Long Legs for Far Pawsteps [C]

Flutterpaw couldn't help but feel excited. Not only did he get to go out with his mentor again-- who was the coolest-- but his brother got to join them this time, too! More time with Adderpaw was always a good thing. He knew his brother hadn't gotten as much one-on-one time with Coyotegrin, so hopefully this patrol together with Whisperear would make up for it. He was certainly happy; though to be fair, he could be easily satisfied with just any walk on the territory. The sun was warm, the breeze was cool, and the long grasses swayed around him as he followed his absurdly tall mentor across the territory. WindClan was beautiful. Frequently, Flutterpaw was awed by how simply amazing everything was. It felt like he could run forever, and never run out of WindClan. Sometimes he wanted to do that-- just run and run and never stop. But then he thought about how much he would miss Adderpaw. So, for now, he was content to walk alongside his brother.

"Yeah, Adderpaw, have you seen the Gorge yet?" Flutterpaw piped up, his usual soft smile directed towards his brother. "It's super cool. Kinda like if a tunnel went down for a long way, but didn't have any ceiling. There's a field with pretty flowers, too! That one is my favorite. It smells so nice." He hadn't gotten to talk very much with Adderpaw lately. Still some-- but not as much as when they were kits, and were pretty much attached at the hip. So he, like Whisperpear, was unsure of exactly how much of the territory his brother knew. But they'd know soon! He found himself secretly hoping that Adderpaw hadn't been to the coolest places yet, so that they could go together for his first time.

While he hadn't spent much time with Coyotegrin– not one-on-one at least, or maybe just not as much as he would've liked to –Adderpaw found other ways to keep himself busy through the early phases of apprenticeship. Practicing the little he did know from the confines of camp, trying to memorize the range of their territory he'd seen so far, occassionally asking to join early patrols so he could pick up more. Still, he felt a little behind. There was so much more he needed to see and do; so when Whisperear approached him about joining a patrol alongside his brother, Adderpaw was quick to agree. It helped that he liked them both well enough already.

He kept his head mostly turned away as they went, golden eyes scanning the horizon, taking in whatever he could. Until Whisperear started speaking, soft voice nearly carried away on the breeze, and his brother piped up not long after. With an amused snort, Adderpaw refocused his attention on mentor and apprentice. "Coyotegrin showed me some basic sparring techniques. We haven't covered very much on hunting, though, and..." he looked around, as if hoping the rest of their moors would unfold right before his paws and he could say yes, all of it, before slowly finishing, "and no, I haven't seen the whole territory. Certainly not the gorge, or the flower fields." With that, he nodded, seeming satisfied with his own answer. He thought about asking if they could take time out of their patrol specifically to hunt, but even though they'd taken the time to invite him out, Whisperear wasn't his mentor, and he wasn't all too keen on making them explain the mechanics of hunting to him. Taking a half-step stutter to readjust his pace, Adderpaw fell in at his darker-furred brother's opposite shoulder, brushing against him as they walked. He was quiet for a few moments before lowering his voice slightly, whispering, "I'm not surprised you found a field of flowers already. I didn't know there was one, but it- it fits you, Flutter. You'll have to show me sometime. It sounds nice."

Flutterpaw listened to his brother's words, feeling a slight twinge of guilt that he had seen so much without the tom he considered his best friend. They should have been bringing Adder on their patrols from the very beginning! Of course, it wasn't Whisperear's fault that Coyotegrin was so busy. But still. It was sad that Adderpaw hadn't seen every single inch of the beautiful moors. At least that meant they could go to the flower field together sometime! From the quiet words spoken at his shoulder, Adder seemed to have the same idea. His grin widened. "Of course! I can't wait to show you. You'll love it. For now though, we gotta follow Whisper. Next time I'm free though! Or later if they feel up to it." With that said, the small black tom shut his mouth so that his mentor could speak.

They had arrived at the Gorge before Flutterpaw had even noticed. He'd been here before-- but his eyes widened again at the sheer depth of it. Far down below, one could barely see the source of the rushing sound that had grown steadily louder as they approached. The river. It was hard to hear Whisperear's words over the wind and water combined, but with his ears pricked forward, Flutterpaw just managed to catch what his mentor said. "Wow, all the way to RiverClan... yeah, don't worry! I won't fall. That sounds scary, and I don't wanna get wet anyway." He smiled reassuringly at the lanky white warrior, then turned his gaze back to Adderpaw. "Whaddya think? Pretty cool, huh? Dangerous, but cool."

