A midnight patrol (closed)

Sitting by the camp entrance, Mudfoot listened to the almost completely silent night air. A breeze ruffled the tom's sleek rusty coat and he watched as some dried leaves strumbled around in the camp clearing, soon falling gracefully to the ground bellow. Considering what he'd been through in the past moon or so, sitting alone was addmittingly enjoyable and he let out a sigh. Hopefully some cat would join him on a patrol to help him keep his thoughts from thinking about Wolffang yet again...

Smokestripe stepped from the warrior's den, his mouth parting in a large toothy yawn as he spared a glance around the camp. He blinked his eyes tiredly, hoping to catch a glimpse of Larksong or Ravenclaw but neither queen was to be seen. he huffed sadly as he gave his pelt a shake as he tried to wake himself up more until a brown pelt caught his attention. His ears perked as he quickly recognized what Mudfoot was waiting on, trotting across the clearing to join him. "Planning to go out on a patrol?" he asked the older warrior, a slight gleam in his eye. It had been far to long since he had spent any time with the warrior and couldn't help but think back on the fond memories of how much he admired the tom growing up - and still did.

Hearing the sound of pawsteps approach, Mudfoot turned his head to see Smokestripe. Giving a nod of greeting to the warrior, the tom stood up and gave his stiff hind legs a good stretch, seeing that he'd been sitting down for who knows how long.

"That was the plan. Care to join me?" he asked with a smile, though it was noticbl duller than it had been in the past. After everything he'd been through so far, it was definitly enough to make a cat's grin lose it's gleefulness, but he prayed to StarClan that going on a patrol would help him take his mind off things for a bit. Besides, he hadn't spent much time with his fellow warrior lately so he might as well take this time to grow closer to a clan-mate instead of just sitting around.

"I would love to," Smokestripe purred, his tone carrying much more life to it then Mudfoot's. There was a slight hesitation as the tom picked up the heaviness that the much older tom was carrying but didn't feel in the right to ask so he said nothing. He shifted on his paws as he turned his gaze up to the sky as he waited for Mudfoot to lead him out of the camp, taking in a moment to appreciate the beauty of the night sky.

Getting up from sitting down, Mudfoot lead Smokestripe out of the camp and into the marshy territory. "I was going to go on a regular patrol but I guess we should take this time to hunt instead," he mewed and headed to nowhere in particular. After a few moments of walking in silence, he turned to the grey tom. "So, how's being a father going for you?" he asked in attempt to start small talk.

Smokestripe nodded his head as he followed the older warrior, happy enough to do a bit of hunting. It was nice, being able to feed the Clan like that and it had to be one of his favorite activities out of spending times with his loved ones of course. Nothing could beat spending the day with Ravenclaw and Larksong. He allowed his gaze to shift around the territory as the two walked in silence, blinking in surprise when Mudfoot spoke up. "Oh...Its been nice," he said with a soft purr as he glanced at the red warrior. "This isn't our first litter..." Which in truth was a half-lie. While he loved Yewpaw and missed Pinepaw dearly, they had never been truly his kits but had accepted covering for Ravenclaw to protect her. "But its exciting seeing them grow up so quickly. They are going to be apprentices before I even know it," he added with a small happy laugh.

Listening to the tom, Mudfoot could relate and simply nodded his head in agreement. "Kits are definitely something else," the tom chuckled, though it hurt him more than it should've to think about them. His kits were either dead or disliked him, and other than Redpaw, he couldn't help but feel a bit lonely. Trying to shake away the negative thoughts, Mudfoot focused on the task at hand. "It's nice to hear that you were blessed by StarClan to have another healthy litter," the warrior mewed with a dull smile as the two of them neared the center of the marshy territory where they would be hunting tonight.

OOC: apologies for the late reply

Smokestripe nodded his head, before a pained expression flickered across his face. "Its...Been hard since Pinepaw died for both Ravenclaw and I but I think these kits will help her feel more like herself even if she had decided to remain in the nursery even once they become apprentices," he said with a soft shake of his head. He still remembered the night of stumbling across Pinepaw's cold body and having to break the news of their son's death to her...He blinked as he paused, tasting the air before he turned to look at Mudfoot. "Should we start hunting?"

OOC: thought I posted but it didn't send...?

IC: "I'm sorry for your loss, I know how hard it can be to lose a kit," Mudfoot replied after Smokestripe finished, thinking about the kits and even mates he'd lost in the past. "Well, at least you both have each other," he tried to sound as reassuring as possible as the two toms padded along. The two of them soon came to a stop at their destination. "Sounds like a great idea," the older warrior mewed and turned in the direction in which he'd start hunting at.