[Deleted]

Note: Takes place before Tending to Past Wounds but after Tooth and Claw

TAG: noctali | WC: 950 | Sorry went a little overboard with this post LMAO.

The first edging of sun seeped down from the heavens and bathed the course rock of StoneClan's camp. A strong current of wind, choose that moment to sweep through, ruffling in a few fallen leaves from a small distance away, throwing them casually around the barren and empty camp. A lone figure sat among the quiet surroundings, observing the first break of sunrise with narrowed yet precise concentration. Coppertalon, was use to getting up at such an odd hour. With the eagle attack, having faded from the horizon leaving nothing left in its wake, but the scars of injures and mild pain, it was no surprise that the tom was up so early. Pain had woken him up and he had used it as an excuse to get up and to start the day. Though it was no surprise to him, that no one else had taken this into account. Cold, amber, orange eyes shifted then. Taking in the lacking of abundance of life around him. He scoffed to himself, before shifting his body forward. His limbs stretched out, a parting yawn falling from his now exposed maw in a silent yawn. Ears perked taking in the shifting wind, before they angled to the left, and his eyes followed their descent towards the apprentice's den.

Oh, yes. That had been another reason why he had gotten up so early. Condorpaw. It was a name of an unfamiliar apprentice that he had been given mentorship over but a day before. Birdstar had been adamant about this ceremony. Perhaps it had been a way to distract the clan from the eagle's attack, either way it didn't matter. His leader had entrusted him with another apprentice, and as loyal and dedicated to his clan as Coppertalon was, he would make sure he would mold this young apprentice into a warrior that would make his clan proud. There would be no mistakes. He would mold this new apprentice and make him a warrior that Coppertalon could be proud of.

'You mean, a warrior that I would be proud of...' A voice purled in the back of the tom's mind. Dark, twisted and toxic honey laced words that brought a chill down the tom's spine. He shivered then, choosing to shake out his medium cut chocolate pelt, pushing down those so sweet whispers that had haunted him for so long. Leapingstorm. His former mentor and the she-cat he had loved for as long as he could remember, had been dead for moons now. Coppertalon knew this and pushed down the lingering annoyance of her sweet scent coiling around him, like an adder ready to strike. He had better things to do. Flicking his tongue down the length of his chest, to give himself some ease, the tom turned and paddled towards the apprentice's den. A few strides and leaps latter, he stood in front of the den, and peaked inside. He was met with the darkness of the hollowed rock and slumbering sounds of snores echoing from the apprentices inside. It was impossible to tell where Condorpaw was inside, but it didn't matter. He had a more effective way of getting the tom out.

"Condorpaw," He hissed loudly, not caring or bothering to lower his voice. The idea of apprentices sleeping in, when there was work to be done, only moved him to be a lot louder with his next words. " It's time to wake up! Your first day of training begins now! Make your way to the Little Woods, and make sure you get there quickly. Do not make me come back and get you," With that, and the sounds of groans greeting his loud and robust words from the den, the tom turned and moved towards the entrance of the camp. He did not cast a single look backwards however. He cared little of whether his apprentice knew where the Little Woods part of the StoneClan territory even was, or if one was to consider the forest was dangerous after the eagle's attack. Danger was a big part of becoming a warrior and thrusting an apprentice into such danger news one way to push Condorpaw to his limits. While some may have believed this method to be cruel and very much on the unusual, Coppertalon was not the type to baby any apprentice he mentored. To the tom, it was a test to see how well the apprentice could use his wits and brain to find the place. Or better yet, use his sense of smell. While he made no move to cover his scent as he moved out into the territory, Coppertalon did not try to make it easy either.

With the thick current of wind, the elder tom, knew that his scent would be thrown around all over the place. Still, the steps were easy for Coppertalon. The track to the Little Woods was thankfully not a hard place to find, even for an apprentice who had never been there. Out of camp, one would merely walk until the landscape changed, where once rocky and sandy terrain would dip slightly into even more so of the former lands. Yet the only difference was the small stretch of windblown trees scattered about this portion of the territory. As brown paws, scrunched onto the small crevice of stone and the few yellowed grasses around, the tom stopped to angle his ears around. With leaf-fall in its awakening, leaves lay scattered around where winds had taken them from particular trees. The sounds of life could be heard, even amongst the crunch of leaves, and Coppertalon parted his maw, to drink in the scents, before moving to sit down where he stood. This place was full of prey, and the perfect place for a new apprentice to get not only some hunting in but some battle training in as well. Coppertalon unsheathed his claws then, those sharp tools, gleamed against the rising sun, poised and ready for battle. Condorpaw was going to be in for a tough day, today. Whether he was ready for it or not.

