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caffeinecraving Vice Captain
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 Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2016 7:45 am
 JokerFace nearly burst with excitement. He was still on a buzz from yesterday's ceremony. He had an apprentice! He had been a warrior for a few moons now. And he was honored. So it was barely sun up and he went to call to his apprentice. Birchpaw. He would make her the best Warrior EVER! "BirchPaw! Are you awake?! Today we are going to go show you all the borders!" His paws nearly tingled in anticipation, wanting to get going. He glanced to the fresh kill pile. They could eat out and about. Since they werent going on a hunting patrol. He paced back to the apprentice den and heard general groans as he called again. Afterall, most cats didn't start their day of training until at the very least sun up.
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Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2016 9:05 am
 Most new apprentices wouldn't be able to sleep after their ceremony, arguably the most important day of their lives so far. They would stay up until the wee hours of the night, chattering their excitement over starting training and debating over who got the best mentor. Birchpaw, on the other hand, had been looking forwards to the best nights sleep she would get in moons.
She didn't hate Heartchaser's kits, after all, they were only kits. They couldn't help being small and noisy. The older warriors called the unusually large litter a "blessing from StarClan". Birchpaw could agree that having that many new warriors would be a good thing in the long run, but it was easy for them to say it was a blessing; they didn't have to try to sleep with loud squirming kits every night.
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Birchpaw woke to her mentor's voice. The other apprentices grumbled, clearly not wanting to wake up this early. 'That's what you get for staying up till moonhigh' she thought to herself as she did a few quick stretches. Not having to share a den with so many cats was definitely agreeing with her; she couldn't remember the last time she woke feeling so refreshed.
She heard her mentor call for her again "I'm coming, Jokerface," she replied as she carefully stepped past her denmates. Most of them had rolled over back to sleep. Jokerface was waiting outside the den for her, ready to go. She gazed up at him, eyes wide with excitement. She would finally get to go outside of the camp, and spend time with a real warrior.
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caffeinecraving Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2016 9:35 am
JokerFace was one of the cats that had called the litter a blessing, afterall, they were his brother's kits. But he had been in small litter on top of that. Just his mother and brother had shared the nursery when he was a kit. Moving up had been hard because of all the snoring bodies around him.
He usually wasnt this impatient, well, ok that was a lie. He had little use for patience. He was always going, there was always something to be done. The problem was that he was usually thinking so far ahead of what his paws were doing they would tend to bumble his project. But he was determined not to screw this up. Afterall, he was gonna make her the best! They would all see!
His ears perked at her call back and he flicked his tail in greeting. "I figure we will hunt on the way, whats better on your first trip out than trying for your own prey!" His whiskers twitched with excitement. "Come on lets get going!" He turned and headed out the camp entrance leading the way.
He glanced right and left and thought about it. "Lets go up to the abandoned twoleg nest and work our way to shadowClan first... that way you can see one of the best little hunting spots there is... " He headed north out of camp until they came to an overgrown space of clearing. It was an old dirt thunderpath which hadnt been used in years and years. So much so nature had reclaimed it. He sniffed briefly just to make sure there was nothing odd and his nose twitched. A fox had been around, probably last night. He glanced to BirchPaw. "Do you smell anything?"
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Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2016 10:40 am
Birchpaw padded after her mentor as he led her out of the camp. "Okay," she mewed happily. She was a little hungry, but Jokerface said they would eat while they were out. Perhaps being hungry made catching prey easier, more motivation or something like that. Either way, she wouldn't question it. Jokerface was a warrior, so of course he would know what was best. And she would get to learn to hunt!
The further they got from the camp, the less familar everything became. There were all sorts of different sights and smells; things she hadn't been able to see from inside their home. She would never understand why some of the other kits wanted to sneak out of the camp and explore. She had no idea where she was going or which way was which, and was glad to have someone with experience to show her around.
