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Post by Jay on Sept 28, 2015 22:28:22 GMT -6
"Okay," Wrenpaw said as Sootpaw took the lead, fully willing to follow.
The cliff posed a little problem though. Not too much of one, since Wrenpaw's back legs were strong as any respectable CliffClan cats' should be, but she was still small and nearly fell more than a couple times trying to get up higher than Sootpaw.
She shook her fur free of any dust clinging to it and looked out over the territory from her new vantage point. It was beautiful, splashed with the color of the morning sun, interlaced with the deep shadows of the canyons making crevasses in the hills. Most of the canyons were narrow and usually shallow, she knew, making a veritable maze where prey would hide when it was too hot. Perhaps they should try down there, if there was no more prey found above ground.
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Post by lizardfoot on Sept 30, 2015 6:53:39 GMT -6
Looking back down at Wrenpaw as she too scrabbled up after her own tail, Sootpaw cocked her head.
"You're a strange cat," She mused, "Don't you ever want to do anything? I mean, no offense." She shrugged, with a little laugh before turning back to the rock face.
Sootpaw felt another surge of excitement as rough paw pads pressed into the rock. Sootpaw didn't know if it was because she was CliffClan (the obviously superior Clan), or if it was something innate to all felines. She'd heard about even scrawny loners feebly clambering up this (to them) unfamiliar territory, though she'd never seen one firsthand. They probably couldn't imagine something like this.
Sitting on another natural shelf, Sootpaw looked out again. Not at Wrenpaw, this time, just watching the scenery with some vague fascination. She wasn't one for prolonged pointless musing, and she of course had seen striking views even just from camp, but it was odd seeing it from a different perspective. Sootpaw wondered if she could spot any of the other three clans from her perch.
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Post by Jay on Oct 1, 2015 3:44:25 GMT -6
(A sidenote that really isn't your fault, since we don't have it written down anywhere yet- BLC is set in a national park, and the Clans don't know what kittypets are! They barely even know what twolegs are. Twolegplaces aren't a thing in our setting.)
"I-I do!" Wrenpaw replied. It was just that the things she wanted to do usually involved her sister or a quiet place free of looming expectations. Rather than explaining that to someone she knew wouldn't care, though, Wrenpaw pulled herself up higher and higher, trying to reach the top of the rise.
The higher she climbed, the more she saw. She thought she might be able to see the camp from here, just on the other wise of that cliff. She hoped Dovepaw was okay and having fun. Wrenpaw wished she was here. Hunting was always better with her sister.
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Post by lizardfoot on Oct 3, 2015 0:50:19 GMT -6
(Oh, I see! Fixed it!)
Sootpaw scoffed and turned away from the outlook as the other apprentice reached her level. She stalked a few steps before rolling over onto her back nonchalantly in an almost kit-like manner, not really paying heed to the dust that probably speckled her black fur now. Sootpaw wasn't in any real hurry, they had two peices of prey already, which was probably two more than any other cat had at this hour. Besides, Sootpaw could probably catch a really, really, big tasty bird on the way back, that would show everyone.
Her happy fantasies were broken at Wrenpaw sullenly looking out over the cliff. Sulking, as usual. Sootpaw came to the realization that she'd been Sulking almost the entire time since their mentors had dragged their tails outside of camp at the first crack of dawn.
Sootpaw felt a prick of annoyance at that, if she hated it so much, couldn't she just scamper off? She was pretty used to it, anyways, prolonging the expirience just made it more irritating for everyone involved.
"Oh yeah, you do like doing things? I don't believe you." Sootpaw goaded, though not expecting any retaliation, "Like what? And looking sad all the time doesn't count."
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Post by Jay on Oct 4, 2015 4:03:42 GMT -6
Wrenpaw was pulled from her self-pitying thoughts by Sootpaw's derisive mew.
