DayClan Territory

[Frisby]

ooc: Haha, I dunno what I meant to write.
bic:

Ethre reached over, eyeing a tuft of unruly fur on Newpaw's back, and licked it flat. She felt happy. It'd make Newpaw, always so uncertain, happier. He paused for a moment, wishing she could speak and suggest they share tongues.

[Frisby]

Froscogo:

Newpaw purred and gently head-butted Ethre, nuzzling her. He wasn't sure what to say.

Frisby:

Ethre's heart pounded a little harder. Although she felt a bit nervous, she was glad that she was getting along with Newpaw. It made her happy to have someone she could trust and care for.

Glancing at the sky, she saw it was getting later in the day. It would be a relief from the sun to take a brief nap. Smiling warmly, she rose and gestured to the apprentice den.

[Frisby]

Froscogo:

Newpaw trailed his tail with Ethre"s as they walked into the den. He proudly showed her the newly feathered bed he'd made for her. "Is it bedtime now?" he yawned.

Frisby:

Ethre grinned. /Yeah, I should have guessed he'd do this./ Blushing a little she turned to show him her smile and nodded. Giving him a look that said, "Thank you," she padded over to the decorated nest, circled, and sat down. Flicking her tail, she gestured him over.

Froscogo:

Newpaw laid down next to Ethre, being careful not to squish any moss that was part of her bed. His ears were growing hot because he felt so happy but also embarrassed.

Frisby:

Purring, Ethre licked the fur flat on Newpaw's throat, then rested her head against him, content. /I love you, Newpaw,/ she thought happily.

Froscogo:

Ethre's actions seemed to speak louder than her thoughts, and Newpaw's purr rumbled out of his throat. He sang the song he had sung the first time he had seen her, and when he thought she was asleep he gently whispered, "I love you too Ethre."

[Frisby]

Charcoalstar stalked back towards the leader's den, stumbling in only to find that Mistedstar was already there. With an annoyed growl he turned around to stalk back out.

The grey she-cat looked up and couldn't help but snicker at the sight of his normally pristine pelt plastered in grey-brown mud. "What happened to you?" she meowed, whiskers twitching. She rose and followed him out, uncertain about whether he'd reply.

Charcoalstar plopped down in front of the den, glancing up at his co-regent with glowering eyes. "Mud happened," he grumbled as he tried to lick away the hardened shell off grime. It was sticking badly and pulling out his fur. The growl in his throat grew louder.

The silver she-cat watched amusedly for a minute, but her nature eventually prompted her to help him. "Let me try," she meowed, padding over and sinking her teeth into the crust.

Charcoalstar watched her silently, appreciative. Her grey and orange-dappled pelt short on her lithe body. He thought about giving her a lick on the head, but held back. /Know, we barely know each other./

/Is that really so?/

After a few moments the mud had come loose and Mistedstar sat up, satisfied, swiping her muddy tongue about her jaws.

"Thanks," the black tom meowed, rising. "Hey, want to share a rabbit?"

Mistedstar blinked at him, surprised and then nodded slowly. "Sure."

[Frisby]

Froscogo:

While Marblepaw was busy pestering Asterfire, Willowrain took the time to glance out and saw the lust floating through the air. She turned back around to her fellow clanmates and whispered amusedly, "Well lookie here. Seems like our leaders and those two apprentices have got the lovebugs. What do you say to an antidote, Asterfire?"

Frisby:

Disbelieving, the toroiseshell she-cat peeked out of the den as well."Wow, looks like our clans have really forgotten there differences." She paused, finishing dressing a scratch on Thunderpaw's arm and then continued. "I wonder if there will finally be some kits around camp soon."

Froscogo:

Dragontooth kicked Foxwit in the head, saying, "Hey, check this out. I'm not believing my eyes. You have to check this for me."
The foxlike tom perked up, growing, and after rubbing the sore on his head, he noticed the leaders together. Cautiously avoiding Dragontooth's eyes, that he knew would be filled with fury, he meowed, "Well, it looks like our leaders are getting to know each other."

"I'll say," growled Dragontooth. "I just hope that they're first priority is still the clan, as mine always has been."

[Frisby]

Charcoalstar's pelt pricked. He felt like he was being watched. He glanced up at Mistedstar, wondering if she felt the same, but she gave no sign of it.
The rabbit was quickly finished between the two of them. Mistedstar nodded politely too him, rose, and then padded back towards the den.
The ebony tom kicked dirt over the rabbit skeleton quickly and trotted after her.

