[Ghost the Undead Goddess]

Timberfrost

The story's getting old but my heart is getting colder

It was ironic.

Or so it seemed, that the massive tabby she-cat was given a cat by the name of Briarpaw to train. Almost as if Starclan was reminding her that there was a broken relationship between the young warrior and her mother: Briarshade. 

It didn't matter, the troubles of her lying mother wouldn't cause problems with her ability to train a young tom completely unrelated to the entire incident.

It was only four moons ago that Timberfrost had been named with Briarpaw in front of the clan, the small tom looking absolutely tiny next to her rather massive stature. When the two tabbies touched noses, the frosty tempered feline felt a surge in her pride, confidence rising at the fact Lionstar trusted her with her own ward.

Today held yet another adventure in store as the cold feline made her way towards the entrance of the camp, pausing as Bramblevine crossed her path. A few words were exchanged before the larger she-cat tossed her large head over her shoulder to fixate her frozen gaze onto where Briarpaw and Oakpaw sat in front of the Apprentice Den.

"Briarpaw." Her tone was sharp as always, though by now the young tom should be somewhat used to her frosty nature. Without another word, Timberfrost made her way through the entrance and out into the white forests of Treeclan's frozen territory. 

Cerulean orbs glanced over a broad shoulder as her apprentice's smaller form quickly caught up. "The sun is out today, hopefully some prey will be too." Turning, the brown striped feline faced Briarpaw, holding his soft green gaze with her icy stare, practically void of any emotions at the moment. "I'm not worried about you catching anything today. I'm watching to make sure you are using your hunting skills correctly."

It wasn't quite an assessment, but merely a way for Briarpaw to refresh his memory when it came to hunting. Flickering her tail, the black tip of it pointing in a random direction, "I'll stay out of your line of sight and smell, don't think about the fact that i'll be watching you. Now go on." And with that Timberfrost slipped off in a different direction before circled back through a different route.

Long, curved claws slipped from her massive paws as Timberfrost took a grip of the bark of some tree, climbing her way up to thicker branches that held her weight. That frosted gaze of hers keeping an eye on the forest floor as she scanned for her apprentice, intent on following him from the safety and seclusion of the tree branches.

She Cat | 20 Moons | TreeClan | Warrior

449 Words | @airabelle | Image

[Deleted]

Briarpaw

Through the dark, through the door,
through where no one's been before,
but it feels like home.
315 words | Ghost the Undead Goddess

Briarpaw hated mornings.  In fact, he hated any day that involved frost on the ground.  Today was one of those days, and he had seriously considered staying in his nest until sunhigh, when the dewfrost had been melted away.  But he knew that Timberfrost would come looking for him in the wee hours of the morning, so he and Oakpaw had woken up early, and sure enough, Timberfrost's snappish mew caught his attention.  He calmly turned his head up, knowing that he wasn't in trouble (he hadn't done anything, and this was just how Timberfrost spoke), and bade farewell to Oakpaw.

Trotting over to his mentor was slow-going, his legs were stiff from crouching outside the Apprentice's Den, and the cold didn't help.  Wordlessly, he followed his mentor out into the territory, his ears pricked for any sign of prey out in the frosty forest.


When Timberfrost finally spoke, so did he.  "Okay," was all he said, his voice and demeanor calm as can be, but his stomach was doing backflips.  He was never good at assessments, he liked it better when someone guided him through what he was meant to do.  And now he was going to be tasked with not only finding prey in this frozen wasteland of a forest, but also using his hunting skills impeccably.  Great.


Timberfrost walked in one direction, and he walked in the other.  His nostrils flared as he searched high and low for the slightest scent of prey, but the forest was silent.  After what seemed like moons of creeping through the territory in search of a morsel, he heard a lilting song break through the branches.  Bird!  he thought excitedly, turning on his heel and heading in the direction of the song.

10 Moons, Tom, TreeClan
Ghost the Undead Goddess

[Ghost the Undead Goddess]

Timberfrost

The story's getting old but my heart is getting colder

She didn't expect him to find much, not because he was't a good hunter, but because it was dead in the middle of Leafbare and prey wasn't exactly the easiest to find for a skilled warrior with moons of practiced hunting. Let alone an apprentice who was still learning and improving.

