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Post by Hellion on Mar 10, 2016 18:17:07 GMT -5
Starlingcry
I paced around for hours, on empty
I jumped at the slightest of sounds
She heard the rain patter against the top of the warrior's den, her blue eyes narrowed at the sight of the rain. Starlingcry's pelt was a blend of her parents, medium length and often clung to what ever water it got. Despite this she remained determined to test Hollypaw. It would be a triumph for herself and her apprentice if the young she-cat was able to pass her test during the rain. The ebony she-cat had already gotten permission from Dimstar to give Hollypaw her hunting assessment as the final part of her training. The young apprentice wasn't aware just how close she was to being a warrior, Starlingcry was proud of her.
Hollypaw showed great promise and skill when she joined her fellow Clanmates on driving away a fox, Sunpulse spoke highly of her in that regard. Starlingcry held on to some of that praise for herself, seeing as it was her training that prepared the she-cat. A few days ago Starlingcry had told her apprentice to be ready for this test and to meet her just outside of camp.
Starlingcry nodded to a fellow clanmate before exiting the camp and finding herself a place to wait for her apprentice. While she waited her eyes drifted upwards at the sky. There were no stars considering it was late dawn, but she felt that in the rain was her father's blessing. Telling her that she was doing good, despite the chill of it, the water provided comfort.
I'm colder than this home
I'm meaner than my demons
Fawn | NL:3 |
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Post by Fawn on Apr 12, 2016 11:11:10 GMT -5
[smear:663399]Hollypaw[/smear:e61985]
12 Moons. She-Cat. NightClan. I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter, dancing through the fire
She wasn't nervous. She wasn't. Not even Bonepaw's conniving words of deceit, like 'you'll probably fall on your face at the most important moment.' or 'I bet Starlingcry's just pulling your tail. Why would you be ready to be a warrior?' were going to throw her off her game. Her lip curled at the thought of Bonepaw trying to sabotage her, because that is exactly what he was doing. Hollypaw would never let him succeed. Her dreams were too big to let her obnoxious brother ruin them.
She wouldn't let him into her head.
Her father, on the other paw, was a little harder to block out.
Obviously the jet-black warrior had heard of her assessment, because he had sought her out first thing in the morning, gave her a hard, proud stare and told her not to screw it up. Gee, thanks Dad. I'll definitely succeed when you say stuff like that. Why did that tom always have a way of putting pressure on her? No wonder Bonepaw was such an inconsiderate little fiend.
Unable to eat this morning, Hollypaw spent the first few waking moments limbering up, stretching each of her limbs with athletic certainty. Just show Starlingcry what you can do. You don't have to go for glory, just go for excellence. Hollypaw wouldn't put unnecessary pressure on herself, not with the rest of her family being so good at that already, so she wouldn't aim for the stars for this assessment.
No, that would come later.
Bolstering her own confidence, the black she-cat quickly departed NightClan's camp, her leaf-green eyes narrowing as the bright light of morning hit as soon as she exited the cavern. Following Starlingcry's scent trail (to serve as a warm-up for her nose), Hollypaw greeted her mentor with a quick "Hello. I'm here. Where do you want me to start?"
Let's get to it, then. On some days, her mentor's almost inorganic behavior and almost complete lack of expressiveness had thrown her off or annoyed her. But now she appreciated the other she-cat's no-nonsense attitude. Besides, maybe Starlingcry just didn't care much for training apprentices, but saw it as her duty to the Clan to do so.
Hollypaw wasn't concerned with inconveniencing the other she-cat. But if she did well this afternoon, then they would be equals, not burdens to each other. And that was well worth getting down to business.
'Cause I am a champion and you’re gonna hear me roar
Word Count: 412 Words
Tags: Hellion |
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Post by Hellion on Apr 14, 2016 16:38:05 GMT -5
Starlingcry
I paced around for hours, on empty
I jumped at the slightest of sounds
Starlingcry's eyes went from the sky and quickly fell to match up with her apprentice. Hollypaw was shaping up to be a bright warrior. Despite their rocky relationship she wanted the best for her, it however remained difficult for the blue-eyed mentor.
