An interesting Meeting

Swiftheart walked along with her patrol - mate for the afternoon. Having an afternoon patrol in shadowclan was like having a night patrol for other clans since they were nocturnal usually (Shadowclan being the only clan that really does this flipping of sleep hours). She yawned a bit as they were used to being asleep at this hour.

Glancing at her patrol mate Iceheart she grinned a little in a freindly manor, she was a talkative cat who loved her clanmates alot.

She walked along the border, she wasnt really all that focused as there hadnt been aton of problems on any border front for a long long time.

"hmm how has everything been for you Iceheart?" she asked her friend. She knew Iceheart unfairly blamed herself for the loss of Ratrunner and she hoped that she was doing better over that. She was so glad to finally have the dark forest out of their pelts but it came at a heavy price.

"hmm perhaps Frost will give you the deputy position" she purred glancing at her clanmate curious to see what her reaction would be at that suggestion and idea.

Swiftheart for one would never want to be deputy and hoped that Iceheart or nightstalker would get it, or anyone really except for Swiftheart.... she just was worried about having all that responsibility if Frost asked her she would beg him to reconsider ... she never really wanted a position of such power deputy and leader never made her comfortable, ever since she was a kit she was content with reaching warrior and staying there. While the other kits she grew up with pretended to be leader she was perfectly fine being their loyal make believe warrior when they played their games and not much had changed when she grew up. She couldnt imagine being leader or deputy and didnt know how her mother did it... well Murkystar was strong that's probably how, she missed her deeply and imagined to herself that Murkystar went to somewhere even better than starclan where the prey was endless and the forests beautiful.



Blinking back to the real world she stood still frozen for a moment when a strong wift of windclan scent filled her nose.

hmm odd they were still a ways from the official border and there was no breeze for the moment that would have carried that.... What in the world?? hmm this was not usual.

She glanced at Iceheart with a bit more urgency this time, although not loving official titled leadership positions, Swiftheart was the senior warrior of this patrol and knew she had to take action as such. She flicked her tail taking charge and ordering Iceheart to follow close behind her staying low.

Everything was executed perfectly, the tail signals they learned as apprentices when enimies might be nearby to keep voices to a none. She ordered silenetly for Iceheart to get ready but not attack unless absolutely necessary.

(lol tail signals?? im laughing so hard writing this XD ... its canon now lols.)


She stalked silently forward glancing around, there was a lot of noice nearby... hmm if this was a formal invasion windclan certainly wasnt trying to be sneaky about it... but what were they doing???

Creaping up on the noice she peared through heavy undergrowth of swampy read type bushes.

Poking her eyes through she saw two young looking cats... hmm either apprentice age or very very young warriors... what were they doing here??

She glanced around wondering if there were any others... was this some sort of trap?? Ughhh she hated having to make snap decisions like this ... sighing silently to herself ... Frost I swear if you give me deputy imma smack you she thought a bit saltily to herself.

Which wasnt usual for her but yeah idk its just what she thought in the moment, not that she ever would smack him but the imagery of that is funny to me

Taking a deep breath she decided that this was probably not a trap and more likely just apprentices being apprentices. Still being very careful of her surroundings she let out an authoritative warning intorduction.

"Windclan?? what are you doing on this side of the border??" she asked them slowly coming out of the underbrush and approaching them.

She gave them an odd-long stare they were younger than she originally thought even ... hmm yes the more she saw it looked indeed like apprentices were just a bit lost... she allowed her back fur to lie flat again relaxing a little bit still looking around a bit wondering if there were more than just met the eye hiding somewhere.

"WATCH OUT- SHADOWCLAN!"

Rosepaw, who was silently padding along the Thunderpath up to this point, suddenly tumbled into a sprint past Whisperpaw as though her life depended on it. She stopped after only a second, looking back at the two cats accompanying her with a dung-eating grin.

"Ha! That was funny, right? You- you totally thought there was someone chasing us, didn't you! Didn't you?" The ginger apprentice cackled, stomping her feet on the ground like it was the funniest joke ever. Debatable, to say the least. She turned back around and fell back into patrol formation as though nothing had ever happened, only half-listening to whatever the more experienced cats had to say with a smile still on her face.