She wasn't sad all the time- and it wasn't even really sadness, either! That's what Wrenpaw told herself anyway, but the melancholy cloud that hung over her nearly always was proof that that assessment was wrong.
But Sootpaw hardly knew her. They'd never really talked. This was the longest Wrenpaw had ever been in the company of the older apprentice. There was no way Sootpaw had any idea what Wrenpaw was really like.
The comment, spiteful as it was meant to be, didn't hurt Wrenpaw's feelings. Well, it did, but not in a way that made her cow. Intead, it ignited a small flame of anger in her throat.
"At least I'm not mean!" Wrenpaw snapped back. "You-You've said nothing but mean things to me this whole time! You don't know me- Not at all! How-How w-would you know what I like to do?" The anger was fading already, shaking her words and making her stutter, but though the anger was leaving she kept talking. "A-all you s-seem to do i-is say h-hurtful things! Wh-what do you do b-besides that?"
She was trembling by the time she fell quiet, tucking in on herself. She meant it, of course, but it was the rudest thing Wrenpaw had ever said in her short life. She fully expected to have Sootpaw retaliate physically in response, and started making herself as small as possible to minimize the damage.
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Post by lizardfoot on Oct 4, 2015 15:46:42 GMT -6
Sootpaw's yellow eyes widened a bit at the rather unexpected spark of passion that seemed to light up in Wrenpaw. Sootpaw withheld on flinching, her only movement being a slow rise as she moved to sit in a slightly more dignified position. With Sootpaw's eyes narrowed and ears flat, she might've looked almost intimidating, save for the fact that her fur stuck out all over the place. Or perhaps, that just made her look even bigger.
"You done, pipsqueak?" Sootpaw asked. The jeer was immature in its words, but her voice was as cold and hard as the stone that they sat on.
Sootpaw sized up Wrenpaw in her glare a heartbeat or two longer before sighing and sauntering away a couple of steps. Neither could see the other's face.
"You're right, I'm mean." She admitted. Her tone had softened a bit so that it was almost conversational as it had been before. "Don't forget that I'm rude, disrespectful, and selfish. An all around fox-heart, for sure. Maybe I like being that way, huh?" Maybe I don't have a choice.
"No, you're right, I don't know much about you. You're not my friend. And in case you haven't noticed, I don't do 'friends.' I don't need them." Sootpaw shook her head in a manner that was almost amused. "Imagine how lost you'd be if you where in my paws, eh? All sad and quiet and lonely. At least you have your sister to make sure you don't get eaten alive."
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Post by Jay on Oct 4, 2015 23:46:48 GMT -6
Wrenpaw sat up a little when Sootpaw moved away. The ruddy apprentice eyed her suspiciously anyway. She sat up more as Sootpaw talked, her face taking on an expression of dismay.
"Nobody likes to be mean!" she exclaimed. "B-besides- Look at you. You're obviously not happy." Wrenpaw had seen that right off. She knew unhappiness, after all.
Wrenpaw kneaded her front paws against the ground in anxiety, regretting her outburst and harsh words. "Everyone needs friends- I have Dovepaw. Everyone needs someone!" Even if its just one someone. he didn't like the thought of being without her sister.
She hesitated. "Don't they?" she asked, head tipped to the sky, tone oddly bare. She looked back down, right at Sootpaw. "Don't you?"
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Post by lizardfoot on Oct 5, 2015 0:39:19 GMT -6
Sootpaw could deal with Wrenpaw's little outburst with no problem, but something about that weird, knowing hint in her voice struck her like thorn-sharp claws, leaving her a little shakey.
"I am happy!" Sootpaw snarled, whipping around with a look on her face that seemed less like a cheerful apprentice and more like an angry tiger.
With the fur bristling along her spine and ears flat against her head, it was probably pretty hard to imagine a cat less happy. Sootpaw became acutely aware of a sudden soreness in her paws, and sheathed the claws that she hadn't noticed grinding against the hard rock this entire time.