Her ears flicked forward at her apprentice's words and nodded in her own silent greeting. Rising upward to her paws Starlincry rolled her shoulders as begun to walk to wake up her body a little more. The droplets of rain that fell from the thin needles from above would proof to be a challenge, one she was sure Hollypaw would over come.
"This is your final hunting trial. You are to hunt from here to three tail-lengths before the TreeClan border. I will follow behind you and watch you. I will judge you based not only on how much prey you get but also instead how well you work with the territory. NightClan can't have warriors that are unable to provide because of their inability to pay attention to what is around them. Use your knowledge Hollypaw, your ability to adjust will determine if you are a true warrior of NightClan." Starlingcry gave those instructions and words of advice with careful phrasing. She wanted to be proud of Hollypaw and would not let her apprentice pass if she was not worthy of that pride. Flicking her now damp tail the ebony she-cat nodded toward the direction of the TreeClan border.
"You have until sunhigh to catch as much prey as you can and arrive before the border. May StarClan light your path," Starlingcry gave a final good luck before flicking her tail and moving away from her apprentice to show that she was indeed allowed to start.
I'm colder than this home
I'm meaner than my demons
Fawn | NL 3 |
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Post by Fawn on May 3, 2016 15:16:20 GMT -5
[smear:663399]Hollypaw[/smear:e61985]
12 Moons. She-Cat. NightClan. I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter, dancing through the fire
"Use your knowledge Hollypaw, your ability to adjust will determine if you are a true warrior of NightClan."
That pretty much confirmed that Starlingcry was going to jump out and attack her later. This sent a wave of pins-and-needles throughout the she-cat, her heart-muscles tensing. Oh fox dung! There was a high chance she was going to be too preoccupied with hunting to defend against an attack—and too preoccupied with anticipating an attack to properly hunt. If Hollypaw had any idea of what a paradox was, she would've clenched her teeth at how fitting a word that was for this situation.
Blackwolf could do it. Ghostlight could do it. Who are you if not their daughter?
Barely hearing her mentor's final words, Hollypaw flicked one white-splotched ear, adjusting her stance to that of confidence—of surety. Dammmn... The only thing she was sure of was her uncertainty. Shaking off those negative thoughts like bits of moss bedding, Hollypaw let the forest shadows embrace her, melding with her surroundings. Allow NightClan's territory to soothe her. Other Clans considered NightClan's marshy black-pine lands to be unappealing and smelly; she had laughed at their stupidity. The woods here were beautiful, and she didn't give one whisker about the 'ooze', as the other cats described it.
They had a unique territory, and, to Hollypaw's young, ambitious mind, lands like this would weed out the weaklings.
Good luck, Coyotepaw... Hollypaw swatted a dragonfly that had hovered briefly in front of her nose, letting her senses open up, take in her surroundings. She couldn't worry about her brother right now. There was prey to be found.
Here little froggy frog~ A low, light crouch. As soon as she stalked forward, she kept her movements as feather-light as a wading bird, trying to float over the landscape to the edge of a puddle, dark with forest detritus and murky with dirt. The familiar eep eep eep of a small frog was like birdsong to a TreeClan cat, and her haunches tensed in anticipation.
She stared down the strange horizontal pupils of the frog—which had not seen her—for an extra couple of heartbeats, before she lunged like a swamp cat, smacking her paw down hard on the frog to stun it, then gripping it in her teeth and front claws, biting into the fleshy, panicked vocal sac until it stopped moving. Triumphant, Hollypaw quickly buried her kill and swiftly moved on; she knew better than to try to glimpse her mentor following her.
If Starlingcry didn't want to be seen, she wouldn't be.