That was sooo funny and smart and clever of myself, Rosepaw praised herself mentally-- Like, if Goldenstar could see me right now, she would promote me on the spot just for being so good. Yeah, that sounded right.

A few more moments passed in awkward silence. Rosepaw did not like awkward silences.

"Hey--" she offered: "Border patrols are boring. How about we play a game: the first cat to make it across the Thunderpath and back gets to be 'Leader' of the border patrol! Sound good? ReadysetGO!" And then she was off- sprinting across the road with glee. There were no incoming cars, thank the stars above, so she sped across without a problem.

... Except she might have ran a bit too far.

It wasn't until she stopped laughing that Rosepaw realized she was in unfamiliar territory. The ground was soggy, there were lots of trees for once-- and the smell! It stank to high Starclan here! Far worse was was the sudden appearance of a ghostly Shadowclan warrior, verbally glaring her down with an authoritarian voice.

"Uhhh.... Whisper?" she felt frozen in place, incapable of looking behind her to see if the apprentice was with her, but she could only hope so. "I'm starting to think I might've gone too far this time."

[OOC: I don’t have a template for playing multiple cats in the same scene lol so my posts including both Whisper and Ice will have no template!]

Whisperpaw looked between all of the ShadowClan cats with wide eyes, and suddenly wished they had waited for Brackenwing after all. They didn’t release their jaws from Rosepaw’s scruff. They couldn’t outrun these ShadowClan cats now—they were a little too deep into the territory and Whisperpaw was exhausted from the small burst of energy expended from chasing after Rosepaw.  They could only stare, unable to find their voice again.

“You should keep a better eye on your apprentice,” Iceheart hissed, incorrectly assuming that Whisperpaw was Rosepaw’s mentor. “Unless you both have been hunting on this side of the Thunderpath.”

Brackenwing was somewhat wary of doing border patrols along the thunderpath, having heard stories of both the monsters that prowled along it and the clan that lived in the shadowed marshes beyond it. The path seemed quiet, though the acrid scent of the hard gray stone and the monster that ran along it still made distinguishing any other scents difficult at best. Whisperpaw and Rosepaw accompanied her, and she was content to remain quiet and mark the borders despite Rosepaw's efforts. She knew Whisperpaw slightly better than she did Rosepaw, though knew neither particularly well save for Whisperpaw seemed to be the less energetic of the two.

Her head snapped up at Rosepaw's cries of Shadowclan, and upon finding nothing, she glanced at the apprentice. "Don't joke, Rosepaw. You never know what could happen." She mewed, disapproval evident in her tone. Whisperpaw was the older of the trio, and clearly shared Brackenwing's common sense, at least.

And then Rosepaw was darting across the thunderpath. "Rosepaw! Get back here!" Brackenwing hissed in both annoyance and alarm, fur bristling. What if a monster were to run across them? What was she supposed to do? Whisperpaw had gone after her, and Brackenwing swallowed, glancing both ways. With no monsters in sight, she darted across after the two, fully intending on dragging both of them back by their ears. "You can't just run off onto another clan's territory! Rosepaw!" Whisperpaw had gotten to her first, and Brackenwing stalked towards them, tail twitching.

Naturally, being on another clan's territory, there was bound to be a patrol. Brackenwing planted herself firmly between the apprentices and what looked to be warriors. "Yes, well, apprentices are harebrained." She bit out tersely to the warrior who had spoken. "I'm not here to cause trouble. We'll be leaving. Now." She added, with a pointed stare at Rosepaw, though she was keeping a wary eye on the Shadowclanners as well. Of the three Windclanners, Brackenwing was sturdier and more muscular than the others, more suited to a fight. The white Shadowclan warrior looked older, and far more experienced than she or Whisperpaw, however, and Rosepaw was hardly experienced at all. She wasn't interested in getting into a fight and risking one of them hurt.

"Surely not. We may be youthful, but I'm sure that would be seen as inexperience any way you look at it. I'm sure that perhaps Duskflight will be the one to occupy that position." Nightstalker mewed thoughtfully, shrugging the suggestion that he'd be deputy off his shoulders. He wasn't particularly ambitious, but if he was to become deputy, it would be a lot of weight to bare, to succeed his mother, and maybe Frostgaze one day? Nightstalker was broken from his thoughts at the cries and chatter of an apprentice before said apprentice had fully crossed the border and practically ran into the border patrol party.

