Raven and the Falcon [Ravenpaw]

The moon was low in the sky as Mistyfalcon settled near the warrior's den, grooming mud out of his paws with a sigh. The recent rains had made the territory even worse than usual, and mud was everywhere. The fresh-kill pile had been moved to as dry a spot as they could manage, and Mistyfalcon had gone hunting, returning at moonhigh to help patch up dens where he could. Now, he'd been able to get the mud out of his fur, and had found a relatively dry spot to sit.

It wasn't long before movement caught his eye near the camp entrance, and Mistyfalcon turned to watch as a patrol stepped into camp. The cats split to go their own separate ways, and a hint of a smile flickered at Mistyfalcon's mouth as he recognized Ravenpaw's dark pelt among them. Mistyfalcon had mostly taken a step back when it came to kits; they were unpredictable and he was awkward and they terrified him just a little... Or a lot. He'd bring her fresh-kill and generally stood by whatever Murkystrike decided, but he hadn't had the guts to attempt to fill anything resembling a fatherly role. He wasn't sure if that was what Ravenpaw would have wanted, for all that she'd accepted his mate, and in the end, he would not push her into anything. It was her decision to make. From what he could tell, Ravenpaw seemed to be settling in well to clan life, and Mistyfalcon thought that Murkystrike had done well in choosing a mentor for her. Moonshine had been his apprentice, and had also adapted to clan life.

Withh a huff, Mistyfalcon stretched, giving his head a shaake to clear it before approaching the apprentice.

"Hey, Ravenpaw." He greeted, "How's training going?"

When the patrol arrived back into camp, Ravenpaw was lost in thought. In her time training, she had learned how much was expected from every cat, and how the warriors and apprentices worked hard to support the other cats. Having been brought here at a young age, she had heard about as much as the clan born apprentices had about clan life and the warrior code. Something she had begun to notice was StarClan being referenced more and more as she trained. The she-cat was in the middle of a thought when a familiar voice broke her concentration. She looked in the direction it came, and saw one the clan's warriors approaching her.

It took her a moment to place a name to the pelt of the cat that had spoken. She had learned so many names during her training that she had trouble keeping track of them. "Hello Mistyfalcon." She greeted the warrior politely, but paused to think of an answer. She hadn't really spoken with the warrior in her time here, and she had no ill feelings about him, so she decided to give him the honest answer. "It's a lot."

"Yeah, it can be a lot to take in at first." He agreed, "You'll get the hang of things as you go. Moonshine is a younger mentor, but she's patient and will teach you what you need to know." She'd better, given that Mistyfalcon had been the one to train her.

"If she didn't run into an owl on your first hunting patrol, I'd call it an improvement." He added, a rare glimmer of humor crossing his expression.

((Oh man, we're fighting an owl right now in their first hunting patrol together. I can't use that yet D:. At least, I don't think I can.))

Ravenpaw gave a small meow of amusement at the thought. "I've heard some stories about the kinds of things we can find out in the forest. I can only imagine." She thought for a moment, wondering whether she would even be capable of fighting something like an owl. Ravenpaw knew they weren't the worst thing she could face, but it was still a dangerous enemy.

The she-cat went to speak again before a thought struck her. She had noticed how a lot of the clan cats knew each other and talked, and generally were friendly. She felt bad that she hadn't really made an effort to talk to anyone other than Murkystrike and Moonshine. She had spent the most time with them thus far, but she knew she could have been spending more time with the other apprentices and warriors. The apprentice had seen warriors and apprentices who were not mentors go hunting together.

And... Mistyfalcon was Murkystrike's mate. Does that make him my father? I mean... not biologically, but still... Ravenpaw thought this to herself as she glanced around at the cats around camp. Maybe she should make an effort to get to know him first, since he was close to Murkystrike.

"Would you want to go on a hunting patrol together? I know that it doesn't happen as often with warriors who aren't our mentors... but I thought maybe we could get to know each other better, since you are Murkystrike's mate and all. I mean, we don't have to, I just thought..." The words spilled out more quickly than she had meant them to. Once she had started talking, she couldn't stop until Ravenpaw realized what she was saying.

