Mending Bridges (Closed)

Bloodstrike was out on hunting patrol early this morning. He had branched off from the others, scenting his sister coming by this way. He needed to talk to her, knowing that she might be mad at him still. He guessed she was also still doing dawn patrols, but he figured he could steal her away for just a moment. He was no longer being punished, since he had been named a warrior, but he chose to be up at this hour specifically to run into her at a time that she wasn't sleeping. He bent his head down to drink from the creek and kept his eyes and ears alert for her. She shouldn't have gone far.

If I have to chase her down again this time, I will. I can't just keep letting her be mad. He thought to himself as he lapped up the icy water. Maybe he'd take her hunting today, if she was up for it. He had to bring fresh-kill back to camp anyway.

Mistpaw wandered around in the forest, scenting for any prey. Spotting a rather plump looking bird, she immediately hooked her claws into the bark and clambered up onto the branch gracefully. Hesitating, Mistpaw tentatively put one paw on the branch first, before slowly walking forward...until she was about a mouse-tail away from the bird. Mistpaw bunched her haunches up, before leaping. The bird squawked in surprise and fear, before flying away as fast as possible. “Fox dung!” Mistpaw hissed under her breath, before sighing and preparing to jump off the branch.

Bloodstrike heard the unmistakable sound of claws against bark and his ears swiveled in that direction before his eyes did. He spotted Mistpaw stalking a bird. He stayed quiet and watched, impressed by how close she got. Alas, the bird finally became wise to her and flew off. Too bad. She had been well within striking range.

"Whoa, do you kiss mom with that mouth?" He called up to her with a smile. He bunched his muscles up underneath him before he leaped nearly to the branch where she had had to climb in a single bound. He was a lot bigger than his siblings, though being almost 20 lbs now, the branches shuddered more when he landed on them. His large size had come with a price, as he was no longer as adept at running squirrels down across limbs anymore.

"I think we need to have a conversation Mistpaw. I saw you run away when I was teaching Ivypaw and Smokepaw to hunt. I wanted to call out to you, but you were already gone." Bloodstrike now deftly climbed up to the branch she was on, careful not to shake his sister off of the branch. He stayed closer to the tree trunk to shake it as little as possible.

"So... was it something I said?" He reclined onto his haunches and waited for her to speak.

Mistpaw almost screeched in surprise when a familiar voice drifted out from underneath her. Relaxing as she saw Bloodpaw, she almost waved her tail in a “hello”, before remembering that she was supposed to be mad at him. “Uh...maybe?” Truthfully, Mistpaw was rather mad at herself more than her brother. After all, it was her fault that they had gotten in trouble. If she told Bloodstrike about it, her brother would probably pull all the blame on himself, so Mistpaw couldn’t do that either. Sighing, the gray and cream tabby leaped down from her branch, landing on one branch and another quickly before finally reaching the forest floor. She almost slipped on some leaves but steadied herself, before looking up at her brother. “Come on.”

Bloodstrike frowned when she leaped down from the branch, thinking she was still mad at him and didn't want to talk. He wasn't going to follow until she invited him to. "Okay then..." He muttered to himself before dropping off of the branch and landing smoothly on his paws. He padded after her, his strides easily keeping pace with her's.

"Are we going to talk?" He wasn't trying to be pushy, but this needed to be resolved.

Mistpaw nodded once. “Uh...yeah. I’m not...mad...at you.” She struggled to find the right words to express her emotions. “I’m just...mad at...something else.” Myself Mistpaw added silently in her head. “Don’t worry, Bloodstrike...I’m fine. I think.” She was most definitely not fine. Her brother was becoming a warrior, which means he had less time with his siblings, and Mistpaw was hating herself for getting both of them into trouble. Oh, and there was also the possibility of Bloodstrike’s new mate. Ivypaw and Smokepaw were pretty friendly with her brother, and Mistpaw was perfectly fine with that. In conclusion, she was angry, sad and excited at the same time.

Bloodstrike eyed his sister for a few seconds before he understood what was going on. He sighed a long, tired, sad sigh.

"Mistpaw it's okay. I'm not actually mad at you. I was frustrated because... well it's really because I can not handle smells. The elders to me just stink. They always have health problems too, which makes them smell even worse. I was never mad at you, but I was definitely mad at myself for not covering my trail better and for forgetting that I needed to be quiet to avoid predator attacks. You could have died, I could have died. I don't handle failure very well either, and that's why I said those things." He swallowed hard, really wishing he had something to focus on while he talked.

"I felt like a failure the instant the owl hit you. I would have died right then and there if it meant that you'd be safe. I haven't been that angry before or since."

Mistpaw swallowed, holding back her guilt. “No, Bloodstrike...I’m mad at myself. Dad tracked me to you. I shouldn’t have been wandering outside of camp late at night. I was such a mousebrain to not learn how to disguise my scent. The predator wasn’t your fault either...” I’m pretty sure that was also me... Mistpaw bumped her head towards Bloodstrike’s left flank, nudging him lightly. “You’re fine. Should we...hunt? We haven’t done that together since the...punishment. You don’t want Dad to find out about you talking about the elders like that, do you?” With a small smile, Mistpaw sniffed the air for the scent of prey and took off, calling after her shoulder. “Tag me if you can!”

