Warriors of the Plants

In Cactusclan camp 

Fogwatcher sat by the medicine den, waiting for an opportunity to sneak in and steal some herbs. With less prey around, he was having a hard time finding new toys, which made things so boring. If he could just hide some fun herbs inside some of the clan's food without getting spotted, then he'd have some entertainment for a while. Speaking of, that new cat was near the pile. Perhaps he'd be fun? Thistlesong didn't seem like he was coming out for some time anyway. "Hey there," he greeted, walking up to him.

Harry's tail flicked as he noticed Fogwatcher. "Hm? Oh, hello there, Stranger! Did Thistle tell come round? I was hopin' they'd pick up that Viper wasn't 'spose to move from the medicine den...you guardin' some?"

Fogwatcher raised his brow as the other talked. Eurgh, non clan-cats were so weird. He shook his head and smirked again, "Well, Thistlesong hasn't left his den if that's what you're asking."

"Ah! Someone needed'a watch that snake. I'm glad." Harry nodded confidently. "I'm 'bout to head off to catch a lil thing er two.. Care to join me and introduce ya self?"

Fogwatcher glanced back at the medicine den. If Thistlesong had to watch over someone like Viperfang, then he doubted he'd have access to the storage anytime soon. "Sure." Maybe he wouldn't be able to 'play', but knowing more about this cat could be good. After all, it seemed many of his clanmates were getting attached to him.

"What's yer name?" Harry smiled as he slowly padded towards the entrance to camp, taking his sweet time to wait for Fogwatcher. "My name's Harry. Won't change it no time soon, so you best get used to it, heh!"

Fogwatcher followed along, watching him. "Well, glad to finally meet you Harry," he dipped his head slightly, "I'm Fogwatcher, even though my dearest sibling like to pronounce it another way."

"Oh, who's yer siblin' and how is also pronounced?" Harry turned around to look at Fog. Now that the two toms were closer to one another, Fog could see his much less than well kept pelt and awkwardly askew jaw

Fogwatcher had to stop himself from grimacing at the others appearance. The tom took pride in his - in all modesty - beautiful fur, how could anyone let it get this bad? 

Nevertheless, he had to seem kind. "Oh, I have two, Dawneye and Whirlwhisper. You've probably seen them around. Whirlie calls me 'Fuckwatcher'," He explained, putting on a sad expression, "I don't know what it means, but I can guess it isn't nice. They just haven't been the same after the whole eye situation..."

"Fuck watcher probably means you watch two gets get it down like a lonely freak...I'd take it as'a insult, but it seems more like a joke, heh..." Harry chuckled a little. "And I've only heard Dawneye and Whirlwhisper's names.. Is Dawneye...like...the same cat as that Dawnpaw? Ain't there a 'Dawn' related to Daylily?"

The tom did grimace this time, "Ew, I'd never. Nothing disgusts me more than that...stuff." Fogwatcher let out a small huff of laughter at the questions, shaking his head, "No, no. Dawneye is Dawnpaw's mentor," Huh, that did seem confusing, "The apprentice has grey fur, and my brother has nice fur like mine."

"Hmm...you do have a handsome pelt strapped to yer skin, that I must admit. And it's sorta funny, Dawn dawnin' the dawn of Dawn!" Harry burst into laughter

I'm aware. "Why thank you. You have some nice colors yourself." Sure, that worked. Fogwatcher chuckled at what he assumed was a joke. His humor tended to be more physical, but he couldn't just leave Harry hanging, now could he?

In Cactusclan territory 

"Doh, I know I got some fine rusty browns, but no need'a fib for me.. I thank ya kindly still~" Harry pranced into the desert

Fogwatcher shrugged, trotting after him. He wasn't about to argue - if they knew already, what was the point of pretending?

"What's that lil rodent thing called 'gain? The ones that hop around here?"

"Do you mean jerboas?" Fogwatcher smiled, "Long tail and hind legs, right?"

"Yeah! Those silly desert springers. I wanna catch and eat one!"

Fogwatcher flicked his tail, "Well, they tend to be nocturnal, but I'm sure we can find one with some luck," he hummed, "Orr we could fish them out of their burrow. They're simple to find once you know what you're looking for."

As an apprentice - not that he'd stopped, but it was always so quick it now seemed like a waste - his favorite game was pouring sand into those things' homes to drown them. Fun, but not very good if Harry wanted to eat one.

"Hmm.. We could spook one out of its hole and then another could hide behind a dune and snag a hopper!" Harry declared his plan with pride

Whirlwhisper crouched in the sand, she can hear scratching underneath her paws, they flexed their claws, waiting for the right moment to strike, but distant chattering made Whirlwhisper loose her focus and she struck out too late, they hissed in frustration.

Fogwatcher started at Harry for a few seconds, "...alright. Which do you want to do then?" He didn't mind either one, honestly. Scaring prey was his forte, but he couldn't say no to killing it.

