we’re all a bit hangry [o]

Brackenpaw’s dark paws kneaded the snow beneath him in frustration, turning it into a pile of slush. His temper had not yet calmed and he felt like a sapling in a storm the way his emotions were throwing him around. Being in camp was driving him up the walls, There was where Shatterdsky had been made a warrior, there was where Harepaw spent most of his time and there… There was where his mother had died. This place was beginning to feel miserable, everywhere a constant reminder of why he should be training harder and harder and why it should have been him receiving his name today and not his smug, foxhearted little brother. Did family really run so thick? Brackenpaw could not help, but feel personally victimised, there had to a conspiracy against him. Or maybe this was a challenge by Birdstar or SkyClan, to prove his loyalty in the face of adversity and dishonour, that he was the warrior SkyClan and his family needed. None of that mattered though, his pelt still bristled and his heart still raced with anger. The apprentice had to get out of the stars forsaken camp or so help him StarClan.

”I’g going hunting.” announced Brackenpaw flatly hoping his clanmates might finally be paying some sort of attention. If anyone cared at least they’d know where to find him, or his corpse. Who would know if he left now and then was savaged by a rabid fox? Clearly some cats wouldn’t care what happened to him. A low growl rose up in Brackenpaw’s throat, ears falling back against his head. “You’re welcome to join me if you would care to.” he snapped turning on his heel and walking out of SkyClan camp. He didn’t spare a glance back, he’d soon know from the annoying yapping by his side if someone had taken him up on his offer. It was ironic how badly he wanted company and appreciation, but the idea of having to interact with another cat in his current state of mind had his heckles rising.

Beechfang had watched the recent warrior ceremony from the shadows. She wasn't sure how she felt about Falconmoon's... Dawn- whatever's, kits becoming warriors. Oh, it was a good thing for the clan, they were growing despite the terrible sickness that had made a mockery of their ranks. Harepaw's training was going to take time, but it felt as if she had blinked and missed them entirely. Or maybe she was just getting old.

The ceremony had come and gone, and the tabby had returned to her own duties, training with Harepaw, hunting, patrolling. Right now she rested in camp, a short break before getting back to what needed doing. She had taken notice of Brackenpaw kneading the snow across camp, had noted the seeming frustration emanating off of him... And paid it little mind. Until he called out to announce that he was going hunting. And the snap to his voice with his next words.

She had been that bitter and disillusioned, once.

The tabby pushed herself to her paws, trailing after the apprentice in silence, single eye sweeping over their surroundings out of habit.

"Something has your fur ruffled." She commented, but fell quiet again. She recognized the bubbling frustration behind his words, but she also knew that prying was unlikely to get him to open up, either. If he wanted to talk or simply hunt, it was his choice.

Brackenpaw nodded in greeting to Beechfang, but he remained sielnt, tail twitching as he waited for more cats to join his patrol.

No one else came.

The fur along his nape began to rise, but the tom bit down on whatever bitter comment was on the tip of his tongue. Instead he opted to be short and curt "Lets go then." he grumbled turning on his heel and padding out of camp. It was strange ordering such a senior warrior to follow him, but there was no point in waiting around for others to join when they'd made it clear they wanted nothing to do with him. That would have to change. He was the grandson of the deputy, and the son of two powerful warriors for StarClan's sake!

Brackenpaw's ears perked at Beechfang's remark. So he hadn't done that well at hiding his emotions. What you see is what you get... he mused to himself, eyes flickering to the ground looking for the tracks of prey as he thought of how to respond. Yeah" he said eventually with a scoff [color:0260=cc9933]"I fight, and I hunt and I put all this effort in, much more than Shatteredsky, believe me, but yet he is a warrior first? Right..." Brackenpaw would have loved to have kicked the snow up in a huff, and have made a big scene, but he couldn't risk scaring valuable prey away.

His ears swivelled as he continued his rant "I should be happy for my brother - and I would be, but... We haven't been on good terms lately. We got a long as kits, but he's differnt now. Changed." the tom sighed, pausing just for a moment, as he had caught the rustle of leaf several tail lengths away. He glanced back at Beechfang, deciding to finish what he had left to say before investigation the noise. "I just hope even if Shatteredsky has changed, that he remembers our promise."

Without even uttering a word, so use to hunting alone and on his own time and merit, Brackenpaw left Beechfang's side to follow his keen hearing. As suspected, he found a bushy red squirrel, surprisingly plump for the conditions foraging amongst the snow. He dropped into a crouch and tentatively inched closer. When he was withing pouncing distance Brackenpaw raised his heckles, and tensed preparing for the perfect moment.

He pounced, unsurprisingly catching the squirrel. Brackenpaw killed it with a swift nip to the neck, then buried it to return to later. "Squirrel." he meowed with a smile upon returning to Beechfang, having felt all the better for his catch.

