[Jos]

Cloudtail

Cloudtail was pleased that Birdstar had listened to his request for an apprentice. Even though Birdstar would always be Cloudtail’s brother, Cloudtail understood and even respected that his brother had become the leader of Stoneclan—his leader. And being validated by your leader, brother or no, was always satisfying.

What he was not sure of was the apprentice he had gotten. Ashpaw came from a long line of fine Stoneclan warriors, which Cloudtail was thankful for. A clan-born cat would be more receptive to learning the ways of the clans and less likely to question their traditions. Cloudtail worried that if Birdstar really did consider taking in outsiders, that the outsiders would never adapt to warrior life, and waste their time and efforts in training.

But this apprentice? Cloudtail had seen him around. He was often being bullied, never really standing up for himself. No confidence, this Ashpaw. How in Starclan’s name was he going to make an apprentice out of a cat like Ashpaw? Not only that, but Cloudtail knew he himself was not known as the nicest cat in the clan. The poor kit must be absolutely terrified of me, he thought. Most of them were, and Cloudtail had seen the unmistakable look of relief in the other apprentices’ faces when they weren’t paired with him. Ashpaw got the short end of the stick, it seemed. Already grouchy at the these thoughts, Cloudtail padded towards the apprentice den to collect his new apprentice. Whatever Ashapw was or was not, he was Cloudtail’s apprentice, and Cloudtail would see him become a warrior.

“Ashpaw.” Cloudtail called, gruffly, into the familiar den, “Ashpaw, wake up! I’ll meet you at the camp entrance. Quickly, please.”

The white warrior then turned and padded to the entrance, where he sat and waited.

((Abyss ))

[Abyss]

ASHPAW

_________________

Orange eyes began to flicker open at a voice calling into the Apprentice’s den. All that had been heard was ‘-paw’, which caused a slight twitch of confusion to fill the owner of the orange eyes’ mind. But then the voice became more clear.

At the sound of his grouchy mentor’s sharp voice calling for him, Ashpaw’s eyes shot open, his head lifting quickly to peer over at the entrance of the den. He only saw a figure made of white fur for a moment as Cloudtail began to turn away, but he knew the sort of expression that was likely on that tom’s face.

He had only become an Apprentice about a week or so ago, being assigned by Birdstar to Cloudtail, the Leader’s brother. But in just that week alone he had very quickly learned what kind of a cat Cloudtail was. He was a very prideful cat who saw himself as better than pretty much every cat he interacted with. His chin was always held high and he was, in Ash’s eyes, always in a bad mood. While he appreciated Birdstar choosing his brother to mentor a new Apprentice, he was very unsure as to why the gray tom thought that his brother would even make a good mentor, especially for him.

Even though he didn’t personally believe that Cloudtail was a good match for him as a mentor, he trusted Birdstar’s decision, and just hoped that however he thought this pairing would go comes true.

Even though tiredness still clung to him, the dark gray tom stood from his nest that sat next to his siblings, shaking his fur quick and giving his chest a quick groom to flatten the furs that stuck outwards. Blinking the blurriness from his eyes, he trotted out of the Apprentice den and turned to find that familiar white pelt waiting at the camp entrance. As he expected, Cloudtail didn’t seem overly thrilled. Whether that was because of him or something else, he didn’t know, but it still wasn’t a good sign.

Head held somewhat low, he approached his mentor silently, glancing out of the camp entrance briefly. “So...what are we gonna be doing today?”

_________________

363 | Jos | Notes

[Jos]

Cloudtail

Cloudtail fluffed his fur out against the morning air. He enjoyed the morning patrols, morning hunts, mornings in general. They were quiet and cool, and still. Not a lot of noise or commotion in the mornings which made them a great time to be productive and successful. Some cats preferred the later patrols and to that Cloudtail said good riddance. They could have them.

Now that he had an apprentice, however, he would need to start going on patrols at different times during the day so that Ashpaw would get practice hunting and patrolling in different conditions. Early mornings seemed to have their own weather, but things changed once the sun passed sunhigh.



The green eyed tom did not need to wait long for Ashpaw to arrive and he gave his apprentice an appraising look. At least, he assumed it was appraising. Cloudtail was never quite aware of how he came across to other cats in the clan and often when he thought he was being supportive or kind the other cat seemed to think the opposite. So he followed up his appraising glance with a short, “Thank you for being prompt and on time.” Yeah, that was encouraging sounding. He was doing a great job!



