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Post by Taxx on Oct 2, 2019 18:26:51 GMT -5
Ferngaze of RainClan The Camp Stream was getting quite cold with greenleaf's heat gone. With quick steps Ferngaze waded across and then turned back to make sure both apprentices made it safely. A dunking would mean they'd have to take time to dry off; even RainClan cats could get chilled from damp fur. Sunpaw, though he hesitated briefly at the edge, made it across with ease, tail flicking with self-satisfied pride as he halted at Ferngaze's side.
"Hurry up, Sablepaw!" he called, green eyes gleaming at his brother. Bouncing lightly in place, fired with enthusiasm at getting to explore all of RainClan's territory, but he was trying not to seem too excited. After all, what was roaming the borders when they'd gone out of RainClan territory altogether? He bet no other Clan had gone that far before!
Spinning to face Emberlight, Sunpaw wiggled. "What do we get to see first? Willow Stream? The Wooded Cove? Or our borders with LightningClan and NightClan? All of it?" He heard Ferngaze snort in amusement, flicking a glance at her over his shoulder to see her standing next to Sablepaw, her blue eyes on Emberlight as well. As they ought to be; it was only right that his mentor, the deputy, should decide what they would be doing. STEADY AS THE RIVER RUNS
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I will not be like a bird bred in a cage, I thought, too dull to fly even when the door stands open. |
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INVENTORY
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Post by Ginger on Oct 8, 2019 20:32:14 GMT -5
Emberlight "In the darkest times, hope is something you give yourself." Emberlight padded along, trailing behind Ferngaze and the two apprentices, making sure the young toms were keeping up with the silver-furred warrioress. After Ferngaze crossed the stream, Emberlight took note of the two apprentices. Sunpaw, who was Emberlight's to mentor, was quick to take the first step and eventually glide across the stream.
Sablepaw, on the other hand, was struggling. His already-large eyes had widened even more. Was he really able to get across this stream? He was much smaller than Sunpaw, and there was a very good chance that he would fall in. However, at his brother's call for him, Sablepaw felt his fur bristle ever so slightly, an unconscious effect to make himself seem bigger that he had adopted from a young age in response to his siblings. He would be good enough. No. He would be the best.
"Go on, Sablepaw. I'm right behind you." Emberlight's reassuring voice pushed Sablepaw to put his first paw in the water, only to draw it back out with surprise as he realized how cold it was. What if he couldn't even cross the river? How disappointed would Ferngaze be in him if her own apprentice messed up so horribly so early in training? No matter what he could or couldn't do, Sablepaw couldn't let his brother be that much better than him. "Don't tell me to hurry up! I was just letting you think you won!" With that, the russet tom leaped into the stream, causing lots of big splashes as he bound through the water.
Emberlight chuckled at the sight. Sibling rivalry was such a strange phenomenon. After Sablepaw made it to the other side and joined his mentor, Emberlight too crossed the stream and laughed warmly at his apprentice's questions. "Before we learn more about our relationships with other clans, we first must begin to build a strong foundation of our own clan, its territory, and its history." With a touch of humor, he added: "Then we can move on to learning about other clans. More specifically, which ones RainClan actually borders." Leaning in a little closer to Sunpaw, Emberlight spoke next with a twinkle in his eye. "RainClan borders NightClan and StoneClan, for future reference." He looked to Ferngaze with a semi-serious glance. Silverstar, her father and Rainclan's leader, had led the clan into an era of peace. She potentially had a lot to say about what made Rainclan the way it was. "Let's begin with the Wooded Cove, and if we have time, we can head over to the border with NightClan after."
A friendly flick of his tail on Sunpaw's side was a subtle hint that the trip to NightClan's border was something of a "prize" for an effective lesson. He understood that the young ones often had a fascination with the other clans because of their seeming otherworldliness.
