Something fishy's [GingerxRain] going on here...

[Whiskers]

A little white lie never hurt anyone. At least, that's what Gingerstar always believed. Mothers never told kits about how hard apprenticeship was, nor did they inform them that not all of them could grow up and be the great big leader of Pineclan one day. So this little white lie was just like those lies (or non-truths), only she was using it to help Pineclan, rather than set up kits for devastation later.

All she had said was that, in order to be made a warrior, all apprentices had to learn how to fish, when in reality that was ridiculous and apprentices weren't even trained in fishing. There was only one stream in Pineclan anyway, and it was much shallower than Streamclan's. But, this way, she could provide her council of elders with a delicious, rare treat, and torture Rain all at the same time.

Her plan was simple. Tell Rain he had to catch six fish for the elders, and in return, he would 'graduate' to the next level of training. It was complete hogwash of course, but Rain, knowing nothing about clanlife, couldn't deny it unless he thought about talking to another cat. She didn't think he would (she hoped he wouldn't, it would ruin her fun), but of course, the truth would come out eventually. Until then, she would have fun watching Rain struggle, catching fish in a frozen river.

She supposed he would expect her to teach him though and since she knew little about catching fish...well, he'd manage. Her job was to supervise and make sure the silly tom didn't fall in the river and get stuck or something. She had a feeling this would not be an easy job.

[glowlynose]

Rain had choked on his breakfast when Gingerstar had told him this morning that he was supposed to fish for the Elders. It probably would have been better for everyone involved had he not collapsed into a laughing fit before realizing that Gingerstar was serious. He'd sobered up pretty quickly when Gingerstar didn't start laughing too. She actually expected him to fish? It was the beginning of winter! Soon the rivers and streams would be frozen- that is, if they weren't already. The fish had probably already left for warmer waters. On second thought, maybe not. Everything was crazy in this new world of Rain's.

So now he was walking toward the fishing stream with Gingerstar, seething. This was going to be impossible! The water was likely to be iced over, or filled with freezing slush, or both. His paws would freeze off and it would be all her fault! Having nice long fur wasn't worth much if it was soaking wet in frigid winter temperatures. Ah, and there was the stream, looking much shinier than normal water should be. It was iced over.

"Spice, you know that the stream is done gone and frozen, right? How in the pit am I supposed to catch a fish, let alone six, if the STREAM IS FROZEN?" The look on his face could only be described as a combination of disdain, disgust, and disbelief. The ice was thin, sure, but Rain couldn't see any squiggling little bodies underneath the transparent sheet. He just saw a bunch of rocks.

"I could catch a rock if you wanted. There's lots of those." With that, Rain jabbed his paw through the ice and flicked up a gross, slimy rock with a whole bunch of mud slathered over it. It sailed over his shoulder and thudded against... something. He hoped it wasn't Gingerstar. But his fear of Gingerstar was overshadowed by the fact that he'd felt something other than the gross slimy rock down there. This thing had been gross, slimy, and it had moved. This was madness!

"Gingerstar," he whispered, peering through the hole in the very thin ice, "Are your fish invisible? I don't see anything. But I felt it."

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[Whiskers]

Gingerstar settled down by the stream, far enough to be behind, but close enough to watch Rain carefully and the hilarity that would hopefully follow. Already, his grumbling was making her day brighter-- and it wasn't an especially nice day. There were clouds all over, gray, thick, wintery ones, that warned of a possible snowfall. And Gingerstar hated snow. It slowed down the whole clan, it chased away prey, it blocked rivers and it was cold. When she was little, she had loved it of course. But now she saw how impractical it all was, and the fairyland magic of it had faded with her growing responsibility. Plus, it was so cold.

"Of course I know that, but the elders are important, Rainpaw. Considering you wouldn't even be here right now if it wasn't for them, you'd think you'd show some gratitude," she retorted, wrapping her fluffy tail comfortably around her body, and it warmed her toes right up. It was times like these she absolutely adored her fur, especially her tail. Ironically, just as she appreciated the warmth and fluffiness that her tail offered her, a rock soared back and hit it. The impact wasn't bad, but there was some muck on her fine mass of ginger-and-white fur and Gingerstar let out a small 'urgh' in disgust, before flicking her tail and sending the pond rock away from her. Stupid Rain.