'Cause I am a champion and you’re gonna hear me roar
Word Count: 428 Words
Tags: Hellion |
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Post by Hellion on May 5, 2016 21:39:10 GMT -5
Starlingcry
I paced around for hours, on empty
I jumped at the slightest of sounds
Very much like her apprentice, Starlingcry melted into the surrounding forest and found a sense of security within it's shadows. The ebony warrior kept a proper distances between her and her apprentice never too close or too far away. The she-cat moved mostly in the darkness of the pine forest, gliding easily over fallen logs and avoiding mucky parts of the territory, she didn't need to have all her fire soaked.
The train that had dampened most of the forest had started to let up, it seemed that the weather was in her favor. Her blue eyes studied Hollypaw carefully when she sunk into a crouch. A sense of pride welled within Starlingcry as she realized that it was indeed a proper crouch. Moving silently to gain a better vantage point to watch, Starlingcry studied the young she-cat as she moved forward closer to the frog. Her tail flicked in her own form of anticipation.
"Good work," Starlingcry whispered mostly to herself as Hollypaw's claimed her kill . She moved back to the forest floor and waited to see Hollypaw's direction before following after her apprentice.
I'm colder than this home
I'm meaner than my demons
Fawn | note: unless you want to, Starlingcry wasn't planning on attacking Hollypaw during this |
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Post by Fawn on May 17, 2016 21:21:20 GMT -5
[smear:663399]Hollypaw[/smear:e61985]
12 Moons. She-Cat. NightClan. I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter, dancing through the fire
If only the rest of her day had gone on like this. To the skinny black she-cat slinking through NightClan's woods, it had felt as if the whole valley was working against her. Not only had she botched an attempt to catch a grackle, but she had inadvertently landed in a dense cloud of midges. This would've been easy to shake off, if some hadn't gotten into her ears; the ruckus she'd made trying to swat them out and yelp until the buzzing stopped had successfully chased away any other prey for foxlengths in all directions.
It was mortifying, for Hollypaw. There wasn't a curse strong enough to accurately describe her contempt with her own poor hunting luck, so she settled for clawing up a nearby fern leaf, expending some of the pent up frustration. In a rather 'Blackwolfesque' fashion, Hollypaw lashed her tail, growled a couple of foul words to the midges, and did her best to make up for lost time.
There is no way in the Dark Forest I'm coming back with only one frog! No chance! Even if it took her the rest of the day, and maybe even some of the night, she would come back with more than one piece of prey. She owed it to herself to do better; she owed it to her mentor, to her parents. To NightClan. Disappointment had never been today's objective, and Hollypaw wasn't giving up without a serious fight.
After stopping to take a few much-needed drinks of rain water, Hollypaw shook out her pelt and ventured north, where NightClan shared a border with nothingness, the close proximity to the lynx's hunting grounds making it difficult to push the border further back.
Almost forgetting that Starlingcry was watching her, Hollypaw cast a fleeting glance into the surrounding foliage, before hunkering down to listen. Scents slowly drifted in. StarClan decided to throw her a bone; a couple of young thrushes were nearby, their nest not far.
'Cause I am a champion and you’re gonna hear me roar
Word Count: 329 Words
Tags: Hellion |
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Post by Hellion on May 23, 2016 3:12:41 GMT -5
Starlingcry
I paced around for hours, on empty
I jumped at the slightest of sounds
The ebony warrior had kept a close eye on her apprentice. She noted when she failed to catch a grackle but she also paid close attention to how the apprentice acted after. Was Hollypaw able to shake off a misstep and take the next stride without hesitation? All the noise that Hollypaw had made would show poorly on her overall skill, but Starlingcry had faith she would overcome it.
Slowly only when her apprentice did, Starlingcry had just the faintest of smiles when Hollypaw seemed to center herself again. Starlingcry's smile was born of pride for the young she-cat, knowing she was at least capable of correcting herself and trying again, a remarkable trait.
