[Aqua]

Backdating this just a little here. I'm assuming it was nice weather too since I can't backtrack it.

Board Description: Descending into the gorge from the Great Maple Bridge reveals a wooded area below, where the rolling hills contain scattered forests that appear to be prey-rich. However, further north lies the location for which the area is named - a place where it's obvious mountain meets forest. A broken cascade of enormous stone slabs are piled dizzingly high - higher than the edge of the grassy slope above. Trees - some broken, some surprisingly fully intact - scatter the area, with a few determined ones poking between the cracks of the sheer rock edges, giving the appearance the trees have grown straight through the stone itself. The violent edges of stone are surrounded on both sides by the narrowing ravine edges. This is where the base of the gorge ends - with a climb. There are the reassuring sounds of prey moving between the crevices of the enormous rock pile. This place would be good for hunting as well as climbing or potentially a unique place to train. If a cat is careful, they can scale the rift on careful and nimble paws until they reach the edge of the slope a few fox-lengths from the ground. From there, they can ascend the grassy slope to level ground, where the rest of the forest promises richer life.


The Point of This Thread: In order to really get the gorge runners up and going, all of the cats wanting to be involved need some "practice" of their own. They will be unable to bring in new recruits if the members themselves do not have experience down in the gorge. This thread is not for any apprentices wanting to join in the future, this is only for warriors interested in working the gorge.
This is essentially going to be climbing practice for the cats that show up. Cinderstream requested their presence in the gorge for a sort of training but she did not give them the details on what they would be doing.

Many did not understand the defining moment at hand for the gray tabby sitting in the gorge. The she-cat had been chosen to lead a brand new clan role that she, Whitestar, and Cloudtail had all discussed over many meetings with one another. The Gorge remained an unexplored area of their new territory with a whole new set of dangers to come with it. A select group of cats, under her supervision, had been chosen to step up for this duty. All cats built for climbing, being agile, or otherwise moving boulders in the gorge in order to maintain safety in the rocky turf. Afterall, with the constant falling of more rocks and the main course of the gorge changing almost daily, they would have to learn everything they could to keep others safe down here. This heavy responsibility meant one thing for sure, it was time for her to officially grow up and be something for the clan she was so loyal to.

The she-cat breathed in deeply, letting the air back out nice and slow. Her whole body relaxing as she focused her mind on what they were going to accomplish today in the gorge. They had already decided that no official training would be put into place just yet for the role, hoping to get some warriors down into the gorge to gain the experience needed to teach. So her intention for today was to get some of the selected crew down here to test out their climbing abilities. The Redshade Rift played the perfect part for this particular task seeing how all the piled rocks slowly ascended until it reached the ground-level area overhead. As long as each cat managed to scale the initial rock pile, they would be able to easily handle the rest of the grassy slope at the top.

Yellow-green eyes looked upwards toward the Great Maple Bridge, the easiest access point to her current seat. The bridge was a huge tree that had fallen a long time ago with branches that still weaved from it's trunk and provided a unique path down into the gorge. Cinderstream eyed the massive hunk of wood for a moment, realizing that it could also serve as initial climbing practice. As she spotted what appeared to be cats overhead, she watched the bridge intently, wanting to see how cats handle the tree first. It was a fairly easy trip down as long as you stepped in the right spots and avoided the much thinner branches. However, not all of the clan had ventured downwards from here so it was very possible someone could make a mistake and require assistance, meaning she would have to be even more alert to the other cats attending.

^{Made by Aqua || Tagged: # || Words: #456}

[xvinn]

wingfeather (zie/zir) | gorgeclan

It would be remiss to pretend that Wingfeather wasn't even a little bit nervous.

Zie was often hesitant and anxious about a fair amount of things, but this felt different. This was something where, if zie failed, zie could be plummetting to zir death. That being said, zie could also feel the importance in it all.

The silver tabby had always felt like a little bit of an outsider in GorgeClan, though it wasn't as though zie was the only one who had felt this way. Prior to the earthquake which seemed to shatter the valley and everything it once was, the cats who Wingfeather now considered zir clanmates were primarily either from StoneClan or TreeClan, whereas Wingfeather had been born into LightningClan. The cats who zie had grown up with would primarily go to become GaleClan, including zir best friend and brother, Nightfur. But, that being said, zie felt no regrets for zir choice in following zir heart, Ivorysight, into GorgeClan. It often made socializing a little more difficult, sometimes feeling out of the loop of things that other cats had in common, but it wasn't as though anyone had ever been aggressive or purposely shoved the warrior aside.

But when Whitestar announced this new rank, the Gorgerunners, Wingfeather saw an opportunity for zirself. Zie wasn't entirely positive that zie would be perfect, and knew that there were other cats who would probably be better, but there were pieces that had stood out to zir. A careful paw, a watchful eye, balance, stamina - these were all things that zie had plenty of from growing up in a Clan that valued speed, agility and acrobatics. While the leader had also mentioned strength, something that the cat would admit was not zir greatest asset, as zie could probably barely hold down an apprentice if it came to battle, but zie had the rest. And maybe, just maybe, this could be the start of a community for zir in GorgeClan. This could be something special that would allow zir to find a common thread between zir and those that zie didn't grow up alongside. It might not fix everything, but maybe it would mend something.

And that led zir here, feeling zir heartbeat all the way through the pads on zir paws. Zie could feel that same spike of anxiety and caution, not because zie didn't believe it impossible to be good at this, but just zir own nature of timidity. The soft-spoken tabby looked around zir at the group that had gathered, seeing if anyone else might feel brave enough to take the first steps (especially since zie didn't know if it could be them).

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