An Expedition For Health (Tag Spore)

[Yoko]

The Sun glowed warmly from behind a thicket of gray clouds. He did not sense rain, but rather a warm and moist limbo. Somewhere between last night's storm and this morning's Sun, ShadowClan territory had firmed up enough for this experiment. Stretching his forelegs forward, he reveled in the tighten and release of his spine, In all honesty, the cold tabby had to wonder if he was getting more results from these sessions than Brindlepelt.In testing and pushing her shoulder to its limits, he found himself less tense and more at ease when hunting and patrolling. It was amazing the benefits a simple stretch could do.

But now the time for gentle nudges at the scar tissue were over. Today would progress to a more moderate work out. StarClan forbidding anything go wrong, Brindlepelt might further improve the range of motion and endurance of her healed shoulder. The task was a simple one, a medium speed traverse of the ShadowClan swamp. Lizardeye had already taken the morning to map out a safe course, free the deeper mud pits. And now they were near the entrance, stretching a bit before they set out.

"Are you ready?" Lizardeye asked, eyes fixing on his denmate.

[. s p o r e l e t t ♪]

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[atrb=background,http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx67/Sporelett/Tables/Brindlepelt2.png] Despite the close dampness of the day, Brindlepelt was feeling alert and awake, and more than ready to be out and doing something. There were times when she was content to sit, watch, stagnate on the edges of camp while life went on around her. It seemed she was content to do so less often now, although she wasn't aware of any obvious difference in her life recently. Apart from being attacked by a fox, which she somehow doubted was responsible for the change in her behaviour. But the answer would come to her, as they always did, so long as she kept her eyes open. With this thought in mind, Brindlepelt groomed a few specks of moss from her fur and sank her claws into the soft, black soil in a limbering stretch. Today, she and Lizardeye planned to go on a tour of sorts around the territory, hunting a bit and scouting anything that needed attention while they were out and about. Her shoulder no-longer felt stiff and tender, and supported her weight easily when she walked on it. It had taken its time in recovering, but she had to say that she felt almost as good as new. Even Feathercloud had deemed her fit for battle, so when Specklestar made her move toward ThunderClan, there would be no reason for Brindlepelt to be held back from the fighting. As always, the directness of Lizardeye's gaze had a mixture of confusion and disquiet stirring inside her. For a month the symptom persisted, and continued to baffle. She almost might have deemed it a sickness, except it only occurred around him, and seemed to cause no ill effects besides a slight unsettling of her demeanour. So she nudged it aside, nodded gracefully at her Clanmate's question. "I am. Lead the way."

[atrb=background,http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx67/Sporelett/Tables/Brindlepelt2.png] Aww Brindlepelt. x3 "What are these strange symptoms? e.e" words, 300 muse, happy

[Yoko]

Lizardeye nodded and began to pad forward, steadily increasing his pace once past the entrance. In smooth strides the tabby tom curved a path towards the open marsh. The ground was firmer now than it had been even this morning. The warm dried mud cracked occasionally beneath his light paws.

Although he was rather enjoying the easy stretch of his limbs, and the swamp air rushing along his fur, he had to admit that the scenery wasn't very grand. Gray skies, sparse underbrush, tall trees far between. Leveling his gaze to the muddy pits that he was strategically avoiding he noted the many signs of life in it. Perhaps the two could stop and hunt on the way back. Brindlepelt seemed well enough now, and Feathercloud had pretty much marked her a full recovery. He still felt a slight tendency to stay near her, watch for signs of pain. Must still be lingering guilt, although he had spent many nights trying to figure out how exactly her injury was his fault.

Are you okay with this pace?" he asked, rather suddenly, green eyes flashing towards her and then back ahead.

[. s p o r e l e t t ♪]

