Written in the Stars

reflection, deflection | p

Apprentice

I have nothing to say.

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bits

Post by bits on Aug 18, 2021 0:54:30 GMT

cedarsong

"Moosepaw - we'll go to the barren hills today."

It was a good day for training. Cedarsong had called on their apprentice not quite at sunrise, but not long into the morning. They waited long enough to ensure they wouldn't be pawning off their other responsibilities, then they'd sought out Moosepaw to head out into the territory. Cedarsong wasn't terribly chatty - their voice rasped as much from lack of use as it did from their natural meter. They'd cast their gaze towards the apprentice now and again, as though to check for his continued presence (though the chances of Moosepaw absconding without notice from the warrior were slim to say the least). They were far more comfortable offering wordless hums or motions when conversed with (the exception being blatant questions).

"I'd like to hunt with you today," they began, finding themselves a satisfactory spot next to the gnarled roots of a naked tree. The hills were bare still - leafbare too far away for the lowest parts of Dawnclan territory to be covered in snow. Cedarsong preferred hunting in the snow, but that was a few moons off still. The dilute warrior turned their attention away from where their green eyes had been scanning the territory around them, and focused on their apprentice. The stoicism steadying their white-furred face was difficult to read, and the measured cadence of their voice did little to portray any more emotion.

"We're nearing the end of greenleaf - prey is abundant, so we can work on locating and tracking prey. Do you know what kind of prey we could expect to find this time of year, in this area of our territory?"

Cedarsong, despite their volume being on the quieter side, had a sneaking suspicion that they'd be speaking far more than they'd prefer to this morning. 


cedarsong - they/them, dawnclan
blueshade - he/him, oakclan
beepaw - she/her, nightclan

Kit

hi

scottie Avatar

scottie

Post by scottie on Aug 18, 2021 19:18:23 GMT

Moosepaw

Moosepaw startled from the call of his mentor, awaken from the disassociation he was going through to attempt to recover from his restless night of sleep. Not that he slept well usually, but this night had seemed to have an edge on him. That, or he was just not a morning cat, who's to say.

"Yeah, okay." Moosepaw tried to keep his voice light, careful, in response to his Cedarsong's words. They were a very important factor to how he'd develop after all, so keeping any negative emotions out of the conversation was a must-do, or at least, that's how he saw it.

Nevertheless, he followed his mentor with an obedient air, trying to swallow back the discomfort he felt as the safe confines of camp disappeared from view. Safe- he was safe right now, in a way, but still, it just felt wrong, like his warm coat had been taken and leaf-bare was on the horizon kind of wrong. Moosepaw wasn't a fan. But it was time to go learn anyway, so there wasn't much that could go amiss, right? Right. Keep it together, Moosepaw.

Once he'd shaken the ill feeling off of himself he finally noticed how quiet the environment around him really was. Of course, there was the always lingering sound of nature all around, but more notably there was no background chatter- or any chatter at all. He'd already taken notice of how quiet Cedarsong could be when they'd gone out for the first time, but now it was even worse, or better, Moosepaw liked the quiet.

What he didn't like, however, was how unreadable his mentor was. It was hard to gage anything from that stoic expression they always had on their face. Moosepaw didn't even know what they were going to do today yet, and he followed blindly! Usually a dumb thing to do, but he supposed a mentor was a trusted figure. Still.. were they teaching him how to fight? Patrol? Self-defense? Oh, self-defense, I like that one he thought to himself, pricking up his ears That's important- very important. Or maybe defending the clan, with my life! Wait, not my life. That's what I need that self-defense for, so I don't die. He glanced around suspiciously, his brown fur fluffing up automatically. It'd be real nice- real nice to know what's going on. Is there anything going on? What-

The long silence shared between him and his mentor was shattered just as he'd gotten more inquisitive within his own thoughts. He barely kept himself from startling, merely regarding the emotion with the tiniest flick of his tail before standing stock-still, twitching his ears curiously. Hunting, of course. That's a basic skill, that's something I should be able to do to be a warrior, yeah. It's groundworks! Groundworks, obviously, I'm such a mouse-brain. Start at the beginning! His thoughts took a scolding tone, and he regarded the actual sentence telling him the plan of today with a slight tip of his head.

"Um.." he hesitated to answer the question that followed, giving a slow blink as he raised his head to look at the sky. Shoot. He didn't expect to be quizzed on the knowledge of food today! He barely even thought about what he was eating- just that he got prey and it went into his mouth. He was such a mouse-brain, should've seen this coming, a fool! "Um.. Uh.. Ha- Hare- wease- No, hare, I think. I think hare."


Art by )