Jokerface stopped ahead of her. The trees seemed to part around them, and the ground was different here. Instead of the soft forest floor, it seemed to be mostly dirt with scattered plants poking through. It reminded Birchpaw of how parts of their camp look, where seasons of pawsteps had worn away at the ground. After Jokerface asked her about scents, she closed her eyes and sniffed at the air. She could smell her mentor and herself, as well as the familiar scent of ThunderClan, but there was something else too. It smelled somewhat like a cat, but much worse, like it hadn't washed in a moon.
She pressed her face towards the ground, "Ugh, it smells awful," she replied, "It's definitely not a ThunderClan cat." The thought crossed her mind that perhaps it was a cat from an enemy clan, but Jokerface didn't seem too worried. "What is it?" she asked.
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caffeinecraving Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2016 11:06 am
More or less it was Jokerface didnt want to have to wait around for his apprentice to eat today. And what better way to learn that to do. He was happy though he got an apprentice that didnt question him.
JokerFace kept up their moving pace, keeping it slower than what a patrol would move but still a nice clip. He wanted to make the whole border, at least down shadowclan side.
He glanced to the apprentice as she came up next to him. "This used to be a thunderpath, where monsters would race up and down it, But there havent been monsters on this path for a long long time. But its always best to stop and look. You never know what could be waiting out in the open."
He let out a soft mrrow of laughter. "Nope... not a Thunderclan cat at all... A Fox." He nodded and blinked to his apprentice proud that she could at the very least tell her own clan already. "We should remember to tell Loststar when we get back, but the scent is stale and seems to be heading toward shadowclan so there probably isnt much to worry about." He tipped his head. "Alright so lets go!" He started up the path walking along the edge as if he didnt trust a monster not to come flying down the path.
It took a little bit of a hike to get to the old dilapidated and abandoned twoleg nest but it was always worth the trip. He scented to make sure the was no smell of twolegs, always overprotective of his clan, he only went head first into things when he was alone. He glanced back. "Ok BirchPaw... now what can you smell?" He could smell all sorts of prey and this nest was always overflowing with mice, but there were birds and squirrels and other small animals as well.
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Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2016 12:44 pm
Birchpaw took another moment to concentrate on the scent. 'Fox, fox, fox,' she thought to herself. She wanted to remember it, just in case she came across it again. Even though it was stale, the stench still stung at her nose. She could imagine how bad a fox must smell face to face. Well, it was ShadowClan's problem now. Hopefully.
They headed down the path, keeping to one side. Jokerface said that monsters didn't run down this path anymore, but she wondered if she would ever see a monster. "Are there any real thunderpaths in the forest, with monsters on them?" she asked as they traveled. She had heard the older cats mention monsters before, but maybe they all left?
It seemed to Birchpaw like they had been walking for ages when they reached their destination. It looked like a den, but was much larger. She watched her mentor as he checked the area, and when he didn't show any signs of alarm, she copied after him. She didn't smell anything sour, 'No foxes.' She did, however, pick up the scent of mice. It was very strong, and made her mouth start to water. 'Maybe it's a big den for mice to live in?'
"I smell lots of mice," she replied, still tasting the air. "Oh, and birds! she added with a purr of delight.
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caffeinecraving Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2016 1:18 pm
JokerFace twitched his ears back at the question. "Well, Not in Thunderclan Territory, There is avery large Thunderpath on the otherside of Windclan territory, and with luck you wont ever see monsters." He actually had never seen monsters. He had heard them, and Windclan cats had told him about the thunderpath near their territory. It ran by riverclan as well. But thunderpaths werent something that Thunderclan had to worry about, luckily.
Jokerface happily sat with his tail around his paws as they reached the nest. "Very good!" He flicked his ears. "This is an abandoned twoleg nest... As you can tell, its a hot spot for mice... We shoudl hunt... So let me show you how to catch a mouse... and then you can try."
He stepped lightly forward. He went into a crouch that was light on his paws. Mice sensed the vibrations through the ground. Opening his mouth to pinpoint the exact location of one plump brow furry mouse, he crept up on it and pounced. He killed it before it could scream and he walked back to his apprentice. "So did you see how i did that?" He crouched again. "Take all your weight on your back legs, Mice will feel you coming before they see you. So you have to step feather light... Go ahead and try." What he didnt tell her was a three legged badger could probably catch something here.
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