Taigaclan - The Hardy and Brave (closed down)

Hareleap hissed softly in sympathy, nodding his head. "Bad luck!" he said. "It'll be better tomorrow, no doubt, with newleaf on the way." He spoke confidently, but Hareleap was loathe to admit it was a confidence he didn't really feel. This leaf-bare hadn't spanned the entirety of his apprenticeship but it had certainly felt like it, with things as hard as they were. Even he, as upbeat and laughing as he tried to be, privately had doubts -- but they weren't doubts he'd ever let a clanmate see. They had enough worriers already. "The prey'll come back and start multiplying faster than we can catch them," he continued. "We'll be overrun with rabbits, just you watch. They'll practically be leaping into our mouths."

Hareleap laughed aloud. "The day Sunpaw gets less crabby, I'll eat my own tail!" he said. "Now that would be a sight to see." Remembering the calico she-cat, Hareleap sent a swift, paranoid glance at the camp's entrance, like the mere mention of her name could summon her. When a moment passed and Sunpaw didn't emerge, cross that he was joking about her, he relaxed. "I was actually talking to her earlier," he continued conversationally, like his moment of paranoia hadn't happened, "about how you'll probably be made warriors soon -- Bramblepaw too. Won't that be great? We'll all be in the same den again, and everything."

Finchpaw snorted, but kept silent, hoping not to scare off any more prey. He caught the scent of a vole, not that far off, on the wind. "Sunpaw, there's a vole over that way" he said, jerking his head to the left.

---kittyking2

Sunpaw gave a flick of her tail to say her thanks, placing her attention on where Finchpaw had directed her. There she could see a vole, small, but not the scrawniest she had seen today. It would make for a fine piece in the fresh kill pile. Keeping her steps light, she stalked forward, being careful to avoid any movements that may scare off the rodent. After a few steps, she felt ready to pounce. Quickly, she jumped forward and stunned the prey with a swipe of her paw before finishing it. She turned to Finchpaw with the vole in her mouth, her head held high, "nice one." She purred thankfully.

---Jademist

Darkcloud shook his head, "no, she went ahead to the camp." He told her, starting to walk towards their next destination. After a bit of time to think, he decided that it was best to tell the she-cat. She was nearly a warrior at this point and if she wanted to return to camp, he would leave that decision up to her. "Finchpaw and her discovered evidence of a fox that passed through. The scent was old so it likely moved on already. If you would like, we can just return to camp." He told her, sitting down as he spoke. "I just ask that you don't say anything to anyone, even your littermates, the clan is still scared because of the fisher attack. I feel that you should have the right to decide if you feel uncomfortable with hunting now, especially after yesterday. You're nearly a warrior, you are old enough to make these choices."

(So where is everyone rn?)

Bramblepaw silently walked next to her mentor, deciding not to ask further questions as to why Spottedtail left so suddenly. When Darkcloud elaborated after a short time her ears perked up in surprise. “Oh.” She meowed simply, taking a moment to process what had been said while she sat down in front of the tom. A fox roaming around the territory was bad news.. and she wasn’t very keen on becoming fox food. However, Darkcloud was right; she will be a warrior soon. It was about time she acted that way too. “Thank you for telling me. I think we should try to find more prey. The freshkill pile was quite low when we left this morning and I don’t feel satisfied walking into camp with only a scrawny vole to show for it.” The apprentice glanced over at her mentor, hoping he’d be okay with her plan. “I won’t tell anyone about the fox, I promise.”

Redstar sighed and followed the cat into the den, sitting down when they were inside. “Tell me what happened.” He told the cat, deciding it would be best to not comment on the tom’s obvious boldness. He knew that Shadowheart was just as worried about the clan as he was; but he felt that the medicine cat lack the ability to look at the bigger picture. He watched the cat carefully, his tail wrapped fighting across his paws as he waited for the tom to speak.

—

Darkcloud nodded and gave the younger cat a gentle smile, proud that she had made her choice in such a mature manner. Though he would never say it out loud, part of him was glad that he didn’t not have to return to the camp. He didn’t want to have to face Redstar again, especially if the dead hare really was a sign from Starclan. After all, he doubted that the red tom would even bother to listen. His paw pads itched with irritation at the thought, he didn’t know why Redstar was being so stubborn. Normally he would be eager to help the clan in anyway he could. Part of Darkcloud wondered if Redstar was worried that his leadership skills would be put into question, even though the lack of prey and fisher attack were completely out of his control. “Very well, we can go by the river then, hopefully we can find more prey there.” He told her, standing up and walking in that direction. He turned his head back to look at Bramblepaw, wanting to make sure she didn’t seem too nervous. “Make sure that you don’t fall in.”

(Dead Hare, hunted down by a fox)

(it's alright! The posts can get confusing....)