/What's up with him?/ Mistedstar wondered, glancing back over her shoulder to see him trailing after her. She plopped down beside the entrance to the leader's den, and wasn't too surprised when Charcoalstar joined her.

The warm sun relieved their tenseness and soon the two were dozing contentedly.

...

[Frisby]

Froscogo:

Newpaw woke, startled at how he'd slept out of his den. But his body turned bubbly with happiness when he remembered that he'd slept beside his love Ethre. He crept away quietly so as not to disturb the mute she-cat. He had to go somewhere to think of a way that enabled them to talk to one-another.

-x-

Dragontooth has spent the entire night and early morning glaring at the two leaders as they lollygagged and neglected his clan. He was just waiting for the right opportunity to snatch up the leadership that he felt belonged on his shoulders. His enormously fluffy tail flicked back and forth, displaying his distemper.

Frisby:

Wolfecho glanced sleepily over to Dragontooth, then growled in a voice that showed he didn't take the tom's ideas seriously. "You'd better not lose your head Dragontooth," he rumbled. "Do you really think you could get away with usurping power from them? Do you think StarClan would like that?"

He sat up with a level gaze fixed on the orange tom.

[Frisby]

Froscogo:

Dragontooth just bared his teeth, not willing to reply. He knew Wolfecho was right, but didn't want to come to terms with believing that he might never be leader of the clan that gave him so much pride.

Wolfecho sighed, seeing that his brother was unmoved. "Want some prey?" he offered. The bluish-grey warrior wasn't sure he liked the idea of Dragontooth getting too close to the defenseless sleeping leaders.

[Frisby]

Froscogo:

Dragontooth swallowed the annoyance within him. "no." he answered curtly. He landed scilently on the ground and stalked up to the two napping leaders. To him, it seemed as if they had slept threw the whole night and this morning. His stifeled his snarl and did his best to keep an even tone. "Soooo, I couldn't help but notice the fact that the evening, midnight, and dawn patrol haven't happened. May I have permission to lead a patrol sir and miss?" His jaws clenched as he waited for a reply.

[Frisby]

Wolfecho watched tensely and was relieved that though what the tabby had said was rude, it wasn't as horrible as it might have been.

Mistedstar slowly raised her head and blinked. /Wow, that was a long nap./ she thought in shock. It took her a moment to realizing what Dragontooth was saying, and embarrassment crept into her pelt. She stood up, kicked Charcoalstar and then turned back to the warrior.
The black tom jumped and sleepily watched their interactions. He too flushed with mortification. /Great StarClan. This is terrible./

"Of course, Dragontooth," Mistedstar meowed, trying to act composed. "I'm sorry that happened. Fortunately we don't seem to have too many neighbors."
/I've got to make up for this./ "I'll go with you on the patrol if you don't mind," she added.

[Frisby]

This time he didn't stifle his growl as quickly as he could have forced himself to. He padded off towards the apprentice den and woke up Ethre, Marbepaw, and Newpaw. He led them towards the bramble passage and looked over at Wolfecho, waiting. The bright orange tom wanted to burst threw the tunnel but knew that he had to wait for Mistedstar.

---

Mistedstar flinched and angrily watched the tom leave.
"So rude," Charcoalstar mumbled groggily. The grey she-cat ignored him and padded out, following Dragontooth.

Wolfecho met Dragontooth's gaze, but didn't rise. He didn't feel like bothering with the tom's attitude anymore.

[Frisby]

Newpaw nudged Ethre with his head and waited for her to go first. Marblepaw rolled over on her back and stretched in the new sunlight. She tumbled over when Dragontooth called and burst out of the den, hopping around excitedly. She loved going around the woods of their territory.

--x

Ethre sighed and blinked awake, smiled at Newpaw she noticed him. She brushed past him, rubbing along his pelt and then joined Dragontooth by the camp entrance.

Mistedstar ignored Dragontooth, hurt by his rudeness, and smiled at Ethre instead.

Marblepaw sensed the friction between the warrior and her leader, and couldn't help herself but slightly laugh at how funny adults could be. She crouched on the ground, poised and ready to burst through the bramble tunnel after her leader and mentor.

Newpaw stayed close to Ethre, not wanting to let go of the connection between them.

"Read to go?" Mistedstar meowed, glancing over to Dragontooth. Even though she was tagging along, he was still leading the patrol.

