A day in the moore (Rune, open)

[warblersong]

Raccoonpaw lifted his head from his paws and breathed the scent of the light breeze through his den. Dawn had come and passed and the sun was over the horizon. Had he any sense in his head he would have been up a while ago, but as he stretched and opened his jaw in a wide yawn he found he didn't much care. He wasn't sure if he was going to be punished for sleeping in, or just miss out on his morning meal. As he shook off his fur and padded out of his nest he hoped it was the second. He had eaten a good amount the night before. The large rabbit was most of the reason he had stayed up so late the night before.

He looked around and blinked at the sky above. The sky was a perfect shade of blue. the clouds shifted and twisted like smoke, moving in an unnaturally swift mass away from Highstones. Soaring in and out of his field of vision a bird of prey soared. Raccoonpaw tensed for a moment. He couldn't know from the ground if it was an eagle, a bird that would snatch up an apprentice like him easy, or a vulture, who wouldn't bother with anything better than crow food. He twitched his tail, annoyed for himself for stopping. Let it be an eagle, he thought as he looked away He comes down here I'll claw him back to his nest!

He looked around the camp and spotted Swallowheart's black fur. He padded up to the black warrior, stopping to pick up a small field mouse from the fresh kill pile and dropping it at the older warrior's paws. He hoped the little bit of food would distract her from him waking up late. "I'm guessing I'm supposed to be doing duties or something," He mewed, "So, what am I doing today?" He hoped she said battle training, or maybe even a patrol He had been dieing to see a Thunderclan cat try to cross the border and claw his ears. But he also wanted a good fight out of it. One that would leave a nice scar he could show to the other apprentices.

[> яυηє <]

It was another beautiful morning in the eyes of the simple black feline; her eyes glowed enthusiastically for the new morning. The gentle thud of the mouse snapped the young warrior out of her daydream, Swallowheart gazed her warm golden eyes onto her apprentice. A big grin was spread across her face, tilting her head slightly to the side as she flicked her ear with gratitude. “Ah, thank you Raccoonpaw. You did not have to do this...” She uttered out softly, appreciating the half-hearted gesture.

It was just few days ago when she was assigned a new apprentice; remembering how excited she was to have a cute apprentice to teach like a parent would. “Duties? Well I know the apprentices headed to the elders den to change their moss beds… But what kind of apprentice enjoys that task? Between you and me, I hated that job the most.” The dark she-cat giggled gently, pawing the ground due to the awkwardness she felt speaking with her apprentice.

“Perhaps, we can go on our first border patrol! You haven’t been out there since you were just a wee kit. If we’re lucky, we can find cool things out there!” Swallowheart spoke in a hushed tone, her eyes twinkled the excitement she held for all the things she can do with her apprentice. She admired her apprentice, despite his personality; knowing she had to teach him to be one of the greatest warriors of the clan as best as she can, she could not help but to feel a particular pride in her work.

[warblersong]

He licked his pad as she noticed the fresh kill. Good. She didn't say anything about the fact that he had been so late. And his ears perked when she mentioned a patrol. He was actually going to leave camp and be allowed! He wondered what kind of questions she was going to ask him during the patrol. Would she expect him to know things like how to mark the borders already? Maybe this he would get to see fourtrees. Every time he wandered out of the camp when he was a kit he never made it that far. He wanted to see if they touched the stars like the other apprentices said.

"Yes!" he mewed unable to keep his excitement calm. And with both his hunger and the bird of prey high above forgotten he turned away from his mentor. His eyes were wild with pure joy and his claws dug into the soft earth of the camp as he bounded away. He pushed his way through the brambles and up the hill that was the edge of the camp and stopped only when he was free of it. The moor stretched before him, an endless plain of grass that shifted and turned as the wind toyed with the tops of the blades of grass. Raccoonpaw breathed in deep and then yowled "HEY!" as loudly as he could enjoying how his voice echoed into nothingness.

[> яυηє <]

ooc: Im on my phone since Im not home by 7... so I might write less than usual...

bic: Swallowheart saw her apprentice bound off before her, remembering how excited she was as an apprentice going on her first patrols. Looking at the bright blue sky, she knew it was a perfect day to teach Raccoonpaw about marking borders and tracking. Those tasks were taught strictly to her when she was an apprentice, constantly reminded that it was one of the most essential parts of being a warrior. Glancing on ahead, she began to scent the fading markings on some parts of the border. She began to wonder if her apprentice took notice of it, then started to think of what to say to him.

"So, do you sense anything in particular? Any comments around these parts?" Swallowheart asked calmly, trying test her apprentice on how much he knows to guage her teachings.

[warblersong]

Raccoonpaw stopped and looked back. Swallowheart was following him. Wasn't she supposed to be in charge or something? Shouldn't she lead? Oh well. If she wanted to be in charge so badly then she would have stepped in front of him. Her loss.

He raised his head when she asked what he knew. Time to teach the mentor, he thought with smug confidence. He had been outside of camp before, quite a few times actually. He knew his way through the grass nearby, just not much outside of that. He opened his mouth, he had learned that scents were stronger that way. Usually he couldn't tell what it was if it wasn't cat, but he knew when something definetly didn't smell like cat. And something really didn't smell like cat.

