The future's in your paws. Shape it well.Roleplay in a cat Clan of warriors. Based off the Warriors series by Erin Hunter. Takes place in an AU before the cats in the books existed.
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The weather was growing colder, the once-welcome winds feeling just a bit more bitter with each passing day. Flashpaw had once enjoyed soaking her fur in cool streams on windy days - she was never completely happy when she was dry; felt at home in the water, swimming and diving after the shimmering fish - but soon it would be too cold for even that luxury. The threat of less prey, especially with so many more cats to feed, was a shadow looming over RiverClan.
Speaking of the more cats to feed, as they made her way to Flashpaw's favored spot in the river - a shallow part of the bank on the Sunningrocks side - she couldn't help the sour taste in her mouth at the presence of another cat. A cat who, at that, wasn't even RiverClan - one of the Asylum strangers who had invaded their camp and threatened her brother's life. At her hunting spot.
(Suffice it to say that Flashpaw, who was difficult to please and harder to impress at the best of times, had nothing good to say about these Asylum cats.)
Finally, they'd reached the place; and she waded into the shallows with ease. Early in her apprenticeship, she'd preferred hunting from the bank, the lazy method of waiting for the fish to pass by - and it was one she still happily engaged in - but in time she'd come to love the chase. The thrill of diving after a promising catch.
And that thrill, at least, was something no cat could take from her.
She turned to glance back at her unwelcome companion. "I don't suppose they taught you how to fish wherever it is you came from?"
Eos could tell that the pretty tortoiseshell was not thrilled at her presence, but that would not deter her from trailing after the Riverclanner. These cats were under Asylum rule now, after all. She was trying to help the clan cats in the transition, and saw little need for hostility between them.
The Riverclanners were strange creatures, she had to admit. Eos herself hung back from the water's edge, though she did watch the apprentice curiously as she waded right in, something she seemed to enjoy.
"Ah, no." She admitted at the question asked, "I suppose I should learn, though. We are stocking the same fresh-kill pile." The experience of the water was new, and Eos wasn't quite sure if she actually liked the taste of fish, but she wanted to learn. If she could catch food that the cats would prefer to eat, then there was less of a chance of that food going to waste.
"My name is Eos, you are Flashpaw, right?" The medium-sized scout approached the bank of the river, remaining a respectful distance away for the moment. She'd spent time listening to conversations around camp, and was quickly learning to match names to faces. As a scout, that information was important, but she also wanted to put the clan cats more at ease with Asylum's presence.
So this strange she-cat masquerading as land prey couldn't even fish, and probably couldn't swim - precisely how did she expect to manage in RiverClan's territory, then? She didn't bother masking her annoyance. "Yes, rabbit-brain, my name is Flashpaw. How long did that one take you to figure out?"
Hopefully not for too much longer. Shrikefrost and Loonwhisper might have gotten there first, but if I can beat Splashpaw to earning my warrior name, I can at least keep my pride.
"I honestly wasn't sure you could tell us apart," she snarked. She might be playing nice, but playing nice by Flashpaw's standards was an admittedly rather loose interpretation of the idea. After all, just because she wasn't permitted - or, more accurately, able - to attack them didn't mean that she owed them any true respect. For now, they were little more than intruders in her home, and she would show them the same kindness she would show any outsider that dared assume themselves worthy of living in their midst. "StarClan knows that I can't tell whether half you pelt-wearing furballs are actually cats at all! And what kind of name is Eos? What even is an Eos?"
Internally, she sighed. She could leave this cat to flounder helplessly, but the best way to learn was by doing - and the second best way was by example. RiverClan would benefit from these cats knowing how to fish, if they were intending to help with hunting.
Resigning herself to her would-be relaxing swim turning into a lesson - to a cat who was likely older than she was, no less - she lashed her tail. "I'm not going to stand here and explain something we learn as kits to you. Just watch, okay? I'll even teach you the easy way, since so many of you landwalkers just hate getting your fur soaked."
All the better, really, if it means I can still dive in peace!
Stepping back out of the water for the moment, she laid herself carefully along the edge of dry land to showcase what she was doing. Lying in wait, one paw hovering over the water, before a flash of silver passed her by. Acting swiftly, she swept the fish onto the shore - barely even dampening her paw, if she might add; stars, if landwalkers were afraid of getting their paws a little damp then how did they deal with the rain - and bit into it until it stopped writhing about. Nudging it back a little to make more space for anything they managed to catch, she sat at the water's edge and watched Eos expectantly.
