Rugged Range

[Red Dawn]

Nightspark nodded slowly, accepting the orders, he was with Cloverdust so... He seemed to annoy Beastflame and Mintpaw seemed scared of him... but he doesn't cared, his whole spirit was not caring at what his clanmates were thinking of him, he was normal... in his way, he was just different, that's all! He spoke for a short time "Understood, we will try to find something for the night once it fall, however, what do we do if, even if the chances are low, one of us get heavily wounded, dissapear or even...., he ended with a dark and scary voice, killed..." he honestly hoped it wouldn't happen, but who knows, they were in the unknown, in a hostile territory, it wasn't something his mind would let pass, he needed to get any tactical solution, so, thinking some seconds at his question, he gave an idea: "The downed clanmate could be hidden while the second one go search the others?"
@ophelia @ameko @Wingnettle [Like you want!]

[ophelia]

[ @ameko @Wingnettle @WhiteDawn ] - okay, beast and mintpaw will spend the night in the cave and be awoken by the bats. feel free to have cloverdust and nightspark encounter any obstacles, just not outsiders since the other patrol already has that and we had our characters not scent any.

beastflame
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The large warrior nodded as the others agreed one by one. Cloverdust seemed a little nervous, and he felt guilty about leaving her once more. Her reassuring words soothed him a little, even though he wasn’t sure if she entirely believed them. Mintpaw asked a question, and he turned to her. Ah. Perhaps those weren’t terms commonly used for directions.

“We’re going left, towards the Twoleg place. They’re going right, towards the ocean,” he clarified, making it as clear as possible. He didn’t want any missing cats if that could be avoided. He didn’t think it would be an issue, what with them marking every now and then, but just in case. Better to be safe than sorry.

He glowered at Nightspark as the warrior brought up the worst case scenario. Just the thought of anything happening to his friend sent a shudder down his spine. “You are quite the pessimist, aren’t you?” he asked sourly. If anything happened to Cloverdust, he would be holding this cat personally responsible, that was a fact. “I’m not scenting anything currently,” he said through gritted teeth, having to play the reassuring role once more, “and I am very doubtful anything big will be living here. Just keep your eyes and ears sharp, and watch your footing.” He instructed sternly, trying to keep his cool. Reluctantly, he added, “And IF something goes wrong, make sure your partner is as safe as possible before looking for help. Leave markings along the path you take for easy tracking.”

Was everyone done being crybabies now? He turned, tapping his tail once on the ground in irritation. “Come on, Mintpaw,” he said, and began heading to the left, glancing back once to nod at Cloverdust.

[ameko]

Cloverdust | @Wingnettle @WhiteDawn @ophelia | (sounds good!)

That anxiety only began to grow as Nightspark spoke, feeding off her imagination. There didn't seem to be any predators or suspicious cats anywhere nearby, but what if they just didn't have a scent at all? She sure hoped that they wouldn't get hurt. It didn't seem very enjoyable to be left all alone while someone went to find help that might never come...

For once, Cloverdust was able to chase her thoughts away with a quick shake of her head. She really didn't like thinking about that. Her ears pricked as Beastflame explained the directions, grateful for something else to focus on. Towards the ocean, then! Even if she hadn't seen it from all the way up on the cliffs of Rugged Range, she was still familiar with the ocean itself, and that was enough to quell most of her worries.

She nodded sharply at Beastflame's repeat reminder to watch their footing. She'd be keeping a very close eye, that was for sure! At what he said next, her mind was brought back to the scenario of one of them being left behind. Though she couldn't help the chill that prickled at the back of her neck, she felt a bit more comfortable having those explicit instructions on what to do.

Cloverdust returned Beastflame's parting nod with a dip of her head, then turned towards Nightflame. "Our journey awaits!" she said, voice wavering just a bit—though her earnest tone covered it up. The grey-furred warrior took a glance over at the other pair to see where they were headed before she went off in the opposite direction, tail held high.