She actually was surprised Rain had felt any fish; she had been certain she was going to be out here for twenty minutes before he located one. This means the stream is more populated then I originally thought. Better keep that in mind.

"Yes, here in Pineclan we breed invisible fish, because that's easier to catch," she scoffed with a slight shiver. "Now go on. What are you waiting for? There are fish in there, catch six of them and you'll graduate to..." there was a slight pause as Gingerstar searched for a lie. "the level of Junior Apprentice. But the fish aren't going to catch themselves."

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[glowlynose]

Rain snorted derisively. Junior Apprentice, pah! That didn't mean a thing at all! Was he supposed to actually be excited about sarcastically getting a sarcastic award from a sarcastic mentor? Well, he wasn't going to be. "Hah, Junior Apprentice. It's like graduating from a Cub Scout to a regular old Boy Scout! Tell me, when do I get to be a Varsity Scout? The next time I earn a Fishing Badge?"

Gingerstar was likely to think he was crazy, Rain realized. She would have no idea what Boy Scouts were, and his sarcastic jokes would go right over her head. Oh joy. Just his luck that the cowboys had been something nobody would know about when they were boys. Heck, Gingerstar probably had no idea what a cowboy was anyway! He was very disappointed.

In any case, he had fish to catch. Gingerstar was watching him like a hawk, or maybe a vulture, and he felt the strong urge to hurry up so he could get his stupid fishing badge and move on. A flash of silver appeared in his little, paw sized hole. Maybe if he made it bigger he could see the fish better! So he set about to making the hole a little bit bigger. Unfortunately, the little silver thing darted away, but at least now he had a hole as long as his body and pretty wide too. He just had to wait for the little phantom silver thing to come back.

Now, how had the cowboys fished? They'd taken these long sticks and flicked them at the water and waited until the sticks bent. Then they'd twisted their hands and pulled back on the sticks and all of a sudden a fish would pop out of nowhere!

Rain couldn't fish like that. So he crouched over the water and stared, waiting for a silver flash again. And then he saw it, his paw flashed into the water and he came up with... nothing. He hadn't seen a fish, just the sun glinting on the surface of the stream. And now all he had to show for his stupidity was a very wet face and chin.

Yay Rain?

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[Whiskers]

Boy scouts? Gingerstar's face scrunched up with confusion. She knew what a boy was-- there was an idiotic one in front of her. She also knew what a scout was, duh. Scouts were used to search new territory and often mapped out the borders and things. She had been one of the 'scouts' to work out the boundaries of these clans right here, and it was how she fell in love with the land and confirmed her decision to make a new clan without Starclan. But she couldn't fit the two together and she had no idea what varsity was or what a badge was. It sounded nasty though, kind of like a badger. Was it a tiny badger?

Why would Rain want a tiny badger?

It was annoying, not knowing things that Rain knew. She always hated that about loners and rogues-- their "Oh look at me, I'm a smart-aleck, please do elect me as one of your advisers so I may grace you my useless knowledge" attitude made her claws ache. Usually, she managed not to care, or at least, put it out of her head. But it was bugging her, the suggestion of these tom scouts that got tiny badgers when they became 'varsity scouts.' It made no real sense and, hey, it sounded unfair to her, what about she-cats? Figures that toms would keep all the tiny badgers to themselves.

It was nagging her so much, that she actually asked. "Boy scout? Badges? What in the world are you babbling about?" Okay, so she asked meanly, but she had still asked. If Rain knew her better, he would be very surprised.

Her mood drastically improved a second later though, as Rain attacked the water with his paw, causing water to fly up and splash him in the face. Gingerstar immediately began to laugh, hard enough that it curled her toes and had her closing her eyes. She contained it though, a second later, to a unlike-Gingerstar-rather-girly giggle, so she could address him. "Next time, try aiming for the fish instead of the water. I'm sure that would help," she teased.

[glowlynose]

Rain blushed. He blushed quite furiously, actually, and was once again glad for his fur. His face and ears were absolutely burning up. In fact, he thought for a moment that his fur might be changing colors to red. Gingerstar was laughing at him! It must look pretty funny from her angle, but from his angle, he'd just made an idiot of himself and was soaking wet besides.

