April showers bring.....may flowers

[Miss Tactical]

The flame colored tom had managed to sneak away. With no more apprentice to train her certainly had a lot of free time on his paws. Today he pranced through the fields, there was still some patches of snow, but most of it had melted away and turned into thick patches of deep mud. As he walked, his eyes focused on one destination the best sunning rock in MothClan’s territory. With a flick of his tail he pushed onward a loud squelching sound echoed in the air as he trudged through the mud. His paws, and legs now covered in brown he reached his destination. Sticking his tongue out to focus, he wriggled his tail and took a leap. Turning around, he could see much of MothClan’s training grounds seeing warriors running around with their apprentices, with a twitch of his whiskers his eyes tinted with amusement. He missed running around teaching them right from wrong, he almost wondered how Darkstorm would fair training his own apprentice. The way he was trained was rough, did he have the same seriousness as their deputy.

As the sun rose higher into the sky, the tom could feel the mud drying and caking to his fur, with a snort of distaste, and after failing to get it off with a few strong shakes he admitted defeat before laying down, eyes closed and at a mild peace. The humming of beetles, and chirps of birds lulled the tom into a tranquil state until a familiar scent hit his nose. His eyes fluttered open and he lowered and stretched his body out to become barely visible. With a playful look he scanned the fields waiting, he could certainly catch his best friend by surprise this time. Best….friend…? He flicked his ears and sighed softly they had been friends ever since they were kits always tussling to see who was better, sometimes he would win, sometimes she would. He used to say that he let her win, to keep his pride of course even though she really had been better that day.

It didn’t take long for the patrol to come into view, he was no longer hiding himself, instead sat up straight flexing his broad shoulders before giving his chest a quick lick, he had to look presentable, that was until he looked down at his paws realizing they were covered in dirt. He flattened his ears against his head, perhaps she wouldn’t notice…. As she came into view his jaw dropped slowly and he shifted uneasily when did she become so…so…. Attractive? Beautiful? He didn’t have words. ”Hey!! Hey cherryhawk how are mice running?” Really? How are the mice running that’s all he could come up with? He cursed under his breath before flicking his tail. ”Best sunning spot in MothClan up here you know if you are done that is…” He mewed awkwardly.

[noctemq]

Cherryhawk has decided to go on patrol this morning. Her apprentice was a bit… on the absent side, so she decided to take advantage of her newfound liberty and do more warrior stuff that didn’t revolve around training. The grass that was recently uncovered from snow felt pulpy underneath her pads as she entered the clearing. Like any other patrol, she sniffed a few landmarks to make sure it smelled of Mothclan. Everything smelled pretty normal here.

The she-cat continued forward with her tail high up in the air like a flag. She drifted a bit away from her patrol group to investigate a set of muddy footprints. The scent of earth masked whoever these footprints belonged to. What intrigued her the most was how fresh they seemed to be. Her eyes narrowed in curiosity before following the prints forward. She avoided dipping her white tipped paws into the mud by walking alongside the drier parts of the little makeshift path created.

She stopped when a familiar scent hit her nose. With more life in her trot, Cherryhawk looked around, eager to find who she thought the scent belonged to. The sound of Redwing’s sudden greeting made her fur fluff up in surprise, but it quickly began to flatten back down once she turned around. ”The…mice? They’re running as fast as they can, but they can’t outrun me,” she snorted at his odd comment, though put little thought into it. She was never the type to think of anything as awkward; she was usually just happy to talk to another cat, no matter how weird the topic was. ”And I suppose I have a bit of time for sunning, Dirtwing,l she grinned at what she thought was a quick remark before realizing how different his expression seemed.

”Are you feeling okay? You seem a little off.” Cherryhawk gently pressed her paw pad onto his forehead and looked like she was hard in thought, as if she was a medicine cat seasoned by moons of experience. In reality, she had no idea what she was doing. She took her paw away from his forehead and stood normally with her head tilted to the side.

[Miss Tactical]

Redwing raised a brow at her retort. Dirtwing was that the best she had. ”hey with all the snow melting theirs is mud every where. Next time you least expect it you might become Mudhawk.” He gave a light playful snort clearly amused with her remarks. Sure he wasn’t the most presentable at the moment but hey a perfectly cleaned cat was a lazy cat right? He was often seen running about, plus being cooped up inside all the time was no fun. AS she appeared at his secret sunning spot he shifted slightly, it wasn’t until her paw hit his forehead as she asked if he was filling ill did he roll his eyes ever so slightly before letting out a horrible and obviously fake cough.

”Yes….must be….you I’m allergic too!” He gave a playful chuckle before bumping his forehead to hers in greeting. He circled once before laying down wrapping his tail around his body until it touched his nose. The tip twitched every so often as the buzzing of beetles and the call of birds echoed in the distance. New leaf was pleasant prey was running about, cats were able to eat their fill, there really were no more worries of sickness besides of course allergies or a reckless apprentice getting into trouble, but was that new though?

”Don’t tell anyone but this is honestly THEE best sunning spot in MothClan’s territory, there are no trees blocking the way, and if you really wanted to be nosey IvyClan is just a few fox tails away it’s fun watching mentors yell at their apprentices it’s become quite a hobby of mine.” He mused. Watching IvyClan argue amongst themselves, especially loud apprentices was rather amusing, and since of course since he was rather high up he often went unnoticed. He opened one eye peering at the she-cat for just a moment, they softened slightly before he closed it again, the rise and fall of his flank was quite relaxing.

