LEADER ❝ RHINE ❞ PALMCLAN

When apprentices became warriors within Palmclan, they were encouraged to choose a specific type of prey to specialize in. This way, the group would know who was best at what, and who to utilize in case a certain type of prey was scarce. When Rhinestone had ended up reaching adulthood, it had been an easy decision for him to choose the aquatic prey division. He had always loved the sea, feeling as though the ocean was a second home to him when he just needed an escape from the beach, for whatever reason. He had taught himself how to hold his breath effectively, and his mentor had been excellent in teaching him how to catch various types of fish, mostly those that could be easily caught from shore. However, Rhine had always been a fan of pushing himself, and thus, he had always been a fan of trying to go deeper. Shortly after reaching warrior age, the leader had made a habit of swimming out as far as he could to try and hunt fish that were further into the water, and he hadn't dropped the habit since then.

Now, many moons later, and it was time for the second part of Rhinestone's Warrior's Plight. The second part of the ritual was meant to call back to that pivotal choice of prey division, and involved trying to catch the biggest or most impressive piece of prey that you thought you could find. Thus, Rhine had decided to do some deeper hunting. The tom had waited until it was a day when the waves were low and fairly weak, and then he had taken to the sea, surprisingly strong legs carrying him out as far as he could go. It took a bit of time, but eventually he found his target – a roosterfish. The ensuing battle after that was... difficult, if he was being honest. Rooserfish were far from small, and their distinctive "plume" was definitely an annoyance when trying to come down on them from above. Still, with a huge gulp of air to fill up his lungs, and determination in his heart, the leader had dove down upon the huge fish, claws digging into scaled flesh, with fangs coming soon after. The fish put up a valiant fight, thrashing and wrestling against Rhine even as the water was stained with blood, but Rhinestone wasn't one to give up easily, and it wasn't long before the roosterfish finally stopped moving.

The trip to the shore afterwards was still difficult, considering Rhinestonestar needed to drag the massive aquatic beast all the way back with him. It required several stops where he just kept himself afloat while hanging onto the fish, waiting until he could catch his breath. However, he eventually managed to drag the roosterfish ashore, a victorious grin on the rusty red tom's face. The rest of the trip back to camp was fairly uneventful, especially since Rhine now had all four paws on the ground once again. With this in mind, it wasn't long before he arrived back to the sandy hollow Palmclan called home, dragging the roosterfish in front of him before he called out, "Palmclan! I've finished the second part of my Warrior's Plight, by going and hunting a roosterfish! So... who wants to come and eat some?" The fish certainly wasn't small, so it would be able to be shared by a decent number of clan members, even if someone like Vaas decided to come over and partake.

LEADER ❝ RHINE ❞ PALMCLAN

Rhinestone's head lifted from proudly admiring his catch when he heard soft paws carrying a small body over, kicking up tiny amounts of sand in their wake. He didn't even hesitate in identifying Foamkit, a grin coming to Rhine's muzzle as soon as he saw the child. Honestly, he was more surprised that Foam hadn't been out of camp, trying to rush after him on the hunt. That wasn't to say he wasn't glad that turned out not to be the case. Even if Palmclan had a habit of raising rather strong swimmers within their ranks – it kind of came with the territory of being a beach dwelling group – that didn't mean they wanted their kits trying to brave the waves at such a young age. Getting to see what the older tom had caught would hopefully give Foamkit enough of a taste of the sea to make it so that he didn't do anything more than light splashing around for a good while. Of course, there was always the chance that the opposite would be true, and the roosterfish would only tempt the boy more towards the deep blue of the sea. It really seemed as though only time could tell.

Stretching out one of his front legs, Rhinestone chuckled as he patted Foamkit atop the head, glad to see how enchanted the kit seemed with his massive catch. Foam's singular exclamation might've seemed rather obvious to anyone else around, but the leader couldn't help the faint feeling of pride in his chest. After all, he had grown so used to Foam's only speaking capabilities being Rhine's name, or a bastardization of it. So, this was a pretty big step, regardless of what others thought. Dipping his head in a firm nod, Rhinestonestar explained to Foamkit, "That's right, it is a fish! A really good tasting one, too. Although they're really hard to catch, so I wouldn't recommend getting too used to it. You want to try a tiny piece?" Without his own biological children as a measure, Rhine truthfully wasn't sure whether or not Foam could have solid foods or not yet. However, Foamkit was getting bigger, and surely a little piece couldn't hurt him, right?