Stupid Sun [OPEN]

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This newleaf day was seeming to feel more like greenleaf as hot sun beat on Foxthorn’s back. She could feel the rays of sunlight just heating up the ground, the air, and especially her fur. The cat grumbled slightly as she moved slowly through the woods. It had been her plan to hunt today, but right now she was just pissed. She had hoped that it would be a good long while till the day reached this level of heat, but it seemed that her luck hadn’t been that good. The parts of the ground that should to the sun burned her paws, and her fur was beginning to feel like fire against her skin. I need to find a way to cool off.

Going for what was always her first choice on hot days, Foxthorn looked down to the ground and dug slightly letting the cool dirt underneath be revealed. She laid down and let out a slight sigh as she felt the cool dirt against her belly fur. Yet, the cooling sensation last merely a minute, and then it warmed right back up again. ”Seriously?” The ruddy she-cat growled viciously at the dirt as she returned to her feet. It seemed that even that method wasn’t’ going to keep her cool for very long. Stupid dirt, she thought grumpily to herself as she looked around her surroundings, wondering if there might be a better spot for her to cool down. Then her eyes landed on the lake in the distance. Crap.

Desperate times called for desperate measures, so Foxthorn turned, rather defeatedly, towards the lake and jogged over to it. Cautiously, she stuck a paw out into the water, testing it. It was cold as ice compared to the heat of this day. So grumbling to herself about the heat and the water and StarClan, she walked into the water far enough that her whole body, minus her head, was submerged. It is nice, her brain betrayed her hate of water as she stood there in the body of water. It didn’t feel so bad when the water was just still, and she wasn’t trying to swim. Not that she wanted to admit it wasn’t that bad, so out loud she hissed, ”Stupid water.”

[Sunstrike]

    It. Was. Hot. Too hot. Way too hot. Extraordinarily hot and Sunstrike was having none of it. The massive, fluffy orange tom had joined the earliest patrol he could, seeing to some of his ShadowClan duties before the sun climbed too high and hiked the temperature, and after the dawn patrol, he set his sights on a bit of hunting on his own time, with the goal of at least avoiding the sunhigh patrols. Thankfully, his plan had worked his way and with a couple bits of prey down and delivered back to the camp, no one was hounding him to stay busy as the sun peaked, and with it, the heat. His pelt was luxuriously thick, soft, protecting him from the elements enemy claws. In the coldest of leaf bares, he trekked on-wards without fail, protected fully from the biting ice and driving snow, willing to spend day after day in the barren forest, collecting every scrap of food he could to keep his clan in one piece. In leaf bare, it made him a clan hero, bringing home even scrawny prey while many other of his clanmates huddled up for warmth. Utilization aside, he was also proud of his pelt for some vanity reasons. He was a sharply featured, handsome tom, and the rich orange tabby coat that named his similarity to the glowing orb that currently caused his misery, was a nice feature that got him some attention from pretty she-cats.

    But, in greenleaf- and the current newleaf that scorched just as bright and hot as even the moons in the dead of greenleaf, he was a bit less useful to his clan. Typically one to jump on every patrol he could get in, to do as much as he could, the hottest of days left him only able to do the patrols that fell before the sun climbed high, and after it dropped low in the sky. Now, stuck in the hottest part of the day, and beginning to feel like he was melting, he desperately hid in the shadows of the massive pine forest, digging through the damp soil for any remnant of the newleaf chill that settled each evening. His efforts were, however, fruitless and he sighed, resigned, hot, tired, and thirsty. 

    Well, he could fix at least one of those at the moment. The promise of cold water from the lake had Sunstrike dragging himself back up to his paws and making a beeline for the shore, probably taking longer than usual for his desperate effort to avoid the dappling sunlight, sticking to only the darkest of shadows for his trek. Perhaps he was overreacting, of course, walking in a straight line and avoiding every speck of light he could was only wasting time, and it wouldn't kill him so long as he wasn't simply just basking in the bright golden rays. Frankly, he even chided himself for such silly behavior- even as he side stepped to avoid a bright patch. It was a sweet relief as the glittering, smooth surface of the lake came into view, and despite his miserable state, he picked up the pace to a quick trot to the shore, not stopping until his front paws came into contact with the crisp water, and he hastily dropped his muzzle and began to drink as if he's never seen such a glorious creation. It would have been a perfect end to his afternoon, returning to camp with a belly full of cool water and retiring to a dark corner until the temperature dropped, but StarClan had other, more entertaining, things in mind for the loud tom.

    "Stupid water." What? What a terrible thing to say! This water was definitely like, the best thing ever at this very moment and probably not in a few more minutes. On the neutral territory a few tail lengths from the waters edge, and still on ShadowClan's territory, he peered around, trying to find the source of the voice- and then, he noticed a head sticking out of the water a little ways up from him, closer to ThunderClan. A bright red head in fact, of a cat. He blinked, curious, and sat down on his haunches to watch. Was she... was she swimming? He recognized her, a cranky ThunderClan she-cat. Foxthorn. A slow smile spread across his face, as well as a mischevious glint in his eyes. "You know, if ThunderClan is having issues with land prey, and wants to learn to fish, I think you're doing it wrong- I mean, you should probably ask Poppystar for some lessons? But I'm pretty sure that's not how it works."

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The water had completely soaked her fur by this point. Foxthorn could feel it all wet and cold against her skin. It was both pleasant and horrible at the same time. The cool feeling felt so good in this kind of heat, and in the back of her mind she contemplated dunking her head in. But on the other hand, she was determined to hate the water. RiverClanners liked water. ThunderClanners did not. They didn’t like water. They were forest cats. They didn’t swim around like fish in the water like those idiots in RiverClan. Water was for fish, not cats. At the moment though, she couldn’t help loving the wet, chilly feeling on her body in this painful heat.

The sound of an unfamiliar tom cat’s voice made her fur want to stand on end and her head flick around to find the source of the voice. It was immediately clear to her that this wasn’t a cat from her clan. A scowl crossed her face as she recognized the giant, sarcastic, ginger tom as Sunstrike of ShadowClan. Pulling her ears back slightly, she retorted, ”We’re not having problems with prey, and I’ll purposely eat fish the day mice learn to fly.” She wanted to lash out at him and drive him away from this part of the territory, but he was still on ShadowClan territory, and even if he was on ThunderClan territory he would have been on the neutral part of the territory. So she probably wouldn’t be able to just get rid of him. He was probably going to stick around as long as he thought he could tick her off. She didn’t know that much about him, but she had spoken to some cats who knew more about him. ”I don’t need lessons from Poppystar, ‘cause I don’t hunt fish. Fish are for idiot RiverClanners that haven’t realized that mice and birds exist.” She hissed, half to herself and half to the orange warrior. ”For your information, I am in this water because it is burning hot, not for fun. StarClan for some reason though it would be fun to set all of our fur on fire today.” Her tail flicked angrily as well as it could under the surface of the water.

Foxthorn moved towards the shore slightly so she could speak to Sunstrike easier, ”Due to the fact that you are half fur, I assume you’re not exactly enjoying the heat either.” She was in a bad mood, not that she was ever in the great of a mood. But it was hot, she was in the water, he was annoying and from a different clan, so she was going to be cranky. ”Isn’t that why you’re here?” I assume you didn’t come here for the sole purpose of annoying me. She grumbled in her head.

Sunstrike
((Sorry tried to match, but my muse was low. I hope this works! If it’s too short I can write some more.))