Timberfrost didn't doubt Briarpaw's abilities.

However, her attention wasn't necessarily on his ability to catch something, but rather the whole of hunting it's self. Frozen gaze watched his tracking abilities, watched his awareness of his surrounding, watched his positioning. There was a lot more to hunting than just killing whatever prey found it's self under the paws of a hungry Treeclanner. 

Quiet and stealthy, the large she-cat was rather nimble as she moved from large tree branch to large tree branch. Timberfrost made certain to keep out her apprentice's line of sight and line of smell while he rooted around on the snow covered floor below her. 

She was pleased to see that despite not finding anything, Briarpaw was still attempting to search for the slightest sign of prey. Still several lengths behind the younger, smaller tom, Timberfrost immediately paused and stilled when the song of a bird broke the silence of the snow morning.

The ears atop her head quickly moved in a multitude of directions, cerulean ice chips glancing around without moving her head. The less movement the better, it gave the young tabby a better chance. Finally she spotted the source of the distinct song, a brown sparrow hopped along the roots of a tree not far in front of her apprentice. Lowering herself to her belly, Timberfrost turned her attention towards Briarpaw, curious as to how he would handle the bird with the addition of the snow underneath his weight. It would be foul luck if he missed it, but again, she wasn't judging his performance based on actually catching anything.

She Cat | 20 Moons | TreeClan | Warrior

333 Words | @airabelle | Image

[Deleted]

Briarpaw

Through the dark, through the door,
through where no one's been before,
but it feels like home.

    Briarpaw stopped dead in his tracks when he got close enough to see the bird- a sparrow- and he looked up desperately at the low branch.  How was he supposed to get to the bird without crunching through the snow?  Perhaps he'd just have to wait, paws frozen in the fallen snow, while the bird finished its song and came down for a meal.

    By some stroke of luck, when Briarpaw was beginning to consider just going for the leap, the sparrow flitted down from the branch and landed on a root.  This made things marginally easier; he didn't have to leap upwards, just outwards, but he could more easily alert the bird to his presence, too.  Carefully, he lifted one paw and placed it down, crushing down the snow with his pads.  The bird looked up, alarmed.  Briarpaw held his breath.

    The bird resumed pecking.

    Briarpaw squeezed his eyes shut.  He knew Timberfrost was watching him, making mental notes, and he knew he just had to go for it.  So, with a mighty leap, Briarpaw lauched himself at the bird.  Squawking loudly, it began to take flight, but Briarpaw was able to hook his claw into a wing and pull it down.  A messy kill, but a kill all the same.  Briarpaw lifted his head, his muzzle splashed with blood, and sighed.  He knew his mentor had said she wasn't worried about him catching anything, but prey was prey, especially in leaf-bare.


    He buried his prey and continued on.

10 Moons, Tom, TreeClan
Ghost the Undead Goddess

[Ghost the Undead Goddess]

Timberfrost

The story's getting old but my heart is getting colder

Her young apprentice got lucky, the bird hard heard him but foolishly listened to it's stomach rather than it's instincts. It wasn't often that prey stuck around when a noise caught their attention. Which of course led to the inevitable as the younger tabby managed to snag it from the air in a messy kill.

But it was a kill nonetheless, and freshkill would never be turned away, especially during the cold of Leafbare.

Newleaf will give him better opportunities...

Icy chips within the massive tabby's skull watched as Briarpaw properly buried the sparrow before continuing on with his hunt. While the warrioress had seen plenty to give her confirmation on his progression, Timberfrost let her ward continue on.

She'd give him a bit longer before calling it a day on their training session.

Lifting herself from her belly, slushy like snow sticking to underbelly of Timberfrost as she moved from her perch to another tree branch that intercepted with the one she was previously on.

Ears flickering to catch any other sounds within the forest, the chilly tempered feline was displeased that nothing but wind tickled the inner fur of her ears. Tail flickering in a cold annoyance, the Treeclanner wondered if Briarpaw would be so lucky as to run into another warm bodied prey before the end of his hunting assesment.

A chilly breeze that could practically rival the frosted she-cat pressed against her side, slightly wavering the branch she was on. An annoyed twitch of her whiskers, practically ignoring the cold that would cause any other short haired cat to shiver, the massive feline continued on her way. Shadowing along behind Briarpaw as he continued to showcase his hunting abilities.

