Written in the Stars

BELLWING
she/her • dawnclan warrior

The southern hills of DawnClan’s territory were calm as the morning sun beamed overhead without the cover of many trees. It was normally a nice (and safe) way to get away from all the buzzing in camp if one wanted their space for a bit; and it was a place Bellwing visited as often as her whims deemed. The blue warrior found solace in losing herself against bare open sky and the lone trees who always had some somber story to tell in their aged trunks and roots, and she hoped it would do the same for her forlorn new apprentice.

~~~

When they had first been introduced, Bellwing had understood why Spiderstar had chosen her for such an important task. Granted, the blue tabby was a well-liked warrior, but also one with her own schedule, it seemed, once her daily duties were done. She was an enigma and often considered an odd ball despite her pleasantries, but also tender and mild. She worked to support her clanmates with more fervor than anything else, and it reflected in a soothing balm of an air that she surrounded herself with. Of course their leader would bestow such a nervous little kit upon one of the most passive warriors she could.

~~~

As Bellwing approached the meeting spot, the she-warrior could already detect her apprentice ahead of her as his scent carried upwind. A soft smile unfurled on her face as she noted how punctual her pupil was and added a little more hop to her step so as to not keep him waiting for too long. She waved her large blue plume of a tail as his dark tabby pelt came into view, and padded down the hill only to slide near the end with a little hum of delight. Picking up her haunches, Bellwing continued until she was a tail-length or two away and dipped her head lightly. ”Good morning, Wolfpaw. I hope moving in went smoothly.” Cornflower eyes softened as she noted the uneasy tension held in his body before the queen adding more calmly, ”Did you sleep well?”

notes:: n/a
tags:: stephcansketch

format borrowed from smith

BELLWING
she/her • dawnclan warrior

Bellwing knew she could still feel the palpable discomfort radiating from the young tom, but the she-cat hoped it was simply a byproduct of his greeness as an apprentice. Wolfpaw still refused to meet her gaze, and the she-cat wondered if there was something she could perhaps do to appear less imposing. For now though, she’d have to settle on how she would carry out her lessons. Maybe then she could find a way to meet Wolfpaw halfway.

As if he could read her thoughts, the dark tabby quizzed with a small stutter what they would be training on after having answered her question. Her smile deepened a little as she gave a slight nod before responding. ”Of course. As you know, we briefly toured the territory yesterday, but we only focused on key landmarks. There will be more time to further explore, but for now, I’d like for us to start with the basics.”

As she spoke, the queen had begun slowly padding a few paces away towards a small collection of pine trees nearby. Around the bases of their trunks, amidst the scattered needles, sat a few dropped pine cones. Bellwing gingerly picked one up between her teeth, relishing the pungent scent, and carried it back towards Wolfpaw. She dropped it in front of herself and carefully rolled it around with one paw. The pine cone was scaly and green, with it’s spiny fans still tucked closely together. With a small flick of her plumed tail, she beckoned her apprentice over to examine it.

”I’m sure you’ve seen a number of pine cones in camp before, but perhaps not of this color,” she began. ”While most pine cones are brown and open up when they fall, sometimes younger pine cones will drop off early. You can tell by their color and their smaller shape, but what makes these special is how heavy and hard they can be when you don’t expect it.”

Taking a moment to pause her introduction, the large blue warrior turned with surprising swiftness and in the same fluid motion, she had launched the pine cone with a strong kick of one of her hind legs. The green projectile rocketed a couple of fox-lengths away before colliding with a burnt trunk with a solid thunk. Turning back to Wolfpaw, she continued, ”Warriors of DawnClan have been blessed with strength where the other two clans have speed. Thus, we have developed our own tactics to keep up with them where fancy footwork may be abused.” Her smile never disappeared, but it softened once more as she purred, ”We’ll be going over the basic kick forms today. Let’s go see if we can’t find a few more pine cones to practice with, hm?”

notes:: sorry if i word-vomit a bit during training ^^'
tags:: stephcansketch

format borrowed from smith

BELLWING
she/her • dawnclan warrior

”Easy,” Bellwing cooed as she lightly brushed her tail against Wolfpaw’s side in an effort to steady him, noted her apprentice’s small frown before it disappeared behind his nervous visage. She had scanned over him, taking closer inspection of the shapes and natural gait of his body before giving a little nod. ”This works well; you see Wolfpaw, you have large paws like I do. I know these can sometimes feel like more of a hindrance at times, but if you are clever, you can turn them into blessings.” As if to punctuate her point, the blue tabby strafed to one side and held up one of her forepaws for her demonstration.

Flexing out her silver toes, she continued, ”Comparatively, larger paws are heavier than smaller ones, which leads to how fast a cat can become. A warrior with smaller paws may be able to dodge or jump out of a tricky spot swiftly whereas we may not be able to do so with such ease. However, larger paws are more stable and grounding, and because of their size, one can cover more space with ease.” Bellwing wondered if perhaps she was going into too many details, or if her apprentice was one of the less impatient youngsters in DawnClan.

”This means when it comes to kicking pine cones, even if your accuracy is a bit off, you’re more likely to hit it than any cats with smaller paws; and you’ll be giving it more power than smaller paws could muster.” She then took a few steps ahead of the tabby tom and in a slow, methodical motion, kicked back one of her hind legs in a small sweeping motion across the grass. She repeated the motion again, keeping the calm pace so that Wolfpaw could study how she did it. ”This is the simplest form, and one that you can apply to almost any situation. We start off by sweeping our paw just above the ground to collect the pine cone before lifting a bit more to launch it. You don’t have to worry about kicking high; usually your best bet is to aim for the legs of your opponent. You keep your movements even to make sure it goes where you want it to.” She gave a small sheepish smile before adding, ”Plus, rash kicks can sometimes pull something in your leg and make it sore. That is why it is very important that we DawnClan warriors stretch regularly over the day; it helps to keep you not only warmer, but keeps your limbs flexible.”

Flicking her feathery tail, she purred, ”Come see if you can match my pose. We’ll see how you naturally kick and start from there.”

notes::  sorry about the wait
tags:: stephcansketch

format borrowed from smith