Blood in a Stream (CLOSED)

Streamtail had never actually explored the territory near SkyClan before. Last time she was here, she had talked to a SkyClan apprentice named Smokepaw. The young apprentice was rather nice. Sighing softly, Streamtail leaped into the water, feeling the currents weave around her paws. Diving under, she saw that this stretch of river had rather smaller fish and less prey to hunt in. Streamtail would keep that in mind. Swimming around for a few more moments, the blue-gray warrior padded out of the water, before shaking her pelt to dry it. Suddenly, Streamtail heard a crack of a stick, and whipped her head around. “Hello? Who’s that?”

OOC: I am going to assume you meant to post in the neutral part of the River! Bloodstrike wouldn't dare cross a border uninvited unless it was an emergency.

Bloodstrike finally found a few hours of free time and decided that today would be the day that he patrols near the river. He hadn't met a Riverclan cat or a Windclan cat, though the latter he wasn't sure he was looking forward to. Going to the border in broad daylight was new for him, since he was so used to sneaking away to them as an apprentice. Hopefully they wouldn't see a fully fledged warrior as a threat, which was the whole reason he risked going to the border as an apprentice to begin with. His theory had been that if he wasn't a threat, they wouldn't hurt him.... besides the other apprentice he ran into. He hadn't seen her since.

Bloodstrike spooked a rabbit that he didn't even see until he was nearly on top of it. The rodent zoomed away, breaking sticks and crashing through underbrush like the clumsy prey animal that it was. It made Bloodstrike cringe. Then a voice called out from the water. He immediately and instinctively crouched, but then immediately got back up so as not to look like a threat.

"Just me," He answered quickly. He stepped out of cover and closer to the river, where he spotted a she-cat in the water. Ew. Why in the water? A Riverclan cat! Good! He dipped his ears forward in greeting, hoping to look as friendly as possible.

"I'm Bloodstrike of Skyclan. I'm just doing patrols... Great Starclan that looks uncomfortable..." He nodded towards the water. If he tried to swim, as big and as heavy as he was, he'd probably sink. He would never have made a good Riverclan cat....

Streamtail shook her head and sighed. “It does seem like only RiverClan cats like the water. Anyways, Bloodstrike of SkyClan, what are you doing here?” She tilted her head curiously. It wasn’t like other cats to go close to the river...at least, most of them avoided it. Some cats from RiverClan disliked it too. Streamtail couldn’t blame them. It was a bit unusual that a SkyClan warrior would want to come here. “Patrolling the borders by yourself?”

Once Bloodstrike was sure that the Riverclan she-cat wasn't interested in a fight, he came closer. He nodded at her question. "Yeah, sometimes it needs to be done. Our clan isn't exactly giant." He stopped just short of the water and stared at it. He didn't like that he was afraid of it... Maybe not so much afraid of it as... he just didn't know that much about being in water. He looked again at the Riverclan cat.

"So what's your name?" He asked her, still leaning over the river to stare at it. He had a thought pass through his head... but oh boy he didn't like it. He knew he would benefit from this idea of getting at least tolerant of the water... but it was much easier said than done.

Streamtail stifled a laugh as the younger warrior kept on staring at the river. “I’m Streamtail. I saw you at the last Gathering, didn’t I? You were with another cat...I believe. I’m guessing you’re newly appointed, aren’t you?” By the looks of it, Bloodstrike looked much larger than a young warrior. He was even taller than Streamtail. Huh, interesting... From what she remembered, Bloodstrike was rather closed-off during last moon’s Gathering. Streamtail couldn’t blame him. It was rather negative.

Bloodstrike nodded. "I haven't been a warrior long, I am newly named." He admitted. He tried to remember Streamtail but... for the life of him he couldn't. He had been too focused on keeping his sister safe. Bloodstrike took in a breath, as he always did to prepare himself for something... unpleasant.

"Could you do me a favor and... pull me in?" He already regretted asking. "This won't get back to my leader or yours, I promise. I just... I need to know what that's like..." He nodded toward the river, then braced himself. I'm going to hate this...

Streamtail blinked in surprise. “Pull...you in...the...river? Are you sure?” Seeing his serious expression, she sighed. “Okay...” Streamtail dived into the river, almost reaching the border, before wrapping her long tail around Bloodstrike’s paw and yanked him into the river. Splash! As the warrior landed into the water, Streamtail stayed close to him, preparing to pull him up by the scruff if anything bad happened. Surfacing, Streamtail yelled towards the warrior. “You okay? Do you wanna go onto the riverbank again?”

