[Deleted]

~~Timberwing~~

Leaves dripped water down as the last of the small sprinkling rain decided to stop, leaving the ground slightly wet and the grass smelling like fresh rain. Dull green eyes watched from among the high stalks of grass, their prey, a dark pelted tom who attempted to preform some sort of battle move on his own. Holding back a hiss of discontent, the red pelted she-cat slithered among the high grass. She was somehow able to keep her bright fox-colored pelt from behind notice from the young apprentice, but she was older, and far more expereninced, along with being down wind from his nose.

Those dull gree eyes narrowed as she watched him pounce on a leaf before hissing at it like it somehow offended him in some way, shape or form. Her scent was currently washed away by mud and rain water, giving her the perfect cover, maybe a rogue or loner attack. With a low hiss and a feirce screech, Timberwing launched herself onto the unexpecting Crowpaw. Her large paws, slammed him into the ground, where her teeth found a nice spot on his shoulder fur, a paw on his neck, letting him squirm underneath her heavy body.

"Pathetic that you couldn't scent me comming." She snarled through his fur. Her tail whipped around behind her, making the still air whistle. The former Nightclan warrioress was going to make this young tom listen to her, and would like it, no matter what. If he wanted to learn, if he wanted to become Rainclan's next top warrior, he would take her as a mentor, sour or not. She let her claw peak out of her graying-red paws as she pressed into him some more, "Poor little apprentice." She growled, trying to rill Crowpaw up into attempting to get her off. The manuvre to remove Timberwing was a hard, advanced move, and she knew it, which was why she had placed Crowpaw in such a position.

What had he learned on his own?

Nothing.

[Fawn]

CROWPAW of RainClan
Apprentice || 9 Moons || Tom

After having dealt with a couple of rude so called 'denmates' who had heard about his Half-Clan genes, Crowpaw had gone to the training area to blow off some steam, feeling the anger coursing through his veins like a poison. What the heck do they know, anyway? They don't know anything about me! What right do they have to judge if I'm a good RainClan cat or not? He'd be an excellent RainClan cat - after he shredded those idiots and proved to Razorfang, Sandstar and everyone that he was not going to put up with mistreatment.

As if to add insult to injury, the entirely unexpected occurrence of Timberwing - as well as the shockingly harsh tone and words she directed at him - brought Crowpaw to a whole new level of stressed anger. Screeching and writhing, the half-Clan tom spat, dark tabby coat clutched firmly in the heavier, much older she-cat's claws.
"Sorry," seethed the belligerent apprentice, words full of malice, "I wasn't exactly checking for NightClan filth." The much larger, much more competent she-cat was literally crushing him into the warm sand, his jaw digging into the coarse grains in a way that made him want to grind his teeth and scream. What did she eat? Her siblings?

Crowpaw was nearly at his adult height at only 9 moons of age, though his mental state was obviously a lot slower, the tom still lost in the throes of rebellion and a self-centered idea on his place in the world. Despite his size, Timberwing had more muscle than he did - a fact he would have resentment over later, to allow himself to be treated like this by a cat even lower than him, in the eyes of their Clan. Why did he have to get the half-Clan mentor? Why would Sandstar do that? Feeling all of the anger and frustration and disappointment well up inside of him, feeling let down by everyone lately (His parents for letting Hawkpaw go, Hawkpaw for leaving at all - Sandstar for appointing him a mentor he didn't want, and Timberwing for being much less than his ideal tutor) until he began to thrash and twist and writhe, jaws parting in an attempt to bite her in any way that he could.

It wasn't until halfway through his tantrum that an idea occurred to him. Rather than fight her in such a violent way, Crowpaw decided to play possum. She was too heavy for him to just roll over and crush her, and he could barely move as it was. So perhaps he should just...stop struggling? Let her think she'd taken the fight right out of him. Not like she even knows me that well. We haven't exactly seen much of each other since that day. She might think he really HAD given up. After all, Timberwing probably thought he was an annoying brat like the rest of the Clan did.

As much as it hurt his stubborn, childish pride, Crowpaw's body grew still, and he rested his muzzle back against the sand, flanks heaving as he attempted to regain his breath and calm the blood pounding in his ears.

[Deleted]

~~Timberwing~~

Dull green eyes sparkled with amusement, he was smarter than he let on. Falling limp was a good stratagy, it would pull any warrior off of a limp cat, however, the russet red she-cat was smarter than that. She knew what Crowpaw was attempting to do, throw her off, which would be a challange but she was sure that the dark pelted tom could pull it off, expecially with how angry he was at the moment. With her bushy tail wavering around behind her, the fox looking she-cat felt his muscles relax, as well as his breathing.

