Flying Fish, Grounded Bird (Closed)

Faint, honey-gold streams of dawn light washed RiverClan's camp with a beautiful glow, the comforting gurgle of the river completing the tranquil scene.  Brushing past the boundary of reeds that made up the apprentice's den, Magpiepaw's jaws stretched wide as a long yawn forced it's way out, the monochrome tom rubbing his bleary eyes with a petite forepaw.  Glancing around, he noted how peaceful the warm breeze was, and how it played upon the surface of the water, creating tiny ripples and waves, yet just not enough to drive the fish back into the depths.  Mmmm...from what Sparkfrost told me, it seems like good weather for fishing.  I hope we go out today...then again, he might be too busy with Dacekit.  As the overaged apprentice made his way towards the near-empty fresh-kill pile though, he realized that he hadn't actually seen his mentor (and adopted brother) with his daughter very much...if at all.  It was always Dappleshine, being the amazing mother she was turning out to be, guiding her kit around the camp.  It was still weird to him, seeing the she-cat who he used to look after nursing a kit of her own...but he supposed it would become normal with time.  That is...if I ever work up the courage to speak to her again.  As always, Magpiepaw's face instantly fell, and he hurried to pick up a day-old water vole that was calling his name.  He always felt bad taking prey before he had brought something back for the clan, but Sparkfrost had told him to eat before they trained, and he figured he'd better obey.  Since almost no cats were gathered in the clearing yet, the anxious young tom settled down in a sunny patch right beside the pile, studying the vole for a long moment before taking a bite, allowing himself to drift away into his confused thoughts.

Wow...quite the life I lead, huh Mom?  I wish you were here...you'd know what to do.

It was early, yes, but it was never too early to be awake - or too late. Dacekit had decided those things for herself, with a little bit of ShadowClan influence; she had been born when ShadowClan was living in RiverClan's camp, though she didn't understand why, and she had spent the first several moons of her life raised beside them. The cats of that Clan had led rather different sleep schedules and struggled to adapt to daytime life in RiverClan. Most of them seemed to want to settle in to sleep by the time that RiverClan was awake, and in the evening time they were often rising as the other Clan was going to sleep. Thanks to grandmaw Thorn, Dacekit learned why ShadowClan slept the way they did. Since then Dacekit had chosen to declare any of her sleep pattern stubbornness as "the sleepy times of DaceClan".

Today Dacekit was awake before the sun rose, and though she had tried hard to fall back asleep and stay peacefully beside Dappleshine in their warm nest in the nursery, soon the glimmering rays of gold were peering in and her curiosity could be held no more. She crept up from the nest and waited a moment, staring with wide, cautious eyes to see if her mother would stir. If she did, all the better: then she'd be able to ask for permission. After several moments of staring, however, Dacekit gave in to her curiosity. Step by step she crept from the nursery at last and out into the camp clearing. Already it had become rather familiar to her, though she hadn't ventured into the warrior or apprentice dens - and certainly not the leader's den, either - yet.

The dilute tortoiseshell she-cat crept into the warm sunlight and paused for a moment to bask, and then she took in a deep breath, opening her mouth to take in all the scents around her. One RiverClan cat had already graced the clearing, his form vaguely familiar as he sat crouched with his back to her. Dacekit stood outside the nursery for several moments with her tail, quickly growing thicker fur by the day, twitching behind her. Well, what was the warrior sitting there for? She wondered in a flicker of mischievous thought if she could creep up on him before he realized, but then she considered, He must be eating!

"Hi, I'm Dacekit!" Dacekit squeaked, deciding then that she didn't like being startled while eating and so someone else probably wouldn't either. She toddled over to the dark tom, her green-hazel eyes glimmering with curiosity as she made her way to stand in front of him. "Hi," she said again, catching his gaze and offering a glowing, innocent smile, "I'm Dacekit." Her eyes rested on his fresh-kill and she pointed a paw at it, asking, "What's that? Can I share with you?" It was not hers to share; she did not understand sharing.

"Hi, I'm Dacekit!"

