Sending a Message of Feathers and Bone [O]

Lionstripe nearly leaped out of his skin when Falconmoon came flying at him from a tree. Despite the other tom being bright, he didn't even notice him until he was nearly upon him like a ghost. Despite moons of hunger, Lionstripe still had his training, which he put to good use dodging Falconmoon's paws at the last possible moment. The tabby and white tom whirled on his clanmate, but didn't strike back. Falconmoon whirled to face him as well, his paws having hit only empty air. He snickered at the look of confusion on the younger tom's face.

"Oh come on now," He playfully scolded. "You need to be prepared no matter where we are, Lionstripe." Falconmoon darted forward again, sheathed claws flying mercilessly toward the still flustered youth. Surprisingly, despite being fairly stocky, Lionstripe's eyes hardened as he focused and deftly dodges each of Falconmoon's blows. It was enough to cause Falconmoon's bright blue eyes widen in response, but he quickly refocused and tried something else. He swept his paws toward the other tom's legs hoping to knock him off balance, but even then, Lionstripe proved to be far more nimble than he had any right to.

How in the Dark Forest are you so- Falconmoon ducked so hard and so fast away from one of Lionstripe's power swipes that he nearly hit the earth below. He felt the wind from the tom's swift strike tickle the insides of his ears. At that moment, the toms disengaged and stood apart from one another in a defensive stance. A shadow moved on the ground between them and they snapped their eyes in that direction.

The ground was elevated around them, and on the mound were two cats. Twilightkit, hardly a kit at this point in anything but name, was watching quietly. Further back but still visible was Darkspirit. The Thunderclan warrior's eyes were cold and hard, boring a hole right through Falconmoon as if the tom had wronged him somehow. Falconmoon;s heart skipped a beat, but he managed to keep all emotion off of his face. For a few awkward moments, no one said anything until Twilightkit spoke.

"Continue." He demanded softly in a voice that belonged to a young warrior more than a kit. Darkspirit sat down slowly, his eyes never leaving Falconmoon. Lionstripe looked back at his clanmate and readied himself to keep going, but didn't move when he saw that Falconmoon had not done the same.

"No." The bright tom said casually, bringing himself up into a normal stance again. "It's clear that Lionstripe and I know each other too well for this practice to be of any use to us. Perhaps we should spar with one of you." Falconmoon's eyes gave Darkspirit's stare right back at him, though it didn't phase the duo-toned tom at all.

"I'd shred you, and Twilightkit has had no training. I'm not interested in being accused of unjust slaughter again, but thanks. Maybe someone else will entertain your worthless hide." Darkspirit growled, shameless of what this could mean in the future. Lionstripe's tail lashed and he growled low in his throat, but was surprised when Falconmoon only chuckled in response. He held his tongue for now.

"You really should remove the stick from under your tail, Darkspirit. But fine. I can't make you spar I suppose... or back up your words for that matter." He shot Lionstripe a fast look that warned him to calm himself. Real fighting wouldn't do anyone any good right now. The sound of approaching pawsteps made them all look. Apparently their exchange had not gone unnoticed.

“Oh, me! Me!” The voice that called out was, perhaps, unexpectedly young, but there was something excited and almost fierce in it, with all the open honesty of a cat who loved battle more than anything. Goldenpaw skidded to a stop beside the older cats, grinning brightly, enthusiasm undaunted by the long voyage. Already she was tall and well-built, looking more like a bulky SkyClanner than a slim WindClanner, but her paws were still slightly oversized, her tail still a bit too long, a cat who somehow had more growing to do. “That was awesome! How did you do that? Teach me, please!”

She bounced from paw to paw, eyes alight. Obviously, no matter how much her genetics predisposed her towards battle, a mere apprentice would hardly be able to make such experienced warriors get out of breath, but the stunning display of power mere moments before enthralled her. She wanted to learn how to do that; to strike with skill, practice, and instinct all melded together into pure perfection.

Stormwatcher's ears flicked and his curiosity peaked seeing cats gathering around what appered to be a bit of a spar.  He went over and watched the end of the 'spar' of lion and falcon just dodging one another.

He gave a bit of an eyeroll, why did his clanmates have to be so dense? Where their heads mostly skull? It would appear so.

The clan was near starved and these two bozos wanted to waste energy playing pawsies back and forth.

he muttered under his breath his thoughts on all this.

Falconmoon always had energy it appeared, where the tryhard got it he wasnt sure but for lion to also be joining in this nonsense?

The big tom sat wrapping his tail around his paws giving both his clanmates a disapproving glance. If he had any more energy he would knock both their heads together and drag them off to a hunting patrol where perhaps their energy could be better spent.

It was clanmates like this that gave skyclan their reputation... which perhaps right now actually was not such a bad thing he supposed. Perhaps their foolery was not all wasted if it remided the other clans their place, which was below skyclan of course.

