.I'm a kitten scout!

[BiRDZiLLA!]

Halfpaw

His ears were cocked as he walked, almost parallel to the thawed ground beneath his claws. The sun chimed across his multi-colored back, warming the taught muscles that contracted during his weary cat nap.

To say one wasn't that comfortable in their own camp was almost unbelievable, but then again, Halfpaw really wasn't comfortable anywhere.

The apprenticed moved slowly, close to the forest floor to make best use of his leg as he could, tail hair's just dusting the ground's thin mucky upper layer. New leaf was well welcomed here.

Halfpaw craned his neck to view the chortling birds above his head, ears slightly contorted at the thought of being dive bombed by any of the feathered beasts - solo scouting just wasn't his thing... if only Smokestar would give him more attention as of late.

In front of the apprentice the ground evened out, grass turning into looser, finer soil that would take him for the winding path that ultimately showed up at the Snake rock's front door. The warm weather was prolly tempting out all sorts of creatures, he thought dully, curling his toes a bit more as he walked.Fireflies - Owl City

[BrightHeart]

Brightheart had been busy when he'd seen Halfpaw going out alone, but he resolved to go after him later. He , gave the elders their food, called in briefly on the nursery and headed off to Snakerocks in a hurry. he always felt a little sorry for Halfpaw, because he wasn't given his deserved time, but he knew Smokestar was very busy, being the leader and everything.

He felt in a good mood, the sun was out for once in the bitter leafbare, and his ears didn't feel like shavings of ice. He decided to creep up on halfpaw, just to give him a little surprise. He could see the youngster a little ways ahead, creeping uncomfortably.

Stalking carefully, he made his way closer to Halfpaw, hoping he wouldn't be sensed. He came up from behind, then suddenly said, fairly quietly
"Afternoon, greenhorn! Hows the scouting?"

[BiRDZiLLA!]

Halfpaw

If' he'd been asked again at a later date which of his reactions were funnier - the leap that sent him sprawling face first into the dirt or the long shriek of "Whhooooabrighthearrt![/b]" that tumbled from his lose lips, he'd instantly shy away.

Halfpaw let out a long, exhasperated groan between labored breaths, twisting his neck to lick his nape clean after a moment of reorienting. Rough rasps of his tounge splayed the fur ever which way, and with a very undignified look, worse than his usual, he finally turned to stare at the warrior with sad, kit eyes. He was going to milk this one as best as he could, great Starclan.

"H-Hey... he meowed softly, bowing his head slightly in a mixture of respect and embarassment. His paw twisted before him, digging into the dirt before he continued, responding to authority, "Nothing out of the o-ordinary, yet."

Behind the tom the sun gleamed away, covering the spot where the earth was tussled from his crash landing, darker earth revealed now that the loose covering was mainly on the cat himself. Halfpaw flashed Brightheart one more respecting look as if to say sorry that he was now going to ignore him, curling his tail forward around his good paw before starting to clean it as well.

The forest flickered about, rustled by the growing breeze, and Halfpaw just continued sheepishly, feeling rather foolish now for letting someone creep up on him. [/color]

[BrightHeart]

Brightheart just couldn't take how silly the apprentice looked as he leaped and yelled, and he only just repressed a loud, rumbling guffaw, and passed it off as a polite cough (well, he hoped he did, anyway).

He practically said "aww" when the kid pulled the kitten eyes, and then replied
"Hey. Good good, keep up the good work kid. And don't feel too bad, I'm more stealthy than my appearance gives away. I'll come with, I'm bored anyway." as Halfpaw started to creep away, he hugged the ground with his bulky form, becoming sort, flat, upon it, as he crept forward stealthily.

He was pretty much equal with Halfpaw's movements, keeping roughly the same pace. Compared to the young tom he was like a monster in size, but his sage green eyes still had an almost kittenish sheen to them. He looked up a few times, checking there weren't many owls nests around, just in case.

[BiRDZiLLA!]

Halfpaw

Under all the praise, Halfpaw only sagged his head, staring at the ground intently before moving along side the warrior. Brightheart seemed content to fill the silence, and the apprentice easily allowed that, finding nothing other than to comment the sands may be hot on their pads.

He let out a small cough when the rocks came into view, instantly wincing as the foliage no longer covered as shade for his poor, dull eyes. Instantly he dropped into a crouch like Brightheart had assumed, crippled paw digging into the ground, happy to stretch it out a little firmer than usual.

