ShadowClan Territory

[nocturnal]

Originally Posted by x ghostie

Jaypaw let out a huff, "Hey.." He mumbled out in offense of Fallenheart's laughing. He quickly forgot about it.

He nodded intently as the warrior spoke, his eyes twinkling with kit-like wonder. Oh starclan yes. He was SO going to rock this. ''Mhm! Mhm!" Shift your balance, crouch, blah, blah, BLAH. It was pretty easy sounding.

Thankful for the demonstration, Jaypaw circled Fallenheart as he posed for the tom. Squinting his eyes and mumbling, he pulled back. "Yeah, yeah. Just watch and lear...rn, " Jaypaw rumbled in confidence. At first, he didn't think he could actually keep this act up but so far it was going very well. He had Fallenheart fooled.

Jaypaw quickly dropped into the crouch. It had been something he did as a kit-- he just.. never thought of it. And the more he did think about it-- Jaypaw flopped sideways. With a squeak, he got back up and attempted the crouch again. This time more slowly, keeping his balance carefully -- oh shoot, forgot about the tail uh--

Jaypaw would attempt it a few more times before getting a stable crouch. A purr came from throat at his success. Ever so slowly he turned his gaze to Fallenheart. A smirk spreading across his face, his rump wiggling-- oh no. Don't you dare-- Jaypaw pounced forward at Fallenheart. "Mrrow!"

The dark tabby kept his eyes on Jaypaw as the brown tom circled him, rumbling in confidence. It seemed that pretending to be an already skilled hunter was boosting the young apprentice's self-esteem. That was good. Fallenheart didn't mind playing around with him.

He watched as Jaypaw crouched down... and flopped over sideways. Ouch. Yes, one of the reasons that balance was important. The apprentice got up and - Fallenheart was about to warn him about the tail when the younger tom tripped once again. It took a couple more tries - tail again, overbalence, underbalence, etcetera - until Jaypaw was able to perfect his crouch. "Good!" Fallenheart praised as a purr escaped his apprentice's throat.

Suddenly, or perhaps not so suddenly - he saw those back muscles tensing - Jaypaw pounced at him. The warrior danced away from the attack, stepping to the side and attempting to tap his apprentice in the shoulder before leaping out of swiping range. Fallenheart disliked pouncing as an attack on other cats, simply because they always got out of the way in time and after that, would be in a better position to attack than the pouncer who would have to regain their balance. Everything came back to balance, didn't it.

"I suppose we could turn this pouncing lesson into a sparring match if you'd like," Fallenheart meowed with a grin. Weren't they supposed to be heading for the borders? They would've been there by now had they not started an impromptu lesson on their way. It was supposed to have been a simple scenting session, too. Ah, well, borders could wait if they were both having fun. "What moves do you already know?"

[Fawn]

"Oh, please," Daintybird scoffed. "I would consider myself honored just to have a glimpse of ShadowClan's fearless leader, given how busy you must be fussing over a clan of dolts who'll run off the first cliff they see." Good thing there weren't any cliffs in ShadowClan territory. It'd be a lemming-disaster.

She flounced by Icestar's side as they departed from the camp, heading in the direction of the formerly-charred land. "I do hope there aren't any puddles," she expressed in a dramatic inhale, "Puddles are NOT a friend to the fur! And oh goodness, think of the travesty... looking like a mangy thing in front of good company. Unacceptable!" Plus, she didn't like the extra weight on her belly fur, it highlighted her winter-pudge that she was still working off from thirty moons ago. "Last time," she began, chin lifted, "I went into the territory, I still had my kit by my side."


@Casper

[panchiko]

// @Mentallyunstable

dreampaw beamed at the praise, nodding excitedly. "thankk youu!! i probably only caught it because i have a great teacher though! you explained it so welll!!" she responded, giving him a smile. wait---what if she was coming on too strong?? it was too obviouss!! she had to tone it down a bit. "i mean, uh,,,,,, it was all thanks to you," she said, this time in a trying-too-hard-to-seem-cool voice. at what blackpaw said next, dreampaw thought for a moment. no, if she was going to learn how to hunt, she was going to learn it the right way: the blackpaw way! "noo, if i'm going to learn hunting, i better learn how to do it right! so uh.. what were the words?? i thank starclan for this prey, thank you for delivering? hm,... that doesn't sound right, ackkk!"

dreampaw got to work on burying her prey, hurriedly making a fun-size hole in the ground before placing the prey with childish eagerness---although carefully---into the pit. "gahh, thank youu!! you will, too, though! well, you already are a great hunter.. we'll be great warriors!" she replied happily, trying to imagine her future.

[Exis]

Blackpaw couldn’t help but laugh heartily at Dreampaw, “Man kid, you’ve got lots of energy, how about we catch one more thing to eat while we’re out. We’re not on patrol anyways.” He smiled before dipping away to go catch a frog. He crept up on it before punching in a clean kill. He picked up his prey and padded back.
@hope

[panchiko]

// @Mentallyunstable

dreampaw's brain had been working overtime and was starting to malfunction; she registered 'man' and 'kid' as two separate things. why's he calling me a man?? and a kid?? well, i guess i am a kid, but i'm no man kid!! oh, wait. he meant man, kid. ooops. "a, well thank you! i'm taking that as a compliment," dreampaw said, giving him a small smile. "great job!" the apprentice commented, somewhat in awe that he'd caught the frog so swiftly. frogs barely even had a neck, how were you supposed to kill it??? eh, she'd let blackpaw explain that later. "alrighty!!" dreampaw mumbled, beginning to follow blackpaw back.