“We’ll be doing some scent marking and a touch of hunting, for the practice.” He told Ashpaw, “Then, if you’ve caught something, we’ll come back and have some fresh kill before doing some more battle training.” It was going to be a busy day, but Cloudtail was determined to give Ashpaw all the instruction he possibly could. Cloudtail stood and beckoned Ashpaw along with a flick of his bushy tail, as if to say ‘come along’.



He took Ashpaw along the border, marking every once in a while where the border markers were supposed to go but ultimately leading his gray apprentice to the Barren Scrublands. It was a good place for hunting, which made it a good place to train apprentices. Once they arrived, Cloudtail found a spot in the sun and sat himself down. “So, Ashpaw, tell me: what can you scent?”



((Abyss ))

[Abyss]

ASHPAW

_________________

With his approach, Cloudtail looked to him with a rather odd expression, one that the gray tom couldn’t quite pinpoint the meaning behind. It was like...almost approval? But on the face of Cloudtail, it was hard to tell whether it was a good thing or not. This was one thing that Ashpaw had already predicted day one that would be hard with his new mentor: figuring out when he was showing any emotion other than pride, disgust, or irritation. The fluffy tom could only hope that this look the white tom gave him was good.

Alongside this strange change in his expression, he was surprised to find that his mentor had actually thanked him for being quick to arrive. Unsure how to take this, one of the young tom’s ears bent backwards slightly, his own face a mix of appreciation and confusion, if not all shadowed by nerves.

As Cloudtail spoke of what their plans for the day were going to be, orange eyes blinked multiple times in surprise as the list seemed to go on. Although it didn’t necessarily sound like a lot, or at least it wouldn’t to a Warrior, that was like a full schedule for an Apprentice. Patrolling the borders, hunting, and fighting all in one day. Considering he was in the early stages of his training, he had a feeling that getting through all of these things would take quite a bit of effort. Granted, he would definitely put the effort in, for he was never a cat to give up. But he knew he would be exhausted by the end of the day.

“Being tired means you did a good job. Try to remember that.” His mother’s words from the day he was promoted came back to him in that moment, a small smile pulling at the corners of his jaws.

Just then, Cloudtail stood and began to depart, a flick of his tail urging the gray tom to follow. The trip to the borders was quiet and scenic, which he found to be a rather relaxing way to start of the day. It wasn’t until they had already reached the borders that his orange eyes flicked back forward, realizing that they had already gotten to their destination. The two toms walked along the border for a little while, Ashpaw observing and copying as Cloudtail left his mark along the invisible lines. He hadn’t actually noticed that they parted from the border until, Cloudtail stopped, turning and taking a seat in front of him. Fluffy and tufted ears perking, Ashpaw lifted his head momentarily, assuming that his mentor was looking for an attentive listener. Though, his words were brief and in the form of a question.

Blinking a few times, the gray tom looked in each direction around him, curiosity pulling at his nose. Now beginning to wonder, he slowly lowered his head closer to the ground, just barely parting his maw. Almost immediately something swirled across his tongue and through his nostrils, his tail making a light swishing motion as he caught it. But it took some recalling to figure out what this was.

“I think...it’s…” Think Ashkit, think! He had mistakenly called himself by his previous name, but, in technicality, it was his kit self taking the reigns on this one. He remembered this scent from the many times that this prey had been brought to Robinbreeze in the Nursery. He just had to remember. When it came to mind, wide orange eyes looked to Cloudtail in slight surprise. “It’s some kind of lizard, right?”

The fact that he had recalled this was shocking to himself, mostly because he had always assumed that lizards had no scent. He found the only way he remembered was back when he would open his mouth to take a bite, he would very briefly take in a breath of air mixed with the slight scent of the lizard before he would chow down.

For just a moment, his eyes remained widened, though a look of hopefulness crossed them. Had he done a good job? Was he right? Even if he was, would he be able to tell if Cloudtail said nothing? He felt his nerves begin to grow on him, but he had to push them down. He had to wait for his mentor’s answer.

_________________

721 | Jos | Notes

[Jos]

Cloudtail

Cloudtail found that a border patrol first thing in the day was a good way to warm-up his apprentices. It awakened the body through the movement of the legs and paws, and it awakened the mind through the new and old scents. Not only for the warm-up, but the morning patrol built up the apprentice’s stamina. Soon a patrol would feel like no more than a pleasant stroll. He also found that apprentices needed a lot of reminding when it came to borders and scent lines, so a little patrol at the beginning of the day was usually his go-to. At least, when his apprentices were still fairly young.


