Days Go By (for Bloodstrike & Smokepaw & Summer(?))

The pale tortoiseshell she-cat padded over to her clanmates, giving the deputy a look of surprise. A friend? The cream she-cat seemed nice, but Smokepaw was sure that this friendliness was only for the moment. Would that change if she wasn't outnumbered? Maybe the friendliness was genuine? Smokepaw was curious, she'd never met a cat that wasn't from the clans before. The lack of a Warrior Code made them seem as unpredictable as the winds, to her.

Gray-green eyes narrowed at the mention of the thunderpath. "A cat was hit?" Said nearly at the same time as Bloodstrike's question. Smokepaw couldn't imagine crossing the thunderpaths on her own, too risky. And twolegplace was supposedly filled with them, while they only had to worry about the one near the border? No, Smokepaw was quite happy to keep her paws off the thunderpath. She was sure the clanmates of the other cat were probably distraught about their clanmates if what the loner said was true, but Smokepaw was glad it wasn't one of her own clanmates that had been killed.

Smokepaw shifted, ducking her head slightly in embarrassment. Impeccable hunters? This pretty loner was... praising them? Embarrassment aside, Smokepaw's posture relaxed somewhat as Summer spoke, ears pricked in curiosity at what the cream female had to say.

Summer continued to smile pleasantly as Wolfcall introduced the other cats himself. Oh, he has a son! Yes, I suppose I do see the resemblance, she thought, looking warmly from Wolfcall, her first SkyClan friend (and she was very pleased to be referred to as such), to his bold-pelted offspring. "Charmed to meet you, dears," Summer replied, giving the she-cat Smokepaw a pleasant smile as well. Wolfcall began to make small-talk, but before Summer could do much more than purr softly and begin to formulate an answer the younger companions suddenly seemed to register what she'd stated: that a cat had been hit on the road. The flame-point cream cat blinked with mild surprise, her face growing sympathetic once again. "Yes, I'm afraid so," Summer answered Smokepaw, turning to Bloodstrike  and explaining to him - and everyone - "The forest - I knew her, she was a ThunderClan cat named Willowheart. I just saw her half a moon ago."

She shook her head sadly, then shrugged and meowed, "I doubt she suffered, at least. Still, such a shame." She turned her eyes to Wolfcall again. "I hope you've been staying out of trouble, darling; no more distracted wandering over borders?" she teased, ginger tail flicking.

It took Wolfcall a moment to register that Summer had mentioned a cat being killed by a monster, in fact he didn't even realize it at all until Smokepaw posed her query. His brow furrowed in concern as he listened to the she-cat explain what she'd found, and he curled his tail around his paws, one ear sliding back towards Bloodstrike. He hoped that Summer's words would dissuade the young warrior from going off and attempting to speak with a WindClan cat, as he knew Bloodstrike wanted to do. The Thunderpath, with its rumbling monsters seemed predictable, yes, but certain monsters wouldn't hesitate to go after a cat, Wolfcall knew that. And it was often impossible to tell which were which until it was too late.

"That is a shame," he murmured quietly, trying to remember if Willowheart was a cat he knew. The name rung with some familiarity, though perhaps he'd just heard her name at a Gathering.

"And yes, thank you I have never been more trouble-free in my lifetime," he smiled, "my days are now spent keeping this lot-" he swept his tail over in both of the younger cats' direction "-out of the same trouble I used to get myself into." There was laughter in his tone, and he deliberately didn't touch at the border wandering part, hoping that neither of his companions would bring it up.

Bloodstrike's eyes widened at the mention of Willowheart's name. There was a bit of pain in his chest, but not enough that he felt necessarily devastated over it. "Oh no... I remember the last time I talked to Willowheart was at a gathering. I was trying to encourage Mistpaw to come out of her shell a bit... she's my sister." He clarified for Summer. "She's always been awfully shy. Willowheart had been sad... but kind to us otherwise. Poor thing." He was a bit bummed, but he didn't know Willowheart that well, so the pain was very minimal. He made a mental note to be extra wary of monsters in the future.

Summer then brought up that Wolfcall was seen... around the borders? Well then. Bloodstrike stared at his dad with a smug, sideways glance.

"We wouldn't want to be doing that now would we?" He snickered at his dad, but was 100% ready to dodge a smack. He deserved it, but whatever. Just then... the rabbit that Bloodstrike had missed crept out of it's hole.... and Bloodstrike was immediately focused on it again. He had to catch a rabbit... He had to! He wanted to show his sister that he could do it.

