[Phoenix]

It was wet. Everywhere he went, the wetness seemed to follow. He could not escape it. And perhaps the others had gotten used to have soaked, mud-coated paws every minute of the day, but he had not and never planned to. Had he had any say in the matter, he would have remained curled up in the make-shift warriors den, where the wet was kept mostly at bay. But no. Thanks to Ravenstar, who had deemed him worthy enough for an apprentice of his own, a decision that he had given up trying to understand, he was forced from his refuge every morning to train an apprentice who was far too happy for the occasion. He refrained from glowering at his paws as they trudged along the route to Branch Trail. If he had to train an apprentice, at least he would be able to get his paws off the soaking ground.

Whether or not Oakpaw could was a different matter. Though he did not know the younger cat as well as others might, he had seen the brown tabby around camp. The apprentice-then-kit had been clumsy to the point where it was painful to watch, always tripping over his own paws and stumbling. Compared to the wiry warrior, who could at least carry his thin frame with a semblence of grace, the apprentice was considerably lacking in that department. And that was why he had chosen to practice coordination first, and the best way to do so, in his opinion, was climbing the trees along the trail. He, at least, would be able to perch in a branch and watch from a comfortable vantage point as Oakpaw tried to reach him.

Yellow-green eyes briefly scanned the trees around him. "This way," He murmured, flicking somewhat awkwardly with his tail for the brown cat to follow him. Giving orders was very strange to one accustomed to following them. The tree of his choice had the lowest branches and relatively rough bark, which made it easier for a climber to get a good grip. "Climbing." Ratfur turned upon reaching the base of the tree, eyes smoothly finding his apprentice. He forced his voice to quaver slightly, injecting some uncertainty - which he did not need to completely fake - into his tone. "It requires balance, strength and coordination. Once mastered, it can prove to be a very useful tactic in battle, since most of our opponents will not be expecting an attack from above." Of course, it had never worked for him and his dismal fighting abilities, but the idea sounded good in theory. "Unsheathe your claws and climb to that lowest branch, please."

[Fate Admin]

Oakpaw bounced along behind his mentor, wondering what they would do today. Maybe he’d catch his first prey? He’d been having horrible luck of it so far. He always seemed to step on a twig or a particularly crunchy dead leaf or something right at the last moment, and then his prey would scurry away and leave him flailing after it in vain. Even frogs eluded him and all the apprentices said they were probably the easiest prey to catch, you just had to time you leap right… or something.

Looking around at the mucky ground, he tilted his head as he wondered if this was what newleaf always looked like. It wasn’t very attractive if so and he wasn’t entirely sure why every cat had been looking forward to it so much… other than the fact that it was warmer now. Oakpaw much preferred the pretty snow to this muddy landscape. At that moment his paws slipped out from under him after trodding upon a particularly slippery patch of mud and he squeaked as they all four went in different directions and he fell to his belly, but he didn’t stay there for long for the mud oozing into his belly fur was most uncomfortable!

Scrambling to his paws and away from the nasty mud, he shook himself, not liking the feeling of the mud clinging to his pelt at all. Ick! The urge to wash was almost overwhelming, but Ratfur wasn’t stopping and he didn’t want to be left behind, so he bounded after his mentor, watching the ground for anymore of those nasty mud patches. As Ratfur stopped ahead of him, his paw caught on a root and sent him tumbling forward and when his mentor finally turned to address him, he was sprawled on the ground, looking up sheepishly and trying to pay attention over the pain in his paw from the offending root that had caught him up.

Climbing? He pushed himself up to a sitting position and looked up the tree that Ratfur was clearly indicating for him to climb. He held his paw slightly above the ground as the pain receded slightly and twitched his ears. Would his hurt paw hinder him in this? Taking a deep breath he stood and did his best not to limp up to the tree. The pain was going away slowly, he was sure it was nothing serious… he just had to wait a little bit and it would be fine. He could do this… he’d never actually climbed before, but he’d seen others do it… it didn’t look that hard.

