ThunderClan Territory

[Zero]

Originally Posted by toodlesteddy

Upon feeling Vixenpaw's tongue on her forehead, Larkpaw felt her fur stand on end. A feeling of sheer magnetism ran through the apprentice's body, and she felt strongly inclined to lean into her companion's touch; however, as soon as the calico shifted, Vixenpaw was on the move. She shook her head dismissively--it was probably nothing. Larkpaw's family wasn't the touchy-feely type, so she probably had that reaction as a result of the relatively unfamiliar pleasure that was associated with connection. Jumping to her paws, the apprentice trotted along after Vixenpaw, tail flicking happily behind her as she went.

As the two made their way through the forest in comfortable silence, Larkpaw smiled, satisfied now that she was with her best friend. The two had been close since they were kits, and spending time with Vixenpaw was definitely the best part of her days. "How was your day, lovely?" She chortled, brushing against Vixenpaw affectionately as she spoke. For some reason unbeknownst to the apprentice, her companion's warmth was much more welcome than that of the sun's.

Vixenpaw let her friend be close to her, secretly enjoy her proximity more than she seemed to on the outside. It was the norm for the two of them, to be this close, but it made her more happy now that they were older. She had only recently accepted that she indeed had feelings for her best friend, but hadn't acted on them. She was indecisive and unsure about it, and hadn't come to a conclusion on whether it would even work if Larkpaw happened to like her enough too. She sighed softly under her breath, just thinking about it. There was certainly nothing more that she hated than indecisiveness and it was bugging her on more than one level. "It was good. My mentor and I went over battle strategies and you know how much I love learning new strategies about anything," She answered Larkpaw's question honestly, and was actually interested in the conversation only because it was with her. "Yours?" She asked simply.

[toodlesteddy]

Originally Posted by Zero to Hero

Vixenpaw let her friend be close to her, secretly enjoy her proximity more than she seemed to on the outside. It was the norm for the two of them, to be this close, but it made her more happy now that they were older. She had only recently accepted that she indeed had feelings for her best friend, but hadn't acted on them. She was indecisive and unsure about it, and hadn't come to a conclusion on whether it would even work if Larkpaw happened to like her enough too. She sighed softly under her breath, just thinking about it. There was certainly nothing more that she hated than indecisiveness and it was bugging her on more than one level. "It was good. My mentor and I went over battle strategies and you know how much I love learning new strategies about anything," She answered Larkpaw's question honestly, and was actually interested in the conversation only because it was with her. "Yours?" She asked simply.

Larkpaw listened to her companion’s answer intently, with an easy, sweet smile. Although Vixenpaw didn’t speak much in general, when she did, Larkpaw hung onto every word.

“Oh, not much,” she responded with a sigh. “Hunted a bit, talked a bit. He taught me a really interesting way to catch birds! Maybe we could try it tonight?” Remembering her earlier mishap with the creatures, she added, “If, of course, I don’t drive them away.” She giggled gently, nudging Vixenpaw with her flank. “He told me I’m not too far from my warrior ceremony, can you believe it? I can’t wait to get my warrior name!”

Eyes twinkling in the sunlight, Larkpaw slowed her pace as the river came into view. In the late afternoon sun, it seemed to glimmer as it babbled along, bringing a smile to the apprentice’s face. She was definitely one to appreciate natural beauty.

[ConfusedCas]

