The Innocent and The Unforgiven [C]

Klaus had been very careful to instruct Tarot to never call him Klaus in front of Dawnpaw. He intended to allow her to return home, as it had been weeks and not a single Skyclan patrol had been scented outside of Skyclan territory. They had received his warning, it seemed. They did not try to follow him either. Admittedly, he felt himself begin to relax maybe too much. He found himself lounging around the old Asylum camp, ordering his far too happy niece to hunt for him on days when it was hot and he wasn't in the mood to go out. She had proved herself a skilled hunter, and for that he was grateful. However, he knew that if he didn't do something now, he was going to get out of shape and soft. It was still fairly early in the morning when he stretched luxuriously in the Nightstriker's crumbling quarters. The small white and gold fluff that was Dawnpaw was sleeping... well if she was any closer they'd be conjoined at the hip.

"Wake up Dawnpaw. We're going to do some exploring today. I want to teach you some stuff." He stood up carefully so as not to roll her into a rock or something, but just roughly enough to try to nudge her away. Klaus stepped out of the make-shift den and waited for her to follow him. Starclan would not approve of anythig he was about to show her, but that was the point. If they didn't like it, then maybe they ought to come do something about it. But they wouldn't. Starclan never did anything.

Dawnpaw yawned. Her eyelids fluttered. She’d been having a particularly nice dream, with Prima and Stag and Smokema and Hawkuncle and all… she kinda wanted to see Prima and Stag and Smokema again, but then she wasn’t being thankful for what she had. She stretched and rose to her paws, giving her fur a quick once-over before joining her uncle. “What are we doing today, Hawkuncle?” She wasn’t sure if there was much more for her to learn. She even knew some herbs, something no regular warrior knew. (She was rather proud of that part, and looked forwards to showing Prima and Stag. Maybe Beechaunt would be happy!) A quick glance at the sky revealed puffy clouds in the shapes of cats. “Oooh! Look! There’s us! In the sky!” She grinned broadly, craning her neck to look up. “I’m waving my tail!” Dawnpaw waved her tail back to the Cloud-Dawnpaw. Clouds were so fun.

Klaus opened his mouth to explain to Dawnpaw that they were going to go on an educational adventure, when she started to speak again. He looked up to where she indicated and he squinted. A rough shape of.... yeah two cats... was in the sky. He stared at them for a few seconds, though it hardly filled him with joy as it did with Dawnpaw. She was young still... very young. He wasn't going to ruin anything for her. There was plenty of time in Skyclan to suffer the responsibilities of warriorhood. For now, she was content to be happy and find joy in the small things in life.

"That's probably you and your mother. Dawnhawk isn't allowed in the sky anymore, remember?" He hadn't meant to sound so... bitter. For the most part, he'd gotten over being banished, but that didn't mean there wasn't tender wounds deep inside still.

"I want to show you everything that is around this place. Maybe one day, after I bring you back home, you can find it again. But you have to promise me that you'll keep this place a secret, alright? It's only for us and those that discover it themselves. Can you do that?"

He didn't really expect her to keep that secret, but nor did he intend to keep staying in one spot forever. If she told Skyclan where the location of this place was, then so be it. He didn't think they'd be so keen to leave their camp unguarded again though. Maybe at the very least it would be interesting to see who stayed and who still wanted to go hunting for him.

"Follow me. If you get hungry let me know. This is going to take all day, so I hope you're ready." And with that, Klaus lead Dawnpaw towards Highstones.


He wasn't going to go into the mothermouth. He was far too afraid of what would happen if he did.

"When you make your moonstone journey, Beechface will lead you here. You go inside, you touch your nose to the stone, you talk to Starclan. Tell them I'd appreciate it if they left me alone." And kill Smokefeather if they want Skyclan's suffering on my behalf to end. But he wasn't about to share that part. If she made a move to go inside, he would put a forelimb in the way. He didn't bring her here so she could commune with dead cats that hated him... especially when he had put several there himself.

He turned his attention to the moor that stretched out far around them.

