Sedgewater Valley

[carmen]

@Ravensong @Moonraven
Shoot. He had hoped it would be a bust, that he would act dumb enough to escape duty. The brown tom rushed to find another excuse to go back to sleeping. "Well, um, I've never been out in territory before, not after the windstorm and that doesn't really count. Are you sure you want someone so inexperienced helping you. Right?" He stumbled through the words aware that he sounded like an evil Leechpaw. He smiled at the thought. He never could sound evil, just opposite. Yes, opposite was the right word. Beastpaw turned back to Toudpounce and Lionpaw and squeaked.

"Hey! Don't leave me!" He bounced after them, toe-pads brushing on the ground. He was liking this less and less, the way Toadpounce continued speaking made him frustrated. He didn't want to do a patrol and now he had to learn hunting? Being annoyed mad made him tired, so after his short sermon of anger, he gave up and turned away. Looking at the chubby lilac molly known as his sister, he noticed something strange in her eyes. Was that... fear? He wasn't sure how Leechpaw would handle it. He wouldn't flat-out ask, that was something Beastpaw knew. He'd say something witty to make her feel better. But Beastpaw wasn't witty. The best he could do was lean assuringly against her side as they walked across the moor. Usually he would serenade the random thoughts that came to his mind, but he didn't want to act like he wasn't paying attention to her.

As Toadpounce began to speak again, Beastpaw turned his head to the older tom, listening despite his earlier irritation. "Mhm." He murmured the acknowledgement of the fact he was paying attention. Oh no. Stealth? Between the two of them, it wouldn't go that well. Here was his second chance to escape working. But this was interesting. He wanted to know how hunting worked. Only slightly though, he preferred to be sitting on the heather of his nest. "Okay. So, um, how does this work? We just go through the tall grass quietly and then jump? Can you show us first? I don't really get it."

[Pitou]

@Moonraven @Pheasantflight

**Toadpounce**

The dark tom cocked his head, looking down at his apprentice, the hunting lesson momentarily forgotten. He recognized the fear scent, the unmistakable curling of her body; he'd seen it all so many times from the dying creatures he observed and experimented on, it was all so universal. And she hadn't caught a word he said... At least Beastpaw seemed more confident though equally as unwilling. His mind turned. Backing out of the hunting lesson would be awkward and counterproductive to his goal of gaining respect, right? But neither apprentice seemed to understand what he was trying to get at. Lionpaw hadn't even heard it. He could repeat everything he'd just said but would that also be seen as him being walked over? He tried to think of a more respectable warrior, a warrior who seemed to have it all together, what would they do? He had no idea. That was the issue, though, wasn't it? The reason he'd never been able to even feign fitting in.

So Toadpounce plastered on a smile and stammered hood-humoredly, "Oh, uh...it was...was it that bad? No...no, I'm...uh, well, here..." He popped his head up to scan the moor. He didn't see anything moving. He huffed lightly then came up with a plan. He turned back to the apprentices. "We'll hesd the rest of the way to the border and get marking and I'll keep my scenses out for prey...bonus points if either of you can pick any out...and if we come across anything then I'll demonstrate so you know what I'm talking about. Deal?"

Toadpounce turned and trotted through the grass. He tried to keep his reeling mind focused on the sounds around him, listening for anything outside of the gentle, rhythmic brushing of the wind through the heather. Scents could be deceiving with the wind...oh, that was worth mentioning! He turned his head slightly to look to the apprentices but kept his pace trotting towards the border. "Don't rely too heavily on scent out here on the open moor. The wind is a constant so you will only primarily pick up scents from downwind, that tells you nothing of what could be lying upwind from you. We can use that to our advantage as well, don't let it become a weakness."

Toadpounce slowed as the scent of Riverclan grew stronger. He parted his lips to draw in the scent. Their markers seemed stale but not neglected; that was reasonable enough. Windclan and Riverclan...oh, he stopped and turned back to the apprentices. "Windclan and Riverclan currently have a sort of alliance. We were recently at war with Shadowclan and now Riverclan is having trouble with them. But even with an alliance we cannot let our guards down and we must maintain boundaries. We are still separate clans. Get a good whiff of that...that's Riverclan. They enjoy swimming and find most of their prey in the waters of their territory." He rubbed a rock jutting out of the border to show Lionpaw and Beastpaw how to mark the borders. "The first best way to maintain boundaries is to keep our border markers fresh. That sends the message that we are not sitting idly just because we are allied."

