I See Humans but no Humanity [AirJordanz]

Nightwind's old habits died hard. He was awake again, fairly early, and out of the camp he went. He made sure to step over the sleeping bodies around him and leave quietly, but he got out of the habit of watching to see if anyone was already awake elsewhere. The false black cat ventured back out into the Flowerfields, being strangely drawn to the place. The sun had barely peaked over the horizon, light spreading out across the grass and flowers. The morning new-leaf dew made the world around him shimmer and glow, like millions of tiny diamonds on a vibrant blanket of rainbow colors. Skyclan had the Great Ridge, which was fairly breath-taking in it's own right... but the Flowerfields were far more stunning. Dawnhawk would never have admitted such a thing, but for now, he was Nightwind... and Nightwind was able to enjoy such a view. The jet black cat walked through the sea of prismatic jewels that was the dew-covered flowers. He was a blight upon the field, an oil slick in an otherwise colorful landscape. He left trails in the field where his paws knocked the dew off of the petals and leaves. He had tested the ability of the machine grease to stay on his fur even in wet conditions and it had held up fine. He wasn't concerned with a bit of dew on his fur. He would hunt in just a moment... for now, he wanted to watch the sun come up and take in the shimmering field around him. This level of beauty would only last for a little while today, and only a bit longer during new-leaf. The flowers would lose their petals eventually, and back to the same rolling green that dominated Windclan's territory would remain. He sat down and remained silent, content to just watch for now.

Sometimes, when Honeypaw slept, she would have dreams about the journey she took as a kit. Her mother had risked everything to make a long, long odyssey back to the Clans. She could remember the stories she was told of the cats of WindClan, but life here was different. Still, the dreams reminded her of the time before, waking her rudely with the death-cries of her mother, Rookpaw.

The large orange apprentice breathed deeply as she woke, trying her best not to disturb her sleeping Clanmates. She wasn't the type to thrash in her sleep. No, she just quietly whimpered. Outside, it looked like dawn had arrived, pouring its growing light upon the camp. As she got up and intrepidly stepped over the other apprentices, she noticed another cat leaving camp. Nightwind, right? she thought to herself. He was relatively new, as far as she was aware. A strange cat, certainly, but an outsider like her.

It made her curious enough to follow him. Whether or not they had anything in common, Honeypaw wanted to know more about him. She wasn't sure if he noticed her yet, padding quietly behind him. He must have been deep in thought, she realized. Looking around, Honeypaw suddenly knew why they were here. The Flowerfields tended to light up like Silverpelt in the mornings. Dawn patrol always told her about it while she was still in the nursery. Sometimes, they even brought back flowers for her to play with.

Curiously, Honeypaw kept her gaze on him from a distance. His fur was always dark and looked fairly clumped together. Wherever he came from, they must've never done self-grooming. She slowly made her way closer, following the trail of lost dewdrops. The last thing Honeypaw wanted was to disturb the beauty of this place before the sun scorched the water away itself. As she approached, Honeypaw's bumbling foot snagged on a root and caused her to fall over. "Oof!" she cried. "Er, sorry for following you... I had a bad dream and... I was kind of lonely?" It was a meek offer from where she was crumpled on the ground, but it was the best she could do.

Nightwind thought he heard some lighter pawsteps nearby, but he didn't turn to look. It could have possibly been a rabbit or... then he heard the oof and turned his head to see an apprentice aged she-cat following him. She rushed out an apology, of which was met with a shrug. "You're a Windclan cat, this is Windclan territory. You don't have to apologize." He took one last look at the shimmering fields around him before he sighed quietly. He got to his paws and turned to face the apprentice. "Well, I suppose I should start contributing to the fresh-kill pile. Since you're already out here you may as well come along. What's your name?" He asked, eyes scanning the field for things to hunt. He spotted a few moving brown targets, most likely hares and rabbits. It seemed like it would be a good day for hunting.

Honeypaw had begun to wonder if she was somehow stalking another cat until her unfortunate, but literal, downfall. When her apology was met with nothing but calm indifference, she relaxed a little. Rather than scolding her for being outside the camp without her mentor or a WindClan warrior, he brushed it off as natural. A cheerful glimmer sparked in her eyes, taking the moment to get to her paws.