((hah really? And here Misty was just being snarky lmao))

"The marsh has dangers, just like anywhere else in the forest. You'll learn to defend yourself properly in time." Running into predators usually sped up that process by quite a bit, of course.

"Sure, tomorrow night, though." He nodded, lips twitching up into a smile. She'd just returned from a patrol, and aside from that it was late for most Shadowclanners to be going out in search of prey. Still, he was glad to see that she was interested in getting to know him as she had already done with Murkystrike. By nature, Mistyfalcon wasn't one of the more social cats in Shadowclan, but Murkystrike had adopted her and that made Ravenpaw closer to family. She'd been willing to stay in Shadowclan and he was willing to try to get to know her in turn.

Ravenpaw nodded at his answer, feeling relieved Mistfalcon had accepted in the first place. Tomorrow sounded like a good idea, given that she had just gotten back from a patrol. She looked over to the fresh kill pile, and it didn't seem to need refilling quite yet. While she was tired, she hadn't eaten for a while, having skipped out on something to eat before she left camp. "I'm going to grab something to eat, would you like something?"

Mistyfalcon glanced at the fresh-kill pile when Ravenpaw mentioned it, noting the prey that was already there. While he was a bit hungry, he wasn't starving or anything as he suspected Ravenpaw probably was if she'd been on patrol and hadn't eaten before leaving.

"A mouse is fine, you'll want something more substantial if you didn't eat before going on patrol earlier." Though out of habit he padded over to the pile to grab the prey himself. He would let Ravenpaw choose for herself, he wasn't quite sure of her preferences and his own weren't typical of the usual Shadowclan cat.

Ravenpaw followed Mistyfalcon to the fresh-kill pile, amused at the tom's desire to grab it himself. She examined the pile, not sure what to choose. There were some bigger mice there, but she also spotted a large frog a warrior must have caught earlier. She hadn't gotten used to taste of lizards yet, but frogs seemed fine. She picked it up and walked a little bit away from the pile and set it down. "Good idea." She stated, before laying and digging into the prey.

He nodded at Ravenpaw, settling a short distance from her with his mouse. She could keep the frog, to Mistyfalcon they simply weren't appetizing and he had little understanding of how some of his clanmates seemed to love them. Mistyfalcon was sure some of them felt the same way about his own choices, of course.

The dark-furred tom fell silent as they ate. He was never quite sure of what to say to begin with, and when there was little to say he felt no real need to break the silence, either.

Ravenpaw finished her frog quickly, satisfied with what she had picked. She waited while Mistyfalcon ate and thought for a moment. She had gotten her question out there, so she wasn't sure what else to say. She didn't want to ask anything too personal, but at the same time, she couldn't just ask something that was obvious. By the time Mistfalcon finished eating, she had come up with something to ask. "How did you and Murkystrike become mates?"

It didn't take long for Mistyfalcon to finish his mouse, and he glanced over at Ravenpaw when she finally spoke up. Her question brought a hint of a smile to his expression. "Murkystrike had feelings for me for a while, though at the time I was grieving Brighteye's death and wasn't going to rush into anything. It would've been unfair to both of us, and she respected that." That pain had dulled with time, and Murkystrike had somehow been patient enough to let him get his thoughts together. "We'd always been friendly with each other, but it wasn't until the Asylum left nearly a season later that we became closer, though it took Rosethorn calling us on it to get us to actually admit to feelings." Mistyfalcon was half-convinced that Flintstar had given her the name Rosethorn on purpose, though it was clear from Mistyfalcon's voice that he wasn't annoyed by the calico warrior's antics at all. He was less mortified by them and had even come to enjoy the friendly teasing.

Ravenpaw listened as Mistyfalcon spoke. She didn't want to pry into his past, as it was probably still a bit of a sore spot for him. Instead, she asked something else. "I've heard the name Asylum said a few times, but I'm not sure who they are or what happened. Would you mind telling me?"