||They/them|Netherlands||
~~~
DawnClan - Moosepaw
OakClan - Kestrelfrost, Adderkit
NightClan - Rowanheart

Apprentice

I have nothing to say.

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bits

Post by bits on Aug 19, 2021 18:21:14 GMT

cedarsong

Between the two of them, the nerves were palpable. The difference was that the onus was on Cedarsong to have a handle on the situation - they were older, and did in fact know what they'd be doing today. Moosepaw's emotional turmoil wasn't apparent to the warrior, who managed only to pick up on the general sense of unease their apprentice seemed to grapple with. At least that much they had in common - and thankfully, Cedarsong was good at keeping their cards close to their chest (so to speak). If that weren't the case, they worried they'd only contribute to Moosepaw's anxiety with their own.

Letting the quiet of the territory soothe them, they focused on Moosepaw's response - hare, I think. A slight nod, and the warrior responded.

"Yes - although they can be difficult to catch, even for warriors. Hares are pretty large as far as prey goes," although there were certainly more dangerous prey in their territory, "and fast. For Dawnclan, it's a little harder to catch them - most of us rely on size over speed."

And though Cedarsong was average in size, "average" for a Dawnclanner was still firmly on the larger side for cats in the territories. 

"There are a lot of options - mice and voles are smaller but sometimes easier to catch, and it isn't out of the question to catch more than one on a patrol. If you don't mind marking or remembering where you've been, you could catch more than one prey and bury or hide them while you're out - then you can retrace your steps and bring back your catch."

It wasn't exactly high class strategy - for the stoic warrior, this was a given. However, they'd rather deliver redundancies than fail to deliver critical information. 

"A hunter's crouch will be how you prepare to catch most prey," they said, dropping into said crouch. It was a little odd to have to think about their stance while doing it, given that it was second nature at this point. Cedarsong briefly explained what they were doing - where they placed their paws, how they balanced their weight, how to prepare to push off and pounce - then stood back up. "You don't have to match what I did exactly - it's important that you're able to manoeuvre, balance, and pounce." They had more than enough time to offer feedback and make adjustments, after all. Cedarsong shifted to stand at Moosepaw's side, tail held low and gaze focused on their apprentice - trying to stand a little less stiffly than they tended to (and honestly? failing, but an attempt was made to come across less detached).


cedarsong - they/them, dawnclan
blueshade - he/him, oakclan
beepaw - she/her, nightclan

Kit

hi

scottie Avatar

scottie

Post by scottie on Aug 21, 2021 19:25:56 GMT

Moosepaw

The tom relaxed immediately at the response telling him that his answer had been correct, a wave of relief pooling over the anxiety he'd been feeling before. Good, so he was prepared. See, Moosepaw, you're not half bad! Although he then proceeded to realize he'd made a fool of himself (from his perspective, at least.) Darnit, Moosepaw! Calm your wits! You gotta seem cool, got to impress your mentor with your knowledge about.. prey.. and.. uh.. Yeah!

Wait, Cedarsong was talking? Darnit Moosepaw, focus! Act like you're paying attention, what did Cedarsong say, hares? Large?

"I'm um, large too. Bigger than a hare" He blurted out, before his mentor's actual sentence processed in his brain "So- so I think that- I don't think that I'd be any good at catching hares, because.. I'm not fast. SO I'm assuming we're not catching any hares today, except if we see one, because the clan needs prey." Smooth. Moosepaw is such a great improv artist he even surprises himself sometimes.

The redundancy that Cedarsong followed up with made Moosepaw's confidence sink once more. "Makes sense." was his outward comment, but inside of his head a whole new thought process was unlocked. That made so much sense that it confused him as to why he hadn't even thought of that before. Moosepaw does a lot of thinking, mind you! But apparently not any critical thinking. He's glad he was told before he made a loss on prey, and doomed the whole clan to perish from starvation (or so he believes).

But, the lesson went on, and Moosepaw was forced to pull himself together once again and actually pay attention. He watched his mentor curiously, ears twitching in focus as he tried to register every detail in his brain. Right- it seemed simple enough, or maybe he was overestimating himself.

He tried to copy what Cedarsong did, tucking his paws close to his chest and keeping his tail low to the ground, but his brain scanned every inconsistency and signalled it back to him with a megaphone. He could feel his belly fur touch the ground, so he adjusted until it wasn't, but then felt unbalanced and unquiet and oh the horror. He just adjusted himself once more, before glancing up at Cedarsong uncertainly with the quiet question of "What am I doing wrong?"



Art by )

||They/them|Netherlands||
~~~
DawnClan - Moosepaw
OakClan - Kestrelfrost, Adderkit
NightClan - Rowanheart

Quick Reply

ALERTS


[ Alerts ]
●︎ Clans are reforming and are on high alert
●︎ The high water from melting has created a super green environment. Prey is rather plentiful
●︎ Water levels appear to be rising due the melting snow in Dawnclan
●︎ Weather is very warm, the snow and ice in Dawnclan is melting!
[ Rank Changes ]
●︎ A leader for Nightclan has been chosen! Congrats Skystar!
●︎ Thistletea has been appointed medicine cat of Oakclan


[ Deaths ]

WEATHER STATUS



[ Weather Status ]
The air is warm and and wet making it a bit hard to breathe. The hot weather is causing the snow to melt in Dawnclan territory. This is causing water levels to rise.



[ Prey Status ]
Prey is plentiful in all clans!



[ Herb Status ]
The rising water has hidden some herbs in Oakclan and Nightclan but water thriving plants seem to be growing in high abudance!

THE CLANS

Leader: Silverbane
Deputy: Reserved (Ameri)
Medicine Cat: Frostbite
Toms: 0 She-cats: 0 Other: 0

Dawnclan Allegiances

Leader: Reserved (Kaz)
Deputy: Reserved (Wolfpool)
Medicine Cat: Thistletea
Toms: 1 She-cats: 0 Other: 0

Oakclan Allegiances

Leader: Skystar
Deputy: Reserved (smith)
Medicine Cat:Reserved (fireflake)
Toms: 1 She-cats: 0 Other: 1

Nightclan Allegiances

Rogues: Toms: 2 She-cats: 0 Other: 1
Loners: Toms: 0 She-cats: 0
Kittypets: Toms: 0 She-cats: 0

Outsider Allegiances

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