And then a snowflake landed on his nose. He looked up at the sky, and he did not look very happy. His nose felt cold and funny and wet. And now flakes were landing on his whiskers and his tail, oh, his beautiful tail, and his ears and his freaking face. Rain was not a happy camper. He still had six fish to catch and not it was snowing. Sure, it was pretty, but it was also cold and wet and miserable. Ugh, snow.

Rain grumped and turned back to face the water. Apparently fishing took some amount of patience. "I bet you ain't never even caught a fish before, Freckles," he grumbled. He turned around to glare at her, and she was still laughing. For some reason his brain thought it was one of the most adorable things he'd ever seen, so he stopped glaring at her and smiled. "Why don't you come down here and try?" It was a challenge, and he wondered if Gingerstar could resist the opportunity to prove her superiority once more.

He smirked and turned back to face the stream. He saw the silver flash almost immediately, though he waited to stab at the water this time. Oh, yes, he took his time. He slowly, ever so slowly extended his claws, made sure that the position of his paw was perfect to scoop up the fish, and then he still waited longer. Finally, with a deep breath, he shot his paw into the water, hooked his claws into the fish's side, and smacked the stupid little water animal on the bank. He'd seen the cowboys' fish flop around, but this one didn't so he figured it was dead.

Ugh, it smelled funny. It smelled wet. And its eye was creepy. It was so big and looked wet and slimy and gross, and it was just staring. But he'd caught it, and only on his second real try! He grinned triumphantly at Gingerstar. "Oh, and by the way, Boy Scouts is a twoleg thing. I came from a ranch and the twolegs'd allllllllways talk about it."

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[Whiskers]

Oh ho ho, he thought he was so clever, did he, trying to get her to fish! She could recognize the barb for what it was-- a challenge, a taunt. Rain wanted to make a fool out of her or maybe he was trying to get out of his task, make her do the dirty work for him. Gingerstar had gone through these type of challenges before though and she remembered briefly when she was an apprentice, arguing about who could catch the most prey, who could climb the highest, who could run the fastest. Young Gingerpaw had been notoriously competitive to an unhealthy degree, but now she was all grown-up and above such stupid things as competitions and contests.

But...not really, because though Gingerstar scoffed at Rain, she was already getting up and trotting toward him, unable to resist a chance to shove something in his face.

"I've caught so many fish I'm an honorary Streamclan cat. You can ask them yourself," she meowed impishly, eyebrows darting up as she looked into the freezing cold water, watching as the little snow flurries spiraled into the blackness and quickly disappeared. Urgh, it even ate up the snow it was so cold. She knew she was going to regret this decision when her paws were wet. She never handled the cold well to begin with. Add a layer of water and one would have a very grumpy Gingerstar.

But stubborness was her fatal flaw (though she'd never admit it), and so she was going to do this, if only to see Rain's face.

She gazed into the water, concentrating as hard as she could despite the snow that was falling and coating her fur with a layer of white. She could do this. She could do th-- a fish!

Her eyes brightened and her paw hovered over the water, flexing her toes as she waited for the perfect moment. She leaned closer and closer...she couldn't mess this up. If she missed, she knew that Rain would never let her forget it and she would not be further embarrassed by him. It was hard to be patient, but she forced herself stay perfectly still, biting her tongue a little until...NOW! Her paw whipped out and struck the water, claws digging for the fish. She grabbed a hold of it and flung it out of the water, but she lost control and batted it--

...right into Rain's face.

It landed with a thump on the shore and then successfully flopped back into the water. And though her prey had escaped, Gingerstar could care less, considering she had done the impossible and managed to hit another cat in the face with a fish. She couldn't have done that if she tried!

She smiled. "See,told you I was a pro. I bet none of your 'boy scouts' could do that, hm?"

[glowlynose]

Rain couldn't help it- he laughed. He laughed at himself, he laughed at Gingerstar, he laughed at himself and Gingerstar, he laughed at the entire situation! He just got hit in the face. He just got hit in the face with a fish. Now the fish was back in the water, swimming along happily like nothing traumatic had happened to it. Rain was sure that it would pull out of shock soon, realize what an ordeal it had just gone through, and swim away as fast as its scaly little tail could move it.