"See all of this grass? It's the moor. This is Windclan territory. I used to live here, until Skyclan sent their warriors after me and Lilacstar made me leave. That was stupid on her behalf. I would have defended Windclan and the family that I have there... instead I ended up in Skyclan camp while they were away. Now I have you." He paused a moment to see how she'd react to this information. He knew that she knew, but he wondered how much of her memories she had repressed and if he could draw them back out.

Dawnpaw tilted her head at her uncle. She opened her mouth to point out it was most definitely a Cloud-Dawnpaw and a Cloud-Hawkuncle (he should know by now she knew these things) but then Hawkuncle started to talk again. “Oooh! Okay! I won’t tell, promise!” She and Hawkuncle got to have a secret! No… secrets were mean-like… then it was a surprise. It was a surprise and one day he’d tell her to tell Smokema and Prima and Stag and everyone would laugh. Yes. Dawnpaw excitedly trotted after her uncle, wondering what they were going to do today!

Dawnpaw stood in front of a mouth of stone, ready to eat her alive. She took a few steps back, fur bristling.”Oh- okay… I… it wants to eat me… do I have to come here with Beechaunt? Can’t I just… I don’t know.” She turned to the moor and gazed out over it, awed by the expanse. Hawkuncle used to live here? But- Dawnpaw shut off that train of thought and tuned out her uncle for a few moments. “It’s so big… and no trees… how did you not get lost?” She herself felt exposed, like a bug on a rock that could be scraped off and squished… but maybe it was the mouth of stone at her back that did that. Influenced her. Yeah. The mouth was mean, and Dawnpaw didn’t think that lightly. She quickly turned her head to look at it, half expecting that it had crept closer while her back was turned… eeergh, she had to go in?

Her reaction to the mothermouth made him curious. She had no reason to fear Starclan... was it the dark that scared her? "Every apprentice must make the journey." It was the only answer he could give her. Klaus's eyes went back to the moor as she questioned how to not get lost. He nodded upwards towards the sky.

"The sun always rises from one direction and sets in the other. If it rises on your left, you are traveling towards Skyclan territory. If it rises on your right, you are heading back to our old camp back there. If it rises in front of you and you're at Fourtrees, you will hit Thunderclan territory, the thunderpath and Shadowclan territory. If it rises behind you from Fourtrees, you will travel to Riverclan territory and part of the moor." His eyes expertly traveled to the location of Windclan camp based on the time of day and the sun's location. "Navigating with the sun takes practice but it's reliable. It doesn't change."

He then nodded in the direction of Windclan camp and even pointed with his nose.

"Windclan Camp is marked by a tall rock... called Tallrock... that rises up out of the moor. In an endless sea of grass, it stands out once you're close enough to see it. It's approximately right there." He then looked at his niece.

"Windclan can navigate their territory by tunnels as well. They're made from old rabbit and badger burrows. They can be dangerous because they might collapse on you, but they are available if you ever need to cross through Windclan territory unseen. We're going to have to use some of these right now, because we have to pass through the moor to get where we are going next."

Klaus then padded forward, expecting her to follow. Onto the moor they went. His eyes scanned the ground for tell-tale signs of holes; grasses that weren't very even in length indicating a change in the ground's elevation. It didn't take him long to find a tunnel.

"I'll go in first, just stay close. They can get dark so you'll have to feel with your whiskers. If you hear rumbling, it means the tunnel is collapsing. Turn around and run. Get out of the tunnel system at the first opening you find." He knew she was probably scared, but time was of the essence. She would just have to be brave for now. He ducked down into the tunnel, inhaled deeply to try and detect the presence of predators close by. So far it seemed that this particular tunnel hadn't been used by anything in quite some time. Hopefully it would stay stable as they passed through.

On occasion, Klaus would find an opening in the tunnel system and carefully poke his head out to see where they ended up. They were traveling underneath Windclan territory, though the going was slower than he would have liked. He would ask Dawnpaw if she needed a break from being in the tunnels once he was sure no Windclan patrols were nearby. He would allow her a few minutes above ground before insisting that she follow him back in. Windclan patrols wouldn't take kindly to seeing him again, most likely. They especially might not be too happy to find a Skyclan apprentice on their territory after the battle they had just experienced, but this was the only way to start taking his niece back home.

