Combat the Blues [open]

[Mistfur]

Pale, narrowed eyes watched the dawn patrol return. They followed a single tom that gave no sign of noticing the owner of the eyes as he retreated to the nursery with fresh-kill. Mistfur lashed her tail once. Why had Smallclaw gotten to go on patrol while she was stuck in camp? The envy would fade soon enough, but now she contented herself in giving him the cold shoulder. Of course, ignoring her littermate just made her feel uncomfortable. Mistfur just couldn’t win!

Glancing at the fresh-kill pile, she noticed that the dawn patrol had taken more prey than it had found. An idea lit in the she-cat’s brain and she abandoned cleaning her flank. Instead, the gray warrior stood, shaking herself lightly, and trotted a little closer to the camp entrance. The pile wasn’t perilously low, but there were no rules about refilling it anyways. Yes, she would take out her own patrol and stretch her legs; hunting would be a perfect solution to the early morning down-heartedness that had seconds ago been too much and was now fading quickly.

Raising her angular face, Mistfur looked across the clearing for any cat she could coax out.

[Swanpaw]

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[atrb=background,http://i33.tinypic.com/2w7g4lv.jpg] swanpaw could only wonder what the day was going to be like. was it going to good, bad, terrible, happy? she really wasn't sure as she made her way out of hte apprentices' den and into the middle of the camp. she could see mistfur looking around for something, but for what was beyond her. swanpaw wasn't sure what to think of the look on mistfur's face. "what are you doing, mistfur? you have this crazy look in your eye."

[/b] swanpaw couldn't put it anymore bluntly as she sat down in front of the she-cat and stare at her. swanpaw's white tail lashed behind her in the grass as she waited for an answer from the she-cat. was there something wrong here? she knew the dawn patrol had just came back from patrolling the borders, but why the sudden look on mistfur's face? something was obviously up and swanpaw wanted to know every detail.

it was easy for swanpaw to try and find such things out because she was often trying to find out what happened in the clan from her mother when she was still a kit, or her brothers. either way she was still curious as to what mistfur was doing so early in the morning. [/color]



STATUS; finished!
STARING; mistfur
SPEECH; 208
NOTES;
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[Mistfur]

She scanned the crowd, shaking her head. Yes…maybe…no…no…no…maybe…

“Huh!” Mistfur started as she turned her head, wonder how in StarClan’s forest she’d managed not to see the white-furred apprentice. She scuffed a paw embarrassedly on the ground. “Oh, hey Swanpaw,” she greeted the other she-cat.

Only after this half-hearted hello did Mistfur seem to realize who she was talking to. With a twitch of her whiskers, the warrior explained, “Just looking to see if any cat wants to get out of camp and hunt. The dawn patrol didn’t bring back all that much, after all, and no cat complains about more fresh-kill for the Clan.” With her love of running around outside of camp, it was an excuse she’d used many, many times.

With a look of faux innocence, she seemed to comprehend for the first time just who she was talking to. “Are you coming, Swanpaw? Or would you rather do some other exciting apprentice chore , like cleaning out the elder’s bedding?” The humor in the young cat’s question was obvious. Of all the things that were great about being an apprentice, Mistfur had cursed the boring, in-camp duties and had shirked them whenever possible.

[Swanpaw]

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[atrb=background,http://i33.tinypic.com/2w7g4lv.jpg] swanpaw kind of looked at mistfur a little funny. she was jealous that the dawn patrol didn't bring anything back? they were the dawn patrol, not the hunting patrol. "mistfur, they aren't suppose to bring anything back. they patrol the borders. they aren't the hunting patrol. and i cleaned the elders' den yesterday so its all spankin new and clean." swanpaw just sat there and stared at the warrior. she seemed like she was trying to prove something rather than just go out to go hunting. sure swanpaw was hungry, but she would rather just do her apprentice chores before heading out to hunt, unless someone told her to. whereas, mistfur was asking her. that was a complete difference, but it would beat being bored here for a while. "yeah, i'll go out with you. don't see why the clan shouldn't have any more freshkill before the others wake up."

[/b]

swanpaw wondered who else she was looking for, it didn't look like much of anyone else was up. lazy mouse-brains they were, sleeping in. must have been the running they did that tired all of them out, because swanpaw was wide awake and ready to do something today. get out there and do something good for the clan, not sit here and be like, blah blah blah. bored bored. she wanted to do something productive. and she was ready to go out and hunt for prey before the sun got up to high to where it was too hot to do much of anything afterward.
[/color]
STATUS; finished!
STARING; mistfur
SPEECH; 255
NOTES;
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[Mistfur]

The warrior swatted the air with her long tail disdainfully. “With the good weather we’re having, there’s no excuse they can’t do both. The rabbits are so lazy and stuffed with food that even some clumsy badger of a RiverClan cat could probably catch one, forget fresh, well-trained WindClan warriors.” Was that a fair condemnation? Of course not, but Mistfur didn’t care. She wanted to get out of camp and serve her Clan before irritation made her lash out at something other than prey. For Mistfur, being a warrior meant doing what she wanted and not needing to be at her mentor’s beck and call anymore.

Oh, and duty and responsibility and whatever else she’d been nagged about.