Bloodstrike listened to her and watched her face as she talked. It was then he realized just how bad he'd made her feel, all because he couldn't control his mouth earlier. Still, she seemed better now. Her head brushed his flank and he let out a deep, rolling purr in response. A hunt sounded good. It looked like she could use a pointer or two anyway, though he would definitely not say that. At her teasing threat about dad hearing about how he talked about the elders, he still felt a twinge of dread. That would not be a conversation he'd want to have with dad, and he would make himself suddenly very busy with hunting and patrolling. So busy in fact that the deputy would just never see him again.

"He won't know if you don't tell him!" Bloodstrike mewed almost in desperation. And then she was running. Tag? Was he hunting prey or her? .... I wonder if I could do both... Bloodstrike accepted this new challenge. Catch his sister, catch prey, strut around like a peacock. Solid plan.

He smiled and bundled his muscles beneath him before he kicked hard off of the ground and rushed forward after her. His legs were longer and his strides were farther, but Bloodstrike knew his own weakness: sharp turns were hard for such a big cat. Most of the time he slid when he tried to slam on the breaks. He was learning how to control his timing better, but on occasion he'd still slip. He tried his best to balance catching up with his sister (and he definitely was eating up the distance between the two of them) and being slow enough to make the sharp turns that were necessary.

Bloodstrike would have done well as a Windclan cat, though he'd never admit that to himself.

OOC: Dude, we should totally use the hunting system to see whether or not he catches her or slips! What do you think? Use the hunting dice? Odd numbers she gets away and he slips and even numbers he catches her? They can hunt something for real after that!

OOC: That would be great! But 10 still counts as predator though, which means she gets away but there’s a predator that comes. You wanna roll?

Mistpaw panicked as Bloodstrike closed in faster. “Oh, come on! No fair!” She mock-whined in annoyance. Her brother was much more stronger and faster that she was, but Mistpaw was more nimble. Her slightly smaller size allowed her to slip away rather easily. Mistpaw purred as she ran, finding a good place to turn. With a sudden, sharp curve, the apprentice leaped over a bush and started running again. “Come on!” Mistpaw knew that his brother had some trouble with turning sharply. She now had a lead on him, but Bloodstrike on gain on her soon...

OOC: That works for me lol

Bloodstrike knew... he knew she was going to do that. Still, her plan worked fine. He did an almost cartoonish scrambling skid across the leaves to try to keep after her. At least he didn't completely slip. He leaped swiftly over the undergrowth and once again started to gain on her. Another thing about being big and muscular, was that his muscles needed more oxygen. Running wise, his stamina could be better. He closed in once more, faster this time as he threw caution to the wind to try to close in on his mock prey.

He dropped his head to act like he was preparing to leap, hoping to trick her into turning... but he cut a turn as hard as he could in an attempt to cut her off if she tried to turn too. He reached out a paw and hooked one of her hind legs to trip her. She tumbled. He leaped onto her to hold her down with his weight.

"Oooohhh yeeaahhh!!! I caught you! Ha ha!" He declared in the most annoying brother voice that he could. He even reached down and licked at her eye annoyingly a few times. Just typical irritating sibling stuff. That said, he was most certainly out of breath...

The member 'Bloodstrike' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 6

Mistpaw looked back once again, and sure enough, Bloodstrike was catching up. She couldn’t let that happen. So, she went for another turn...when suddenly, her brother came dashing out of nowhere. Blinking in surprise, Mistpaw barely had time to think before Bloodstrike tripped her. Yowling in surprise, she tumbled over and Bloodstrike pinned her down. Great StarClan, my brother is heavy! Mistpaw narrowed her eyes at him. “Get o—ack!” As he started to jeer at her and lick at her face, she wriggled around a bit before slipping out of his grasp. “You did not have to lick my face, thank you very much.” Huffing in mock-annoyance, Mistpaw glared at Bloodstrike with the most ferocious glare she could muster. It was probably more like a stare, but that was fine. As long as she seemed threatening enough, Mistpaw would be just fine.

Oh he annoyed her a little bit... That made him happy. Bloodstrike stood up straighter, completely trying to hide his heaving sides from her and how out of breath he was. He missed his lighter body that he had as an apprentice sometimes. He couldn't hit things as hard but he was able to run across tree limbs like a squirrel and make tight turns. Not as well anymore...

"I had to gloat." He admitted to Mistpaw with a wink. "We can still hunt prey if you want. I don't want to do much chasing for a little while though." He sucked in the air through his nose, trying to scent what may be nearby. Squirrels stuck out to him the most... he loved squirrel meat. His mouth even watered a bit.

"Are you ready? I'll help you scout."

Mistpaw rolled her eyes at him, before sighing. “Yeah, sure. Wanna catch some squirrels? I know they’re your favorite.” As soon as she spoke, the small, furry creature dashed across the forest floor and scrambled up a tree in a blink of an eye. There it sat, it’s mouth twitching. Hazel eyes tracking the squirrel, Mistpaw hooked her claws into the bark and leapt, landing on a branch. It shook slightly and the apprentice hoped that she wouldn’t fall off. Pushing off of the branch, Mistpaw gradually landed onto the same branch as the squirrel. Hoping that it wouldn’t spot her, Mistpaw slowly but carefully stalked it...and leaped, pinning her paws onto it’s tail. The squirrel barely had time to squeak when Mistpaw smashed a paw onto it’s head, killing it immediately. Grinning triumphantly down at her brother, she leaped off the tree with the catch in her jaw. Carefully digging a hole in the ground, Mistpaw dropped her catch inside, before burying it.

Mistpaw used 3 sp to try to catch a squirrel. Catch was successful.

77/80