---Dawnmist

Redstar sighed, "why would this one be a sign from Starclan? We had that....thing say it had a message from Starclan then the next day, a dead hare? Could it not be that creature playing tricks? It doesn't make sense why Starclan would chose to give us signs in such an odd way." He told the tom, then he hunched his shoulders. "If we go now, the whole clan will assume that there is something wrong. Leaf-bare was hard on us this years, so many died from starvation and the cold, then the first signs of of new leaf bring a fisher with them." The tom straightened his back and gave Shadowheart a determined look. "My job is to protect my clan, and sometimes to do that, you must betray their trust." He stood, "if Starclan truly wanted us to know something, then they would make the signs more clear." He added, turning away. His stomach felt like a pit. Why was he being punished, why wouldn't Starclan just leave him and his clan alone. He never asked for this, any of it. He realized that he had allowed his fear to creep onto his face. He took a deep breath and forced his usual expression, hoping Shadowheart hadn't noticed. "I'm trusting you to keep this between us." He said quietly, glancing back to the cat.

-- kittyking2 (Repost so you aren't searching)

Sunpaw gave a flick of her tail to say her thanks, placing her attention on where Finchpaw had directed her. There she could see a vole, small, but not the scrawniest she had seen today. It would make for a fine piece in the fresh kill pile. Keeping her steps light, she stalked forward, being careful to avoid any movements that may scare off the rodent. After a few steps, she felt ready to pounce. Quickly, she jumped forward and stunned the prey with a swipe of her paw before finishing it. She turned to Finchpaw with the vole in her mouth, her head held high, "nice one." She purred thankfully.

-- Jademist

Darckcloud looked to his apprentice and shook his head, "no, it's good that you asked. It shows that you are observant and empathetic to others. Those are good traits that many warriors lack." He told her, not bothered by her question, it was his fault for not hiding it better. "As the Taigaclan deputy, it's my job to help guide the clan, but sometimes, it can be rather difficult. These are troubling times for all of us, so I get bothered when it seems like all we can do is just wait for things to get better." He explained to her, looking at the direction towards the river. "We will make it through, we always do." He added, hoping that he hadn't made the she-cat nervous. New leaf had just begun, there was much to wait for. The waters will thaw, the forest will come alive with life, everything will return to how it should. Though he still worried about what the lynx had said. He worried that, whether it was because of fear, pride or denial, that Redstar would continue to ignore the threat. He just hoped that Shadowheart would be able to convince their leader that they needed to do something...anything.

"No problem" Finchpaw said "So you haven't heard about th- wait nevermind" he said, remembering Shadowheart's warning. "Let's see if we can find some more" he said, glossing over the 'message' from Starclan.

(Go for it!)

-- Dawnmist

Redstar paused when the medicine cat spoke, turning his head to speak as he faced the entrance, "my clan." he said boldly, fully confident in his reasoning. He needed to guide his clan and that was what he was doing. If Starclan truly wanted to guide them, then he felt the way they were doing so was...foolish. Sending a predator in their stead after the famine his clan faced was almost a mockery. The red tom exited the den without another word, placing a happy, relaxed expression on his face as he looked out to his clan.

-- kittyking2 (Heads up, Sunpaw is a goody goody so she won't be sneaky and would probably scold Finchpaw if he tells her)

Sunpaw shushed the cat quickly, giving him a slightly annoyed look as she held the bird in her jaws, she wandered to a black berry bush and buried it to hide it. She glanced around again for more prey, catching the scent of a vole, she looked to Finchpaw and flicked her tail, signaling for him to be completely quiet as she focused on the trail, however, it led to a deep burrow that she had no hope of flushing the prey out of- trying would just alert everything else. She looked to the medicine apprentice, fully aware that there was no prey nearby, "hunting isn't time for gossiping." She scolded, her voice extremely quiet, her ears flicking as she tried to pin point the sounds of prey, and her mentor.

-- Jademist

Darkcloud laughed slightly and smiled, "I'll keep that in mind." He told her, stopping at the waters edge, the water was now flowing, large pieces of ice remained though, some pieces drifting with the current. The black tom looked to his apprentice, "right now, the most important thing for you to do if try your best. I know it seems silly, but your contributions to the clan matter- no matter how small they seem. A single mouse could change the outcome for one of your clanmates." He told her, now glancing around. This area did seem a bit richer with life, hopefully there would find some prey here. "Anyways, let's hunt- I trust Shadowheart and Redstar to handle this situation."

(I’m sorry, I thought I replied ;-; Also could I take over Snowfoot? Since she’s Fallingsky’s mate and they have kits. )

Shadowheart shrugged at Redstar left, something will push the red tom to listen to him. He didn’t know what, but he’d do his best to find out. Once he felt like Redstar was far enough he exited the den himself, making his way over to his sister, Quietstream. “How are you?” He mewed, wanting to hear some other cats problems besides his own.

Quietstream was laying in the small bit of sunshine shining through the clouds when Shadowfoot approached her, “good, I went on morning hunting patrol. That went well, what about you?” She asked him while keeping her eyes closed.

——

Fallingsky trotted over to Sunpaw with a few pieces of prey hanging from his jaws, he set them down and looked to her, “how’s your hunt going?”