Sticks and Stones [CobraRoach #1]

[Fawntastic]

Roachpaw

Thought that it was clear, nobody said that life was fair

Impatience flashed through him white hot, and he nearly projected his voice at Cobrastrike's retreating back. 'But I want to train now!' And then he was smothered by a variety of pelts; pale gray - his mother's , light golden - his sister's, and dark brown, with a scent he knew all too well and hated just as much.

Roachpaw hissed and ducked out of the throng of cats. "Get off me," he snapped to Spiderbite, ignoring the hurt look in his elder brother's eyes.

Mothlight swatted his ears with her cream colored tail. "One ceremony and Roachpaw thinks he's too grown up for his own family." She let out a mrrow, and Spiderbite joined in a little hesitantly. Roachpaw pretended not to see Mothlight's stern look of behave yourself, rolling his eyes instead.

"Do your best, Roachpaw." Marshflower purred, nuzzling her son's cheek for as long as he would tolerate it (about five seconds), even as Sablefoot looked on with muted pride. Roachpaw's chest swelled with pride, even when he craned his head around his mother's fur to see if he could spot Cobrastrike by the camp entrance.

"I will be the best, mother. Just watch me." No one knows how hard I'll train. He wouldn't give up as soon as it got hard. A little bit of blood didn't scare him. That burning hatred, that sore ache in his chest over the fight with No-Voice and Bramblepaw, hadn't gone away. He knew he hadn't exactly won that fight, but he refused to think he'd lost it, either.

I have to be so good, two cats won't be able to stop me. Roachpaw sized up his parents, suddenly adamently praying that he took more after his father in size and bulkiness than his mother. If he was going to fight multiple enemies, then he needed to be strong. He needed to be ruthless.

He needed to stop wasting time.

"I have to train," Roachpaw mewed; their goodbyes brushed the fur on the backs of his ears as he strode to the camp entrance. He didn't see Cobrastrike, but that didn't quell the excitement burning in his eyes like smoking embers. The way Darkstar's sister moved, as if the crowd were nothing but a puddle of water she merely had to wade through - it was chilling and awe-inspiring. Darkstar had every cat's respect; but Cobrastrike... inspired fear.

I have a lot to learn, Roachpaw churned the earth with his claws, gazing up through the pine trees to catch glimpses of the moon. But I'm ready. Spiderbite's lowly prostration before Blackstag flitted through Roachpaw's mind like a cluster headache, making his muzzle scrunch. I'll show everyone what a real warrior looks like.

6 moons apprentice nightclan

background image | 447 words | Bloodrose Taxx & ▲ Fabrication (Hollow & Bramble mentions!0 | table by phoenix

LF 1: The day is pleasant and mostly sunny, with the occasional cloud drifting across the sky.

[Bloodrose]

I'm a legend I'm a lethal overdose
I'm a subject of a nightmare I'm a ghost

cobrastrike

nightclan she-cat 36 moons

By light of moon, things lurking in the shadows were far less noticeable than beneath the blazing rays of the sun. The pale, off-white light filtering down through the scattered trees tended to play tricks on the eye, no matter how well one could see by night's darkness. Colors were muted, dulled to the point of misrepresentation; silver looked vibrant ivory, green lacked its brilliant hue, and many shades of blue and brown appeared black as the sky far above. It was these shadows she found so useful. When she sat just right, with her back to any audience, paws carefully tucked behind dark haunches, she was all but invisible. This was then darkness in which even ruddy-brown was imperceptible against an ebony backdrop.

Unseen in the gloom, a dark ear rotated at the sound of approaching pawsteps. They were light, and alone. Undoubtedly the kittish apprentice upon whom she was waiting. Jaws parted to taste the air, picking up on the milky scent of the nursery that still clung to his feathery pelt. At least he hadn't made her wait too long. She remained still, not announcing her presence and instead choosing to see whether he would notice her in the shadow of a tree some fox-lengths away.

It came as little surprise when the pawsteps stopped, and no voice questioning why she was just sitting there broke the silence. He will learn. Fast. Sneered a voice in the confines of her mind.

"The night betrays even the eyes of a NightClan cat."

Her voice shattered the silence as quickly as her namesake, seemingly blooming into existence from the void. Slowly, however, a pair of yellow eyes glinted in the dim light as she glanced over one shoulder toward her newly named apprentice. A white chest became apparent as she shifted, and one by one, ivory paws revealed themselves as she stood. Where once there was nothing, suddenly stood a formidable warrioress.