Sablepaw's eyes lit up at the idea of seeing NightClan. But first they had to do boring things around RainClan's territory? Sablepaw turned to Ferngaze. "NightClan would be so much cooler to see! Why can't we start with that right now?" 53 Moons. Warrior. RainClan
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Post by Taxx on Oct 12, 2019 19:26:00 GMT -5
Sunpaw I'm gonna take this itty bitty world by storm "Ha, as if I needed you to!" Sunpaw shot back, bouncing toward the stream again and nearly falling in as his paws slipped on the bank. He felt Ferngaze give his tail a backwards tug, allowing him to regain his balance. A moment later Sablepaw had joined him, and Sunpaw's green eyes swiveled toward Emberlight, tail flicking and paws shuffling in his excitement to get going. At the correction, he blinked, mouth twisting into a moment of contemplation and a dislike of being told he was wrong, but then he brightened again. "I knew that! I was just checking if you were paying attention to me."
Slick, he grinned to himself, and beamed up at his mentor. With their destination in mind now, he turned to pad at Emberlight's shoulder. Ferngaze and Sablepaw followed, the darker tom piping up a moment later with his question. Tossing a glance backward, Sunpaw began: "Emberlight knows what he-"
"Hush," Ferngaze cut him off, her blue eyes stern. "Sablepaw asked a good question." To her apprentice, she continued. "It's good to know what NightClan smells like, and StoneClan. But it's much better to know your own territory as well as you can. Every pawstep of it, every tree and pool. Where you can find prey, or where you can go if you just want peace and quiet. Knowing our borders is just one small part of a warrior's duties. The Wooded Cove, where we're going, is prime hunting territory. For fish and land prey, if you're quick enough."
Lifting her head and breathing in deep, Ferngaze felt the familiar contented feeling wash over her. Then glancing down at Sablepaw, she spoke again. "Emberlight, what do you say to a short session teaching them scents when we get to the Cove?"
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I will not be like a bird bred in a cage, I thought, too dull to fly even when the door stands open. |
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INVENTORY
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Post by Ginger on Oct 30, 2019 15:44:30 GMT -5
Emberlight "In the darkest times, hope is something you give yourself." At his apprentice's adamant support of his Abyssinian mentor, Emberlight could not help but crack a smile. Sunpaw was already proving to have a fiery personality only further enhanced by his excitement to learn and grow.
Ferngaze's patient explanation to Sablepaw made the petite warrior smile at the silver tabby. The two warriors had recently found themselves working together after discovering they made a fine team during the flood. Ferngaze was gentle, yet firm. Kind, yet assertive. It made for a great mentor for Sablepaw, and a great warrior to count on in any situation.
Emberlight opened his mouth to speak, but he was cut off by Ferngaze's wiry apprentice. "I bet I could catch more prey than you, Sunpaw!" The smallest of the litter, Sablepaw was always looking to show up his more capable siblings. If he could catch prey before they had even learned how to hunt, then there was a chance that he would be looked on as equal to the rest of the litter. As something more than he was.
Sablepaw looked to Ferngaze as she turned and spoke to Emberlight. Daughter of a leader. Beautiful, strong, and well-liked. Sablepaw only wished he had those same attributes. Instead, he would have to work incredibly hard to even be able to slightly keep up with his peers. Even now, Sunpaw was already shining. Sablepaw had to do better. He had to outshine his brother.
Emberlight, who had been paying attention to his own apprentice, looked and nodded to Ferngaze as she spoke to him. With a strong foundation of RainClan's scents, these two apprentices would be much better off in their future sessions.
As they neared the Wooded Cove, Emberlight began to speak. "As you breathe, take in more than just air to breathe. Take in the scents around you. Taste them. Remember them."
Once the four cats entered the cove, a plethora of scents rushed into the deputy's nose. Squirrels, territory markers, excrement, and a large variety of herbs filled the atmosphere. To an apprentice, it could be overwhelming. "This is a lot, I know. But to know these scents is to know your clan." Emberlight then turned specifically to Sunpaw, who had stepped by a tree bearing a territory marker, likely from the morning's patrol. "This is how we say that this is our territory. Never forget this scent, and always keep it in the back of your mind while you are patrolling. If that scent ever completely leaves your nose, then you are no longer safe on RainClan's territory."
