Territory WC dog whisperer ~ Hollowmumble

[Hollowmumble]

Hollowmumble, -- 43 Moons / Windclan Cat -- Ages on the 14th
Black spotted ghost tabby with bright amber eyes.
She is friendly, yet quiet, and always willing to help.

Tagging @Merrystalk @Jaypaw ⏾

---

The hunting was bad.

Her last hunting trip was a disaster and she didn't catch a single thing. She got a pang in her stomach everytime she thought about it. There wasn't much to find... she was considering heading back to the barn, maybe the people had rebuilt it after so much time, but before she could, Merrystalk invited her out.

...It was a nice change of pace. Hollowmumble tried not to think about hunting or prey, as they padded scross the moor together, wind in her fur. The long, yellow, dried grass surrounded them on all sides. The flowers had long since gone dormant, slumbering for the long winter before they had to return for spring. She couldn't wait for spring. Hollowmumble longed for the warmth under her paws and the sun to heat her pelt.

Her head tilted up towards the sun, soaking up the last of it before it fell behind a cloud, the cold enveloping the world once more. Sighing, she glanced over at Merrystalk and Jaypaw.

"It's cloudy today." She mumbled. The sky was grey and lifeless. So very dreary. It reminds her of when she first came across the barn.

 

[Merrystalk Merrystalk]

The tom was going to try a quick hunt with Jaypaw, get him out of his head for once. He knew the apprentice had internalised a lot since the flooding, and while Merry still wasn't all the best with words, he tried to reassure him in gestures. He'd already offered him to come along to the moors, only then to also see his best friend, Hollowmumble, with an expression knit across her maw that made him take pause.

He didn't expect for and him Jay to have any heart-to-heart, he just wanted to remind the younger apprentice of the beauty of the moors, and despite all that was lost, it persisted in the end. But he had an inkling Hollow needed the company, too, so of course he extended the offer to her as well.

It was a cool day, clouds lolling overhead, the wind whispering past his ears. Still, nothing he could seem to fathom, but nonetheless, he smiled. If a time were to come for news on the wind, he would hear. But for now, he was there to listen to his clanmates. "'m hopin' they pass by fine. Then again, ya' think we'd get snow again like we did the last leafbare? I remember how beautiful the moors looked coated in white." Merrystalk purred, thoughtfully. The cold before the nightmare that befell them, it was the leafbare he truly connected with Harefoot. Keeping one another warm, hunting longer in snowy fields, it wasn't easy, but it brought them all together.

Though something made his ear flicker. A distant noise. Something he couldn't quite pinpoint. The gale guard shook his head, not letting it get under his pelt. He knew his paranoia was getting worse since the loss of Molewhisker, but it wasn't as if something was bad around every corner.

​

MERRYSTALK He/Him, Windclan Gale Guard, 34 moons.
A lithe, tortoiseshell cat with green eyes and pelt speckled with rye grass.
mentored by none // mentoring Talonpaw
sibling to Goldenroar and Sunnyspring
NPC x NPC / parent to no one / mated to Harefoot
"SPEECH" // "THOUGHTS" // ATTEMPTED ACTION // EMPATHY DETECTION // ALETHIA DETECTION
penned by Pheo ↛ phoenixwashere on discord, feel free to dm for plots.

 

[Jaypaw ⏾]

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆ Jaypaw ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☽⋆⁺₊⋆-

Adjusting to normal life after the floods again seemed to come naturally to the clan, though Jaypaw still found himself struggling. He had no one to warm his body next to in the apprentice's den and, frankly, he didn't like the suffocating feeling of the tunnel anyway. Most nights he resorted to sleeping outside - were anything like the floods strike once more, he would not be stuck inside again.

Despite trying to hide his struggles from his clanmates, Merrystalk seemed to know something was up anyway. Maybe it was their shared experience, maybe the Gale Guard could see the same terror reflected in Jaypaw's eyes that he himself felt as well. Or maybe the older apprentice just wasn't very good at hiding it, despite what he's been telling himself.

After Merrystalk's invitation, he gladly accepted to go out with him and Hollowmumble, if nothing else than to spend more time with them at least. The moors have all but lost their greenleaf beauty, the plants growing grey and withered, the morning frost coating the grasses of the land.

Jaypaw didn't remember much from his life at the barn, most of his memories pushed away somewhere the tom could not access them, but he did remember the snow. He remembered his little paws reaching to catch the flakes floating around him, he remembered his pawsteps leaving a mark in the cold white. "I hope we do." he spoke softly, lost in thought. "I wish to experience it once again."

Jaypaw was too lost in thought to notice what had made the Gale Guard pause, nor would he have paid it much attention anyway. Distant sounds were completely lost on the young tom.

 

[Hollowmumble]

Hollowmumble, -- 43 Moons / Windclan Cat -- Ages on the 14th
Black spotted ghost tabby with bright amber eyes.
She is friendly, yet quiet, and always willing to help.

Tagging @Merrystalk @Jaypaw ⏾

---

OOC - The dogs smell is muddied because it has been rolling around/digging in the dirt/mud and has been catching rabbits.

Hollowmumble tamped down the instinctive reply of 'I hope we don't'. Jaypaw was young, and didn't understand the dangers that ice and snow brought. She wouldn't ruin that for him, or Merrystalk. Her paws hesitated, as she caught a hint of something on the wind, but it was only for a moment before the direction changed and it was gone. Her ears perked up, head lifting to glance around for a moment.

After a second, she replied, slight worry blowing away with the wind. It was nothing.

"...We might get some. It feels like a late winter this year." God knows that the earth might make up for it by giving them a heavy snow. Her paws moved forward, eyes down as she focused on the withering grass in front of her.

Her head shot up. She caught the smell again. Ears pricked, she stared into the distance, listening. The scent was muddled with mud and dirt and... rabbit? It didn't smell right, and she knew that it couldn't be rabbit. It was something else that she couldn't pinpoint yet, with the faint hints that were giving just enough to confuse her. It could be another cat, it didn't smell like Windclan... it could be anything. She couldn't tell.

Without looking at him, she mumbled, "...Merry?" to get his attention. Maybe he would be able to tell.