"The more prey the better, right?"Her whiskers twitched in amusement at his enthusiasm and she arched her back in a hearty stretch, shaking out her coat as she rose back up to her full height practically radiating energy herself. As soon as she heard a word about leaving Aster was already crossing the clearing in a few strides and standing at the camp entrance before she caught herself and glanced back towards Sootpaw and the others, somewhat sheepish.
"Oh right. Your patrol, you lead."
Asterfall followed right behind Sootpaw and catching Racoonpaw's comment shot him a quick grin over her shoulder. Very exciting. And with Witchingstar coming along as well... The thought sent prickles of nervousness dancing through her and Aster faltered for a second...but only a second before giving herself a mental shake. What did she have to be nervous about? She had been apprenticed to Wolfstar for StarClan's sake. This was a hunting patrol, and if there was one thing her small size gave her an advantage at, it was hunting.
The rich, earthy scent of the forest was welcome as they entered it and Asterfall gave her tail a delighted flourish, ears perked and mouth parted to detect the scent of prey. Today's hunt was gonna be good.
"Got it!" Aster yowled (loudly) in triumph as the earth finally gave way to reveal a glittering, tri-color shell. This one was ridged and a light creamy white color that faded out to pure white along the edges. "Hello gorgeous."
{3/15}
{4/15} Aster had just proudly put away her second find when she heard a cry. It wasn't that of a bird or some other prey, it was clearly another cat. Curious she headed in the direction to shout came from only to stop dead in her tracks when she saw one of her clan mates bucking around with a...shell dangling from her face?
This was one of the weirdest things she had ever witnessed. She tried not to laugh. She really tried, but Asterfall couldn't control the giggles that burst out of her even as she guiltily tried to force them back.
Finally she took a deep breath "Do you...ah" A snort. "Need some help?"
{5/15}
"I-I don't know." Asterfall leaned forward tentatively, her whiskers brushing over the hard shell of the whatever it was that clung to Bella's fur. The thing had many scaly legs that churned in the air as it's paw remained snagged deeply in the other cat's fur. She recoiled her muzzle wrinkling. "But whatever it is it likes you."
The sound of approaching pawsteps made her glance up in time to see Morningcloud's arrival. "That's what we're trying to figure out. Bella's shell seems to have caught her...instead of the other way around."
Turning back to Belladonna she gave a hesitant suggestion: "We could try pulling it out..."
"Oh cool." Aster nodded enthusiastically as Larkpaw gave his answer. She couldn't help but feel sympathetic for the introverted tom, it was clearly tough for him to speak in front of this huge bungling of cats. Being naturally outspoken (or naturally obnoxious depending on who you asked) she never really had that problem. "What about those other plants? What do they do?"
"But why?" The cream and white furred Warrior couldn't help but voice her thoughts aloud. She didn't have any attachments to the previously mentioned Ex-ThunderClanners, she didn't even know them. She had in fact seen the both of them at the last clan meeting barely two sunrises ago. Asterfall couldn't help but wondered what had happened in such a short amount of time that it would lead to banishment.
{6/25}
"Or if that doesn't work we could try chewing it off. Might take a bit of your fur that way though."
{7/15}
"Well, I think-" Aster paused and narrowed her eyes at the crab creature. I wonder if you can eat them? Of course the hard shell and claws were enough to deter her from trying it, but what if a cat could get past the shell? Hm.
"I think shaking it might either scare it or make it angry...in either case it would hang on tighter." The undersized warrior gave a shrug of her shoulders. "But it's worth a shot."
Oh sh** Oh*Oh*Oh*Oh*.
She had been near enough to the border to hear the shout. And also to smell the scent of blood. Asterfall's nose had led her to the crumpled up shape of a young cat passed out on the ground. A young, intruding, and possibly pregnant young cat. Something nagged at the back of her mind but she brushed it away, kneeling down by the fallen figure and giving her a tentative poke with a forepaw. What the heck was she supposed to do? She wasn't a medicine cat.
"We need a little help over here! Anyone! ThunderClan!" Someone was sure to hear that. This was ThunderClan, her clanmates were always skulking around in the forest. Hopefully someone would show up with a little bit more of an idea of what was going on then she did.
"What happened miss?"