“It does?!?” Dawnpaw gasped in amazement, looking up at the sky. That was so cool. How did it know which side to come from? How did it not get lost? If everything else navigated by the sun what did the sun navigate by? “Tallrock? Did they steal the name from our Tallbranch? I wonder which one’s taller.”

Dawnpaw followed her uncle, although she shrunk back a bit at the mention of tunnels. Tunnels. Yay. Rumbling? Dark? Eeergh… “I don’t think I’d make a good WindClan cat,” she mewed quietly as she followed Hawkuncle into the tunnel, paws trembling. She hated the dark, and hate was the most foreign of emotions to Dawnpaw. Whenever she had an opportunity to get out of the tunnels she took it gladly, gazing around as though her eyes would pop out of her head. Eventually it seemed they’d spent an age under the ground, drowning in the dark, and Dawnpaw ventured a tentative question. “Are- are we almost there?” She wasn’t being impatient- just scared. She wanted this to be over.

Maybe they had stolen the name from Tallbranch, but it wasn't like the clans had been creative with what they called things. Tallbranch. Tallrock. High Rock. Great Rock. He shrugged in response to the question, but chalked it up in his head that the clans simply lacked imagination. Once they had broken through another tunnel opening and he allowed Dawnpaw a break, he frowned at her question.

"I'm sorry, no. The moor is huge. It will take us until dark to get out of it. Do you want to take a break for now and eat?" It had been some time since they woke up. He hadn't heard or scented a Windclan patrol... not once. Where had they gone? Was the moor too big even for all of Windclan?

"Normally when you take your moonstone journey, Beechface will have you eat herbs that keep your hunger at bay. Well I don't have any of those, so we'll hunt. We have to eat fast and bury whatever is left. The scent of blood could attract unwanted attention."

His eyes scanned the moor, spotting rabbits and a few birds. He didn't bother eyeing any hares. Hares were massive... and even with two cats they wouldn't be able to completely eat an entire hare. He wanted as little evidence as possible that they had even been through Windclan territory.

OOC: If we decide to hunt with the hunting system, we use Windclan rolls, according to staff, because that's the location these characters are currently in.

“Eat? I don’t think I’m hungry…” Dawnpaw’s stomach betrayed her, letting out a rumble. She looked down at herself in surprise. “Oh.” She looked out at the moor, wondering just how big it was. WindClan must always have enough to eat, no matter the season. She did wonder how they lived off hares, though. “They must get terrible hairballs.” From eating all the fur. Though, ThunderClan would probably get more hairballs, from squirrels and mice and whatnot. She wondered what RiverClan got. Hiccups?

Dawnpaw looked up at her uncle. “I don’t really know how to hunt in… all this. Won’t the prey see me coming way far off? Does WindClan ever use that to their advantage? I mean, if the prey is all heading one direction there’s probably something happening at the source. Ooh! Like falling stars!.” That was a great idea, self! Like birds. If she saw a lot of birds suddenly flying off from not far off, she usually hid. Usually it was nothing, but someday it might be something.

Klaus chuckled when Dawnpaw's stomach rumbled. Not hungry? For some reason he doubted that. "Hunting on the moor is definitely different from hunting like a Skyclan cat. Remember when I taught you to stay in a tree and wait for the sun to come up, how it blinds prey from finding you? Well obviously that isn't going to work here." He dropped into a crouch, this time ready to teach her the art of the stalk. "Most of the moor grass is high enough to hide in, but you have to be very careful not to let yourself become higher than the grass, especially since we both have bright fur."

He began to stalk forward, his belly so low to the ground it nearly touched it. His head, neck, shoulders, back and tail were in one straight line.

"You also need to be aware of which way the wind is blowing. Stay downwind of your prey, or they'll smell you and be long gone." He pricked his ears forward and slowly turned his head in different directions, using the wetness of his nose as well as the sensitive hairs in his ears to figure out which way the wind was blowing. Once he found out where it was going, Klaus indicated where it was coming from with a nod of his head in that direction.

"I'll catch something for us, though you're welcome to try to hunt on the moor if you'd like. We just need to bury whatever we don't finish so the scent doesn't carry. Alright?" And with that, Klaus moved stealthily into position to locate a rabbit. It didn't take him long to scent one and spot it on a hillside. He flattened himself to the ground as much as he could and slowly, patiently made his way toward it as it nibbled on grass.

