," She agreed softly, keeping her voice light as she spoke once more, "Very cool Deputy stuff." Her voice took on a teasing note despite her true feelings on how she had actually spent her day.

"Well, c'mon. Don't keep it to yourself." Dewtuft meowed cheerily between bites, swallowing chunks of dark gamey meat with gusto. He vaguely got the hint she was teasing him, but that was quickly ignored for his general curiosity. He didn't really know what the Deputy's duty was, the leader seemed to do everything and more. He guessed that Brindlewhisker did handle all the patrols and did all the apprentice-mentor hounding. But did she also speak to StarClan?

Brindlewhisker cocked her head slightly as she continued to gently prick at the fragile spine of the feather with her claws as she mulled over the possible answers to Dewtuft's question, watching the tom with curiosity- did cats think that Deputies did important things on a regular basis? Then again, did Deputies ever do anything of importance? All she ever did was organize patrols and help train apprentices."Well," She began a bit hesitantly, "I organized the days patrols and made sure everyone had something to do for the day." She finished with a nonchalant shrug, continuing to watch Dewtuft practically inhale the bird.

"Everyone? Man, I couldn't do that even if I wanted too. My head hurts trying to remember all my siblings's names." Dewtuft was mostly joking, mostly. He did have a lot of siblings, thanks to a certain former deputy. And on the topic of family, he remembered that Brindlewhisker's lot were now apprentices. "Oh, how's your kitlings doing? Are they all working up to be rabbit murder machines? If they're anything like you, I imagine we'll all be feasting for moons from their catches."

An amused huff escaped Brindlewhisker's mouth at Dewtuft's joke, a light purr rattling her chest as she did so, feeling a bit better at the lighthearted attempt to ease the mood. "Dawnlight is very much shaping up to be a great hunter indeed," She found herself agreeing easily, fondness evident as she mentioned her first born son, "But Goldenflame was never much a hunter- too slow I suppose." obviously he wasn't a good rabbit murder machine if he chased one straight into the gorge without catching it. It had seemed like just yesterday whenever Dawnlight and Goldenflame had both been kits and had first met Dewtuft, yet it had obviously been quite some time since that had fateful encounter had first happened.

"We need fighters as much as hunters. Not all can be swift as Dawnlight and you." He was never much of a wordsmith, but he knew how fiercely protective queens could be of kits. Dewtuft had enough sense not to agree, anyway, Goldenflame was still young, green behind the ears. All cats needed time to grow into their strengths, and sometimes, they took a little longer than others.

But as much as he'd enjoyed spending time with the deputy, his paws were itching with unspent energy again. "I know you're resting, but would be down for a scuffle? I imagine not many cats challenge you now you're a deputy, Brindlewhisker. Show me why Ashstar picked you, beyond your looks."