((Heyyy you got Misty to tell a story!))

Mistyfalcon sat at at Ravenpaw's question, and took a moment in answering it. There was a story there, one he wasn't sure he could do justice in retelling, but she had asked and he would try.

"The Asylum were a group of rogues. A very large group, at that. We all woke up to claws at our throats one night in... late leaf-fall, on the cusp of leaf-bare, and none of us were able to fight them off. With their numbers and how they'd snuck into camp virtually undetected, we had no choice but to surrender unless we wanted to test them making good on the threat of claws and fangs at our throats. They had come to conquer the forest, and had banned a lot of our own traditions like gatherings and going to the moonstone. Each clan was confined to their own territory and effectively cut off from one another." He explained, "For the most part, things in Shadowclan were... okay. They were here, and nobody liked them, but the rogues outnumbered us several times over. Still, even with that level of control they still felt a need to prove... something, I suppose. Because wearing the pelts of foxes and other predators and completely running our territory wasn't enough, clearly." It was impossible to keep the disgust from his tone.

"They took two of our clanmates and imprisoned them in fourtrees, though we didn't know where they were being kept at the time. Murkystrike was imprisoned for teaching one of their own how to hunt and defend herself." It still made him angry to think about. Murkystrike had done nothing other than be the kind, caring soul that she was, and that was how she had been repaid. "Around that time, just before she was taken captive, I ran into a Thunderclan cat at the border. He attacked me, but had kept his claws sheathed. Turns out the Asylum didn't care about cats from different clans interacting with each other if they thought we were fighting." The rogues had been so sure of themselves, that hubris had led to their doom.

"To make a long story short, that was how we communicated with the other clans; border skirmishes. Beecloud figured out where the Asylum had their headquarters and were keeping cats prisoner- don't ask me how. It took some coordinating, but about 10 of us from all the clans met up on the thunderpath and ambushed them. After freeing the cats that were held captive, some of the Asylum's own turned on them. The Asylum had lied to their own to keep them in line, and had stolen kits from all the clans over a moon before showing up and taking over all the territories. Between us of the mousehunt, the prisoners and the kits that turned on Asylum, we were able to drive them off for good." He was leaving info out, but Mistyfalcon had never had the energy for long-winded storytelling. He didn't have the energy to go into detail about the state that fourtrees had been in, and in truth the battle, and after long trek back to camp and informing the clan of Eris and the Asylum's demise had become something of a blur. Murkystrike's thin, filthy form stuck out to him even now, much as he'd tried to forget about it. He hoped that they would never experience something like that again.

((Is it rare? :P I'm enjoying their interaction so far!))

Ravenpaw's eyes widened as Mistyfalcon finished the story. Now she knew why Asylum was never really talked about. She was shocked to learn Murkystrike had to deal with something like that as well. "That's awful.." Ravenpaw really didn't know how to respond to everything she was just told. She looked at the ground, thinking about how much that affected the clans. In her still short time with ShadowClan, she had grown fond of her home and very protective of her clan mates.

Ravenpaw wanted to protect them. It made her fur bristle just thinking about it. She realized something else as well. She would protect her clan mates with her life. Especially Murkystrike and Mistyfalcon. They were family to her.

"If I had been here, I would have done everything I could have to help. I will do what I can now, to make sure something like that can't happen again." She wasn't sure how Mistyfalcon would take what she said. She hoped the tom understood she wanted to protect him, Murkystrike, and the rest of her clan.

((YES haha. And Raven is absolutely precious I love her.))

"I'll be glad if something like that never happens again." Nobody deserved to go through that, least of all Murkystrike. He offered the apprentice a smile at her next words. She hadn't been born to Shadowclan, but that didn't matter. She already possessed the spirit that made a Shadowclan cat a Shadowclan cat.

"You'll do well as a warrior, Shadowclan needs more cats filling to defend others." Batglow, Rosethorn, Emberleap and Moonshine had all proven themselves and fought for their clanmates, and Mistyfalcon had no doubt that Ravenpaw would follow in those same footsteps.