Let The Games Begin

[glowlynose]

"You do know what happened, do you? It will stain my life for good. Never ask the question again."

Dovepaw instinctively recoiled from the harshness in her mentor's voice. It was only just a hint of cold, but it was so unusual for him. Had she done something wrong by asking the question? It was the polite thing to do. Of course she had done nothing wrong by being polite. Being polite was always the right thing to do.

"No, actually I don't know what happened," she mewed gently. Her nose scrunched up when he licked her on her head. Now that was unusual behavior for him. He must be trying to apologize for his harshness without actually saying "I'm sorry."
"You've never told me. You don't have to though. I understand."

Dovepaw absentmindedly licked a spot on her chest. It was a habit she'd developed when she was feeling thoughtful. And right now she was most definitely thinking. "So anyway, about the training. What would you like to do? You're my mentor, after all. I don't really care what we do as long as it's something."

A breeze skittered around the camp, and Dovepaw smiled. Breezes were so useful for calming down, and she had a feeling that she would need as much help staying calm as she could get today. She did not want to snap at her mentor again. It probably didn't help him very much when she did.

[ZEBRA ! [used to be toasty]]

"You've never told me. You don't have to though. I understand."

Mousenose sighed, knowing that even she understood, she had to know sooner or later. Being his apprentice and everything.

"No, no Dovepaw. I will tell. You are my apprentice. Thank you for understanding though. Along time ago, believe it or not, I wasn't shy or scared, of anything. My name was Flash. One day, my parents owner never came back so my whole family left to become rouges. One day, a bear came when we where living in the forest. He did not eat me, cause I never ate much, leaving me small and skinny. So the bears headed to my family. Slowly, limbs came off, blood splattered everywhere. I couldn't really be un-shy then. Seeing the guts made me nervous; forever." When he finished his story, he could feel the warm hot blood on his paws again. Mousenose let out a small whimper and sat down, licking his chest to concentrate on something else. Mousenose felt like falling,his legs felt shakey, from the horrible memory. All he felt like doing was crawl into his den, and fall asleep now. But Dovepaw needed training.

"So anyway, about the training. What would you like to do? You're my mentor, after all. I don't really care what we do as long as it's something."


Mousenose ears echoed, and his legs body felt so much more weight, we didn't want to out in the forest. If only they could practice fighting in the camp, but Mousenose was way to tired. All was left to do really, was hunt. Mousenose sighed softly, and mewed.

"Okay. Hunting good with you?"

[glowlynose]

Dovepaw's eyes flashed with impatience for a heartbeat. Sometimes it seemed like all they did was hunting. Of course, she was very skilled in the tracking, but that was only because of excessive practice. Weren't Warriors supposed t be able to defend their Clans in times of trouble? How would she be able to do that if she was only just getting past mastering the most basic battle moves? She was twelve moons old, for cripes sake! By now she should at least be more skilled in combat than a brand new Apprentice! Her whiskers twitched. She could understand her mentor's aversion to battle, but for goodness sake there wasn't going to be any blood! He was hindering her in her development as a future Warrior of his Clan.

"The fresh kill pile looks full enough to me, but whatever. We can go hunting, I guess," she said through teeth that were tightly clenched. If Mousenose was going to be this stubborn about his issue with fighting, she'd just have to find some other way to practice her battle skills. Perhaps one of the other Warriors or even one of her denmates would be so kind as to lend a paw. She decided to ask around and see what she could see.

"I'm very sorry about your family." Her tone was more amiable now that she'd come up with a solution to her issue, providing that the rest of the Clan cooperated. Maybe Blackpaw would be willing to help. She assumed that he would sympathize with her situation. Yes, Dovepaw decided to ask Blackpaw about it first thing when he got back, as soon as she could see him.

[Whiskers]

ooc// For Stripes. :3

Finchpaw had taken the long route back to camp as he always did, but he still arrived too soon for his liking. He brushed through the entrance and then glanced around at the normalcy he found. Cats were hopping in and out of camp like fleas and the conversation between them was low and nonchalant.