"Do you think the snakes are out yet?" he asked with a tone of worry, craning his head to watch the warrior as he spoke, maw parted slightly to drink in all of the earthy scents. To him the snakerocks seemed completely devoid of any returning life, but as Brightheart proved before, he onviously knew more.

[BrightHeart]

Brightheart felt slightly embarassed in the company of a respectful youngster, he preferred the cheeky ones, but it made a change. His soft pads burned when they first stepped onto the rocks, but they quickly acclimatised to the sun bathed stone. He took a glance around, just as Halfpaw spoke up, and said
"hmm, there might be some out, but they usually hide from movement, it's a good instinct methinks."
Just as he finished speaking, he heard a very quiet shuffle from behind him. He flicked his ear to signal a halt, and turned his head very slightly, straining his eyes to see further back.
Just a bird.
Just a bird, settling in an ungainly manner on the high up branch, with no way for Brightheart to catch it. damn birds.
"False alarm Halfpaw, just a mouse-brained bird. Let's carry on"

[BiRDZiLLA!]

Halfpaw

The two-toned apprentice listened intently to Brightheart's words on snake habits, but couldn't help to meow under his breath in a air of confusion, "But if you hid from all movement you'd never catch prey...." His voiced tapered as the calico signaled his attention though, and with a returned flick of an ear, Halfpaw slowly moved down to the ground in a crouch.

For a second his heart skipped a beat, fantasizing of killer snakes that could be surrounding him from every which side with large, posioned fangs. When the tom spoke again, Halfpaw almost jumped for the second time in one after noon. "Oh," he offered in dissapointment, trying to sound frustrated it hadn't been a snake or some such prey - he totally hadn't been scared.

When told to carry on he did so, moving cautiously as he did before on his solo stroll. He parted his jaws to take in the air, and mused silently to himself as he filtered through all the different scents. Nothing toxicly slimey, he concluded, shifting back onto his rear a little more to raise his head higher. The top of the rocks reflected heat in a blur, and Halfpaw squinted, scoping out the visible nooks for any predators. "Sh-Should we get closer, Brightheart?"Hero/Heroine - Boys Like Girls

[BrightHeart]

Brightheart felt the fool for losing his cool, but he did his best not to sound it,
just like Halfpaw. He scented the air too, and he caught something different. He hardly heard the apprentice he was thinking so hard. They were just that
bit too far away for him to tell.
"What? Oh. Uh, yeah, we should. Just in case."
He opened his mouth wide, scenting hard. Then it struck him-
Blood. That was the smell of blood, blood and bird.
"Hey, kid, you smell that?" He asked, just trying to test the apprentice.

"Let's go check it out..." Then he saw the little trail of feathers. He moved up faster, and peered over the edge of the rock they were standing on. He froze.
It was an owl. "Is it alive? Will it get me? No, no, I'm not a kit, I'll be fine,
I'll be fine, it's probably dead anyway" He thought, then the owl flickered it's wings and Brightheart suppressed a whimper, but then he noticed.

It was grounded, it's wing was torn straight through, and it was bleeding badly anyway. "There's nothing to be afraid of, it's fine. Kill it, take it back to camp with Halfpaw..." His mind fluttered and tried to settle, then he said, as strongly as he could
"Let's finish it off and take it back for the elders, the queens are looking a bit skinny too."

[BiRDZiLLA!]

Halfpaw

Halfpaw frowned slightly when Brightheart had a delayed response, feeling for a moment the warrior had lost interest in accompanying him and was now being ignored. His nose gave a small twitch when the calico re-tested the area, mouth parting when the warrior asked him if he smelt whatever he was picking up on.

"Uhmmm..." the apprentice blinked, opening his mouth again. He smelt the earth clearly, and that slightly peculiar scent that'd been mingling on the air before. It didn't smell like any particular prey to him though, but after a moment, now that he was drawn to it, he too could pick up the metalic tange of blood. ... Snakes had blood?

"Okay," he responded obidently, following after Brightheart with soft steps. His dark eyes watched one of the feathers tumble across the ground, and he had to refrain from going 'Oh!' once he connected the dots. He'd never had luck catching birds before, and this one smelt different. If Brightheart was exterting caution, he concluded, it must be one not that common for Thunderclan. It kind of reminded him of the Owl tree, and the decayed pellets they left behind.

He teetered, and blinked stupidly when the large orbs met his. When the owl flapped, he pressed closer to the older tom, scowling in slight terror and confusion. The scent of blood was a bit sickening now, and Halfpaw felt a tinge of pain for the large wound the creature had.