The member 'Midnee' has done the following action : Dice roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 7

The apprentice was quiet at first, but his emotions couldn't have been more clear than if he'd yelled them for the clan to hear. Nobody else joined the patrol, and Beechfang kept pace with the tom as they broke away from camp. The answer to her question was acknowledged with a twitch of one tattered ear, though the warrior stayed silent as Brackenpaw spoke.

Was this what she had been as a young apprentice? Hiding her insecurities under a layer of prickly thorns? She certainly hadn't admitted to her own feelings of jealousy and frustration... But she knew all too well what it was like to share those feelings. She knew what it was like, to be on the outs with her brother, and Brackenpaw's words there gave Beechfang pause.

"Okay... I did not need to be reminded of my own youth but today's the day, apparently.\" The clan definitely did not need a repeat of her and Dawnhawk.

"Feeling like your efforts are going unseen and thankless sucks. It's easy to wear your indignation on your pelt - that's what I did when I was an apprentice. I had a foxheart of a brother I never got along with, and seeing him be the first of us to become a warrior..." Beechfang let out a soft snort, her tail flicking. "It was easy to let that indignation fester into something more. It was easier still to avoid him and make snide remarks when we were forced to interact. He saved my pelt from a rogue in twolegplace once when we were apprentices... I never did thank him for it... Nobody in the family did. I wound up stuck in the medicine den, learning herbs that I didn't care about, while he and our sister were becoming warriors and doing something with themselves. I ignored him and continued to lash out, because he was the source of half my problems. What it seemed like, anyways, egotistical mousebrain... Always faster, always the better hunter and fighter, always in the favor of higher ups, or that's what it seemed like." She shrugged, "He lashed out plenty too, though I never realized what it was until after long after the fact. To me he was just an obnoxious foxheart, and I'm sure he thought the same of me." Beechfang shook her head. She had been rambling, though hadn't meant to. "I don't think anyone else realized it either. Our parents were focused on being deputy and caring for a sickly kit. Dad tried with me but... well. Being a great warrior does not make a great parent, or even leader. And with Dawnhawk it was too little, too late. I think our mother blamed him for most of our problems, and I followed her lead. It was easy to, with how we got along pretty much never." Beechfang shook her head. She was rambling again... Maybe she was turning into one of those old elders she had never liked after all.

"What I'm trying to say, kid, is don't be like us. You both are young enough that what you have is fixable. You seem like you want to fix it, which is a foxing lot more mature than I or Dawnhawk were at your age. If you weren't, you'd have snapped at my question and deflected, placed blame on everyone else." She remembered a conversation with Bloodstrike, shortly after Skyclan had returned to their camp after the devastating fire that had swept through it... She had been young and impulsive and reckless. Without thought for the consequences of her actions or how her words would hurt others. She paused then, watching the young tom. "How often have you spoken to Shatteredsky, recently?"

The tom indicated he found prey, and having caught the scent as well, Beechfang fell silent. The squirrel was quickly caught, and the old warrior smiled at him. "Nice catch, Brackenpaw." She turned, scanning the unfamiliar trees for something of her own. The soft rustling of something on the ground, not far off caught her ears, and the tabby dropped into a crouch, carefully stepping forward.

The bird, having been intent on finding a meal for itself, had no chance of escape into the trees or sky where she could not follow. Good. All this talk, she would've hated embarrassing herself immediately.

Brackenpaw snorted. "Shatteredsky hasn't saved me from anything, all he does is be a mousebrain." he continued on, paws sinking into the snow, the crunch punctuating his movements. Not great if he wanted to be sneaky, but Brackenpaw was more interested in the company, if he was honest. If there was prey there was prey, but SkyClan had food aplenty now, he wasn't too concerned. "I haven't talked to Shatteredsky since his warrior ceremony, but the last time we spoke before that we had a fight. He never approaches me anyway, he has some sort of complex I think." he ranted, his movement tense with the irritation the memory brought him. "We have this pact we agreed to as kits. It was my idea that as the stronger siblings we would protect Honeypaw and Harepaw. He doesn't seem to care for it as much as I do, but he gets mad at me saying 'that I don't care for it'? It's me who takes Honeypaw out for extra training to make sure she can handle herself, its me who asked Sunfire to help her too, its me who does everything. Not once have I seen him do anything! I'd do the same for Harepaw, but he's only just become an apprentice, and you seem capable..." he paused, eyes flashing to meet Beechfang's single eye. "Are you capable?" His tone was slightly accusatory, but still held the notes of anger from his rant about Shatteredsky. Brackenpaw could have approached this better, more than likely didn't need to ask, but he was in a mood and he wanted all his bases accounted for. He had the opportunity of talking to Beechfang alone, why waste it when interrogating the older warrior was right there.