"Coppertalon Talking "

[noctali]

Condorpaw, lost in a gentle rhythm of snoring sounds and sleepy breathing, was not expecting his mentor's voice to break through his dreams.   

Little...Woods? He wants me to find him in the Little Woods? Well, this is going to be interesting.

Though he'd never been there before, even as a kit not one for breaking rules and sneaking out like others delighted in doing, Condorpaw refused to let his mentor's instruction ruffle him. It couldn't be that hard to find the place. All he needed to do was isolate Coppertalon's scent from the other cats in his clan.

Respectfully dipping his head to Birdstar, who was standing outside his den, Condorpaw strode purposefully toward the entrance to camp. No, he didn't know off-paw where he was going. But sitting there wondering where he was going and why would not help anything. He was a do-er. Not a thinker.

"Do not make me come back and get you." These words briefly flitted through the young tom's mind, but were dismissed as soon as they came. He had no intention of having the older warrior mad at him on his very first day of training. The feeling of elation he briefly allowed himself to feel at the thought of finally being an apprentice and living up to the legacy laid out for him as his birth right were also quickly replaced by a feeling of calm purpose. 

He would show Coppertalon that Birdstar made the right decision in entrusting the apprentice to the warrior for tutelage. 

Very quickly after leaving camp, he picked up Coppertalon's distinct scent, going in two separate directions. This didn't bother the cat one bit though. He just looked for the more recent (and less stale) scent marker. Making his mind up in a single heartbeat, he followed the scent. 

It didn't take him long to reach his destination. Following both Coppertalon's scent and the well trod paw-prints of many different StoneClan cats led him there. Pulling himself gracefully into a sitting postion in front of the brown cat, he awaited his next set of instructions, a mask of curiosity placed upon his maw as he waited patiently.


365 | @jen KARAZHAL 

[Deleted]

TAG: noctali | WC: 723 | Not sure how you want the battle to play out, so let me know <33

The soft caress of sunlight bathed over the tom's pelt warming him to the core. The soft echoes of life around him, buzzed around his ears like cicadas in spring. While the sounds of nature were meant to be peaceful, and the parting of his maw, told him that there was no danger to scented so close to camp, Coppertalon was far from peace. Memories plagued his mind, coiling around his head like an adder ready to strike. It was at that moment that he heard it. The loud and nagging voice of his former mentor's voice. Even now, his brown eyes squinted against the sunlight's harsh light, and on the brim of his vision, he could just make out the outline of that deceitful temptress. That vile and disgusting she-devil that he had foolishly allowed himself to fall in love with, all those moons ago. That he believed had loved him, as he had loved her.

'You don't look so good, my dearest Coppertalon," The silhouette would whisper softly, the vivid outline almost seemed real, even to the point that her thick pelt was ruffling against the cool winds that blew through the area. Coppertalon could only snarl in response, and lash his tail. This only seemed to bring out a laugh from the dark image of his mind, that single echoing of venom laced honey, only succeeded in raising the thin furs against the brown tom's pelt. 'Perhaps you don't have what it takes to teach this apprentice...look how Blackclaw turned out after all...'

Before he could retaliate, there was another steering breeze and when he blinked back the hair from his eyes, the vague figure of his former mentor had vanished. Her soft an cold laughter ringing behind her with a wisp of air. Coppertalon's eye remained glued on the spot, where he had believed, she had been standing for several moments, before those orange, yellow orbs pulled away from the spot to focus on nothing in particular. Even now, after all of these moons, she still taunted and teased him. Belittling him to the point of insanity. He flinched when a small edge of pain interrupted his train of thought, pulling the tom's attention towards his shoulder. The injury to the spot, was clearly only a day old, so it was no surprise that it stung. Most cats would have went to the medicine cat's den after such a thing, but Coppertalon was a proud and fearless cat, who believed he was above such weakness. The injury would heal itself and that was it and that was all.

