New shoes [open]

Chest puffed out and stride long, Asterpaw strode into camp, a small finch hanging from his jaws. The young tom wasn't very good at hunting yet, but as long as he was able to bring something back to camp he was happy.

Adding his catch to the fresh-kill pile, Asterpaw turned his attention elsewhere. He was bored, but didn't exactly have friends to hang around with yet. Maybe he could go see if there was anyone in the apprentice's den? After a brief moment of contemplation, he dashed over to the den, sticking his head inside. Scanning over the nests, which included his own, he quietly called out. "Hello? Anyone in here?"

Stoatpaw had just finished replacing his bedding as a call came from the den's entrance. Turning to see who it was, he was met with just the head of Asterpaw. Stoatpaw had never interacted with him, but then again he never really interacted with anyone. Most of his time was spent outside of camp, and while he was fine with that, it had ultimately resulted in him not knowing many cats from his clan. "Yeah." Stoatpaw called back. "What's wrong?"

As his eyes adjusted to the low light, Asterpaw was able to make out the figure of his denmate, Stoatpaw, followed by his voice. "Oh, nothing, sorry." He hoped he didn't cause Stoatpaw any distress, he didn't mean to come off as if something were wrong. "I was just wondering if someone was in here. I just got back from hunting, I don't have anyone else to talk to." He stated, matter-of-factly.

Slowly walking through the den, Asterpaw stood next to Stoatpaw, looking over his freshly-made nest. "What're you planning on doing after you're done with your nest?" He asked, tail slowly waving back and forth. "Do you have any other duties? I could help. Or- we could hang around camp and see what everyone else is up to?"

Stoatpaw knew what he wanted to do, the same thing he had done the previous day, wait for Lightpaw at the Highpine. He had returned every day since their initial meeting. “I was gonna go hunting.” he mewed in response to the other apprentice. It was the excuse he always used, but it almost seemed like Asterpaw would accompany him just to have someone to talk to. Oh well, missing out on one day can’t hurt. “But since you just got back we could go see who’s around?” He paused slightly before adding, “We could try sparring too if we can’t find anyone, Frostbite hasn’t taught me anything though, so you might win.”

Asterpaw listened closely to Stoatpaw's offers. To his relief, he wasn't the only apprentice who felt like he wasn't that battle-ready yet. "Well..." He began thoughtfully, weighing his options. "Since you were planning on hunting, we could do that." Even though he'd just returned from hunting, he wouldn't mind going out again. Practice made perfect, he supposed, and stars, he needed practice. Not to mention, he was taught that one of his many duties was to feed the clan.

Walking from the den, he followed behind Stoatpaw. "I'll let you lead the way." It was only right, since Stoatpaw was the one who originally planned on going out. "Where d'ya plan on going?" He asked, with a glance over his shoulder. Hopefully they wouldn't be stopped on their way out of the clan

"Ah, yeah, we can go hunting." It surprised Stoatpaw that his fellow apprentice wanted to go hunting again so soon after returning. Abandoning his nest, Stoatpaw turned to leave the den. As he exited, he couldn't help but let out a hiss at the near blinding light. How long had he been in the apprentice's den? He gave a nod to Asterpaw before leading them out of camp, remaining silent until they were near the Halfstone. Stoatpaw did not want any of the warriors overhearing where he was going. "We're headed to the Highpine." He mewed eagerly. With any luck, he might get to see Lightpaw again. Stoatpaw followed the path to Highpine. The trek to the Shadowclan border had become routine, navigating along the many ridges and gullies were now second nature to him.

As they reached the Highpine, he saw a familiar silver tabby. His heart leaped as she came into view, sprinting over to her before stopping at the border. "Lightpaw, how are you!" He meowed in greeting, momentarily forgetting his travel companion.

“Hey, Stoatpaw!” Lightpaw happily chirped, running over. “I’m great! I’m officially cleared as concussion-free by Fuzzybelly!” Then she noticed Asterpaw. “Oh. You brought a friend? I’m Lightpaw, nice to meet you, whoever you are.”

"I've never been to the Highpine before." Asterpaw mewed, his voice hushed. This was exciting! He was going to explore with a new friend- even if Stoatpaw had obviously been to the Highpine before.

As they left camp and grew further from it his voice grew a little louder, filling the trip with small chatter. Soon, though, they were upon the Highpine. "Wow." He whispered, looking up. He'd never seen a tree so tall, despite the fact that Skyclan territory was full of tall trees. Glancing over, he opened his mouth to say something to Stoatpaw, only to watch him immediately sprint off without a word. "Stoatpaw?" Looking to where the apprentice was headed, he noticed a blur of silver fur. Who was that? An enemy? Weren't they supposed to fight those?

Eyes narrowed and fur stiffened, he charged after Stoatpaw, prepared to engage in a battle he knew he wasn't ready for. It was when he was mere seconds away from charging into the new cat that he realized the interaction wasn't hostile. He skidded to a halt next to Stoatpaw. "Why did you run away like that?" Did Stoatpaw and this other cat know each other? If they were friends, it surely couldn't be bad, right?

Asterpaw offered a kind, albeit confused smile to the cat who he just learned was Lightpaw. "Oh- Hi, I'm Asterpaw." This cat was from Shadowclan, he assumed, since she smelled like the scent on the rest of the border. Something about this felt wrong to Asterpaw, but as long as they didn't cross the borders this was okay, right? It's not like there was a definite border here anyways, due to the overlapping scents from both sides. He shrugged.