Whirlwhisper flicked their ear, she scowled recognizing the voice of Fogwatcher, she shifted into the sand more, trying to hide.

"I can pounce.. And I think I hear somethin' right now.." Harry crouched down against the ground and attempted to keep his pelt blended in and his body obscured by the source of the sound he heard, Whirl with a successful amount of quiet paw steps and slow movements

Fogwatcher flicked his tail, looking towards the same direction as Harry but not attempting to hide. If he wanted to get his pelt dirty, he could go ahead, but the cream warrior doubted this thing was actually prey - the two were surely talking too loud for any to be around the area.

Harry rose his nose up and sniffed, taking closer and closer steps. "All I smell...is...cat right now.. Yain't too close for that. Hold on a peckin' minute, is some cat out there?" Harry hopped up onto a pile of sand and looked around

Whirlwhisper flattened herself more into the sand, fuck.

Fogwatcher rolled his eyes after no one answered. "Who cares if someone's out there? Forestclan wouldn't come over here anyway, let's just go somewhere else."

Whirlwhisper sighed in relief after hearing that, relaxing just a tiny bit.

"You sure? One of their ranks' eyes got clawed out, you think they'd just sit 'round pretty after that mamin'?" Harry slid down the slope and came face to face with Fogwatcher. "I wouldn't blame 'em if a rogue Forest Cat came out just to strike revenge, take Viper's eye.."

Fogwatcher took a step back. "Well, does it smell like ForestClan? They'd never be smart enough to disguise their scent," he shook his head, "No, it's definitely just another weir- another warrior from the clan out on a solo hunt or something." Maybe being smart came with clan blood?

"Ah.. Alright, fine by me.." Harry nodded. "It makes sense...but the individual can always be a bit smarter...oh well, let's keep this on goin'. I owe yer clan some prey, after all!" Harry rose his nose to take in the scents around in, letting out a short sneeze when all he caught was dirt and sand. "Ugh.. Smell anything, Fog?"

Whirlwhisper figured that this was a great time start slowly edging away, they knew their pelt blended in with the sand so she used that to her advantage and started shifting back.

You sure do. Fogwatcher sniffed the air, squinting when he caught whiff of a particular scent. "Oh?" he started, checking again to make sure, "You know, I think we should go after our spy after all."

"You recognize the scent I take it.." Harry nodded and leaned down towards the sand, letting his nose guide him, which only got more sand stuffed in his nose. He sneezed it aside and managed to catch an interesting scent, letting his paws gallop him towards it, him running in the general direction of Whirlwhisper without seeing them

Whirlwhisper panicked, hearing the sound of sand crunching growing louder and louder, thinking fast they took a deep breath and fully covered themself in the sand.

Harry darted right past Whirl while he was on his investigation, his paws determined to find at least something.. As he darted across the sand, a similar but new scent entered his nose and he turned towards it. "I smell somethin'! Smells'a cat blood, just about.. We might have a fight on our paws!" Harry shouted over to Fog

Fogwatcher tsked, speeding up to follow Harry. "Cat's blood?" He shouted back, intrigued. He hoped there'd be no fight, but it'd been a little while since he'd seen someone genuinely injured - apparently the world was against him, because he'd always get there after they'd started healing up.

Harry paused and let the scent waft against his nose for a little longer. It was difficult to capture the scent, but the faintest wiff managed to catch his attention. He slowed his stroll and kept going. "Smells a lil like a forest cat, I guess.. But it's stale.. Can't tell much else.."

Whirlwhisper twitched uncomfortably, she was running out of air, it looks like they found the murder scene. Of course Whirlwhisper knew what was happening on the territory at all times, I mean what the fuck are you supposed to do all day in a dessert anyway?

Harry finally halted when he'd hit a smear of blood in the sand. It was stale and slowly blowing away with the sand, but that didn't stop Harry from investigating. "..Yep. The slightest hint of ForestClan and it's stale, a day old.. It was done and done just before the gathering.. Seems wrong, don't it..?" Harry looked up at the moon. "I mean, yain't suppose to fight each other, right?"

Fogwatcher grumbled as he finally caught up to Harry, disappointed by the lack of anything actually interesting until the other mentioned the truce.

"That's right. I guess they finally got tired of the border-crossing and wanted to send a warning?" he poked the sand, a small smile staring to appear, "Gathering's gonna be fun this time."

"Say, you actually live in CactusClan and what not.. Can you tell if this was anyone? If so, I wanna head back to camp right away so I can help out.." Harry's voice grew with concern

"I can try." Honestly, Fogwatcher hadn't spent much time with any of his clanmates - siblings aside - ever since Bristlethorn had his little accident. He leaned down and sniffed the smear, "Hm, smells like...the nursery?" he blinked, "That's odd, I didn't think any of the monarchs actually went outside."

Whirlwhisper suddenly coughed, breathing in dust and sand, she immediately shit her head out of the ground, coughing even more at the dry air. They brushed the sand away from their face, still coughing a little and making a lot of noise.