Triangular ears angled themselves forward, as the sound of pawprints approached. The tom turned his head, and took in his apprentice, a simple once over. Merely to check if he had injured himself on the way here. The tom did not fear Ebonyheart, but he did not need the she-cat getting on him for such small things. When he was satisfied that the apprentice was fine, at least for now, the tom nodded his head in his direction, before he pulled himself from his own thoughts. Now, wasn't the time to dwell on dead cats, he had an apprentice to teach and teach he would. "You made it," He stated simply, his voice clearly unconcerned with how the apprentice had made it here. All that did matter, was that he had. Which meant that he was strong enough to understand and follow scents. Good. It would help him with this next part of training. "We are not going to waste time. We will be starting battle training, right now. If and only if you can manage to get a hit off of me, will you be allowed to hunt for a meal ," He gestured towards the trees around them with a flick of his tail, and the abundance of spaces that most likely hid prey. It all depended on how well the apprentice did. "First, what would you do if you were to encounter an enemy cat near the borders of our territory ?" His eyes bore into the apprentice, awaiting the response to his question. While he appeared calm, his motives were unclear, at least for the time being. Though his still gleaming claws, told some portion of what was to come...

"Coppertalon Talking "

[noctali]

Condorpaw was immediately removed of any ideal, however wrong it may have been, that Coppertalon may have been proud of him for actually making it to the place he had been instructed to go without knowing exactly how to get there. Leaving him with nothing but a calm sense of determination, he spared a glance to the unsheathed claws, the reflection of the sun that glinted off of them showing their sharpness. Condorpaw had absolutely no doubt in his mind that if Coppertalon wanted to hurt him, especially in his untrained state, there would be very little the apprentice could do to stop him, much less fight back. 

Good. Learning by doing. Condorpaw could work with that, quite happily. 

”If and only if you can manage to get a hit off of me, will you be allowed to hunt for a meal.” Well, he was going to try his damndest. Maybe he’d get points for enthusiasm if nothing else. 

Slinking his claws out, Coppertalon’s next words gave the large tom pause. What would he do? Well, he wouldn’t make nice. That would be for cats like his sister and cousin to do. After all, medicine cats are trained to help all cats regardless of Clan. 

”If I saw another cat on our border... I would make a judgement call based on the first thing they say to me. If the first thing they say is ‘take me to your leader’ then I most likely would because it might be important. If, as is more likely, they’re there to steal prey or cause trouble, I would flay them. Limb by limb, i would make them regret ever setting paw on our territory.”

Keeping his claws out, he surveyed the situation,planning his next move. Coppertalon was facing him, could see every decision he would make, and would not make it easy. The head on approach would not work here. Getting behind him would also be difficult, he would be expecting that to happen. 

Then Condorpaw had an idea.

That split second it took for the idea to fully formulate in his mind was all the time he needed to be absolutely sure about the idea’s execution. 

With one forepaw, he scraped the ground in Coppertalon’s direction hoping to distract the elder cat long enough to disorient him while he executed the next part of his plan. He leapt. Aiming squarely for the other cat’s shoulders, hoping he could at least cling on long enough to score a nick in the skin underneath. He wanted the other cat to see he meant business. He was not just a pathetic kitten fresh out of the nursery anymore. He was an apprentice warrior, and he would behave as such. 

471 @jen Ghost the Undead Goddess {vague Ebonyheart mention}

[Deleted]

TAG: noctali | WC: 644| Let's get ready to rumble! LOL

Triangular limbs twitched. The words that spewed from the apprentice's maw, almost impressed Coppertalon. Almost was the key word here, unfortunately. To be frank the words were clever. They were honest, and definitely the right answer to be stated out loud. The problem was, that they were just that. Words. Cheap and unreliable words. Words that meant absolutely nothing to the elder warrior. In his many moons of being alive, time had taught Coppertalon one thing. Actions spoke louder than words ever would. Leapingstorm, had helped knock that into his apprentice brain when he had been Condorpaw's age, and it had been something he had lived by all these moons later.

Talk was cheap. Action paved the way to victor. Blackpaw, his former apprentice, hadn't seen that right away. Several training sessions had been enough to knock some sense into her. Coppertalon was not the type to go easy on any cat, even if they were apprentices. Blackclaw had learned the hard way as would Condorpaw. The truth be told, Leapingstorm had taught him many things with training but one particular rule was simply and fairly easy to remember. Never ever believe you got an upper-hand in battle, just because you were able to distract your opponent once. Because if you did, you could have easily wound up dead. Coppertalon's eyes had remained glued to the apprentice, almost as if he was attempting to peer into his very soul. Every inch of fur was standing on end, anticipating and waiting for the next move to be dealt. There was no denying the fact that the apprentice would try something. Perhaps, the word "predictable" was too harsh of a word, but it fit very well in this situation, simply because Coppertalon had been in Condorpaw's position.