Padding along with Flutterpaw and Whisperear was easy. Almost surprisingly so. Adderpaw had expected to feel some sort of lingering guilt, or annoyance with himself, that he hadn't seen as much, done as much– perhaps he had in the beginning, a hot flash of frustration, but it'd gone quick enough he'd never realized it, and it certainly wasn't present now. Whisperear was hard to hear under the winds that swept through their territory, but if he turned his ears forward enough, Adderpaw could hear them just fine; and they were kind, offering to show him the borders he hadn't seen yet, to take him hunting if they had the time. Between that and Flutter's ever-present excitement, Adderpaw felt his pelt warm. This was a nice outing; he was glad he'd gotten to go.
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As they walked, Adderpaw could feel the earth rumbling underpaw, could hear something that sounded almost like thunder. Concern made his whiskers tremble, but his patrolmates seemed unbothered; his brother seemed to hardly even notice until the sound had turned into a proper roar, rolling thunder from the harsh current that tore through the gorge echoing up from the chasm. The wind that whipped out of it tore through his fur, and the ruddy tom found himself creeping closer to the rocky cliffs as Whisperear and Flutterpaw spoke. His heart started to pound as he stared down into the rapids below, watching the white foam boil across the river's surface. A mixed feeling of terror and awe flooded Adderpaw's chest, and when he felt his legs start to tremble, he carefully backed away from certain death's edge. "It is cool," he agreed simply, with a nod towards his brother. "Cool, but... frightening. It's– I could just fall in?" The thought made him shudder, pelt standing on end. But equally, it intrigued him. What if he were to fall in, and survive? Would he wash away to RiverClan's territory and have to beg for sanctuary? Even if he didn't go tumbling off the edge, it was such an interesting sight. Lifting his head to look more directly at Whisperear, Adderpaw mewed, "Thank you for taking me here. I appreciate it, though it seems a little– well, hard to miss. I don't think I could trip into it if I wanted to." Sidling closer to his brother, Adderpaw lingered for a moment before a nervous laugh left him and he softly added, "Flowers sound a lot more interesting now. Less dangerous, at least."

The member 'xaandiir' has done the following action : Dice roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 9

When they reached the field of flowers, Flutterpaw stopped for just a moment. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It smelled so sweet... the wind blew all the scents around, permeating the air with a comforting aroma that was perfect. It was one of Flutterpaw's favorite things in the world: flowers, running, friends and his brother. He smiled. Then he opened his eyes, looking to see his brother's reaction. "Isn't it pretty, Adderpaw?" he asked happily. "Lookit all the colors! I betcha no other Clan has this much color in the whole territory. Oh, there's a nice one!" He broke away from the group with no further words, prancing over a few fox-lengths away to where a particularly nice bunch of pink mallow flowers were growing. Carefully he severed one from the bunch, taking care not to harm the others, then swiftly came back. With a grin, he tucked the delicate pink blossom into his brother's fur, right behind his ear. It looked nice. "Here, that's for you!"

A wave of Whisperear's tail brought the apprentice's attention back to his mentor. Flutterpaw nodded at the look he was given; it seemed that the warrior was going to go hunting. His attention divided now, he watched as Whisperear found the rabbit, tracked it, then went to chase it... and got out of breath remarkably quickly. Flutterpaw's heart sank at the shamed look in his mentor's eyes as he padded back towards them empty-pawed. It's not fair that Whisperear doesn't have as much energy as the rest of us. Why can't the stars make him a little stronger? Well, he liked the cat anyway. Wordlessly, the black tom walked out and rubbed his head reassuringly against Whisperear's shoulder, then shook out his fur and began looking for prey. He'd just have to catch enough for the two of them! And Adderpaw, of course!