"That's fucking concer-" Harry whipped around to see Whirl stick their head out of the sand and sputter with coughs. "Who are you, folk!?" Harry hissed and turned around with his back fur raised

Whirlwhisper growled in annoyance, wrenching herself out of the ground and shaking like a wet dog, sending sand everywhere, "Your clanmate." She rasped.

"...Who are you, still? I ain't full Cactus.." Harry's tail flicked

Fogwatcher perked up at the voice, turning quickly before running towards Whirlwhisper, "Whirlie~! I knew you were around, your scent's too strong to not recognize," he grinned, "Guess some spots are hard to clean when you can't see them, my poor dear sibling."

"This the one that calls you Fuck-Watcher?" Harry blinked, stretching his paws forward as he walked towards Whirlwhisper 

Irritation and annoyance washed over Whirlwhisper, smelling Fogwatcher's scent this close to her was already getting on her nerves, but the fake sweet talking was driving them insane, with fur bristled, they slashed their sibling across the face, spitting at him while she at it, "Get away from me!" She spat with hatred.

"Woah! Hey, quit that doohicky.." Harry worridly positioned himself so he could see Fogwatcher's face

Fogwatcher hissed, backing up and ending up on his rump as he clung to his face with both front paws, "Ow, what's wrong with you?!" This was gonna take so long to disappear, he couldn't go out with an ugly scar like so many of his other clanmates! "They're always like this..." He mumbled to Harry, moving his paws down, "A nasty scorpion when I'm just trying to be nice."

"Oh don't act so nice Fuckwatcher! You know deep inside you are nothing but a rotten piece of shit!" Whirlwhisper spat.

"Let me look for a sec.." Harry carefully stepped closer and licked Fog's wound clean before he searched around his tail. He tugged out a stick with a leaf attached to it, something his tail had picked up for him while he was out of the sand, and he slapped the leaf on Fog's wound. "What the hell you think you was doin', Whirly bug!?" Harry hissed at Whirlwhisper 

Whirlwhisper huffed in annoyance, "Wouldn't you like to know you filthy rogue?!" They didn't know why they were so agitated, perhaps they've been bottling up their feelings too much lately, especially with worrying about Duskpaw.

"Yes, I would! Ya just scratch a fella, yer kin, no!?" Harry spat

Fogwatcher whined as Harry tried to fix up the wound. Perhaps all outsiders weren't nature's mistakes, although that was still up for debate. "Oh, so you'll make friends with kittypets but insult rogues, huh? Guess you learned your lesson," He taunted, glaring at Whirlwhisper.

Whirlwhisper flared with anger and hatred, "You ruined my life! You're no brother of mine! You never were and never will be!"

"..Look this sibling...more than rivalry is nice and all, but we've also got blood spilt for mysterious reasons.. Fog's got a scratch that I've gotta deal with cuz'a you.." Harry poked Whirl's nose. "Now yall better shut yer yappin' and take in the picture. You think now's a good time to just spring out some hate just cuz!?"

Whirlwhisper drew her lips back to a snarl, "You're just like everyone else in this fucked up life!"

"If you mean I'm a cat with fur, than that's just fine, but you best relax up now, Whirl.." Harry poked Whirlwhisper again

Fogwatcher stood up, still glaring. "Don't pay attention to them," He told Harry, "Whirlie likes acting dramatic, all you're gonna get is a torn throat if you keep trying to reason with them."

Whirlwhisper hissed, "Stop touching me unless you wanna fight." She says flexing her claws in the sand.

"I ain't got hoots to give 'ere Fog, I'm just mewling reason since you BOTH ain't got none left!" Harry spat at both of them before he stepped forward. "You gon' keep yappin' or you gonna get back home so we can patch yall up and find out what's wrong?"

Fogwatcher flipped his hair, "Ugh, fine, let's go. Hold on to Harry, Whirl. We wouldn't want you getting lost." He didn't wait for a response before padding towards camp, it'd probably be something needlessly rude anyway.

"I'm not going anywhere with you!" Whirlwhisper hissed, planting her feet firmly on the ground.

"What 'bout with me? I'll keep ya distant from Fog, eh?" Harry purred and looked back at Whirl, trying to give some sort of comforting feeling

"Like I owe it all to you! I don't need to take your charity!" Whirlwhisper sneered, lashing their tail from side to side.

"Than I'll just keep givin' it to you.." Harry laughed and flicked Whirlwhisper with his tail. He smiled and stood tall for a second. "What's you and Fog's beef, if you don't mind me askin'?"

Whirlwhisper turned away, not wanting to deal with the cat that's pretending to be there for her when he sided with Fogwatcher, "None of your business." She growled.

Harry sighed. "Alrighty...but you best come on back for dinner when it rings..." He nodded as he padded back to camp

Whirlwhisper huffed, "Like I would ever do that."