Song of the Wind [Bearspirit]

Swiftspirit had sat vigil the night before after her warrior ceremony, and as a result she'd gotten in more sleep than she was used to during the day. Accordingly, she was now restless and found that her paws had more energy than she knew what to do with. She'd gone hunting earlier, but as the sun began to set the newly-named warrior had found herself padding along the edges of Windclan territory. The day had been a string of congratulations and spending time with her clanmates, but Swiftspirit was glad of the peace and quiet to clear her head, now.

She was a long way away from the thin rogue that Softbreeze had found on the edge of the territory. Her family was long gone, though some in Windclan were trying their best to fill that empty space. Some days, Swiftspirit could even believe that she belonged with them, despite her attempts to remain clinically observant. She had joined the clan to find a place she could fit in, to not be alone... And she'd succeeded, somehow. She'd even earned a warrior name. It felt strange, in a way. After everything mother had fought to accomplish, she'd died in these very lands. She had wanted Eleos to thrive, to not be alone in the world, to seek out those who would accept her without question... And she had done just that. Still, even knowing what her mother had wanted, it felt strange to have actually accomplished much of that with next to no resistance. She'd integrated herself within the clan and they had accepted her... Most of them, at least. None of them had seemed to care at all about the past she didn't talk about, they simply accepted her into their midst. And stranger still that the one cat to have recognized it was someone who was also hiding his own past. Swiftspirit's gaze lifted to the first stars appearing in the sky thoughtfully. They weren't her ancestors, but the moonstone had proven they existed. If she could see her own ancestors, what would they have said about it all? Would they be happy for where Swiftspirit had found herself? Would they curse Eleos for how their family had splintered apart?

Fourtrees loomed ahead of her, and Swiftspirit bounded into the hollow after a moment of hesitation. The last time she had been here, the place had been full of cats, but tonight it resembled more of the first time she'd stepped foot into the hollow as a Windclan apprentice. Quiet, deserted except for the stale scents of other cats... Or maybe not entirely deserted. Another cat stood across the hollow from her, rather than sitting atop the great rock as he had been the first time she'd been here. They'd spoken a bit at the last gathering as well, and Swiftspirit... Hadn't thought she would find him here again. Not tonight, at least. Seeing the pale, marble-stripped tom wasn't something she found unpleasant. He was like her in a way, the two of them outsiders taken in by the clans.

"Bearpaw!" She called out a cheerful greeting, "It's Swiftspirit now, I earned my warrior name yesterday."

He too had sat in his silent vigil, though his paws itched to be doing something besides sitting in silence. Bearspirit even looked like a Riverclan cat now, with a sleek waterproof pelt. The gangly tom stood at fourteen inches at the shoulder, but he was still built like a gawky adolescent with his paws and ears too big for the rest of him. Even his tail looked too long for him. It made him feel a bit self-conscious at times, but no one had said a word to him about it. When he brought it up, he was only told that he wasn't done growing yet, as toms took longer to grow than she-cats did. He wouldn't get any taller (thank the stars, he was already larger than most in Riverclan) but his muscles would catch up with his high height. He hoped they were right.

Bearspirit also found himself to be restless. The next night came and the warrior headed straight for Fourtrees, hoping but not necessarily expecting to see a familiar face there. Well Mocha... I made it. I'm a Riverclan warrior... I'm alive and I'm strong and it's all because of you. Where ever you are uncle... I hope you're proud. I hope my mother is proud of me too. He didn't remember much about the journey actually to Fourtrees, only that he arrived there at some point.

Then there she was... Swiftpaw. She called out to him and he chuckled. Boy was she in for a surprise. "I have something to tell you!" He closed the gap between them, eating up the ground with long, cheetah-like legs. She announced her news first, and Bearspirit could not contain himself. "NO WAY!" Welp... if anyone was nearby they certainly heard him. "I was named yesterday too! I'm Bearspirit!" A huge grin was plastered across his face. He couldn't believe it... their names were... so similar. On the same day even! Something else had to be at work here... something special... Were they intertwined... somehow?