Sablepaw crinkled his nose at all the scents. They were foreign, yet familiar. Too much, yet the perfect amount. Looking first to Emberlight, but then to Ferngaze once he realized the deputy had become preoccupied with his apprentice, Sablepaw opened his mouth in question. "I can smell the land prey, but I can't smell the fish." He lowered his voice and leaned in slightly to his mentor so that Sunpaw wouldn't hear him. "Did we run out of fish?"
53 Moons. Warrior. RainClan
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Post by Taxx on Nov 11, 2019 11:55:53 GMT -5
Ferngaze of RainClan "No you can't!" Sunpaw shot back, instantly rising to the bait regardless of the fact that neither of them knew how to hunt yet. How hard could it be, really? All the warriors did it- some better than others, of course, and he was going to be the best of the best. Fish were the most common item on the fresh-kill pile, but it was land prey that he intended to specialize in. His mother was one of the few cats who preferred land prey to fish, so he and she wouldn't have much competition. He couldn't be better than Ashflight, surely. That couldn't be possible.
Ferngaze had paused as the group entered the Cove, letting Emberlight speak and flicking her tail at Sablepaw to encourage him to do as the deputy told. There was a strong smell of rabbit- not the usual sort of prey found in RainClan territory. It must have crossed over from one of the other territories. Idly she wondered if she was fast enough to catch something like that, but then Sablepaw caught her attention and she looked down at the young tom. She couldn't quite help the ripple of her whiskers in amusement, but she did try to stifle it for his sake; it wouldn't do to make him think she was laughing at him.
Just as quietly- not that it was necessary, given how loud Sunpaw was being- she replied. "RainClan will never run out of fish. They stick to the river, though, not here. There might be minnows in the pond, but it's too small to contain anything bigger, and minnows would never fill a cat's belly." Padding to the pond, beckoning Sablepaw along, she crouched at the edge. "See them? How little they are, compared to a trout or a carp. Much too little to bother with."
"I can't smell anything!" Sunpaw's voice broke in and Ferngaze glanced up, dragged from her moment with Sablepaw. The ginger apprentice's tail was lashing and he looked irritated; it wasn't really that he couldn't smell, but more that he was having trouble making sense of the flood of scents. It was overwhelming to a young cat not used to it. Ferngaze pulled in a breath, the different smells filling her nose- comfortingly familiar, except for the rabbit.
"You might have more luck if you ask for help than yowling," she commented. "If we were hunting you'd have scared all the prey into hiding. Sablepaw, why don't you and I go around the Cove to help you learn what scents are what?" STEADY AS THE RIVER RUNS
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I will not be like a bird bred in a cage, I thought, too dull to fly even when the door stands open. |
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INVENTORY
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Post by Ginger on Nov 22, 2019 23:29:38 GMT -5
Emberlight "In the darkest times, hope is something you give yourself." Sablepaw scrunched his nose at Sunpaw, who had been loudly complaining that he couldn't smell anything. "I can smell everything!" His boastful words were only further emphasized by his puffed out chest and sing-song tone.
He couldn't smell anything.
"Maybe you'll be lucky and some of the prey will be drawn to the noise," Emberlight cooed gently at Sunpaw before walking up to the headstrong apprentice and flicking his nose with his tail. "Instead of taking in everything around you, look at one thing and focus on it. You may have an easier time deciphering the smell then." Emberlight pointed Sunpaw's head in the direction of a bush. "Look at the bush. Something was in there earlier today. Try and tell me what it was."
Sablepaw peeked again into the water as Ferngaze spoke to him on the fish. Were there really tiny fish swimming around in there? The deeper he focused, the more he could see what looked like hundreds of tiny figures oscillating around one another in ceaseless motion. The young apprentice wondered how many minnows it would take to fill him up since he was such a small cat. He could probably survive his whole life only eating minnows.
Nodding his head, Sablepaw decided to follow Ferngaze around to decipher some of the scents of the cove. One of the strongest ones that hit him filled his entire nose with a dry, somewhat burnt, and still fresh scent. The scent got stronger and stronger until...
Bonk!
A sharp pain shot through Sablepaw's nose, and he rubbed it with a paw. Of course he ran into a tree. Now everyone would not only think he was small, but that he was a klutz. Great.
53 Moons. Warrior. RainClan
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