rainfall [open]

Leopardpaw was sprawled out just outside the apprentice's den, wondering vaguely if newleaf was always so wet. She was no stranger to the concept - ShadowClan's territory was marshland, wet was just how it was - but she had expected it to be mostly contained to the territory. It seemed that it rained more often than not, cool droplets falling from the sky to her fur. The night sky was blanketed by clouds, with just a hint of moonlight filtering through to illuminate the ground.

Solitude was nice, she supposed, but she hoped someone would join her before too long. While she could understand the appeal, just as she could understand the appeal of quiet moments like this, she rarely felt like being alone for more than a short while.

"hey, Leaopardpaw," Vixenpaw greeted as she noticed her older sister sprawled outside the apprentice den. she dragged a juicy frog over. "I caught that today! want to share?" Vixenpaw waved her thick grey-and-white tail around in her excitement.

"good catch, Vixenpaw. Snowfoot is training you into a fine hunter," Deerleap praised as she padded past. "enjoy your meals," she added, before bounding away to meet her own apprentice.

Vixenpaw ducked her head in embarrassment. she gave her chest fur a few licks as she basked in her mother's praise.

Leopardpaw's black-tipped ears perked up as her sister stopped by. "Hey, Vixenpaw! You caught that? That's awesome!" Vixenpaw's arrival was closely followed by their mother, and Leopardpaw waved her tail in greeting as she passed them by before returning her attention to her sister. Green eyes sparkled in the moonlight as she spoke, "I'd love to share, yeah! Ohhh, is there a story behind how you caught it?"

"there is!" Vixenpaw purred, dropping the frog at Leopardpaw's paws and settling down next to her. she licked her tail for a bit to make Leopardpaw impatient, before starting, "It was a normal hunting patrol, and I saw this mouse-brained frog here trying to jump over a log. i was about to kill it when all of a sudden," Vixenpaw paused to take a bite from the frog, but her eyes stayed on Leopardpaw. was she interested? Vixenpaw swallowed and continued slowly, "a snake came and attacked me! Luckily, I was fast enough to dodge it, or I would have been crow-food! I killed it with a bite to the neck, and before the frog could escape, I killed it too!"

Vixenpaw hadn't actually encounter a snake, but it sure added flavor to an otherwise boring hunt.

The thought that Vixenpaw hadn't actually encountered a snake didn't even occur to her. "Whoa, really?" Leopardpaw asked. "That's so cool! And then you caught the frog, too! Oh, but- a snake?" She tilted her head, regarding her sister with obvious concern. "Are you okay, Vixenpaw? Even if it didn't hurt you, it was probably pretty scary..."

Vixenpaw was enjoying herself more and more. at her sister's concern, Vixenpaw huffed, as if offended. "a true warrior does not feel scared or shaken by a mere creature such as a snake," she mewed, licking her white paw casually.

"Yeah, a warrior," Leopardpaw pointed out, lightly batting at her sister's ears before taking a bite of the frog. "You're barely an apprentice!" Her tone was light, no harmful intent behind the teasing words. "Besides, even I would be afraid after the stories I've heard about snakes." The spotted she-cat lowered her head, voice a hushed whisper as she recounted just one of the things she'd heard. "Some of them are harmless, and some of them can kill a warrior with a single bite. How are we supposed to know which one's which?"

The first time she'd heard that little tidbit, she'd been jumpy on patrols for three whole days. She had no intention of telling Vixenpaw about that little ordeal, however.

Vixenpaw huffed in annoyance at her sister's teasing tone. at Leopardpaw's new concern, Vixenpaw paused. "well, I think the more colorful ones are the more harmless ones," she guessed.

"'Cause you can see them coming?" Leopardpaw guessed, her long tail swaying lazily with the breeze. "That makes sense, maybe... They do stand out a lot, don't they? You'd have to be blind not to notice!"

"Exactly," Vixenpaw mewed, trying her best to sound as if it was her idea and not just a guess. "How is your training? Snowfoot took me out to patrol the Skyclan border yesterday. we almost got into a fight!"

"Well, Frostgaze has been busy, but I've still been learning a lot," Leopardpaw explained. She was enjoying learning all she could, regardless of how busy her mentor had been with all the other important things that ShadowClan's deputy needed to deal with. "I've been focused on hunting, mostly. You almost got into a fight, huh...?" She paused, considering her sister's words, and her ears perked up immediately. "Wait, you actually saw SkyClan cats? What did they look like? What did they smell like? I haven't met anyone from the other Clans, so..."

"Uh..." Vixenpaw stammered, suddenly realizing that she had no idea how Skyclan cats smelled or looked like. better make some up! "there was this huge, white tom, a tortoiseshell she-cat, and, um, a black apprentice. they smelled weird. like... trees," she answered.

"Like trees?" Leopardpaw blinked. That wasn't what she'd expected to hear. She knew SkyClan lived in a forest, and that they climbed trees, and little else; but... "What do trees smell like? We have trees in ShadowClan, Vixenpaw, I've never noticed them smelling like anything. At least, nothing I'd call weird."