Originally Posted by Cloudy

The water that was splashed from Ambercloud's leap drenched Burnetsky; now instead of her underside being the only part of her wet, not her entire top was as well. "Hey!" she squeaked good-naturedly, a smile spreading on her maw, a giggle escaping from it. Burnetsky shook her pelt,trying to release the water from her pelt. "Y'know," she meowed, her green eyes flashing with emotion, "Not, not many cats hang out with me, because of the way I, the way I talk. They typically think that I'm not good enough for them." Burnetsky then paddled over, closer to Ambercloud, her paws brushing against the pebbles on the bottom of the stream, kicking the, up as she went. And as she did so, Burnetsky counted everytime her paws slid through the water. One, two, three, four. "Oh, this," Burnetsky mewed, gesturing towards the long scar, "There was a border skirmish when I was an apprentice, with, with ShadowClan, and then one of the warriors gave me, gave me this scar." A sudden frown came across her features. It was a painful memory, first the anger of getting so badly injured, and then the pain of sitting in the medicine cat den for almost a moon, waiting for the skin to heal over so she could return to her duties as normal. Though that eventually happened, she had never gotten the chance to regrow the fur over that particular spot, giving her the scar forever. But it wasn't too terrible, as the longer parts of her pelt covered it when she wasn't prancing around in the stream.. Still, it was a horrendous memoir of the worst battle she had been in, with the ShadowClan cat so ruthless.Why, why, why did she have to ask? Burnetsky wondered. I don't like remembering it...
Burnetsky cleared her throat, trying to eliminate the awkwardness that had blossomed in the air. "How- how about you tail?" She inquired quietly, "You were born with it, right? Or was it a fox trap? I heard that cat can get their tail stuck in there, and it can chop- chop it right off! " Burnetsky's ears twitched quietly as water spurted up into them, trying to hide her embarrassment at what she had just so enthusiastically.

She got the sense that her question had caused some unpleasant memories with the she-cat. She decided to turn the subject back onto her stutter. "Well I think the way you talk makes you special. I know that sounds like something a queen would tell you but it's true, it makes you stand out. I mean who would want to follow the herd like everyone else?" Ambercloud huffed, adding a light-hearted snort.
She wiggled her stubby tail, "I'm glad you noticed! Thank Starclan I didn't have to go through the pain of getting it chopped right off! Nope, I was just born with it." She purred, "This is what makes me stand out. So we can stand out together."
She flicked her paw up and splashed some water up at Burnetsky. "Come on, we can't be standing in the river all patrol now can we? We aren't those fishes that call themselves 'Riverclan warriors' after all." Ambercloud chuckled as she stumbled her way over the pebbles and towards the shore.
(Haha it's like an after school special)

[ponyapan]

Originally Posted by Fireleaf

The kit leaned on Cranerose. [M8 @ponyapan

"Okay... then." Cranerose le the kit lay there for a moment, but then grabbed it by it's neck fur. "I'm taking you to the nursery, at least." she announced.

[RedHead]

Originally Posted by Brilliance

Patience was everything, right? So, why was he always late? Passionstar was up early, before dawn, awaiting for his Oh-so-beloved apprentice. The leader was already faced with the differences of the other clans, worried about his family - he certainly didn’t need Jaggedpaw to add on to his misery. Passionstar...he was patient. Tried to be. He paced in his spot, head looking down, ears angled upward for any alert. He was planning on teaching Jaggedpaw the beauty of battle technique. Yet, each moment dawn appeared and the sun was replacing the shadow of the moon, Passionstar figured the young tom needed lessons on showing up on time.

Passionstar was notorious on giving lectures and coming up with specialized punishments to let kits or apprentices learn their lesson. Jaggedpaw was no exception. Passionstar continued to pace, looking up each time in case he saw the younger tom approaching him. Perhaps, Jaggedpaw would had been excited to finally learn some battle technique since Passionstar kept putting it off because he felt Jaggedpaw didn’t deserve to learn how to fight like a skillful warrior - like him. He resorted to teaching hunting practices, the importance of nature, of patience...definitely putting off fighting training. Today had finally been the day, but now? Passionstar was ready to burst with the lecture of his life to his immature apprentice.