"Honorary StreamClan cat, you say? Well well! It seems we got us a lot of fishing competition from them," he nodded, eyebrows shooting up playfully. He surveyed the stream, chuckling. "Yep, sho' 'nuff. One of these days the StreamClanners will just catch every fish in the territory. I mean, if they fish like you, those fishies had better swim away fast." He glanced sidelong at her. A mischievous smirk tugged at his lips. Was she... was she actually letting herself be in a good mood? Was Gingerstar having fun? Actual fun? This was madness!

"And I gotta say I ain't never seen a Boy Scout hit somebody in the face with a fish and then set it free. Nice gesture of yours, though. Gives the fish a false sense of security, makes 'em think we're merciful." A twinkle lit itself in his eyes as he stared at the river. Should he? No, he should just catch the fish. That would be safest. But there was nothing that could stop a few drops of water from hitting Gingerstar if the fish flopped around, was there? She couldn't possibly get annoyed with him because of that.

Ironically, Rain ended up with the same fish in his paws that had smacked him in the face, and it was getting water everywhere. Not an inch within a 5 foot radius was left untainted by the fish water. It was sort of nasty, if he stopped to think about it, but he didn't actually stop to think, so it was all good. An impish grin greeted Gingerstar as Rain laid down the score, "I think that's 2 for The Apprentice and none for the Leader. You're gonna have to do better than that, Spice."

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[Whiskers]

Gingerstar didn't know it was possible to just forget everything before that moment, but it came so naturally and so freely. She was lost in the moment, for the first time in a long time. Everything that weighed her down, all the burdens, were lost in the dark waters before her, and she was left with happiness. And of course, she didn't know she was forgetting everything-- everything about herself that she hated, everything she loved, basically the whole leader aspect of her-- but later on, she would, and she'd miss it.

But for now she could be anyone. She could be another ginger-and-white she-cat with another tom cat, by a river, trying to fish, and, speaking of which, getting water everywhere!

She jumped back when the fish first started thrashing around, but it was too late. Water went everywhere, splashing her legs and shoulders, and she barely protected her face from the onslaught. It was like a slap in the face it was so cold, and it evoked a loud squeak from the leader, her eyes widening and her fur standing rigidly on end. Yet, though it froze and bit and gnawed at her, Gingerstar found the cold strangely refreshing. She couldn't explain it, if asked, all she knew is that she was enjoying it.

Rain finally pinned the naughty little demonfish (it really put up such a tough fight it couldn't be normal) down and killed it properly, though now there was water all over the place, soaking into the ground and into her bones. Yet Rain had managed just to get splashed too badly.

You're gonna have to do better than that, Spice.

"Alright, if you insist," Gingerstar said in a sing-song tone and she slid up to the shore again, peering into the dark waters once more as if she was going to try and fish again. But she wasn't interested in that. Her body twisted and she splashed Rain with all her might, eyes lighting up with uncharacteristic glee the second she let herself do so.

"Rule number three. Pineclan cats show no mercy."

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[glowlynose]

Rain was sitting there chuckling to himself about how Gingerstar had walked straight into his trap and would soon get splashed, but she beat him to it. Now he was covered in water and she could compliment herself on her cleverness. "Aaack!" His surprised cry sounded sort of blubbery, considering how waterlogged he now was.

"Haha, is that so? No mercy?" Rain stuck his tongue out at Gingerstar, laughing. He didn't know why he was laughing, it was just sort of happening. That was weird. He always knew why he was laughing. Maybe he was weird in that respect, because nobody ever seemed to know why they were laughing when they were asked. Yeah, Rain decided he was probably an anomaly.

Did that really matter though? It wasn't like his strangeness was a mystery to anyone. He supposed he should enjoy the attention it got him. Eh, he'd figure out something some time.

For now, he needed to figure out a way to get revenge on Gingerstar for that splash. Maybe he should just tackle her into the water, get her even more soaked than he was! Yeah, that would work. It was the last thing she would expect, and he was bigger than she was, so he could do it credibly. He really should. She deserved it!

But then he had a convenient flashback to their fight, when he'd tackled her from the side. There had been something besides adrenaline and anger in those almond eyes of hers. She had been genuinely scared. Terror had seized her, his leader, his mentor, even if just for a heartbeat or two. Something gave him the feeling that he shouldn't tackle her right now. So he settled for giving her a playful shove in the shoulder, grinning, and splashing her right back.

"The score's still two to nothin'." Rain hunched over the water, waiting for some unsuspecting fish to swim up so he could take advantage of its stupidity.

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