And they multiplied, a taller she-cat, which he was now being told was an apprentice, and a Windclan warrior both crossed. Nightstalker stepped forwards, drawing himself tall and making himself known from the shadows that he blended so well into. Looking down his nose at the three, he quirked a brow, putting on the practiced airs of a cat more experienced and knowing than he really was. Thanks, Burningwing. A growl rumbled from his throat before he spoke, "We understand, the odds are stacked against you regardless, but we are aware that the youngers tend to get ahead of all of us." Nightstalker mewed, "There is a valuable lesson to be taught here. Teach it yourself, or I'll be taking manners into my own paws." He threatened. He did not wish to be too gentle, or understanding, a border crosser was a border crosser, and if not met strongly then would deign to be repeated. Turning to Rosepaw, the cat to so foolishly start all of this, he bared his teeth and snapped his teeth, leaning forwards a few whiskers to make his message perfectly clear.

Swiftheart relaxed a little seeing how young the 2 cats to first cross were. She, like Iceheart also assumed that, it was warrior out with their first apprentice at least that's what it looked like when the tall skinny one grabbed the rebelious ones scruff in an attempt to get them out of here.  Still, they had broken the warrior code which was no minor offense.

Nonetheless, it seemed to be an accident and not a planned invasion like she had first feared.  She allowed her back hair to lay flat once more but still gave them a suspicious look nonetheless.  Then, another windclan cat came over which made her not too happy at all... squinting her eyes at the third one she tilted her head slowly listening to Brakenwings explanation.  She was bigger than the other windclaners but Swiftheart wasn't exactly intimated by her at all, she looked young and inexperienced, a new warrior, probably assigned to watch the apprentices for the day. Swiftheart reckoned she could take all three of these invaders alone if she absolutely had too. The tall apprentice looked like they were just tired from chasing after the first one.

Luckily for her, Ice and Night were right here too.  Even more lucky, it truly did seem to be just a mistake by two very foolish apprentices and it was not looking like it would come to that at all.


Her brother spoke up and gave Rosepaw a stern warning.

Meanwhile, she kept a watchful eye out for any other windclan cats that may be coming over... she was not at all happy that the third one came over, Brakenwing could have waited on their side until this was sorted out couldn't she have? This all seemed a little suspicious to her. She understood that the two apprentices were just being that... apprentices. But something about how the warrior positioned herself so defensively and how she came over the border as well really did not sit well with Swiftheart. The usual kind hearted molly was much shorter with her responses to Brakenwing than she may have otherwise been and with the recent bagage shadowclan had, she was alot more tired than usual so her usual spirits were not present when addressing the advisory.

She glared at the third one clearly annoyed "Apprentices can be hairbrained at times indeed... lets make sure this doesnt happen again though" she said trying to stay as diplomatic as possible while staring suspiciously at brakenwing the whole time. She didnt even know what it was but something about the warrior just set her off. She wanted to hold herself back from saying the next bit but couldn't. "However, ... it appears in this case very obvious how little control you have over them." she countered, staring the intruding warrior down.

Her brother had made the statement very clear and she flicked her tail at him backing him up.

"Do as he says...there is no need for any fighting as it stands now"

Swiftheart glanced back at the third one last time... "Perhaps we should suggest to goldenstar... giving you some apprentice duties as well? since it seems you still act just like them?" she said shortly. It was obvious she wasnt actually going to do that more of a ... "get out our land" kinda statement. Goldenstar wouldnt really even have to know about this whole incident unless windclan chose to not get out like right now.

OOC: and the award for worst apprentice goes to...

Rosepaw felt her cheeks flush hot with embarrassment as soon as Whisperpaw grabbed onto her scruff, claws digging into the dirt reflexively. Up came another Shadowclan warrior, and another, alongside poor old Brackenwing trying to defuse the situation. But the apprentice's mind was only escalating. She messed up going this far. She messed up by goofing around in the first place. And now everyone's eyes were on her.