Ensuring she was out of Hollypaw's line of site, the black she-cat continued to move in the shadows, catching the scent of a few thrush. Starlingcry's own stomach growled and there was an inner lunge for her to get into a hunter's crouch and try for one of the birds herself. Instead she kept her claws unsheathed and clawed at the ground, expelling pent up hunter instinct. She wanted to whisper encouragement to Hollypaw but knew it wasn't her place, instead she remained hidden with her blue eyes studying the young warror-to-be.
I'm colder than this home
I'm meaner than my demons
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Post by Fawn on Jun 4, 2016 14:46:02 GMT -5
[smear:663399]Hollypaw[/smear:e61985]
12 Moons. She-Cat. NightClan. I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter, dancing through the fire
The thrush scents led her towards the ambush pond, which made sense, Hollypaw realized. Even birds need water to drink. Green eyes quickly zeroed in on the spotted potbelly of the wood thrushes that had landed at the pond bank, their movements furtive as they checked for predators before hopping closer to take a drink. It was common sense that she couldn't catch every thrush—so she chose her target well, picking the largest of the trio.
With a hurried check in her peripherals for any unwanted competition or distractions, Hollypaw launched herself at the birds, channeling her frustration into the dizzying strike she landed on the plumpest bird. Yes! Just then, something rose out of the pond water—sopping wet and muddy—and lunged right for her. Hollypaw let out a shocked yelp just before the breath was knocked out of her body as a creature (a cat?) bowled her tail-over-paws into the ferns.
She wasn't too dizzy to spot the muddied, scentless cat crouch over her thrush, attempting to pick it up and run.
"Oh no you don't!" Snarling with her mother's fire and her father's vitriolic affront to this theft, Hollypaw lashed out, hooking her claws in the rogue's back leg as he or she turned to run away with their prize. Barely a few heartbeats passed before another muddied cat, much larger than either Hollypaw or her assailant, flung himself out of the ferns, ready to tackle her into the water.
Hollypaw's heart leaped into her throat like a startled rabbit, but her body seemed to realize this was going to be the fight of her life while her heart shivered in shock. She stepped back at the last minute, but the big brute still clipped her shoulder, and the force of his movements nearly knocked her off her feet again.
Rage was welling up inside the apprentice. How dare these flea-bitten foxhearts come into OUR territory and steal OUR prey? How dare they attack her, when it was them in the wrong? On the day of my assessment, too. Oh there was going to be hell to pay. With a battle cry she hoped would catch Starlingcry's attention, Hollypaw jumped back into the fray, shoving the smaller feline before spinning around to counterattack against the brute.
It was funny, she realized in a kind of dry, detached, I'm-busy-fending-for-my-life kind of way; battle training was like dreaming compared to the reality of a fight. She didn't know how to pick out weaknesses in cats like these; the mud clung to their pelts so thickly, she didn't know how they moved, and it made their edges indistinct. Was that really a thick tail, or was that a skinny tail covered in mud?
They had another bonus in their use of mud (besides stinking to StarClan of stale water and sour mud), her claws could not find purchase in the goop. A frightening thought struck her like a rain drop. What if Starlingcry's too far away? What if she was facing these cats alone? For one precarious second, Hollypaw wanted to envision her father appearing out of the blue to take down these strange opponents—she wanted to cower behind him, go back to her nest in the apprentices' den.
But she was a warrior, at heart. And warriors didn't wait for their daddies to fight their battles for them. With narrowed, frightened eyes, Hollypaw soldiered on.
'Cause I am a champion and you’re gonna hear me roar
Word Count: 569 Words
Tags: Hellion |
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Post by Hellion on Jun 13, 2016 12:56:52 GMT -5
Starlingcry
I paced around for hours, on empty
I jumped at the slightest of sounds
Starlingcry had allowed Hollypaw to gain a bit of distances from her. The black female warrior wasn't the type to hover over her apprentices even if she was being tested. Her paws had driven her toward the border just a few fox lengths away from her apprentice had ended up. In order to find the young Hollypaw, Starlingcry made her way down the border to find the she-cat.