”Sometimes it’s nice to be…alone without the chaos of camp to enjoy the little things with your best friend..” he mewed softly. He flicked his ears slightly, remaining alert. His best friend since he was a kit, and one of the very few he would defend until the very end.

[noctemq]

”Hopefully your allergy isn’t lethal, because I’m not going anywhere,” she reciprocated his head but with one as equally jovial. When Redwing circled around her and laid down, she plopped down right where she was sitting and laid there, belly up. Cherryhawk welcomed the warmth on her cream underbelly. Sometimes, a fly would come too close to her and her whiskers would twitch, spooking the little bug away. A comfortable sigh slipped passed her as she decompressed into the ground below. Her patrol would be able to function without her, and all the other warriors were used to Cherryhawk blipping in and out of her duties, usually out of easy distraction, but she always finished her job eventually.

”Well, since it’s the BEST sunning spot, I have no choice but to check it out,” the young she-cat purred, allowing the sun to heat her up. Her eyes glanced back at Redwing when he mentioned Ivyclan and snickered. Oh, their arguments were quite interesting to watch, especially with the whole deputy drama thing going on right now. It was funny to see senior warriors and apprentices alike try to make sense of the situation; hopefully she’d get to see it live sometime from this sunning spot.

Cherryhawk scooted closer to him in small little increments. It was probably unnoticeable at first, but soon the gap closing between them seemed obvious. She could see her ears directed towards her. Maybe he was feigning ignorance to the matter since they were such close friends? There was a lot of space for them to share... though eventually Cherryhawk found herself practically squished to his side ”You’re hogging all of the warmth, gimme some,” she whined, the tone in her voice mock-betrayed, before stretching a leg over his midsection to catch his rays of light. ”Ah, that’s better.”

[Miss Tactical]

Redwing opened his one good eye just slightly to notice the she-cat scooting closer, his whiskers gave a twitch of amusement as they slowly closed again. He opened it once more to find her closer, sure the rock was large enough to fit three maybe even four of them, but he paid no mind to their close encounter it was quite comforting to have her near by especially with all the bad things going on the forest as of late. Sure, IvyClan had their deputy drama, but how long would MothClan really stay…at ease..? Sure they had a few dog encounters here and there but no rogues, no odd weather, no deputy drama they were at a point of peace and quiet…perhaps too quiet.

The buzzing of cicadas and chirps of sparrows lulled the young warrior into a trance until one of Cherryhawks legs sprawled over his mid section. He let out an exaggerated grunt before opening one eye. ”Now you are hogging all my sun.” He mewed. He flicked his ears before lifting up one of his front paws and giving a long stretch followed by a yawn before ever so carefully placing it across the she-cats mid-section with a playful gleam in his eyes. ”AH that’s better much better.” he mewed softly.

There was something comforting about the awkward bond that the two shared. Between sharing trinkets, to play fighting in camp getting all dusty, to gently brushing snow off the she-cats head when the sparred there, and now here they were. Redwing opened his eyes slowly and they softened, he couldn’t help it. They had been best friends for such a long time it seemed, she was bold, he remembered when she bought back Rose to camp, oh the look on everyones face…hers too! His whiskers twitched ever so slightly before he seemed to move on auto pilot.

Very carefully he moved the she-cats leg before standing up just for a moment, he circled before settling down right next to her, resting his chin on the she cats back. There bond was something different and he couldn’t quite put his paws on it. ”Cherryhawk…” He whispered softly. His eyes closed slowly, and the warmth of her own fur, and the sunlight seemed to lull the tom. ”I….I will always be around when you need me, no matter what okay?” He mewed. She needed to know, that no matter where he was, or what he was doing he would put her first that’s what best friends were for right?

[noctemq]

She huffed air out of her nose when Redwing began to squirm underneath her until she found herself not on top anymore. Despite not having the sun against her fur, Redwing was equally as warm and she wouldn’t wrestle him back... this time. They were tangled together and to an outsider’s eye, it would seem to look very uncomfortable, but Cherryhawk was content in her current position. Her chest rumbled in a quiet purr that only escaped when she breathed out slowly. She closed her eyes and allowed herself to bask in the warmth and relax.

It had been a while since she last took a day for herself; what felt like a constant wave of apprentices washed over all of her free time. Training the next generation of warriors was fun, but also busy and challenging at times. For the last few moons, Cherryhawk had been going to sleep completely tuckered out and waking up with little aches from constant training. These were the sort of aches that stretching couldn’t fix and required at least a few days worth of constant sleep and rest. She wouldn’t allow herself to take that much time away from helping out around the clan, so this valuable time with Redwing would do.

One of her lightly shut eyes opened when she felt the tom shift around and rest his head on her. She also decided to move her position around until her limbs disappeared into a loaf. This way, she had a better view of him. Her expression grew a bit confused for a moment, but then settled into a grin. She didn’t understand her emotions as much as she’d want to, but Cherryhawk wouldn’t let that mess with her mood. ”I know. And I’ll do the same, okay? Even if you do something really stupid. Like really really stupid, I’ll be there.” She’d probably already be doing the stupid thing with him, knowing their relationship.