Was that a rabbit over there, in the celandine? Flutterpaw narrowed his eyes, looking a little bit closer at the rustle he'd seen. Yep-- sure enough, two long ears poked out of the soft yellow blossoms. He glanced at his brother and mentor, then streamlined his form, slowly and stealthily walking further into the flower field. Then, when he figured he was close enough, he ran forward to get it! However, he misjudged the distance. By the time he began running, the rabbit had moved over to a different patch of flowers. When he pounced too far away, the rabbit noticed him and scampered off. Flutterpaw huffed and began to chase after it, but the surprise of the rabbit moving led him to stop paying attention to his surroundings, and his foot got tangled up in a patch of weeds. He hit the hard ground with a thud. Well... that was embarrassing. Still, he smiled when he got up, to show Adderpaw that he was fine. A quick shaking of his fur was all it took to get rid of the dirt crusted on his cheek. "Bad luck today, huh?" he joked, trying to ignore the twist of disappointment that he'd failed in front of two cats he liked so much. "Your turn, Adderpaw!"

The member 'Ash' has done the following action : Dice roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 9

With the sights of the gorge settled, Whisperear lead them away on hushed promises of seeing the flowers. Adderpaw nodded along, settling back into the easy lope he'd carried on the journey out as they set off once more. The moors in-between were unremarkable– the slight roll of small hills underpaw, wind-blown patches of heather and hedge. The same sights he'd seen on his infrequent patrols with Coyotegrin, or with other warriors that would have him. It almost dashed his hope of there being any flowers, but neither of the two cats with him would invent that just to tease. Shrugging, he padded on.

Eventually, the endless dull green gave way to a beautiful wave of colors. It seemed like every color he could imagine was laid out in the petals before him, and for a moment, all Adderpaw could do was stare. Beside him, he could hear his brother breathing, so he pulled in a deep breath of his own. The scent that came back was rich and sweet; it didn't carry the slight tang he picked up from Batsong's den. It was just... sweet. The slight tom wavered a little, not wanting to move from his spot, as if the field would disappear right from before him if he did.

In his awestruck haze, Adderpaw hadn't noticed Flutterpaw prancing off– he'd been more focused on watching Whisperear, though he'd been vaguely aware of the fact his brother's excitable voice had grown quieter. Still, he didn't connect the idea until there was a nose pressed against the curve of his ear. Though he hadn't seen the gift he'd been given, he could feel the gentle brush of petals against his fur, and he smiled in return. "You have good taste, Flutter," Adderpaw purred. Hopefully he wouldn't lose it on the way home.

Despite the brief distraction, the apprentice had kept a careful eye on Whisperear as they stalked– and chased –after a rabbit. A little bit of pity and dismay welled in him, and almost, Adderpaw wanted to offer words of comfort, though he supposed they weren't his mentor to comfort. Besides, Flutterpaw had already gone over to brush against them before making his own attempt at hunting.

... which had ended equally. Adderpaw's tail twitched, dark eyes narrowing as he watched his brother tumble through the flowers and weeds. Briefly, he wished they would have gone without the hunt. The patrol had been nice so far, and he'd hate to soil it with failed attempts at catching prey. Though, the others seemed in good spirits despite their escaped quarry, so Adderpaw resigned himself to trying anyway, despite the apparent bad luck.

Attempting to mimic their low posture, Adderpaw dropped his legs, letting the flowers brush against the fur on his belly. It felt a little uncomfortable, especially when he tried to move forward as carefully as Whisperear had, but he'd learn in time he supposed. Somehow, the commotion hadn't scared any lingering prey away; it wasn't long before he caught sight of a rabbit pulling at something bright and blue. It was small, but it was there. His paws hesitated, and for what felt like forever, Adderpaw just watched. Then he remembered he was hunting, not spectating, and he kicked forward, loosening the petals around him from their stalks.

Even though his dash hadn't been particularly clean, and he'd slid into the rabbit more than he'd actually caught it, he still felt his claws connect with fur and flesh. It stunned him, that he actually connected, and that it squealed against his weight. With a startled yelp of his own, he bent down to give its neck a quick bite. It kicked, and he almost thought it'd scratch him back as penance, but soon enough, it stopped moving. It was– dead. And it was his. Adderpaw marveled at it, staring down at its coarse brown pelt and glassy eyes, before he lifted it by the neck and whirled to face his patrolmates. "Look!" He called out, voice uncharacteristically bright. "Look, I caught a rabbit. I did it."

Adderpaw attempted to catch a rabbit. Catch successful! -3 SP.

The member 'downfive' has done the following action : Dice roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 2