[Tuftdrawsanddoodles]

[Hazelcloud, She/her]

Hazelcloud padded through the light snow. Soon the snow would be gone again, and new-leaf would come, and rabbits would return, the annoying snow in her fur would disappear, and waters would thaw. She couldn't wait

As she padded nearer to the border the scent of the border markings of both WindClan and RiverClan became stronger. Soon she'd need to stop otherwise she'd be trespassing on RiverClan's territory.


@LeoDaLeaf

(Sorry for taking so long to post a starter!)

[Apollo.]

-PumpkinSprout-

PumpkinSprout padded through Riverclan territory, this was her first time outside of camp since she joined Riverclan. She had been so busy with the kits but one of the other Queens said she would watch them as the orange tabby took some time to go for a walk.

She sighed, she was completely lost. She knew she could just follow her own scent trail but she wanted to keep exploring. PumpkinSprout flicked the snow off her head with her ears.

She padded over the border without knowing, she kept looking around. She spotted the Windclan molly and padded up to her. "Hello," she scented the she cat "are you from a different Clan?" she leaned closer to Hazelcloud as she questioned her, she was around a mouse length apart from the WindClan she. "What's your name?" she asked, perhaps they had a different naming system in the other clans so naturally she was curious.

@I draw war cats

(It's all good -w-)

[Tuftdrawsanddoodles]

Hazelcloud, She/her

Hazelcloud took a step back, startled, her pelt fluffed up a bit. She nearly unsheathed her claws before taking a second glance at the cat. She seemed quite friendly, and rather clueless of being on a different Clan's territory. Hazelcloud relaxed a bit, her fur going flat again.

"Um, hello- Yea, I'm from WindClan, I'm assuming you didn't smell the border?" There was a note of uncertainty in her mew, maybe the molly needed to be in WindClan. "I'm Hazelcloud, you?"
@LeoDaLeaf

[Moonraven]

Originally Posted by Ravensong

@Moonraven @Pheasantflight

**Toadpounce**

The dark tom cocked his head, looking down at his apprentice, the hunting lesson momentarily forgotten. He recognized the fear scent, the unmistakable curling of her body; he'd seen it all so many times from the dying creatures he observed and experimented on, it was all so universal. And she hadn't caught a word he said... At least Beastpaw seemed more confident though equally as unwilling. His mind turned. Backing out of the hunting lesson would be awkward and counterproductive to his goal of gaining respect, right? But neither apprentice seemed to understand what he was trying to get at. Lionpaw hadn't even heard it. He could repeat everything he'd just said but would that also be seen as him being walked over? He tried to think of a more respectable warrior, a warrior who seemed to have it all together, what would they do? He had no idea. That was the issue, though, wasn't it? The reason he'd never been able to even feign fitting in.

So Toadpounce plastered on a smile and stammered hood-humoredly, "Oh, uh...it was...was it that bad? No...no, I'm...uh, well, here..." He popped his head up to scan the moor. He didn't see anything moving. He huffed lightly then came up with a plan. He turned back to the apprentices. "We'll hesd the rest of the way to the border and get marking and I'll keep my scenses out for prey...bonus points if either of you can pick any out...and if we come across anything then I'll demonstrate so you know what I'm talking about. Deal?"

Toadpounce turned and trotted through the grass. He tried to keep his reeling mind focused on the sounds around him, listening for anything outside of the gentle, rhythmic brushing of the wind through the heather. Scents could be deceiving with the wind...oh, that was worth mentioning! He turned his head slightly to look to the apprentices but kept his pace trotting towards the border. "Don't rely too heavily on scent out here on the open moor. The wind is a constant so you will only primarily pick up scents from downwind, that tells you nothing of what could be lying upwind from you. We can use that to our advantage as well, don't let it become a weakness."

Toadpounce slowed as the scent of Riverclan grew stronger. He parted his lips to draw in the scent. Their markers seemed stale but not neglected; that was reasonable enough. Windclan and Riverclan...oh, he stopped and turned back to the apprentices. "Windclan and Riverclan currently have a sort of alliance. We were recently at war with Shadowclan and now Riverclan is having trouble with them. But even with an alliance we cannot let our guards down and we must maintain boundaries. We are still separate clans. Get a good whiff of that...that's Riverclan. They enjoy swimming and find most of their prey in the waters of their territory." He rubbed a rock jutting out of the border to show Lionpaw and Beastpaw how to mark the borders. "The first best way to maintain boundaries is to keep our border markers fresh. That sends the message that we are not sitting idly just because we are allied."

