[upendi] blossompaw

The game was afoot! Er, a-paw? Whatever! Point was, the game was on, and Blossompaw would be victorious! She would be champion! She would be... would be... some other word that meant she would win! Blossompaw had already won, really. Webpaw just didn't know it.

And watching him spin in tight circles like that, she was almost tempted to not let him know it. Blossompaw had to keep both paws pressed tight against her muzzle to keep laughter from escaping. As it was, the only reason Webpaw didn't hear her snickers was because the wind was particularly active today. Not strong, but steady. The reeds were almost constantly rustling and the leaves were constantly shuffling.

Was he lost? Was that why he kept crossing over the same spots? Was he waiting for her to rescue him? Hm... On second thought, nah. Webpaw wasn't the type to get lost in his own territory, he was too smart for that. Maybe it had to do with their game?

She thought about the terms of their game while watching Webpaw double back through the reeds over his own paw tracks. The excuse they'd given their mentors was they were practicing their stalking and tracking skills. And while that wasn't a lie, practice was the last thing on Blossompaw's mind.

Webpaw, however, took his training far more seriously than she herself did. Having Rosestar, the Clan leader, as a mentor, he would have to. So she had to think like her friend. He had to get to the treeline while avoiding her. So what would making weird shapes and confusing circles have to do with avoiding her...?

The answer came to her as the wind died down and Webpaw paused, ears perked and nose in the air. His scent! He was trying to confuse her with his scent! Blossompaw smiled, impressed. But that wasn't new to her; Webpaw always found a way to impress her. It would have worked too, if she were on the ground and not watching him.

Oh well. Sucks to be him. Blossompaw stood very carefully on the tree branch and quietly dropped to the ground, accidentally startling a bird she hadn't seen. Webpaw startled and started to leap, but Blossompaw moved quicker and tackled him from the side.

The two went tumbling, paws over head, until Blossompaw finally had the slippery tom pinned. She beamed triumphantly down and crowed, "Ha ha, I got you!"

Blossompaw just kept grinning down at her best friend, waiting for him to say something. Anything, really. All he was doing was staring up at her with wide eyes. Luckily for him, Blossompaw could be patient. She didn't have to wait long though, for soon enough Webpaw threw his head back and laughed.

It was a belly deep heartfelt laugh too. She felt the vibrations of it under her paw, the one that was on his stomach. It was a weird sensation, but not all together unpleasant. Blossompaw's grin softened to a smile when Webpaw wasn't looking. It was good to hear him laugh like this. Usually her antics made him smile or chuckle, but full blown unrestrained laughter was rare for her friend.

Of course, when he started wheezing is when she worried for him. "Of... course!" he got out, batting at her head blindly with sheathed paws. He must have been aiming for her ears or her nose or something to get her off of him. Too bad she was having too much fun standing over him like this. "Of course you....would come....flying out...of a tree!"

He started wiggling to try and make her let him up, but Blossompaw snickered and kept holding him down. She'd let him go when she had her fill. Still giggling, Webpaw clicked his teeth together in the direction of her paw but didn't come closer to actually biting her. Not that Blossompaw thought he actually would. "How did you think of that? It was brilliant!"

She finally gave in and laughed, flopping down next to him on the ground. She thought nothing of their fur touching or the warmth seeping from him and shrugged instead. "I know you, that's all! You wouldn't have thought to look up because it's not the 'ShadowClan way', whatever that means! So, tada! My magnificent plan was born! She threw her legs up in the air to give her words more significance and drew her paws to her chest, giggling.

Blossompaw kept her grin even as Webpaw got up laughing. "Alright, alright!" He shook his pelt clean and grinned mischievously at her. "So you won that one... bet you can't do it again." A sudden pressure on her nose made Blossompaw cross her eyes and blink. Had Webpaw just... He totally did! The furball just bopped her on the nose! Why that little-!

Her grin almost became manic at the challenge. Blossompaw gave him a ten second head start before carefully going in the direction Webpaw had disappeared in. She followed his trail out into the marshes, where it was a bit harder to track him. The copious amounts of mud made smelling difficult. Luckily however there were better ways of just tracking than just following your nose.

For example, that pair of doves that had just flown into the air. "Ha, got you now!" She yelled, changing direction. Only when she'd finally gotten to that spot, all she found were some crushed reeds that had Webpaw's scent all over them. Mousedung. Blossompaw whined and looked around, trying to spot whatever she could to follow him.

Luckily Webpaw had indeed left a trail of paw prints. The earth was gritty and wet, leaving a good track to follow. Blossompaw giggled and started in that direction, trying to keep her own paw prints light. Not for any tactical or strategy thing, but more because she just wanted to see how slight she could make them!

The trail led to an area Blossompaw didn't know very well. It was dry land, higher than the rest so the water drained out. The stump was from an old cedar tree, but that was it. The stench of moss and mushrooms made Blossompaw wrinkle her nose and sneeze. "Bleh. Stinky mushrooms." she grumbled, snorting and pawing at her muzzle. With her nose so full of that odor, she couldn't smell if Webpaw was around here or not, and perking her ears to listen did nothing for her either.

So if she couldn't smell or hear him, the only thing left was to see him. Blossompaw stretched her eyes wide and slowly rotated in one spot. The slightest twitch, the slightest movement, and she'd be there! She'd be on him faster than stink on a ThunderClan cat! Faster than a WindClan cat on a rabbit! Faster than a RiverClan cat in the- THERE!

A flash of gray in the reeds made her lunge towards them with a crowed, "HA, GOT YOU!" Except when she got there it wasn't Webpaw who was waiting. It was a big gray bird, bigger than even Brightscar at his angriest, and it was mad. "Uh... Nice birdy..." The bird reared back and squawked, fluffing out it's feathers and aiming it's sharp beak at Blossompaw's wide, frightened eyes.

Blossompaw dodged it with a cry and scrambled backwards, fear making her scramble. "WAH! WEBPAW, HELP!"

Left, right, duck, back up. It was all Blossompaw could do to dodge. None of her training with Brightscar was coming to mind. There wasn't a sudden surge of strength or courage or clarity, not like she'd always imagined her first fight would be. And even if not a proper one, this was still a fight because she was going to die and she was going to be killed by a stupid BIRD of all things and Brightscar would be shamed beyond belief and Spottedpaw would be ALONE and Webpaw-

-was suddenly right there, diving at the feathered fiend with a snarl twisting his face into an expression she'd never imagined on him. The bird turned to him with an angry shriek and Blossompaw backed away, watching with impossibly wide eyes as Webpaw latched onto the bird's neck. It wasn't a proper death hold though, and all he could do was wrestle with it and try to kill it without letting go.

Her pulse thundered in her ears as she watched her best friend fight because she had called him. And she was too frozen to help, at least until Webpaw gave a muffled yowl and the smell of blood hit her nose. And as the bird was still flailing, she had to hazard a guess it wasn't the one bleeding.

Oh. THERE was the burst of rage she'd been expecting. The bird had it's back turned on her so it was almost too easy to pounce in it and get it's neck between her teeth, almost opposite of Webpaw. Except she had a better hold and with a wrench of her head and a solid crack she broke it's neck.

The bird went limp immediately, and Blossompaw was forced to let it go or be pulled to the ground. Chest heaving, pupils blown wide and adrenaline coursing through her, Blossompaw stared wildly at Webpaw as she caught her breath.

Then she promptly burst into tears. The heavy kind, too. Great heaving sobs, hiccuping every so often but unable to stop. If Webpaw was saying anything she couldn't hear him beyond her own wailing. It was a mixture of pain, relief, panic, and fear that causes it.