A Snake and Russet in Smoke

Snakepaw sat outside the apprentice den. He sat and looked around. He just ate, and now he wanted to just watch the clearing. He turned to a clanmate walking to him.

"Hi, I'm Russetkit," the brave little tom kit piped as he approached the apprentice. The ruddy tom had just woken up, and he was all energized and ready to play.

Smokestripe found himself bored. Without an apprentice, he simply had his simple warrior duties to do but there was no patrols for him to join so he found himself wandering around the camp in search of something to do. His eyes finally landed on an apprentice was sitting outside of the apprentice den, watching as a kit bounded up to Snakepaw and introduced himself. He blinked for a second before he shrugged, strolling over to the two. "Hello," he greeted the both of them with a slight dip of his head.

Snakepaw turned to them. He nodded back. "Hello. What are your names?"  he asked.

The kit looked over as he heard a large set of pawsteps approach. A warrior! Russetkit loved talking to the warriors! They were all so big and strong and brave. "Hi, I'm Russetkit!" Between the apprentice and the warrior, Russetkit looked like a small, ruddy mouse.

"My name is Smokestripe," the warrior purred as he saw the joy on Russetkit's face at his arrival. It seemed far to long since he had interacted properly with anybody outside of his den - most of his time was spent hanging out with Larksong, Ravenclaw or Shadewillow.

Snakepaw listened. "I'm Snakepaw." he said. He looked at the two. "My mentor is gone. So now I just do apprentice work in the camp, unless I can join another patrol." he added.

Russetkit peered longingly up at the apprentice with a strong desire. Mentor? Patrols? Cool! Russetkit wanted to be an apprentice so badly, that the angst of the wait was nipping away at him. "You are an apprentice?" He asked Snakepaw, even though the answer was obvious. Russetkit just wanted to hear more about apprenticeship.

Snakepaw looked down. "Yes. Maybe when you become one, your mentor could take you on a patrol, and I may ask to join." he said.

Smokestripe nodded softly as Snakepaw introduced himself but frowned when he mentioned his mentor was gone. Who was Snakepaw's mentor? His mind searched for an answer to that question but didn't feel it was right to ask so he simply turned his attention to the kit as he spoke up before the gaze flickered back to Snakepaw as the apprentice answered. "Perhaps if you are lucky Russetkit, I'll be your mentor," he said with a slight purr of amusement.

Russetkit's green eyes lit with pure excitement. "Really?" he asked Smokestripe. "I definitely want you to be my mentor! Look at you! You are so strong and cool! I bet you are the best warrior in Shadowclan...no, the whole forest," the tom purred. Then, he looked over at Snakepaw. "We will be in the same den when I become an apprentice, too! Is being an apprentice fun? I bet you are the best apprentice there is!"

Snakepaw was a bit flattered by the kit. "You do get to explore the territory and train in fighting and hunting. But I'm sure it is a lot more exciting to be a warrior than an apprentice." he answered.

Smokestripe chuckled as the kit praised him, shifting on his paws. While he was happy that the kit seemed to think of him highly, he was far from the best warrior in the forest. If anything, Ravenclaw as a better warrior then him - taking on a badger by herself to save Larksong. She was brave while he had only attacked the beast with the knowledge of having a patrol behind him. But...Who was he to crush this kit's dream so he simply shook his head with a smile as Snakepaw spoke up. "Eh, not really," he said with a shrug. "While we don't need to do the training, I still need to go on patrols every day. We do get a bit more freedom but I wouldn't say its a lot more exciting. Exciting, sure, but not by much."

Russetkit nodded and shifted his paws. He was talking to a warrior and an apprentice at the same time. He felt like the coolest kit in the forest. "Have you guys ever fought another clan? Was it fun or hard?" Russetkit questioned, eager to learn everything there is to know about being an apprentice and warrior. He wasn't quite sure where Shadowclan stood with the other clans - like which clans were their allies and which were their enemies - but he knew stories of other clans attacking Shadowclan.

Snakepaw looked at Russetkit in amusement. "I haven't been in a battle yet, a real one anyways." he said.