[Abyss]

Tigerpaw

LC Apprentice

Apprenticeship. It was something that she had been excited for ever since she was little. The thought of exploring the territory, smelling and seeing so many new things, seeing prey that was alive rather than dead. It all excited her. Her curiosity was something that no cat could ever take away from her.

Luckily, she had been assigned a cat that she actually looked up to as her mentor: Goldenblaze. She had seen her fluffy golden-furred mentor around a lot when she was still a kit, mostly when she was out in camp with her father. She would see the she-cat coming back into camp carrying some freshly killed prey or conversing with her mother, who happened to be the Deputy. Sometimes she even brought prey to the Nursery for her parents and the other Queens to eat. She didn’t really know her that well personally, but she still had envied her for being able to leave camp.

But now, finally, she herself was able to leave camp! Even better, she had gotten Goldenblaze as her mentor! Both of these things were extremely exciting to her. They had gone out together a couple times already, getting to know each other a little better and to explore the territory. She had been very interested in the different parts of their land, like the Heather Hill and the pools near the edges.

But, admittedly, what she had been the most curious about were the borders. She was always told stories about the other clans, mainly Stoneclan and Treeclan, their neighbors. She hadn’t been told everything, considering she was just a kit, but she knew of them. Lightningclan was somewhat prickly when it came to Stoneclan, though she didn’t really know why, whereas they were more friendly towards Treeclan. The latter information was something she was glad for, considering the cats who had brought her into this word. She couldn’t deny that her interest in Treeclan was far more dominant than her curiosity about Stoneclan. But that didn’t stop her from wanting to see their border too.

This was what had led her here this day. Leopardheart, with the help of Silverburr, had decided to take Tigerpaw and another of the Apprentices out to do some exploring. This exploring happened to lean more towards the Stoneclan border this time.

Wide light blue eyes looked to the large stones that expanded before her with wild curiosity. These boulders were huge! Upon putting a paw against one of them, they were super warm too. She glanced back into the tall grasses where she had come from, wondering if what she was thinking about was ok. She had told the two toms that she wanted to explore and that she wouldn’t go too far. She wasn’t lying, she hadn’t gone too far. But she still wanted to explore.

Hoping that the Warriors would be forgiving, the orange tabby turned back, readying herself before leaping upwards with her bigger back legs, landing easily on top of one of the flat boulders. Something she had inherited from her father: the strong back legs of a cat that could leap and climb.

Looking outwards, her eyes grew wider. Even though these stones were flat and weren’t too tall, she could still see so much from them! She did strike a glance backwards to look at what she could of her own territory from this height, but she mainly looked ahead, out towards Stoneclan. Their land seemed so bumpy and much more hilly than Lightningclan, and with a lot more rocks. She was curious as to what it was like to live in a place like that.

Upon hearing footsteps approaching, she looked back to see if it was a clanmate, but she found the sound coming from the other side of the border. Looking back ahead, her ears perked.

“Hello?”

Don't you know

there's part of me

that longs to go

641 | Fae Magic | Notes

[Fae Magic]

Beauty is a joy that forever increases
It will never pass into nothingness

He poked at his bird that he'd caught wondering it was truly dead; he swore he saw it twitching. He gave a humph of satisfaction as he picked it up ready to go find his mentor and his friends that had formed a hunting party earlier that morning. He'd been so extra excited when his name was called along with Whitehawk and a few other names that he was aware of and happy to bring along with him. He'd darted off like a bullet as soon as he caught sight of a bird much to the chagrin of Whitehawk who'd been calling for him to wait. Tigerpaw was super excited all the time and wanted to be the best he could be! He was secretly putting bets on who could catch the most for the hunting party today so he was fired up for a challenge. He'd chased this stupid bird all the way towards the borders that they shared for Lightningclan. He had heard a little about the warriors and gossip about them from the elders but he never had met any of them before. He was excited though to go to a gathering to meet and see all the cats some day. 

Carrying his prize he found that he was along the Sunningstone border that always seemed to get a trouble between Stoneclan and Lightningclan over the pile of rocks. He didn't see much use for it but it was important apparently to the others so he figured it meant something. He heard snakes liked to slither around those blocks when it was sunny and hot out which didn't make it too appealing for the ginger tabby tom that's why he stayed away from it whenever it was Stoneclan's turn to have the stones. But, somehow he'd found himself standing there staring at the pile. His stomach growled at the scent of the bird and he winced wondering if he should go back to the others to see if they were done yet so that they could go home and eat. He was just about to do that when he saw a figure launch themselves up onto one of the rocks of Sunningstones which made him pause. He blinked at the figure and cocked his head. Curiously he sniffed the air. Lightningclan. What was a lone Lightningclan up there by themselves? When he looked closer he realized it was an apprentice no older then him. He snorted, what an idiot were where their mentor or partner that they had to have out with them on an outing?