Once he was within a reasonable striking distance, he bolted forward, using his explosive speed that was left over from his Windclan training to close the gap between himself and his prey.

Klaus attempted to catch a rabbit on Windclan territory! He was Unsuccessful. A Weasel has appeared!

-3SP

Klaus might have been able to catch that rabbit... he had been close... but a flash of gray-brown to his right startled him off of his prey. He watched as something between a cat and a snake began to head straight for Dawnpaw. A weasel! He spun on his heel and raced across the grass, adrenaline fueling him with every stride.

"Get out of the way Dawnpaw! Dodge it!" He yelled, fully aware that this could end up attracting a Windclan patrol. They needed to end this thing fast and be out of this area immediately. The weasel lunged for the apprentice and Klaus lunged for the weasel.

Weasel used Gripping Bite on Dawnpaw, dealing 7 damage and -15SP

Klaus used Jumping Strike on Weasel, dealing 12 (9 + 3 for opponent not being focused on him) damage and -7SP

Weasel
8HP / 120SP (-12HP from Klaus's attack) (-15SP for Gripping Bite)

Klaus
70HP / 150SP (-7SP)

Dawnpaw
13HP / 60SP (-7HP)

The member 'Tara' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 10

Dawnpaw watched her uncle carefully, following some distance behind him. At places, the grass was above her head. It was another world, one she wasn’t sure she enjoyed. Trees were good. This? Kinda scary like. She shook out her fur and started sniffing around for some prey. Surely there was something nearby? She wasn’t sure if she could catch anything, but she’d try! Just as she was sneaking up on a bird, Hawkuncle shouted, scaring her bird. Processing the tone before the words, she attempted to leap out of the way of… whatever that was currently biting her paw. At least she’d been fast enough so it missed her throat. A startled and scared yowl burst out of her throat. It didn’t hurt- at least, not that bad, but she was scared.

Dawnpaw frantically rolled onto her back, lashing out at the furry snake with her hind legs. “Hawkuncle!” She cried out, blindly lashing out with unsheathed claws as the furry snake clamped down even tighter on her paw. It hurt! It was actually hurting now! She wanted it to stop! Just like that, the furry snake thing loosened its grip and lay limp on the ground. Dawnpaw crouched on the ground, breathing hard and giving her paw a few licks. It wasn’t too bad, but it had bled enough to scare her. “I think… I’m alright… what is that?” Her paw still hurt. At least the blood flow was lessening.

Dawnpaw used Belly Rake, dealing 9 damage and costing 15 stamina. It was successful!

Weasel
0 (-9) HP/ 120 SP

Dawnpaw
13 HP/ 45 (-15) SP  

The member 'Cocoa' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Effect Dice' : 5

Just as quickly as it had began, it was over. Dawnpaw, surprisingly, split the weasel rom belly to throat and dropped the creature before it could do too much damage. Klaus hooked the dead weasel with a forepaw and tossed it away. "It's a weasel. They're everywhere in Windclan." He looked at her paw, glad the damage actually wasn't too extensive. It would be sore for a bit but she'd recover fine. His eyes scanned the moor for herbs that might help him fix that and prevent infection.

"Well it's not the most appetizing creature on the planet but it is food." He nodded at the weasel. Try to eat some of that if you can. I'll be back shortly. If you hear anything, get in that tunnel." He hoped nothing else would find his apprentice, but he only intended for this to be a short herb hunt. He only needed to treat one tiny paw after all.

As promised, Klaus was back within twenty minutes or so, a bundle of herbs in his mouth. Dawnpaw was fine. He plopped beside her and began to chew the herbs he had to a poultice as he had done for her before.

"I killed a raccoon like that on my first predator encounter as an apprentice. Maybe we're more alike than even Skyclan intended." He said to her as he applied the paste. He wrapped her paw up in cobwebs as well in an attempt to get it to stay. He supposed it was his turn to eat some of that weasel... and he sighed at the thought. He needed to get her home quickly and hunting would cost them time and energy that they didn't have.

Klaus approached the weasel and tucked into it, finding it's meat to be tangier than he expected. He ate enough to keep his hunger at bay, but there was no way he was going to be able to finish it. He'd hunt for something else later in the day, but for now that would suffice.