@RedHead

Most cats would expect an apprentice to jump with excitement at the thought of battle training. Especially when their mentor was none other than the Thunderclan leader, Passionstar. Jaggedpaw, well, he was excited for battle remaining, yes. And he was excited to be doing it with Passionstar. Truly, the silver feline respected his mentor, and found him to be an amazing cat. But Jaggedpaw had a reputation to hold. If he showed weakness now, we’ll, what would become of him?
Jaggedpaw had always felt a little out of place due to being half-loner. Even though his mother was a part of Thunderclan now too, Jaggedpaw still knew that he was treated differently. He wanted to prove to the other apprentices that he was as much Thunderclan as any of them. And, as he had explained to his best friend Caliaflame, having Passionstar “wrapped around his paw” helped with that goal. Jaggedpaw didn’t think Passionstar would understand though, he figured Passionstar thought he was as much of a mouse-brain as all the other apprentices. And today, the silver tomcat hoped he might be able to prove something. He hoped rob prove to his mentor that he was a sharp and clever cat. “But do I really have anything to prove?” He mumbled to himself as he pushed his way into the trading clearing, instantly spotting the large ginger tomcat who was both his mentor and his leader.

Padding up to him, Jaggedpaw gave the older cat a charming smile, making to excuse on being late or comment on how he’d “do better next time.” Jaggedpaw arrived when he wanted to, not when he was needed. “Do you know who invented battle techniques?” He meowed, I Stanley starling off with one of his thought-provoking questions. Something Jaggedpaw often did around Passionstar, as he knew his mentor liked to answer interesting questions. Mainly his hope was that Passionstar would forget about his being late if he started right off with a question. Especially about what they were currently learning. Or, supposed to be learning.

[k!ngk3s]

Originally Posted by ponyapan

"Okay... then." Cranerose le the kit lay there for a moment, but then grabbed it by it's neck fur. "I'm taking you to the nursery, at least." she announced.

"Well that was weird" He said

[Brilliance]

Originally Posted by RedHead

Most cats would expect an apprentice to jump with excitement at the thought of battle training. Especially when their mentor was none other than the Thunderclan leader, Passionstar. Jaggedpaw, well, he was excited for battle remaining, yes. And he was excited to be doing it with Passionstar. Truly, the silver feline respected his mentor, and found him to be an amazing cat. But Jaggedpaw had a reputation to hold. If he showed weakness now, we’ll, what would become of him?
Jaggedpaw had always felt a little out of place due to being half-loner. Even though his mother was a part of Thunderclan now too, Jaggedpaw still knew that he was treated differently. He wanted to prove to the other apprentices that he was as much Thunderclan as any of them. And, as he had explained to his best friend Caliaflame, having Passionstar “wrapped around his paw” helped with that goal. Jaggedpaw didn’t think Passionstar would understand though, he figured Passionstar thought he was as much of a mouse-brain as all the other apprentices. And today, the silver tomcat hoped he might be able to prove something. He hoped rob prove to his mentor that he was a sharp and clever cat. “But do I really have anything to prove?” He mumbled to himself as he pushed his way into the trading clearing, instantly spotting the large ginger tomcat who was both his mentor and his leader.

Padding up to him, Jaggedpaw gave the older cat a charming smile, making to excuse on being late or comment on how he’d “do better next time.” Jaggedpaw arrived when he wanted to, not when he was needed. “Do you know who invented battle techniques?” He meowed, I Stanley starling off with one of his thought-provoking questions. Something Jaggedpaw often did around Passionstar, as he knew his mentor liked to answer interesting questions. Mainly his hope was that Passionstar would forget about his being late if he started right off with a question. Especially about what they were currently learning. Or, supposed to be learning.

Moments passed, and Passionstar was about to give him. While he mastered somewhat the ability to be patient, he was leader now. He had other things to focus on other than training his apprentice, and that alone made him too stressed to even think about it. Passionstar always been kind to Saplingpetal and her son, even taking him under his wing to successfully train him to be an admiring clan cat...but, boy, was the tom apprentice troubling. Passionstar was about to go back to camp until he caught the scent of something familiar, and tumbled forward was the one cat he gave specific instructions at what time of the day to meet him at the training cave - at dawn. “Nice to see that you came at the exact time that I told you.” Passionstar’s voice had been borderline sarcastic, already prepared to get into a lecture because he knew how Jaggedpaw worked by this point.