His clanmates sparring one another was one thing. But dark's comments got a rise out of the big tom.

He flicked his tail clearly annoyed by the ex-deputy.

"Perhaps this one here is just salty about his lost deputy position." he glared at Dark.  

As much as he might disaprove of his clanmates actions, he was not going to take any flack from some hot-shot thunderclanner wanna be.  Skyclan would at least appear united when dealing with the lesser clans that they had the misfortune of having to travel with on this journey.  Some thunderclan tom too big for their own paws openly insulting his clan was not gonna fly.

If dark wanted to be knocked down a peg or two so be it.

"Lay a paw on any of my clanmates and I'll see you lose your warrior position as well." he hissed a bit fed up with dark. How falcon was staying so cool he wasnt sure but lion also seemed irritated by the thunderclan cat.


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Bluepaw saw a lot of cats starting to bunch up and he eagerly went over hoping that someone had maybe caught some prey!  What he found was chilling.  A bunch of toms in a blinking contest of sorts.  Bluepaw froze up fearfully, the pacifist had major flashbacks of the fight against skyclan and now the skyclan brutes appeared to be stirring up more trouble.  With wide eyes he looked at dark.  The apprentice was terrified clearly but went to stand a little behind Dark as if to silently say that he was here if worst came to worst.  Whether or not dark noticed the apprentice literally shaking with fear remained to be seen.

In a tree above the sparring cats, Lichenwing lay sprawled, his cheek resting on the branch as he observed the warriors and apprentices below him. SkyClan, it seemed, had more energy than they had sense... and despite the fact that they were all literally starving, somehow they thought it was a good idea to spar. He supposed it make sense to some extent, for SkyClan to want to keep their warriors sharp - given the fact that they were a bunch of oathbreaking slimeballs who wouldn't know honor if it knocked them in the head.

Most of them, anyway.

Bluegreen eyes narrowed slightly as his mind wandered back to Juniperheart, the only SkyClan cat he'd ever truly liked... and his chest tightened, breath hitching just a moment as unexpected grief gripped him. He missed her. And the fact that he'd not seen hide nor hair of her since this journey started had given Lichenwing the information he'd been near desperate to find out for moons now... she was gone. Really gone. Not avoiding Gatherings and borders and... well, him. Just... gone. Was she dead? Or had she abandoned him, and the kits that he could only assume were hers... the ones that looked just like her.

The litter that had an abundance of smoky gray kits, and a suspicious lack of any that even remotely resembled the one they called father - the big yellow tom with anger issues, that Mottlestar had throttled at the Fallen Oak.

Lichenwing's gaze slid past the others to rest on him now, stretched out in a ray of sun at the base of a tree not far from the sparring SkyClanners. The wounds Mottlestar gave him were still fresh, a crown of angry red lines stark against the pale fur. The ThunderClanner exhaled in frustration, banishing that line of thought to the far recesses of his mind. What good would it do, anyway, even if he knew for sure...

His tail lashed once, twice, three times... but raised voices from below stalled his brooding long enough for him to tune in to the conversation. What he heard didn't help his mood, but the initial exchange between Darkspirit and the other yellow tom was over quickly, without incident... and may have stayed that way, if it weren't for the third SkyClanner that decided to chime in. The black and white tom was some distance away from the fighting, and had been silently - and disapprovingly, he noted - observing until now... but at his words, Lichenwing bristled. Who did he think he was, speaking to Darkspirit like that? Spitting words like he had any clue about the situation?

With a low growl, the charcoal tom stood, carefully dropping from the tree some distance away and padding over to stand beside his former mentor, staring down Stormwatcher with his ears slicked back angrily. "Seems t'me like SkyClanners are real good at two things: climbin' trees, and startin' fights they can't win," he snarled, tail whipping behind him. "Maybe you should watch yer words before you create a problem."

A little golden apprentice from... Falconmoon sniffed... Windclan wasn't what he expected. A warrior followed behind herm one of typical Windclan build. Lionstripe, Darkspirit and Twilightkit watched with interest. Darkspirit himself couldn't bring himself to care about what the white and gold Skyclan tom said. He had no need to prove himself to that Skyclanner.

Before Lionstripe or Falconmoon could speak, Stormwatcher strode into view... and made everything more tense than it was originally. Lionstripe was ready and willing to throw claws with the rude Thunderclanner, no problem, but it was Falconmoon that stepped forward.

"Stormwatcher don't..." He said softly, not demanding, but rather trying to coax the other Skyclan cat to not kick the bee's nest, so to speak. So naturally and of course... yet one more Thunderclanner appeared with venom in his words. Honestly, rightfully so.

Darkspirit's fur bristled, but he said nothing as he stared unblinkingly, challengingly, at Stormwatcher.

