Who's the mentor again?, Open

Honeybee stared wide-eyed at the open moors of WindClan's territory, practically skipping with excitement. She was going to train an apprentice! Echopaw was just appointed her apprentice yesterday, but Honeybee had had a few days to get worked up over it-mentors-to-be were always told a few days in advance who their apprentice would be.

The excitable she-cat looked at Echopaw, her blue eyes wide on her dark brown face, and said, "So, today we're going hunting, okay? Do you know anything about that? I mean, did one of the apprentices ever tell you or something? Or are you new to it?" She didn't really know what she was asking, but she didn't really care, either. She was just happy to have an apprentice, period.

Open, but prolly a lot of Flameh and me mostly, I s'pose. Don't bring in a patrol or anything. xD

((Here we go. I wont mention Echo's littermates since they're without mentors right now.))

Echopaw was actually quite amused by her mentor's excitement. She couldn't help but let out a chuckle. Usually the apprentices were the overly excited cats. The slight she-cat smiled and meowed, "Uh, I guess I'm new to it." Then Echopaw added with a grin, "Because kits aren't allowed out of camp, remember?"

Echopaw was doing her best to retain a calm demeanor, but she was truly excited. Her eyes bright, Echopaw said, "This is really exciting! Where are we going hunting?"

((Hold on, I need to check Secrets of the Clans for WindClan.))

"Yeah, kits aren't allowed out of camp, but sometimes apprentices like to show off and teach the kits what they know. I knew some kits that learned the hunting crouch that way," explained Honeybee, nodding at apparently nothing. "So I guess that we can look for some prey, and then I'll show you, okay?"

"This is really exciting! Where are we going hunting?"

"Yeah, it is, isn't it?" replied Honeybee, tail swishing excitedly and whiskers twitching. "We're going hunting wherever we scent prey. So just smell around until you find a scent."

Honeybee abruptly came to a halt, lifting her head up to taste the air. She caught the distinct scent of rabbit a little bit to her right, and turned to her apprentice. "So, Echopaw, what do you smell? Any prey?" This way she could see if the black and white she-cat knew what scent belonged to which prey, and if during her time as a kit she had learned the scent of rabbit from prey brought to the fresh-kill pile.

Echopaw turned around in a circle and gazed across the moor. She opened her mouth and tried to scent prey. The small she-cat said nothing for a minute, and dropped into her closest imitation of the hunter's crouch. She stalked of to her mentor's right, following the tiny tracks and the scent trail of the rabbit.

Echopaw turned her head to Honeybee and flicked her ears in the rabbit's direction. After a few more seconds of stalking, the apprentice broke into a run, startling the rabbit. The prey immediately shot off across the moor. I'm loosing it! Echopaw panicked. She pushed off the ground into a mighty leap and landed on the rabbit, killing it with a bite to the neck. She turned to her mentor, her eyes beaming.

Honeybee watched her apprentice dash across the moor as she tried to catch the rabbit, trying to keep still and doing a pretty good job, for Honeybee. Her tailtip wouldn't keep still, but that was all. Honeybee was proud of herself.

She's got a good hunting crouch, thought Honeybee, eyeing the apprentice as she fell into a good imitation. If she could just soften her steps a little bit... Most new apprentices forgot to do that, but Echopaw's was good, anyway. Apparently the intelligent she-cat had picked up a few things from her kithood days.

When Echopaw finished off the rabbit, Honeybee sprang up, then promptly dashed over to her apprentice at a speed only WindClanners could manage. "Wow, Echopaw! That was so good! And it's only your first time and you caught it and..." Honeybee was ecstatic; with a few more tries like that, Echopaw would have her warrior ceremony quickly, that was for sure. "And I bet you'll show all of those older apprentices and that was so good!"

She stared at her apprentice proudly, quivering with excitement as she looked at Echopaw.

---

As you can see, Honey's a little...

0o

Honey-ish. xD

Echopaw grinned, filled with pride. She was also slightly embarrassed about how excited her mentor was. Shaking away the thought, Echopaw turned her attention back to Honeybee. She could almost sens her mentor's thoughts. She knew the warrior thought that Echopaw would become a warrior quickly.

