[Taxx]

My shadow's the only one that walks beside me

Tadpole was still getting used to constant company; he hadn't traveled with any cat like this since his mother had died. The short moments he'd spent with any cat had been either in mutual hunting or had been spent courting a she-cat; when his purpose had been met, he went on his way, alone, as before. Minkfire, however, had asked to go with him. And he supposed she wasn't the worst companion; she was a good hunter, wasn't annoyingly chatty, and brought her own bag of tricks and taunts to the other loners they met.

Sharing his den had been the most difficult. So what if he liked to sprawl and take up as much space as he could? It'd never been a problem before, but apparently Minkfire disagreed when sprawling out tended to include a paw in her face. It wasn't like he planned it; he just sort of got that way over the span of a night. For whatever reason, however, he found himself waking, realizing he was spilling out of his nest, and curling back into it to fall back asleep.

The fog that lay across the ground was cool, but it muffled his senses and Tadpole was weary. He lay half out of the den, scenting the river that lay not far ahead and feeling his stomach rumble. A fresh-caught trout sounded great, and with a flick of his tail he pulled back to poke a paw at Minkfire's shoulder. "Hungry? Prey isn't gonna catch itself, and I could go for fish. I'll catch you one, shall I?" Ducking close, eyes sparking mischief, he whispered. "Race you to the river. Last one there takes a swim."
@zen

Tadpole

Loner

[Deleted]

Minkfire was lazing about in the den she and Tadpole were currently sharing, dozing on and off in a light sleep, when suddenly the tom was prodding her fully awake. It had been several days since she had left StoneClan behind to explore the mountains and the rest of the valley with him, running from the guilt that haunted her after being the cause of her father losing a life. If he hadn’t been a leader, she would have gotten her father killed and there would have been no coming back. She tried not to think about that too much, and being with Tadpole made it easy to forget. He was fun and exciting and she was doing things she had never thought she would do, trapped as she had been within the confines of StoneClan’s borders. She had needed this, maybe, needed him, not that she would ever tell him that. As much as she had wanted to explore beyond her Clan’s borders, she also thrived on social interaction. She would never have left on her own.

With a great yawn, she stood and padded from the den to arch her back in a luxurious stretch. Had Tadpole said something about a fish? Could he really fish? Minkfire honestly didn’t understand how hard it could be. You just sat there until a fish swam up and grabbed it, right? She’d never tried it before, and RainClan cats seemed to like to act like they were so special for knowing how, but she couldn’t imagine it being more difficult than catching land prey. He leaned in and the challenge was issued. A race? She hadn’t had time to groom since waking just yet, but she wasn’t about to let Tadpole beat her over vanity. She could groom at the river while she waited for him to catch up. “I hope you can swim then!” she responded, awake in an instant with the thrill of a challenge coursing through her, and took off toward the river as fast as her paws would carry her.

Taxx (I don't care who wins, go ahead and decide in your post lol)

[Taxx]

My shadow's the only one that walks beside me

Minkfire took the challenge without hesitation and with a bound the two were off. She was faster than he'd expected, surprisingly, and Tadpole, no matter how he lengthened his stride, found himself unable to overtake the she-cat before they reached the river. "Yeah, well, I let you win!" he snorted purely for his own benefit, knowing she wouldn't believe it for a heartbeat, and the blue tom splashed into the river on a sloping beach, feeling the cool water wash around his paws but going no further than that.

"So, I know you're just amazing at catching birds, but how are you with fish?" Tadpole padded back toward Minkfire and settled at her side, leaning closer to the water to peer for any fish that might be within reach. "StoneClan does eat fish, right? Or is that just RainClan?" A few dark shapes flitted by, too far to think about making an attempt, but sooner or later one would come close enough. Patience was important, as much as with hunting any land creature. "Want to give it a shot?"
@zen

Tadpole

Loner

[Deleted]

Minkfire reach the river first, turning to grin triumphantly as Tadpole caught up. His words were met with rolled eyes, “Whatever you gotta tell yourself.” He waded into the river as her whiskers twitched with amusement. She wondered if he did know how to swim, but when he went no farther than he could stand, she doubted it. She couldn’t swim. Not much need for a StoneClan cat to learn, there wasn’t a whole lot of water in their territory, along with it being located higher up than other Clans’ territories, flooding wasn’t much of an issue. She padded to the water’s edge, dabbing a paw at it. It felt cool and refreshing and she stepped into it, just to submerge her paws. With her thick fur, she was always hesitant to get too wet. Her fur took forever to dry out and she ended up soaking and miserable for most of the day unless she could find a nice patch of sun to dry out in.

He returned to her side and she flicked him playfully with her tail, “Wasn’t much of a swim.” His compliment on her bird catching skills had her tail curling over her back in satisfaction, though it twitched a moment later when he asked about catching fish. She didn’t like admitting she couldn’t do something, but she had never caught a fish in her life. She’d never even tasted a fish. Considering how bad RainClan stunk all the time from eating a steady diet of them, she was pretty glad for her own usual diet of birds, but she did want to try it. She was torn between bravado and not wanting to make a complete fool of herself in front of Tadpole when he would then expect her to be able to catch something. With an displeased huff, her tail flicked to the side, “No, that’s just RainClan. StoneClan doesn’t have anywhere to fish in our territory. The sky springs are really our only water source and there’s no fish there, and the stone stream is all the way on the RainClan border. I’ve never fished before, but how hard could it be?” She settled herself on the bank and sat up straight, confident.

Taxx

[Taxx]

My shadow's the only one that walks beside me

"I'll swim later if you're that eager," Tadpole replied, gaze fixed on the water. "Don't want to scare them or it'll take longer to catch one." With her admission that she had never had the chance to catch a fish before- commenting that it couldn't be that hard, surely- Tadpole snorted. "About as hard to catch a bird. They fly, fish swim. It's tricky." His gaze fell on a mostly submerged tree, branches trailing downstream in the current, and moved toward it. "It'll be easier there. Watch, and I'll turn you into a fisher yet."

The trunk was slick beneath his paws and he unsheathed his claws for a better grip as he padded to the middle of the stream and paused. "There, see them? Nice, fat, slow fish." His stomach rumbled in anticipation as he crouched down, lifting one paw in preparation to strike once one came within reach. It took time, which Tadpole had expected, waiting with patience and paw at the ready. A luckless bug fell to the surface, and from below a fish rose to take it; the moment it was within reach the blue-gray tom struck. Slicing through the water, he hooked his claws into the fish and hauled it up toward him, his whole body rocking with the creature's frantic thrashing.

A quick bite ended the struggle, and proudly the tom rested his catch on the tree between him and Minkfire. "There! Since you've never had fish, you can have first bite of this one- and then you can try to catch one yourself."
@zen

Tadpole

Loner