The simple things {Timberpaw}

[Venom]

The tom yawned. He was extremely bored. Skystar still hadn't given him a new mentor and he was lagging behind in his training. Rowanpaw was looking for something to do. He supposed nothing would happen unless he went looking for it. He stood up, shook the dust from his tabby fur and started walking. What will it take to find something to do? The high sun warmed his pelt. He closed his bright amber eyes briefly. His big paws dragged along the ground. The he opened his eyes and nearly ran into someone.
"Sorry!" He said, coming to a dead stop.

[Reed]

The world was different today. Brighter, somehow. Bigger. More exciting. Timberpaw almost didn't mind that she had yet to start on fighting or hunting training. She was still a new apprentice, having been a kit only the previous day, and she knew her time was coming soon.

Her day had been spent mewing excitedly to whatever cat would listen to her, voicing her excitement and asking question after question. Who was going to mentor her? When would she start hunting? What should she look for in her first kill? What battle moves were the best? When could she go on patrol? Eventually, her poor clanmates decided to put her to work so they could finally have a moment of peace. It wasn't a glorious task - she had to change the elders' bedding - but it needed done and it was an apprentice duty, so she was happy to oblige.

Thoughts of training and her future as a warrior floated through her head as she walked, and her surroundings seem to fade out of existence until she was aware only of her thoughts and the wad of stale moss clutched in her fangs. It wasn't until someone spoke - right near her, at that - that everything came back into focus...

...just in time to avoid bumping into the aforementioned someone.

She blinked, her gaze focused on the tom - an apprentice like her, though further in his training than she in hers. She purred and dropped the wad of moss to greet her clanmate. "Hi, Rowanpaw! I'm the one that's sorry. I wasn't paying attention at all. Heh..." She looked around. "Everything's all new and different today. It's exciting, even if I can't go out hunting or practicing fighting moves or anything fun like that just yet." Her gaze returned to her companion. "What about you? How's your day been?"

[Venom]

"Hello Timberpaw." Rowanpaw said. Her enthusiasm intrigued him. Why wasn't he like that anymore? "And today has been positively , or I suppose negatively, boring." He sighed. He wished that Skystar would hurry and pick a mentor, how possibly hard could it be to find someone to train him? "Would you like me to help you with that?" He asked, referring to her chores. Rowanpaw seemed willing to do almost anything.

[Reed]

"I'm sorry to hear that," Timberpaw responded to Rowanpaw's answer. "Boring days are the worst. It's like being a kit again and really wanting to go explore or hunt and knowing you'll get in trouble if you leave the camp even though there's nothing fun to do in the camp and the warriors are yelling at you for getting in their way and--oops...sorry. I don't mean to ramble. I know it's annoying." She scratched behind her right ear with a hind paw. "I'd be glad to have your help, if you're sure you're willing," she stated once her itch was sufficiently scratched. "It's not the most glamorous task and I know I'll get bored with it someday, but it is a useful thing to be doing. Then there's the fact that I don't know my way around outside yet, so...yeah, you'd be doing me a massive favor."

[Venom]

Rowanpaw gave her a half smile. "I'll help, It's no problem." Rowanpaw ran a paw over his face. "You will find that the elders become rather upset if you get moss that's too dry or too wet. Then they snap and make you go back and get different moss." He said, it was his turn to ramble now. "But don't worry, they won't bite...too hard." Rowanpaw teased, trying not to smile. I will show you where to gather some good moss the elders will probably enjoy later." The tabby tom flicked his tail. "Have you made your nest in the apprentice den yet?

[Reed]

Timberpaw frowned when Rowanpaw mentioned the elders becoming upset if the wrong moss was brought for them. She could understand, of course. If it was too dry, it'd be all brittle and messy, and too wet was just plain uncomfortable. The elders certainly deserved to be clean and comfortable, but... "How do we know the right balance of dry and wet, in case the bad stuff is mixed with the good stuff?"

His assurance that they didn't bite hard comforted her. She had heard the horror stories, though the elders had never been particularly nasty to her as a kit. Now she was semi-responsible for their care, though. Still... They were apprentices too, long ago. Maybe they'd understand? Then Rowanpaw told her he'd show her where to gather the good moss and she purred. "Thanks for this. I mean it." She pawed at the moss she had dropped, gathering it back in a bundle for her to carry. "No, I haven't made my nest yet. I was going to do that when I'm done with my duties for the day. Maybe once the elders and the nursery are all done--oh, and I should check the medicine cat den too, shouldn't I? Is that part of the bedding change? What about our leader's nest?" She had so much to learn even where the simple tasks were concerned. It was a bit daunting.

