[Deleted]

Silentcloud wandered into camp after the dawn border patrol, she hadn’t lead it which was to be expected for still such a young warrior. That work was left to the seniors to carry out, she was just along for the ride. The cold morning was nothing compared to what had been in the previous moons, this thought allowed her to endure the chill easily. Now with her duties done for the morning she had a little time for herself, she was sure her apprentice was still sleeping so she started for his den to wake him up for his training. She didn’t see fit for him to lose sleep, she much preferred the gentle yet firm approach to mentoring cats as appose to trying to make them hardcore. Gentle reminded them exactly how good life could be and gave them reason to try, she figured Volepaw was the carrot on a stick in front as appose to the whip from behind kind of cat. However it was only a few steps towards her destination before she encountered a tom she just had to stop for a short conversation with, “Eagletalon!” She said rather pleased it seemed to see him, “How is your morning going?” She asked with a genuine smile.

[Fawn]

“Eagletalon! How is your morning going?”

Putting on the brakes, the muscular sandy-hued warrior dug his paws into the frozen, snowy earth to slow his pace to a complete halt, golden gaze swiveling to espy whomever had just called his name. Eagletalon brightened, pinpointing Silentcloud as the one who'd snagged at the brawny tom's attention. "Hey," he mewed, breath wafting past sharp white fangs and into an icy cloud before them, "You're not busy, are you? I was just on my way out hunting, you up for it?" Though Eagletalon's original plan had been to ask his sister, Fallingstar to go hunting with him, taking Silentcloud along suddenly seemed like the better plan.

I could always ask Hawkwing, but he's busy with training.
Come to think of it, Silentcloud had an apprentice too, didn't she? Was he the only one without anyone to teach?

Ouch.
For a fleeting moment, the warrior surmised that the reason behind his lack of a pupil was because of what had happened to his second one, Adderpaw. She had caught greencough and died, which was no fault of his own - but still, did Fallingstar think him unfit to be a mentor because of that?

Naaaah.

It was his sister. She knew him better than anyone, and vice versa. Quick to shove aside any good-natured jealousy over the fact that everyone he knew was apparently a mentor except him, Eagletalon rasped his rough pink tongue down over his chest as he awaited Silentcloud's response.
He'd get one soon. There was no reason why he wouldn't!

---

Word Count: 396
Notes: We can have something interesting happen while they're out hunting~

[Deleted]

“Well…” Silentcloud said as she was questioned about going on a hunting trip with the tom, it did sound like lots of fun. On the other hand it was getting late and she did have to get her apprentice up so she could get their training going today, after a moment however she decided it could wait and nodded to Eagletalon. “I would love to go hunting with you, I was about to wake up that fluffball apprentice of mine but I think he can sleep a bit longer.” She smiled at him as she started walking towards him, she was waiting for him to lead her out of camp, “I assume you’ll be leading this patrol?” She asked with a sly little purr. Eagletalon was a very fit warrior, and she was happy to get the chance to spend some time with him alone. What she-cat would deny a chance to spend time with a cute tom, even if it didn’t turn into anything?

[Fawn]

“I assume you’ll be leading this patrol?”

Eagletalon chuckled, the wind ruffling his sandy darkly-ticked fur, amber eyes gleaming as he unconsciously flirted with Silentcloud; "I dunno, can two cats really be considered a patrol? More like a couple, probably."
Or partners? A pair? Eh, whatever. Either way, he was glad for the company; smiling at her pleasantly, the scarred tom turned towards the exit, tail held high and hooked at the tip to show his disposition of happiness.

"Don't worry, we won't let Volepaw sleep too late - and if he does, you can tell him it's my fault. Or we can drop snow on him to wake him up!" That note of mischief was unmistakeable, Eagletalon recalling the days when he had been a bit...rebellious and wily in his youth, often nudging whole chunks of snow into the nests of his friends who had slept in too late, waiting with baited breath until they shivered themselves into consciousness.

Or, if he was feeling particularly merciless, he would nudge over a pile of snow, and kick it with his back legs into the apprentices' den, showering the unfortunate souls inside with clumps until they eventually chased him away, cursing like TigerClan warriors with thorns stuck in their paws.

Ahhh good times.

---

Word Count: 243

[Deleted]

“Well I would hope not, can’t have my apprentice lazing about that wouldn’t make me look good at all would it.” She giggled softly as she followed the tom out of the camp. “Even if he doesn’t sleep in too late, I think the snow thing would be a bit funny although I don’t think torturing that poor little tom will be as much fun as it sounds.” She laughed a bit harder, “The poor pouty thing, I don’t know if I have the heart to do that to him. I am sure he probably has a sad face that could melt even your heart.” She said as she noted that the weather was pretty nice forcing her to ask, “Where do you want to hunt today, there are so many fine places where we could find plenty of fresh kill.” She said barely able to contain her excitement, it had been so long since she had seen such great hunting weather.

[Fawn]

“The poor pouty thing, I don’t know if I have the heart to do that to him. I am sure he probably has a sad face that could melt even your heart.”

Eagletalon grinned, stepping around the dripzone of a melting icicle, a few droplets splashing onto his paws as he did so. "Oh I'm sure he does - all the more reason to toughen him up a little. Enemies'll be kicking up more than snow, y'know." Thoughts circling back to the approaching storm - and not in the weather sense, either - Eagletalon tried to get his mind off of the potential dangers his Clan faced, not wanting to spend so much time worrying over things that hadn't even happened yet.

