Just here for a dip...[alliee;;]

[Whiskers]

The water was prettier than Shrikewhisker had imagined it.

No, it wasn't sparkling blue, nor was it raindrop clear. But he could see the muddled bottom of the river, where the fish strayed to and fro, toward the moss and toward the pebbles. It was weird, Shrikewhisker thought, how fish ate pebbles. They hardly looked appetizing to him. If he swallowed one, he'd most likely get it caught in his throat and then die from--

Whoa. How'd he get on that subject? Shrikewhisker's eyes flicked back to the water. What was with him today? He was so... full, that all his thoughts were running into each other and turning black.

Pebbles. Think about pebbles.

Shrikewhisker suddenly jumped into the water with a very loud splash. It sounded like a sudden slap and it felt like it to. The water slapped him awake. It's cold, Shrikewhisker realized. Cold water in green-leaf? How weird. Maybe their was a storm coming, a big--

Pebbles. Right. And without hesitating, Shrikewhisker stuck his head under water and fished for... pebbles.

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[|| allie]

On the riverbank opposite the tom, the leaves on the bushes rustled noisily. The rustles got louder; it was obvious that whatever was in them was having some trouble pulling through, and from the sound of it, this thing had to be big. Once again the volume increased; this monster was about to charge out, across the river, and gobble up Shrikewhisker, but then- a sleek, rather heavy-set she-cat pranced out.

Some monster.

She was big for a StreamClan cat, and had a shiny black pelt. Her eyes were green, and were glaringly at the ground as if it had insulted her. Rather than that, Badgernose, StreamClan's medicine cat, was actually hunting for herbs. Watermint, in particular. It was somewhere around here... and it didn't help that the wind was blowing away from her.

The she-cat was so absorbed in her work that she had not noticed Shrikewhisker across the river. She probably wouldn't have cared if she had seen him anyway.

Badgernose took a couple steps forward, her nose leading her along the riverbank. Just as she rounded a corner around a boulder, and was sure the watermint was so close she could taste it, a loud splash interrupted her, breaking her concentration.

She had to know who had destroyed it. She simply couldn't rest until she did.

The medicine cat stepped into the river, not afraid of its gentle pull. She was StreamClan after all. Squinting her eyes, she could make out a gray-and-white shape poking around in the river, looking for... something.

Badgernose wanted to simply return to her work, but her curiousity got the best of her, and she called out to him. "Hey! Who are you and what are you doing in the river?" The she-cat glared at him, not exactly sure whether she should be scared, friendly, or hostile as she waited for an answer.

[Whiskers]

The water rushed in Shrikewhisker's ears and into his brain where it sloshed around, washing away any words that had been running through his mind. Slowly he opened his orange-green eyes to the murky water, and he was surprised at the slight sting that this action brought. This is weird.

The fish had darted clear of him the second he had made the slapsh but he could see blurry movement out of the corner of his eye. Ignoring those slippery little devils, he scooped up a pebble, rolled it around his mouth and then went up for air. Breaking the surface, he thought he heard a voice, but was too preoccupied to answer it out. Shrikewhisker lashed his tail, disturbing the water yet again, and then dragged his body half onto shore, where he lay down the pebble gently.

It had tasted like earth and frankly, it wasn't good.

"Why did I do that again?" Shrikewhisker laughed at himself loudly. A pebble! He had tried to eat it! Oh this would be a tale to tell. The voice spoke again though and so Shrikewhisker turned his head, his ears perking as he spotted none other than Badgernose, Streamclan medicine cat. She was a lovely she-cat, but he hadn't talked to her because... well, she was a medicine cat and she was probably wary around males. Understandable.

"Oh hello there!" he called out, instantly open and happy, a smile spreading across his muzzle. "I'm just... well, if I told you, you'd laugh at me," his smile twitched into a teasing smirk and then Shrikewhisker entered the water again, feeling strangely relaxed in the river.

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[|| allie]

Badgernose watched the gray tom curiously as he fished in and out of the water, scaring all the fish away. What in StarClan's name was he looking for? And who was he? She couldn't even guess because the river had washed his scent off. She didn't remember meeting him at the Gathering either.