It was much too early in the morning for Magpiepaw to be expecting company that spoke so loudly, and so it didn't come as much of a shock that the easily-startled apprentice felt his nerves jolt and fur spike as he flipped around to face the unexpected intrusion upon his lonely thoughts, but after a moment though - and quickly checking to make sure that Dappleshine wasn't with her - the tuxedo-pelted tom relaxed.  Exhaling a breath he had sucked in without knowing, he followed Dacekit with his eyes as she trotted around to stand in his field of view, purring an unsure greeting; "H-Hello..."  StarClan, how was he supposed to talk to the kit of his best friend, whom he was estranged from because of his cowardice, and his older adopted brother and mentor?  Was he her uncle?  Not by blood, but by relation maybe...Finchstream would've been her grandmother.  Would Dappleshine get mad at him for talking to her daughter instead of her?  What if she asked questions?  What if...

"Hi, I'm Dacekit."

Oh.  Looking up from his paws, he realized that he had been ignoring her, zoned back out into his anxiousness and worries.  As he met the she-kit's inquisitive hazel eyes though, feeling his ears quivering from embarrassment, Dacekit burst into a smile, one so pure and joyful and...absolutely adorable.  For a moment, he was a bit dumbfounded; why would she be so happy to talk to me of all cats?  As he continued to study her gaze though, he remembered fondly the days when Dappleshine had looked at him that way, so happy to see him, eager to play or just sit and talk...for the last few moons, the only thing he had seen in her eyes as she looked at him had been pain.  And that fact pierced him to his core.

For a moment, after she asked him what he was eating, Magpiepaw was still silent, golden eyes darting around between his vole, the kit, and the ground, but finally, he seemed to bolster himself.  Arranging his front paws so that she could have room to grab a bite from the vole, he flicked his rounded ears, a slightly awkward smile finding it's way onto his petite white muzzle.  "Y-Yea, w-we can share it, if you want to.  Oh, i-it's a water vole. They're p-pretty good, or, a-at least I think they're good.  G-Go ahead and take a bite."

It seemed to take the dark tom a moment to really register her presence; her second greeting must have been necessary, for he looked up to meet her gaze at last. Dacekit stared back into his pale amber eyes, unable to read the emotion in there. Her spirits did not dampen at his silence and lack of response; her sincere smile stayed plastered on her face and she straightened up a little more to display her confidence. She would make a friend today, she was determined! When he continued to say nothing she asked about his prey, and for a moment that didn't seem to wake him up either. She saw him look between her and his prey several times, but she simply continued to blink innocently, offering that same disarming smile.

After some time he finally seemed to come to some sort of resolution in his brain, and the dark tom twitched his ears and shuffled slightly to open the prey up to her. He smiled, and Dacekit wondered why his smile looked so sad on the edges. Still, a smile was a smile. Even as he spoke with a trembling voice, he had opened himself up, and he welcomed her to try the fresh-kill. She leaned over the small pale thing, one delicate bite taken out of it by the older tom, as he explained what it was and that he liked it. Dacekit crouched beside it and took a tentative bite, struggling for a moment with the skin before pulling away to chew.

She sat back with a thoughtful look on her face, and after a moment of quiet she said matter-of-factly, "That's not a fish!" She tilted her head at him. "How did you catch it?" she asked with awe, as though it were some miracle that the tom had managed to hunt something that wasn't a fish. Dacekit didn't realize, either, that he had grabbed it from the fresh-kill pile, for she had not yet been allowed to see or take from the pile herself.