He crouched slightly, remembering to unsheathe his claws like Ratfur had said, and fixed his eyes on the low branch his mentor had instructed him to climb to. It wasn’t THAT far up… he could do it. He gave a small leap up the trunk, digging his claws into the bark and clinging there about a fox length above the ground…. Now what? He glanced back down at the ground, then back up to the tree branch. He wasn’t that much closer. Taking another deep breath he tried to lift one forepaw and reach upward, but he couldn’t. He tugged at his paw but his claws were lodged quite well in the bark, and like the kit he barely wasn't, he had not thought to retract them. Panic started to rise in his chest as he could not free any of his paws from the tree and finally he wailed, “I can’t move! I’m stuck!”

[Phoenix]

He had never thought that climbing was particularly challenging. Sure, he had had to work on it for a little bit, but at least he had understood the theory of it before he attempted the practical. It was fairly obvious, in his opinion, to any feline who bothered to stop and think before they acted. Obvious enough that he had not felt the need to explain how to climb the tree, but it appeared as though he had asked too much of the younger tom. He had been under the impression that Oakpaw was one of those cats - though he knew next to nothing about his apprentice apart from the fact that he was far too happy than any cat should be allowed to be - but unless the art of tree climbing had grown far more complex since his apprentice ship, he thought that he might have been mistaken. An apprentice with no talent what-so-ever was tolerable, but one lacking in intelligent as much as he did skill promised a very rough, very unpleasant six moons.

"So you are." Perhaps it was cruel, allowing the tom to believe that he would have to spend the rest of his life clinging to the side of a tree, but honestly, he could not bring himself to care. Letting his scorn wash over him for a moment, he stood there, simply watching his clueless apprentice hang onto the trunk, and upon noticing the mud that coated his fur for the first time, blinked very slowly. He could handle this. He was used to this general lack of intelligence. It should come as no surprise to him that, as an incompetent warrior, he would receive an apprentice who would doubtlessly turn out to be just as worthless. Ravenstar did have a sick, twisted sense of humor. Or perhaps she was simply out to get him. He thought that perhaps she had been talking with Blackwolf too much, and the large ebony warrior might have rubbed off on her. Regardless of the cause, he did not appreciate this joke. A failture training a failure. How delightful. Digusted, he wiped his mind clean of those thoughts as he moved forward to stand beside the apprentice, head tilted upward slightly to meet the younger cat's gaze.

He did not have the patience for this. "As it turns out, you can to move, and you are not nearly as stuck as you seem to believe," The wiry warrior countered curtly, tone leaving no room for argument. "Think. What are you capable of moving, even in this position?" He barely paused before answering his own question, not wanting to hear a barrage of worthless answers that would continue to test his control. "Your claws." Having shared that piece of information, he clicked his jaws shut, barely managing to refrain from adding the 'you idiot' that was perched precariously on the tip of his tongue. He had decided that trading insults this early in the apprenticeship might be counter-productive and with his luck, it come back to haunt him later on. Unsheathing his own claws, he barked a short, "Watch me," and leapt onto the tree.

Claws latched into the bark, and he pulled himself up before reaching up for another hold. The process was just as simple as he remembered, leaving him to deduce that the younger tom's intelligence was at fault. It was not long before he pulled his lean frame onto the branch and moved to perch on it with relative ease. As he pivoted, turning away from the trunk to face the apprentice, light green eyes found the subject of his thoughts, locking onto their target with a lazer-like intensity. Enjoying the way he could look down on his apprentice far too much, the warrior called down. "Your turn." There were two possible outcomes. He would either fail, like before, or succeed and join him on the branch. The former was just as likely as the latter.

[Fate Admin]

Oakpaw attempted to pull his paws away from the tree several more time after he’d wailed that he was stuck, with no luck at all. Instead, his panic was only rising. Would he be stuck to this tree forever? He could imagine it… hanging here day after day, never catching his first prey or fighting for his Clan or training his own apprentice. Maybe Thornpaw would bring him prey every day so he wouldn’t starve. His fur was fluffing out with fear as he thought about all the horrible possibilities. He couldn’t ever remember feeling this frightened about anything. Well, there was that time, when he was very small… he could remember being afraid, cold, wet… but not much more about it at this point. The memory was too long ago, it had faded too much already.