When she looked back up at Wrenpaw and her oddly knowing, downright infuriating gaze, Sootpaw suddenly felt the skin under her fur squirm uncomfortably with something. What-- fear? Shame? Sootpaw almost marveled at herself. If any other cat had admitted at being intimidated by the little red apprentice hen she might have outright laughed at them, yet here she was... Suddenly Sootpaw wished that she hadn't decided to crawl up on this miserable, secluded pile of pebbles. She felt trapped.
"What do you know about me?" Sootpaw grumbled, wanting to sound nonchalant but in reality sounding more like a stubborn kit. "For the record, I do have someone I can rely on. Myself." Sootpaw realized that probably sounded cooler in her head. Actually saying it was pretty pathetic...
"Can we please go now?" Sootpaw coudln't summon any particularly snide remark. She got to her paws, feeling restless. She wanted to be away from Wrenpaw and her... weirdly personal questions... In fact, curling up alone in a dark corner sounded lovely right about this time.
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Post by Jay on Oct 5, 2015 0:56:46 GMT -6
Sympathy for Sootpaw engulfed Wrenpaw. They really weren't too different, the two apprentices. Where Wrenpaw internalized her issues as sadness, Sootpaw forced them back out as anger and resentment. Without Dovepaw, Wrenpaw might have turned out the same way. She was lucky in that.
"You're not happy, though," Wrenpaw mewed quietly. "That's.. it's not- something to be ashamed of. To not be happy." She struggled with the words. She wanted to say something right for once, something to help Sootpaw.
"Neither of us know anything about each other," Wrenpaw continued, getting up to walk towards Sootpaw. "Maybe- we could change that?" She felt hopeful the closer she walked towards Sootpaw's perch. "You say.. you don't need a friend. But could you want one?"
She wanted to be Sootpaw's friend suddenly. She didn't want the older apprentice to be so angry or scared like she seemed now. It was odd. Wrenpaw had never cared about one of her clanmates besides Dovepaw like this.
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Post by lizardfoot on Oct 5, 2015 6:59:23 GMT -6
Sootpaw stiffened up. She wasn't sure which was worse: the fact that Wrenpaw had some bizarre that she was a nice cat whose hiss was worse than her bite, or the fact that it might not have been entirely a delusion. She felt squirmy and uncomfortable suddenly, and generally wished she where someplace else, but the smaller cat didn't seem to be relenting anytime soon.
"Okay, sure, fine." Sootpaw muttered, deciding to humor Wrenpaw, "Let's be f-friends." She stammered it out, the words feeling strange on her tongue. Ideally, she probably would have sounded more confident too, but that was a thought for a later date.
This 'friendship' thing was something of uncharted territory, but there was a tiny spark of her that seemed... intrigued? She tried to stomp it out. Wrenpaw probably would run back to her sister or mentor or whoever the second they set paw in camp, and Sootpaw was a lot of things, but she wasn't one to persist on other cats' attention.
"Oo-kay," Sootpaw muttered, trying to regain some nonchalance in a way that probably just sounded awkward, "Now what?"
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Post by Jay on Oct 5, 2015 7:33:49 GMT -6
Wrenpaw practically lit up as Sootpaw agreed to be her friend. "Great!" she managed, struck nearly speechless. A friend! Dovepaw would be so proud of her.
She gave herself a little shake, fluffing out her fur, and trotted the rest of the way to Sootpaw. "Now we should, um- Maybe continue hunting?" It was the best plan of action; Wrenpaw didn't want to jump into any friend activities, whatever those were, and their mentors would probably be missing them soon.
Besides! They needed to hunt. Her tiny mouse and whatever Sootpaw had caught wouldn't be nearly enough. Wrenpaw didn't like the thought of being scolded; it would take away the bit of happiness she felt having won over Sootpaw.
"Let's try the canyons," Wrenpaw suggested, walking past Sootpaw and offering her a small, shy smile.