However, the leader was caught off guard by Jaggedpaw’s question. Now, education always been Passionstar’s highlight. He loved answering and asking inquisitive questions about life, trying to widen his brain and garner the knowledge as much as he could. He sat down, wrapped his tail around his paws, thumping it lightly against the ground. “Who invented battle techniques?” Obviously, Passionstar knew. He remember learning it from his own mentor, having to be mesmerized by every lesson as an apprentice himself. He stared at Jaggedpaw, a tiny smile tugging on his lips. “You’re the apprentice, and I’m the mentor, so enlighten me of what you remember that I taught you.” Passionstar instructed more with lectures, then showed different techniques to his apprentice. He had been prepping Jaggedpaw for battle training, but now that chance was loss until he could count on his apprentice to come at the expected time given. “Although we won’t be starting battle technique. I believe we need to refresher your memory on what makes a good warrior - like coming on time when a clan mate needs you, hm?”

[Brilliance]

Originally Posted by Empress Of Evil

The Turkish Angora was waiting for something to happen. Anything. Whether it be herself screaming, or another unfortunate creature crossing paths with her. The sound of a cat approaching in the distance caught her attention and with her eyes still closed, she put her focus on listening out for the cat, eagerly awaiting its arrival. The warrior could feel all the frustration building up in her, getting bigger and bigger to the point of explosion.

“ARGHHHHH!!” the she-cat roared as a voice broke through the quiet. Her eyes opened, revealing two circles of brilliant icy blue. She reared back onto her hindlegs and she wobbled as she tried to balance on only two legs. She only stayed like this for a second or two before quickly returning to the ground, wanting to avoid toppling over. “I can’t do anything right today! First I miss the dawn patrol, then I get told I have to hunt all morning! I haven’t even eaten anything yet! And then I can’t even hunt a-a....” she faltered for a moment, trying to remember what she had been catching. “Mouse! See! My mind’s so out of it that I can’t even remember what I was catching!” she wailed, and flopped onto the grass, sending dust up into the air like a small cloud. For a few moments, she was silent as she let tears of frustrations well up at the corners of her eyes. The warrior hardly ever cried, but mornings, especially bad mornings could make her do so with ease.
She buried her face into her paws so that the cat wouldn’t be able to see her. She quickly wiped the droplets away so that she didn’t look weak to ‘the cat’. Speaking of which, who was ‘the cat’? With her eagerness to rant, the she-cat hadn’t actually been able to see who she was yelling at, so she might’ve been yelling at some poor apprentice. She lifted her head and quickly got to her paws, not bothering to brush down her pelt. She lifted her gaze and there it landed on Passionstar.

The she-cat was frozen, except for her eyes which blinked awkwardly at the tom. For a few moments, she processed everything. She had just yelled at her leader. Well actually, she hadn’t exactly yelled at him. Yes, physically she had, but her words weren’t directed to insult him or anything. No, she had simply ranted and complained at her own uselessness. So with this in mind, she didn’t apologise. Instead, she chose to take out the last of her anger on the russet tom.
“You!” she spat. Lifting one of her arms, she took a swipe at the leader, although she wasn't close enough to do any damage and her claws were sheathed, but the movement was sudden enough to surprise anybody. “I bet you’re here to yell at me aren’t you? Just like everyone else! I don’t need to hear it, okay?” she exclaimed, her icy hues flaring up at those last words. Blizzardhail was dearly confused with her emotions. She wasn’t exactly mad at her clanmates or Passionstar, yet at the same time she was. She knew that they had good intentions and she deserved to be scolded for her wrongs, but that didn’t stop her from being angry at that. “Go ahead! Yell at me! Give me some boring lecture and scold me! I can’t help it! I hate mornings,” she continued angrily, saying the word ‘morning’ as sourly as she could.

Suddenly, the she-cat seemed to be done yelling and she sat down, curling her tail neatly around her body. On her face she placed a calmer expression, making it seem as if though nothing had happened. “That feels much better,” she sighed. Casually, she licked a paw and drew it over her ear. As she thought back on her words, she noticed how angry she had been. Honestly, in all her moons, the she-cat doubted that she had ever gotten so worked up over a bad morning, or over anything for that matter.