He was pleased at how Ashpaw kept up with him, offering a tidbit of information here and there when he saw something he needed to mention. Otherwise he kept quiet, thinking he was giving his apprentice some time to take it all in.

Eventually they arrived at the Boulder Field, where the hunting portion of their day was to begin. Cloudtail already knew there were lizards around, and he knew they were the most difficult prey to scent. That was why, when Ahspaw had scented them, Cloudtail looked surprised. “Yes, that is correct. Well done.” He said, sounding a bit bemused. “The thing to remember about hunting lizards is that they are slow in the cold. That means the best time to hunt them is at sun-up, because they need to sun themselves to get moving. You can sneak up on a lizard when it is sunning itself, and because it is still cold from the night, it wont be able to react as fast. Does that make sense?”



Hunting lizards was hard in the sun, which was why Cloudtail never hunted them on warm days. They were much too fast. Not only that, but Cloudtail much preferred mice or voles or rabbits to lizards. He even didn’t mind eating birds, for all their feathers and beaks and claws. Lizards were small, fast, and did not taste as warm or as sweet as mice or voles. Nothing beat a freshly killed, still-warm mouse. But lizards were almost never warm. Even a fresh lizard was like eating old kill.

Nevertheless, he said to Ashpaw, “I want you to see if you can sneak up on a lizard sunning itself. There are plenty of nice, warm rocks out so there should be plenty. Look for ones that have their head up, and try to sneak around them. Once you do, smack it with your paw to stun it! Then you can take your killing bite. Got it?” He waited briefly for affirmation, “Well? Get hunting!”








((Abyss ))

[Abyss]

ASHPAW

_________________

The gray tom waited rather eagerly for his mentor’s answer. He was right, wasn’t he? It wasn’t just his imagination, as far as he knew. He remained hopeful, and his eyes widened when a certain expression crossed the white tom’s face. Was Cloudtail...surprised? The usual scowl that he put on display at any given point seemingly disappeared for a moment, his own green gaze wider than normal.

When the larger grumpy tom confirmed that his answer was correct, a smile crossed his face. Though, as he expected, the praise didn’t last long. His ears quickly rotated forward to listen as a lesson about lizards was presented to him directly afterwards. He did momentarily wonder why it was that lizards were slow while in the cold, but when he thought about it, he was sure that cats were slow when it got cold too. Only those with big bushy pelts could handle the cold. Did that mean he would be able to have more protection from it when Leafbare set in? He hadn’t really experienced much in the way of cold weather yet, but he was sure that it was coming quick.

The fluffy Apprentice took in the lesson with keen eyes and a nod at the end. Before he knew it, Cloudtail was shooing him away to try and catch a lizard. Although he was excited, he couldn’t help but feel his nerves begin to bundle up. From what the other tom had said, it sounded like lizards were super difficult to catch. Granted, he had never actually hunted a lizard before, so his chances of doing it successfully were low. But he had to try! Cloudtail wouldn’t get disappointed if he didn’t manage to do it...would he?

With this, he turned and scanned the area around them, flicking his ears and his gaze to different rocks. Although in wording it sounded somewhat simple, he had to actually find one first. There were rocks all over the place with sun splashed across their surfaces, some of them dotted with dirt and moss while others were clear. He had managed to catch a whiff of them when they arrived, but now that he was actually seeking them out, he wasn’t picking up anything.

Swallowing down his nerves, he very slowly took small steps forward, orange eyes in constant motion, searching for any signs of life. It wasn’t entirely clear in his mind how long he walked forward, but by the time he spotted something, he was probably a couple fox-lengths away from his mentor. He saw a flash of movement, which caused his whole body to pause. There was one! At that moment, the little creature was clinging to the edge of a rock, its small body perfectly fine with being sideways like it was. Although his first urge was to rush forward and get it, he remembered what Cloudtail said. The lizard needed to be in the sun with its head up, and he had to sneak. This lizard was not yet basking completely. So he waited.

He let himself crouch low to the ground, watching and waiting for the small reptile to move. When it did, it took a few steps forward, placing itself at the center of the rock. It was when the lizard lifted its head slightly that he took the cue.

With slow, hopefully careful steps, the young tom padded forward, body still low to the ground. The lizard was facing sideways from his angle, so he had to get behind it, though this was harder said than done. As he grew closer, he kept his eyes on the lizard, mostly its eyes. There were a few times when those beady eyes opened, causing him to stop in his tracks and hold as still as possible. When they closed once more, he continued his forward padding.