Her ears twitched ever-so-slightly. This newer cat sounded sad. If anything, it reminded her of her mother in the last days she got to spend with her. Hopeless, lost, and a little mournful. That made her determined to wash some of the melancholy away. "Okay! Sure. I'm Honeypaw. You're... Nightwind, right? I usually know everyone's names, since I've been in WindClan most of my life, but you're new, so... yeah! Other cats say I'm fast, so if you want help grabbing some hares, I'm your cat!"

Nightwind had a fairly neutral face, but a shot of pain went through him at the mention of Honeypaw. His memories flashed back to the daughter of a warrior that he shared a mutual dislike for. He had only pursued her once she was a warrior because he knew it would infuriate her father. What started as nothing more than a cruel game had blossomed into someone he cared a lot for, with children that he held near and dear to his heart where no one else could reach. He looked out across the moor again, as if to ground himself back to where he was. They were gone. He would only ever see them sometimes at gatherings and nowhere else.

"Honeypaw is a good name." He said simply, but he was quick to move off of the subject as well. "Let's go get some hares then. They feed a lot of cats with how big they are." It was then that he wondered how much of that was eaten and how much went to waste. Maybe that's why Windclan was so accepting of outsiders?

Nightwind spotted a hare himself and slunk down low to stalk it. He used the grass to his advantage and his dark pelt helped conceal him far better than his real white and gold one. He closed in on the distance easily, pausing when the wind blew the grass low and when the hare looked up from it's nibbling. This wasn't the first time he'd hunted a hare. He'd even caught one when he was still in Skyclan and knew their habits. Once the time felt right, he bolted forward, looking to sink his teeth into the side of the hare's neck and hang on for dear life when it would undoubtedly begin to sprint forward.

He leaped and twisted his body sideways as he sailed through the air, burying his claws and teeth into his prey simultaneously. The hare leaped straight up like he knew it was going to, then took him for a short ride through the moor in a blind panic. Eventually the hare died, rolling to a stop and tumbling Nightwind across the ground with it. His claws had lost their grip at some point, but his teeth clamped down hard. Once it was dead, he lifted the head up by the neck and began to drag it to a decent place to bury it.

"Your turn." He told Honeypaw with a lightly smug, but still friendly smirk.

Nightwind attempted to hunt a hare, using 3SP. The result is Successful!

Nightwind
100HP / 277SP (-3SP for the hunting attempt)

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 8

Sometimes, when cats said nothing to betray how they felt, Honeypaw liked to put herself inside their heads to try and find the answer for herself. How did they feel, truly? The short pause was akin to a thousand years for the sake of pondering this. There must have been a story with how old he was. Honey was a sweet thing, which plenty of queens liked to use for their she-kits. That had been the case with her, at least. Of course, that begged a simple question: did he know someone also named Honeypaw at some point? Or did he just get stung by bees and didn't care for the substance because of that? There were so many possibilities, it made her head hurt.

The young she-cat beamed up at Nightwind. "Thank you! My mom picked it out!" she squeaked exuberantly. Her tailtip twitched with sheer excitement. "I think if you get one and I get one, we can feed the Clan for a few days! Assuming the meat doesn't go bad, and all..." she said, almost trying to imagine how much two hares actually was.

Flexing her paws, Honeypaw was far too distracted to see the hare that Nightwind had in his sights. When she looked over at her side, he was gone. Given that she'd been on the moors for some time, she had a keen eye and was able to pick out Nightwind while he stalked, but only barely. He seemed like he was going to be right on top of the hare until luck turned against him. Honeypaw stifled a gasp that would've otherwise been loud enough to wake the whole forest. The hare was taking off with Nightwind still on it! Yet, as she realized, they were too far away for her to sprint and catch up. Nightwind was on his own.