"Him saving me wasn't the point." Beechfang muttered, though it was half-hearted. It seemed she'd gotten the prickly tom to talk, that was good. Snow crunched under their paws as they walked, but Brackenpaw continued to speak, admitting that he and Shatteredsky hadn't spoken recently.

...He reminded Beechfang of herself. She didn't like that. Not at all. "...Well, you're trying more than I did. I don't know Shatteredsky well, if at all, so I can't claim to know what's going through his head." She mewed. Her eye narrowed in mild offense at this pact of theirs, "Honeypaw... She has her own type of strength. So does Harepaw. And they'll become formidable in their own right." Her apprentice needed to start slow, but he was doing well. He was still recovering, but he was slowly gaining strength. "Perhaps neither of you should be writing them off so soon. That right there shows your ego." She couldn't speak for Shatteredsky, of course, but she would tell Brackenpaw what she thought he needed to hear. What she had needed to hear at his age.

Was she capable? Was she capable?? Silvery tail lashed once as she turned toward him, "Care to find out for yourself, 'paw?" The sharp words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. "Was it being a former medicine cat, or the single eye that drove you to assume I'm not?" Oh yes, he had struck a nerve in the old warrior. It had been a long, long time since Dawnpaw, since Cloverheart, and still, the words stung more than they should have. "When you have lived through a quarter of what I have, 'paw, you can make that judgment. Perhaps there is a reason Shatteredsky doesn't approach you."

Brackenpaw had not expected the sudden shift in Beechfang’s mood. Certainly he would have expected her to be a little upset, but the anger? He hadn’t accounted for that. Harsh words from the older warrior caused his cooling temper to rise. It seemed she’d missed his point, and he didn’t even know those cats! So this is what he gets for opening up and asking questions? I can see why Shatteredsky keeps to himself now. Brackenpaw kept eye contact with Beechfang as she turned towards him, snarling at the apprentice, using his rank as an insult. A low growl escaped his maw, as she now questioned him in turn. “Don’t make me put you in the elders’ den early.” he hissed. If Beechfang was going to threaten him, he’d threaten her back. Brackenpaw never knew when to back down or accept defeat, he’d never truly had to answer to authority, and he didn’t plan on starting now. The slight on him about Shatteredsky had his claws unsheathing. It dug deep, made the rage he’d quelled white hot. “You’re wrong.” snapped Brackenpaw coldly. His restraint was hanging on by a spider’s thread. Beechfang had wound him up, and all he wanted now was to hurl insults her way as well. Being accused, questioned, insulted… It was alien to him, and he didn’t like it. The roles were flipped, and Brackenpaw couldn’t see the irony.

Words rose to defend himself, and his intentions, but they were quick to die on his tongue. Not yet sure how to combat his own rage and indignation. He continued to hold her stare, as he growled. Beechfang didn’t get it, she was wrong about him. Wrong about his character. His temper wasn’t helping him, his emotions weren’t helping him, this was stuff Shatteredsky had worked out a long time ago. But, Brackenpaw wasn’t like Shatteredsky, he couldn’t turn his feelings off and on as he pleased. There was real effort in trying to control himself and his impulses, and he was struggling. Brackenpaw sheathed his claws, at least outwardly he couple appear less vengeful. “Is it wrong to want to protect those who can’t fight for themselves? Until recently Harepaw had been confined to the medicine den. You were a medicine cat surely a cat as ancient and wise as yourself knows how sick he was. He’s here still unlike our mother he survived, so believe me I know he has a fighting spirit, but is some warrior who avoided my question going to help him? And don’t bother quizzing me on Honeypaw and my ego, we took down an owl together, but i’m not mousebrianed or boneheaded enough to now see when cats need help. Neither is Shatteredsky. Honeypaw and Harepaw are better cats for it” snarled Brackenpaw through gritted teeth. He had done his best to keep every rotten insult from flying at Beechfang, but he knew his words hadn’t been kind.

"Elder's den? You don't have what it takes." Beechfang let out a soft snort, a hint of dark amusement in her eye. Her father had refused that den, and Beechfang... She had the feeling she would never see it, either. Still, she would have liked to see this foolhardy apprentice try.

The tabby forced her claws to remain sheathed. He was just an apprentice. A mouthy one, but a clanmate. As much as she would have liked to show him how wrong his blustering and vitriol was... No. She had learned that lesson already. Smacking him upside the head might have been tempting, but rarely had it actually solved her problems in life. It wouldn't solve Brackenpaw's, either.

"It isn't wrong to want to defend those who can't defend themselves. Being so dismissive of them is." When Beechfang finally spoke her words were measured, careful. "You don't see it now because you are young and full of ambition, and you view the world in black in white. Ask me how I know." Beechfang said, whiskers twitching, "Being this combative and indignant over petty words won't help you in life. It definitely won't help you when it's aimed toward your own clanmates and family. Learn to control it before it controls you."