"..." Halfpaw could only stare once the warrior asked the question, caught up in sympathy. The array of fanned feathers around it's head and flat face were dazzling - he wasn't used to such bird. "... will it live long, otherwise, Brightheart? If we don't kill it?"

Cave In - Owl City

[BrightHeart]

Brightheart sighed, and shook his head
"No, this, uh, thing, won't last very long, it's lost too much blood. and even if it could survive, it would never fly again." He tried to sympathize with the animal, he really wanted to, but all he could feel was his bile rising. He glanced around, as he had completely forgotten all stealth, scenting, and checking for trespassers. Seeing and smelling nothing unusual, apart from the obvious, he leapt down, as far away from the owl as physically possible.
"Right, uh. I'm guessing you don't really wanna kill this fellah, do you? So, I guess I'll do it..." He tried to make it sound like he wasn;t just disgusted by the thing, and pinned the bird to the floor, staring into it's cool eyes. All at once he felt fear at one of his earliest memories, disgust, and sympathy. How? But ah, well. He bent down to kill it quickly.

[BiRDZiLLA!]

Halfpaw

The apprentice nodded slowly when Brightheart told him the verdict on the owl's life, letting out a small sigh through his nose as the warrior moved about. "Yeah, okay, Brightheart. It'll help the kits," he agreed softly, back tracking on his heels out of the small ravine.

He sat paitently at the top of the ledge, watching the forest off to the side of him, where the Riverclan border streaked to his nose with tangy scents. The moisture in the air eclipsed his scent of the owl mostly now, and with a twitch of his tail he waited for the calico to return with the bird. In a ramble of a thought, Halfpaw idly wondered if some day Smokestar would explain to him about owls, why their eyes were so big, much like a kits.

Not to scrutinize, but it seemed a more appropriate question for his mentor then rather Brightheart, so he held his tounge, shifting gaze to the sky. A few more birds trailed over head, and he watched them intently. Feeling kind of bad for condensending the warrior in his own head, Halfpaw suddenly asked over the rush of wind, sun and water, "Do birds like it up in the sky, you think?"Rainbow Veins - Owl City

[BrightHeart]

Brightheart quickly dispatched the owl, and leaped up next to halfpaw with it. He dropped the disgusting thing on the floor, his muzzle slightly bloodied. Licking his mouth, he watched the apprentice for a moment, the one who reminded him a lot of himself as a young one, and sighed.
He was surprised at Halfpaw's question, and he took his time to think about it.
"Well, I think they do. They kinda live for it I guess. Some of them are too dumb to appreciate what they do, but some birds seem kinda clever. Like owls." He paused for a moment, and looked at the slumped body of the creature, then said
"One day, we'll all fly, on our great journey to Starclan. I bet it's like swimming through transparent water, or something. I wonder what it feels like to go to Starclan..." The warrior got a far off look in his eyes, thinking about his mate, who had lost her life, and her unborn kits. Halfpaw might have heard rumors about how she died, but he might not.
Brightheart suddenly stiffened out of his tohughts, and said
"We should probably move on now, we've seen most of snakerocks and there were no suspicious scents..."

[BiRDZiLLA!]

Halfpaw

Halfpaw eyed the wounded bird for a moment as Brightheart cleaned himself, lifting his head when the tom spoke of his thoughts on the sky creatures. His jaw was parted as he listened, chest beating up and down with his steady breaths. It faltered with the mention of Starclan, and the Thunderclan apprentice couldn't help but drag his gaze to his lame leg.

Starclan's fate left him like this, his mother had said. It wounded to hear such light words of the cats, but Halfpaw remained stoic as the warrior trailed off. Upon the mention of heading back to camp, the two toned tom nodded.

"Yeah. I'll report it into Smokestar it's all clear..." he trailed off, feeling a weird since of nostalgia. He was really getting closer to being a warrior, without his mentor or not. Respectfully he got to his paws, waiting for Brightheart to lead the way back, as he should.Move Along - All American Rejects

[BrightHeart]

"Right, yes." He bent down and picked up the dead owl,wondering if all animals had their own Starclan, and if they all really believed in it, like he did.
But there was no way he'd ever know, nobody was graced with the power to speak with other species.
He began to stroll in the direction of camp, his mind wandering around.
He wished he could talk properly, but he had this damn owl in his jaws. It felt limp and ugly, lying there.
"Hr, arf-paw" He said around it, "S, 'ere anythin yer scared of?"
He glanced over at theyoung apprentice, his light sage eyes curious.
He would understand if the kid didn't wanna say, but he just wanted to know.

(OOC; short post of lameness ;D)