[Wingnettle]

┌────────── ∘・❄︎・∘ ──────────┐
Mintpaw (she/her)
Riverclan
White and gray siamese with blue eyes
└───────── ・∘ ❄︎ ∘・ ─────────┘



Mintpaw tipped her head slightly, wondering if north really meant just left. There was some distant memory about that word, but no one had ever really talked in such way about directions. She took note mentally to ask Slatestripe when she returned back. I wonder what he's doing now..?

Truth told, she would've preferred to go to the ocean and remain close to the water, but she had to admit herself that she was quite curious about this weird Twolegplace she'd had heard so much in her life. But I guess we won't really get any close to it. We're here to patrol the Rugged Range, after all... Surely Pikestar doesn't care about such place filled with twolegs.

Nightspark's catastrophic's previsions were really starting to make Mintpaw's pelt bristle, almost unnerved by the repetitive tom's curses. She glared coolly at the black warrior for a couple of seconds, before turning away and following silently Beastflame. They needed to focus, not having their mind around the idea that today someone would die.

· · ─────── ·✧· ─────── · ·

[ @ameko @/Wingnettle @WhiteDawn @ophelia ]

[Red Dawn]

Nightspark shook slowly his head "I am not the pessimist, I take tactical possibilities into the count, I am just realistic..." and he shut his mouth, not saying anything more, as Beastflame and Mintpaw went on their side, he noticed Mintpaw sending him a coolly gaze, he sended back the gaze, but with some on his black fury that momentarily twisted his face into a dark, scary murderous grin, Cloverdust called him and he turned the head, looking at her, and he got up and followed her, he didn't gave a look behind, he started to survey the surroundings, carefully and with a lot of attention, he said "Cloverdust, open your eyes and ears, the smell will not help, the animals living here took the smell of the territory, we will not sense them...." in a low voice, and without losing the tiniest part of his attention, he started to recite a slow and fervent mantra "Glorious Starclan, ruler of the clans and the world, in my time of need I come to you. Illuminate us with your soul so the darkness become the light. I beg this from you in your eternal presence, o eternal Starclan. May you protect us from the dark dangers of the unknown..."
@ophelia @ameko @Wingnettle [It is ok with me!]

[ophelia]

[ @ameko @Wingnettle @WhiteDawn ]
beastflame
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Nightspark was countering Beastflame's observation, but the tabby warrior couldn't care less about it anymore. They needed to get a move on so they could cover enough territory and find shelter before dark. He didn't look back again, sensing that Mintpaw was close behind as he padded away.

It seemed that the terrain only got rougher as they traveled further in. He was silent for a bit, focusing on stepping from a piece of crumbling rock to a narrow ledge a little further up. There were indents in the rock walls that became more and more frequent as they traveled, but none of them looked to be worth exploring. Save for the occasional shrub and bird calling in the distance, the land was as barren as could be. This was slightly unfortunate, as Beastflame was beginning to feel his stomach become empty. They'd been walking for a long time, and his energy was beginning to diminish.

"Be on the lookout for any prey," he called over his shoulder to Mintpaw, "We'll likely want to eat before resting for the night."

[ameko]

Cloverdust | @Wingnettle @WhiteDawn @ophelia

So her suspicions were confirmed—they might not have any discernible scent at all! "We won't sense them?" she echoed, ears swiveling back. Cloverdust slowed her pace a little to keep at Nightspark's side, then scanned the land around them. Just as rough and craggy as the last time she'd looked! But a little more intimidating now that there was suddenly the possibility of danger lurking behind any boulder or shrub.

That ache in her paws was starting to become a real nuisance. A glance up at the darkening sky showed that it wouldn't be long until they'd have to find a place to sleep. She'd be glad to have a place to rest her weary legs!

Now that she was actually close enough to understand Nightspark's praying, her attention drifted from keeping watch of the territory and she focused on what he was saying. "Is it important to pray?" she asked after it seemed like he finished. Should she pray too? She did so after every catch she made, as was taught to her, but she hadn't ever given any thought as to the significance of it. And aside from that, she didn't think she'd ever asked for their help before. "Would StarClan not hear us should we not directly ask for their protection?"

