The Water's A Bit Chilly....

[♫.Starredmyst]

OOc;{I officially declare this RP boring. xD Need something to liven it up a little...}

The sea lapped quietly at the shore, a quiet rhythm that slowly lulled Starredmyst into a state of dull unawareness. She idly watched the sun glint off her reflection, sliding from boredom to total inattention and not even trying to pretend she was doing something; the others would catch enough fish without her splashing...

Ripples from a minnow's sudden splash spread out from the middle of the waves, distorting Starr's reflection and sparkling in the midmorning light. She jumped then embarrassed pretended she hadn't, staring at her reflection --

-- blinked, startled, to see her reflection no longer where it should be but staring, sapphire-eyed, over one shoulder --

-- stifled a gasp and whirled to see not herself, but a heavyset black-and-white tom standing a whiskerlength away.

"Father!" the young she-cat gasped, and he smiled; she realized he had mistaken her surprise for admiration or some such thing, and, flustered, didn't think to take refuge under the lie. "I didn't expect you --"

Patchstar's face fell and she gave a vehement mental curse, noticing the missed opportunity. He cleared his throat awkwardly, backing off a reasonable distance away.

"Ladies," he said politely. "Sorry to interrupt your fishing. Moonwhisker, might I have a word?"

He moved to separate his deputy from the other two fishers, then added with a glance back at his daughter, "Starr, I want you back in camp by sunhigh. It's not healthy to be out in the heat."

Well aware of Flowerpelt's presence, Starredmyst bit back a rude retort and settled for narrowing her eyes at her father's back. StarClan. Got to love how he thinks I can't care for myself -- if he thinks leaf-fall sunhigh is hot, he's certainly not been out in ages!

With an explosive sigh, the she-cat cast one last glare in Patchstar's direction and turned back to her pretense of fishing, silently willing a large, exceptionally stupid fish to come into her claws. She certainly wasn't about to return to staring glassily at the water with him nearby, though falling into the sea certainly wouldn't be any less degrading...

[რoonwhisker]

[ooc;// xD I agree.]

"Nice catch,"

"Thanks," Moonwhisker replied and brought her attention back to the river. One more fish--

"Father!"

Moonwhisker could barley stop herself from falling into the water, but luckily she did. She gave Starredmyst a confused look, then realized what was behind her. Who, to be specific. It was Patchstar.

"Sorry to interrupt your fishing. Moonwhisker, might I have a word?"

"Course Patchstar, bye girls." she meowed and trotted towards the leader.

"Starr, I want you back in camp by sunhigh. It's not healthy to be out in the heat."

Moonwhisker bit back a laugh. He was treating her like a kit! This was one of those moment where Moonwhisker was glad her parents were dead. She then reached Patchstar. "What was it you wanted?" she asked the leader.

[♫.Starredmyst]

Patchstar didn't lead his deputy very far away from the fishers -- just far enough to be out of earshot. He glanced at Moonwhisker then away, and shifted from paw to paw as she came over.

"What was it you wanted?" she asked the black-and-white tom, and he glanced around uneasily, ears flickering up and back. Sometimes the tom could behave very much like a kit awaiting punishment, awkward and uncertain, for all that he was older than any of the cats currently present.

"I -- um," he faltered, and repeated, "I'm sorry to interrupt your fishing. But I was -- ah -- wondering. I was told there was -- umm, there was an apprentice this morning, and I...called him by the wrong name. And -- I was wondering if you could tell me who it was?"

The tom watched his deputy's face intently, nervously waiting for the blow to fall; for her to laugh at him or give him an odd look. Outwardly he was all nervousness. Inwardly, though, he was loudly cursing the fact that he had to do this.

I'll never forgive you for this, Mama. You know I can't ever tell anybody why I'm doing it.


A short distance away, Starr had given over fishing as long as her father wasn't looking, and was instead languidly watching her leader and deputy confer. Patchstar sure looked nervous.

Idly, she cast Flowerpelt a glance. The she-cat seemed fairly steady, and though Starredmyst didn't know her well, she'd heard the younger cat was quite kind and polite as a general rule.

So, she decided to test the idea.

The blue-grey cat studied the pair where they stood, taking in their low voices, her father's worried posture. "I wonder what they're talking about," she remarked to the she-cat next to her, indicating who she meant with a jerk of her head. "Something important, you think, or just gossip?"

[რoonwhisker]

Moonwhisker looked at her leader, she wondered what was so important that he had come out to actully find her. She looked back at Starredmyst and Flowerpelt, she knew it was only a matter of time before they started gossiping. She smiled and laughed at the thought.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your fishing. But I was -- ah -- wondering. I was told there was -- umm, there was an apprentice this morning, and I...called him by the wrong name. And -- I was wondering if you could tell me who it was?"

"Oh, it's ok. The fist weren't biting anyways," Moonwhisker meowed. And course I could, you called Nightpaw [ok ren?] Rainpaw for some reason. Just don't let Rainclaw hear about that or she'll have a fit!" Moonwhisker said. Indeed it was true, Rainclaw didn't really like apprentices, even though she'd been one once.

Moonwhisker could tell that Patchstar was expecting her to laugh. But, Moonwhisker would never do such a thing. Even though Patchstar was old and a bit forgetful, he was still a wonderful leader in her eyes.

[Flower]

Flowerpelt shrugged. "I don't know, really, but it must be something fairly important, right? I mean, Patchstar looks pretty worried. I don't know our leader too well, but he doesn't strike me as the type that gossips often."