Curiously he stepped closer towards the border and called out. "You know, aren't apprentice supposed to have a warrior with them to go out into the territory? Why are you alone out here?" he asked after setting down the bird at his paws and peered around the other side of the border to see if the apprentice truly was alone. "Aren't you afraid of the snakes around those rocks? One bite and you could die from their poison." he added with a frown of concern.

514 word count Abyss
Silverburr Russet-Tail Ivoryrose poppypaw Tigerpaw Smudgenose PRIMROSEPETAL mousepaw rock pendulum

template by punki of adoxography

[Abyss]

Tigerpaw

LC Apprentice

Pointed ears flicked with curiosity as a figure slowly moved into her view, padding forward from the Stoneclan side of the border. It was hard to tell from the angle they both stood from, but narrowing her eyes slightly and looking closer revealed that this seemed like a younger cat. They didn’t look quite Apprentice aged, but they also didn’t look old. It was a tom, as far as she could tell, with a combination of a pure white and a pale ginger tabby coat.

She wished to get a better look at him, but her ears instead rotated to catch what it was that he said. Where was her Warrior? She knew that her father, Silverburr, and Valiantpaw couldn’t be too far away; she had just been with them a few minutes ago. Unless they had bolted off without her, she doubted that they had left her behind. Her father would never do that to her, or any Apprentice for that matter.

“I’m not alone! I’m just exploring a little bit! I know they are nearby.” She called back to him, though moments later he spoke again, bringing forth a question she hadn’t quite considered prior to that moment. “Snakes?” Her head lightly tilted, pale blue eyes glancing around her paws. She hadn’t really taken note of this before, but there were small sections in the boulders where they didn’t touch, leaving small and dark gaps in every nook and cranny to be seen.

In truth, she hadn’t seen any snakes since she became an Apprentice. Not any live ones, at least. She saw some in the prey pile on occasion, but not very often. She was always told that snakes were dangerous, and that even though some of them looked small, they could kill a full grown cat. Considering she was still young and smaller than the average adult, what could a snake do to her? Would it kill her too?

This wasn’t something she wished to think about. She was young, and she was just exploring. What were the chances that she would run into a snake on one of her first adventures by herself? And even if she did, she could probably run away, right? Snakes had no legs, so they couldn’t be that quick...right?

“I think I’ll be fine! If I saw one I could try to catch it. And if I didn’t think I could catch it, I could run and find someone who can.” Rather optimistic, but she couldn’t just think of what bad things could happen all the time. She was finally getting to explore the territory! In her eyes, regardless of what sort of experiences she ran into, dangerous or otherwise, all of them would be just another story she would get to tell when asked about her time as an Apprentice!

Pushing these thoughts aside, she looked on at the tom on the other side of the border, tail slightly wiggling and swirling behind her. This was one of those experiences! She was meeting a Stoneclan cat for the first time! She had to take advantage of this opportunity while she could! He didn’t seem like a mean cat, after all.

“What’s your name? And what is it like living in Stoneclan? Do you guys climb rocks like these all the time?”

Don't you know

there's part of me

that longs to go

553 | Fae Magic | Notes

[Fae Magic]

"Kindness being someone who makes others feel like a somebody." ~Tigerpaw

Tigerpaw made a face at the figure across the streamed border as she spoke. She sounded so optimistic! What the heck?! It was dangerous to be out alone even the adventurous being inside of him knew that much. He'd grown up a little at the thought of the conversation he had with Birdstar about being adventurous and having a good head on his shoulders at the same time. Although they were not from the same clan the ginger tabby couldn't help but breathe a breath of relief when she said she wasn't alone but where were the others in her party that she claimed to be with? Tigerpaw knew that he'd run off to the woods far too many times alone and if he'd met another clan cat at the border he'd say the same thing as to not make the other wonder why that they were alone and give an opportunity to attack.

