Stretching her paws, Dewdapple wanted to run and find some new prey, especially since Maplefang seemed to have taken it upon herself to eat the rest of the food, before either of the Medicine Cats...
"I'll be back with food soon." She promised, looking up to the sky. "Perhaps it is better if you stay here Amberpaw. I'll only be gone a moment."
Besides, her Apprentice had already showed herself that day. She slipped out of camp without another word.
Last Edit: Oct 12, 2015 19:04:30 GMT -6 by Deleted
Hardly a half an hour had past, the moon barely shifting in the sky, before Dewdapple returned, dragging a dark, massive reptilian creature and depositing in the depleted Fresh Kill Pile.
"There's another one in the Basin." She replied, nodding to Echosong. "If you're feeling up for a walk...or one of the Apprentices are. I marked where I buried it, it should be simple to find."
"I would love to go for a walk." Cedarpaw piped in. There was no going to sleep now, so there's no point in trying. "I can't sleep anyways." Cedarpaw meowed, looking at her paws. (~low muse~)
Nodding her head, Dewdapple had to admire the young apprentice. She just hoped she'd be okay out on her own. Thinking that, she looked up at Echosong, seeing if the Medicine Cat Objected.
"Alrighty, well...it's burried just above shoreline in Timberland Basin - can't miss it, honestly. Bring it back here and come straight back if I were you - it's tricky out there for an apprentice alone at night."
Amberpaw leaped out of the medicine cat den. She had finally recovered! Thought it was late in the night and clearly on it's way to morning, teh young she-cat had energy. During her recovery she had spent a great deal of time sleeping and now that she was up and moving she was ready to go.
The she-cat looked around camp as she drew close to the center. It seemed everyone who was chosen for the gathering had left and hadn't returned yet. Her deep amber gaze fell upon her mentor, she must have been tired. The amount of helpful paws was decreasing and fast.
"Dewdapple!," Amberpaw cried as she approached her mentor. "What can I do to help?"
Amberpaw stood in front of her mentor, her head high. The young ginger and white she-cat was determined to make up time that she had lost in the medicine cat den.
Cedar paw turned her head to look at Amberpaw. "Would you like to take a walk with me to the Timberland Basin? Dewdapple said she'd buried some fresh-kill by the shoreline." Cedarpaw asked, the moon' slight glinting off her yellow-ish eyes. "I mean... I think some fresh air would make you feel better." Cedarpaw smiled.
Dewdapple was glad to see her apprentice better - she really was. But it had been a while since she had rested. She had dragged down two turtles, not to mention the fish earlier, and her paws felt as if they were made of lead. So seeing her exhuberance somehow made her feel even more tired.
She never thought she would actually thank the Medicine Cat Apprentice, but she certainly felt like it at the moment she offered a chance to take Amberpaw away for a moment.
"Now there's a better idea." She purred. "Both of you go, help each other. I'm going to...guard camp." She mumbled, as she quickly padded to the front of camp, but rather, curled up than stand at attention.
Despite the fact that it was still dark out, Lynxstrike found himself unable to sleep - a common occurence in the late moons. His nest was barely slept in nowadays, mostly because the one next to his remained painfully empty. So when he woke to find that most of his clanmmates were still out, it was odd; but he then remembered. Many were likely to be at the Gathering.
He padded out into the center of camp to find several of his clanmates scurrying around. But he didn't speak to any of them, not to Dewdapple in her curled up spot, not to the chattering apprentices...Instead, he slunk to the back of the camp, closer to the nursery....he would do his waiting and guarding there.
When Pearlstar trudged back from the gathering, she felt her paws weighed like a rock sinking in the creek, but her tail was lifted and she was in decent spirits. Nothing horrible had happened at the gathering, although she was still a little sour that her speech had to be cut short. But, it was already in the past now. She could only hope that the clan-mates she had taken with here were still following behind her, but she wouldn’t blame them if they had wandered off to hunt, which would be understandable. The gathering had lasted quite a while!
Finally emerging into the camp, she was please to notice cats were still up and about. Although the leader was already tired and hungry, as she found she didn’t have as much stamina as she used to, she decided it would be a good idea to make a short, informal announcement before settling down. And, she still had kits to pay a visit to! Smiling at the clanmates who were in camp, she turned to address them.
