#finch is confused but goez along with the story whn shrew givz him a wink... saying he waz just looking 4 his big brothr

[scourge-sympathiser]

in the long distance AU shrew [tiny/scourge] doesnt get quite AS bullied bcuz he haz 2 momz 2 watch the sibz & evn whn thy make the mistake of waving it off as harmless teasing talltail reconizez the treatment as how shrewclaw was towardz him- and well he understandz now tht it wasnt ment 2 hurt he knoz tht it still doez and so tryz 2 stop it whn he can/support shrew! tho somtimez sockz n ruby get mean 2 shrew bcuz of how much more attention he seemz 2 get from weird forest dad

pluz ! thy also hav the 5 half siblingz a moon or so youngr thn thm 2 feel powerful ovr...... shrew lovz his lil siblingz bcuz he likez not being the smallest 1 & also the fact tht thy look up to him and believe his sorta exaggerated storiez without question

eventually the same problem with ruby & sockz telling him hez gonna get thrown in the river once again spurz him into the woodz but this time whn attacked by tigerpaw he callz out 4 talltail in panic...... and thistleclaw, recognizing this kittypet kit as a way to bribe or blackmail windclan, orderz tigerpaw 2 stand down & takez him 2 thunderclan camp

sunstar is, as it turnz out, not so into kiddnapping children & figurez this is Windclanz Problem so decidez 2 take him 2 the bordr n drop him with the first patrol tht passez [originally bluefur waz gonna take him back 2 the twoleg place but the first and only time he spoke with the thunderclan catz aftr calling 4 talltail was 2 protest this n insist on going 2 windclan]

lucky 4 him tht talltail happened 2 be on the next border patrol.. his clanmatez were shocked 2 see the usually peaceable warrior launch himself ovr the border the SECOND he saw HIS kit, obviously shaken & with more thn 1 scratch

windclan is...... less thn thrilled,

talltail spinz a.... tall tale..... about how he fell in lov with a kittypet on his journy but thy broke it off whn he came back & tht he was still broken up but recently the kittypet had come back 2 the territory bcuz thy had had kitz & wanted thm 2 meet their father evn if thy went together.... & talltail didnt want to deny the kitz tht chance so he met up with thm maybe once or twice on the border...... shrew is aged up in this story n said 2 just be a runt which isnt... entirely false.......

heatherstar isnt pleased of course, but the implication tht thisls relationship is no longer active & haz not been since he returned pluz the fact tht talltail is a good warrior is enough 2 get her 2 go fairly lenient...

at first talltail is going 2 send shrew home but whn the kit makez his intentionz clear talltail givz pretty fast bcuz.. well.... he wasnt about 2 Lie and say he haddnt hoped deepdown tht one of his kitz would join him in windclan somhow

the rest of the clan took som convincing but soon enough shrew waz shrewpaw !

meanwhile back in a twoleg den with two very worried mothrz, a certain little orange kit decided tht he had 2 find out where his favorite big brother had gone 2 n go on an adventure of his own