The medicine cat padded upstream so she was now directly across the river from the mysterious cat. She still couldn't see him clearly, and was starting to worry.

Finally, the tom seemed to have finished searching for... whatever he was searching for. He wasn't stealing fish, and appeared to not be carrying anything, but he had found what he was looking for. This is just strange.

"Oh hello there! I'm just... well, if I told you, you'd laugh at me."

Badgernose grinned. This cat seemed friendly enough. She let the fur on her shoulder rest though she wasn't letting her guard down quite yet. It could be a trick. "I bet I wouldn't," she meowed, "so tell me. And you also never told me who you are," she added as an afterthought.

[Whiskers]

Shrikewhisker sat in front of the pretty little meddie, the water sliding off his pelt and onto the ground around him. He felt wet, cold, and surprisingly, unattractive, which was a weird feeling to feel for him, as he was used to she-cats eyeing him secretively and as casually as they could manage. (He would try to return the favor of course, but usually he would only give them a soft smile instead of looking them up and down like they were a piece of prey.) Now, he realized how small he must look! His fur was plastered to his bones, his famous long, wiry whiskers were scraggly and weighed down, and he was shivering. What a sorry sight indeed!

It made him feel insecure. Yet his smile didn't falter and he decided that he just had to make up for his awful appearance with bright eyes and charming conversation. He could do that. Though he was reluctant to tell her who he was... he had never been a "mystery" before and it helped with his waning confidence to think of himself like that. But would he chase her away if he played coy, or would that only entertain her? He hoped the latter.

"Can't I stay anonymous? I could be your little secret, if you wanted. If I told you who I was, it would ruin all the fun for both of us." Shrikewhisker tried. "Though if you must now, I suppose I'll have to do the polite thing and tell you."

He licked the water off his paw and then tried to clean his whiskers, but it was a sorry attempt, so he just let them alone. "And to answer your first question... I was fishing. For pebbles."

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[|| allie]

"Can't I stay anonymous? I could be your little secret, if you wanted. If I told you who I was, it would ruin all the fun for both of us."

Badgernose rolled her eyes. She twitched her tail in frustration. Of course it couldn't be anonymous! That was just absurd. To Badgernose it was, anyway. She was more curious than a kitten confined to the nursery, and if you kept a secret from her... well, she would find some way to pry it out of you.

"Though if you must now, I suppose I'll have to do the polite thing and tell you."

That was more like it. But before the she-cat could say anything, he went on to say that he was fishing. For pebbles. This was even crazier than not telling her his name! She gawked at him, disbelief written clearly on her face. Was this tom insane? It seemed so.

Badgernose eventually realized that her jaw had dropped, and she quickly fixed that, glancing down at her paws, flustered. That was rude. You're a medicine cat, Badgernose, get it together. She remembered the herbs she was supposedly gathering, and wondered if she should wrap this up and get back to camp. Nah. I should learn more about this cat. He's... interesting. She looked back up at the cat across the river. "Um, I don't exactly know what to say to that," she mewed, the mystery of his name forgotten. "... A-Are you insane?" And before she could stop herself, she blurted out, "Did they taste good?" and then clamped her tail in her mouth. What was she thinking? Eating pebbles. Hah.

ooc:
Sorry for the bad post.
It's 3AM. DDx

[Whiskers]

Was he insane? Great! What a wonderful first impression he had just made! Shrikewhisker almost shrank back and muttered something about how he was just joking and he didn't really do it, but then he would just appear grumpy and defensive. What could he do but just... keep on smiling? How could he repair this damage? He wanted Badgernose to like him, he didn't want her to shy away from him because he was crazy!

"Did they taste good?"

He paused, mostly because he was bewildered by this statement. One second, she was asking if he was all right in the mind, and the next, she had already come to terms with his pebblefishing comment. She knew how to switch gears fast; perhaps that's why she was a medicine cat. She also seemed to have completely forgot about his name, which pleased him greatly. Shrikewhisker knew that as soon as he told her his name, she would connect him with Pineclan and the conversation would be lost. Badgernose would badger him (ha ha, he made a pun!) about Starclan until he was forced to remove himself from the land. He hated talking about Starclan. It was so pointless.