Giving her shoulder a quick swipe with her tongue, Mistfur glanced around the camp. No other cat seemed interested in leaving nor seemed to care that they were. “All right, then let’s fill up that fresh-kill pile quick than you can say ‘ThunderClan intruder.’” She seemed to pause as she thought about what she’d said and a look crossed her muzzle that didn’t seem unhappy at the prospect of a border skirmish.

Quick as the exciting thought had come on, however, it fell to the back of her mind as she left the WindClan camp. She tested the air then, in a condescending mock-mentoring tone, asked Swanpaw, “Where should we hunt?” She remembered getting the same type of test questions when she was an apprentice and once replying that they could hunt in the lake for all she cared, as long as they started hunting!

[Swanpaw]

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[atrb=background,http://i33.tinypic.com/2w7g4lv.jpg] "you're the one that wanted to go on a hunting trip. you decide. you probably could have gone all by yourself and still bring enough back for the whole clan." swanpaw was quick with her words, but looked to the warrior to see where they should hunt. after all, mistfur did want to go hunting in the first place. she should be the one to decide where they should go. what else was swanpaw going to do? camp was just as boring because not everyone was up and she wanted to do something besides sit around and sleep or clean her fur. swanpaw was ready for anything at this point. she wanted to catch a rabbit or a few big voles. she didn't care, just as long as she got something big. she was happy if she got multiple of prey, because then they weren't going back empty. now it was just for mistfur to decide where the would hunt for this prey for the clan, that she so demanded to catch. STATUS; finished! STARING; mistfur SPEECH; 171 NOTES;

[Crowpaw|[!]]

Crowpaw'

Crowpaw's light green eyes gazed across the clearing searching for
another cat of WindClan to converese with. His eyes came upon
Swanpaw and Mistfur, two nice members of the Clan. Crowpaw
especially smiled when he saw Sawnpaw's glowing white form.
She was different from the other apprentices, she was special.
Crowpaw came over slowly, his crippled leg dragging him behind.
"“With the good weather we’re having, there’s no excuse they
can’t do both. The rabbits are so lazy and stuffed with food that
even some clumsy badger of a RiverClan cat could probably catch
one, forget fresh, well-trained WindClan warriors.”' Crowpaw
smiled largley, hunting. "May I go too?"
Crowpaw asked quietly. This was just what he wanted to do,
to finally practice on his wobbly leg.

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[Mistfur]

Mistfur shook her head and gazed over the moor. The scent on the air hung thick with the smell of plenty and, if possible, energized the young warrior further. A minute ripple passed over her spine and she opened her mouth to tell Swanpaw where they should go, but turning around to address the apprentice she saw a small, black tom apprentice moving towards them. Crowpaw. Looking at the useless leg her carried, she tried not to flinch. She had always wondered about the wisdom of letting a crippled cat try and become a warrior, but questioning it wasn’t her place.

“Sure, Crowpaw. How about the ThunderClan border?” She said, glancing again at her fellow she-cat. From what she had seen, the apprentices had been good to Crowpaw, so she didn’t worry much about Swanpaw rejecting the new addition. Besides, as the senior (and only) warrior in their impromptu patrol, Mistfur called the shots. And she enjoyed having the final say tremendously.

Without waiting for approval from the young cats, the gray warrior moved forward in her prescribed direction, keeping her senses open for her first catch. Last time she had been out here, she’d seen a huge rabbit and had narrowly missed it. She hadn’t seen it in the fresh-kill pile yet and hoped to have round two. Smallclaw would be impressed.

[Crowpaw|[!]]

crowpaw`

Crowpaw was about to answer when Mistfur bounded off towadrs the entrance.
Without another word Crowpaw quickly followe, ahppy he was accepted into the
small patrol of three cats. He already had a feeling he would be lagging behind
even though he had already had much training on his leg and was almost able
to run full speed with it. But Mistfur was a full warrior, something Crowpaw
only dreamed of achieving. It was something that was sorta out of reach for the
young black tom. The only thing holding him back was his crippled hind leg that
reminded him of his sorrow filled past and the fox that had ruined his life. Shaking
the thought off Crowpaw opened his mouth wide, scenting for any sign of prey. Right
off the bat he smelt, rabbit.

The scent mesmorized him. It made him want to sink his teeth into it right away. But
that was not what he should do. He could see the prey's white tail bobbing up and down
and Crowpaw crouched into a slightly odd hunter's crouch. Slowly he was sneaking up
on it, being careful not to snap a twig or crunch a leaf. Finally close enough, Crowpaw
pounced. For a few moments it was like he was flying like an actual crow. But the
moment was short, and when he landed on the rabbit's back Crowpaw was off balance.
Quickly Crowpaw unsheathed his claws, letting them dig into the rabbits fur and skin,
therefore the rabbit bolted, running towards its small den in the ground. Crowpaw was
being dragged along with the creature, but he was strong enough the reach up and
dig his teeth into the rabbits neck and, rip. It was dead. Proud, Crowpaw snatched
up the morsel into his mouth and dragged it to Mistfur. Dropping it he added,
"Pretty good, huh Mistfur?" Most cats would probaly think
this was another poor attempt to impress Swanpaw, which was part of it, but he mostly
wanted ot proved he could be a warrior with or without his crippled leg.

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