[Abyss]

BRINDLEMASK

TELL ME BABY, WHAT'S YOUR STORY? The Black Woods were...quiet. It was normal for them to be this way. But today was slightly different. There was a hint of tension in the air that circulated through the maze of dark trees. No birds chirped. No squirrels scurried through the branches. There wasn’t even the croaking of frogs or toads. Pure silence. Occasionally, there would be some rustling of leaves and bushes. In the middle of the lack of movement or life, there was a dark figure that made its way through the trees, alternating between moving through the bushes on the ground and climbing up to the branches of the trees. Amber-brown eyes scanned both the ground and the trees constantly, searching out another figure that may or may not be hidden. Brindlemask was on the hunt, which was typical for her. But this time she wasn’t hunting for prey. She was hunting another cat. Another of her clanmates, in fact. Phrasing it that way, given the circumstances, would probably be suspicious to any of her other clanmates. But she didn’t see the problem. She had brought Hawkpaw out into the territory to practice battle training. Normally you would think that a mentor and Apprentice would get in a clearing together, stance, face one another, and battle. But Brindle didn’t set it up this way. She took her Apprentice to the Black Woods, told him that they would be practicing with his fighting skills, and then told him to go wander. She told him that they would both wander around the dark portion of the forest for a little bit and try to remain separate, and then eventually they would run into each other. When they should run into one another, they were to treat each other as aggressive intruders. Of course, neither of them intended to kill one another. But playing it nice and easy wasn’t going to win a battle. Perching herself in a branch within one of the dark trees, the torbie Warrioress scanned the area below her, watching for any signs of movement in case Hawkpaw happened to be near her. WHERE YOU COME FROM AND WHERE YOU WANNA GO THIS TIME? WARRIORESS OF NIGHTCLAN

350 | Aqua

[Aqua]

A brown tabby slinked among the sparse bushes in the Black Woods. Despite the clear signs of a past fire, the foilage that had sprouted made the forest look less....bare, albeit it still seemed pretty dead here. If anything, it was quite creepy here. There wasn't a single sign of life here, no animals calls, no fluttering of birds wings, nothing. It caused a sense of uneasiness in the pit of the tom's stomach. But he shook his head of those feelings, knowing his mentor had brought him here for a purpose.

The tom crouched low to the ground, much like he would during a hunt. Only this time around he took slow and careful paw steps through the area. If he was lucky, he might be able to get one up on his mentor and find her first. It would be even more impressive if he could get her before she could even detect his presence. He narrowed his eyes in thought, stopping for a moment to glance around him. From the looks of it, the she-cat wasn't close by but he remained alert. Even the slightest sound would be the only give away he'd need to try and find her.

Paws gently inched forward as the tom weaved slowly between each bush, amber eyes still keeping a good eye on the area around him. That's when a sudden idea hit the tabby. What if he was the one that made a sound first? He surveyed the area around him, spotting a small area to crawl into under a thick bush. That was where he would hide in wait for his mentor. He then looked on the ground around him for anything he could use to make a noise. Luckily for him there were two smaller branches on the ground. While these branches were blackened by the old fire, they still had some give when he lightly pressed on them. Enough that when he put more weight down on one of them, it made a loud snap that echoed through the silence. Quickly and quietly, the young tom slinked down and under the thick bush he had found. Hopefully, his mentor would overhear the noise and come to investigate. For now, the tom would remain quiet and patiently wait for something to happen.

Made by Aqua || Tagged: Abyss || Words: #384

[Abyss]

BRINDLEMASK

TELL ME BABY, WHAT'S YOUR STORY? The silence of the forest never changed. No wind blew the few leaves on the trees, no animals called to one another, and the only sound was the faint sound of Brindlemask’s own breathing in her ears. Or at least that was how it was most of the time she was out here. But that did change. As she leaped to another branch, she heard the sound of a branch cracking not too far from where she was. There was that skip of a heartbeat in her chest at finally having a clue of some sort. But as she quietly made her way through the trees, nearing where the sound had come from, a little bit of suspicion began to grow. A small clearing came into view, though it was hardly even big enough to be considered a clearing. Right near the center of this opening was the two cracked branches. There were no scents that jumped out at her right away. There was no sign of life. There was nothing. Nothing except two broken branches. In any normal situation, one might be excited by the sound of branches breaking on the ground, for that meant prey or just something living. But in this case it was, and was just...strange. Brindlemask and Hawkpaw, as far as they knew, were practically the only living creatures in this side of the forest. The only creature that could have broken those branches was Hawkpaw. But he was brought out here to train. He was suppose to be smart about his moves and to be on constant alert. This training was meant to teach him how to be sneaky and blend in with his surroundings during a dim-lighted battle. He wasn’t dumb enough to accidentally step on obviously breakable branches, was he? She took him as a cat that was more observant than that. If her assumption about his intelligence was correct, then it either wasn’t Hawkpaw or it was a trick. She could only hope that it was the latter. Rather than jump down to investigate, Brindlemask chose to remain within her place among the trees. She did want to jump down. If she was able to scent the branch, then maybe she could figure out if it really was Hawkpaw. But she decided that staying in the tree was safer. If it was Hawkpaw, then waiting in the dark for him to reveal himself was the best option. If it wasn’t him and was something else, being in a tree where it hopefully couldn’t climb to find her was much more safe than being on the ground. WHERE YOU COME FROM AND WHERE YOU WANNA GO THIS TIME? WARRIORESS OF NIGHTCLAN

436 | Aqua

[Aqua]

The tabby tom remained in wait beneath the thick bush, sure that his mentor had heard his "mistake." But as the time ticked on, nothing happened. Brindlemask did not show herself or even remotely come to investigate the broken branches. The tom pursed his lips in thought, wondering if she would even risk coming here. Or if she would try to be sneaky and hope to spot him from the outskirts. Amber eyes narrowed as the tom began looking at the the area surrounding him and the broken twigs. There really wasn't a lot of coverage on the other side of the path aside from some brambles and a gathering of what he imagined were some sort of herb. So he wasn't so sure a cat of her size could hide over there. Him, maybe, but not her. That's when he turned his head to try and look out behind him. Unfortunately the bush only got thicker and from the looks of it, began to intertwine with brambles. So from behind the bush on, he was blind. While yes he could push through it all to try and look, it would likely make more noise than he wanted.