"A friend?" Stoatpaw cocked his head slightly in confusion. As a voice sounded behind him, he was reminded that he hadn't come here alone. "Oh, yeah we came out here to hunt." Stoatpaw glanced at Asterpaw, trying to gauge whether the other apprentice was fine with this or not. He didn't look too pleased with the situation, but he wouldn't tell Birdchase about this, would he? "I met Lightpaw at the gathering." He explained to Asterpaw. "After they returned to their camp I came here looking for someone from Shadowclan and found Lightpaw here, and we kinda became friends." He hoped he hadn't misread their relationship, he had certainly started seeing her as a friend since that encounter.

“I probably shouldn’t disturb your hunting then,” Lightpaw mewed. “See you at the Gathering?”

OOC: Sorry my brain is fried

Asterpaw slowly nodded. "Oh, that's cool." Maybe he could be friends with Lightpaw too! It seemed Lightpaw had things to do, though. That was reasonable, because so did he and Stoatpaw. Widely smiling toward the Shadowclanner, he wished her farewell. "It was nice to meet you, Lightpaw! We'll see you at the gathering!"

Before Lightpaw had even left, Asterpaw leaned over to his peer. "We should probably hunt, right? Or at least try- I'm not very good at it yet."

"Ah, yeah we'll see you there." He had wanted to talk to Lightpaw more, but it seemed that she had other business to attend to. That was fine, he could wait until the gathering, that had been his original plan anyway. "Stay safe, Lightpaw."

Stoatpaw nodded to Asterpaw, they were already all the way out here, it would be a shame to return to camp empty pawed. "You just need some motivation, how about we have a little competition? Whoever catches the most prey before the sun starts to set gets to ask a favor of the other, something like that."

Asterpaw nodded again. "That sounds really fun!" He smiled, prancing his feet. Based on his outing with Crimsonflame he knew that it was possible that he could catching prey, but it didn't come as second nature to him yet. Now he can practice and have fun at the same time! "I'll start the countdown, okay? We can come back here with our prey when we're done. One... Two... Three." As soon as he finished the countdown, he ran off, determined to be the winner.

The first prey he found was a sparrow, which was on the ground, seemingly distracted. Perfect! Before he could even go after it, a strange, unfamiliar smell hit his nose. It made him recoil- he'd never smelled anything like it. It put a bad feeling in his stomach. Then, through the trees, he saw it's hulking figure. As soon as it saw him, it approached him, too quickly for his taste. "AAAHHH!" He screamed, quickly lashing out at the creature. This had to be a porcupine for sure, it's quills made him certain. He'd never seen one before, it was the strangest thing he'd ever seen.

It seemed he'd let himself get distracted. While he stood there, the porcupine swung it's tail at him, embedding it's quills into his flank. He let out a shrill screech. The feeling of something being stabbed into his flesh made him want to crawl out of his skin. Without wasting another moment, Asterpaw ran the other direction, aware that the porcupine was following him. "Stoatpaw!! There's a monster!"


Asterpaw encountered a porcupine!
Asterpaw used Front Paw Strike on Porcupine, dealing 6 HP and costing 7 SP
Porcupine used Tail Smack on Asterpaw, dealing 15 HP and costing 15 SP

Asterpaw:
05/20 HP [-15]
53/60 SP [-07]

Porcupine:
54/60 HP [-06]
150/165 SP [-15]

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

---

'Hunting Dice' : 10

Stoatpaw couldn't help the excitement that coursed through him, replacing the disappointment he had felt when Lightpaw left. Something about Asterpaw's eagerness was rubbing off on him. He nodded to the other apprentice as the countdown started. Stoatpaw was determined not to let his companion beat him, all he did was hunt, there was no way he could lose to Asterpaw in terms of hunting. As the final count was declared, Stoatpaw bolted in the opposite direction, keeping his ears peeled for for any chirps that might alert him of prey. He came to an abrupt stop as he spotted a squirrel a couple trees ahead. It had been preoccupied rummaging through whatever was on the ground, this would be an easy kill. Stoatpaw stalked towards his prey, careful not to step on any loose leaves or twigs. Right as he was ready to pounce, a sharp noise split the air, alerting the squirrel. He still leapt for it, but it was already gone, scurrying up a tree and disappearing in the foliage. He cursed silently to himself, was Asterpaw sabotaging his hunt?

That thought was quickly discarded as he heard Asterpaw's cries. Stoatpaw quickly rushed back to where they had departed, only to see his friend filled with spikes, and running from a spiny beast. He didn't have time to think, only time to react. Stoatpaw charged past Asterpaw with hackles raised, hissing at the porcupine. There was no way they could beat it alone, they had to figure out a way to scare it off. Stoatpaw slashed his claws at the beast's head, lashing out with a flurry of additional scratches. His paws seared with pain at each strike, earning him a set of quills in return.

Stoatpaw used Front Paw Strike and Desperate Blows on the Porcupine, Dealing 10 HP and costing 14 SP
Stoatpaw suffers -3 HP due to Quill Armor

Asterpaw:
05/20 HP
53/60 SP

Stoatpaw:
17/20 HP (-3)
46/60 SP (-14)

Porcupine:
44/60 HP (-10)
150/165 SP