Surprise Swim || OPEN

[Sprout]

A small finch chattered in the bright sunshine, ruffling its ashen plumage against the whistling breeze. A few other birds chattered in response, flitting about the tall, wispy willows like wraiths. Suddenly a loud, shrill peeping sounded from a nearby willow and the branches erupted, scores of the little birds frantically escaping what they had thought was safety. There was a small meow of surprise before a red-striped tomcat toppled off a branch and into the brook bubbling beneath the trees. He landed with a loud splash.

Rowanfur hissed with frustration, getting to his paws and climbing back up the trunk of the willow. He fumed silently and he groomed his pelt. It tasted of mud and failure. The soft red fur and feathers began to dry in spiky clumps. Rowanfur groaned; this wasn't his day at all.

He thought he had been clever, climbing the willow like that and being so still the stupid birds didn't notice he was there. He had gathered himself to pounce when he tripped on a dead branch, alerting all of the birds to his presence. In an attempt to salvage the hunt, he leaped at the escaping birds, but only managed to pull out a few of their feathers. As the birds flew to safety he landed awkwardly on the branch, and he wasn't quite quick enough to save himself from the surprise swim. 

It was times like these he was glad he didn't have any friends. It meant no-one could laugh at him when he screwed up, which was often. Sometimes he wondered why he was even made a warrior at all. 

Rowanfur flexed his claws as he replayed the scene over and over in his head, coming up with a range of imaginative ways to send the little birdies to sleep. In the end he sighed and flopped down on the branch, trailing the tips of his paws in the water. He knew he should probably go find some more prey, but he was a bit de-motivated right this minute. 

If there was no-one to hunt with him, he wouldn't get laughed at... but he also wouldn't have to work so hard. This was all so confusing. Maybe if he had grown up in a litter he'd know how to act around cats his age. He silently cursed his mother, but then felt immediately guilty. It wasn't her fault he was socially awkward. He groaned, screwing his eyes shut. 

[splashtana ★]

SWEETLEAF ✿ MEDICINE CAT ✿ WINDCLAN

---

Normally, Sweetleaf was a bit of a hermit, preferring to remain inside of her den rather than coming out into the territory. The main reason for this? She was a medicine cat and she was pregnant with the kittens of a warrior and she couldn't have any other cat find out. But, she wasn't that far along, so she had finally decided to come out of the den to find some watermint rather than having Flickerpaw do it for her. The poor medicine cat apprentice had been running all the errands dealing with medicine lately, and Sweetleaf felt that she deserved a break. Letting her alabaster paws carry her towards the Willow Creek, the delicately built medicine cat was not at all prepared to spot one of her clanmates already there. Not that she didn't like Rowanfur, she loved all of her clanmates, it just startled her to see another cat there. Pulling herself together, and allowing her fluffed up calico and white fur to lie flat, a warm smile danced across her maw and she quickened her pace to reach the creek and the other feline faster.

"Hello, Rowanfur! Fancy meeting you out here," she meowed with a smile, her robin's egg blue eyes dancing with their usual bright and optimistic emotion. That was one thing about Sweetleaf that stood out quite a lot. She hardly ever let another cat know how she was really feeling. Only two cats had witnessed her not being optimistic, and they were both quite close to her. Redfang and Flickerpaw, mainly because she was in love with Redfang, and she lived in the same den as her apprentice Flickerpaw. Hoping she didn't startle Rowanfur or anything, she carefully picked her way over to where he was. Noticing he looked a bit less than pleased, she frowned, hoping her wasn't hurt or anything. Being injured wasn't the best thing to begin with, and seeing as it was almost leafbare, injury and sickness was always much harder to treat when all the herbs and such were dried and dead. With another flick of her tail, she sat down softly and neatly wrapped her tail over her delicate, alabaster paws.

"Is everything alright, Rowanfur?"

[Sprout]

R O W A N F U R
I can be your lost boy, your last chance. 

Rowanfur was deep in thought when a soft, feminine voice reached him. It surprised him, for he thought no-one else was out today. In fact, it startled him so much he nearly ended up in the creek again. Luckily, his claws sank back into the bark at the last second, leaving the tip of his tail dangling in the water. He knew he couldn't hold on for long, so he arched his back and twisted away from the branch, landing neatly on the bank.

It was only then he saw who the cat was. It was Sweetleaf, the medicine cat. Rowanfur has seen her around camp a few times, but only flitting, brief glances. Maybe she'd been sick. Rowanfur shook his head to cast away his thoughts. He'd leave the secrets to the medicine cats.

Uh, hello Sweetleaf, the shy tom managed, dipping his head and staring at his paws. He silently cursed his shyness, for he could hardly meet the she-cats pale eyes. He felt bad, because she was only concerned for him, yet he could barely talk to her. I'm fine, thanks. Just a bit, uh flustered. I was trying to, uh, catch some finches... and I ended up the in c-creek. he said, his amber gaze flitting to her own. He stood with his shoulders hunched and his head lowered, and his fur was hot with embarrassment. What kind of a warrior let his prey carry him into a stream?

So, um... what brings you out here? he asked, wrapping his tail around his paws and licking his chest fur in an attempt to calm himself down, and to make it look a little less like he'd just fallen into a creek... which he had, but that was besides the point.