Winter's Silence [Buzzardpaw, Magpiepaw]

The wind stirred snowflakes into the air around her, and Swiftspirit blinked, ducking to avoid getting snow in her eyes. The short-furred she-cat shivered as the gust sent a chill down her spine.

Grumbling, the pale she-cat quickened her pace as the camp came into view, the quickly-darkening sky casting it into shadow. She'd managed to catch a thin here, but that had been all on this second hunting trip. Even predators, it seemed, didn't want to be out in this, but the clan needed to be fed. Swiftspirit allowed her pace a bit as she entered camp, blue eyes staring down at a rather sad-looking fresh-kill pile in dismay. The queens and kits had been fed as best as the warriors could provide, but there simply wasn't enough prey to go around, even bolstered as the territory was. Swiftspirit glanced around camp, a weary smile forming as she caught sight of Buzzardpaw and Magpiepaw sitting together. Her kits were growing fast, she realized. She hadn't spend nearly as much time as she would've liked with them since the two had become apprentices. It was something she needed to start to change.

She didn't want to let their relationship fall into the same apathetic nothingness that had become of her and Timbersun. He was on his way to twolegplace, and Swiftspirit hardly noticed his absence at all. He'dbeen kind, and a good father, but there was little between them other than the kits. She couldn't lie to him... If he even noticed the distance between them. When he made it back to camp, they would talk. She owed him that much.

Swiftspirit shook her head, not that it didn't do much to clear away her thoughts. Buzzardpaw and Magpiepaw... Whatever was between their parents, the kits didn't need to suffer for it. She'd been distant lately, and not just with Timbersun. She'd spend time with them, at least. And make sure they actually ate something. Her tail flicked, and Swiftspirit picked her way through the snow toward Buzzardpaw and Magpiepaw, setting the hare down. "Hey, you two." She greeted, tired expression softening a bit. She nudged the hare towards them with a paw. If they didn't want it, she'd be more than happy to eat it herself.

"How are things?" She'd been sick, and then had been given a second apprentice. No excuse for not keeping up with her two kits, of course.

Magpiepaw's head perked up when her mother came to join her and Buzzardpaw, and she gratefully accepted the hare. A long day on the snowy moors had left her hungry, and in need of what could prey the leafbare could offer her. "Alright," she said quickly, jumping in before her brother could, "I went out training today, and found the coolest pebble. I only saw it 'cause it stood out in the snow, but it was like weirdly clear, even though it was an orangey colour."

Her obsession in kithood had not faded into her apprenticeship, as some had expected it would. Instead, having seen the wider world with her own eyes, she was only more eager see what wonders it could hold.

"Also also, I can hunt now! I haven't done much fighting, but hopefully soon I'll be so good I could fight a really really big bird all by myself." She continued to share. Although most of her time was focussed on collecting, she still possessed the common ambition shared by many of her young clanmates, and she was eager to be good. If not for anything, than being a great warrior would make her even more valued in her clan, something she strived to be.

The tom didn't seem physically present in his own head, as evident by the fact he had been licking the same patch of fur for far too long as his thoughts drifted up, up and away, like dandelion fluff across the moor he enjoyed traversing. Buzzardpaw seemed barely able to register his sister sitting nearby, and a little bit of surprise on his face a little as his mother entered camp, setting down a hare and asking how they were. The lack of food and sleep was beginning to take effect, his normal scatter-brained personality being amplified, and he parted his jaws in a body-shaking yawn as his sister spoke about how her training was going and the nice rock.

"Hey! Why didn't you show me the pebble?" The light tom pouted at Magpiepaw, the brain-fog clearing a little as he tried to pay attention to the subject at hand. Despite his inability to remain focused or be mentally present in every situation, the apprentice did genuinely care for his sister's interests, enjoying her fascination with pebbles and the way she insisted upon collecting different shiny objects.

"I've also been hunting. When we went out with dad that one time, I caught a rabbit! And Shrikestorm and I have practised fighting," He purred, thinking of how sore he was after that day, but the pride that had bloomed in his chest as he lay in his nest that night. Buzzardpaw shivered, and his stomach rumbled, and he looked at the hare with almost pleading eyes. "Can I have a little?" His voice was soft, and staring only at the prey before him, thinking of the nights he had gone to bed mostly hungry.

Swiftspirit purred as Magpiepaw mentioned the rock. She'd always loved shiny things as a kit, and it seemed that hadn't changed now that she was an apprentice. As long as she focused on her training as well, which she seemed to be doing, Swiftspirit was happy if Magpiepaw was happy. "It sounds pretty. And I'm glad your training is coming along." She mewed.

"That's good." She purred. At least he took them out hunting. Regardless of her own feelings, Timbersun had been a decent father to the kits. "Shrikestorm will teach you well." She mewed in response to his comment. Still, Buzzardpaw seemed exhausted. Couldn't blame anyone for that, and Swiftspirit grimaced in sympathy at his shivering. "Here, you both need the food." She mewed, nudging the prey towards him. They were all too thin, but the apprentices worried her more than she was worried about herself. With prey so scarce, it was a wonder how any of them were eating enough to continue on at all.