A Copper Hued Finch [Closed]

It was a beautiful night, the stars shimmered as the moon hung in the sky. There wasn't a cloud in sight to block it and Smokestripe smiled softly as he stared up at the sky. It was a great night to do a border patrol. Having just come out of the warriors den, Smokestripe stretched out his limbs before turning and heading for the apprentice den. It felt odd having three apprentices, Badgerpaw, Copperpaw and Finchpaw but it was a responsibility that Smokestripe was sure he could handle with ease. With how perfect of a night it was, the idea of doing a border patrol was hard to pass up and he decided taking Copperpaw and Finchpaw seemed like a good idea. They were both eager apprentices and he was sure they would get along great. So he poked his head into the apprentice den as he scanned for the two apprentices, spotting them. Pulling himself in, he strolled over and gently poked each of them awake. "Copperpaw, Finchpaw, wake up," he whispered softly, hoping the two had gotten a good days rest. "Meet me at the entrance of the camp, we are going to do a border patrol." Without waiting for a response, he turned and left the den before sitting down at the entrance of the camp, curling his tail around his paws as he waited for them. Glancing at the fresh kill pile as he waited, he noted that perhaps he would teach Finchpaw to do some hunting on the way back to camp.

"Who you calling Pokeypaws?" Copperpaw grumbled jokingly as he followed Finchpaw towards the entrance of the camp. He too had moss all over his fur, so he was also trying to shake it all off as he was heading otu of camp. "This is my second time hunting today, but this time it's dark out!" He exclaimed loudly.

Smokestripe smiled as he watched the two apprentices leave the den, both poking fun at each other. He was happy that they were already getting along - they seemed to have similar personality which was good. "We are going on a border patrol, Copperpaw," Smokestripe pointed out lightly as the two reached him. "There may be some hunting on the way back but it won't be our main focus, alright?" He glanced at his two apprentices. "Are you two ready to set out?"

Copperpaw's gaze changed when his mentor pointed out that the main focus was not going to be hunting. "Oh, sorry. I thought we were just going hunting."He said looking at his mentor, "But I am ready to out anyway." He looked to see if his fellow apprentice was behind him.

Smokestripe simply chuckled lightly at Copperpaw apologized before blinking at Finchpaw spoke up. He frowned softly as he met the apprentice's gaze. "We will be exploring the WindClan and ThunderClan borders but I doubt we will run into any trouble. We are at peace with the other Clans," he announced but he did note that Blazeflight had been attacked by that ThunderClan warrior not long ago. Hopefully their small group wouldn't run into her...He opened his mouth, ready to say something else when Finchpaw quickly left the camp. He frowned in slight announce but he couldn't deny the smile that was there as he followed suit.

The moment he exited into the territory his mouth was open, ready to keep note of any prey around before blinking taking note of Finchpaw's scent behind him - still in the entrance. He spared a quick glance behind him with a smile before deciding to play along with Finchpaw's little game. "Finchpaw? Where did you go?" he called out although his tone was far from convincing. If Finchpaw wanted to play a game, so be it, Smokestripe could play along.

Copperpaw excitedly followed Smokestripe and Finchpaw out of the camp. Suddenly, he noticed that Finchpaw seemed to have disappeared into the shadows. "Hey where did Finchpaw go?" Copperpaw asked. His nose could still strongly pick up his denmate's scent, telling him that he was still very near by but yet he was hidden somewhere. Maybe Finchpaw was planning a surprise attack.

Smokestripe glanced over at Copperpaw with a faint smile, quickly catching on that he was left unaware of Finchpaw's little game. He only gave a shrug in return before allowing his gaze to roam the forest. His ears perked when he heard the sound of pawsteps, quickly turning jut to see Finchpaw open his mouth. On instinct his ears fell flat, blocking a good part of the yowl but it still sent him reeling from how loud it was. For a second, he found himself angry. They were close to the camp - a yowl like that could have startled everybody and thought they were being attacked but he quickly shoved down the anger as he shook his head.

"StarClan that was loud..." he muttered under his breath before clearing his throat. "There you are Finchpaw!" he said with doing his best to act shocked yet relieved while trying to hide his prior hint of anger. "You had me worried! I didn't detect you at all! You truly are a ShadowClan cat," he added with a grin. It wasn't false - Finchpaw had been smart, using the shadows to hide himself. If it hadn't been his for scent, Smokestripe would have been unaware of him hiding like that. It was a skill that would be helpful for hunting no doubt.

Copperpaw jumped at Finchpaw's suddenly loud yowl. His head immediately shot towards the direction that his ears heard the yowl come from, which was up in the branches hanging lowly above. "Oh there you are Finchpaw." Copperpaw said with a chuckle. He had to admit that he was impressed with his friend's surprise move because he didn't see it coming, even though he suspected when Finchpaw went mising that he was hiding somewhere. "I could tell you were near because of your scent being near, but if it wasn't for that I also wouldn't have been able to tell that you were nearby." He pushed the thought back into his mind, storing it as it might be a tool he could use when he got in a real fight.

[justifyHis whiskers flicked forward in a smile and he let out a prideful purr. He knew he had much to learn still but the praise from both his friend and his mentor ment a lot to him. He turned his eyes toward Smokestripe and blinked at him. He flicked his tail slowly back and forth and he tilted his head to one side. "So where to exactly?" He mewed to his mentor. He was so excited he couldn't wait to get to know the territory. [/justify]

Smokestripe was relieved that Copperpaw didn't seem annoyed at Finchpaw's little game and was in fact rather pleased that the two of them seemed to be getting along. He dipped his head in agreement of Copperpaw's words before glancing at Finchpaw. At least Finchpaw was ready to go now that he got that out of his system - Smokestripe just wished he hadn't done it so close to the camp. "The WindClan border is first," he said as he turned and started to led his two apprentices in that direction. "ShadowClan shares borders with three of the other four Clans - WindClan, ThunderClan and SkyClan. While where our border lies with SkyClan is a bit murky due to having our scent markers separate the two Clans, our borders with Thunderclan and WindClan are set in stone as we are separated by a black path that Monsters patrol," he explained as he walked, wanting to explain to them as much as he could along with giving them plenty of time to ask questions if they had them.

Copperpaw followed SMokestripe to the WindClan border and listened as each territory was being explained. As they neared the border he immediately caught a wiff of WindClan's scent. His nose wrinkled a bit in disgust, but them realized that he and his clan must smell funny to the other four clans so he decided not to say anything about it. He didn't want to be rude by saying anything. All he did was sneeze twice because of the change of smell.

He padded after his mentor his mind following the flow of words and descriptions of the clan boundaries. His eyes darting back and forth over the undergrowth taking in all that he could see. placed to hide, a tree to climb to dive bomb cats. Berries to smear to look like blood. That would be a good one. He mused to himself flicking his tail and placing a mental note on where they were located. He opened his mouth to speak to Smokestripe when a disgusting scent hit his nose. He coughed and spluttered wiping his tongue with his paw. "Ugh! That's the most terrible smell ever!" He spat. He shook his head as if trying to ward off any further contact with the smell and looked at Smokestripe. Do all the other clans smell that disgusting?" He asked plastering his ears against his head in disgust and glancing at Copperpaw.