[PATROL] (Sunseer, Skysong, Sweetfang, Riversurge)

[belloblossom]

This is a patrol between Sunseer, Skysong, Sweetfang and Riversurge. Please do not post here if you do not own a cat on this list.

Rolled: Hunting Encounter (roll 1d20 - on a 10 or higher you successfully catch your prey!)
Each cat in the patrol is able to make this roll!

 

[belloblossom]

Riversurge had grown as a cat through the moons, not just physically, but emotionally, too. He was no longer the flighty, crybaby tomcat who had made the long trek down the mountain. Sure, he still got nervous spells, but he wasn't codependent on his mate, Poppyheart any longer. They'd had a litter of kits together nearly as soon as they'd settled into StoneClan and he'd known the moment he'd seen her belly start to round that he was going to have to change and become a more secure cat that Poppyheart could rely on.

He believed he'd done well by Siltwater, Rocksteady and Gravelpaw. He never did get to know what Gravelpaw's warrior name was, after he'd left to join MountainClan with Palestorm. Yes... that certainly was a sore spot for him, but he didn't bottle his feelings anymore. He either talked about them openly, or he didn't pay heed to them at all. He wanted to do right by his family and by his Clan and this is how he could attempt just that.

That all to say... in the hunting patrol with both his leader AND deputy, he was nervous. He knew he oughtn't need be - they had so many shared memories together, the trio of them, but by SunClan above, he was struggling to find any sort of shared conversation. So, he'd peeled away from the group to hunt instead, hoping to clear his head. One mistimed leap gave him a mouth full of bracken and soil instead!

"Blech!" Riversurge coughed and spluttered. How embarrassing! Thank goodness no one was around to see him! Right...?

(River misses the mouse he was stalking!)

 

[belloblossom]

Sweetfang had come a long way from the kittypet life she'd left, but it was on her mind often enough that she'd begun to doubt her decisions. She liked it in StoneClan, of course she did! She had a loving mate in Splitnose and while he was an older tomcat (and a little grumpy, from time to time) she felt calm in his presence. His older age made her feel more secure, though she did have the added pressure to act more mature around him.

She thought about her brother, Reese, a lot. She wished that she could've convinced him to go with her. She missed him - they'd been together for so long and she would never know what became of him. She was pretty sure she could recognize the house that their Twolegs had lived in the Twolegplace, but she couldn't possibly find an excuse to go all the way over there without seeming like she wanted to leave StoneClan behind.

She glanced over at her patrol mates. For reasons she couldn't comprehend, both the leader and deputy had chosen to join the hunting patrol with her and Riversurge that day. She'd always felt a sense of foreboding around Skysong - which seemed to be the consensus from any cat who wasn't born into the Clan. Sky cats (wait no, they were called SunClan) help her if Skysong ever became the new StoneClan leader. Would all the cats who weren't born here be made to leave?

She gulped and turned her head to Riversurge, who felt less frightening to talk to, but he'd disappeared the only sign of where he'd gone being a swaying fern. Was she allowed to part ways just as easily, or would she be made to stay with the group? She looked up questioningly at Sunseer - before she realized that he wouldn't be able to see it and she frowned.

She turned her gaze then to Skysong and was working up the nerve to speak to the deputy when she heard a twig snap close by. Turning her head quickly, she spotted a shrew who had frozen up at the sight of three cats on patrol. Without any glamour or strategy, Sweetfang leaped at it, claws out. She squashed it under her paws (whoops) and lowered her mouth to its neck quickly, killing it. Raising her head, the shrew dandling from her mouth, she looked to Sunseer and Skysong, seeking their approval. @Blinded By Silence

(Sweetfang catches her shrew!)

 

[Blinded By Silence]

Sunseer was in a pleasant mood today. The longer they spent in this new territory, the more sure he felt about the decision to leave. His solo patrols were serving him well; he knew all of the main paths now, even without his eyes. And with all the new cats joining StoneClan, their numbers were quickly growing. There was plenty of space, plenty of prey.

Hunting was still very difficult for him, though his pride insisted he continue to try. He'd relearn this. He knew he would. Just like he relearned how to walk. It wouldn't be easy, but--

SNAP. The old tom winced as his paw stepped down on a stick. He sighed as he heard the scampering of prey, the scrambling of paws.

"Ah, sorry about that, everyone." He admitted with an apologetic swish of his tail. How embarrassing...

 

[Blinded By Silence]

The StoneClan Deputy took up the rear of their hunting patrol, hovering just behind Sunseer. She kept close enough to jump to his aid, should he need it, but far enough back that she didn't trod on his pride.

But it wasn't her leader who had her attention. No, Skyong's pale eyes lingered on the cats he had assigned to their patrol.