A smirk graced his features as he sat down by the border and looked over at the other on the rocks with amusement. She didn't seem any older than himself and carried the same optimistic nature he did but she seemed to naive and childlike than him and that was saying something since he carried the same traits. Snorting a laugh the ginger and white tabby shook his head. "You're a weird she-cat!" he called over to her, of course, he didn't mean it negatively as his tone was rather playful and held no meaning of offense to those words.

"Are you even good at catching snakes? How good are you at hunting? Snakes aren't like mice with no brains and they can kill with their poison. You'd be dead before you'd get the chance to run for help; that's okay though. I'd run for help for you if you're too mouse-brained to try and catch a snake." he laughed wiping at some pebbles on the ground with an amused grin on his face.

His amber eyes looked back up at the other ginger feline curiously and tilted his head studying her. She had lots of questions, didn't she? He would too if he'd met another clan member who wasn't his own. With a grin on his face and still trying to act bold and tough at the same time, he replied to her inquiries.

"My name's Tigerpaw, and Stoneclan's pretty great. We're the best climbers out of all the clans you know because our lands covered in open spaces and rocks and gorges and stuff. What's Lightningclan like? What's your territory like?" he asked looked across behind her to see what the area looked like.

Word Count: #440 || Tag: Abyss || Notes: #sorry for the short reply! Trying to get back into the habit of posting in Tigerpaw's personality.

~☣~~☣~

[Abyss]

Tigerpaw

LC Apprentice

The orange and black-striped she-cat tilted her head lightly when the tom’s voice called out that she was weird. In what way? She didn’t think she was being weird. Was it how she thought about trying to catch a snake in a positive way rather than thinking about getting killed? Maybe Stoneclan cats were just more prone to being cautious of everything around them rather than enjoy themselves.

But his next question, followed by a few statements, sent a small wave of awkwardness through her, causing a rather crooked smile to cross her face. She had only just become an Apprentice at the beginning of the season, and she hadn’t been focusing only on hunting in her starting days. She and Goldenblaze had covered the basics of multiple topics, so while she had hunted a few times, it wasn’t as if she had a bunch of experience. Compared to the tom in front of her across the border, her hunting skill was probably far weaker. But that was ok! She still had time to learn!

“I’ve never hunted a snake before. I did catch a big mouse the other day though! It’s stomach was chubby and his legs were super stubby, so it was like he was waddling away from me, ” she spoke, giggling to herself at the thought of the chubby mouse. She remembered her mentor saying that he must have been finishing a meal when they found him. She actually wasn’t sure where that mouse went, when she thought about it….maybe someone had eaten it by now.

Refocusing her thoughts back to the other tabby, her ears perked when he spoke once more. Her eyes widened and her mouth went slightly agape at the very first thing that he spoke. She began to open her mouth in a quick response, but the manners that grandmother Cloudyfeather had taught her in the Nursery came back, causing her to close her jaw and allow him to finish. But the moment that he did, she was quick to jump forward with her answer.

“My name is Tigerpaw too! We have the same name!” Her face brightened with this answer, slightly amazed that there was a neighboring cat that had her name. Though, she took note of the fact that his name was Tigerpaw rather than something else. He didn’t seem like he was young enough to be an Apprentice like she was? Then again, maybe he was on the verge of becoming a Warrior. Or she was just making assumptions.

She thought back to the rest of what he said, and the first thought that came to her mind somewhat shocked herself, but she couldn’t help it. Pale blue eyes glanced away from him, angling slightly towards where she knew a certain other border to be.

“I mean...Treeclan is full of trees for them to climb, so you might not be the best climbers...” She couldn’t leave it there, or else it would seem like she was saying Stoneclan wasn’t as good as Treeclan. Which...nevermind. Her ears perked as she thought of a better answer, looking back to him quickly. “You guys are the best leapers! I had to leap up onto this rock! And I’m sure you have to do a lot of jumping to get over all of the boulders in your territory! Right?”

Although she had sent a question right back to him, there was still a question that he had asked that she had yet to answer.

“We are the fastest runners! Our land is full of wide open meadows and hills and tall grasses! Half the time you can’t even see where you’re going because the grass is so tall! Sometimes we use our noses more than our eyes to get where we want to go.”