Passionstar was a bit confounded, hearing her rant, become angry with herself. Certainly it was nothing new. Warriors frequently had meltdowns, and while they were all different situations, he sat down, tailed curled as he observed the white she cat. She was eerily still...especially after that outburst. He wondered if he needed to get Caliaflame to check her out. Maybe give her some herbs to sedate her? He would had said something, anything to calm her down, but he was at a loss - she was being hard on herself, a little histrionic, if anyone asked him. He got back up, his tail lashing from side to side as he observed her with a quiet gaze, head tilting from side to side. He opened his mouth a couple times to say something, only to close it once more. His ears perked forward, a bit amused, a bit concerned for her mentality.

He stepped forward towards her when he noticed her eyes shot open, so he figured that it must be the perfect time to knock some sense into her - she was being too harsh on herself. He already had too much to worry about with the tensions of the clans building up, and he honestly didn’t feel that he needed to worry about his clan mates’ well-being. What he didn’t expect was for her to lash out at him. Passionstar was quick to move back, reflex skills was practiced too much in a forest where it practically meant to kill or be killed. He narrowed his gaze at her, a bit offended that she would even strike out at him. “What did I do to you!?” He didn’t step closer for a moment, the gears in his brain deeming her as someone who was unstable. While he knew that she was weird...in a sense, he didn’t expect her to be in any way, harmful. Especially towards him. Passionstar scrunched up his face a moment later, wondering what could be the matter with her. Admittedly, he hadn’t gotten much sleep, and it wasn’t because of insomnia. He was usually a nocturnal cat, and sleep was a little thing, but it was appreciative when he could relish in it. “Lecture you?” He mused, giving her an unimpressed look. “I barely even understand as to why you’re in such a rotten mood. Let alone a violent one.”

The leader had no intentions on scolding her. Honestly, his mind had been far from it. Actually, he had been expecting an apology from her, his whiskers twiching slightly. Albeit, Passionstar was far from annoyed - he was humored, really. Observing her quietly. “Yell at you? Don’t you think that’s a little absurd?” Passionstar didn’t yell at anyone unless they gave him a reason to. A flared up Passionstar was not someone anyone wanted to deal with. He huffed softly at her, “First of all, calm down greatly, please. You keep yelling, and you’re gonna wake up the entire forest. You’re gonna scare away the prey, and then I’m really gonna have to punish you back to apprentice duties.” He wasn’t joking about the punishment, having to take on a stern demeanor for a moment before he shook his pelt, maintaining a cool composure as he smiled at her.

Upon seeing that she was more calmer...which had been weird to see her switch emotions quickly. Quite frightening and a red flag for him. Cats who acted like that were sure to be harmful in the slightest situations. He didn’t approach her, keeping a good distance even if she displayed a more friendly aura to her now. “Just because you hate mornings does not mean you have to harm others. You need to learn how to stabilize yourself.” He reprimanded her, albeit gently, peering down at her. “A word of advice is that as long as you’re gonna be impatient in getting things done, then there would always be obstacles. You need to learn to master zen, control your actions before they control you.” Yet, this was coming from a tom who was impulsive, and never thought about the consequences, but still had the audacity to remind others to take note of possible consequences. The mild hypocrite he was.

[RedHead]

Originally Posted by Mauve

That's more like it Emberwing thought as she realized she now had Cinnamonpaw's full attention. Waving her tail once in the air, she padded further into the training cave off to the side to allow room for others training but also giving herself and her apprentice room to move around as well. Her russet colored fur was fluffed out a bit as the excitement easily overtook her too. After all, this was a more advanced more, and Emberwing was glad to finally be teaching it instead of learning it. "Now, there are a couple of things you have to remember when attacking from the trees," the warrior began, turning to face Cinnamonpaw. "The first, is be aware of your tail. Make sure to keep it still, and able to bend and flow with the structure of the leaves." As she spoke, Emberwing stuck out her tail, keeping it controlled with soft movements up and down, but mostly keeping it in a flat line. "It will give away your element of surprise if your tail brushes against any leaves and makes a sound."