Luckily hadn't gone too far and was able to hear the battle cry loud and clear. Turning sharply the she-cat sprinted toward the cry and wasted no time. She arrived to see Hollypaw holding her own against the two rogues.
Starlingcry couldn't hesitate even for a moment. She knew that the brute was more of a threat to them and lunged for him first.
The brute was distracted for a moment by Hollypaw and didn't see Starlingcry jump from behind him to land on his back, sinking her claws into his shoulder and pulling him down with her weight. He was heavier and her added weight didn't do much, but it did pull his attention on to her.
Releasing little hold she had considering all the mud, Starlingcry landed in water with a snarl. The brute was only angered more. It was without fear the Starlingcry lunged forward and slashed across the brute's face, catching the side of his muzzle with her sharp claws. He howled in pain before using his larger paw to swipe at her shoulder, knocking her back but she didn't give up. Against she rose up and stood between him and Hollypaw, as the apprentice dealt with her own battle.
I'm colder than this home
I'm meaner than my demons
@person | date |
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Post by Fawn on Jun 19, 2016 19:39:22 GMT -5
[smear:663399]Hollypaw[/smear:e61985]
12 Moons. She-Cat. NightClan. I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter, dancing through the fire
Starlingcry! Thank StarClan! Her mentor had arrived, and that meant this fight was no longer unfair. With renewed strength, Hollypaw attacked the smaller cat, realizing with a small thrilling jolt of energy that it couldn't have been much older than she was.
Not that that makes a difference. A trespassing, prey-stealing cat was a trespassing, prey-stealing cat no matter how old or young it was. The small cat didn't stand much of a chance against her; even with the heavy coating of mud, Hollypaw's claws still raked against ribs, and she knew that these past few seasons had been tough for it. Too bad. With a finishing bite to the cat's skinny ginger tail, she sent him (or her?) squealing into the bushes in the direction of the border. Either they were going to veer off into the mountains, or become a problem for TreeClan.
"And don't come back!" Hollypaw snapped, standing triumphant despite the heavy taste of mud in her mouth. Ugh, disgusting! But worth it. She had protected her territory, the Clan's territory.
Before she could revel in her own success, Hollypaw whirled upon her mentor and the big brute, watching with keen green eyes—her namesake—for an opening.
'Cause I am a champion and you’re gonna hear me roar
Word Count: 202Words
Tags: Hellion |
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Post by Hellion on Jun 24, 2016 15:09:15 GMT -5
Starlingcry
I paced around for hours, on empty
I jumped at the slightest of sounds
Out of the corner of her eye she watched as Hollypaw held her own. Able to drive back the smaller of the two rogues.
There was no time to praise the she-cat as Starlingcry refocused on her own battle. The brute with his heavy paws kept swiping at Starlingcry, but the ebony she-cat was quicker. He missed each time.
Dodging wasn't a practical tactic for finding and sending a foe running back to their den. But it was a good tactic to use in order to find a weak spot and exploit it.
The brute wasn't a defensive fighter and left a few paths to vital organs open. Starlingcry was going to claw him until he gave up. Jumping back just as he lunged forward, he was off balance and gave Starlingcry a clear shot.
Using her claws she swiped at him, digging them in deep to the soft flesh of his inner shoulder. He roared in pain sinking and backing away but Starlingcry didn't give up.
She rose to her hind paws and landed a few shallower swipes at his face, clawing at his ears. He gave a final snarl before turning tail and running after his ally.
Panting from the fight, Starlingcry turned toward Hollypaw and tried to assist any damage to the apprentice.
"You are a true warrior of NightClan," She praised, flicking her tail as signal for them to walk back. Panting and tired the she-cats had defended themselves and their Clan well.
I'm colder than this home
I'm meaner than my demons
Fawn | date |
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