"Good? Well I wouldn't eat one for supper, mind you," he eased a smile across his muzzle. "But I enjoyed the experience anyway. It tasted of river water and soil, which is about as "natural" as you can get. And nah, I'm not insane. Just curious, I guess."

The answer was good enough for Badgernose, Shrikewhisker hoped. He didn't want his mental health questioned anymore.

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[|| allie]

"Good? Well I wouldn't eat one for supper, mind you. But I enjoyed the experience anyway. It tasted of river water and soil, which is about as "natural" as you can get. And nah, I'm not insane. Just curious, I guess."

Badgernose nodded. The answer satisfied her enough. She glanced down at the pebbles around her. She wondered if they tasted like this cat had described them. If so, then yuck. But what if they were delicious, and he had lied so he could have them all to himself? She eyed the cat warily for a moment and wondered if he could be trusted.

Then she shook herself. What was she thinking? Was she crazy? She'd already come to the conclusion that eating pebbles was silly, and here she was, debating on whether to try one or not. Something must have gotten into her meal that morning to make her like act this. She laughed at herself

Badgernose then realized that everything was silent and getting more awkward the longer this silence went on. She smiled and tried to make conversation. "How are things in... over there?" she called, and once again it crossed her mind that she didn't know where he came from or what his name was! "And you didn't tell me who you are and where you came from... again," she asked. "Are you trying to hide something?"

[Whiskers]

Shrikewhisker chuckled quietly as he watched Badgernose look at the pebbles with a very strange look in her pretty little eyes. So curious, she was, but that made sense! She was a meddie, wasn't she, and not only that, but her name was Badgernose. Thinking this made his eyes flick to the she-cat's quivering nose and Shrikewhisker thought to himself "My she does have a lovely little sniffer, doesn't she?" It was a real shame that this cat wasn't a warrior! Let alone in Pineclan!

Her little call reminded him that they were a river apart ... that couldn't be allowed! He quickly jumped into the water again and splashed his way rather clumsily across, clearly not a graceful thing in the water. It was severely awkward for him but Shrikewhisker tried his best to ignore the little voice that told him to swim away and save his pride. He was talking to a pretty meddie, why ever would he give up that chance?

He hauled himself up and with a devilish gleam in his eye, he shook his pelt hard, splattering Badgernose with water. He laughed, again, flashing his teeth and shaking his whiskers clean.

"Truthfully, of course I'm trying to hide something. I want to talk to you-- I don't want to get chased away," Shrikewhisker told her, licking his shoulder once. "But you seem insistent on my name so I guess I do have to tell you. Shrikewhisker. And I came from... the forests."

Vague. Oh she wouldn't like him for that, would she? But he really didn't want to reveal that he was a Pineclanner! She'd immediately hop up and down, yowling "SINNER" at the top of her lungs and he did enjoy a nice pleasant conversation with a cat that didn't involve yowling or Starclan.

He'd just get chased away soon enough, Shrikewhisker knew it. Badgernose would get sick of him and then he'd have to be off.

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[|| allie]

Badgernose laughed to herself as the cat awkwardly crossed the river. It was obvious to any cat who saw that he wasn't a StreamClanner. Once again, he scared all the fish away and splashed loud enough for the whole forest to hear. She hid her laughter. Poorly.

As the dripping wet cat pulled himself up onto the riverbank, Badgernose stopped her laughter. She watched him with steady green eyes. Then, without warning, he shook his fur out, drenching the medicine cat, and then he laughed. She stood frozen with shock. Badgernose stood there, speechless, like a statue. Then a couple seconds later she came back to her senses, and she shot a glare at him and fluffed up her fur.

"So your name's Shrikewhisker, yeah?" the she-cat purred, forcing her voice to be cheerful. "Never heard of it. Well, until now. I mean, I had never before... but now I..." Her voice faltered, and she offered a weak smile, shuffling her paws.

"And what's "the forest"?" she asked, tilting her head. "I live in a forest too, but I'm sure you don't come from here..."