The white apprentice let her mind drift back to camp where her littermates waited. They were of apprentice age, but had no mentors. She felt guilty about being here, doing so well, without them. Echopaw thanked Honeybee and was silent for a moment. "...Hey Honeybee? I was thinking about Coldpaw and Galepaw. I feel really bad; you know, how all three of us are apprentices but I'm the only one learning..."

((I don't feel that way, I think it would work well with Echo's personality.))

((Mind if I poke my nose in?))

Velvetkit:

Wow. I watched as Echopaw charged for the rabbit, the pouncing on it at the last second. . . For a first time catch it looked very impressive. I hoped the patrol of two would find another prey. But mainly because the exhilaration of watching took away some of the guilt I felt in the pit of my stomach. I knew I shouldn't have sneaked away from camp, I wish I could say it was pressure from the other kits, but really it was pressure from myself. Pressure to do something daring. . . But is this really daring? Or is this taking it too far? Well, there's no going back know. . .

I turned my attention back to Echopaw and Honeybee, trying to push away my guilt. I could feel the wind on my face, which was good, my scent wouldn't be blown towards the mentor and apprentice. I should find a new hiding spot soon, this clump of grass feels too open. . . Thoughts of Creamfur, her sister, kept intruding her mind, her common sense trying to use guilt to persuade her to return back to camp, but she pushed the feelings away. Besides, if she wasn't caught, how would anyone know about it?

Ooh, first person. I think I know Honey well enough to try...

---

I didn't want Echopaw to be sad. She had just caught her first piece of prey, but that reminded her that her siblings weren't training, I guess. It was sad, I thought. Because Galepaw and Coldpaw wouldn't get to be warriors as fast. But I didn't like Echopaw to be unhappy, so I decided to say something to make her feel better.

"Well, Echopaw, it's not really that fair," I said, looking at her sadly. I perked up again as I continued with, "But see, it's not their fault, or your fault, or anyone's fault. Except the queens, because they just kept making kits these last few moons. I don't know why. But they did, and there are so many apprentices and kits that there are no more warriors to take them on as apprentices! But Galestar thought that everyone should have a chance, so he just gave every mentor an apprentice and when all of you are trained, some more warriors can have Galepaw and Coldpaw as apprentices, see?" That was what I thought about it, anyway. It made sense to me.

I waited for her reply as a sharp scent on the air caught my attention. It smelled like WindClan, definitely; I knew I had smelled the cat-scent before, too. It was a female, I knew by the scent, and either a kit or a queen, because I had usually just smelled it around the nursery. Oh, no. If it was a queen, had she heard me blaming all of the queens for making kits? I didn't want to upset anycat. I turned to face the direction the scent was coming from, and saw a small, dark shape nearby. It was a kit! So she wouldn't think I was insulting her! That was good. I relaxed with relief.

Then a realization hit me.

What was a kit doing out of camp?

Well, I'm sure that she's not doing anything wrong. Maybe a warrior's out with her, or she got chased out of camp and lost or something. Right? I didn't want to accuse her of something she didn't do. So I just lifted a paw and waved at the kit. "Hello, kit! What are you doing out here?"

I looked at Echopaw. Did she know that kit? Echopaw had just become an apprentice recently; maybe she remembered the scent better than I did. "Do you know who that kit is?" I asked her quietly, so that the kit couldn't hear.

---

0o That's...long. THAT IS WHAT FIRST PERSON DOES TO YOU.

((HAHAHA! The deadly disease of posting in 1st person has been passed on!))

*shot*

Velvetkit

I froze. I prayed to StarClan that there was another kit that had wandered out of camp. Of course, there wasn't, just me, frozen like a piece of prey as it realized it had been hunted all along. I figured there was no way out of this, so I shouldered through the tall grasses to where I could see Honeybee and Echopaw properly. My red tail drooped and my head hung low as I padded out of the grass. My green eyes were dimmed with sadness and guilt. StarClan help me!