He had been a young apprentice once. Once so lost in his own importance and self worth that he would have done anything to prove himself to his mentor. Anything to prove his love too her and the sad reality was that he had done just that. He had lost himself in her toxic lies but in the end, she had been the one to have lost it all. She was dead and buried, and here he was, training another apprentice. The future of StoneClan, an apprentice that he hoped he could be proud of. One, he hoped would prove more of a worth to him. So when Condorpaw, shifted into action, Coppertalon was ready. A simple distraction, as clever as it was, that would have worked, if it had been any other cat. Yet instead of following the sound with eyes, Coppertalon's ears alone had twitched, flicking forward to hone in on the lone sound. Amber, orange eyes narrowed as the young tom lunged, a paw raised, aimed to possibly land a blow on his larger opponent's body. A scowl seeped to the elder tom's maw, twisting his normally handsome features into an ugly and clearly displeased line.

Sloppy and very predictable. He would have to teach this apprentice better. He shifted, a bunching of muscle in his body, that threw his much larger frame away from the younger tom. A few feet or so, away from the hit that would have landed if, he hadn't jumped back. Yet, if Condorpaw thought that his mentor was going to just stop there, and lecturer him on what he had did wrong. Well, he was going to be in for a rude awakening. Coppertalon, was on the move a moment later. Throwing himself at his apprentice, with a paw raised and claws outstretched. He flicked his left paw out and lashed it out at Condorpaw. It mattered little if or where he managed to hit. He was going to prove a point, here and now. Just because you believed you were ready for something, that didn't necessarily mean you were.

"Coppertalon Talking "

[noctali]

Condorpaw knew from the moment he executed his first move that it wouldn't work. Coppertalon was much too wise, much too clever, and had been in more than a few battles, for such a simple manouver to easily work against him. When he landed on his supposed target, said target had already nimbly moved out the way.

So when Coppertalon's outstretched claw connected with his ear and he felt the flesh tear, he wasn't surprised at all. Wasn't fazed by the pain that flared and the blood that dripped on to the floor. He'd deserved it for being sloppy. Predictable. 

Breathing hard, determined not to show any sign of weakness, he turned to properly face the older cat. Well thought out, executed plans, it was plain to see, would not work here. 

Reaching a paw up to clean up his ear as best he could, Condorpaw, acting completely on instinct, tried to slide underneath Coppertalon, aiming to flip him over.

Even untrained, Condorpaw knew that the weakest point of any cat was their soft underbelly.

He was determined to get a hit off. He was determined to eat.

188 |@jen | Sorry for the short post, running relatively low on muse and fighting training has never been my favourite :')

[Deleted]

Coppertalon

StoneClan - Male - 68 Moons

Coppertalon had the grace to look smug and cocky and had he been Condorpaw's age, that look would have transformed over onto his features. Turning his normally handsome face, into an ugly and unrecognizable mask that wasn't him at all. Instead he kept his face blank, his eyes narrowed and his posture stiff, claws pulling to dig small grooves into the dirt at his paws.

The scent of blood, that he had drawn from his apprentice, lingered in the air like a thick and heavy smoke. Perfuming the air around them, and making the situation more tense than it had been before. One, the warrior, who was determined to prove a point, while the other, an apprentice bent on proving himself to the warrior. Who would win this stand off? The question was barely even a thought, when Condorpaw, shifted to move again. Coppertalon's eyes had taken in that simple act. A paw swipe to clean at the bloodied ear, and then in a blink of an eye, the elder was on his back, sprawled out on the ground like an novice apprentice. His mind had barely even registered what Condorpaw had done, but as mind began to catch up to the rash and clearly irrational move, even Coppertalon couldn't help but be impressed.

Long limbs twitched, while clearly surprised amber eyes shifted to take in the apprentice. Yet as clear as the surprise had been there, it vanished with a simple blink. "Catching an enemy off guard, is a good tactic" He mewed seriously, though there was a hint of something in his voice, a clearly unplaced something that wasn't going to be placed any time soon. When it came to kind remarks, his was as good as a compliment Condorpaw was going to get. The elder paused briefly to slowly pull himself to his feet, eyed the apprentice briefly before mewing calmly, "But can you do it again?" Coppertalon wasted no time after these few simple spoken words. He rushed forward again this time attempting to throw his larger body at the apprentice, in an effort to knock him off his feet. Yet he wasn't finished there. Claws still poised and ready, would rear back in an attempt to lash out once more. Two attacks, in one. The truth of the matter was that Coppertalon, had every intention of letting the young tom, eat. But only after he had proved that he was worthy of it and to put it simply. The first attack hadn't been enough to convince him that the tom was taking this seriously. And so, plan B, it was.

"Coppertalon Talking "

not going to be too long with this battle, I promise <3 xD• noctali •383

PYXIS ★