Aha. She knew she could count on her Clanmates. Asterfall looked up, locking gazes with their rescuer- a cat no older than an Apprentice by the look of her. Panic had started to settle into her bones, for the mysterious young cat had not moved yet, despite Aster's none too gentle attempts to wake her. Her tail gave a nervous lash- "I-I don't know! She was like this when I found her." The smallish Warrior took a deep breath, rising to her paws. They'd have to find a way to move this cat back to camp because leaving her alone here, when they had not the slightest idea who or what had attacked her, was not a good idea.
No sooner had the thought crossed her mind did Tranquilwaters appear, and she had never been more grateful for the appearance of the Bengal. She nodded once at his order. "I'll go." And she did, tearing through the undergrowth back in the direction of the camp to fetch one or the other of their Medicine Cats.
Whoa. A lotta Clanners. It seemed that news had gotten around about this cat, Whistlingpaw, she knew now. Just from the onslaught of voices, some sounding pleased at the sight of the apprentice but most distraught that Whistlingpaw had been somewhere that she had to come 'back' from. Must have left the clan. And who the hell was this kid? Aster had been abducted when she was apprentice and hadn't gotten a welcome back party like this when she's managed to drag herself back to camp...
Enough of that. The petite cream and white warrior padded over to join Fraise and Egyptianpaw. "If you need, help or anything, I could do that."
Friends and family only?
Asterfall bristled a bit at the command. She had, after all, been the one to find Whistlingpaw on the border, she thought she deserved some acknowledgement for that at least. A touch of her old, headstrong self shone in the young warriors eyes, dying away before it could reach a full on burn. I suppose she does have a point. It was hella crowded right now, and it looked like the apprentice would be fine anyway. With a last glance at the scene Aster turned and headed off back to camp.
Using the second one.
Aster stood quietly off to the side behind her clanmates, staring down at the little mangled body that Gunstar had brought with him. Every single hair on her pelt was standing on end. It seemed to her that the riverclanners had showed up convinced that a Thunderclanner was behind this murder. Besides the obvious suspicion, why else would they bring the body along unless they were trying to guilt trip someone into a confession or revealing themselves? The cream tabby twitched an ear at Morningclouds' departure. She'd stay. She definitely wanted to see how this was going to play out.
"Yeah, I'd go see a healer if I were you." Aster put her two cents in as she joined the group, having overheard the conversation from the warriors den. She cast a critical glance over the apprentice as she settled in, her tail curling around her paws. "You definitely look like you've been eating a lot."
An attack. We're. being. attacked. Unlike most people, she wasn't horrified or shocked at the knowledge, just pissed. The tiny cream colored warrior slipped like a ghost to where the stink of TidalClan and BloodClan was coming from. BloodClan. I'd expect this from them, hints in the freaking title, but not TidalClan. Even still she wasn't surprise. Aster didn't place much weight on the politics of running a clan, forming allegiances and all that. If they weren't part of ThunderClan, they weren't trustworthy, plain and simple. Asterfall drew herself out of her thoughts and narrowed her eyes at the feeble group of enemies present. There would be more coming, of that she had no doubt. It looked like her clanmates had this covered so far, so she waited for more to appear that she could challenge.
{Medium, Not up for killing or maiming, everything else is fair game.}
What in StarClan?! Aster jumped in the air, startled out of her nap as a body came bumbling up out of the forest out of nowhere. Heart pounding in her chest and tail fluffed out she turned to face the intruder, her fear quickly melting into simmering irritation and embarrassment at being caught off guard. "What is your problem?" Aster spat harshly, not even taking the time to look up and see exactly who it was that she was yelling at.
Oh. And so it all clicked into place. Asterfall shifted her paws, eyes wide with realization, and glanced over at Whispersong, who had to be thinking the exact same thing. Sympathy twisted in her gut for this naive apprentice, who clearly had no idea what was going on. And how everything was going to take a swift and immediate change in the near future.
"When, exactly, did all this start?" Aster asked carefully. She didn't want to be the one to break the news to Iridescent, there was no telling how the other she-cat would react.
She tensed at the wolfs not so subtle accusation, was it still even an accusation at this point? Because RiverClan, or at least this particular RiverClanner was making it abundantly clear that he was convinced that he'd found the murderer somewhere amongst her clanmates. Asterfall met his sweeping stare defiantly, barely restraining the irritated lash of her tail.