[Venom]

"Don't worry, I'll show you how to find the good moss." He answered her first question. "I don't think you need to worry about Skystar's den, but maybe when we go out and get moss we should bring some back for Frostbite. She might need it, whether for her nest, or for something else." Rowanpaw said. He remembered when he was brand new apprentice. Things were much harder, much more uncertain but certainly confusing. He sometimes had trouble remembering everything, even as an older apprentice. "I think that's all, but I'll tellyou if I've forgotten something."

[Reed]

Timberpaw purred at Rowanpaw's response. "Thank you. I really do appreciate this." Somehow, it had never occurred to her that she'd have others besides her mentor helping her figure everything out, and even - at least in Rowanpaw's case - directly help her out. She'd have to help him out next time he was assigned an unpleasant task, and make sure she was there for any newer apprentices should they need her.

"I suppose we should go before the elders start wondering what's taking so long." She finished fussing with the moss and stretched. "It's my duty so of course I'll carry this thing. Would you mind leading the way?" She picked up the wad of moss and prepared to follow the older apprentice.

[Venom]

"It's no problem really. We're no better than a bunch of rogues if we don't help each other." He said. Rowanpaw nodded and started leading the younger apprentice toward the elders den. His big tabby paws carried him around the particularly familiar camp. He popped his head in the den, which was empty. "I'm not surprised there not in there on such a nice day." He told Timberpaw entering the den. "Come on, the faster we get this done, the better." He said. "Maybe we can do some training later."

[Reed]

She nodded when Rowanpaw mentioned that they'd be no better than rogues if they didn't help each other. She didn't like to think negatively of any cat, but so many of her clanmates seemed to agree that rogues were primarily out for their own interests, and she didn't even want to think about what they had to say concerning cats living with humans. It seemed weird to her that any cat would be different from a clan cat - a Thunderclan cat in particular, but her clanmates would know these things better than she.

Timberpaw followed Rowanpaw into the elder's den, dropping the moss just inside. She was surprised to see scraps of the old stuff she had missed before. Had it fallen off the wad she had gathered before she left the den? Well, whatever the case, it still needed cleaned, and she hurried over to gather it. "It would be a good day to sun themselves. Maybe they'll be in a good mood when they come back." She purred at the mention of training. "I'd like that."

[Venom]

"Maybe. It's always nice when they're in a good mood." Rowanpaw said. He pushed a small piece of moss towards Timberpaw. Training with Timberpaw would be fun. He knew that they wouldn't be able to do battle training yet, they would start with going around the territory, then hunting and then battle training. All necessary and very important, but battle training was what Rowanpaw thought was best. "Have you had any training sessions yet?"

(OOC: Sorry it's so short. I just realized Emberblaze is his mentor, maybe i should check the listings more often o.O)

[Reed]

Timberpaw purred. "It is." She knew that from when she was still Timberkit and would go to the elders for stories about the past. "They're always o much more accommodating, too." She caught the moss and added it to the wad. She gathered what she could see and gave a last look around to make sure everything was clean.

"Not yet," she responded when he asked if she had any training. "But it shouldn't be too long now. I'm really looking forward to it. I want to learn what I can and be a warrior the clan can be proud of." She purred and rolled the moss out of the den. "What do I do with this old stuff?"

((No worries ^.^ I didn't know who Timberpaw's mentor was until recently XD))

[Venom]

"Let's take it outside the camp and drop it out of the way, then we can get some new stuff." He said. Rowanpaw said sliding out of the entrance. "But we'd better hurry, they might be irritated if they come back and don't have nests to rest in." He said beckoning her out. "Then we have the nursery to do." He continued. "Have you seen Snowberry and Skystar's kits yet? Luckily they are not old enough to rip up all the moss and make a disaster for us to clean up." He smiled, remembering when he did that once.

[Reed]

Timberpaw nodded and followed Rowanpaw, carrying the moss with her. She certainly didn't want the elders mad at her and wondering what sort of warrior she'd become especially not this soon into her apprenticeship.

"Not yet," she answered around her wad of moss when Rowanpaw asked if she had seen the new kits. "I want to soon, though. New kits are so cute!" Maybe she'd even get to mentor one once she was a warrior and they came of age to be apprenticed, but she wouldn't count on it. In six months time, if she did become a warrior by then, she'd still be new and inexperienced. She could dream, though...right? "Why would they ruin their bedding? It'd mean sleeping on hard dirt until it was replaced. Though I guess when kits are that young they don't really think about consequences, just how much fun they have. I was pretty much that way until I got older. At least that's what mom tells me."

[Venom]

"Kits just do those kind of things. They like attention I guess." He continued walking, his eyes on the ground. Though only 5 moons ago, Rowanpaw had sort of forgotten what it was like being a kit. He was now used to all of the responsibilities of being a higher member of the clan. He did remeber, though, as a kit all he'd wanted to do is grow up and be an apprentice. He knew that when he became an apprentice the world changed completely. "Come on, let's hurry!" He said, picking up the pace a bit.