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Post by shiningheart on Jan 18, 2012 22:31:33 GMT -5
The day, while cold, was a good one. The sky was a clear and crystal blue, with nary a cloud to disrupt the endless blue. It was a fabulous day to explore, and that was just was Fernpaw was doing. With her nose to the ground and her tail in the air, she paid no attention to where she was going. Her ears sat pricked on top of her head to listen for any danger. Fernpaw wasn't mouse-brained enough to think that she was safe in her own territory.
Her nose led her to the base of a tree, and Fernpaw slowed her steps until she was walking at a snails' pace. A hole, about just big enough for her to squeeze through, rested between the roots. Fernpaw sat on her haunches about two tail-lengths from the hole, and her light-green eyes stared intently at the it. Now the only question was... "Do I go in it, or don't I?" she asked out loud.
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Post by ceilingwax on Jan 19, 2012 6:58:32 GMT -5
Hiddenheart snapped the neck of the small vole with a swift bite and shake of the head, and it ceased struggling, hanging limp and lifeless in his jaws. Raising his head, the tom looked around the forest of pines that was ShadowClan's territory. He was always partly hidden in shadows, something the ebony tom appreciated very much, as it made hunting considerably easier. Though he also appreciated the occasional challenge. Turning his attention back to the vole laying at his paws, the tom prodded it once before picking it up again. He might as well get back to camp.
Ebony paws mechanically lead him along the familiar territory. He kept his senses alert as he walked, amber eyes darting around in front of him, though he did not really fear an attack. No clan would be mousebrain enough to enter this deep into ShadowClan territory to attack, and a feline would not attack his own clan member. "Do I go in it, or don't I?" However, those words made the tom pause midstride. Turning his head, he faced the direction from which he had heard them, ears flicking. On an impulse, he decided to investigate. In front of him, sat Fernpaw, staring at a whole in the base of a tree. Setting down his catch, Hiddenheart meowed calmly, "I wouldn't, but that is just me." |
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Post by shiningheart on Jan 19, 2012 18:13:32 GMT -5
Fernpaw jumped at the sound of an unexpected voice. She'd been concentrating so hard on the hole that she hadn't heard the warrior come up. "Hiddenheart! You scared me out of my fur!" she meowed with a respectful nod of the head. She turned back to her discovery and thought a bit more before thinking outloud, "Well, I'm never going to be able to learn anything if I don't go in... Maybe I can just sniff outside of the hole and try to figure out what's inside that way..."
She crouched down, keeping her belly just brushing the earth, and slowly crept up to the hole. She went right up to the entrance and pressed her nose to the opening. Fernpaw took a deep breath, deep enough that both her chest and belly expanded, before letting it out and blinking. "There's something there... But I know enough to know that it's faded. But I don't know what it is." The apprentice turned back to Hiddenheart with a curious tilt of the head. "What do you think?"
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Post by ceilingwax on Jan 19, 2012 18:29:05 GMT -5
Caused by Fernpaw's reaction, a swift spark of amusement flashed through the warrior before he brushed it away. However, her surprise at seeing him did not last long, for not a moment later, she returned her attention to the hole. "Well, I'm never going to be able to learn anything if I don't go in... Maybe I can just sniff outside of the hole and try to figure out what's inside that way..." Idly, the tom wondered whether or not he was supposed to hear that; he had a feeling that the apprentice had begun to think outloud. Either way, Hiddenheart had heard and he opened his mouth to respond, about to comment that that course of action was the better choice. However, before he had a chance, Fernpaw had crouched down and sniffed around the entrance.
Hiddenheart only watched, half expecting to hear a cry of surprise and see a young she-cat with a bleeding nose; luckily, that was not the case and Fernpaw's nose was as in good condition as it had been before. The apprentice turned back to him, and the ebony warrior flicked an ear at her words. Stepping over the small vole, he approached Fernpaw and the hole, lowering his head to sniff around the entrance. Sure enough, there was the familiar scent of a snake, thogh it was faded. Raising his head and turning his attention back to Fernpaw, Hiddenheart decided to not just give her the answer; let her figure it out with the clues he was about to give her. "You are correct," He started to explain. "There is a scent there and it is faded. Whatever lived in there is mostlikely dead or has moved. You do not recognize this scent probably because you have never had the chance to or have never encountered one of these. However, if you scent the hole again, you may find that the scent is a little familiar." Perhaps because it is somewhat like that of a lizard, He continued in his head. |
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Post by shiningheart on Jan 19, 2012 18:49:21 GMT -5
Fernpaw listened with wide eyes to the warrior's words, and twitched her ears when he mentioned that it was either dead or moved on. Hiddenheart finished his explanation and Fernpaw took a second sniff of the air outside. She closed her eyes, thinking that maybe her sight was getting in the way of her mind. It did smell sort of familiar... In her mind, the image of the fresh-kill pile back at camp formed. "It smells sort of like lizard. I know that smell only from the fresh-kill pile at home. But something smells... off about it."
She backed away again and sat, keeping her eyes on the hole in thought. Thinking out-loud some more, she meowed, "But if it was dead, then the body would still be there, unless something else moved it. But then that wouldn't be the only smell we'd get. The scent would still be fresh if it was still inside..."
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Post by ceilingwax on Jan 21, 2012 11:04:10 GMT -5
"It smells sort of like lizard. I know that smell only from the fresh-kill pile at home. But something smells... off about it." Hiddenheart nodded in agreement, but otherwise stayed silent, letting the apprentice work out the problem on her own. At least she had recognized the scent, though it appeared that she only knew it due to the fresh-kill pile. Though lizards looked less than appetizing, Hiddenheart was not a picky eater and knew that most of the other felines in ShadowClan also ate whatever was on the pile that day.
Amber eyes glanced at her as she backed away and continued to think aloud, "But if it was dead, then the body would still be there, unless something else moved it. But then that wouldn't be the only smell we'd get. The scent would still be fresh if it was still inside..." Hiddenheart nodded again before correcting her and simultaneously giving another hint, "Your reasoning is mostly correct. If the creature that lived in that whole was there, then its scent would be fresh and it would attack us. However, if the creature was hunted and caught, then it would be dead and its body would not be in there..."
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