"I can't believe this!" He had to laugh out loud, he couldn't help it. He also couldn't help but to give Swiftspirit a friendly tackle, massively oversized paws stretched out ahead of him. "Well congratulations to you, Swiftspirit! Your clan must be proud of you. You should be proud of you!" I know I am. But he kept that bit to himself.

Bearpaw bounded forward, and Swiftspirit blinked up at him in surprise as he spoke. What news could he possibly have to tell her? It could only be something positive with how excited he seemed.

Ah, so he'd earned his warrior name yesterday, too. And he was now Bearspirit. Their names were so similar! "Oh! Did we really earn them at the same time? What a coincidence." Swiftspirit couldn't help laughing as he tackled her, batting at him with sheathed forepaws. "Congratulations, Bearspirit!"

"How have things been in Riverclan?" She asked, though she really meant How have you been?

He couldn't help but smirk at her sheathed claws batting at him. He was partially tempted to just drop one of his paws onto her face and hold it there annoyingly, but he refrained. Bearspirit stepped off of the Windclanner, lest another member of Windclan or Riverclan show up here and think a fight was going on.

"Thanks. Riverclan is doing alright. It's fairly peaceful over there." And what a relief that was. When he'd arrived there, he didn't know if he could have handled one more traumatic event. Riverclan had taken him in whole-heartedly and trained him to be one of their own. It wasn't his original family, but it was a family nonetheless.

"There are plenty of places to go hunt that aren't anyone's territory... since you're out here... would you want to..." Something in his voice choked him off. He had to think about what he was asking her. Why was he so concerned that it sounded stupid? "Show off each other's hunting skills?" That was probably the lamest thing he could have said. He thought it made him sound stupid and arrogant, two things he wasn't. ... Probably.

"I mean I'm a great fisher, but I know Windclan probably doesn't have a taste for fish. I can catch other things too though. What do you think?" And the concludes the longest way to say "Do you want to have dinner with me?" ever recorded.

Swiftsprit sprang lightly to her paws, glancing briefly towards the direction of Windclan territory. She doubted anyone was around to see her be tackled, and while she hadn't minded, she was sure it wouldn't be looked upon so nicely by any onlookers who could've mistaken it for a fight if they hadn't heard her laughter.

"Peaceful is good. Windclan is about the same. Though at times it still feels too good to be true." Something had to give sooner or later, Swiftspirit was sure. Maybe it was just her own unease with such... stability that the clan seemed to offer at the moment. She already knew that there was at least two cats in Windclan hiding something that Swiftpaw knew of, and her former mentor provoked anger and frustration in even the most well put-together of her clanmates, as far as Swiftpaw could tell. Sooner or later, there would be drama, and it wouldn't be the sort of drama that bystanders in the clan could simply point and make fun of for someone making a simple mistake on a hunting patrol.

Or maybe it was just the rogue's flightiness that had never truly left Eleos.

Bearspirit asked if she wanted to go hunting in a particularly long-winded manner, and Swiftspirit's whiskers twitched in amusement. Still, she had caught on to the meaning of his words, and it wasn't something she minded. They weren't on any clan's territory, so they weren't stealing prey... And maybe she liked Bearspirit's company. So what?

"No angry owls, this time?" She couldn't resist poking at him, though now they were probably far better prepared to deal with an owl if one decided it wanted whatever they caught. He'd caught a mouse last time, so Swiftspirit figured it was her turn to catch something. She glanced around the hollow once more, and a sudden smile brightened her expression as she spotted a fuzzy, brown-furred rabbit. Close to where the hollow met the edge of Windclan's territory, but not quite within their borders.

"There's a rabbit over there... If it manages to make it to the border I'm leaving it, though." She nodded in the direction of the brown-furred creature. She carefully skirted around the edge of the hollow, hoping that if she missed, she could at least drive the rabbit into running straight for Bearspirit. They bred like... well, rabbits, on the moor, and in late newleaf Windclan's territory was absolutely teeming with them. One rabbit wouldn't be missed, surely.