"Good try." She meowed, her hot breath against his fur again, "But you won't fool me so easily." She pressed down on him some more, lowering her belly to the ground so that all her weight was on the smaller tom. Her ears twitched as she spoke again, a low growl following, "I can tell you how to get out of a Nightclan filth move like this..." Her eyes flashed. It wasn't like she was proud of where she came from neither, but teaching a cat both Nightclan and Rainclan moves was good for said cat. Good to have a feel for what an enemy Nightclanner might do.

With a low snort, Timberwing could just imagine what the offer did to young Crowpaw. He was prideful, and she was sure that him falling limp was a blow to his large ego. Taking the advice of Nightclan filth, to get out of such a difficult move much eat away at his fur, like fire to the forest. Her bushy tail flickered around behind her, ears twitching as her eyes watched Crowpaw's scrunched up face in disgust from the fact that he was pinned underneath her.

[Fawn]

CROWPAW of RainClan
Apprentice || 9 Moons || Tom

The harder she pressed, the angrier he got, his fury spurred on by the fact that his plan had failed - as well as the constant feel of her breath hot against the backs of his ears, which were now pressed flat in absolute loathing. "I don't want your help," he snarled. "If you wanna fight then let's fight like RainClan cats, not a big NightClanner jumping on an apprentice for no reason!" If she wanted to test him, then crushing him into the dirt was not the best way to go about it. He would rather have the ability to properly move his body, to strike out at her and release all of his pent up stress and frustration with her then go about it like this.

He was going to ask Sandstar for a new mentor next chance he got. I liked it better when we avoided each other. Claws digging into the ground beneath him, Crowpaw let out another howl of frustration, this time, he let the energy pool in the strong front and hind limbs, whole body tensing in preparation for a proper retaliation, orange gaze narrowed into seething slits. Due to the fact that he wasn't covered in all muscle and was still filling into his large frame, his shoulder blades were rather sharp and bony, and it was this that Crowpaw was hoping to use to his advantage. Anger making him strong, the dark tabby tom thrust his shoulders upward hoping to dislodge the giant ginger parasite, Crowpaw following through with an attempt to roll her off, body angled, the sinews and muscles of his being screaming in protest as he twisted and writhed further. He was likely to pull a muscle if he kept up his behavior, but to the dark tom, it was an occupational habit.

The shadowy tabby tom would do anything to resist when others tried to push him down - literally. Timberwing may have viewed this as a battle lesson or opportunity to teach - Crowpaw viewed it as the senior warrior trying to literally beat him into submission, and the last thing he would ever do was give in to that sort of behavior. He wouldn't become a stepping stone for other cats - he just wouldn't. Even though his efforts had put the tom on borderline exhaustion, his eyes were still full of fire though his body was starting to rebel against his intentions, limbs shaking from the tension and the effort it took just to lift his belly even slightly off the ground. I have to do this.

[Deleted]

~~Timberwing~~
The Fox of Rainclan

Dull green eyes narrowed as she felt her weight being pushed off of the young tom underneath her. Though he woudn't be able to actually throw her off of him, and he might pull a muscle trying. With a heave of her own, the old she-cat shifted her own weight to where she pressed him back into the dirt before she moved her heavy body from his, jumping a step backwards before calmly sitting down, wrapping her bushy red plume around her large graying paws. The fox colored she-cat let out a soft sigh before flicking her her tuffed topped ears, watching Crowpaw, the russet red she-cat decided it was time that she tried talking to him. It was the least she could do after she blatenly ambushed and pinned him down.

"Crowpaw." She said, her voice strong, as she raised her red plume to pause his actions from possibly leaping at her, claws unseathed to rip her pelt off. She was sure that's what he wanted to do, and she could easily knock him off and beat him back, he hadn't learned much training from watching other cats, possibly Heronpaw's training or Vultureback. Pulling her bushy tail back around her paws, Timberwing opened her graying mussle to speak to her dark furred apprentice. "Your blood doesn't define who you are. You define who you are." Timberwing meowed, her dull eyes giving a soft twinkle as if she were talking about not only Crowpaw's twin blood but her own bad blood.

Lifting her head up, Timberwing flicked her ears once more as she raised her dull eyes towards the sky before she decided to speak again, letting her wisdom flow over Crowpaw's ears. "I will never judge you because of who your mother is." She turned back to look at the tom. "Falconleap is a friend of mine, and an amazing warrior, just like your father." A quick pause. "I have no doubt that you will become a wonderful warrior of Rainclan, and I want to watch you earn your warrior name from Sandstar... I also hope to see you become your dream someday, of become deputy. Though I may not live that long..." A small smile touched the old she-cat's lips.