The tom glanced around in thought. What should he do from here? Stepping out would potentially expose him if his mentor was near but staying put was likely to get them no where. He had wanted to try and be clever here but obviously it wasn't going to work out. This situation clearly wasn't right for this idea. So he'd have to wing it. Instead of the spot he came in through, he moves to his right, pushing his way through a smaller opening under the bush. As he emerges on the other side, he's surrounded by various brambles and bushes. He looks around until he finds another crawl space that he pushes his way through, not a noise made as he goes....luckily. This brings him out onto a totally different and more narrow path through the forest. He follows it, slow and careful, trying to stick to the shadows of the surrounding plant life that was actually still standing. Maybe he'd stumble across her....

Made by Aqua || Tagged: Abyss || Words: #363

[Abyss]

BRINDLEMASK

TELL ME BABY, WHAT'S YOUR STORY? It could be admitted that as time went on and nothing happened, a tiny ping of the she-cat’s nerves found themselves on edge. She had for sure heard the twig snap and saw it on the ground beneath her, yet the cause of its cracking was nowhere in sight. If it had been anything other than Hawkpaw, she would have spotted it, right? Surely this was indeed Hawkpaw trying to make a plan to ambush her…? Or...no, she couldn’t let her nerves take over. Her focus was to find her Apprentice and keep on the track of training. If she had anything to worry about in this area other than a single stick, she would have scented it. Tufted ears perked as there was a tiny bit of movement from a nearby branch. She was surprised she had even caught it; it was merely the smallest flash out of the corner of her eye. But she had seen it. There was someone here, though they blended in very well with their surroundings. With any luck, it was Hawkpaw. After seeing the movement that one time, she didn’t see anything else. She couldn’t stay where she was forever, especially if she wanted to find out what was in the area with her. Scanning the trees around her perch, she tried to find the easiest path of relatively same-heighted branches she could use to get to where she saw the movement. She didn’t find a perfect path, for that was practically impossible, but she did manage to hop a few branches that were somewhat close together. After passing over the spot where she had seen the movement, she did eventually conclude that whatever had been there had either moved or hid in a burrow. She didn’t stay there long to find out. The more branches she jumped to and the more she looked beneath her, she was both surprised and also somewhat proud to find that she hadn’t seen her Apprentice yet. Other mentors likely would have gotten worried about the chance that their Apprentice was in trouble. But Hawkpaw wasn’t an idiot. If he was in danger, he knew better than to stay quiet. He had to. What cat didn’t call for help when they were in trouble? Then again, she probably wouldn’t if she was the one in danger, but that was besides the point. Briefly, very briefly, a familiar scent hit the she-cat’s nose. Hawkpaw had to be here somewhere. As she had learned, not all cats were as reliant on trees as she was, and her Apprentice was one of those that didn’t seem eager to climb. She had to do a different method. If she wanted this to really be a lesson, she had to put herself on the same level as her opponent. In a real battle, she would gladly stay in a tree until her challenger made a mistake. But this was her Apprentice. This once, she figured she needed to try and make it fair. Letting out a breath, the torbie made her way down the tree she currently sat in, paws lightly touching the ground beneath her. Once at the bottom, she turned and began to walk. She had no set destination. She had no particular goal. She would merely walk until either opportunity presented itself or a challenge was thrown at her in the form of a young tom. Finally, something of interest came into view. It was a path. Quite narrow and shadowed, the path was only obvious by a quick lack of trees, though brush still grew quite fully. Standing at the center of this small path, she looked in either direction, but found nothing. Perhaps it could lead her in the right direction. Picking a random direction, she made her way down the path. WHERE YOU COME FROM AND WHERE YOU WANNA GO THIS TIME? WARRIORESS OF NIGHTCLAN

636 | Aqua

[Aqua]

Hawkpaw continued along the pathway he had discovered, sure that he would be able to find something along here. Heck, any sign of life would be welcomed at this point into the training. He honestly wasn't sure if his mentor was just testing his nerves or if he was truly evading her eye at this point. There hadn't been a single sign of her this entire time. He was sure this long wait time wasn't a part of the plan but he didn't know Brindlemask very well. So she very likely could be one of those mentors that really put their apprentices to the test like this. Although the thought of actually being able to avoid a full blown warrior this whole time kinda made a sense of pride rise up into his chest. But he would have to wait and see when the training was completed.

Quietly, he kept along the path through the brush. Maybe it was about time he purposely made a mistake again. Do something to draw her to him and get this training really going. He continued forward, knowing that this narrow path was a horrible place to try and fight another cat. Luckily as he continued forward the path widened enough that a couple cats could walk side by side along the path if they wanted. It still wasn't an ideal location but it was better than nothing. With this he lifted his tail and ran it along the brush beside him, causing the bush to stir and shake enough that it caused a rustling noise. He then sat down and wrapped his tail over his paws, waiting patiently to see if his mentor would come along this time.

Made by Aqua || Tagged: Abyss || Words: #285