"I'm no brainless pelt-ward. Most of them don't have the attention-span to retain information, I'll grant you." Eos commented, mildly amused by the other she-cat's temper. The white rabbit pelt she wore concealed the scars across her left shoulder, the signature of her rank within the Asylum.
It was only natural that these new cats were trying to resist in the small ways. They were outnumbered, so would resort to lashing out with words and attempting to make the Asylum members feel unwelcome. Eos' home had tried to resist too, though she'd been too young to remember much. In time, the clan cats would come around.
"It means 'dawn,' where I am originally from. Asylum took over when I was a kit, perhaps I would have resisted as fiercely as some of you clan cats do now. But as a group we have never known starvation. We are unified under one name, and even sickness is uncommon within our ranks." The words were offered genuinely, in the hopes of possibly softening the younger she-cat before her, of allowing her to understand the situation as Eos saw it.
A half-smile curved Eos' lips as the younger she cat went on, and soft brown eyes turned to watch her movements. The scout noted how she was careful to keep her shadow out of the water, much as she might align her body so that her shadow did not scare a hare before she got close. A paw flashed out, and a fish was quickly caught.
Eos settled into her own spot on the riverbank, carefully making sure to keep her own shadow from touching the water. She knew from her experience swimming to and from Riverclan's camp while scouting before that things did not quite appear to be in the same spot as they would have otherwise, and when she spotted a fish, her own paw darted out. Hooking the scaled thing with her claws, Eos pulled it towards her. A quick blow to the head and the silver-scaled creature lay still on the bank.
Eos attempted to catch a fish. Catch was successful! 197 / 200 sp
Flashpaw pretended to half-listen as Eos spoke, though in reality she was doing her best to take in every scrap of information. Pelt ward, she thought. Ward? Were they guarding the pelts these cats wore? Then again, she'd called them brainless in the same breath, and a well-trained guard for anything that mattered would have more than just brute strength as an asset. Perhaps she could gain more knowledge on the subject later.
As Eos explained the origin of her name - dawn - she wondered why that wasn't just her name instead. Wouldn't it make more sense, if someone was named after something, to actually name them after that something instead of just making up words?
Before she could ask, however, Eos continued; explaining how the Asylum had come to her homeland and made things better. That they'd never known starvation and barely known illness... Perhaps the words were true, and perhaps they were pretty lies. They certainly sounded too good to be true, that these cats would come and take the Clans into their fold and share their seemingly endless supply of both hunters and medicine - and right before leaf-bare, no less - all for the simple price of their freedom, their honor - their very identity.
I didn't ask for your entire history, but whatever, I guess. At least I'm learning something.
"Congratulations, landwalker," Flashpaw told her, voice completely flat. "You can officially do something every RiverClan kit can manage before they're apprenticed. Now, as for things that actually take any modicum of effort to accomplish... Watch and learn, but maybe don't try to imitate this one. I'm not dragging your water-soaked pelt back to shore."
She stood at the edge, carefully eyeing the ripples of the water until she spotted the approach of a decently-sized shadow underneath - and dove in after it, intending to catch it before it passed the riverbank. She sank gracefully beneath the water, her teeth holding onto the fish, before rising above water once again; and she managed to swim back to the shallows with relative ease before wading the rest of the way back to shore, depositing the somewhat larger fish next to her earlier catch.
"If you're not a drypaw or a coward, that," Flashpaw declared, allowing the genuine pride she felt in her own accomplishments to shine through despite her sarcasm, "is how you catch a fish."
As if to further emphasize her words, she shook herself off, the excess water finding itself thrown every which way.
Flashpaw attempted to catch a fish. The attempt was successful.
Flashpaw 74/80 SP
Last edited by Holly on Fri 4 Dec 2020 - 12:04; edited 4 times in total
Mistpelt
Characters : Mistpelt Clan/Rank : RiverClanWarrior Number of posts : 15517 Age : 30
Subject: Re: bitter autumn Fri 4 Dec 2020 - 11:08
The member 'Holly' has done the following action : Dices roll
'Hunting Dice' : 5
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♪~Founder/Owner of WCC~♫ ~Forever a RiverClan Warrior~ ~Please pm Administrators with queries as I'm not active~
Eos merely shrugged at the apprentice. She was determined to insult her, but Eos merely let it roll off her shoulders. She was young, and in time she would learn the benefits of Asylum's rule.