Twilightkit snickered, clearly amused.

Lionstripe's gaze moved to Lichenwing and it was clear from his expression a retort was on the tip of his tongue... when Falconmoon physically moved between the two. He even rammed his hip into Lionstripe's jaw to knock him ever so slightly off balance and interrupt whatever was about to come out of his mouth.

"LIONSTRIPE WOULD LOVE TO TEACH YOU SOME MOVES!" Falconmoon bellowed, answering the Windclan apprentice with haste. Lionstripe himself was so startled by the sudden change of pace of the conversation that his gaze moved to apprentice and off of Lichenwing.

"Uhhhh..." He answered sheepishly, but Falconmoon wasn't about to let him speak any further. He shot a look over his shoulder that warned Lionstripe to go with it before looking brightly and excitedly back at Goldenpaw.

"But I don't know how much he could teach you... Windclan cats are pretty fast even as apprentices like you! Go ahead and practice with him, but don't make fun of him if he can't get out of the way fast enough, or even touch you! Okay?" He stepped aside so that there was nothing between Lionstripe and the apprentice. "But there is one rule, no claws!" Just as quickly as his bright and happy demeanor was there for Goldenpaw, a stern eye was given once more to Lionstripe when he addressed him.

"As your senior warrior, Lionstripe, I would like to see you spar nicely with... " He looked at Goldenpaw. "What is your name?" He asked her softly. Once those two were otherwise engaged in their own activities, Falconmoon's eyes went to the other Windclanner in the hopes that she would read the message in his eyes. A little assistance taming the tension would be appreciated. No, he had no shame asking other clan cats for assistance when it was necessary. Tempers could get out of control easily here, and it was the last thing that they needed.

Lionstripe at least had enough sense to understand what was going on here... but he intended to pay Lichenwing a visit soon enough. He needed to pay for speaking so boldly and stupidly. Speaking of climbing trees and picking fights you can't win... you must think you're a Skyclan cat then. He pushed those thoughts away and, for the time being, would do as Falconmoon asked. He sighed, reluctant, and got into a fighting stance about a fox length from the apprentice.

"You go first. Whenever you're ready." He told the Windclan apprentice, but kept an eye on Lichenwing.

Lionstripe has not made a move this turn.

Lionstripe
50HP / 120SP

Goldenpaw
20HP / 60SP


"Perhaps we should have a spar for ourselves... Stormwatcher is your name? No actual bloodshed. That would upset our dear old leaders and we'd have to hear their lecturing. Just a little test of each other's strengths... if you truly believe you can do what you say you can." Darkspirit stood and faced Stormwatcher, but did nothing else. He fully expected the other tom to back right out of it. In his experience, those who talked the most were the worst with their claws.

“Wait, wha?” Goldenpaw asked, tilting her head to the side as things got very confusing very quickly. Weren’t they just here to spar? What was all this talk about losing a deputy? Wasn’t the deputy supposed to know how to find their way back? She’d lost their deputy on a patrol once, but apparently she was the one who got lost, not him. Huh.

However, the gold cat’s words banished all confusion from Goldenpaw’s mind. “Oh, would you?”

He went on to talk some more, and for once in her life, Goldenpaw actually paid attention; and also for once in her life, her ears blushed a bit red. That was… her stomach suddenly felt like a bunch of butterflies. Cats were always telling her to be more careful, that she wasn’t invincible- whatever that meant- that she was gonna get herself hurt one day, but here was a skilled warrior complimenting her! “Oh gosh, that’s real kind of you… I mean, I’m sure Lemonstripe knows a lot more than me, but I’ll give it my all! My name’s Goldenpaw, mister nice cat!”

She dipped her head excitedly, giving her brother a glance practically brimming over with enthusiasm. “Okay, Lymantripe! I wanna see all the cool stuff!”

The bulky apprentice shifted her weight from paw to paw for a moment, sizing her opponent up. If she were built like Tallpaw, she could probably stay ahead of him, but her size made it difficult to pull off the crazy dodging her Clanmates could do, and anyways she was here to learn, not run herself in circles. A deep breath, a bright grin, and Goldenpaw charged, throwing herself forwards, paws outstretched, as much force as she could possibly muster behind the leap. Not the most cunning of openers, perhaps, but she wasn’t here to think strategy. She was here to lose herself in the pounding of her heart against her ribcage, to feel her blood rush in her ears, to feel alive.

Whether she won or lost mattered little; already her heart was full to bursting from the praise the golden warrior had offered. Learning was her object, and yet one readily forgotten in the heat of a spar.

Goldenpaw used Jumping Strike, dealing 9 (6+3) damage and costing 7 stamina.

Lionstripe
41/50 HP (-9)
120/120 SP

Goldenpaw
20/20 HP
53/60 SP (-7)