Lionpaw could feel bother her brother and her mentor's eyes on her and she wanted to be swallowed into the ground. She didn't think Beastpaw was judging her, but Toadpounce probably wasn't happy with her performance. She needed to do better, but thinking it and doing it were two very different things. Beastpaw's presence was comfortable, which was nice, but he wasn't Leechpaw which made things a bit difficult. Leechpaw was better at getting her out of funks like this, she really wished that he had been allowed to come with her. He'd probably be really mean to her mentor though, just because. He was so confident with what he did that Lionpaw unconsciously drew strength from it, and Beastpaw made everything fun if not funny and together they made everything okay. Maybe she relied to much on her brothers to a point where it was hard to function without both of them?

Lionpaw's fear evaporated little by little the deeper she dove into her thoughts. Toadpounce's stuttering answer wasn't in the slightest reassure, or well it should be, but seeing the tom fumble for an answer reminded her that he was probably figuring all this stuff out like she was too. As he told them they were headed to the border, Lionpaw slowly got her legs and stuck and glued herself to Beastpaw, trailing behind the older cat. As the topic turned to scents, Lionpaw softly breathed in the air around her and wasn't getting anything known aside from heather and WindClan. What was downwind and upwind though? No one had taught her such terms and Toadpounce was being a little confusing.

The smells in the air changed to something strange, it made Lionpaw want to wrinkle her nose and rub her paw over her face. She didn't like the weird smell all that much. Oh! so that was RiverClan. She knew about RiverClan. Twilightstar has told her a tale or two since she was named after a cat in RiverClan. She couldn't recall his full name, just that he had been a Lion like she was. They were friends with them! Lionpaw blinked her eyes slowly when Toadpounce rubbed against a rock? Why was he doing that? He kept giving her a bunch of information, but not really explaining or showing her what to do. Lionpaw glanced at Beastpaw to see if he was as equally confused as she or if it was solely a 'Lionpaw' problem.

"What an upwind and a downwind?" Lionpaw questioned when she finally concluded that her mentor was doing telling her stuff. One of her mamas had told her there was no such thing as a stupid question, even Leechpaw answered all her questions cause she was learning! Padding tentatively away from Beastpaw, she mimicked Toadpounce as best she could, rubbing along the rock he had just rubbed on and padding back over to her brother. Toadpounce hadn't told her why they were rubbing on stuff nor that she was supposed to rub on something new, so rubbing where he had rubbed seemed to be the most logical plan of action.
@Pheasantflight

[carmen]

@Elmshadow@Moonraven
Beastpaw couldn't help but feel disappointed by Lionpaw's reaction to his attempt at comfort. Not that he had expected it to go better, but it still made him a bit sad. He tried his best, but Leechpaw was always better. But maybe, maybe it was just that he was better in certain circumstances. Maybe Beastpaw was better than his brother sometimes! If that was the case, he could compare, the best example being insults. He did dumb things enough so that he could tell the difference between a joke and something that was bad enough that he was supposed to stop.

It wasn't the same when Midnightpaw insulted him. He couldn't tell if she was serious or not, though with Leechpaw it was easy to tell. Not so much the joke and seriousness. Leechpaw never was joking, so that was the easy part. But with him, when Leechpaw plopped his paw on Beastpaw's head (which happened a lot) he knew that it was okay to let out a squeal of outrage. But when it came to Midnightpaw, he could never tell. But that wasn't the point he was trying to make. He was just trying to make himself feel like Lionpaw liked him and Beastpaw equally. Though, if it was up to Beastpaw, he'd prefer if she liked him just a bit more. Nothing of consequence, just enough to know he was somebody's favourite.

That would be nice. Shoot. It seemed like Toadpounce had been talking when he wasn't paying attention. Glorious. Huh. that was new. Beastpaw wasn't sure he had ever had a sarcastic thought. Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure what sarcasm was. It just sounded like something Leechpaw said. Oh no. Was he so jealous of Leechpaw that he started to sound like him? Would he start talking back to his elders now? He swallowed hard at the thought. He didn't think Ashmama would be able to handle two Leechpaw's. He didn't think anyone could handle two of anyone really. It would get boring after an amount of time.