Finally, he had made it behind the small creature. But now came the next portion of the hunt. He started to get closer, his eyes never leaving the reptile. One would think that keeping their gaze solely on the prey would be a good thing, but, unfortunately for Ashpaw, this moment was not the case. As he grew closer, the rocks at his paws became smaller and smaller, giving him less of a balanced step each time.

The moment arrived, and he believed he was ready. It was time. He took a quick step forward, his other paw lifting to prepare for the smack. But, as fate would have it, the many pebbles at his feet didn’t wish to cooperate. As he placed his unraised paw forward, a sharp pain shot through his paw and up his leg, causing something similar to a yelp to break through his jaws. The lizard very obviously heard this and bolted, disappearing quickly underneath the surrounding boulders.

Ashpaw quickly stepped back away from that area, his front left paw lifted off the ground. He lifted his leg to peer at the bottom of his paw to find a small yet sharp stone dug into his pad. He wanted to whimper, he wanted to ask Cloudtail to remove it. But he could not. He was not a kit anymore. He had to take care of himself. If he showed that sort of weakness and immaturity in front of Cloudtail, he was sure to get scolded.

Pushing past the stinging, he lifted his paw to his jaws, gently pulling the stone from his pad and letting it drop to the ground. A small droplet of blood began to form where the stone was removed, sending a small shiver up his spine. What was he supposed to do? Did he lick it? Did he put some sort of pressure on it? Ever so slightly panicked orange eyes looked back in the direction of his mentor, unsure of what to do.

_________________

975 | Jos | Notes

[Jos]

CLOUDTAIL .:. SC 

Cloudtail sat still as a stone as he watched his apprentice. He fully did not expect the tom to catch anything—this was simply to see what Ashpaw could do, and what areas needed more coaching or more encouragement. So he sat and watched, a white statue among the gray stones.



Ashpaw’s stalking was pretty good, for his age. Cloudtail’s eyes narrowed approvingly as his young protégé slowly and methodically searched for prey, careful not to make too much noise. Finding prey once it has been scented was always difficult. Cloudtail remembered believing that scenting the prey had to be most of the work but he learned the hard way that just because you could smell the prey did not mean you would find the prey. Prey, by nature, are quite good at not being found. Warriors just need to be all that much better at finding them. Warriors need to think like the prey, feel the fear prey feel, and always thank Starclan for the hunt and thank the prey for the life they had sacrificed.



Cloudtail’s claws dug into the earth in apprehension as he caught sight of a lizard basking on a rock. Good form, he thought as Ashpaw approached. He would stop when the lizard opened its eye—good, it was an important instinct to keep focused on ones prey.



Oh no!



Cloudtail winced when he realized Ashpaw had stepped on to loose gravel and stones. He would never have the purchase to leap after the lizard! He watched with bated breath as Ashpaw crept closer. He was going for the kill, and he had not slipped yet. Perhaps it was his slight stature? Cloudtail certainly would have caused a slide. The younger tom lifted his forepaw for the stunning kill—



Then he yelped.



Cloudtail released his held breath and leaped to his paws, his fur standing on end. “Ashpaw?” He rushed to his apprentice’s side to see the tom’s paw pad was bleeding. “Let me see.” He nosed the paw, which was still bleeding. “Looks like you got the stone out, but we should probably take you to Ebonyheart. Give it a good cleaning before we go.” His heart was beating hard. It was just a stone in the paw! He shouldn’t be so frightened, the ‘paw was fine! Still. Ashpaw was his responsibility—he needed to train him and keep him safe.



He did not say anything for several heartbeats as they walked back to camp. What could he say? The white warrior glanced at his apprentice, “You almost had it.” He grunted, “If it hadn’t been for that stone, you might have caught it. You did well for your first hunt. What did you learn?”






((Abyss ))

[Abyss]

ASHPAW

_________________

Throughout his kithood, the young gray tom always tried to convince himself that he would make a great Apprentice, and eventually a great Warrior. The lack of confidence that he had in the Nursery alongside his siblings and denmates would dissipate and he would become a tough cat that his clanmates could trust.

But, the dreams and goals of kits, while sometimes followed through with the utmost determination and focus, were more often than not thrown to the river once it was time to put these plans into action. It wasn’t something seen right away, nor was it blatantly obvious to most, but there would be a few small moments where that inner vulnerability and young mindset would shine through. Where their plans and intentions would be overpowered by that child-like side of them that they thought would disappear the moment they became an Apprentice.