"Excuse me, sorry... that long-eared hole-dweller and I have business to finish." He said to Summer before he crept off after it again. This time he would be patient and wait for it to move further away from the hole.... while he crouched right over the first one.

It moved away.... further... further... and then Bloodstrike bolted after it as silently as he could. He closed the gap... five fox lengths.... four.... three... two... the rabbit finally noticed and jumped to the left. This time, Bloodstrike recognized the pattern and followed suit... He swiped a claw forward to catch it's hind legs and trip it... his claws connected. Bloodstrike felt a surge of pride, but didn't give it any attention until his fangs closed on the rabbit's neck and he crunched down on it. The rabbit kicked and kicked, pummeling Bloodstrike in the chest... but eventually the kicking stopped.

Bloodstrike bolted toward Smokepaw and his dad, nearly tripping over his catch's long limbs in front of him. The excitement was like a wildfire on his face.

"Lffph! Eh gah eht!" He pranced on his tip toes, entirely abandoning any stoic warrior composure that he'd had literally only seconds ago. He nonchalantly lifted the rabbit onto Smokepaw's shoulders, forelegs on one side of her and hind legs on the other before he spit it out.

"Thank you for holding it Smokepaw you're awesome! DadIcaughtarabbitdidyouseeeeee?!" He was out of breath but couldn't stop talking... so the last bit of his sentense came out as a long airy squeak.

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 4

"Mistpaw wasn't the only one too shy to speak at that gathering," Smokepaw sighed. "Willowheart seemed nice from what I'd overheard, that's a shame." Her clanmates would be upset, no doubt, and Smokepaw felt bad. She couldn't imagine losing one of her own clanmates in such a way.

"Us, trouble?" Smokepaw asked, her face perfectly innocent, "would never happen." There was no trace of sarcasm or amusement in her expression. At all. Really, there wasn't. Of course, that didn't stop her from glancing over at Bloodstrike, who she had definitely never known to get into trouble, ever.

"Bloodstrike, what are you--" Smokepaw sputtered indignantly as he bolted at her and proceeded to drape the rabbit across her shoulders. "Wolfcall, your son is an insufferable furball..." Though Smokepaw couldn't help the laughter she unsuccessfully held back at his antics. She twisted, swiping a playful paw at the tom.

"Well, now that I smell like rabbit, how feasible do you think it would be to trick prey with scent? Obviously they'd run if they saw me but..." Smokepaw was genuinely curious if it could work. Part of her now also really wanted to catch a rabbit. Smokepaw wasn't the fastest cat by any means, but Bloodstrike had done it, after all.

At her explanation, all three of the Clan cats reacted solemnly; Wolfcall didn't seem to know to whom she was referring - which made sense, really, given how large and distant the Clans truly seemed to be - but the younger cats both started with recognition and sorrow. Summer dipped her head slightly to respect their words of grief. Thankfully they weren't too personally involved with the she-cat; the drifter was able to tactfully change the topic, and the mood surrounding the group immediately lightened. Summer felt pleased and energized by the playful rivalry and friendship in the air as Wolfcall jokingly disparaged his companions, and they taunted him in return. The drifter saw Bloodstrike's face change as his eyes focused on something a short distance away. Summer carefully turned her head to follow his gaze and grinned at his target, waving her tail thoughtfully and encouraging, "Show it who's the boss, darling."

And he did: Summer's plume tail raised and she mrrowed, impressed and delighted, as she watched the distinctly striped tom-cat take down his target. "Well done!" she purred, unafraid to stroke any cat's ego when it might benefit her or their relationship. The tom scrabbled over and dropped his prey on Smokepaw, who was sputtering with protest and shock, and immediately turned to receive Wolfcall's praise. The drifter's tail curled over her back, quite content with the relaxed atmosphere of these Clan cats on their outing, and she chuckled a little longer. Smokepaw broke through the praise before asking a mildly ridiculous but not entirely thoughtless plan. "If it's fresh like this it could work," Summer remarked, "but after a time I believe the death scent serves as a warning instead." She smiled at Smokepaw, looked over her pretty dilute tortoiseshell pelt mingled with rabbit fur, and purred, "You're as pretty as the upwalkers' pet rabbits I've seen; perhaps these wild ones will find you attractive and come right out for you?"