She wasn't quite sure what StarClan did for them, anyway. Aside from the common knowledge that they were their ancestors and the Clan cats all went there when they died, she didn't know much else about their ways. Were they all powerful?

[Wingnettle]

┌────────── ∘・❄︎・∘ ──────────┐
Mintpaw (she/her)
Riverclan
White and gray siamese with blue eyes
└───────── ・∘ ❄︎ ∘・ ─────────┘



Mintpaw was grateful for Beastflame's silence. There was so much to see in this new territory, and all her senses were focused on her surroundings. She felt the roughness of the terrain, the songs of distant birds and many new scents that she had difficulty distinguishing.

As the warrior ahead suggested looking for prey, her stomach suddenly grumbled lightly and she gave a "Mmh" of approval, nodding even if he couldn't see her. Another thing to focus on. But she could do it, and honestly she was growing tired of walking without any new discovery. The landscape was becoming pretty repetitive now, and she found herself wishing intensely for a fresh stream to soothe her sore pads and quench her thirst.

At least, prey here seemed pretty ordinary. Her nose caught the scent of a vole among tufts of long grass and other vegetation; she pointed with her tail to the direction and stalked the scent trail silently, guessing that Beastflame would follow behind or either find another trail to follow.

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[ @ameko @/Wingnettle @WhiteDawn @ophelia ]

[Red Dawn]

"We indeed won't smell them coming, I know this because I heard it somewhere..." he thinked as he walked, but looked around in case, suddenly, Cloverdust asked an other question, he was very surprised by it, he didn't thinked she would ask that question, however he responded, with a calm voice "Praying give me strength, courage to accomplish what I need to do, to continue despite the worst dangers, the worst wounds, the worst possible conditions because Starclan is looking at us, after each of us, a cat begging for its help will be protected by him, he will be given bravery to defend his life like he never did, to serve his clan to persever one more day, praying is very important for me, because Starclan will protect not only me, but also my other clanmates, because Starclan will not only look me, but also his other believers, we thank him for the preys we catch because he gave us the strength to catch the prey, Starclan is everywhere, the sky is his eyes, so he can see us all..." he continued to walk and looked at the dark sky, and said "We better find somewhere to sleep, he suddenly decided to tell an other explanation, if the day, Starclan look over us, the night he is replaced by the damned cats of the Dark Forest, they make us weak and help the infernal animals like owls, foxes to efficiently take us down, sometimes in the day, the Dark Forest manage to control an animal or the destiny to make a loyal cat to StarClan die, sometimes they kill one of who didn't respected the rules given by Starclan to make them even more dangerous in their rancor, deceit and contempt for helping to sweep the loyals to StarClan and replace the clans with untold chaos, the night is the realm of the death and the damned..."
@ophelia @ameko @Wingnettle

[ophelia]

[ @ameko @Wingnettle @WhiteDawn ]
beastflame
--------
Almost immediately after his instruction, Mintpaw picked up on the scent of a rodent. Impressive. Beastflame didn't typically like younger cats, especially apprentices, but he had to admit this one was growing on him a bit. Almost enough to make him reconsider his stance on becoming a mentor. Almost, but not quite. He told himself it was because they were all annoying furballs that weren't worth his time, but if he was being completely honest, it was mostly because he was afraid to turn out just like his mentor had. No cat deserved to go through what he had as an apprentice, no matter how annoying they were.

Shaking the thoughts from his head, he focused on the hunt. Mintpaw was directly in front of the vole, just out of view, and there was little wind. Using this to his advantage, he crept around behind the little creature, careful to avoid the sun casting his shadow over it. Once in position, he rustled the grasses behind the rodent, startling it. It darted in fear, directly towards Mintpaw. Beastflame sat up from his crouched position to observe, wondering if she would succeed in catching the vole efficiently. Meanwhile, he took stock of their situation. Nothing good for shelter on their level, but he could spot a cavern a little ways up, just a short climb from the two of them. That was their destination.