Magpiepaw watched, amused, as little Dacekit managed to pull off a bite of vole meat; seeing her struggle a bit, he pinned down one side of the prey with a claw so that she could have an easier time.  After a moment of chewing her food and seemingly thinking it over, she burst out with a statement so obvious only a kit could've said it, and the sad young tom finally managed to laugh.  "N-no, voles aren't fish!  Look, they have f-fur, like us.  T-They're rodents, like mice and s-shrews and r-rabbits."  He didn't know for sure if the kit even knew about those kinds of land prey, but as he ran a paw across the vole's flank - making its dull fur ruffle - he remembered fondly the first time he and his siblings had eaten land prey.  Finchstream had brought them all a rabbit to share, a lucky catch from one of the warriors, and he recalled not liking it too much.  Water vole was alright though...he wondered if Dacekit would like it once she got over the surprise of it not tasting like fish.  "O-Oh, I didn't c-catch it, I got it from the f-fresh-kill pile."  I wish I was fast enough to catch a water vole...  Flicking his ears towards the small hollow in the ground, he purred curiously; "That's w-where the warriors and a-apprentices put all the food after they c-catch it, hasn't D-D-Dappleshine showed you y-yet?"

The older tom laughed at Dacekit's astute observation about the species of fresh-kill, and though she didn't understand why he was laughing, she grinned and giggled playfully back. However, then he spoke, explaining that of course they weren't fish, and she watched as he slowly ran a white-tipped paw over the vole's "fur". She watched with amazement as the thin pelt ruffled and then laid itself flat again, though with a few uneven spots in the hairs here and there. The tom continued to explain what it was, and named some other creatures like it. With each name he listed, Dacekit's eyes grew wider until they seemed almost like round green moons on her pale, enthralled face. "Wow!" she whispered with awe as he finished explaining what it was.

Then, the kind tom answered the question of where he caught it - or, well, explained that he hadn't caught it. He gestured over towards something called the "fresh-kill pile", and immediately Dace's face lit up with excitement. "No - I wanna see it!" she exclaimed joyfully. "Mommy says I hafta wait until I'm better at eating fresh-kill before I can pick what we eat." She didn't seem particularly disheartened as she spoke; her mommy always knew best and was only looking out for her! She turned her sparkling green-hazel eyes back on the tom again and asked with a bashful grin, "Can you show me... um.... please?"

Upon hearing the proclamation that Dacekit wished to see the fresh-kill pile, Magpiepaw lifted himself to his paws with a purr, only to stop dead; golden eyes stretching wide, he looked closely at his best friend's daughter, mind suddenly frantic.  Oh no, I didn't know Dappleshine didn't want her to choose her own prey yet!  Idiot, if you were a good friend you would've known that...I mean, she seems okay?  I think?  His irrational worries expecting the kit to drop to the ground any second, he forced his face to relax and return to a slightly nervous smile.  "O-Oh...i-in that c-case...don't t-tell Dappleshine t-that I let you eat v-vole, okay?  I...I d-don't want her to g-get mad at m-me."  Chuckling anxiously, he tried to pull it off like Sparkfrost would've - winking down at the tiny kit as if they now shared some deep secret - but his heart continued fluttering.  Or, even madder at me, probably.

Flicking his short tail, Magpiepaw began leading the brief distance over to where the near-empty fresh-kill pile waited, a bit amazed at the size difference between him and Dacekit.  Her head barely reached up to his shoulder and given that he was very short for a tom this wasn't particularly inspiring, but in a way it made him realize just how far he had come.  With every hunt, every training session, every swim, his muscles were toning and becoming more defined; he was growing up.  Smiling to himself, he prayed that he wouldn't have much farther to go.  Soon, I'll be in the warrior's den with Sparkfrost, Berrycloud, Ivybrook...and Dappleshine.  Soon...  It took them the grand travel time of ten seconds to reach the little hollow, and while sweeping his paw out over the hole he purred to Dacekit; "H-Here we are, RiverClan's f-fresh-kill pile!"  With a chirp of laughter, he narrowed his eyes to see what exactly was still in there from the day before; "I see...a couple of m-minnows, a sparrow...is that a f-frog?"  Nose wrinkling slightly, Magpiepaw guessed one of the ShadowClan guests had brought it back.  Well, they could keep it; he had eaten frog once during the flood, and it didn't suit him.  Turning back to the pale tortoiseshell kit, he smiled.  "T-The hunting p-patrols haven't gone out yet, t-there'll be m-more food after s-sunhigh."