Bloodstrike nodded, though his nod was stiff and his expression was anything but certain. Still, Streamtail seemed to be fine with obliging. He was expecting her to pull his in by his shoulders with her claws or something. What he did not expect was to see her tail come out like a snake and yank him in.

"WHAT THE-" Splash! Bloodstrike was in the water. The shock of the cold made him scream underneath the surface. Bubbles stirred the top of the water before he whipped around wildly to find his way back up. His head broke through the water and he sucked in a lungful of breath almost greedily. One thing was for sure... he was very awake now. He wildly paddled back toward the bank and scrambled up, his claws gouging the dirt until he got out.

His fur clung to him like a wet suit, soaking the ground that he sat on. He shivered. Bloodstrike shook himself off as best as he could, but the water clung to his fur stubbornly.

"How in the world do you stand that??" He asked Streamtail before he started to shake off all of his legs one by one. His fur clung to his body in a way that was both comical and showed off his lean physique. Once he had a moment to recuperate, he started to realize that while the water had been uncomfortable... it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be.

"I am convinced that Riverclan is full of mutants." He joked, right before he began to furiously lick his fur.

Streamtail couldn’t keep her laugh in any longer. “Yes, I guess we are mutants aren’t we?” She got out of the water as well, shaking the water out of her thick fur. “RiverClan cats have thicker fur, therefore we don’t feel that cold underwater. It’s worse during leaf-fall as the water is close to freezing. And yes, my tail is a very good uh...object to yank someone in the water. I did it to my mate once...he was surprised as well. By the way, your fur is sticking out.” Her pelt had already began to dry and a puddle of water surrounded her paws. “Anyways, now that you’ve experienced what it’s like to swim, do you have any questions other than “what does water feel like”?”

Bloodstrike wasn't sure he'd ever be dry again. He licked and licked and licked, and then shook himself off. To no avail. Ugh this could take hours to recover from... At least now he knew what to expect from the water. He was surprised that a Riverclan cat would be so willing to show him, but it was a pleasant surprise.

"Oh... you actually are mutants..." He commented absently. He had just been kidding... but no... Riverclan cats were physically different.

"I wouldn't call that swimming," He admitted. He shook his legs again then moved to a drier patch of ground and sat down. "I don't even know what to ask... I guess... how do you guys get your kits used to the water?"

Streamtail was instantly hit with the memory of Mottlekit, Shadekit and Shellkit. Shuddering slightly, she faced Bloodstrike. “We...usually train them to swim in a place called Broken Pools. The pools are shallow, and made my Twolegs. We don’t worry about them much in Broken Pools. They can swim freely around there. Since it’s not connected to the river, that makes it safer for them. They wouldn’t get swept away. Some kits...though...they’re just too...excited, I guess. I had to save two of them a couple of days ago. They almost drowned...the currents were rather strong at that time.” Recalling the screeches of Mottlekit and Shadekit almost made Streamtail turn away and run back to camp to check in the nursery if her kits were safe.

Bloodstrike nodded in understanding. That made sense. He would have preferred the shallow pools too, now that he'd experienced the river. He'd do his best to dry off before going back near his own territory. He shook himself again.

"Sorry to hear that. I truly hope those kits are alright. That probably would have been me, to be completely honest." He would have been one too eager to try the next hardest thing. He could only imagine how many lives this river had taken.

"I guess you eat a lot of fish too? How do you catch those?"

Streamtail shrugged. “Well...” She dipped her paw into the water, feeling for fish. When a slippery, scaley thing slid across her paw, Streamtail hooked her claws in and tossed it onto the riverbank, before smashing it in the head. It stopped flopping around and stared at the sky blankly. “There. It’s kind of easy for me, since, well, I’ve been catching them since my apprentice days.” Grinning, Streamtail tossed the fish farther away, planning to carry it back to camp later. “Fish are very beneficial for our pelts. They make them soak up less water. That’s why I dry quicker. It does give that fishy smell though. I’ll admit, it is stinky.”

Bloodstrike just stared as she pulled a fish out of the water... effortlessly. It was the fish that made their fur like that? He put his nose in the air to smell it. Fish smelled... bad. As much as he might like to have waterproof fur, just to have it, he wasn't sure he could stomach eating fish, let alone replacing it with squirrel.

"Interesting." He said simply. He gave his body another shake.

"Well this has been educational... thanks Streamtail. I think I need to get going though. I have more to patrol and I don't think sitting in one spot is going to make me dry any faster." He still had an intense instinct to lick himself dry, but he needed to finish his work for the day too.

"Is there anything you need from me before I go?"