[♫.Starredmyst]

"Oh. Ah. Nightpaw. Of course."

The chubby tom cleared his throat, looking awkward; he saw with some relief that Moonwhisker wasn't smirking at him, and drew himself up a little farther. "I had heard it was somecat I ought to have known, as Nightpaw is, and I hadn't wanted to slight them." The words were pompous, but unfortunately rather typical of Patchstar when he felt like being official. "I'll tender my apologies next time we meet. Thank you."


"I don't know our leader too well, but he doesn't strike me as the type that gossips often."

Starredmyst was still watching the pair with a sort of smug relaxation; she caught her father's eye over Moonwhisker's shoulder and flashed him a sweet, too-innocent smile. "Really," she said to Flowerpelt, voice dripping with amusement. "Believe me, you don't know my father. He lives to be official and look pretty, and to cosset myself and my brother. He'd fall apart without Moonwhisker's and Darktalon's" -- naming her brother -- "help. He's probably whispering to Moonwhisker about how some apprentice slighted him and he's afraid the whole world is going to end -- which is a surprise considering he would typically just have them punished -- or how he can't find any mice in the freshkill pile and wants one, or..." She shrugged, trailing off. "I'll leave it to your imagination. But...then again --"

The green eyes narrowed cunningly as the she-cat broke into a daring grin. "How about you ask Moonwhisker when she comes back, so we can find out?"

C'mon, take the bait. I really do want to know what Daddy was so worried about.

[Flower]

"Well, if you say so - but I don't think it would be very polite to ask about it. If you're anxious to know, why don't you ask Moonwhisker yourself?" Flowerpelt saw a fish and her paw flashed out and caught it. It wasn't a terribly large fish, but it was big enough to provide a decent meal.

[♫.Starredmyst]

"Aw, you're no fun." Starr was smiling; her voice was light and teasing, but her eyes glittered. Pampered leader's daughter she was, she didn't always recognize it when she was being pushy. "I can always ask Daddy myself, but, you know, I might not always tell you. Please? I'd like to see what Moonwhisker says."

The flash of silvery scales and another fish landed on the bank. Starredmyst was watching with something not far from envy at the ease with which the younger cat caught her prey.

"I could do with a lesson in fishing from you sometime."

OOc;{Did Flowerpelt actually leave for camp with the fish or just put it down nearby? If she left I'll edit the post.}

[Flower]

((OOC: She just put it down nearby))
Flowerpelt shrugged. She knew it would be useless to argue further. "I guess I could ask, if you really want to know."

[♫.Starredmyst]

Starredmyst smiled sweetly. Her eyes were still on the fish, enigmatic.

"Thanks, Flowerpelt. I owe you one."

OOc;{Icky post. Meppers needs to answer.}

[რoonwhisker]

"I'll tender my apologies next time we meet. Thank you."

Moonwhisker nodded and flicked her tail in saying goodbye. She trotted back to Flowerpelt and Starredmyst. She wondered how long it would take for them to ask her about Patchstar. Moonwhisker knew enough about these cats to know that they loved gossip.

[Flower]

Flowerpelt swallowed awkwardly. She did her best to phrase the question in the most polite way possible. "Starr and I... we were wondering if you'd mind telling us if what you were talking about was important." She silently mouthed the words, "She told me to ask," and fixed her eyes on the waves, halfway hoping that one might swallow her up.

[♫.Starredmyst]

Starr's lips twitched as she watched the other she-cat awkwardly try and gossip with the deputy. She might have pushed things a little far, but decided that Flowerpelt wasn't going to be that much fun anyway -- like it or not the leader's daughter had a bad girl side and wasn't overly close to those she considered goody two-shoes. Ah, well; respect came ingrained into some cats deeper than others, she supposed.

"I did tell her to ask," the blue-grey cat added lazily, the closest she'd come to an apology for the dare. "So what were you two talking about?"

[რoonwhisker]

Moonwhisker laughed, as Flowerpelt mouthed blame on Starredmyst. She like Flowerpelt, she was a nice cat. Moonwhisker enjoyed gossip. It was the kind of addiction that kept a cat running in the darkest times. But then again, gossip could be rigged with lies.Sometimes gossip was good, and sometimes it was bad.

"So what were you two talking about?"

Starredmyst asked her. Moonwhisker raised her eyebrows, "Do you really want to know?" she teased, then gave it quickly. "Patchstar forgot Nightpaw's name this mourning. He wanted to know what the poor apprentice's name was, then he got all official and stuff," she meowed, her voice in a low whisper.

[♫.Starredmyst]

Starr stuck her tongue out insolently at Moonwhisker's teasing, then leaned closer when the deputy passed on the gossip.

"He wanted to know what the poor apprentice's name was, then he got all official and stuff."

The young she-cat's ears flicked back, and she frowned slightly. "That's not like him," she commented idly. "He usually doesn't care. 'Course, if it was Night he'd feel bad and want to make sure, I guess." Nightpaw was the leader's nephew, after all, and the relationship was rather more important than it would normally have been because of Silversoul -- his mother's -- attitude of kinship toward her brother-in-law and niece. Still, it was rather odd.

After a moment to digest this fact, Starr shrugged. "Well, Father's odd like that sometimes, I suppose," she said lightly, "and I'm beginning to get annoyed with my lack of fish. When you two are done chatting, come show me what I'm doing wrong."

And with that rather high-handed statement she turned back to the water, actually trying to catch fish for the second time that day.