The Time Has Come.... [Eaglepaw's Assessment]

Moonlight was waiting near the Half Stone patiently, the sun barely rising on the horizon. She had told Eaglepaw to join her there at dawn before he went to sleep inside the apprentice’s den last night. She had seen him grow up as she trained him, and now she had ran out of things she could teach him at all, what only could mean one thing…it was time for his final test, for him to prove that he was ready to become a full warrior, for his assessment. She had picked that specific spot after making sure that no foxes were around and that a fairly decent number of prey could still be found around, and even then she was already taking note of her apprentice’s behavior. She just hoped he would show up in time.

Eaglepaw stepped onto the hard, pack earth that was the ground around the halfstone. He had grown a lot since their first training session. Despite the prey shortage and lack of food, his muscles rippled under his sleek brown and white pelt. His eyes shone with anticipation. Today was the day he would prove himself worthy of being a Skyclan warrior. As he padded towards his mentor, he dipped his head in a respectful greeting. These past few moons, Moonlight had taught him so much. With her guidance his natural abilities were shaped into fine skill.

"I'm ready, Moonlight," He meowed confidently.

OOC: Sorry for taking so long!!! I had a lot of work dropped on me that was due today and had to go inactive for a couple days

Moonlight smiled and nodded, he arrived on time, thing that pleased her. He hadn’t lost the interest and determination that he had the first day after he became an apprentice, and that gave her hope of seeing him grow up to become a great warrior someday “I’m sure you know why I called you here today, Eaglepaw. After each training session I have less things to teach to you, and based on your progress, I think you’re ready for your assessment” She said the words somewhat slow to give time to the apprentice to let them sink in “Now, you’ll need to bring me three pieces of prey before the sun goes down to pass this test. I’ll be watching and evaluating you even if you can’t see me, and one very important thing you must remember is that I can’t help you at all, you’re alone in this. Good Luck” With those words Moonlight turned around and used some nearby bushes to hide, willing to follow her apprentice around without letting him notice to evaluate how well he did.

OCC: I get it. That's me right now lol

Three pieces of prey... the order rang in his head. It would be tough with the days getting colder and colder, prey getting scarcer and scarcer. Eaglepaw puffed out his chest confidently and lifted his head to scent the air. He could do it. Besides the faint smell of Skyclan, there was something else. Mouse! He lowered himself to the ground, ears perked in an attempt to pick up on movement. Not too long after, there was the limp body of a mouse in his jaws. One down. The apprentice buried it quickly and carried on. Everything his mentor had taught him about hunting swam in his mind. In order to impress her, he would have to get things right. Shortly after, squirrel scent filled his nostrils. He caught sight of it. Scrawny, but the clan needed every scrap they could find. This time, his paw kicked a rock as he crept up on his prey.
"Mouse-dung," He cursed, flinging himself after the now alerted squirrel. Thankfully, his long claws still managed to hook themselves into the fur on it's haunches. Just barely a catch. He hoped this was not something his mentor had seen, but knew it probably was. Eaglepaw shook his head and tried to shake off the failure. Only one more to go. He kicked up dirt over the squirrel pelt and continued on. Surprisingly, the time had passed quickly. He was coming to the end of his assessment. Now if only he didn't mess this one up too..

Moonlight followed her apprentice, silent as a shadow between the bushes and whatever hiding place that could be found on the territory of their clan. Her eyes carefully followed his every move. She usually would go a lot easier on the young tom, but this wasn’t just an everyday training session where she could just point out his mistakes and know that in the next training session they would be able to work on them. No…. This was his last test before becoming a full warrior, and even if she trusted that he could fix any mistakes on his own with time she still had to be careful on her choice of whether he passed his assessment or he needed more training.

She lowered her ears when she noticed his slip-up, and her only relief was to see him catch the prey. She would need to point it out to him after he gathered the required pieces of prey, but if the squirrel had managed to get away it would’ve been a huge miss on his behalf, especially when prey was so scarce that a slip-up of that kind could mean that a cat could go hungry for that day.

Eaglepaw's claws scraped the ground as he stalked through the forest. Briefly his thoughts drifted to Hazepaw, wondering if she was stalking the marshes in her own assessment. He shook his head with a growl, now was not the time to let those thoughts distract him from becoming a warrior. Finally, he heard something. This time is was a sparrow. Small, but it would do. Within seconds, he had pinned it to the ground and quickly dispatched it. This time, though, instead of burying it he took it gingerly between his teeth. Quickly, he raced back through the forest to collect the rest of the prey that he caught. After a bit he had made it back to the halfstone and dropped the mouth full of freshkill on the ground.

Moonlight smiled as her apprentice caught the last piece of prey he needed to fulfill his assessment, following him back to the Halfstone but only walking out from her hiding place once he dropped the fresh kill “You did fairly good…though some mistakes must be addressed” She got infront on the apprentice, the prey being the only thing between them “You need to be more careful, Eaglepaw. You must stay focused on your prey, you did well there, but you must also take notice of your surroundings to avoid unpleasant surprises…like stones in your path” Her voice was unusually serious, hoping that he would pay attention to her words and remember them “However, you caught the squirrel, and that saved you from failing your assessment. I’ll tell Crowstar about this, and I think it would be a good idea to welcome you to the warrior ranks, even if it’s still a bit early” Moonlight smiled and stood up, grabbing some of the prey to help Eaglepaw and starting to walk back to camp, waiting for the apprentice to follow her.

Eaglepaw's ears pricked attentively as she spoke.
"Thank you, Moonlight," He dipped his head respectfully. He had lucked out in getting a great mentor. Because of her, he would soon become a warrior. Soon, Eaglepaw would be able to battle along side the other warriors and foght for his clan. Something crept into his thoughts, something he had not considered before. What if he had to fight against Hazepaw? He'd thought about mentioning his friend to Fawnsplash, but never really had the chance. He wanted some answers and had no one else he trusted.
"Moonlight?" Eaglepaw finally ventured on their way back to camp, "Have you ever had a friend from another clan?".

Moonlight turned her head to look at her apprentice when she heard him saying her name, wondering what would be on his mind. She, however, wasn’t really expecting such question “Well…not exactly friends, but I know a couple cats, why?” She had to speak somewhat slowly for her words to be understandable even with her jaws closed around the prey she was carrying. She had met several cats from another clans before, some in better circumstances than others, but never had a formal friendship with them. She wasn’t really against such thing, but is still was enough for her curiosity to grow.

"Well..." He hesitated, shifting his paws uncomfortably, "I met a cat out hunting before at Fourtrees". Eaglepaw didn't know what more to say other than that. The tom rarely shared much of anything with other cats. He gave off a tough, self-sufficient vibe. But, he felt like Moonlight deserved to know he'd been seeing someone outside the clan. Eaglepaw trusted her more than any other cat and wanted to know if what he was doing was wrong.

OOC: Sorry for posting till now, school kept me busy for way longer than expected

Moonlight tilted her head with her apprentice’s words. Her first thought was to ask him why he would hunt at Fourtrees, since even if it wasn’t exactly breaking the code due to the neutral position of that territory it wasn’t that common either. However, she decided to just let that slide for now “Well, meeting cats from another clans at Fourtrees isn’t that much of a surprise, we all are allowed to go there”

OCC: It's okay. I understand.

"Oh okay," He meowed simply, picking back up the prey he had dropped to talk.