Her heart was pounding in her chest as she watched the two move across the ground like lightning. The hare was trying to fight for its life, but she had faith that this new WindClanner could do it. Otherwise, she wasn't sure she could haul an injured cat all the way back to camp from here. As the hare finally died, she cheered. Honeypaw wasn't sure why she'd ever doubted him. Then again, she had faith in a lot of cats. Giggling, she accepted his offer. "Of course. Let me see what's around..." she said, parting her jaws and craning her neck to get a glimpse of the prey that was on the moor.

She wanted desperately to impress this newcomer, so she looked for a hare. They were larger than cats, sure, but she was about the size she'd be for the rest of her life, save for some belly fat. Spotting a hare, Honeypaw intrepidly went into her stalking position. However, the hare came running at her, forcing her to leap out of the way. What the...?

HONK! HONK HONK!

A goose suddenly came charging across the grassy field, clearly upset by the fact that the hares were too close to its nest. And now? Honeypaw was too close to the nest. With impunity, the cursed thing snapped its jaws at the surprised cat. Reactively, she did her best to try to dodge.

Goose used Beaked Thrust for 40 SP, dealing 20 damage! Honeypaw used Dodge-and-Fight for 15 SP, negating the damage!


Goose
40/40 HP
90/130 SP (130 - 40)

Honeypaw
20/20 HP
62/80 SP (80 - 18)

Nightwind
100/100 HP
277/280 SP

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 10

(dodge roll bc it won't let me double roll)

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

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'Effect Dice' : 2

Nightwind was content to sit there and let Honeypaw catch a hare of her own. Unfortunately... what she ended up finding wasn't a hare at all. As the goose aggressively chased after the apprentice, Nightwind couldn't help but laugh as he came barreling toward it. The sight was comical, though he knew that the goose needed to be stopped.

"I'm no expert Windclan cat, but that's not a hare!" He called out to Honeypaw with a teasing mew. He kicked hard off of the ground and launched himself toward the goose, claws extended and jaws parted, seeking to fasten themselves into the giant bird's neck.

Nightwind used Leap and Hold, dealing 14 damage and -10SP

Nightwind
100HP / 267SP (-10SP)

Goose
Stunned for One Turn
26HP / 90SP (-14HP)

Honeypaw
20HP / 65SP

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

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'Effect Dice' : 3

This would have been a fun game of catching the largest hare if Honeypaw's bad luck hadn't gone off and summoned an angry goose. As she dodged to try and minimized damage, she heard a chuckle come from Nightwind. Thankfully, he was running to her rescue, even if he was finding amusement from her blunder. A wave of embarrassment rolled over her.

Honeypaw made a light scowl. "That big bird scared the one I was going for away!" she cried, although it was less defensive than it was retorting. Still catching her breath, she watched him take hold of the goose. When she was ready to go, she decided to get a quick swipe at the goose with her claws.


Honeypaw used Front Paw Strike, dealing 6 damage and -10SP

Nightwind
100HP / 267SP

Goose
Stunned for One Turn
20HP / 90SP (-6HP)

Honeypaw
20HP / 55SP (-10 SP)

Nightwind heard the tone in the apprentice's voice and chuckled again. "I'm only teasing ya, Honeypaw! Let's drag this foolish bird back to camp with our hares!" He was thrown off of the goose at that moment, but he landed in his feet and launched another swift attack.

Nightwind used Upright Lock on the goose, dealing 17 damage and -25SP

Nightwind
100HP / 242SP (-25SP)

Goose
No longer stunned and can attack next turn
3HP / 90SP (-17HP)

Honeypaw
20HP / 55SP

In reality, she was more annoyed at the goose than she was at Nightwind. Honeypaw was so close to that hare! But no. "Gotcha! I'm gonna try to finish him off!" she said, the goose shaking its head and flapping its wings at Nightwind. While it was distracted, she went to get a quick hit in. The beast was sluggish and weak, barely able to put any effort forth to attack.

Goose used Wing Bluff on Nightwind for 20 SP, dealing 10 damage!

Honeypaw used Run-and-Tackle for 10 SP, dealing 6 damage!


Nightwind
90HP / 242SP (-10 HP)

Goose
-3HP / 90SP (-20 SP, -6 HP) -- KO!

Honeypaw
20HP / 45SP (-10 SP)