In response to Silentcloud's next question, however, Eagletalon paused, jaws parting as he waited for a particularly promising scent to dictate which direction they should head in. "The scrublands," he mewed with a soft click of his jaw shutting, mouth watering at the odor of mouse that had teased and tickled the scent glands on the roof off his mouth. "If you want to go someplace else, we can, but I have a good feeling about the scrublands - plenty of prey to be caught. Let's go!" Flicking his tail for her to follow, Eagletalon charged ahead on silent but enthusiastic paws, his optimistic approach to today's hunting almost made him ask Silentcloud to wake up Volepaw, since they could use an extra cat to help them catch as much as possible.

But something stopped him... Perhaps it was nice to get to know Silentcloud better, before they went and woke up her apprentice? Eagletalon didn't know it yet, but the presence of Volepaw would likely make him the third wheel on this unexpected date.

[Deleted]

After his comment about needing to toughen up Volepaw Silentcloud couldn’t help but get a bit serious for a brief moment, “I don’t think so at all, I think he is perfect just the way he is. He just needs to be taught good technique is all.” She said as she smiled and nodded at his suggestion to hunt at the scrublands, “I think that’ll be fine, lead the way.” She said giggling as he shot off with purpose; she made a note of how quickly he could move without losing his very graceful nature. It almost surprised her as it looked nearly unnatural how quickly he was moving, it was like he was still making normal cat movements just a rate faster than she usually saw. If nothing it else he was rather cute, his enthusiasm and ability made for a very charming pair and she was looking forward to spending some time with him alone.

[Fawn]

EAGLETALON _{of StoneClan}

The faint sound of Silentcloud giggling had the tom's dark sandy ears swiveling back towards her to catch any words mixed in with that pleasant noise, Eagletalon never breaking stride as the she-cat was quick to follow in his wake. Suddenly remembering the discussion he'd had with Hawkwing and Hailstrike over the whole skill swap idea, Eagletalon slowed his purposeful stroll just slightly, his sandy pelt brushing against Silentcloud's pretty silver coat as a thought abruptly occurred to him.

Silentcloud was a very good fighter, which meant she could play a crucial role in the upcoming skill swap he and the others had planned. With that in mind, Eagletalon gave her shoulder a friendly nudge to catch her attention. "Would you be up for participating in a Skill Swap? It's where all the warriors and apprentices sort of get together and learn from each other. Shhhhh," he added that last bit with a roguish wink, as though he were sharing some juicy secret. "I technically haven't gotten Fallingstar's permission for it yet, but I thought you might like to participate. Sound fun? If you don't want to, it won't hurt my feelings, but I'd be really glad if you could make it."

[Deleted]

As they were walking Silentcloud was hanging on Eagletalon’s every word, you could even go as far to say she was surprised at how good a time she was having with the tom. So when he brought up the skill-swap she was attentive and responded quickly with, “Skillswap?” She inquired as he explained. After listening to his whole explanation including the mention of their leader not having actually approved the idea yet Silentcloud thought for a few moments before answering, “Not want to, I’m offended you waited this long to ask me!” She said playfully with a big smile, “It will be so much fun, there is nothing like a good training session and this sounds like the biggest one the clan has probably ever had!” The she-cat said excitedly, “So where are you going to have it? It sounds like you may need lots of space to have that many cats together.” She pointed out as she sped up to walk beside Eagletalon.

[Fawn]

EAGLETALON _{of StoneClan}

Eagletalon mimicked her big smile with an energetic grin of his own, feeling his tail lash with excitement in his wake, all thoughts of hunting momentarily vanishing as his mind focused on the upcoming StoneClan event. "That is a really good question," mewed the sandy warrior at the slight curve ball, whiskers atwitch as no immediate answer came to him. Had they discussed where it would be held? They must've, they couldn't have skipped over such an important point...

Or had they decided to ask Fallingstar where they would have it?

If he had to take a guess, as Fallingstar's brother, Eagletalon would assume that it would be held at the Sandy Plateau. "Probably the Sandy Plateau, considering a lot of the skillswapping will deal with battle techniques. If anyone feels inclined to demonstrate various hunting techniques, then they can practice them there at the Sandy Plateau before they try it out on the scrublands." He mewed, more thinking aloud than actually responding, golden eyes continuing to flicker with his warm, strong personality.

Once they had reach the scrublands themselves, his pace slowed a little, stopping at the higher part of the terrain before it sloped down slightly in a sweep of cold rock and partially frozen shrubbery and lichen. They'd scare all the prey away if they kept talking, so Eagletalon felt it would be nice to just sit and chat for a moment, before they were forced into silence by the instinct to hunt and provide for their Clan.

[Deleted]

Silentcloud had been following and chatting with the tom with no idea how much time had actually past, to her it just seemed like they stepped out of camp and they were already at their destination. She was very thankful to Eagletalon for stopping for a bit more chat before they fell silent and hunted, she was having such a good time with him she wasn’t ready for it to end just yet. “Perhaps we do some hunting training somewhere but here, then we have a giant hunting competition for the apprentices in attendance. We could give each apprentice to a cat that isn’t their mentor and rotate them to have a little time with many older cats. Then they could give feedback on who had the most helpful hints and the older warriors could train with that cat to learn good ways to train future apprentices.” It was a rather extravagant idea, but she figured it could work.