Finchpaw felt his emotion controlling him as he rolled his eyes at the camp and started to head toward the medicine cat den. He was annoyed with his father for sending him back to camp and for judging him because he was found with Frostpaw. He felt drained of all his patience. Right now he wanted to hunt, to box up all his anger, stick it in a corner, and then act robotically. Only when his claws were curved into the prey's skin would he dare to let the anger rip through him again.

But that would have to wait. So he just recited herbs again. "Juniper berries for coughs and bellyaches, borage leaves for fevers, chamomile for calming cats down... could use a bit of that myself," He muttered as he approached Smallfoot. His eyes narrowed a bit as he saw her wound. It was bigger than he expected... had she been attacked by an enemy cat?

He kept all his irritation out of his voice as he addressed the deputy. "Smallfoot. I'm sorry I wasn't in... I was collecting herbs," Finchpaw said and he didn't care that he didn't have any herbs with him to justify his story. He motioned for the deputy to follow him into the den. The smell of the herbs was overwhelming after so much fresh air, but he blinked it all out of his eyes and tried to focus. A cat was hurt. Maybe, for once, he could help.

[/size]

[ZEBRA ! [used to be toasty]]

"The fresh kill pile looks full enough to me, but whatever. We can go hunting, I guess,"

Mousenose's own teeth clenched together. Anger was filling up in his body.. He could tell Dovepaw wanted to fight. Mousenose wanted to go hunting though. He gritted his teeth.. But then he thought. If they hunted, they needed to go into the forest. After telling the story, Mousenose was too nervous. He hated to go into the wild after the wildbear.

"Fine. Fighting it is. Next time only asking would be wonderful."Mousenose whispered. He jumped, landed in a crouch, ready to swing his paw at the apprentice.. Fake, of course.

[glowlynose]

Dovepaw's ear flicked, but that was the only emotion she showed. Her mind was reeling as she tried to process what had just happened. Mousenose had agreed to fight, but he hadn't seemed too pleased about it. He had probably thought her rude. That was bad!

She tensed her hind legs, ready to spring at her mentor, but then she remembered where they were. They couldn't do battle training in the camp! Not only was it against the rules as far as anyone could tell, but there were cats always present. She didn't want anyone to witness her humiliation. "Er, Mousenose," she began uneasily, "This is camp. The training hollow is that way." She pointed in the direction of the hollow with her tail.

Her paws kneaded the damp earth in a steady rhythm. Right now she didn't care if her paws got muddy; she could tell that she would need something to help her calm down soon. Rhythmic exercises were very calming to her. She knew exactly what was going on when she used a steady rhythm. She could predict the next action. Even that was soothing, and soon she could feel all the tension dissolving from herself at the very least.

"I'm sorry I was so rude," she mumbled ashamedly. This was absolutely the worst part of fixing things: admitting that you were wrong. "I was completely out of line and should have accepted what you wanted to do."

[striped]

Ah, Finchpaw! Lovely. The she-cat gave the apprentice a small, pained smile and made her way carefully into the medicine cats den. She dropped the clear piece of glass on the ground and glared at it, wondering if somehow it could just go away. Ugh. Her side hurt. She looked to Finchpaw and bit on her lip. She didn't want to seem like she was deathly sick or anything. "Finchpaw, I got this..thing.." she meowed, flicking her tail toward the glass laying on the ground, "stuck in my pelt last night while I was sleeping. It's just a cut..but could you possibly put something on it to ease the pain?"

Nothing really struck her mind that she could get infected. The cut was just being bothersome to her. No big deal, right? What's a little discomfort? She was the deputy, she would handle a cut. She trusted Finchpaw thought and patiently sat in a moss nest as she awaited his answer. The deputy's thoughts were cut off as the strong aroma of herbs made their way up her nostril. She felt heavy at once. How that apprentice could stick in this den all day with all of the smells of flowers? She had no idea.

Finally the she-cat was able to look down. Oh. Wow. That wound was actually quite big and she let out a small grunt of anger. How could something like that cause so much damage to her pelt? The area was still sticky and smelled thick of blood but her pelt was getting stiff and the dried blood was beginning to cake up in her fur. She was going to be tearing out that for quite a few days. "Stupid..." She blinked and regained her emotion. She really didn't want this to look as if she had been attacked and she didn't want to make a big deal of it, so she wanted it to be covered up.

