[namen_roodles]

WILDPAW
Shadowclan Apprentice | 6 Moons | Long-furred calico tom with yellow eyes
~~~

Wildpaw wanted to scream. THIS WAS SO AWESOME! He bounced along behind Briarsplash, still absolutely vibrating with uncontained excitement. He had to stop and sniff everything that looked mildly different from what he was used to see in camp, then sprint to catch back up. A pretty flower? Needs a good sniff. Weird shaped rock? Yep, that smells like stone and dirt! Tickly, hairy leaves? Oh, his nose itched, but it was worth the sniff! He wanted to know ALL of it!

By the time that they stopped at the grotto-WHOA, A CAVE?!-A lot of his excess energy had been spent. Still shaking a little bit, but Wildpaw no longer looked like he could explode from the sheer idea of the enforcer looking his way. Which was a good thing, because she turned to him and let him know that she and Hillstrider would be watching over him. HE COULD SHOW OFF HOW GOOD AT HUNTING HE WAS! This was AWESOME! "Got it! CALM AND QU-" a momentary pause as his voice echoed a bit. "Calm and quiet!" He whispered.

Now for the catching! He was ready to catch everything! He'd bring so much prey back, Dawnstar would immediately make him an enforcer apprentice! Oh, wait, that would mean he couldn't be Blackjaw's apprentice anymore. That would be sad. He liked Blackjaw quite a bit. Well, he barely knew blackjaw, but Morningpaw said he was probably cool, and he seemed pretty nice, so who would possibly doubt that?

Hunting! Wildpaw's attention snapped back to the present and he bounced along for a couple steps before he realized he needed to pause and actually find prey. He stopped and sniffed the air. It was damp, fresh and stale simultaneously. That was WEIRD! Anyway, the apprentice did catch the familiar scent of a mouse. He crouched down in his sloppy, but at least balanced crouch. He was certainly better at learning from experience than he was at listening to others talking. He could sneak up on Morningpaw, so a mouse had to be easy, right?

The apprentice stalked forwards, ears perked as he listened for the sound of a nibbling little mouse. He spotted the little brown creature soon enough. Awesome! His first catch was quickly becoming a reality. Despite his steps being fairly quiet, his paws were still heavy on the ground. The mouse didn't even seem to look at the little apprentice before darting away. He tried to race after it, but it wasn't in the stars for him to get lucky, today. It disappeared into a hole beneath rocks, forcing the little calico to skid to a halt.

Wildpaw didn't get it. He looked back at the other two quizzically. He was pretty sure he hadn't made any sound, but the mouse still detected him! That was totally unfair, like there were more factors in hunting than just being quiet, which, obviously, would've been mentioned when Morningpaw was teaching him about hunting if it were the case.

@squidz - Briarsplash | @Mica - Hillstrider