"I'd prefer to keep my paws dry, you need not fear me drowning myself... Though I did manage to scout your camp just fine." A wry twist of her lips, and Eos turned her attention back to the water, seemingly unconcerned with the water-loving, irritable cat in front of her.
Another shadow flickered beneath the water, and her paw shot out once more. The silvery landed on the bank and was swiftly taken care of before brown eyes turned to watch Flashpaw's progress.
Eos attempted to catch a fish. Catch was successful! 194 / 200 sp
"If you want to stay dry, you've certainly found yourself in the wrong place," Flashpaw informed her matter-of-factly. "We like water. It's kind of our thing - WindClan's fast, ShadowClan's sneaky, SkyClan climbs trees, and ThunderClan's... I don't know, strong or something? They're probably good at something, anyway. And RiverClan cats - the best of them all - love the water." It was one of the facts of life, one of the unchanging truths: the sun and the moon traded places with each day and night, their ancestors watched them from Silverpelt, and RiverClan cats - with a very small number of exceptions - loved to get their paws wet. It was nearly impossible to avoid, really. "For StarClan's sake, you landwalkers are all so particular! What do you when it rains, then? Do you just waste the entire day, or do you complain the whole time? Those are the best days for fishing, you know - the more it rains, the more fish you'll catch."
Of course, with the rising chill, soon enough there wouldn't be any rain at all; ice and snow were poised to take over the forest territories. But leaf-bare was only one season, and there was still time for a few more rainy days before that happened. They wouldn't be comfortable, the way late newleaf and greenleaf rain was - cool water falling directly on her fur was always a welcome relief from the lingering heat - but they would be useful, as far as stocking up on prey before leaf-bare crashed into the Clans.
She took to her previous position once more, eyeing each of the larger and smaller shadows that passed beneath the water. Today she was content let the smaller ones go. After all, it was better to focus on the more difficult catches now, with Eos - as much as she hated to admit that the Asylum cat's assistance was at all useful, even only to herself - bringing in the smaller fish with ease.
There!
A shadow of decent size started to make its approach, and Flashpaw dove into the water once again, repeating the same process as before. Falling with grace beneath the waves, her teeth sinking into the fish as she rose back to the surface, hauled it back to shore and set it with the rest of the catches she'd made so far.
Flashpaw attempted to catch a Fish, costing 3 stamina. The catch was successful! 71/80 SP
"The river will freeze come leaf-bare, or you'll have another drought to force you into hunting land prey. You won't enjoy it, but you'll do it because you have no other options. I don't enjoy getting wet, but I'll swim if I must. Your territory does not reek of carrion, I think I can live with that." Eos replied. The young she-cat was typical in that her views seemed black-and-white, but Eos was older, more experienced. The world was not so simple as she believed.
And truly, Riverclan territory was far more pleasing than Shadowclan's. Eos had never liked the feeling of the tall pines closing in on her, and the lands that Riverclan occupied were much more open and nowhere near as unpleasant.
A shadow flickered beneath the surface once more, and once more a white paw darted for it. Her paw came up empty this time, but that was just fine. A loud honk! had interrupted their pleasant conversation, and Eos let out a sigh, watching as the goose came toward them.
A goose was better prey than fish... And Asylum was here to protect these clan cats. That made her decision a very simple one, a no-brainer that even the most braindead pelt-ward could figure out.
"Stay back, Flashpaw." Eos said calmly, taking the sharp beak to the shoulder without flinching. It had mostly caught on the white rabbit pelt she wore, though Eos did feel the trickle of blood on her own fur, the sting of the beak piercing flesh.
She twisted, sliding beneath the Goose and slashing viciously at soft feathers before lightly making it to her paws once more.
Eos has attempted to catch a fish. Catch was unsuccessful! 191 / 200 sp
Goose uses Beaked Thrust on Eos for -40sp, dealing -20 damage. Eos uses Half-Turn Belly Rake on Goose for -20sp, dealing -15 damage.