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[atrb=background,http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx67/Sporelett/Tables/Brindlepelt2.png] The early morning sun cast a sober light over the gnarled trees of the swamp below, shrouded behind a thick blanket of grey cloud. Although there were no warming golden rays to suck the moisture from stone and peat, the mud from last night's rain had firmed into something that was easy to walk upon without slipping or sinking into unduly. Brindlepelt navigated out of camp behind Lizardeye, pleased with the reasonable firmness of the ground, and lengthened her stride to match his as they began a measured run through the twisted trees that dotted ShadowClan's territory. New-made puddles and water-laden plants made small obstacles here and there, providing small barriers to duck around or jump over, but for the most part their path was clear, with only the occasional divergence in the trail that made it just that bit more interesting, keeping Brindlepelt on her toes. She couldn't remember the last time that she had run through the swamp simply for the pleasure of it, of pushing herself on as she reveled in everything that made her ShadowClan. Perhaps she never had. It seemed she had always had a purpose in leaving camp, however trivial it might be, that kept her from thinking about what she was doing or why. And truth be told, she hadn't given herself the leisure to do something only for herself since those nights by the border.... But she wouldn't think of that now--there was no purpose in it, only paths that lead inevitably to pain. And after nearly two moons of slow healing and recovery, Brindlepelt had endured more than her fill of that for the time being. Now was for living, and for enjoying the freedom of a shoulder that had been stiff and painful for so long. Heedless of the dull greys and browns of her surroundings, the slim tortoiseshell padded onward, simply enjoying the feel of her claws digging into the earth and the smell of the damp morning air. Flicking her gaze over to Lizardeye, who was leading confidently, she replied easily to his question, pleased when she found no difficulty speaking while maintaining her motion. "This is no trouble at all." In fact, she had a brief moment to think as her blue eyes fixed on the gnarled form of a tree in the distance, she felt that she should test her shoulder on perhaps something a bit different than simple running. Glancing sideways at her companion, she picked up her speed and angled slightly to the side, towards the gnarled brown tree that she had set her sights on. Brindlepelt pushed off with her hind-paws and swarmed up into one of the lower branches of the stout plant. Her shoulder felt stretched, unused to the motion, but there was no pain in it, and she was pleased. Brindlepelt hopped up another branch to get a better view of her surroundings, and found the view to be pleasing, although still somewhat drab. Slim ribbons of mist still crawled over the ground in the shade, and the occasional splash of green was all that served to enliven the marshy surroundings. But, she thought, the view of the ground was quite clear from here, which was interesting. Considering that many of the trees in the swamp were so easy to climb, she felt slightly surprised that cats of her Clan didn't try it more often, especially considering the prey or even nests that might be found in the branches. "The view's nice from up here," she observed. "I didn't climb many trees as an apprentice. I wonder why."

[atrb=background,http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx67/Sporelett/Tables/Brindlepelt2.png] That was... a little longer than I expected it to be. xD words, 595 muse, good

[Yoko]

Lizardeye slid to a halt, a little startled by the impulsiveness of her move. He watched her quickly climb the tree. He observed the stretch and relaxation of her newly healed shoulder, but by the looks of it the exercise had done her no harm. Satisfied that she was in no pain, he strode forward to the base of the tree and placed a single paw on it, deciding whether to climb or not. It was not a usual practice for him, climbing trees, but he had no fear of doing it. He glanced upward again. Brindlepelt commented on the view from there, and that contributed to his decision.

He removed his paw from the base of the tree and took a few strides backwards. He moved quickly and careful, placing one paw over the other and hauling himself onto Brindlepelt's branch. A few seconds later, he regained his composure and sat staring over the ShadowClan landscape. It was a rather long pause, a comfortable silence for Lizardeye but perhaps not any other cat. "ShadowClan has few trees," he said casually. "Although it is a useful skill to have, tree-climbing is not usually high on a mentor's list of skills for an apprentice to practice. As for tree-climbing as a recreation...ShadowClan has few trees, he repeated, still staring at the landscape.

After a moment of more thought, his gaze inevitably turned back to Brindlepelt. Again, he glanced back at her shoulder, no longer doubting that she was fully recovered. He wondered why it had taken him so long to notice. Perhaps, he had been waiting on Feathercloud to assure him. Or perhaps he had been distracted by his other tasks. Or perhaps he had simply grown so used to her company during sessions that he had chosen to ignore it. The bottom line was that if she was perfectly fine, then he had no reason to be out here. He felt certain that there were many more important tasks that he should be out accomplishing, but he could not remember a single one of them. He realized that he was staring, suddenly mindful of Snaketail admonishing this habit as it can be considered "rude", he faced the landscape again.

[. s p o r e l e t t ♪]

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[atrb=background,http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx67/Sporelett/Tables/Brindlepelt2.png] "Too few trees..." It was true, Brindlepelt acknowledged as she let her eyes roam the sludgy grey mire that was ShadowClan's territory. Most of the trees that did grow there were stunted and small, no great challenge for any cat to climb if they had a wish to. Still, there were certain advantages to it. Curiously scaling another branch, Brindlepelt came upon a lump of mud and grass perched upon a fork in the limb. Three sparsely feathered chicks lay inside, and lifted their heads to gape blindly at her as she approached. The trees in their marsh were small, yes, but not fruitless. However, there was something about the birds, in all their ugly nakedness, that stifled any desire to hunt them. She looked at Lizardeye, only to catch him staring at her. When he looked away, so did she, and then felt amused at herself. Still shy of a look, of all things, even after all these moons. With a small shake of her head, Brindlepelt slid back down the branch, careful to avoid upsetting the nest, and descended the gnarled tree to the marsh floor once again. "Right, then," she said. "We should keep going, yes?" Brindlepelt waited for Lizardeye to join her so that they could be off again. Perhaps he was right after all, and it was best to leave the trees to the birds.

[atrb=background,http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx67/Sporelett/Tables/Brindlepelt2.png] words, 230 muse, good