Swiftspirit darted forwards, catching the rabbit with a speed that was now indistinguishable from any born Windclanner. Grinning, she padded towards Bearspirit, setting the rabbit down. "Ever try rabbit?"

"Preferably no owls." He chuckled. As she eyed a rabbit further off, he crouched down to keep quiet and hidden...-ish. He was still pretty tall for the grass around the clearing. He watched her creep around to the fuzzy creature and waited patiently, ready to spring after it if it escaped her. As she went for it and her shadow passed over him from the moonlight, a frog leaped out in front of Bearspirit. Instinctively, his claws shout out to grab it. He pinned it under his claws at about the same time that Swiftspirit was bringing back the rabbit. It was a fairly sizeable frog at least, but he knew that Windclan cats might not like them. Well, if rabbit didn't quite do it or him at least he had this.

"I'm open to try rabbit. I have a frog... if you want a leg or something." He would understand if she didn't and not be offended. Fish weren't something many cats enjoyed that weren't Riverclan... probably the same for frogs unless they were Shadowclan. She brought the rabbit over and he presented the frog, giving it a shake to get it off of his clawtips. He stared at the weird long-eared creature, then looked at Swiftspirit, wondering where he should start.

Bearspirit attempted to catch a frog! It was Successful! -3SP

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 5

"I've never had frog before... Might as well try it once." And if she hated it, that's what the rabbit was for. Swiftspirit gingerly bit into the frog's leg...

...And backed away, grimacing. "Or maybe I'll stick to rabbit. That's what Shadowclanners eat?" It was about as far from appealing as prey could possibly get, and tasted strange. She couldn't quite describe what it was like, other than the fact that she definitely didn't like it. At all.

"Maybe I'm biased, but I'll stick to rabbit." She mewed, tearing a chunk of the rabbit's haunches and chewing. Unlike the frog, it was warm and soft and actually tasted like one would expect fresh kill to taste. If Bearspirit tried it and wound up liking it, she wouldn't mind letting him have more of it, it was certainly better than that frog he'd caught.

Bearspirit chuckled at her grimace. "Okay no problem." He himself leaned down and tore both of the legs off of the frog and swallowed them quickly. He licked his lips a few times to try to clear the frog taste away before he bit into the rabbit. The taste itself wasn't bad at all... but there was a dryness to it that he wasn't expecting. Rabbit meat was far less oily than fish and frogs, common Riverclan foods. It took him awhile to chew it and when he swallowed it, he felt like he needed a sip of water to wash it down. Water wasn't close by, so he had some wet frog meat instead that helped a bit.

"It's not bad... but it's kind of dry. It seems... really really lean too. How does Windclan get their fats and juices?" Not that fish had the same kind of fat as land creatures and he understood that... but the rabbit overall seemed bland in comparison to fish. "From what I hear, Shadowclan does like frogs. I don't mind them, though I prefer fish."

"I suppose they aren't to everyone's taste." Which was perfectly natural. It wasn't right, of course, but that left more rabbit for her. She continued to eat while Bearspirit spoke, and swallowed before answering.

"Windclanners rely almost purely on speed and agility to hunt more than anything,.. Kind of like the prey in the territory, I guess. It took a lot of getting used to coming from hunting in other places. In the forest or twolegplace you at least have cover to avoid prey seeing you before you can get close." Most Windclanners had very little body fat, being lithe and wiry, built for bursts of speed rather than strength. When it came to hunting, waiting around and stalking prey like most cats would do was a good way to be left in the dust when it spotted you. The moors offered little cover, and having bright fur made blending in difficult at best.

"I've never had fish either, though we don't exactly have access to the river to fish. There's the gorge but I'm not insane enough to try getting down to the water." The pathway down was winding and narrow, with crumbling rock. It was treacherous at the best of times, from what Swiftspirit could tell, and she very much liked being alive and uninjured.