"Alone, each one of your senses can and will betray you. We were gifted with sight, scent, hearing, taste and touch. Never fall into the trap that, just because you cannot see anyone, no one is there. That may well prove the difference between life and death." She spoke sharply, stern, but not scolding. She was not angry, not yet. But it was obvious she would take little nonsense. That her words were to be heeded. And that disobedience would not be tolerated.

Her jaws parted again, and she lifted her head slightly, ears twitching as she assessed the surrounding area.

"There is a toad in a puddle nearby. A bat is skittering about, catching bugs just above the tree tops. The wind is blowing from RainClan, bringing with it the scent fish. And your mother nuzzled your left cheek before you left."

She let that sink in a moment, tail twitching behind her as sharp yellow eyes settled on him once more. Glancing over him in silent assessment, she twitched an ear before turning away.

"We're going to the Pineneedle Clearing. Since you've eaten some kind of prey by this point, I expect you to make an effort in identifying at least one scent trail from something familiar before we get there. If you pick up something you don't recognize, speak up. Keeping quiet regarding a learning opportunity under the pretence of 'looking stupid' is nothing short of stupidity in itself. Learn now, so that you know later. Otherwise, you're wasting your own time."

And with that, she set off, her tail flicking in an obvious sign she expected him to follow. If he had something to say, he could say it when he caught up to her. Dillydallying was not an option, not while the moon was high.

There's only one spot on this throne
but I'll find my way up cause it's all I know.

~620 words Fawntastic Ready, set, go XD

[Fawntastic]

Roachpaw

Thought that it was clear, nobody said that life was fair

Cobrastrike shook off the darkness, the moonlight bending around a shape that Roachpaw could have sworn wasn't there a heartbeat ago. In spite of his nose telling him who she was, the fur around the nape of his neck still raised in skinny spikes, protrudent as pineneedles. He stared at Cobrastrike in awe, and it was only her words - a quick lesson in and of itself - that shook him from his trance. Your senses can betray you.

"How do you know all that? You're nowhere near me!" He demanded as if she were the one playing a trick on him, not his eyesight. Could a cat's senses really be so sharp? What had Cobrastrike done to hone them to so fine a point? How could she tell that his own mother had given him a nuzzle before he'd left? Roachpaw, as wary and scrutinizing as a fox in leafbare, tried to make sense of it. Maybe she saw me. She's been watching me since the ceremony ended.

Despite that seeming like the most obvious answer, Roachpaw wasn't so sure.

Cobrastrike did not deign to answer. Instead, she was already doling out Roachpaw's marching orders. He made an inward scowl. I've already been to the Pineneedle Clearing. That wasn't exciting... Unless...

"You're going to teach me how to fight?" Roachpaw kicked up a bit of detritus as he closed the gap between them. Anticipation blazed inside of him like trapped sunlight, putting a warming itch in his paws at the thought of learning real battle moves. As if to remind him of his loss, the small part in his cheek-fur where scratches left by that No-Voice were still healing began to sting. Roachpaw's ears flattened. There was going to be retribution for that, as surely as the moon shined.

It was a different kind of trek than the one that had first brought Roachpaw to the Pineneedle Clearing. Wet and bedraggled, he'd been carried over sodden ground, swinging from his mother's jaws, as the clouds vomited more water on the pathetic pack of cats fleeing their home. The territory has thus far dried out (as well as NightClan could dry out), and Roachpaw warred with a desire to go exploring on his own and following closely at Cobrastrike's heels.

Tendrils of rebellion crept into his thoughts. What would his mentor do if he wandered off? Chastize him, surely. That's what all adults did. Cobrastrike was no ordinary feline, and based on the stories his mother told him about her mentor, Cobrastrike was no ordinary teacher, either.

6 moons tom nightclan

background image | 425 words | Bloodrose | table by phoenix

[Bloodrose]

I'm a legend I'm a lethal overdose
I'm a subject of a nightmare I'm a ghost

cobrastrike

nightclan she-cat 36 moons

The spray of detritus alerted her to Roachpaw's sudden burst of speed. Yellow eyes flicked to her left as the small tom closed the distance between them, his eager voice breaking the quiet night air. A brown tail twitched behind her as she listened begrudgingly to his question. The fact he was already asking her a question about what they were doing pricked at her nerves. It took a subtle inhale for her to push down the voice in her mind that shrieked of his disrespect toward her. Mother would say he's but a curious kit. She reminded herself.

