Territory And The Sun Sets | Jaypaw

[.SHRIKEPAW. .SHRIKEPAW.]

Things were different, that much was certain.
Dustystar, a pillar of normalcy since Shrikepaw's beginning, now gone, whispers of war on the horizon, and the looming threat upon the moors left in the wake of both. He'd been itching to get out of camp given the atmosphere hanging around, so when Termitefur offered him to join them and Jaypaw on a casual little hunt, he'd accepted with a curt nod and on light paws. Perhaps the first time he'd seemed eager to leave his nest since his apprenticeship. The wind today carried that brisk leafbare chill, icy as the group moved along the moor with the sun's face hidden behind the clouds, shading the seemingly endless moors in almost a cool blue tone.
After Termitefur stated for them to meet back at a rock once they'd caught at most four pieces of prey or before the sun reached a quarter of the way to the horizon, Shrikepaw decided to trail after Jaypaw, quiet in thought as he followed the older bi-colored tom. He was still young, no longer a kit who's mother kept him from the dangers and politics of the real world in the warmth of the nursery but after seeing the injuries of the other cats... he couldn't quite wrap his head around the idea of what it'd be like in a real fight with another cat. Mice were toys... easy to pin beneath his paws and watch squirm, same with shrews and moles, their black beady eyes giving little flashes of white—their fear—as he loomed over them. But cats? Cats were big.
"Jaypaw?" Shrikepaw said suddenly, breaking the silence between the pair. It felt strange to call the other Jaypaw when he was as old and as big as some of the warriors, but he supposed it'd be weirder when he eventually get his warrior name. "What... do you think is going to happen with Skyclan?" His voice was flat, spoken with an air of apathy and dryness that juxtaposed the way his tufted ears were angled toward the older cat.
"Do you think they'll actually target our clan? I mean... that's silly, right? They'd be hare-brained to try and waste energy on fighting when prey is already so scarce. If they wanted to do that... wouldn't it be wiser to go after a different clan?" He kicked a pebble as he spoke, musing aloud as he asked the questions.

//ooc: @Jaypaw ⏾

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SHRIKEPAW he/him, windclan 08 moons old.
black and white tom with pale blue eyes
mentored by none // mentoring none
littermate to ???
NPC x NPC / father/mother to none / mated to none
"speech" // "thoughts"
penned by Angelkisses / @/Angelkisses on discord, feel free to dm for plots.

 

[Jaymoon]

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆ Jaypaw ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☽⋆⁺₊⋆-

Jaypaw was glad for the distraction a hunting patrol provided, a hunting patrol on their own territory. He didn't fault Dustystar for her decision, he couldn't fault a dead cat, but clearly it was a bad idea - he knew this even before he went. His clanmates knew that. WindClan was meant to hunt on WindClan land.

Jaypaw shook his head. He was here now, in the moment, hunting in their own territory. Everything was okay.

Well, except for the fact that Shrikepaw followed him instead of hunting for his own prey. Jaypaw tried not to let that irritate him too much, after all, the other apprentice was younger and probably a little shaken up after the recent events. Jaypaw knew he was at least.

The older apprentice caught a faint whiff of a mouse and twitched his tail to let the other apprentice know to be careful. He stalked as he followed the scent, but he didn't get very far before he lost the trail. So much for getting anything done.

"Yes, Shrikepaw?" Jaypaw turned towards the younger cat. They might as well talk now that he had lost the mouse. But at Shrikepaw's next words, Jaypaw's paws froze and his heart quickened. "With... SkyClan..." he repeated. Wasn't this patrol meant to be a distraction? Weren't they meant to not think of what would happen next? The apprentice sighed, knowing those were just fantasies, knowing the world didn't stop just because he wished it to.

"I think... I think SkyClan also lost a lot. Not as quite as us, of course, but... Hawkstar might not want to seek revenge - we got... we got what we deserved, at least in her eyes. I hope."

 

[.SHRIKEPAW. .SHRIKEPAW.]

Shrikepaw's whiskers twitched at the residual and staling scent of the mouse Jaypaw had been trailing. He mused over the words, chewing on them like they were a root to gnaw upon as his left ear slowly turned toward the border before angling to stand facing Jaypaw once more. What he said made sense—after all, it was Windclan that had trespassed and essentially started that specific encounter—but there had been reason behind that, right? Molewhisker's death, prey shortage... Shrikepaw's jaw flexed momentarily before relaxing. "You hope?" He asked, his usually flat tone tilting with the question. "The way everyone is acting in camp, you'd think there was a pack of bloodthirsty monsters lurking on the other side of the gorge. They acted like we were going to be slaughtered any second when that patrol came back." His tail gave a flick, his eyes narrowing behind his fur. He remembers the way cats cried, screamed, and argued in the clearing, having been busy fetching bedding for the caretakers when that whole commotion happened. That didn't exactly breed the idea of a permissive event coming on the winds.
"I just... why Skyclan? I know we share a border with them but..." He trailed off, his mind wandering to those rampaging waters he'd seen during his territory tour when he was freshly apprenticed at the gorge. The warnings he'd been given about it. They weren't necessary, per say—Shrikepaw would rather he be picked up by a flock of hawks than ever go near water like that after the flood—but they stuck inside of his skull along with the gaping black maw at the points where the water disappeared under the earth. His pelt itched as he pictured Dustystar's body being thrashed around in those waters only to be swallowed up in that darkness to end up who knows where, his fur suddenly heavy on his body. His eyes flicked down toward his paws, making sure they weren't muddy.
"What do you think the gathering will be like? Think they'll bring it up?" Shrikepaw shifted the topic, not wanting to think of Dustystar or the gorge now as he moved his paw to go back to walking. He wondered if Jaypaw had been to a gathering yet, what it was like. It felt surreal to imagine so many cats together in one space—how many clans are there? His mind whispered, curious as he tried to imagine essentially four Windclans in that clearing with the looming trees—but it felt... important. Something he himself hadn't quite been able to experience yet and hoped to soon, at least before he was a warrior.