[Exis]

Blackpaw smiled, “You like frog? Some cats think I’m weird but I think it’s great!” He was genuinely in a good mood. A little training always brightened up his day and got his blood running.
@hope (forget about this for a bit, you’ve got enough on your plate)

[panchiko]

Originally Posted by Mentallyunstable

Blackpaw smiled, “You like frog? Some cats think I’m weird but I think it’s great!” He was genuinely in a good mood. A little training always brightened up his day and got his blood running.
@hope (forget about this for a bit, you’ve got enough on your plate)

// i already did that too much though, last time it took mea week to reply n i feel super bad about it rip but tysm for caring
// @Mentallyunstable

"frog is delicious!! it's my favorite---though some mouse is usually pretty great too! i dunno--frog just has a really nice taste n texture! i'm not goin' to lie, though--the smell usually isn't the best, but ehhh, doesn't change the fact that it's delicious!" dreampaw agreed. that was one more thing they had in common! grrr, blackpaw really was perfect! the apprentice smiled back lightheartedly,

[Exis]

Blackpaw smiled, ”Well I’m not super hungry so how about you dig in and I’ll quickly go catch another frog to bring back. I should be done way before you finish anyways.” he wasn’t super hungry and would probably just eat the scraps anyways. He leaped away and quickly caught another frog. Before returning. He dug up both their other kills and placed them within sight.
@hope (it’s totally fine I swear.)

[wolfie]

Originally Posted by bmkmb

The dark tabby kept his eyes on Jaypaw as the brown tom circled him, rumbling in confidence. It seemed that pretending to be an already skilled hunter was boosting the young apprentice's self-esteem. That was good. Fallenheart didn't mind playing around with him.

He watched as Jaypaw crouched down... and flopped over sideways. Ouch. Yes, one of the reasons that balance was important. The apprentice got up and - Fallenheart was about to warn him about the tail when the younger tom tripped once again. It took a couple more tries - tail again, overbalence, underbalence, etcetera - until Jaypaw was able to perfect his crouch. "Good!" Fallenheart praised as a purr escaped his apprentice's throat.

Suddenly, or perhaps not so suddenly - he saw those back muscles tensing - Jaypaw pounced at him. The warrior danced away from the attack, stepping to the side and attempting to tap his apprentice in the shoulder before leaping out of swiping range. Fallenheart disliked pouncing as an attack on other cats, simply because they always got out of the way in time and after that, would be in a better position to attack than the pouncer who would have to regain their balance. Everything came back to balance, didn't it.

"I suppose we could turn this pouncing lesson into a sparring match if you'd like," Fallenheart meowed with a grin. Weren't they supposed to be heading for the borders? They would've been there by now had they not started an impromptu lesson on their way. It was supposed to have been a simple scenting session, too. Ah, well, borders could wait if they were both having fun. "What moves do you already know?"

Jaypaw was instead met with a mouth full of dirt and a bubble of shame. He let out a whine, shaking his head as he bounced back onto his paws. Whirling around to stare at Fallenheart with a big ol' pout on his face. He supposed.. it was a bit ambitious to try and surprise the warrior.

He let out a sigh of relief, gently shaking his head. "It's up to you, " Jaypaw meowed. His intent wasn't to make it into a sparring thingy thing, he just wanted to but that confidence to good use while he had it.

Jaypaw rolled his shoulders, looking up in thought. "Um.. I.. d..don't think I r..really know any. Besides the usual pow and wh..hack, "

[nocturnal]

Originally Posted by x ghostie

Jaypaw was instead met with a mouth full of dirt and a bubble of shame. He let out a whine, shaking his head as he bounced back onto his paws. Whirling around to stare at Fallenheart with a big ol' pout on his face. He supposed.. it was a bit ambitious to try and surprise the warrior.

He let out a sigh of relief, gently shaking his head. "It's up to you, " Jaypaw meowed. His intent wasn't to make it into a sparring thingy thing, he just wanted to but that confidence to good use while he had it.

Jaypaw rolled his shoulders, looking up in thought. "Um.. I.. d..don't think I r..really know any. Besides the usual pow and wh..hack, "

"Okay," Fallenheart meowed. "We can work on that later." He paused and glanced at the sky, then continued, "We should really start heading to the borders now, or we might not get back until past dusk."

Flicking his tail for Jaypaw to travel beside him, the warrior began leading the way in a steady jog. It wasn't too fast, so the younger tom shouldn't have any trouble keeping up. He could even go faster if he wanted.

"ShadowClan shares three borders - one for each clan," Fallenheart informed. "Herondive Hollow is the border we share with ThunderClan. Then there are the Whispering Wetlands - or border with WindClan - and Saltmeadow Marsh, which we share with RiverClan."

Spying his apprentice from the corner of his eye, the warrior meowed, "Any preference as to where we go first? If not, we'll just walk until we get to one of the borders. Herondive Hollow is currently the closest."