You'll Be Safe with Me

[Storm]

BATSTRIKE
MothClan | Warrior | Tom | 14 Moons | Heterosexual

The dark tom watched as his apprentice returned to him, white tail tip flicking lazily.  A grin crossing his face before he answered her question.  He hadn't planned on surprising her or even training on this trip, it was just going to be a chance for him to scope her personality out.  An easy and fairly simple idea had popped into his head though and he felt it could be a good starting point for their many lessons to come.  He stood on his white paws and glanced back to the brush they had entered from before returning to meet her gaze.  "Cherrypaw, I'd like you to escort me back to camp," the tom mewed matter-of-factly with a shrug of his shoulders as if it were no big deal, attempting to avoid making her nervous.  "The patrol is taking a shorter route home, but I'd like you to bring me back the way we came."  Hopefully she'd paid attention throughout the trip, with the patrol going a different way she'd only be able to pick up on scents left from the walk to the border.  Batstrike wanted to see how well she could navigate her new environments and if she could pick up on any of the tracks the patrol left a little while ago on the way there. 

Twitching his ear he motioned with his paw for her to take the lead from there, "After you."  Batstrike waited to dip through the bush after her and followed with a shortened gait to remain behind the she-cat.  Who knew is she'd ever happen across an injured or disoriented cat that needed assistance getting where they needed to be or if she'd get lost and need to backtrack to get home?  These would be basic but important skills for her as a warrior.  To pick up on her surroundings quickly and be able to maneuver through them well.  His sharp yellow gaze swept across a wide section of trees and bushes before drifting up boredly to avoid giving any accidental hints at the beginning of the trek back.  The feline followed quietly to allow her to focus, unsure if the test was going to be far to difficult or far to easy for her.  He had padded patiently this way until they reached deeper into the safety of their territory.  Waiting until Cherrypaws attention was held on her task he slipped away on silent paws.  Batstrike kept close in hiding, his slender build and light step good for stealth, observing his little apprentice make her way.  Would she be able to find her bearings alone?  This was about as independent of a test as he could allow her to take part in.  

He would allow her this freedom until she made it back to the Carrion Hill... or got far too lost to get back on the right track on her own.  His whiskers twitched as he watched for her reaction to his absence now.  

[noctemq]

Cherrypaw's ears straightened upwards at her mentor's order. If only they were a few rabbit leaps closer to camp, then she would be able to flawlessly lead him back. Looks like all of her sneaky kit business was about to come to use! She looked around, her whiskers twitching as she sniffed the air. It still smelled like the patrol, which would be incredibly useful. Maybe, just maybe if she could hold onto this scent, she'd be able to navigate them back home. It's not like the patrol was rubbing up against every rock and shrub that they passed by, so she'd have to be careful.

"Gotcha, gotcha," Cherrypaw responded, still looking around. She spun around with her tail high up in the air, as if it was a little flag for Batstrike to follow. Her small frame perked up when she realized that she recognized a few set of rocks over there... and that probably lead to the funny-shaped bush from earlier... and maybe she could use some landmarks assist her! With confidence in her step, Cherrypaw started to move forward. Her ears swiveled around as she continued, and her nose was close to the ground. Every time she lost her clan's scent, her head would shoot up and look around, wide eyes scanning for something familiar. Cherrypaw would find a landmark, hop on over to it, and start the cycle again. Every moment or two, she'd look behind herself to see if Batstrike was following. His paw-steps were eerily silent to her, or maybe she just had to groom her ears.

Eventually, she stopped at the base of a large rock surrounded by smaller ones. She could smell Mothclan on it, but that's where the scent ended. Cherrypaw raised her head and gazed around at her surroundings with narrowed eyes. She sniffed the rocks once more, just in case she was missing something. A nervous glaze passed over her eyes for just a moment, but then it quickly vanished and was replaced by her usual bright stare. There was a chance she may have even lead them farther away from camp somehow, but she was sure she'd be able to figure it out eventually. It might take twice the time to get back than it did to get here, but that would still be a victory in her book.

"I'm lost. I think." Cherrypaw scrambled up to the top of the miniature rock formation and sat on it, triumphant in her climbing skills. Wait, maybe she'd be able to see something from up here! She sat on her hind legs and stretched her neck up as high as she could. Hm, maybe they passed by those feathery looking plants before. She jumped off of the rocks and continued forward on that lead, maybe a little too confident in her tracking abilities.

[Storm]

BATSTRIKE
MothClan | Warrior | Tom | 14 Moons | Heterosexual

From a distance Batstrike weaved through the terrain as his apprentice navigated her way home.  A pleased grin held on his face as he watched her work up ahead of him, scanning her surroundings or dipping her nose to scent the area.  Cherrypaw was doing quite well, she had strayed a bit from the path they needed to take a few times, but had managed to wander back on it.  Once again she had led them several fox lengths off the typical route they'd take, but this time she paused and declared how she was doing out loud.  Batstrike tilted his square head, lost, she wasn't lost just probably didn't recognize they were on the wrong side of a couple bushes.  He drew nearer, but kept his lean figure out of sight as she looked around. The tom remained quiet, hesitating to help in the hopes she'd continue on her own and figure the right way out again.  

Sure enough the little cat took off again and he followed suit, long tail flicking behind him.  Batstrike was already becoming quite fond of his apprentice and impressed with how she held her own on their first outing.  He was sure their future training sessions would go rather smoothly, or maybe it was the older tom that was too confident.  

As Cherrypaw neared camp Batstrike expected she would soon light up with recognition.  The tom sped the pace of his white paws and closed in from behind on the she-cat quickly before taking a galloping step and pouncing over his apprentice.  He landed lightly in front of her and swiveled on his paws to face her with a tilted smile.  "Nicely done Cherrypaw," the dark feline mewed with a nod before turning to walk the short distance to camp.  He left room to his side for her to walk beside him.  Turning to look at her before they passed through the camps entrance tunnel he smiled, "Be sure you get your duties for the day done, but take it easy for the rest of the day.  I'll save training for tomorrow.   You can go brag to your friends about how well you did on the patrol and on the way home since your mentor is so proud of you."  Batstrike dipped his head and allowed Cherrypaw to pass into camp in front of him before he entered with his head and tail held high.  

NOTES:  Sorry this post is kind of meh, my muse isn't great but I still wanted to get this up.  I'm good with you wrapping it up if you want to make one more post!