You Mousebrain! || Tagged!

[Carotius]

Tags: @firebird24811
Setting: Past sunhigh
OOC: Bad starting post is bad because my body tells me to sleep XD

---

The ginger she-cat stood at the entrance to LeafClan camp, tail tip twitching in agitation as she heard the giggles and murmurings of the gathered apprentices behind her. Their annoying pelts were roughed up from the mock fights they had earlier, and the ridiculous dares they gave on another. None of those hides were as annoying as Loudpaw's, and none were as ridiculous daring as him. Did the imbecile really have to take on such a stupid dare?

Rowanpaw glanced back at the apprentices, who were beginning to break up from their groups because their mentors were calling them for training or duties. Her own mentor, Sparkleap, wasn't in today for any sessions - he'd been tired out from something unknown to the rest of the Clan. She would have liked to know what was bothering the golden tom, but it wouldn't be nice. Her? Nice? Never seemed to go well anyway. Now, what was she doing again? Oh yes. Thinking about Loudpaw the idiot. The other apprentice was headed to the Unused Thunderpath in the upper parts of the territory, of which queens and elders had told stories of gigantic Snake Monsters that moved faster than regular Twoleg monsters.

Worried for Loudpaw but still holding up her sassy thoughts, Rowanpaw bounded forward and up into the trees, already knowing the quickest way to that Thunderpath, having been shown the way by Sparkleap before. She leapt quite easily from branch to branch, with minor slips every few jumps, her nose catching the faint but fresh whiffs of Loudpaw's scent. He sure was heading for the paths of the Snake Monsters all right - the ginger apprentice was hoping he wouldn't. but that was expecting too much, apparently.

[Deleted]

Loudpaw stared at the Thunderpath, thoughtful. Despite popular belief, Loudpaw did have a brain in his head. He just preferred not to use it most of the time. but right now he was thinking. And most of the thinking was along these lines: If this was an unused Thunderpath, never traveled on by monsters, for so long the elders could even remember seeing any (when they were being truthful, because Loudpaw was old enough to realize that the elders enjoyed embellishing their tales for the kits enjoyment and their own vanity), how did they know it was a Thunderpath? Loudpaw realized this was a silly thought after a while. Of course it was a Thunderpath. What else could it be? It had the same wrong feel as a Thunderpath, the feeling that this was weird, and unnatural.

Loudpaw hung out with the elders a lot. He knew it got him in trouble, but he didn't mind picking out ticks and switching the bedding, even if mouse bile stank up his paws for what felt like days, because it was worth it. The elders of the clan had worked hard to get to their current age, and they were pretty sharp. They also had lots of entertaining stories, almost all of which had something useful to be gained by hearing, even if it was something as simple as not licking your paws after you check the elders for ticks until you wash the mouse bile off, and even if you had to pick through the tale a bit, it was almost always worth it. Not to mention, the elders were always loud enough. He never had to ask them to raise their voice, because their hearing was almost as bad as his. No, if anything the elders tended to defend him. It was nice.

but now wasn't the time to think about elders, because Loudpaw was busy, which was easy to tell. Busy with what was a little more complicated to explain. He, in all his brashness, had claimed that he'd seen a Snake Monster, and not only that, that he'd gotten it to stop and let him cross. That it had been terrified of him. The other apprentices didn't believe it. Prove it, they'd said. The dare was simple enough--let nothing get in his way, and stand there until a Snake Monster approached. Every cat knew what a Snake Monster looked like. They could always be seen from a distance away. He'd have plenty of time to go tell the other apprentices it was approaching, and then they could see that what he said was true. Loudpaw wasn't worried, he'd find some way to complete the dare. He wasn't about to be called a mouse-heart.

[Carotius]

OOC: Fluctuation of post-lengths...

---

Rowanpaw had been caught in a bit of a struggle with some particularly old birch trees when she got closer to where she knew the territory of the Snake Monsters lay. Sparkleap had shown her the rough beginning and end, so that she'd know where to dodge into if trouble ever came, because most of LeafClan weren't sure if the Snake Monsters kept to their paths like the ordinary Twoleg monsters on the normal black Thunderpaths. If these Snake Monsters were the kind to stray from their paths, then...

She landed on the next branch heavily, startled by the vision of giant snakes of Twoleg origins hissing its way off the parallel trails of metal and wood, bearing down into the forest and towards the Clan territories. The apprentice brought herself up to her paws, green eyes staring in wide-eyed fear as she looked back towards camp; the loss of her mother and the comfort of her father was a blow to her heart, but what of the loss of the entire Clan? Her home! It won't happen. It won't happen. She convinced herself as hard as she could, steadying herself for the next jump.

It was this next landing where she spotted the grey-brown moron with his distinguishing gangling limbs and skinny tail. And where was he... The ginger fur bristled in horror as her eyes took in where he stood. The idiot was standing right in the middle of the Snake Monster's path! Rowanpaw couldn't hope to be able to yowl for Loudpaw no matter how hard she tried - the tom was partially deaf, and if she yelled at the top of her voice at this distance, he wouldn't hear her at all.

So with whatever wits she could gather about herself, the she-cat took the quickest route down, before bolting straight for the Unused Thunderpath. Stupid mousebrain was going to kill himself if he stood there with that determined face at the dark tunnel where the monster was rumoured to erupt from. Rowanpaw didn't care for him, but she was going to let a fellow Clanmate die from stupidity if she could help it.

"Loudpaw! Loudpaw!" she yowled, stretching her gait. "Loudpaw, you mousebrain, get off that Thunderpath!"