Dacekit was utterly delighted when the tom nodded agreement and began to stand; she hardly registered his hesitation when he stopped dead to stare at her with an expression of slight alarm. After a moment, however, he nervously requested that Dacekit not share the treat she'd eaten with her mother, stating that he feared Dappleshine would be angry. Dacekit giggled while the large black tom chuckled nervously - This boy laughs a lot, he's funny! she thought cheerily - and she wriggled with a laugh at his playful wink. She followed him as he lead the way across the camp clearing, and she pranced and bounced in his pawsteps.

"Oh, don't worry!" the tortoiseshell kit purred reassuringly, oblivious to his fears, "My mommy doesn't get mad, silly. She just gets sad sometimes, and then I ask her what's wrong and find her a pretty rock and tell her I love her."

The pair had arrived at their destination, Dacekit learned, when the dark tom stopped and swept his tail to gesture to it. The kit leaned forward, staring curiously as he described the contents: the minnows she recognized, but the sparrow and the frog seemed strange like the vole had only a few moments before. "Wow," Dacekit mewed, as if she'd never seen anything so strange and amazing in her life. She glanced up to see the black tom crinkling his nose at the mention of frog. She didn't understand his expression, but for a brief moment she tried to imitate it with her own face, curling her lip and scrunching her eyebrows as she looked back at the dip in the earth, still glancing uncertainly between the sparrow and the frog - whichever was which.

Then the tom turned to her again, and he explained that there would be more food after sun-high. Dacekit gasped. "Wow! Really?" She looked back at the pile, and then she stated, "I'm gonna stay here with you until they come back! We can see what they brought." Dacekit turned back to the apprentice again and sat before him, smiling up. "Have you ever been on a hunting patrol?"

Magpiepaw had turned just in time to catch Dacekit trying to - hilariously - replicate his disgusted expression, but before he could react with more than a purr she had jumped back to attention, listening with wide eyes as he stated there would be more food to look at later.  It was so perplexing yet...strangely heartwarming that something as seemingly simple as a prey pile could spark so much curiosity in the eyes of a kit.  Was I like that, when I was her age?  Probably not, I was always trying to hide away in the nursery while my siblings did the exploring, I was scared of the outside!  Dacekit however...  As she proclaimed she would not be moving until the hunting patrols, which hadn't even been sent out yet, returned, Magpiepaw sat down alongside her with a purr.  Looking down into her hazel gaze, he nodded yes, and spoke with a slightly embarrassed tone.  "Y-yea, I have!  I m-might actually have to g-go on one today."

He licked his chest self-consciously for a moment before continuing on.  "I...um, caught m-my first p-prey pretty recently.  I-I was on p-patrol with my m-mentor - your dad, S-Sparkfrost - and e-even though I failed t-the first time and f-fell in the mud, h-he helped me back u-up.  He actually ended up r-rolling in the mud t-too, to make his fur b-blend in with the w-water.  T-Then, with his help, I caught my first fish!"  His voice was jubilant, and he hadn't realized his tail had lifted off the ground until he felt it brush against his back.  Every time he had told the story - only to his siblings, of course - he reacted in the same way, a beautiful feeling of pride overwhelming him completely.  He hoped it didn't come across as arrogant, but with so few accomplishments to his name, it felt good to boast a bit, even if it was to a kit.  As he reflected on the kit's earlier words though, something rang in his mind.

"My mommy doesn't get mad, silly. She just gets sad sometimes, and then I ask her what's wrong and find her a pretty rock and tell her I love her."

It had been moons, but he still remembered vividly when he had walked away from Dappleshine, heart aching as she complimented the very catch he was now speaking of proudly.  The look on her face still haunted his sleepless thoughts, as the eagle feathers she had given him brushed against his pelt.  They were soft and warm, like his best friend, and comforting too.  Yet, the creature they came from was unforgiving and cruel, like life.  Would she really accept him despite his weakness?  Or was the feeling deep in his belly that screamed his actions were wrong just trying to confuse him?  If only my problems could just be solved by giving someone a pretty stone...I miss when life was that simple.  For a moment, his face and tail had fallen, but as he snapped himself out of his mind he turned back to Dacekit, his purr unfaltering.  If only it wasn't fake.