Riversurge was the mate of her apprentice, Poppyheart. The now-grown she-cat had more patience than her. She would have given up on him ages ago, what with his indecision and inability to control his emotions. She had no time to waste on a tom who clung to their mate like a weaning kit. But, she had to admit, silently and only to herself, the blue tom had grown plenty since their loss of their mountain home. Kits had done the two well, she noted, flicking her ear dismissively at the pang of jealousy that squirmed inside her.

Sweetfang, on the other hand, had a lot of growing left to do. The tri-colored she-cat had been with them for moons now, but still looked to those around her like a paw on their first trip out of camp. Riversurge slipped off ahead, she opened her mouth to scent the air. Yes, there was prey here. A good call. But this one... No initiative, these new warriors. Loners were one thing, but the Kittypets... She opened her mouth to send Sweetfang off to the other side of the path when suddenly-- Snap!

The white she-cat slipped effortlessly into a crouch at the sudden sound, ears back, her tail out and still. Her quick eyes noted Sunseer and the loud stick and, more importantly, the movement of a mouse as it darted away from the sudden sound. Lightning quick and near soundlessly, she tore after it, returning moments later with the plump mouse dangling from her jaws. She set it down in front of the apologizing old tom.

"Nothing to apologize for, Sunseer. If anything, you flushed them out for us." She raises her eyebrows at Sweetfang, mildly impressed, "Quick action, Sweetfang. Better than I expected." But her eyes narrowed when she saw Riversurge sputtering grass out of his mouth. Frowning, she added, "Though, with all the noise we made, we will have to move further in if we expect to catch more. Two small rodents is not enough."

 

[belloblossom]

Riversurge sighed and nodded to Skysong.
"Perhaps we could turn our attention to the river? There may be more opportunities for good hunting, if we were to look at the fish under the waves." He suggested. He certainly enjoyed fishing more than ground hunting, but... a worried look at Sunseer made him pause. The tomcat was blind as a bat - no, maybe even worse than a bat these days. It made him sad to see his once magnificent leader reduced to this state. It may have been noble at one point, to try to hunt despite his handicap, but now it just made Riversurge's gut twist with discomfort. Had Sunseer not been the leader, a cat of his age would've retired moons ago to the Elders Den, Riversurge was certain.

Ground hunting still allowed for some of Sunseer's remaining senses, at least, but was it truly the most productive the patrol could be? That said, even if they moved to the river, if Riversurge then failed to catch something, like he'd missed his ground prey, he would look even more foolish.

"Or, as you suggested, Skysong, we could move away from this side of the territory." He turned his head in the direction of TreeClan's forests. He'd been on border patrols nearly every day since Sunflight took so many loyal StoneClan warriors and apprentices, and left to form her own Clan, right beside StoneClan. His tail tip twitched in irritation. The river should have never split to begin with, MountainClan, now StoneClan, should've all stayed together during the move. Gravelpaw would still be in StoneClan, if his son hadn't had any other option. "We could move closer to the tree line, there's always plenty of ground prey there." He suggested.

Riversurge unwilling to say outwardly the thoughts that plagued his mind. That they should hunt near TreeClan's territory. Really, those cats only ever seemed to hunt birds and squirrels, as far as he'd heard. Surely they wouldn't miss a couple of mice or rabbits that just so happened to cross into StoneClan's territory... Once they'd been chanced over, that was. @Blinded By Silence

 

[belloblossom]

Sweetfang had proudly carried her shrew over to Sunseer and lay her fluffy yellow tail against his flank, dropping her shrew at her paws while Skysong and Riversurge spoke amongst one another. Lowering her mew, so that she wouldn't interrupt the deputy and senior warrior's conversation, she turned her attention to the elderly leader next to her.

"It's okay, Sunseer. I'm pleased enough for your company, you don't need to catch prey to come along with us." She lowered her mew even more. "And I think your presence brings Skysong comfort, too." Raising her mew with the boost of a purr, she stood close enough to the old leader, that if he had chosen to, he would've been welcome to lean against her. "I'll admit, when I volunteered for this patrol, I thought it was going to be a border patrol. Have I told you about my brother, Sunseer? He's meant to find me here, or better yet, to join me here. I'm waiting for him and I try to go out on a border patrol every day, in case I see him." She shrugged slowly, not wanting to bump her weight into Sunseer's own shoulders. "He has yet to arrive. He will though, of that I am certain. Still, it's nice for this change of pace, to go on a hunting patrol, too. When you were younger and the river ran in the mountains, did you have a preference between border or hunting patrols?" She asked, blabbering on and on, before at last coming to an end, giving an opportunity for Sunseer to speak. @Blinded By Silence