((Oh well, I don't mind))

*shotforcrappypost*

((I'll post in first person when Galepaw and Coldpaw get active. XD))

Before Echopaw had a chance to respond to her mentor, Honeybee was facing a kit from camp. She realized Honeybee asked her a question, but had to bring herself back to reality to respond. "Uh, do I know that kit...?" Echopaw began. Running through the kits she knew from camp, Echopaw sighed and muttered, "Sorry, I can't remember right now..."

Slightly ashamed at her lack of knowledge, Echopaw tried to regain her posture. Straightening up, she growled, "what are you doing out of camp?" Startled at her harsh tone, the she-cat added, "Kits aren't supposed to be out of camp, so..."

((*Shot for pointless post* Sorry, no inspiration...))

"Oh, it's okay, Echopaw," I assured the apprentice, smiling at her. "It's no big deal..." I turned back toward the kit, continuing my smile. "So, who are you? And why are you here?" My eyes grew wide and round as I waited for the kit's response; she looked kind of guilty, and sad. I didn't want her to be sad because of us, so I tried to reassure her of this; "It's okay, kit. We aren't going to hurt you, you know."

Well, we weren't. And I'm sure she had a good reason to be out of camp; after all, it's not like she would break the rules for no good reason. We could just take the kit back to camp as soon as we finished talking to her, that's all. No reason to get worried about it.

---

Ew. xP

((Hm... I think I'll try the first person role playing with Galepaw. =D))

I crept through the sparse bushes, wondering if what I was doing was right. Wait, what am I thinking? Of course it's right! I'm no a kit anymore, I thought. I made sure I was upwind of my sister, making sure I wouldn't be caught like that kit.

A wave of envy crashed over me as I saw the pride in Echopaw's eyes. She probably doesn't even care I'm not there! I thought angrily. Not caring about my cover anymore, i burst out of the bushes and shot down to my littermate.

Echopaw stared at Galepaw in shock. "What are you doing out here, Galepaw?! You're no better than this kit! What if a warrior catches you?" she mewed. When she saw the anger burning in her brother's eyes, she asked, 'What's wrong? You seem upset."

"Ha! Like you care! you're out here, having a great time with your mentor and catching your first prey, and you didn't even think about Coldpaw and I back at camp! You're so... So... Selfish!" I snapped, almost spitting the last words. I felt bad probably hurting Echopaw's feelings; we rarely ever fought, but I was serious. I meant every word of it.

Tears began to well in Echopaw's eyes at her brother's words. It felt like he had just raked his claws down her heart. "How could you?" she murmured quietly. After a moments silence, Echopaw snapped. "I can't believe you! You're so rude and inconsiderate! You're just like Coldpaw! All these moons I protected you because I thought you were different." Tears spilling from her eyes, she shouted, "But I was wrong! You're just like him!"

((...Long and... Drama-ish. XD))

Dramatic, you mean? xD
This post is sponsored by Brittney Spears because it sucks.

---

I looked back and forth between the bristling Galepaw and the upset Echopaw, wondering why they were fighting. Why was Galepaw mad? Why was he making Echopaw upset? It wasn't her fault that Galestar had made Echopaw an apprentice first, without Galepaw and Coldpaw, was it? She hadn't forced him to make her an apprentice and not her brothers.

So why was Galepaw mad? Why was he making his sister mad? It didn't make sense. I didn't want to see either of them unhappy.

"Stop!" I meowed, stepping in between them. "Why are you fighting? It doesn't make sense. It's not Echopaw's fault. She didn't want you to be stuck in camp. Why are you mad?"

Why? Why was Galepaw mad? I didn't get it. Even after I said it, and looked at Galepaw, and listened to what he was saying-I didn't get it.

((Lena is gone right? Flamey, let's just continue))

Velvetkit:

My head jerked up as I heard the commotion. I felt sorry for Echopaw, whose feelings were obviously hurt by her brother's words. I started toward the group to go comfort the apprentice, but something held me back. A sort of tugging at my brain, the deceitful side of me telling me something. This is your chance to get away!

I considered the concept, running away from here and getting back to camp before anyone noticed, but someone probably would notice and I would get into more trouble. In the end, I just decided to stay where I was, a fox-length from the tall grasses I had been hiding in, and watched the scene unfold.

((BTW, sorry for not posting))