She would end that kittishness quickly.

"I will be assessing you." She answered curtly, her paw steps never slowing as she continued toward the Pineneedle Clearing. The sooner they arrived, the sooner she could concoct some way to shut this kit up and put him to good use. Repetition. Determination. Ambition. Those had been the tools that had crafted her into the warrioress she was today. Only one was a tool she could transfer to this apprentice. The other two, he would have to prove to her he possessed. Prove to her that he was worth her precious time to train.

Her mind had already presented her with her usual routine. The constant self-training she imposed on herself every day, when she could steal a moment to herself. But, once again she was forced to remind herself he was still a kit. Endurance was something she would have to build in him, before he had even the slightest chance of completing the regime she had in mind. Her lip twitched in something akin to disappointment at the thought.

This may be a waste of your time now, but it will be of benefit to NightClan later. She told herself silently, stalking forward and slipping into the familiar clearing. She padded forward until she reached the center, waiting until Roachpaw slowed to a stop before her. "Hunter's crouch, now." Came her sharp instructions. Lowering herself into her own crouch, she could feel her muscles shifting and stretching as she did. Her eyes never shifted from Roachpaw, watching the tom as he tried to mimic her crouch.

"Your fore paws are too far apart, while your hind paws are too close together. You should feel balanced, and free to move. If you tried to walk forward like that, you would accomplish little more than tripping over your own paws, never mind successfully catching a mouse. Jump." Without another word, she straightened and hopped up, landing on silent paws in a low crouch. When Roachpaw landed too, her scrutinizing gaze swept over him.

"Channel that balance. The moment your paws hit the ground, that is your instinctive balance point, and thus should be the start point for your hunter's crouch. Again." White paws left the ground briefly, landing in a steady crouch once more. "You move your hind paws toward yourself the moment you have landed. That will take muscle memory to break, but first you must be aware you do it. Jump again, but this time after you land, step each of your hind paws out one step, hold for three heartbeats, run the perimeter of the clearing, then return here and show me your crouch again."

There's only one spot on this throne
but I'll find my way up cause it's all I know.

~550 words Fawntastic  This is a no nonsense zone >>

[Fawntastic]

"I will be assessing you."

Roachpaw huffed with effort to keep up with Cobrastrike's many critiques, his ears pressing sideways at the influx of information. When she said jump, he jumped without thinking, knowing that hesitation was worse than failure. He could always get better at everything - but what he couldn't recover from was being a coward.

I won't become Spiderbite. I won't. I'd sooner let Cobrastrike kill me than let me turn into that sniveling mess. It was this goal that he savagely sunk his teeth into, even as he jumped again and tried to be minful of the placement of his paws. He overcorrected himself, feeling an awkward pull on newly forming muscles. Stupid! Do it right! Inner voice snarling, Roachpaw tried that jump again, this time holding it for three heartbeats once he was satisfied the positioning of his feet were better this time around.

Then, obediently, he took off, relishing in the feel of the cool air streaming through his sleek brown coat and the wind resistance on his whiskers. A note of disappointment flitted through him when he circled the perimeter. That had almost been over too soon - but he'd wanted Cobrastrike to see how fast he was. How serious he could be.

How hard he was willing to work, even if it broke him.

Despite this resolve, Roachpaw was breathless and irritable after the eighth version of the same drill. Running around the perimeter no longer brought him a sense of freedom; instead, he felt like a mouse running around in search of it's own burrow. "I feel more frog than cat!" He growled, crouching low to stretch out his muscles, rising to his full height as he swung around to face Cobrastrike. "I will keep working on this on my own. I promise! I don't want to go back to camp empty-pawed, I want to hunt for NightClan."

The brown tom's copper eyes blazed, the fatigue slaking free as the thought of learning more invigorated him. "Teach me how to catch something!" It was a plea more than a demand, but he'd made himself crystal clear. He wanted to be an asset to NightClan. He had so much to prove, so much he knew he was capable of. These boring repetitive exercises were just exercises. He'd only go home tired and with nothing to show his parents after his first day.

I bet Bramblepaw's caught something. Or that No-Voice! A dark tail lashed in retaliation to that thought. It was a small comfort, but at least he knew he'd always do better than Breezepaw. She was probably crying in the nursery right now, begging to go back to being a kit.

Bloodrose || 489 Words
▲ Fabrication Taxx Ginger (HollowBrambleBreeze mentions!)