“Everyone, the gathering went well. Ravenstar confronted Nestclan about them marking in their territory - and that’s something we need to prevent from happening here.” She waited for her words to sink in. “But, for now we need not to worry. I will be join our morning hunting patrol and make sure our borders are marked. If anyone wishes to join me, wait for me at dawn.(8AM) Let all cat’s who have not eaten do so first.”
Happy to see that at least there was a decent-sized turtle in the freshkill pile, Pearlstar padded down and began to eat, using her claws to assist in deshelling the meat. She ate neatly and daintily, chewing small bites at a time. Once she finished her meal, she headed for the nursery. If anyone needed her, they could find her there.
Dewdapple was quite pleased with herself, seeing as she had already done the job, having brought back so much food to the camp. She lowered her head and nodded to Pearlstar as she entered, feeling a little more comfortably, knowing that her leader had come back unharmed.
"Not a worry, Pearlstar. I'll just be having a bit of a nap..." Or maybe a snack. Most of the turtle was still there, and as she had been the one to catch it, she would hate for it to go to waste. She padded over and took a few filling bites - looking up and towards Lynxstrike, sitting off on his own.
"And what about you you old grump? Or are you beyond food not caught by yourself?"
The older tom gave the brazen she-cat a hearty glare, unhindered by the fact that Pearlstar or his other clanmmates had returned. "Huh. What would you know about what I like to eat and do? Just because some of us enjoy their privacy..."
He rose to his paws however after a moment's hesitation, padding over to the turtle and tearing out some pieces of the more tender meat - with his meal in his jaws, he padded back to his solitary spot. He was hungry, yes - but he'd carve his own tail off before he shared a meal with the likes of Dewdapple.
Wasppaw stumbled into camp in dazed confusion when his eyes suddenly alighted on the partly-eaten turtle. He suddenly became some wild, desperate thing; his eyes widened and his jaw fell. He hurried over to it--or rather, ran practically over it--and hungrily gnawed and snapped at it. Any other time, he'd detest eating turtle, for it seemed tough and flavorless. Right now, though, he couldn't seem to choke it down fast enough.
It was hardly attractive, but the young tom could only process one single animalistic instinct: eat. Not how. Just eat.
When he had his fill, he sat back. His glazed eyes cleared and he seemed to fully notice his surroundings. He looked over at the warriors in camp, seeming quite pleased and about to thank whoever had caught the prey.
Instead he burped, but the sentiment was still there. Wasppaw smiled pleasantly and then padded off to the Apprentices' Den, yawning all the way. It had been too long of a day. Unbeknownst to Wasppaw, the sky was growing lighter again. He did not know he had been awake for 24 hours -- he only understood that he was dead on his paws. And it was time to put the dead to rest. (Wasppaw exits)
Amberpaw purred as everyone seemed to be returning from the gathering. He deep amber eyes began to spark golden when she noticed Wasppaw. She then resisted the emerge to approach him noticing he went into the apprentice. He was most likely tired from the journey and event.
Amberpaw's dark amber eyes perked at the sound and feeling of her grumbling tummy. She really hadn't eaten a descent meal since she had fallen ill. All the warrior seemed tired or to busy. The she-cat dropped low to the ground and began to make her way towards the entrance of camp. She wouldn't be a burden anymore. She would hunt to fill her belly and even bring something back to feed the Clan. (Amberpaw exits)
Dewdapple worked to clean the remainders of her meal from her paws and looked up just in time to see her apprentice moving around; she perked her ears as Amberpaw seemed eager to go somewhere after her stint with sickness...but to her surprise her apprentice didn't come to her - instead...she went out on her own.
Hmph...Amberpaw might be getting bigger, she may even be old enough, she realized to be considered a warrior in her own right - but that didn't mean that Dewdapple would be shunned so easily. For the time being, she was still her apprentice; and that just irked her, being shunned like that.
Seeing as she wasn't getting any stirling conversations with Lynxstrike, she huffed and...after only a moments' hesitation, began tracking her own apprentice out of camp...to wherever she was going.
Finding himself distracted and without a job to do, Lynxstrike waited for the other cats' to have their backs to him before he picked his way over to the fresh kill pile. Picking up the turtle which smelled now rather terrible he picked up the rotten kill and walked it out of camp.
Perhaps he would go hunting, but more likely he would take the turtle and bury it, enjoying some solitary time alone.