Don't you know

there's part of me

that longs to go

633 | Fae Magic | Notes

[Fae Magic]

"Kindness being someone who makes others feel like a somebody." ~Tigerpaw

Her reply made the other wonder yet again how young she actually was? Maybe she was his age and had the same mindset; kind of childish and very optimistic? He hoped for her sake that she'd grow out of that because that was a good way to get her killed one day. Not that optimism was bad but it brought along dreams and stuff that wasn't realistic. Shaking his head amused at her he played with a few pebbles by his feet as he listened to her speak. Her story was kind of funny and he couldn't help but burst out into laughter just at the image her description played in his head of the mouse. He could imagine finding one of those and batting at it like a ball of moss playing among kits.

Ears perked up when he heard his name and at first, he thought it was someone calling him until her words reached his brain that began to function again and he looked surprised over the border at her. "Your name is Tigerpaw too? Wow, what are the odds in that happening!?" he gave a crooked cheeky smile over at her. She definitely fit the look.

"Yeah yeah show off. So what, every clan has their own special abilities but some clans share a good trait too." he grumped at her correction. But he had to admit she was right, Stoneclanners did have stronger back legs because they lived among the stones of the mountain so climbing them and leaping on them was a must to have.

The description of her clan territory piqued his interest but he kept his mouth shut. Who would want to live in open grassy plain that didn't have shelter from the predators? At least Stoneclan had rocks to hide under when needed which also doubles for hunting critters that like to hide there too. But he was nice enough to keep his mouth shut and watched nodded casually at her words

"Sounds dangerous, your land." he commented once she finished. "Not something I'd be able to get used to. How are you guys not sitting ducks by hawks and stuff?" he questioned imagining the land she described. He had to admit though the thought of open space was great especially at night time; probably looked cool but he enjoyed sitting on a rock and looking up at the sky too.

"Anyways though, you should be careful when your by yourself over there. Snakes are rather dangerous. Why'd you choose to branch off from your patrol? Aren't you a little young to be by yourself even on a patrol?" he tilted his head curiously. How old was she anyways?

Word Count: #453 || Tag: Abyss || Notes: #Sorry it's kinda short oomph!

~☣~~☣~

[Abyss]

Tigerpaw

LC Apprentice

There was a small boost of confidence that coursed through the young she-cat’s body when the tom with her same name began to laugh at her story. It wasn’t as though she was intentionally trying to be funny, but a stranger showing some form of amusement at a story she told...it felt nice. It didn’t last long, but it was a feeling she already was beginning to enjoy.

Though her own laughter picked up again at his statement about the abilities of the clans. Her own words hadn’t been meant to pick on him, but it seemed this was how he had taken it. But not in a bad way, from what she could tell. A goofy frown crossed his face, bringing a giggle up from her stomach.

“Well yeah, all of us have talents. Sometimes there are cats in the clans who aren’t even good at what their clan is known for. But there’s nothing wrong with that.” The meaning behind her statement was slightly questionable, from an outside standpoint, at least. She wasn’t trying to discredit what he said or start an argument. In a way, it was kind of just a random let-go of thought not entirely related to the topic. But it wasn’t as though she said it with a mocking tone or aggression. Merely an observation.

When the other Tigerpaw spoke again, she lightly tilted her head at his question. Now that the thought crossed her mind, what all kinds of predators did each of the clans deal with? Seeing as how she had only been an Apprentice for a week or so at most, she didn’t have any experience with predators, nor did she know much about them. She knew what they were, of course, or at least a general description. And she had seen hawks in the distance before, but never encountered one herself. Maybe this tom had, which was where the question came from?

“I’m not entirely sure. But I know our speed is probably a big help. Outrun all the predators.” A somewhat awkward smile crossed her face. It was likely clear that she had no idea what she was talking about, or at least didn’t fully know if there was any truth behind her statement. But she was hoping that she was right in some sense of the words.

Then another pair of questions were presented to her. This tom did seem to have quite a few questions. Maybe he was a curious cat just like she was.

“I’m not too far from them. Our patrol was along your border anyway, so I thought I would come look at the border up close. I’m sure I can probably see them from here if I try, ” she stated, turning her head to peer back along the stretch of border to the left of her. She did see the movement of grass not too far away, which was likely them. But, even if it wasn’t, she knew they wouldn’t have gone far without her. Father would probably lose his mind if she had fully went off on her own.

In the end of these thoughts, something crossed her mind, causing her head to snap back to the other Apprentice, light blue eyes narrowed. An expression full of suspicion and a dash of playfulness crossed her face as she lifted a paw, pointing in his direction. “What about you, other Tiger? Why are you by yourself without a patrol?”

Don't you know

there's part of me

that longs to go

577 | Fae Magic | Notes