The Ratfur appeared in the corner of his eye and he whipped his head around with wide eyes. No, he wouldn’t be stuck here forever. Ratfur would help him. His fur began to lie flat and his heart wasn’t pounding quite so hard in his chest, slowly calming back to normal. In his panic he’d almost forgotten his mentor was there. He would be fine with Ratfur there to help him. As his mentor posed his question, he was just about to open his mouth to say ‘my tail’ when Ratfur answered for him. His claws? He turned his gaze to his paws, where his claws protruded, digging into the bark of the offending tree. Oh… his claws…. In that moment of realization he sheathed his claws and instantly fell the short distance to the ground, plopping onto his rump and wincing slightly. Oops.

Then Ratfur was unsheathing his claws and Oakpaw watched his mentor raptly as he climbed the tree with such ease. He leapt to his paws, tail waving excitedly as he regained his confidence. He’d sort of forgotten he could… you know… control his claws. THAT was what he’d been missing. He was sure he could do it now. Wiggling his rump, he crouched and leapt again, claws digging into the tree once more. After settling his weight, he carefully unsheathed the claws of only ONE of his forepaws and reached upward like Ratfur had, digging his claws in again, releasing the tree with the claws on his other forepaw, both pushing and pulling himself up at the same time. His heart started beating faster again, but this time in excitement and triumph.

He looked up at Ratfur, ecstatic to see that he was getting closer, “Look! I’m doing it!” He called up happily. Finally he managed to reach the branch, pulling himself onto it… and nearly slipping off with a surprised yelp. His back legs dangled below him as he clung to the branch as if his life depended upon it with his foreclaws, but he managed to get one of his hindpaws back up on the branch and pull himself the rest of the way up, though he still clung to the branch as if he might fall off at any moment. Looking down, he wasn’t sure if the fall would be enough to hurt him, but he wasn’t about to find out. He turned back to Ratfur, panting, “What now?”

[Phoenix]

RATFUR Nightclan || Warrior

Miracles did happen, it seemed. With a blank expression that only hinted at his exhasperation, he watched as the apprentice scale the trunk with increasing ease as he became more familiar with the pattern. Ears flicked at the exclamation that split the pleasant, enjoyable silence that had fallen, and he disregarded it almost instantly. The apprentice had merely decided to vocalize his excitement and state the obvious, and he refused to deign to respond to such a comment that held no useful information. He could very clearly see that Oakpaw was 'doing it'. He was not blind, and his gaze was focused directly at the younger tom. As the smaller feline drew closer, his companion realized, belatedly, that he had not given any instruction on how to transition from the trunk to the branch of the tree, and despite having had minimal interaction with his apprentice, he was already fully aware of the potential danger Oakpaw posed to himself due to ignorance. But he did not open his mouth to comment. Sometimes it was better to learn from failures than simply being told, and in any event, the apprentice had already begun to attempt the transition. Any word from him would doubtlessly result in the younger cat losing his concentration and grip. In silence, he shifted away to give his apprentice more room. Claws tightened their grip on the branch - and metaphorically around his heart - when the younger tom wavered, tipping precariously, and when he managed to right himself, his mentor, more shaken then he would care to admit, shoved away the worry as if it had never existed. The question, innocently posed, caught him by surprise. What now. He had not thought beyond getting the younger tom to reach their current perch, having expected that he would either be able to do so with enough ease that covering climbing would be unnecessary or that he would not be able to complete the task at all, which would have resulted in him sitting there, barking out directions. Which he considered doing even though Oakpaw had managed to slip into a third, completely unconsidered category. The apprentice had managed to ascend to the branch, but he had had enough trouble that more practice would not hurt. That and Ratfur was perfectly comfortable, perched on the branch as he was, and had no intentions of moving unless it was conducive to their immediate return to camp. Pale green eyes flicked around, assessing the nearby branches. Though he felt no particular fondness for the clumsy feline that had been placed under his care, he had an equally small amount of desire to see him wounded. With his less-than-ideal relationship with Smokefur, he wanted to avoid the medicine cat whenever possible out of the misconception that she might forget as time passed. "Climb to that branch," He spoke smoothly, picking one at random. It wasn't too far off the ground, and it was positioned over a particularly large bit of mud. Even if Oakpaw managed to fall, his mentor would at least gain some amusement from it before having to descend from his lofty perch to ensure that his apprentice was unharmed.