"Next rule is to try to not look down. Keep your eyes on your opponent or prey, but don't let the height from the ground get to you. Keep your balance," Emberwing continued, mocking walking in a straight line as if she was perched on a thin branch. She placed one paw carefully in front of the other, her other muscles tense as if to hold her up. "When you're ready to pounch, use the momentum you'll have springing downward as your launch. Don't worry about getting your haunches just right," she mewed, wriggling her tail for emphasis and shaking her head. There wasn't much room to practice leaping down because, well, they were still on flat land. "Okay. Now. What do you think another important aspect of attacking from above is?" Emberwing questioned, wondering what her apprentices' thoughts on the best approach were.

Cinnamonpaw watched Emberwing intently, taking in her every word. This was the fun part of being an apprentice. Learning how to battle. Of course, as long as he didn’t get his pelt dirty. That wouldn’t be tolerated. And the tomcat was especially excited for this lesson, mainly because it didn’t involve getting dirty. Unless you pounced into a patch of mud. But Cinnamonpaw wasn’t stupid. He knew he’d never do something like that.
Cinnamonpaw copied his mentor as she moved her tail, his own tail easily moving without thick fur to weigh it down. Being a short-furred Bengal had its perks. But Cinnamonpaw did hate how cold he always was during leaf-bare. That was one of the bad things about having short fur. “Got it.” He meowed after moving his tail a bit more, trying to get the flow exactly on point. Cinnamonpaw wanted to do everything perfectly, he went all the way, not only a little.

Cinnamonpaw again watched Emberwing, looking between hers and his own paws as he copied, walking in a straight line as if on a thin branch. He wobbled a bit, and he moved his green eyes back to Emberwing, noticing how tense her muscles were. Tensing his own, he was able to do it better this time. “Ah.” He meowed fo himself upon realization of the importance of his muscle movements. As Emberwing asked her question, Cinnamonpaw paused in his walking, flattening his ears as he thought hard. Looking down at his paws, he unsheathed his claws in the slightest. “Your grip.” He meowed, turning back to Emberwing. “You don’t want to have too tight of a grip, otherwise the branch will shake when you lift your paw. Especially if you’re on a very thin branch. You want to have a firm enough grip to keep yourself from falling, but not so much that your claws get stuck in the bark.” He smiled up at his mentor, proud of his very inquisitive thought.

[Zero]

Originally Posted by toodlesteddy

Larkpaw listened to her companion’s answer intently, with an easy, sweet smile. Although Vixenpaw didn’t speak much in general, when she did, Larkpaw hung onto every word.

“Oh, not much,” she responded with a sigh. “Hunted a bit, talked a bit. He taught me a really interesting way to catch birds! Maybe we could try it tonight?” Remembering her earlier mishap with the creatures, she added, “If, of course, I don’t drive them away.” She giggled gently, nudging Vixenpaw with her flank. “He told me I’m not too far from my warrior ceremony, can you believe it? I can’t wait to get my warrior name!”

Eyes twinkling in the sunlight, Larkpaw slowed her pace as the river came into view. In the late afternoon sun, it seemed to glimmer as it babbled along, bringing a smile to the apprentice’s face. She was definitely one to appreciate natural beauty.

Vixenpaw slowed to let her friend appreciate the beauty of the sun shining on the river just a few pawsteps away, her own gaze sweeping the area, looking to see if it was a good spot to swim and collecting any other bits of information that may become useful to them. Her eyes lingered slightly longer on the land beyond the river, her eyes narrowing as she looked for anyone from another clan. After a moment, she continued on. "This should be a good spot," She meowed as she neared the water. "Maybe we'll catch fish or something..." The apprentice had no idea how to fish and thought fish would probably be gross to eat, but it was something productive they could do while cooling off. They most likely wouldn't catch anything by swimming in the river, but that was what Vixenpaw thought the Riverclan cats did when they fished. She dipped a tentative paw into the cool water, testing the temperature and the amount of water flow.