Dragontooth snuffed satisfactorily and sprinted through the bramble passage, feeling delighted at the slight tugging of the brambles that protecting their wonderful camp entrance as he shot through like a bullet. He ran on for sometime until he slowed and began to follow the beginnings of the border.
He turned abruptly around on the spot, startling the others, and braced himself just in case Mistedstar bumbled into him. "How about you go one way, and I'll go another? Who do you want to take?"

Mistedstar first thought Dragontooth was being rude again, but then understood his plan. "I'll take Newpaw and Ethre, and you take Marblepaw. My group can do the border south of here."
Ethre glanced back at Newpaw, pleased that they would be kept together.

Newpaw beamed with happiness and blinked his happiness to Mistedstar. He wasn't quite sure whether they'd get in trouble for being together, but all the same he was appreciative. Marblepaw was uncertain of how she felt with being with the grumpy warrior, but being the only apprentice she figured she might get to do some more warriorly duties, so she bounced around with excitement.

Dragontooth just nodded, put his head down and charged along the border. A spray here, a face-rub there, and his job was getting closer to being done. Every now and then he would stop and point out some sign of prey over the bend, or briefly tell a story of territory checking, trying to enforce his leadership on the apprentice.

Marblepaw wasn't stupid so she realized what he was doing, but found it quite amusing and went along with it just to make him happy. She pointed out a fox den that Dragontooth had jumped over, not noticing the stench. Dragontooth smiled with embarrassment, noticing how the apprentice was getting close to being a warrior.

Mistedstar flicked her tail, meowing this way, as she turned and padded along the border south. Her pace was slower than Dragontooth's, but the threesome would do a more thorough job.
Soon the ground grew swampy as they grew closer to the southern lip of the ridge and the forest.

[Frisby]

As they passed the secret trail that lead to the birch tree, Newpaw smiled at Ethre and started humming the song that made him happy.
Ethre grinned small-ly, not wanting to annoy Mistedstar.

Mistedstar raised her head suddenly. "Rabbit," she meowed. "One of you want to go after it? Or maybe both of you?" she suggested. /It'd be hard to strategize with Ethre unable to talk, though,/ she thought.

Newpaw saw this as a challenge so he turned to Ethre and looked deep into her eyes, trying to understand which way she would run so he could go the other way. Ethre nodded to the left. She'd charge straight at the rabbit and scare it backwards towards him.

Newpaw nodded happily in understanding and buried himself in the leaves where the rabbit would obviously run to so his white pelt wouldn't blow his cover.

[Frisby]

Mistedstar watched, amused, at their silent conversation.

Ethre padded forward, advancing towards the rabbit. It was small and orangish-brown. Almost immediately the animal froze, sitting up. Running noisily, she frightened it back to Newpaw.

As soon as Newpaw could see it he coiled himself and thrust his muscular back legs as hard as he could muster. He head-butted the rabbit and couldn't get a good grip on its neck but managed to clamp down on its tail. With repeated kicks to the face, the rabbit got away, with one hair-tuft less on its rump, running straight into Mistedstar's claws.

The leader dispatched it quickly, grinning. "Nice work," she meowed. "Now lets keep moving."

Newpaw was embarrassed and spat out the only example of his hunting capabilities. His face stung, but he tried to not show it to Ethre. The brown she-cat was pleased that their tactics had ended in success, even if it didn't play out quite right.

After a few heartbeats of more progress at the border, Ethre noticed something wasn't quite right with Newpaw. She stared pointedly at him.
Newpaw sheepishly grinned and ducked down his head. He was already embarrassed from not catching the rabbit, and didn't want Mistedstar to see that he was hurt, but his eye just wouldn't stop trickling.

Ethre ran up to Mistedstar and nudged her to get her attention. Th leader paused and glanced back at the white tom. "Oh, are you hurt?" she meowed, surprised.

[Frisby]

Newpaw laid his ears back in gentle annoyance and retorted, "Of course not, it was just a tiny rabbit."
Ethre glared at him, and then looked back to Mistedstar hopefully.

"Come on," the she-cat sighed. "We need to get you to the curers. I don't think anyone will be invading our territory soon."

That was the last thing Newpaw wanted to do. He was mortified. His ears and tail drooped and he sluggishly followed Mistedstar, only giving Ethre a single glance on the way home. He was happy she finally cared about him, but if he wanted his warrior name, stories like his failed attempt shouldn't be told.