Dacekit was pleased when the older tom sat down beside her at the edge of the fresh-kill pile; the statement that the hunting patrols hadn't left meant nothing to the young Clan member, and truth be told she still fully expected the bounty of food that the tom had promised to be walking through the camp entrance on its own fins any moment. She might even have kept her hazel eyes fixated on the tunnel for a short while if not for the black cat speaking up, answering her question about patrols. He confirmed that he had, in fact, been on a hunting patrol before, and suggested that he might even be going on another that day. Dacekit looked at him with amazement and adoration and said breathily, "Wow, you're a hunter!"

Indeed, after the tom cat licked his chest - a motion which Dacekit empathetically copied, with a swift and amused lick of her own pale fur -  he began to describe how he had caught his first piece of prey on a patrol recently. She was further enthralled and shifted to face him, staring with amazement as he told the story of his learning process. Dacekit giggled when he said he fell and purred when he explained that her father helped him up, thinking, My daddy's so nice! He's always doing nice things for people! Immediately her laughter was redoubled and intensified upon learning of her father's tumble as well.

"That's amazing!" Dacekit mewed with joy. "You're gonna be the best hunter in the whole forest!" Her praise was genuine, even if it was hyperbolic, and she could hardly believe she had the pleasure of speaking with such a talented cat with so much experience. She realized what he had said, that it had been his first piece of prey and that her father was his mentor. "Are you an apprentice?" Dacekit asked curiously, realizing suddenly that she didn't know his name.

Dacekit's pure awe at his such minuscule, honestly lame achievements made him flush under his dark fur, a shy grin making his bright eyes sparkle in the dim morning light.  "Haha...t-thank you D-Dacekit, I h-hope I do t-too, so I c-can bring back l-lots of prey for y-you to eat s-someday!"  He sincerely doubted that he would ever be the 'best' at anything, but the kit's innocent encouragement warmed his anxious heart; it seemed unconditional, just like when Finchstream had told him he would be a big, strong warrior someday.  I guess kits and mothers are kinda the same...they both always believe what they say, even if it's impossible.  "But y-you know...I think y-you'll be an even b-better hunter."  As he purred, Magpiepaw pulled the rest of his water vole back towards him; as much fun as it was talking to the kit, Sparkfrost could walk out of the warrior's den any second, and he needed to be ready.

Dacekit asked her next question as he took a large bite, so it took him a second to chew and swallow before he could reply.  Wiping his muzzle with a white forepaw, he purred a little too brightly; "Y-Yep, I'm an apprentice.  Oh, m-my name is M-Magpiepaw, by the way."  He wasn't about to go into for how long he had been an apprentice...hopefully he would be a warrior by the time she left the nursery and the question wouldn't come up, but he sincerely doubted it.  It would be nice for at least one cat to not look down on or pity him...at least for a couple more moons or so.

The dark tom tipped his head bashfully at her compliment, and Dacekit's heart soared to see it: she loved that expression, knowing that cats she liked were happy and that she had contributed to their happiness herself. It was all she ever wanted. Dacekit kept on grinning as the black cat stammered a gracious, flattered thanks and finished it off by offering to catch something for her. He then added that he thought someday she'd be an even better hunter. "Me?!" she exclaimed with delight, standing up and bouncing in place with a look as though she had been chosen as leader of the Clan.

Immediately Dacekit shook her head emphatically and stamped a small foot on the ground, proclaiming with joy, "Nooo, you silly, I don't hunt! I'm a kit! You're the bestest hunter!" When she had asked him if he was an apprentice, she didn't realize he had taken a mouthful of his earlier prey. Indeed, as he struggled to quickly choke it down to reply, Dacekit simply continued, assuming he had nothing to say, "I hope when I'm an apprentice, you get to be my mentor; I like you. You're so nice to me!"