Sighing, the she-cat brought her green gaze to Finchpaw. "Will this effect me at all? I'll still be able to fun and hunt, right? No rest needed?" she asked, kneading the ground, something she did to comfort herself. Licking her lips, the she-cat smiled. She really hoped there would be no rest involved. As the deputy, she strove for perfection. She needed everything to be right and she was the one who was supposed to be setting up patrols for both hunting and checking along the borders. She certainly couldn't rest. It worried her more than anything.

[Whiskers]

A cut? Finchpaw felt like snorting at the deputy for how drastic her understatement was. As he approached her shoulder, he saw that it was a gash, not a cut, and that it was bleeding enough to be a real hassle. The deepness of it worried him though; an infection could easily set in, especially if the deputy was insistent in rushing through the forest and getting the wound unnecessarily dirty. He felt the need to work fast, so he could tackle it prematurely and get it over with. The smell of blood mixed with the sickeningly sweet herbs made him feel nauseous and a little unsettled.

Finchpaw retrieved a pawful of cobwebs and checked to make sure that any shards of the glass were not in his way. He spotted a tiny, sparkling piece and removed it, setting it by the larger piece that Smallfoot had brought in. In the light, it glinted with false innocence. How strange. I've never seen a material like this. I'll have to ask Smallfoot about it...

"Straighten up for me, please," he murmured to the small she-cat before pressing the cobwebs onto her shoulder with tender care, as if he was handling a butterfly or carrying a kit. He dabbed as much of the blood away as he could and his ears flicked as she asked him a question. He considered it for a moment and found himself wearing a rather bitter, half-hearted smile. Her eagerness to go out did not surprise him. It only reminded him that he was stuck here.

He tried to ignore the twinge of envy, but when he spoke, his voice was impatient and rushed-- Smallfoot would see that he was upset over something, any cat with half a brain would. "You'll still be able to carry out most of your duties, but I would be extra careful of this shoulder. Rest for a few days. If it gets infected, it will mean treating the same wound over again." Finchpaw winced at his own voice. So harsh. Why was he being so harsh?

He left the cobweb on to stop the bleeding completely and it was here that he paused. He had no idea if he was to apply a poultice to clean the wound, just to make sure there was no chance of infection, or if he was being too careful and thinking too much. If only Hailstorm was here to clarify for him.

[/size]

[ZEBRA ! [used to be toasty]]

"This is camp. The training hollow is that way."

Mousenose froze, humiliation filling in to her body. She was correct. And Mousenose didn't notice. If anybody instead of Dovepaw was watching.. Mousenose could get in trouble! He could get beat, or possibly fight also. The warrior shivered. The cold chill coming down his back...

Oh yes. I was just.. Testing you. Good job. We will go now.

He clenched his teeth some more, scared of what she might say. Someone could figure out that he was lying. Mousenose felt the cold, terrible feeling of nervous-ness. It left a cold stone in his belly.

We can go, now.

He meowed, stepping outside of camp.

[glowlynose]

Dovepaw let our a short spurt of a purr, which was an unusual thing for her to do. Most of the sounds that the she-cat emitted were either attempts at calming a cat down, or sharp hisses and scathing meows. She got to her paws and followed her mentor without a word. She did not want to embarrass the skittish tom. That would make him even more nervous, and he got irritating when he was nervous.

"Hey Mousenose," she began her question with an air of uncertainty, "Do you think PineClan lives by the Warrior Code even though they don't believe in StarClan? I mean, how can they believe in something made by StarClan if they don't believe in them?"

Her eyes flashed as a new question came to mind. "Does it make them bad cats, their nonexistent faith in StarClan? You don't have to believe in StarClan to be a good cat, do you?"

Dovepaw found herself wondering how Mousenose would react to those questions. Would he back away from them, or would he face up to the reality of his own opinions? Great StarClan, Mousenose got on her nerves sometimes. It amazed Dovepaw how a grown tomcat could be so cowardly. Toms were supposed to be the stronger ones, the braver ones, weren't they?