There was one of the criss-crossing canyons near them. They were cracks in the earth, shooting down a few tail lengths. The insides tended to be shady and cooler than the sun-baked tops. They were the source of the noise that gave the Whispering Hills their name.
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Post by lizardfoot on Oct 5, 2015 16:48:31 GMT -6
"Uh yeah, sure." Oh right. Hunting. Sootpaw gave herself a shake, annoyed at Wrenpaw for shooting that annoyingly bright grin at her, annoyed at herself for being distracted by the thought.
Without another word, Sootpaw began to creep down a little ways, tail held straight out for balance and paws setting themselves carefully in front of one another on the precarious rock. Sootpaw was aware of how hot she was getting, probably thanks to the sun that continued to climb mercilessly into the sky.
Luckily, a little ways ahead, Higher walls of cliff loomed up against the bright sky, red against blue. And where there were tall cliffs, there was shade. Sootpaw picked up her pace with a grateful sigh, though also trying to stay alert in case a stray mouse crossed their path.
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Post by Jay on Oct 6, 2015 1:33:39 GMT -6
Wrenpaw stopped at the edge of the canyon, of the few where the ground wasn't level besides the drop off, and instead had a cliff rising in front of it. She tilted her head, looked up at it, then dropped her gaze downwards into the crevasse.
There was what looked like an easy way down there, leading into the cool shade and what was hopefully a good hunting spot. She put her paws carefully on the outcroppings leading downward, and started making her way down carefully, both to keep from falling, and to keep from alerting any prey in the area to their arrival.
She glanced back at Sootpaw, checking to make sure she was okay, and then kept going. The bottom of the crevasse wasn't too far away, only a few tail-lengths from the tops of the Hills, but it was long. Luckily for the CliffClan apprentices, their climbing expertise would enable them to get out fairly easily.
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Post by lizardfoot on Oct 8, 2015 13:07:40 GMT -6
Sootpaw glanced upwards at the sliver of blue sky above them, surrounded by looming cliff walls. The ground here wasn't exactly fit for a morning stroll, but they were CliffClan cats: climbing and finding the right paw-holds was second nature.
It was also quite silent down there. Sootpaw could hear their breathing and the soft scrapes of their paws echo. Even though there was a breeze winding through the cliffs, otherwise it was like they were in a bubble trapped away from the outside.
Before long, sootpaw sensed movement ahead. Gesturing for Wrenpaw to slow down, she lowered into a crouch. After a few ginger pawsteps, the black cat leapt ahead and, with almost perfect precision, secured a mouse in her jaws.
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Post by Jay on Oct 12, 2015 11:17:41 GMT -6
(I'm sorry this took so long... I don't actually have any excuse.)
Wrenpaw felt a flicker of pride for Sootpaw. She had no fear of failing holding her back, it seemed. Wrenpaw wished she could be that confident when hunting.
But she could try. Everyone always said prey was easy to find in the Whispering Hills if you knew where to look. The cracks and holes in the sides of the miniature canyons made perfect hiding holes for mice and shrews.
Wrenpaw decided to put this to the test; if she was very, very careful, she could catch more than a scrap of a mouse.
She crept forward past Sootpaw, nose working for the first clue to where any prey was.
A faint scrabbling noise reached her ears a moment before she smelled the dusty scent of a rodent. She dropped low as quickly as she could, moving towards the crack in the wall the sound was coming from.
The crack was a little bigger than the width of her paw, she found as she crouched down beside it. She felt a little antsy; the prey was inside it, but there was no way to get to it. Her tail lashed, and then she jumped to the side, in front of the hole, and her paw darted inside. She heard and felt the prey panic, but her claws came out and pinned it down. She dragged it out and gave it a quick bite.
It was a vole, a decent one by the look of it. Wrenpaw felt a warm prickle of pleasant pride in herself as she picked the vole up to put it with Sootpaw's mouse.
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