At last the tom swallowed, and stated brightly that he was, in fact, an apprentice. Dacekit giggled and gasped, "I knew it!" as if she had solved some strange, ancient riddle. Her eyes were bright like the springtime as she asked with awe, "What's a mag....magpie?"

"W-Well you d-don't hunt yet, but w-when you get b-bigger I'm s-sure you'll be the b-best hunter in R-RiverClan.  You can t-take my place!"  Magpiepaw laughed once more; how had he been roped into boasting like one of his denmates?  He had never once believed that he would ever be more than just an average warrior, so why was he talking like this now?  It was Dacekit's enthusiasm...Dappleshine had made him feel the same way in the past.  Trying to push away such high hopes, he nodded kindly, trying to hide the way his stomach churned at the thought of someday being a mentor.  "I-I'd love to t-train you Dacekit, i-if I'm a w-warrior by then.  Y-You're v-very nice to m-me too."  His eyes fell back to his prey as he spoke, words genuine yet something inside of him felt...weird.  He couldn't explain it, but it was like coldness in the pit of his stomach, nagging at him.  Was it guilt?  He didn't know why that would be, so he tried to push it away from his mind the best he could as Dacekit asked about magpies.  

Smiling, he waved his tail up towards the sky as he purred; "M-Magpies are big, b-black-and-white colored birds that l-live near the river. My Mama n-named me after them b-because my fur is the same colors.  T-They're really n-noisy, sometimes I can hear them c-cackling when I'm out h-hunting."  It's funny that Mama named her quietest kit after the noisiest bird...it would've been much more fitting for Ospreypaw or Egretpaw.  They look like her though...I look like...  Giving his head a firm shake, he took another bite out of his vole, trying to swallow before Dacekit popped up with another question.

While Dacekit believed that her logic had been quite sound in explaining how she was not a hunter, Magpiepaw's response was perfectly reasonable, too. Dappleshine was often talking about Dacekit and when she would be bigger; she seemed to feel like she was getting bigger, too. The tom before her promised that soon she would be a great hunter and take his place. The tortoiseshell she-kit was absolutely delighted by his compliment, both towards her and towards himself. She squealed with joy in true kittish fashion at his pride and at his expression of interest in mentoring her, if he were a warrior in time. Magpiepaw's sudden curious and changed expression went unnoticed by Dacekit who, in her joy, had suddenly spun a circle with excitement.

When the she-cat met the tom's eyes again her gaze was curious; Magpiepaw began to explain the origin of his name, and Dacekit listened eagerly. He described a large bird that was black and white - it matched his fur colors, he said, and Dacekit replied with a soft, wonder-filled, "Wow!" He went on to speak of what noisy birds they were. Dacekit's tail began to lash with anticipation as she thought about the chattering birds Magpiepaw spoke of. She heard birds, too, but she had never seen one. She wanted to learn how to catch one. Oh, that was the perfect question! "Have you ever caught a magpie, Magpiepaw?" she asked eagerly.

Dacekit seemed to recover from a brief bout of excitement just in time for Magpiepaw to swallow his bite, and his head was already raised to eye level when she revealed her next query, one that made him let out a single chuckle of pure uncertainty.  Catch a magpie?  They're almost as big as I am...just a lot scarier looking.  He wasn't about to admit to a kit that he was scared of a bird though, so he sufficed with a simple yet vague explanation.  "N-No, magpies a-are pretty hard to c-catch, even w-warriors can h-have trouble c-catching them.  T-They don't like to c-come out of their h-hiding places up in the t-trees, so R-RiverClan mostly l-leaves them a-alone unless t-they're on the g-ground.  M-m-maybe I'll catch one s-someday, though."  

He trailed off, thinking for a moment as he finished the vole, before purring; "Have you ever seen a dace Dacekit?"  They were common on the fresh-kill pile, but since she had never seen it before he wondered if Dappleshine had ever chosen one for her.  He remembered Finchstream using fish to wean him and his siblings, while also telling them that it helped to build up the oil in RiverClan cat's fur that let them swim more easily.  He ate fish all the time, yet he still wasn't a very good swimmer...he wasn't about to blame that on prey though, he knew better.