FILL THE STREETS WITH JOY — aster

tags ✦ ✧ ✦ Shrikecall was a RiverClanner born and bred which meant that, as a rule, he didn't go after land prey. Still, ever rule had exceptions, and this one was no different. Although their diet was mainly comprised of fish, most RiverClan apprentices learned to catch other prey, and Shrikecall didn't believe in letting a skill go rusty.

(Well, except for battle skills, which he tended to avoid practicing, since nearly every time he did, nightmarish images would imprint themselves on his eyelids, and he would start to panic. In real battle, that didn't handicap him nearly as much, since adrenaline and fear for his life tended to get his limbs moving.)

Today, the black and white tom had decided to practice hunting land prey. He was near the WindClan border, in nearly the same spot where he'd first met Littlepond, when a limping rabbit caught his attention. That ought to be a simply catch, right? Lowering himself into a crouch, he began stalking the rabbit. When he was nearly upon it, the small mammal sensed the danger it was in, and began a desperate race away—straight for the WindClan border.

Shrikecall froze. Within seconds, it would be over the border, in WindClan's territory, but after all the work he'd put into stalking it, he deserved the darned thing. It was only even in WindClan's territory because he'd chased it there. Not giving the matter any further thought, he put on a burst of speed and followed the rabbit. Thank StarClan for its limp—without it, the rabbit would have escaped him. Claws snagging on a brown body, the RiverClanner killed his prey and glanced guilty around before he began to drag that rabbit back toward his side of the border.

tinybabyleafs

tags ✦ ✧ ✦ Just as he was stepping back to his side of the border, a tiny apprentice, no more than a kit, really, slipped out from behind some shrubbery, teeth bared in a way that might have been fearsome if the apprentice wasn't so young. As it was, Shrikecall had raised enough kits that the WindClanner looked more like she was playing a game in the nursery than like she was dealing with an intruder.

Depositing his rabbit on the ground, and gently kicking it behind him, Shrikecall offered the girl a frosty smile. "Sorry? I'm not sure what you mean." He paused for just a heartbeat before adding, "Shouldn't you be in the nursery?"

tags ✦ ✧ ✦ Did she believe that he was going to tell her his name so that she could go crying to her leader about the RiverClanner named Shrikecall who'd stolen prey? Of course, Shrikecall reflected, it would be easy to identify him even without her name. All she had to do was describe him as the warrior with two eye colors. With that in mind, he offered her a tight smile and replied, "I didn't realize that, although if you were a wandering kit, it would concern me." Clan aside, that was something that ought to concern every warrior, and the sassy little apprentice ought to learn that before she started preaching about the warrior code to him. "I'm Shrikecall. Sorry to disappoint about the rabbit, but I chased it from my territory, and it was barely on the border when I caught it. It's mine."

How far was she planning on going for it? Would she attack him, someone more than twice her age and with more than double her experience? The best course of action for the little rabbit-brain would be to sulk home.

tags ✦ ✧ ✦ As expected, the apprentice's blustering bravado continued. Shrikecall had half a mind to tune it out and just turn around and go. He'd barely been past the border—close enough that if the matter was investigated, he could claim that he'd leapt onto the rabbit when it was still within RiverClan territory, and the force of his jump had propelled him and his catch past the scent markings. Stranger things had happened.

The WindClanner muttered something, and even as Shrikecall began to ask, "What?" he knew that he'd heard the she-cat. They had the same eyes. It was true, he realized with a start. Eyes like theirs weren't common. Outside of his own immediate family, he'd only seen the mutation once or twice. "So? Some cats do. A few of my kits do." Wait—could she be his? He knew that he was jumping to conclusions, and he had no memories of cheating with any WindClanners, but he'd blocked out a lot of memories from when he'd been fighting with Littlepond. If only it was as easy to block out other memories.

Giving himself a small shake, he asked carefully, "No one in your family has eyes like us?"

//that part when shrike decides that aster is his and starts keeping an eye out for her and then it's revealed that she's actually little's

also, u down for a thread, could be open or private, with shrike getting all suspicious at ash for her interest in mira?

"normal cats aren't so interested in random kittens what is up with u?"

tags ✦ ✧ ✦ None of her family was in WindClan. Well. Did that mean that she couldn't possibly be his, or did it make that possibility more likely? Shrikecall wished he could answer, but any guess he ventured to make would be just that—a guess, him grasping at straws. Mildly, he replied, "Everyone has a family. You're not from WindClan originally?" She seemed to want to keep him talking about this, and his eyes narrowed a fraction? Was she waiting for a patrol to pass by, so that they could attack him and take the rabbit? Suspiciously, scanning the meadow beyond her, Shrike offered, "I told you my name already, and I still don't know yours. Why should I share more about me when I still don't know a thing about you?"

//haha he deserves it. u mind making?

eh, I like this fancy best - it's easiest to read

tags ✦ ✧ ✦ Asterpaw. Shrikecall had a name to think of her by now, and that was something, wasn't it? Her attitude was maddening, but he had dealt with Shimmerpool: after that, he could keep his cool with anyone. The deal she proposed was a fair one, although the short furred smoke still remained suspicious. Why was she so curious about him? Still, he had to admit a certain fascination with her, perhaps merely a reflection of her own interest in him, perhaps due to something more. As long as no other WindClanners intruded—well, he'd gone too far to just turn his back on Asterpaw now. (Besides, what if, unlikely as it was, they shared blood? Odd-colored eyes really weren't all that common; they probably resulted from a closed gene pool.) "Okay," he finally agreed. His stomach rumbled loudly, and Shrikecall cast a mournful look at his catch. It seemed like he wouldn't be eating any time soon. (But perhaps, just perhaps, if the apprentice got off her high horse, it wouldn't be so bad to share the rabbit—especially if who it belonged to was under dispute.) (He shook the thought away almost immediately, but it still lingered somewhere in the back of his mind, waiting for another opportunity to make itself known.) "What exactly do you want to know? About my parents? My mate? Kits?"