[Fawn]

Regardless of the exhaustion that dogged every muscle of the dark tabby's body, Crowpaw still summoned the energy to lash his tail back and forth in angry, serpentine movements, every sinew quivering, heart inflamed. To attack back was a response that went even beyond his personality and into the territory of instinct, Crowpaw possessing the kind of spirit that could not allow such a humiliation to occur without some sort of bloody retaliation - but, breaking through the blood mist of fury, were the sage words of the cat he least expected them from.

"Your blood doesn't define who you are. You define who you are."

This pause in movement shifted him out of his battle stance, his breathing still ragged from the strength of his emotions and the effort he'd exerted in attempt to dislodge the fox-hued she-cat. Orange eyes piercing, Crowpaw spat on the ground. If blood doesn't define us, then why do our Clanmates treat us like dirt sometimes? Then why is being a non-Clan cat almost the same thing as being scum? Insides burning, Crowpaw didn't trust himself to speak, remaining tuned in even as Timberwing brought up his mother.

"My mother doesn't do anything - she used to be a deputy but now all she does is stay in the nursery," he mewed blackly, his mood about as foul as rotten meat. "And if she'd been RainClan born, then Hawkpaw wouldn't have left!" As if ripping open a recently healed wound, Crowpaw felt the urge to howl and scream and claw at the earth, the unfairness of the world crashing down on him, and gaping hole Hawkpaw had left in his brother's heart upon his desertion. "You say blood doesn't matter, but how can that even be true? Don't you see how the Clan treats us? The only cat even worse off than you or me is Razorfang, and he's managed to be deputy - but cats still talk."

Snorting, the young tom lifted his chin, declaring, "I will never be deputy of RainClan, because I don't care what this Clan thinks of me anymore, they're all mousebrains! I'm going to be stronger and better than all of them, and it won't be because they helped or supported me. It's going to be because I worked harder than all those idiots."
But I can't do this alone.
In Crowpaw's mind, it made sense to not ask just anyone to teach him, and technically he already had a mentor... With his pride gradually repairing, the tom-kitten continued.
"I still don't like that you're from NightClan, but you're my mentor, so I'll learn from you - like those NightClan battle moves you mentioned. If I'm going to be the best, I gotta make up for lost time."
I'm still getting you back for this later. Wait until I'm stronger and bigger, then we'll see who pins who.

Timberwing's words would've worked on a tom who had faced less animosity as well as had less animosity towards himself and the fact that he was Half-Clan, but the truth of the matter was this: Crowpaw hated his split parentage. He hated that he hadn't been pureblooded like his denmates; he hated stupid StoneClan for even existing. What was so great about it? Falconleap had obviously left it for a reason, and her StoneClan blood was the reason to blame for Hawkpaw's disappearance to begin with.

To lose some of that anger coursing through his blood like a poison, Crowpaw would have to accept the truth, that he was Half-Clan and that he still had just as much if not more worth than any pure-blooded RainClan cat.

This would be a hard message for him to believe, but...given time, it was possible.

[Deleted]

Timberwing
The Fox of Rainclan
And you, you bring me to my knees, again
All the times, that I could beg you please, in vain
All the times, when I felt insecure, for you
And I leave, my burdens at the door

---

His words left a small echo that murmured through the older warroress' ears as the young black tom's sharp words stung like an angry bee to the nose of anycat. However, she knew the pain the young tom was in and slowly nodded her head in understanding. There were only a few cats who would understand what the two were going through, and those two consisted of the former deputy of Stoneclan, Crowpaw's own mother, and Razorfang, the deputy of Rainclan who was born a loner.

There was, of course, no reason to treat anycat differently, but of course, full blooded Rainclan cats who held grudges just simply lived their life angry and vengeful at those who they deemed didn't belong in their clan. Timberwing could easily name one or two Rainclan cats who wouldn't mind taking Razorfang out of his comfortable position next to Sandstar. Returning her attention back to the young tom infront of her, the fox colored she-cat pulled herself to her near graying paws.

"You can only prove your worth and ignore the haters." Timberwing cracked in her tired voice, it was a hard battle, this thing they called life, and it would only get harder the older they became. Most warriors don't live to become elders, to pass on stories of old, and there was a reason. Life was hard for wild cats who struggled to find food for others before themselves, to fight to defend, but that was the price they paid for become such warriors. No matter what clan, all warriors were the same. "We are all flesh and bone. We all bleed, we all die. Some cats just have yet understand that we are all the same."

Flicking her bushy tail, the older she-cat twitched her ears before she crouched down, "Now, do you want to learn some Rainclan moves, or some Nightclan moves?" She said, her voice bouncing back up to speed. "Either one will help you in a battle." She said with a smirk on her maw, tail waving behind her as her forest green eyes kept trained on Crowpaw infront of her.

---

But I'm on the outside, I'm looking in
I can see through you, see your true colors
'Cause inside you're ugly, you're ugly like me
I can see through you, see to the real you