"You'd be surprised!" hissed Brackenpaw tensing to strike and prove Beechfang wrong. However somewhere somehow the remaining singular brain cell the tom possessed managed to remind him that attacking clanmates was against the code. Brackenpaw didn't need any more setbacks, especially ones that were avoidable. The tom's posture relaxed, slightly and he regarded the scarred warrior before him... What would be a few more scars...? No! Bad Brackenpaw! He blinked, a little shocked at the darkness of his own thoughts. He wouldn't hurt Beechfang... Would he? He thought back to the owl and Honeypaw, how even against an over sized pigeon he'd struggled to come to terms with the stench of violence. Balking when the claws came out and blood was drawn. He wouldn't be sending anyone to the elders' den if he was too busy puking. "You're not worth delaying my ceremony over." he eventually gritted out, turning his back on Beechfang and storming onwards through the snow.

He didn't really care to hear the rest of what the bear of a cat behind him was waffling about, but given they were suppose to be hunting together, the brindled apprentice couldn't just up and leave and so he was forced to listen to her drone on. Besides imagine if he left, and then a real bear or something took out Beechfang, oh Harepaw would not be happy. Maybe there was merit listening to the grumpy old badger, considering his brother's fondness. Or maybe Harepaw was still delirious from the sickness. It didn't matter Beechfang had finally drew breath, and now it was Brackenpaw's turn to reply, lest her temper return and they ended up in another spat. "And how do you know Oh wise Beechfang?" he meowed mockingly, failing once again at not trying to start their row up again "Because I'm actually as calm as a fish, as collected as a swan and as cool as the snow beneath my paws." Yeah, the snow that was melting under his paws as he stood their radiating heat, and antagonising the unfortunate Beechfang further still.

Beechfang chose to ignore his sharp retort. She had known what it was like to be a battle-hungry apprentice with a chip on her shoulder, eager to prove herself and desperate for validation. It seemed most cats were prone to impulsive decisions at his age, particularly if they were family.

He decided against it, citing his eventual warrior ceremony, and the former medicine cat only offered him a simple nod. It was a wise decision. The wisest one he had probably made in his short life.

"You are anything but." Beechfang let out a soft laugh, "You are just like the rest of us in this family. All the subtlety of a rampaging badger. Your grandmother was the same, once. So was Birdstar. It's in our blood to be combative and prickly,." Sometimes she wondered how much of Wolfblossom's shift from aggressive hothead to the cat she was now was informed by the early losses of family, and how much of it was simply a mask. She certain had her moments, but they were rare enough to be startling. It was a far cry from Brackenpaw, or her own personality. Something Beechfang was proud of even as it gave her pause.

With a shake of the head, Beechfang turned, searching the area for more prey. They had spent a good while snapping at each other... Hardly a productive use of their time as far as the clan would be concerned.

Wolfblossom pig-headed? Brackenpaw doubted it, his grandmother was the picture of levelheadedness in his eyes. Same with Birdstar. The tom lashed his tail and grumbled to himself, hoping to find angry words to match his annoyance at Beechfang, but he found his tongue tied, and attention directed elsewhere. Plus, he had wanted the argument to stop, it was best to let it die out. A flash of brown in the undergrowth, and all was forgiven. Brackenpaw gave chase his weight shifting to adjust to the weight of the snow, and to avoid causing too much noise. It was a shame though, the brown flurry had a head start on him, and as it weaved between the trees, keeping out of the reach of Brackenpaw's needle-like claws, the apprentice realised it was a pointless hunt.

He returned to Beechfang in defeat. Blue eyes bore into the ground, feeling this trip, and his actions today were redundant. Everything was pointless. His mood was annoying, and so was Beechfang, thinking she was better than him. He grumbled again to himself, muttering curses under his breath. StarClan shame him for his colourful language. He chanced a glance ay Beechfang, wondering how the she-cay was judging him, but whatever he saw made him grumpier. Brackenpaw increased his pace, stalking a few fox-lengths in front of the older cat.

roll for rabbit + adding previous roll sp use on. Brackenpaw expended -10 SP hunting so far

20/20 HP
50/60 SP (-10SP)

The member 'Midnee' has done the following action : Dice roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 4

The brown shape that Brackenpaw decided to go after was not one often found on Skyclan's fresh kill piles, and Beechfang knew that neither of them would have much of a chance at it. Still, she watched as the stubborn apprentice tried anyways, tail twitching as he came back with empty paws and grumbling under his breath. She couldn't blame him for it, though was of half a mind to tell him that his energy was better spent elsewhere... But refrained. She'd given him enough to chew on today, and there had been enough arguing. She wouldn't add to his foul temper when there was no point in doing so.

Beechfang trailed after him, silent as she searched these strange lands for more prey.