​

SHRIKEPAW he/him, windclan 08 moons old.
black and white tom with pale blue eyes
mentored by none // mentoring none
littermate to ???
NPC x NPC / father/mother to none / mated to none
"speech" // "thoughts"
penned by Angelkisses / @/Angelkisses on discord, feel free to dm for plots.

 

[Jaymoon]

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆ Jaypaw ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☽⋆⁺₊⋆-

Jaypaw looked at the apprentice quizically. Was he trying to get under his skin? Or was he really that clueless? The older apprentice wasn't sure which of the two was worse.

"You.. Shrikepaw, you know I was on that patrol, right?" His eyes flicked to the moors, to the direction of the SkyClan border. To the gorge that swallowed Dustystar. "You didn't see what I saw. There were ten of us. Ten of us, Shrikepaw. How was SkyClan supposed to take that? As us simply trespassing to catch some prey? Or WindClan invading their territory with a patrol as big as two or three combined?"

Jaypaw shook his head. There was no debating this, Shrikepaw had not seen what he had, had not been there. How could the young apprentice understand?

"I don't know what's going to happen with SkyClan. I wish I knew. I wish I could say it will all be alright." the apprentice lowered his head. "But I can't. Because I don't know what's going to happen. I can only hope."

The tensions were high already as it was, before this... patrol. Before this ambush. "I think the gathering will be full of tension, just like last time. Just like the one before. But there's rules now. The gathering is a time of peace, I've seen it with my own eyes, I've sat next to a RiverClan warrior. I think, if there's retaliation, it won't be at the gathering."

Do we have to talk about this? Jaypaw would rather talk about literally anything else but this. "Let's go back to the hunting, Shrikepaw." he suggested, the tip of his tail flicking. He wanted a distraction, a good hunt, not to talk to an apprentice who had too much on his mind and nothing to show for it in terms of prey caught. Without waiting for an answer, Jaypaw turned around and walked away from Shrikepaw, not caring if the other followed him or not. If he did, they could hunt rabbit together. If he didn't, well, there were always rodents and birds for him to catch by himself.

 

[.SHRIKEPAW. .SHRIKEPAW.]

Shrikepaw stopped as Jaypaw asked the rhetorical question, head turning slowly to the other. His eyes may have been hidden behind that thick veil of white fur but he tilted his head, tail held straight before waving slightly. "No... I just started talking about this because the clouds reminded me of it," He said after a long pause, tone dry and oozing sarcasm as he stood there motionless for a moment, the words like an auditory eye roll before they became more serious and meaningful in his deadpan voice, "I know you were there. That's why I asked. I thought you might have some insight or a better idea than anyone else would, giving me actual, like... observations rather than just more rumors. You're more... approachable than, like... Goldenroar or something."

His ear gave a flick, head tilting as Jaypaw painted the scene of the patrol, how many cats were there. Yeah. That does sound quite... off-putting. If a large group of cats came into Windclan territory like that, he'd also assume something bad was about to happen. If he were a Skyclanner, he'd also probably attack Windclan if ten of them just trespassed onto their territory. But, nonetheless... he blinked as he dismissed the train of thought, deciding to not dwell on that right now as Jaypaw acknowledged his question about the gathering.

"I wouldn't know. Haven't been to a gathering yet. Felt... like a good way to ask about it," He meowed, his words softer and more... melancholic despite his flat speech as he gave a shrug. He was young, he didn't know how this stuff worked or what to expect. To him, gatherings sounded like bigger clan meetings with more cats talking and faces that would be unrecognizable at a place that wasn't camp. However, he dropped the topic once Jaypaw suggested on focusing on hunting again, catching onto the fact the older tom didn't want to continue the conversation. Shrikepaw lowered his head, shadowy tail tip flicking like it were a dismissal of his own curiosity, an acceptance, and moved to follow instead as the breeze shifted. It carried the faintest scent of bird on its icy tail as the wind blew over the pair through the waving grass. Cardinal, He internally acknowledged, recognizing the scent with a small glimmer of pride in his chest at his own memory retention.

​

SHRIKEPAW he/him, windclan 08 moons old.
black and white tom with pale blue eyes
mentored by none // mentoring none
littermate to ???
NPC x NPC / father/mother to none / mated to none
"speech" // "thoughts"
penned by Angelkisses / @/Angelkisses on discord, feel free to dm for plots.