"Yes, well, apprentices are harebrained." She was talking about her.

"There is a valuable lesson to be taught here. Teach it yourself, or I'll be taking manners into my own paws." He was threatening her.

"Do as he says..." She really did not want to be doing anything a Shadowclan cat said, especially if that meant getting dragged back to camp to get punished.

Flustered by all the attention that was now placed on her shoulders, Rosepaw did something that likely dwarfed her original move in foolishness. As Nightstalker leaned in close she swatted a paw and--

Rosepaw used Front Paw Strike on Nightstalker, dealing 6 HP and costing 7 SP!
Rosepaw is at a disadvantage!

Rosepaw:
15 HP / 23 SP

Nightstalker:
46 HP / 120 SP

Whisperpaw’s eyes flitted between all of the warriors anxiously, their heart beating frantically in their chest as the anger and suspicion from the ShadowClan cats only grew. They glanced at Brackenwing, wishing they could help, but they could scarcely speak. What could they really say? Whisperpaw just wanted to back away and leave before anything got out of-

Iceheart’s fur bristled and she hissed when Rosepaw’s claws raked down the front of Nighstalker’s face. She may have been just a bit lenient if she had batted him to get him away—though not happy—but she’d chosen to use claws! What a foolish apprentice! Her anger snapped and got the best of her as she lashed back in defense of her clanmate. Whisperpaw managed to move in time to take the claw, wincing, but Iceheart didn’t mind—they were all to be punished for coming across the border. “Get out of ShadowClan territory before we have to chase you out! Foolish cats!”

Whisperpaw’s ears twitched and they backed away a couple paces behind Brackenwing, still dragging Rose back by her scruff and refusing to let go.

Iceheart used Front Paw Strike on Rosepaw, dealing 8 damage and costing 7 SP.
Whisperpaw used Blocking Leap, taking Rosepaw’s damage and turning Iceheart’s focus to them. Cost 5 SP.

Whisperpaw
7 / 15 HP
25 / 30 SP

Brackenwing bristled as the white she-cat spoke, eyeing her levelly. They didn't need to know about Goldenstar's... difficulties. "I'll handle my clanmate. There's no need to-" She began. "Foxdung, Rosepaw! That's enough!" Brackenwing hissed at her clanmate as she lashed out at the Shadowclan tom. And then one of the she-cats took a swipe at her in retaliation, only natural and fair... Except Whisperpaw had put themself between Rosepaw and the Shadowclanners. Brave of Whisperpawa... And stupid. Stupid of both apprentices.

"Tell your clanmates to back off." Brackenwing growled at the white she-cat, stepping up beside Whisperpaw, ostensibly to shield both apprentices from further harm. "She's impulsive and made a mistake, as young cats do. There is no need to fight over this."

Nightstalker reeled back and blinked with disbelief as fighting started to break out between the two patrols. He licked his nose, and the taste of iron came away on his tongue. Growling with irritation, he let his hackles raise as he pushed aside Brackenwing with his shoulder, raising his paw he brought it down on the foolish apprentice's head quite hard, before grabbing the apprentice by the scruff. He did his best to carry her off the ground, but she was not kit sized. Looking both ways and feeling for rumbles in his paws, he dragged the apprentice across the path again before dropping the young she-cat on the other side. "If I catch you, or your clanmates on Shadowclan territory again. I won't be showing any mercy, and I will be showing the full extent of Shadowclans battle experience." he hissed, flecks of blood flying as he spat, before turning on his paws and dashing over to the other side. "You are all very lucky that we all understand the foolishness of young ones." He hissed.

Nightstalker used Front Paw Blow on Roseplaw dealing 7 dmg and 5 sp

Rosepaw:
8 HP / 23 SP

Nightstalker:
46 HP / 115 SP

Swiftheart was shocked at the windclan cats aprrentice actions. She hissed as her brother got bonked on the nose...


She was fully annoyed with brakenwing telling her to stop her clanmates... Clearly windclan had started this was Brakenwing blind??

Then her brother retaliated and smacked the apprentice back making Swiftheart grimace... ohhh no... this was not what she wanted at all. There was no need for this to escalte any further than it already had.