Dawnpaw nodded furiously. “I would not make a good WindClan cat.” As her uncle ran off, she began to eat, keeping an eye out for any more amgy fur snakes- Er, weasels. As she sprawled on the grass, staring up at the sky and waiting for him to return (although her ears were pricked for any inexplicable sound), she wondered about the weasel. Maybe it was a cat a long time ago, a cat who did something bad and was turned halfway into a snake! Or maybe whatever made things tried to make a cat from a snake and failed. Eergh. Maybe she wasn’t that hungry after all. Her ears pricked at the sound of paws and she shrunk into the grass before glimpsing her uncle’s fur. She sat still as he put some herbs on her paw- somehow, she always ended up getting hurt, didn’t she?

“I don’t think SkyClan decided what I looked like,” she commented. “Im pretty sure that’s StarClan’s job.” She hadn’t meant to kill the weasel, not really, but she did need to get it off of her. It could have run off at any time and she wouldn’t have pursued it. It had enough meat on its bones to not be starving- no, if weasels were related to cats, they lost their felinity a long time ago. “Were weasels once cats? They look like something tried to make a cat from a snake and failed… no offense, whoever or whatever you are.” She gently prodded its surprisingly soft fur with a paw. At least it’s fur was soft.

The mention of Starclan had Klaus's ears flick backward and his tail twitched in annoyance. He didn't say anything to Dawnpaw, knowing that she had no idea of his feelings towards the dead clan cats. After a moment he thought it was better to not say anything to her at all, not even to respond. She did raise an intriguing idea next, however. Klaus himself took another look at the weasel. Curious, he pulled the lip up to look at it's teeth... which were eerily a lot like a cat's.

"I don't think... I don't think they used to be cats. I hope not anyway... since I just ate off of that thing." As much as he liked Tarot he had no desire to start munching away on his own kind like he did. If weasels tasted anything like cats then he had no clue how Tarot was able to eat as much as he claims that he had.

"No, I'm very sure weasels have young. They're their own thing. Starclan probably would have turned me into a weasel by now if that's what happens to some cats." He couldn't deny the idea was an entertaining one, but from what he had seen and heard from abroad, that just wasn't possible. His eyes went back to the moor, noting where the sun was and how much time they had left.

"We need to get going." He scooped a few pawfuls of dirt, grabbed the remains of the weasel and buried it quickly. "Keep weight off of your paw for now so you don't agitate it. If you get tired I'll carry you, but only if you absolutely can't continue. Okay?"

He slipped back into the tunnel, his heart aching a bit for the fact that Dawnpaw hated the dark. It was better than being exposed to the sun the whole time... and definitely better than being caught by a Windclan patrol.


The sky was lavender and orange by the time they neared the edges of the moor. Several times Klaus and Dawnpaw had emerged from the tunnels to allow the apprentice to take a break from the dark. Klaus managed to catch a mouse and allowed her to have it. He could eat later. Feeling fairly safe this close to the Windclan border, Klaus allowed himself and his companion to stay above ground for now. The moon was visible in the sky, full and bright. The gathering was definitely tonight.

Klaus's eyes went to Fourtrees, barely visible from this far away. He knew the route that Windclan took to get there and he was well enough out of the way to avoid their path. He figured Dawnpaw would have to be exhausted by now.

"Let's take a break for a few hours, then we're going to go to Fourtrees." Well... she would be. He would drop her off within a reasonable travel distance from the Great Oaks and then Klaus would bolt away. He never showed Dawnpaw how to cover her scent because it was a secret he never wanted Skyclan to discover. Maybe one day they would.

His intent was to let her go to the gathering and go home with Skyclan while he was going to cover his scent and go... who knows where. He too was tired of traveling all day. He needed a legitimate meal and several hours of sleep.

The pale tom flopped to the ground on a patch of soft grass and patiently waited for the time to be right to lead his niece to her final destination. "Do you have anything you'd like to ask before we take a nap? I know you've learned a lot today, but there is always more to learn." And this time he would answer her, regardless of what it was. She was young but she had proven to be smart. He could spare some of his time to give her that much more of an intellectual boost.