~ RiverClan ~ Clever and Strong |☾☼ ϟ ≈ ☁|

(I’m going to be offline tomorrow, as it’s my birthday tomorrow!! See you all on Thursday:3)

"I'm surprised that she hadn't even retired yet. Have you seen how gray Snowdance's muzzle has gotten?" Brightrock said, licking his lips after another bite of fish. Truthfully he was glad that there was someone in the clan that could keep up with his chatter, both Duskhawk and Petalcreek always had difficulty keeping up with small talk. "She's been ShadowClan's medicine cat for so long, and Opalmist was completely trained by the time she got banished. What do you think was keeping Snowdance from joining the rest of the elder's?"

Blackmask glanced back at her, noticing how she was getting distracted by the stones and shells, "We can hunt here if you want." He said, coming to a stop at the edge of the river, "It looks like the water here isn't too high, and, uh, you can see if there are any shells worth taking back with us." He added, looking down into the water in search of any fish to avoid looking at her as he spoke.

"For all we know, Snowdance could have been planning on retiring that moon after the Gathering." Swanflight shrugged, feeling bad for the Shadowclan Medicine Cat. "Now she'll have to invest at least another half-cycle to a full-cycle to train a new medicine cat, if a kit wants to be one. That's hardly fair... Though, I guess we can't say much about medicine cats, seeing as we've had such sour luck with our own..." She mumbled sheepishly, before she mourned. "I miss Specklecreek alot. She seemed like she was going to be the one this time."

"I just love all their colors." Bubblebrook mused, giving a wistful sigh as she purred. "Stonegaze and I are competing for who can get the prettiest shell collection. He has a head-start because he's older." She flicked her tail, turning towards the water to fearlessly begin to wade out into it. "How about I herd some of the small fish over to you? You can catch a few snacks for the apprentices."

“Guess that just puts a kink in her plans then.” Brightrock said with a snort, shaking his head. “Specklecreek was a good medicine cat, it’s hard to believe that she just up and disappeared on us.” He added with a sigh.

“That sounds like a good plan.” Blackmask said with a nod, sitting down at the edge of the river. “Be careful though. The water might not be as deep here as the rest, but it never hurts to be safe.”

Petalcreek shook her head, “I haven’t asked anyone else yet, but I can go see if there is anyone that would like to join us if you would like.” She mewed, glad that he had accepted to join her.

Coppersky flicked his ear as he stretched out, "Doesn't matter to me, seems like the camp is pretty busy today. We can go just the two of us if that'd be easier."

(Sure!)

Snowflower took in a breath to continue the conversation, but paused as an unfamiliar scent crossed her. She paused, a worried gleam in her eyes. Her ear twitched as the sound of rustling not far off. “Do you smell that?” She whispered, ears folding back.

"It's not something any of us want to imagine." Duskhawk stated, finally deciding to chime in on the conversation. He sat up and started to groom his fur, having gotten his fill on fish and let the other two have what was left of it.

Brightrock nodded in agreement with his brother's statement, "Losing a sibling like that would be hard on anyone, especially with how close Ospreystrike was with her sister." He mewed.

Blackmask only gave a twitch of his ear in response, his eyes trained on the water as he waited for the minnows to be within reach of his paws. At the right moment, his paw shot out into the water and scooped a pawful of the minnows out and threw them onto the shore, quickly pouncing on them and killing them to make sure that they didn't jump back into the water.

Coppersky followed after her, humming unconvincingly. "Birchtail gave me a lesson the other day, but it could use some work still. Maybe you could give me some tips as well?"

A kit? It certainly wasn't the news Earthstar was expecting. When Foxripple described the situation, he shook his head in sadness. "It's unfortunate to hear that the other kit didn't survive. But our next choice of action is clear to me, given your words." he reassured. He entered the nursery and cleared his throat. "Smallkit is in here, I assume?"

(All my other cats are open for interacting!)

“Yeah. That’s her.” Foxripple startled. “Oh, uh. I should get back to guard duty. Orchidnight’s with her.” He mewed, rushing back to his post now that he knew Smallkit was in safe paws.

Orchidnight looked up at Earthstar, her eyes flashing as she nodded. “Hello. Smallkit, this is our leader, Earthstar. He’s a very kind cat.” She promised.

(I’m back now! Sorry if I missed anything.)

Snailkit looked back over at her companion, shifting her eyes from the leaders den to her face.

(oh God I've been busy, I forgot flareclaw was on a patrol, I'll post some more after I see what i've missed)

"I just hope that Alder and Quietpaw can make it." Swanflight admitted honestly, not holding back with her thoughts. "With how well Alder helped to deliver Littleshadow's kits, apparently he's already proving to be just what Riverclan needs. Do you think he'll want to take a full name soon?" She asked, glancing towards the medicine den, before she watched Duskhawk sit up and groom himself.

Bubblebrook watched Blackmask intently as she continued to guide the small fish towards the bank, a small laugh escaping her at his jumps. She noticed how he seemed to have a sturdy build, especially on land. It was similar to her father's build, for even though he had thicker fur than his brother, Diamondheart was often comparative to other Thunderclan cats in terms of his features. It was funny to think about, how her father hadn't a single speck of Riverclan blood in him, yet he had become so respected and adapted to Riverclan like the back of his paw. She shook her thoughts away, knowing she tended to get distracted by random thoughts.

"Nice catches! Accurate too, to get all those little fish without ripping them in two." She purred.

"Maybe. Do you think StarClan will accept him if he doesn't take one?" Brightrock mewed, finishing his part of the fish and sitting up as well. "It wouldn't be the first time a loner came to the clans and chose not to take on a full warrior name, but I've never heard of a medicine cat do it before."

Duskhawk looked up from his grooming, his eyes meeting Swanflight's briefly when he noticed her watching him. Feeling his fur heat up, he quickly turned his head back to get the area between his shoulders, trying to keep the neutral look on his face as he washed his fur.

"They're a real pain in the tail, that's for sure." Blackmask huffed, managing to catch the last one before it could jump back into the water. He sat up and looked at the minnows with a satisfied flick of his ear, looking back at Bubblebrook, "I think the kits in the nursery might enjoy these as much as the apprentices. They're small enough to feed them well."

"I'll try my best." Petalcreek said with a small smile, coming to a stop once they reached the river. "Birchtail is right about keeping your shadow away from the water, so you'll want to keep an eye on the sun's position when you choose a spot to fish at." She settled herself down at the shore and stared down into the water, motioning for Coppersky to join her. "It's a bit of a waiting game, and different from hunting land prey. You have to let the fish come to you basically."