"Enough!!" she hissed loudly at the windclan cats.

"Go on. Go home... NOW!" she spat at brakenwing. If this warrior had any sense at all she hoped she would listen... however from what she had seen from brakenwing so far she was not impressed and was not sure if the "warrior" had any sense at all. She had crossed the border uneededly, had growled at swiftheart to stop shadowclan when Rosepaw was clearly the aggresor to this whole mess and acted as one of the apprentices this whole time in general.

The usually friendly molly was at her witts end with this windclan nonsense. She gave a long disaproving look to the windclan warrior.

"no more... we can go our seperate ways. Nothing more needs to be done here" she said as a last attempt to stop any further unnescary fighting. If windclan pushed futher she would have no choice but for right now she held back... Perhaps the windclan fools would take it as a good sign of wanting peace which she did want. She flicked her tail back and forth squinting her eyes at the warrior. "Do you really want to test us?" she challenged not backing away at all. She gave a rough sholder shove at brackenwing pushing the sleeker smaller windclan cat back a bit. Nothing to actually hurt her, just a push back toward her side. "Go on, get out of here and we can forget this ever happend" she meowed trying to keep a level reasonable tone and hide her annoyed undertone that was creeping in.

Rosepaw flinched at the Shadowclan warrior's harsh gaze, and more so at the sudden blow to her face she received. Her beautiful face! Large teeth grabbed her scruff, but this time she didn't fight back as she was dragged across the Thunderpath like fresh kill. Her eyes did not meet the dark she-cat's. She did not attempt another swipe. She just felt so, so embarrased.

It took several seconds for Rosepaw to compose herself, now firmly on her own territory. When she finally did, she looked up at Brackenwing and Whisperpaw with a forced smile. What could she possibly say to make this better? "So... Um..."

Whisperpaw was more than ready to leave, and they were certain that Brackenwing was too—and then it just all had to go wrong. Rosepaw swiping at the ShadowClan cat was bad enough, the other ShadowClan attempting to retaliate was worse—but the first tom ripping Rosepaw from their teeth and dragging them across the Thunderpath was far too much! They had legs and were fully capable of walking. Rosepaw was a bundle of trouble but to be ripped away by another cat was unacceptable. They shot Nightstalker a look of fear and anger before meowing to Brackenwing, “We must head back.”

They dashed off, not wanting to incur any more wrath from the ShadowClan cats. Iceheart watched them go and looked to Brackenwing, her eyes narrowed. She added nothing more, as her senior warriors provided more than enough reason for the WindClan warrior to leave too.

Whisperpaw arrived on the other side at WindClan territory and gave Rosepaw a stern and angry look. “You are in so much trouble,” he meowed. “We are going to have to tell Shrikestar about this. I hope you’re prepared to explain your foolishness.”

They knew that Rosepaw was embarrassed and apologetic for this—or at least, they certainly hoped that she was—but they couldn’t bring themselves to not be angry. Rosepaw was so foolish and put all of them in danger. Whisperpaw’s flank ached from the raked claws of that smaller ShadowClan warrior.

Brackenwing's fur bristled, anger flashing across her expression. However angry she was though, dragging Rosepaw back across the thunderpath was a better fate than fullscale retaliation. Maybe the humiliation would teach Rosepaw to be more careful in the future.

She wasn't a fan of the mostly white she-cat's attitude, but she was in no mood to continue this stupidity, either. "As I said-" Brackenwing bit out, "-We're leaving. Now." Whisperpaw had the same idea, and she was grateful the apprentice had common sense. Fighting them would be unnecessary. Spinning on her heel, Brackenwing darted across the thunderpath back to Windclan territory alongside Whisperpaw. She turned to Rosepaw with a growl.

"Rosepaw, what were you thinking?" She hissed, "You can explain to Shrikestar exactly what happened. Do not make me drag you all the way to camp like that one just dragged you across the thunderpath." Her tail flicked towards the dark-furred tom, but otherwise she had dismissed him entirely. "You are lucky that this was all that happened." She added sharply. If it were up to Brackenwing, Rosepaw would be on elder duty for the next moon, but it wasn't her call.