But back to Toadpounce. The tom had finished his talk about whatever he was talking about and how gone ahead to ask about some sort of deal. "Uh, yes!" He smiled widely as he spoke, proud of the way that he sounded like he knew what was going on. Which he didn't, but that wasn't the point. He listened, managing to refrain from the multitude of questions as the older cat continued. "So..." He was going to summarize what he heard, something that Beastpaw did a lot. "So scent doesn't matter. Upwind is where food is. And Riverclan equals good, but Windclan equals best."

The young brown cats smile widened. He had done something right, or mostly right, he thought. His summary made sense, at least in his head, which meant, obviously, it made sense to everyone else. The smile froze over his face as Toadpounce began to rub against the rocks. What was he doing? Beastpaw looked to Lionpaw, hoping she was just as confused as he was. When the lilac molly didn't ask the question he was wondering, he looked back to Toadpounce. If it made sense to her, he should understand as well. Copying the movements of the others, he rubbed against the rock, and failed to mask his gag at Riverclan's fishy stench.

[Pitou]

@Moonraven @Pheasantflight

**Toadpounce**

Toadpounce started to walk back along the border but stopped as he realized he should wait for the apprentices to catch up. He was teaching, they'd be more or less imitating him, right? He turned and looked to Lionpaw. Oh. Toadpounce smiled and laughed self-consciously. "Oh, right. Well, upwind and downwind is...well, when the wind is blowing there's two directions, right?" Toadpounce jumped into the wind, positioning himself with his back to the wind and facing the two apprentices. "Right now I'm upwind from you two. It's a description of positioning. If you smell the wind you'll get my scent nice and strong." He trotted around and put himself with his face into the wind and looking at the two apprentices. "Now I'm downwind from you two. If you smell now, you won't be able to pick up my scent because it's blowing away from you." His mind suddenly reeled back to everything he'd said. Had he said that wrong the first time? He shrugged, hoping that if he had then his demonstration would help clear it up. What a dunce, this was an absolute failure.

He tried to get out of his head to follow Beastpaw's recital, nodding slowly. "Uh, yeah, right. Windclan equals best, definitely."

Toadpounce turned to watch the two apprentices, one of the other, rub against the same rock he'd just rubbed against. He smiled, realizing he never really explained that fully. He chuckled at himself. "Oh, uh, yeah, that was great. That's exactly what you do. You two have great observational skills. But we are going to do that all along this border. That's how we mark our border. If you focus your senses you can easily tell where our territory ends and Riverclan's begins. That's why we mark our borders like this. So our scent is strong and defines the border clearly."

The black and grey tom trotted down the line of the border slowly to allow the apprentices to check it out. He found another marker and stepped back to let Lionlaw or Beastpaw leave their mark. He stepped back and motioned towards the marker with his thin tail. "You can smell where some of our previous marks were laid. It's a faint scent of our own clan. Whe were out on a border patrol, our job is to remark those spots to keep our borders fresh. I'll let one of you refresh this one."

[Apollo.]

-PumpkinSprout-

The orange molly looked back to the border. "Is that what those scent markers were for?" she blinked confused, when she was a kittypet the housefolk marked their territory using fences. "Oh- And Hazelcloud is a really pretty name," PumpkinSprout smiled at Hazelcloud, then added "A good name for such a pretty cat"

She paused for a heartbeat and stared into Hazelclouds eyes, her own green eyes giving away nothing of what she was thinking.

PumpkinSprout quickly looked away. "ah- yes- My name is PumpkinSprout!" the tabby mewed happily, perhaps Hazelcloud would be her first friend since she moved to the clans.

@I draw war cats

[Tuftdrawsanddoodles]

[Hazelcloud, She/her]

Hazelcloud nodded. Yea- this cat definitely hasn't been with the Clans. Hazelcloud confirmed in her mind. I wonder what thats like

"Yea, so Clans don't take prey from others" Hazelcloud explained, "I assume you haven't been with the Clans long?" She voiced her thoughts with a tip of her head to the side. Hazelcloud had about a hundred questions to follow. What was it like before being a Clan cat? How different is it? What was she before a Clan cat? Did she like Clan life more or-"Oh, thanks" Hazelcloud smiled, cut off from her thoughts. Well, whatever this cat was, she was quite friendly, for a cat outside of WindClan.

"Oh, that's a pretty name too" Hazelcloud meowed, "So, were you a loner before you joined RiverClan?" She quickly moved to one of her first questions
@LeoDaLeaf