She Cat | 20 Moons | TreeClan | Warrior

300 Words | @airabelle | Image

[Deleted]

Briarpaw

Through the dark, through the door,
through where no one's been before,
but it feels like home.

    Briarpaw's pawsteps were beginning to drag.  His nose was runny from the cold wind and the tips of his toes were numb.  He wasn't used to hunting alone for this long; usually the heat from the other cats in the patrol kept him warm enough to complete a hunt, but now, alone in the snow, he was beginning to get tired. But he couldn't give up, not yet.  He had only caught one bird.
    He continued on, using his half-frozen nose as best he could to seek out more prey.  His ears flat against his skull to try and reserve heat, he unsheathed his claws and dug them into the snowy ground for a moment.  Grounding himself.  He breathed deeply.

    A few tail-lengths away, another bird, this one much smaller than the former, landed on a tree root. Briarpaw narrowed his eyes and began stalking over, more quickly than before.  At this point, he was ready for the hunt to be over; he was cold.  He was a bit careless in this leg of the hunt, sure, but he didn't care all that much.  He had already caught something for the Clan.
    When he was close enough to make the jump, he settled into the position needed to make that large of a leap and went for it.  The bird looked up, a little too late.  A much cleaner kill was made, and Briarpaw sat up and looked around, his mouth smeared with blood.  Waiting to see if Timberfrost was pleased.

10 Moons, Tom, TreeClan, Ghost the Undead Goddess

[Ghost the Undead Goddess]

Timberfrost

The story's getting old but my heart is getting colder

Good. 

Frosted pools, nearly a cold as the temperature around them, watched the young tabby apprentice from the warrior's perch among the barren tree branches far above the ground. The shadows continued to lick at the stripes along her pelt as she moved silently overhead to keep an eye down on her ward. 

Two would be enough, it was starting to get colder as the day dragged on into night and there would be no reason to keep Briarpaw out any longer. She was sure his bones hurt from the cold and his paws had to be frozen by now.

Lowering her massive from form branch to branch, Timberfrost finally took a leap and landed among the ground, sending a spray of powdered snow around her dark figure. The snow below her had muffled her landing, though there was still the smallest of noises that announced her presence to Briarpaw, only a few fox-lengths away from where she stood. 

Flickering her tail, the large tabby kept her cerulean gaze upon her ward as she padded forwards, leaving massive paw prints in the snow behind her. Emotions void of her gaze, the warrior finally stopped next to Briarpaw. "You did well." It was a simple response, but one of approval as she looked over the two pieces of prey he had managed to snag out in the cold forest. 

There were many times within the season where warriors would come back empty jawed, and yet her apprentice would return to camp with not one but two catches of fresh-kill. 

"Come." Again, a simple command in that frosty tone of hers and Timberfrost was turning to lead the way back to the waiting warmth of Treeclan's camp. The cold of the weather didn't bother her too much, but even she was growing tired of the white scenery. Despite all the traveling Briarpaw had done in search of something to bring home, they weren't too far away from where the camp resided within the heart of the frozen forest.

As they drew closer, Timberfrost's long stride slowed as she allowed for her apprentice to catch up to her. The two tabbies, large and small, padding near each other as the older she-cat's maw parted. "Take one to the elders." She was sure they would enjoy some fresh, warm food rather than a scraggly squirrel from the pile. "You can share the other with some of the apprentices." Of course, most of the other young wards of the clan were related to Briarpaw, and she was sure they would be impressed with his cache for the day.

Frozen pools of blue watched Briarpaw for a moment, her gaze unreadable before she spoke again in that chilly tone of hers. "Get some rest and stay warm." It was her form of a dismissal before she herself turned and left the younger tabby at the entrance of their unique camp and made her way towards the Warrior's den. The young warrioress could just make out the reflection of green pools, her sister was waiting for her within the warmth of her own nest. Timberfrost flicked an ear, her mind running over the training and techniques her apprentice still had left to learn. It wouldn't be too much longer before he earned his own name.

She Cat | 20 Moons | TreeClan | Warrior

565 Words | @airabelle - DONE! | Image