"There's something that passed over there," He said pointing northward with his tail, "I'm just not sure what it is." He bounded over towards the scent without waiting for his mentor. He was leading this patrol after all. She'd follow him and probably tell him what it was when they caught up to it. he stopped after a few bounds. With his mouth still open he rooted through the grass. Little shafts of green stuck through his open jaw, but he ignored him. This is what warriors do, right?

[> яυηє <]

Swallowheart raised her nose to the sky to check the serene wind that may have caught the scent; if it was fresh. The scent smelled oddly familar but could not pinpoint the actual creature from such a distance. She followed Raccoonpaw closeby, then her eyes dilated when she finally found out what it was. Her eyes quickly darted around the scenary, checking if it was actually close enough to find them before they did.

Fortunately, it wasn't around and eased the tense feeling in the dark she-cat. "It smells awfully like a badger... I'm not quite sure if it built its nest around here. How about that. Nice job in tracking, Raccoonpaw. I am so proud of you. Soon enough, you will be great enough to detect any creature out in our territory!" She spoke with cheerfulness of her apprentice.

Knowing a young cat like Raccoonpaw that already knew the basics of scenting out various thing, made Swallowheart exceptionally happy about his future. Putting a big grin on her face, she completely forgot about the badger she had caught scent of.Shaking off her overwhelming joy, Swallowheart was back to inspecting the area once more. The grass around them still lingered the stenchy smell of the massive creature, which brought her memories of the first time she had seen a badger in the flesh. The visions shook the very core of her thoughts, the badger was a cold-hearted beast who was unforgiving to the young kits and their defenders.

Turning back to Raccoonpaw, she thought he would be a great leader of patrols and thought of asking what kind of decisions he would make during these situations.
"Raccoonpaw, would it be best to report it to the leader or should we investigate ourselves?" She asked in a gentle manner, continuing to grin at the young tom.

[warblersong]

Raccoonpaw closed his mouth when Swallowheart followed. So this scent was a badger? He sniffed the breeze telling himself to remeber it. The scent wasn't very good, not like something he had ever smelled in the fresh kill pile. Was the because badgers wern't prey? that's silly. Cats ruled the wild. Everything in it was prey except twolegs and dogs. And even the small dogs could be prey if there were enough warriors and they really wanted to.

His chest did puff up a bit when she praised him. She said he'd be able to detect any creature in the territory. She might as well have said that he would be the greatest cat in the four clans! He then was thrown off a little when she asked him what they should do. What did warriors do when they found wierd scents? Swallowheart didn't sound like she thought it was that wierd of a scent. And if it was prey how bad could it be? He had to answer fast though. He was leading this patrol and, in stories, leaders were never slow to answer.

"We'll go after it." He answered and opened his mouth again, wider this time hoping to catch more scents. Then he padded after the scent towards where the wind carried it away.

[> яυηє <]

Sternly looking at her apprentice, Swallowheart let out a soft chuckle and gave Raccoonpaw a gentle smile. She surely did admire her apprentice for his decisions, but knowing a badger was not something to mess with just a pair of cats. Lowering her head towards the ground, she decided it was best to explain what the frightening beast was like.

"Raccoonpaw, I commend your bravery and quick thinking. That shows you will be great at leading when you become a warrior. But I must tell you, a badger is a large foul creature whose only intent is to kill. They ravage our homes and devour the kits that live in the nursery... Even killing the ones that get in the way to defend them. Right now, it will be best to report such things to the leader; then we can get a bigger patrol to check out the badger." Swallowheart spoke softly as she gave her advice, hoping the message was helpful for him to understand the creatures of the land for the future.

Looking at the path of the scent trail, her eyes shown much worry; almost as if she was pleading that the badger did not take nest around the clan territory. Swallowheart never liked the savage beasts that roamed the territories, even when they resided in other clans. She knew if they did stay, the topic will be brought up in the gathering and every cat will be worried about it. Shaking away from her thoughts, she returned her focus on Raccoonpaw.

"Don't let that get you down though, I'm sure if you said that you found the scent first; Ratstar might even let you come along in the search for the badger. You're quite talented so this might be the first crucial patrol for the sake of the clan! I bet every apprentice in the clan right now will be jealous of you, Raccoonpaw." Swallowheart added cheerfully with a chuckle, hoping her apprentice was excited as she was.

[warblersong]

He stopped when she called back to him. "So badgers aren't prey?" He asked in a sort of disbelief. He tried to imagine anything larger then the cats. His father was a big cat, possibly the biggest in the clan. Nothing but trees were bigger than him. And this badger was supposed to be bigger? He tried to picture it. And ended up with an image in his mind of nothing more than a very large cat with long claws that didn't retract and sharp teeth the poked from his muzzle.

"Ok," He agreed. She was praising him again. And how could any apprentice not want to agree when he was the center of everything. He was good at this. He was talented. He was the envy of the other apprentices. He couldn't help it that he was naturally gifted. "We'll go tell Ratstar. But when we tell him about the badger and he sets the patrol I don't want to just be in the patrol." He put a paw down to emphasize his point. "I want to lead the patrol. I'm leading this patrol, I found the scent. It's only fair."