This was one of those moments. He only realized it after his white-pelted mentor came running towards him, but he had experienced one of these moments, and was aware of it. He thought that he would become stronger and tougher. He thought that once he was allowed to leave Robinbreeze’s side, he would become a young cat that Stormcloud, Birdstar, and the rest of the clan could be proud of. In his mind, perhaps that meant that he would become immune to pain, immune to panic, he would lose the ability to lose control of his emotions.

Yet here he was, seeking out his easily-irritated mentor’s help over something as minor as a pebble in the paw. Granted, it had been a sharp pebble that did draw blood. But it was still just that: a pebble. He had dropped his intellectual and tough Apprentice image to look for guidance...over a pebble.

There was a drape of helplessness that fell over his shoulders, his eyes lowering to the ground as Cloudtail approached. He remained silent as his name was called, and it stayed this way even when the larger white tom was by his side. It was only when a pink nose poked at the bleeding paw that he pulled himself out of his own thoughts, glancing at his mentor. The other brought up going to visit Ebonyheart, though he still said nothing. He merely did as he was told, looking back to the wound and running his tongue over it. He felt a slight cringe come over him at the taste, but he still did what he could.


Walking back to camp, he stayed quiet, eyes locked on the ground ahead of him. He didn’t know what to say, if anything at all. He couldn’t help but have a feeling that Cloudtail was disappointed in him. In all of the rumors and talks he had heard and had about Cloudtail in the past, he knew that the snow-furred was easy to displease. From what he knew, he was quite judgemental and wasn’t exactly the sort to be soft.

Though, to his own surprise, it was the same tom who spoke first, with words that actually seemed somewhat comforting in purpose. Was he...trying to make Ashpaw feel better? Could he tell that he was disappointed in himself? He couldn’t tell; it wasn’t as if he had much experience in reading others. But, despite what he assumed the intent behind these words to be...he still felt that pit in his stomach that told him that he had failed himself, and failed his mentor.

“I should have been more careful...” His voice was quiet, lacking in spark or tone. His gaze didn’t leave his own paws, unwilling to look up and see if his mentor’s voice was a disguise for the irritability in his eyes. Perhaps that wasn’t the case, perhaps it was. But, just from the short amount of time that he had known Cloudtail personally, he assumed it was the latter.

“I just...need to do better.” His voice only slightly picked up, those goals in his chest trying to push his determination forward. He still felt that slash of vulnerability, but the most he could do was attempt to get past it.

_________________

690 | Jos | Notes

[Jos]

CLOUDTAIL .:. SC

Cloudtail walked close to Ashpaw, but not too close.

He knew that his apprentice was taking this minor drawback very hard and did not want Ashpaw to feel like he was being mothered by his mentor. Not that Cloudtail really knew how to be nurturing anyways; he feared his attempt at being nurturing would simply make things worse.

“I just…need to do better.”

The white tom stopped in his tracks, flicking Ashpaw with his tail to signal that he should stop as well. For a moment Cloudtails mouth opened and closed, unsure of how or what to say in response. He plucked at the soil with his claws as he thought, his green eyes fixed on his (mildly) injured apprentice.

Finally he said,

“You will. You can’t learn anything without making a few mistakes. If you think about it,” he started toward Stoneclan camp once again as the words began to flow, “I am a warrior and I have had one apprentice before you. I was an apprentice myself. Did I think to warn you to look out for sharp stones? No, I did not. That was my mistake.” He should have really warned Ashpaw about the stones…he knew that there were sharp stones around that area. “And just as I will remember to warn apprentices of the sharp stones, you too will remember to look out for sharp stones in the future. Perhaps you will remember the day your mentor forget to warn you, and you will make sure to remind your apprentices long after I have joined Starclan’s hunting grounds.”

While he was speaking Stoneclan’s camp faded into view. It was his home, despite all the nastiness of his kithood and apprenticeship. Despite his relationship with his kin. For better or for worse, he was a Stoneclan warrior, and his apprentice deserved the best that he could offer. Even if it felt weird to comfort another cat.

He shook his pelt, which was now mottled with bits of dried plants and dust, “Well,” he said matter-of-factly, “Tomorrow is another sunrise. I don’t think your paw is too badly hurt, so we can try again tomorrow. And the next day, and the day after. You’re in for a long few moons of drills and practices, Ashpaw,” he warned gently, “You’ll catch a lizard one of these days if I have anything to say about it.”

((Abyss  Hunting training complete! Shall we do a border patrol next?))